Practical Hydrodynamic Design of Bulbous Bows for Ships

Although in modern times, bulbous bows have become an integral part of commercial ships, the hydrodynamic design of bulbous bows is still difficult because of costly tank tests and patent‐driven knowledge banks. The design of a bulbous bow is needed even at the preliminary design level to predict speed and power. In this work, a design method is presented that combines and extends two famous theories i.e., Kracht (1978a) and Yim (1980) for a particular set of requirements within a narrow range of parameters. The method uses a reanalysis of an approximate linear theory with sheltering effect for resistance estimation, and re‐correlation with statistical analysis via a non‐linear multivariate regression analysis from existing literature and tank test results available in the public domain. The optimization of design parameters has been done for the design speed. The effect of change in the speed has been discussed and suit‐ably incorporated in the design process. In the present work, the effect of production constraints on the design of bulb parameters has also been briefly examined. The results of this study are presented in the form of design parameters related to main hull parameters for a set of input data in a narrow range. The first six parameters have been derived by re‐correlation with statistical analysis and the seventh parameter by reanalysis of an approximate linear theory with sheltering effect for resistance estimation. Finally, a design example, which includes tank test results, of an additive bulbous bow for a container ship has been presented.