Computation of High-Speed Turbulent Flow about a Ship Model with a Transom Stern.

Abstract : This report is a recent paper presented by the authors, slightly modified to include comparison with more recently measured data. The steady flow about a surface ship model with a transom stern moving at high speed is analyzed. Viscous effects are included through the use of a numerical solution of the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations subject to nonlinear free-surface boundary conditions. The k-epsilon turbulence model is employed. The structured grid maintains its hull boundary-layer resolution into the wake. This assures the capturing of the strong viscous/free-surface interaction of the boundary-layer wake with the stern wave field, This interaction is demonstrated by comparison with results of inviscid computations. Comparisons with measured data are also presented. The results represent a step forward in a long history of progress on the challenging problem of the computation of flows about transom sterns.