Another consortium partner representing the academia is the
National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).
Meet the Partners #8 – National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece
NTUA participates in RETROFIT55 through the School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. A team of several faculty members and researchers from the laboratories of ship design, naval hydrodynamics and marine engineering supports several studies for design and operational measures to improve ship’s energy efficiency.
An area of significant contribution of NTUA is the examination of hydrodynamic optimization under realistic operational conditions. Specifically, an analysis on the optimization of the bulbous bow of the examined ships using advanced numerical tools for the calm water resistance calculation and the exploration of the candidate designs will be carried out. Moreover, solutions related with the propeller retrofit for the optimization of the propulsion system will be examined such as the tip rake distribution and the adjustment of the blade roughness to control blade tip cavitation. Emphasis will be given to the assessment of the propeller’s performance due to the operation in a mixture of water/air as a side effect of ALS system as well as due to the ship motions impact. Another study concerns the numerical simulation of the WASP system aerodynamics using potential/viscous flow solvers for the calculation of the driving and side forces that will be included on the dynamical system to be used for the performance prediction in various sea states and wind/wave directions.
Furthermore, NTUA’s weather routing tool will be utilized for the assessment of the fuel reduction achieved by the various combinations of retrofit measures (e.g., WASP, ALS) for specific route(s) and weather encountered, especially when route and speed optimization are also considered. In addition, this framework will support the optimization of the utilization of the retrofit system in voyage leg level. NTUA will be also involved in the development of a condition monitoring tool for the monitoring of the hull fouling status based on data-driven model using Machine Learning algorithms.
Finally, NTUA will have a significant role in the studies targeting ship’s electrification and the optimization of the electric power train by supporting the electric load analysis and solutions such as shaft generators combined with batteries.
