Supervisors - Dr. Ignazio Maria Viola, University of Edinburgh and Dr. Maria Kashtalyan, University of Aberdeen
PhD Student - Thomas Jozsa, University of Edinburgh
Status - Closed
Provide proof of concept that well-designed compliant coatings can allow drag reduction and underpin future commercial exploitation for the shipping and tidal energy industry
Objectives
• Identification of optimum compliant properties for salt water, Re≈108, Tu ≈10%
• Prove the drag reduction on a full-length boundary layer with a numerical simulation
• Design physical experiments for further parameter study and product development
Potential impact
Based on the recent studies9,10, it seems realistic that the use of compliant coatings can allow a drag reduction greater than 10%. Given the current cost of bunker fuel and the consumption of modern engines, this would result in saving £1M and £2M per year for a
small handysize bulk carrier and a large bulk carrier, respectively. The fleet global oil saving could reach £20 billion per year, and the carbon emissions could be reduced by more than 80M of CO2 every year. It should be noted that the constantly increasing oil cost makes this projection to be progressively more and more conservative.