NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS
School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
Professor Nicholas G. TSOUVALIS
CURRENT PROJECTS
Safe and Efficient Use of Sustainable Fuels in Maritime Transport
Application - SAFeCRAFT
December 2023-November 2027
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D5-01-12
Europe’s waterborne transport is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for approximately 13% of overall transport emissions. Thus, meeting ambitious climate targets is imperative and requires accelerating the transition to sustainable, climate-neutral fuels in this sector. However, the adoption of sustainable alternative fuels (SAFs) is often slow due to concerns around safety, global availability, technological maturity, and economic viability. SAFeCRAFT seeks to address these challenges by leveraging the ZEWT Partnership’s existing network of stakeholders and infrastructure to develop, validate, and demonstrate SAFs on board oceangoing vessels.
With the central participation of SEANERGY, a leading NASDAQ listed shipping company, and a multi-disciplinary experienced consortium led by HYDRUS, SAFeCRAFT will proceed to implement SAFs in full transnational operations on a 180,000 DWT Capesize Bulk Carrier. This includes fuel distribution, bunkering, storage, handling and supply, power conversion, and possible residue handling, with a minimum power output of 1.5MW. Use of H2 (stored in gaseous or liquid form) will be physically demonstrated onboard in actual operating conditions.
In addition, SAFeCRAFT demonstrates alternative SAFs technologies in application scenarios in four different types of oceangoing and short sea shipping vessels in newbuilding and retrofit cases. These scenarios will be assessed and validated through detailed desktop simulation studies. The investigated technologies include direct handling, storage, and use of H2, for main propulsion purposes, in either liquid (LH2) or gaseous (CGH2) form as well as use of two hydrogen carriers, namely Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHCs) and ammonia (NH3).
SAFeCRAFT addresses significant safety and operating challenges, going beyond the state-of-the-art while achieving FuelEU Maritime 2040 targets.
The partners involved in SAFECRAFT are the following: MOTOR OIL, Metacon, Hydrus Engineering S.A., SEANERGY, University of Strathclyde, National Technical University of Athens, University of Patras, Technische Universitaet Dresden, RINA Services S.p.A., ABS Hellenic SM LLC, WEGEMT.
State-of-the-art sustainable energy efficiency technologies roadmap
for waterborne transport towards the fit for-55 guidance compliance -
FLEETfor55
January 2025-June 2028
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D5-01-12
FLEETfor55 is an ambitious initiative under the Horizon Europe call [HORIZON-CL5-2024-D5-01-12], designed to integrate state-of-the-art emission reduction and efficiency improvement technologies into ship design and retrofitting.
Coordinated by Hydrus Engineering S.A., this project aligns with the EU’s “Fit for 55” package and the Zero-Emission Waterborne Transport (ZEWT) Partnership, aiming to make maritime transport more sustainable by 2030.
FLEETfor55 is committed to transforming maritime transport by addressing its 13.5% share of EU transport emissions. Our vision is to become a lighthouse project for sustainable waterborne transport, achieving the following objectives: Design Development, Roadmap Creation, Digital Tools, Demonstration, Business Models, Compliance, Networking.
The partners involved in FLEETfor55 are the following: Hydrus Engineering S.A., Atlantec Enterprise Solutions, ABS Hellenic SM LLC, Watermelon Sustainable Blue Innovation, Superfast Ferries, RINA, National Technical University of Athens, Freire Shipyard, University of Patras, Foundation Valenciapory, University of Strathclyde, Epsilon, Stealth Marine Corporation S.A., Magellan Circle, NTNU, FincantieriSi Evolving Integration, CERTH, CETENA, SEKAVIN, Columbia Shipmanagment, DST, DNV.
Safe and Efficient Marine Transportation of Liquid Hydrogen - LH2CRAFT
June 2023-May 2027
HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2022-02-06
The overall goal of LH2CRAFT is to develop next generation, sustainable, commercially attractive, and safe long-term storage and long-distance transportation of Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) for commercial vessels (or even as fuel in certain applications). It aims at developing an innovative containment system of membrane-type for high-capacity storage (e.g., 200,000 m3) at a temperature of -253 deg C and demonstrating and validating it on a 10 ton (180 m3) prototype. It foresees the analysis of alternative conceptual designs with safety and risk assessment initiated at an early stage of the design process of the cargo containment system (CCS) exceeding currently demonstrated sizes. The design will allow LH2 storage to large dimensions, similar to those of existing LNG carriers. Special characteristics (storage tank, handling, distribution, safety, and monitoring subsystems (HDMSS) of the concepts that support up- or down-scaling will be detailed in order to prove the modularity and scalability of the proposed solution. The CCS will achieve AiP and general approval by a major classification society (three IACS members are participating). Demonstration will be done via the detailed design, construction, and testing of the reduced size prototype. LH2CRAFT will also develop a preliminary integrated ship design and carry out the corresponding cost estimation, achieving reduced boil-off rates of 0.5 % per day. A life cycle model will provide a significant tool enabling comparison between different new design or retrofit strategies while the LCA of the large carrier will evaluate the environmental impact from cradle to grave identifying also activities related to sustainability and recyclability and determining the environmental benefits. Two societal objectives will be served: society’s needs and EU’s strong global maritime leadership for its innovation-driven industry providing highly skilled jobs, efficient technological solutions, and international regulatory standards. The partners involved in LH2CRAFT are the following: HYDRUS, AMERICAN MPIRO OF SIPING HELLENIC MONOPROSOPI ETAIREIA PERIORISMENIS EVTHINIS, AMERICAN BUREAU OF SHIPPING (ABS), TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET DRESDEN (TUD), GABADI, S.L. (GBD), PANEPISTIMIO PATRON (UPAT), FOUNDATION WEGEMT - A EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITIES IN MARINE TECHNOLOGY AND RELATED SCIENCES (WEG), RINA SERVICES SPA (RINA), BUREAU VERITAS MARINE & OFFSHORE REGISTRE INTERNATIONAL DE CLASSIFICATION DE NAVIRES ET DE PLATEFORMES OFFSHORE (BV), EASN TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION SERVICES BVBA (EASN), CEGELEC NDT-PSC (ACT).
Α Hybrid Autonomous Unmanned Vehicle System Opening
New Horizons in Conducting Military Operations in the Marine
Environment - PASITHEA
2023 - 2027
EDF-2022-LS-RA-SMERO-NT
The main idea for this project is to develop well known UAV’s and UUV’s Technologies into a combined technology for a Hybrid Unmanned Vehicle, which can fly, hover in the air and sail under the water and which has the ability to repeat air water transmedia motions. The HAUV will be able to be launched, operated and controlled by land, sea, air platforms/units. The partners involved in PASITHEA are the following: BALANCE TECHNOLOGY CONSULTING GMBH, SIGNALGENERIX LIMITED, A.S. PROTE MARITIME LTD,MARESCO LTD, BEIA CONSULT INTERNATIONAL SRL, INOV INSTITUTO DE ENGENHARIA DE SISTEMAS E COMPU, ACADEMIA FORTELOR AERIENE HENRI COANDA, FUNDACION ANDALUZA PARA EL DESARROLLO AEROESP.
Digital Ship Structural Health Monitoring – dTHOR
December 2022-November 2025
EDF-2021-NAVAL-R-SSHM
The dTHOR project will develop next generation predictive Ship Structural Health Monitoring (SSHM) systems. These systems will be based on innovative utilisation of large amounts of load and response measurements from robust and advanced sensor systems, a digital framework complying with recognised open standards for data exchange, and hybrid analysis and modelling (HAM) which combines physics-based and data-driven models. These tools will be applied to achieve interoperable and evolving models facilitating a game change for SSHM. By delivering the above-mentioned predictive capabilities, the dTHOR project will enable:
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A holistic approach to complete lifecycle management from design to decommissioning.
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Effective transition from traditional time-based to condition-based maintenance.
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Increased operational availability and increased levels of safety.
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Continuous optimisation of operational performance in peace time and war time/crisis situations.
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Game-changing speed of knowledge transfer between Research, Innovation, Design and Operations (the digital RIDO-concept).
There are 35 partners involved in dTHOR, and some of them are: SINTEF AS, Light Structures AS, SEA Europe, NAVAL GROUP, SAFRAN DATA SYSTEMS, Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems GmbH, ISD SA, CERTH, INTRACOM DEFENSE SA, UNIVERSITY OF PATRAS, CETENA SpA, POLITECNICO DI MILANO, MARIN, DAMEN SCHELDE NAVAL SHIPBUILDING BV, TU Delft, Saab Kockums AB, NAVANTIA.
