Studying Static Derivatives of an Inland Bulk Carrier in Open and Restricted Waters using OpenFOAM

Abstract

The paper studies the maneuvering capabilities of an inland bulk carrier designed to be operated in the waterways of Bangladesh. Following the Planar Motion Mechanism (PMM) test, static drift simulations have been performed, for varying drift angles, both in open and restricted waters, to determine the linear hydrodynamic derivatives. All simulations have been performed using the open source CFD toolkit, OpenFOAM. The vessel’s maneuvering capability in open and restricted water has been discussed based on the values of the derivatives. The paper concludes that although the vessel encounters substantially larger forces and moments in restricted water, channel restrictions minorly affect the static derivatives of the vessel.