B6371 - Vessel Design

Learning outcomes

The main objective of the course is to provide students with the tools necessary for designing innovative, technological and sustainable boats. At the end of the course, students will be able to develop a preliminary boat design. They will also be able to evaluate the main interactions between the various specialist aspects characterising the ship design and to work on the linear and iterative path of the design spiral.

Course contents

1. The designer and project ethics.

2. The client, from project brief to market analysis.

3. The design process. The project spiral. Project drawings. Unit classification. Case study of a sailing pleasure craft with auxiliary engine.

4. Designing the hull of a sailing craft.
a. Main elements: waterline, stem, transom.
b. Geometry of the hull lines. The construction plan.
c. Main aspects that define the boat in relation to ISO standards
i. Length Lh - width Bh
ii. Midship section
iii. Construction height or sheer.
iv. Draught
v. Freeboard
vi. Waterline area.
vii. Midship section area.
d. The weight exponent.
e. Hull coefficients and their links to the design.
i. Waterline area coefficient (Cw)
ii. Slenderness or block coefficient (Cb)
iii. Prismatic coefficient (Cp)
iv. Midship section coefficient (Cx)
v. Relationships between the various coefficients.
f. Hull volume and centre of hull.


5. Stability and navigational safety of a sailing vessel.
a. Righting moment.
b. RM and the GZ curve.
c. Influence on hull design. Width and centre of gravity, freeboards, deckhouses and cockpits,
flares.
d. Mobile ballast influence on stability.
e. Longitudinal stability.
f. Flooding and implications for stability.
g. Use of software for stability calculation.
h. ISO standards and example of STIX calculation.


6. Sail plan:
a. Types of sail plans and sail plan nomenclature.
b. Sail plan dimensioning.
c. CE – CLR balance.


7. Hull appendages
a. Types of appendages in a sailing boat.
b. Appendage design basics.


8. Design
a. Ergonomics concepts.
b. Comfort concepts.
c. Aesthetics concepts.
d. Concepts on the use of 3D software for deck and interior design.


9. Preliminary design of a sailing boat with auxiliary motor for recreational use.
a. Market analysis.
b. Design parameters.
c. Naval architecture including appendages.
d. Sail plan.
e. 3D exterior design.
f. 2D interior design.
g. STIX calculation.


10. Performance validation: VPP, ORC regulations.


11. Motor boats.
a. Main types of motor boats.
b. Case study of a recreational motor boat.
c. Main design parameters:
i. Displacement / Length
ii. Froude number of volume and length.
iii. Prismatic coefficient
iv. Longitudinal centre of thrust.
d. Hull resistance to forward motion.
e. Basic physics of planing hulls. LCG of planing hulls and trim.
f. Main elements characterising the underwater hull of a planing motorboat.


12. Stability of motorboats: implications of hull design. Example of stability verification according to ISO.


13. Preliminary design of a motorboat.


14. Peer review of the design and critical presentation of the work.

Readings/Bibliography

1. Lars Larsson & Rolf Eliasson – Principles of Yacht Design
   
2. Francis S. Kinney – Skene’s Elements of Yacht Design, Dodd Mead & Company, New York
3. Steve Killing & Douglas Hunter – Yacht Design Explained, W.W. Norton & Company
4. Claughton-Wellicome & Shenoi - Sailing Yacht Design - Theory

Teaching methods

Lectures and tutorials held by the teacher, both in person and remotely.
During the course, tutorials will be organised with technical drawing and manual artistic activities.
Software for naval modelling and hydrostatic calculations will also be used.
Real case studies will be analysed.
At the end of the course, discussion sessions between students and presentations of the projects developed will be organised.

Assessment methods

The assessment will be based on the development of an individual preliminary project, including technical drawings, a descriptive report and basic regulatory compliance checks.
The project theme will be the same but differentiated individually among students on the basis of basic parameters in order to create an individual project.
This will be followed by an oral examination with discussion of the design choices and comparison with the subjects studied and the regulations, in which the student must demonstrate sufficient mastery of the topics presented in class and the choices made in the project.

Final grade scale:

Obvious gaps in a significant number of topics covered in the course and analytical skills that emerge only with the help of the teacher, expression in generally correct language → 18-19;
Preparation on a limited number of topics covered in the course and independent analytical skills only on purely executive issues, expression in correct language → 20-24;
Preparation on a wide range of topics covered in the course, ability to analyse and summarise, mastery of specific terminology → 25-29;

Teaching tools

A whiteboard and computer projections are used.

Office hours

See the website of Giovanni Ceccarelli