Comparative Study of Seakeeping Analysis Results From Various Methods

Over the years many methods are evolved for computing ship motions and loads, i.e. seakeeping analysis. All of these methods are known as potential flow methods where fluid is assumed to be irrotational. In these methods velocity vector is represented as a gradient of scalar potential phi (φ) known as velocity potential. One of the oldest methods is strip theory method where ship is descretized into number of 2D strips. Other methods are panel methods where entire hull is descretized into number of panels. These are also known as Green’s function methods. Various formulations of Green’s function do exist. In a recent development Green’s function methods are extended to Rankine Panel method (RPM) where free surface in the vicinity of vessel is panelized for computations. In RPM Green’s function computations are made easy. Again these methods are divided into frequency domain and time domain. Time domain methods take into account various nonlinearities which generally cannot be handled by frequency domain methods. For zero and non-zero forward speed of the vessel different formulations exist. All these methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. Hence, it is very important in the initial design stage to decide on method of seakeeping analysis. Here an attempt is made to compare the results of seakeeping analysis using various tools based on various seakeeping methods.