Objectives Based on the numerical simulation of resistance and self-propulsion, the lines optimization of an inland river cruise ship is carried out with resistance and delivered power as the optimization objectives.

Methods First, bow optimization is carried out with resistance as the optimization objective. Based on the parametric transformation of the bow and the CFD calculation of resistance, the first optimized hull form is obtained. Next, stern optimization is carried out with delivered power as the optimization objective. The final optimized hull form is obtained through the parametric transformation of the stern and the CFD calculation of resistance and self-propulsion.

Results The CFD calculation results show that the effective power of the final optimized hull form is reduced by 5.17% and the delivered power is reduced by 7.11% compared with the initial hull form.

Conclusions The proposed optimization method can effectively improve the resistance and propulsion performance of ships, and can be extended to the optimization of other ship types.