PROJECTS COMPLETED
Safe and efficient storage of ammonia within ships – NH3CRAFT
June 2022-May 2025
HORIZON-CL5-2021-D5-01-07
NH3CRAFT aims at fully designing, engineering, developing and demonstrating a next generation sustainable, commercially attractive and safe technology for high-quantity on-board storage of NH3 as marine fuel. Two innovative modular and scalable steel and composite storage tank configurations for 1,000 m3 liquid NH3 at 10 bar and the corresponding auxiliary systems will be installed on a 31,000 Deadweight Tonnage (DWT) multi-purpose vessel. Additionally, five different types of vessels and corresponding fuel-storage tank concept adaptations will be studied and documented: a bulk carrier, a tanker and a container ocean going vessels, a typical RoPax ferry, and a small Inland Waterways Transportation passenger vessel. An innovative digital platform will integrate all core simulations and models through digital interfaces and will develop an engineering system matrix and specifications for the fuel storage, supply, and piping, monitoring and venting subsystems. Safety and risk assessment for all vessels will lead to the development of safety guidelines and classification rules. NH3CRAFT will showcase the entire NH3 supply chain in order to increase confidence in its use and promote its uptake. LCA and techno-economic evaluation will prove the sustainability and will support further exploitation and commercialization of the innovative solutions. The partners involved in NH3CRAFT are the following: HYDRUS, RINA, AMERICAN BUREAU OF SHIPPING, TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET DRESDEN, CONNOVA DEUTSCHLAND GMBH, EKME, COLUMBIA SHIPMANAGEMENT LTD, FOUNDATION WEGEMT, ENISOLV LTD, TWI LIMITED, UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE.
Operator-Centered Enhancement of Awareness in Navigation – OCEAN
October 2022-September 2025
HORIZON-CL5-2022-D6-01-08
The OCEAN project approach is to contribute to the mitigation of navigational accidents by supporting the navigators to do an even better job than they do presently. Such support does not only relate to an ‘on-the-spot’ enhancement of navigational awareness – including the presence of marine mammals and floating containers – or an improved performance of evasive manoeuvring and other mitigating actions. The project will go both deeper and wider, to identify and suggest amendments or improvements in the most pertinent factors that may contribute to events becoming accidents: training, technical, human or organisational factors, operational constraints, processes and procedures, commercial pressures or structural issues like shortcomings in rules and regulations. From an implementation perspective, the OCEAN project will develop new design methods and operational processes, as well as integrating existing technologies to provide novel and improved functionalities. A key convergence point is the overall navigation situation assessment made by the operator, and the project aims at providing an integrated and designed-for-the-purpose presentation of near-field threats and navigational hinderances. The project outputs will include an Evasive Manoeuvring Agent, intended to work in tandem with existing ship systems, continuously assessing navigational safety with respect to grounding or collision with other ships, fixed structures or other threats, and the visualization of advanced manoeuvring prediction. OCEAN will suggest the creation of a European Navigational Hazard infrastructure to collect, process and distribute data relating to the presence of marine mammals and floating containers. Further innovations comprise input to upcoming and revised international standards for maritime communications and practical methods to design maritime instruments and devices, all of which will be demonstrated in consolidated scenarios. The partners involved in NH3CRAFT are the following: HOGSKULEN PA VESTLANDET, KYSTVERKET, THE NAUTICAL INSTITUTE, CENTRE INTERNACIONAL DE METODES NUMERICS EN ENGINYERIA, TELEDYNE RESON A/S, UNIVERSIDADE DOS ACORES, KONGSBERG MARITIME AS, ONGSBERG SEATEX AS, LLOYD'S REGISTER, UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE CATALUNYA, Irish Ferries Limited, Irish Whale and Dolphin Group.
Development of multifunctional fiber reinforced composites with
nano-modified matrix phase towards wind turbine applications
(AIOLOS)
AIOLOS is an innovative 30 month project starting in October 2021 and aiming at the development of a new class of hybrid nanocomposite materials with enhanced mechanical strength, durability and SHM during operation capabilities. These hybrid composites will be composed of glass fiber reinforced epoxy matrix further reinforced with carbon based nanostructures and will be manufactured using an innovative lamination sequence by a combination of multiple manufacturing methods. The proposed materials and manufacturing methods of AIOLOS aim at wind turbine applications, wings and components of wind turbines for terrestrial or marine areas, and will constitute alternative solutions with increased reliability and enhanced strength compared to the existing conventional composite materials.
The AIOLOS consortium comprises of the following participants:
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COMPOSITE AND SMART MATERIALS LABORATORY, University of Ioannina
Design Of Twin-Hull Electrically Driven
Passenger Ferries (ELCAT)
ELCAT is a 30 months national project starting in spring 2020 and has a budget of about 1.0 million Euros.
The main objective of this proposal is the design of small twin hull passenger vessels (catamarans) based on electrical power for their propulsion in order to respond to environmental pollution issues caused by vessels (CO2 emissions). There will be two alternative designs: one with purely electric propulsion systems charged by means of a shore connection for short voyages and a hybrid design for longer voyages, which – apart from the shore connection - will carry two diesel generators to re-charge her batteries. In this latter case, the generators operation will be suspended while the vessel is near or in the port area. Solar panels will be installed in both cases.
Detailed structural and hydrodynamic optimization will be carried out in order to minimize the lightship weight and propulsion power respectively, aiming to reducing the required batteries capacity, weight and cost as well as (in case of the hybrid propulsion) the fuel consumption and the CO2 emissions.
