Using CFD software to calculate hydrodynamic coefficients

Applications of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) to the maritime industry continue to grow with the increasing development of computers. Numerical approaches have evolved to a level of accuracy which allows them to be applied for hydrodynamic computations in industry areas. Hydrodynamic tests, especially planar-motion-mechanism (PMM) tests are simulated by CFD software -FLUENT, and all of the corresponding hydrodynamic coefficients are obtained, which satisfy the need of establishing the simulation system to evaluate maneuverability of vehicles during the autonomous underwater vehicle scheme design stage. The established simulation system performed well in tests. © 2010 Harbin Engineering University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.