edevelopment of a method to predict ship-bank interaction in real-time A thesis presented for obtaining the degree: “Master of Science in Marine Technology” Specialisation: Ship Hydromechanics TorbenHelsloot

Due to increasing marine traffic intensity on inland waterways the interaction between ships and banks is becoming more of a problem. Bank effects make ship manoeuvring more difficult and rivers need to be protected against ship-induced currents and waves. is thesis contributes to the development of a new method that simulates these ship-bank interaction effects in realtime. Such predictions are useful in for example manoeuvring simulation and navigation channel design. e developed method represents a ship as a moving pressure field in a numerical model that solves the two-dimensional non-linear shallow water equations in the horizontal plane. An approximation for skin friction is included. e method passes numerical verification. e computed flow field and interaction forces are compared with experimental results in various conditions, showing that the method performs well enough to be useful in the design of navigation channels and to make initial computations on flow fields beneath ships. Modelling errors limit the applicable range of the method so that it is not ready to be used in a general manoeuvring simulator. Recommendations are made to improve the model so that in the future this can be achieved.