Nautical Engineering: Schooling, Boats & Amphibious Craft

[TheRyan]

I hope this is the right forum for this topic, I thought it would be because boat design would involve engines which are related to mechanical engineering. Anyways, I was wondering if anyone here is a nautical engineer? I haven't found much about the major other than that it's offered at very few colleges (compared to other majors) and that it's mostly related to boats and possibly amphibious craft.

Another question is what kind of schooling would this involve? I'm guessing a lot of advanced calculus to figure out with the motion of the ocean and how it relates to hull shape, speed, and ability of the boat to stay upright. I've read some of MIT's Open Course Ware on the topic, and a lot of it just seemed to be about the physics of buoyancy. What else is there to this branch of engineering?

 

[Danger]

I'm not sure about this, but I think that the field is actually 'marine' engineering rather than 'nautical'. In any event, mechanical would be a 'for sure', and perhaps aeronautical, since a lot of the fluid dynamics are similar. That's just my best guess, though; I'm not involved in any of those things.

 

[FredGarvin]

Danger has a good point. You need to look at Marine Engineering or Naval Architecture. I haven't seen very many schools offering that major either. I believe MIT does have a department. Definitely check with other large schools.

It's going to have the same classes as an ME or AE. A lot of fluids and structures I would imagine.

 

[TheRyan]

Thanks for the ideas, I have seen it mentioned as nautical/marine engineering or naval architecture: the fact that they are so similar and one name can't be chosen out of the three makes it a little confusing.

 

[Danger]

To tell the truth, I generally just refer to it as 'messing about with boats'.

 

[TheRyan]

Ha, messing around with boats. Unfortunately the engineering quality of one certain "unsinkable" ship wasn't as good as the designers originally thought. Now for a ship to really be "unsinkable" it must be able to withstand not only huge waves and weather changes but also icebergs. That is a tough task.

 

[Danger]

the engineering quality of one certain "unsinkable" ship wasn't as good as the designers originally thought. Now for a ship to really be "unsinkable" it must be able to withstand not only huge waves and weather changes but also icebergs.

Make that two ships. The Lusitania was also considered 'unsinkable'... so you should add torpedoes to the huge waves and icebergs.

 

[kach22i]

You might want to search this boat forum, many people have asked similar questions there.

Boatdesign:
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=10

 

[nova514]

uh yea basically a mechanical or aero engineering degree will do as long as you have some sort of concentration in fluid mechanics/dynamics, acoustics, programming, etc. They're really all the same thing (mechanical/aero/marine). And yes, you do need to know a bit of math.

 

[mooktank]

Don't forget chemistry... galvanic corrosion.