Bubble screen helping capture behaviour of fluid during flykick
It is an interesting question in performance swimming, especially in longer events, is for how long and with what intensity an underwater fly kick can be used? A more intense, mainly lower leg intense kick may well allow a faster speed but is it worth the energy cost compared to a more whole body wave motion ?
Image from dynamic motion capture showing key point locations and corresponding element positions
This work carried out by the performance sport engineering laboratory used a combination of kinematic measurements of a world class swimmer, an applied fluid dynamics code using Lighthill’s method and a state-of-the-art muscoskeletal analysis code to use the measured motion, coupled with estimates of fluid loading to evaluate the likely muscle activity required and hence energy cost of two approaches to underwater fly kick. Optimisation methods were used to generalise the approach from a specific swimmer to a more general result.
Anybody image of same poistion taht allows estimates of muscle group engagement
So how should swimmers trade-off their techniques during a race? Watching the best, especially as they proceed through heats to final clearly shows that they understand that the trade-off is there to be made. But what is clear to all is that having a great underwater fly kick techniques that allows a swimmer to access both methods is a powerful tool to deploy in competition.
Despite the fact that shipping is such an efficient form of
transport, it still accounts for ~2% of world emissions. With 50,000+
commercial vessels operating in our oceanâs there is plenty of room to improve
the efficiency of these vessels to help our planet. This view is supported by
shippingâs regulators and there is increasing legislative pressure to reduce
greenhouse gases emissions. This increase in legislation is in combination with
the increase in the cost of compliant fuels and has led to a high demand for
solutions to reduce fuel-consumption of commercial vessels.
Therefore, Dr Adam Sobey and Dr Przemyslaw Grudniewski from the Maritime Engineering group at the University of Southampton have partnered with Theyr ltd to create an efficient voyage optimisation solution for commercial vessels. The project will focus on combining real-time high-fidelity met-ocean data, provided by Theyr ltd, with a world-leading Genetic Algorithm, developed previously by Dr Sobey and Dr Grudniewski. This will increase the robustness and effectiveness of voyage planning, allowing vessels to avoid poor weather and travel at efficient speeds to reduce greenhouse gases emissions.
The project is funded by a grant from the ÂŁ4.8 million SPRINT program (SPace Research and Innovation Network for Technology), which was developed to help merge commercial data and technologies with innovative university research. Furthermore, it is planned to utilise the IRDIS 5 supercomputer, the UKâs largest academic supercomputer located in University of Southampton, to accelerate the verification process. We hope a number of student projects will be developed in parallel to this research to help the team solve these challenging issues and provide creative solutions to provide real world impact.
An Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) towing two Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) out to shore form the port of Kalamata, Greece
Dr Blair Thornton, Associate Professor of Marine Autonomy in the
FSI group and Director of the Centre of Excellence for In situ and Remote
Intelligent Sensing (IRIS) has recently been awarded the 2020 Waterway Technology Award in
Japan as part of Team KUROSHIO, Japanâs entry to the $7M Shell Ocean Discovery
X-Prize.
Team
KUROSHIO recently placed 2nd in the 2019 Shell Ocean Discovery X-Prize,
receiving a $1.1M runner up cheque at the award ceremony held in June 2019 in
Monaco.
The Shell Ocean
Discovery X-Prize was an international robotics competition
that saw 27 teams from around the world to compete for a total prize
of $7M.
The competition was held in
Kalamata, Greece in December 2018, and required
teams to survey a 500km2 region of seafloor located 15 nautical
miles from shore at a depth of 4000m in the Mediterranean sea. At 4000m depth, maps
generated from ships equipped with state of the art acoustic mapping devices
would only achieve a resolution of ~40m, but teams here were required to
generate maps with better than 5m resolution, meaning that they would need to
deploy submersible robots the achieve this feat. Teams had
48hours to complete this ambitious challenge, where all operations from the
moment the robotic platforms entered the water at the port of Kalamata until
their eventual return to the port had to be carried with not human
intervention.
Team
KUROSHIOâs entry consisted of two, 4000m depth rated Autonomous Underwater
Vehicles (AUVs) and an Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV). The team was able to
successfully transit from the port to the survey site and deploy their systems
to survey over 100km2 of the seafloor in the available time. Once the systems
found their way back to shore, the team had a further 48 hours to process the
data collected by the submersibles, to determine their location in GPS denied
underwater environment, and generate 5m resolution maps of the seafloor in the
surveyed region. Team KUROSHIO placed second to GEBCO Alumni, an international
team consisting of 30+ members.
In
addition to receiving the $1.1M runner up prize for their achievement in the
competition, the members of Team KUROSHIO were invited by Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe to be congratulated by him directly, and receive the 2020 Waterway
Technology Award for this outstanding achievement.
If
you want to try your hand at Maritime Robotics, you can find current
opportunities to do a PhD in the subject here
If
you are an undergraduate and want to get involved, you can take SESS6072
Maritime Robotics of contact any member of staff about projects and internships
in Maritime Robotics.
