Computation of ship hydrodynamic interaction forces in restricted waters using potential theory

A computer code based on the double-body potential flow model and the classic source panel method has been developed to study various problems of hydrodynamic interaction between ships and other objects with solid boundaries including the seabed. A peculiarity of the proposed implementation is the application of the so-called “moving-patch” method for simulating steady boundaries of large extensions. The method is based on an assumption that at any moment just the part of the boundary (“moving patch”) which lies close to the interacting ship is significant for the near-field interaction. For a specific case of the flat bottom, comparative computations were performed to determine optimal dimensions of the patch and of the constituting panels based on the trade-off between acceptable accuracy and reasonable efficiency. The method was applied to estimate the sway force on a ship hull moving obliquely across a dredged channel. The method was validated for a case of ship-to-ship interaction when tank data were available. This study also contains a description of a newly developed spline approximation algorithm necessary for creating consistent discretizations of ship hulls with various degrees of refinement.