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Lookup NU author(s): Shibo Zhao, Dr Kayvan PazoukiORCiD, Dr Rosemary NormanORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Due to the impact of global warming, there is an increasing motivation to improve the energy efficiency of propulsion systems or use new technologies to reduce ship energy consumption. Air lubrication systems (ALS) have been proposed as a promising energy-saving technology that can effectively reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of ships. However, the current evaluation indicators for ALS to reduce ship energy consumption mainly use power saving rate or drag reduction rate, which cannot intuitively reflect the fuel saving effect of the entire ship. At the same time, the fuel saving effect of ALS on different ship types may also be different. This paper employs the Holtrop method to estimate ship resistance and extends the drag reduction rate obtained from experimental calculations to full-scale with the application of an air lubrication system. The main engine output power is determined based on the force equilibrium principle in steady sailing, while also considering variations in diesel generator load from the air lubrication system. A regression analysis is conducted to establish the relationship between fuel consumption and the load on both the main engine and diesel generators. Furthermore, a gray-box ship fuel consumption model incorporating air lubrication technology is developed using MATLAB/Simulink for simulation. By applying air lubrication technology to six different types of bulk carrier - Small, Handysize, Handymax, Panamax, Capesize and VLBC - the fuel saving effects of different ship types when using ALS are compared. The results show that VLBC bulk carriers achieve the highest fuel savings at higher speeds, while smaller ship types exhibit more significant drag reduction effects. Notably, small bulk carriers can achieve a fuel saving rate of up to 16.3% at a speed of 14 knots.
Author(s): Zhao S, Pazouki K, Norman RA
Publication type: Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)
Publication status: Published
Conference Name: 16th International Symposium on Practical Design of Ships and Other Floating Structures (PRADS 2025)
Year of Conference: 2025
Online publication date: 20/10/2025
Acceptance date: 16/07/2025
Date deposited: 25/03/2026
URL: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17305914
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17305914
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/p62q-qy26
