Hydrodynamic optimization of ship’s hull-propeller system under multiple operating conditions using MOEA/D

The aim of this paper is to develop a software, namely HPS-MOP, based on the multi-level and multi-point hydrodynamic optimization of hull-propeller systems during early-stage ship design. An efficient multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is used as the optimization technique to minimize the effective power and maximize the propulsive efficiency with considering some design constraints. Michell’s integral and lifting line theory are, respectively, employed for the hydrodynamic analysis of hulls and propellers in the first-level optimization. At the second level, the boundary element method is applied as a strong tool to predict the hydrodynamic performance of hulls and propellers. The ship added resistance in head waves is estimated using a fast and satisfactory semi-empirical formula. The effectiveness of the approach is illustrated by comparing the optimized results with initial ones in the optimization of series 60 hull form with DTMB P4118 single propeller and S175 hull form with KP505 twin-propeller as the original models.