Simulation techniques for the propulsion retrofitting of the tall ship “Amerigo Vespucci”

This paper presents the simulation study performed by the University of Genoa and by Selex ES for the propulsion automation design of the training vessel Amerigo Vespucci, within the retrofitting activities decided by the Italian Navy and currently in progress. Numerical simulation is used for the general control system design and also to investigate an original control logic of the new electric propulsion motor, to drive the single propeller to the “zero-thrust” condition during the sailing propulsion of the ship. This particular propeller operation, to be adopted in several wind conditions, aims at avoiding the negative effects of the trailing propeller on the propulsive transmission efficiency and safety, as well as on the vessel speed. Into detail, the proposed motor-sailing propulsion simulator, developed in Matlab-Simulink® software environment, is based on the results obtained by a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis, carried out for the aerodynamics evaluation of the soft sails of that famous tall ship.