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Calculation of the viscous flow around ship hulls
PARNASSOS
The PARNASSOS program calculates the steady incompressible viscous
flow around a ship hull, at model scale or full scale. It provides detailed
information on the velocity and pressure field around the hull, the wake
field in the propeller plane, the possible occurrence of flow separation
and the viscous resistance. Thus it permits to efficiently optimise a hull
form for viscous resistance or propeller inflow.
Calculated limiting streamline pattern on the hull of a container ship
at full-scale Reynolds number.
Applications
In particular for full-block ships, the hull resistance and the propeller
inflow are dominated by viscous flow phenomena. The flow around the
afterbody is the result of the growth and change of structure of the
boundary layer along the hull; details can only be given by computation.
Visualisation of the computed flow gives insight in the cause and effect
relations. Thus the origin of certain undesired features of the viscous
flow field often can be traced back to hull form details, which may be
adjusted subsequently.
The generation of longitudinal vortices along the afterbody and its effect
on the propeller inflow can be computed, allowing for thrust deduction
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fraction and effective wake distribution. Flow separation may occur on
fuller afterbodies, upstream of the propeller, or above afterbodies due
to the propeller operation. PARNASSOS computations give detailed
information on these occurences and the changes from model to full
scale. PARNASSOS is one of the very few codes able to predict the full-
scale viscous flow without using wall functions and with a high
numerical accuracy. At present, effects of the wave pattern upon the
viscous flow are disregarded. Calculations generally are done for zero
drift angle and symmetric flow. The degree of geometrical complexity
which the code can compute is limited; appendages in particular may
require special treatment.
Accuracy
The code’s efficiency permits to use dense grids (more than a million
cells for a complete ship) and thereby reach a high numerical accuracy.
Validations have shown a generally good prediction of the flow and
separation phenomena. Wakefield predictions do not always match
experimental data, due to the well-known limitations of current
turbulence models.
Input
The geometry of the hull is described as a B-spline surface, either
created from line drawings or imported digitally (IGES). A boundary-
fitted mesh is then generated in a domain around the hull, with the aid
of a Graphical User Interface. The quality of this mesh can be optimised
interactively by manipulation of several control functions. Outer
boundary conditions for the calculation are derived from a potential flow
calculation. For a calculation for an afterbody only, an inflow plane
halfway along the ship is selected where inflow data are generated
automatically based on thin boundary layer formulas.
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Output
The velocity field and pressure distribution in the entire domain are
predicted and can be visualised.
Limiting streamlines on the hull (a 'numerical paint test') show the
location and strength of any flow separation. Detailed information on
the velocities in the propeller plane can be extracted.
Tracing streamlines in the computed flow field indicates how flow
features affect the flow downstream.

Computational approach
PARNASSOS solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) Experimental (left) and predicted (right) axial velocity field in the propeller plane of a
tanker at model scale Reynolds number.
equations in a body-fitted curvilinear grid, using a finite-difference
method. Various turbulence models are available.

The near-wall flow is accurately resolved instead of modelled via

approximate wall functions. The solution is obtained in an efficient
multiple-sweep marching process that takes maximum advantage of
the existence of a predominant flow direction. If required, the effect of
the propeller on the flow can be modelled by a force field
representation.

References
• Hoekstra, M. & Eςa, L. (1998). 'PARNASSOS: An efficient method for
ship stern flow calculation'. 3rd Osaka Colloquium, Osaka, Japan.
• Hoekstra, M. & Eςa, L. (1999). 'An example of error quantification of
ship-related CFD-results'. 7th Int. Conference on Numerical Ship
Hydrodynamics, Nantes, France.

Detail of the experimental (left) and predicted (right) transverse velocity field near the
center of the propeller disk.

For more information please contact the department Software

Engineering and Support.
T +31 317 493 237
E Support@marin.nl