Numerical simulations of a turning circle manoeuvre for a fully appended hull

The turning circle manoeuvre of a self-propelled tanker like ship model induced by the rotation of the rudder is numerically simulated through the integration of the Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) equations coupled with the equations of the motion of a rigid body; all the 6 degrees of freedom are left free and therefore predicted by the numerical simulation. To this purpose, the unsteady RANS solver developed at INSEAN is used. The ship model is in its fully appended configuration, and is characterized by the presence of two propellers and one rudder. Each propeller is taken into account by a simple model based on the actuator disk concept. The results are compared with experimental data from free running tests carried out at the Nemi lake close to Rome. An analysis of the flow field, in terms of wave pattern, surface pressure and velocity field is also presented.