2008 Technical Papers

2008
Bulletin Technique
Couv BT 2008:Couv BT 2008 14/10/09 11:01 Page1
Introduction
Welcome to this edition of Bulletin Technique, a unique resource
of technical papers delivered by experts from Bureau Veritas
during 2008.
It is divided into five sections, grouping the papers under
Hydrodynamics and Hydro-Structure interaction, Structure,
Offshore Engineering & Mooring, Rules and Classification and
Risk Engineering.
Each section ranges over a wide range of topics which experts
have tackled during the year. The variety and depth of the papers
are a testimony to the wide range of expertise and resources
committed to research by Bureau Veritas. The papers give full
details of the topics and are fully referenced, and the authors
would be very happy to discuss their work further with interested
parties.
Pierre Besse
Research Director
Bureau Veritas
Bulletin Technique 2008
Editorial BT2008:Editorial BT2008 05/10/09 20:54 Page1
Hydrodynamics & Hydro -Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Computations of low-frequency wave loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
X. B. Chen & F. Rezende
Simulation of second-order roll motions of a FPSO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
F. Rezende, X. B. Chen & M. D. Ferreira
Consistent hydro-structure interface for evaluation of global structural
responses in linear seakeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
S. Malenica, E. Stumpf, F. X. Sireta & X. B. Chen
Effects on sloshing pressure due to the coupling between
seakeeping and tank liquid motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
L. Diebold, E. Baudin, J. Henry & M. Zalar
Steep wave impact onto a complex 3D structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
I. Ten, A. Korobkin, S. Malenica ,J. de Lauzon & Z. Mravak
Second-order wave loads on a LNG carrier in multi-directional waves . . . . . . .35
M. Renaud, F. Rezende, O. Waals, X. B. Chen & R. van Dijk
Diffraction and radiation with the effect of bathymetric variations . . . . . . . . . . .43
G. De Hauteclocque, F Rezende & X. B. Chen
Three-dimensional hydro-elastic Wagner impact using variational inequalities 51
T. Gazzola & J. de Lauzon
Some aspects of 3D linear hydroelastic models of springing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
S. Malenica, J.T. Tuitman, F. Bigot & F. X. Sireta
Advanced computations of mooring systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
C. Brun, D. Coache & F. Rezende
3DFEM-3DBEM model for springing and whipping analyses of ships . . . . . . . . .77
S.Malenica & J. T. Tuitman
Fluid-structure interaction modeling, relating to membrane LNG ship
cargo containment system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87
W. S. Kim, B. J. Noh, H. Lee, Z. Mravak, J. de Lauzon, J. R. Maguire, D. Radosavljevic,
S. H. Kwon & J. Y. Chung
Hydroelastic aspects of large container ships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
I. Senjanovic, S. Malenica, S. Tomaevic & M. Tomic
Some aspects of whipping response of container ships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
J. Tuitman & S. Malenica
A Comprehensive and Pratical Strength Assessment Methodology for
Container Ships Taking Into Account Non Linear and Hydro-Elastic Loading .111
G. de Jong & M. Huther
Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Simulation of the behaviour of fatigue cracks: a tool for inspection
decision making on a ships deck beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
V. Boutillier, M. Serror & G. Parmentier
Quelques aspects hydrodynamique/structure en conception
des porte conteneurs geants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
M. Huther, S. Malenica & F. Mauduit
Bulletin Technique 2008
Contents
Sommaire BT2008:Sommaire BT2008 12/10/09 18:51 Page1

Offshore Engineering & Mooring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
Characterization of polyester mooring lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149
M. Franois & P. Davies
Impact of the use of FullQTF on LNGC moored in shallow water studies . . . .159
C. Brun, F. Rezende, D. Coache & J. Mombaerts
Latest evolution of Metocean analysis practices and their applications . . . . . .167
T. Barberon & G. Gourdet
Connection hulltopsides: principles, designs and returns of experience . . . .187
G. Gourdet
Conversion of Offshore Floating Facilities : How to tackle them with
an asset integrity focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205
C. Chauviere & J. Esteve
Influence of fibre stiffness on deepwater mooring line response . . . . . . . . . . .217
P. Davies, K. Salomon, C. Bideaud, J. P. Labb, S. Toumit, M. Franois, F. Grosjean & T.Bunsell
Directional wave partitioning and its application to the structural
analysis of an FPSO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
R. Lawford, J. Bradon, T. Barberon, C. Camps & R. Jameson
Deepwater Moorings with High Stiffness Polyester and PEN Fiber Ropes . . .237
P. Davies, C. Lechat, A. Bunsell, A. Piant, M. Franois, F. Grosjean, P. Baron, K. Salomon,
C. Bideaud, J. P. Labb & Moysan A.G.
Lessons learnt from 12 years operations of a huge floating production
unit made of pre-stressed high performance concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247
B. Lanquetin, H. Dendani, P. Collet & J. Esteve
Rules & Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .263
Fibre rope deepwater moorings: Complete and consistent design and
qualification procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .265
F. Legerstee, M. Francois & C. Brun
Bureau veritas rules for the classification of traditional naval submarines . .283
Y. Legal
Condition assessment scheme for ship hull maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .293
C. Cabos, D. Jaramillo, G. Stadie-Frohbs, P. Renard, M. Ventura & B. Dumas
Dveloppement, Implmentation, Maintenance et Futur des Rglements
structuraux communs de lIACS pour les Vraquiers et Ptroliers
Double Coque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .315
P. Baumans
Risk enginnering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .329
Including ergonomics in the design process to address the risks of slips,
trips and falls : methodology and application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .331
N. Mery, M. Lassagne & J. McGregor
Performance assessment of davit-launched lifeboat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .341
L. Prat, L. de Vries & A. W. Vredeveldt
Conception ergonomique et analyse de risque : mthodologie et
application aux moyens daccs bord des navires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .359
N. Mery & M. Lassagne
Sommaire BT2008:Sommaire BT2008 12/10/09 18:51 Page2
HYDRODYNAMICS
& HYDRO-STRUCTURE
A detailed understanding of hydrodynamics and the response of complex
structures to liquid forces is at the heart of our ability to ensure ever larger
and more complex structures are both safe and efficient. The papers
grouped in this section headline the challenges faced by hydrodynamic
researchers, and the advances made. Special reference is made to
advances in understanding elastic behaviour, particularly for large
container ships and to dynamic coupling between vessel and tank liquid
and between vessel and offshore unit structure and external fluid loads.
Bulletin Technique - Bureau Veritas 2008
ChapitresBT2008:ChapitresBT2008 05/10/09 20:54 Page1
Paper submitted to the 23rd IWWWFB, Jeju (Korea)
Computations of low-frequency wave loading
X.B. Chen
1,2
and F. Rezende
1
1
Research Department, BV, 92077 Paris La Defense (France)
Email: xiao-bo.chen@bureauveritas.com
2
College of Shipbuilding Engineering, HEU, 150001 Harbin (China)
As the main source of resonant excitations to most oshore moored systems like oating LNG terminals,
the low-frequency wave loading is the critical input to motion simulations which are important for the design.
Further to the analysis presented by Chen & Duan (2007) on the quadratic transfer function (QTF) of low-
frequency wave loading, new developments including numerical results of dierent components of QTF are
presented here. Furthermore, the time-series reconstruction of excitation loads in the motion simulation of
mooring systems is analyzed and a new ecient and accurate scheme is demonstrated.
1. Formulations of QTF and its approximations
The quadratic transfer function (QTF) of low-frequency wave loads F(
1
,
2
) is composed of two distinct
parts : one dependent only on the quadratic products of rst-order wave elds and another contributed by
the second-order incoming and diraction potentials.
F(
1
,
2
) = F
q
(
1
,
2
) +F
p
(
1
,
2
) (1)
Since the application of low-frequency QTF concerns generally the computation of excitation loading to
a moored system whose resonant frequencies are often less than 0.05 rad/s while wave frequencies are
generally larger than 0.30 rad/s, the dynamic behavior of mooring systems is sensitive only to the low-
frequency QTF at small values of (
1
2
). In Chen & Duan (2007), it is denoted that
=
1
2
and = (
1
+
2
)/2 then (
1
,
2
) = (+/2, /2) (2)
By assuming 1, the quadratic transfer function (QTF) is developed as an expansion :
F(
1
,
2
) = F
0
(, ) + F
1
(, ) + O[()
2
] (3)
with the zeroth-order term contributed by the quadratic products of rst-order wave elds and formulated :
F
0
= F
0
q
=

2
__
H
ds
_
(
)n
n

n

2
2g
_
d (
)n (4)
as integration over the hull H and along the waterline in their mean position. In (4), stands for the
rst-order velocity potential and
n
= n the normal derivative of on H. The superscript

indicates
the complex conjugate. The expression (4) shows that F
0
is a pure real function dependent on the wave
frequency , which is nothing else than the formulation of drift loads (with a factor 2 of that usually used
due to the convention here).
The O() order term in (3) is composed of four components :
F
1
= F
1
q
+ F
1
p1
+F
1
p2
+F
1
p3
(5)
with one due to rst-order wave elds :
F
1
q
= i
_
2
__
H
ds
_
(
)n (2/)
n
+
n

2
2g
_
d (
)n
_
(6)
a pure imaginary function of . In (6) for F
1
q
, we have involved the terms (, ) which are dened as the
derivative of (, ) with respect to . The contribution of second-order incoming waves and diraction
waves of free wave type is given analytically :
F
1
p1
= ig4CS(k/)[(1+m
xx
) cos +m
yx
sin , (1+m
yy
) sin +m
xy
cos ] (7)
in which stands for the buoyant volume, C and S dependent on wavenumber k and waterdepth h are given
in Chen (2006b), while (m
xx
, m
xy
, m
yx
, m
yy
) added-mass coecients in double-body ow, dependent only
on the hull geometry. To note (, k, ) are wave heading, wavenumber and wave frequency, respectively.
The component F
1
p1
expressed by (7) is pure imaginary dependent on the hull geometry and wave heading.
The component F
1
p2
is associated with the second-order correction of the boundary condition on H and
written as :
F
1
p2
= i
__
H
ds {(ix)(R
n) (x)
n}[]
0
(8)
with (x, R) as the displacement vector and rotation vector, respectively. In (8), the real functions []
0
are
dened as the radiation potentials at zero frequency (double-body ow) associated with the components of
the normal vector on H. Again, F
1
p2
given by (8) is a pure imaginary function.
Finally, the component representing the eect of forcing pressure over the free surface F (second-order
correction of the boundary condition on F) is expressed by :
F
1
p3
= i(/g)
__
F
ds
_
2
zz
P
+ k
2
I
_
[]
0
(9)
in which (
P
,
I
) represent the diraction-radiation potential and incoming wave potential, two components
of the rst-order potential =
I
+
P
.
The second-order low-frequency wave loads F(
1
,
2
) dened by (3) in bichromatic waves of frequencies
(
1
,
2
) are composed of one component F
0
() depending on = (
1
+
2
)/2 and another F
1
() linearly
proportional to =
1
2
. The striking fact is that F
0
() is a pure real function while F
1
() a
pure imaginary function. The usual approximation proposed by Newman (1974) largely used in practice
is based on the use of F
0
so that it is O(1) approximation. This study conrms that not only the O(1)
approximation can underestimate largely the second-order wave loads but also it provides wrong phase
dierences with respect to incoming waves since the complete QTF is a complex function while that by the
O(1) approximation is purely real.
2. Time-series reconstruction of low-frequency loading
In irregular waves represented by wave energy spectrum S
() characterized by the parameters like sig-

nicant heights, peak periods and form coecients, the elevation of free surface is written as a Fourier
series :
(t) =
_
E(t)
_
with E(t) =
N
j=1
a
j
exp(i
j
t) (10)
and the complex amplitude :
a
j
= exp[ik
j
(xcos + y sin) + i
j
]
_
2S
(
j
)d
j
(11)
associated with (
j
, k
j
, ,
j
) the wave frequency, wave number, heading and random phase, and dependent
on the position (x, y) with respect to the reference point (0, 0) and the sampling space d
j
of the spectrum.
The low-frequency wave loading in temporal domain is dened by a double summation :
F(t) =
_
_
_
N
i=1
N
j=1
F
ij
a
i
a
j
exp[i(
i
j
)t]
_
_
_
(12)
with a
j
being the complex conjugate of a
j
, and F
ij
= F(
i
,
j
) the QTF representing the component in
one degree of freedoms or a vector of wave load QTF. At each time step, the low-frequency wave loading
is evaluated to perform the time simulation of motions. Due to the double summation, the expression (12)
is time-consuming. One approximation largely used in practice is called Newmans approximation in Molin
(2002) which is based on :
F
ij
= sign(F)
_
F
ii
F
jj
(13)
with sign(F) the sign of wave loading which is assumed to remain the same when
j
varies. Introducing
(13) into (12), the time-series reconstruction of low-frequency wave loading becomes
F(t) =
j=1
_
F
jj
a
j
exp(i
j
t)
2
sign(F) (14)
the square of a single summation which is much more economic than the double summation (12).
Considering the fact that
F
0,1
(, ) =
_
F
0,1
(
i
,
i
) +F
0,1
(
j
,
j
)
/2 + O
_
(
i
j
)
2
with = (
i
+
j
)/2 (15)
the approximation (3) can be rewritten as
F
ij
= (F
0
ii
+F
0
jj
)/2 + i(
i
j
)(F
1
ii
+F
1
jj
)/2 (16)
with F
0
jj
= F
0
(
j
,
j
) and F
1
jj
= i F
1
(
j
,
j
) for j = 1, 2, , N so that both F
0
jj
and F
1
jj
are real
functions.
Introducing above expression (16) into (12), the time-series reconstruction of low-frequency wave loading
can be obtained by :
F(t) =
_
_
_
_
N
j=1
F
0
jj
a
j
exp(i
j
t)
_
E(t)
_
_
_
d
dt
_
_
_
_
N
j=1
F
1
jj
a
j
exp(i
j
t)
_
E(t)
_
_
_
(17)
involving only single summations. The derivative d()/dt in the compact form (17) is understood to apply
only to the factor exp(i
j
t). The rst term in (17) can be considered as the variant of O(1) approximation
of QTF, which is, unlike (14), not restricted by the assumption of a unique sign for QTF.
The new formulation (3) of QTF by the O() approximation provides a novel method to evaluate the
low-frequency second-order wave loads in a more accurate than O(1) approximation and more ecient way
comparing to the computation of complete QTF. All the more interesting is that the reconstruction of time
series of wave loads is shown to be single summations (17) by using (3) instead of a double summation (12), if
the complete QTF (1) is used, to account all pairs of wave interactions which is much more time-consuming.
3. Numerical results and discussions
Among components of F
1
in (3), the component F
1
q
dened by (6) can be evaluated directly when the
terms as the derivative of rst-order potential with respect to wave frequency are obtained. An indirect
way consisting to evaluate the nite dierence after having obtained F
q
for bichromatic waves and drift
component F
0
q
by (4) can be implemented. The term F
1
p1
dened by (7) depending on the second-order
potential of incoming waves and hull geometry can be a dominant one for a body of large volume () and
in water of small depth since C (3/4)ka
2
/(kh)
3
for kh 0 as shown in Chen (2006b). F
1
p2
given by (8)
depending on rst-order motions is simple and easy to evaluate, negligible for large wavenumber. Finally,
F
1
p3
expressed by (9) is represented by an integral over the free surface which can be performed in a limited
area around the body since the integrand decreases rapidly for the radial distance R , as conrmed by
the numerical computations here.
E
T
0
2
4
6
8
10
0 50 100 150 200 250
0
45
90
90
45
Figure 1: Mesh on LNG hull & the free surface (left) and the integrand of F
1
p3
(9) in function of radial
distances and polar angles (right)
Numerical computations are performed for a standard 138 Km
3
LNG vessel with the main dimensions
(length, width and draft) =(274m, 44.2m and 11m), respectively. The half hull is represented by a mesh
composed of 2204 planar panels and the area of free surface around the body is meshed in an elliptic form
with a ratio of the major axis (along the axis ox) over the minor axis (along the axis oy) equal to 2. About
4000 to 8000 panels are used for a major axis equal to 200m to 500m. A zoom of the hull mesh and the area
on the free surface is shown on the left part of Figure 1. Along three radial lines corresponding the polar
angles (0
, 45
and 90
) as indicated on the gure, the integrand of F

1
p3
(9) is computed for a regular wave
of = 0.3 rad/s in water of nite depth (15m), and depicted on the right part of Figure 1. The values of
integrand (9) indeed decrease rapidly and F
1
p3
can be obtained in a relatively easy way. Since the double
derivative
Pzz
cannot be evaluated with a good accuracy at a point in the vicinity of the waterline, the
expression (9) can be transformed into :
F
1
p3
=i(/g)
___
F
ds
_
(
x
Px
+
y
Py
)+(
x
Px
+
y
Py
)k
2
_
+
_
d (
Px
n
x
+
Py
n
y
)
_
(18)
by applying Stokes theorem. In (9), the line includes the waterline and the exterior border of the area F.
The component F
1
p3
is evaluated in this way and compared with other components.
-80000
-60000
-40000
-20000
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16
-2.5e+006
-2e+006
-1.5e+006
-1e+006
-500000
0
500000
1e+006
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16
F
0
q
iF
1
q
iF
1
p1
{Fp1 +Fp2}
iF
1
p3
{Fq}
{Fq}
Figure 2: Dierent components of low-frequency wave loading
The components in (4) and (5) of low-frequency wave load (3) on the LNG vessel are evaluated for
a series of wave frequencies associated with = 0.3 rad/s and varying from 0 to 0.16 rad/s in water
of 15m in depth. They are depicted on Figure 2. The rst part dependent on the quadratic products of
rst-order wave elds is shown on the left while the second part contributed by the second-order incoming
and diraction waves on the right. The real part of QTF includes only F
0
q
(solid line) which remains constant
for all and is a very good approximation to the exact values - the real part of F
q
represented by the
cross-dashed line. The imaginary part of QTF contains 4 components. The component F
1
q
(dashed line)
is shown on the left together with the exact values - the imaginary part of F
q
(square-dashed line). The
component F
1
p1
(dashed line) are depicted on the right with the exact values F
p1
+F
p2
(cross-dashed line).
This indicates that F
1
p2
is negligible. Finally, the component F
1
p3
is shown on the right by the square-dashed
line.
The quadratic contribution F
1
q
is positive while the contribution of second-order potentials F
1
p1
is
negative. The component associated with the forcing eect on the free surface F
1
p3
is small comparing to
others. Furthermore, the component F
1
p1
given by the analytical expression (7) is largely dominant for
> 0.01 rad/s. Globally, the O() approximation of QTF is excellent up to = 0.05 rad/s and still
very good for 0.10 rad/s. The O() approximation of QTF is so believed to give much better values
of second-order low-frequency wave loading in an ecient way as described by (17) involving only single
summations.
References
[1] Chen X.B. & Duan W.Y. (2007) Formulation of low-frequency QTF by O() approximation, Proc
22nd IWWWFB, Plitvice (Croatia).
[2] Chen X.B. (2006a) Middle-eld formulation for the computation of wave-drift loads, J. Engineering
Math. DOI 10.1007/s10665-006-9074-x. 82, 59:61-82. Published online: Sep 2006.
[3] Molin B. (1979) Second-order diraction loads upon three-dimensional bodies, Appl. Ocean Res., 1,
197-202.
[4] Chen X.B. (2006b) Set-down in the second-order Stokes waves, Proc. 6th Intl Conf. on HydroDynam-
ics, Ischia (Italy), 179-85.
[5] Newman J.N. (1974) Second-order, slowly-varying forces on vessels in irregular waves, Proc. Intl Symp.
Dyn. Marine Vehicle & Struc. in Waves, Mech. Engng. Pub., London (UK), 193-97.
[6] Molin B. (2002) Hydrodynamique des structures oshore Editions Technip.
SIMULATION OF SECOND-ORDER ROLL MOTIONS OF A FPSO
Fl avia Rezende
Research Department
Bureau Veritas (France)
Xiao-Bo Chen
Research Department
Professorship, HEU (China)
Marcos D. Ferreira
CENPES
PETROBRAS
(Brazil)
ABSTRACT
The roll motions are a key parameter on the design of FPSOs
that operate in moderate and severe environmental conditions.
To reduce the magnitude of roll motions, some techniques based
on changing the vertical position of gravity center are used to
put the roll natural period outside of the frequency range of the
linear waves. However, recent model tests and also numerical
calculations have shown that the vessel may still experience large
roll motions which are considered to be induced by second-order
wave loads.
Further to the work in Rezende et al. (2007) to compute
the roll response in frequency domain, new developments to per-
form simulations in time domain are presented here. In this new
method, variations of second-order roll moments dependent on
the roll and heave motions are taken into account consistently. It
is shown that, unlike the horizontal loads, the quadratic transfer
functions of the vertical loads depend on the instantaneous po-
sition of the vessel. The variation of the roll moment with the
heave position of the vessel has been considered more important
than the variation obtained only with the inclination of the vessel.
Furthermore, numerical results of roll simulations are compared
with model tests results and presented in the paper.
NOMENCLATURE
FPSO Floating Production Storage and Ofoading Unit
QTF Quadratic Transfer Function
INTRODUCTION
It is observed that several FPSOs operating in different ar-
eas around the world experience large roll motions, resulting in
delays and production down time. For the new constructions,
the optimization of the hull geometry in order to achieve good
motions characteristics has been an issue of major concern. One
technique used to limit the roll response is to design the unit such
that the roll natural period is outside of the range of linear wave
energy (roughly from3s to 20s). However, recent tests for FPSOs
with roll resonant periods larger than the maximal linear wave
period have demonstrated the presence of roll response at their
natural periods, what is attributed to non-linear mechanisms.
We consider the theory of second-order wave diffraction and
radiation within which the wave loads occurring at the differ-
ence of wave frequencies can be evaluated. These low-frequency
wave loads are considered to be the main source of large pe-
riod roll motion. Much work has been done for the prediction of
the horizontal components of second-order loads and two classes
of theories have been developed: far-eld formulation based on
the momentum principle and the near-eld based on the direct
second-order pressure integration on the hull surface. The fruit-
ful results have been obtained in the application to the design
of mooring system. However, few works as in Pinkster et Dijk
(1985) and in Chen et Molin (1989) have been pursued on the
computation of the vertical components of second-order loads
due to two critical issues associated with their numerical evalua-
tion.
One concerns the accurate prediction of second-order wave
moments and another, the coupling of linear and second-order
motions. Concerning the vertical components (force in the ver-
tical direction and moments around the horizontal axis), the far-
1 Copyright c 2008 by ASME
Proceedings of the ASME 27th International Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering
OMAE2008
June 15-20, 2008, Estoril, Portugal
OMAE2008-57405
eld formulation cannot be applied. Furthermore, since diffrac-
tion and radiation velocities are singular in the zone of hull close
to sharp corners, the near-eld formulation, in most cases, cannot
give convergent results. Recently, a new formulation to evaluate
the second order loads was proposed by Chen (2004), which is
obtained by applying the variants of Stokes theorem and Green
theorem to a domain limited by a control surface. As this formu-
lation is written on a control surface at a certain distance of the
body it is so called middle-eld formulation and applicable to the
evaluation of both horizontal and vertical low frequency loads.
Further to the work by Rezende et al. (2007) to compute
the roll response in frequency domain, new developments to per-
form simulations in time domain are presented here. In this new
method, variations of second-order roll moments dependent on
the roll motion are taken into account consistently. It is shown
that, unlike the horizontal loads, the quadratic transfer functions
of the vertical loads depend on the instantaneous position of the
vessel. The variation of the roll moment with the heave posi-
tion of the vessel has been considered more important than the
variation obtained only with the inclination of the vessel.
FORMULATION OF LOW-FREQUENCY LOADS
The low-frequency quadratic transfer function (QTF) is de-
ned as the second-order wave loads occurring at the frequency
equal to the difference (
1

2
) of two wave frequencies
(
1
,
2
) of bichromatic waves. QTF is composed of two distinct
parts : one dependent only on the quadratic products of rst-
order wave elds and another contributed by the second-order
potentials of the incoming and diffracted waves. The formula-
tion for the second-order forces is presented below. Its extension
to second-order moments is easy and omitted here for the sake of
space.
F(
1
,
2
) = F
q
(
1
,
2
) +F
p
(
1
,
2
) (1)
The rst part F
q
can be written in the way presented in [11] :
F
q
=

2
ZZ
H
ds
_
(
1

2
)n
n2
n1
2
_
2
2g
I
d(
1
2
)n/| cos| +F
S
q
(2)
as integration over the hull H and along the waterline in their
mean position. In (2), stands for the rst-order velocity poten-
tial and
n
= n the normal derivative of on H. The angle
is dened as that between the normal vector n = (n
x
, n
y
, n
z
) and
the horizontal plane. The subscripts (
1
,
2
) represent the quanti-
ties associated with the wave frequencies (
1
,
2
), respectively,
while the superscript

indicates the complex conjugate. In (2),
the term F
S
q
is a special component for vertical forces and mo-
ments around the horizontal axes which is written as :
F
S
q
=
g
2
I
d
_
(
1
1
Z
2
Z
1
)tan
[
1
(X
2
n
x
+Y
2
n
y
) +
2
(X
1
n
x
+Y
1
n
y
)]/cos
_
k
K
33
(
1
2
+
1
2
)Z
g
/2
K
34
(
1
2
+
1
)/4 +K
35
(
1
2
+
1
)/4 (3)
in which is the wave elevation and (X,Y, Z) are displacements
along the waterline. (, , ) are the rotations and (K
33
, K
34
, K
35
)
the components of hydrostatic stiffness matrix. Finally, Z
g
is the
vertical coordinate of the gravity center.
The formulation (2) derived from Eq.27 in [11] obtained by
applying the two variants of Stokes theorem given in [8] to the
classical near-eld (pressure-integration) formulation as in [9],
is compact and used here. It is directly applicable to force com-
ponents in horizontal directions. The extension to other compo-
nents is direct and omitted here. In (2), we involve the gradient of
velocity potentials which is sensitive to the singularities present
in the velocity eld at sharp corners. In particular, the integration
of terms (
1

2
) converges slowly or in the worst cases, may
be non-convergent.
In [11], after having the new near-eld formulation by ap-
plying the variants of Stokess theorem, we considered a uid
volume enclosed by the hull, a control surface at a distance from
the body and the mean free surface limited by the waterline and
the intersection of the control surface with free surface, and have
obtained the general formulation (Eq.8a & 8b in [11]) of second-
order loads by using Gausss theorem. This formulation can be
simplied if we construct a control surface surrounding the hull
touching the free surface only along the waterline :
F
q
= (
1
2
)
2
ZZ
H
ds
_
n1
2
/
1
n2
1
/
2
_
2
2g
I
d(
1
2
)n
2
ZZ
C
ds
_
(
1

2
)n
n2
n1
2
_
+F
S
q
(4)
in which C stands for the control surface dened as an arbitrary
one surround the body.
The integration of terms (
1

2
) in (4) now performed
on the control surface C converges rapidly since C is at some dis-
tance from the hull where the velocity eld does not present any
singularity. The integration on the hull H is of order O(
1
2
)
and as small as
n
which tends to zero for large wave frequencies.
The middle-eld formulation (4) is used for the computation of
the rst-part of second-order loads F
q
in the following.
The second part F
p
is expressed in the way [7] :
F
p
=i(
1
2
)
ZZ
H
ds
_
(2)
I
n(
(2)
In
N
H
)[]
_
+i(
1
2
)
g
ZZ
F
dsN
F
[] (5)
in which the rst term in the hull integral corresponds to the
second-order Froude-Krylov component contributed by the in-
coming wave potential
(2)
I
dened by :
(2)
I
=ia
1
a
2
Ag
2
coshk
m
(z+h)
coshk
m
h
e
ik
m
(xcos+ysin)+i(
1
2
)
gk
m
tanhk
m
h (
1
2
)
2
(6)
with k
m
= k
1
k
2
and (
1
,
2
) being the phases of rst-order in-
coming waves associated with (
1
,
2
), respectively. In (6), A is
written :
A =

1
2
k
1
k
2
[1 +tanhk
1
htanhk
2
h]
+
1
2
_
k
2
1
/
1
cosh
2
k
1
h
k
2
2
/
2
cosh
2
k
2
h
_
(7)
where we have used the notations (a
1
, a
2
) and (k
1
, k
2
) stand-
ing for the wave amplitudes and wavenumbers associated with
(
1
,
2
) via the dispersion equation k
1,2
tanhk
1,2
h =
2
1,2
/g with
the waterdepth h, respectively, while the wave heading with re-
spect to the positive x-axis is denoted by .
The second term in the hull integral of (5) and the term de-
ned by the integral over mean free surface F come from the
application of Haskind relation and represent the contribution of
the second-order diffraction potential, as shown in [7]. The terms
(N
H
, N
F
) are the second members of the boundary conditions
satised by the second-order diffraction potential on the hull H
and the mean free surface F, respectively. They are written as :
2N
H
=(x
1
)
2
n(x
2
)
1
n
(i
2
x
2
) (R
1
n) (i
1
x
1
+
1
) (R
2
n) (8)
and
N
F
= i(
1
2
)(
1

P2
+
P

I2
)
i
1
2g
_
1
(
2
2
z
+g
2
zz
)
P2
+gk
2
2
(1tanh
2
k
2
h)
P1
I2
)
+
i
2
2g
_
2
(
2
1
z
+g
2
zz
)
P1
+gk
2
1
(1tanh
2
k
1
h)
P2
I1
)
(9)
in which x is the displacement vector at a point on H and R the
vector of rotations. In (9),
I
represents the rst-order potential
of incoming waves while
P
=
I
stands for that of perturba-
tion including the diffraction and radiation components. Finally,
[] in (5) represents a vector of rst-order radiation potentials os-
cillating at the difference frequency (
1
2
). They satisfy the
homogeneous condition :
_
(
1
2
)
2
+g
z
[] = 0 (10)
on the mean free surface F and
n
[] = n (11)
on the hull H.
The full QTF (1) is composed of two parts (F
q
, F
p
) given
by the formulations (2) and (5), respectively. The formulation
(2) for F
q
derived in [11] is simpler than that in [9]. The for-
mulation (5) for F
p
by [7] is often called indirect method since
it provides a way to evaluate the contribution from the second-
order diffraction potential through the Haskind relation such that
the second-order diffraction potential is not explicitly computed.
SECOND-ORDER ROLL MOTIONS
We are limited to study the roll motion of FPSO in beam
sea and assume that the coupling with other motions affects only
the excitation moments. The equation of roll motions under an
arbitrary excitation containing a convolution of its impulsive re-
sponse for taking account of memory effect is written as :
[I +I
a
()]
+
Z
t
0
(t )
d +B
v
+K = M(t) (12)
with the memory function (t) dened by :
(t) =
2
Z

