Final work : Performance analysis of a wind powered car carrier model

Abstract

This master thesis was led in KTH, Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, in the Maritime Robotics Laboratory. The topic of the master thesis is the performance analysis of a reduced wind powered cargo model. This boat is a reduced version of the full-scale concept called OceanBird, part of the Wind Powered Car Carrier (wPCC) project. This project is a collaboration between the shipping company Wallenius Marine, the marine technology company SSPA and the Royal Institute of Technology KTH, which aims to cut 90 % of the fuel emissions of such cargo. The full-size project is a car-carrier that will be 200 m long and have five 80 m high rigid sails able to carry 7000 cars on board. KTH has the privilege of having a reduced model, exactly 1/30 of the full scale Oceanbird, to test and study the boat. This model is 7 meters long and features four wings of 4 meters high made out of fiberglass that propel the boat by creating lift. Such research is very new and thus does not provide a lot of comparison with previous studies. The performance of the boat is evaluated by its ability to manoeuvre in varying weather conditions. Different criteria are analysed in order to help assess the performance of the full-scale boat. Both experimental results from sea testing and numerical results from a simulator, which was designed for this project, are investigated and compared throughout the thesis period. The input of the external conditions that were acting on the boat are used for comparison in the simulations. The results reflect clear observations on the behaviour of such sailing model. Furthermore, the quality of the simulations can be assessed through the interpretation of the discrepancies present between results. This leads to improvements of the coefficients and assumptions used in the simulations. Regarding the conclusions of this master thesis, future testing and data recollection will improve the accuracy of observations.