Journal Papers by Francesco Furcas
Ocean Engineering, 2021
A design method for pre-swirl stators energy saving devices, using a combined BEM-RANSE approach,... more A design method for pre-swirl stators energy saving devices, using a combined BEM-RANSE approach, is proposed. RANSE calculations, using actuator disks, are employed to provide the required thrust and the effective wake to an unsteady Boundary Element Method through which the rate of revolution of the propeller and its averaged performance in self-propulsion are evaluated. An automatic variation of the pre-swirl geometry, driven by an optimization algorithm that operates on the parameters defining the device, realizes an automatic "try-and-error" process, which is used as a design tool for the maximization of the energy saving effect. Results obtained for different numbers of stator fins show outstanding improvements, up to a reduction of the required shaft power of about 8%.
Papers by Francesco Furcas
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
A method for the morphing of surface/volume meshes suitable to be used in hydrodynamic shape opti... more A method for the morphing of surface/volume meshes suitable to be used in hydrodynamic shape optimization is proposed. Built in the OpenFOAM environment, it relies on a Laplace equation that propagates the modifications of the surface boundaries, realized by applying a free-form deformation to a subdivision surface description of the geometry, into the computational volume mesh initially built through a combination of BlockMesh with cfMesh. The feasibility and robustness of this mesh morphing technique, used as a computationally efficient pre-processing tool, is demonstrated in the case of the resistance minimization of the DTC hull. All the hull variations generated within a relatively large design space are efficiently and successfully realized, i.e., without mesh inconsistencies and quality issues, only by deforming the initial mesh of the reference geometry. Coupled with a surrogate model approach, a significant reduction in the calm water resistance, in the extent of 10%, has b...
Applied Ocean Research, 2020
Wake equalizing duct (WED) Hydrodynamic shape optimization Reynolds averaged navier stokes (RANS)... more Wake equalizing duct (WED) Hydrodynamic shape optimization Reynolds averaged navier stokes (RANS) Simulation based design optimization (SBDO) Japab bulk carrier (JBC) A B S T R A C T We propose a Simulation-Based Design Optimization (SBDO) approach for the design of an Energy Saving Device (ESD) based on the Wake Equalizing Duct (WED) concept. Pre-Ducts, like Wake Equalizing Ducts, reduce the wake losses, improve the propeller-hull interaction and generate an additional thrust. An integrated design approach, relying on a parametric description of the duct geometry of the WEDs and on a RANSE method, managed by a global convergence optimization algorithm, is developed to maximize the delivered thrust. The Japan Bulk Carrier (JBC) test case, for which model scale experimental data on the effectiveness of the WED are available in the literature, is considered as a baseline. Results obtained by using the adaptive, fully automated proposed design framework highlight significant improvemen...
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Journal Papers by Francesco Furcas
Papers by Francesco Furcas