Propulsion system design of amphibious boat / Afiqah Ab Rashid

In this era of globalisation, amphibious boats often being the talk of the town and become the hottest trend and for good reason like its amphibian quality. An amphibious boat is a transport-viable boat with wheels and has capabilities to function on water and on land. For now, there are only 4 companies in this world that create this type of boat spread across the 5 continents from East to West. They are known as Sealegs, ASIS Boats, Iguana Yachts, and Ocean Craft Marine (”Intro to the Amphibious Boat world”, 2020).
To be able to move around freely, an amphibious boat or any sea transportation in typical must have its own propulsion system and a better resistance. Marine propulsion systems are the systems to produce the thrust to push a boat across water. The propulsion system can simply be described as a diesel engine connected directly to a propeller shaft that drives the propeller or additional complex systems containing diesel engines powering an electrical generator, supplying electrical power to an electrical motor through an advanced control system. The whole system of propulsion depends on the vessel size, trade, and type of operation. The effect of hull roughness on boat resistance can be investigate using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations as it can precisely predict the increase in frictional resistance due to the surface roughness (Song et al., 2020).
Nonetheless, a faulty marine propulsion system could lead to serious outcomes for a vessel, cargo, and the people onboard. These consequences can be financial losses, delay in delivery time or a fatal threat to safety of the people onboard (Vizentin et al., 2020). Therefore, this proves how important it is to learn deeply how the propulsion systems work and analyse the resistance thoroughly to prevent such unwanted things from happening.