Impact of Bulbous Bow Geometry on Ship Resistance: A Numerical Study
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Keywords:
Ship Resistance, Bulbous Bow, Series 60, Partially Parametric Modelling Genetic AlgorithmAbstract
This paper presents a numerical investigation into the effects of different bulbous bow forms
on a ship's total resistance using Computational Fluid Dynamics. As a preliminary optimization study,
various bulbous bow designs were generated through a Genetic Algorithm to identify the geometric
features of the bow form that achieves the greatest reduction in total resistance. Unlike conventional
empirical and experimental methods for bulbous bow design, the ship's bow form in this study was
partially parameterized using Non-Uniform Rational Basis Splines (NURBS). Based on the defined
parameters, forms generated and optimized using the NSGA-II algorithm were analyzed with CFD and
evaluated in terms of resistance performance. The results revealed that resistance reduction varies with
the geometric characteristics of the bulb, with the bulb's length emerging as the most influential parameter
within the explored design space.
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References
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