Fuel efficiency

Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations

Engineering

Propulsion

Aerospace engineering

Biofouling

Marine engineering

Fouling

Biochemistry

Membrane

Propeller

Hull

Environmental science

Computational fluid dynamics

Propulsor

Marine propulsion

Chemistry

Rudder

Aeronautics

Applied Ocean Research

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in predicting the effect of biofouling on ship resistance using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). For a better understanding of the impact of biofouling on the fuel consumption and green-house gas emissions of ships, studying the effect of biofouling on ship self-propulsion characteristics is required. In this study, an Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) based full-scale ship self-propulsion model was developed to predict the effect of biofouling on the self-propulsion characteristics of the full-scale KRISO container ship (KCS). A roughness function model was employed in the wall-function of the CFD model to represent the barnacles on the hull, rudder and propeller surfaces. A proportional-integral (PI) controller was embedded in the simulation model to find the self-propulsion point. Simulations were conducted in various configurations of the hull and/or propeller fouling. Finally, the effect of biofouling on the self-propulsion characteristics have been investigated.

Penalty of hull and propeller fouling on ship self-propulsion performance