Ship Airwake Computational Modeling Method Verification

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations offer a feasible solution to resolving the behavior of ship airwake behavior in the interest of flight operations near a moving ship as opposed to large full scale experimental methods. Wind tunnel data has been collected for several wind-over-deck (WOD) conditions using the simple frigate shape (SFS2) conducted by the National Research Council of Canada. In order to test the ability of the CFD code REX to accurately simulate these conditions and provide meaningful data a comprehensive validation study was conducted. Wind tunnel data is provided for both a headwind and Green 45° scenario. Both were recreated and simulated using REX. Comparison of averaged flow velocities and turbulence intensities in the area of the ship’s flight deck show strong agreement with the provided wind tunnel data. Differences in velocity magnitude and turbulence intensity were seen specifically in the areas of high turbulence but overall the flow behavior modeled using REX agrees with the trends seen in the wind tunnel data. The conclusion is thus drawn that REX can be used to accurately model the airwake behavior around a ship geometry under varying flow conditions.