0
[I
a
() I
a
()] sin(t)d (13)
involving the added inertial coefcient I
a
() due to radiation
wave elds. The terms (I, B
v
, K) are roll inertia in air, viscous
damping and hydrostatic stiffness, respectively.
In (12), the excitation roll moment M(t) is composed
of the rst-order moment M
(1)
(t) and second-order moment
M
(2)
(t, , Z
0
+) which is sensible to the mean position of FPSO,
i.e. the roll angle and the vertical position including the heave
motion :
M(t) = M
(1)
(t) +M
(2)
(t, , Z
0
+) (14)
with Z
0
the mean vertical position. Since the wave frequencies
are much higher than the roll resonant frequency, the roll motion
is not sensible to the rst-order excitation moment. We may take
only the second-order moment in (14) and the motion equation
can be approximated by :
[I +I
a
()]
+ [B
r
()+B
v
]
+K = M
(2)
(t, , Z
0
+) (15)
with equal to the frequency of roll resonance. The term B
r
()
is the radiation damping in roll.
Further to the work in frequency domain by Rezende et al.
(2007), we simulate here the roll motion in time domain. In irreg-
ular waves represented by wave energy spectrum S
() charac-
terized by the parameters like signicant heights, peak periods
and form coefcients, the elevation of free surface is written as a
Fourier series :
(t) =
_ N
j=1
a
j
exp(i
j
t)
_
(16)
and the complex amplitude :
a
j
= exp[ik
j
(xcos+ysin) +i
j
]
_
2S
(
j
)d
j
(17)
associated with (
j
, k
j
, ,
j
) the wave frequency, wave number,
heading and random phase, and dependent on the position (x, y)
with respect to the reference point (0, 0) and the sampling space
d
j
of the spectrum.
The heave motion (t) involving in the vertical mean posi-
tion can be obtained by the Fourier series :
(t) =
_ N
j=1
X
3
(
j
)a
j
exp(i
j
t)
_
(18)
with X
3
() the heave RAOs.
The low-frequency roll moment in temporal domain is de-
ned by a double summation :
M
(2)
(t, ) =
_ N
i=1
N
j=1
F(
i
,
j
, , Z
0
+)a
i
a
j
e
i(
i
j
)t
_
(19)
with a
j
being the complex conjugate of a
j
, and F(
i
,
j
, , Z
0
+
) the QTF of roll moments evaluated by the formulations (4) and
(5). In fact, the QTF is pre-computed at several mean positions
(
k
, Z
m
) with k, m = 1, 2, . in a range of values of
min

k

max
and Z
min
Z
m
Z
max
. At each time step, the low-frequency
QTF depending on (, Z
0
+) is obtained by interpolation from
the table of F(
i
,
j
,
k
, Z
m
).
NUMERICAL RESULTS AND COMPARISONS
In the following a comparison between the numerical com-
putations and the model tests results is presented for one of the
concept designs of FPSOBR from Petrobras. The model tests
were performed at the University of S ao Paulo-Brazil.
The table 1 presents the dimensions and hydrostatic charac-
teristics of the FPSO. The scale of the model was 1:90 and it was
connected to the basin by means of a horizontal mooring system,
designed not to inuence the behavior of the unit. Figure 1 below
represents the positioning of the model and of the sensors in the
basin, where A and B are wave probes located close to the wave
generator and to the model respectively; C are load cells located
at the extremity of the mooring lines and D are the measurer of
the model motions.
For the purpose of numerical solution, a frequency domain
analysis has been performed for different positions of the ves-
sel, in order to obtain the quadratic transfer functions of roll mo-
ment. The low-frequency roll motions of the vessel have been
calculated in time domain by considering the interpolated QTF
at each time step depending on the instantaneous position of the
vessel. First, only the inclinations around the mean heave po-
sition have been taken into account. Then, the inuence of the
heave motion on the second order roll moment has been included
by considering inclinations around different heave positions. In
a total, fteen positions have been considered (ve inclinations
around three drafts).
For the diffraction-radiation calculation, the hull wetted sur-
face has been meshed by quadrilateral panels. The total number
of panels used is 4028. A mesh has been generated for each po-
sition. Three drafts have been used corresponding to three heave
positions (18.94m, 21.94m and 25.94m), and ve inclinations
varying from -8.0deg to 8.0deg with a step of 4deg. The g-
ure 2 represents the mesh for a given position of the vessel. For
the calculation of the second order roll moment, the middle eld
formulation has been applied and a control surface has been gen-
erated, which is illustrated on Figure 3.
Figures 4 and 5 present the comparison between the RAOs
of heave and roll derived from numerical calculations and model
tests.
The gures 6 and 7 present the second order roll moments,
real and imaginary parts, calculated at the upright position of the
FPSO (solid line) and at inclined positions, 4.0deg and 8.0deg
(dashed and dot-dashed lines,respectively), for a draft corre-
sponding to the mean position of heave (-0.4m). The gures
8 and 9 present the second order roll moments calculated at
three different drafts corresponding to different heave positions
(-4.0m, -0.4m and 3.0m), being -0.4m the mean heave position
of the vessel obtained from model tests.
A time domain analysis has been performed in order to cal-
culate the second order roll motions of the FPSO. The time se-
ries of roll motions with and without considering the effects of
the varying position of the FPSO are presented on gure 10
by dashed and solid line, respectively. The sea state used in
the calculations is represented by a JONSWAP spectrum, with
Hs=5.5m, Tp=10.76s and = 1.54.
The statistical parameters in table 2 have been derived from
the computed time series of roll motions and compared to those
obtained from the model tests.
CONCLUSIONS
In this paper the formulations used to compute the quadratic
transfer functions of second order roll moment in frequency do-
main and roll motions in time domain have been presented.
The application to FPSOBR illustrates well the phe-
nomenum of large roll motions ocurring in irregular waves, al-
though the roll resonant period is larger than the maximum pe-
riod of wave energy such that the linear excitation is negligible.
Additionally, it has been shown that, unlike the horizontal loads,
the quadratic transfer functions of the vertical loads depend on
the instantaneous position of the vessel. For the specic case of
FPSOBR, the variation of the roll moment with the heave posi-
tion of the vessel has been considered more important than the
variation obtained only with the inclination of the vessel. The
agreement between the numerical results with the model tests is
generally good. Including the effects of the heave motions on the
roll motions calculations have signicantly improved the results.
REFERENCES
[1] REZENDE F., CHEN X.B. & FERREIRA M.D. Second Or-
der Roll Motions for FPSOs operating in Severe Environ-
mental Conditions. Proc. OTC Conf, Houston, USA, paper
No.18906.
[2] PINKSTER J.A.& VAN DIJK A.W (1985) Wave drift
forces on large semi-submersibles Joint Industry Projects
NSMB,
[3] CHEN X.B. & MOLIN B. (1989) Numerical prediction of
semi-submersible non-linear motions Intl Symp. on Num.
Ship Hydrodynamics, Hiroshima (Japan).
[4] CHEN X.B. (2004) Hydrodynamics in Offshore and Naval
Applications - Part I. Keynote lecture at the 6th Intl Confer-
ence on Hydrodynamics, Perth (Australia).
[5] MOLIN B. (1979a) Computations of wave drift forces.
Proc. OTC Conf., Houston (USA), paper No.3627.
[6] LIU Y.H. (2003) On second-order roll motions of ships.
Proc. OMAE03, Cancun (Mexico).
[7] MOLIN B. (1979b) Second-order drift forces upon large
bodies in regular waves. Proc. BOSS79., London (UK),
363-70.
[8] DAI Y.S. (1998) Potential ow theory of ship motions in
waves in frequency and time domain (in Chinese). Press of
the National Defense Industries, Beijing (China).
[9] PINKSTER J.A. (1980) Low frequency second order wave
exciting forces on oating structures. H. Veenman En Zonen
B.V. - Wageningen (The Netherlands).
[10] FERREIRA M.D. & LEE C.H. (1994) Computation of
second-order mean wave forces and moments in multibody
interaction. Proc. 7th Intl Conf. Behaviour Off. Structures,
BOSS94, Boston (USA) 2, 303-13.
[11] CHEN X.B. (2006) Middle-eld formulation for the com-
putation of wave-drift loads Journal of Engineering Math-
ematics.
Table 1. Main Characteristis of FPSOBR
Description Symbol Unit Magnitude
Length L m 320.00
Breadth B m 51.00
Draft mean T m 21.50
Displacement tf 308000
Metacentric height
including correction FS
GM m 4.50
Radius of Gyration
-transverse Rxx m 19.66
-longitudinal Ryy m 80.38
-vertical Rzz m 82.57
Figure 1. Sketch of the basin
Figure 2. Mesh: Draft 21.94m - Upright
Figure 3. Mesh: Control Surface Mesh for Middle Field Computation
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2
2.2
2.4
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26
R
A
O

o
f

h
e
a
v
e

(
m
/
m
)
Wave Period (s)
Numerical
Model Tests
Figure 4. RAO of heave
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26
R
A
O

o
f

r
o
l
l

(
d
e
g
/
m
)
Wave Period (s)
Numerical
Model Tests
Figure 5. RAO of roll
-30000
-20000
-10000
0
10000
20000
30000
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
R
o
l
l

M
o
m
e
n
t

-

r
e
a
l

p
a
r
t

(
k
N
.
m
/
m
2
)
Wave Frequency (rad/s)
Upright Condition
Inclination=4.0deg
Inclination=8.0deg
Figure 6. Second order roll moment - real part: effect of inclination
-40000
-30000
-20000
-10000
0
10000
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
R
o
l
l

M
o
m
e
n
t

-

i
m
a
g
i
n
a
r
y

p
a
r
t

(
k
N
.
m
/
m
2
)
Upright Condition
Inclination=4.0deg
Inclination=8.0deg
Figure 7. Second order roll moment - imaginary part: effect of inclination
-40000
-30000
-20000
-10000
0
10000
20000
30000
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
R
o
l
l

M
o
m
e
n
t

-

r
e
a
l

p
a
r
t

(
k
N
.
m
/
m
2
)
Upright Condition;Heave=-0.4m
Upright Condition;Heave=3.0m
Figure 8. Second order roll moment - real part: effect of heave
-40000
-30000
-20000
-10000
0
10000
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
R
o
l
l

M
o
m
e
n
t

-

i
m
a
g
i
n
a
r
y

p
a
r
t

(
k
N
.
m
/
m
2
)
Upright Condition;Heave=3.0m
Figure 9. Second order roll moment - imaginary part: effect of heave
-5
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
R
o
l
l

(
d
e
g
)
Time (s)
Without effect of instantaneous position
With effect of instantaneous position (roll and heave)
Figure 10. Time series of roll motions
Table 2. Statistical values of roll motions
Parameter Without
position
effects
With
Effects
of roll
With
Effects
of roll +
Heave
Model
Tests
Mean
(deg)
0.002 0.002 -0.116 -0.39
Stand.
Dev.
(deg)
0.990 0.985 1.146 1.280
Signif.
Value
(deg)
3.944 3.922 4.540 4.690
Tz (s) 21.20 21.52 21.18 21.81
CONSISTENT HYDRO-STRUCTURE INTERFACE FOR EVALUATION OF GLOBAL
STRUCTURAL RESPONSES IN LINEAR SEAKEEPING
Sime Malenica
Research Department
Estelle Stumpf
Research Department
Franc ois-Xavier Sireta
Research Department
Xiao-Bo Chen
Research Department
INTRODUCTION
The difculties related to the equilibration of the 3D FEM
structural model, in the context of hydro-structure interactions in
linear seakeeping are discussed. Different philosophies in mod-
eling the structural and hydrodynamic parts of the problem, usu-
ally lead to very different meshes (hydro and structure) which re-
sults in unbalanced structural model and consequently in doubt-
ful results for structural responses. The procedure usually em-
ployed consists in using different kinds of interpolation schemes
to transfer the total hydrodynamic pressure from hydrodynamic
panels to the centroids of the structural nite elements. This ap-
proach is both, very complex for complicated geometries, but
also rather inaccurate. The method that we propose here is based
on two main ideas:
1. Pressure recalculation instead of interpolation
2. Separate transfer of different pressure components (incident,
diffraction, radiation & hydrostatic variation)
The rst point removes the difculties related to the interpola-
tion techniques, and allows for a very robust method of pressure
transfer. The second point ensures the perfect equilibrium be-
cause the body motions are calculated after integration over the
structural mesh, which means that the equilibrium is implicitly
imposed. It should be noted that this procedure is not completely
straightforward and several numerical tricks need to be intro-
duced. However, once these difculties are solved, the nal nu-
merical code is extremely robust and can be easily coupled with
any of the general 3D FEM packages.
LINEAR SEAKEEPING ANALYSIS
Before considering the hydro-structure interaction problem
in more details, and for the sake of clarity, rst we briey de-
scribe the basics of the seakeeping model which is used in most
of the seakeeping tools based on Boundary Integral Equation
techniques.
The problem is formulated in frequency domain under the poten-
tial ow assumptions. The total velocity potential is decomposed
into the incident, diffracted and 6 radiated components:
=
I
+
D
i
6
j=1
Rj
(1)
where :
OMAE2008
OMAE2008-57077
I
- incident potential
D
- diffraction potential
Rj
- radiation potential
j
- rigid body motions
At the same time, the corresponding dynamic pressure is found
from the linear Bernoulli equation, and the similar decomposi-
tion is adopted:
p = i = p
I
+ p
D
+
6
j=1
j
p
Rj
(2)
In order to obtain the the total hydrodynamic pressure, the dy-
namic variation of the hydrostatic pressure should also be added
to the above expression:
p
hs
=g[
3
+
4
(Y Y
G
)
5
(X X
G
)] (3)
where the subscript
G
denotes the position of the center of
gravity, with respect to which the motion equation is written.
It is important to note that the motion equation is written
in the so called earth xed reference system, or in the system
parallel to it, if the body is animated with forward speed. For that
reason the restoring matrix is not obtained directly by integration
of the hydrostatic pressure (3), but also the change of the normal
vector should be taken into account.
F
hs
= [ C ]{} =

S
H
B
[p
hs
ngZndS] (4)
where denotes the rotational component of the motion vec-
tor = (
4
,
5
,
6
), and S
H
B
denotes the hydrodynamic mesh of
the wetted body surface. Note that the compact notation is used
throughout whole the paper, so that the normal vector n denotes
(n
x
, n
y
, n
z
) for i = 1, 3 , and (RR
G
) n for i = 4, 6.
After integrating the pressure over the wetted body surface, the
corresponding forces are obtained and the rigid body motion
equation, in frequency domain, is usually written in the following
form:
2
([ M] +[ A ]) i[ B ] +[ C ]
{} ={F
DI
} (5)
where:
[ M] - genuine mass matrix
[ A ] - added mass matrix
[ B ] - damping matrix
[ C ] - hydrostatic restoring matrix
{F
DI
} - excitation force vector
The nal expressions for the excitation, added mass and damping
coefcients are:
F
DI
i
= i

S
H
B
(
I
+
D
)n
i
dS (6)
2
A
i j
+iB
i j
=
2

S
H
B
Rj
n
i
dS (7)
Note also that, in the general case, the total restoring matrix is
a sum of the pressure part (4) and the gravity part which is zero
in the present case because the motion equation is written with
respect to the center of gravity.
Solution of the boundary value problems
Within the Bureau Veritass numerical code HYDROSTAR,
the Boundary Integral Equation (BIE) method based on source
formulation, is used to solve the Boundary Value Problems
(BVP) for different potentials (see Chen(2004)).
In the case of zero forward speed, the general form of the BVP
is:
= 0 in the uid
+

z
= 0 z = 0
n
=V
n
on S
b
lim
R(
R
i)
= 0 R
(8)
where V
n
denotes the body boundary condition which depends
on the considered potential:
D
n
=
I
n
,
Rj
n
= n
j
(9)
Within the source formulation, the potential at any point in
the uid is expressed in the following form:
=

S
H
B
GdS (10)
where G stands for the Green function, and is the unknown
source strength which is found after solving the following inte-
gral equation:
1
2
+

S
H
B
G
n
dS =V
n
, on S
H
B
(11)
This equation is solved numerically, after discretizing the wet-
ted part of the body into a number of at panels over which the
constant source distribution is assumed.
LOADING OF THE STRUCTURAL MODEL
The loading of the structural model is composed of two
parts:
1. Inertia loads
2. External pressure loads
Inertia loads can be included straightforwardly by associating the
acceleration vector to each nite element. Concerning the pres-
sure loading, most of the methods nowadays use the different in-
terpolation schemes in order to transfer the total hydrodynamic
pressure (2,3) from hydro model (centroids of the hydro panels)
to the structural model (centroids or nodes of nite elements).
Besides the problems of interpolation, it is important to note that
the motion amplitudes, which are present in the denition of the
total pressure, were calculated after integration over the hydrody-
namic mesh. For that reason it is impossible to obtain the com-
pletely equilibrated structural model. Indeed, the FEM model
has its own integration procedure which is usually different.
As briey stated in the introduction, in order to obtain the perfect
equilibrium of the structural model we introduce two main ideas:
1. Recalculation of pressure in structural points, instead of in-
terpolation
2. Separate transfer of pressure components, and calculation
of hydrodynamic coefcients (added mass, damping, hydro-
statics & excitation) by integration over the structural mesh
Here below we discuss these two points in more details.
Hydrodynamic pressure
What we propose here for transfer of the pressure from hy-
drodynamic model to the structural model, is to recalculate the
pressure at the required locations instead of interpolating it from
hydrodynamic model (see Blandeau et al.(1999)). This becomes
possible thanks to the particularities of the BIE method which
gives the continuous representation of the potential through the
whole uid domain Z < 0. In this way the communication be-
tween the hydrodynamic and structural codes is extremely sim-
plied. Indeed, it is enough for the structural code to give the co-
ordinates of the points where the potential is required and the hy-
drodynamic code just evaluates the corresponding potential by:
(x
s
) =

S
H
B
(x
h
)G(x
h
; x
s
)dS (12)
where x
s
= (x
s
, y
s
, z
s
) denotes the structural point and x
h
=
(x
h
, y
h
, z
h
) the hydrodynamic point.
In the case of linear seakeeping without forward speed, this
operation is sufcient because the pressure is directly propor-
tional to the velocity potential and, within the source formula-
tion, the potential is continuous across the body wetted surface.
This is very important point because, due to the differences in the
hydrodynamic and structural mesh, the structural points might
fall inside the hydrodynamic meshes.
Once each pressure component has been transfered onto the
structural mesh, the new hydrodynamic coefcients are cal-
culated by integration over the structural mesh:
F
DI
S
i
= i

S
S
B
(
S
I
+
S
D
)n
i
dS (13)
2
A
S
i j
+iB
S
i j
=
2

S
S
B
S
Rj
n
i
dS (14)
where the superscript
S
indicates that the quantities are taken
on the structural mesh.
Hydrostatic pressure variations
Here we concentrate on the calculation of the hydrostatic
restoring matrix which is obtained after the integration of the
hydrostatic pressure variations due to the body motions (3). The
procedure is rather similar to the hydrodynamic pressure, and we
just need to integrate the expression (3) over the structural mesh.
For the sake of clarity, let us rst rewrite the hydrostatic pressure
variations in the following compact form:
p
hs
=
6
j=1
j
p
hs
j
(15)
where:
p
hs
1
= 0 , p
hs
2
= 0 , p
hs
3
=g (16)
p
hs
4
=g(Y Y
G
) , p
hs
5
=g(X X
G
) , p
hs
6
= 0 (17)
With these notations, the rst part of the hydrostatic restor-
ing matrix becomes:
C
p
i j
=

S
S
B
p
hs
j
n
i
dS (18)
In order to obtain the complete hydrostatic restoring matrix, one
additional term accounting for the change of coordinate system
should be added to the above expression as shown in equation
(4). In the earth xed coordinate system, this additional term
is accounted for by the change of the normal vector (4). How-
ever, the structural response is calculated in the body xed coor-
dinate system in which the normal vector do not change. It can
be shown (e.g. see Malenica(2003)) that, in the body xed co-
ordinate system, the change of normal vector is equivalent to the
change of the gravity action, so that we can write:
F
g
=mgk = [ C ]
g
{} (19)
where the only non zero elements of the matrix [ C ]
g
are C
g
24
and C
g
15
which will be canceled by the contributions implicitly
present in [ C ]
p
.
The total restoring matrix becomes:
[ C ]
S
= [ C ]
p
+[ C ]
g
(20)
S
indicates that the pressure related part
was calculated by integration over the structural mesh.
Motion equation and nal loading of the structural
model
The nal motion equation can now be rewritten in the form:
2
([ M] +[ A ]
S
) i[ B ]
S
+[ C ]
S
{}
S
={F
DI
}
S
(21)
Solution of this equation gives the body motions {}
S
so that the
total linear pressure can be written in the form
p
S
= p
S
I
+ p
S
D
+
6
j=1
S
j
(p
S
Rj
+ p
hs
j
) (22)
In summary the nal loading of the structural model will be com-
posed of the following 3 parts:
2
m
i
S
i
- Inertial loading
p
S
i
- Pressure loading
m
i
g
S
k - Gravity term
The inertial loading and the gravity term are to be applied on
each nite element. The pressure loading is to be applied only
on wetted nite elements. It is clear that the above structural
loading will be in perfect equilibrium because this equilibrium is
implicitly imposed by the solution of the motion equation (21) in
which all different coefcients were calculated by using directly
the information from the structural FEM model.
Seakeeping problem with forward speed
In the case of the body advancing with forward speed in
waves, the situation is slightly more complicated because the hy-
drodynamic pressure is no more directly proportional to the po-
tential but also to its gradient. There are several methods in use
to solve the linear seakeeping problem with forward speed, but
it seems that, up to now, none of them is fully consistent. Any-
way, regardless of the approximations and the method which is
used to solve the BVP with forward speed, the main difculties
related to pressure transfer are the same. In order to illustrate
them, we choose the simplest case of the so called encounter fre-
quency approximation. According to this method the effects of
forward speed are mainly taken into account through the change
of excitation frequency. The body moving with constant speed U
in waves with frequency coming with incidence , will expe-
rience the excitation at the encounter frequency
e
:
e
= U cos (23)
where represents the wave number =
2
/g.
At the same time, since the problem is described in the coor-
dinate system steadily moving with the body speed U, the time
derivative in the Bernoulli equation, changes to:
t

D
Dt
=

t
U

x
(24)
so that the expression for linear hydrodynamic pressure be-
comes:
p = i
e
+U
x
(25)
The problem with the gradient of the potential, in the context
of source formulation of BIE, is that the gradient is discontinu-
ous across the hydrodynamic mesh, so that the recalculation of
the pressure on structural points will likely lead to discontinu-
ities in the pressure distribution. This means that a preprocessing
of the structural points is necessary i.e. these points needs to
be articially moved to the exterior of the hydrodynamic model.
Strictly speaking, structural points do not change their position
but the pressure associated to them is calculated in the points
which are slightly moved off their original position. The error
introduced by these manipulations remains negligible within the
limits of the linear theory considered here.
NUMERICAL IMPLEMENTATION
The calculation of the hydrodynamic coefcients (added
mass, damping, excitation & restoring) by integration over the
structural mesh (13,14,18) can be done in different ways and
usually depends on the type of nite elements that are used by
FEM solver. Here below we propose two methods of integra-
tion, the rst one which is completely independent of the type of
the FEM package and the second one which apply for the most
typical shell elements.
Fully independent numerical integration over struc-
tural mesh
In this method, the hydrodynamic coefcients are obtained
after solving the additional structural problems for different
pressure loadings. The general scheme is shown in Figure 1.
Different modules and associated interface les are enumerated
below:
AMG
Hydrodynamic mesh generator.
HYDROSTAR
Hydrodynamic seakeeping code.
NASTRAN
Structural 3D FEM code.
LISA
Code for preprocessing of the structural points.
MARGE
Code for solving the motion equation and for denition of
the nal loading.
<>-H.MSH
File containing the hydrodynamic mesh data.
<>-S.MSH
File containing the structural mesh data.
<>.PPI
File containing the preprocessed structural points.
<>.PRS
File containing the different pressure components for each
structural point.
<>.LOA
File containing the nal structural loading.
<>.HSI
General input le for HYDROSTAR (frequencies, inci-
dences, speed ...).
<>.RFO
File containing the reaction forces.
<>.OUT
NASTRAN output les.
Figure 1. General coupling scheme for fully independent solution.
Within this method, the structural model is put onto articial sup-
ports and loaded by the external loads corresponding to the dif-
ferent pressure parts (diffraction, radiation, hydrostatics). The
hydrodynamic coefcients are deduced from the reaction forces
after solving corresponding structural response. In total 17 load-
ing cases need to be considered: 2 for diffraction and incident
pressure, 12 for radiation pressures and 3 for hydrostatic pres-
sure variations. The boundary conditions at the supports can be
chosen rather arbitrarily, as far as they dene an isostatic system
i.e. only 6 additional unknowns are introduced. For example,
referring to the Figure 2 and assuming that the structural model
was loaded by the real part of the pitch pressure {p
R5
}, the
added mass coefcient A
35
will be A
35
= R1Z +R2Z +R3Z.
Z
Y
X
R1Z
R3Y
R2X
R3Z
R1Y
R2Z
Figure 2. Possible supports denition.
The obvious disadvantage of this approach is the necessity to
solve for additional 17 loading cases by FEM solver. The main
advantage is the perfect equilibrium of the model regardless of
the FEM package which is used.
Typical numerical integration over the structural mesh.
Within this method, the pressure integration is still per-
formed over the structural mesh, but only the most typical -
nite elements are considered. The advantage of the method is
that there is no necessity to solve for additional structural load-
ing cases and hydrodynamic coefcients are calculated outside
the FEM package (MARGE module in this case). The disadvan-
tage is that the small disequilibrium might persist for the FEM
codes which use a different integration scheme. However, this
disequilibrium is likely to be very minor so that probably this
method will remain as the most efcient one. The general cou-
pling scheme is shown in Figure 3. As we can see the procedure
is signicantly simplied and can easily be adapted to any par-
ticular FEM package.
NUMERICAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Here below, we present few numerical results showing the
efciency of two proposed approaches. The example which was
chosen is the 7800 TEU Container ship. The corresponding
structural and hydrodynamic meshes are shown in Figure 4. In
Figures 5 and 6, the added mass coefcients, damping coef-
cients, excitations and motion RAOs are presented. FEM-M1
denotes the results obtained after integration over the structural
Figure 3. General coupling scheme for typical FEM package.
mesh using the fully independent method, and FEM-M2 those
obtained using the typical integration method, as explained in
the previous sections.
Figure 4. Hydrodynamic and structural mesh of container ship.
0
1e+008
2e+008
3e+008
4e+008
5e+008
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
A
_
3
3

[
k
g
]
omega [rad/s]
Hydrostar
FEM_M1
FEM_M2
0
1e+009
2e+009
3e+009
4e+009
5e+009
6e+009
7e+009
8e+009
9e+009
1e+010
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
A
_
4
4

[
k
g
m
^
2
]
omega [rad/s]
Hydrostar
FEM_M1
FEM_M2
0
1e+007
2e+007
3e+007
4e+007
5e+007
6e+007
7e+007
8e+007
9e+007
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
B
_
3
3

[
k
g
/
s
]
omega [rad/s]
Hydrostar
FEM_M1
FEM_M2
0
5e+008
1e+009
1.5e+009
2e+009
2.5e+009
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
B
_
4
4

[
k
g
m
^
2
/
s
]
omega [rad/s]
Hydrostar
FEM_M1
FEM_M2
Figure 5. Added mass and damping coefcients.
0
2e+007
4e+007
6e+007
8e+007
1e+008
1.2e+008
1.4e+008
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
F
_
3

[
N
]
omega [rad/s]
Hydrostar
FEM_M1
FEM_M2
0
5e+007
1e+008
1.5e+008
2e+008
2.5e+008
3e+008
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
F
_
4

[
N
m
]
omega [rad/s]
Hydrostar
FEM_M1
FEM_M2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
x
i_
3

[
m
/
m
]
omega [rad/s]
Hydrostar
FEM_M1
FEM_M2
0
0.005
0.01
0.015
0.02
0.025
0.03
0.035
0.04
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
x
i_
4

[
r
a
d
/
m
]
omega [rad/s]
Hydrostar
FEM_M1
FEM_M2
Figure 6. Excitation forces and RAOs for = 45
o
.
As we can see the agreement between two method of pres-
sure transfer is excellent and the data are on top of each other.
This is due to the fact that, in the case of NASTRAN FEM solver,
the integration over the structural mesh is performed exactly in
the same way by MARGE and by NASTRAN itself. The dif-
ferences which exist between FEM and Hydrostar results are ex-
pected and are due to the differences in two meshes (hydro and
structure). These differences are exactly the ones which ensure
the equilibrium of the structural model! The fact that these dif-
ferences are not very important shows that the overall coupling
procedure is very efcient.
CONCLUSIONS
As far as the linear seakeeping analysis is concerned, the
fully consistent transfer of hydrodynamic loading from hydrody-
namic model to the 3D FEM structural model is never perfect,
even if the two meshes coincide. However, depending on the
method of pressure transfer, the coupling can be more or less ef-
cient/consistent. The main difculty lies in the fact that two
meshes (hydro and structural) are usually very different, which
ends up with the unbalanced structural model if the coupling pro-
cedure is not correctly performed. In this paper we presented
two methods which both lead to completely equilibrated struc-
tural model. They can easily be adapted to any of the structural
FEM packages.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Important part of this work was done under the
MARSTRUCT European project.
REFERENCES
[1] BLANDEAU F., FRANCOIS M., MALENICA

S. & CHEN
X.B. 1999. : Linear and non-linear wave loads on FPSO-
s., In Proc. of ISOPE99, Brest, France.
[2] CHEN X.B. 2004. : Hydrodynamics in Offshore and
Naval applications, Proc. Int. Conf. on Hydrodynamics,
Perth, Australia.
[3] MALENICA

S. 2003. : Some aspects of hydrostatic cal-
culations in linear seakeeping, In Proc. of NAV Conf.,
Palermo, Italy.
[4] MALENICA

S., STUMPF E., DELAFOSSE V., CHEN X.B.
& SENJANOVI C I. 2006. : Some aspects of hydro-
structure interfacing in seakeeping., In Proc. of ISOPE06,
San Francisco, US.
23
rd
IWWWFB, Jeju, Korea 2008

EFFECTS ON SLOSHING PRESSURE
DUE TO THE COUPLING BETWEEN
SEAKEEPING AND TANK LIQUID MOTION

Louis Diebold, Eric Baudin, Jacqueline Henry, Mirela Zalar
Bureau Veritas - Marine Division, France

INTRODUCTION

The influence of dynamic coupling due to the interactions
between ship motions and tank liquid motion on the pressure
levels on tank boundaries is here investigated by experimental
means, using 6 d.o.f. test rig and 1/70 scaled tank model of
standard LNG Carrier.

