Development of Algorithmic and Parametric Methods for the Design of Sustainable Hydrofoil Boats

Sustainability is a fundamental objective for the future of transportation, including maritime. This work presents a parametric and algorithimc metodology to design sustainable hydrofoil vessels. The proposed approach considers as a case study the development of a 12-meter hybrid diesel-electric powered with hydrogen fuel cells hydrofoil with canard wing configuration. The design of the hydrofoil vessel starts with the preliminary assumptions, integrates the hydrodynamic modeling, CAD automation, power unit sizing, simple control design and transient CFD simulations to verify the behavior of the vessel. Two 100 kW electric motors with 180 kW hydrogen fuel cell stack, a 33kVA diesel generator and 350 bar hydrogen cylinders were chosen for the PU. The range of sailing estimated in green mode is 220 km in cruise speed of 31 m/s, at max efficiency speed 12.4 m/s the range increases to 285 km. The range of sailing in hybrid mode increases of about the 30% respect to the zero-emission mode. These results confirm the feasability of the design, the correctness of the method of design used and its potential to support the future of sustainable maritime transport.