Propulsion & Engines

From fuel to thrust. Thermodynamic cycles and combustion behind marine diesel engines, engine systems and fuels, and propellers, thrusters and propulsion arrangements.

• Thermodynamic Cycles — Ideal cycles model real engines and power plants. Learn the Otto (petrol), Diesel, Brayton (gas turbine) and Rankine (steam) cycles, their P–v behaviour, efficiency formulas and the design levers that improve them.
• Combustion — Combustion turns fuel's chemical energy into pressure. Learn air–fuel ratio and lambda, spark-ignition flame propagation and knock, compression-ignition diesel combustion, heat-release and mass-fraction-burned (Wiebe), octane and cetane, and airflow-to-power calculations.
• Marine Diesel Engines & Machinery — The heart of the ship. Learn two-stroke slow-speed and four-stroke medium-speed engines, uniflow scavenging, turbocharging, MCR and service ratings, mean effective pressure, specific fuel oil consumption (SFOC), heavy fuel oil and fuel treatment, lubrication and cylinder oil, cooling and waste-heat recovery, engine-propeller matching (load diagram), electronically controlled engines, dual-fuel LNG/methanol/ammonia engines and maintenance — with Python for fuel consumption, CO₂ and MEP.
• Marine Propellers & Propulsion Systems — Turning engine power into thrust. Learn propeller geometry (diameter, pitch, blade area, skew), advance ratio, open-water characteristics (K_T, K_Q, η₀), wake and thrust deduction, propeller–engine matching, cavitation and its prevention, controllable-pitch and ducted propellers, azimuth thrusters and pods, waterjets, shafting and stern tubes, and electric propulsion — with Python for thrust, torque and cavitation number.