Design guidelines and empirical evaluation tools for inland ships

For inland ships, state-of-the-art hull form design is to a large extent based on experience, common sense, or adjusting previous designs. The idea therefore arises that further optimization is possible if the right knowledge is available. This knowledge is insufficiently available due to two main reasons. First, research into inland ship optimization is usually omitted from the design process due to the high cost compared to the design budget. This has led to a lack of fundamental knowledge about the complex hydrodynamics around the hull of an inland ship. Second, as a consequence of omitting optimization research, adequate empirical power prediction methods have not been developed for inland ships due to the lack of data. In the Top Ships project, effort is put in the development of an empirical method for inland ship power estimation as well as the derivation of design guidelines. Both should aid designers in the process of a new ship's design. The present paper gives an overview of available information from literature that aids to design of inland ships. Design guidelines and power prediction methods that relate to the design of a new inland ship are presented and discussed. The conclusions emerging from this review lead to the choice of focus in the Top Ships project. Therefore an introduction, the approach and intended results of this project are briefly presented as well.Marine and Transport TechnologyMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin