Numerical Prediction of Thermal Ship Wakes
Abstract
A numerical model of the thermal wake caused by turbulent water motion directly behind a ship is described. The model is a finite volume formulation of the parabolic Navier-Stokes equations. The effects of turbulence are modeled using the turbulent kinetic energy/dissipation equations with an anisotropic Reynolds stress closure. This procedure gives reasonable agreement with David Taylor N SRDC model data for the momentum wake. The energy equations are solved subject to boundary conditions consistent with radiative, convective, latent heat transfer at the ocean surface and a volumetric solar source term which decays exponentially with depth. The effect of wind stress on the thermal wake is included approximately. The coupling from the energy equation to the momentum equations employs the Boussinesq approximation. This procedure, when used in free shear flows, appears to give a qualitative representation of the effect of buoyancy. Numerical experiments were performed to determine the effect of other factors in the growth and decay of the thermal wakes of surface ships.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 04, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADA186212
Entities
People
- Michael Stewart
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory