Photo: HSVA
Photo: HSVA
Photo: Vebjø rn Guttorm sen
Photo: HSVA
Photo: HSVA
HSVA
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Dr Uwe Hollenbach in the middle together with Jost Bergmann, DNV Business Director, Container Ships (left) and Georgios Teriakidis, Marketing & Business Development Manager, DNV Piraeus.
“To improve transparency and the reliability of speed trial results, an industry standard for performing and analysing ship speed trials is needed,” says Dr Hollenbach. The Joint Industry Project “Sea Trial Analysis” (STA) initiated by Dutch model basin MARIN has developed a common methodology for speed trials of new ships coming into service. The International Towing Tank Conference, of which HSVA is a member, is now seeking to establish the standard internationally via IMO. Fuel-saving devices There is an “over-selling by many marine equipment manufacturers of the products and miracle cures”, wrote Niko Wijnolst, professor emeritus in shipping innovation, in Lloyd’s List on 11 May. He says that modern ships, which in general are well designed, benefit
very little, if at all, from these fancy and very expensive energy-saving devices. A major obstacle when promoting fuel-saving measurements is how to reliably measure the alleged savings from the various devices. Further, Dr Hollenbach points out the problems of durability. “Flow phenomena, especially at the rear end and near the propeller, are very complicated.” In the 1980s, for example, many ship owners added the trailing guide wheel (Grimmsche Leitrad), an additional propeller-like device that uses the propeller stream to generate additional thrust. “A great idea,” says Dr Hollenbach, “but it turned out not to be robust enough.” A fate some devices today may easily share. Maybe, he suggests, it would be best to just clean the hull and propeller twice a year. That, too, very much boosts efficiency.
Dr Uwe Hollenbach Uwe Hollenbach, head of the resistance and propulsion department at HSVA, is a naval engineer and sailor. The hull that smoothly cuts through the waters is what drives him. Before joining HSVA six years ago, Dr Hollenbach gained experience working for Kiel-based Lindenau Shipyard, the Germanischer Lloyd classification society, the Ship Design & Consult (SDC) consultancy company and Blohm&Voss Shipyards. HSVA Hamburgische Schiffbau-Versuchsanstalt (Hamburg Shipbuilding Laboratory), a private institute for applied research in all marine hydrodynamic areas, such as ship and offshore technologies in open water and ice. Facilities include a cavitation tunnel for propeller and rudder testing, an ice model basin and a towing tank, allowing the use of large models of up to 13 metres. In 2013, the institute celebrates its centenary.
container ship update NO. 1 2012 |
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