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There can be few organizations that bring to- gether so many sectors of the maritime industry in a non-competitive environment. Cooperative Re- search Ships (CRS), 40+ years and still goingstrong, tackles problems of common Interest andfurthers research. The practical knowledge and tools that emerge from CRS are then used by its members. Initiated by MARIN in 1969, the organ- ization is a true cooperative. All of its members are actively involved, equally fund the research work and then they directly get the benefits. Results are exclusively available for the CRS members. Cur- rently, 23 organizations are involved in CRS, in- cluding leading shipyards, suppliers, classification societies, navies, research organizations and one of the largest ship operators. MARIN plays a facili- tating role by taking care of the chairmanship andsecretariat. CRS has a simple and democratic or- ganization, with as little bureaucracy as possible. Anyone can come up with an idea for research. About a dozen items are selected and voted on at the mid-year Open Meeting and then a limitednumber of proposals are presented at the Annual General Meeting in December. Each year, three new projects are chosen to run alongside the exist- ing ones. A seven-strong Steering Group organizes the two main annual CRS meetings, monitors working group progress and facilitates the flow of information and creation of research proposals.One representative from each industry segment sits on the Steering Group for two years. For each working group, organizations can choose to be a full member, which entails active involvement, or a corresponding member. All members can obtain research updates through frequent meetings andthrough access to the CRS website at www.cr- ships.org . Members have to be in agreement with new candidates but already many competitors work together in CRS. Often they find the informal con- tacts very useful. CRS also provides a training ground for young engineers. They not only learn the technical side but also about working in inter- national teams. As of 2010, each member will pay 60,000 Euro each year for funding between 10 tofourteen projects. Roughly 100,000 to 400,000Euro over a three-year period is provided for each project.BY THE MEMBERS, FOR THE MEMBERS Collectively, CRS possesses a wide range of ex- pertise and facilities, ranging from practical design,engineering, construction and operation, to funda-mental research in many maritime related areas. This is used to optimum advantage in carrying out the work programme. Developments in the mar- itime industry can be followed up directly, as is il- lustrated by the ongoing projects on performance inextreme conditions (ice), energy and emission, sur- vivability and broadband propeller noise. Although working groups run for around three years, in real- ity most build on past CRS research. For instance, in the area of seakeeping, CRS has worked on re- lated projects for over two decades so there is a continuous accumulation of knowledge and tools. Knowledge is also combined effectively between projects, e.g. by bringing together the working groups on propulsion and manoeuvring. These fea- tures are unique in the R&D world. Over the decades there have been many highlights. New in- sights have been gained into complex phenomena related to cavitation and broadband excitation, using combined numerical and experimental tech- niques. The effects of propeller-induced vibrations is a big problem for yards and owners. The current PROCAL tool development will allow CRS mem- bers to predict with accuracy the propeller loads and eventually, cavitation and impact on ship re- sponse. The programs PRECAL and PRETTI and previous slamming and green water on deck re- search, provide vital building blocks into seakeep- ing researchin combination with structuraldynamics.THE FUTURE STARTS TODAY CRS has been specialized in many areas until now but it makes sense to integrate a number of areas, for instance, propulsion research with sea-keeping and manoeuvring research. Such a multi- disciplinary approach can then be used forimproving design and operational performance. At the last Open Meeting, CRS has identified several new areas for research, including the development of a CFD toolset, propeller and shaft loads, bow thrusters and trimaran design. There will always be plenty of technical challenges to ensure thatCRS has enough work for the next 40 years! October 2011www.marinelink.com 25EYE ON DESIGNCOLUMNCooperative Research Ships Still finds Interesting Subjects to Tackle About The AuthorEd van Daalen is senior researcher at the R&D department of MARIN. For more infor- mation Email: [email protected] pressures generated by a cavitating pro- peller computed by coupled RANS and bound-ary element methods.MR Oct.11 # 4 (25-33):MR Template 10/6/2011 4:17 PM Page 25