Page 30: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2001)

Engineered Solutions

New "Ax-Bow" To Increase Ships' Efficiency

Considerable effort, particularly fol- lowing the oil embargo of the 1970s, has been placed on reducing the fuel oil con- sumption of ships, a task readily han- dled by a series of improvements in hull shapes, the fitting of energy savings devices, and improvements to the per- formance of main engines. A group of engineers from the Tsu Research Labo- ratories — Koichiro Matsumoto,

Ka/uyoshi Hirota and Kenji Takagishi - however, noted that while performance in still water was gaining, other factors, namely wave resistance was taking its toll. Thus a study was launched to develop new ship shapes in order to reduce the resistance increase due to waves, in order to lower sea margin.

NKK Corp. has developed the ax- shaped bow that allows a reported 20 to 30 percent reduction in ships' sea margin compared with conventional bows. The company will fit the new bow to a 172,000-dwt Capesize bulk carrier that is currently under construction at the yard's Tsu Works, being built for Mitsui

OSK Lines. As ship operators increas- ingly demand more efficient operation, particularly under rough conditions,

NKK decided to focus on how to reduce a ship's resistance on the bow above the still water surface. In 1996, teaming with Osaka University marine engineer- ing researchers, the company developed a sharp-edged bow, which proved effec- tive cutting through waves and reducing sea margin.

NKK has continued model tests of the

Ax-Bow with partial funding from the

Ship & Ocean Foundation, and con- 30

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