Vessel response, given as traditional non-coupled and
realistic coupled motions are obtained by numerical
calculations performed with Bureau Veritas hydrodynamic
software HydroStar
in frequency domain, as shown in [1].

First the theoretical background of linear coupling in
frequency domain is briefly summarized in the first part of this
abstract. Then, the numerical results of coupled vessel
response are validated trough the comparisons with basin
model-test results using the vessels model with incorporated
tanks filled with water [4].

Confidence in our validated model for numerical coupling
permits further investigation of more realistic case
corresponding to the expected partial filling operation of LNG
Carrier in a site specific environmental conditions. For this
configuration, sloshing effects induced by coupled and non-
coupled vessel motion, introduced as the excitation to 6 d.o.f.
small-scale model test rig, are presented in a comparative
manner. Statistics of sloshing events recorded for
coupled/non-coupled motions and for harmonic/random
excitations are presented in this abstract and compared. For a
lack of space, the figures of the random excitations results will
be presented during the workshop. This work presents the
initial stage in investigation of the consequence induced by
coupled motion.

MOTION CALCULATIONS

Recent analyses on the dynamic coupling between liquid
motions in ships tanks (sloshing) and rigid body motions of
the ship (seakeeping) can be categorized in two groups:
frequency domain ([1], [6]) and time domain approaches
([7][8]). The frequency domain approach is here considered.
The problem is formulated under the classical assumptions of
linear potential theory and Boundary Integral Equations
method is used to solve both sloshing and seakeeping
hydrodynamic part.

We consider the sloshing and seakeeping parts separately and
after coordinates transformation for the sloshing problem, the
motion equation of the coupled system is written.

Seakeeping
In the classical linear rigid body seakeeping analysis we end
up with the motion equation in the form:
[ ] [ ] ( ) [ ] [ ] ( ){ } { }
DI
Q Q Q Q Q Q
i F C B A M = + +
2

(1)
{
Q
} - rigid body ship motions
[M
Q
] - genuine mass matrix of the ship
[A
Q
] - hydrodynamic added mass matrix
[B
Q
] - hydrostatic damping matrix
[C
Q
] - hydrostatic restoring matrix
{
DI
Q
F } - hydrodynamic excitation force
where subscript
Q
indicates that quantity is written with
respect to the global reference point Q.

Sloshing
The linear case is considered here. Similar to the seakeeping
part, an interior boundary value problem is formulated for the
potentials associated with six degrees of freedom of the tank.
The final result gives the added mass matrix associated with
each tank motion (in the local frame of the tank). Note, that
since the linear theory is assumed, no damping can be
generated by the liquid motions in the tank (an artificial
damping will be introduced). Then we transform the action
(forces and moments) of the liquid motions from the local
(tank) coordinate system to the global (ship) coordinate
system. The sloshing has the following motion equation form
in the ships frame:
[ ] [ ] ( ) [ ] [ ] ( ){ } { }
DI
Q Q Q T TQ T
F C C A A = + + +
2

(2)

Coupling
We can now write the motion equation of the coupled system:
[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] ( ) ( [ ]
[ ] [ ] [ ] ( ) ){ } { }
DI
Q Q TQ T Q
Q TQ T Q Q
i
F C C C
B A A A M
= + +
+ + + +
2

(3)

Numerical Results and Calibration of
The calibration of the above described parameter is
performed through comparisons with experimental results [4].
The numerical calculations are performed with HydroStar. In
the selected configuration, two separated prismatic LNG cargo
tanks were modeled, located at the fore and aft parts of the
vessel. Among the different configurations tested, the
following one is of particular interest for our case.
The filling ratio is 30% of the height for the both tanks. The
mesh used for our hydrodynamic computations is shown
below:

Fig. 1: Hydrodynamic mesh with two tanks filled at 30%H

RAOs in roll (=90) is presented for two values of the
parameter (=0.02 and =0.1).

Fig. 2: Roll RAO for =90

For roll motion, we can observe the two characteristic peaks of
a coupled system (ship + tanks). The first peak is associated
with the motions of the ship and the second one with the liquid
motions in the tanks. The value =0.02 gives the best results
and will be considered hereafter.

APPLICATION TO A REALISTIC CASE

Environmental Conditions
Environmental conditions applied in this study corresponds to
realistic site specific all-directions wave scatter diagram, with
5 m of maximum recorded significant wave height. Wave
energy spectrum is generated according to JONSWAP model
(derived for seas with limited fetch), with spectral peak
parameter assumed 3.0.

Hydrodynamic Model
A LNG carrier with four tanks is here considered. The filling
ratios are 90% of the height for the tanks (1) and (3) and 30%
of the height for the tanks (2) and (4). The mesh used for the
hydrodynamic computations is presented below:

Fig. 3: Hydrodynamic mesh of the LNG Carrier filled at 90%H in
tanks (1) & (3) and 30%H in tanks (2) & (4).

Non Coupled Coupled Transfer Function
In this section, results of hydrodynamic computation are
displayed in form of Response Amplitude Operators (RAOs).
Moreover, we present the comparison of sway and roll (the
most affected degree of freedom due to coupling) RAOs
between non coupled and coupled motions. The motions
affected by the coupling are the surge, sway, roll and yaw
motions. Particularly, the roll motion is strongly affected with
the presence of the two peaks described above instead of one
peak in the case of the non coupled motion.

0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0.80
0.90
1.00
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
S
W
A
Y

(
m
/
m
)
Wave frequency(rad/s)
NON-COUPLED - SWAY RAO at COG
180.0
195.0
210.0
225.0
240.0
255.0
270.0
270.0
285.0
300.0
315.0
330.0
345.0
360.0

0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
S
W
A
Y

(
m
/
m
)
COUPLED - SWAY RAO at COG
180
195
210
225
240
255
270
285
300
315
330
345
360
Fig. 4: RAO in Sway for Non Coupled / Coupled Motion

0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
R
O
L
L

(
/
m
)
NON-COUPLED - ROLL RAO at COG
180.0
195.0
210.0
225.0
240.0
255.0
270.0
270.0
285.0
300.0
315.0
330.0
345.0
360.0

0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
R
O
L
L

(
/
m
)
COUPLED - ROLL RAO at COG
180
195
210
225
240
255
270
285
300
315
330
345
360
Fig. 5: RAO in Roll for Non Coupled / Coupled Motion

Then, spectral analysis has been performed for each
combination of associated conditions (Hs, Tp, and heading)
using JONSWAP spectrum for site-specific environmental
conditions. The amplitudes of 1/10
th
significant level and
response zero-crossing periods for non coupled and coupled
motions are detailed. These figures highlight for sway and roll
the operational case (Tp, heading) corresponding to the worst
motions.

WAVE PERIOD Tp (s)
R
E
L
A
T
IV
E
W
A
V
E
H
E
A
D
IN
G
(
)
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
180
195
210
225
240
255
270
285
300
315
330
345
360
1.60
1.44
1.28
1.12
0.96
0.80
0.64
0.48
0.32
0.16
0.00
NON COUPLED - SWAY
AMPLITUDE
(m)
5.8
5
.8
5
. 8
5.8
6.4
6
. 4
6.4
6.4
7.1
7
.1
7
.1
7.1
7.5
7
.5
7
.5
7.5
7.8
7
.8
7
.8
7.8
8
. 3
8
.3
8.3
8.3
8
.3
8.3
1
0
.8
1
0
.8
1
4
. 1
1
4
. 1
9 14.1
8 10.8
7 8.3
6 8.3
5 7.8
4 7.5
3 7.1
2 6.4
1 5.8
TRANSVERSE
RESONANCE
FILLING TR (s)
10%H
20%H
30%H
40%H
50%H
60%H
70%H
80%H
90%H
9.1 30%H
9
. 1
9
.1
9.1

WAVE PERIOD Tp (s)
R
E
L
A
T
IV
E
W
A
V
E
H
E
A
D
IN
G
(
)
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
180
195
210
225
240
255
270
285
300
315
330
345
360
1.60
1.44
1.28
1.12
0.96
0.80
0.64
0.48
0.32
0.16
0.00
COUPLED - SWAY
AMPLITUDE
(m)
5.8
5
.8
5.8
6.4
6
.4
6.4
7.1
7
.1
7
.1
7.1
7.5
7
.5
7
.5
7.5
7.8
7
.8
7
.8
7.8
8.3
8
.3
8.3
8.3
8
.3
8
.3
8.3
10.8
1
0
.8
1
4
.1
9 14.1
8 10.8
7 8.3
6 8.3
5 7.8
4 7.5
3 7.1
2 6.4
1 5.8
TRANSVERSE
RESONANCE
FILLING TR (s)
10%H
20%H
30%H
40%H
50%H
60%H
70%H
80%H
90%H
9.1 30%H
9.1
9
.1
9
.1
Fig. 6: Sway A1/10 & RTZ for Non Coupled / Coupled motion

WAVE PERIOD Tp (s)
R
E
L
A
T
IV
E
W
A
V
E
H
E
A
D
IN
G
(
)
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
180
195
210
225
240
255
270
285
300
315
330
345
360
3.00
2.70
2.40
2.10
1.80
1.51
1.21
0.91
0.61
0.31
0.01
NON COUPLED - ROLL
AMPLITUDE
(dg)
5.8
5.8
5
.8
5.8
6.4
6
.4
6
.4
6.4
7.1
7
.1
7
.1
7.1
7.5
7
.5
7
.5
7.5
7.8
7
.8
7
.8
7.8
8.3
8
.3
8.3
8.3
8
.3
8
. 3
8.3
1
0
.8
1
0
.8
10.8
1
4
.1
1
4
.1
9 14.1
8 10.8
7 8.3
6 8.3
5 7.8
4 7.5
3 7.1
2 6.4
1 5.8
TRANSVERSE
RESONANCE
FILLING TR (s)
10%H
20%H
30%H
40%H
50%H
60%H
70%H
80%H
90%H
9.1 30%H
9.1
9
.1
9
.1

WAVE PERIOD Tp (s)
R
E
L
A
T
IV
E
W
A
V
E
H
E
A
D
IN
G
(
)
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
180
195
210
225
240
255
270
285
300
315
330
345
360
3.00
2.70
2.40
2.10
1.80
1.50
1.20
0.90
0.60
0.30
0.00
COUPLED - ROLL
AMPLITUDE
(dg)
5.8
5
.8
5
. 8
5.8
6.4
6
.4
6
. 4
6.4
7.1
7
.1
7
.1
7.1
7
.5
7
.5
7.5
7
.8
7.8
7.8
8
.3
8.3
8.3
8.3
8
.3
8
.3
8.3
1
0
.8
1
0
.8
10.8
9 14.1
8 10.8
7 8.3
6 8.3
5 7.8
4 7.5
3 7.1
2 6.4
1 5.8
TRANSVERSE
RESONANCE
FILLING TR (s)
10%H
20%H
30%H
40%H
50%H
60%H
70%H
80%H
90%H
9.1 30%H
9
.1
9
.1
9.1
Fig. 7: Roll A1/10 & RTZ for Non Coupled / Coupled motion

MODEL TEST DESCRIPTION

Sloshing model test practice is based on the measurement of
fluid impact pressure on the tank walls.

The model corresponds to the tank N2 of BV reference vessel
with standard cargo capacity of 138 000 m
3
, scaled to 1/70 and
made of a 20 mm thick Plexiglas
.

The impact pressures are measured by dynamic ICP
pressure
sensors which natural frequency is above 100 kHz. Static
pressure is not taken into account. A total of 54 points around
the model could be used to locate the pressure sensors. A total
of 16 pressure sensors is used for the tests. The sampling rate
used is 20 KHz on each channel. The acquisition control
program has been developed by Bureau Veritas. Several
VBA
routines developed by Bureau Veritas are launched to:

(i) Extract for each channel, elementary statistics such as:
P
max
: maximum of impact pressure
10 Pmax : mean of the 10 higher impacts
P
1/10
: mean of the tenth of the higher impacts
P
1/3
: mean of the third of the higher impacts
N : number of impacts
(ii) Build graphic comparisons between selected tests.

Finally, statistical values of impact pressures are computed
using statistical softwares (R

& Dataplot
), aimed to
complete the assessment procedure from the impact pressure
point of view.

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Presentation of Results
In this section are detailed our experimental results concerning
the pressure results for the tank No. (2) described above. The
duration of the tests is 5-hours at full scale [5].

The Fig. 8 represents the two sensor configuration used during
our experiments. On the left side, the sensors location for
=270 is represented. On the right side, the sensors location
for the other headings considered here is represented.

Fig. 8: Sensors Location for =270 / other headings

First, we consider harmonic excitations obtained after spectral
analysis for the case of zero forward speed. The pressure
levels caused by non coupled and coupled motions are shown
just below and can be compared.

For instance, the Fig. 9 shows the maximum pressure recorded
among our pressure sensors for Non Coupled/Coupled
motions. The Fig. 10 represents the highest average recorded
among all the sensors of the ten highest pressure peaks
(N.C./C. motions). The Fig. 11 shows the maximum number
of impacts recorded among all the pressure sensors (N.C./C.
motions). The Fig. 12 shows the statistical pressure associated
at 3 hour-return period (named P
stat
in the whole paper),
calculated by the probability law which fits the best among
Weibull-3 parameters, Log-Normal 3 parameters (N.C./C.
motions). For each result, a unique scale is used, selected as
the one giving the highest values between (non coupled,
coupled) / (harmonic) excitations. Results for random
excitations will be presented during the Workshop.

WAVE PERIOD Tp (s)
R
E
L
A
T
IV
E
W
A
V
E
H
E
A
D
IN
G
(
)
7.5 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5
225
240
255
270
285
300
1400
1260
1120
980
840
700
560
420
280
140
0
HARMONIC - NON COUPLED - Pmax
Pmax
(mbar)

WAVE PERIOD Tp (s)
R
E
L
A
T
IV
E
W
A
V
E
H
E
A
D
IN
G
(
)
7.5 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5
225
240
255
270
285
300
1400
1260
1120
980
840
700
560
420
280
140
0
HARMONIC - COUPLED - Pmax
Pmax
(mbar)
Fig. 9: Harmonic Pmax : Non Coupled / Coupled

WAVE PERIOD Tp (s)
R
E
L
A
T
IV
E
W
A
V
E
H
E
A
D
IN
G
(
)
7.5 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5
225
240
255
270
285
300
700
630
560
490
420
350
280
210
140
70
0
HARMONIC - NON COUPLED - 10 Pmax
10 Pmax
(mbar)

WAVE PERIOD Tp (s)
R
E
L
A
T
IV
E
W
A
V
E
H
E
A
D
IN
G
(
)
7.5 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5
225
240
255
270
285
300
700
630
560
490
420
350
280
210
140
70
0
HARMONIC - COUPLED - 10 Pmax
10 Pmax
(mbar)
Fig. 10: Harmonic 10 Pmax : Non Coupled / Coupled

WAVE PERIOD Tp (s)
R
E
L
A
T
IV
E
W
A
V
E
H
E
A
D
IN
G
(
)
7.5 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5
225
240
255
270
285
300
1650
1485
1320
1155
990
825
660
495
330
165
0
HARMONIC NON COUPLED - N impacts
N impacts

WAVE PERIOD Tp (s)
R
E
L
A
T
IV
E
W
A
V
E
H
E
A
D
IN
G
(
)
7.5 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5
225
240
255
270
285
300
1650
1485
1320
1155
990
825
660
495
330
165
0
HARMONIC COUPLED - N impacts
N impacts
Fig. 11: Harmonic N impacts : Non Coupled / Coupled

WAVE PERIOD Tp (s)
R
E
L
A
T
IV
E
W
A
V
E
H
E
A
D
IN
G
(
)
7.5 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5
225
240
255
270
285
300
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
HARMONIC - NON COUPLED - Pstat
Pstat
(mbar)

WAVE PERIOD Tp (s)
R
E
L
A
T
IV
E
W
A
V
E
H
E
A
D
IN
G
(
)
7.5 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5
225
240
255
270
285
300
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
HARMONIC - COUPLED - Pstat
Pstat
(mbar)
Fig. 12: Harmonic Pstat : Non Coupled / Coupled

Overall Analysis: 5-hour Full-Scale Duration
Even if all headings have not been represented on the above
graphs, the most prevailing cases are displayed. Indeed, the
pressure levels for the headings (=180, 195, 210) are low
compared to those detailed hereunder.

For the harmonic excitation, non-coupled motions represent
the critical case for all kind of results considered (P
max
, 10
P
max
, number of impacts, P
stat
).

Even if the most critical case is difficult to identify since it
differs from the parameter studied (P
max
, 10 P
max
, number of
impacts or P
stat
), the 4 following cases appear to be the most
relevant:
(Tp, )=(10.5 s, 285)
(Tp, )=(9.5 s and 10.5s, 270)
(Tp, )=(10.5 s, 255)

Pressure levels for coupled motions are low compared with
those obtained with non-coupled motions.

As it will be shown during the Workshop, concerning random
excitations, the same tendency between non-coupled and
coupled motions is observed. Indeed, non-coupled motions
appear to be more critical in terms of pressure levels, except
for the number of impacts.

Finally, for 5-hour full-scale duration analysis among all the
hydrodynamic configurations (non-coupled/coupled;
harmonic/random) considered, the most critical one appears to
be the non-coupled motion with harmonic excitation.

Critical Cases: 30-hour Full-Scale Duration
Following these results, a focused analysis from five-hour to
sixty-hour full scale has been carried out on four the most
severe cases listed here above.

Our main concern was to assess statistical pressures P
stat
using
additional statistical distributions: Pareto and Generalized
Extreme Value, selected threshold level, 95% confidence
intervals, and the test duration required to collect sufficient
size of the data sample allowing the convergence of statistical
results.

In that regard, our observation is that 30-hours experiment is
giving satisfactory steadiness of P
stat
(for 3-hours return
period) and confidence intervals. This test duration has been
selected for all comparisons of critical cases using 4 statistical
laws. This detailed analysis of 30-hours full scale leads to the
same conclusions as 5-hour full scale cases elaborated here
above.

CONCLUSION

The influence of dynamic coupling due to the interactions
between ship motions and tank liquid motion on the pressure
levels on tank boundaries is here investigated by experimental
means, using 6 d.o.f. test rig and 1/70 scaled tank model of
standard LNG Carrier.

Among all considered hydrodynamic configurations (non
coupled/coupled; harmonic/random), the most critical one for
the sloshing pressure appears to be non-coupled motion with
harmonic excitation. This first conclusion of the study is very
interesting since nowadays, due to the restricted computer
resources, the major part of numerical calculations using CFD
tools are performed with harmonic excitations. In addition, the
state of the art of hydrodynamic computation is based on
classical assumptions of rigid body motion without dynamic
effects of free surfaces in tanks. Comparing sloshing effects
induced by traditional sloshing excitation and the realistic
one which is the random motion accounting for dynamic
coupling with liquid motion in the tanks, it appears that
currently used numerical model seems to be conservative, at
least for the cases studied herein.

Further numerical sloshing analysis are envisaged to be
carried in order to verify and confirm the observations from
experimental study presented in this paper. For instance, the
same kind of results will be presented at the Workshop for
two partial fillings of 50%H instead of 30%H considered here.

Comparisons between these experimental results and
numerical calculations will be presented at the Workshop.

In addition, due attention should be given to the statistical
adjustment, particularly related to the proper selection of
applicable statistical distribution and relevant acceptance
criteria. Finally, it is to be underlined that conclusions drawn-
out from this study should remain restricted only to the
assumed operational case and any extrapolation to other
configuration (as other filling or other tank capacity, for
instance) may mislead to the erroneous recommendation.

REFERENCES

[1] MALENICA, ., ZALAR, M. & CHEN, X.B., Dynamic
coupling of seakeeping and sloshing, 13
th
ISOPE
Conference, Honolulu, USA, 2003.

[2] ZALAR, M., CAMBOS, P., BESSE, P., LE GALLO, B.
& MRAVAK, Z., Partial Fillings of Membrane Type
LNG Carriers, 21
st
GASTECH Conference, Bilbao,
Spain, 2005.

[3] ZALAR, M., MALENICA, ., & DIEBOLD L.:
"Selected Hydrodynamic Issues in Design of Large LNG
Carriers", RINA ICSOT Conference, Busan, Korea, 2006.

[4] GAILLARDE, G., LEDOUX, A & LYNCH, M.
Coupling Between Liquefied Gas and Vessels Motion
for Partially Filled Tanks: Effects on Seakeeping, RINA
Conference, London, UK, September 2004.

[5] ZALAR M., DIEBOLD L., BAUDIN E. & HENRY J.:
"Sloshing Effects Accounting for Dynamic Coupling
between Vessel and Tank Liquid Motion ", 26
th
OMAE
Conference, San Diego, USA, 2007.

[6] NEWMAN, J.N., Wave effects on vessels with internal
tanks, 20
th
Workshop on Water Waves and Floating
Bodies, Spitsbergen, Norway, 2005.

[7] KIM, Y., Numerical simulation of sloshing flows with
impact load, Applied Ocean Research, 23, 2001.

[8] ROGNEBAKKE, O.F., FALTINSEN, O.M., Coupling
of sloshing and ship motions, Journal of Ship Research
47, 2003.
Abstract for 23rd IWWWFB, Jeju, Korea, 2008
Steep wave impact onto a complex 3D structure
Ten I.
1
, Korobkin A.
2
, Malenica

S.
1
, De Lauzon J.
1
& Mravak Z.
1
(1) BUREAU VERITAS - DR, Paris, France (igor.ten@bureauveritas.com)
(2) School of Mathematics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
Introduction
The hydroelastic interactions during the impact of steep wave onto a complex structures are discussed.
This problem is relevant for sloshing impacts apearing in the tanks of the LNG ships. The overall problem
of sloshing impacts being extremely complex, some rational approximations were presented in [2], and
this work represents the specic part related to the steep wave impact. First results for this type of
impact were presented in [1] for purely 2D case and here we extend it to the impact onto a 3D complex
structures, such as the NO96 boxes of the containement system of the LNG tanks. Indeed, even if the
uid ow can reasonably be approximated as a 2D, the complexity of the containement system structure
need to be considered fully 3D and solved by complex numerical solvers such as Abaqus, Nastran ... The
method which is presented here uses the so called hybrid approach which means that the uid ow is
modelled by the 2D strip approach, while the structural behavior is solved using the 3D FEM model.
Mathematical formulation
The basic conguration before impact is shown in Figure 1. The uid of height H and width L occupies
a region x < 0, 0 < y < L, and 0 < z < H, where the plane z = 0 corresponds to the at rigid bottom,
and the vertical z-axis is directed upward. Before the impact, t < 0, a part of the liquid boundary x = 0,
0 < z < H H
w
is in contact with the vertical wall. The boundary part x = 0, H H
w
< z < H
corresponds to the vertical face of the wave (hydraulic jump), which approaches the wall at constant
speed U and hits the wall at t = 0. Only one part of the vertical wall is elastic, S [y
1
, y
2
] [z
1
, z
2
], and
the rest is rigid.
U
H
Hw
L
U
c =
0
H
Hw
2
=0
y
=0
=0
x
=-w
x t
=-U-w
x t
=-U
x
z1
z2
y1 y2
Figure 1. Formulation of the problem
The uid ow is studied within the acoustic approximation. At the initial stage of the impact, which
is of short duration, the problem is linearized and the boundary value problem shown in Figure 1 is
formulated. The problem is solved in non-dimensional variables which relate to dimensional one, denoted
by a prime, as follow
x
= Hx, y
= Hy, z
= Hz,
= UH, H
w
= Hh
w
, t
=
H
c
0
t, p
= Uc
0
p, w
=
HU
c
0
w, L = Hl. (1)
where, c
0
, , , p, and w are sound speed in the uid at rest, the uid density, velocity potential, pressure
distribution, and deection of the structure, respectively.
Fluid ow
Within the acoustic approximation the ow is potential. Velocity potential (x, y, z, t) satises in non-
dimensional variables (1) the wave equation
=
tt
(x, y, z) (, 0] [0, l] [0, 1], (2)
boundary conditions
y
= 0, y = 0 and y = l, (3)
= 0, z = 1, (4)
z
= 0, z = 0, (5)
x
=
1
+ w
t
2
, x = 0, (6)
where
1
(y, z) =
1, 0 < y < L, 1 h
w
= h
1
< z < 1,
0, 0 < y < L, 0 < z < h
1
= 1 h
w
,

2
(y, z) =
1, (y, z) S,
0, (y, z) / S,
(7)
and initial conditions
(x, y, z, 0) =
t
(x, y, z, 0) = 0. (8)
The hydrodynamic pressure acting on the wall is given by the linearized Cauchy-Lagrange integral
p(y, z, t) =
t
(0, y, z, t). (9)
The solution of the problem (2)-(8) is sought in the form of eigenfunction expansion:
(x, y, z, t) =
n=1
X
n
(x, t)V
n
(y, z). (10)
V
n
=
2
l
cos [
i(n)
y] cos [
j(n)
z],
i
=
i
l
(i = 0, 1, 2, ...),
j
=

2
(2j 1) (j = 1, 2, ...), (11)
nm
= 1 if n = m and zero otherwise. The eigenfunctions V
n
(y, z) satisfy the boundary conditions (3)-(5).
Substituting (10) into (2) we obtain equations for the coecients X
n
(x, t) which form boundary-value
problem with initial conditions provided by (8). The obtained problem is solved with the help of Laplace
transform. Finally, after few algebra, the solution at x = 0 can be written as the following
X
n
(0, t) =
t
0
F
n
()J
0
(r
n
(t ))d, F
n
(t) =
1
0
l
0
[
1
(y, z) + w
t
(y, z, t)
2
(y, z)] V
n
(y, z)dydz, (12)
where J
0
is the Bessel function.
The pressure distribution p(y, z, t) on the wall, x = 0, is :
p(y, z, t) =
n=1
d
dt
t
0
F
n
()J
0
(r
n
(t ))d
V
n
(y, z). (13)
Structural dynamics
The structural deection at the wall w(y, z, t) is the solution of the structural dynamic equation subjected
to the following initial conditions:
w(y, z, 0) = w
t
(y, z, 0) = 0. (14)
Regardless of the method (analytical or numerical) which is employed to solve the structural dynamics,
the wall deection is developed in the following series:
w(y, z, t) =
n=1
a
n
(t)
n
(y, z), (15)
where
n
(y, z) are the adequate shape functions.
The most natural choice for the shape functions are the structural eigenmodes because they satisfy the
boundary conditions by denition, and in addition they are orthogonal. The orthogonal property of the
eigenmodes allows the reduction of the structural dynamic problem to the evolution equation for the
modal amplitudes a
n
(t):
n
d
2
a
n
dt
2
+ d
n
a
n
+
n
da
n
dt
S
p(y, z, t)
n
(y, z)dS, (16)
with the following initial conditions:
a
n
(0) = 0, a
n
(0) = 0. (17)
The coecients
n
, d
n
and
n
are the normalized mass, stiness and damping coecients respectively.
In the case of simple elastic structures (uniform beam, plate, ...) these coecients can be obtained
analytically, but in the general case the numerical methods are usually employed. The most common
method is the nite element method (FEM) which will be used here in the context of the commercial
code Abaqus.
Coupling
In order to solve the coupled hydroelastic problem, we need to express the right-hand side in (16), in terms
of the modal coecients a
n
(t). After some algebra we arrive at the following system of integro-dierential
equations with the unknown coecients a
n
(t):
n
d
2
a
n
dt
2
+ d
n
a
n
+
n
da
n
dt
= P
n
(t)
d
2
dt
2
m=1
t
0
a
m
()K
nm
(t )d. (18)
Here
P
n
(t) =
k=1
v
k
T
kn
J
0
(r
k
t), K
nm
(t) =
k=1
T
km
T
kn
J
0
(r
k
t), (19)
T
kn
=
S
V
k
(y, z)
n
(y, z)dS, v
k

1
1h
w
l
0
V
k
(y, z)dydz. (20)
Let us dene new unknown function b
n
(t) as
b
n

n
a
n
+
m=1
t
0
a
m
()K
nm
(t )d. (21)
Then equation (18) takes the form
d
2
b
n
dt
2
+ d
n
a
n
+
n
da
n
dt
= P
n
(t), n = 1, 2, ... . (22)
The system (21) and (22) is solved numerically with the following initial conditions (n > 1):
b
n
(0) = 0,

b
n
(0) = a
n
(0) = 0. (23)
Numerical Results
In order to validate the coupling procedure for FEM structural modelling, we chose the case of the uniform
plate for which the analytical solution is available. In the case of the FEM method, the integral (20)
must be evaluated numerically. This is done by tting
(l)
n
, where superscript l denotes the
n
value at
the l-th node, by B-Spline tting surface

n
(y, z) using the IMSL standard Fortran subroutines.
We chose the case where the plate occupies the whole wall and the following basic parameters are used:
sound speed c
0
= 1500m/s, water density
w
= 1000kg/m
3
, impact velocity U = 1m/s, structural
damping = 0.001s, water height H = 2.0m, wave height H
w
= 0.5m Poissons ratio = 0.3, plate
density
b
= 7800kg/m
3
, Youngs module E = 0.207e12N/m
2
, width of the wall L = 2.0m and plate
thickness h = 0.02m.
In Figure 2, the time history of the plate deection at few representative points is presented. As we can
see the agreement between two class of results is almost perfect which concludes the validation of the
numerical model.
Now we chose more complex case of 3D structure representing the rectangular box of 1m width, 1m
height and 0.3m depth. The center of the box is placed at y = 1.0m, z = 1.5m and the channel width is
L = 2m. All other parameters are the same. Few snapshots during the impact are presented in Figure 3.
There is no results for comparisons in this case, and we can just mention that the calculations are stable
both in space and in time.
Commercial code
Analytical
z = 1.759 m
z = 1.241 m
z = 1.500 m
0.003
0.002
0.001
0.000
-0.001
-0.002
-0.003
d
e
e
c
t
i
o
n
s
,

m
time, sec
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
Commercial code
Analytical
z = 1.759 m
z = 1.241 m
z = 1.500 m 0.003
0.002
0.001
0.000
-0.001
-0.002
-0.003
d
e
e
c
t
i
o
n
s
,

m
time, sec
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
Figure 2. Time history of plate deection for few representative points at y = 1.0m (left) and y = 1.5m (right).
Figure 3. Snapshots during steep wave impact onto rectangular box.
Conclusions
We presented here the semi numerical method able to simulate the steep wave impact onto a complex
structures modelled by the general 3D FEM numerical codes such as Abaqus. The model was validated
on the case of elastic plate for which the analytical solution is available. The future work consist in
applying and validating the method on the real NO96 boxes used in the tanks of LNG carriers.
References
[1] Korobkin, A. & Malenica

