Shipbuilding trends in response to environmental issues

This paper offers an overview about how societal issues and environmental challenges will influence shipbuilding in the near future. It begins with an evaluation of societal developments and refers to globalization and climate change. The paper then continues to assess the impact of these developments on ship design and operation, and considers how the adverse effects of shipping in this context can be reduced. In this respect, topics like emission control and scrapping of ships are considered.     

Asymptotic analysis of mode I propagating crack-tip field in a creeping material

Adopting an elastic-viscoplastic, the asymptotic problem of mode I propagating crack-tip field is investigated. Various asymptotic solutions resulting from the analysis of crack growing programs are presented. The analysis results show that the quasistatically growing crack solutions are the special case of the dynamic propagating solutions. Therefore these two asymptotic solutions can be unified.     

A review of the effect of a/ W ratio on fracture toughness （Ⅲ） ——theoretical analysis

In part I and II of this series, experimental investigation in both EPFM and LEFM had been discussed. In this part, further theoretical analysis is given. The theoretical development of Two Parameter Fracture Mechanics by Hancock etc, has rationalized our experimental results. This method can be applied to engineering practice, and will allow the advantage of enhanced toughness for specimens with low levels of constraint to be taken into account for defect assessment.     

An experimental testbed for mobile offshore base control concepts

 The concept of a mobile offshore base (MOB) reflects the need to stage and support military and humanitarian operations anywhere in the world. A MOB is a self-propelled, modular, floating platform that can be assembled into lengths of up to 2 km, as required, to provide logistic support to US military operations where fixed bases are not available or adequate. It accommodates the take-off and landing of C17 aircraft, and can be used for storage, as well as to send resources quickly to shore. In most concepts, the structure is made of three to five modules, which have to perform long-term station-keeping in the presence of winds, waves, and currents. This is usually referred to as dynamic positioning (DP). In the MOB, the alignment is maintained through the use of thrusters, connectors, or a combination of both. In this paper, we consider the real-time control of scaled models of a MOB. The modules are built at the 1 : 150 scale, and are kept aligned by rotating thrusters under a hierarchical hybrid control scheme. This paper describes a physical testbed developed at the University of California, Berkeley, under a grant from the US Office of Naval Research, for the purpose of evaluating competing MOB control concepts. Received: June 4, 2002 / Accepted: October 30, 2002 Acknowledgments. This material is based on work supported by the MOB Program of the US Office of Naval Research under grant N00014-98-1-0744. The authors would like to thank the Link Foundation for its support. Many thanks go to Stephen Spry for his experimental work. The photographs are courtesy of Bill Stone, Gerald Stone, and Jay Sullivan of the PATH Publications staff. Address correspondence to: A.R. Girard (e-mail: anouck@eecs.berkeley.edu)     

Prediction methods for the surf-riding threshold and the wave-blocking threshold based on Melnikov’s method

A ship operating in following and/or quartering seas may be susceptible to broaching-to preceded by the surf-riding phenomenon. Therefore, for the safety assessment of fast vessels such as destroyers and patrol craft, the estimation of the surf-riding condition is important. As shown by previous research, there are two boundaries for ship motion in following and quartering seas. These are the surf-riding threshold and wave-blocking threshold. In this study, the theoretical methods to estimate both boundaries are obtained by making use of Melnikov’s method. In order to validate the formulae, free-running model experiments are conducted in the towing tank. Comparisons between the results obtained from calculations and experiments show good agreement. It is concluded that the formulae based on Melnikov’s method could be applicable to the safety assessment of surface ships.     

A new method for calibration of unidirectional double-peak spectra

This study aims at presenting a new approach in calibrating standard two-peak design spectra for specific regions in absence of wind data. The main principle in these kinds of fitting for a new area is to minimize the least square error between measured and fitted spectra and there has been less attention to double-peak spectra individual characteristic as co-existence of wind-sea and swell parts in one spectrum. Here, separation frequency, approximately dividing such parts, is implemented to virtually extract wind-sea and swell components of a measured spectrum considering their intrinsic overlap near the separation frequency. Then, they have been easily utilized to calibrate two parts of standard double-peak spectrum in a revisory manner. To verify benefits of this new methodology, it has been applied on Ochi-Hubble as well as Torsethaugen spectra regarding field measurements in a coastal region at Gulf of Oman, Chabahar bay. Results obviously show a better adjustment of formula to field spectrum using this simple approach when compared with output of calibration on integrated field spectrum irrespective of its main characteristic such as availability of two-wave systems.     

