Maritime Projects Predict and Reduce Noise on Board Ships

Tokyo, Jersey, July 22, 2016 --(PR.com)-- The latest regulation - International Maritime Organization (IMO) noise level code on board ships, which became mandatory for new ships on July 1st, 2014 - is to protect seafarers against hearing loss, improve comfort levels and make aware the need to communicate with colleagues and hear alarms. All ship-owners have to meet these regulations for vessels with a gross tonnage of 1,600 and over.

In April 2011, Tokai University’s Professor Shuri started working with Brüel & Kjær on a project for the cooperative association of Japanese shipbuilders. Professor Shuri said: “The aim of this project was to develop noise prediction programs for shipbuilding engineers. Our second project, which started in March 2015, is about developing noise control technology to effectively reduce noise levels in cabins.”

These projects – both completed in April this year - aimed to obtain a lot of accurate noise and vibration data during sea trials and to measure many acoustic properties, such as transmission loss of a cabin construction and the absorption coefficient of cabins.

“This data is necessary for the development of noise prediction programs and to verify noise control measures,” said Professor Shuri. “Shipbuilding engineers have measured noise and vibration data and acoustic properties on more than 30 ships using a Type 2250 Sound Level Meter and have used the building acoustics measurement system. We have obtained a lot of data, relying on technical support from the engineers at Brüel & Kjær Japan,” explains Professor Shuri.

“The Brüel & Kjær Type 2250 is popular among ship manufacturers as it measures both noise and vibration acceleration levels and this is very useful in order to investigate noise control measures,” explains Professor Shuri. “The Type 2250 with the building acoustics module can also carry out transmission loss measurements of a cabin construction and provide the absorption coefficient measurements in a cabin, which are necessary measurements when investigating noise control.”

Looking to the future, Professor Shuri believes that noise source identification technology is one of the most effective methods to reduce noise on ships: “To provide an effective method for engineers, I hope to develop practical usage rules for noise source identification in ship cabins during sea trials, in cooperation with engineers from Brüel & Kjær Japan.”

Read the full article on Brüel & Kjær’s website.

About Brüel & Kjær
Brüel & Kjær is a world-leading manufacturer and supplier of sound and vibration measurement systems.

We help customers measure and manage the quality of sound and vibration in their products and in the environment. Focus areas are aerospace, space, defence, automotive, ground transportation, airport environment, urban environment, telecom and audio.

Brüel & Kjær has an unparalleled portfolio of sound and vibration equipment and is a long-established designer and manufacturer of innovative instrumentation including sound level meters, microphones, accelerometers, conditioning amplifiers, calibrators, noise and vibration analysers, and PULSE software.

We also design and manufacture the LDS range of vibration test systems, as well as complete airport and environmental monitoring systems: WebTrak, ANOMS, NoiseOffice and Noise Sentinel.

Brüel & Kjær runs a variety of training courses - from basic introductions to noise and its effects to more specialised classes teaching customers how to get the most out of their equipment. Free online training courses, conducted by our expert engineers, run throughout the year too.

Brüel & Kjær is a subsidiary of UK-based Spectris plc, which has annual sales of £1.1bn and employs around 8,300 people worldwide across its four business segments.