With great pleasure we present the 42nd issue of the Scientific Journals of the Maritime University of Szczecin which publishes original work on maritime-related topics. The section entitled Marine Engineering and Innovation contains a series of articles dealing with deformation of engine components, improvement of flow efficiency and the reliability of buffered systems as well as power transmission and energy effectiveness. The section entitled Navigation and Maritime Transport focuses on nautical traffic models and contains case studies from the ports of Rotterdam, Szczecin – Świnoujście and Shenzen. Additionally, the issue contains papers on ship operational safety, expectations of human resources from an industry perspective, human and social factors affecting safety, and the operational running of the Archives of the Maritime University of Szczecin. Readers who wish to send us any comments and suggestions concerning the development of the journal are welcome to do so at any time. Authors are invited to submit original studies on a broad range of maritime- related topics. To access the electronic version of the current and back issues visit the journals website available at http://scientific-journals.eu/.

This article describes distributions of stresses and strains created by pressing a ball with 80 HRC hardness into soft 35HRC steel, which occurs in the technological process of burnishing. We present a computer model and a solution developed with the Nastran FX program, based on the finite elements method. The validity of the model has been checked using a small force applied on the ball, within the range of elastic deformations, where Hertz formulas are applicable. Then computations have been made for a pressure force of 30 000 N, which corresponds to hardness testing conditions by the Brinell method. The dimensions of plastic indentations from simulations and experiments are compared.

This paper describes the engineering design for a facility to test the performance of gearboxes and drive axles. Power transmission units are much more frequently tested on test rigs than in motor vehicles. The rig testing of such devices constitutes a very complex area because of the diversity of functions performed by individual components and their parts in the power transmission systems of motor vehicles and construction machinery. In the simulation tests carried out on simulation test rigs, the conditions of testing of individual units should match the expected conditions of operation for such units as much as possible. The test rigs used for this purpose are very complicated and expensive, but the results of rig tests are more reliable and accurate than they would be if other test methods were employed. The rig tests described here reflect the impact of anticipated service loads on the endurance of the unit under test.

The continuity of the flow of materials needed for correct operation of manufacturing systems can be achieved using different means and control methods. From the perspective of the technical infrastructure, it is important to ensure high reliability of machines, devices, and whole manufacturing lines. These objectives can be achieved through the use of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). Specific effects can also be achieved by using additional capacitive elements in device systems (manufacturing lines). The focus of this study is limited mainly to continuous flow systems such as complex material flow systems in power plants or mineral pre-processing plants.

The crankshaft is liable to deformation due to inaccurate positioning of its main journals in the bearings. This article presents results of simulated tests of such deformations. The test results and methods for the verification of crankshaft mounting in the main bearings are assessed. A new method of measurement of crankweb deformations is proposed, the so called symmetric method, that allows the correct assessment of the condition of the crankshaft mounting in the bearings.

The paper presents guidelines for the factors affecting the energy efficiency of fishing vessels. A main classification covers operational and structural factors. This classification is due to circumstances under which an opportunity to make decisions affecting the final energy consumption level arises. Under this approach one may distinguish operational and structural methods for energy efficiency management of fishing vessels.

Port capacity is a relevant parameter to estimate the expected performance of a port facility. Many simulation models have been used to predict traffic in ports and waterways, but they do not include provisions for estimating the port’s capacity. The innovative method presented here determines a Port Network Traffic Capacity (PNTC) based on simulation. This method estimates PNTC given the configuration and processing characteristics of the port. It can be a useful tool to apply while designing ports, because only a limited number of simulations are required to estimate of the capacity of the infrastructure under consideration.

Due to the unique geographic location, complex navigation environment and intense vessel traffic, a considerable number of maritime accidents occurred in estuarine waters during recent years which caused serious loss of life, property and environmental contamination. Based on the historical data of maritime accidents from 2003 to 2012, which is collected from Shenzhen Maritime Safety Administration, this paper conducted a risk analysis of maritime accidents by applying Bayesian network and fault tree analysis. First a Bayesian network model was introduced to describe the consequence of accidents based on the accident investigation report. Then fault tree analysis was applied to estimate the probability on the basis of accident statistics and ship traffic flow. Finally the risk of maritime accidents in Shenzhen Waters was depicted through the consequence multiplied by the probability of an accident.

