Optimization of ships in shallow water with viscous flow computations and surrogate modeling

Abstract

Shallow water effects change the flow around a ship significantly which can affect the optimum design of the hull. This paper describes a study into the optimization of the aft ship region for various water depths. The research focuses on variations of the following parameters of a hull form: The athwart ship’s propeller location, the tunnel top curvature, the flat-of-bottom shape in the stern region and the stern bilge radius. All hull form variants are valuated in 3 different water depths using a viscous flow solver, and a surrogate model is created for each water depth. Pareto plots are used to present the trade-off between the optimization for one or another water depth. Finally, specific hull forms are chosen and the differences in flow behavior among hull forms and water depths are explained.Ship Design, Production and Operation