Speed, payload, and range are three primary interconnected variables in preliminary ship design. One design variable cannot be maximized without sacrificing the other(s). The purpose of this work is to analyze those combinations of speed, payload, and range that would give the optimal rate of cargo delivery, or throughput, in a given scenario. A physics based mathematical model is developed to display the inter-relationship among the three primary variables. An optimization program was also developed to determine the optimal throughput for different design combinations. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to find an optimal solution that is least sensitive to changes in parameters other than the primary variables. The methodology developed in this work can be easily applied to a different ship class. The results can lead to a quick exploration of the design space in the preliminary design phase in order to isolate ranges of parameters leading to Pareto optimal sets and can be used to guide further design refinements.
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