Wind Loads on Ships at Berth with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Large ships, particularly those with large windage areas such as cruise and container ships, have made the estimation of wind loads a critical aspect in the design of their mooring facilities. Wind loads on ships at berth are typically estimated for the ship alone and with empirically derived load coefficients. This could lead to under design and situations of mooring system failure and accidents. The use of CFD constitutes a significant advancement that can overcome the deficiencies of simplified methods. A CFD model of a fully loaded 9,000+ TEU Post-Panamax container ship was developed using a cylindrical 2,000 m radius, 500 m high domain, and validated against published wind tunnel and CFD data. Simulations performed for the ship and a closed quay, and ship, a closed quay, and a container yard showed that these features can lead to significant differences over loads predicted for the ship alone.