Ship Towed by Kite: Investigation of the Dynamic Coupling

Nedeleg Bigi (1) , Kostia Roncin (2) , Jean-Baptiste Leroux (3) , Yves Parlier (4)

1 Benjamin Muyl Design
2 CReA - Centre de recherche de l'armée de l'air
3 IRDL - Institut de Recherche Dupuy de Lôme
4 Beyond the Sea

This paper presents a series of dynamic simulations for a ship towed by kite. To ensure time efficient computations, seakeeping analysis with forward speed correction factors is carried out in the frequency domain and then transformed in the time domain by convolution. The seakeeping modeling is coupled with a zero-mass kite modeling assuming linear dependence of aerodynamic characteristics with respect to turning rate. Decoupled (segregated) and coupled (monolithic) approaches are assessed and compared in different environmental conditions. Results show that in regular beam waves, strong interactions between the kite and the ship motions are captured by the monolithic approach. Around the wave frequency, especially for the lower one tested (0.4 rad/s), a kite lock-in phenomenon is revealed. It is concluded that the mean kite towing force can be increased whereas the ship roll amplitude can even be decreased compared to a non-kite assisted ship propulsion configuration.

Mots clés: Ship dynamics; Kite assisted propulsion; Time-domain seakeeping simulations; Dynamic coupling lock in effects

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]

Nedeleg Bigi, Kostia Roncin, Jean-Baptiste Leroux, Yves Parlier. Ship Towed by Kite: Investigation of the Dynamic Coupling. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2020, 8 (7), pp.486-1 - 486-29. ⟨10.3390/jmse8070486⟩. ⟨hal-02924110⟩