Optimization in marine propulsion: a step towards efficiency and low noise

Reducing the environmental footprint of ships means, nowadays, not only maintaining the highest possible energy efficiency but also reducing underwater radiated noise, which is seen by regulations as a pollutant such as any GHG. Since energy efficiency and low noise are contrasting objectives, and unconventional propulsors often represent the only possible answer to these requirements, optimization-based design approaches are becoming increasingly familiar to tackle with medium- and high-fidelity computational tools this complex design challenge. Based on a decade of experience, some results of the University of Genoa in the design of conventional and unconventional propellers and energy saving devices, using a combination of different tools will be presented to demonstrate, once more, the flexibility and reliability of such methodologies.