Theme 2 : Shipbuilding and leisure boat building

An increased collective awareness of ecological issues and a lasting upturn in the price of fossil fuels have had and will continue to have a marked impact on the maritime sector. These factors are now significantly influencing the criteria applied by clients and shipowners when looking to choose clean, efficient ships. Naval architects and shipyards must, as a result, turn to digital simulation tools and automated systems for optimising hull design, and deploy these alongside, or instead of, lengthier and more costly tank testing. The tools currently available, however, need to be adapted and improved to provide even more rapid and reliable solutions applicable to and tried and tested in realistic scenarios, such as, for example, a self-propelled vessel and its stabiliser system in an ocean swell. While current tools may make it possible to streamline the hull and maximise its speed, major efficiency gains are anticipated by optimising the interaction between the hull and the propulsion and stabiliser system, or systems, in a swell.

To achieve this, the project partners will be developing and establishing an optimisation process chain that incorporates these tools and that can be applied to any type of vessel, with no particular limitations. It will be possible to include technical specifications, such as the design constraints applying to cruise liners, and rapidly incorporate other simulation and design tools relating to naval architecture requirements, manufacturing costs, stability, etc.

OPTNAV project partners

Companies

• HydrOcean, Nantes, business start-up arising out of the Ecole Centrale Nantes, carries out industrial studies and hydrodynamics research and development using innovative simulation tools. HydrOcean brings expertise specifically relating to offshore, shipbuilding, leisure boat building and ocean energy operations.

• STX France (formerly Aker Yards) is a shipyard company specialising in the construction of large cruise liners.

• Bureau Veritas, Nantes and Paris, is a company whose operations focus principally on certification, compliance, training and consultancy for businesses in numerous sectors including aeronautics, transport, energy and marine.

• Sirehna, Nantes, specialises in marine robotics, embedded systems and optimisation.

Research centre

• Ecole Centrale de Nantes fluid mechanics lab specialises in vessel hydrodynamics (digital testing and simulation) and is developing simulation tools for the maritime sector.

Contact :

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 The OPTNAV project, officially recognised by the Pôle Mer Bretagne, has been similarly validated by the Pôle EMC2 (Pays de Loire Region).