Naval architecture & Marine energies

ENSTA Bretagne offers France's most comprehensive naval architecture and engineering program with the highest enrollment. It also offers, with its partners, a course 100% devoted to marine renewable energies.

All types of ships and platforms: sailing and motor yachts, offshore racing boats, cruise ships, passenger boats, cargo vessels, LNG carriers, container ships, ro-ro ships, offshore platforms, civil professional vessels, military ships, submarines, marine renewable energies platforms (MRE).

All the parameters required for the proper operation of the system are considered: hydrodynamics and aerodynamics, durability, stability, propulsion, structural calculations, maneuverability, seaworthiness, ergonomics, etc.

Innovating for the future also means seeking more environmentally-friendly and more energy-efficient materials and propulsion systems. The Mechanical Science Research Department at ENSTA Bretagne contributes to this effort through the IRDL (Institut de Recherche Dupuy de Lôme), a CNRS Joint Research Center which is leading the way on these issues.

Program strengths

International renown

Each year, the Royal Institute of Naval Architects, in partnership with Bureau Veritas, awards a prize to the top student in this major. Other examples of academic partnerships around the world: United Kingdom (Cranfield University), Australia (Australian Maritime College, University of Australia, Flinders)…

Applied research in support of education

Through the Institut de Recherche Dupuy de Lôme (IRDL) and shared research laboratories with industry, the research work conducted on campus focuses on : 

• improving ship performance and in particular on ship-sea interactions, in all conditions, including the most hostile,
• durability of MRE systems at sea in order to reduce their operating costs and on the optimization of their seabed connection,
• the composites used in the naval and MRE sectors. The use of composites, together with a composite-to-metal bonding technique, boosts the competitiveness of the MRE sector. The challenge lies in integrating the life cycle analysis from the design phase to produce systems able to operate durably at sea, with minimal maintenance and optimized dismantling.

They also focus, within the Lab-STICC, on embedded systems, and their adaptability and their reliability.

This applied research is conducted in collaboration with many businesses and organizations in the maritime sector based both in France and around the globe.

Extensive experimental equipment

Digital simulation tools for fluid mechanics and fluid-structure interactions are developed to meet the challenges raised during the naval design phase: advance resistance assessment during the pre-project phase, assessment of the hydrodynamic performance of propulsion systems, behavior of marine structures in swell, structures exposed to impact.

Many scientific studies, ranging in scale from that of the material to that of the entire structure, are validated using our extensive and unparalleled experimental facilities. These facilities, which form the MASMECA platform, at the ENSTA Bretagne campus, are also used by students for applied projects.
In addition, every year hydrodynamics study days are organized at the DGA Techniques hydrodynamiques center and throughout the year at Ifremer's test tanks, situated only a few kilometers from the campus, as part of joint scientific programs. 

Deeply invested in developing the maritime sector

In addition to the teaching programs and research on offer, ENSTA Bretagne contributes to the development of the maritime sector by injecting its expertise into numerous networks: as a board member of the Pôle Mer Bretagne-Atlantique, a globally-oriented competitiveness cluster, and as a member of GICAN, the French Maritime Cluster (CMF), the Institut Français de la Mer (IFM) and the business network Bretagne Pôle Naval, as well as France Energies Marines for the development of the MRE sector.

In the context of student projects, the ship design loop in particular, engineering students in the naval and offshore architecture major make use of dedicated professional software, in partnership with Bureau Veritas, DNV-GL, MARIN, Sistre and NDAR.

There are also many opportunities in the naval sector open to students studying information and communications technology.