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1 INTRODUCTION
Due to the ongoing climate change, the European
Commission is implementing the promotion of inland
waterway transport. By creating favourable
conditions for the further development of the sector,
the Commission hopes to encourage more companies
to use this mode of transport. The policy to promote
inland waterway transport in Europe is encapsulated
in the NAIADES Action Programme. Carriage of
goods by inland waterways is climate-friendly and
energy-efficient and can significantly contribute to
sustainable mobility in Europe. The European
Commission believes that transport by inland
waterways must be better used in order to relieve
heavily congested transport corridors .
In inland navigation, we are dealing with water
areas of relatively small depths, therefore the units -
pushed convoys carrying out the transport task in
these areas have a shallow draft. The small draft of the
units, as well as the shape of the hull, which is flat-
bottomed, makes such a unit very sensitive to hydro-
meteorological conditions. At the same time, the
shape of the underwater part of the hull greatly
influences the maneuverability of the vessel,
especially when turning, taking up a large
maneuvering space.
Improvement of Manoeuvring Properties of Inland
N
avigation Units by Using the Magnus Effect
Z. Burciu
Gdynia Maritime University, G
dynia, Poland
ABSTRACT: Due to the ongoing climate change, the European Commission is implementing the promotion of
inland waterway transport. By creating favourable conditions for the further development of the sector, the
Commission hopes to encourage more companies to use this mode of transport. The policy to promote inland
waterway transport in Europe is encapsulated in the NAIADES Action Programme. Carriage of goods by
inland waterways is climate-friendly and energy-efficient and can significantly contribute to sustainable
mobility in Europe. The European Commission believes that transport by inland waterways must be better used
in order to relieve heavily congested transport corridors.
In inland navigation, we are dealing with water areas of relatively small depths, therefore the units - pushed
convoys carrying out the transport task in these areas have a shallow dr
aft. The small draft of the units, as well
as the shape of the hull, which is flat-bottomed, makes such a unit very sensitive to hydro-meteorological
conditions. At the same time, the shape of the underwater part of the hull greatly influences the
maneuverability of the vessel, especially when turning, taking up a large maneuvering space.
The number of inland waterway accidents and claims for damages has been increasing year by year since 2014.
The value of claims for damages is also growing. According to Paul Goris, President of the IWT Platform, “The
inland shipping sector is on the verge of a major transformation in terms of sustainability and digitalisation.
This requires further development of standards and certain security requirements’’
http://www.
transnav.eu
the
International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 17
Number 4
December 2023
DOI: 10.12716/1001.17.04.
06
806
The number of inland waterway accidents and
claims for damages has been increasing year by year
since 2014. The value of claims for damages is also
growing. According to Paul Goris, President of the
IWT Platform, “The inland shipping sector is on the
verge of a major transformation in terms of
sustainability and digitalisation. This requires further
development of standards and certain security
requirements’’
2 MARINE CASUALTIES AND INCIDENTS -
INLAND TRANSPORT
Marine casualties and incidents, data based on
Annual overview of marine casualties and incidents
15.12. 2021 EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency)
has introduced the following definitions:
As defined by EMSA:
− Inland waters, which includes any area of water
defined by EU Member States and not categorized
as ‘sea’- e.g. canals, tidal and non-tidal rivers,
lakes, and some estuarial waters (an arm of sea
that extends inland to meet the mouth of a river)
− Inland waterway vessel is a vessel intended solely
or mainly for navigation on inland waterways.
