UMass Dartmouth engineering professor receives $299K grant to research maritime fuel efficiency

DARTMOUTH – Hangjian Ling, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, was recently awarded a $299,778 grant for his research project looking into maritime fuel efficiency.

UMass Dartmouth said the recent higher demand for ocean exploration requires usage of marine vessels, leading to increased fuel consumption. During the propulsion of the ship, most of the fuel or energy, the university said, is spent to overcome the hydrodynamic friction that the ship’s hull experiences and developing friction-drag-reduction techniques could be beneficial both environmentally and economically.

Called “Mechanism of gas depletion on super-hydrophobic surfaces in turbulent flows,” Ling’s project aims to find out how air bubbles trapped on a super-hydrophobic surface responds to turbulent flows, UMass Dartmouth said.

“This new award allows our group to advance the knowledge of flow physics at the interface of novel materials, and to address the critical energy and environmental challenges in our society,” Ling said.

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UMass Dartmouth also noted that the research’s results will help scientists and engineers to create new passive and active technologies to save energy for maritime transport.

James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.