University of Tasmania, Australia

Engineering/AMC work awarded Medal of Distinction

Four UTAS academics have been awarded international medals recognising the excellence of work recently published in the International Journal of Maritime Engineering.

Dr Jason Lavroff, Professor Michael Davis, Dr Damien Holloway (School of Engineering) and Associate Professor Giles Thomas (AMC National Centre for Maritime Engineering and Hydrodynamics) were awarded the 2012 Medal of Distinction by the Royal Institution of Naval Architects in London for work on wave impact on high speed catamaran ferries.

The published work concerned research on high-speed catamarans undertaken in collaboration with INCAT Tasmania, work supported by an ARC Linkage research project which began at the UTAS School of Engineering in 2005.

Dr Lavroff, whose PhD research focused on the area, said the medals are a "great privilege."

"I wasn't expecting this, it is a wonderful result."

Professor Davis said it was a pleasing recognition of the work the group has been doing for many years.

"This work is supporting International Catamarans in what has been a world-leading program."

Professor Davis, who has a maritime family heritage from the 19th century, said INCAT Tasmania is a world leading pioneer, introducing the first high-speed ferries on the world market.

"For 20 years we've been working with them on a variety of projects, assisting them in a number of ground-breaking technical innovations in relation to the development of this new class of vessel.

"The particular work for which the Medal of Distinction was awarded was undertaken by Dr Lavroff primarily- it was to identify the impact forces of waves on the superstructure of these vessels in rough seas. The work basically showed us that very large forces can arise due to wave impact. These can be as large as 3000 tonnes, exceeding the weight of the entire vessel but with a duration of only half a second. The resulting bending and vibration of the ship structure now forms the basis of efficient structural design.

"As a result of this work, we have a much better idea of the maximum loads which can occur in rough seas and that now is being used in the design of future vessels to reduce structure weight and to increase carrying capacity."

Dr Holloway said that recognition by the Royal Institution of Naval Architects was quite unexpected but very welcome.

"Looking at the work that goes on in the field around the world, we probably shouldn't have been so surprised. There are only a couple of other places that are building flexible models which simulate full scale bending vibration, and that is the only way to get this sort of information.

"Dr Lavroff deserves the lion's share of credit for this Medal as it is largely based on his Doctoral Thesis."

Dr Holloway noted that Professor Davis had also supervised the Doctoral theses of both himself and Associate Professor Thomas.

"Mike is the grandfather of all this research- it's good that it is being passed on to the younger generation like Jason.

"As a researcher you just do this work because you're interested in it: you don't have grand visions of winning awards," he said.

"When something like this comes along it's a really pleasant surprise."

The UTAS team is continuing to work on new projects in collaboration with INCAT Tasmania, who are now testing the word's first gas turbine high speed ferry operating on liquified natural gas (LNG) fuel with improved environmental emissions. This vessel will operate between Argentina and Uruguay at speeds in excess of 50 knots.

The company has sold more than 45 high speed ferries on the world market with values now approaching $100 million for each vessel. It has made a substantial contribution to employment and the economy in Tasmania.