Blogposts
Blog 7: First Results from our Fluid Dynamics Simulations of Eighteenth-Century Ships
We are excited to share that our project has now entered a new phase, moving from digital reconstructions of ship models into the first round of hydrodynamic testing. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), we have begun simulating the performance of eighteenth-century Dutch vessels, exploring how their hull shapes may have influenced resistance, drag, and overall efficiency at sea. To prepare for these tests, the 3D scans of ship models were carefully processed: the raw geometries were cleaned and scaled, unnecessary details removed, and the hulls made watertight so that they could be used in simulations. From there, a computational mesh was generated around each hull, allowing the CFD software to calculate how water and air would interact with the surface of the ship.
The initial results are promising. Even at this early stage, our simulations suggest that differences in hull form produced measurable effects on performance, offering a fresh way to compare vessels that no longer survive. These findings remain preliminary, and we are now refining the pipeline to improve stability and accuracy. The next step will expand and refine the testing to build a clearer picture of how naval architecture developed throughout the eighteenth century, and the power of these techniques to reveal hitherto unstudied aspects of historical ship performance.