Effect of speed and depth variation on the interaction between two ships

Abstract

This paper analyses the influence of water depth and speed variation in the hydrodynamic interaction between a navigating ship and a stationary one, using physical and numerical modelling. The passing ship is a self-propelled scale model of the “Aurora” chemical tanker whereas the stationary ship is a scale model of the “Esso Osaka” oil tanker. The tests were carried out for several values of the “Aurora” advance velocity and for different water levels. An analysis on the wake wave characteristics and roll motion is made, as function of the water depth and velocity values is made. The experimental roll motion was compared with results from the numerical package SWAMS, which simulates the movements of a ship (moored or free-floating) un-der different wave actions. The time series of the “Aurora” wake waves were used to define the incident waves in the SWAMS package.