Review of containership stowage plans for full routes

Containership stowage plans are a pivotal teaches in the system of container transportation. With the increasing containers shipping, planning containership stowage has become more and more complicated. So intelligent stowage planning for containerships is of great significance. An effective stowage plan may improve efficiency of transportation system. First, the progress of containership stowage plan at home and abroad is reviewed, including the latest developments, such as the application of various optimization methods and computer techniques to the problem. Then, the complexities of the problem are discussed and areas where investigations are still needed are pointed out. This will provide a reference for further research on the subject.     

Optimisation of laser-welded sandwich panels with multiple design constraints

This paper investigates the possibilities for structural optimisation of laser-welded sandwich panels with an adhesively bonded core and uni-directional vertical webs. Closed form expressions for the equivalent stiffness and elastic buckling strength of laser-welded sandwich panels are discussed and numerically evaluated to demonstrate the effect of parameter variations on stress and deflection. Due to the number of design variables and constraints a structural optimisation method based on the method of moving asymptotes (MMA) is implemented and used to minimise the structural weight per square meter of panel for a typical accommodation deck configuration. It is concluded that, within the span of production parameters and rule requirements, substantial improvements can be made with or without an adhesively bonded core. Without core material and without any changes to the surrounding structure the structural weight for standard production panels can be reduced considerably, by reducing the face plate thickness and by using thinner and fewer webs. Additional weight can be saved by removing all but a few webs and injecting low-cost polyurethane foam into the cavities, giving added thermal–acoustic insulation, or by incorporating a more structural core with greater thickness and higher density, by which the free span of the sandwich panel can be increased.     

Experimental investigations on a low frequency horizontal pendulum ocean kinetic energy harvester for underwater mooring platforms

In the interest of extending the operation time of underwater mooring platforms, it is promising and feasible to harvest energy from ocean. A low frequency horizontal pendulum ocean kinetic energy harvester for underwater mooring platforms was presented in this paper. Several series of experimental tests on energy harvesting were carried out. The present research investigates the influence of parameters including excitation frequency, excitation amplitude, inertia modification (ballasting) and pendulum rod length, on the energy harvesting performance. Results show that this type of horizontal pendulum energy harvester has the best performance at resonant frequencies 0.2, 0.25 and 0.3 Hz, with the pendulum pitch angle 3°, 4° and 5°, respectively. It is indicated that the energy harvester can slightly tune the natural frequency to meet the prominent excitation frequency through varying the pendulum pitch angle. The test results also show that the optimal output power take off damping is 30 or 40 Ω in most case, and the maximum average output power can reach 0.3 W, with high normalized power density of 3453.8 kg/m³. Similarly, the results show that three parameters, excitation amplitude, inertia modification (ballasting), and pendulum rod length, have a significant influence on the energy harvesting. This work constitutes a preliminary step towards the development of a low frequency horizontal pendulum ocean kinetic energy harvester for underwater mooring platforms.     

Thermodynamic analysis of alternative marine fuels for marine gas turbine power plants

The marine shipping industry faces challenges to reduce engine exhaust emissions and greenhouse gases (GHGs) from ships, and in particular, carbon dioxide. International regulatory bodies such as the International Maritime Organization and National Environmental Agencies of many countries have issued rules and regulations to drastically reduce GHG and emissions emanating from marine sources. This study investigates the possibility of using natural gas and hydrogen as alternative fuels to diesel oil for marine gas turbines and uses a mathematical model to assess the effect of these alternative fuels on gas turbine thermodynamic performance. Results show that since natural gas is categorized as a hydrocarbon fuel, the thermodynamic performance of the gas turbine cycle using natural gas was close to that of the diesel case. However, the gas turbine thermal efficiency was found to be slightly lower for natural gas and hydrogen fuels compared to diesel fuel.     

