Numerical investigation on the wave interferences of submerged bodies operating near the free surface

A key factor that governs the wave interferences of a submerged body is the dimensionless Froude number. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used to describe the resistance force coefficients and the generated waves of two SUBOFF submarine models. Grid independence studies are performed on two cases, totally and shallowly submerged cases, with four sets of computing meshes. The highest peaks are marked by red points at given wavelengths, a line is fitted to those points with a least-squares approximation, and the half wake angle at multiple Froude numbers is defined between the fitted line and the centerline of the free surface. The results show that when the depth of the target is 1.1D, constructive interferences occur at Fn = 0.3 and 0.5, while destructive interference occurs at Fn = 0.35 with distortion of the waveform. The half wake angle is less than 19.47° because of the interference between the bow and stern wave systems.