An Overview of Stepped Hull Performance Evaluation: Sea Trial Data vs Full-Scale CFD Simulation

It is well known that the dynamic of the stepped hull in real scale is rather complex and it’s not easy to predict that using empirical or mathematical approaches, and by the numerical and experimental way as well. Moreover, there is a huge lack in the literature of data related to sea trials of the stepped hull. Furthermore, the reliability of full-scale CFD simulations is not widely proven and validated especially for high speed and planing hull. For these several reasons, in this paper, the authors are focused on the comparison of the results carried out from model experimental tests performed in the model basin, full-scale CFD simulations, and sea trial tests. The performed simulations in full-scale have been compared to the extrapolated experimental tests and the sea-trial results. Moreover, the dynamic trim angle and the dynamic wetted surface have been taken into account to assess the reliability of the full-scale simulation performed. The stepped hull considered is a Mito 31 outboard Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) built by MV Marine Srl Company.