Hydrodynamic Models and Energy-Efficient Marine Designs
Key Takeaways
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Hydrodynamic models help engineers maximize the efficiency of their designs.
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Developing hydrodynamic models supports the assessment of hydrodynamical forces on marine engineering structures.
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The optimization of marine designs using hydrodynamic model predictions ensures compliance and cost reduction.
Hydrodynamic models help engineers understand the hydrodynamic behavior of a marine design
Have you ever marveled at the way a ship can stay upright and sail somewhat smoothly in rough waters? This is no miracle; engineers have spent years studying physics to ensure that their marine designs can handle any condition the sea throws at them. Ship propulsion involves complex flow physics, and to assess and validate ship designs, physical models are developed. The emergence of computational fluid dynamics advanced the predictions made on marine engineering designs and eliminated the need for physical models.
At present, designs in the marine sector are assessed using hydrodynamic models, which helps engineers understand their hydrodynamic behavior and maximize the efficiency of the design. Let’s discuss hydrodynamic modeling and its applications further.
Hydrodynamic Models and Marine Designs
Hydrodynamics is the study of fluids in motion. The tides, winds, waves, fluid meetings, and turbines are all instrumental in generating fluid motion. Hydrodynamics exert forces on solid bodies immersed in fluid. Ships, offshore civil structures, and seabed cables are some examples of things that are affected by fluid movement and behavior. To design efficient, effective, and responsible offshore infrastructure and marine engineering systems, it is important to quantify the complex fluid flow physics and how the fluid motion interacts with marine designs.
Developing hydrodynamic models supports the assessment of hydrodynamical forces on marine engineering structures and engineering designs. Hydrodynamic models help in acquiring information related to the interaction between the engineering design, its operation, and the environment. Using hydrodynamic models, it is possible to optimize marine designs by ensuring the design meets the engineering constraints. The optimization of designs using hydrodynamic model predictions ensures compliance and cost reduction.
Hydrodynamics in Ship Design
Hydrodynamics is used for determining the two fundamental properties in ship design: safety and efficiency. Hydrodynamic modeling aids in bringing a balance between the safety and efficiency of the ship design in an optimized way. The application of hydrodynamic modeling for dynamic positioning, maneuvering controller design, ship power requirements, and hull design is common in naval architecture.
Hydrodynamic modeling is capable of analyzing the hydrodynamics associated with the design at full scale. The models provide a complete analysis of all flow aspects related to the design and can provide information on the performance aspects of the hull design, hull propeller interaction, and hull resistance as well. With this modeling, it is possible to examine the hydrodynamics of the ship under realistic operating conditions so engineers can optimize the ship design to ensure its energy efficiency under a wide range of sea conditions.
CFD and Hydrodynamic Solutions
The rapid growth of computational technologies influenced the development of hydrodynamic models that support ship design. Hydrodynamic models are effective in developing efficient marine engineering systems and can aid the design process in a few ways, including:
- Optimizing the ship hull and other devices to achieve energy efficiency
- Predicting the hull resistance at different sea conditions
- Analyzing the wave loading on the design and ensuring the design is structurally stable
- Analyzing the performance of the ship when maneuvering
- Developing dynamic positioning and maneuvering controller designs
- Confirming the design developed meets the seakeeping performance criteria
- Performing full-scale analysis of the design to remove scaling effects and uncertainties
Hydrodynamic modeling plays a fundamental role in assuring energy efficiency in ships. In commercial marine vessels, efficiency and operating costs are two factors considered for making trade-offs between several design variants. Industrial ship designing enterprises are keen on attaining energy efficiency in ship operation, which is why hydrodynamic modeling will continue to play a critical role in the ship designing process.
Cadence’s CFD tools can be employed in hydrodynamic application areas to achieve energy efficiency. Cadence’s suite of CFD software is helpful when resolving hydrodynamical problems in a ship design, thereby boosting the performance and accuracy of the marine structure.
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