From the magazine – A different perspective on various topics. Casper Koopman has changed the perspective on boundary conditions and saw it happening with the use of AI. His interest in the offshore sector and hydromechanics brought it all together.
This article is part of our Young talent series “Engineering the future fleet”. This article was first published in our May 2026 issue. All articles in this series are written bij SWZ|Maritime editor Bas Lenferink.
Push the boundaries by redefining them. That is exactly what Casper did in his thesis: “Towards accurate motion prediction of semi-submersible crane vessels at inconvenient draught”. Heerema Marine Contractors wants to reliably model motions of their semi-submersible crane vessels when their floaters are near the free surface, resulting in complex free surface interaction. To do so, a lot of simulations of the vessels in different conditions have to be made.
Accurate simulation of complex, non-linear free surface interactions with offshore structures, can be achieved on rectangular grids using cartesian coordinates. At the grid’s boundary, seamless passing of outgoing waves is desired. In real life at sea, there are no boundaries either, no waves reflect back to the ship.
To solve the interference with the computational boundaries, very big wave damping zones are generally added to the grid. This results in a long running time of the simulation, as these have a low effectiveness compared to the computational cost. An efficient and effective alternative are high order absorbing boundary conditions, but these are hard to accurately implement in the corners of the cartesian grid.
Casper has created a round curvilinear grid for a 2D simulation that eliminates the hard to program corners in the cartesian grid. This resulted in a smaller grid needed for accurate results and, thus, a faster run time of the simulation. Casper’s thesis was well received and awarded with a ten, allowing him to graduate cum laude.
Also read: SWZ|Maritime’s May 2026 issue: Always the skipper
Tangible solutions
Casper’s interest in hydromechanics started at a young age. ‘When I was young, we often went sailing on a flatboat (platbodem) on the Wadden Sea. The whirls coming from the lee boards soon caught my eye. I saw a turbulent wake behind the boat and was wondering how it forms and how you can calculate it. Why is the boat sailing straight, how do you sail fast? It all fascinated me.’
An interest in mathematics and theoretical physics made him doubt between Marine Technology and Mathematics and Physics. Superyachts made him enthusiastic for Marine Technology. ‘When I was in high school, I visited a superyacht yard. The big yachts built there made me choose Marine Technology.’
But this choice was not just because of the yachts, also because of the difference between a theoretical and a technical study. ‘Marine Technology offered me the right balance between theoretical research and finding concrete answers. Problems in physics don’t always have clear answers. In Marine Technology the solution to a problem is often tangible.’
A solution to a mathematical problem
Programming led him to the offshore sector. ‘During my Bachelor’s, I did a lot of programming and towards the end, I wanted to find a student job that would allow me to learn more about programming. I ended up at Ulstein. They offered me a job to develop a tool that helps with designing the dynamic positioning capabilities of offshore vessels. There, I saw the versatility of the offshore sector. Offshore ships are not designed to sail from A to B under specific conditions, but have to perform different jobs with different loads under different conditions.’
For his thesis, Casper ended up in the offshore sector as well. Although he sees his collaboration with offshore contractor Heerema more as a solution to a mathematical problem. ‘The core of what I did and learnt in my thesis is touching more on mathematics than marine technology.’
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AI gave a nudge in the right direction
The implementation of a boundary condition on the round grid did not go without problems, Casper explains: ‘The first consensus of me and my supervisor was that a certain first order boundary condition would function the same on a circle as on a straight edge. My simulations showed, however, that this was not the case.’
After being stuck on this for a while, a breakthrough was reached with the help of generative AI (GenAI). ‘I thought my implementation of the curvilinear theory was wrong. GenAI gave me a lead in the good direction and I discovered that, instead, the first consensus was not right. After this lead, you know where to focus on and the solution was easier to find in the literature.’
Engineering the future fleet
The maritime sector is developing quickly and new technologies arise. New fuels are being implemented in ships, automation plays an increasingly bigger role in all parts of the sector and the rise of AI is changing the way we look at a lot of processes. In this returning feature, “Engineering the future fleet”, we dive into the world of young engineers and find out what they are working on and, more importantly, what is driving them.
Also at the start of your maritime career, or working at a start-up or scale-up? And do you have a story to tell? Contact our SWZ|Maritime through redactie@swzmaritime.nl.
Casper is not without criticism: ‘GenAI can be a good sparring partner. It gives you a lot of information that is not usable, but sometimes it shows you what you need. This is how GenAI can help you move forward. It might not be the right direction, but by working on a new lead, you find out soon enough whether it is right or not. I see it as a progress accelerator. A critical approach is needed. After the breakthrough, GenAI also gave me answers that were the complete opposite of the correct answer it gave me before. There is nothing in my thesis that I did not reflect on myself at least three times.’
Casper belongs to the first generation of students that graduates with the option of using GenAI while studying. Although it has helped him a lot during his thesis, he is glad he finished his courses and studied for his exams without GenAI. ‘GenAI makes studying more efficient, but it also makes the student lazy. I’m glad that I was able to build a strong theoretical knowledge base by myself. I think struggling before understanding theory while studying helps to grow your knowledge.’
Working in a team
Offshore wind as a broader topic has Casper’s interest and he is starting soon at Heerema to among other things continue working on the topic of his thesis. He does not rule out a later academic career, but is looking for a new challenge for now: ‘I really like the academic part of research, but I also like working in a team. In a PhD position, you are responsible for your own research for four years. For the coming years, I prefer to work on a project in a team.’
One thing is for sure, his interest in hydromechanics and offshore has been sparked and Casper’s goal is clear: ‘In ten years’ time, I would like to work in the offshore sector and hope to be an expert on hydromechanics.’
Picture (top): Casper Koopman: ‘The core of what I did and learnt in my thesis is touching more
on mathematics than marine technology.’
