From Classroom to Practice: Development Program with IST & CENTEC

At Vera Navis Ship Design, we believe innovation grows when industry and academia work closely together. With that in mind, in 2023/2024 we launched an internal development program to reconnect our engineering teams with the academy.

Through UCIs (Unidades Curriculares Isoladas) in Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), our engineers have been taking advanced courses to consolidate and expand their expertise while exploring strategic areas for the company. These UCIs give us access to cutting-edge knowledge directly connected to the challenges we face in our projects.

This initiative also deepens our relationship with IST and CENTEC – Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering. Their research environment allows our teams to stay tuned with emerging methodologies, while our practical experience helps bring industry perspectives back into academia.

As the program grows, we are already seeing clear benefits: stronger technical skills, increased motivation, a culture of continuous learning and fresh ideas driving innovation across Vera Navis Ship Design. The upcoming steps of our development program will target the consolidation of the team’s expertise in highly dynamic and non-linear phenomena such as shock and impact.

Strengthening this bridge between academy and industry is a strategic investment we are proud to continue.

Courses:

Happening Now:

Hydrodynamics of Floating Systems

Faculty: Thiago Saksanian Hallak, Hossam Salah Abdelwahab, Yordan Garbatov

Introduction of different components of floating systems and their design formulation.
Formulation of the boundary value problem for the 3D description of the motions of floaters.
Linear hydrodynamics of the slender ships with speed of advance in waves.
2D and 2.5D strip theories.
Linear hydrodynamic theory for 3D floating systems without forward speed, subject to wave motions.
Equations of motion describing the behaviour of platforms in regular seas in the frequency and time domains.
Green’s bi-dimensional and tri-dimensional functions.
Perturbations Methods.
Second order forces and movements.
Drift forces.
Low frequency drift forces.
Drift caused by wind and currents.
Non-linear simulation in the time domain
Dynamics of Single Point Mooring configurations.
Mooring systems: tension cables and catenaries.
Design of mooring systems.
Hydrodynamic damping of mooring lines.

Ocean Platforms

Faculty: Bai-Qiao Chen

Main types of platforms, overall behavior, and construction and installation methods;
Stochastic analysis of oceanic structures, focusing on the estimation of extreme responses due to wave actions;
Structural design of fixed and semi-submersible floating platforms
Stability analysis of semi-submersible platforms;
Local checks of ultimate strength;
Fatigue analysis of ocean platform.

2023/2024:

Ships in Composite Materials

Faculty: Miguel Cálvario, Francisco Machado dos Santos, Ângelo Palos Teixeira

Physical and chemical properties of polyester and epoxy resins.
Mechanical properties of glass, carbon, aramid and other fibers.
Properties of composite mats.
Fabrication of panels and hulls.
Vacuum and infusion technology.
Bonding.
Mechanical strength of bonded joints.
Calculation of strength of panels and other typical ship components in composite materials.
Calculation of strength of midship sections of ships based on classification rules and on finite elements.
Design of different types of ship structures in composite materials.

Analysis of Ship Structures

Faculty: Yordan Garbatov

Ship structural analysis based on the Finite Element Method.
Direct and energy formulation.
FE solutions for bars, beams, portal frames and grillages and its application to the midship section, deck, side shell and bottom structures of the ship.
Modelling and analysis of secondary ship structures, including plates, shells and reinforced panels.
Modelling and structural analysis of ship hull modules and applications of sub-modelling techniques.
Shear, bending and torsion FE modelling and analysis.
FE application in performing hot-spot and notch stress analyses and fracture mechanics applications.
Thermal steady-state and transient analyses.
Welding induced residual stress and distortion analyses.
Transient, modal and harmonic dynamic analysis.
Geometric, material and status nonlinearity impact.
Non-linear strength assessment of intact and degraded ship structures.