One of the most important elements of the reliability structure of a motor vessel is its power subsystem, with the most crucial component being the engine. An engine failure excludes the ship from operation or significantly limits its operation. Therefore, accurate fault diagnosis should be a crucial issue for modern maintenance strategies. In mechanical engineering, the vibration and acoustic signals recorded during the operation of the device are the most meaningful data used to identify the reliability state. In this paper, a novel system-oriented method of reliability state identification is proposed. The method consists of the analysis of the vibration and noise signals collected on each of the engine cylinders using supervised machine learning. The main novelty of this method is data augmentation application and SVM classifier implementation. Due to these aspects, the method becomes robust in the case of poor-quality data or a limited and incomplete learning dataset. The quality of the proposed identification method was evaluated by addressing a new industrial issue (Sulzer 6AL20/24 marine engine reliability state identification). During the tests, the efficiency of the method was analyzed in the case of a complete learning data set (all types of inability states were presented in the learning data set) and an incomplete learning data set (in the testing data set, there were new types of inability states). As a result, in both cases, a very high (100%) identification accuracy of the reliability state and the type of inability state was obtained. This is a significant increase in accuracy (4.6% for the complete and 22% for the incomplete learning data set) in comparison to the efficiency of the same method without the use of machine learning and data science.

Rubber and rubber-metal vibration isolators are widely used vibration isolation systems in marine applications. For naval application, shock absorber mounting systems must fulfil two functions. The first one supports the suspended mass in the absence of waving or detonation while providing isolation from vibrations and shock impact. In the second case, during the machine operation, it reduces the force of movement to an acceptable value. Moreover, it returns the insulated mass to the position output without plastic deformation or residual buckling after removing shock stresses or harmonic vibrations. The environment in which marine vibration isolators are to be used strongly influences the selection of a shock absorber. The main environmental problem is the temperature range in marine power plants, which ranges from 20 °C to 55 °C. Temperature fluctuations may cause changes in the physical properties of typical vibration/shock insulators. Both rubbers and elastomers used for shock absorbers tend to stiffen, gain low-temperature damping, and soften and lose damping at elevated temperatures. Factors such as moisture, ozone and changes in atmospheric pressure are usually ignored in shipbuilding. The main environmental factors influencing the ageing of insulators are liquid saturated hydrocarbons, i.e., oils, fuels, coolants, etc., which may come into contact with the surface of the insulators. This work presents the results of the research carried out to determine the effect of overload and the impact of petroleum products on the materials of metal-rubber shock absorbers made of three different rubbers and one polyurethane mixture. For each of the materials, shock absorbers with three different degrees of hardness were tested.

The technical requirements for naval ships machine foundations are far more strict in comparison to merchant’s vessels. These requirements are confirmed in the military standardization of many countries. Underwater Explosion (UNDEX phenomena) detonation pulses, force naval engineers to design and implement different shock absorbers made from a wide variety of materials. This study presents the tests results of typical shock absorber designs made of various types of rubber and elastomers. The initial objective of the study was to determine the energy absorption of shock impacts, the choice of materials capable of operating within the temperature range of 0 °C to 70 °C, resistance to contact with oils and marine fuel, performance at frequencies ranging from 5 to 30,000 Hz, and absorption no less than 40% of harmonic vibration energy. Initial studies conducted on tensile testing machine were used to determine the static and dynamic stiffness of a shock absorbers. Considerations of stiffness coefficient for the linear and nonlinear range is typical for shock pulses. Further tests were carried out on a lightweight drop hammer to determine the characteristics of the damping coefficient for high-speed wave interactions—Shock Response Spectrum (SRS). The final aim of the study was to assess the repeatability of the shock absorbers response to multiple impact loads. Mechanical properties describing possibilities of tested dampers materials to absorb energy of UNDEX were also presented.

Alignment deviations remain one of the main causes of excessive vibration amplitudes among all rotating equipment. Their influence is particularly noticeable in ship shaft lines since their length is often much greater than their diameter. Dial gauges and laser measuring instruments are the most commonly used methods for measuring the alignment deviations of ship shaft lines. Due to the increasingly common use of vibration diagnostics in shipbuilding, it is necessary to develop methods to identify shaft misalignment using vibration methods. The authors of this study identified the spectra components corresponding to the misalignment of a working test station of a ship’s shaft line. Identification was carried out in two stages: based on an analysis of the FEM model using the Abaqus program and based on measurements on a unique laboratory stand. The obtained results confirm the possibility of using FEM simulations in the operational diagnosis of shaft line alignment deviations.

There has been a rapidly growing interest in the use of composite and polymer materials for the construction of marine propellers for over 20 years. The main advantages of these materials are a reduction in the weight of the propeller, increased efficiency due to the hydroelasticity effect, a reduction of the hydroacoustic signature, and a cost reduction for serial production. This paper presents an overview of diagnostic methods that can be applied at the design level and during the operation of marine propellers made of polymeric materials. Non-invasive contact and non-contact-based diagnostic techniques for evaluating the technical state of the propeller are reviewed, and the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative and quantitative methods are identified. Operational diagnostic procedures for propellers are areessential for the safety of vessels at sea. Finally, the structure of a diagnostic system is proposed. It combined diagnosis process with the genesis of damage and the prognosis of the technical condition, i.e. production and in-service diagnostics.