Development and assessment of a nonlinear wave prediction methodology for surface vessels

A numerical method for the prediction of steady nonlinear ship waves and th eir dependence on hull geometry is developed and assessed. The method emplo ys desingularized Rankine singularities and Havelock singularities in an it erative boundary-integral solution procedure. The Fortran code incorporatin g this methodology, Das Boot, is tested on three validation cases and appli ed to a surface combatant hull form. Nonlinear wave elevation predictions f or the case of a moving pressure pulse show a 0.988 correlation with a vali dated fifth-order spectral prediction. Nonlinear wave elevation predictions for a Series 60 hull form show a 0.974 correlation with model-scale wave e levation data. A nonlinear transom stern boundary condition is implemented. Stern wave predictions employing this model are shown to agree with an ana lytic two-dimensional solution. Initial predictions for a naval surface com batant incorporating a transom stern geometry show encouraging correlation, 0.81, with model-scale tank test data.