Casualty analysis of large tankers

This article presents detailed results of a comprehensive analysis of recorded accidents of large oil tankers (deadweight greater than 80 000 tonnes) occurring between 1978 and 2003. The analysis encompasses a thorough review of available raw accident data and their postprocessing in a way to produce appropriate statistics useful for the implementation of risk-based assessment methodologies. The processing of the captured data led to the identification of significant qualitative historical trends of tanker accidents and of quantitative characteristics of large tanker accidents, such as overall accident rates per ship-year. Data were also analyzed for all major accident categories separately, taking into account tanker ship size/type, the degree of accident severity, and the oil spill tonne rates per ship-year; this led to the identification of heavily polluted worldwide geographical areas as a result of large tanker accidents.     

Phase change analysis of an underwater glider propelled by the ocean＇s thermal energy

The phase change characteristic of the power source of an underwater glider propelled by the ocean＇s thermal energy is the key factor in glider attitude control. A numerical model has been established based on the enthalpy method to analyze the phase change heat transfer process under convective boundary conditions. Phase change is not an isothermal process, but one that occurs at a range of temperature. The total melting time of the material is very sensitive to the surrounding temperature. When the temperature of the surroundings decreases 8 degrees, the total melting time increases 1.8 times. But variations in surrounding temperature have little effect on the initial temperature of phase change, and the slope of the temperature time history curve remains the same. However, the temperature at which phase change is completed decreases significantly. Our research shows that the phase change process is also affected by container size, boundary conditions, and the power source＇s cross sectional area. Materials stored in 3 cylindrical containers with a diameter of 38ram needed the shortest phase change time. Our conclusions should be helpful in effective design of underwater glider power systems.     

The ISM Code and the ISPS Code: A critical legal analysis of two SOLAS regimes

Within the comprehensive body of law encompassed by the International Convention on Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (SOLAS), there are two regimes that are topical and outstanding in the current maritime milieu. These are the international safety management and the international ship and port facility regimes, both characterized by two codes serving as the centre of gravity of each, namely, the ISM Code and the ISPS Code, respectively. In this article the concept of the code as a legal instrument is perused following which a critical legal analysis is carried out of the two above-mentioned Codes, including their backgrounds, the evolutionary process culminating into the regimes and their interrelationships. Several anomalies and inadequacies in the two regimes are identified but in the final analysis it is concluded that both instruments are salutary additions to the body of convention law generated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). They will undoubtedly influence the continuing development of international law in the field of maritime safety and security.     

Investigations of vehicle securing without lashings for Ro-Ro ships

To reduce the area on deck occupied by each car and the labour and time required for lashing and unlashing cars, it has been proposed by the author that in some conditions, cars on decks could be transported without lashing. To evaluate cargo securing based on this “lashing-free” concept, computational code was developed to calculate the vehicle–deck interactions for various ship motions. The code was structured by incorporating a vehicle model into a piece of ship motion calculation code. A series of time-domain simulations were conducted to evaluate vehicle securing. It was found that for a target ship consisting of a 6000-unit Ro-Ro vessel, vehicle securing is mainly influenced by the ship's rolling motions and is highly dependent on the wave height and loading conditions. It was suggested from the analysis that vehicles could be secured without being lashed in a large area of the ship in specific weather conditions and on some routes with less adverse sea states. However, it is still suggested that conventional lashing holes should be constructed on the deck because in severe sea states the cars will still need to be lashed. The limitations of the current investigations are also presented. The relevant research work was carried out at the Division of Ship Design and Engineering, Department of Shipping and Marine Technology, Chalmers University of Technology.     

隧道检测系统及其在韩国高速铁路隧道的应用

介绍韩国高速铁路隧道安装的健康监测系统,提出基于检测数据诊断隧道衬砌可能破损的新系统识别方法。引入逆算法,即根据已知的形变数据和混凝土衬砌恒载,估计破损的程度和位置。对以刚度均减和裂缝概念为基础建立的两种模型进行效果和优劣比较。对理想化的隧道结构进行数学分析,并用检测数据中常用的白噪声对模型进行适应性研究。结果表明,基于刚度均减方法的模型1对白噪声相对不敏感,而以裂缝概念为基础的模型2由于受刚度减小的影响很小,易于现场应用。     

The place of the ISPS Code in the legal international regime

The adoption of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code) is the latest response of the international shipping community to the increasing threat posed by acts of terrorism at sea. The ACHILLE LAURO incident of 1985 showed that the traditional law against piracy was not adequate to deal with new types of unlawful acts against international shipping, especially those involving acts of terrorism. The 1988 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA Convention) and the technical and administrative measures adopted by the Maritime Safety Committee of IMO in 1986 and 1996 attempted to develop a broader regime to deal with unlawful acts against international shipping.However, the events of September 11, 2001 showed that additional measures were still needed to prevent terrorist attacks against ships.     

From privilege to peril

This article addresses the growing concern over the diminishing legal rights and increasing responsibilities of those in command of ships today. A number of high-profile maritime accidents have focussed on the dilemma faced by shipmasters who appear to be held responsible for actions over which they have little or no control. This seems to indicate that the traditional privilege and honour associated with command appears to have become a risky burden. The article discusses the legal rights and responsibilities that shipmasters have today in terms of international maritime law and policy. Four case studies are utilized to illustrate the problem.     

Fault Diagnosing System of Steam Generator for Nuclear Power Plant Based on Fuzzy Neural Networks

All kinds of reasons are analysed in theory and a fault repository combined with local expert experiences is establishedaccording to the structure and the operation characteristic of steam generator in this paper. At the same time, Kohonen algo-rithm is used for fault diagnoses system based on fuzzy neural networks. Fuzzy arithmetic is inducted into neural networks tosolve uncertain diagnosis induced by uncertain knowledge. According to its self-association in the course of default diagnosis. thesystem is provided with non-supervise, self-organizing, self-learning, and has strong cluster ability and fast cluster velocity.     

3-D computational method of wave loads on turret moored FPSO tankers

A three-dimensional method of calculating wave loads of turret moored FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) tankers is presented. The linearized restoring forces acting on the ship hull by the mooring system are calculated according to the catenary theory, which are expressed as the function of linear stiffness coefficients and the displacements of the upper ends of mooring chains. The hydrodynamic coefficients of the ship are calculated by the three-dimensional potential flow theory of the linear hydrodynamic problem for ships with a low forward speed. The equations of ship motions are established with the effect of the restoring forces from the mooring system included as linear stiffness coefficients. The equations of motions are solved in frequency domain, and the responses of wave-induced motions and loads on the ship can be obtained. A computer program based on this method has been developed, and some calculation examples are illustrated. Analysis results show that the method can give satisfying prediction of wave loads.     

The effect of plastic constraint on the initiation of ductile tears in shipbuilding structural steels

In this paper, the effect of plastic constraint on the initiation of ductile tears in four different shipbuilding structural steels has been experimentally studied by measuring the J-integral and crack opening displacement COD at initiation in three-point bend specimens with deep and shallow notches. Experimental results of seven groups of different strength alloy steels show that both Si and Ji values of ductile tear from the shallow crack specimens which have less constraint flow field are significantly higher than those of deeply notched specimens. Slip-line-field analysis shows that, for shallow crack, the hydrostatic stress is lower than that from standard deeply cracked bend specimen, which develops a high level of crack tip constraint, provides a lower bound estimate of toughness, and will ensure an unduly conservative approach when applied to structural defects, especially if initiation values of COD and J-integral are used.