As we consider how best to use autonomous systems in the maritime sector it becomes ever more important to consider the human factor in the design and safe operations of ships. Current third year ship science student Dhwani Oakley recently presented at the Royal Institution of Naval Architects(RINA) International Conference on Human Factors at RINA HQ in London.
The motivation for the conference as stated by RINA reflects the growing awareness of the importance of human factors within ship design. The work of naval architects and marine engineers directly influences the operability and safety of ships and seafarers and decisions made at the design stage influence human behaviour. Therefore an improved understanding of human factors and ergonomics by engineers can help us identify and âdesign outâ hazards which cause accident and injury.
The
conference included discussion around a wide range of human factors topics
including:
The integration of human factors into the design process
Practical applications of human factors engineering
Improving habitability
The design of navigation & control systems and onboard operational organisation and teamwork.
The design for safety and performance
Dhwani delivered a presentation about the role of Class in human factors and the development of ergonomics guidance for safe access and egress, Dhwani’s work was carried out while working as an intern last summer with Lloyd’s Register’s (LR) Global Technology Centre. LR are also based on our University Boldrewood Innovation Campus (SO16 7QF)
If you have a little more free time over the holiday period then one way to relax might be to watch the second series produced by windfall films for channel 5 on Great British Ships. Our own Professor Dominic Hudson takes part in the episode on RMS Queen Mary. A fascinating episode, especially with respect to Queen Mary’s role as a fast troop carrier in WWII.
One aspect related to its encounter with a rogue wave and its resultant large angle of roll. An effect very nicely illustrated using the wave maker system in our Boldrewood towing tank. The programme presenter took to a kayak to demonstrate how vessels can safely pass through large waves head on but are more challenged when side on. If you watch carefully (at about 30 or so minutes in) although the kayak does indeed capsize in the extreme wave there might have been a little bit of paddle assist…
This is not the first time our towing tank has been used for TV programmes, see for example the BBC documentary commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland. The biggest impact so far is Dr Sally Bennett’s video of a large amplitude regular wave which so far has reached 2.9M views on YouTube.
The annual Yacht Racing Forum of 2019 took place in
Bilbao, Spain during 25th and 26th of November. A host of key stakeholders participated including yacht
designers, yacht builders, pro sailors, academics, event organizers and
equipment manufacturers, all from the forefront of technology and the most
important international yacht racing events such as Americaâs Cup, Ocean Race,
Olympics, IMOCAs etc.
Awesome engineered foil
The University of Southampton represented at this very prestigious event by MSc student Mr. Menelaos Xanthis. He presented about work used for his MSc dissertation on âKeel failures: Â A probabilistic structural reliability study using Monte Carlo simulationâ. This project was conducted under the supervision of Dr James I.R. Blake and was presented in the session âNew Talents in Yacht Designâ.
Several topics of great interest were discussed during the forum.
In the field of sailing management, the main topics where about managing
events, races or sailing teams, but also about the future and evolution of
sailing racing regulations.
In the design and technology field, the most prominent and
recurring theme was the evolution of foiling. It was a common belief among the
participants that foil size and importance will not stop to grow in the
foreseeable future, and also because of the complexity of the system,
electronics will be employed more frequently.
Of course, as in
every other aspect of human activity, the topics of the environment and the
climate were prominent. Of particular interest were the topics of environmentally
friendly equipment including hulls, clothing etc, and especially the inability
to produce recyclable hulls of high racing ability, but equally the impact that
events and gear can have on the environment and how this can be mitigated.
It is also worth mentioning that as discussed in the
meteorology and climate session, the changes in weather patterns are expected
to impact heavily the ocean yacht racing events. Icebergs will appear more
often and in areas where previously were not observed, and also the hurricane
season will be less predictable, as will be the path of hurricanes. All these
phenomena are expected to open new routes not previously accessible, but also
potentially endanger participants in racing events.
The forum concluded with the announcement of the
Racing Yacht Forum of 2020 which will be hosted in Portsmouth.
How we deal with the seemingly endless tide of discarded plastics within our environment and in particular our oceans is an immediate challenge. Several teams of current Ship Science students participated in a competition organised by the Western joint branch of ImarEST and RINA. The challenge was to find a design solution that could cost-effectively collect and remove macro plastic from the ocean. University of Southampton teams were placed first and second. Diogo Figuiera Nunes, Alex Pardoe and Tom Kenwright proposed Oceanum Nova. A concept design for a fleet of catamarans that would act as mobile platforms for plastic removal. The USP of their design was the fact that it brought together many different designs that have already been tried and tested and were therefore confident that they would work.
GA of proposed catamaran
We face many maritime engineering challenges with regard to dealing with the legacy of past generations as well as the challenges of how we reduce future ship emissions. Modules such as a our SESS6074 Marine Safety: risk, environment and law equip students for the wider challenges of the future.
