Simulation and Experimental Study of Wave-Passing and Seakeeping for Seatrains

Mr Fengshen Zhu from the Department of Naval Architecture Ocean and Marine Engineering at the University of Strathclyde is using ARCHIE-West to investigate the hydrogen transportation by sea trains.

Hydrogen production from offshore wind is seen as a suitable solution for removing barriers to offshore wind development, achieving zero emission targets and ensuring energy security. The challenge, however, is to reduce transport costs while ensuring the safe transport of hydrogen from offshore platforms to land. To date, there are two mainstream options: one is to inject a certain percentage of hydrogen into existing natural gas pipelines, and the other is to use ships to transport liquefied hydrogen or hydrogen carriers. This project presents a novel solution for hydrogen transportation by sea train, as shown in Figure 1. A hydrogen-powered leading ship powers the train, while each carriage is interconnected by gimbals for the storage of liquefied hydrogen or its carriers.

The project aims to study the wave-passing by ships in a single file formation, and to quantify how much wave-resistance is increased or reduced by ships in single file formation, comparing to that of a single ship and design a configuration that all the trailing ships received 100% of wave drag reduction. In addition, the seakeeping of the seatrain with different connection methods will also be analysed through numerous case simulations.

For more information about this project, contact Mr Fengshen Zhu (Fengshen.zhu@strath.ac.uk), PhD Research Student at the Department of Naval Architecture Ocean and Marine Engineering at the University of Strathclyde, or Dr Zhiming Yuan(Zhiming.yuan@strath.ac.uk) Senior Lecture at the Department of Naval Architecture Ocean and Marine Engineering at the University of Strathclyde.