Special Greentech | Operational Optimisation

Understanding
the physics
of trim

TRIM OPTIMISATION There are several ways of optimising ship performance, one being focus-

ing on sailing at optimum trim to keep ship resistance, and thereby fuel consumption, at a
minimum. At Force Technology, trim tests have been performed on more than 50 ships, including tankers, container vessels, LNG carriers and RoRo vessels. The testing shows possible fuel
savings of up to 15% under certain conditions. In overall fleet operations, typical savings can be
as high as 3 to 4%.

rim optimisation used to be considered less important or too expensive

but studies show that trim tests can
provide substantial savings and a return
on investment in one and six months, depending on vessel type, operation and the
number of vessels in the series.
Trim tests can also be a powerful tool for
evaluating the hull lines of newbuildings.
For a known operation profile, a trim test
can be used to calculate the overall performance of a ship in operation.
Trim test and guidance

There are many different ways of obtaining and using data to gain optimum trim.
The best results are obtained by self-pro-

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pulsion tests with a scale model. In selfpropulsion tests, not only the change in
hull resistance is investigated but also the
propulsion coefficients are measured and
the gain/loss from change in these coefficients are part of the trim guidance. In
a simpler resistance test, the change in
propulsion coefficients will not be detected. With todays accuracy, trim guidance based on RANS CFD calculations
can be compared with resistance model
tests. RANS CFD calculations can also be
done with a volume disc as propulsion
in order to calculate the propulsion coefficients, but this approach is quite timeconsuming. Prior to a trim test, the vessels loading conditions are investigated

in order to find the extreme drafts and

speeds. The drafts are divided evenly in
the test matrix between the lightly and
heavily loaded ship. Typically, the ship
is tested at both forward and aft trim.
But aft trim is often not possible for the
lighter drafts due to restrictions in propeller submergence. Especially for the
light conditions with aft trim, a resistance test will not give the correct trim
guidance as the gain from trimming the
ship in these conditions is obtained from
positive change in propeller inflow and
submergence.
As seen in Figure 1, there are quite large differences in the trim guidance at different
drafts.

At the deeper drafts, forward trim is the optimum guidance and the opposite is the
case for the light drafts.
Optimum trim is often seen relative to the
even keel condition. Here it is important
to mention that shipowners often trim
their ships aft for increased manoeuvrability hence the savings will often be larger
than seen relative to even keel conditions.
In the same way, trim guidance can be used
to avoid the most unfortunate trim conditions.
Trim guidance varies with draft but also
with speed. This is especially true of super
slow steaming container ships with speeds
lower than 50% of the design speed.
Figure 2shows how a ship performs at three
speeds at different trims. For this draft it is
important to notice that the general trim
guidance is the same for all speeds bow
down about -1.5 to -2.0m which gives
easy guidance to the operator. For lighter
drafts this tendency is not present. Here, aft
trim as the guidance for the lowest speeds
was often seen, and about even to slightly
forward trim for higher speeds.
The information gathered from the tests
and calculations provides complete insight
into the ships performance at different
trims, loads and speeds. To gain the most
from these data, Force Technology has developed the decision support tool SeaTrim,
which is delivered free of charge as a part of
any trim study assignment.
SeaTrim is easy to use and requires a
minimum of external data, e.g. draft forward and aft, which are typically gathered
from the ships loading computer, and the
planned vessel speed, which is gathered
from the ships route planning system. At
present, more than 250 ships are sailing
with trim guidance from Force Technology
for some of the tested vessels the shipowner has ten or more ships in service.

Figure 1: Trim guidance at different drafts

Figure 2: Ship performance at three speeds at different drafts

Trim guidance in waves

A frequently asked question when evaluating trim tests is: How does the trim guidance vary in a seaway and does it differ
from the guidance in calm water?
In Figure 3, a vessel has been evaluated in
both calm water and waves. Wave A and B
are irregular sea states and the ships heading is into a head sea. It can be seen that
trim guidance for calm water and the two
waves is the same i.e. optimum trim is
about forward trim of -1.2m. Customers
have experienced the same in full scale,
however, normally with proportionally
less savings compared with the calm water
tests.
Special trim effects

Even though model testing has shown a

difference of up to 30% in power within
the operational windows for container

Figure 3: Evaluation of a vessel in both calm waters and waves

Ship & Offshore | GreenTech | 2011 37

Special Greentech | Operational Optimisation

ships and RoRo vessels, the physics behind
the savings are not yet fully explained.
The possible explanations for the relatively large dependencies on the trim may
be:
XX Changed wave resistance due to trim
XX Changed wetted surface due to trim
XX Changed form resistance due to transom submergence
XX Changed thrust deduction
XX Changed wake fraction
XX Changed relative rotative efficiency.
Understanding the physics would give
valuable insight that could lead to better
ship designs. Therefore, Force Technology
and DCMT (Danish Centre for Maritime

Technology) have initiated a project with

the title Understanding the Physics of
Trim. The project is sponsored by the
Danish Maritime Fund through DCMT
and its initial findings are among the results shown in this article.
A large number of resistance and self-propulsion tests with varying trim are examined in the project, both with model tests
and with RANS CFD. In a standard trim
test, the power is measured for different
combinations of displacement, trim and
speed. Typically, five displacements, five
trims and six speeds are tested, adding
up to a total of 150 speed points. In the
project, however, more detailed investiga-

One question when evaluating trim tests

is whether trim guidance in seaway
differs from the guidance in calm water

Figure 4: Wake fraction evaluation with fixed draft

Figure 5: Relative rotative efficiency evaluation with fixed draft

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tions are conducted in certain parts of the

normal trim matrix. The study is not yet
concluded, but the following interesting
trim relations can be presented for a typical, modern vessel.
In the plots it is easy to follow how the
propulsion parameters (wake fraction and
relative rotative efficiency) change with
the trim. Particularly interesting is that
both coefficients drop dramatically when
the trim changes from -2.0 to -2.5m. The
explanation can be found around the propeller, where the submergence becomes
too small. This effect would be impossible
to see with a resistance test. Similarly, the
effect on the thrust deduction has been investigated results show that it does not
vary as much with the trim as the wake
fraction and relative rotative efficiency.
As outlined, there is much to be gained
by introducing the right trim, e.g. on fast
container ships and RoRo vessels. But, a
reduction in fuel consumption might
be achieved even on tankers and bulk
carriers.
As for all other measures, a captain or navigator has to evaluate the trim possibility
seen in relation to stability, manoeuvrability and other aspects. But even small
trim changes can have a large impact on
vessel performance. Reductions of 2-4%
are realistic for many shipowners.