In conclusion, in the year 2020 signified the
reduction or stability of some indicators such as the
number of ships involved, the number of fatalities or
injured persons, etc Impacts of COVID pandemic
should, however, be considered, due, for example, to
restrictions on recreational crafts during lockdown
periods or reduced traffic by inland waterway vessels
Inland waters – Marine casualties and incidents
Table 1. Inland waters - Distribution of marine casualties
and incidents [4]
________________________________________________
Year 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Total
________________________________________________
No. of 69 58 66 46 113 106 59 517
accidents
________________________________________________
Table 2. Inland waters - Marine casualties and incidents per
ship type for 2014-2020 [4]
________________________________________________
Chemical tanker 32
Liquid gas tanker 7
Oil tanker 37
Other/Unspecifed liquid cargo 7
Bulk carrier 104
Container ship 60
General cargo 179
Ro-Ro cargo 13
Other Solid Cargo 15
Other/Unspecifed cargo 3
Total 457
________________________________________________
Table 3. Inland waters - Distribution of marine casualties
and incidents per cargo ship type for 2014-2020 [4]
________________________________________________
Cargo ship 457
Fishing vessel 11
Passenger ship 52
Service ship 50
Other ship 33
Grand Total 603
________________________________________________
According to marine casualties and incidents data
based on an analysis of accidents on inland
waterways CESNI Strasbourg · October 2020 and the
research [5], on inland waterway failures, were based
on transport on the Danube River on the section 1870 -
2200 km of Austria. In the period: March 21, 2002 –
October 4, 2017, 584 accidents involving 754 inland
waterways were registered.
The following accident types have been recorded:
− Allision: a moving ship collides with a fixed object
(bridge, riverbank, part of the fairway,
infrastructure, another ship that was not moving at
the time of the accident).
− Collision: Two moving ships collide.
− Grounding: the ship has run aground, contacting
the bottom of the fairway.
Breakdown of accident types;
− Allision 46%
− Collision 25%
− Grounding 27%
Cause of the above-mentioned accidents:
− Human failures (HF):
− fatigue (a brief sleep or a loss of concentration)
− failure to follow established procedures
− abuse of alcohol
− misunderstanding or lack of communication
− misjudgment of navigational conditions
− insufficient situation awareness.
− Technical fault (TF), e.g. a machinery or
navigational equipment failure.
− Weather conditions (WEC):
− gusty wind, fog, precipitation, ice, etc.
− water level fluctuations (low water periods,
high water periods).
3 INFLUENCE OF THE WIND ON THE
MANOEUVRABILITY OF THE UNIT.
IMPROVED MANOEUVRABILITY
Taking into account the wind, its direction and speed,
the conditions under which the ship can be
maintained in strong wind are presented below [3].
Wind speed (Va)/Vessel speed (Vs)
Relative wind direction
Curve of limit of ability to maintain course
(rudder angle of
30
°
0° 30°
60°
90° 120° 150°
180°
2
4
6
8
10
Region in which
course cannot be
mainatined
Region in which
course can be
mainatined
Figure 1. The area in which the manoeuvring vessel will not
be able to keep the course due to the wind speed and
direction is marked on the drawing.
807
Rudder angle
Relative wind direction
Rudder angle required to maintain course
0° 30°
60°
90°
120° 150°
180°
10°
20°
30°
40°
50°
Area within
which course
cannot be
maintained at a
rudder angle 30°
60°
Va/Vs=5
Va
/Vs=4
Va/Vs=3
Va
/Vs=2
Va/Vs=1
Figure 2. The chart shows the rudder angle on the vertical
axis and the areas where the course cannot be maintained
for the ratio of wind speed to ship speed (V
a/Vs)
The improvement of manoeuvring properties can
be achieved by e.g. increasing the rudder area, many
structures have been developed to improve
manoeuvring properties, increasing the safety of
navigation.
Increasing the dimensions of the rudder reduces
the time of the manoeuvre. For example, the ratio of
the rudder area to the area of the submerged hull it
varies from 0.017 for a cargo ship to 0.025 for
destroyers.
Work is underway to improve the level of safety
and manoeuvrability of the unit and pushed convoys
through the use of new steering devices and the use of
special rudder constructions.
An example of a solution was the open rudder
called "Rudder Doerffer", which was first installed in
the late 1980s on the Polish tugboat "Achilles". Despite
its advantages, it was not accepted as an innovative
solution of the steering device improving
manoeuvrability.
