Robust Design Optimization for the refit of a cargo ship using real seagoing data

Robust Design Optimization (RDO) represents a really interesting opportunity when the specifications of the design are careful and accurate: the possibility to optimize an industrial object for the real usage situation, improving the overall performances while reducing the risk of occurrence of off-design conditions, strictly depends on the availability of the information about the probability of occurrence of the various operative conditions during the lifetime of the design. Those data are typically not available prior than the production of a prototype. However, once the design has been produced and is operative, navigation data can be collected and utilized for the modification (refitting) of the current design, possibly in an early stage of its lifetime, in order to adapt the design to the real operative conditions at a time when the lifetime is still long enough to allow the payback of the cost of the modification by the obtained savings. In the present paper, five sister ships have been observed for a time period of two months, recording their operative data. Statistical distribution of speed and displacement are derived. An optimization framework is then applied, and some modifications of a small portion of the hull are proposed in order to increase significantly the performances of the hull, decreasing, the operative cost of the ship. Dedicated numerical techniques are adopted in order to reduce the time required for the re-design activities. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.