MariLight: Marine Vessel Lightweighting through the application of Design Optimisation and Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing

Joint presentation by Adam Saxty, Lead Additive Manufacturing Technologist at Lloyd's Register; Chris Dunn, Managing Director at Malin Marine Consultants; and Tom Goodwin, Consulting Team Manager at Altair as part of Altair's 2024 UK ATC conference.

The shipping industry is a critical pillar of the global economy, with about 90% of all globally traded goods being transported around the world by sea. To move all those goods, merchant ships burn approximately 300 million metric tons of dirty fossil fuels each year, emitting roughly 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in the process, which is roughly equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of Japan. MariLight is a feasibility study which aims to lightweight ship structure to reduce CO2 emissions and hence make the industry cleaner for the environment. The work undertaken in the project has the potential to achieve a 13% vessel weight saving, which would in turn deliver global fleet savings of 7.7m tonnes of steel, over 90% manufacturing lead time reduction, 60% production fuel/energy savings and 20% reduction in production time. ”Lightweighting” also addresses challenges associated with the introduction of revolutionary green propulsion solutions by reducing the total power required to propel a vessel, whilst improving efficiency and increasing its range.

MariLight utilises Design Optimisation combined with Large Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) to achieve the required lightweight designs that will also move the industry from conventional fabrication that requires labour-intensive, manual work, to an automated, more resilient, and flexible manufacturing route. One of the major obstacles to the adoption of additively manufactured marine components is the lack of clear rules and regulations regarding LSAM parts and MariLight addresses this through the development of a regulatory framework.

The project team, composed of experts from consortium partners Malin Group, Altair Engineering, BAE Systems, Lloyd’s Register, and the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS), believe that the adoption of Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) combined with design optimisation will propel the marine fabrication industry towards advanced manufacturing and a cleaner future.

Duration: 20 minutes