Future Work

The interaction between a Flettner rotor and variables such as ship speed, sea state, ship route, and weather is a much more complicated situation than can be comprehensively discussed in a project of this magnitude. However, the future work suggested below should be considered to enhance and develop the results found in this project.

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3-D numerical study

As previously mentioned, a 3-D numerical study for a 30x5m Flettner rotor at very high Reynolds number would theoretically generate realistic values of Cl and Cd due to the presence of 3-D effects. The CFD process remains similar when moving to a 3-D study. However, the mesh generation becomes extremely technical and time consuming. Below is an example of a computational grid generated with ANSYS ICEMCFD Hexa, this is a specialised package within ANSYS that provides efficient block meshing of complex geometries (Da-Qing, et al., 2012). Instead of recording singular values for Cl and Cd, the average across the FR’s length would now be taken. An investigation into the operation of 2 FR’s would also be considered to determine the effects the upwind rotor may have on the downwind one. Another important consideration is FR optimisation particularly the effects of aspect ratio, Thom discs and surface roughness.

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Optimisation of Route and Ship Selection

One of the best ways to improve the accuracy of the current project would be to increase the number of data points used across the North Atlantic. For example, weather data may be gathered every 50 miles of the journey. This could be improved further by repeating over a period of several years instead of a single year e.g. over 5 years.

Changing ship type should also be considered, with an oil tanker as an obvious choice due to suitable conditions for Flettner rotor installation. Selecting a different ship allows for an added comparison to bulk carrier results; the ships cruise speed will most likely differ, and the ship’s hull will produce different resistance values within MAXSURF.

Additional Future Work

In a broader sense a future project with little constraints could investigate the following:

• The effects FR’s have on ship stability

• Consider more degrees of freedom

• FR Vibration

• Route planning software

• Weather tracking

• Account for extra rudder drag due to aerodynamic yaw moment

• Consider different sea states