Innovations In The New MAD Series To Increase Uptime And Reduce Fuel Consumption

Innovative Marine Aggregate Dredge for gravel dredging
Innovative Marine Aggregate Dredge for gravel dredging

This week, there will be a lot of interesting presentations at the CEDA Dredging Days 2019 in Rotterdam1. I would like to draw your attention to one particular presentation that I was involved with at certain moments in the project, though not in writing the paper. Kudos to my colleagues Frank & Frank to write the interesting manuscript2.

The topic of the presentation will be the change of perspective for the concept of marine aggregate dredging. Historically, the marine aggregate dredging takes place relatively close to shore. With the depletion of the deposits and the increase in demand, other locations further out at sea are coming into focus. As Damen, with a heritage in the design of offshore operating vessels, it was a natural choice to cross breed the offshore supply vessels with the marine aggregate dredges. The resulting offspring: the MAD series of hopper dredges3. Frank de Hoogh will elaborate on the seakeeping abilities of this innovative design.

Other dredging related innovations are the suction tube and ancillary equipment, the screening towers and the process sensors. Of those, I have some personal anecdotes on the screening towers and the density sensor. For all other interesting stories, you’ll have to attend the presentation.

The screening towers are fundamental to the efficiency of the process. If the screening is improved, shorter dredge cycles are possible and a better product can be landed onshore. Also, if the requirement for the product change, the screens have to be adapted to the new specifications. Ideally, this changing has to be done at one unloading phase, otherwise you miss a complete dredge cycle. A lot of effort has been done to optimise the design. But the real test was to actually build, modify and test the complete screening tower, before it was even installed on the vessel. So, we had this construction right here at our doorstep for a thorough evaluation.

Screening towers for fit and fat testing at our yard
Screening towers for fit and fat testing at our yard

One other component, that I was even more involved with, was the non-radioactive density sensor. There are regulations in place to phase out nuclear density sensors4 and a lot of alternatives are available. Back in the !VAMOS! project5, we had the opportunity to test a unit of an electro tomography system. The results indicated a good reliability and a worthy replacement for the traditional nuclear sensor6. Because of the tomography picture, there was an additional benefit: we received an early warning on the slurry behaviour. We could actually see when we were too close to the deposition limit in the pipe line. This enabled us to work with higher densities at lower velocities, resulting in better efficiency and less wear. As the rough process conditions in the mining pit were similar to the marine aggregate dredging industry, we proposed to use this on this MAD also. How we further developed and tested this system is for you to hear and see at the presentation.

Testing the non-radioactive density sensor
Testing the non-radioactive density sensor

Due to the physical processes involved in slurry transport, the mixture does not behave like a normal Newtonian fluid. It is some non-linear viscous substance. At high speeds and low concentrations, it is similar to the carrier water. Slowing down, there is a certain critical speed, where there is a minimum hydraulic gradient. At that flow condition, the specific power consumption of moving a cubic meter of soil is the lowest. So, although working at critical speed is dangerous, it has its advantages: low fuel consumption and less wear. Actually seeing the mixture approaching this critical speed from the deposition is an interesting feature of this new density measuring sensor.

Explanation on slurry flow conditions, critical speed and specific power consumption
Explanation on slurry flow conditions, critical speed and specific power consumption

References

  1. CEDA Dredging Days 2019, CEDA
  2. Next generation marine aggregate dredger as platform for innovation and basis for fleet renewal, CEDA
  3. Damen unveils Marine Aggregate Dredger, Damen
  4. Regeling bekendmaking rechtvaardiging gebruik van ioniserende straling, Staatscourant
  5. Project ¡VAMOS! Let’s Go Real!
  6. Real time production efficiency based on combination of non-nuclear density and magnetic flow instrumentation, WEDA

See also

Graduation Gijs Ter Meulen: Drag Analysis And Model For Forces And Production

Gijs proudly presenting his MSc. certificate.

We have another bright new MSc. engineer in dredging technology1: Gijs ter Meulen. Tuesday, he presented and defended his thesis on the forces and production of a trailing suction head. For this thesis project he was working at our research and development department at Damen Dredging Equipment2.

Trailing suction hopper dredges have become the tool of the trade for modern dredging contractors. They are versatile, flexible and able to transport sand over great distances. They load their cargo in their holds, by sucking up the sediment from the sea bottom with a big trailing suction head. This head looks like an out of size vacuum cleaner head.

