ADVANCES IN HIGH PRODUCTION ROBOTIC WATERJETTING FOR THE MARINE INDUSTRY

Abstract

A number of significant technological advances in waterjetting equipment design have provided shipyards, owners, and operators a means of achieving high production hull treatment in addition to selective removal down to individual layers of paint for large marine structures, such as ship decks, vertical sides, and bottoms. This paper summarizes the evolution and growth of automated and semi-automated waterjetting machinery for surface preparation, and the role this machinery will play in the future of defouling/protecting hull plating of large oceangoing vessels.