The MSc degree in Marine Technology gives you a challenging and exciting education for the future. Marine Technology is an ideal specialisation for first-degree engineers with technical interests. This is an education that provides innovative, professional challenges and lead to a variety of career possibilities.

The challenge of the sea

The sea has always meant something special to mankind. It can be seductive and challenging, strange and mystical. At the same time, however, it is full of resources on which we depend; the sea can be cultivated and harvested, under the seabed are substantial energy resources, and it has always been important for transport. The ocean is vital for providing us with food, energy and a means of global transport.

The Department of Marine Technology, which is a part of Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology at NTNU, offers three international MSc Programmes:

• Nautical Science
• Marine Structures
• Marine Systems Engineering

Increasing international focus on safe and efficient operations of ships and offshore units requires substantial competence and knowledge of nautical science.The introduction of advanced integrated navigationsystems has changed on board operational procedures and competence requirements for navigators.

High-speed vessels require other qualities from navigators than traditional vessels. Increasedtraffic density, tight schedules and more paperwork lead to increased workloadsand fatigue for ship’s officers. Greater use of information technology may be one way toresolve these problems.

Emphasis should therefore be given to the design of educational programmes which bridge he gap between man and technology and concentrate on formulating, analysing and solving nautical planning problems aswell as testing and implementing real-life challenges in complex maritime operations.

Offshore technology

There is a trend that more of the new activitiesrelated to exploration and exploitation of the offshoreoil and gas resources take place in deeperwater than before or at marginal fields.Financially viable and safe exploitation of theseresources will demand lightweight floating platformsand ship-like vessels.

Other advanced marine operations in the oceanspace from all-year service vesselsor platforms are a prerequisite for layingpipelines or cables, for installing subseaequipment as well as inspection, mainten-ance and repair/replacements of under-water facilities. The combination of deep-water, harsh wave conditions and oceancurrents makes the design and operationof floaters, risers and mooringsystems particularly challenging.

The demand for efficiency and safetyrequires high precision in marine opera-tions. Automatic control of thruster sys-tems (dynamic positioning of vessels) isrequired to limit the motions of ships orplatforms and thereby displacements andstresses in risers during drilling operations,or in pipelines during laying, and to ensure preciselifting, installation and intervention opera-

Automatic control

Automatic control is crucial for meeting the futurerequirements for high performance and forsatisfying the need to operate under demandingenvironmental conditions. This requires a closeintegration with hydrodynamics and structuraldynamics.

Marine technology is important in connection withsafety at sea and environmental protection,which are high priority areas. In addition, thechallenges relating to the design and the understandingof the behaviour of ships and oceanstructures are vital for planning and execution ofmarine operations.Another important area of interest is maintenanceand repair of existing platforms, as they age invery harsh environmental conditions.

Ship Technology:

Among the main driving forces in future seatransport is a demand for shorter time to market,which means higher speeds at sea and in harbouroperations.

The increase in size and speed and the emergenceof new concepts have given rise to new technical challenges. Weight minimization of the hull is essential for achieving the goal of producing environmentallyfriendly, low-cost, high-speed transport, but leads to more flexible structures that will have more pronounced dynamic effects making the relevance of fatigue failure an important consideration.

These changes are difficult to make solely on the basis of experience. Thus, explicit safety requirementsare necessary as well as design by direct analyses based on first principles of hydrodynamic loads and their structural effects and strength. Then there is also the potential benefit from automatic control. The possibility to base design on such principles was envisaged in the early 1990s, but the complexity of hydrodynamicload predictions and their effects have hampered the introduction of this approach.

Efficient and reliable operations at sea imply designingships and equipment that are dedicated to various types of operations (cable laying, rescue,fishing, etc.). More accurate description of wave, currentand windinduced motions are then required.

Automatic control can be applied to reduce the effect of wave impacts and green water, especially in highperformance vessels, by minimizing the relative motion between the ship bow and waves by active foildamping, and when there are changes of course or speed. A main concern is ventilation of foils, particularly in high sea states. A new issue in this context is the structural design implications of introducing automaticcontrol systems for motion damping. Logistics and transport Logistics and transport are areas that are undergoing demands for more complex integrated logisticsservices by the international shipping industry.High-speed vessels are now becoming serious competitors to aircraft under certain conditions.Such vessels will continue to developin size, speed, seafaring qualities, choice of material, machinery, and design.

Fisheries and aquaculture

Both fisheries and aquaculture are growing industries. The fish stocks of the world are are newable resource that could feed the world forever, but today there is a great deal of overfishing. In order to preserve life in the oceans, we have to develop technology that will enable us to harvest the riches of the sea with minimal damage to the environment.