Research
Current research
Philip has supported research supervsion for doctoral students in the following areas: seakeeping, ship manoeuvring, control of surface following ships, control of autonomous underwater vehicles, fluid dynamic flow in composite materials, collision avoidance techniques. Recent research has been funded on contract from the EU in the following areas: reduction of ship wash, updating the aspects of voyage data recorders (black boxes), autonomous underwater vehicle design and operation. A Tempus project is underway with the emphasis on masters and doctoral education training with Russia, Poland, Ukraine as partners. Within the UK funding is current from the RNLI in studying the performance of rigid inflatable boats, both the A and D classes. He has current interests in historic ships and the development of these during the past 500 years. Current research students are working on prediction of turbulence levels associated with flow around offshore structures; the optimisation of a fleet of AUVs; and the performance characteristics of RIBs. Finally the Lloyd’s register Foundation collegium is being funded this year for the third time with 25 researchers fully funded for a period of nine weeks to study Eco-cities.
Linear interaction between compressibility and a gravity field for barotropic fluids
The effect of flexibility on the design and performance of inflatable boats, plus environmental considerations
Optimisation of a fleet of AUVs to minimise energy dissipation
Novel statistical approaches to chemical, biological or radiological source term estimation
Assessment of the effectiveness of fuel cell as an alternative technology for marine propulsion systems
Development of Printed Smart Fabric Sensors for the Marine Industry
Safety of shipping is a key factor in the marine industry. Ships are designed to common standards to ensure survivability, and regular maintenance schedules are used to ensure a ship remains sea-worthy. However vessels are still being lost due to unexpected structural failure. The purpose of this project is to develop a smart monitoring system for ships using smart fabric sensor technology which can be used in the design process at model scale, and for in-situ monitoring at full scale in order to reduce unexplained ship losses.