Influence of Ramjets’ water inflow on supercavity shape and cavitator drag characteristic

Water ramjets using outer water as an oxidizer have been demonstrated as a potential propulsion mode for underwater High Speed Supercavitating Vehicles (HSSVs) because of their higher energy density, power density, and specific impulse, but water flux changes the shapes of supercavity. To uncover the cavitator drag characteristics and the supercavity shape of HSSVs with water inflow for ramjets, supercavitation flows around a disk cavitator with inlet hole are studied using the homogenous model. By changing the water inflow in the range of 0–10 L/s through cavitators having different water inlet areas, a series of numerical simulations of supercavitation flows was performed. The water inflow flux of ramjets significantly influences the drag features of disk cavitators and the supercavity shape, but it has little influence on the slender ratio of supercavitaty. Furthermore, as the water inlet area increases, the drag coefficient of the cavitators’ front face decreases, but this increase does not influence the diameter of the supercavity’s maximum cross section and the drag coefficient of the entire cavitator significantly. In addition, with increasing water flux of the ramjet, both the drag coefficient of cavitators and the maximum diameter of supercavities decrease stably. This research will be helpful for layout optimization and supercavitaty scheme design of HSSVs with water inflow for ramjets.     

Effects of the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative on the wine import logistics of China

China’s Belt and Road (BR) initiative is expected to facilitate international trade between the countries involved. In this study, we review the special requirements of wine logistics and the market growth potential of wine consumption in China. A model minimizing generalized logistical costs is developed and applied to wine imports in China, so that the best candidate cities in which to locate transport gateways and distribution centers can be identified. Our analysis suggests that the most preferred gateways are Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong, which all have similar delivery costs. In comparison, Beijing and Chongqing have much higher delivery costs, mainly because they do not have good access to marine transport and/or efficient domestic distribution networks. For long-distance intercontinental transport of large volumes of wine, marine shipping remains the only viable delivery mode. However, wine distribution within China extensively uses air, road, and water transport. Therefore, cities with excellent multi-modal transport services are better positioned to become wine logistics gateways. Our study also highlights the importance of value-added services and good government support, which are important factors that influence distribution costs and quality.     

Numerical study on breaking phenomena of ships’ waves in narrow and shallow waterways

The environmental impact of a ships waves, such as the risk of erosion of coasts and riverbanks, and unacceptable ship movements in a restricted waterway, is now a significant ship design criterion. Therefore, it is necessary to predict ship-wave phenomena accurately in a restricted waterway. In this study, a numerical investigation of the breaking phenomena of a ships waves in restricted waterways was carried out. Incompressible Navier–Stokes and continuity equations were employed. The equations are discretized by a finite-difference method in a curvilinear coordinate system. The interface capturing method was applied to simulation of a ships waves, including wave-breaking. A modification of the level-set method is proposed to find the free surface shape clearly and without difficulty of the implemation of the boundary conditions for the distance function. In order to obtain a high resolution of wave height, a constrained interpolated profile (CIP) algorithm is adopted. In order to check the advantage of the CIP method, computations by two numerical methods, the CIP and the 3rd-order up-wind scheme, were compared. The computations for a Wigley hull in restricted waterways were performed and compared with experiments. The phenomena of ships waves in restricted waterways are discussed in order to understand the mechanism of wave-breaking in relation to the change in water depth along a waterway.     

Analysis of students’ perceptions of seafaring career in China based on artificial neural network and genetic programming

Research indicates that the worldwide shortage of qualified seafarers has been due to the rapidly increasing world merchant fleet on the one hand and the difficulty of attracting and retaining people in the industry on the other. The paper argues that in the context of the Chinese shipping industry, the high “wastage” is one of the major contributors to the shortage. The aims of the research are to examine the motives of students studying nautical courses; identify the key factors affecting nautical students to choose seafaring career, and to predict students’ career choice behavior. The research finds that (a) those who had a clear sense of their future career when enrolled in the nautical studies tend to choose a seafaring career and remain active for a longer period of time; (b) high wage is the most important factor affecting students’ decisions to choose seafaring as a career; (c) prolonged separation from family, job opportunities ashore, and concern about children’s growth and education are among the top three factors for students not to choose a seafaring career or to quit it early; and (d) nautical students’ career choice behaviors can be predicted through the use of artificial neural network (ANN) and genetic programming (GP) with five rules being generated. This novel methodological approach, a combination of ANN and GP, has been proven to be effective in analyzing complex variables and in generating rules.     

