Design of free-surface interfaces using RANS equations

In this paper, the continuous adjoint methodology to compute shape sensitivities in free-surface hydrodynamic design problems (RANS governing systems) has been developed. This technique will allow the specific design of the free-surface interface (typically air/water), which has a great potential in problems where the target is to reduce the wave energy, e.g. ship hull design. A detailed description of the methodology as well as numerical experiments to demonstrate the ability of this new technique to reduce the wave energy will be shown.