Paisan Atsavapranee

Collaborative CFD Exercise for a Submarine in a Steady Turn

The application of viscous-flow solvers to calculate the forces on ship hulls in oblique motion has been studied for a long time. However, only a few researchers have published work in which the flow around ships in steady turns was studied in detail. To predict ship manoeuvres, an accurate prediction of the loads due to rotational motion is also required. In a collaborative CFD exercise, the Submarine Hydrodynamics Working Group (SHWG) performed calculations on the bare hull DARPA SUBOFF submarine to investigate the capability of RANS viscous-flow solvers to predict the flow field around the hull and the forces and moments for several steady turns. In the study, different commercial as well as bespoke flow solvers were used, combined with different turbulence models and grid topologies. The work is part of a larger study aiming to improve the knowledge and understanding of underwater vehicle hydrodynamics. In this paper, the results of the exercise will be presented. For several cases, verification studies are done to estimate the uncertainties in the results. Flow fields predicted by the different members of the SHWG are compared and the influence of the turbulence model will be discussed. Additionally, the computed forces and moments as a function of the drift angle during the steady turns will be validated. It will be demonstrated that using sufficiently fine grids and advanced turbulence models without the use of wall functions will lead to accurate prediction of both the flow field and loads on the hull.© 2012 ASME

Experimental Investigation of Hydrodynamic Coefficients of a Wave-Piercing Tumblehome Hull Form

A systematic series of calm-water forced roll model tests were performed over a range of forward speeds using an advanced tumblehome hull form (DTMB model #5613-1) to examine the mechanisms of roll damping. This experimental investigation is part of an ongoing effort to advance the capability to assess seakeeping, maneuvering, and dynamic stability characteristics of an advanced surface combatant. The experiment was performed to provide data for development and validation of a semi-empirical roll damping model for use in validation of ship motion and viscous flow simulation codes, as well as to provide a basis for future work with additional experiments, contributing to the development of an improved analytical roll damping model. Two hull configurations were tested: barehull with skeg, and bare hull with skeg and bilge keels. Measurements of forces and moments were obtained over a range of forward speeds, roll frequencies, and roll amplitudes. Stereo particle-image velocimetry (SPIV) measurments were also taken for both zero and forward speeds. Test data was used to calculate added mass/inertia and damping coefficients. Two different system modeling techniques were used. The first method modeled the system as an equivalent linearly-damped second-order harmonic oscillator with the time-varying total stiffness coefficient considered linear. The second technique used equivalent linear damping, including higher-order Fourier components, and a non-linear stiffness formulation. Results are shown, including plots of added inertia and damping coefficients as functions of roll frequency, roll amplitude, and forward speed and SPIV measurements. Trends from the experimental data are compared to results from traditional component roll damping formulations for conventional hull from geometries and differences are discussed.

Experimental Analysis of Rudder Contribution to Roll Damping

Measuring and modeling the forces on the appendages of surface ships is important for understanding roll-damping and validating numerical simulations. In recent years, Atsavapranee et al (2007) showed that the bilge keel damping component can be modeled using the flat plate theory established by Keulegan and Carpenter (1958). This model treats the bilge keels as a flat plate that generates viscous damping, as well as added mass. The model comes as an improvement to models used in computational codes used for predicting roll damping, due to the fact that the added mass component is significant. In this study, uncoupled roll motion is investigated to quantify the rudder forces on a fully appended DTMB model #5415 with instrumented appendages at Froude numbers of 0 and 0.138. The objective of the current effort is to decompose the rudder force into its steady, symmetric, and antisymmetric components using Fourier analysis. In the force analysis the rudders are treated as flat plates for the Fr = 0 tests, using the model described by Keulegan and Carpenter (1958). The drag and lift forces are consistent with the flat plate model. The anti-symmetric term, however, does not show a clear trend. For a flat plate model, the anti-symmetric term should resemble a negative sine wave with respect to roll. However, the rudders represent a higher aspect ratio flat plate, and thus require a modification to the added mass formulation. Furthermore, during a normal roll period they tend to interact with the free surface, which can lead to wave damping, which should resemble a positive sine wave with respect to roll. Thus, the two components of the anti-symmetric portion of the signal are superimposed upon one another. In an attempt to decouple these two components, the added mass was artificially removed from the antisymmetric component of the force. This paper will detail the methods used to model the rudder forces for both the standstill and positive Froude number cases.

Experimental Investigation of Viscous Roll Damping on the DTMB Model 5617 Hull Form

A systematic series of model tests have been performed at NSWCCD to explore the mechanisms of roll damping around a conventional combatant hull form (DTMB model #5617) and an advanced tumble-home hull form (DTMB model #5613-1). Both free roll decay and forced oscillation experiments were carried out in calm water and in waves, over a range of forward speeds. These experimental investigations were performed within the overall context of continuing efforts to advance the capability to assess seakeeping, maneuvering, and dynamic stability characteristics of a surface combatant. Data gathered in these experiments are currently being utilized to develop empirical and analytical roll damping models and to validate the accuracy of simulation programs in the calculation of various components of hydrodynamic forces. This paper will specifically discuss a single-degree-of-freedom free roll decay experiment, with measurements of the appendage lateral force and the associated flow field generated during ship roll motion on the DTMB #5617 model. Using particle-image velocimetry (PIV) measurements, two-dimensional unsteady flow patterns around the bilge keels were performed to study the mechanisms of viscous roll damping due to bilge keels. In addition, lateral forces and moments on the bilge keels, rudders, and propellers have been measured to provide a direct assessment of component roll damping. Analysis for appendage forces and correlation with the measured flow field yield several new important insights into the physical mechanisms of bilge keel roll damping. Flow field observation reveals complex phenomena of viscous flow separations and vortex formation around the bilge keel during different phases of the roll motion cycle. The lateral force on the bilge keels was modeled as the sum of an added mass component and a viscous drag component. The viscous drag coefficients are found to depend strongly on ship forward speed and roll amplitude, but the added mass coefficients are relatively constant for the range of forward speed and roll amplitude investigated.

Experimental Investigation of Roll and Heave Excitation and Damping in Beam Wave Fields

This paper will discuss a systematic series of model tests performed at NSWCCD on a conventional combatant hull form at varying Froude numbers, beam wave steepness, and beam wave frequencies near the natural roll frequency of the model. The model was free in roll and heave while constrained in the remaining four degrees of freedom. The model was fully appended, yielding lateral force on the bilge keels, lift, drag and torque on the rudders and all six force and moment components on the propellers. Stereo particle-image velocimetry (SPIV) measurement was used to study the three-dimensional unsteady flow patterns around the bilge keels at the model LCG. Model motion results were analyzed with respect to the excitation waves to yield normalized heave and roll amplitudes and phase angles. Force and moment results were analyzed to yield individual appendage viscous drag and added mass coefficients which were in turn used to extend and refine previous theoretical models to include the effects of beam seas. SPIV results were compiled and analyzed to provide a verification and validation dataset for CFD computations.© 2007 ASME

Global Laser Rangefinder Profilometry: Initial Test and Uncertainty Analysis

Global Laser Rangefinder Profilometry (GLRP) is a novel optical technique for instantaneous measurement of complex three-dimensional surfaces. A functional GLRP system has been constructed in the Maneuvering and Seakeeping Basin (MASK) at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division (NSWCCD). The system is capable of measuring surface height displacements over 800 measurement points at 30 Hz. The MASK GLRP system was used to measure the surface profiles of large waves produced by wave-makers in the MASK and bow waves generated by a surface ship remote-controlled model (RCM). Several large wave measurements were performed at various wave heights and compared to sonic probe measurements. The large wave measurements were found to be consistent with sonic probe measurements to within 5%. The results from the large wave measurements and RCM model bow wave measurements are presented and discussed. Data was collected in calm water to quantify sources of error, including optical jitter. The random error of the GLRP system is estimated at approximately 1.6 mm. The purpose of this work was to test the ability of the GLRP system for use in tests commonly performed at NSWCCD.Copyright

Characteristics of Fuel Droplets Discharged From a Compensated Fuel/Ballast Tank

Fuel droplets, formed by the interaction of fuel plumes with a water/fuel interface, can be discharged during the refueling of water-filled compensated fuel/ballast tanks. Motivated by increasingly stringent environmental regulations, a study was initiated to understand the physical mechanisms involved in the formation and transport of fuel droplets by complex immiscible flows inside a model tank. In particular, optical measurements were made of the size distribution of fuel droplets in water discharged from a three-bay model of a compensated fuel/ballast tank. The volumetric fuel concentration of discharge from the tank was inferred from measurements of droplet size and number Flow visualizations inside the model were coupled to optical measurements of fuel droplets at the tank outlet to show that the presence of fuel in the discharged water was correlated to the formation of fuel plumes within the water-filled tank. The size distribution of fuel droplets at the tank exit is found to differ from the size distribution reported for the generation zone (near the fuel plumes) inside the tank. Thus, the advection of fuel droplets from the generation zone to the tank outlet is shown to affect the characteristics of discharged fuel droplets. The transport process specifically prevents large-diameter droplets from reaching the tank exit. Buoyancy tends to cause larger fuel droplets generated within the tank to rise and separate out of the flow before they can be discharged. The buoyancy time, τ b (D), relative to the characteristic advection time, τ a , of fuel droplets is a key parameter in predicting the fate of fuel droplets. The influence of buoyancy on the size distribution of discharged droplets was found to be modeled reasonably well by a Butterworth filter that depends on the ratio of timescales τ a /τ b (D). This model, which relates the size distribution of discharged droplets to generated droplets, is found to produce the correct qualitative behavior that larger fuel droplets are discharged when the fuel plumes move closer to the tank exit, i.e., for decreasing advection time τ a .

ENTRAINMENT CORRELATIONS BASED ON A FUEL/WATER STRATIFIED SHEAR FLOW

The purpose of this work was twofold: first, to develop correlations for the entrainment of small fuel droplets into water in a stratified fuel/water shear flow; second, to implement the correlations in a CFD code and validate it with experimental effluent fuel concentration data. It is assumed that the droplets act as passive scalars and are advected far from their generation regions where they may cause fuel contamination problems far down-stream. This work relied upon extensive experimental data obtained from a stably stratified shear flow: droplet number, droplet PDF, fluid fraction and velocity field data. The droplet data was expressed as a nondimensional entrainment velocity (E) for the volume flux of fuel due to small droplets. The fluid fraction and velocity fields at the interface were expressed in terms of Richardson numbers (Ri). It was found that E = Ce Ri−n where n = 1 and Ce is a constant, gives a good fit for the two experimental velocity cases. The best correlation was implemented in a computational simulation of the stably stratified shear flow, and the results show that the simulation can predict the entrainment quite well. A second simulation was performed for a flow with energetic vertical buoyant jets (“buoyant flow events”) and stably stratified shear flows with very large Richardson numbers. In this case, the simulations underpredicted effluent fuel concentrations by two orders of magnitude. Ad hoc corrections to the entrainment correlations show marked improvements.Copyright