ENGINE FOUNDATION RE-DESIGN DUE TO MODIFICATION OF THE SHAFT LINE ARRANGEMENT

The on board acoustic comfort is a fundamental condition to be pursued in super-yacht design process in order to meet the requirements of the owner and to allow the crew to work safely. The excitation forces originated by the shaft line can greatly affect the dynamic response of the whole ship structure. Within this context, the implementation of a thrustbearing block in the shaft line of an existent 46 m long yacht is investigated. The main objective of this work is not to prove the already known advantages of the insertion of a thrust block in the propulsion system, but, rather, to study the adjustment of the original configuration to the variations proposed in the shaft line arrangement. Different possible modifications of the structure are tested on a partial model of the vessel, in order to study the response of the engine block's supporting structure when subjected to selected loads.