Reduction of fuel consumption and minimisation of greenhouse gas emissions are vital for the shipping industry. All possible ways to achieve environmental targets should be taken into consideration.
Conventional propellers are known to have low efficiency. Most of ship propellers on cargo vessels waste about 40 percent of the energy in the form of rotational losses in the wake, vortex generation, noise production, cavitation, etc. The recovery of such losses is one of the major ways to contribute to a more rational, environmentally friendly use of energy.
On the one hand, ultra large container ships have individually the highest carbon footprint, but on the other hand they take advantage of economy of scale and transport huge amount of goods worldwide. Therefore, this type of ship is a perfect target for taking an action to investigate on energy efficient solutions.
The overall goal of the project is to minimise fuel consumption, improve manoeuvring abilities and increase navigational safety by introducing three high-efficiency innovations to Ultra Large Container Ships (ULCS): twin propeller configuration, pod propulsors and contra rotating propellers concept.
Research on the mentioned topics will be carried out by means of sophisticated numerical CFD methods, at a state-of-the-art towing tank fully equipped to investigate such a complex hydrodynamic issue like twin-crp-pod solution. Manoeuvring and ship handling related tests will be carried out with the use of manned models on a natural lake. All technical investigations will be accompanied by life cycle analyses, that will be carried out with the most complex tools including assessment of the environmental negative impact on land, sea and air resources.
The consortium consists of a world-leading hydrodynamic institute, a propeller designer, a design office, a ship handling operator, a ship handling training provider and an university. By bringing together a wealth of knowledge on propeller-hull interaction, structural integrity and manufacturing processes the consortium guarantees proper achievement of the project goals.
Twin-crp-pod ULCS is funded by the MarTERA partners Polish National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR), German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO).
Coordinator
Dr Maciej Reichel, Foundation for Safety of Navigation and Environment Protection, Poland
Consortium
Foundation for Safety of Navigation and Environment Protection, Research institute, Poland
Center of Maritime Technologies e.V., Research institute, Germany
Gdańsk University of Technology, University, Poland
Seatech Engineering, SME, Poland
Otto Piening GmbH, SME, Germany
CVBA BRABO, Large scale enterprise, Belgium
Hamburgische Schiffbau-Versuchsanstalt GmbH, SME, Germany