Simulation Tool News

The IMO's mandate to reduce emissions 50% by 2050 has spurred collaboration in the maritime power sector, with the likes of MAN Energy Solutions, Corvus Energy, DNV GL and HYCAS announcing earlier this year astudy of a hybrid solution that uses batteries in a container feeder vessel, assessing savings in both emissions and costs.Dr Alexander Knafl, MAN Energy Solutions, presented the results of a new study which examines examines the cost effectiveness of hybrid power solutions in a 1,700 TEU container feeder vessel.the potential of hybrid power solutions in light of tightening regulations on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.\“There were several factors that went into the selection of a container feeder vessel for the study…

Deltamarin said it aims to help ship owners and operators boost vessels’ energy efficiency with its new smart simulation tool, offering several items with significant fuel saving potential (3-6 percent of total fuel costs). Deltamarin’s “Energy and Environmental Efficiency” (EEE) ship design process includes several dimensions, such as practical design tools for modeling the energy consumption, a consistent follow-up method of the performance indicators and a bunch of useful project practices that enable taking the design ideas and results and implementing them in real life. Energy flow modeling is at the heart of the EEE work, and Deltamarin sad it has recently developed a new-generation design tool for this purpose.

DNV GL has awarded the Chinese scrubber manufacturer Shanghai Bluesoul Environmental Technology with an Approval in Principle (AiP) in recognition of the technical feasibility of the BlueSulf scrubber system. The AiP is the first of its kind for a scrubber according to the new DNV GL rule set, and the first for a Chinese scrubber manufacturer. DNV GL will also provide advisory services to Bluesoul, including hardware-in-the-loop testing, simulations using the DNV GL COSMOSS tool and analyses using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). “We are very pleased to be the first Chinese supplier to receive this AiP and it demonstrates BlueSulf’s design in compliance with DNV GL class rules requirements, by using the sodium alkali method to clean exhaust gases.

Kongsberg Maritime is working with Norwegian shipping company Østensjo and the Norwegian Marine Technology Research Institute (Marintek) on a new research and development project for operations using motion compensated and telescopic gangways, typically found on accommodation vessels in the offshore sector. The project is part of the Norwegian Government’s innovation program MAROFF (Maritime Activities and Offshore Operations). Accessing any fixed or floating offshore structure via a vessel can be challenging due to the movement against the structure…

One of the world's premiere ship repair facilities, ASRY based in Bahrain, unveils its move into new vessel construction. ASRY signed an agreement with the Bahrain Coast Guard to design and construct a new Landing Craft for the transport of vehicles, potable water, and fuel. The craft, potentially the first of two, will be delivered in 2016. The contract, worth approximately $2.8m, marks ASRY’s first newbuild contract since launching the New Construction & Engineering division, which is tasked with growing the new construction program at the yard.

BMT ARGOSS, a subsidiary of BMT Group Ltd, has assisted Liverpool Pilots in its planning for the visit of Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2 to Liverpool in May 2015. Liverpool Pilots have used BMT’s ‘REMBRANDT’, real and fast time simulation and training tool to undertake detailed planning of how the three vessels will manoeuvre in close proximity in the River Mersey, at the narrowest point close to the Cunard Building downtown. Cunard's Three Queens will visit the Mersey as part of the celebrations to mark the 175th anniversary of the famous cruise line.

The United States Maritime Resource announced that its training partner, Harvey Gulf International Marine, recently launched the PSV Harvey Energy, the first LNG-fueled vessel to enter service in North America. In March, the PSV Harvey Energy began working on charter to Shell in the Gulf of Mexico shortly after the vessel’s first successful LNG bunkering operation. Middletown, R.I.-based USMRC developed the LNG bunkering safety training course for Harvey Gulf in 2014 as it prepared to launch its first dual fuel offshore supply vessel.

