| In the present study a nonlinear boundary value problem for ship waves is obtained by transforming, through a Taylor's series expansion, the free surface condition of the exact ship wave problem from being satisfied on the actual free surface to being satisfied on the undisturbed fluid free surface. An iterative method based on the direct boundary integral theory and linear element techniques is developed to solve the transformed nonlinear boundary value problem. A numerical towing tank is developed using the iterative method. A visualization and animation system is also implemented in the numerical towing tank to produce the visual simulation effect.; In order to compare the present method with the existing ones and to study the linear models found in literature, a new linearized ship wave problem, as a special case of the present nonlinear ship wave problem, is also derived and solved in this investigation. Algorithms based on both the direct and the indirect boundary integral theories are developed to solve the present linearized ship wave problem.; The theoretical developments in the present study are mainly: the transformation of the free surface condition, the derivation of a new linearized ship wave problem, and the development of an iterative scheme for solving nonlinear boundary value problems. Beside these theoretical achievements, the development in numerical techniques and software design is also an important part of the present study, which includes the development of the algorithm for applying the direct boundary integral theory, the development of the linear element techniques, and the implementation of a visualization and animation system. |
