CFD simulations of wind loads on a container ship: validation and impact of geometrical simplifications
Janssen, W.D.; Blocken, B.; van Wijhe, H.J. (2017). CFD simulations of wind loads on a container ship: validation and impact of geometrical simplifications. J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 166: 106-116. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2017.03.015
In: Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics. Elsevier Science: Amsterdam. ISSN 0167-6105; e-ISSN 1872-8197, more
Due to the increasing windage area of container ships, wind loads are playing a more important role in navigating the ship at open sea and especially through harbor areas. This paper presents 3D steady RANS CFD simulations of wind loads on a container ship, validation with wind-tunnel measurements and an analysis of the impact of geometrical simplifications. For the validation, CFD simulations are performed in a narrow computational domain resembling the cross-section of the wind tunnel. Blockage effects caused by the domain boundaries are studied by comparing CFD results in the wind tunnel domain and a larger domain. The average absolute difference in numerically simulated and measured total wind load on the ship ranges from 37.9% for a simple box-shaped representation of the ship to only 5.9% for the most detailed model. Modeling the spaces in-between containers on the deck shows a 10.4% average decrease in total wind load on the ship. Modeling a more slender ship hull while keeping the projected front and side area of the ship similar, yields an average decrease in total wind load of 5.9%. Blockage correction following the approach of the Engineering Sciences Date Unit underestimates the maximum lateral wind load up to 17.5%.
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