8th Annual Western European SNAME Symposium Trip
ABS House, London, 13/10/2017
On Friday the 13th of October, the University of Strathclyde SNAME Student Section attended the 8th Annual SNAME Western Europe Section U.K. Symposium at the ABS House in London. Committee members: Kritonas Dionysiou (Chairman), Nikolaos Koutsodontis (Vice-Chair), Dimitrios Tsevdos (Secretary), Adamantios Stefanidis (Communication Officer), Iliya Valchev (Treasurer), Alan Lim (Web-Master) and Jason Tan (Operations Officer) were joined by other SNAME members: Orfeas Protopsaltis, David Kevorkian, Fotios Stefanidis, Konstantinos Tsitsilonis and Ken Fui for attending the event.
The group travelled down on the Thursday night beforehand, with the majority of the group staying in a hostel hired out using the sponsorship money donated generously by the University of Strathclyde NAOME Department. Early on the Friday morning, the group travelled across London to the ABS House on Frying Pan Alley where the Symposium was held.
Arriving before the 9 o’clock start, the group was greeted by the Chair of the SNAME Western European section, Nina Lilley, who escorted us to the room where the symposium was held. Before the event officially began the group had an opportunity to introduce themselves and mingle with other SNAME members, some of who had travelled from as far as the Philippines.
Keith Lilley, the Vice Chair opened the day up with an introduction and safety briefing before passing onto Sean Bond, Director of ABS London’s Engineering Dept. for a formal welcome to ABS House. Then the President of SNAME, Martin Toyen, gave a few words about the future of SNAME and the path he is trying to lead the society. The first technical presentation of the day was given by the Director of the Global Gas Solutions of ABS, Mr. Tor-Ivar Guttulsrod, titled “Class Consideration for FSRUs and FLNG”.
After a short midmorning break a presentation was then held by Dr. Selda Oterkus, from our department in the University of Strathclyde, about “Peridynamics for Marine Applications” which demonstrated how we can predict future crack patterns with the usage of software. Next was David Pullinger, Technical Lead of Energy Resource Services of Lloyds Register, presenting “The State and Challenges of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines”.
After the two presentations the symposium paused for a one-and-a-half-hour lunch break where all attendees were directed to a pub named The Water Poet where members had pre-ordered food from a set menu. This was another excellent opportunity for networking and mingling with professionals in industry as well as student members from other sections.
After returning to the ABS House after lunch, Ian G. Ridley from the University of Sunderland gave a presentation titled “Considerations on Modelling Aspects of Environmental Impact and Developing Sustainability Within Marine Vehicles Concept Design Projects”.
Afterwards, the presentations from the two winners of last year’s SNAME Paper Competition were presented. The winners were Antonio Gallardo from The Polytechnic University of Cartagena, who had won with a paper on “Investigation of the Air Lubrication Effect on Ship Friction Resistance” and Konstantinos Tsitsilonis from the University of Strathclyde who had won with a paper on “Systematic Method for A Ship Main Engine Management – The Case Study of VLCC”.
The day was then concluded with a brief presentation on the ‘Young Professional Future Activities’ programme from Blanca Pena (YP Chair) and then closing remarks from the Chair Nina Lilley. Continuing Professional Certificates were then distributed to all attendees and the day was called to a close. Members of the Strathclyde section then took this final opportunity to bid farewell to new made contacts and take several group pictures.
Following the symposium, Strathclyde members took this opportunity to explore London as it was the first time visiting the U.K. capital for many members, so the group quickly planned a group trip to Piccadilly Circus in the centre of London. At this time in the early evening London was at its finest with the hustle and bustle of a city at twilight. After taking some pictures showing London at its prime, the group split up to do some more site seeing, shopping and simply enjoying the social side of the city on a Friday night.
The following day involved an organised trip to the Chatham Historic Dockyard which was attended by SNAME members who attended the previous day and had been organised by the Vice-Chair Keith Lilley. This was a much more casual event to the previous day, with no set agenda but allowed a final chance to get to know and gain advice from fellow SNAME members.
The dockyard itself provided a fascinating insight into the history of the maritime industry which we all work and study in. From the HM Submarine Ocelot used for surveillance missions during the cold war to the Destroyer HMS Cavalier also known as the “Fastest of the Greyhounds” which served the Royal Navy towards the end of World War 2 and the process needed to form miles of firm rope for each vessel.
Coming away from the trip, all University of Strathclyde members felt reinvigorated with the maritime industry and Naval Architecture as a profession after meeting many new people of various different backgrounds with a variety of experience.
Special thanks go out to Ms. Nina Lilley and Mr. Keith Lilley for organising and running the Symposium and to the University of Strathclyde, Naval Architecture, Ocean & Marine Engineering Department for their generous sponsorship of the trip.