HydroComp, Inc.

May 15, 2017

Ship maintenance planning with HydroComp NavCad
Assessment of critical hull and propeller cleaning milestones

There is little dispute that hull and propeller cleaning can be a worthwhile venture. However, the
return on investment is often unclear and subjective. Many companies turn to HydroComp
NavCad the worlds leading resistance and power prediction software for clarity, strategic
justification, and an objective assessment of the influence of roughness and cleaning on total
vessel fuel consumption and energy usage.

About HydroComp NavCad

Of course, NavCad is not just for reviewing roughness and its associated considerations of
cleaning schedules and the effect of coatings. It is a comprehensive software tool for:
Ship resistance and propulsion analysis, including engine loading and fuel use
Effect of shallow water and prediction of under-keel clearance
Propeller sizing as part of optimum hull-propulsor-drive-engine system design
Towpull and bollard pull prediction, with influence of the engine power curve
Vessel transient acceleration analysis, with time and distance predictions
Duty-cycle or vessel transit operating modes analysis
Effect of initial trim on ship operation
Sea-trial analysis including efficiencies, engine loading, and propeller cavitation
The application of NavCad for determining the effect of roughness and cleaning is just one of its
uses, with very high benefit-to-cost for many tasks.

Capturing the effect of roughness on fuel consumption

Roughness influences both sides of the hull-propeller equilibrium. What we care about, of course,
is how this relates to fuel consumption, especially across the entire ship mission. Lets review the
interrelated chain that leads to fuel use and do so in reverse. (Each important NavCad function
referenced.)
Ship mission fuel consumption. This is the summation of fuel use during the various
modes of operation, such as idling, maneuvering, or transit. Each mode has its own speed
and duration, and specific fuel consumption. Total fuel use for a single mission or long-
term duration is presented. (NavCad: Operating Modes Analysis Premium Edition only)

Operating Modes Analysis

 Fuel consumption prediction for each operating speed. The calculation of fuel
consumption occurs in the principal propulsion analysis from the predicted power and
RPM. (NavCad: Propulsion Analysis)
Engine power, RPM, and fuel. The engines power curve and fuel consumption
information is defined using manufacturer data. Idle conditions can be explicitly
described, as can fuel characteristics. A Defined Load Curve can be used to identify
controllable-pitch load constraints. (NavCad: Engine Data form)

Engine Data form

Required propeller power and RPM. The propellers only job is to generate sufficient
thrust to meet the resistance demand. Properly describing and modeling the effect of
roughness on propeller performance is critical to correctly capturing propellers
thrust-RPM relationship. More importantly, however, is that roughness greatly
affects the torque required by the propeller at that defined equilibrium RPM.
Remember, torque is really just the rotating drag of propeller blades and roughness
increases the drag. (NavCad: Propeller Options data and Propulsion Analysis)

Equilibrium balance
Describing propeller characteristics. The performance model for propeller performance is
generally conducted using a parametric prediction method of a standard propeller type
(such as a B Series propeller, for example). The geometric parameters are easily found
from propeller drawings. However, standard propeller types are not always ideal models
for contemporary propellers, and NavCad provides multiple ways to correlate standard
propeller models. In addition to simple corrective multipliers, you can introduce propeller
model tests or results from propeller codes (such as HydroComp PropElements) to
improve the fidelity of the prediction. (NavCad: Propulsor data)

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 Hull characteristics Propeller characteristics
Hull resistance and thrust demand. The thrust demand that is placed on the propeller is
related to the drag of the hull (as well as additional drag of appendages, wind, or seas).
Therefore, the correct determination of the influence of roughness or cleaning on
vessel drag is essential to the final prediction of fuel consumption. Prediction of
resistance can similarly be from one of NavCads 40+ hull form prediction models, or it
can be directly predicted using the new ADVM Analytical Distributed Volume Method
in NavCad Premium. Further, these hull resistance predictions can also be correlated to
model tests or even sea trials. (NavCad: Resistance Analysis settings and Resistance
Prediction)
Describing hull characteristics. Hull geometry is largely described by parametric data
items, most of which will be very familiar to naval architects and easily found on
hydrostatic calculation reports (e.g., length, beam, draft, displacement, waterplane and
maximum section area, and many others). The ADVM method employs additional
definition using the sectional area curve. (NavCad: Hull data, as well as Section
Properties for ADVM in NavCad Premium).

Process and workflow

The procedures necessary to fulfill the topics described above are easy, logical, and follow a well-
described order. In fact, users can rely on one of the standard Task Lists available in NavCad to
provide guidance for process and workflow.

Tasks list selection

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The tasks needed to complete an assessment of roughness and cleaning are described below:
1. Collect data for the hull, appendages, engine, and propeller.
2. Build up a standard speed-power prediction using the intended loading condition of the
ship. Optionally include sea trial or model tests data for an Aligned prediction.
3. Modify the roughness in a systematic manner to reflect the increase in hull fouling over
time. Re-run resistance and propulsion to determine the fuel use and other indicators
(e.g., increase in shaft RPM for each speed due to the added loading caused by
roughness).
4. Optionally continue each roughness step into the Operating Modes Analysis for a total
ship duty-profile prediction of fuel consumption.
5. Determine the critical roughness figure that meets your cost model time to clean. You
can use the increased RPM figure as a tactical metric to identify on-the-ship when this
milestone is reached. Add your own roughness-versus-time value (or use NavCads
estimates) to predict for maintenance planning when this critical milestone will be met.

So, when is the right time to clean?

This is a question that requires your own cost models to fully answer. NavCad can provide the
quantitative predictions to tell you how much more fuel you will use if you do not clean, or how
much less you will use after you clean. Then, you can fit this into your companys own cost-
benefit calculations to say yes, this is when we should plan to schedule cleaning.

A final word on HydroComps experience in roughness modeling

The effect if roughness is an important component of ship performance that is often overlooked in
computer speed-power models. HydroComp has extensive experience with the topic of hull and
propulsor roughness. For example, HydroComp staff members are responsible for landmark
papers (Prediction of Hull and Propeller Roughness Penalties), presentations to the SNAME H-8
Propeller Hydrodynamics Panel about manufacturing tolerances and roughness, and new work on
friction lines for appropriate inter-relation of laminar, turbulent, and roughened domains. This
knowledge and expertise is the foundation of the reliable computational models employed in
HydroComp software.

For more information, please contact: Donald MacPherson

Technical Director
HydroComp, Inc.
Tel (603)868-3344
info@hydrocompinc.com
www.hydrocompinc.com