50 YEARS OF SHIP HULL OPTIMISATION

Bertram discusses the changes in ship hull design from 1971 to 2021. Hull design is traditionally based on model tests and/or numerical simulations. Both trace their very roots back to the 19th century. In 1861, British naval architect William Froude presented a paper to the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, outlining similarity laws for model tests. In 1879, the first model basin was built in Torquay, soon to be followed by many others around the world. For almost a century, model tests would be used virtually exclusively by the industry to evaluate hull forms and guide hull form optimization.