Sideways launching process of a ship using the Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian approach

The launching process of ships is always a critical event during its construction. Especially a sideways launching process can be challenging. Besides high loads on the ship’s hull structure at the impact with the water surface, the stability has to be checked carefully to prevent capsizing of the ship. The resulting maximum heeling angle is one of the most critical parameters during such a launching process. If the maximum heeling angle gets too high, the ship can capsize or higher openings (e.g. ventilations) can come in contact with the water resulting in flooding of compartments. Therefore, the movement of the ship and the loads at impact with the water surface have to be assessed as accurately as possible during the design of a ship, if a sideways launching process is planned.