Predicting the Fuel Consumption of a Ship in Seaway Considering the Dynamic Interaction Among Environment-Hull-Propeller-Engine

Abstract

The fuel consumption of a ship has always been an important research topic, but nowadays its importance has even increased as it is directly related to a ship’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which is now tightly regulated. In this paper, such a dynamic model is presented. The ship’s resistance in calm water and propeller’s performance in open water are required as input. The hull efficiency is estimated empirically. The diesel engine is modelled by a first-order transfer function with a delayed response and its performance is calibrated with the data from the manufacturer’s catalogue. A governor is applied to maintain the pre-set engine’s rotational speed and to control the engine fuel rate. A slope limiter is employed to approximate the actual engine operation during engine transients. The default values can be obtained from the manufacturer engine load acceptance diagram. The developed model is implemented in MATLAB SIMULINK environment. After validation against third-party published results, the influence of using different types of governors on ship speed and fuel consumption is investigated. The model is also applied to simulate the fuel consumption of a ship during a typical acceleration manoeuvre and the scenario of a real ship encountering harsh weather conditions.

Keywords

Environment-hull-propeller-engine interaction / Fuel consumption in seaway / PI governor / Ship acceleration in harsh seaway / Marine diesel engine