Sound problem of ship engines and its effect on seafarers

Abstract

The capacity of fishing, passenger, yacht and recreational vessels, especially dry cargo ships and tankers, is increasing day by day due to the geographical location of our country. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the acoustics and vibration, which are dominant in the occupational health of seafarers, whose number reaches almost 2 million all around the world today. The most accurate method to be taken for the improvement of mechanical systems that cause noise, vibration and reverberation is to eliminate the problem at the source as much as possible. For this purpose, since the machine designs cannot be interfered with, it should be solved at the source of the vibro-acoustic with the use of sound absorbing materials in the machine spaces before it spreads to the space. In this study, the negative and positive effects of the materials used so far for the solution proposals for the sound and vibration problem are compared and the optimum solution proposals are listed. The nickel foam panel layer thickness is 5mm and the sound absorption coefficient in the frequency range of 1000–2000 Hz reaches approximately 0.4. The average sound absorption coefficient of the copper foam panel is 12.6% at the same thickness [1].  Therefore, sound absorption performance in the audible low frequency range for a nickel foam panel requires an appropriate structural design [2]. In addition, the occupational health and safety of seafarers were evaluated. The effect of exposure to noise and vibration, which consists of work routines on ships, high risk frequency and high-intensity operations, on work stress has been analyzed. The data were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed statistically through multiple and simple regression analyses.