Numerical and Experimental Study on the Estimation of Added Resistance of an LNG Carrier in Waves

摘要

Reduction of fuel oil consumption in sailing vessels has been of great interest even with the recent trend of moderate oil prices. The added resistance contributes to the increase in fuel oil consumption of vessels in the actual sea environment. Therefore, the precise prediction of the added resistance is of great importance for developing highly energy efficient vessels. In this paper, the numerical and experimental studies are performed to estimate the added resistance of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier. A series of self-propulsion tests are carried out for validation purposes. The linear potential flow method and fully nonlinear Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes analysis are employed for numerical evaluation of added resistance in waves. The transfer functions of the added resistance from the three different approaches are compared, and noticeably different results are observed, especially around the short wave region. The discrepancy is then analyzed systematically by comparing the local waves at different positions along the vessel. A comparison of the numerical and experimental results is summarized, and the validity of each approach is then discussed.