The UTC will have ship performance in a seaway as its topic, but emphasis will be put mainly on the propeller and the dynamics of propellers in a seaway. The following topics will be covered:
Dynamic forces on propellers in a seaway due to effects of ventilation, cavitation and ship motions
Interaction effects between hull and propulsors
Added resistance and speed loss in waves for moderen hull forms
Use of intelligent control methods to enhance performance; such as roll damping by use of tunnel- and azimuth thrusters, and use of active control to reduce dynamic forces on propellers and azimuthing thrusters
Optimum design of azimuth thrusters
Development of an advanced ship simulator for simulation of ships in a seaway. The simulator shall be used as a platform for implementation of the results from the basic studies being developed in other parts of the UTC.
Currently, the following activities have been started:
Dynamic forces on propellers in a seaway
There is a significant amount of previous work in this field performed by master students and PhDs at NTNU Department of Marine Technology. There have also been several experiements performed by MARINTEK on behalf of Rolls-Royce. We are utilising this experience, but is also in the process of performing model experiements with ventilating propellers with measurement of six component forces on a single propeller blade in order to increase the knowledge of ventilation mechanisms and the forces it induces on the propeller. Dr. Kourosh Koushan, who is working as post.doc in the UTC, is the key person in this activity. Prof. Steen and Prof. Minsaas is also contributing in this task. Andrea Califano has just started his PhD study, and will continue the work of Koushan, analysing ventilating propellers using Fluent.
Development of ship simulator
An activitity started before the establishment of the UTC was development of an advanced ship simulator. This work is performed by MARINTEK. Contact person is Dariusz Fathi
Development of unified theory of seakeeping and manoeuvring
The post.doc of Dr. Jan Roger Hoff is about the development of a unified theory of seakeeping and manoeuvring of ships, suitable for implementation as the core of the ship motion module of the simulator. Jan Roger will develop this as far as algorithms and beta source code.
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