Waterline parabolization is a design procedure used for displacement vessels to decrease the wave resistance of the hullform through the addition of amidships bulbs. The bow and shoulder wave system of a parent hullform are interfered with by the wave system produced by the amidships bulb. Despite an overall increase in vessel beam, amidships bulbs can produce enough wave cancellations to decrease the total resistance. The designer must pay close attention to the amidships bulbs longitudinal positioning and fairing. Two design approaches can be taken: one the amidships bulbs are "retro-fit" to the existing parent hullform increasing the vessels displacement, and second the displacement is held constant producing an entirely new "optimized" design with shallower entrance and exit angles. Optimal shapes for the amidships bulbs were developed numerically using a potential flow code based on Dawson's method coupled with a quasi-Newton nonlinear programming algorithm, Calisal et al.(2009a). Tow-tank tests at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) confirmed that amidships bulbs could reduce the effective power by 15%.
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