MOC work meeting on constructing an innovative transport industry

Objective: vitality, motivation and strength put together At the beginning of this year, Chinese central party and the state council held a national science and technology conference, and made a strategic decision on sticking to the route of self independ…     

The 2007 work meeting of national waterborne transport

The 2007 work meeting of national waterborne transport was convened in Beijing on July 5, a date to be for ever remembered by the Chinese rivers, lakes and seas, for on this date waterborne transport was re-positioned and the clarion of marching toward a strong shipping country was blown. The sound swept across the rivers and lakes and surged over the col-orful shipping lines on the seas.     

Study on fast calibration of a ULA's gain and phase error

Array calibration is important in engineering practice. In this paper, fast calibration methods for a ULA's gain and phase errors both in far and near fields are proposed. In the far field, using a single sound source without exact orientation, this method horizontally rotates the array exactly once, performs eigen value decomposition for the covariance matrix of received data, then computes the gain and phase error according to the formulas. In the near field, using the same single sound source, it is necessary to rotate the array horizontally at most three times, build equations according to geometric relations, then solve them. Using the formula proposed in this paper, spherical waves are modified into plane waves. Then eigen values decomposition is performed. These two calibration methods were shown to be valid by simulation and are fast, accurate and easy to use. Finally, an analysis of factors influencing estimation precision is given.     

The subjective measurement of seafarers’ fatigue levels and mental symptoms

Human error is the most important factor causing many ship accidents in maritime industry despite advanced technology and international regulations. Fatigue in seafarers is a well-known problem and a serious cause of ship accidents. There are many factors unique to the marine environment raising the potential for fatigue at sea. Due to the difficulties in measuring human fatigue and also in suggesting fatigue to be a root cause of accident, it is important to devise methods to detect and quantify the fatigue and mental symptoms. In this study, ‘Piper Fatigue Scale’ (PFS) has been used for measuring fatigue level and ‘Symptom Checklist 90- Revised’ (SCL-90-R) for detecting the severity of mental symptoms. Data analyses were performed using the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) software. According to the results of PFS analysis, a slight degree of fatigue is detected in all sub-dimensions of the scale. According to the results of SCL-90-R analysis, the distress of mental symptoms perceived by seafarers is not generally highly detected. In conclusion, the purpose of this study is to determine, by using subjective measurements, the fatigue level and mental symptoms among seafarers caused by working conditions on-board.     

Sound scattering from rough bubbly ocean surface based on modified sea surface acoustic simulator and consideration of various incident angles and sub-surface bubbles’ radii

The aim of the present study is to improve the capabilities and precision of a recently introduced Sea Surface Acoustic Simulator (SSAS) developed based on optimization of the Helmholtz–Kirchhoff–Fresnel (HKF) method. The improved acoustic simulator, hereby known as the Modified SSAS (MSSAS), is capable of determining sound scattering from the sea surface and includes an extended Hall–Novarini model and optimized HKF method. The extended Hall–Novarini model is used for considering the effects of sub-surface bubbles over a wider range of radii of sub-surface bubbles compared to the previous SSAS version. Furthermore, MSSAS has the capability of making a three-dimensional simulation of scattered sound from the rough bubbly sea surface with less error than that of the Critical Sea Tests (CST) experiments. Also, it presents scattered pressure levels from the rough bubbly sea surface based on various incident angles of sound. Wind speed, frequency, incident angle, and pressure level of the sound source are considered as input data, and scattered pressure levels and scattering coefficients are provided. Finally, different parametric studies were conducted on wind speeds, frequencies, and incident angles to indicate that MSSAS is quite capable of simulating sound scattering from the rough bubbly sea surface, according to the scattering mechanisms determined by Ogden and Erskine. Therefore, it is concluded that MSSAS is valid for both scattering mechanisms and the transition region between them that are defined by Ogden and Erskine.     

The impact of the Panama Canal expansion on Panama’s maritime cluster

The Panama Canal is currently in the process of a major expansion effort. After the new set of locks is opened in 2016, significantly larger ships can traverse the Canal. The current lock system has been in place for over 100 years, even though the size of ocean-going vessels has expanded considerably. One impact is on Panama’s maritime cluster. It is expected that the expansion will result in greater demand for many of the goods and services provided by the cluster. This article examines the economic impact of the Canal expansion on Panama’s maritime cluster. Clusters of economic activity can result in economies of agglomeration and supply chain network effects. Without these economies and network effects, clusters would not have a competitive advantage over businesses that are not in a cluster. It is expected that with a larger cluster, both agglomerative economies and network effects will increase. But, which cluster components will grow and which will not be affected to a great extent? To what extent will bottlenecks appear? These are some of the questions that this article addresses.     

