Influence of the submergence and the spacing of the demihulls on the behaviour of multi-hulls marine vehicles: a numerical application

The numerical prediction of the total resistance of a SWATH vehicle and a fast ferry catamaran in steady motion has been attempted by using a numerical approach. An iterative solver, able to automatically adjust the grid of a model free to sink and trim [1], has been used to perform a deep analysis of the combined effects of varying hull submergence and space between demihulls. The validation of the code has been carried out by comparing present results with the experimental data for a modular SWATH vehicle tested at the HSVA [2] and a fast ferry catamaran tested at the INSEAN.