Numerical investigation into the effect of the internal opening arrangements on motion responses of a damaged ship

Both cruise and naval ships have complex subdivisions and compartment connectivity with various opening arrangements. To better understand the hydrodynamic performance of a damaged ship, it is necessary to perform an investigation into the effect of opening combinations on the floodwater propagation and motion responses. In this paper, the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method is used to visualize the hydrodynamic behaviors in the flooding process. The Unsteady Reynolds Average Navier Stokes (URANS) solver combined with the Dynamic Fluid Body Interaction (DFBI) morphing technique is used to solve the motion responses of the damaged ship and deal with the mesh adaption of the free surface. A benchmarking study about the roll decay of the damaged DTMB 5415 model is performed to validate the accuracy of the numerical approach in dealing with the motion of the damaged ship. Simulation results show that different opening arrangements result in different flooding forms, including symmetric and asymmetric flooding. The compressed air impedes the flooding flow in the potential compartments. Even if the flooding compartments are the same, different flooding paths and overflow paths of the compressed air affect motion responses of the damaged ship. Moreover, good visualization capability can predict the flooding development, which can provide necessary information for decision support.