When a new or expanded port is planned on an inland waterway, how do you assure the civil marine engineers and ship operators of feasibility and operability while at the same time allaying the fears of local residents that their quality of life and local environment will not be significantly spoiled? “Simple,” says Paul Morter, Business Manager for BMT ARGOSS’s brown water version of their tried and tested ship simulator REMBRANDT. “You take the ships and the port to them. This is exactly what we did towards the end of 2014. It was BMT ARGOSS inland waterways specialist Johannes ‘Hans’ Veldman who identified a potential market for brown water simulation through his work experience with the Dutch inland waterway networks.

BMT ARGOSS a subsidiary of BMT Group Ltd., has developed a specialized version of its REMBRANDT simulation and training tool for use in scenarios involving inland waterways. Developed to support control systems and navigation charts used by vessels working on inland waterways, BMT describes REMBRANDT-INLAND as an accurate, capable and flexible alternative to Full Mission Bridge (FMB) marine simulators, delivering equivalent functionality at a lower price point. REMBRANDT allows the user to load any port…

BMT ARGOSS and BMT Surveys, subsidiaries of BMT Group Ltd, the international design, engineering and risk management consultancy, announced an innovative new service as part of its marine casualty investigation portfolio. Utilizing REMBRANDT, the simulation tool developed by BMT ARGOSS, the newly formed Collision Reconstruction and Simulation Team will be able to accurately reconstruct specific incidents involving collisions to identify the root cause and any lessons that can be learned.

BMT Asia Pacific Pte Ltd (BMT), says it has completed a concept design for the Material Off Loading Facility (MOLF) at Petroliam Nasional Berhad’s (Petronas’) proposed Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) complex in southeast Johor, Malaysia. The RAPID project will help to address the growing need for petroleum and commodity petrochemical products in the Asia Pacific region. The proposed RAPID refinery will have a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day that will produce naphtha and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) feedstock for the RAPID petrochemical complex…

Nordic marine energy technology company Minesto has developed a simulator to aid the development of its Deep Green marine power plant. According to Minestro, Deep Green is the only marine power plant that is able to cost efficiently produce electricity from low velocity tidal and ocean currents. The simulator has been developed in-house by Minesto’s own research and development department, and is in essence based on two existing open source programs: one for commercial flight simulation and one for marine vehicle simulation.

A century ago this year, the first ocean-going diesel ship in the world, the M/S Selandia, embarked on her maiden voyage. She was a technological wonder, and both her hull and engines were built by Burmeister & Wain (B&W) of Copenhagen, Denmark. B&W is now a part of MAN Diesel & Turbo — a company with 12,000 employees worldwide — and the marine low-speed business unit is located in Copenhagen. The unit has capitalized on B&W’s historic expertise to produce new engines that can weigh up to 2,800 metric tons and tower 16 meters high.

With funding from the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and supported by "Projektträger Jülich" (PTJ) (project sponsors Jülich), over the next three years Hamburg University of Technology, Mareval AG Hamburg and the maritime engineering company HeavyLift@Sea will conduct research into the improvement of tools for the simulation of offshore crane operations. The project is named HoOK - Hochseeoperationen mit Kranen [Offshore Operations with Cranes]. The goal is…

CD-adapco release STAR-CCM+ v8.02, a major new version of its integrated solution for multidisciplinary engineering problems. CD-adapco is the world's largest independent CFD focused CAE provider. "The STAR-CCM+ v8 releases are specifically aimed at increasing engineering productivity, making the software even easier to use and interact with, and significantly reducing the time required to get a high-quality solution," said Senior VP Product Management Jean-Claude Ercolanelli. Parts Based Meshing allows users to associate mesh definitions with geometric entities, resulting in greater control, better automation and reduced turnaround time.

