RINA green lights Pelican performance software

The software is the first of its kind for wind assisted ships to gain class recognition.

”This is an important milestone for us. We have been working on the development of Pelican for many years, including during our PhD research and it’s very satisfying to see those efforts paying off in this way,” said Giovanni Bordogna, co-founder, Blue Wasp Marine.

“The recognition that Pelican has received from RINA will enable us to better serve our clients and paves the way for increased maritime sustainability.”

Wind ship simulation

Pelican, the product of over ten years of PhD research, is able to simulate the performance of a ship equipped with wind assisted propulsion technologies using specific wind conditions and sea states.

Uniquely, Pelican features a built-in force module for both aero- and hydrodynamics.

With this, reliable performance predictions can be rapidly obtained without recourse to costly CFD or model testing for supporting the decision-making process during the design phase of the ship.

The software draws on a large database of wind propulsion systems comprising Flettner rotors, wingsails, turbosails and kitesails.

Combining this with a dataset of over 1,500 simulation results of 60 hull variants, representing a broad range of commercial vessel types, Pelican informs investment and design-related decision making with regards to installation of wind assisted propulsion.

It can also be used to generate dedicated vessel models for weather routing and voyage optimisation applications.

The software was developed by Blue Wasp Marine, a team of marine engineers with a shared passion for both sailing and green technology founded in 2021.