Our Master of Engineering degree has been updated to reflect the future challenges we all face in engineering in the maritime environment. We now have six pahways reflecting the challenges of decarbonisation, increased autonomy and digitalisation.:
(i)Advanced Computational Engineering
(ii) Marine Engineering and Autonomy
(iii) Naval Architecture
(iv) International Naval Architecture
(v) Ocean Energy and Offshore Engineering
(vi) Yacht and High Performance Craft
In future posts we will explore something of the exciting aspects of each pathway at Southampton.
It is an exciting time in maritime autonomy especially in the UK. The recent Shell XPrize competition stimulated the sector to show how much progress had been made in the ability to survey the deep ocean seabed. Our own Associate Professor Blair Thornton was an integral part of the team that came second. The winning team’s uncrewed surface vessel Sea-kit was built in Essex and recently crossed the English channel autonomously .
Render of Mayflower 400 concept – courtesy of Dr Nicholls Lee, Whiskerstay
An even greater adventure will take place next year when a Plymouth based partnership will attempt to send a USV across the Atlantic to commemorate the Mayflower’s voyage to the America’s in 1620. It is great to see such ambition. We are delighted to see double Ship Science graduate Dr Rachel Nicholls-Lee’s company Whiskerstay involved in the design of the Mayflower Autonomous Ship and its futuristic design. The challenge has excited interest worldwide with Professor Stephen Turnock interviewed by NBC in USA about some of the challenges the Mayflower AS is expected to encounter.
ASV Fortitude under test at Timsbury Lake
Two groups of our final year Ship Science Group Design project students explored some of the challenges and developed our ASV Fortitude between 2014 and 2016. Currently being refitted Fortitude is now one of our group of ASV based in our Maritime Robotics Laboratory led by Dr Jon Downes alongside our ASV CCAT3.
University of Southampton C-Cat3
We see autonomy as central to many future developments in maritime engineering and our new look theme in Marine Engineering and Autonomy for our MSc and MEng pathway reflects this with modules such as our 15 credit Master’s module in SESS6072 led by Dr Nick Townsend on Maritime Robotics which was one of the first in the world when it launched 5 years ago.
We were delighted to see one of our MSc Maritime Engineering Science student John Hayes present his impressive project on the response of a moored floating offshore wind turbine at the final of this year Maritime Masters competition.
He used our 138 m long Boldrewood wave/towing tank with 1:91 scale model of a spar buoy style floating wind turbine platform to investigate the level of motions that would be expected if it encountered a Rogue wave. This was just one of an impressive set of MSc projects finished this summer by our MSc class of 18/19
rogue wave encounters a floating wind turbine at model scale
In the video the rogue wave encounters a floating offshore wind turbine platform in the Boldrewood towing tank at the university of Southampton. A set of waves of appropriate amplitude and phase are generated from our 12 paddle wave maker so they coalesce as a short sequence of extreme amplitude waves at a precise location in the tank. In this case one of our MSc in Maritime Engineering Science had built a 1:91 scale model of a spar buoy style floating platform to measure the motion response with a realistic mooring arrangement. Motions were captured above and below the water using our 12 camera Qualisys system including the mooring line response.
In honour of this year’s theme for World Maritime Day 2019 on 26th September, we are delighted to announce our networking event Empowering Women in the Maritime Community. We will be holding a Q&A/networking session for women in the maritime sector, who will be sharing what they do, how they got there, and any advice they might have. The session will be relatively informal, with lots of opportunities to ask questions and garner advice. More details to follow next month: RAENg Visiting Professor Dr Penny Jeffcoate
The evnt is being coordinated by Dr Penny Jeffcoate our RAEng Visiting Professor – Marine Energy Technologies and Associated Infrastructure.
Penny joined us in 2018 as part of the Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor scheme, alongside her current role at tidal energy developer Sustainable Marine Energy as their R&D Manager. This industry-into-academia initiative aims to utilise the experience of Visiting Professors to enhance student learning as well as the employability and skills of UK engineering graduates, whilst strengthening external partnerships with industry. Under the objectives of this scheme, industry practitioners participate in course development, face-to-face teaching and mentoring of engineering undergraduates at the host university for three years.
Penny worked with Maritime Engineering and Ship Science programmes in 2018-2019 to help develop the Renewable Energy (SESS6067) and Group Design Projects courses for final year students, to give them practice in industry methods, particularly in reporting and critical reasoning. She will be working with the department this year to expand this interaction and give students insight into designing to client specification and management practices. This develop will continue until the end of her placement in 2021 and will hopefully be used for many years of student intake to come. The RAEng scheme also promotes the encouragement of traditionally minority entities in engineering, such as women and BAME. Penny will therefore be organising an event in support of this yearâs IMO World Maritime Day: Empowering Women in the Maritime Community.
