Efficient prediction tools for wind assisted ships
Joseph Banks (Maritime Engineering), Dominic Hudson(Maritime Engineering), Martyn Prince (Wolfson Unit)
One of the most promising ways to rapidly decrease the CO2 emissions from commercial ships is through the use of wind to directly generate thrust. Smart Green Shipping is working with the University of Southampton to deploy its FastRig wing sail technology on a commercial ship for the first time as part of a new Innovate UK project. In order to build investor confidence and maximize the savings achieved through route optimisation it is essential to be able to predict the performance of a vessel propelled by both a propeller and wind assist devices. Therefore there is a great opportunity to combine some of the performance prediction techniques used in high performance sailing with recent research into ship resistance and propulsion to develop efficient prediction tools for commercial wind assisted vessels.
This PhD will help develop efficient methods for predicting vessel performance and understanding the aero and hydrodynamic forces acting on a wind assisted ship and how they interact. This could include investigating the trade off between simulation fidelity and the required computational resources needed to provide accurate force predictions in various sailing conditions; the hydrodynamic balance of a vessel when sailing and the required rudder forces to maintain a course or investigating how a ships propeller design could be improved for efficiency when motor-sailing. It is expected that this will include a mixture of computational fluid dynamics, mathematical modelling and model scale experiments and has the opportunity to work alongside the Innovate UK funded project assisting with planned experimental programs in the towing tank and the wind tunnel. There is also the opportunity to work closely with the Wolfson Unit and Smart Green Shipping as part of the project.
FastRig wing sail design for a bulk carrier
Key skills: Degree in Engineering, Background in Fluid dynamics and mathematical modelling, interest in sailing or wind assist technology
Eligibility: UK rates (subject to fund availability)
Start date: October 2023 (subject to fund availability)
CIVIL, MARITIME
AND ENVIRONMENTAL
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
University of Southampton
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University of Southampton
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Southampton
SO17 1BJ
United Kingdom
CIVIL, MARITIME
AND ENVIRONMENTAL
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
University of Southampton
Explore our website:
Contact us:
+44(0)23 8059 5000
+44(0)23 8059 3131
University of Southampton
University Road
Southampton
SO17 1BJ
United Kingdom
© 2020 Civil, Maritime and Environmental Engineering Department
© 2020 Civil, Maritime and Environmental Engineering Department