Rapidly deployable hulls & on-demand tunable hydrodynamics with shape morphing curved crease origami

This study explores the innovative use of curved-crease origami principles for the rapid fabrication and hydrodynamic tuning of planing hulls. The background of the study highlights traditional hull fabrication's reliance on complex, labor- and time-intensive techniques that produce static hull surfaces. These static hull surfaces result in hydrodynamics that are a compromise to accommodate a broad spectrum of sea conditions. Consequently, these hulls are not optimized for specific conditions, often leading to inefficient power consumption, poor maneuverability, and reduced passenger comfort and safety.

To address these limitations, the study proposes using curved-crease origami—a subset of origami known for creating smooth, curved surfaces by folding a flat sheet along non-intersecting creases. The approach allows for efficient transformation from a flat state to a three-dimensional hull shape, which can emulate traditional high-speed hull forms, such as deep-V planing hulls, as well as their hydrodynamic characteristics.

The study details the creation of curved-crease origami hull prototypes, which were analyzed using the bar and hinge model to simulate origami folding behaviors and match target hull shapes through geometric optimization. The results demonstrate that origami hulls can closely replicate conventional hull forms with minor deviations and by extension, possess the ability to emulate the hydrodynamics of conventional hull forms.

The curved-crease origami hulls also exhibit shape-morphing capabilities that allow on-demand adjustments of the hull hydrodynamics. This is shown through changes in deadrise angles, influencing hull performance in both calm and wavy waters.

Hydrodynamic analyses conducted using Powersea validated the performance of these origami hulls, which showed comparable resistance, friction drag, and motion to conventional hulls. In wavy conditions, the shape-morphing ability enables adaptation to varying sea states, enhancing versatility. The paper concludes that curved-crease origami hulls could offer significant benefits, including efficient deployment, adaptability, and improved operational efficiency, with future research focusing on material optimization and structural reinforcement.