Marine biofouling is an increasing problem from both economic and environmental points of view in terms of increased fuel consumption, increased GHG emissions and transportation of harmful non-indigenous species. The fuel consumption of a ship is strongly influenced by her frictional resistance, which is directly affected by the roughness of the hull’s surface, i.e. biofouling. Increased hull roughness leads to increased frictional resistance, causing higher fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. It would, therefore, be very beneficial to be able to accurately predict and quantify the effects of biofouling on ship performance and energy efficiency. However, it is a major challenge to relate fouling-control coatings and the effect of biofouling, to full-scale ship resistance and powering, in order to accurately evaluate their effects on energy efficiency, fuel consumption and hence CO2 emissions. The answers to the question, “How might the roughness of biofouling and fouling-control coatings be related to full-scale ship resistance and powering?” will be discussed thoroughly. The state-of-the-art and novel experimental and numerical methods will be presented, along with the future directions in research on the issue.
Dr Yigit Kemal Demirel is currently a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in the Department of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Marine Engineering (NAOME) at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Dr Demirel’s expertise and research interests lie in computational (CFD) and experimental hydrodynamics. He is actively engaged in fundamental and industry-focused research on effect of roughness (hull fouling and antifouling coatings) on ship performance, ship design, energy efficiency of ships, hull-propeller optimisation and energy saving devices. He has experience in working on numerous projects such as EU funded FP7 FOUL-X-SPEL, FP7 SHOPERA, H2020 Erasmus+ MATES, H2020 VENTuRE, H2020 Erasmus+ MARED Projects, EPSRC funded Shipping in Changing Climates and Low Carbon Shipping-A Systems Approach Projects, British Council funded SUVESIN Project. Dr Demirel is an Editorial Board member of the journal Brodogradnja / Shipbuilding, and GMO Journal of Ship and Marine Technology. In 2017, Dr Demirel was appointed to the International Towing Tank Conference (ITTC) Resistance and Propulsion Committee for duration of three years, which sets best-practice standards for large-scale hydrodynamics facilities worldwide. In addition to this, he has been acting as a guest editor for a special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312) on ‘CFD Simulations of Marine Hydrodynamics’.