Numerical and experimental study on hydrodynamic bulbous bow hull-form optimization for various service conditions due to slow steaming of container vessel

In this article, an innovative hydrodynamic optimization design of bulbous bow hull-form under various service conditions resulting from the slow steaming of container vessel is presented, improving the overall performances for the real multi-variant usage situations more practical than the single specification of design, which includes both numerical computation and experimental validation. Effects of slow steaming–based statistical analysis of the actual operative occurrence during the lifetime is conducted, obtaining a combined probability density distribution of speed and displacement ushering in the evaluation of objective function. Three main component elements of the hydrodynamic optimization procedure that comprises parametric design of bulbous bow hull-form variation part, hydrodynamic numerical solver part, and optimization technique part are established and integrated. The proposed optimization process is subsequently applied to find the optimal bulbous bow of a container carrier for the hipping demand of different speeds and displacement distributed utilization, reducing significantly total conditions resistance of the hull, on a higher level decreasing the operative cost as well as gas emissions of the ship. Finally, there is an experimental campaign carried out between the optimal and original models to validate the numerical optimization computations. The compared investigation has provided a good agreement from the perspective of both numerical and experimental studies, as a result confirming the success of the present optimization framework and the utility value of the proposed optimization consideration on various service conditions during ship design stage.