RV Investigator Successes and learnings

Stephen Thomas| Team Leader Seagoing Instrumentation

Marine National Facility

Presentation overview:

Steve Thomas my background

MNF vessels a brief history

RV Investigator

Good design aspects

Challenges and learnings

CTD near-loss incident

 Marine National Facility

Who am I?
15 years on CSIRO research vessels plus others as a technician
Directly involved in Investigators:
Design
Construction
Trials
Delivery
Acceptance into service
Currently Team Leader for engineers and techs maintaining
scientific electronics and mechanical systems on-board RV
Investigator
Marine National Facility

Some recent history of CSIRO research vessels

Marine National Facility

RV Franklin

Australias first purpose built research vessel

In service 1985 2002

55m

12 science berths

Only built for oceanographic research

Marine National Facility
Marine National Facility

RV Southern Surveyor

Built as fishing vessel in 1972 (UK)

Purchased by CSIRO in 1989 from Norwegian owners

Converted to multipurpose research vessel

In service as a marine national facility 2003 2013

66m

15 science berths

Functional but limited multipurpose capability

Marine National Facility
Marine National Facility

RV Investigator
Delivered 2014

Purpose built to support multiple research programs:

Atmospheric

Oceanographic

Biological

Geoscience

94m

40 science berths

Operation from Equator to 70S

Marine National Facility
Marine National Facility

Good design aspects

(Some of the many things that have gone well)
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GONDOLA
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GONDOLA

GONDOLA
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MEETS DNV SILENT-R

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Silent-R
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Twin screws and

independent rudders:
Only small reduction in
capability if bow
thruster offline
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The stabilising system

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A RARE MOMENT DEEP IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN!

 RV Investigator Ten Laboratories

Aerosol Lab Underway Seawater Lab

Air Chemistry Lab Hydrochemistry Lab
General Purpose Dry - Clean CTD Lab
General Purpose Wet - Clean Space - 13 container Lab
Constant Temp Lab
Preservation Lab
General Purpose Wet - Dirty
Marine National Facility

Moving from only 15 science berths to 40 has completely

changed the way research is conducted:

Has allowed multiple research projects on one voyage

E.g. Atmospheric work can run concurrently with oceanographic
sampling
Additional support staff to cover 24 hours
Allows for training of new staff and students
Ability to analyse and produce results at sea
Some challenges managing expectations of multiple principal
investigators
 Marine National Facility

Taking advantage of technology:

All copper network cabling Cat 7 standard
(1000 socket outlets plus WiFi most areas including decks)
Mixture of single mode and multimode fibre
Closed Circuit TV Cameras
All networked
36 cameras covering almost every area
Mixture of fixed and pan-tilt-zoom types
VoIP PABX
IoIP Science Intercom
Serves all science work areas plus winch control and bridge
Marine National Facility

Challenges
(What hasnt gone so well)
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STARBOARD SIDE GALLOWS

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CTD DOOR
VERSION 1
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CTD DOOR
VERSION 2!
 Marine National Facility

HVAC issues
Unable to meet server room heat load
Poor temperature control in many labs
Operation in Antarctic waters:
Insufficient heating in some spaces
Lack of insulation on external doors
Pipe fitting failure (lack of insulation and heat trace)
Lack of insulation under bridge wings condensation on decks

Some improvements made but a work in progress

 Marine National Facility

Drop keels
Two identically shaped keels
Port side mainly ADCPs and Simrad EK60 (6 frequencies)
Starboard side mainly USBL and trawl net monitoring
Position sensing system has limitations
Locking at four different positions below vessel keel
Reliability issues with hydraulics on locking pins
Corrosion issues on pin housings
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Drop keels

STARBOARD AND PORT DROP KEELS

 Marine National Facility

Upper deck space

Small monkey island space:
Limited room for additional antennas and sensors
Shadowing/blocking of satellite dishes

Combining bird watching station with close proximity of RF

radiation sources
Addition of RF screening paint in sectors of VSAT domes
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10mm fibre &

copper tow cable
only really suits
towed bodies
Limited use with
heavier and
bottom contact
items
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Deep CTD learnings

P15 line from Antarctic ice edge to Equator early 2016
First experience with 36 x 12 litre bottle CTD
Wire kinking
Active Heave Compensation
CTD rotation
Torque build-up in the wire
Real time rotation information from Yaw sensor
Fin solved the rotation problem
Marine National Facility

CTD fin art

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CTD near-loss incident

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Marine National Facility

The situation:
Water depth: about 5000m
36 bottle CTD package at about 4772m depth, stopped for
minor spooling adjustment
Brake creep alarm reported brake failure!
Winch spools out under weight of package and wire
Spool out speeds of up to 200m/min!
CTD hits bottom
Winch continues to spool another 1500m or so of wire
Chief Engineer manages to manually apply brake
Marine National Facility

What to do next???
Safety of personnel first
Dont make any hasty decisions
Hold the ship in place
Meet with Master, Chief, Bosun, Manager/Owner rep and
Chief Scientist
Review the situation in detail
Formulate a plan of action
Agree on the plan
Work to the agreed plan
Marine National Facility

What we actually did

Found the cable was still electrically intact
CTD would still power up
Left the CTD off so as not to draw mud into T-C ducts and plumbing

Clamped off the CTD wire

Rebuilt the brake actuator from spares
Conducted a full brake rendering test (could the winch still
hold the load?)
Carefully and slowly started hauling
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Dealing with
CTD cable
knots
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Marine National Facility

The happy outcome!

Back in the CTD business after 36 hours to recover the

CTD, make repairs and do the paperwork
Marine National Facility

Vessels overall outcomes

All challenges addressed through:

Voyage rescheduling
Lots of hard work by many dedicated staff

All major science voyage objectives achieved since delivery

A superb platform for marine science

We are also very grateful to the various organisations around the

world for their advice during that same trip:
Cable kinking issues could not be done without Active Heave
Compensation
CTD frame rotation issues
CTD operations in -17C temperatures
Marine National Facility

ALMOST AN EXACT REPLICA!

 Thank you for your attention

Questions?

For further information:

Future
Stephen Thomasresearch vessel project
Stephen.Thomas@csiro.au