The paper presents stages of stochastic ship traffic stream model creation which was applied for the optimization of different solutions for the Świnoujście–Szczecin waterway design. The model is based on Monte Carlo methodology and is microscopic, which means that each ship’s model is treated as a separate object possessing given attributes. The main output from the model is the sum of the delay time of waiting ships and the distribution of ships’ queue. Two alternative waterway traffic solutions with different passing places for ships were analyzed in this study and compared with each other. The model was used for the first time for the optimization of the modernized Szczecin–Świnoujście waterway in respect of two different solutions of passing places for ships.

Due to the ever-increasing economic globalization, the scale of transportation through ports and waterways has increased sharply. As the capacity of maritime infrastructure in ports and inland waterways is limited, it is important to simulate vessel behavior to balance safety and capacity in restricted waterways. Currently many existing vessel simulation models focus mainly on vessel dynamics and maritime traffic in the open ocean. These models are, however, inapplicable to simulating vessel behavior in ports and inland waterways, because behavior in such areas can be influenced by many factors, such as waterway geometry, external conditions and human factors. To better simulate vessel behavior in ports and waterways, we developed a new maritime traffic model by adapting the theory of pedestrian models. This new model comprises two parts: the Route Choice Model and the Operational Model. The Route Choice Model has been demonstrated and calibrated in our recent study, in which the desired speed is generated. This paper presents the second part of the model, the Operational Model, which describes vessel behavior based on optimal control by using the output of the Route Choice Model. The calibration of the Operational Model is carried out as well. In the Operational Model, the main behavioral assumption is that all actions of the bridge team, such as accelerating and turning, are executed to force the vessel to sail with the desired speed and course. In the proposed theory, deviating from the desired speed and course, accelerating, decelerating and turning will provide disutility (cost) to the vessel. By predicting and minimizing this disutility, longitudinal acceleration and angular acceleration can be optimized. This way, the Operational Model can be used to predict the vessel speed and course. Automatic Identification System (AIS) data of unhindered vessel behavior in the Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, were used to calibrate the Operational Model. The calibration results produced plausible parameter values that minimized the objective function. The paths generated with these optimal parameters corresponded reasonably well to the actual paths.

Ship collision is a hazardous event within the chain of maritime transport. Collisions may result in human losses, adverse economic consequences, and environmental damages causing significant impact to local societies and related activities. A major factor in any risk analysis concerning ship collisions is the probability of these collisions occurring. The purpose of this study is to assess the probability of ship-to-ship collision in the Aegean Sea. The basic concept of the developed model is to (statistically) simulate traffic flow in the area of interest and determine the collision candidates; this will be implemented in a pilot study in a segment of the Aegean Sea. The input of this effort is based on values that are extracted from statistical analysis of the international fleet in combination with the study of maps depicting traffic flow in the studied area. Hence, it does not employ detailed AIS data. The obtained results are presented and their agreement with actual incidents is discussed in depth. The paper concludes with interesting insights of the aforementioned tasks.

behavior. The analysis of AIS data provides a possibility to recognize vessel behavior patterns in a waterway area. Furthermore, AIS data can be used to classify vessel behavior into several categories. The analysis results would help the port authority and other equivalent parties in port design and optimization or marine traffic management. For researchers, it provides a systematic way to understand, simulate and predict vessel behavior. This paper focuses on vessel classification in the Botlek area, Rotterdam from the perspective of vessel behavior. In this paper, the vessel properties, including vessel type, GT (Gross Tonnage), length and beam, have been analyzed to investigate the vessel behavior, which is described by four factors including heading, COG (Course over Ground), SOG (Speed over Ground), and position. In order to discover the behavior patterns in normal situations, several thresholds are set in order to filter the collected AIS data to define such situations. By plotting the AIS data, behavioral changes with the changes of properties have been observed. Hence, the correlations between vessel behavior and different vessel properties are investigated. The results reveal that a vessel’s sailing position and COG are both strongly determined by beam, while SOG is affected by GT. For the heading of a vessel, no obvious correlation with any vessel property is found. Each behavioral factor is clustered according to the correlated vessel property. This way, the criteria to classify the vessels are determined. The vessel classification results based on their behavior would likely to lead to more consistency in the analysis, simulation and prediction of the vessel behavior. The reason is that the development of such a simulation model is based on a systematic recognition of the vessel behavior patterns.