Fundamental research on resistance reduction of surface combatants due to stern flaps

It is well known that a decrease in ship resistance may be achieved due to the installation of a stern flap. Therefore, so far, a considerable amount of research on stern flaps has been conducted. Previous research has demonstrated that the primary mechanism by which a stern appendage reduces resistance is a change in the pressure distribution over the aft body of the hull, and secondly through effects on the running attitude, near and far field wave generation, and local transom flow among other phenomena. However, the change in pressure distribution is influenced by the other components. Hence, there is still room for argument about the relative contribution of each component to the pressure distribution. Therefore, as the first step of the research, by conducting the model experiment in towing tank and CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) analysis, we examined the effect of running attitudes and wave making at the after portion of the hull on resistance reduction. As a result, it is concluded that a flap affects a change in the wave generated at the transom part and it could lead to a decrease in wave-making resistance.     

Comparison of computational and analytical methods for evaluation of failure pressure of subsea pipelines containing internal and external corrosions

In the designing stage of subsea pipelines, the design parameters, such as pipe materials, thickness and diameters, are carefully determined to guarantee flow assurance and structural safety. However, once corrosion occurs in pipelines, the operating pressure should be decreased to prevent the failure of pipelines. Otherwise, an abrupt burst can occur in the corroded region of the pipeline, and it leads to serious disasters in the environment and financial loss. Accordingly, the relationship between the corrosion amount and failure pressure of the pipeline, i.e., the maximum operating pressure, should be investigated, and then, the assessment guideline considering the failure pressure should be identified. There are several explicit type codes that regulate the structural safety for corroded subsea pipelines, such as ASME B31G, DNV RF 101, ABS Building and Classing Subsea Pipeline Systems, and API 579. These rules are well defined; however, there are some limitations associated with describing precise failure pressure. Briefly, all of the existing rules cannot consider the material nonlinearity, such as elastoplasticity effect of the pipeline, as well as the actual three-dimensional corrosion shape. Therefore, the primary aim of this study is to suggest a modified formula parameter considering the above-mentioned pipeline and corrosion characteristics. As a result, the material nonlinearity as well as the corrosion configuration, i.e., axial/circumferential corrosion length, width and depth, is reflected in a set of finite element models and a series of finite element analysis considering the operation conditions are followed. Based on the comparative study between the simulation and analytical results, which can be obtained from the classification society rules, the modified formulae for failure pressure calculation are proposed.     

An analytical investigation for oscillations in a harbor of a parabolic bottom

Based on the linear shallow water approximation, longitudinal and transverse oscillations in a rectangular harbor with a parabolic bottom are analyzed. The longitudinal ones are combinations of the Legendre functions of the first and second kinds and the transverse ones are expressed with modified Bessel equations. Analytic results for longitudinal oscillations show that the augmentation of rapidity of variation of the water depth shifts the resonant wave frequencies to larger values and slightly changes the positions of the nodes for the resonant modes. For the transverse oscillations trapped within the harbor which are typically standing edge waves, the dispersion relationship is derived and the spatial structures of the first four modes are presented. The solutions illustrate that all the trapped modes are affected by the varying water depth parameters, especially for the higher modes whose profiles extend farther and the distribution of the energy of transverse oscillations is influenced by the rapidity of variation of the bottom within the harbor.     

The influence of route choice and operating conditions on fuel consumption and CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> emission of ships

The influence of various parameters, such as ship initial speed (full ahead and lower engine loads), loading condition, heading angle and weather conditions on ship fuel consumption and CO₂ emission is presented. A reliable methodology for estimating the attainable ship speed, fuel consumption and CO₂ emission in different sea states is described. The speed loss is calculated by taking into account the engine and propeller performance in actual seas as well as the mass inertia of the ship. The attainable ship speed is obtained as time series. Correlation of speed loss with sea states allows predictions of propulsive performance in actual seas. If the computation is used for weather routing purposes, values for various ship initial speed, loading conditions and heading angles for each realistic sea‐state must be provided. The voluntary speed loss is taken into account. The influence of the ship speed loss on various parameters such as fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions is presented. To illustrate the presented concept, the ship speed and CO₂ emissions in various routes of the Atlantic Ocean are calculated using representative environmental design data for the track of the routes where the ship will sail.