Resistance prediction of medium-speed catamarans using free-surface viscous flow simulations

High-speed catamarans have evolved in the last two decades as an efficient vessel class for fast sea transportation. To promote sustainable sea transportation and to meet raising ecological requirements to reduce the environmental impact, a new class of large fuel efficient medium-speed catamaran ferries is under development . Rising fuel prices and the society's increasing awareness in environmental sustainability raise the demand for highly fuel-efficient vessels (Davidson et al., 2011a,b). As shown in earlier work (Haase et al., 2012), medium-speed catamarans will efficiently operate at Foude numbers of Fr = 0.35, but unfortunately resistance prediction tools lack for twin-hull craft in that particular speed range. Therefore, there is a demand for numerical tools to correctly determine the resistance of such craft independent of speed, hull form and scale.