The know-how which will be developed could be easily applied to other types of small twin-hull vessels, such as harbour workboats (anti-pollution, garbage collection, crew-supply vessels, etc.) or pleasure boats operating at short ranges and environmentally.
Study of the appropriateness and the adequacy of modern materials for offshore fish cage nets – numerical and experimental investigation in realistic loading conditions (MATISSE)
The project concerns the adequacy of modern materials for fish cage nets to be used in systems of offshore aquacultures. Those systems provide a variety of advantages and benefits compared to the traditional coastal aquacultures. Nevertheless, the installation and the materialization of such systems is unquestionably a technological challenge given the hostile environment where they should operate and the innovative dimension of the offshore aquaculture clusters. However, the contemporary feeding demands of the international population that undoubtedly shall be intensified in the near future given its radical increase, make the implementation of relevant projects an unavoidable process. In that context, indeed, the future of aquaculture relies offshore in deeper water fields. The present project shall constitute a valuable contribution toward this task, given that aside from the traditional lab testing for the adequacy of modern materials for fish cage nets, will go a step further proposing the overall investigation of the their appropriateness in realistic conditions. To this end, the research team will design a complete offshore aquaculture system, together with its mooring system, in installation sites that have been already selected. In addition, a unique experimental campaign shall be performed using proper similitude factors of the expected realistic conditions. The main goal of the project is to develop a complete pilot study for the technological guidance of relevant projects of offshore aquacultures which are the future in fish breeding. The MATISSE consortium comprises of the following participants: Laboratory for Floating Structures and Mooring Systems ΕΜΠ, Shipbuilding Technology Laboratory ΕΜΠ, Laboratory of Ship & Marine Hydrodynamicς ΕΜΠ, Laboratory for Maritime Transport ΕΜΠ, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research.
Realisation and Demonstration of Advanced Material Solutions for
Sustainable and Efficient Ships (RAMSSES)
RAMSSES (www.ramsses-project.eu) was an H2020 European project with a total budget of 13.5 million € and EU contribution of 10.8 million €. The consortium comprised 36 partners from 12 European countries, dominated by industrial partners. The project started on June 1st 2017 and lasted for four years. RAMSSES aimed to foster the application of new materials in maritime and inland waterway applications by:
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Developing, demonstrating and validating 13 specific maritime products to prepare for commercial market uptake immediately after the project. The demonstration cases in RAMSSES included innovative components and modular lightweight systems, maritime equipment, the application of high performance steels in load-carrying hull structures, the integration of composite materials in various structures, as well as solutions for global repair. The demonstrator teams were led by industry.
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Conducting a comprehensive assessment of technical properties, life cycle cost and environmental performance of the demonstrator cases as a basis for approval of the specific solutions, but also with the aim to re-use test results, material data and experiences for future similar applications and make this ‘knowledge base’ accessible to a wider range of maritime end-users.
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Setting up a Materials Innovation Platform for information exchange and cooperation which is open to other projects. This not only facilitates a systematic knowledge uptake and technology transfer from other sectors (automotive, rail, aeronautics and material sciences) into the maritime sector, but also made project results and accumulated expertise available to a broader community of maritime producers and operators, which will foster the application of innovative materials in the European maritime sector.
The consortium consists of CETENA, CMT, Balance, DCNS, Bureau Veritas, Damen Schelde, Meyer Werft, Meyer Turku, Baltico, Podcomp, Uljanik, MEC, STX France, Baltic Workboats, Airborne, Netcomposites, Swerea Sicomp, Rise, Fraunhofer AGP, IRT JV, TNO, ENSTA, ECN, Aalto, NTUA, Fincantieri, Infracore, Galventus, Cardama, NMTF, Evonik, Becker Marine Systems, Damen Gorinchem, OCS, Hutchinson and AIMEN.
Ship life cycle software solutions (SHIPLYS)
SHIPLYS (www.shiplys.com) wasa three-year project starting in September 2016 and had
a budget of about 6.2 million Euros.
The project is in response to needs of SME naval architects, shipbuilders and ship-owners,
who in order to survive in the world market require to:
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improve their capability to reduce the time and costs of design and production
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develop the ability to reliably produce better ship concepts through virtual prototyping
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meet the increasing requirements for LCCA (Life Cycle Cost Analysis), environmental assessments, risk assessments and end-of-life considerations as differentiators
The SHIPLYS consortium comprised 12 participants from 7 countries who brought together a mix of stakeholder organisations and corresponding expertise. The participants included shipyards, a classification society, research institutes and industrial organisations that developed and provide technologies used in structural design and production. The consortium consisted of the following:
