Full Scale Simulations of the Bubbly Flow Around the Research Vessel Athena With Incoming Waves and Discretized Propeller

Simulations of the two-phase bubbly flow around the research vessel Athena are presented. These are performed using a polydisperse model where several bubbles sizes are modeled. Intergroup transfer mechanisms such as breakup, coalescence and dissolution of air into water are considered. These simulations are performed on the fully appended Athena R/V including the rotating propeller. In this way the interaction of the stream of bubbles pushed down by the ship and the propeller is explicitly taken into account. Incoming regular waves are included in the simulations to mimic the observations of available data that show a pulsating entrainment of bubbles due to the waves. The effect of the several intergroup transfer mechanisms on the bubbly field around the ship is analyzed and discussed in depth. Simulations are performed in full scale to predict realistic turbulent structures and allow for a valid comparison with experiments.