More than 70 percent of our planet is covered by water. Engineering for the marine environment covers the design and production of all types of systems to operate successfully in this often harsh and demanding environment. In addition to traditional naval architecture and marine engineering, instruction is offered in offshore engineering, coastal engineering, and marine environmental engineering. Recent graduates are active in design and research related to offshore oil and gas exploration and production platforms. Others are involved in overcoming water-borne pollution transport in the Great Lakes and the oceans, and coastal erosion predictions, as well as the design of traditional ships, submersibles, high-speed vessels and recreational craft. A number of our alumni have leading roles in the design of America's Cup racing yachts.

Since the design of modern marine systems encompasses many engineering fields, graduates of this department are called upon to handle diverse professional responsibilities; therefore, the program includes study in the fundamentals of the physical sciences and mathematics as well as a broad range of engineering aspects that constitute design for the marine environment. To provide the appropriate educational breadth, it is also desirable that as many courses in the humanities and social sciences be elected as can be accommodated. It is recognized that the undergraduate program cannot, in the time available, treat all important aspects of engineering for the marine environment that may be desired by the student; therefore, graduate work is encouraged.

Ship and offshore platform analysis and design require knowledge of hull geometry, vessel arrangements, hydrostatic stability, structures, resistance, propulsion, maneuvering, and seakeeping. Other areas of concern are the economic aspects of design and operation, production, model testing, propeller and control theory, vibration problems, and piping and electrical system analysis and design.

The undergraduate degree program is arranged to give the student a broad engineering mechanics education by requiring basic courses in the areas of structural mechanics, hydrodynamics, marine power systems, and marine dynamics. These courses cover engineering fundamentals and their application to the design and construction of marine vehicles and systems. Courses in marine structures deal with the design and analysis of marine vehicles and platforms including static strength, fatigue, dynamic response, safety, and production. Resistance, maneuvering, and seakeeping characteristics of bodies in the marine environment are the subject matter for courses in marine hydrodynamics. Marine power systems involve all the mechanical systems on a marine vehicle with particular emphasis on the selection and arrangement of the main propulsion system. In marine dynamics, the student studies the vibrations of marine structures and engines and the rigid body responses of the vessel to wind and waves. Through the use of technical and free electives, students may decide to focus their education in areas such as:

• Marine Structures
• Ship Production and Management
• Sailing Yachts
• High Speed Craft
• Marine Power Systems

An integration of the material covered in earlier courses takes place in the two-semester, final design sequence. In the first course of this sequence, the student works on a class design project using state-of-the-art computer-aided design tools. In the second semester, the students form design teams and work on projects of their choosing. Recent final design projects included a Volvo 70 Around the World racing yacht, a ferry, a drillship, a mini-cruise ship, a trimaran ferry, a landing ship dock, and a mega yacht.

The department works closely with the marine industry and is able to assist graduates in obtaining positions in the field. The department is in constant touch with the country's marine design offices, shipyards, ship operators, government agencies, and other organizations concerned with ocean development. A summer internship program allows students to work in the marine field and receive academic credit. Academic credit is earned by successful completion of a job-related project; the final written report is formally presented to faculty and students the following semester.

Students who meet the academic requirements of both departments may earn an additional B.S.E. degree in another engineering program, or in combined programs with other engineering departments. The combined programs allow substantial substitution of courses required in one regular program for those required in the other, and typically can be completed in one extra term.

Facilities

The Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratories (MHL) investigate the various areas in which the marine environment affects our world.  The laboratories encompass a number of "state of the art" testing facilities and numerical modeling capabilities with which to measure and predict the influence of physical forces on marine systems as well as ocean and coastal structures.  The MHL also contains extensive field research capabilities for underwater exploration, nearshore and offshore hydrodynamic  investigations and monitoring, sediment and pollution transport measurement and prediction, in-situ sensor technology, renewable energy systems, as well as water quality assessment and coastal monitoring systems.

