Bureau Veritas - Centrale Nantes Chair

In March 2016, Centrale Nantes and Bureau Veritas established an international research chair on ships of the future, in partnership with HydrOcean and Nextflow Software.
Centrale Nantes, with its excellent reputation in the field of numerical and experimental hydrodynamics, and Bureau Veritas, a world leader in testing, inspection and certification services for shipping and offshore structures, created this international chair in Hydrodynamics and Marine Structures in order to make significant improvements in the safety and performance of ships of the future.

This ambitious research programme also involves two spin-offs from Centrale Nantes:

• HydrOcean, key service provider for the evaluation and optimisation of marine and offshore structure performance.

• Nextflow Software, start-up publisher of fluid mechanics software.

The involvement of these four partners in the chair will foster the emergence of technological innovation with regards to the concept, design and performance of ships and marine structures, environmental protection and safety standards, reduced fuel consumption.

The chair benefits from exceptional resources:

• Centrale Nantes wave tanks, which can simulate the impact of extreme storm conditions (generating the highest waves in Europe) on models.
• Cutting-edge numerical simulation software, developed by Centrale Nantes, Bureau Veritas, HydrOcean and Nextflow
• High performance computing capacity particularly with the Centrale Nantes supercomputer, making possible simulations that were once beyond the reach of the partners.

Research and development will focus on three key areas:

•     Ship safety
•     Interacting bodies and flexible connections
•     Swell performance.

"This chair reflects Bureau Veritas' commitment to call upon the innovative capacity of the best engineers and researchers in order to establish the optimum conditions for the development of the shipping industry of the future, and thereby proposing new services to our clients to improve their performance with regard to industry standards and regulations for quality, health, safety, environmental protection and social responsibility" stated Philippe Donche-Gay, Executive Vice-President, Marine and Offshore Division, Bureau Veritas.

"This new step is line with our long-established collaboration between the four establishments in the maritime field. Through the intensive use of numerical simulation tools, it will allow us to go further and more quickly together towards designing the ship in demand in civil and military sectors" noted Arnaud Poitou, director of Centrale Nantes.