MASc student research seminar: modelling requirements for dynamic multiphase ship simulations

Friday, May 31, 2019 2:30 pm - 3:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

Biography: Chunhui Liu is a second year MASc student in MME at University of Waterloo. He is a member of Multi‐Physics Interaction Lab (MPILab) and supervised by Prof. Jean‐Pierre Hickey. He received his B.A.Sc. and M.A.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from the Beihang University in 2013 and 2017, respectively. He is interested in the area of multiphase turbulent flow. He is currently working on prediction of ship maneuvering coefficients by numerical simulations.

Abstract: The estimation of ship maneuverability is one of the most important performance indicators for ship navigation.  It is also intrinsically tied to ship design and performance characterization.  The maneuverability characteristics of a vessel can be estimated through theoretical calculations, experimental/empirical models or numerically with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).    The continually increasing computational power enables the use of CFD to numerically compute static and dynamic stability derivatives on arbitrarily complex ship geometries.  Although promising, numerical prediction of these naval flows is highly complex as one must consider the adequate resolution of the gas‐liquid interface, complex turbulence effects, and the important wave‐hull interactions, among the many other multi‐physics interactions. Given the geometric complexity and multi‐scale nature of the problem, the incorrect modelling of the multi‐physics interactions may limit the generalizability of these predictive simulations.   The present work seeks to assess the modelling requirement for the open‐source CFD package OpenFOAM in multiphase ship simulations.  To this end, the complexity of a ship simulation is decomposed into well‐defined and canonical sub‐problems. In the present work, we investigate the numerical simulation requirements for: (1) surface wave propagation at the water‐air interface, (2) near wall mesh structure, (3) turbulence modelling in the wake, and (4) wave‐hull interaction.    The canonical nature of these flows permits an isolation of the physical complexity, thus enabling quantifiable guidelines for ship modelling.    These sub‐problems are investigated and compared against experimental data.  The findings are then used to simulate full scale ship simulations and the modelling requirements are used to inform the ship modelling community.