A 19% weighted drag reduction was obtained from optimising the bow thruster fairing shape and position, while another 5% of a total of 24% drag reduction came from the new hull shape.

Background on ShipOpt Technology

Our optimisation system was developed for extracting tiny performance improvements from America’s Cup yachts, the Formula One of the Seas, in order to obtain a performance advantage in an environment where every second counts. This technology was perfectly transferable to ship hull optimisation.

We used proprietary optimisation tools and methods based on highly accurate RANS CFD simulations combined with surrogate model optimisation techniques. Hundreds of shapes were created using a parametric CAD model and the drag of those shapes was computed with CFD. We then trained multivariate response surfaces to recognize the correlation between the parametric shape combinations and drag in the considered conditions. Once the response surfaces are trained they are used to compute the drag of over a million virtual shapes, from which a short-list of candidates is decided upon and tested again with CFD, which are then compared against the baseline hull supplied by the client. We regularly use two of the best RANS CFD codes available on the market, and in that way are able to cross-check that the computations are well set up before starting the optimisation process, and then also cross-check its results.