From Doctoral Research to Safer Seas

DSII graduate Erkka Virtanen’s journey towards his doctorate has led to ensuring more safety for those who journey at sea. Virtanen’s research on damage that happens in marine gears has been done with his characteristic reliability and consistency, resulting in new scientific and important information on the topic.

Photo: Jonne Renvall

Virtanen has done his thesis research in collaboration with Tampere University and ATA Gears. ATA Gears designs and manufactures geared power transmission components with a wealth of knowledge about the various environments where those gears are put to the test day after day.  ATA Gears is committed to active gear research and to having both the finest experts in the field of power transmission, and the most advanced technology.

Research with a far-sailing impact

Virtanen’s thesis research has to do with observing and analyzing fatigue in gears that transfer power from a ship’s motor to its propeller. In recent years, it has been observed that some gear failures originate inside the gear teeth, leading to significant damage if not observed early enough.

“This is a challenging sort of damage as it is difficult to observe,” Virtanen explains.

Finding damage in gears requires disassembling the entire gear box and conducting a thorough scan. Previously, when these scans have been conducted and damage has been found, it hasn’t been easy to determine whether what was observed was a major issue.

“It has been my task to figure out when these fractures are serious and when they are not.”

If the fracture is serious, the fracture starts to grow little by little, and at some point, when it has grown large enough the rest of it breaks very fast causing the gear tooth to fall off. The rapid failure can occur in hours or days.

“This would be an unpleasant surprise, were it to happen at sea,” Virtanen emphasizes.

Besides predicting safety concerns, Virtanen’s research also leads to cutting costs in maritime industry. When there are no spares and a gear breaks, the process of manufacturing a new piece can take a long time. It is very costly to have an inactive ship stored in a dock, so being able to predict how long a gear can last after a fracture is observed helps create new parts in time and avoid unnecessary costs.

Photo: Jonne Renvall

Study highlights and lessons learned

The most challenging part of Virtanen’s studies led to the biggest highlight of his time as a doctoral researcher. Virtanen’s first academic supervisor retired during Virtanen’s studies. It took some time to adapt to this change and so the process of publishing his first academic article wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. It took Virtanen some trial and error to finally find his target journals and to master academic writing. The gratification of getting his first article published was one of the best experiences of his studies. The lessons he learned also helped him a lot in getting his following articles published.

“Getting my first paper published helped me understand how research articles should be written,” Virtanen reflects.

Virtanen recommends visiting conferences. He himself has visited some conferences on the topic of his research and has participated in organizing Nordic Tribology Symposiym 2026 conference. Hearing other people’s presentations at conferences has given Virtanen new perspectives for his research. Conference visits have also made it easier for Virtanen to learn what research is currently happening in his field and what type of research is being conducted in which institute.

During his doctoral studies, Virtanen learned the essential skill of prioritizing between which ideas to execute in research. Virtanen is now able to allocate his time better by making informed decisions, as not every idea can be pursued. Virtanen has been given this freedom due to him showing consistent effort and reliability in his work, and it’s one of the things he has most enjoyed in his time as a doctoral researcher.

“I’ve been allowed a lot of freedom in my studies as long as I’ve had something to show for it,” Virtanen states.

Journey to DSII and beyond

Virtanen’s experiences show how working well with others and taking good care of one’s responsibilities can open doors to future possibilities. His reliable work ethic and ability to adapt to new environments has led to being presented with one opportunity after another.

Virtanen was already a student at Tampere University before his doctoral studies. During this time, Virtanen’s master’s thesis supervisor recognized his skills and potential and offered him a position as a DSII doctoral researcher. Virtanen took this challenge on and now it has paid off for him.

The collaboration between Virtanen, ATA Gears and Tampere University has been so successful that it has continued beyond Virtanen’s graduation. Virtanen will continue his important research at ATA Gears, building on the strong partnership developed during his doctoral studies. A short PoDoCo project will support this transition. The partnership has allowed Virtanen to learn the best ways to communicate about his research in a fast-paced industry setting, which is a useful skill in his future endeavors in doing industry-oriented research.

DSII experience

Virtanen has enjoyed his time as a DSII doctoral researcher and has been an active participant in DSII’s activities throughout his studies.

Industry visits have been Virtanen’s favorite DSII activity, because he has found it interesting to see how things are really done at various industry destinations.

“I would recommend DSII to anyone who finds an interesting industry-related topic and has motivation.”