S., 2007. : Steep Wave Impact Onto Elastic Wall, 22nd IWWWFB,
Plitvice, Croatia.
[2] Malenica

S, Korobkin A.A., Scolan Y.M., Gueret R., Delafosse V., Gazzola T.,
Mravak Z., Chen X.B. & Zalar M. 2006. : Hydroelastic impacts in the tanks of LNG carriers.,
4th Int. Conference on Hydroelasticity, Wuxi, China.
SECOND-ORDER WAVE LOADS ON A LNG CARRIER
IN MULTI-DIRECTIONAL WAVES
Mathieu Renaud
Research Department
Fl avia Rezende
Research Department
Olaf Waals
MARIN
(The Netherlands)
Xiao-bo Chen
Research Department
Radboud van Dijk
MARIN
(The Netherlands)
ABSTRACT
Due to the installation of LNG terminals moored in prox-
imity to the coast, the wave kinematics in shallow water and the
consequence on the behavior of those terminals have recently be-
came a major concern of the offshore industry. One key issue is
the accurate simulation of the low-frequency motions of LNG
carriers, specially the surge, for which the vessel presents low
damping, in order to perform the design of the mooring system.
The present paper focuses on the effect of wave directionality
on second-order slow-drift loads and the related response of the
vessel.
The paper describes results of model tests in regular cross
waves - monochromatic but coming from two directions sepa-
rated by 90 degrees, as well as bichromatic cross waves. The
new middle eld formulation extended to the case of cross
waves, is used to compute the wave drift loads and low-frequency
Quadratic Transfer Function (QTF). The results are compared
with those from the model tests.
NOMENCLATURE
LNG Liqueed Natural Gas
QTF Quadratic Transfer Function
i
Pulsation of the incoming wave coming from direction
i
First-order velocity potential
i
Phases of rst-order incoming waves associated with
(
i
,
i
)
a
i
Wave amplitude of incoming waves associated with (
i
,
i
)
k
i
Wavenumber of incoming waves associated with (
i
,
i
)
Elevation of free surface
E(
i
,
j
) Phase function : representing the phase difference of
two cross waves
INTRODUCTION
Large LNG terminals have been designed to operate in off-
shore areas approximate to harbors, where water is of nite depth
and waves are multi-directional. In the design of such mooring
systems of LNG terminals in a zone of shallow water, one im-
portant concern is the accurate simulation of the low-frequency
motions to which the second-order wave loading is well known
as the main source of excitation. In the last decade, the focus of
the hydrodynamic research has been on deep and ultra deep wa-
ter. Although there have been many works on the estimation of
second-order loads for the case of long crested waves, there are
relatively few works on the estimation of second-order loads in
directional waves including the works in [2], [3] and [5].
In [6], the formulations of second-order wave loads were
OMAE2008
OMAE2008-57409
presented, in particular, the new formulation based on the use of
control surface was shown to provide results as accurate as the
far-eld formulation and as general as the pressure-integration
formulation. The excellent agreement of second-order drift loads
in cross waves with the semi-analytical results validates the de-
velopment.
Further to the work in [6], the formulations of second-order
low-frequency loads in cross waves are presented here. The re-
sults of model tests of a LNG carrier in regular cross waves
and bichromatic cross waves and the comparison with numeri-
cal computations are illustrated and analyzed.
FORMULATION OF LOW-FREQUENCY LOADS
The low-frequency quadratic transfer function (QTF) is de-
ned as the second-order wave loads occurring at the frequency
equal to the difference (
1

2
) of two wave frequencies
(
1
,
2
) of bichromatic waves. Furthermore, the wave directions
relative to the positive x-axis are denoted by (
1
,
2
). It is under-
stood that the bi-directional bichromatic wave is characterized
by, at the rst order, one regular wave of (
1
,
1
) and another of
(
2
,
2
), without loss of generality.
QTF is composed of two distinct parts : one dependent only
on the quadratic products of rst-order wave elds and another
contributed by the second-order potentials of the incoming and
diffracted waves.
F(
1
,
2
,
1
,
2
) = F
q
(
1
,
2
,
1
,
2
) +F
p
(
1
,
2
,
1
,
2
) (1)
The rst part F
q
can be written in the way presented in [10] :
F
q
=

2
ZZ
H
ds
_
(
1

2
)n

1
n2
n1
2
_
2
2g
I
d(
1
2
)n (2)
as integration over the hull H and along the waterline in their
mean position. In (2), stands for the rst-order velocity poten-
tial and
n
= n the normal derivative of on H. The sub-
scripts (
1
,
2
) represent the quantities associated with the wave
frequencies and directions (
1
,
1
) and (
2
,
2
), respectively,
while the superscript

indicates the complex conjugate.
The formulation (2) derived from Eq.27 in [10] obtained by
applying the two variants of Stokes theorem given in [7] to the
classical near-eld (pressure-integration) formulation as in [8],
is compact and used here. It is directly applicable to force com-
ponents in horizontal directions. The extension to other compo-
nents is direct and omitted here. In (2), we involve the gradient of
velocity potentials which is sensitive to the singularities present
in the velocity eld at sharp corners. In particular, the integration
of terms (
1

2
) converges slowly or in the worst cases, may
be non-convergent.
In [10], after having the new near-eld formulation by ap-
plying the variants of Stokess theorem, we considered a uid
volume enclosed by the hull, a control surface at a distance from
the body and the mean free surface limited by the waterline and
the intersection of the control surface with free surface, and have
obtained the general formulation (Eq.8a & 8b in [10]) of second-
order loads by using Gausss theorem. This formulation can be
simplied if we construct a control surface surrounding the hull
touching the free surface only along the waterline :
F
q
= (
1
2
)
2
ZZ
H
ds
_
n1
2
/
1
n2
1
/
2
_
2
2g
I
d(
1
2
)n

2
ZZ
C
ds
_
(
1

2
)n
n2
n1
2
_
(3)
in which C stands for the control surface dened as an arbitrary
one surround the body.
The integration of terms (
1

2
) in (3) now performed
on the control surface C converges rapidly since C is at some dis-
tance from the hull where the velocity eld does not present any
singularity. The integration on the hull H is of order O(
1
2
)
and as small as
n
which tends to zero for large wave frequencies.
The middle-eld formulation (3) is used for the computation of
the rst-part of second-order loads F
q
in the following.
The second part F
p
is expressed in the way [4] :
F
p
=i(
1
2
)
ZZ
H
ds
_
(2)
I
n(
(2)
In
N
H
)[]
_
+i(
1
2
)
g
ZZ
F
dsN
F
[] (4)
in which the rst term in the hull integral corresponds to the
second-order Froude-Krylov component contributed by the in-
coming wave potential
(2)
I
dened by :
(2)
I
=ia
1
a
2
Ag
2
coshk
m
(z+h)
coshk
m
h
exp[ik
m
x +i(
1
2
)]
gk
m
tanhk
m
h (
1
2
)
2
(5)
with
k
m
x = (k
1
cos
1
k
2
cos
2
)x +(k
1
sin
1
k
2
sin
2
)y (6)
(
1
,
2
) being the phases of rst-order incoming waves associated
with (
1
,
1
) and (
2
,
2
), respectively.
In (5), k
m
is given by :
k
m
=
_
k
2
1
+k
2
2
2k
1
k
2
cos(
1
2
) (7)
and A written :
A =

1
2
k
1
k
2
[cos(
1
2
) +tanhk
1
htanhk
2
h]
+
1
2
_
k
2
1
/
1
cosh
2
k
1
h

k
2
2
/
2
cosh
2
k
2
h
_
(8)
where we have used the notations (a
1
, a
2
) and (k
1
, k
2
) stand-
ing for the wave amplitudes and wavenumbers associated with
(
1
,
2
) via the dispersion equation k
1,2
tanhk
1,2
h =
2
1,2
/g with
the waterdepth h, respectively, while the wave heading with re-
spect to the positive x-axis is denoted by .
The second term in the hull integral of (4) and the term de-
ned by the integral over mean free surface F come from the
application of Haskind relation and represent the contribution of
the second-order diffraction potential, as shown in [4]. The terms
(N
H
, N
F
) are the second members of the boundary conditions
satised by the second-order diffraction potential on the hull H
and the mean free surface F, respectively. They are written as :
2N
H
=(x
1
)
2
n(x
2
)
1
n
(i
2
x
2
) (R
1
n) (i
1
x
1
+
1
) (R
2
n) (9)
and
N
F
= i(
1
2
)(
1

P2
+
P

I2
)
i
1
2g
_
1
(
2
2
z
+g
2
zz
)
P2
+gk
2
2
(1tanh
2
k
2
h)
P1
I2
)
+
i
2
2g
_
2
(
2
1
z
+g
2
zz
)
P1
+gk
2
1
(1tanh
2
k
1
h)
P2
I1
)
(10)
in which x is the displacement vector at a point on H and R the
vector of rotations. In (10),
I
represents the rst-order potential
of incoming waves while
P
=
I
stands for that of perturba-
tion including the diffraction and radiation components. Finally,
[] in (4) represents a vector of rst-order radiation potentials os-
cillating at the difference frequency (
1
2
). They satisfy the
homogeneous condition :
_
(
1
2
)
2
+g
z
[] = 0 (11)
on the mean free surface F and
n
[] = n (12)
on the hull H.
The full QTF (1) is composed of two parts (F
q
, F
p
) given
by the formulations (2) and (4), respectively. The formulation
(2) for F
q
derived in [10] is simpler than that in [8]. The for-
mulation (4) for F
p
by [4] is often called indirect method since
it provides a way to evaluate the contribution from the second-
order diffraction potential through the Haskind relation such that
the second-order diffraction potential is not explicitly computed.
SECOND-ORDER LOADS IN CROSS WAVES
In cross waves of two frequencies (
1
,
2
) with two head-
ings (
1
,
2
), the rst-order elevation of free surface for regular
waves can be expressed by :
(t) ={
1
e
i
1
t
+
2
e
i
2
t
} (13)
with the complex amplitudes :
1
= a
1
e
ik
1
(xcos
1
+ysin
1
)+i
1
(14a)
2
= a
2
e
ik
2
(xcos
2
+ysin
2
)+i
2
(14b)
associated with the real amplitude (a
1
, a
2
), wave numbers
(k
1
, k
2
), coordinates (x, y) of the reference point and the initial
phases (
1
,
2
) of each wave component.
The time series of second-order low-frequency wave loads
are then written by :
F(t) =
_
1
2
1
F(
1
,
1
,
1
,
1
) +
1
2
2
F(
2
,
2
,
2
,
2
)
+
1
2
F(
1
,
2
,
1
,
2
)e
i(
1
2
)t
_
(15)
in which F(
1
,
2
) are the QTF given by (1) and computed by
(3) for the rst part and (4) for the second part.
In the cross waves of unique wave frequency (
1
=
2
), the
low-frequency load is reduced to the drift loads expressed by :
F(t) =
_
1
2
a
2
1
F(
1
,
1
,
1
,
1
) +
1
2
a
2
2
F(
1
,
1
,
2
,
2
)
+a
1
a
2
E(
1
,
2
)F(
1
,
1
,
1
,
2
)
_
(16)
in which (a
1
, a
2
) are the real amplitudes of cross waves dene in
(14) and E(
1
,
2
) is the phase function :
E(
1
,
2
) = e
ik
1
x(cos
1
cos
2
)+ik
1
y(sin
1
sin
2
)+i(
1
2
)
(17)
representing the phase difference of two cross waves (14).
The rst two terms in (16) are the drift forces associated
with each regular wave while the third one is contributed by the
interaction between two waves of different headings. From (17),
the interaction term varies with the phase function depending on
the reference position and initial phases of two regular waves.
NUMERICAL AND MODEL TEST RESULTS
Numerical computations and model tests are performed for a
standard 138000 m
3
LNG vessel moored in the waterdepth equal
to 15m. The main particulars of the LNG vessel are shown in
Table 1. The vessel was moored by a soft spring mooring system
The mooring stiffnesses given in Table 1 were adjusted to obtain
a realistic natural period for surge with a target value of 124s.
Table 1. MAIN PARTICULARS OF LNG VESSEL
Designation Sym. Unit Value
Length between perpendiculars Lpp m 274.000
Width B m 44.200
Depth D m 25.000
Draft T m 11.000
Displacement m
3
97120
COG above keel KG m 16.300
COB above keel KB m 5.857
COB from Aft perpendicular LCB m 135.676
Metacentric height GM m 4.770
Transverse gyration radius Kxx m 15.200
Longitudinal gyration radius Kyy m 68.500
Longitudinal mooring stiffness Cx KN/m 281.000
Transverse mooring stiffness Cy KN/m 254.000
Several series tests of cross waves have been performed in
the Offshore Basin of MARIN. The basin has a movable oor
which is used to adjust the water depth to 15m. In all cases, two
regular waves of headings 135
and 225
relative to the LNG

heading are generated from the two sides of the basin. The axis
system is shown on Figure 1 The mean drift loads are measured
in the cross waves with equal frequencies of 0.4, 0.6 and 1.0
rad/s. Furthermore, the cross waves with a pair of frequencies
equal to 0.60 and 0.65 rad/s are generated and low-frequency
wave loads are measured.
x
y
0
M f p a p
0
45
90
135
180
225
270
315
Figure 1. DEFINITION OF THE AXIS SYSTEM
Figure 2. CROSS WAVES IN MODEL TESTS AND NUMERICAL COM-
PUTATION
Figure 3. LNG HULL MESH AND CONTROL SURFACE
The numerical model Hydrostar of wave diffraction and ra-
diation presented in [1] is used to evaluate the rst-order and
second-order solutions. A picture of model tests of cross waves
with a frequency equal to 1.0 rad/s is presented on Figure 2. Two
regular waves come in front of the vessel with 45
on the port-
side/starboard sides. The cross waves are also computed and also
illustrated on Figure 2 below the picture of model tests.
The mesh used in Hydrostar is composed of 4408 at panels
on the wetted part of LNGvessel. For the computation of second-
order wave loads by using the middle-eld formulation, a control
surface composed of 3330 at panels is automatically generated
and presented on Figure 3 together with the hull mesh.
First, the mean drift forces F
x
in cross waves of headings
(
1
= 135
and
2
= 225
) with the same frequency are com-

puted and compared with measurements of model tests. The re-
sults of F
x
(, ,
1
,
2
) are presented on Figure 4 with the wave
frequency in rad/s as the abscissa. Only the real part is illus-
trated since the imaginary part is zero for the interaction for F
x
between two waves of these headings.
-150000
-100000
-50000
0
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Real part of comp.
Real part of test
Figure 4. DRIFT LOAD F
x
IN REGULAR CROSS WAVES
The results of model test (circles) are very close to the curve
of numerical computations at = 0.4 and 1.0 rad/s. The re-
sults at = 0.6 are however quite different. As shown by (16),
the mean drift forces F
x
vary in function of wave phase differ-
ence. This variation is illustrated on Figure 5 where the total
drift forces F
x
dened by (16) are presented in function of phase
difference in deg.
-500000
-400000
-300000
-200000
-100000
0
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360
w = 0.4 rad/s (HStar)
w = 0.4 rad/s (Test)
Figure 5. TOTAL DRIFT LOAD IN FUNCTION OF WAVE PHASES
The drift forces F
x
in regular mono-directional waves of
heading equal to 135
are depicted on Figure 6. The dispersion

of model test results at =0.6 rad/s is quite important. This dis-
persion could be explained by the difculty to interpret the model
test results. The measured time signal has to be decomposed in
order to separate the forces coming from the rst order loads
from the forces coming from the second order loads. Globally,
the comparison between the results of model tests and numerical
computations is good, although only few model tests were per-
formed. More measurements are expected to fully validate the
numerical models.
In bichromatic cross waves of
(
1
,
2
,
1
,
2
) = (0.60, 0.65, 135
, 225
)
the low-frequency loads F
x
are depicted on Figure 7. The real and
imaginary parts of numerical computations are presented by solid
and dot-dashed lines, respectively while the test measurements
by the symbols (circle and square) for the real and imaginary
parts, respectively.
Finally, we present some results of numerical computations.
The real and imaginary parts of drift forces F
x
in regular cross
waves are depicted on Figures 8 and 9. The main heading of reg-
ular waves is 180
(head waves) and the drift forces due to inter-

-200000
-150000
-100000
-50000
0
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Real part of comp.
Real part of test
Figure 6. DRIFT LOAD IN OBLIQUE REGULAR WAVES
-150000
-100000
-50000
0
50000
100000
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Real part of comp.
Real part of test
Imag. part of comp.
Imag. part of test
Figure 7. LOW-FREQUENCY LOAD F
x
IN BICHROMATIC CROSS
WAVES
actions with another regular waves of different headings varying
from 120
to 165
are presented.
The low-frequency loads F
x
oscillating at =0.05 rad/s in
bichromatic cross waves are presented on Figures 10 and 11 for
the real and imaginary parts, respectively. The main heading of
waves is 180
so that the QTFs are functions of :

(, +0.05, 180
, )
The wave frequency varies from 0.3 to 1.6 rad/s while the sec-
ond wave heading from 120
to 165
.
For two xed headings (135
, 225
), low-frequency wave
forces for different difference-frequencies varying from 0.0 to
0.075 rad/s are presented on Figures 12 and 13 for the real and
imaginary parts, respectively.
-150000
-100000
-50000
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Real part (165 deg)
Real part (150 deg)
Real part (135 deg)
Real part (120 deg)
Figure 8. REAL PART OF DRIFT LOAD IN REGULAR CROSS WAVES
-150000
-100000
-50000
0
50000
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Imag. part (165 deg)
Figure 9. IMAGINARY PART OF DRIFT LOAD IN REGULAR CROSS
WAVES
CONCLUSIONS
The formulationof quadratic transfer function (QTF) of low-
frequency wave loads in bichromatic cross waves is given in
the paper with the extension of middle-eld formulation for the
rst part depending on the quadratic products of rst-order wave
elds. The results of numerical computations and experimen-
tal measurements are presented. The comparison between nu-
merical computations and model tests is globally good. How-
ever, more results from model tests are needed for fully validate
the numerical developments. Although the further analyses are
needed to quantify the impact to practices, it is already shown
that the interaction effect between waves from different headings
is very important and has to be taken into account in the estima-
tion of excitation loads to mooring systems.
-150000
-100000
-50000
0
50000
100000
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Real part (165 deg)
Real part (150 deg)
Real part (135 deg)
Real part (120 deg)
Figure 10. REAL PART OF LOW-FREQUENCY LOAD IN BICHRO-
MATIC CROSS WAVES WITH = 0.05 rad/s
-200000
-150000
-100000
-50000
0
50000
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Figure 11. IMAGINARY PART OF LOW-FREQUENCY LOAD IN
BICHROMATIC CROSS WAVES WITH = 0.05 rad/s
REFERENCES
[1] CHEN X.B. (2004) Hydrodynamics in Offshore and Naval
Applications - Part I. Keynote lecture at the 6th Intl Confer-
ence on Hydrodynamics, Perth (Australia).
[2] PINKSTER J.A. (1988) The inuence of directional spread-
ing of waves on mooring forces. Proc. OTC Conf., Houston
(USA), paper No.5629.
[3] KROKSTAD J.R. (1991) Second-order loads in multidirec-
tional seas. Ph.D. Phesis, The Norwegian Institute of Tech-
nology.
[4] MOLIN B. (1979b) Second-order drift forces upon large
bodies in regular waves. Proc. BOSS79., London (UK),
363-70.
[5] MOLIN B. & FAUVEAU (1984) Effect of wave-
directionality on second-order loads induced by the set-
-100000
-50000
0
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Real. part (Dw =0.)
Real part (Dw =0.025)
Figure 12. REAL PART OF LOW-FREQUENCY LOAD IN BICHRO-
MATIC CROSS WAVES WITH (
1
,
2
) = (135
, 225
)
0
50000
100000
150000
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Imag part (Dw =0.025)
Figure 13. IMAGINARY PART OF LOW-FREQUENCY LOAD IN
BICHROMATIC CROSS WAVES WITH (
1
,
2
) = (135
, 225
)
down. J. Appl. Ocean Research. Vol.6, No.2, 66-72.
[6] REZENDE F., LI X. & CHEN X.B. (2007) Second-order
loads on LNG terminals in multi-directional sea in water
of nite depth. Proc. 26th Intl. Conf. OMAE, San Diego
(USA).
[7] DAI Y.S. (1998) Potential ow theory of ship motions in
waves in frequency and time domain (in Chinese). Press of
the National Defense Industries, Beijing (China).
[8] PINKSTER J.A. (1980) Low frequency second order wave
exciting forces on oating structures. H. Veenman En Zonen
B.V. - Wageningen (The Netherlands).
[9] FERREIRA M.D. & LEE C.H. (1994) Computation of
second-order mean wave forces and moments in multibody
interaction. Proc. 7th Intl Conf. Behaviour Off. Structures,
BOSS94, Boston (USA) 2, 303-13.
[10] CHEN X.B. (2006) Middle-eld formulation for the com-
putation of wave-drift loads Journal of Engineering Math-
ematics. Published online: 27 Sep 2006, Vol.59, pp61-82.
Diraction and radiation with the eect of bathymetric
variations
G. de Hauteclocque, F. Rezende & XB Chen
Research Department, Bureau Veritas
Courbevoie, Paris La Defense
email: guillaume.de-hauteclocque@bureauveritas.com
ABSTRACT: New developments have been performed to study the wave kinematics and
seakeeping of oating bodies in an area of variable water depth. It consists of extending
the classical diraction/radiation method applicable to the case of constant water depth to
be able to capture the major eects of the bathymetry. The part of sea bottom under the
oating body is modeled as a second xed body. The formulation of partial transparency
is applied to an extended zone outside the opaque area to eliminate the unexpected dis-
turbance due to the otherwise abrupt truncation of sea bottom along the edge of opaque
bottom. The good comparison with semi-analytical solutions (GNWave) of wave kinemat-
ics along a slopped seabed has been obtained. Numerical results for the case of a barge
oating over a horizontal bathymetry and for a LNG over a slopped seabed show that
the interference eect of variable bottom on the wave loads is important. The method
can then be used in the context of LNG terminals in coastal zones where the bathymetric
variation cannot be ignored.
1 INTRODUCTION
The recent development of LNG terminals has shown the need to extend the capability
of seakeeping computations to relatively shallow water area. Among the dierent issues
associated with the shallow water, there is the inuence of a varying bathymetry which
might induce signicant changes on kinematics of waves and on the behavior of the ship.
A classical way to take into account varying bathymetry in diraction/radiation sea-
keeping code is to model the bottom as a xed second body. However, it has been shown
that this method presents diculties when the bottom has to be truncated at dierent
water depths (Buchner 2006). Indeed, the abrupt truncation of the bathymetry induces
unwanted and strong reections. A smoothly sloped extension of the boundary does re-
duce these reections but not as much as expected (Buchner 2006). This paper presents a
new way to smooth more eciently the truncation by introducing a partially transparent
extension. The theoretical formulation of the transparency is explained in a rst part;
next the eciency of the method is tested and discussed on dierent congurations.
2 THEORY
The potential theory of wave diraction and radiation around oating or xed bodies is
adopted. A summary of the wave diraction/radiation theory is given in Chen (2004).
The modication on the boundary condition over part of sea bottom is explained here.
2.1 Diraction and radiation over an uneven bottom
A oating body above a globally at bottom but uneven in a restricted area is considered:
z =
h (x, y) B
h(x, y) (x, y)

B
(1)
where B represents the unlimited at bottom of depth h and

B the limited area where the
depth is variable. In the uid domain D limited by the mean free surface F (at z = 0),
the hull of the oating body H and bathymetry B

B, the velocity potential can be
decomposed as:
=
I
+
D
+
R
(2)
Where
I
is the incident wave eld,
D
the diraction potential and
R
the radiated
potential induced by the hull motion. The problem can now be written as:
D,R
= 0 P D
D,R
z
(
2
/g)
D,R
= 0 P F(z = 0)
D
n
=
I
n
and
R
jn
= n
j
P H
D,R
z
= 0 P B
D
n
=
I
n
and
R
jn
= 0 P

B
(3)
In which
R
j
is the j
th
component of the radiation potential expressed by
R
= i
6
j=1
R
j
with
j
the j
th
mode of motion.
2.2 Diraction over an uneven partially transparent bottom
Without loss of generality, we consider the diraction problem associated with a partially
transparent uneven bottom, without presence of body. The perturbation potential
P
is
dened as
P
=
D
+
T
(4)
so that
=
I
+
P
(5)
Where
D
is associated to the at bottom B and
T
to the partially transparent bottom
B. On the boundaries, the components of perturbation potential satisfy the following

equations:
D
n
=
T
n
P B
T
n
= (1 )(
I
n
+
D
n
) P

B
(6)
Where is the transparency coecient. Thus, if = 0 we have
n
= 0 on

B, the uneven
bottom is thus fully opaque. If = 1, it can be shown that
D
=
T
= 0 and the uneven
bottom is not taken into account at all, i.e. fully transparent.
For value of between 0 and 1, it can be considered that the bottom is partially trans-
parent. However, the decomposition of
P
in
D
and
T
is not unique, one way to close
the problem with a source method is to dene
T
only as the potential associated with
the source at P(x, y, z) while
D
comes from the contribution of all the source except of
those on P(x, y, z).
2.3 Boundary element method
Considering a source distribution (Q) on the hull H and on the bottom

B, the pertur-
bation potential and its gradient are expressed by:
P
=
B
ds(Q)(Q)G(P, Q) and
P
=
B
ds(Q)(Q)G(P, Q) (7)
G(P, Q), which is the Green function representing a potential ow at a eld point P
induced by a source located at Q, satises :
G
z
(
2
/g)G = 0 P F(z = 0)
G
z
= 0 P B
2
G(P, G) = 4(P Q) P D
(8)
The source distribution is determined by the integral equation :
2(P) + PV
B
ds(Q)(Q)G
n
(P, Q) = V
n
P H

B (9)
in which the word PV before the integral means to interpret the integral as a Cauchy
principal value, and :
V
n
=
I
n
for =
D
P H
n
j
for =
R
j
P H
I
n
for =
D
P

B
0 for =
R
j
P

B
(10)
If the bottom

B is partially transparent ( coecient), the perturbation potential is de-
composed as :
P
=
T
+
D
with
D
=
P
T
(11)
Where we choose to associate the potential
T
with the source at the point P. If we note
d(Q P) as the disc centered at P and with a radius tending to zero, this can be written
as :
T
(P) =
d(QP)
ds(Q)(Q)G
n
(Q) (12)
D
(P) =
Bd
ds(Q)(Q)G
n
(Q) (13)
From equation (6) we have
T
n
+ (1 )
D
n
= +(1 )V
n
P

B (14)
The coecient can now be introduced in the integral equation:
2(P) + (1 )
Bd
ds(Q)(Q)G
n
(Q) = (1 )V
n
P

B (15)
It can be veried that if = 1, the panel is thus transparent and if = 0, the integral
equation is identical to the one obtained with a normal bottom.
3 RESULTS
Three congurations are presented here to validate the eciency of a partially transparent
area to remove the edge eect. The rst one involves a horizontal bathymetry, the second
one the study of waves kinematics over a varying bathymetry, and the calculation of a
standard LNG RAOs over a sloped bottom.
3.1 Submerged horizontal bathymetry
A barge oating above a circular horizontal bathymetry is considered. The dimension of
the barge are 80m20m4m, the bathymetry diameter is 160m and its depth is set to
15m; the water depth is 20m. This case is chosen because of the availability of a reference
computation which is a classical computation at uniform water depth 15m.
(a) Side view (b) Top view
Figure 1: Barge over a submerged bottom, description of the geometry.
Without partially transparent area, the added mass and damping oscillate around the
exact solution. Increasing the size of the bathymetry makes the number of oscillations
decreases with no change on the amplitude.
With a partially transparent area, where the panels smoothly disappear (cos
2
distribu-
tion), the amplitude of the oscillations is signicantly reduced, especially for high frequen-
cies. The distribution of the transparency parameter has to be as smooth as possible, a
cos
2
distribution has been found to be particularly ecient. The next step is to dene
how long the transition area should be. Computations with dierent beach size (80, 160,
240, 320 and 400m) are thus performed. As expected, greater the partially transparent
area is, better the results are (Figure 2a). Moreover, as the beach increases, the result
converges to the reference.
To dene a relation between the wavelength and the eciency of the partially transpar-
ent area size, the relative error is plot against the ratio Beach size / Wavelength (Figure
2b). Based on this graph, the beach size of one wave length seems to be a criterion (which
seems physically consistent) to reduce the reection on the edge of the bathymetry to an
acceptable level. The result for other added mass and damping terms are similar.
0.0E+00
2.0E+06
4.0E+06
6.0E+06
8.0E+06
1.0E+07
1.2E+07
0.1 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.9
Frequency (rad/s)
C
A

3
3
0m
80m
160m
240m
reference
(a) Radiation damping
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
0 1 2 3 4 5
Ratio wavelength / Beach length
C
A

3
3

r
e
l
a
t
i
v
e

e
r
r
o
r

(
%
)
260m
152m
99m
80m
(b) Relative error on the radiation damping
Figure 2: Barge over a submerged bottom, Radiation damping
3.2 Comparison with a shallow water code GNWave
As shown in Buchner (2006) the wave kinematics computed without any special treatment
is not realistic, due to strong reection at the edge of the bathymetry. The purpose of
this section is to check if the partially transparent area improves the wave kinematics
computation. The results obtained are compared with a 2D shallow water code, GNWave,
based on the Green-Naghdi theory. This theory is very dierent from the perturbation
approach. Instead of limiting the order of the solution, the assumption on the vertical
velocity shape and the momentum equation is then depth integrated. The calculation is
made in the temporal domain and allows a fully non linear solution of the problem. Details
on this formulation are provided by Demirbilek & Webster (1992).
As non-linearity is not the topics of this paper, for further comparison with HydroStar,
which is in frequency domain, the temporal signal from GNWave is treated by a Fourier
transformation and only the rst harmonic is studied (Very low wave amplitudes are used
to avoid second order component). In practice, time evolutions of the wave elevation are
measured at several points of the numerical water channel and an FFT is then performed
on each signal. The time selected has to be long enough to reach the established behavior
and short enough to avoid parasite reected waves (reection on the wave maker and on
the imperfect opening condition).
The bathymetry used for this test is represented on gure 3a. In order to enlarge the
bathymetry impact, the slope is chosen quite steep.
(a) Bathymetry prole
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
500 700 900 1100 1300
X (m)
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e

