Regular Wave Seakeeping Analysis of a Planing Hull by Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics: A Comprehensive Validation

In this work, the dynamics of a planing hull in regular head waves was investigated using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) meshfree method. The simulation of the interaction of such vessels with wave trains features several challenging characteristics, from the complex physical interaction, due to large dynamic responses, to the likewise heavy numerical workload. A novel numerical wave flume implemented within the SPH-based code DualSPHysics fulfills both demands, guaranteeing comparable accuracy with an established proprietary Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solver without sharpening the computational load. The numerical wave flume uses ad hoc open-boundary conditions to reproduce the flow characteristics encountered by the hull during its motion, combining the current and waves while adjusting their properties with respect to the vessel’s experimental towing speed. It follows a relatively small three-dimensional domain, where the potentiality of the SPH method in modeling free-surface flows interacting with moving structures is unleashed. The results in different wave conditions show the feasibility of this novel approach, considering the overall good agreement with the experiments; hence, an interesting alternative procedure to simulate the seakeeping test in several marine conditions with bearable effort and satisfying accuracy is established.