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Naval Architecture and Marine
Engineering
Naval Architecture and Marine
Engineering
More than 70 percent of our planet is
covered by water. Engineering for the marine
environment covers the design and production of
all types of systems to operate successfully in
this often harsh and demanding environment. In
addition to traditional naval architecture and
marine engineering, instruction is offered in
offshore engineering, coastal engineering, and
marine environmental engineering. Recent
graduates are active in design and research
related to offshore oil and gas exploration and
production platforms. Others are involved in
overcoming water-borne pollution transport in
the Great Lakes and the oceans, and coastal
erosion predictions, as well as the design of
traditional ships, submersibles, high-speed
vessels and recreational craft. A number of our
alumni have leading roles in the design of
America’s Cup racing yachts.
Since the design of modern marine systems
encompasses many engineering fields, graduates
of this department are called upon to handle
diverse professional responsibilities;
therefore, the program includes study in the
fundamentals of the physical sciences and
mathematics as well as a broad range of
engineering aspects that constitute design for
the marine environment. To provide the
appropriate educational breadth, it is also
desirable that as many courses in the
humanities and social sciences be elected as
can be accommodated. It is recognized that the
undergraduate program cannot, in the time
available, treat all important aspects of
engineering for the marine environment that may
be desired by the student; therefore, graduate
work is encouraged.
Ship and offshore platform analysis and
design require knowledge of hull geometry, vessel arrangements, hydrostatic stability, structures, resistance, propulsion, maneuvering, and seakeeping. Other areas of
concern are the economic aspects of design and
operation, production, model testing, propeller
and control theory, vibration problems, and
piping and electrical system analysis and
design.
The undergraduate degree program is arranged
to give the student a broad engineering
mechanics education by requiring basic courses
in the areas of structural mechanics, hydrodynamics, marine power systems, and marine
dynamics. These courses cover engineering
fundamentals and their application to the
design and construction of marine vehicles and
systems. Courses in marine structures deal with
the design and analysis of marine vehicles and
platforms including static strength, fatigue, dynamic response, safety, and production.
Resistance, maneuvering, and seakeeping
characteristics of bodies in the marine
environment are the subject matter for courses
in marine hydrodynamics. Marine power systems
involve all the mechanical systems on a marine
vehicle with particular emphasis on the
selection and arrangement of the main
propulsion system. In marine dynamics, the
student studies the vibrations of marine
structures and engines and the rigid body
responses of the vessel to wind and waves.
Through the use of technical and free
electives, students may decide to focus their
education in areas such as:
- Marine Structures
- Ship Production and Management
- Sailing Yachts
- High Speed Craft
- Marine Power Systems
An integration of the material covered in
earlier courses takes place in the
two-semester, final design sequence. In the
first course of this sequence, the student
works on a class design project using
state-of-the-art computer-aided design tools.
In the second semester, the students form
design teams and work on projects of their
choosing. Recent final design projects included
a Volvo 70 Around the World racing yacht, a
ferry, a drillship, a mini–cruise ship, a
trimaran ferry, a landing ship dock, and a mega
yacht.
The department works closely with the marine
industry and is able to assist graduates in
obtaining positions in the field. The
department is in constant touch with the
country’s marine design offices, shipyards, ship operators, government agencies, and other organizations concerned with ocean
development. A summer internship program allows
students to work in the marine field and
receive academic credit. Academic credit is
earned by successful completion of a
job-related project; the final written report
is formally presented to faculty and students
the following semester.
Students who meet the academic requirements
of both departments may earn an additional
B.S.E. degree in another engineering program, or in combined programs with other engineering
departments. The combined programs allow
substantial substitution of courses required in
one regular program for those required in the
other, and typically can be completed in one
extra term.
The Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratories
(MHL) are part of the Department of Naval
Architecture and Marine Engineering, and are located on the first floor of
West Hall on Central Campus. They
consist of a physical modeling basin, a
110 x 6.7 x 3.2 meter towing tank, a low
turbulence, free surface water channel, a
35-meter-long gravity-capillary wind wave
facility, a 35-meter-long
gravity circulating water channel, a
specialized circulating water channel for drag
reduction investigations, and the Ocean
Engineering Laboratory. In addition, there are complete support facilities, including a woodworking shop, a machine shop, a
welding fabrication area, several assembly
areas, and an electronics shop (see:
http://www.engin.umich.edu/dept/name/facilities/mhl/mhl.html).
In addition to research in all areas of the
marine environment, the MHL is also used in
several group courses and for individual
directed studies. MHL also hires students
on a part-time basis to help with ongoing
research.
The department provides the Undergraduate
Marine Design Laboratory (UMDL) to support
student design work in sophomore through senior
classes. Teams of seniors work in this
laboratory to develop and present their final
design projects. The laboratory contains 15
team work areas, each with a Windows
workstation, small drawing layout table, and
work desk. This laboratory also contains major
Michigan-developed and industrial ship design
software needed in the design activities. The
laboratory also supports digitizing, scanning, and printing needs.
The department’s Ocean Engineering
Laboratory (OEL) is involved in full-scale
field measurements such as beach erosion, thermal fronts and pollution transport on the
Great Lakes, predicting the response of
engineering structures in the coastal zone, and
active remote sensing of the ocean surface from
satellites and aircraft. In addition, the OEL
is the home of the University’s
underwater Remote Operated Vehicles for
Education and Research (M-ROVER and
Mini-ROVER). M-ROVER and Mini-ROVER
are used for submerged vehicle/ dynamics
studies in the undergraduate curriculum and for
exploration and research of the Great Lakes and
the oceans. The OEL also operates the
University's coastal survey vessel S/V Blue
Traveler. This vessel is outfitted with
precise navigation and acoustic survey
gear to provide detailed maps and searches of
underwater regions.
The Virtual Reality Laboratory (VRL) is a
leading university facility that investigates
the use of immersive display technologies in a
variety of applications, especially in virtual
prototyping of marine and other designs and in
the simulation of manufacturing processes. The
VRL is equipped with state-of-the-art graphics
computers as well as with Head Mounted Display
devices, BOOM devices, data gloves, motion
sensors and other related
technologies.
The department also houses the Computational
Marine Mechanics Laboratory and the Fluid
Physics and Air-Sea Interaction Facility. The
Computational Marine Mechanics Laboratory
(CMML) supports research and education in
computational marine mechanics, computational
fluid dynamics (CFD), computational methods in
structural acoustics, and computational methods
in fluid/structure interaction (among other
areas). The laboratory utilizes two
state-of-the-art supercomputers, and nine
workstations. In the Fluid Physics and Air-Sea
Interaction Facility, high-speed imaging, particle imaging and particle-tracking
velocimetry, and flow visualization techniques
are employed to better understand fluid control
in microgravity environments. Research in this
facility investigates flow physics associated
with oscillating thin disks and similarly
shaped bodies used in offshore structures, e.g., tension-leg platforms and spar buoys. The
facility contains a glass-walled wave basin, a
computer-controlled precision wavemaker, specially designed capacitance-type wave
probes, and an intensified high-speed video
system with attendant Argon-ion laser.
This program is accredited by the
Engineering Accreditation Commission of the
Accreditation Board for Engineering and
Technology (ABET), 111 Market
Place, Suite 1050, Baltimore, MD 21202-4012, telephone (410) 347-7700.
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