Tow truck for lab that investigates behavior of large ships

The tow truck is very important to the researchers at the hydraulic engineering laboratory. They will use it to study the behavior of large ships in shallow water. They can simulate everything in a towing tank.

“A tow tank is a large container with water. The tow truck drives back and forth on tracks. We attach all kinds of ship models underneath it, which we then measure forces on. That is the goal of the entire system. Once we have measured all those forces, we can model the behavior of the ships and cast it in a mathematical model,” says Stefan Geerts of the hydraulic engineering laboratory in Plassendale.

Explore shallow water

Ships are always getting bigger. And the draft in the North Sea and certainly in the ports is often quite limited, which is why thorough research is needed. And that is no longer only possible with computers, but also here in a lab with model ships up to 8 meters.

“Our real niche is shallow water and the interaction with banks and other ships,” says Stefan Geerts.

“Especially calling at ports or sailing in a canal. We can map it out very well. Also for seagoing vessels to Antwerp and Zeebrugge. It seems like a lot of water, but sometimes they only have 1 meter of water under the keel and that changes things. behavior of the ships very strongly.”

30 million euros

The new tow truck was built in the Netherlands, which took three years. Here they need a few more weeks before everything is ready for use. All in all, the installation will cost 30 million euros.