(
m
/
m
)
GNwave
Hydrostar
(b) Wave amplitude
Figure 3: 2D calculation
The comparison obtained in 2D is very satisfactory, two very dierent theories agree
quite well on the test (Figure 3b). The dispersion relationship is well satised upstream
with both codes. The reected waves computed by HydroStar and GNWave are compara-
ble and quite weak. The smoothing area chosen for the HydroStar computation is about
2 wavelengths.
(a) 3D mesh with smoothing area
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
500 700 900 1100 1300
X (m)
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e

(
m
/
m
)
GNwave
Hydrostar 3D average
Hydrostar y=0
Hydrostar Y=40
(b) Wave amplitude
Figure 4: 3D calculation
Compared to 2D computation which has shown good results, 3D computation should
not rise any other problem than mesh size. The mesh has to be wide enough, then, there
is the need of the smoothing area upstream, but also on the sides. It is thus hard to get
results as good as in 2D, because compromises have to be done (panel size, smoothing
area length or width of the opaque bathymetry) to keep an acceptable computation cost
(keeping in mind that the aim is to add a oating body to the computation).
The result obtained without using partial transparency presents a strong reected wave
in X direction and also signicant oscillations along the Y axis. The wave kinematics
pattern is obviously unrealistic (gure 5a) and would induce wrong loads when computing
a ship motion above this bottom. The smoothing areas in both X and Y direction allows
the computation of the wave refraction on the bathymetry almost without unphysical
reection.
The results with the incidence of 0
are compared to the 2D case. Due to lack of panel

on the smoothing area on the side, the reection from the side is not fully removed, and an
average along Y is needed to reach the quality of 2D results. Although not perfect because
of the lack of panel on the sides, the results presented here are considered satisfactory
(Figure 4)
(a) Without treatment (b) With smooth truncation
Figure 5: Wave elevation 15
3.3 Standard LNG above a sloped bottom

A standard LNG carrier is now considered over a moderated 1:20 slope. The depth goes
from 30 to 15m, (see Figure 6). The motions of the ship are computed above the slope
with a smooth extension, and also at constant depth for comparison.
(a) Side view
(b) LNG mesh
Figure 6: LNG over a slope 15
If it is incontestable that the depth has an impact on the motion of the vessel, it is not
obvious to predict whether or not the bathymetry variation has a signicant impact on the
behavior of the ship. The RAOs of the ship are compared with the modeled bathymetry
and at the mean depth (Figure 8a). For the surge motion, the variation of the bathymetry
does not change the response, however, for heave motion; the slope does have an inuence,
especially if the incidence diers from 0
(Figure 9).
This change of motion is not only caused by the modied kinematics of the incident
wave, but also from the modication of the added mass and damping of the ship (see
Figure 8b). In this conguration, that is to say with the LNG perpendicular to the coast,
the added mass and damping term of heave and roll are the most sensible to the sloped
bottom.
0.0E+00
1.0E-01
2.0E-01
3.0E-01
4.0E-01
5.0E-01
6.0E-01
7.0E-01
8.0E-01
9.0E-01
1.0E+00
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Frequency (rad/s)
S
u
r
g
e

(
m
/
m
)
Water depth 22.5m
Sloped bottom
(a) Surge 0
7.6E+09
7.8E+09
8.0E+09
8.2E+09
8.4E+09
8.6E+09
8.8E+09
9.0E+09
9.2E+09
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Frequency (rad/s)
C
A

4
4
Water depth 22.5m
Sloped bottom
(b) Roll radiation damping
Figure 7: RAOs with and without sloped bottom
0.0E+00
1.0E-01
2.0E-01
3.0E-01
4.0E-01
5.0E-01
6.0E-01
7.0E-01
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Frequency (rad/s)
H
e
a
v
e

(
m
/
m
)
Water depth 22.5m
Sloped bottom
(a) Heave 0
0.0E+00
1.0E-01
2.0E-01
3.0E-01
4.0E-01
5.0E-01
6.0E-01
7.0E-01
8.0E-01
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Frequency (rad/s)
H
e
a
v
e

(
m
/
m
)
Water depth 22.5m
Sloped bottom
(b) Heave 15
Figure 8: Heave RAO

4 CONCLUSION
The smoothing of the bathymetry truncation by the introduction of a partially transparent
area successfully attenuates unexpected reections. Added mass, damping terms and
incident wave kinematics are better computed. The minimum size for the smoothing area
has been found to be about one wavelength. A well dimensioned bottom then results in
more accurate seakeeping calculations in area of variable waterdepth.
However, computing the incident wave eld in a wide area with a potential code is
computationally expensive and remains linear. As the non-linearity could be signicant
in shallow water, it would be valuable to combine the advantages of a non-linear shallow
water code with radiation/diraction software. The shallow water code (Boussinesq or
Green-Naghdi for instance) would be used to provide the incident wave kinematics as
an improved input for the diraction/radiation code, which would then use the local
bathymetry to compute the added mass and damping term of the ship.
References
[1] Chen Xiao-Bo (2004) Hydrodynamics in oshore and Naval Application - Part 1,
Keynote lecture at the 6th International Conference on Hydrodynammics, The Uni-
versity of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
[2] Buchner Bas, (2006) The motion of a ship on a sloped seabed, OMAE2006-92321,
Hamburg, Germany
[3] Molin Bernard & Betous (1993) Attenuation de la houle par une dalle horizontale
immergee et perforee, Actes des Quatri`emes Journees de lHydrodynamique, Nantes.(in
French)
[4] Teigen.P (2005) Motion response of a spread moored barge over a sloping bottom,
Proc of the fteenth International Oshore and Polar Engineering Conference, Seoul,
Korea.
[5] Demirbilek Zeki &Webster William (1992) Application of the Green-Naghdi theory
of uid sheets to shallow-water wave problems.
[6] Bingham H.B. (2000) A hybrid Boussinesq-panel method for predicting the motion
of a moored ship
THREE-DIMENSIONNAL HYDRO-ELASTIC WAGNER IMPACT
USING VARIATIONAL INEQUALITIES
Thomas Gazzola & Jrme de Lauzon
Courbevoie, Paris La Dfense, France
emails: thomas.gazzola@centraliens.net, jerome.de_lauzon@centraliens.net
ABSTRACT
We propose an hydro-elastic impact model for uid-structure at impacts.
The uid is assumed potential, and the structure is considered linear. The impact is solved through
the Wagner approximations, using the displacement potential and a variational inequality method.
The coupling algorithm is validated against the semi-analytical solution of an elastic cone falling
into calm water. The numerical simulation gives precise results.
The method is also tested on an inclined clamped plate, falling into water at constant imposed
velocity. This case illustrates the differences between coupled and uncoupled impacts, and needs to
be validated with experiments and measurements.
INTRODUCTION
In order to deal with at uid structure impacts, a simplied model was developped in 1932 by Wagner
[Wag32]. To be able to simulate violent impacts - for example in LNG carriers tanks - we propose in
this article a way to solve the three-dimensional hydro-elastic impact.
1 HYDRO-ELASTIC FORMULATION
1.1 Fluid formulation
We suggest to solve the three dimensional Wagner problem by using a variational inequality method
(details may be found in [Kor82] and [GKMS05]). These methods make use of the displacement
potentiel , which is the integration with respect to time of the velocity potentiel .
=
t
0
d. (1)
The Wagner approximation linearises the wet and free surfaces on the plan {z = 0}, assuming
uid and structure make a at impact.
The problem was rst solved for rigid body impacts (see [GKMS05]). For the issue of exible
structure impact, it is necessary to take into account the deection of the structure (see gure 1).
u
z
(x, y, t)
x
y
z
Figure 1: Water impact for a exible structure. The vertical deformation of the structure uz must be taken into account.
The vertical derivative
z
of the displacement potential on the plan {z = 0} characterises the
elevation of water (see e.g. [GKMS05]). The position of the structure on the wet surface
w
is
f h + u
z
, where f describes the structure shape, h is the penetration depth and u
z
is the vertical
deformation of the structure.
On the free surface
f
, the Wagner approximation leads to = 0. The boundary value problem
satied by is
= 0 in = {z < 0}
= 0 on
f
z
= f(x) h(t) +u
z
(x, t) on
w
0 in the far eld.
(2)
f
and
w
are unknown, and must be determined as part of the solution.
The boundary value problem (2) can be transformed into variational inequalities (see [GKMS05]).
a(, v ) l
0
f
(v ) +l
1
f
(u, v ), v K. (3)
The proper denition of functional space K can be found in [GKMS05]. a, l
0
f
and l
1
f
are
l
0
f
(v) =
{z=0}
(f(x, y) h(t)) v dx dy, (4)
l
1
f
(u, v) =
{z=0}
e
z
u(x, y, t) v dx dy, (5)
and
a(u, v) =
1
2
(x,y)D
(x
0
,y
0
)D
2
u(x, y)
2
v(x
0
, y
0
)
dx
0
dy
0
dx dy
(x x
0
)
2
+ (y y
0
)
2
. (6)
Bilinear form a is the Laplacian bilinear form, and is transformed using boundary element method.
The integration domain D is a part of {z = 0} large enough, such that we are sure that it contains the
wet surface (see [GKMS05] for details).
The uid variational formulation of the hydro-elastic Wagner impact is very similar to its formula-
tion for the uncoupled case. The only difference is the term l
1
f
(u, v) which translates the exibility of
the structure into the variational problem. Anyway, for a given deection u, the mathematical formu-
lation for the coupled and uncoupled uid problems are equivalent, and the hydro-elastic inequality
can be transformed into a constrained minimisation question.
= arg min
vK
1
2
a(v, v) l
0
f
(v) l
1
f
(u, v)
. (7)
1.2 Structure model
Writing the variational formulation of a linear elastic structure under the small displacement assump-
tion is classical; details may be found in [Aub00]. The behavior law is
ij
= R
ijkl

kl
, with , R
and respectively the stress, Hooke and strain tensors.
The principle of virtual power (within the small perturbations approximation) is
2
u
t
2
v d +
s
R
ijkl

kl
(u)
ij
(v) d
=
{z=0}
(p n) v d, v H
1
(
s
)
3
. (8)
where u is the displacement and p is the uid pressure.
In order to keep the symmetry with the uid problem, we divide the classical mass and stiffness
bilinear forms by the uid volumic mass
f
. This leads to the denition of bilinear forms m (mass), k
(stiffness) and l
s
(right hand side).
m(u, v) =
f
u v d,
k(u, v) =
s
1
f
R
ijkl

kl
(u)
ij
(v) d,
l
s
(
f, v) =
{z=0}
f v d.
(9)
1.3 Hydro-elastic system of equations
Bilinear forms l
s
and l
1
f
are adjoint of each other. l
1
f
is then linked to operator
t
R, and l
s
will be
associated to operator R.
l
s
and l
1
f
will also play the crucial role in the information transfert between incompatible uid and
structure meshes.
In the end, we dene
a(u, v) = (Au, v),

m(u, v) = (Mu, v),
k(u, v) = (Ku, v),
l
0
f
(v) = (L
0
, v),
l
1
f
(u, v) = (
t
Ru, v).
(10)
And the operator H attached to the constrained minimisation problem:
H(L
1
) = arg min
0
1
2
t
A
t
L
0

t
L
1

. (11)
Hence the following relation between the structure deection and the displacement potential:
= H
t
R(X). (12)
The pressure is linearised as p =
2
t
. The hydro-elastic is then written as the following system
2
X
t
2
+KX = R
t
2
= H
t
R(X)
(13)
2 TIME DISCRETISATION
The hydro-elastic system (13) is discretised in time using a second order central nite difference
scheme, with a constant time step t.
We note as an exponent the time step number n (with t = n t). For example, X
n1
is the
structure displacement at time t = (n 1)t.
M
X
n+1
2X
n
+X
n1
t
2
+K
X
n+1
+X
n1
2
= R
n+1
2
n
+
n1
t
2
+O(t
2
),
n+1
= H
t
R(X
n+1
).
(14)
At each time step, we are searching for X
n+1
and
n+1
; the vectors X
n1
, X
n
,
n1
and
n
begin
known and written on the right hand side.

n+1
= H
t
R(X
n+1
),
(M+
1
2
t
2
K)X
n+1
+R
n+1
= G
n
,
(15)
where G
n
= M(2X
n
X
n1
) +R(2
n

n1
)
1
2
t
2
KX
n1
. We dene the structure operator
S =
M+
1
2
t
2
K
1
. (16)
The discretised hydro-elastic system (14) is rewritten as
S
1
X
n+1
+R
n+1
= G
n
,
n+1
= H
t
R(X
n+1
).
(17)
This system of two equations can be reduced to one single equation, by substituting the second relation
into the rst one.
S
1
X
n+1
+FX
n+1
G
n
= 0, (18)
where the uid operator F was dened as
F = R H
t
R. (19)
3 SOLVING THE HYDRO-ELASTIC PROBLEM
The non-linear hydro-elastic equation (18) is considered under the from
N(X
n+1
) = 0. (20)
Equation (20) can be seen as a multidimensional root-nding problem. Using the Newton method to
solve this equation leads to the iterative process
X
n+1
p+1
= X
n+1
p
J
N
(X
n+1
p
)
1
N(X
n+1
p
), (21)
where J
N
(X
n+1
p
) is the Jacobian of operator N at point (X
n+1
p
).
The main issue for the Newton resolution method is the computation of the Jacobian J
N
of the
considered operator N.
N is dened as the sum of three operators: X S
1
(X), X F(X) and the constant operator
X G. Since the derivation operation is linear, the Jacobian of the sum is the sum of the Jacobians.
First, the operator X G is constant, and thus its Jacobian is zero.
In a second time, we need to compute the Jacobian of the structure operator. A linear elastic
structure is considered. In this precise case, the operator S
1
dened in equation (16) is linear. And
then, its Jacobian is S
1
itself.
J
S
1 = S
1
. (22)
In the end, the Jacobian of the uid operator F must be computed too. F is dened in equation
(19). The Jacobian of this composed function at point X is
J
F
(X) = J
R
(H
t
R(X)) J
H
(
t
R(X)) Jt
R
(X) (23)
Hence, the aim is to compute the Jacobians of R,
t
R and H. R and
t
R are linear; their Jacobians are
R and
t
R themselves J
R
= R and Jt
R
=
t
R. The crucial issue is then to compute the derivative of
operator H dened in equation (11).
The main difculty is that His not derivable everywhere, due to the constraints in the minimisation
process.
Let us suppose that the optimisation process in the operator H is unconstrained. Then operator H
would be the afne function L
1
A
1
L
1
+A
1
L
0
. The Jacobian of this function is A
1
.
In our case, the constrained optimisation is equivalent to an unconstrained minimisation inside the
cone of constraints C.Of course, the C is unknown, and has to be determined as a part of the solution.
Assuming the cone known, then the Jacobian of H could be computed, and would be the inverse
of the restriction of A to the cone C, i.e. J
H
= (A|
C
)
1
.
For every structure deformation X
n+1
p
, it is possible to compute the displacement potential, and
to deduce the cone of constraints C
p
(which is where the displacement potential is not zero).
As a conclusion, the Jacobian of operator N is
J
N
= S
1
+R (A|
C
)
1
t
R. (24)
where the term R (A|
C
)
1
t
R can be considered as an added mass matrix for the uid structure
interface C.
By dening the Jacobian in this way, we skip the problem of derivating along the constraints.
4 VALIDATION CASE
The Wagner problem for an elastic cone has been solved in [Sco04]. The cone has a radius R =
0.128 m, and is made of aluminium (E = 1.2 10
2
N/m
2
, = 0.3, = 2700 kg/m
3
). The thickness
of the plate is 1.5 mm, and it is clamped in the center and on the boundaries. The dead rise angle is
6
. It enters calm water at imposed velocity 8.3 m/s.

A modal approach was used. Figure 2 shows the modal generalised displacements for the rst
three modes of the structure during the impact process.
The numerical simulation was performed with no assumption of the axisymmetry of the case. The
results show fairly good agreement with the semi-analytical simulation.
0.01
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.002
0
0.002
0 0.0002 0.0004 0.0006 0.0008 0.001 0.0012 0.0014 0.0016
g
e
n
e
r
a
l
i
z
e
d

d
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
s
time [s]
Scolan mode 1
Scolan mode 2
Scolan mode 3
Figure 2: Generalised displacements for the rst three modes of the cone, during the impacting process. Continuous lines
are the simulations provided in [Sco04]. The crosses are the result of the method described in this article.
5 CLAMPED PLATE SIMULATION
Variational inequalities used to solve Wagner problem are now coupled with a commercial nite ele-
ment software.
Eigen-modes are rst calculated with the FEM software and then imported in Bureau Veritass in-
house code to simulate hydro-elastic impacts. For example, following gures show results of coupled
simulation for a square clamped plate. Realistic industrial structures could be considered too.
The plate is 1 m1 m and its thickness is 20 mm; it is made of steel with linear isotropic elastic
behavior (volumic mass = 7800kg m
3
, Young modulus E = 2.1 10
5
MPa, Poissons ratio
= 0.3). 10 eigen-modes were used.
Parameters for the impact simulations are impact velocity V = 10m s
1
and angle = 5
.
Comparison is made with an uncoupled simulation (comparing displacement and von Mises stresses
at the center of the plate).
CONCLUSIONS
A three-dimensionnal hydro-elastic impact model has been described. Numerical resolution has been
carefully studied, and the process has been validated with respect to semi analytical solutions. Com-
parisons with respect to the experiments are now needed to validate the theoretical model.
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
8
10
0 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.004 0.005 0.006 0.007 0.008
d
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t

(
m
m
)
time (sec)
Coupled
Uncoupled
Figure 3: Displacement at the center of the plate, for both coupled and uncoupled cases.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
0 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.004 0.005 0.006 0.007 0.008
S
t
r
e
s
s

(
M
P
a
)
time (sec)
Coupled
Uncoupled
Figure 4: Von Mises stress at the center of the plate, for both coupled and uncoupled cases.
References
[Aub00] D. Aubry. Mcanique des milieux continus. cole Centrale Paris, 2000.
[GKMS05] T. Gazzola, A.A. Korobkin, S. Malenica, and Y.-M. Scolan. Three-dimensional Wagner
problem using variational inequalities. In proceedings of the International Workshop on
Water Waves and Floating bodies, volume 20, 2005.
[Kor82] A.A. Korobkin. Formulation of penetration problem as a variational inequality. Din.
Sploshnoi Sredy, 58:7379, 1982.
[Sco04] Y.-M. Scolan. Hydroelastic behaviour of a conical shell impacting on a quiescent-free
surface of an incompressible liquid. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 277, Issues 1-
2:163203, 2004.
[Wag32] H. Wagner. ber Sto-und Gleitvorgnge an der Oberche von Flssigkieten. Zeitschrift
fr Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik, 12:192215, 1932.
SOME ASPECTS OF 3D LINEAR HYDROELASTIC MODELS OF
SPRINGING
Malenica

S.
1
, Tuitman J.T.
2
, Bigot F.
1
& Sireta F.X.
1
(1) BUREAU VERITAS - DR, Paris, France (sime.malenica@bureauveritas.com)
(2) Delft University of Technology, Netherlands.
ABSTRACT
The paper deals with the modeling of the linear wave induced ship vibrations called springing.
The presented method is based on the full coupling of 3DFEM structural model and 3DBEM
hydrodynamic model. Only linear springing in frequency domain is considered. The so called
modal approach is used, which means that the total structural response is presented as a series of
the dry structural modes precalculated by the 3DFEM structural code. The coupling with 3DBEM
hydrodynamic model is performed by dening the additional boundary value problems for radiation
potentials associated with those structural modes. Finally the dynamic modal equation is solved
which makes the strains and stresses RAOs available in any part of the ship structure.
The total structural response is decomposed into quasi static and dynamic part, in order to clearly
evaluate the inuence of springing on the overall ship structural response. The decomposition into
the quasi static and dynamic part also allows superimposing the springing response to the existing
quasi static fatigue calculation methods and ensures the proper convergence of the results.
1 Introduction
Springing is usually dened as the entertained global ship structural vibrations induced by water
waves. Springing is a resonant phenomenon in contrast to the whipping which is the transient ship
vibrational response induced by impulsive loading (slamming, green water, underwater explosion,
...). A typical springing and whipping responses are shown in Figure 1, where we can clearly
observe the fundamental dierence between the two phenomena.
Figure 1: Typical springing (left) and whipping (right) ship structural response. Top - total signal, bottom
- ltered signal.
The springing type of ship hydro-elastic structural response is usually not considered in the design
process of the conventional seagoing ships. The main reason is the signicant gap between the
ship wet natural frequencies and the wave frequencies encountered by the ship in the common
sea states. This does not means that the conventional ships are not experiencing the springing
during their service, but springing amplitudes are believed to be quite small. However, this is not
necessarily true and the evidences of the important non-linearly induced springing response were
recently reported for some bulk carriers (e.g. [7]). Non linear hydroelastic springing modeling is
extremely dicult and, it is fair to say that, no ecient numerical model exists up to now. This
is mainly due to the complicated non linear hydrodynamics which, in the case of ship advancing
in waves with a forward speed, is still not solved properly and that even in the linear case.
In the present context, it is also important to recall the case of the springing response of the
tendons of the Tension Leg Platforms (TLP), e.g. [5], where the non linear wave excitation was
more or less successfully explained by the so called second order diraction theories, which were
numerically possible thanks to the fact that the TLP is stationary oating body (no forward speed).
In principle, the same kind of methods should be applied in the case of the ships but, as already
explained, this seems to be beyond the state of the art of the nowadays numerical methods.
Figure 2: Ultra large container ship and its typical midship section.
The springing type of ship structural response was reactualized recently, in the context of the
Ultra Large Container Ships (Fig. 2). Indeed, due to their huge dimensions (length close to 400
m) which reduce the structural natural frequencies and particular operating conditions (speed up
to 27 knots) which increase the excitation frequencies, a linearly induced springing becomes pos-
sible. On the other hand, due to their complex structure with open midship section, these ships
can hardly be modeled by the equivalent beam models, which was the usual practice for spring-
ing/whipping calculations, and complete 3DFEM model is necessary. All these facts represent the
main motivation for the present study.
2 Linear hydroelastic model in frequency domain
The general methodology for hydroelastic seakeeping model is rather well known and the rst
developments can be attributed to Bishop & Price [1]. In their work they used the simplied, so
called Timoshenko beam model for structural modeling and strip theory for seakeeping part. Since
then several more or less sophisticated models were proposed (e.g. [2, 8, 9, 10]).
Below we briey recall the basic principles of the model used in this study. The 3DBEM model for
the seakeeping is coupled to a 3DFEM model of the ship structure. A more detailed description
of the applied 3DBEM model can be found in [3] and [6].
In contrast to the well known rigid body seakeeping model, the hydroelastic model basically extends
the motion representation with the additional modes of motion/deformation chosen as a series of
the dry structural natural modes. We write:
H(x, y, z, t) =
N
i=1
i
(t)h
i
(x, y, z) =
N
i=1
i
(t)[h
i
x
(x, y, z)i +h
i
y
(x, y, z)j +h
i
z
(x, y, z)k] (1)
where h
i
(x, y, z) denotes the general motion/deformation mode which can be either rigid or elastic.
The above decomposition leads to the additional radiation boundary value problems (BVP) for
elastic modes, with the following change in the body boundary condition:
Rj
n
= h
j
n (2)
After solving the dierent BVP-s the resulting pressure is calculated using Bernoullis equation
and integrated over the wetted surface in order to obtain the corresponding forces, so that the
following coupled dynamic equation can be written:
_
2
e
([ m ] + [ A ]) i
e
[ B ]+ [ k ] + [ C ]
_
{} = {F
DI
} (3)
where:
[ m ] - modal genuine mass
[ k ] - modal structural stiness
[ A ] - hydrodynamic added mass
[ B ] - hydrodynamic damping
[ C ] - hydrostatic stiness
{} - modal amplitudes
{F
DI
} - modal excitation
The solution of the above equation gives the motion amplitudes and phase angles
i
and the
problem is formally solved. Note that the motion equation includes both 6 rigid body modes and
a certain number of elastic modes.
Several technical diculties need to be solved before arriving to the above motion equation (3).
Certainly the most dicult one is the solution of the corresponding hydrodynamic BVP. In this
paper we do not enter into the detailed description of the methods used to solve the seakeeping
problem at forward speed and we just mention that these diculties remain the same, both for
the rigid and elastic body. It is fair to say that the numerical methods which are used to solve
the seakeeping problem nowadays, are not fully ready yet for a general combination of speed,
heading and frequency. However, most of the methods have approximate solutions to account
for the forward velocity. The method used in this paper is the so called encounter frequency
approximation which was reasonably well validated for rigid body case.
The second technical diculty is related to the evaluation of the hydrostatic restoring matrix
which, in the most general case, takes quite complicated form:
C
ij
= C
H
ij
+C
m
ij
(4)
C
H
ij
= g
_ _
S
B
{(Z h
j
+h
j
z
)h
i
n +Z[(h
i
)h
j
(h
j
)h
i
]n}dS (5)
C
m
ij
= g
___
V
(h
j
)h
i
z
dm (6)
As we can see from these expressions, the calculation of the restoring matrix requires the knowledge
of the dierent gradients of the modal shape functions which are not trivial to evaluate using the
3DFEM structural models. However, some simplications of the above expressions seem to be
possible and they are under investigation.
The third important technical diculty concerns the application of the body boundary condition
(2) for the general mode of motion. In the next section we briey explain how this was done in
the present work.
2.1 Body boundary condition
In the case of the simplied beam structural model, the transfer of the modal displacements of the
beam onto a hydrodynamic mesh can be done relatively easy, but in the case of 3DFEM structural
model this transfer requires very careful attention. Indeed, the modal displacements are known on
the structural 3DFEM mesh which is usually completely dierent from the hydrodynamic mesh,
so that a special interpolation procedure is necessary. In the present work, the following procedure
is adopted.
For each hydrodynamic point (panel center) the following steps are performed, these steps are
illustrated in gure 3:
yes
h(p) = h(s
1
)
p project on elements
s
1
s
3
s
2
p
d
no
s
1
s
3
s
2
yes
Select closets
h(p) =
f
intp
(h(s
1
), h(s
2
))
p
p project on lines
no
p
s
4
s
5
s
6
select closets point
h(p) = h(s
5
)
no
p
s
1
s
3
s
2
yes
Select closets
h(p) =
f
intp
(h(s
1
), h(s
2
), h(s
3
))
d <
Figure 3: Mapping procedure
1. Looking for the 3 closest structural points. In the case that one of the 3 points is within
small enough distance () from the considered hydrodynamic point, we retain that structural
point for interpolation.
2. The list of the structural nite elements containing at least one of the above dened points
is created.
3. The hydro point is projected onto the surfaces created by the retained structural elements. If
the projection falls inside the element, the corresponding distance is calculated. The element
with smallest distance from the hydro point is retained for interpolation.
4. In the case when the hydro point do not project on any element from the list, the projection
on the sides of the considered elements is performed. If the projection falls onto the side,
the corresponding distance is calculated. The side with the smallest distance from the hydro
point is retained for interpolation.
5. In the case when there is neither point at distance, nor element nor the element side on which
point project, the structural point closest to the hydro point is retained for interpolation.
6. The interpolation using the shape functions of the retained nite element, of the structural
displacements is performed on the projection of the hydro point and the calculated displace-
ments are associated to the hydro point.
This procedure was veried on several ship types and showed to be very ecient. In Figure 4 we
present one example for the rst torsional mode of typical ULCS.
Figure 4: First torsional mode of ULCS and the transfer of modal displacements from structural to
hydrodynamic model.
2.2 Calculation of the stresses in frequency domain
The solution of the hydroelastic motion equation (3) includes the linear springing response auto-
matically. Indeed, once this motion equation solved, all necessary quantities (motions, accelera-
tions, stresses, ...) can be easily calculated because the modal decomposition remains valid for
any particular quantity. This means that, for example, we can write for the stress distribution
(x, y, z, ):
(x, y, z, ) =
N
i=1
i
()
i
(x, y, z) (7)
where
i
(x, y, z) represents the spatial distribution of the stresses corresponding to each mode of
motion/deformation and
i
() are the modal amplitudes i.e. solution of the motion equation (3).
2.3 Separation of the quasi static and dynamic contributions
In the present context, it is important to note that the rigid body modes do not contribute to any
stress, and that the above expression (7) is slowly convergent in general. This is especially true for
the structural details which are aected by the local structural eects. A good example of such
detail is a hatch corner of the container ship. The longitudinal response is well described by the rst
few longitudinal exible modes. However, in order to obtain any contribution of the transversal
(side shell) loading, one needs to include natural mode shapes which describe the deformation in
transversal direction. The 3DFEM methods calculate the structural natural frequencies of the
ship from the lowest natural frequency. By using a proper 3DFEM model of ship it is relatively
easy to obtain the rst few torsional and longitudinal modes. However, after these lowest global
structural modes, the numerous local modes with similar natural frequencies will quickly pollute
the solution and it will be almost impossible to obtain the subset of modes necessary for accurate
representation of the transversal stresses of the hatch corner. Fortunately, the global structural
dynamic response is well described by the rst few lowest modes. In order to obtain the converged
stress distribution, the total structural response should be properly separated into the quasi static
and dynamic parts. The stresses due to the quasi static ship response will be calculated, after
separation, by the so called direct method which calculates the structural response after the rigid
body hydrodynamic pressure is transferred on the wetted nite elements (see section 2.4). It is
also important to note that the decomposition into the quasi static and dynamic response is made
with respect to the structural response, which means that the quasi static structural response does
also includes the dynamic rigid body response and the dynamic response includes the dynamic
structural response only.
In the present approach the decomposition of the dierent parts of the response is done by rst
schematically rewriting the motion equation (3) in the following form:
__
[ RR ] [ RE ]
[ ER ] [ EE ]
_
+
_
[ 0 ] [ 0 ]
[ 0 ] [ k ]
___
E
_
=
_
F
R
F
E
_
(8)
where R stands for the rigid body parts, E for the elastic ones and k is the structural modal
stiness matrix.
At the same time we separate the total response amplitudes into the quasi static and dynamic
parts:
R
=
R
0
+
R
d
,
E
=
E
0
+
E
d
(9)
The quasi static part of the responses is dened by the following equations:
[ RR ]{
R
0
} = {F
R
} (10)
[ k ]{
E
0
} = {F
E
} [ ER ]{
R
0
} (11)
After inserting (9), (10) and (11) into (8), the following linear system of equations for dynamic
parts is obtained:
__
[ RR ] [ RE ]
[ ER ] [ EE ]
_
+
_
[ 0 ] [ 0 ]
[ 0 ] [ k ]
___
R
d
E
d
_
=
_
[ RE ]
R
0
[ EE ]
E
0
_
(12)
As mentioned before, the above procedure was adopted in order to be able to keep the classical
direct approach for the quasi static part [4] and to clearly identify the dynamic part as a correction
of the quasi static one. Anyhow, the proposed decomposition completely removes the convergence
problems discussed before.
2.4 Practical evaluation of the quasi static contribution
The direct approach is used to obtain the converged quasi static response. The hydrodynamic
pressures are applied to the structural model and the response is calculated using FEM. The
direct approach described in this section ensures perfect balance between the hydrodynamic and
structural models.
The nal loading of the structural model is composed of two parts:
1. Inertia loads
2. External pressure loads
Inertia loads can be included straightforwardly by associating the acceleration vector to each nite
element. Concerning the pressure loading, most of the methods nowadays use the dierent inter-
polation schemes in order to transfer the total hydrodynamic pressure from hydro model (centroids
of the hydro panels) to the structural model (centroids or nodes of nite elements). Besides the
problems of interpolation, it is important to note that the motion amplitudes, which are present in
the denition of the total pressure, were calculated after integration over the hydrodynamic mesh.
For that reason it is impossible to obtain a completely balanced structural model. Indeed, the
FEM model has its own integration procedure which is usually dierent.
In order to obtain the perfect equilibrium of the structural model we use two main ideas [4]:
Recalculation of the pressure in structural points, instead of interpolation
Separate transfer of pressure components, and calculation of hydrodynamic coecients (added
mass, damping, hydrostatics & excitation) by integration over the structural mesh
The recalculation of the hydrodynamic pressure on the structural points, is possible thanks to
the particularities of the BIE method which gives the continuous representation of the potential
through the whole uid domain Z < 0. In this way the communication between the hydrodynamic
and structural codes is extremely simplied. Indeed, it is enough for the structural code to give the
coordinates of the points where the potential is required and the hydrodynamic code just evaluates
the corresponding potential by:
(x
s
) =
_ _
S
H
B
(x
h
)G(x
h
; x
s
)dS (13)
where x
s
= (x
s
, y
s
, z
s
) denotes the structural point and x
h
= (x
h
, y
h
, z
h
) the hydrodynamic point.
In the case of linear seakeeping without forward speed, this operation is sucient because the
pressure is directly proportional to the velocity potential and, within the source formulation, the
potential is continuous across the body wetted surface. This is very important point because, due
to the dierences in the hydrodynamic and structural mesh, the structural points might fall inside
the hydrodynamic meshes.
In the case of the body advancing with forward speed in waves, the situation is slightly more
complicated because the hydrodynamic pressure is no more directly proportional to the potential
but also to its gradient. The problem with the gradient of the potential, in the context of source
formulation of BIE, is that the gradient is discontinuous across the hydrodynamic mesh, so that the
recalculation of the pressure on structural points will likely lead to discontinuities in the pressure
distribution. This means that a preprocessing of the structural points is necessary i.e. these points
needs to be articially moved to the exterior of the hydrodynamic model. The procedure similar to
the one presented in Figure 3 is used to obtain these projection points. Strictly speaking, structural
points do not change their position but the pressure associated to them is calculated in the points
which are slightly moved o their original position. The error introduced by these manipulations
remains negligible within the limits of the linear theory considered here.
Anyhow, once each pressure component has been transfered onto the structural mesh, the new
hydrodynamic coecients are calculated by integration over the structural mesh:
F
DI
S
i
= i
_ _
S
S
B
(
S
I
+
S
D
)n
i
dS (14)
2
A
S
ij
+iB
S
ij
=
2
_ _
S
S
B
S
Rj
n
i
dS (15)
S
indicates that the quantities are taken on the structural mesh.
A similar procedure is applied for the variation of the hydrostatic pressure in order to obtain the
restoring matrix and after that the new motion equation is written:
_
2
([ M ] + [ A ]
S
) i[ B ]
S
+ [ C ]
S
_
{
0
}
S
= {F
DI
}
S
(16)
Solution of this equation gives the rigid body body motions {
0
}
S
so that the total linear pressure
can be calculated. In summary the nal loading of the structural model will be composed of the
following 3 parts:
2
m
i
S
i0
- Inertial loading (to be applied on each nite element)
p
S
i
- Pressure loading (to be applied only on wetted nite elements)
m
i
g
S
k - Gravity term (to be applied on each nite element)
It is clear that the above structural loading will be in perfect equilibrium because this equilibrium
is implicitly imposed by the solution of the motion equation (16) in which all dierent coecients
were calculated by using directly the information from the structural FEM model. In that respect
and in order to ensure full consistence between the results of the direct approach as described in
this section and the quasi static part of the modal approach described in the previous sections, the
hydrodynamic coecients in equation (3) should also be obtained by integration over the structural
mesh as explained in this section.
Let us also mention that, in practice, the pressure part of the loading can be applied in terms of
the nodal forces instead of the pressure which proved to be more ecient.
2.5 Top down analysis of structural details
Springing hydroelastic analysis is usually performed using the relatively coarse structural mesh
and some additional manipulations are necessary in order to obtain the local stresses in the critical
structural details. Usually the so called top down analysis is applied. The top down analysis is well
developed for the classical quasi static structural responses. The principles are relatively simple
Figure 5: Typical structural details and their position on the ship structure.
and the calculations are performed in two steps:
1. Calculation of the global structural response on the coarse mesh
2. Application of the structural deformations of the coarse mesh on the ne mesh and calculation
of the local stresses
One typical situation is shown in Figure 5. As already mentioned before, in the case of the quasi
static structural analysis, the loading case for the structural FEM model is built by considering
the ship as a rigid body. After solving the rigid body seakeeping boundary value problems, the
resulting pressure is applied on the FEM mesh together with the inertia loads resulting from the
rigid body accelerations. Since, in the rigid body case, the hydrodynamic and structural parts of
the problem are independent they can be performed separately and the transfer, of the resulting
deformations of the coarse mesh, onto the ne mesh is relatively straightforward. In the case of
dynamic structural analysis, which is of main concern here, the additional loading cases for ne
meshes need to be created. These additional loading cases correspond to each structural natural
mode deformations. The resulting local stresses should be added to the quasi static ones, after
being previously multiplied by the associated dynamic modal amplitudes
E
d
.
3 Numerical results and discussions
First we present few results related to the convergence of the modal representations for the struc-
tural response in terms of the global internal loads and the local structural stresses. Figure 6 shows
the RAOs for these quantities calculated using dierent number of mode shapes and the direct
approach. Note that only the static response is considered here as it is very dicult to calculate
the real dynamic response by the direct approach. As is clearly visible in gure 6 and true for most
of the cases, the convergence in terms of the global quantities, such as vertical bending moment
or sectional shear forces is much better, than the convergence of the local stresses. This result
appears to be in line with the intuition because the local stresses are likely to be inuenced, much
more, by the higher structural modes while the global quantities will normally lter these local
contributions in most of the cases. All this implies that, in order to ensure proper convergence, the
quasi static part of the structural response should be calculated using the classical direct approach
for rigid body hydrodynamics, and only the dynamic part should be calculated using the modal
approach. In this way, the number of the dry structural modes which are necessary for dynamic
analysis is reducing to a few global modes only and these modes can be calculated relatively easily
by any commercial 3DFEM software.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
M
_
y

