Objectives  To simulate the complex nonlinear interactions between the free surface and instantaneous wetted hull surface during ship navigation, an automatic mesh generation method is proposed.

Methods The method takes a whole-hull triangular mesh file as the input and automatically generates meshes for the instantaneously transforming free surface and wetted hull surface. It is able to handle arbitrary hullforms with complex bow and stern geometries while exhibiting strong robustness. Simulations of waves generated by a KCS hull at various speeds are then conducted using the proposed method.

Results The predicted ship-side wave profiles, wave patterns around the hull, and wave-making resistance show good agreement with the experimental results. Moreover, at higher speeds, the simulated wave surface at the KCS stern consistently stays below the transom, exhibiting a dry transom characteristic.

Conclusions The results demonstrate that the proposed method can accurately model nonlinear ship waves and has the potential to simulate the flow fields around transom-stern ships.