Numerical Investigate the Effect of Turbulence Models on the CFD Computation of Submarine Resistance

Abstract

Up to now, there is no developed ‘universal’ turbulence model in CFD simulation, so employing an appropriate turbulence model is crucial for accurately predicting the hydrodynamics of a ship, especially for submarines. This study focuses on investigating the impact of turbulence models on the predicted results in frictional and pressure resistance components and flow features around the submarine at different ship velocities by the CFD method. Four various turbulence models consisting of the Reynolds Stress Model, realizable k-ε two-layer, standard k-ω, and SST k-ω turbulence models are investigated in this study. The obtained numerical results demonstrate variations in resistance and the flow patterns around the submarine due to the effect of turbulence model. Based on the obtained results, the paper points out that, the choice of turbulence model significantly affects the frictional resistance of the submarine and the SST K-ω turbulence model provided the highest level of accuracy in comparison with experimental data. The model employed in this research is the DARPA SUBOFF submarine model