A RANS-based technique for simulation of the flow near a rolling cylinder at the free surface

Accurate prediction of roll motion is very important in ship dynamics, particularly when the safety of the ship is in question. In this paper "COMET," a Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) solver, is used to simulate the flow in the vicinity of a rectangular cylinder rolling at the free surface and to demonstrate the potential of RANS-based techniques in complex flows with free surfaces. The method adopted is based on an unstructured collocated finite-volume technique, which uses a variation of the SIMPLE scheme for pressure correction. An advanced interface capturing technique known as high resolution interface capturing (HRIC) is used for tracking the free surface with reduced numerical diffusion. The results derived are compared with available numerical and experimental results, showing good agreement on added moment of inertia and damping coefficients, whilst accurately predicting other main features of the flow. However, further validation for other geometries and extension to 3-D hull forms are essential before applications to practical problems are realised. Received: January 26, 2000 / Accepted: October 2, 2000