[
G
N
m
]
Omega_e [rad/s]
Nf=8
Nf=16
Nf=32
Nf=48
Nf=64
Direct
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
S
ig
m
a

[
M
P
a
]
Omega_e [rad/s]
Nf=8
Nf=16
Nf=32
Nf=48
Nf=56
Nf=64
Direct
Figure 6: Convergence of the modal representation for vertical bending moment (left) and local structural
stresses (right).
In Figure 7, the results for the local stresses in the hatch corner of the ULCS are presented
and decomposed into quasi static and dynamic parts, and in Figure 8 the local stresses for two
dierent ship speeds are illustrated. It is interesting to observe that the dynamic part of the
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
S
i
g
m
a

[
M
P
a
]
Omega_e [rad/s]
Quasi static
Dynamic
Total
Figure 7: Typical stress RAO decomposed into quasi static and dynamic parts.
response contributes to the stresses even for the frequencies well away from the structural natural
frequency. This might seem a bit strange, but one should remind that these are very exible
ships. The static deformation of the structure, due to the still water bending, between midship
and the fore perpendicular is of the order of 1m for the ULCS. The wave bending moment is of the
same order as the still water bending moment and will cause the same order of deections. This
deection will inuence the heave response and the total bending moment.
On the other hand, the inuence of ship speed on dynamic springing response is evident. Indeed
higher speed will induce the higher stresses because the encounter frequency will be increased so
that the corresponding wave lengths will increase too, and the modal excitation will become more
important.
4 Conclusions
We presented here an ecient linear model for springing calculations. The main advantage of
the model, as compared to more classical equivalent beam models, lies in the fact that a 3DFEM
structural model is used. This allows for an easy and fast access to the local stresses at any position
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
S
i
g
m
a

[
M
P
a
]
Omega_e [rad/s]
v=0.6Vmax
v=Vmax
Figure 8: Typical stress RAOs for dierent ship speeds.
of the ship. Furthermore, the response decomposition into the quasi static and dynamic parts is
proposed in order to ensure the proper convergence of the results.
Some preliminary results which are presented here, stress the importance of utilizing a hydroelastic
analysis for ULCSs even when springing is not explicitly considered.
The remaining work will include more thorough validation of the model by comparisons with model
tests and full scale measurements, as well as the proper integration of the springing responses into
the design procedures.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Authors acknowledge the support of the MARSTRUCT European project.
References
[1] Bishop, R.E.D. & Price, W.G., 1979. : Hydroelasticity of ships, CUP.
[2] Jensen J.J. & Wang Z., 1999. : Wave induced hydroelastic response of high speed monohull
displacement ship., 2nd. Int. Conf. on Hydroelasticity, Fukuoka, Japan.
[3] Malenica

S., Molin B., Remy F. & Senjanovi c I., 2003. : Hydroelastic response of a
barge to impulsive and non impulsive wave loads., 3rd. Int. Conf. on Hydroelasticity, Oxford.
[4] Malenica

S., Stumpf E., Sireta F.X. & Chen X.B., 2008. : Consistent hydro-structure
interface for evaluation of global structural responses in linear seakeeping., 26th OMAE Conf.
[5] Molin B., 2003. : Hydrodynamique O shore., Technip.
[6] Newman, J.N., 1994. : Wave eects on deformable bodies, Applied Ocean Research, Vol.
16, pp.47-59.
[7] Perunovic J.V. & Jensen J.J., 2005. : Non linear springing excitation due to a bidirec-
tional wave eld., Marine Structures 18, pp. 332-358.
[8] Wu M.K. & Moan T., 1996. : Linear and nonlinear hydroelastic analysis of high speed
vessels., J. of Ship Res., Vol.40/2, pp.149-163.
[9] Wu Y. & Price W.G., 1986. : A general form of the interface boundary condition of uid
structure interaction and its applications., CSSRC Rep. 86010.
[10] Xia J. & Wang Z., 1997. : Time domain hydroelasticity theory of ships responding to
waves., J. of Ship Res., Vol.41/4, pp.286-300.
Advanced computations of mooring systems
C. Brun, D. Coache & F. Rezende
5-6, Place de lIris, 92400 Courbevoie, Paris La Defense
email: ariane.veristar@bureauveritas.com
ABSTRACT: The analysis of mooring systems is becoming more and more complex with
the emergence of large oating units like LNG terminals anchored in deepwater or in water
areas of relatively small depth. Depending on the site characteristics and environmental
conditions, the design of mooring systems needs more and more aides from advanced
computations to simulate the motion of oating units and the variation of mooring lines
tensions. Based on the classical quasi-dynamic formulation developed since more than 20
years in Bureau Veritas, new developments have been recently performed. They consist of
the accurate simulation of second-order wave loading by involving full QTF, the interaction
between two vessels and the modelling of their connections of dierent types. Furthermore,
the optimisation of temporal simulations and the development of user friendly interface
make more ecient the practical applications. To illustrate the powerful features of our
model, an example of detailed analysis will be included in the paper.
1 INTRODUCTION
Floating units are used increasingly to drill and store the oshore oil and gas. Because
of the oshore environment diversity depending on location and time, the design of these
moored structures has to be studied intensively and in an accurate way.
Nowadays, oating oshore units are installed in areas of dierent water depths. Some
FPSO are anchored by more than 1500m of water depth and recent examples of Liqueed
Natural Gas (LNG) terminals anchored in shallow water depth (around 30m). Both,
deep and shallow water operations, present dierent particularities to the mooring system
design and the calculation methods shall be chosen accordingly.
In addition, side-by-side operations are starting to be routinely used for both oil and
gas ooading. Normally, limiting weather conditions are dened based on operational
experience. However, it is very important to access those values by means of numerical
computations. Moreover, the hydrodynamic and mechanical interactions of two bodies in
close proximity are not trivial and need to be evaluated carefully.
Furthermore, considering that more and more environmental data are available, exten-
sive calculations may be now performed based on hindcast model results or measurements.
Taking into account the improvement of the computers eciency, computation time is still
a limiting parameter, especially for models based on a full coupling between mooring and
structure.
It is important in Bureau Veritas activities to be able to perform mooring analysis as
part of an independent verication of engineering designs. In this context, the ARIANE
mooring software is in continuous development. This paper deals with aspects of multi-
body modelling and wave low-frequency loads computations, that both constitute one of
the latest research topics. As an example of application, a multi-body system during
ooading operations in side-by-side is studied and some numerical results are presented.
2 GENERAL METHODOLOGY
There are basically two types of analyses that are generally accepted in the common
practice:
Fully coupled analyses: the lines are modelled using the nite element method. The
motions of the vessel are calculated accounting for the contribution of the lines (drag
force, damping and stiness). The problem may be solved either in frequency domain
or time domain.
Weakly coupled analyses: For these analyses, two models are necessary. In the rst
model the lines are modelled as non-linear springs without mass. The drag and
damping forces coming from the mooring lines shall be pre-calculated and applied
to the vessel as external data. The motions of the vessel are calculated either in
frequency or time domain and the tensions in the mooring lines are given by the
displacement at the fairlead point (quasi-dynamic analysis). In the second model
the dynamic behaviour of the mooring lines are calculated by nite element and the
displacements at the fairlead are prescribed.
Fully coupled analyses (lines + vessel) are very time consuming. Thats why its inter-
esting to perform a weakly coupled analysis where the dynamics of the mooring lines are
evaluated only for the critical cases identied in the quasi-dynamic analysis.
3 MULTI-BODY CALCULATIONS
More and more studies are dedicated to multi-body congurations. Thus, the interactions
between multiple bodies has become a key issue for the analysis of complex mooring
systems or ooading operations, which main congurations are in tandem (two vessels
located one behind the other) and in side by side (two vessels parallel to each other).
Another multi-body application could be turrets modelling. Indeed, instead of modelling
the turret by one single point where all lines are connected, the turret and the vessel can
be modelled as two dierent bodies. Thus, mooring lines between the seabed and the
turret can be correctly located around the turret and loads between the turret and the
vessel estimated.
The interactions between two bodies can be divided into two classes: mechanical (due
to the connection system) and hydrodynamic/aerodynamic (waves, wind and current). In
case the vessels are suciently far from each other (for example in most part of tandem
congurations), the hydrodynamic/aerodynamic interactions may be neglected. However,
when the vessels are close from each other, those interactions shall be taken into account
properly. In the present paper, only the aspects regarding the mechanical interactions
between two vessels in side-by-side conguration are considered.
3.1 Multi body specic elements
In order to simulate correctly multi-body situations, some particular elements should be
added. In side by side congurations for example, hulls are protected by fenders.
The characteristic of a fender is highly non-linear and the contact point between a fender
and a vessel is not constant during the simulation. One way to calculate fender loads is
to model a fender attached to one vessel and acting with another vessel. In this case, the
point of application of the fender loads on the second vessel is calculated at each time
step. In the same way as for a mooring line, the characteristic of the fender should also
be given as a curve representing horizontal tension in function of the eective distance,
being the eective distance equal to the diameter of the fender.
Figure 1: ARIANE fender module a) Fender display b) Fender modelling
3.2 Mooring stiness matrix
A main parameter in multi-body simulations is the global stiness matrix which is com-
posed of that of mooring lines linked to the sea bottom and that due to the connection
between two vessels. This matrix gives valuable information of the resonant modes of
the system, for a given position of the vessels, in particular at the equilibrium position of
the moored system. Additionally, one may be interested in investigating how this matrix
varies as the vessels positions change. An example of stiness matrix for a side-by-side
conguration is given in section 5.
4 WAVES LOW-FREQUENCY LOADS
The wave low-frequency loads are the second-order loads that excite the vessel at a fre-
quency equal to the dierence of two wave frequencies (
1
2
). As the resonant frequency
of the mooring systems is often very low ( < 0.05rad/s), the waves low-frequency loads
represent one of the main sources of the system excitation. The accurate estimation of
those loads is crucial for the correct estimation of the lines tension.
In the common practice, the design of moored systems is made using the Newman
approximation, which is based on a very low resonance frequency of the system (
(
1
+
2
)/2) and small contribution of the second order wave elds. The advantage of
this formulation is that it only requires the computation of the diagonal terms of the QTF
(Quadratic Transfer Function) matrix and the time series reconstruction is made using
single sums only. This type of approximation is satisfactory for systems moored in deep
water but can underestimate the drift loads in shallow water or for sti mooring systems.
In these cases, in order to estimate correctly the second order loads, the full QTF matrix
shall be computed. The disadvantage of the FullQTF method concerns the time series
reconstruction by means of double sums which increases signicantly the computation
time.
Recently, a new formulation has been presented in [1] and [2]. Considering 1, the
QTF can be developed in an expansion depending on . The quadratic transfer function
T(
1
,
2
) is then composed of one component T
0
() depending on = (
1
+
2
)/2 and
another component T
1
() linearly proportional to = (
1

2
). This formulation,
hereafter called BV approximation, presents very good results for systems which resonance
frequencies are below 0.05 rad/s and for any water depth. The main advantage of this
formulation concerns the time series reconstruction of loads that can be done by means of
single sums in the same way as Newman approximation.
In gure 2 the comparison between the three methods of computation of waves second-
order loads is made for a LNG vessel at a water depth of 15m in head waves condition
(Pierson-Moscowitz, Hs = 3m, Tp = 10s). It can be noted that the results given by the
BV approximation match quite well with the ones given by the full QTF, while Newman
approximation dramatically underestimates the loads.
Figure 2: Comparison of the vessels surge motions according to dierent calculation
methods in shallow water
5 NUMERICAL EXAMPLE AND DISCUSSIONS
A multi-body system has been chosen as case study, where one of the vessels is anchored
to the ground and the other is moored to the rst one in side-by-side conguration. The
behaviour of both vessels in such conguration is discussed and some numerical results
are presented.
5.1 Description of the mooring system
The system is composed of two bodies linked together in a side-by-side conguration. One
of the two vessels is moored to the seabed by means of a spread mooring system, while
the other is linked to the rst one using synthetic ropes (see gure 3). The anchoring lines
are composed by chains in catenary conguration at a water depth of 500m.
Figure 3: Representation of the mooring system used in the example
In addition to the lines between the two vessels, two fenders are modelled between the
vessels. Their characteristic is given in gure 4.
Figure 4: Representation of the fenders reaction force against the eective distance be-
tween the vessels
5.2 Resonant periods of the system
Before performing the mooring analysis in presence of all the environmental loads, its
interesting to evaluate the resonant periods of the system and if/how those periods change
with respect to the position of the vessels. This analysis can bring valuable information to
the choice of the calculation method. It can be performed in both frequency domain, using
the stiness matrix calculated at dierent positions of the vessels, and in time domain,
using decay tests performed around dierent mean positions.
5.2.1 Stiness matrix and resonant modes
The stiness matrix of a multi-body system is a nn matrix with n equal to the number
of modes times the number of bodies. The table 1 presents an example of stiness matrix
calculated at the equilibrium position (without loads) of the above described mooring
system.
surge b1 sway b1 yaw b1 surge b2 sway b2 yaw b2
surge b1 5.36E+02 9.44E02 -1.37E+04 -4.44E+02 -9.44E02 1.37E+04
sway b1 8.98E02 2.76E+03 -3.67E+00 -8.98E02 -2.67E+03 3.67E+00
yaw b1 -1.36E+04 -3.67E+00 2.33E+07 -1.20E+04 -5.12E01 -1.96E+07
surge b2 -4.44E+02 -9.44E02 -1.20E+04 4.44E+02 9.44E02 1.20E+04
sway b2 -8.98E02 -2.67E+03 -6.73E01 8.98E02 2.67E+03 6.73E01
yaw b2 1.36E+04 3.67E+00 -1.96E+07 1.20E+04 5.12E01 2.03E+07
Table 1: Stiness matrix at the equilibrium position of the multi-body system (given in
kN/m, kN, kN.m)
The terms in the matrix represent the force/moment on the body i given by the dis-
placement of the body j. When i = j, then we have the mechanical interaction between
the bodies. In this example its interesting to notice that the term b1 b1 correspond
to the stiness given by both the mooring system between the vessels and the anchoring
system, while all the other terms are only contributed by the mooring between the vessels.
The stiness of the anchoring system only is given by the dierence between the total
stiness presented for body 1 (anchoring + mooring) and the stiness presented for body
2 (mooring) for a given mode.
With the stiness matrix, the Eigen modes of the system can be calculated in frequency
domain. For a system composed by two vessels, twelve eigen modes are calculated. Dier-
ently from the single body analysis, its dicult to attribute one mode to a single motion.
Sometimes a mode is contributed by a combination of motions of the two vessels. The
table 2 presents the twelve resonant modes of the system. The rst six modes are given
by the hydrostatic stiness of the vessels and the last six modes are given by the mooring
stiness of the system. The DoFs presented are the motions that contribute the most to
the mode. It can be noticed that for very small displacements around the equilibrium
position, all the modes due to the mooring/anchoring system are outside the range of the
waves periods. However the out-of-phase modes are excited by dierence frequences ()
considerably high comparing to the in-phase modes. In that case, the full QTF matrix is
required for the accurate calculation of the relative motions of the vessels.
Mode Frequency (rad/s) Period (s) DoF
1 0.63 9.95 pitch b 2
2 0.61 10.29 heave b 2
3 0.53 11.82 pitch b 1
4 0.491 12.792 heave b 1
5 0.456 13.788 roll b 1
6 0.388 16.209 roll b 2
7 0.177 35.503 out-of-phase sway/yaw
8 0.136 46.031 out-of-phase sway
9 0.082 76.265 out-of-phase surge
10 0.03 209.439 in-phase yaw
11 0.015 407.671 in-phase surge
12 0.014 460.071 in-phase sway
Table 2: Resonant modes of the system at the equilibrium position
The modal analysis may be repeated for stiness matrices calculated at dierent po-
sitions of the vessels in order to obtain the variation of the modes with respect to the
position.
5.2.1 Decay tests
Another way to evaluate the resonant periods of the system is by means of decay tests.
The decay tests are performed by applying an initial oset to one of the vessels and letting
the vessels move until they achieve the equilibrium. In the same way as for the frequency
domain, where we calculate the stiness matrices for dierent positions, we may also
perform decay tests around dierent equilibrium positions by applying constant loads to
one of the vessels all along the simulation. Doing so, dierent periods are found if the
mooring system stiness is non-linear.
The gure 5 presents the sway decay tests for dierent mean positions of the body 2,
while the body 1 is kept xed all during the simulation. It can be noticed that the out-of-
phase sway period changes signicantly with the relative position of the two vessels. When
the relative motion is signicant, the period starts to decrease and may even come to range
of the waves periods in case of very large relative motions (order of 2m). This is due to
the non-linear characteristics of the lines and fenders. This means that when large relative
motions are expected an analysis where both rst- and second-order hydrodynamics are
coupled properly in time-domain may be required.
-2.5
-2
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
S
w
a
y

m
o
t
i
o
n

-

B
o
d
y

2
Time (s)
Mean offset= 0.0m / Tn=52s
Mean offset=-0.5m / Tn=55s
Mean offset=-1.0m / Tn=36s
Figure 5: Sway decay tests
5.2 Time domain simulations
In order to evaluate qualitatively the behaviour of the vessels in presence of waves, a
time domain analysis has been performed for a quartering sea state with H
S
= 3.0m and
T
p
= 10.0s.
In gure 6 a) it can be observed that the vessels move globally together oscillating
at the natural period of the anchoring system between the body 1 and the ground (in-
phase motions). The mooring lines connecting the two vessels are not sensitive to the
in-phase motions but to the out-of-phase motions. Figure 6 b) presents the out-of-phase
sway motions of the vessels for a time window of 1000s. Its interesting to observe that
those motions are given by a combination of rst and second order motions. The second
order motions however can have very low natural period (around 40s) which requires the
calculation of the low-frequency wave loads for up to 0.20.
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000
S
w
a
y

m
o
t
i
o
n

(
m
)
Time (s)
Sway motions - Body 1
Sway motions - Body 2
-0.8
-0.7
-0.6
-0.5
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
O
u
t
-
o
f
-
p
h
a
s
e

s
w
a
y
(
m
)
Time (s)
out-of-phase sway - low-frequency only
out-of-phase sway - low-frequency + wave frequency
Figure 6: a) Vessels sway motions b) Out-of-phase motions
6 CONCLUSIONS
The latest developments made in Bureau Veritas on mooring system analysis have been
described, which are mainly linked to shallow water applications and/or multi-body con-
gurations. Those developments have been implemented in the new version of the software
Ariane that has been used for the analysis in this paper.
For the evaluation of second order loads, dierent methods have been discussed. It
has been shown that the Newman approximation, commonly used, does not provide an
accurate estimation of the low-frequency wave loads for shallow water and/or sti mooring
system. The new O() approximation may be a good alternative for mooring systems
with resonant frequencies up to 0.06rad/s at any water depth, presenting as advantage
the same computation time as Newman approximation. For resonant periods greater than
0.06rad/s, no choice is currently available other than the full QTF computation.
For the multi-body congurations, the focus has been on the hydrodynamic and mehan-
ical interactions between the vessels. As an example of application a side-by-side mooring
system has been presented. It has been shown the importance of performing a modal
analysis of the system at dierent positions prior to the denition of the methodology
to be employed, for example, for the evaluation of the second order loads (Newman,
O() approximation or full QTF). The time-domain simulations with environmental
loads demonstrate that in side-by-side conguration, the relative motions between the
vessels are due to a combination of rst and second order loads. The second order mo-
tions however can have very low natural period (around 40s) which requires the calculation
of the low-frequency wave loads for up to 0.20rad/s.
References
[1] Chen X.B & Duan W.Y. (2007) Formulation of low-frequency QTF by O() ap-
proximation, 22
nd
IWWWFB,Plitvice (Croatia).
[2] Chen X.B & Rezende F. (2008) Computations of low-frequency wave loading, 23
rd
IWWWFB, Jeju (Korea).
[3] Brun C.,Rezende F.,Coache D., Mombaerts J. (2008) Impact of the use of Full
QTF on LNGC Moored in Shallow Water Studies, OTC.
[4] Chen X.B. (1994) Approximation on the Quadratic Transfer Function of Low-
Frequency Loads, BOSS.
[5] Newman J.N. (1974) Second Order, slowly-varying forces on vessels in irregular waves,
Intl. Symp. Dyn. Marine Vehicle & Struc. In Waves, Mech. Engng. Pub., London (UK)
[6] Chen X.B. (2006) Hydrodynamic analysis for oshore LNG terminals 2
nd
International
Workshop on Applied Oshore Hydrodynamics
[7] Naciri M. (2007) Time domain simulations of side-by-side moored vessels; Lessons
learnt from a benchmark test, 26
th
OMAE.
[8] Naciri M., Buchner B., Huijsmans R., Andrews J. (2004) Low Frequency Motions
of LNG Carriers Moored in Shallow Water, 23
rd
OMAE.
3DFEM-3DBEM MODEL FOR SPRINGING AND WHIPPING ANALYSES OF
SHIPS
S. Malenica, Bureau Veritas, France

