Review and Development of Ship-Engine Matching for a Robust Propulsion System Design

Abstract

The traditional procedure for engine-propeller matching stems from using empirically derived propeller performance curves with superimposition of the actual engine-hull-propeller performance curves. Every matching problem aims to determine the optimal operation points of the ship where there is efficient fuel-thrust conversion and preventing engine overload. However, from the beginning of research into the optimal matching problem, it was suggested that such a problem can be treated optimally as a controlled system problem. The identified gap in this present study focuses on a solution-based control system design for the engine-hull-propeller matching problem. In this work, MATLAB/SIMULINK was used to develop a model of the propulsion system defined by numerous input parameters of the hull, propeller, and engine conditions. The output parameters are the ship-propeller- engine-hull performance characteristics (thrust coefficient, torque coefficient, and the engine's rotational speed, n). A blind simulation was conducted using assumed data. Therefore, it was concluded that, the developed could be advanced for implementation with models in a towing tank experiment for self-propulsion assessment if fully developed. This will pave a way for a practical implementation in actual ship, contributing to sustainable development in ship operations and autonomous ship of the future.