The article presents the Seakeeping research software, developed for the computation of a ship’s motions in regular and irregular waves on the basis of the following ship parameters: length between perpendiculars, beam, draught, block coefficient and transverse initial metacentric height. The software implements approximating functions of amplitude-phase characteristics of rolling, heaving, and pitching, developed by the author by means of artificial neural networks. The software determines transfer functions for the phenomena accompanying the rolling motion, such as slamming, green water, propeller surfacing, vertical acceleration forward and on the bridge. The article discusses possible uses of the software in scientific research, ship design and operation, and for educational purposes.

Maritime shipping is a set of complex activities with a large number of actors involved. We focus on a subset of illegal maritime activities, such as armed robberies, maritime piracy or contraband smuggling. To fight against them and minimize their negative impact naval authorities typically introduce a number of countermeasures, such as deployed patrols or surveillance agents. Due to very high costs of countermeasures it is often beneficial to evaluate their impact using a simulation, allowing what-if analysis and evaluation of a range of scenarios before actually deploying the countermeasures. We introduce BANDIT, an agent-based computational platform, which is designed to evaluate scenarios with an accent on the modeling of different types of illegal behavior and on the interaction between agents. The platform consists of an agent behavior modeling system and a multi-agent maritime simulator. The platform allows the definition of a number of scenarios through a simple configuration and it offers the means to run these scenarios in a single or a batch mode and evaluate the results as single or aggregate data sets respectively. We demonstrate the usefulness of the platform on the scenarios of the drug smuggling problem in the seas surrounding Central America. Senario outcomes (e.g., heatmaps of activities, set of trajectories etc.) are subsequently used to help with the design of effective countermeasures, i.e., allocating naval patrols and planning their patrol routes.

This work introduces a method of building and using text models for the analysis and control of social objects. Social objects are groups of people united in informal organizations based on common interests and goals. The main tools to control social objects are information flows used by mass media. We examine different ways of using semantic parameters to analyze text models. This work contains research of implementation methods to monitor currently used social Internet networks and to provide feedback between the social objects and the control system.

Increasing maritime traffic, combined with the possible warming of the climate, will affect the demand for icebreaking assistance. Accurately predicting the local demand for assistance without an appropriate simulation tool is hard because of the number of variables that must be considered. This report describes a simulation tool built around a deterministic, ice-breaker movement computer model. The tool is still under development, and has not yet been tested with real data. However, preliminary test results based on selfgenerated input data are promising.

This article presents the training system, adaptation and enhancement of skills by workers recruited for jobs in the coal mine. As mentioned in the introduction, a secure environment and safe behavior at work do not arise spontaneously, but must be developed according to a professional program. Therefore the enterprise studied here focused on improving safety, inter alia through the development and improvement of workers’ skills, including advanced training and acquainting them with threats which can appear in their working environment. Research was performed in order to identify the most common problems in the field of training courses and professional adaptation in the coal mine. The research has shown which areas of OHS (Occupational Health and Safety) need to be corrected.

This article aims to present the process of identifying hazards as a chain of events in a sequence that leads to injury or equipment damage in the workplace. The events chain can be described as an ordered set of circumstances favorable to the appearance of hazards. The article presents an analysis of elements of events theory in an attempt to identify hazards in the mining industry. A sample analysis of the circumstances favorable to initiating the occupational disease, pneumoconiosis, is also presented using elements of events theory.

The archives of higher education institutions in Poland are a very important link in the national archive network. Their role arises from the tasks they perform in the creation of the national archive resource. These archives, in addition to serving their basic function, carry out additional tasks in the process of the collection and proper protection of historical resources. The purpose of this article is to present the role performed by the institution’s archive of the Maritime University of Szczecin. Among other things, this article discusses office and archival regulation, which is mandatory in the organizational unit and is characterized by the archive of MU.