SHOPERA

Energy Efficient Safe Ship Operation

Status

completed

Scientists

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bettar Ould el Moctar
Dr.-Ing. Jens Neugebauer
Robert Potthoff M. Sc.
Sebastian Sigmund M. Eng.
Felix Roettig M. Sc.

Project Description

Since 1st January 2013, new ships are to comply to energy efficiency regulations in terms of maintaining a required Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI). The EEDI represents the relation between CO2 emission and transport capacity. Reducing the installed engine power now is a very simple way of reducing emissions.

However, safety concerns may arise when reducing the engine power to achieve low emission values. There are doubts as to whether the engine power available will be sufficient to allow the ship to maintain a reasonable speed and manoeuvre under adverse conditions. First studies by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) were available before the start of the project. A more holistic approach, considering the safety aspect as well, may be required.

The following tasks were performed during the project:

  • Further development of numerical tools for the calculation of the manoeuvrability of ships in adverse conditions like heavy sea or confined water
  • Determination of the seakeeping and manoeuvring capabilities of different ship types in combined seaway and wind conditions by means of model testing
  • Validation of numerical tools by means of model testing and evaluation of full scale trials
  • Investigation of the influence of regulations on the design and operational characteristics of different ship types
  • Investigation of the influence of the developed optimisation procedure on the EEDI
  • Development of new guidelines for the minimum propulsion and manoeuvring power required to maintain manoeuvrability under adverse conditions.

During the project, the University of Duisburg-Essen focused on the improvement of numerical methods and their validation. Numerous model tests were conducted at different test facilities. Thus, propulsion, added resistance in waves, drift forces as well as model test data from turning circle and zig-zag manoeuvres were available for comparison with numerical results (see Figure 1).

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Figure 1 Aft-ship geometry and computational mesh of the Duisburg Test Case (DTC) containership used for bollard pull computations
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An international benchmark on the numerical computation of ship maneuvers (see http://shopera.org/benchmark-study/) was organized. Results of all participants were compared, allowing the documentation of State-of-the-Art computational methods (see Figure 2and [8].

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Figure 2 Comparison of results of computed turning circle maneuvers for the DTC in waves at 6kn speed, 2m wave height and 10.6s wave period
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​Further, simplified methods for the approximation of the added resistance in waves, rudder forces and other manoeuvring parameters were developed. These methods were used along with recommendations on the adaption of the EEDI regulations. Simplified methods for rudder force approximation were compared to CFD data (see Figure 3).

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Figure 3 Comparison of lateral forces on a semi-spade rudder in the propeller slipstream between CFD, a simplified method and model test data
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Project results were delivered to the Maritime Environmental Pollution Committee (MPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) [9].

Funding

Eu-logo
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  Funded by the European Union

Website

www.shopera.org

Weblinks

Specifications, participants and results of the benchmark study conducted within the project – http://shopera.org/benchmark-study/

Publications
  1. Sigmund, S. and el Moctar, O. “Numerical prediction of the propulsion characteristics of ships in waves”, Proc. of the 35th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, OMAE2016 - 54793, Busan, South Korea, 19-24 June 2016
  2. el Moctar, O., Sprenger, F., Schellin, T. and Papanikolaou, A., “Numerical and Experimental Investigations of Ship Maneuvers in Waves”, Proc. of the 35th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, OMAE2016 - 54847, Busan, South Korea, 19-24 June 2016
  3. Papanikolaou, A., Zaraphonitis, G., Bitner-Gregersen, E., Shigunov, V., El Moctar, O., GuedesSoares, C., Reddy, D. N., Sprenger, F., “Energy Efficient Safe Ship Operation (SHOPERA)”, Proc. RINA  Int. Conf. on Influence of EEDI on Ship Design, London (UK), Sept. 2014
  4. Papanikolaou, A., Zaraphonitis, G., Bitner-Gregersen, E., Shigunov, V., El Moctar, O., GuedesSoares, C., Reddy, D.N., Sprenger, F., “Energy Efficient Safe Ship Operation (SHOPERA)”, accepted for presentation at the 2015 World Maritime Technology Conference (WMTC150) , Rhode Island (USA), 3-7 Nov. 2015
  5. Papanikolaou, A., Zaraphonitis, G., Bitner-Gregersen, E., Shigunov, V., El Moctar, O., GuedesSoares, C., Reddy, D.N., Sprenger, F., “Energy Efficient Safe Ship Operation (SHOPERA)”, Proc. 12th Int. Marine Design Conference (IMDC2015 ) , Tokyo (Japan), 11-14 May 2015
  6. Papanikolaou, A., Zaraphonitis, G., Bitner-Gregersen, E., Shigunov, V., El Moctar, O., GuedesSoares, C., Reddy, D. N., Sprenger, F., “Minimum Propulsion and Steering Requirements for Efficient and Safe Operation (SHOPERA)”, Invited paper, 37th Motorship Propulsion and Emissions Conference, Hamburg (Germany), 4-5 March 2015
  7. Papanikolaou, A., Zaraphonitis, G., Bitner-Gregersen, E., Shigunov, V., El Moctar, O., GuedesSoares, C., Reddy, D.N., Sprenger, F., “Energy Efficient Safe Ship Operation (SHOPERA)”, 6th European Transport Research Conference (TRA2016), Warsaw (Poland), 18-21 April 2016
  8. SHOPERA, “Presentation of the Benchmark results“, http://shopera.org/download/2385/
  9. IMO, Results of research project "Energy Efficient Safe Ship Operation" (SHOPERA), Paper MEPC 70/INF.33 submitted by Denmark, Germany, Norway and Spain, 19 August 2016