Performance investigation of VentiFoil ship propulsion

Abstract

In recent years the awareness and the effort to reduce air pollution and global warming have increased. Many new ideas are being developed to reduce harmful emissions. Despite this, the shipping industry is still a large contributor to air pollution worldwide. To reduce the environmental impact of shipping, the use of
sustainable energy sources such as wind energy on-board ships is being explored. Wind energy is widely available at sea, the challenge is to harness this energy. The relatively unknown wind propulsion device called the Turbosail is a vertical wing shaped device which uses wind energy to provide thrust. This propulsion technology was invented in the 1980’s by the Frenchman Jacques-Yves Cousteau. This report describes the investigation into the similar wind propulsion device called the VentiFoil. Two retractable VentiFoils are fitted inside a 40 foot container, this ship propulsion device is called the eConowind unit. Multiple eConowind units can be installed on the hatch covers of general cargo vessels. If successful, this wind propulsion device can be applied on many different ships. The VentiFoil concept will be investigated and improved using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) research tools. These tools are used to simulate the flow around different VentiFoil geometries. The result of this project will be a better understanding of the working principles of the VentiFoil, sensitivity information for the variation of different characteristic design parameters and an evaluation of the generated forces and performance of VentiFoil propulsion.