Hull Form Optimization for Monohull Ships

A study was carried out to investigate methods and to determine the "optimum" hull form for monohull ships, based upon several weighted criteria. The main product of this study is a hull form optimization program. Propulsion power minimization is the primary focus of the program, although simplified. seakeeping and weight/cost issues can also be studied with the existing program. The program uses standard naval architecture methods to simultaneously evaluate many hydrodynamic aspects of hull form design, and provides confidence intervals on the resistance estimate. The result is a flexible tool that allows naval architects to quickly compare the performance of a known hull form with many alternatives, based upon expected operating profiles and expected environments. Reasonable agreement was achieved when comparing program optimization results with real-world hull designs. Thesis Supervisor: Cliff Whitcomb Title: Senior Lecturer, SDM