Robust optimization for ship conceptual design

The paper presents an approach for the robust optimization of a bulk carrier conceptual design, subject to uncertain operating and environmental conditions. The uncertainties involved in the optimization process are addressed and a general formulation for robust design is given. Specifically, the uncertainties involved in the decision making process are taken into account by means of their probabilistic distributions. The expected values and the standard deviations of the relevant quantities are assessed and included in the optimization objectives, whereas the constraints are evaluated in the worst case. This leads to a robust design able to keep a good performance in the whole probabilistic operating scenario. A particle swarm optimization algorithm is used for the global minimization process, minimizing the expectation and the standard deviation of the unit transportation cost. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.