In order to study the flow field characteristics of cushion system of partial air cushion support catamaran (PACSCAT) in waves, an analysis was carried out involving flexible treatment on the bow and stern air seals to simulate air seal shape under test conditions by means of computational fluid dynamics method and fluid structure interaction (FSI) method. On this basis, the pressure conditions of the air cushion chamber and the pressurized chamber at different wavelengths and different speeds are studied and compared with experimental results. The experimental results show that: for the air cushion pressure, the nonlinear characteristics of the numerical calculation results are more subtle than the experimental values, after linear transformation, the amplitudes of the experimental values are obviously greater than the calculated values after linear transformation, but the average values are not much different; At low speed of 2.0m/s, the spatial pressure distribution of the pressurized chamber and the air cushion chamber are uniformly distributed, at high speed of 3.6m/s, except for a certain pressure jump occurred in the air cushion chamber near the stern air seal, the pressure in other spaces is also evenly distributed, it proves that the pressurized chamber type of air intake can effectively meet the air cushion pressure balance.

This paper utilised computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology to calculate the resistance of a novel high-speed quadramaran in calm water using the Navier‒Stokes (N‒S) equation, analysed the total resistance, frictional resistance, and residual resistance characteristics of this novel high-speed quadramaran at different length Froude numbers, and compared them with the results of a conventional high-speed catamaran with the same displacement. The results showed that the total resistance of the quadramaran had a significant hump at the Froude number of 0.6, due to the complexity of the wave interference among the four demihulls, and the hump value was about 1.6 times that of the catamaran. Above the hump speed, the total resistance of the quadramaran decreased with the increase of the Froude number, until reaching the Froude number of 1.06, when the curve became flat, and it showed a maximum resistance reduction of 40% at the Froude number of 1.66 compared with the catamaran, where the total resistance curve was steep. The frictional resistance of the quadramaran increased gradually with the growth of the Froude number, which was basically consistent with the change trend of the catamaran. The residual resistance of the quadramaran first rose and then reduced with the rising

In this paper, the motion of partial air cushion support catamaran (PACSCAT) sailing in regular waves was firstly investigated by the experimental method. The monitored histories of heave, pitch, midship acceleration, and air cushion pressure in towing tests are performed to analyze the influence of air cushion on the periodicity feature of hull body motion. Subsequently, using the finite volume method (FVM)-based CFD software Star-ccm, numerical simulations are carried out for the PACSCAT model with a simplification of the air cushion system. The detailed flow information of wave evolution, pressure, and velocity distribution is investigated. The calculated oscillation characteristics of different motion parameters are compared with those from experiment and show good agreement. The numerical method also has good capacity in the prediction of amplitude response of heave and midship acceleration; however, large error is found when calculating resistance and amplitude response of pitch.

A mathematical model for predicting the maneuvering motion of a ship is constructed, using a planing craft with dual waterjet propulsion as the object of study. This model is based on the standard approach of the MMG (Maneuvering Modeling Group) and uses the Runge–Kutta algorithm to solve the differential equations. For the simulation of the turning and Z-shape maneuvering motion, the RANS equation is first solved using the program STAR-CCM + and then the PMM motion of the hull is simulated using the overlapping grid approach to derive the hydrodynamic derivative. The established method for predicting the ship’s maneuverability is feasible, as shown by the calculated results, which agree well with those obtained using data from the sea trials. This method was used to simulate the rudder rotation and Z-shape motion of the planing craft at medium and high speeds to predict the maneuverability index.