Hydrodynamics

Hydrodynamics
The hullform of a new vessel is something with which you are married actually for the entire lifetime of the vessel; even though some small modifications could be carried out later on to change some of the performance characteristics the overall hull cannot change. It is therefore advisable to invest in the optimization process of hull lines not only for resistance and propulsion but also for seakeeping and manoeuvring; it will pay off quickly once the vessel is operational. Advanced hullform and propulsion arrangement design based on extensive statistics, continuous R&D, CFD, model and full scale tests, all integrated in an optimisation loop ensuring the best achievable compromise in the hydrodynamic performance.

 MEKY Hydrodynamics products can be divided into seven principal categories according to the contents and use of the results:

• Principle dimension definition
• Hullform design
  The most serious part of the vessel is the hullform that you usually marry for the life duration of the vessel, regardless if it is a high speed planing craft, a catamaran passenger ferry or a bulk carrier ship. The hullform is the one feature of the boat that can dictate the operation like no other, therefore the design must be careful and be evaluated continuesly.
  MEKY is an expert in hullform design and performance evaluation. We have developed more than 100 hullforms from 2005 till today varying from all types of ships, yachts, boats and vessels, as size and operation categorise them.
  MEKY is an expert in catamaran designs especially for rough weather operation with deep knowledge of the interference between the demi-hulls both viscous and wave in nature. Furthermore MEKY has developed numerous high speed planing hullforms from commercial workboats and luxury leisure craft to racing powerboats and military vessels.
• Integrated hullform design with arrangements, structural and other critical design related issues.
  Hullform design on its own is usually not a very successful process as the hullform must not be generated on its own individually but in conjunction with the development of the general arrangements (i.e. weight distribution, ergonomics, etc.). MEKY understands completely that the successful design is the one that offers the best compromise of the client ‘wants’ and the engineer ‘can’ but stays within the design brief. With this philosophy we have developed our adopted approach that utilises the known ‘design spiral’ methodology but have tailor made it allowing us to adopt with new products and keeping the protocol the same.
  This freedom of parameter selection allows us to investigate possible differences in arrangement, performance, structural design, weight distribution in the sense of scenarios and investigate the impact to the design and the life operation of the design. The hypothetical operational scenarios give us a greater view of the performance characteristics and the design impacts and we can optimise the design to suit the operational profile of the commissioner either being an individual, a shipping company, a shipyard and so on.
• Resistance and Power performance
• Seakeeping and Manoeuvring performance
• Appendage and Propulsion design
• Validation and proof of concept with available references
  MEKY has great experience in models test for over 15 years as Dr. Mantouvalos was in Newcastle University Towing Tank during his research degree until today as a visiting lecturer in small craft hydrodynamics and has conducted series of experiments at times. One very important step in understanding and measuring the performance of new designs with unknown hullform parameters is the confidence of the prediction method about the magnitude of the result. In cases that CFD is not found sensitive enough to estimate the performance characteristics of a specific vessel type in has been found that experiments are required. But since experiments cost a lot and are time consuming MEKY has developed a method for the callibration of CFD with minimal experiments the method is called CCEFD.
  This methodology developed is used to provide our customers with proof of concept studies, i.e. when numerical methods are not certain a small number of selected experiments bridges the gap.We take your idea, we model your idea and if given the chance we prototype and test your idea.

The state-of-the-art tools and methods used by MEKY Hydrodynamics are developed in-house and thoroughly validated making this the key difference of MEKY compared to other similar design offices. It gives us a competitive advantage over the rest of the market and an incomparable know-how and confidence on the implementation of these numerical and experimental methods and subsequently has sculptured our Hydrodynamics Analysis Philosophy. For more information on the numerical and experimental hydrodynamics tools and methods developed and under-development by MEKY Hydrodynamics please contact us.