Proceedings of the ASME 2019 38th International
Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering
NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF TRIM OPTIMIZATION ON RESISTANCE PERFORMANCE BASED ON CFD
METHOD
Wenyang Duan, Hongsen Zhang, Limin Huang, Jianyu Liu, Wenbo Shao, Guanzhou Cao, Zhang Shi
Harbin Engineering University
Harbin, China
ABSTRACT
In response to the gradually stringent carbon emission
requirements of the International Maritime Organization
(IMO), the energy-saving methods of the shipping industry have
received increasing attention. Today how to reduce fuel
consumptions so as to lower carbon emissions to improve the
economic and environmental benefits of ships has become a hot
topic. As one of the most easily implemented energy-saving
methods, trim optimization has caught more and more
researchers' eyes.
In this paper, a commercial CFD software STAR-CCM+ was
adopted to analyze the influence of trim on the resistance
performance of VLCC ship mainly with fixed model method
under various typical conditions of the design draft and the
ballast draft respectively. The grid convergence was studied at
the design draft and the typical numerical simulations were
verified by the experimental results before carrying out various
numerical simulations of trim optimization. Seven different
kinds of trim conditions, which correspond to the changing
process of the full scale ship from trimming by stern 4m to bow
4m, were simulated with 3 different speeds of design draft and
ballast draft. The changes of total resistance, frictional
resistance and residual resistance were analyzed to explore the
effect of trims on the ship's resistance. The variation of ship’s
wetted surface area and waterplane area under different trim
angles were studied. It was found that under the condition of
low Froude number, both the simulation of free trim and sink
method and the fixed model method can achieve good accuracy
with the method of fixed model reducing the simulation time
obviously. Both conditions of the design draft and ballast draft
had a certain reduction effect of total resistance for trimming
by bow properly, of which the change of frictional resistance is
dominant in the decrease of total resistance at design draft
while the change of residual resistance is the main cause at
1 Copyright © 2019 ASME
OMAE2019
June 9-14, 2019, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
OMAE2019-96181
ballast draft. The optimum trims were found and the optimal
total resistance reduction effects were evaluated. The optimal
total resistance reduction effect increased with speed whether at
the design or the ballast draft and the reduction effects were
more obvious at ballast draft. Meanwhile, it was found that the
changes of wetted surface area and the waterplane area with
different trims were close to the variation tendency of the
frictional resistance.
Keywords: Resistance; CFD; Trim optimization; Energy-
saving.
INTRODUCTION
For the past few years, along with the increasingly serious
effects of global warming, high attention has been paid to the
environmental issues. According to the related research, the
ship industry contributes to approximately 3% of global co2
emission, 14%-15% of global nox emission and 16% of global
sox emission [1]. In response to global climate change, the
International Maritime Organization (IMO) has drafted bills on
carbon emission based on the development status which
stipulates that by 2020, the carbon emissions of ships should
decrease by 9%-16% compared with the current stage and by
2030, the commanded decrement will be up to 17%-25% [2].
Fuel-related costs account for 60-70% of the total cost of the
entire life of the ship [3]. Obviously, reducing fuel consumption
and improving fuel efficiency are of great significance to
environment and shipping companies. Meanwhile, the low
freight and high cost situation have also made the shipping
industry face greater survival challenges, which prompted the
companies to seek measures to improve the energy efficiency of
ships to enhance competitiveness actively [4]. Now how to
reduce fuel consumption and lower carbon emissions to
improve the ship’s economic and environmental benefits has
become a hot topic with increasing concern.
As one of the most easily implemented energy-saving
measures, trim optimization has attracted more and more
researchers' attention. It doesn’t require additional
modifications to the hull shape or main engine, only needs to
adjust the loading plane or ballast water during the navigation,
no matter the ship is new or old. Reichel.M et al [5] reported
that Force Technology has conducted trim optimization
experiments devotedly in the past 10 years. Among nearly 300
ship tests, it was found that the energy saving potential of trim
optimization highest up to 15% and generally around 2-3%.
Meanwhile they developed a SeaTrim software to assist the
crew to find the optimal trim quickly. According to HSH
Norobank's market research report [6], 71% of the surveyed
shipyards conducted trim optimization studies for their ships. In
the past, the researches of trim optimization were mainly based
on experiments, and most were carried out for the design draft
at a heavy price. Today with the improvement of computer’s
performance, CFD technology has played a more and more
important role in trim optimization. Tong Jun et al [7] used
