Cloud-based simulation of the hydrodynamic resistance of ships’ hulls in the presence of waves
Ship designers, shipbuilders, and maritime consultancy companies need accurate methods to predict additional ship resistance in waves. Experimental tests are time-consuming and expensive, and reducing the need for experimental data via a cloud-based HPC approach could save over €100k per year.
Start date: 01/11/2015
Duration in months: 18
Problem Description
Developing effective methods and tools to achieve accurate predictions of additional ship resistance in waves (compared to calm seas) allows for improved hull design with better structural properties, fuel economy, and sailing stability.
Goals
Simulation
Challenges
A single wave and speed condition simulation typically takes multiple days to complete on a medium size HPC cluster with 80 to 100 cores. Methods that need less computing time exist, but do not produce results of a sufficiently high quality.
Innovation results
A cloud-based HPC solution was developed, allowing multiple jobs to be submitted to a large on-demand resource. The HELYX client has been adapted to be able to submit jobs to the HPC service seamlessly. The software that runs on the HPC system has been optimized for large parallel jobs.
Business impact
CETENA could save over €100k per year by using the cloud-based HPC numerical solutions developed in this experiment, lowering computational costs and reducing design cycle time. ENGYS plans to increase sales of HELYX and HELYX-EcoMarine products and offer advanced ship resistance calculations.