  In this work, we present a new web based HPC-cloud platform for automatic
virtual towing tank analysis. It is well known that the design project of a new
hull requires a continuous integration of shape hypothesis and hydrodynamics
verifications using analytical tools, 3D computational methods, experimental
facilities and sea keeping trial tests. The complexity and the cost of such
design tools increase considerably moving from analytical tools to sea keeping
trials. In order to perform a meaningful trade-off between costs and high
quality data acquiring during the last decade the usage of 3D computational
models has grown pushed also by well-known technological factors. Nevertheless,
in the past, there were several limiting factors on the wide diffusion of 3D
computational models to perform virtual towing tank data acquiring, from
hardware and software costs to the specific technological skills needed. In
this work we propose an innovative high-level approach which is embodied in the
so-called LincoSim web application in which a hypothetical designer user can
carry out the simulation only starting from its own geometry and a set of
meaningful physical parameters. LincoSim automatically manages and hides to the
user all the necessary details of CFD modelling and of HPC infrastructure usage
allowing them to access, visualize and analyze the outputs from the same single
access point made up from the web browser. In addition to the web interface,
the platform includes a back-end server which implements a Cloud logic and can
be connected to multiple HPC machines for computing. LincoSim is currently set
up with finite volume Open-FOAM CFD engine. A preliminary validation campaign
has been performed to assess the robustness and the reliability of the tool and
is proposed as a novel approach for the development of Computer Aided
Engineering (CAE) applications.
