Improvement of hull form for an 1,800 TEU containership toward reduced fuel consumption under in-service conditions

Abstract

In the present study, the hull form of an 1,800 TEU containership was developed to reduce fuel consumption under real operation conditions. Contrary to the conventional hull form design practice in terms of the calm-sea performance, the hull form design in this study was aimed at improving the performance of a ship under in-service condition, which is closely associated with the added resistance due to waves. In order to reduce the added resistance due to waves, the bow hull form was modified to have sharper entrance with increased length between perpendicular. This enabled the waves to follow the bow part more smoothly. The added resistance of the developed hull was predicted by means of a series of CFD simulations in regular waves with wavelengths λ/Lpp=0.5∼2.0. The added resistance at irregular waves was calculated by frequency integration. The Daily Fuel Oil Consumption (DFOC) was subsequently calculated based on the wave statistics on the operating route. The significance of the present study lies in the point that the performance evaluation was carried out by means of the free-surface CFD simulation in the presence of regular waves. Final performance verification was made through a series of model tests. The resulting DFOC and daily CO2 emission for the optimal hull form under the in-service conditions was found to be reduced by 7.65%. Furthermore, the calm-sea DFOC and CO2 emission were also improved by 3.43%.