DST

DST – Development Centre for Ship Technology and Transport Systems

The main fields of DST experiences are shallow water hydrodynamics and transport related questions like competitiveness, energy efficient navigation, environmental impacts, qualification etc.. Hydrodynamic research among others addresses flow conditions around the hull of a vessel and the interactions between vessel and waterway in order to provide reliable information on power requirements and manoeuvring abilities of a ship operating in restricted fairways. Only an interdisciplinary approach, combining shipbuilding, environmental and economic questions enables competent analyses of competitiveness of the IWT system.

Since 2008, DST employs a shallow water ship handling simulator ‘SANDRA’, which enables basic and advanced training of on-board staff and contributes to the development of new research perspectives and activities. 

DST’s experience in questions of shallow water hydrodynamics is naturally also reflected in its research facilities: The shallow water tank with a continuously adjustable maximum water depth of 1.20 m, the towing carriage with a maximum speed of 6.5 m/s fitted with a height-adjustable measuring and work platform, wave- and current generators, manoeuvring tank with a rotating arm, the high speed carriage permitting towing speeds of up to 15 m/s and acceleration up to 1g.

Within the scope of hydrodynamics DST performs experimental investigations – EFD (Experimental Fluid Dynamics) and sophisticated research using the most advanced CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) methods. In scientific research both methods are rather complementary since, oftentimes, only the combined application of both within the same task leads to the highest quality solution.