Boris Horel, a Centrale Nantes PhD student, wins the Admiral Daveluy international thesis award

Admiral Daveluy Award

Created by the chef d’état-major de la Marine (head of the French Navy) in 1996, the "Admiral Daveluy" Prize recognises historical, geopolitical and legal research and reflection in the fields of naval thinking and maritime action.

Physical Modelling of Ship Behaviour in Following Seas

This thesis, entitled Modélisation Physique du Comportement du Navire par Mer de l’Arrière (Physical Modeling of the Ship Behavior in following seas, was defended at Centrale Nantes on 21 January 2016. The major motivation underpinning the research work was to ensure human safety at sea by assessing the capacity of ships at sea to avoid capsizing in strong seas. The course stability of a ship in following seas, and more particularly, the phenomena of surf-riding and broaching-to, were studied using numerical modeling coupled with experiments.

After the thesis...

At the end of this thesis, a simulation tool, a model of the ship's behavior in following seas, a test set-up, an experimental methodology and a test program to calibrate the mathematical model were all defined. These numerical and experimental tools developed during the thesis are currently being used in the framework of research projects such as PREDEMONAV and MEGAPTERE. In the first, the vessel simulation tool in heavy seas is used to widen its field of application and to test and improve the mathematical models implemented. In the second project, the experimental setup developed to carry out tests on free models for seakeeping and maneuverability in swell is reused.

©Rozzonelli Juliette. Daveluy Award Ceremony at Ecole Militaire de Paris on 20 June.

He received the award on 20 June from the chef d'état major de la Marine at the Ecole Militaire de Paris.

Boris Horel is now a post-doctoral research engineer at Centrale Nantes working on the development of numerical and experimental modelling tools in naval hydrodynamics.