Contact: Maridith Geuder
Complex high-speed computing technology developed at Mississippi State continues to contribute to a United States Navy goal of developing more fuel-efficient vessels.
The university's National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Computational Field Simulation recently joined a new University of Michigan-led project that also involves Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula.
A $2.1 million, three-year award from the Office of Naval Research is funding the multi-team collaboration. The goal is to develop a more efficient design for stern flaps--small bottom surface extensions of a ship's rear hull.
"There is evidence that stern flaps reduce drag and, consequently, fuel consumption," said David L. Whitfield, director of the ERC's Computational Simulation and Design Center.
Whitfield, a Giles Distinguished Professor of Engineering, earlier led MSU's successful development of a computational code now used by the Navy on submarine and surface ship calculations.
The research team now will be working on a design that produces the optimum stern flap for any ship configuration. Current techniques vary, depending on the judgment of designers who often rely on trial-and-error variations of a parent design.
The Mississippi State-Michigan team's goal is a new universal methodology that can be employed easily by designers and shipbuilders. MSU, in addition to developing the necessary computer codes, will use its supercomputer to create full-scale numerical design simulations.
Whitfield said stern flaps are an especially difficult challenge due to the conflicting design variables that must be considered. As an example, he cited the turbulent flow field around a ship's stern that affects efficient propulsion and wave-making resistance, among other characteristics.
"Any efficient design technique must take into account all of the effects," he explained. "The problem is difficult and challenges the present state of the art."
The team will develop a general design methodology for the optimization of stern flaps in calm water. This approach will permit more complex characteristics to be dealt with in future research efforts.
If successful, the new design protocols could significantly impact the development of Navy vessels ranging from patrol craft to large sea-lift ships, Whitfield said. It also could benefit cruise ships, fast ferries, high-speed container ships, and other commercial craft.
The collaboration brings together the nation's largest school of naval architecture at the University of Michigan, the largest computational engineering research program at MSU, and the Pascagoula shipyard where half of the nation's new DD21 surface combatant ships will be built. Ingalls' role will be to assess the practical applications of the methodology.