Calculation of added mass coefficients of 3D complicated underwater bodies by FMBEM

In this paper, the fast multiple boundary element method (FMBEM) is applied to calculate the added mass coefficients of complicated three dimensional (3D) underwater bodies. First, the accuracy and efficiency of the FMBEM for 3D Laplace’s equation are investigated by using some simple 3D bodies with known added mass coefficients, such as sphere and spheroids. Then, as an example, the added mass coefficients of a SUBOFF submarine are calculated by the FMBEM. It is found that the FMBEM is computationally much more efficient than the traditional BEM. Therefore, the FMBEM provides us an effective numerical method to predict added mass coefficients of complicated underwater bodies.