A focus on transforming hull design
Shona’s Fellowship research centres on creating a validated virtual tow tank using full-scale CFD, challenging the maritime industry’s long-standing reliance on physical model basin testing. Traditional testing - scaling a vessel down to model size - can introduce significant uncertainty, particularly around complex transom and bow flow behaviour, and is costly when multiple design iterations are required.
Modern high-performance computing now makes full-scale CFD viable, providing designers with results free from scaling errors and enabling rapid comparison of alternative hull forms. Shona’s work demonstrates that CFD not only reduces time and cost but also offers deeper insight into resistance, propulsion efficiency, shear wall stresses, and the decomposition of viscous and inertial forces, parameters that physical tow tanks cannot fully capture.
Why this matters
With the International Maritime Organization (IMO) introducing the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), ship designers face increasing pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and optimise propulsive power. Full-scale CFD offers a more accurate route to assess hull performance, especially in early design phases where multiple concepts may need evaluation within tight time frames.
Shona’s research directly supports our customers by:
- reducing design uncertainty and improving confidence in hull performance predictions,
- enabling faster, lower-cost iteration of vessel designs,
- allowing propulsion and engine sizing to be assessed more accurately,
- supporting the industry’s transition toward greener, more efficient vessels.
A growing area of innovation
The field of full-scale CFD is expanding rapidly as computational power and numerical methods evolve. The recently completed JoRes global research project - where full-scale data from six vessels was captured for the first time - has provided the CFD community, including BMT, with unprecedented opportunities to validate simulations directly against real-world measurements. Shona’s contribution to this initiative, which placed her work among the strongest international submissions, underscores BMT’s emerging leadership in this domain.
Her ongoing work includes journal papers under review, multiple conference presentations, and a forthcoming full-scale validation of a RORO ferry with propulsion. Milestones achieved so far include publications with RINA, contributions to CFD Gothenburg workshops, and acceptance to major international conferences.
"By bringing full-scale CFD in-house, we can give designers faster, more accurate insights that help reduce cost, improve performance, and support greener ship design."
Collaborating to advance the industry
While Shona leads much of the research independently, she works closely with her line manager and engages with global experts through workshops and conferences. These collaborations help ensure that our methodologies remain at the forefront of CFD innovation and provide opportunities to build strategic capability for future design programmes.
What drives her
Shona is motivated by a long-standing interest in hydrodynamics and a belief that full-scale CFD will fundamentally reshape vessel design. She sees enormous potential for this work to improve environmental performance, enhance safety, reduce cost, and accelerate innovation across the maritime sector.
Being a BMT Fellow has given her the dedicated time, resources, and platform to pursue this research deeply - strengthening both her technical expertise and our ability to offer cutting-edge analytical capability to our customers