New rudder blade solutions are introduced, e.g.:
− Schilling rudder : The fish-shaped rudder
improves both course keeping and
maneuverability
− Flap rudder : These rudders consist of a movable
rudder with a flap on the trailing edge,
− Articulated coupling [7]: Articulated coupling
between pusher and push lighter, incorporating a
hydraulically operated flexible coupling.
Figure 3. Schilling rudder, Flap rudder, Articulated
coupling
4 SELECTED REQUIREMENTS OF
CLASSIFICATION SOCIETIES REGARDING THE
MANEUVERABILITY OF THE UNIT
Manoeuvring properties are determined by two basic
parameters: steerability and braking ability.
Steerability will be called the ability to keep the unit
on course, steerability is characterized by course
stability and manoeuvrability. The circulation
manoeuvre determines the manoeuvrability of the
craft. On the other hand, braking ability - stopping the
unit at the shortest distance.
Overview of Standards and Criteria [6]. An
overview of standards and criteria is given in Section
2, Table All the manoeuvres, except stopping, are to
be executed on both port and starboard and averaged
values are to be used for rated and non-rated criteria,
e.g.:
Table 4. Overview of Standards and Criteria [6]
________________________________________________
Measure of Criteria and Manoeuvre IMO ABS Guide
Manoeuvra- Standard Standard Requirement
bility
________________________________________________
Required for Optional Class Notation
________________________________________________
Turning Tactical Turning TD<5L Rated Rtd≥1
Ability Diameter Circle
Advance Ad<4,5L Not rated
Ad<4,5L
________________________________________________
The sailing and manoeuvring properties [8] should
be confirmed during tests, at least:
− the ability to perform an evasive manoeuvre
− the ability to perform a turning manoeuvre
Table 5. Required turning speeds and time limits
Figure 4. Evasive manoeuvre chart [8]
t
0 = start of avoidance manoeuvre
t
1 = time to reach the turning speed r1
t2 = time to reach the rate of return r2 = 0
t
3 = time to reach the turning speed r3
t
4 = turn speed time r4 = 0 (end of evasive manoeuvre)
δ = rudder angle [°]
r = rate of turn [°/min].
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5 UMG FIELD MODEL TESTS OF IMPROVING
THE MANOEUVRABILITY OF THE UNIT
The UMG conducts research in the field of improving
safety in inland waterway transport, improving
manoeuvring properties - manoeuvrability of pushed
vessels. A model of the bow control system using the
lift force on the rotor was built. The existing vertical
and retractable versions of rotor bow rudder [10][11]
are not suitable for shallow water conditions,
therefore the steering system of rotors integrated with
the barge bow has been proposed.
5.1 Model tests using hydrodynamic rotors
The highest value of the lifting force was obtained for
the water flow velocity of 2.6 m/s (9.36 km/h) and the
rotational velocity of 170 rpm - corresponding to the
limit values of the tested parameters. Increasing the
rotational speed in the presented experiment did not
result in a further increase in lift due to the separation
of the flow and the appearance of vortices [1][2].
0
1
2
3
4
5
50 100 150 200
6
V=
2,6 m/s
RPM
Y [kN]
Figure 5. Lift generated by a rotor with a diameter of
D=0.25 m and a height of L=1 m.
20
15
10
-10
5
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
70
65
25
30
35
40
40
45
50
55
[m]
[m]
0
-5
-10
-15
A
B
Figure 6. Comparison of circulation areas with rudder (10°
starboard), rotors (300 turns) B and without rotors A
Simulations of the application of the bow
hydrodynamic control system in narrow passages
X
Y
0
G
Vx
Vy
V
M=F
L
L
F
L
F
R
F
S
F’
L
Figure 7. Lateral displacement of the ship due to the
operation of the rudder and the bow hydrodynamic system
F
S –The hydrodynamic force acting on the rudder
F
L – Lift force
FR – Rudder resistance
The estimated lift force generated on RC is 12 N
(165 kN in real scale) greater than rudder-generated
lift force [9].
