Today, low noise and vibration levels are required in shipping - for a variety of reasons - for a wide range of vessels (ship types). Among the most important reasons are ensuring crew safety and health (working vessels), well-being and comfort experience on board (upscale passenger shipping, yacht, megayachts), and an unobtrusive underwater signature (marine). Environmental aspects - such as noise levels in the world's oceans - are also increasingly playing a weighty role.
The propulsion system and the power generators are the dominant noise sources on board. They require special attention in terms of compliance with acoustic limits. After all, reducing noise and vibration introduction into the ship's foundation at the source is the most effective and cost-efficient starting point.
Experts in Drivetrain, Vibration & Acoustics.
VULKAN is an expert in the field of (maritime) vibro-acoustics and offers an enormous range of products and possible solutions for a wide variety of requirements.
Quality assurance through our in-house test rigs.
VULKAN products stand for safe, reliable and comfortable operation of maritime equipment. To be able to guarantee this, the VULKAN Test Center has a unique test field with a large number of test rigs for all possible operating conditions.
The acoustic transmission properties of our rubber bearings are determined by measurements in accordance with the applicable standards. In addition, we are able to perform measurements of structure-borne sound transmission attenuation and insertion attenuation specifically for couplings using a dual shaker system on our in-house acoustic test rigs.
a. Inhouse Testing
We determine the structure-borne noise properties of our highly flexible rubber couplings on a newly developed test bench in the VULKAN Technical Center (Test Center). Using a dual shaker system, we measure the through-going damping and the insertion damping of our VULKAN couplings in axial, radial and torsional direction, with a maximum force excitation of up to 16 kN.
On our acoustic test rig for mounts, we measure the acoustic transfer properties of our rubber bearing elements in compliance with the standard DIN EN ISO 10846 Part 1-3 (Acoustics and vibration engineering - Laboratory methods for measuring the vibro-acoustic transfer properties of elastic elements) in a frequency range from 5 Hz to 3000 Hz.
Optimal solutions for a wide range of noise and vibration requirements.
VULKAN helps you meet your noise and vibration requirements and expectations. Whether it is the reduction of internal noise and vibration on board or the minimization of sound radiation under water, VULKAN's specialists are always able to find the optimal solution for you from our product portfolio to improve the vibro-acoustic quality on board ships with their state-of-the-art calculation tools and in-house testing facilities.
b. Engineering Vibrations & Acoustics
Our work starts with the characterization of the vibro-acoustic behavior of VULKAN products, based on measurements on our test benches or alternatively via simulation of the acoustic behavior using finite element analysis.
This is followed by precise prediction and design of our products in powertrain systems. Tuning and optimization measures aim at reducing excitation levels at foundations.
VULKAN helps to calculate the expected noise and vibrations and to find the optimal solution for the respective requirement.
a.) Engineering services
The simulation of the acoustic transfer functions of our products enables our customers to predict the expected noise levels and vibrations in the best possible way, both in the early design phase and in the final design phase of the vessel.
They can also get support from our experts in this regard. When using VULKAN products, we offer in the field of engineering, for example, the calculation of the expected structure-borne noise levels on ship foundations, the determination of the introduced forces, the computational verification of the required through-insulation or the insertion insulation.
For our predictive analyses, in addition to the tools already mentioned, we use a set of algorithms developed in-house, which are continuously expanded or further developed and correspond to the respective state-of-the-art.
Expertise and experience enable our VULKAN teams worldwide to support customers with technical advice.
Whether numerical or experimental, at VULKAN we are used to optimizing systems for a wide range of requirements. Whether it's dynamic stiffness measurements (ISO 10846), impedance measurements (ISO 7626-5), airborne and structure-borne sound measurements (DIN 2923, ISO 13332) or vibration measurements (10816-6), we can do it.
In support of our ON-site measurements, we perform predictions of the most important vibro-acoustic parameters so that the behavior of our products on board can be assessed in advance.
b.) Services from the field of on-site measurements
Vibro-acoustic measurements are used to verify the expected vibro-acoustic behavior or to localize the source of noise problems on board and to find individual solutions for different customer requirements within a holistic best fit approach. These are our services:
International team of experienced measurement engineers takes over the planning, execution and evaluation of multi-channel airborne and structure-borne noise measurements on board and installations (DIN 2923, ISO 13332)
Underwater sound measurements (DNV Silent Notation, ICES 209)
Mobility measurements on ship foundations (ISO 7626)
Measurement of structure-borne sound through-insulation and structure-borne sound insertion-insulation
Troubleshooting
c.) Services from the field of torsional and linear vibrations
Measurement of linear vibrations (DIN ISO 10816) and torsional vibrations
Torsional vibration calculation (TVC)
N-DOF calculations
Shock calculations
Other measurements:
Torsional angle monitoring by means of VULKAN MDS
Measurement of alignment
Measurement of mechanical displacement by laser
Mechanical stress analysis by means of DMS
Operational balancing
Measurement of core or surface temperature, pressure, ozone and other physical quantities with electrical sensors