Typical drag head on a railing suction hopper dredge.

Usually, it is very difficult to comprehend what is going on in and around the drag head. There is some laboratory research done, but not all results are freely available. Other knowledge is solely based on the experience of well-seasoned dredge masters. I do have respect for the experience of dredge masters, but their stories are hardly usable for an academic model description. So, Gijs took on the challenge to piece together a model, that satisfies our curiosity and fits with the experiences.

Concise development of the drag head model by Gijs ter Meulen.

For this project, he identified several steps, which we briefly touch upon here:

  1. The processes and forces around the drag head3 were all investigated on their cause and effect.
  2. A model was set up, where each process and their interaction with the others were identified.
  3. One main process in the drag head is the jetting production. A powerful jet of water is injected into the soil and this erodes part of the sediment under the drag head4.
  4. Another main process is the cutting production5. What is not eroded away by the jets, is removed by the teeth at the back of the visor.
  5. As the contribution of the processes to the forces and the production is known, the total performance can be calculated.

Along the way, this gave us very useful insight in the capabilities of the drag head and the trailing system, all the way to the requirements for the propulsion. Now, we will be able to continue to improve our drag heads even further. Any other students who would like to participate in that project are welcome to contact us5.

Gijs takes a new step in his career path. He is going to work for a well esteemed customer of us, so we will see him around in the dredging industry. Thanks Gijs, bon voyage!

Gijs, good luck with your future career in dredging.

References

  1. MSc Offshore & Dredging Engineering, TU Delft
  2. Innovation, Damen Dredging Equipment
  3. Designing Dredging Equipment [OE4671], Vlasblom
  4. Sand erosion with a traversing circular jet, Robert Weegenaar
  5. The Cutting of Sand, Dredging Engineering
  6. Internships, Damen Dredging Equipment

See also

Ben Sloof Nominated For KIvI Best Offshore Graduate Student

3D simulation of a hopper loading process

Ben Sloof was one of the best graduate students we had here at our company. For his thesis1, he tackled a complex problem and managed to model this in a reliable simulation. Now he is nominated for best Offshore Graduate Student. Today, there will be a KIvI Offshore lecture evening with a ceremony to award the prize2. Once again3, Ben will deliver a capturing pitch on his thesis. So, let’s review what he has achieved.

Van Rhee and similar ‘Euler’ models

At the chair of Dredging Technology of professor van Rhee, a lot of effort is put in describing the hopper loading in so called ‘Euler’ models. This is where you calculate the flow of the fluid and derive the flux of material that is carried within. Ben is standing on the shoulders of giants here, as by now there are a lot of models available4. We opted to use an existing simulation platform: OpenFOAM. One of the plugins for this open source program is DriftFlux, where the valuable grains are treated as a continuum fluid moving through the rest of the fluid. The extra effort of Ben, was to modify this DriftFlux plugin to account for settling and scour. This is in itself is already an unprecedented feat. Complicated by the unstructured calculations within DriftFlux and OpenFOAM. Nonetheless, after careful verification, he was able to perform interesting simulations of the hopper loading process.

Concentration and Velocity

After careful examination of the simulations, Ben started to see patterns in the flow. These set him on a track to build a whole new model. This new layer model credibly describes the process as well, without the complexity of a CFD simulation. As the development of a multi-fraction version of the OpenFOAM platform is still in progress, final verification is still pending. At least, the differences we see between the single fraction model and reality can be explained by what can be expected. It is open to further expansion with future research and can be used as a starting point for the next improvement.

Introduction to the key components of the proposed new ‘Layer Model’ (1DV)

And that is an insight worthy of extra appraisal: finally cracking the riddle of the sands settling in the hopper. We hope you will receive the prize. You deserve it.

Good luck Ben, we wish you all the best on your future voyages to unknown destinations. We are sure you’ll be blessed and a blessing, wherever you go.

Setting sail to distant shores

References

  1. Graduation of Ben Sloof: Hopper Loading Model and Overflow Losses
  2. KIvI Evening: Johan Sverdrup Platform Installatie
  3. Hopper Loading: What Happens Beneath the Surface
  4. IADC Young Author Award for 1DH Hopper Loading Model of Jordy Boone

See also