CFX and FLUENT software to optimize the trim of LPG ship
with different draughts and speeds. The optimum trim was
obtained under different conditions, indicating that the ship
resistance can be reduced by trim optimization. Gao Xianjiao et
al [3] took the total resistance performance of 46000t tanker as
the optimization index and used FLUENT software to calculate
the resistance under multiple conditions to study the effect of
trim on ship’s resistance. Jisun Lee et al [8] used the SoLuTion
computational evaluation system which developed by Samsung
Heavy Industries Company to forecast the resistance and power
of container ships under different drafts, speeds and trims
conditions. They found the immersion of the bulb bow and the
transom has a great influence on finding the optimal trim. Park
et al [9] used STAR-CCM+ software to carry out trim
optimization on 6800TEU container ship, especially at slow
steaming speed and they conducted bulbous bow retrofit at
slow speed conditions based on the former studies. Salma et al
[1] used SHIPFLOW software to optimize the trim of KCS
ship, found the optimal trim and analyzed the influence of
resistance. Iakovatos et al [10] studied the towing tank
experiments of five different types of ships which confirmed
that trimming appropriately can achieve the goal of reducing
ship’s resistance and thus reduce fuel consumption. According
to their research, the dynamic trim of ships like Bulk and
Passenger has little change compared with static trim and the
change of resistance is greatly affected by the initial static trim
values. Hussein et al [11] used MAXSURF software to perform
trim optimization on a full scale cargo ship under a variety of
draughts and speeds. According to the trim optimization
analysis, it was found that the wetted surface area, the waterline
length and the residual resistance have an effect on the total
resistance, of which the change of residual resistance is the
main part. Shivachev et al [6] used STAR-CCM+ software to
study dynamic trim effect on the resistance of KCS ship at both
design and ballast draft. The numerical results were verified by
2 Copyright © 2019 ASME
experiment, which indicated that trimming by bow has energy-
saving effect, especially under the ballast draught conditions.
They found that the fixed model simulation method can save
calculation time, while the prediction accuracy of the total
resistance reduction effect is not as good as the simulation of
free trim and sink.
Based on the current background and research status, we
found that although trim optimization based on CFD method
has been studied by a lot of researchers, there are still some
limitations when it comes to the reasons behind the change of
resistance. This paper mainly used the commercial software
STAR-CCM+ to optimize the trim of a VLCC ship and analyze
the change of resistance components mainly with fixed model
method under various typical conditions of design draft and
ballast draft respectively. The paper was organized as follows.
Firstly, the background and theory of trim optimization were
introduced. Secondly, the simulation method was presented and
the simulation conditions were chosen. Thirdly, the results of
trim optimization under various conditions were analyzed. Parts
of numerical simulations were verified by the experimental data
and the results fitted well. The changes of total resistance,
frictional resistance and residual resistance obtained by the
numerical simulations were analyzed to explore the influence
of trims on the change of ship's resistance components. At the
same time, the changes of wetted surface area and waterplane
area under different trim conditions were studied to help us
understand the process of trim behavior better. Finally, a brief
summary and the main conclusions were drawn.
NUMERICAL SIMULATION
Theory of Trim optimization
Trim optimization is a technique to change the shape of the
underwater part of the hull by adjusting the loading or ballast
water to make the ship trim toward the bow or stern to reduce
fuel consumption with minimum resistance. Generally the
difference between drafts at the fore and aft ( TF / TA ) is used to
indicate the trim of the ship. During this paper, we defined
trimming by bow is positive and trimming by stern is negative.
t = TF − TA (1)
t
 = arctan (2)
LPP
It can be known from the statics analysis that when the
loading position or ballast water is adjusted to make the ship
trim, barycentric position (G) of the ship changes and the hull
tilts, which affect the underwater shape, wetted surface area,
waterline length and waterplane area of the hull and ultimately
bring the ship to a new equilibrium position [12] as shown in
Figure 1. In this paper, the trim optimization simulations are
mainly carried out in a way that doesn’t allow the ship to trim
and sink freely during the process of numerical simulation. That
means, we mainly studied the effect of static trim. The dynamic
trim effect will be researched in the future.
 are 10kn, 14kn and 15kn and the corresponding Froude
numbers are 0.091, 0.128 and 0.137 ; speeds of ballast draught
are 11kn, 14kn and 15kn and the corresponding Froude
numbers are 0.1, 0.128 and 0.137) with 7 trim conditions
(corresponding to the changing process of the full scale ship
from trimming by stern 4m to bow 4m). The simulated
conditions are shown in the following Table 2.
Table 2 Simulation conditions of trim optimization

Design draft(20.5m) Ballast draft(9.5m)

Trim TF / TA TF / TA
Trim(deg)
angle （m） （m）
Figure 1 Explanation of trim phenomenon Fn Fn (positive
(positive (Full (Full
by bow)
by bow) Scale) Scale)
Introduction to the ship model -0.716° 18.5/22.5 -0.716° 7.5/11.5
The inertial coordinate system O-XYZ is defined as positive -0.358° 19.5/21.5 -0.358° 8.5/10.5
X in the bow direction, positive Y in the port and positive Z 0.091 -0.179° 20.0/21.0 0.1 -0.179° 9.0/10.0
upward. The intersection point of centerplane, the baseplane 0.128 0° 20.5/20.5 0.128 0 9.5/9.5
and the aft perpendicular is taken as the origin of the 0.137 +0.179° 21.0/20.0 0.137 +0.179° 10.0/9.0
coordinate. The main parameters of the simulated VLCC ship
are as shown in Table 1. +0.358° 21.5/19.5 +0.358° 10.5/8.5
Table 1 Main parameters of the simulated VLCC ship +0.716° 22.5/18.5 +0.716° 11.5/7.5
Parameters Full scale Model scale
LPP / m 320 6.78 Governing Equations
B/m 60 1.27 The governing equations of incompressible viscous flow are
the continuity and the Navier–Stokes (N-S) equations. After
D/m 34 0.72 averaging these equations over time, simplified continuity and
T /m 20.5 0.434 the RANS equations are as follow
 / m3 319229 3.04 U i
=0 (3)
Scale factor 1 47.198 xi
U i U i 1 p 1   U i 
+U j =− +  − U iU j  (4)
t x j  xi  x j  x j 

Numerical Method
In order to study the variation of the resistance under Where:  is the viscosity; P is the mean pressure; − U iU j is
different trim conditions, a commercial CFD software STAR- the Reynolds stress which needs to be solved through
CCM+ was adopted to solve the Reynolds average Navier- turbulence modeling. During the simulation of this paper,
Stoke equations (RANS). The VOF method was used to deal k −  turbulence modeling was chosen.
with the change of free surface. In the level trim state of design
draft (20.5m), both the free method (used DFBI function to
make the ship free to trim and sink) and the fixed method were
Computational domain and Mesh generation
simulated respectively. Convergence analysis and comparison
In order to save computing resources and improve
of two simulation methods were conducted at the design draft.
computational efficiency, taking into account the symmetry of
Before carrying out the trim optimization simulations of
the ship model, we take the half model to calculate. The
various conditions, parts of the numerical simulation results
computational domain size is shown in Table 3. The boundary
were verified by the experimental data. The experiment was
conditions are selected as shown in Figure 2 where the wave-
carried out in the SSPA towing tank in 2013, providing the
eliminating condition is selected for the inlet, outlet, and side
results of the resistance of 7 speeds at the design draft under the
boundaries to reduce the effect of wave reflection. Mesh
level trim state and the ballast draught with trimming by stern
generation is a key part of the CFD simulation method. To
4m (-0.716deg) conditions. After conducting the comparison to
reduce the number of meshes, the regions near the hull like the
confirm the feasibility of numerical simulations, three kinds of
bow, stern and free surface were refinement based on the
speeds were selected under the conditions of design draught
volumetric control function. And a larger mesh size is used in
(20.5m) and ballast draught (9.5m) (speeds of designed draught

3 Copyright © 2019 ASME

the regions where are away from the hull to make the grid Table 4 Result of grid convergence analysis
sparse [13].
Table 3 Parameters of computational domain Total Sink
Numb Trim
refineme resistan age
Method er of （ deg
Min Max note nt ce （ m
cells
（N） ）
X -3 LPP 2.5 LPP AP is set to 0 m）
Centre line is CFD-Free Coarse 0.72M 29.719 0.129 -7.07
Y 0 2 LPP to trim Medium 1.59M 29.736 0.128 -6.92
set to 0
and sink Fine 3.73M 29.813 0.127 -6.88
Z -2 LPP LPP AP is set to 0
Experime
/ / 30.13 / /
nt
Coarse 0.72M 29.602 / /
CFD- Medium 1.59M 29.594 / /
Fixed
Fine 3.73M 29.572 / /

Through comparison, it can be found that the simulation

results obtained by the three different grid numbers under the
free simulation method and fixed simulation method are not
much different, and the errors with the experimental value are
both within 2%, which indicates that the sensitivity of grid has
little influence on the simulated results. Considering the
reliability and economy of the calculation, the medium grid set
is adopted for simulation.
Figure 2 Computational domain and boundary conditions
ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

Comparison with experimental conditions

Figure 3 Computational meshes of free surface and hull
Analysis of Grid Convergence
According to the ITTC recommended procedures [14], the
grid convergence analysis is mainly performed under the
condition of the design draught at 15kn speed with level trim
state (both free method and fixed method are analysed, the
parameters are set the same). Three kinds of grids (coarse,
medium and fine) with the same refinement method and
different basic dimensions are used for verification. The
parameter refinement ratio is rg = 2 , the number of coarse
grids is 0.72M, and the number of fine grids is 3.73M. The
comparison results are shown in Table 4.
Before carrying out the trim optimization, the numerical
simulations were verified by the experimental results at some
status. The level trim conditions of the design draught used
both free and fixed methods. Under design draft conditions, the
comparison between the numerical results and the experimental
data is shown in Figure 4. It can be found that the numerical
results of CFD are very close to the experimental values. The
errors of the two simulation methods are both within 2% and
the CFD simulation results are slightly smaller than the
experimental values. It can be seen that the simulation results of
free to trim and sink method on level trim condition are slightly
closer to the experimental values than the fixed method, but the
difference between two methods is very small. The fixed
simulation can also achieve good simulation accuracy if the
grid and solution time are set properly. Considering the high
efficiency of fixed method, the trim optimization is mainly
carried out by the method of fixed model to primarily study the
change of resistance under various static trim conditions.

4 Copyright © 2019 ASME

 where : RT  means total resistance of trim conditions ;
RT means total resistance of level trim

Figure 4 Comparison of CFD simulations with experiment

(design draft, level trim)

Under the ballast draft with trimming by stern 0.716°

condition, the comparison between the numerical simulation
and the experiment is shown in Figure 5. The error of ballast
condition is little larger than the design draft, but also remains Figure 6 Variation of resistance components relative to level
within 4%, still meeting the requirements of trim optimization trim with different trim angles (design draft, Fn= 0.091)
analysis.
In summary, after carrying out the comparison to confirm
the feasibility of numerical methods, the numerical
simulations of trim optimization under various conditions
were conducted.

Figure 7 Variation of resistance components relative to level

Figure 5 Comparison of CFD simulations with experiment trim with different trim angles (design draft, Fn=0.128)
(ballast draft, trim -0.716 deg)

Numerical Results of three speeds in design draft

Based on the simulation results of the resistance under the
level trim condition (the value of a bar at level trim are seen as
100%), the changes of total resistance, frictional resistance and
residual resistance in different trim conditions are analyzed.
The bar graph is used for comparative analysis and the vertical
axis is defined as resistance components of trim conditions
divided resistance components of level trim then multiplied by
100% respectively, which indicates the change of resistance
components of trim conditions compared to level trim.
Meanwhile, the variation of resistance components were
calculated as shown in Table 5 and the total resistance
reduction under different trim conditions compared with even
keel are given in Table 6. The total resistance reduction is
defined as Figure 8 Variation of resistance components relative to level
trim with different trim angles (design draft, Fn= 0.137)
RT  − RT (5)
×100%
RT

5 Copyright © 2019 ASME

Table 5 Changes of resistance components relative to level trim by bow and increase with trimming by stern, indicating that
at design draft trimming by bow appropriately may slightly reduce total
resistance. The residual resistance is minimal under the level
Design draft R( N ) trim condition and trimming by bow or stern increases its
values. In Table 5 and Table 6, the changes of total resistance
Trim angle in trimming conditions are mainly separated into the change of
Fn (positive by RT R f Rr frictional resistance and residual resistance; the decrease of
bow) frictional resistance is the main reason for the reduction of total
-0.716° 0.070 0.061 0.008 resistance. The optimum trim angle at three speeds are +0.358°,
-0.358° 0.072 0.034 0.038 +0.716° and +0.716°, corresponding to the optimal total
-0.179° 0.032 0 0.032 resistance reduction rates of -0.32%, -0.50% and -0.73%. It can
0.091 0 0 0 0 be found that the optimal total resistance reduction rate rises
+0.179° -0.015 -0.062 0.047 with the increase of the speed.
+0.358° -0.045 -0.087 0.041
+0.716° -0.037 -0.114 0.076
-0.716° 0.228 0.144 0.084
-0.358° 0.123 0.084 0.038
-0.179° 0.037 0.016 0.021
0.128 0 0 0 0
+0.179° -0.075 -0.101 0.026
+0.358° -0.120 -0.137 0.018
+0.716° -0.131 -0.189 0.058
-0.716° 0.375 0.195 0.179
-0.358° 0.156 0.106 0.049
-0.179° 0.053 0.012 0.040
0.137 0 0 0 0 Figure 9 Changes of wetted surface area with trim angles (design
+0.179° -0.123 -0.115 -0.008 draft)
+0.358° -0.151 -0.172 0.020
+0.716° -0.216 -0.225 0.007

where : ΔR T means the change of total resistance compared with level trim
ΔR f means the change of frictional resistance compared with level trim
ΔR r means the change of residual resistance compared with level trim

Table 6 Reduction of total resistance with different trims of 3

kinds of speeds at design draft

Fn
Design draft
0.091 0.128 0.137 Figure 10 Changes of waterplane area with trim angles (design
Trim angle draft)
change of RT relative to level trim
(positive by
in %
bow) In Figure 9, the values of wetted surface area extracted by
-0.716° 0.49% 0.88% 1.27% STAR-CCM+ and Solidworks software are very close. The
-0.358° 0.51% 0.47% 0.53% Solidworks extraction results are slightly larger than the STAR-
-0.179° 0.23% 0.14% 0.18% CCM+ as the Solidworks extraction results are static results
0 0 0 0 that does not consider the influence of free surface. It is well
+0.179° -0.11% -0.29% -0.42% known that frictional resistance is closely related to the wetted
surface area. It can be seen from Figure 9 and Figure 10 that
+0.358° -0.32% -0.46% -0.51%
the wetted surface area and the waterplane surface area are
+0.716° -0.26% -0.50% -0.73% gradually reducing during the change of the ship from trimming
by stern to bow, which is consistent with the variation trend of
Based on Figure 6, Figure 7 and Figure 8, it can be found the friction resistance.
that both the total resistance and frictional resistance of the
three kinds of speeds at design draught decrease with trimming Numerical Results of three speeds under ballast draft

6 Copyright © 2019 ASME

 The way to analyze the change of resistance under ballast
draft is the same as design draft as mentioned above. According
to Figure 11, Figure 12 and Figure 13, it is found that the total
resistance and friction fluctuate slightly at the ballast draught
with Fn=0.1(Speed 11kn), mainly because the changes of
friction and residual resistance are reverse (one added, the other
decreased). At Fn=0.128 (Speed 14kn) and Fn=0.137 (Speed
15kn), the total resistance, friction and residual resistance
gradually decreased with trimming by bow, and increase with
trimming by stern. From Table 7 and Table 8, the changes of
residual resistance are dominant in the variation of total
resistance. The optimum trim angles at 3 speeds are +0.179°,
+0.716° and +0.716° and the corresponding optimum total
resistance reduction rates are -0.76%, -2.80% and -1.97% Figure 13 Variation of resistance components relative to level
respectively. It can be also seen that the total resistance trim with different trim angles (ballast draft, Fn= 0.137)
reduction rate rises with the increase of velocity.
Table 7 Changes of resistance components relative to level trim
at ballast draft

Ballast draft R( N )

Trim angle
Fn (positive by RT R f Rr
bow)
-0.716° 0.067 -0.007 0.074
-0.358° 0.021 -0.018 0.039
-0.179° -0.048 -0.032 -0.015
0.1 0 0 0 0
+0.179° -0.087 -0.047 -0.040
Figure 11 Variation of resistance components relative to level +0.358° -0.005 -0.045 0.040
trim with different trim angles (ballast draft, Fn= 0.1) +0.716° -0.006 -0.052 0.046
-0.716° 0.488 0.060 0.428
-0.358° 0.384 0.047 0.337
-0.179° 0.024 -0.016 0.040
0.128 0 0 0 0
+0.179° -0.016 -0.048 0.033
+0.358° -0.296 -0.112 -0.184
+0.716° -0.509 -0.149 -0.360
-0.716° 0.507 0.059 0.448
-0.358° 0.287 0.037 0.250
-0.179° 0.124 -0.016 0.141
0.137 0 0 0 0
+0.179° 0.199 -0.003 0.202
Figure 12 Variation of resistance components relative to level +0.358° -0.083 -0.075 -0.007
trim with different trim angles (ballast draft, Fn=0.128) +0.716° -0.416 -0.115 -0.301

