STX opts for Shaft Designer

SKF says that the yards previously bought alignment and vibration calculations analyses from other contracting parties, but decided that they wanted to do the calculations in-house. ShaftDesigner is claimed to be capable of calculating shaft line alignment as well as all types of vibration, taking into account the entire shaft line and components.

One particularly relevant feature of ShaftDesigner was said to be a new Ice Impact feature from the Torsional Vibration module. STX will use this for calculations for a Polar supply and research vessel which is now in design and is planned for delivery in 2012.

The STX order includes training, and is based on a network license that can be shared between the Rauma and Turku yards, providing an economical solution. The STX team that will make the calculations will be trained in Finland to use the software efficiently and to properly analyse the results. Further training session will involve the ShaftDesigner reverse engineering module, and will be partly given on board ship to show how to take measurements and to apply the data to compare the theory with the actual situation.