An Integrated Simulation Workflow for Automated IMO Maneuverability Verification for Ship Design Based on Computational Fluid Dynamics

Understanding vessel maneuvering characteristics is important when designing ships.  Classification societies require vessels to pass pre-defined requirements for various maneuvers.  Within the design process, the use of high-fidelity simulation software can be used to help understand a vessel’s characteristics.  Particularly, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approaches can be used to calculate the required hydrodynamic coefficients used in indirect maneuvering calculations. However, this typically requires dozens of simulations to be run with large amount of data processing as well. This paper focuses on an automated workflow that is setup to compute all the tests required to compute the hydrodynamic coefficients required for modelling vessel trajectories while also plotting various maneuvers and comparing the vessel’s performance against IMO regulations.  The workflow will determine whether or not the vessel will pass these regulations as well as determine all the required inputs to the maneuvering model.  The workflow will be implemented on a pod driven twin screw vessel and a practical example will be showcased while exploring different vessel configurations.