Climate change effects navy requirements

Climate change and sustainability goals force the maritime industry to make a big change. The industry needs to shift from fossil fuels to cleaner solutions, and has to make operations as energy efficient as possible. This also applies for navies all around the world. New goals and rules might apply even more for a navy fleet, thus setting an example for the industry.

Sustainable technical solutions

Sustainability goals require us to think differently about our technical solutions in the defence industry. The specifications of navy vessels and equipment include solutions for alternative fuels like methanol and LNG and energy saving solutions like heat recovery. These requirements have a major impact on the designs of the vessel.

Scheldt River first dredger on LNG

The storage on board of alternative fuels, such as LNG or methanol, requires larger storage tanks. This puts even more pressure on the already limited space on board navy vessels. How can you still add all the requirements for the operational profile to the design? This is a challenge we have tackled several times in the commercial market already. For instance in the design of the Spartacus and the award winning Scheldt River.

screen shot of vessel in computational fluid dynamics

Hydrodynamic performance of a vessel with CFD

In our design we also look at the hull shape to optimise its form with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for interpreting a vessel’s hydrodynamic performance. Resistance and propulsion characteristics are important to the overall performance of a vessel. Small changes in geometry or operating conditions can lead to significant variations. These can be easily modelled in CFD, providing quick and detailed full-scale results. In this way, we can compare a higher number of design options in less time, which leads to more efficient outcomes.