Research on the influence of action between fin and anti-rolling tank on the integrated stabilization effect

Through analyzing the roll model of the integrated system of fin and anti-rolling tank, this paper uses binomial equation to simplify the module and check how the approximate parameters simulate the original function. Based on the simplified module, the influence of fin and anti-rolling tank on the coefficient items of the roll module is discussed, and the influencing factors between fin and anti-rolling tank are analysed. And through simulation, the influence of action between fin and anti-rolling tank on the static characteristics, and the integrated stabilization effect, are analyzed.     

Daily Maersk’s impacts on shipper’s supply chain inventories and implications for the liner shipping industry

The liner shipping industry has long been characterized by a weekly sailing frequency and schedule unreliability. This research is motivated by the launch of the revolutionary “Daily Maersk” service in late 2011, which introduced daily departures and “absolute reliability” in the Asia–North Europe trade lane. This article analyzes Daily Maersk’s impacts on a shipper’s supply chain inventories and profound implications for the liner shipping industry as a game changer. The quantitative analyses show that the impact of more frequent sailings is most significant on a shipper’s cycle stock, while improving schedule reliability substantially reduces safety stock and pipeline stock. Daily Maersk is most valuable for products that have high value density, high inventory holding cost ratio, low demand variability, and high service level (SL) requirement. These findings imply that the trend of liner alliance/merger/acquisition is likely to continue or even accelerate as shipping lines consolidate fleet capacity to offer more frequent sailings. Rival carriers may step up their involvement in terminal operations to improve schedule reliability. They also need to rethink about their SL targets and clearly define their preferred customer segments.     

An investigation of forecast horizon and observation fit’s influence on an econometric rate forecast model in the liner shipping industry

This paper evaluates the influence of forecast horizon and observation fit on the robustness and performance of a specific freight rate forecast model used in the liner shipping industry. In the first stage of the research, a forecast model used to predict container freight rate development is presented by exploring the relationship between individual company’s rates and aggregated market rates, and thus assists in dealing with uncertainty and market volatility for a given business situation. In the second stage, a design of experiment approach is applied to highlight the influence of the forecast horizon and observation fit and their interactions on the forecast model’s performance. The results underline the complicated nature of creating a suitable forecast model by balancing business needs, a desire to fit a good model and achieve high accuracy. There is strong empirical evidence from this study; that a robust model is preferable, that overfitting is a true danger, and that a balance must be achieved between forecast horizon and the number of observations used to fit the model. In addition, methodological guidance has also been provided on how to test, design, and choose the superior model for business needs.     

The choice of speed and clearance for RAS on 3D method

In this paper, a 3D source distribution technique is used to calculate the coupled motions between two ships which advance in the wave with the same speed. The numerical results of coupled motions for a frigate and a supply ship have a good agreement with the experimental results. Based on the 3D coupled motions of two ships, a spectral analysis is employed to clearly observe the effect of speed, clearance and wave heading on the significant relative motion amplitude (SRMA) of two ships.The method presented in this paper will be helpful to select suitable clearance, speed and wave heading for underway replenishment at sea(RAS).     

The 9th International Workshop on Ship and Marine Hydrodynamics(IWSH’2015)

The 9th International Workshop on Ship and Marine Hydrodynamics(IWSH’2015)will be held in Glasgow,UK on 26-28 August 2015.Aim:The IWSH conference was first held in Wuhan,China in 1999.Then it was held in Wuhan,Shanghai,Zhenjiang,Harbin,Shanghai and Seoul in subsequent every two years.These Conferences have drawn a variety of international delegates with a common interest in ship and     

Study on fast calibration of a ULA＇s gain and phase error

Array calibration is important in engineering practice. In this paper, fast calibration methods for a ULA＇s gain and phase errors both in far and near fields are proposed. In the far field, using a single sound source without exact orientation, this method horizontally rotates the array exactly once, performs eigen value decomposition for the covariance matrix of received data, then computes the gain and phase error according to the formulas. In the near field, using the same single sound source, it is necessary to rotate the array horizontally at most three times, build equations according to geometric relations, then solve them. Using the formula proposed in this paper, spherical waves are modified into plane waves. Then eigen values decomposition is performed. These two calibration methods were shown to be valid by simulation and are fast, accurate and easy to use. Finally, an analysis of factors influencing estimation precision is given.