Variable-complexity hydrodynamic optimisation of a yacht hull

The variable-complexity shape optimisation of a model yacht hull tomaximise the hydrodynamic performance of the vessel is presented. The performance measure considered is the wave resistance of the hulland this is reduced subject to practical design constraints. During the early stages of the design optimisation, a relatively crudemethod of calculating the performance measure, thin-ship theory, isused. As the design optimisation nears its conclusion, this isreplaced by a more detailed panel method calculation. Thisvariable-complexity optimisation has the advantage of improving theperformance of the design space search. The hull surface considered is represented using the Partial Differential Equation method. This method permits a succinct parameterisation ofthe hull shape thus reducing the dimension of the design parameterspace to be searched