Joint industry project: Performance Prediction Wind-Powered Ships

Background
Wind propulsion systems (WPS) have emerged as an accepted and promising means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. Many WPS-concepts are currently being developed and re-discovered. Such modern technologies have little in common with the canvas sails of old and range from “Flettner-Rotors” over kites and suction sails to rigid sails that resemble vertical aircraft wings.

A jungle of methods
Because the wind propulsion industry is still young, no standards on predicting WPS performance exist yet. As a result, stakeholders use a wide range of performance predictions methods, ranging from very simple 1 degree of freedom assessments to highly complex Computational Fluid Dynamics. 

First ever extensive industry benchmark study
The purpose of the SWOPP joint industry project is to establish a baseline by comparing results of performance predictions from the participating organisations. 

How does it work?
RISE provides data of two generic ships:

Ship 1: Wind-assisted full block vessel with multiple rotor sails.
Ship 2: Primary wind-powered low block vessel with generic wings.

All participants predict the performance with their respective tools and submit the results to the organizers. The results from all participants will be compared and presented in an anonymized form. By the end of the project, all participants are invited to a hybrid workshop, where the results and a possible publication will be discussed.

Predictions
The following results will be compared:
- Power saving at a range of wind speeds and angles, and ship speeds
- Average power saving for a given route (Ship 1)
- Energy saving for a given crossing time using weather routing (Ship 2) 

Note: There will be no validation data available. The purpose of the exercise is to compare predictions from various methods and discuss the spreading. 

Timeline
30 Aug 2023 
End of Registration for standard fee 

02 Oct 2023 
Kick off meeting. Input given for Ship 1 

31 Mar 2024   
Submit results of Ship 1 

30 Apr 2024      
Mid-term online meeting, present results of Ship 1, Start Ship 2

15 Nov 2024 
Submit results of Ship 2

12 Dec 2024  
Meeting at RISE SSPA Maritime Center, Göteborg