A systematic investigation on the manoeuvring performance of a ship performing low-speed manoeuvres in adverse weather conditions using CFD

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) requirements for the control of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of shipping have raised interest in ship manoeuvrability in adverse weather conditions when compliance is accomplished simply by reducing the main engine power. In response, the IMO has adopted the guidelines for determining minimum propulsion power to maintain the manoeuvrability of ships in adverse conditions. In the present paper, a systematic investigation on the manoeuvrability of a ship with different low advance speeds in adverse weather conditions was conducted by means of an unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes solver. The numerical results demonstrated the contribution of low advance speeds to the course-keeping and turning circle manoeuvre, providing a practical insight into the manoeuvring performance of a ship with minimum propulsion power in adverse weather conditions. For the course-keeping control, the ship experienced more aggressive steering as the propeller revolution decreased in the oblique waves, while it appeared that the difference in the rudder deflection according to the change in the propeller speed in the head, beam, and following waves is negligible. The difficulty of the low speed turning manoeuvre was clearly noted when the direction of the incident wave was opposite to the direction towards which the ship intended to turn. It is believed that this paper can also be impactful in improving the guidelines of minimum powering of ships for safe navigation in adverse weather conditions.