Advanced sailing prediction models of inland waterway vessels
Conference/JournalMARIN Report 138
Date20 Dec 2023
MARIN aims to provide advanced prediction models of the sailing behaviour of inland ships to support the transformation of inland waterway transport.
With the acceleration of climate change, the role of inland waterways in the European logistics chain will become even more crucial. Inland shipping is seen as a response to the growth in container flow and to the necessity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from road transport. In the Netherlands, more than 30% of goods are transported on canals and rivers, but there is still a considerable amount of unused capacity in the network. At the same time, the hinterland is facing longer and more intense dry seasons every year. During summertime, ships have to load less cargo on board to be able to sail in shallower waterways.
With the acceleration of climate change, the role of inland waterways in the European logistics chain will become even more crucial. Inland shipping is seen as a response to the growth in container flow and to the necessity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from road transport. In the Netherlands, more than 30% of goods are transported on canals and rivers, but there is still a considerable amount of unused capacity in the network. At the same time, the hinterland is facing longer and more intense dry seasons every year. During summertime, ships have to load less cargo on board to be able to sail in shallower waterways.
Contact
Antoine Bedos
Senior Project Manager
Shallow and confined waterways
To support the renewal of the sector, MARIN is developing advanced prediction models of the sailing behaviour of inland ships. These models must be reliable for comprehensive and challenging scenarios, including shallow and confined waterways with dense and potentially dangerous traffic situations.
Scale model of a representative 135 m inland ship in the Offshore Basin
With increased size and complexity, new ship designs require extensive manoeuvring studies and captain training to guarantee safe handling once in operation. To do so, MARIN combines the best of experimental and numerical worlds: performing manoeuvring captive experiments to derive high-fidelity simulation models, and implementing these models to carry out manoeuvring predictions and captain training in simulators.
Tags
inland shipping