β
β
β
Maneuvering space
Wind
direction
Wind
direction
A
B
Lift force on the
rotor
Figure 8. Comparison of manoeuvring space for a vessel in
the wind without (A) rotors and using (B) rotors
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Figure 9. The trajectory of the model plotted during the
steady course trial [9]
809
In order to increase the manoeuvrability of the
unit, UMG proposed a coupling connecting the
pusher with the barge
Figure 10. UMG solution of the coupling connecting the
pusher with the barge [1]
Figure 11. Turning circle of push barges: (A) trial - turning
to port using the rudder - 35° (B) trial - turning to port using
the rudder - 35° and bow rotors (C) trial - turning to port
using the rudder - 35°, bow rotors and dynamical coupling
system [PMR]; L – pushed model length [1].
Limited manoeuvrability, large manoeuvring space -
can be a collision of two ships presented below: the
100-meter coastal freighter Siderfly collided with the
116-meter gas carrier Coral Ivory just a few miles past
the canal locks at Brunsbuttel [12].
6 CONCLUSIONS
The simulations and model tests of the bow steering
system using the Magnus Effect presented in the
article significantly improve the manoeuvring
properties of inland waterway vessels. The use of the
Magnus Effect in the bow steering system
significantly reduces the vessel's circulation diameter.
It allows you to steer the vessel in the wind without
the drift angle, and at the same time enables the
evasive manoeuvre by limiting the manoeuvring
space to the width of the manoeuvring vessel.
It can be said that the improvement of the
manoeuvring properties of the vessel through the use
of the Magnus Effect improves the level of safety in
inland navigation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] Abramowicz-Gerigk T., Zbigniew Burciu Z., Jachowski J.
An Innovative Steering System for a River Push Barge
Operated Environmentally Sensitive Areas Polish
maritime Research No 4 (96) 2017 Vol. 24
[2] Abramowicz-Gerigk T., Burciu Z., Jachowski J., Kreft O.,
Majewski D., Stachurska B., Sulisz W.,
Szmytkiewicz P.
Experimental Method for the Measurements and
Numerical Investigations of Force Generated on the
Rota
ting Cylinder under Water Flow. Sensors 2021,
21(6), 2216; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062216
[3] Ship Maneuvering Technical Reference. Panama Canal
Gatun Lock. https://www.piclub.or.jp/wp-
content/uploads/2018/04/Loss-Prevention-Bulletin-
Naiko-Class-Vol.4_Ship-Maneuvering- Technical-
Reference.pdf
[4] An analysis of data on accidents on inland waterways ·
CESNI · Strasbourg · October 2020
https://www.cesni.eu/wp-
content/uploads/2020/10/4_IBackalov_University_of_Bel
grade_en.pdf Strasbourg · October 12, 2020
[5] An analysis of data on accidents on inland waterways ·
CESNI · Strasbourg · October 2020
https://www.cesni.eu/wp-
content/uploads/2020/10/4_IBackalov_University_of_Bel
grade_en.pdf Strasbourg · October 12, 2020
[6] ABS Guide For Vessel Maneueverability. March 2006
(updated February 2017
[7] READER – INLAND VESSELS Extract of relevant
passages from the „Manual of Danube Navigation”,
via
Donau (2012).
https://www.rewway.at/files/e961174ac2ee4f5182c23cfcc
5155c24/
[8] Zasady przeprowadzania prób manewrowości statków
śródlądowych i zestawów pchanych Publikacją 27/P PRS
2010.
[9] Abramowicz-Gerigk T., Burciu Z. Investigations of
Hydrodynamic Force Generated on the Rotating
Cylinder Implemented as a Bow Rudder on a Large-
Scale Ship Model. Sensors 2022, 22(23), 9137;
https://doi.org/10.3390/s22239137
[10] Keuning F. W. Motion control of small fast boats in
following waves. SNAME Symposia Papers. 2016.
http://www.sname.org/HigherLogic/System/Download
DocumentFile.ashx?DocumentFileKey=ef3cb5a3-350b-
e385-d7a2-a91fddd0589a.
[11] http://www.vdvelden.com/products/product/rotor-
bow-rudder.html
[12] http://www.aladdin.st/kiel/gcaptain.htm