System Interconnections

Often overlooked in the research on future fuels is the impact of changes on the ship system integration. While both the engine and storage are considered, the effect on the connection between the two, the piping system is often overlooked. Many new fuels require different (double-walled or thickly insulated) or extra piping to be installed. It will also affect the safety systems such as alarms, detection and fire-fighting. These pipes, ducts and cables are almost by default cramped in the smallest space possible, meaning later alterations are very difficult and labour intensive, due to accessibility and lack of space. 

The aim of this work package is to construct a routing approach that is able to deal with all maritime piping, ducting and cabling requirements (e.g. branching and flensed pipes) and on top of that is able to deal with replacement strategies and uncertainty to allow future systems to be embedded as well.

Blokland, M., van der Mei, R.D., Pruyn, J.F.J. et al. Literature Survey on Automatic Pipe Routing. Oper. Res. Forum 4, 35 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43069-023-00208-5  

Markhorst, B., Berkhout, J., Zocca, A., Pruyn, J., & van der Mei, R. (2023). Robust ship pipe routing: navigating the energy transition. arXiv [Math.OC]. Retrieved from http://arxiv.org/abs/2312.09088

We presented our work with a poster (see below) at an alumni event of the study Business Analytics at the VU Amsterdam (November 9th, 2023).