Thanks to our longstanding collaboration with the Australian naval architectural office, Norman R. Wright & Sons, and following the successful CFD analysis and studies for the Fleming 58 and 85, Cape Horn Engineering was thrilled to be commissioned for an extensive test of the design for the new 12m XLW Class Patrol Vessel, developed for the Queensland Police Service.
This Patrol Vessel boasts an advanced composite structure and a highly efficient hull form, ensuring reliability, safety, and seaworthiness. It can operate for extended periods in offshore locations, even in extreme weather and sea conditions.
Working with the 12m design and drawing from the 14m pilot boat design, our Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) calculations thoroughly analysed the motorboat’s performance in calm water, using a virtual disk to model the propulsion. Fully appended, full-scale CFD simulations were conducted for various loading conditions and speeds ranging from 8 to 50 knots.
In addition to the primary objective of obtaining resistance and power curves, running trim and sinkage, wetted surfaces, and flow visualizations for appendage alignment, a secondary objective was to assess performance differences with and without spray rails and to analyse the aerodynamic windage of the cabin and cockpit.
The CFD simulations were processed on a High-Performance Computing (HPC) cluster using the best-in-class software package STAR-CCM+ in the latest version from Siemens Digital Industries.