The technical design and installation of a new fixed pitch propeller (FPP) undertaken by Wärtsilä for the floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) Ngujima-Yin has been finalised.
The FPSO is operated by Woodside Energy Ltd, an independent Australian oil and gas company in the Vincent offshore oil field in north-western Australia. The most important benefit of the new propeller is that it will increase the vessel's speed.
Ngujima-Yin FPSO
The 332 metre Ngujima-Yin FPSO was previously converted from a double hulled tanker for operation as an FPSO in the Vincent field. Typically, such conversions, which include structural alterations and the installation of new production equipment, also alter the specific parameters and operational characteristics of a vessel. For this reason, the propeller design needs to be optimised specifically for each vessel.
Designing an FPP
Wärtsilä's design work involved a pre-study of the existing propeller characteristics, 3D CAD modelling of the ship's hull, a computational fluid dynamics analysis of the hull, and the design and manufacture of a 10,000 mm diameter FPP weighing approximately 66 tons. The new solution was installed in a Singapore shipyard.
Picture of a propeller by William Marnoch, Wikimedia Commons