J. T. Tuitman, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
SUMMARY
The paper deals with the modeling of the wave induced ship structural vibrations. The presented method is fully integrated
in both the linear frequency domain and non-linear time domain seakeeping calculations. Due to the transient non-linear
nature of slamming loading, the corresponding whipping response is calculated in the time domain only, while the non
impulsive springing response is evaluated both in frequency and time domain. A method based on the full coupling of
3DFEM structural model and 3DBEM hydrodynamic model is presented. The choice of the full coupling with the 3DFEM
structural model is necessary due to the particular structural characteristics of the container ships, in particular their open
midship section, which is hard to model using non-uniform beam model. In addition, the 3DFEM model gives the direct
access to the structural response (stresses and strains) at any required location.
The stresses at the structural details are investigated using a so called top-down analysis, and the total stress response is
separated into quasi static and dynamic parts in order to improve the convergence.
1 INTRODUCTION
Increased size of the recent Ultra Large Container Ships
(ULCS) and LNG ships, reactualizes the hydroelastic wave
induced type of ship structural responses. Usually the hy-
droelastic ship response is separate into springing and whip-
ping types, springing being dened as the steady ship vibra-
tions induced by non-impulsive wave loading and whipping
as a transient vibratory ship response induced by impulsive
loading such as slamming. In this paper only slamming
induced whipping is considered.
2 FREQUENCY DOMAIN HYDROELAS-
TIC SEAKEEPING MODEL
The general methodology for hydroelastic seakeeping
model is rather well known and the rst developments can
be attributed to Bishop & Price
2)
. In their work they
used the simplied, so called Timoshenko beam, model for
structural modeling and strip theory for seakeeping part.
Since then several more or less sophisticated models were
proposed (e.g.
4, 12, 13, 14)
).
Below we briey recall the basic principles of the model
used in this study. The 3DBEM model for the seakeep-
ing is coupled to a 3DFEM model of the ship structure. A
more detailed description of the applied 3DBEM model can
be found in
6)
and
9)
.
2.1 Hydroelastic model
In contrast to the well known rigid body seakeep-
ing model, the hydroelastic model basically extends the
motion representation with the additional modes of mo-
tion/deformation chosen as a series of the dry structural
natural modes. We write:
H(x, y, z, t) =
N
X
i=1
i
(t)h
i
(x, y, z) (1)
=
N
X
i=1
i
(t)[h
i
x
(x, y, z)i + h
i
y
(x, y, z)j + h
i
z
(x, y, z)k]
where h
i
(x, y, z) denotes the general motion/deformation
mode which can be either rigid or elastic.
The above decomposition leads to the additional radiation
boundary value problems (BVP) for elastic modes, with the
following change in the body boundary condition:
Rj
n
= h
j
n (2)
After solving the dierent BVP-s the resulting pressure is
calculated using Bernoullis equation and integrated over
the wetted surface in order to obtain the corresponding
forces, so that the following coupled dynamic equation can
be written:
2
e
([ m ] + [ A ]) i
e
[ B ]+ [ k ] + [ C ]
{} = {F
DI
}
(3)
where:
[ m ] - modal genuine mass
[ k ] - modal structural stiness
[ A ] - hydrodynamic added mass
[ B ] - hydrodynamic damping
[ C ] - hydrostatic stiness
{F
DI
} - modal excitation
The solution of the above equation gives the motion am-
plitudes and phase angles
i
and the problem is formally
solved. Note that the motion equation includes both 6 rigid
body modes and a certain number of elastic modes.
Several technical diculties need to be solved before arriv-
ing to the above motion equation (3). Certainly the most
dicult one is the solution of the corresponding hydrody-
namic BVP. In this paper we do not enter into the detailed
description of the methods used to solve the seakeeping
problem at forward speed and we just mention that these
diculties remain the same, both for the rigid and elastic
body. It is fair to say that the numerical methods which
are used to solve the seakeeping problem nowadays, are not
fully ready yet for a general combination of speed, heading
and frequency. However, most of the methods have approx-
imate solutions to account for the forward velocity. The
method used in this paper is the so called encounter fre-
quency approximation which was reasonably well validated
for rigid body case.
The second technical diculty concerns the application of
the body boundary condition (2) for the general mode of
motion. In the next section we briey explain how this was
done in the present work.
2.2 Body boundary condition
In the case of the simplied beam structural model,
the transfer of the modal displacements of the beam onto
a hydrodynamic mesh can be done relatively easy, but in
the case of 3DFEM structural model this transfer requires
very careful attention. Indeed, the modal displacements
are known on the structural 3DFEM mesh which is usu-
ally completely dierent from the hydrodynamic mesh, so
that the special interpolation procedure is necessary. In the
present work, the following procedure is adopted.
For each hydrodynamic point (panel center) the following
steps are performed, these steps are illustrated in gure 1:
1. Looking for the 3 closest structural points. In the
case that one of the 3 points is within small enough
distance () from the considered hydrodynamic point,
we retain that structural point for interpolation.
2. The list of the structural nite elements containing
at least one of the above dened points is created.
3. The hydro point is projected onto the surfaces created
by the retained structural elements. If the projection
falls inside the element, the corresponding distance is
calculated. The element with smallest distance from
the hydro point is retained for interpolation.
4. In the case when the hydro point do not project on
any element from the list, the projection on the sides
of the considered elements is performed. If the pro-
jection falls onto the side, the corresponding distance
is calculated. The side with the smallest distance
from the hydro point is retained for interpolation.
5. In the case when there is neither point at dis-
tance, nor element nor the element side on which
point project, the structural point closest to the hy-
dro point is retained for interpolation.
6. The interpolation using the shape functions of the re-
tained nite element, of the structural displacements
is performed on the projection of the hydro point and
the calculated displacements are associated to the hy-
dro point.
yes
h(p) = h(s
1
)
p project on elements
s
1
s
3
s
2
p
d
no
s
1
s
3
s
2
yes
Select closets
h(p) =
f
intp
(h(s
1
), h(s
2
))
p
p project on lines
no
p
s
4
s
5
s
6
select closets point
h(p) = h(s
5
)
no
p
s
1
s
3
s
2
yes
Select closets
h(p) =
f
intp
(h(s
1
), h(s
2
), h(s
3
))
d <
Fig. 1: Mapping procedure
This procedure was veried on several ship types and
showed to be very ecient. In Figure 2 we present one
example for the rst torsional mode of typical ULCS.
2.3 Springing
The solution of the hydroelastic motion equation (3)
includes the linear springing response automatically. How-
ever, there is no clear justication for considering springing
as a linear phenomena, at least as far as the wave excita-
tion part is considered. Indeed, experience shows that many
type of ship suer from more or less important structural re-
sponse around their rst structural natural frequencies even
if there is no important wave energy around these frequen-
cies. The explication for existence of the structural response
can be explained only by introducing the nonlinearity into
the hydrodynamic model. The well known example is the
springing of the tendons of the TLP platforms where the hy-
drodynamic excitation was successfully explained using the
weakly non-linear second order theory. In principle similar
Fig. 2: First torsional mode of ULCS and the transfer
of modal displacements from structural to hydrodynamic
model.
kind of methods should also be applied in the case of the
ships, but unfortunately the state of the art in ship hydro-
dynamics do not allow for that so that only approximate
and empirical methods can be used.
However, due to their huge dimensions and particular struc-
tural properties, the case of ULCS is quite particular be-
cause their rst structural natural frequencies become quite
low so that it can be excited in a linear sense too! This
means that the linearity excited springing might become
dominant which justify the linear model for its assessment.
The non-linear hydroelastic model in time domain which
will be presented in section 3 does also include the linear
springing response. The Froude Krylov loading is the only
non-linear wave excitation in this model. Some non-linear
springing due to this Froude Krylov is observed in the re-
sults of the time domain calculations, but to the authors
opinion a more sophisticated non linear model is necessary
to correctly calculate the non-linear springing response.
2.4 Calculation of the stresses in frequency domain
Once the motion equation (3) solved, all necessary
quantities (motions, accelerations, stresses, ...) can now
be calculated. Indeed, the modal decomposition remains
valid for any quantity and, in particular, we can write for
the stress distribution (x, y, z, ):
(x, y, z, ) =
N
X
i=1
i
()
i
(x, y, z) (4)
where
i
(x, y, z) represents the spatial distribution
of the stresses corresponding to each mode of mo-
tion/deformation. Equation similar to (4) remains valid in
the time domain model too, (10). The only change concerns
the replacement of by t.
2.5 Separation of the quasi static and dynamic con-
tributions
In the present context, it is important to note that the
rigid body modes do not contribute to any stress, and that
the above expression (4) is slowly convergent in general.
This is especially true for the structural details which are
aected by the local structural eects. A good example of
such detail is a hatch corner of the container ship. The
longitudinal response is well described by the rst few lon-
gitudinal exible modes. However, in order to obtain any
contribution of the transversal (side shell) loading, one need
to include natural mode shapes which describes the defor-
mation in transversal direction. The 3DFEM methods cal-
culates the structural natural frequencies of the ship from
the lowest natural frequency. By using a proper 3DFEM
model of ship it is relatively easy to obtain the rst few tor-
sional and longitudinal modes. However, after these lowest
global structural modes, the numerous local modes with
the similar natural frequencies will quickly pollute the
solution and it will be almost impossible to obtain a sub-
set of modes necessary for accurate representation of the
transversal stresses of the hatch corner. Fortunately, the
global structural dynamic response is well described by the
rst few lowest modes. In order to obtain the converged
stress distribution, the total structural response should be
properly separated into the quasi static and dynamic parts.
The stresses due to the quasi static ship response will be
calculated, after separation, by the so called direct method
which calculates the structural response after the rigid
body hydrodynamic pressure is transferred on the wetted
nite elements
8)
. It is also important to note that the de-
composition into the quasi static and dynamic response is
made with respect to the structural response, which means
that the quasi static structural response does also includes
the dynamic rigid body response and the dynamic response
includes the dynamic structural response only.
In the present approach the decomposition of the dierent
parts of the response is done by rst schematically rewriting
the motion equation (3) in the following form:
[ RR ] [ RE ]
[ ER ] [ EE ]
[ 0 ] [ 0 ]
[ 0 ] [ k ]
F
R
F
E
(5)
where R stands for the rigid body parts, E for the elastic
ones and k is the structural modal stiness matrix.
At the same time we separate the total response amplitudes
into the quasi static and dynamic parts:
R
=
R
0
+
R
d
,
E
=
E
0
+
E
d
(6)
The quasi static part of the responses is dened by the
following equations:
[ RR ]{
R
0
} = {F
R
} (7)
[ k ]{
E
0
} = {F
E
} [ ER ]{
R
0
} (8)
After inserting (6), (7) and (8) into (5), the following linear
system of equations for dynamic parts is obtained:
[ RR ] [ RE ]
[ ER ] [ EE ]
[ 0 ] [ 0 ]
[ 0 ] [ k ]
R
d
E
d
[ RE ]
R
0
[ EE ]
E
0
(9)
As mentioned before, the above procedure was adopted in
order to be able to keep the classical direct approach for the
quasi static part
8)
and to clearly identify the dynamic part
as a correction of the quasi static one. Anyhow, the pro-
posed decomposition completely removes the convergence
problems mentioned before.
2.6 Top down analysis of structural details
Springing hydroelastic analysis is usually performed us-
ing the relatively coarse structural mesh and some addi-
tional manipulations are necessary in order to obtain the
local stresses in the critical structural details. Usually the
so called top down analysis is applied. The top down analy-
sis is well developed for the classical quasi static structural
responses. The principles are relatively simple and the cal-
culations are performed in two steps:
1. Calculation of the global structural response on the
coarse mesh
2. Application of the structural deformations of the
coarse mesh on the ne mesh and calculation of the
local stresses
One typical situation is shown in Figure 3. As already
Fig. 3: Typical structural details and their position on the
ship structure.
mentioned before, in the case of the quasi static structural
analysis, the loading case for the structural FEM model is
built by considering the ship as a rigid body. After solving
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
S
i
g
m
a

[
M
P
a
]
Omega_e [rad/s]
Quasi static
Dynamic
Total
Fig. 4: Typical stress RAOs.
the rigid body seakeeping boundary value problems, the re-
sulting pressure is applied on the FEM mesh together with
the inertia loads resulting from the rigid body accelerations.
Since, in the rigid body case, the hydrodynamic and struc-
tural parts of the problem are independent they can be per-
formed separately and the transfer, of the resulting defor-
mations of the coarse mesh, onto the ne mesh is relatively
straightforward. In the case of dynamic structural analy-
sis, which is of main concern here, the additional loading
cases for ne meshes need to be created. These additional
loading cases corresponds to each structural natural mode
deformations. The resulting local stresses should be added
to the quasi static ones, after being previously multiplied
by the associated dynamic modal amplitudes
E
d
. One typ-
ical example of the local stresses in the hatch corner of the
classical ULCS are shown in Figure 4.
2.7 Hydroelasticity
It is interesting to observe that the dynamic part of
the response contributes to the stresses even for the fre-
quencies well away from the natural frequency. This might
seems a bit strange, but one should remind that these are
very exible ships. The static deformation of the structure,
due to the still water bending, between midship and the
fore perpendicular is of the order of 1m for the ULCS. The
wave bending moment is of the same order as the still water
bending moment and will cause the same order of deec-
tions. This deection will inuence the heave response and
the total bending moment.
All this suggests the importance to utilize a hydroelastic
analysis for ULCSs even when springing and whipping are
not explicitly considered.
3 NON LINEAR TIME DOMAIN SIMULA-
TIONS
In contrast to the linear springing calculations which
can be performed in frequency domain, the nonlinear
springing and whipping simulations require the time do-
main simulations. The procedure used in this paper is based
on the method proposed in Cummins
3)
and elaborated in
Ogilvie
10)
. This method uses the frequency domain hydro-
dynamic solution and transfers it to the time domain using
the inverse Fourier transform. In this way the following
time domain motion equation is obtained:
([ m ]+[ A
]){
(t)} + ([ k ]+[ C ]){(t)} (10)

+
Z
t
0
[ K(t ) ]{
()}d = {F
DI
(t)} +{Q(t)}
where overdots denote the time derivatives and:
[ A
] - innite frequency added mass matrix

[ K(t) ] - matrix of impulse response functions
It was shown by Ogilvie
10)
, that the impulse response
functions can be calculated from the frequency dependent
damping coecients:
K
ij
(t) =
2
Z

0
B
ij
() cos t d (11)
After the impulse response functions K
ij
have been calcu-
lated, the motion equation (10) is integrated in time using
the Runge Kutta 4th order scheme.
The main advantage of the time domain method lies in the
fact that we can introduce non-linear components in the
excitation forces Q(t). There are many non linear eects
which are missing in the linear model and the state of the
art in the numerical seakeeping, do not allows for the con-
sistent inclusion of all of them. In this paper we include the
so called Froude Krylov correction for the wave excitation
and the non linear slamming forces. Here below we briey
explain the way in which the Froude Krylov and slamming
loads are calculated.
3.1 Froude Krylov approximation
It is well known that the linear hydrodynamic model
evaluate the pressure up to z = 0 only so that we can end
up with the negative pressure close to the waterline, as well
as with zero pressure above the waterline and below the
wave crest which is unphysical. The so called Froude Krylov
approximation is usually employed to correct this pressure
distribution close to the waterline. The simplest Froude
Krylov variant is rather intuitive and consists in adding
the hydrostatic part of the pressure (gz) below the wave
crest (in the linear sense) and by putting zero total pressure
above the wave trough. Even if the methodology might ap-
pear quite simple, the correct practical implementation in
the numerical codes might become very tricky. To the au-
thors knowledge, the details of the numerical implementa-
tion of the Froude Krylov method are usually not discussed
in the literature and that is why we are briey elaborating
on it here below. It is also important to note that some
other extrapolation procedures, like Wheeler stretching, for
the pressure close to the waterline are sometimes employed,
but we do not discuss them here.
According to the linear theory the linear hydrodynamic
pressure at any point below z = 0, is composed of two
parts:
pure hydrodynamic part associated with the velocity
potential and its derivatives
hydrostatic pressure variation due to ship motions
For the wave of unit amplitude we can write:
p(x, y, z, t) = {[i
e
U( x)]e
i
e
t
}
+{g
v
e
i
e
t
} (12)
where (x, y, z) is the linear unsteady potential, (x, y, z)
is the steady potential due to the forward speed in calm
water, and
v
is the vertical displacement of the considered
point on the ship surface.
In order to simplify the notations, it is useful to express the
pressure in meters of water height and write:
p(x, y, z, t) =
Ap(x, y, z, t)
g
= p
z
(13)
In this way the relative wave elevation (usually denoted by
R
) is equal to p at z = 0
R
(x, y, t) = p
0
(14)
Now we consider separately the case p
0
> 0 and p
0
< 0. In
Wave profile
Total pressure (>0)
z=0 z=0
Hydrostatic pressure (>0)
Hydrodynamic pressure (>0)
(>0)
Fig. 5: Modied pressure distribution for p > 0.
the case of p > 0 (Fig. 5) we can identify two dierent wet-
ted regions with the following total pressure distribution:
P(z, t) =
(
p
0
z for 0 < z <
p
z
z for z < 0
(15)
The choice of the maximal wetted point is quite natural:
= p
0
(16)
In the case of p < 0 (Fig. 6) the situation is more com-
plicated and we need to be careful. As far as the pressure
z=0
Wave profile
Hydrostatic pressure (>0)
Hydrodynamic pressure (<0)
(<0)
Total pressure (>0)
z=0
Fig. 6: Modied pressure distribution for p < 0.
distribution is concerned, the situation is similar to the pre-
vious case, and the choice is quite natural (even if, strictly
speaking, not fully consistent):
P(z, t) =
(
0 for 0 > z >
p
z
z for z <
(17)
The main problem appears to be the choice of the minimal
wetted point . The usual choice for is the same as in
the previous case:
= p
0
(18)
The problem is that this choice introduce the jump in the
pressure distribution because:
p
0
= p
z
, for z = (19)
which means that the pressure at the point imediatly below
the wave prole will not be zero but:
P(, t) = p
= p
p
0
(20)
The reason for this is the inconsistency of the adopted ap-
proach which do not include all non-linear terms, so that all
necessary conditions can not be satised at the same time
and we need to sacrify something.
Let us now choose the value of as a solution of the fol-
lowing equation:
= p
(21)
It is important to note that an iterative procedure should
be used to obtain the solution of this equation. It is easy
to see that this choice eliminates the jump in the pressure
distribution. The disadvantage is that we have to solve the
equation (21). The physical consequence of the above
choice is that the wave prole is changed from the assumed
one (
R
). However, this slight move of the free surface is
within the order of the approximations we adopted at the
begining. Strictly speaking both choices are not fully con-
sistent but the second one has the advantage to allow for
more physical pressure distribution.
In summary, we can say that the Froude Krylov approxi-
mation is not so clear and we need to be very careful in the
implementation and in the interpretation of the results. In-
deed, as we have seen, several approximations are involved
in the above described procedure and, in spite of the quite
complicated considerations, it is impossible to remain fully
consistent. It is also important to note that several variants
of the Froude Krylov method are in use and the simplest
one consists in taking only the incident wave part of ele-
vation in the denition of the relative wave elevation
R
.
This choice highly simplify the numerical implementation
and that is the reason why it is most often employed. In
that case we need to be extremely careful when interpreting
the results. This, lets call it incident wave Froude Krylov
approximation, is likely to be valid only in the case of rather
long waves where the diraction and radiation parts play
less important role in the overall contribution to relative
wave elevation
R
. However, in the case of ULCS which
have quite a low block coecient i.e. rather slender form
the incident wave Froude Krylov approximation can be rea-
sonably justied for head or almost head wave conditions
for which the springing and especially whipping are most
likely to occur.
3.2 Course keeping
The non-linear part of the force in equation (10) will
cause a mean loading at the ship. The ship will not hold
course and speed due to this mean force. This mean force
is not an error in the calculation. The mean force by the
Froude Krylov calculation is a part of the added resistance
in waves (RAW) and slamming forces cause also a loading
in the horizontal direction.
The drift of the ship in the time domain calculation should
be compensated in order to obtain a proper calculation.
Springs and dampers are often added to keep the ship at
the correct positions. An other solution is to model the
compete resistance, propulsion and maneuvering system of
the ship. Both method require quite some tuning to be able
to make a realistic simulation. To the authors opinion the
correct non-linear surge, sway and yaw response will not
aect the structural loading much. Also one could ques-
tion if using a spring, damper system would give the cor-
rect non-linear horizontal motions. In the present approach
Lagrange multipliers are added to equation (10). These
Lagrange multipliers impose the surge, sway and yaw mo-
tions as is calculated using the frequency domain solution
(3). This gives a reasonable horizontal motions without any
tuning.
3.3 Slamming induced whipping
The time domain calculation will automatically include
the linear and non linear springing. In order to calculate
the slamming induced whipping response, the slamming
forces should be calculated during the seakeeping calcula-
tion. This forces are added to the force vector {Q(t)} of
equation (10).
3.3.1 Slamming force
The hydrodynamic modeling of slamming is extremely
complex and still no fully satisfactory slamming model ex-
ists. However, the 2D modeling of slamming is well mas-
tered today and 2D models are usually employed to assess
the slamming loads on ships. Within the potential ow
approach, which is of concern here, several more or less
complicated 2D slamming models exist, starting from sim-
ple von-Karman model and ending by the fully nonlinear
model. In between these two models there are several in-
termediate ones such as Generalized Wagner Model (GWM)
11)
and Modied Logvinovich Model (MLM)
5)
which are
implemented in the presented method. We will not go into
too much details of these models and we refer to
7)
. The
advantage of the MLM method when compared to GWM
method lies in the lower requirements of CPU time. Most
often, at least when rigid body impact is concerned, two
methods give comparable results as shown in Figure 7 The
GWM method is used for the presented examples because
this method has a wider range of validity and the number
of slamming calculations remains limited. If many calcula-
tions, for example a complete scatter diagram, have to be
preformed the MLM method might become more attrac-
tive. The validity of the MLM calculation can be checked
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
F
_
z

[
K
N
]
t [s]
section_3
GWM
MLM
Fig. 7: Slamming forces on typical 2D section obtained by
GWM and MLM method.
using the GWM results for the some cases.
The use of 2D methods implicitly requires the employment
of the so called strip approach for 3D simulations. The usual
procedure consist in cutting the 3D mesh into a certain
number of 2D sections as shown in Figure 8. For each par-
Fig. 8: 3D hydrodynamic mesh and corresponding 2D
sections.
ticular section, independent calculation of slamming loading
are performed and the overall slamming is obtained by sum-
ming up dierent contributions. The implementation of this
procedure is dierent for, the most often used, beam struc-
tural model and for 3DFEM model. Indeed, in the case of
the nonuniform Timoshenko beam model, only the overall
slamming force on the slamming sections is required, while
in the case of the 3DFEM model the transfer is slightly more
complicated. Here below we briey describe the method
which is likely to be very ecient for 3DFEM case.
The general expression for pressure excitation force pro-
jected on the motion/deformation mode h
i
, can be written
in the following form:
F
i
=
ZZ
S
ph
i
ndS (22)
where S denotes the part of the ship surface on which the
pressure is applied and that regardless if the pressure is
calculated using the 2D or 3D methods. In the present case,
and since the slamming pressure is calculated on the 2D
sections, the above expression is rewritten in the following
form:
F
i
=
N
s
X
i=1
ZZ
S
s
p
s
h
i
s
n
s
dS
s
(23)
where S
s
denotes the surface associated with the corre-
sponding slamming section, n
s
the associated normal vec-
tor, p
s
the calculated 2D slamming pressure and h
i
s
the
projection of the 3D deformation mode h
i
onto 2D slam-
ming section. The dierential element of the surface of the
slamming section can be rewritten as:
dS
s
= b
s
(l)dl
s
(24)
where b(l) is the normalized width of the section:
b
s
(l) =
dS
s
dl
s
(25)
which can be easily calculated from the 3D sectional mesh
extracted from 3D mesh (Figure 8). The same is true for
the associated normal vector, so that the following nal ex-
pression, for the slamming induced modal excitation force,
can be written:
F
i
=
N
s
X
i=1
Z
L
s
p
s
h
i
s
n
s
b
s
dl
s
(26)
This expression can be easily implemented into the existing
rigid body slamming 2D module based on GWM or MLM
method.
We note here that, due to the lack of time, for the examples
presented in this paper a simplied method is used. The
modal excitation is calculated by multiplying the 2D slam
force with the area of the 3D section and the average mode
shape over the sections. This methods works well for the
rst longitudinal modes
3.3.2 Whipping
One typical whipping event from full scale measure-
ments is shown in Figure 9 (taken from
1)
). The curve
represents the time history of the vertical bending moment
after slamming event. Two important points should be ob-
served: whipping can increase the wave bending moment
signicantly and the transient whipping vibrations can last
for quite a long time because of low damping. This is very
important because it implies that whipping will be rele-
vant both for extreme structural response as well as for
the fatigue loading. Anyway, once the above procedure im-
plemented, it is possible to calculate the time history of
the stresses at any particular nite element. The decom-
position into quasi static and dynamic contribution do not
seems to be straightforward. The most practical way is to
perform two separate simulations: one purely quasi static
and another with the structural dynamics included. The
above described procedure is applied on 11400 TEU ship
sailing with speed U = 10m/s in the irregular head waves
Fig. 9: Whipping from full scale measurements.
(Jonswap spectrum H
s
= 5m and T
p
= 16s). The typical
situation at one particular time instant is shown in Figure
10 and the typical stress time history around a slamming
event in Figure 11. Typical transitory whipping behavior
can be observed. It should be noted that only modal super-
position is used for this gure and no separation into quasi
static and dynamic parts as only the longitudinal loading
will contribute to the stress for this element. In the present
case the local structural stress is presented but the exactly
same procedure can be applied for the global quantities as
well. In particular the vertical bending moment at a partic-
ular ship section can be evaluated. Calculation of the ver-
tical bending moment is usually required in order to have
quick idea of the inuence of whipping on the overall ship
design. In Figure 12 one typical simulation result for ver-
tical bending moment is presented. This example is very
illustrative and shows that, even if the whipping usually
appears in sagging conditions, the vertical bending moment
in hogging conditions is also aected due to relatively low
structural damping. The stress in the structural detail is
Fig. 10: Stress distribution in the ship structure at one
particular time instant. The total stress includes the linear
and non linear quasi static, springing and whipping contri-
butions at the same time.
calculated for 2000 second in the same sea state to obtain
a better quantication of the eect of whipping. The non-
linear calculation is run with and without slamming using
the same wave train. Figure 13 shows the probability distri-
bution of the stress in the structure. The rainow cycles and
the fatigue damage calculated using a standard SN-curve is
shown in gure 14. The slamming induced whipping clearly
increase the amplitude of the stress and reduces the fatigue
life of the structural detail.
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
415 420 425 430 435 440 445
S
i
g
m
a

[
M
P
a
]
Time [s]
With slamming
Without slamming
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
415 420 425 430 435 440 445
S
i
g
m
a

[
M
P
a
]
Time [s]
Fig. 11: Typical stress time history during the whipping
event (top - total, bottom - ltered).
-500000
0
500000
1e+006
1.5e+006
2e+006
2.5e+006
3e+006
3.5e+006
4e+006
8160 8180 8200 8220 8240
V
e
r
t
i
c
a
l

b
e
n
d
i
n
g

m
o
m
e
n
t

a
t

f
r
a
m
e

8
8

[
K
N
m
]
Time [s]
Elastic - with slamming
Rigid - no slamming
Fig. 12: Typical time history of the vertical bending mo-
ment during the whipping event.
4 CONCLUSION
The method for hydroelastic analysis using the 3DFEM
3DBEM coupling procedure is presented. Both frequency
and time domain approaches are discussed. The overall
problem is extremely dicult and only approximate solu-
tion is possible up to now. In spite of numerous technical
diculties the present model seems to produce quite real-
istic results. More detailed validations and calibrations are
necessary before employing the method in practice.
REFERENCES
1. Aalberts P.J. & Nieuwenhuijs M., 2006. : Full
scale wave and whipping induced hull girder loads.,
0.001
0.01
0.1
1
50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85
P
r
o
b
a
b
ilit
y

o
f

e
x
c
e
e
d
e
n
c
e
Stress [MPa]
With slam
No slam
Fig. 13: Probability of exceedence of stress in the struc-
tural detail
1
10
100
1000
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
0
2e-06
4e-06
6e-06
8e-06
1e-05
1.2e-05
N
u
m
b
e
r

o
f

c
y
c
le
s
F
a
t
ig
u
e

d
a
m
a
g
e

p
e
r

h
o
u
r
Stress [MPa]
cycles with slam
cycles no slam
damage with slam
damage no slam
Fig. 14: Rainow count and fatigue damage of the struc-
tural detail
4th. Int. Conf. on Hydroelasticity, Wuxi, China.
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Fukuoka, Japan.
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impact., Euro Journal on Applied Mathematics.
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S., Molin B., Remy F. & Senjanovi c I.,
2003. : Hydroelastic response of a barge to impulsive
and non impulsive wave loads., 3rd. Int. Conf. on
Hydroelasticity, Oxford, UK.
7. Malenica

S. & Korobkin A.A., 2007. : Some as-
pects of slamming simulations in seakeeping., 9th.
Int. Conf. on Numerical Ship Hydrodynamics, Ann
Arbor, USA.
8. Malenica

S., Stumpf E., Sireta F.X. & Chen
X.B., 2008. : Consistent hydro-structure interface
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bodies, Applied Ocean Research, Vol. 16, pp.47-59.
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understanding and prediction of ship motions., 5th
Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics.
11. Zhao R., Faltinsen O.M. & Aarsnes J.V., 1996.
: Water entry of arbitrary two dimensional section
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on Naval Hydrodynamics.
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hydroelastic analysis of high speed vessels., J. of Ship
Res., Vol.40/2, pp.149-163.
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the interface boundary condition of uid structure in-
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Paper No. ISOPE-2008-TPC-269 First authors last (family) name: Kim Total number of pages: 10
Fluid-structure interaction modeling, relating to membrane LNG ship cargo containment system

W S Kim
1
, B J Noh
1
, H Lee
2
, Z Mravak
3
, J de Lauzon
3
, J R Maguire
4
, D Radosavljevic
4
, S H Kwon
5
, J Y Chung
5

1
Shipbuilding Division, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., Ulsan, Korea
2
Technology, Research and Product development Group, American Bureau of Shipping, Houston, USA
3
Marine Division, Bureau Veritas, Paris, France
4
Technical Investigations, Lloyds Register EMEA, London, England
5
Department of Naval Architecture & Ocean Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan, Korea

ABSTRACT

Over the period 2006-07, a J DP (joint development project) for LNG
cargo containment system(CCS) was carried out by HHI, ABS, BV,
LR and PNU. The aim of the project was to develop best current
practice for the analysis of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) events, in
particular relating to sloshing impact loads in membrane type LNG
CCS, which could lead to the improved evaluation of the structural
safety of GTT Mark III type CCS.

KEY WORDS: Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG); Cargo Containment
System(CCS); Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI); Wet Drop Test

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, the needs for natural gas (NG) have been quickly and
steadily increasing, due to the fast growth of world energy usage and
NGs environment-friendly nature. The demand for building of LNG
(liquefied natural gas) carriers with bigger cargo capacity has been also
increasing to economically transport LNG. In cargo tanks of membrane
type LNG carriers, because there is no internal supporting structure
such as partial bulkheads, sloshing loads by LNG is one of the most
important factors for the safety of insulation system and supporting hull
structure. Therefore, to design a new-size LNG carrier safely, it is
needed evaluating the sloshing impact load and assessing the structural
response to that impact load. A dynamic structural analysis considering
fluid-structure interaction (FSI) under sloshing impact load is the most
essential for assessment of the structural safety of cargo containment
system (CCS) in a membrane type LNG carrier (Namet al., 2005 and
2006). Till now, however, a single method to predict the structural
response of CCS on absolute basis has not been validated yet.

In early 2006, Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) commissioned Pusan
National University (PNU) to carry out physical wet drop tests of Mark
III type LNG tank insulation specimens, to clarify the impact pressure
acting on the insulation membrane and the strains developed in the
insulation system. In parallel, HHI proposed a joint development
project (J DP) to major classification societies to carry out the numerical
simulation of the wet drop test by each own manner. The main purpose
of the J DP was to develop the best practice of analytical solution for
the evaluation of structural safety of CCS in membrane type LNG
carriers in consideration of FSI under sloshing impact loads. Three
classification societies of American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), Bureau
Veritas (BV) and Lloyds Register Asia (LR) participated in the J DP of
Wet Drop Test Simulation initiated by HHI.

This paper summarizes the simulation works carried out by four
participants of HHI, ABS, BV and LR, including wet drop tests carried
out by PNU.

