From lab to launch

By ROBIN BAILEY

A team of scientists and engineers in Auckland is at the leading edge of the New Zealand marine industry's spectacular growth.

Working in the background, they are ensuring that boats are not only stronger and better designed, but also that manufacturers can compete successfully internationally.

From their Parnell headquarters, Industrial Research Limited's engineering dynamics group has helped the sector to earn millions of dollars overseas in the past 15 years.

Manager Graeme Finch sees the company's role as contributing to the knowledge and expertise of the New Zealand marine industry.

"Our focus is to help the industry apply advanced technologies to add value and generate competitive advantage for their product," he says. "We also give manufacturers a totally professional scientific edge for their products that is capable of withstanding the closest review during the sales process.

"We aim to help New Zealand companies apply technology to their business. The present underlying philosophy that relies on low wage rates and a low-value New Zealand dollar is an unsustainable position in the long term."

IRL has a typical Kiwi approach: low-key but effective. They cut their teeth on the America's Cup, then moved on to the Anzac frigate exercise before working on various other projects as entrepreneurs in the marine industry came to them in search of hard data to back up the expertise of working engineers, designers and boatbuilders.

They worked on Sir Michael Fay's big-boat campaign in 1988, testing the strengths and characteristics of composites. The designers of the 40m yacht that today sits outside the National Maritime Museum were really stretching the envelope, both in boat and mast design.

"A fear factor was involved," Finch recalls. "At that time it was the largest composite mast ever built and no one was sure how it was going to behave and what forces were involved.

"We put strain gauges on every part of the standing rigging as well as on the mast. As the project developed, the team wouldn't go sailing if the strain-testing equipment wasn't in place. The only part of the rig that failed was the bowsprit, which was not measured and monitored as part of the programme."

Then followed a study of structural design for high-performance craft to help overcome a lack of understanding in both the forces involved and the causes of failure in advanced composites.

"Designers need to know what the loads are on the structure," says Finch. "We found they were making a lot of assumptions because they didn't have the data to go on.

"This meant that some designs were overly conservative. Others were too light. Designers were treating composites like black aluminium. They were unable to design to take advantage of composites' major benefits."

Since that time, the engineering dynamics team at IRL has extended its work to include non-destructive testing, partly driven by research projects with mast manufacturers.

"People building composite masts were taking a lot of care with the process but there was no mechanism at the end which showed the spar had been built satisfactorily," says Finch.

"Unlike aluminium, where the material specifications are known before work starts, with composites builders are fabricating the structural parts and the materials at the same time. So if there is contamination, resin ratios are mixed incorrectly or the amount of fibre material is wrong, the product won't have the properties the designer specified.

"A spar may look fine but there is no easy way of knowing this is the case. We looked at non-destructive testing techniques for composites and can now test laminates as building proceeds."

Other IRL projects include:

* Working with a number of marine-industry companies under the umbrella of the Technology for Business Growth programme. One involved modelling and predictive behaviour of carbon-fibre laminates for a rowing skiff. By studying how forces were transmitted from the rowers to the skiff, changes were made to the way the oars were attached to the hull and construction was changed from foam sandwich to laminate.

* An exercise with a leading spar-maker to measure forces (bending, compression and torsional loads) within a mast under sail.

* Work for an RIB (rigid inflatable boat) manufacturer that was pitching for an overseas military contract and needed scientific data to support its sales claims.

* Measuring the dynamic performance of high-speed planing boats using the marine police RIBs employed to patrol the Louis Vuitton and America's Cup regattas.

* Ongoing research into suppressing engine-room noise.

Finch is optimistic about the future of this country's marine industry. "Our competitive advantage will lie in our continuing ability to adopt an appropriate level of technology and incorporate a large number of small details into quality products that work particularly well for the customer."