Test Bed Tests and Sea Trials

After the building of the ship is complete and before handing over it to the owners,
sea trials are done to test that the ship is able to deliver the contractually guaranteed
speed. The primary purpose of the sea trial is to determine the speed of the ship with
reference to the RPM and the power produced for the same.

Apart from the sea trial of the hull part of the ship, the important machinery of the
engine room such as boilers, auxiliary engines and the main engine are also tested.
Machineries have a test record apart from the sea trial data, which is done in the
manufacturing plant and is called as test bed data. It is normal to have main engine,
generators, motors and pumps etc. having these test bed data.

Test Bed Tests: Tests are carried out at manufacturers test bed to check whether the
performance values are within the acceptable standards of specification.
Sea Trials: Tests are carried out in open sea to check whether the engine and ships
performance are as per the contractual agreement supplied by the manufacturer.
This data pertaining to sea trials/machinery trials, shop trials/ test bed trials and the
obtained performance curves enables to run the ship safely and economically.
Typical Sea Trials / Measurements Program

The form is subdivided into the following 6 groups:

– general data
– hull equipment
– navigation equipment and radio communication equipment.
– nautical trials
– machinery and electrical installations
– inspection after sea trial

Following are the some of the tests that are carried out :
 01. Steering gear : The proper function has to be confirmed by

 Manual control locally

 Remote control from bridge
The time taken to move the rudder from 35 degree on either side to 30 degree
on the
other side should not exceeds 28 seconds when using both motors.
02. Starting/reversing maneuvers and Starting air capacity.
03. Torsional / axial vibrations. To ensure the vibrations are within the
permissible limits.
04. Standby operations and sequential starts.
05. Automatic slow down & shut down criteria.

06. Black-out test: Black out test for ships with periodically unattended
Machinery space, Simulation of failure of main power supply

07. Dead ship recovery test.

08. Propulsion plant - fuel consumption measurements.

09. Alarms in machinery spaces, performance test at full ahead

10. Stopping maneuver: to bring the ship to rest within a reasonable distance
from maximum ahead service speed, shall be demonstrated and recorded.

11. Endurance trial/operational data recording:

4 hours at rated speed and 2 hours at engine speed corresponding to normal
continuous cruise power.

12. Noise measurement test.

13.Guarantee speed test between two fixed points at MCR.

14.Overload test : operating at controlled overload condition.

15.Cylinder cut out test.

PERFORMANCE CURVES
During the test bed or shop trial the performance curves of the engine are plotted. The
performance curves are the graphs of different parameters plotted against engine
power or load. These different plotted curves are as follows:

 Engine RPM vs. Load: This curve helps in ascertaining whether main engine is
overloaded or not. A higher power generated at a lower RPM indicates an over
loaded main engine.
 Mean effective pressure vs. Load: Mean effective pressure is used to calculate
horse power hence these two values should co-relate. In case they don’t then
there may be some error in calculation or instrumentation.
 Maximum pressure vs. Load: This curve helps in knowing the condition of fuel
injection equipment, injection timing and the compression in the cylinder etc.
 Compression pressure vs. Load: This curve indicates the condition of the parts
maintaining compression like piston, piston rings and exhaust valves.
 Scavenge air pressure vs. Load: It indicates the condition of the turbocharger
and associated equipment.
 Exhaust gas temperature in receiver vs. Load: It indicates the enthalpy of the
exhaust gas prior to entry in turbocharger. This value compared with the value
after the turbocharger gives the temperature drop across the turbocharger, is an
indicator of turbocharger efficiency.
 Exhaust gas temperature after exhaust valve vs. Load: This curve sheds
light on the combustion, fuel injection, timing and compression etc. A higher
temperature may be caused due to after burning.
 Exhaust gas temperature after turbocharger vs. Load: This curve is very
useful as it indicates the enthalpy captured from the exhaust by the
turbocharger and hence its condition. In case the receiver temperature is within
range but the outlet temperature is higher it may indicate fouling of the
turbocharger and hence the associated lower scavenge air pressure and high
exhaust gas temperature.
 Total excess air ratio vs. Load: This curve is scarcely used by ship staff and
is useful for design engineers. This curve sheds light on scavenging and the
turbocharger capacity and condition. It shows that as the power increases the
excess air decreases due to consumption.
 Specific fuel oil consumption vs. Load: This curve helps to counter check
whether the engine is consuming fuel oil correctly as per the load.
There may be other parameters listed as per manufacturer. A typical performance
curve for a slow speed two stroke marine diesel engine is given below.