Three professors in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science’s Department of Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering have been appointed to prestigious international technical committees.

Dr. David Molyneux was appointed to the Ice Committee of the International Towing Tank Conference (ITTC) and Drs. Wei Qiu and Lorenzo Moro were appointed to the I.1 Environment and IV.2 Design Methods committees, respectively, of the International Ship and Offshore Structures Congress (ISSC).

The ITTC is a voluntary association of worldwide organizations responsible for predicting the hydrodynamic performance of ships and marine installations based on the results of physical and numerical experiments. The conference is recognized as a non-governmental organization with observer status to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), where ITTC participates actively in matters regarding safety and performance. The Full Conference, comprising representatives of all member organizations, is held every three years and constitutes the highest authority of the ITTC. Members of its Ice Committee are responsible for the reviewing and developing procedures for predicting ice loads.

‘New understanding’

“It’s a very exciting opportunity,” said Dr. Molyneux. “The ITTC is a very important international organization that includes reduced-scale-model and full-scale measurements. The challenges increase significantly when we have to consider modelling ice. We have to get the correct dimensional similarity between model and full-scale results, for a very complex material, and different organizations have strong opinions on how it should be done. There has not been much development in this area for some time, and new understanding has given us the chance to re-consider how experiments are carried out.”

The ISSC is a forum whereby experts exchange information by undertaking and applying marine structural research. Its aim is to further understanding in the various disciplines supporting marine structural design, production and operation through international collaboration. Structures of interest to the ISSC include ships, offshore structures and other marine structures used for transportation, exploration, and exploitation of resources in and under the oceans.

Members of the ISSC committees review and disseminate current research and provide feedback; identify areas where further research is required; and recommend improvements in design, production and operations procedures.

Ocean challenges

The ISSC’s I.1 Environment Committee addresses aspects associated with the ocean environment, especially wave, current, wind and temperature statistics, in deep and shallow waters, as a basis for determining environmental forces for structural design, including some considerations of marine growth. The committee also considers statistical descriptions of ice and earthquake phenomena relevant to the design of ships and offshore structures.

“I am honoured,” said Dr. Qiu, who is also department head, Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering. “I am thankful for the opportunity to contribute to the international organization and work with other experts in researching ways to improve environmental loads predictions for the design of ships and ocean structures.”

The ISSC’s IV.2 Design Methods committee examines the overall design process for marine structures, and its integration with production, maintenance and repair. It also pays particular attention to the roles and requirements of computer-based design and production, and to the utilization of information technology.

Second appointment

Dr. Moro was appointed as technical member of ISSC-2018 at the 2015 conference. This is his second appointment to this committee. He was a technical member of IV.2 Design Methods Committee of the ISSC-2015 from 2012-15 where he worked with other committee members to review state-of-the-art scientific literature on the overall design process for marine structures. The committee also reviewed software programs to determine the dimensions of a ship’s structure.

“This appointment provides me with the opportunity to serve the Design Methods Committee and to continue the fruitful activities developed in the past term. It also allows me to collaborate with experts on marine structures reviewing the state-of-the-art research in this field.”