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Funded research projects
Fifteen projects funded by the European Union, the Greek Secretariat for Research and Technology, the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation, classification and industry, spanning 2000 to 2027.
Project portfolio
Long-term programmes and focused industrial studies, most of them with partners from industry and from other universities.
| Project | Period | Funding | Coordinator |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAFeCRAFT Safe and Efficient Use of Sustainable Fuels in Maritime Transport Applications |
1/6/2023 – 31/5/2027 | EU | D. Lyridis, Prof. NTUA |
| PASITHEA A Hybrid Autonomous Unmanned Vehicle system |
1/12/2023 – 31/11/2026 | EDF | N. Tsouvalis, Prof. NTUA |
| LH2Craft Safe and Efficient Marine Transportation of Liquid Hydrogen |
1/6/2022 – 31/5/2026 | EU | N. Tsouvalis, Prof. NTUA |
| i-MARINE Intelligent adaptive-controllable alignment in marine propulsion systems for performance optimization and failure prevention |
12/2019 – 6/2023 | H.F.R.I. (Phase II) | School of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering, NTUA |
| Greek Shipbuilding Legacy & Naval History Promotion, documentation and technical support — the Battles of Navarino and Salamis |
1/9/2018 – 31/8/2021 | GSRT (“Research – Create – Innovate”) | A. Ginnis, Assoc. Prof. NTUA |
| MHI TD025R thrust bearing Investigation of performance under transient dynamic conditions |
1/9/2018 – 31/8/2019 | Mitsubishi Turbocharger and Engine Europe B.V. | C. I. Papadopoulos |
| MHI TD025R thrust bearing Design optimization |
1/9/2016 – 31/8/2017 | Mitsubishi Turbocharger and Engine Europe B.V. | C. I. Papadopoulos |
| ECCO-MATE Experimental and Computational Tools for Combustion Optimization in Marine and Automotive Engines |
10/2013 – 9/2017 | EU | M. Founti, Prof. NTUA · L. Kaiktsis, Assoc. Prof. NTUA |
| TRIBO-MARINE Tribological Optimization of Marine Propulsion Systems |
1/9/2012 – 31/8/2015 | GSRT — “ARISTEIA” | L. Kaiktsis, Assoc. Prof. NTUA |
| DEYKALION | 1/3/2012 – 28/2/2015 | GSRT — “THALIS” | J. Prousalidis, Assoc. Prof. NTUA |
| MARINELIVE Marine Electrical Initiative |
15/12/2010 – 15/12/2013 | EU | J. Prousalidis, Assoc. Prof. NTUA |
| Centre of Excellence in Ship Total Energy – Emissions – Economy | 1/2/2010 – 31/1/2014 | Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust | C. Frangopoulos, Prof. NTUA |
| PYTHAGORAS | 1/4/2004 – 31/3/2007 | EPEAEK | I. Georgiou, Assist. Prof. NTUA |
| SMOKERMEN Smoke Emissions Reduction in Marine Engines |
1/7/2002 – 31/6/2005 | EU | N. Kyrtatos, Prof. NTUA |
| LIFETIME Low In Fuel and Emissions Two-stroke Intelligent Marine Engine |
1/4/2000 – 31/8/2003 | EU | N. Kyrtatos, Prof. NTUA |
Periods, funders and coordinators are reproduced as stated in the group’s project records and CV (June 2025).
i-MARINE: from a digital twin to an instrumented ship
Intelligent adaptive-controllable alignment in marine propulsion systems for performance optimization and failure prevention. Funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I., Phase II), December 2019 – June 2023, hosted by the School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, NTUA, with STARBULK as partner.
The project vision was to transform a conventional propulsion shaft arrangement into an intelligent, controllable and adaptive system: one that senses the status of its components, controls its own performance and reacts when behaviour approaches a critical state.
Project goals
- Develop advanced numerical simulation methods for the behaviour of the ship hull and the propulsion shaft and bearings.
- Develop intelligent sensors, data acquisition and data processing to determine the present condition of the system components in operation.
- Develop adaptive control techniques that adjust design and operational parameters for an optimal response.
Key objectives include increased reliability and safety of the vessel and the reduction of propulsion-system failures through on-time awareness of the shafting state.
Scientific methodology
A
Develop an accurate digital twin of a ship’s shafting system.
B
Develop bearing and shafting monitoring procedures.
C
Conduct small-scale experiments to verify the accuracy of the developed models.
D
Implement and test an integrated monitoring platform on a vessel, using the outcome of steps A, B and C.
Models developed
- Journal bearing modelling — isothermal lubrication, elastohydrodynamic lubrication, isoviscous thermal lubrication and the effect of surface roughness.
- Shaft alignment modelling — bearing offsets and shaft elastic line.
- Hull deflection calculation for the loading conditions of the vessel.
Dissemination and knowledge transfer
- Knowledge-sharing workshops and publications.
- System documentation.
- Detailed analysis of relevant digital twins.
- Proposals for novel applications.
WP5 — bearing monitoring prototype. Over 28 person-months (months 1–6 and 16–42 of the programme) NTUA and STARBULK built and installed a bearing monitoring prototype on board. The preliminary work defined novel applications around shaft-line states: identifying the operating window in which all bearings operate under at least marginally acceptable loads, correlating marginal elastic shaft lines with the calculated bearing reaction forces, raising an on-time alert when the shaft alignment enters a marginally acceptable state, and linking hull-deflection effects with the robustness of each optimal solution. For a reference offset set (aft stern-tube bearing at 0 mm; fore stern-tube, intermediate-shaft and main-engine bearings #9 and #8 at 0, ±0.1, ±0.2, ±0.3, ±0.5 and ±0.8 mm from their initial offsets) the study covered 40,000 scenarios.
Prototype set-up: 2 m shaft of 500 mm diameter, instrumented with a triaxial accelerometer, two general-purpose DC LVDTs, a TorqueTrak 10K with strain gauges, an LCD monitor for live data viewing and an Arduino UNO for data storage. Tests and sea trials on board the bulk carrier STAR Cleo were scheduled for 23 March 2023.