Hydrodynamic optimisation of a new hull bow shape by CFD code

Abstract

As ship resistance is a major concern for ship design in terms of energy consumption and hydrodynamic aspects of ship, there is a project to look for the best ship designs and also for the optimisation methods which can be the most effective. Starting from the last two decades, optimisation methods are growing in a significant rate as well as the CAD driven simulation software.

The aim of this work is to check the usefulness of adapting a new bulbous bow for a hull of a military frigate, for three operational speeds with a maximum speed of 25 knots. The bulbous bow is known to reduce the drag resistance due to its influence on the bow wave system. For this optimisation process RANS-CFD code of STAR-CCM+ is used to calculate the drag forces on the hull of ship. An open source CAD software based on the parametric design method has been used to generate the bulbous bow shapes for the purpose of testing and evaluation of objectives.

The obtained CFD results are compared to towing tank test results for a hull without bulbous bow.