Autoship Systems Corporation (ASC) of Vancouver, Canada announced the installation of its Autoload onboard stability software on Gjøa, one of the largest projects in the North Sea today. Gjøa's recoverable reserves are approximately 82 million barrels of oil and condensate and roughly 40 billion standard cubic metres of gas. More than 200 km of pipeline are to be laid at Gjøa as well as the cable that is going to supply the platform with power from shore. It will be the first floating platform to get its electricity from the mainland. This will mean a yearly reduction in emissions to the environment of 250,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Autoload is a real time monitoring and simulation tool for planning vessel stability.

The Executive Control Board of the National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) has awarded funding for eight new research projects as part of the Navy/Industry co-funded portfolio focusing on cost reduction in the U.S. shipbuilding and ship repair industry. These new projects, valued at approximately $16m including industry cost share, were among those proposed in response to an October 2009 Research Announcement. Fueled by Navy funding that is matched by cost share provided by industry teams, the NSRP collaboration periodically funds major R&D projects through which new technologies and innovative processes can be developed and implemented as a means of reducing shipbuilding and repair costs for the Navy and the industry at large.

DRS C3 System, Inc., Stevensville, Md., is being awarded a $7,935,427 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for research and development activities associated with integrated power system (IPS) advanced modules and IPS ship design tools. This effort supports the research and development of various alternative technologies associated with advanced power systems and development of ship design tools that support the design development of advanced IPS ship concepts and that quantifies technical risks associated with the integrated technology. DRS C3 System, Inc will develop an advanced hydrodynamics simulation tool and related ship design software and an advanced design, modeling & simulation tool for capability-based ship design that includes IPS technology.

Napa Ltd is continuing its research into the physics of a flooding vessel; this effort is part of Ship Flooding, a national research project on progressive flooding and damage stability of ships being conducted in Finland. The other partners are the Finnish Naval Research Institute, Technical Research Center of Finland (VTT), Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) and STX Finland Cruise Ltd. The project is funded in part by Tekes (the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation).

Simulation developer VSTEP announces the worldwide release of their maritime training and simulation software Ship Simulator Professional v2.0 and Instructor Station at the International Conference on Marine Simulation and Ship Maneuverability - MARSIM '09, in Panama. Aimed at maritime professionals, Ship Simulator Professional uses interactive 3D technology from the computer gaming industry to offer a high quality, professional maritime training and simulation tool. With highly realistic 3D visuals and maximum flexibility, Ship Simulator Professional software can be used in a wide range of setups, ranging from single or classroom use on standard desktop PC's to a completely integrated full mission bridge setup or a combination of all. (www.shipsimpro.com)

Spanish engineering contractor, Tecnicas Reunidas (TR), has placed an order for a Dynamic Simulation Study of critical depletion compressors with Kongsberg Maritime's Oil & Gas division Process Simulation & Optimization Business Unit. The USD600M Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract was awarded to TR-Oman by Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) in 2006 with completion anticipated for Q2 2009. The scope of supply includes a series of compressors designed to increase output of gas and to ensure a more stable flow. Kongsberg Maritime, using its proprietary dynamic simulation tool ASSETT, will model a section of the plant.

Pioneering trials measuring the ship evacuation performance of passengers in conditions including smoke and rolling motion, are being conducted as part of a research project led by British Maritime Technology Ltd (BMT) and co-funded by the European Union FP5 Competitive and Sustainable Growth program and Precarn (funding for Canadian partners). The aim is to produce a FIRE-EXIT simulation tool that will equip the marine industry with a ship evacuation, fire and abandonment simulation tool that is a significant improvement over the level of reliability…

Kongsberg Maritime's D-SPICE simulation tool has been used to develop and implement a sophisticated Operator Training Simulator for the gas treatment and liquefaction plant at National Grid Transco's (NGT) Glenmavis storage and peak shaving LNG plant in Scotland. Delivered in February 2007, the D-SPICE based Operator Training Simulator features a dynamic simulation model that covers the Selexol gas pre-treatment plant as well as the liquefaction plant, which is based on the Black and Veatch PRICO LNG liquefaction process. The inherent flexibility of the D-SPICE system enables it to be used at all stages of a plant's development including concept…