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They have collaborated on it for years, and now work together better than ever before. Over the past five years, a group of engineers from various Damen companies all over the world has conducted a series of simulations in a virtual towing tank. Remote testing in a digital water basin.
Andrea at work
Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding was involved in the project, represented by Hydrodynamics Specialist Andrea Mikelic. The project is an initiative funded by Damen Cooperate Research (DCR), with the goal to be able to predict the behaviour and performance of ships even more accurately during the design phase.
These kinds of virtual tests are within the realm of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), or numerical fluid dynamics. Numerous Damen colleagues, from Singapore to Hamburg, and from Vlissingen to Gorinchem, are working on the project together.
The project participants utilised a virtual towing tank and CFD solvers and/or modelling software to carry out all kinds of tests with digitally designed ships from the Damen portfolio.
"We have many talented colleagues working at Damen".
Andrea conducted simulation tests with, among others, a digital example of a PKR frigate (Perusak Kawal Rudal). “The simulations I performed were actually a repeat of the physical tests carried out with a real model of this SIGMA frigate prior to its construction. These tests were done at MARIN in Wageningen,” she says. “With my simulations I was able to virtually validate the results of those physical tests.”
View of a ship and her wave system
“All in all, our aim of this project is to further refine the application of Computational Fluid Dynamics – making it more accurate,” adds Andrea. “The results were used to upgrade Damen’s use of CFD and to purchase new hardware to match it.”
According to Andrea, it was a challenging project. “We put together ‘work packages’ – first asking each participant his or her professional preferences, creating teams that could work well together as a strong unit. We have many talented colleagues working at Damen, and now we had the opportunity to work together, share and further develop our professional knowledge. It was a great opportunity to develop yourself even further.”
“Very strong” is how Andrea describes the results of the project. “We have discovered the possibilities, but also the limitations of CFD. But one thing is certain: thanks to this project, we will design even better ships.”