7 Copyright © 2019 ASME

Table 8 Reduction of total resistance with different trims of 3 play a dominant role in the variation of total resistance under
kinds of speeds at ballast draft ballast draught conditions. The change of residual resistance is
more obvious at ballast draught. The reduction effect of optimal
Fn trim angles at ballast draft is stronger than the design draught,
Ballast draft indicating that the trim optimization under the ballast draught
0.1 0.128 0.137
Trim angle conditions has greater potential for resistance reduction.
change of RT relative to level trim
(positive by
bow) in % CONCLUSIONS
-0.716° 0.59% 2.68% 2.40%
-0.358° 0.18% 2.11% 1.36% In this paper, a commercial CFD software STAR-CCM+ was
-0.179° -0.42% 0.13% 0.59% adopted to analyze the influence of trim on the resistance
0 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% performance of a VLCC ship mainly with fixed model method
under various typical conditions of design draft and ballast draft
+0.179° -0.76% -0.09% 0.94%
respectively. The grid convergence was studied at design draft
+0.358° -0.04% -1.63% -0.39%
and the typical numerical simulations were verified by the
+0.716° -0.05% -2.80% -1.97% experimental results before carrying out various numerical
simulations of trim optimization. Seven different kinds of trim
conditions, which correspond to the changing process of the
full scale ship from trimming by stern 4m to bow 4m, were
simulated under 3 different speeds of design draft and ballast
draft. The changes of total resistance, frictional resistance and
residual resistance were analyzed to explore the effect of trim
angles on resistance of the ship. The variations of wetted
surface area and waterplane area under different trims angles
were also studied. Conclusions were made as follows.
As the simulation of trim optimization are performed under
the conditions of low Froude number(no more than 0.137),
when the parameters such as grid and solution time are set
properly, the simulation of free to trim and sink and the fixed
Figure 14 Changes of wetted surface area with trim angles (ballast model simulation can both achieve good numerical accuracy.
draft) Although the accuracy of fixed method is slightly lower than
the free to trim and sink simulation method, it can save
simulation times vastly.
Through analysis, it can be found that the simulated VLCC
ship has a certain reduction effect on total resistance both at the
design draft and ballast draft with trimming by bow, and the
effect of total resistance reduction gradually increases with the
add of bow trimming angles as well as the speeds of the ship.
The effect of total resistance reduction at design draught can be
up to -0.73% while the reduction at ballast draught can be as
high as -2.80%. It can be seen that choosing appropriate trim
angle under the ballast condition has greater potential for total
resistance reduction.It also proved that the purpose of trim
optimization to reduce resistance is feasible.
Figure 15 Changes of waterplane area with trim angles(ballast Compared with the resistance of level trim, the total
draft) resistance and frictional resistance change slightly with trim
angles while the residual resistance changes obviously. Among
the total resistance, the frictional resistance accounts for about
Comparisons of ballast draught and design draught 80% and the residual resistance is about 20%. The change of
Comparing the results of design draft and ballast draft, it can total resistance under different trim conditions is separated into
be found that the simulated VLCC ship has a certain reduction the change of frictional resistance and residual resistance. The
effect on total resistance by trimming the bow, and the effect of decrease of frictional resistance is the main reason for the
total resistance reduction increases with the increase of the decrease of total resistance at the design draft. At the ballast
speed in both draft conditions. Obviously, the change of total draft, the change of residual resistance plays a dominant role in
resistance at design draft is mainly caused by the variation of the change of total resistance. Trimming from stern to bow, the
frictional resistance, while the changes of residual resistance corresponding wetted surface area and waterplane area at the

8 Copyright © 2019 ASME

design draught and ballast draught are both gradually reduced
with the bow trimming angles increase, which is the same as
the variation tendency of frictional resistance.
In the future, we will carry out further research on trim
optimization, such as studying the dynamic trim influences,
considering the change of trim behavior in combination with
the propeller, et al. Meanwhile, more detailed towing tank
experiments will be carried out in Harbin Engineering
University towing tank for further study.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The present work is sponsored by the National Natural
Science Foundation(Grant No.51809066), the Fundamental
Research Funds for the Central Universities(Grant
No.HEUCFP201707), Heilongjiang Science Foundation
Project(Grant No.QC2018052) and MIIT Smart Ship
Innovation Project1.0 of High-tech Ships program.
ASME 2015 34th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore
and Arctic Engineering, St.John’s Newfoundland, Canada,2015.
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in Marine Transportation and Exploitationof Sea Resources,
London, 2014.
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operation of bulk carriers by trim optimization", International
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