Innovation in the hydrodynamic support for design of submarines

The last Dutch submarine design which was actually built dates from over 25 years ago. The hydrodynamic design in those days was based on experience, but with limited availability of modern tools. It was mainly based on empirical developments combined with first principles. The design was highly based on previous submarine designs, while some ideas were further developed. This resulted in slow evolution of the boats. The developments and ideas of the Albacore have as such found their way in the design of the Walrus class.
With the aging of the Walrus class, serious ambition surfaces for a new class of Dutch submarines and with this ambition the question how this new class can be materialised. The building yard is out of business and the facilities have transformed into a educational centre for new technology, the defence budget and therewith the Defence Materiel Organisation are seemingly decimated in size and most of the designers and engineers are retired.
However, over the last decade, a wealth of different techniques have become available that can support the hydrodynamic design of a submarine. This paper shows several of these new techniques and elaborates how these techniques offer new possibilities to improve the hydrodynamic design of submarines. With these new tools , it is expected that hydrodynamics can keep up with requirements of the navy to have shorter design time and perhaps a little less experience.