The MHL is part of the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, and is located on the first floor of West Hall on central campus.  It consists of a physical modeling basin, a low turbulence free surface water channel, a gravity-capillary wind wave facility, a circulating water channel, the Underwater Operations Laboratory, the Marine Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Ocean and Coastal Engineering Laboratory.  The MHL also houses complete support facilities, including a woodworking shop, a machine shop, a welding fabrication area, several assembly areas, and an electronics shop.  In addition to research in all areas of the marine environment, the MHL is also used in several group courses and for individual directed studies.  Specific laboratory functions include:

Physical Modeling Basin

The Physical Modeling Basin was originally built in 1904, and continuously upgraded.  The model basin was the first of its kind owned and operated by an educational institution in the United States.  It is equipped to facilitate a full range of classical, innovative and unique experimental procedures encompassing all areas of the marine environment.

The model basin measures 360 feet in length, 22 feet wide at the water surface and has an average depth of 10.5 feet.  A variable depth false bottom can also be installed for shallow water experimentation.  The towing carriage can accomodate models up to 25 feet in length and several tons in weight.  Up to 10 test personnel may ride onboard the carriage during the testing program.  The maximum carriage speed is 22 ft/sec.  A computer controlled wedge type wave maker, installed on the south end of the tank, is capable of producing regular or irregular sea states.

Ocean and Coastal Engineering Laboratory

The Ocean and Coastal Engineering Laboratory (OCEL) is a full-scale, field research facility that encompasses a wide variety of capabilities and research programs.  These include: wetland habitat investigations; long-term coastal erosion monitoring; shoreline evolution prediction, engineering structure placement evaluation; plume transport and circulation analysis; nearshore wave field and current measurements; forensic investigation of accident sites; remote measurement of ocean surface processes on both freshwater and saltwater bodies utilizing Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Shore based HF Radar, Digital Automated Radar Tracking System (DARTS); acoustic current sensing, precision nearshore hydrographic surveys; Automated Lagrangian Water Quality Assessment System (ALWAS); oceanographic and meteorological environmental monitoring and modeling; directional wave spectra measurement.

The OCEL also operates the coastal survey vessel S/V Blue Traveler as a highly mobile research platform.

Underwater Operations Laboratory

This laboratory has a suite of instrumentation that facilitates both manned and unmanned underwater research and exploration in all bodies of water.  Research and service capabilities include: instruction in submerged vehicle dynamics; Benthic habitat investigations; acoustic and optical seafloor mapping; In-situ measurement of a wide variety of water quality parameters from both manned and unmanned platforms; point source discharge and plume analysis; plume transport and circulation analysis; detailed shipwreck investigations; forensic investigation of accident sites; instrument placement and recovery; acoustic current sensing; seafloor biological sampling and in-situ specimen collection; high precision autonomous underwater navigation and positioning.

Circulating Water Channel

The circulating water channel is a 1:14 scale model of the US Navy's Large Cavitation Channel located in Memphis, Tennessee.  The channel test section measures 93 cm long by 22 cm wide by 22 cm high.  It is equipped with a 6:1 contraction and a diffuser section, and powered by a 200 horsepower open loop AC drive motor capable of producing maximum flow speeds of 25ms-1/50 knots.

This facility was designed to conduct research on cavitation, loads on components of marine vehicles, and friction drag reduction by various techniques including air layers.  The purpose of these latter experiments is to understand the underlying physics of air layers and how this technology can be used tro reduce drag on high speed marine vehicles.

2-D Gravity Capillary Wind Wave Facility

The MHL also houses the Fluid Physics and Air-Sea Interaction Facility.  In this laboratory, high-speed imaging, particle imaging and particle-tracking velocimetry, and flow visualization techniques are employed to study gravity-capillary wind-wave interactions, and to investigate beach profiles and sediment transport phenomena.  Research in this facility also investigates flow physics associated with high impact (i.e. blast impact) of cohesionless particles.  The air-sea interaction facility includes a 35m glass-walled wave tank, a computer-controlled precision wave-maker, a variable suction-type air-flow to simulate wind effects on the mechanically-generated waves, specially designed capacitance-type wave probes, and an intensified high-speed video system with attendant Argon-ion laser.  The cross-sectional area of the combined water-air flow increases downstream to facilitate the growing boundary layers.  An X-ray system is being implemented to provide line-of-sight measurements of breaking wave kinematics.  Presently, investigations are underway to determine the effects of opposing and following winds on breaking waves.

