Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Airplanes must be designed to be able to operate as economically as possible
and with maximum versatility. The structure, the range, the payload, the fuel
consumption, and the exhaust gas emissions of an airplane are always closely
related. Any increase in flight distance and payload raises the amount of fuel. For
safety reasons, the payload of an aircraft must be reduced, in favor of the fuel
amount required when the sum of required fuel and intended payload would be in
conflict with structural and operational limits of the aircraft.
There is a high demand for low weight airplanes predicted for the whole
century. However, a lot of existing options for reducing the size and weight are
limited by practical reasons for production, safety, and finance.
3.5.3 Ships
Similar to other means of transportation, development in construction strictly
defines the durability, the inspection, the maintenance, the fuel consumption, and
the exhaust gas emissions of ships. Hull materials and size play a large part in
determining the construction technology. The hull of a glass fiber sailboat is
constructed from a mold. The steel hull of a cargo ship is produced from large
sections welded together. The weight is reduced through the intensive use of high-
strength shipbuilding steel instead of normal quality steel. Light weight materials
are used in the construction of the deck and the equipment.
Extremely low hydrodynamic resistance is provided in fast ships like fast
passenger ships, ferries, container ships, refrigeration, and Ro-Ro ships. Besides
catamaran technology, the fast mono hull construction provides the highest speed.
However, not only the higher fuel consumption and higher exhaust gas emission
rates, but also the higher operational costs make the high speed technology very
expensive.
Ships are the most fuel efficient means of transportation. Merchant vessels con-
taining large, two stroke marine diesel engines have a SFC of about 120 g kWh
-1
,
i.e., 1.24 10
-3
oz BTU
-1
. Passenger ships, depending on the equipment, have a SFC
of 180-200 g kWh
-1
, i.e., 1.86 9 10
-3
-2.07 9 10
-3
oz BTU
-1
and fast ferry boats
have a SFC of 220-250 g kWh
-1
, i.e., 2.37 9 10
-3
-2.63 9 10
-3
oz BTU
-1
.
References
1. Eckermann E (2002) Vom Dampfwagen zum Auto. Delius Klasing Verlag 1st Edition. ISBN:
3-7688-1339-8
2. ISO
3833:
Road
vehicles—Types-terms
and
definitions.
3. Motor vehicle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle
4. Vehicle
Miles
Traveled
(VMT),
Gas
Prices,
and
GDP
Analysis,
March
2011.
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