Bachelor/Master thesis: Prediction of the fatigue limit of plain bearings of the research vessel SA Agulhas II

The Institute of Machine Elements and System Engineering researches the fundamental structural and tribological behavior of machine elements and represents them in experimentally validated model descriptions. These model descriptions are used to analyse and design the functional, loss and noise behavior of entire technical systems with a focus on drive technology. The developed models are also used to research an d develop methods of Model Based Systems Engineering as a central element of future inductive product development processes.

Due to the progressive climate change new shipping routes occur in the polar regions. This leads to an increasing number of collisions between ship propellers and sea ice which results in high impulse loads on the propeller and thus on the sliding bearings of the shaft. The influence of these loads on the bearing life is widely unknown.

In the HealthProp project, the influence of ice loads on the propulsion bearings of the research vessel SA Agulhas II is measured, quantified and analyzed with respect to the reduction of service life due to the failure mechanisms, in particular wear and fatigue. The aim of this work is to deter mine the local material stress on the stern tube bearings of the research vessel SA Agulhas II and predict safe and unsafe operating conditions during propellerpropeller-ice collisions.

Tasks:

• Literature review on sliding bearing design and fatigue.
• Determination of the pressure and temperature distribution in the sliding bearings of the propulsion system of the research vessel SA Agulhas II due to ice loads using MBS/TEHD simulation (AVL Excite Power Unit)
• Calculation of stress tensors based on bearing pressure and temperature distribution in FE simulations (Abaqus)
• Prediction of safe and unsafe operating conditions in propeller propeller-ice collisions base d on stress tensors and the failure hypothesis (DANG VAN)

Requirements:

• Interest in powertrain and simulation technology
• Prior knowledge in the field of mechanical systems as well as machine element design.
• Previous knowledge in the field of simulation as well as programming (e.g. MATLAB ) is desirable, but not

What we offer:

• Participation in an international research project
• Intensive support in a highly motivated and interdisciplinary team
• Learning of practice practice-relevant simulation methods
• Option to participate in a scientific publication
• Immediate start possible

Auf deine aussagekräftige Bewerbung per E-Mail freut sich:

Ahmed Saleh, M. Sc.
Institut für Maschinenelemente und Systementwicklung

Schinkelstraße 10, 52062 Aachen
ahmed.saleh@imse.rwth-aachen.de