Parametric study on the effects of pile inclination angle on the response of batter piles in offshore jacket platforms

Offshore jacket-type platforms are attached to the seabed by long batter piles. In this paper, results from a finite element analysis, verified against experimental data, are used to study the effect of the pile’s inclination angle, and its interaction with the geometrical properties of the pile and the geotechnical characteristics of the surrounding soil on the behavior of the inclined piles supporting the jacket platforms. Results show that the inclination angle is one of the main parameters affecting the behavior of an offshore pile. We investigated the effect of the inclination angle on the maximum von Mises stress, maximum von Mises elastic strain, maximum displacement vector sum, maximum displacement in the horizontal direction, and maximum displacement in the vertical direction. The pile seems to have an operationally optimal degree of inclination of approximately 5°. By exceeding this value, the instability in the surrounding soil under applied loads grows extensively in all the geotechnical properties considered. Cohesive soils tend to display poorer results compared to grained soils.     

Interaction of two-dimensional impulsively started airfoils

Continuous vortieity panels were used to model general unsteady inviscid, incompressible, two-dimensional flows. The geometry of the airfoil was approximated by series of short straight segments having endpoints that lie on the actual surface. A piecewise linear, continuous distribution of vorticity over the airfoil surface was used to generate disturbance flow. The no-penetration condition was imposed at the midpoint of each segment and at discrete times. The wake was simulated by a system of point vortices, which moved at local fluid velocity. At each time step, a new wake panel with uniform vortieity distribution was attached to the trailing edge, and the condition of constant circulation around the airfoil and wake was imposed. A new expression for Kutta condition was developed to study the interference effect between two impulsively started NACA0012 airfoils. The tandem arrangement was found to he the most effective to enhance the lift of the rear airfoil. The interference effect between tidal turbine blades was shown clearly.     

Planning method for AUV region detection under ocean current

In this paper we present two strategies of AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) region detection and an approach to decompose the detection region according to the direction of the ocean current. In the task of local detection and identification, the algorithm against the ocean current was proposed. In the tasks of closing obstacle, going back or moving, the fuzzy logic theory was used to solve the effect of ocean current. In one of our strategies the concept of weighted journey based on the angle between heading and ocean current is suggested and the TSP‘s exact optimal result is utilized to solve the global path planning. Simulations demonstrate the feasibility of this approach.     

Modeling and software implementation of flight system for simulator of a new fighter

Real-time modeling and simulation of flight system are the key parts of simulator. After describing the architecture of simulator for a newer fighter, author presents the composition of flight system and its mathematic models. In this paper, aircraft is regarded as an elastic flight body. And a new integrated algorithm which can remedy the shortcoming of Euler method and four-element method is used to calculate the Eulerian angles of aircraft. Finally, the software implementation of the flight system is given in the paper.     

Chaotic synchronization based on nonlinear state-observer and its application in secure communication

Chaotic synchronization is a branch of chaotic control. Nowadays, the research and application of chaotic synchronization have become a hot topic and one of the development directions is for the research on chaos. In this paper, a universal nonlinear stateobserver is presented for a class of universal chaotic systems to realize the chaotic synchronization, according to the theory of state-observer in the modem control theory. And theoretic analysis and simulation results have illustrated the validity of the approach. Moreover, the approach of synchronization proposed in this paper is very easy, flexible and universal with high synchronization precision. When the approach is applied to secure communication, the results are satisfying.     

Strip method for a laterally drifting ship in waves

Lateral drift occurs due to the effects of wind forces, wave drifting forces, or both on ships sailing in actual seas. It is important therefore to investigate the influence of lateral drift on seakeeping performance for improved ship operation. The velocity potential was expanded as an asymptotic power series in terms of the lateral speed parameter, τ, defined as ω _e V ₀/g, where ω _e is the frequency of wave encounter; V ₀ denotes the lateral velocity, which is assumed to be sufficiently small; and g is the acceleration due to gravity. By combining this technique with the strip method, two sets of motion equations of all the hydrodynamic force coefficients for ship seakeeping were derived. The first set is for ships without lateral drift and is the same as the equations in the new strip method, and the second set is for the additional motions induced by lateral drift. It was found that all ship motion modes except surge are coupled when a ship drifts laterally in waves.