The aforementioned Passive Air Lubrication System (PALS) technology requires a good understanding of the hydrodynamics involved in order to maximize it’s effects. Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) shall contribute to this task with their expertise in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).
Meet the Partners #5 – Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) is a public teaching, research and enterprise institute of approximately 25,000 students and 2,500 staff members, with a long history dating back to 1823. LJMU has 5 Faculties and 19 Research Centres/Institutes. Since 2004, LJMU has successfully participated in over 100 EU-funded projects, ranging in value of approximately €100m, demonstrating that research and scholarship is integral and at the heart of the University. The school of Engineering within the Faculty of Engineering and Technology is multi-faceted comprising of approximately 60 academic staff, 1,000 undergraduate and postgraduate taught students, and 100 PhD/postdoctoral researchers. Over 92% of its engineering research is rated “World-leading” or “Internationally excellent” through the recent nationwide Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) which assesses the quality and impact of research at all UK universities.
LJMU has a Logistics, Offshore and Marine Research Institute (LOOM) that has been equipped with a new advanced maritime simulation suite (€ 5 million investment) and has a 360° ship bridge simulator (€ 5 million investment) for research and training purposes. It is in partnership with the UK’s Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) to develop novel ideas into commercial reality, particularly to large maritime engineering systems (€10million investment). LOOM has, as coordinator, led 5 MSCA projects (REFERENCE, ENRICH, REMESH, RESET, STOPFIRE and ULTIMATE) and one ERC project (TRUST). LOOM also has expertise in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) looking into different areas in the maritime sector such as hull optimisation, two-phase flows, propeller interaction and behaviour.
As part of the RETROFIT55 Consortium, LJMU is responsible for leading a work package on understanding optimising, testing and obtaining classification for an Air Lubrication System (ALS). LJMU is tasked with undergoing several complex Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to validate results against towing tank experiments and to create a model that can predict the future behaviour of ALS in different conditions and even weather conditions. Additionally, LJMU is also developing a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) tool to be used by marine stakeholders to fully understand emissions savings by different green technologies.
