Overview of Research Progress on Numerical Simulation Methods for Turbulent Flows Around Underwater Vehicles

Abstract

In this paper, we present an overview of numerical simulation methods for the flow around typical underwater vehicles at high Reynolds numbers, which highlights the dominant flow structures in different regions of interest. This overview covers the forebody, midbody, stern, wake region, and appendages and summarizes flow phenomena, including laminar-to-turbulent transition, turbulent boundary layers, flow under the influence of curvatures, wake interactions, and all associated complex vortex structures. Furthermore, the current issues and challenges of capturing these flow structures are addressed. This overview provides a deep insight into the use of numerical simulation methods, including the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) method, large eddy simulation (LES) method, and the hybrid RANS/LES method, and evaluates their applicability in capturing detailed flow features.

Keywords

Numerical simulation methods / Underwater vehicles / Boundary layer transition / Turbulent boundary layer / Wake / Appendages