3D Simulation of Appendage Effect on the Submarine Drag

Over the last decade, the focus on the use of computer tools to assess flows around submarines and guide their design has been considerably developed. In particular, with the emergence of parallel computational capabilities, RANS simulations of viscous flows have seen a greater role in predicting these flow fields. The shift to a much more CFD-based design and analysis approach leads to the ability to achieve better designs in the shortest time. This makes it possible to classify several ranges of designs as well as to provide an entire image of the flow field, which can lead to a better understanding of the flow field’s physics. The aim of this study consists of a 3D numerical simulation of the turbulent flow around a submarine without and with appendages to quantify the effect of each appendage on total drag and to study the interaction between the submarine hull and its appendages. The hydrodynamic turbulent flow behavior around the well-defined shape is described using the ANSYS CFX code to resolve the RANS governing equations. Good agreement is obtained from the validation of the numerical results confirming the efficiency of the method in terms of computational time and robustness. The numerical approach is adopted to predict the flow field and forces and moments acting on the underwater vehicle for different maneuvering cases and simulation results have been presented.