A simplified grounding damage prediction method and its application in modern damage stability requirements

This paper presents the analyses and results aimed at developing damage stability requirements which take into account the structural vulnerability to grounding damage, i.e. the kinetic energy available to generate damage and the structural resistance. The paper presents analysis of new damage statistics in order to determine impact scenarios, in particular in terms of impact speed, impact location, and width and height of damage. Furthermore a new empirical damage prediction formula is developed based on a combination of full-scale testing and extensive non-linear finite element analyses. This deterministic prediction method is validated against grounding experiments and then used in a probabilistic (Monte Carlo) simulation framework. First the simulation method is calibrated and validated against the real statistical damage data for conventional ships and then it is used to generate damage statistics for high-speed craft. It turns out that the grounding damage statistics for all ships can be characterized by a single parameter; the Grounding Damage Index, GDI, which includes the ship kinetic energy and its structural resistance to grounding damage. Simple, closed-form expressions are developed for the GDI and it is shown how the probability of exceeding a box-shaped damage is a simple function of the GDI and the size of the box. The paper therefore gives the background and the results for a new generation of damage stability rules where the structural crashworthiness is taken into account and where the passive safety level is explicitly expressed. It furthermore gives simplified prediction tools and data for actual ships, i.e. a toolbox that is readily available for risk analysis regarding grounding damage.     

Ventilation System Heating Demand Forecasting Based on Long Short-Term Memory Network

Load forecasting can increase the efficiency of modern energy systems with built-in measuring systems by providing a more accurate peak power shaving performanc...     

Environmental assessment in the Prc: Third phase of the Qinhuangdao coal port

Abstract

The use of environmental impact assessment (EIA) is relatively recent in the People's Republic of China (PRC). China is committed to a reversal of the environmental degradation resulting from its industrialization and the central government has initiated a requirement for environmental planning and assessment for large development projects. Today large scale harbor developments are subject to the requirements of the National Environmental Protection Law (1979) and the Marine Environmental Law (1982). Because the third phase expansion of the coal port of Qinhuangdao would increase the ports’ capacity to handle coal by 30 to 50 million tons, an EIA was required.

Since 1981, the Environment and Policy Institute of the East‐West Center (EWC), Honolulu, has had a program of research focusing on the environmental impacts of coal transportation. On the basis of workshops in China that centered on the problems associated with planning coal transportation projects, the Ministry of Communications of the PRC invited the EWC to participate in the environmental assessment for the third phase coal port expansion at Qinhuangdao. A 10‐member team with specialities in environmental assessment and port environmental problems from five countries representing the EWC worked with a 25‐member team from four different agencies of the PRC Ministry of Communications.

This article describes the environmental regulations in the PRC that affect this harbor expansion, discusses the process by which the EWC assisted the PRC in the preparation of the environmental assessment and evaluates the assessment product against PRC regulations and U.S. standards. The most important contribution of the EWC was the provision of guidelines adapted from the EIA experience in several countries which will assist the PRC in the environmental evaluation of future pon expansion projects.