The capillary-gravity wave-wave interaction basin is used to study steep, high frequency gravity waves and the parasitic capillary waves they generate.  Additionally, waves subject to internal resonance phenomena are also under investigation.  These short waves are of fundamental importance involving the contact line of the air-water-ship hull interface and electromagnetic (radar) scattering from rough ocean surfaces.  Remote sensing of the ocean surface reveals features such as ship wakes, ocean current boundaries, pollution slicks, bathymetry, and wind driven wave fields.  Since electromagnetic waves are primarily scattered by water waves of approximately the same wavelength, the ability to remotely detect these characteristics depends on the generation and disturbance of the short, high frequency, gravity-capillary waves on the free surface.

Marine Renewable Energy Laboratory

The MRELab is dedicated to developing technology to harness the abundant, clean, and renewable marine energy in an environmentally sustainable way and at a competitive cost.  The current focus of the MRELab is to study the underlying science of the VIVACE Converter, which was invented in the MRELab (three patents pending) to harness hydrokinetic energy of ocean/river currents/tides.

Low Turbulence Fre Surface Water Channel

The purpose of the low-turbulence water tunnel is to facilitate the study of the fundamental structural aspects of turbulent flows near boundaries (solid walls, free surfaces, or both).  The water channel is two stories high and re-circulates approximately 8,0000 gallons of water.  The maximum flow speed is 2 m/s.

The test section is 2.44 m long, 1 m across and 0.8 m deep.  All walls at the test section are acrylic to allow for flow visualization experiments and to facilitate measurements with optical instrumentation.  The measured background turbulence level at the test section is less than 0.1% of the free stream velocity.  Velocity and turbulence measurements are accomplished by utilizing a three-component, fiber-optic, laser-Dopper velocimetry system.  The LDV system was specifically designed to allow for simultaneous laser-induced fluorescence concentration measurements.  A three-axis traverse system allows movement of the LDVA crossing point across the test section.

Complete descriptions and pictures of each facility can be found at:

http://www.engin.umich.edu/dept/name/facilities/mhl/

The department provides the Undergraduate Marine Design Laboratory (UMDL) to support student design work in sophomore through senior classes. Teams of seniors work in this laboratory to develop and present their final design projects. The laboratory contains 15 team work areas, each with a Windows workstation, small drawing layout table, and work desk. This laboratory also contains major Michigan-developed and industrial ship design software needed in the design activities. The laboratory also supports digitizing, scanning, and printing needs.

The Perceptual Robotics Lab (PeRL) at the University of Michigan studies problems related to the autonomous navigation and mapping for mobile robots in a priori unknown environments with a directed focus on computer vision techniques for perceptual sensing.

The goal of this work is to enable robots with the ability to autonomously navigate and map their environment, recognizing previously visited places much as a human would.  Since GPS does not work underground, on other planets, or even inside capable, autonomous mobile robots.

To study this problem the research methodology within the PeRL balances theory with experimental validation - developing algorithms (software) in the areas of underwater computer vision and image processing, Bayesian filtering and smoothing, and systems engineering, in conjunction with new platform development (hardware) such as time-synchronized acoustic navigation systems, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), ground robotics.

Current PeRL projects include autonomous ship-hull inspection for the Navy, multi-AUV cooperative navigation, active safety situational awareness for automotive vehicles, large-area acoustic and optical simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), and underwater image processing.

Accreditation

This program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), 111 Market Place, Suite 1050, Baltimore, MD 21202-4012, telephone (410) 347-7700.