Nonlinear Ship Motions in the Time-Domain Using a Body-Exact Strip Theory

Modern offshore structure and ship design requires an understanding of responses in large seas. A nonlinear time-domain method may be used to perform computational analyses of these events. To be useful in preliminary design, the method must be computationally efficient and accurate. This paper presents a body-exact strip theory approach to compute wave-body interactions for large amplitude ship motions. The exact body boundary conditions and linearized free surface boundary conditions are used. At each time step, the body surface and free surface are regrided due to the changing wetted body geometry. Numerical and real hull forms are used in the computations. Validation and comparisons of hydrodynamic forces are presented. Selected results are shown illustrating the robustness and capabilities of the body-exact strip theory. Finally, an equation of motion solver is implemented to predict the motions of the vessel in a seaway.