Numerical investigation on the influence of froude number on the hydrodynamic derivatives of a container ship

Evaluation of maneuverability of a ship at the early design stages is necessary for ensuring safety of its voyage. IMO recommends the test speed or approach speed for the maneuvering predictions as 90-100% of the service speed of the vessel. The confined model tests for ship maneuvering assessment are usually conducted at low speeds and the hydrodynamic derivatives obtained from these tests are used in the equation of motion even when vessel operates at much higher speeds. But the hydrodynamic derivatives and consequently the trajectory predicted using these derivatives differ substantially from the actual maneuvering conditions. Hence the dependency of the derivatives on vessel speed needs to be understood properly to get the correct estimate of the vessel trajectory prediction. This paper investigates the effect of vessel speed (Fn) on hydrodynamic characteristics of a container ship. Straightline test and horizontal planar motion mechanism (HPMM) tests are conducted for a container ship model for different speeds in a CFD environment.