The naval and commercial ship design communities have long needed a predictive capability to address the complex interaction between a ship's boundary layer, the nonlinear free-surface, and the propulsor. In commercial ship design, the prediction of near-field flows is central to the problems of unsteady propeller loads, cavitation, and propeller-induced hull vibrations. The solution to these problems requires detailed knowledge of the turbulent stern flow (including thick and perhaps separated boundary layers), bilge vorticity, and propeller/hull interaction.

Another interesting application is the prediction of ship hydrodynamic response, how the ship pitches and rolls, in heavy seas.

There are several CFD codes available which are tailored for hydraulic analysis.

The use of CFD in the ship building industry has been spured by the expense and time-consuming nature of hydrodynamic tank testing.