SHIPFLOW Version 6 Released

SHIPFLOW MOTIONS is a new flow solver for computing ship motions in waves. It is a time accurate fully nonlinear boundary element method which can be used to compute ship motions and added resistance in regular and irregular waves as well as wave resistance, sinkage and trim in calm water. Typical results are time series and response amplitude operators. The developers believe that the method will be a useful tool for ship designers with higher accuracy than traditional potential flow methods while at the same time being faster than the available RANS methods.

The SHIPFLOW 6 RANS solver XCHAP is now up to 10 times faster than its predecessor (version 5.2). A resistance computation can be run within 15 minutes and a self-propulsion simulation within 1 hour on a workstation. The increased solver performance and the efficient self-propulsion capability in SHIPFLOW makes automatic shape optimization of ship sterns feasible for ship designers. The delivered power can be optimized with self-propulsion simulations taking the two, often conflicting, aspects of resistance and propeller efficiency directly into account. SHIPFLOW 6 and CAESES have been used for stern shape optimizations of mono and twin-skeg hulls. 

“We are thrilled to offer the new efficient capabilities for optimizing the ship hull to reduce the delivered power and improve the performance in waves,” said Leif Broberg, managing director of FLOWTECH International AB. “These optimizations can now be used by our customers in their ship design process and we hope that it will contribute to more energy efficient and safer ships in the future.”

FLOWTECH International AB with its product SHIPFLOW is a developer and supplier of Computational Fluid Dynamics software packages for the Marine Industry. The package is designed to streamline the hull form, appendage and propulsion design process with a clear focus on optimization in order to minimize energy consumption.

SHIPFLOW stems from long term research at FLOWTECH in cooperation with SSPA and the Department of Shipping and Marine Technology at Chalmers University of Technology. Much of the development has been moved forward by joint projects with SHIPFLOW users and/or European and Nationally financed projects.

The number of licenses has grown steadily since the first version, SHIPFLOW 1.0, was released in 1991. Top shipyards, consultants and universities are among the SHIPFLOW users. Developed by naval architects, physicists and numerical analysts the software is optimized for ship hydrodynamics design. Specialization means SHIPFLOW is efficient and user-friendly. Grids are automatically generated, resistance and propulsion data are presented in the naval architect’s way and the solvers are adapted for hull geometries. Over the past 25 years SHIPFLOW has developed into the world standard for ship hydrodynamics CFD.