06 March 2012
Article from Australia’s Institute for Maritime Education
A former AMC student has been awarded a prestigious international prize by the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA).
Tristan Andrewartha graduated from the AMC in 2007 with a Bachelor of Engineering (Naval Architect) with 1st class honours. He is now working for leading Danish Naval Architect firm KNUD E. HANSEN.
The Samuel Baxter Prize is awarded annually for the best paper published by RINA in the International Journal of Maritime Engineering (IJME) on the subject of safety, by a member under the age of 30.
The paper, entitled “Ship motions during replenishment at sea operations in head seas”, was co- authored by Assoc. Prof. Giles Thomas, Mr Terry Turner and Mr Brett Morris of Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO).
“The paper is based on research started while I was a student at the AMC and it was done in close co-operation with DSTO,’’ Mr Andrewartha said.
“The work was started while on an industry placement with DSTO, continued as my final year research project, and then as an employee of DSTO from 2007 until mid-2008.”
The aim of the research was to validate numerical predictions using scale model experiments for the motions of two vessels travelling side by side in head seas, typical for Replenishment at Sea (RAS) operations. The software can then be used in conjunction with additional model tests to investigate the optimal relative positioning of the vessels to minimize ship motions, hence improving safety for the crew.
It was the second paper published on the topic by Andrewartha, Thomas and Turner, with the first being published in 2007 (also awarded a RINA prize).
Assoc. Prof. Giles Thomas said that Mr Andrewartha was thoroughly deserving of such a prestigious award.
“The published work was the culmination of an extensive piece of high quality work into an important safety issue for the operation of naval vessels.”