Motion analysis of floating structures by a surface singularity panel method

A singularity panel method based on Green´s function integral equation is used to calculate the motion characteristics of ships and offshore structures. The free surface and the body surface are discretized by source-sink and dipole type singularity panels. This reduces the governing integral equation for the velocity potential to a system of algebraic equations which can easily be solved by a computer. The added mass and damping coefficients are computed by appropriate summations along the body surface. The approach is unique since it uses the free space Green´s function instead of more complicated Green´s function satisfying the free-surface boundary condition. The applications of the method are limited to linear, two-dimensional, incompressible free-surface problems. The extension to three-dimensional geometries is straightforward.