Custom yacht conceptual and preliminary design

Although there has been a great deal of research regarding calculations of a sailing yacht performance, it appears that there is a relatively small body of literature specifically on the subject of computer based yacht design optimization and it also seems like, that the little work which has been performed was aimed to improve the design and refinement of Americas Cup monohull yachts (the “old” 12meters…). I recon the matter beeing a bit too restrictive if a general guide line should exist on how to match conflicting requirements such as desired dimensions, hydrostatic properties, resistance, VPP. comfort, stability, seaworthiness, ease of operations, structures analysis, construction, cost involved, in sailing yacht design.
As yacht designers are usually creating a one-off hull geometry and subsequently deriving all relevant hull technical characteristics from it, the approach often requires dealing with a substantial number of variables. Thus, once a hull shape it's been created from scratch, its hydrostatic properties may need further adjustment via MANUAL changes implemented on the yacht hull. In other words a trial-and-error process must be implemented despite an interactive hull design software includes the ability to apply parametric transformations to the hull shape in order to facilitate the optimization process. However, the procedure almost never gives satisfactory results.
Hence, in the preliminary stages the assembly of required hull parameters could be usually done by applying the following steps:
- Elaborate hull parameters;
- Create a parent basic hull shape;
- Perform a preliminary check on relevant hydrostatic data;
- Implement a hull shape variation via direct control point manipulation;
- Check on intermediate results and implement the optimization process
- Reiterate the process in order to target all relevant data.
But to my opinion it would be of interest outlining a step-by-step procedure useful for both: basic definition of the hull characteristic (in a technical and logical sequence) and the optimization process involved in the basic hull geometry variation (for instance for a fast ocean going sailing yacht).
This is the aim of the present thread. I will post further on this issue......