Marine propulsion systems and analysis for wind assisted vessels

Research Project, 2021 – 2023

Wind assisted ships are considered an important part in the climate adaption of transportation. The amount of research in the field has increased considerably over the last years, and good progress has been made regarding sailing aspects, such as sail design, ship aerodynamics, and operation. But for all concept you also need a marine propulsion system to guarantee speed, course keeping, and safety, and in this area very little has been done, both in Sweden and internationally. This project will fill this gap regarding a good propeller design that can handle the new very varying demands of motor-sailing and how this affects the ability in reliable route planning, large savings in fuel, and safety. New design tools and concepts will be developed and evaluated, including interaction effects with rudder and hull, and system performance analysis will be performed to study the effect on ship operation. The results will be demonstrated on two relevant test cases for wind assisted vessels.