Time-domain numerical simulation for multi-ships moving in waves with forward speed

With the development of the shipping industry, the impact of hydrodynamic interaction between two or more ships on navigational safety has received widespread attention. However, limited research has been conducted on multi-ships moving in waves with forward speed due to the increased complexity of hydrodynamic interactions caused by speed. Therefore, this paper establishes a numerical model of multi-ship hydrodynamics under the wave impact based on the time-domain Rankine source panel method. The hydrodynamic performance and motion characteristics of ships advancing in waves are investigated. An artificial damping layer is applied to free surface boundary conditions to absorb reflected waves. The fourth-order Runge-Kutta method is used for time integration to solve the motion of the ship. The hydrodynamic and motion response of the classical Wigley III ship model are calculated at each wavelength, and the simulation results are compared with other calculations to verify the reasonable reliability of the numerical method employed in this study. On this basis, sensitivity analysis of different parameters is conducted to reveal the influence of various parameters such as speed, wave direction, transverse distance, and water depth on the motion response of the Wigley III ship model in waves.