A Numerical Study on the Seakeeping Performance and Ride Comfort of a Small MonoHull Vessel With and Without Hydrofoil in Regular Head Seas

This study numerically investigates the effect of hydrofoil installation on the motion responses and ride comfort of a 20 m monohull vessel operating at 10 knots in regular waves. Linear seakeeping analysis (Maxsurf Motions) and nonlinear computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations (STAR-CCM+) are performed to compute response-amplitude operators (RAOs); for the bare hull, the two methods agree within 5%, confirming methodological reliability. The CFD results show that hydrofoils reduce heave and pitch amplitudes by approximately 16% on average. Motion Sickness Incidence (MSI) analysis indicates negligible seasickness under Gentle Breeze conditions, even during prolonged exposure; under Moderate conditions, no seasickness is predicted within 30 min across all encounter frequencies. Although linear analysis cannot directly estimate MSI for hydrofoil-fitted cases, the observed reductions in RAOs imply improved ride comfort. Overall, these findings demonstrate that hydrofoils can enhance motion stability and passenger comfort in small, low-speed vessels, providing quantitative evidence to support design applications.