WET DROP TEST

The tests were carried out at Slamming research laboratory in PNU.
Figure 1 illustrates the test facility. The test specimen is guided by four
linear motion (LM) sliders installed at main vertical columns.
Transverse and rotational motions of the specimen are restrained for
strict vertical drop maintaining the inclined (incident) angle. The test
rig is placed on a water basin of 3 meter depth and the maximum drop
height is 4.3 meter (Chung et al., 2006). The drop unit where the test
specimen is to be attached is shown in Fig. 2. The drop unit consisted
of steel housing for the test specimen, supporters and jigs connected to
LM guide sliders.

Fig. 1 Test rig for wet drop test

Total three types of specimens were tested; flat membrane (Flat),
corrugated membrane (Light) and corrugated membrane with added
weight (Heavy). The distinction of types comes mainly from shape of
the membrane and weight of the specimen. Test specimens of Flat and
Light are shown in Fig. 3. Both specimens consisted of plywood,
reinforced poly-urethane foam (RPUF), rigid triplex, mastics and

stainless-steel membrane. For Heavy specimen, additional weight of
500 Kg was welded inside of steel housing as shown in Fig. 4. Total
weight of the assembled specimen was about 1,000 Kg for Flat and
Light, and 1,500 Kg for Heavy.

Fig. 2 Configuration of drop unit

Housi ng
Fl at & Cor r ugat ed
membr ane
R - PUF & mast i c

Fig. 3 Drop specimens (Flat and Light)

Li ght c ondi t i on Heav y c ondi t i on

Fig. 4 Inside of housing for Light and Heavy

Three pressure sensors were located on the membrane surface along the
flow direction, which were denoted by P1, P2 and P3, as shown in Fig.
5. Uni-axial strain gauges of 5 mm length were placed on the mastic
and the plywood, whose locations were denoted by SM1, SM2, SP1,
SP2, ---, SP10. The sampling rate of the pressure and strain signal was
20 kHz. Motion of the dropped unit was monitored by a high-speed
camera, and dropping velocity was obtained by digitizing captured
images.

As given in Table 1, total 20 cases of the drop test (9 cases for Flat and
Light, and 2 cases for Heavy) were carried out. For each case, two tests
were performed to confirm the repeatability of measured data.

(a) Sensor layout

MARK III Corrugation membrane
340
3
4
0
940
9
4
0
9
4
0
120 120
Flow direction
Diameter = 6mm
Thickness = 2mm

(b) Pressure sensors

(c) Strain gauges

Fig. 5 Sensor layout and locations

Table 1. Test case matrix for wet drop

Incident Angle (degree) Drop Height (meter)
Item
Model
0 4 8 2 3 4
Flat
Light
Heavy

SIMULATION

In this section, the method how to simulate the wet drop tests
numerically by each participant is introduced in brief.

Methodology

HHI
MSC/DYTRAN was used for both of fluid and structure models
adopting General coupling. FSI was carried out by solving equations of
motion for the structure and the fluid simultaneously at each time step.

ABS
At the first stage, pressure distribution history on the drop specimen
Inner hull
Mastic
Strain gauge
(plywood)
Strain gauge
(mastic)
Pressure gauge
R-PUF
Primary barrier (STS 304L)

was computed by using FLUENT under the assumption of the rigid
body. The computed impact pressure, which was subdivided into 4 by 4
patch loads, was used as the input loads on the structural model
coupled with the fluid element, to consider FSI effect in indirect way,
for the dynamic structure analysis (ABS, 2006). MSC/DYTRAN was
used for the dynamic structure analysis adopting Euler coupling
between the structure and fluid elements.

BV
A modal method was used to perform hydro-elastic coupled analysis of
impact calculation. At the first stage, eigen-modes of the structure were
calculated using ABAQUS to be transferred to BVs in-house program
for hydro-elastic coupling, which was based on the Wagners impact
theory and variational inequality method (Gazzola et al., 2006 and
Malenica et al., 2006). Then for each time step of the simulation, BVs
in-house solver iterated to find the mutually dependent hydrodynamic
load and structural response; convergence was achieved using
Newtons algorithm. Using this technique and programs the required
CPU time and data storage capacity necessary for the calculation of
hydro-elastic problems were significantly reduced

LR
Three approaches were examined. The first one was FEA-only
approach by using ABAQUS. The fluid and the structure were entirely
modeled by finite elements and calculated simultaneously. The second
one was 1-way coupled approach by linking STAR-CD to ABAQUS
via MpCCI. STAR-CD calculated pressure distribution on the drop
specimen surface at each time step under assumption of the rigid body,
and ABAQUS calculated dynamic structure response under the
transmitted pressure history. The third one was 2-way coupled
approach by linking STAR-CD and ABAQUS each other via MpCCI.
STAR-CD calculated pressure distribution on the drop specimen
surface at certain time step under the assumption of the rigid body, and
ABAQUS calculated deformation of structural body for calculation of
STAR-CD at the next time step. Then, STAR-CD calculated pressure
distribution on the drop specimen surface again at the next time step
with the deformed rigid body, and this calculated pressure distribution
was transmitted to ABAQUS for calculation of structure response at the
next time step. This procedure of calculation and transmission was
repeated during the whole calculation period. Only two cases of drop
tests were selected to illustrate the effect of coupling methods, namely
Flat specimen cases dropped at 4 meter height with incident angles of 0
and 4.

Model

HHI
Figure 6 shows the drop structure model of Light specimen, partly cut
for visibility, with the membrane up and the housing down (a) and in
the drop position with the membrane down and the housing up (b). The
exact complex corrugation geometry was replaced by simplified
corrugation geometry. A contact was defined between the membrane
and the top plywood. Rigid connections were defined between the
secondary barrier and the primary insulation foam. Other bonding and
welding connections were modeled by having common nodes. A
contact was defined between the primary/secondary insulation foam
and the housing. All 16 hinge lugs, which were welded to the eight
corners on two sides of the steel housing, were modeled. Supporting
brackets and LM guide sliders were not directly modeled, but their
mass was divided into 16 lugs as concentrated mass. The restraining
effect of supporting brackets and LM guides was modeled by
restraining the motion in X and Y global directions at the hinge axis of
each lug. Figure 7 shows the fluid model. A special consideration for
air flow between membrane corrugation and water surface, as well as
water behavior in the impact area was taken account. Fluid domain
dimensions were taken 5 x 5 x 4 meters in breadth x width x height.
The lower 3 meters were filled with water as in the actual basin, and the
upper 1 meter was filled with air. To keep the possible minimum
number of elements for calculation efficiency, mesh size was gradually
increased (biased) from the center towards corners. 1 bar boundary
condition was applied at out 5 faces of air region. Outer boundaries of
water region were closed. Air was assumed to be an ideal gas with a
gas constant of 1.4 and density of 1.18 kg/m
3
. Water was modeled as
compressible fluid using a polynomial equation of state. Density was
taken as 1,000 kg/m
3
and bulk modulus was taken as 2.2 GPa. The total
number of fluid elements was about 370,000.

(a)

(b)

Fig. 6 Drop structure model of HHI

Pressure=1bar
Rigid wall

Fig. 7 Fluid model of HHI

ABS
Figure 8 shows a typical CFD model of FLUENT to calculate the
pressure time history of Light/Heavy specimen with 0 incident angle.
In consideration of symmetry, half or one-forth of the fluid and the
structure was modeled. The structure was a rigid body. Water was
modeled as incompressible fluid and air was modeled as compressible
ideal gas. Material properties of air and water were provided within
FLUENT material database. Grid sizes were 6.25 ~20 mm depending
on the type of specimens and incident angles. Figure 9 shows the FE
model. The top surface of the structure was contacting with the fluid,
which was modeled by isotropic elastic fluid element. Corrugation of
the membrane was not considered for the structure analysis.

Fig. 8 CFD model of ABS (corrugated membrane with 0 indent angle)

(a) Steel casing (b) Mastics

(c) RPUF & Plywood (d) Membrane

Fig. 9 FE model of ABS

BV
Figure 10 shows the FE model of Light/Heavy specimens. In
consideration of the structure and load symmetry, only one half of the
specimen was modeled and analyzed. The interaction of the analyzed
part with the test rig structure was defined as fix boundary conditions at
four specimen hinge points. The rig structure was assumed as rigid
during the impact phase. The mutual interaction between the different
structural parts could be characterized as tie and therefore the following
pairs were defined in FE model: mastic rope-housing, mastic rope-
secondary plywood, secondary plywood-secondary foam, primary
foam-primary plywood, primary membrane edges-housing, vertical
housing plates-RPUF vertical surfaces and primary membrane-primary
plywood surface. Different mesh size was tested to determine the
proper finite elements dimension which allowed enough stabile and
precise results and also reasonable computing time and required data
storage capacity. The utilized FE mesh size for the insulation structure
was about 30 x 30 mm and total number of elements in FE model was
about 15,000.

Fig. 10 FE model of BV

For the discretization and analysis of the fluid domain, the finite
boundary elements method was used. Therefore only the contact
surface of the fluid domain had to be meshed. To properly calculate
pressure distribution on the impact surface a very fine mesh should be
defined in the proximity of contact line during the whole duration of
impact. To successfully follow the contact line displacement over the
impact surface, extremely fine mesh should be defined over the whole
surface. This would require a significant number of elements, as well as
computing time and data storage capacity. To avoid these difficulties
an adaptive meshing technique could be applied. At each calculation
time step, a new mesh for the fluid domain was generated having the
smallest element size in the proximity of contact line. For the
illustration of applied adaptive meshing technique, the mesh of impact
surface for two instant t
1
and t
2
(with t
1
<t
2
) is given in Fig. 11. It could
be noted that the mesh refinement follows the evolution of the contact
line.

Fig. 11 Mesh on the impacted surface at instant t
1
and instant t
2

LR
Figure 12 shows the FE model, which was used for FEA-only
approach. Characteristics of the dropping unit model are similar to
those of ABS, except the corrugated membrane. Geometry of the
corrugated membrane was modeled precisely by using very fine mesh.
Water was modeled by elements with very small shear viscosity value
of 1.0E-10 Ns/mm
2
. Air was not modeled. Figure 13 shows CFD model
of STAR-CD for 1-way and 2-way coupled approach. A pressure
boundary condition was applied to the upper most part of the domain.
All other boundaries were no slip walls. In CFD model, compressibility
of both water and air was taken into account.

Fig. 12 FE model of LR for FEA-only approach

Computational domain with Local mesh refinement around
moving mesh setup the box and corrugation surface

Fig. 13 CFD model of LR

Material Properties

All participants agreed to use exactly the same material data. Material
properties used in simulations are listed in Table 2.

Table 2. Material properties
Unit: MPa, ton/mm
3

Plywood RPUF Triplex Mastics Membrane Steel
En 8900 142 13133 2934 200000 206000
E
s
7500 142 - 2934 200000 206000
E
t
520 84 9100 2934 200000 206000
n
ns
0.17 0.24 0.3 0.3 0.27 0.3
nnt 0.17 0.18 - 0.3 0.27 0.3
nst 0.17 0.18 - 0.3 0.27 0.3
G
ns
196 12.2 - - - -
G
nt
196 12.2 - - - -
Gst 196 12.2 - - - -
Density 7.10E-10 1.25E-10 2.50E-09 1.50E-09 7.85E-09 7.85E-09
Model Ortho Ortho Iso Iso Iso Iso
Simulation Cases

HHI
All 20 test cases of wet drop given in Table 1 and the static load test
were simulated.

ABS
Four cases of following drop tests were simulated.
- Flat and Light specimens with 0 incident angle at 2 meter drop height
(Pressure only)
- Flat specimen with 4 incident angle at 2 meter drop height (Pressure
only)
- Heavy specimen with 0 incident angle at 2 meter drop height

BV
Twelve cases of following drop tests and the static load test were
simulated. The further development of hydrodynamic code which is in
progress needs to cover impact with 0 incident angle.
- Flat specimen with 4 and 8 incident angles at drop height equal to 2
,3 and 4 meters
- Light specimen with 4 and 8 incident angles at drop height equal to
2, 3 and 4 meters

LR
Nine cases of following drop tests and the static load test were
simulated.
- Flat specimen with 0 incident angle at 3 meter drop height
(including 2-way coupled approach)
(including 2-way coupled approach)
- Light specimen with 0 and 4 incident angles at 3 and 4 meters drop
height
- Heavy specimen with 0 incident angle at 2 meter drop height

CUT-UP OF SPECIMENS

After drop tests, internal damages and fabrication quality of all
specimens were checked by dismantling steel housing and slicing CCS
by 50 mm interval, as shown in Fig. 14. Some damages were found at
corrugated membranes as shown in Fig. 15. In case of Light specimen,
large corrugations were buckled due to pressure and small corrugations
were bent due to jet flow. In case of Heavy specimen, however, large
corrugations only were buckled and there was no damage in small
corrugations because the drop test with an incident angle was not
carried out. Some cracks on RPUF underneath mastics were found, as
shown in Fig. 16, in case of Flat specimen. The main cause of the crack
is assumed to be stress concentration under pressure loading and
repeated drop tests.

Figure 17 shows bonding status of the mastic to the plywood at the
middle part of three specimens. Due to poor craftsmanship, there were
a lot of cavities in the mastic. In case of Flat specimen, bonding
between the mastic and the bottom plywood was protruded quite a lot,
which was expected to affect the bending response of the plywood near
to the mastic. In case of Light specimen, the bonding status was worse
than the one of Flat specimen. There were noticeable defects of
bonding between the mastic and the plywood. Among three specimens,
the bonding in Heavy specimen was comparatively quite good.

EVALUATION OF SIMULATION RESULTS

Static Load

Fig. 14 Slicing CCS

(a) Light specimen (b) Heavy specimen

Fig. 15 Damaged membrane of Light and Heavy specimens

Fig. 16 Cracks on RPUF of Flat specimen

(a) Flat specimen

(b) Light specimen

(c) Heavy specimen

Fig. 17 Bonding status of mastic to plywood

After all drop tests, static load tests were carried out and strain
distributions on the bottom plywood of specimens were measured to
check the integrity of the physical specimens and measuring gauges.
Figure 18 shows how to carry out the static load test. The static load
tests with Flat and Heavy specimens only were carried out. In case of
Light specimen, the static load test could not be carried out because the
signal cables were already removed after the drop tests. HHI, BV and
LR simulated the static load test by using each own method and
structure model. Since the numerical models were identical except for
the membrane and the mass, which should not have a large effect on

results, each partys simulation was carried out for only one model of
either Flat or Heavy.

Figure 19 shows the comparison of measurements and simulations at
the static load weight of 1,440 Kg. The measurement result of Flat
specimen shows very strange strain distribution comparing to those of
Heavy specimen and simulations. This seems mainly due to poor
bonding and quality of the mastic, as described previously. In Heavy
specimen, the measured strain values and distribution closely
correspond to those obtained in simulations, although they are not
symmetry. These results, in line with those obtained by cut-up
specimens, indicate that comparisons of simulated strains with
measured results during drop tests may be meaningful only in case of
Heavy specimen.

(a) 0 Kg (b) 40 Kg (c) 540 Kg

(d) 1,040 Kg (e) 1,440 Kg

Fig. 18 Weight set up for static load test (Heavy specimen)

- 300
- 200
- 100
0
100
200
300
- 200 - 160 - 120 - 80 - 40 0 40 80 120 160 200
Distance(mm)
S
t
r
a
in
(
)
Flat- measured
Heavy- measured
HHI- simulation
LR- simulation
BV- simulation
Position
of
mastic

Fig. 19 Comparison of strains at plywood under static load of 1,440 Kg

Wet Drop

During drop tests, velocity of drop specimens was calculated using
tracking points in pictures taken by a high speed camera and bundled
software. To get the drop accelerations in drop tests, the slope of the
obtained velocity time histories were calculated. The averaged
acceleration was 8.787 m/s
2
and the averaged final entry velocity was
94.6% of the free fall theoretical value calculated from the gravitational
acceleration assuming no resistance or friction. Accordingly, it was
decided to take the velocity as 95% of the free fall theoretical velocity
for simulations.

Pressure Time History

Figures 20 and 21 show typical comparisons of pressure time histories
at the membrane center (P2) of Flat and Light specimens with the
incident angle of 4 at drop height of 2 and 4 meters, respectively. Due
to differences between time zero in simulations of each party and time
zero in drop tests, all results are shifted on the time axis such that the
time of maximum pressure at P2 in measurements is matched with the
time of that pressure in simulations.

HHI
Peak pressures in simulations are generally close to or a little lower
than those in measurements. Pressure durations in simulations are about
20% longer in general than those in measurements. Especially, quick
rising of pressure is not as apparent as that of measurements. These
differences between the results of simulations and measurements seem
to be mainly owing to the size of meshes in the simulation model. The
mesh size in simulations was 20 x 20 mmfor the structure model and
30 x 30 mm for the fluid model, whereas the pressure gauge in
measurements was 6 mm diameter. Further research work will be
carried out to verify the effect of the mesh size.

ABS
The simulated pressure shows good agreement in magnitude and shape
with the measured pressure for the most of the cases. It is of interest to
note that simulated pressure agrees well with the experimental value
although fluid-structure interaction was not considered in the CFD
simulation.

BV
When the problem is strongly hydro-elastic, measured/calculated
pressure seems not proper value for the evaluation and comparison.
Structural response during the impact in hydro-elastic coupled analysis
has to be expressed and compared based on the structural deformation
and induced stresses. The load, i.e. pressure is the value which doesnt
have particular meaning in this kind of analysis. Even measurements of
pressure, in particular pressure peak value is extremely difficult and
could be influenced by many local phenomena. For the purpose of this
project and for the demanded comparison, pressure as one intermediate
result was extracted from calculations. Comparison of calculated results
with measurements is shown in Fig. 20. For the cases with flat primary
membrane calculated values have fairly good agreement with
measurements. In general, calculated peak values are higher than
measured. For the cases with corrugated primary membrane, calculated
peak values were much higher than measured.

LR
It is clear from Figs. 20 and 21 that, as expected, CFD prediction of the
flow field and the resulting pressures are much more accurate than the
FEA simplified approach. Furthermore it was not possible to obtain
direct reading of pressure within the FEA code and therefore it had to
be obtained indirectly via stresses in the vertices nearest to the position
of the pressure gauges during experiment. This was furthermore
complicated by the noise in the results from the explicit solver which
required filtering. The resulting pressure plots exhibit several spikes in
the curve which are not observed in the measurements. Taking all
results into consideration, it is clear that the ABAQUS simplified water
model is not very accurate in reproducing local fluid behavior in any
great detail. CFD, on the other hand, generally shows excellent

agreement between predictions and measurements, both in terms of the
magnitude and in terms of the behavior of pressure. This accuracy was
achieved by taking all elements of the drop into consideration: the drop
started at the appropriate height (3 or 4 meters) and was fully tracked
until the point of impact when coupling with ABAQUS was engaged.
Compressibility of both water and air was taken into account. Fine
mesh in the vicinity of the membrane allowed for high resolution of
water surface deformation during the impact and accurate pressure
distribution across the whole of the surface. The drawback in achieving
this accuracy was the relatively long run-time. Some compromises have
therefore to be made to keep run-times within practical limits, but, as
figures demonstrate, little is sacrificed in terms of accuracy.

Strain Time History

As described previously, it was hard to compare the structural
responses one by one between simulations and measurements, due to
poor bonding and quality of the mastics in specimens. Among signals
of gauges, values of SP8 rather seemed to show close relation to results
of simulations, because it was located between mastics. In this regard,
comparisons of strain time histories at SP8 position only are presented
in this paper. Figures 22 and 23 show typical comparisons of strain

0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
time [sec]
-4
0
4
8
12
16
20
24
28
32
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

[
b
a
r
]
Pressure P2- flat, 2m, 4d
PNU
HHI
ABS
BV

(a) Drop height 2 meter

(b) Drop height 4 meter

Fig. 20 Pressure time history at P2 of Flat specimen (incident angle 4)
time histories at SP8 position of the bottom plywood of Flat and Light
specimens with the incident angle of 4 at drop height of 2 and 4
meters, respectively. Figure 24 shows comparison of strain time
histories at SP8 position of the bottom plywood in Heavy specimen at
the drop height of 2 meter with 0 incident angle. As the case of pressure
time history, all results are shifted on the time axis such that the time of
maximum pressure at P2 in measurements is matched with the time of
that pressure in simulations.

HHI
All results of simulations show good agreement with those of
measurements in general according to comparisons of strain time
histories at SP8.

ABS
Both magnitude and shape of the simulated strain response show good
agreement with the measured results.

BV
The strain results of simulations show good agreement with those of
measurements. Calculated strains are in general slightly higher than
measured values; this might be due to the structural FE model which
doesnt have defined damping materials property.

0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
time [sec]
-4
0
4
8
12
16
20
24
28
32
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

[
b
a
r
]

Pressure P2- light, 2m, 4d
PNU
HHI


0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
time [sec]
-4
0
4
8
12
16
20
24
28
32
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

[
b
a
r
]

Pressure P2- light, 4m, 4d
PNU
HHI
LR(FEA-only)
LR(CFD-1way)


0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
time [sec]
-4
0
4
8
12
16
20
24
28
32
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

[
b
a
r
]

Pressure P2- flat, 4m, 4d
PNU
HHI
LR(FEA-only)
LR(CFD-1way)
LR(CFD-2way)
BV

Fig. 21 Pressure time history at P2 of Light specimen (incident angle 4)
LR
What the results show for the cases with the incident angle of 0 is the
following:
- Both FEA-only (simplified water model) and CFD 1-way coupling
over-predict the measured strains.
- The simplified water model in FEA does not cope well with the 0
degree impact and produces unrealistic spikes in the filtered data
which are visible both in pressure results and resulting strains.
- CFD 1-way predicts pressure well, providing the correct input to
stress calculations which results in the smooth strain curves similar in
character to those measured. However, strain magnitude is over-
predicted compared with measurements to about the same level as the
FEA-only model. This suggests that spikes generated by the FEA
water model do not have an important influence on the maximum
strain values. It also suggests that the structural response is less
sensitive to the prediction accuracy of local pressure variations.
- Calculated strains with CFD 2-way coupling are much closer to those
measured. For point SP8, predicted strain magnitudes match
measurements quite well, although the measured values show sharper
rise and fall. This is an encouraging result and the outcome, which
one would hope to see when the full feedback of 2-way coupling is
introduced. Unfortunately, 2-way coupling has a dramatic effect on
the predicted pressures by reducing the peak magnitude by about

0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
time [sec]
-3000
-2000
-1000
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
M
i
c
r
o
-
S
t
r
a
i
n
Strain of backplywood - SP8, flat, 2m, 4d
PNU
HHI
BV


0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
time [sec]
-3000
-2000
-1000
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
M
i
c
r
o
-
S
t
r
a
i
n
Strain of backplywood - SP8, flat, 4m, 4d
PNU
HHI
LR(FEA-only)
LR(CFD-1way)
LR(CFD-2way)
BV


Fig. 22 Strain time history at SP8 of Flat specimen (incident angle 4)
40%. This in effect means that in order to match measurements, the
solid stress model has to see much lower pressures than the
experimental measurements show.

To assess whether the same findings are applicable to any of other
cases, the cases with the incident angle of 4 are run 2-way coupled
(Fig. 22). While the outcome agrees with the previous case in most
points, one significant difference is observed: strains are over-predicted
compared to measurements even with a 2-way coupling although
pressures again show a clear drop to below measured values. These
findings indicate that there may be a mismatch between the stress
model and the tested physical sample. Due to the complex structural
design of the Mark III corrugated section, it is difficult to ascertain
what has the biggest influence, but the computed strains suggest that
the models need to be generally stiffer in order to predict lower strains
in response to recorded pressures. A stiffer model would results in the
lower deformations being passed over to CFD model and, one would
expect, a smaller drop in the 2-way coupled pressure prediction.

Potential issues with material properties could also be linked to static
tests. From Fig. 19, it is clear that strain over-prediction can be
observed for a static load condition although this is much less
pronounced than for the actual drop case (dynamic impact). All this ties

0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
time [sec]
-3000
-2000
-1000
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
M
i
c
r
o
-
S
t
r
a
i
n
Strain of backplywood - SP8, light, 2m, 4d
PNU
HHI
BV


0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
time [sec]
-3000
-2000
-1000
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
M
i
c
r
o
-
S
t
r
a
i
n
Strain of backplywood - SP8, light, 4m, 4d
PNU
HHI
LR(FEA-only)
LR(CFD-1way)
BV


Fig. 23 Strain time history at SP8 of Light specimen (incident angle 4)

0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
time [sec]
-3000
-2000
-1000
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
M
i
c
r
o
-
S
t
r
a
i
n
Strain of backplywood - SP8, heavy, 2m, 0d
PNU
HHI
ABS
LR(FEA-only)
LR(CFD-1way)

Fig. 24 Strain time history at SP8 of Heavy specimen
(drop height 2 meter, no incident angle)

in with the overall impression that the complexity of the Mark III
section and inherent difficulty in assigning accurate material properties
could result in the solid model not being accurate enough to allow good
prediction of strains.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

To establish a reliable prediction method of LNG CCS response to
sloshing loads, physical wet drop tests of CCS specimens and their
numerical simulations were carried out by four parties of HHI, ABS,
BV and LR using each partys own method, under the name of J DP for
Wet Drop Test Simulation. Three types of the specimen were fabricated
and drop-tested by PNU. Flat and Light specimens were tested at drop
heights of 2, 3 and 4 meter in combination with incident angles of 0, 4
and 8. Heavy specimen was tested at drop heights of 2 and 3 meter
only without an incident angle. Comparison works of pressure and
strain time histories between the results of measurements and
simulations were performed.

According to comparisons of pressure time histories on the membrane,

results of each partys simulation show good agreement with those of
measurements in general, even though some parties results require
some further consideration. In case of strain time histories, it was
verified through static load tests and cutting-up specimens that results
of measurements were not so reliable due to poor craftsmanship in
mixing and bonding mastics during fabrication of specimens.
Notwithstanding errors in measurements, comparisons of strain time
histories at a typical location of the bottom plywood between mastics,
where strain signals in static load tests showed relatively close relation
to results of simulations, were performed. All results of each partys
simulations present reasonable response of strain time histories.

In line with findings and outcomes through this J DP, it is highly
recommended to proceed with next stage of a development project to
establish more practical and rational assessment procedure for CCS and
supporting hull structures of LNG carriers under sloshing loads.

REFERENCES

American Bureau of Shipping (2006). Guidance Notes on Strength
assessment of Membrane-Type LNG Containment Systems under
Sloshing Loads
Chung, J Y, Lee, J H, Kwon, SH, Ha, MK, Bang, CS, Lee, J N, and Kim,
J J (2006). Wet Drop Test for LNG Insulation System, Proc 16
th

(2006) Int Offshore and Polar Eng Conf, Vol III, pp 199-204, San
Francisco
Gazzola, T, Korobkin, A, and Malenica, S (2006). Hydro-elastic
Wagner Impact using Variational Inequalities, Proc Int Workshop
on Water Waves and Floating Bodies, Loughborough
Malenica, S, Korobkin, A, Gueret, R, Delafosse, V, Gazzola, T,
Mravak, Z, and Zalar, M (2006). Hydro-elastic Impacts in the
Tanks of LNG Carriers, Proc 4
th
(2006) Int Conf on
Hydroelasticity, Wuxi
Nam, SK, Kim, WS, Noh, BJ , Shin, HC, Choe, IH, Park, KH, Kim, DE,
and Rashed S (2005). Structural Response of Membrane Tanks to
Sloshing Load in a Mark III Type LNG Carrier, Proc 19
th
(2005)
TEAM Conf, pp 347-352, Singapore
Nam, SK, Kim, WS, Noh, BJ , Shin, HC and Choe, IH, (2006). The
Parametric Study on the Response of Membrane Tanks in a Mark
III Type LNG Carrier Using Fully Coupled Hydro-elastic Model,
Proc Int Conf on ICSOT 2006: Design, Construction & Operation
of Natural Gas Carriers & Offshore Systems, pp 147-154, Busan

Copyright 2008 by ASME 1

HYDROELASTIC ASPECTS OF LARGE CONTAINER SHIPS

Ivo Senjanovi
University of Zagreb
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
and Naval Architecture
I. Lucica 5, 10000 Zagreb
Croatia

ime Malenica
Bureau Veritas
17 bis, Place des Reflets, La
Dfense 2
Paris La Defense Cedex 92077
France

Stipe Tomaevi, Marko Tomi
University of Zagreb
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
and Naval Architecture
I. Lucica 5, 10000 Zagreb
Croatia

ABSTRACT
The importance of hydroelastic analysis of large and flexible
container ships of today is pointed out. A methodology for
investigation of this challenging phenomenon is drawn up and a
mathematical model is worked out. It includes definition of ship
geometry, mass distribution, structure stiffness, and combines ship
hydrostatics, hydrodynamics, wave load, ship motion and vibrations.
Based on the presented theory, a computer program is developed and
applied for hydroelastic analysis of a flexible segmented barge for
which model test results of motion and distortion in waves have been
available. A correlation analysis of numerical simulation and
measured response shows quite good agreement of the transfer
functions for heave, pitch, roll, vertical and horizontal bending and
torsion. The developed tool is furthermore used for hydroelastic
analysis of a large container ship.

1. INTRODUCTION
Large container ships are very flexible and their structural natural
frequencies can fall into the range of the encounter frequencies in an
ordinary sea spectrum. Therefore, the wave induced hydroelastic
response becomes an important issue especially for improving the
classification rules and ensuring ship safety. For container ships, due
to open cross-section, the lowest elastic natural modes are those of
coupled horizontal and torsional vibrations. This coupling is highly
pronounced due to the fact that the shear (torsional) centre is below
the keel, i.e. far from the centre of gravity. The classical approach to
determine ship motions and wave loads is based on the assumption
that the ship hull acts as a rigid body [1]. That approach is not
reliable enough for ultra large ships due to mutual influence of the
wave load and structure response. Therefore, a reliable solution
requires analysis of wave load and ship vibrations (springing and
whipping) as a coupled hydroelastic problem.

The hydroelastic theory has been established by Bishop and Price as
the unified strip-beam theory [2]. The hull model is represented by
the Timoshenko beam and the fluid action by the strip theory [3]. The
hydroelastic theory is extended to general floating structures in such a
way that the space structural modes are obtained by the finite element
method and the fluid action is determined by a three-dimensional
potential theory [4].

One of the most recent detailed investigations of ship hydroelasticity
in case of bulk carrier is elaborated in [5]. Timoshenko beam
idealization and 3D FEM model combined with potential flow theory
are applied. The vertical bending responses obtained from one- and
three-dimensional models are in good agreement, while differences
are observed for the horizontal bending and twisting responses. This
may be due to inadequate modelling of the highly non-prismatic hull
girder, discontinuities between open and closed cross-section
segments, and warping effects [6].

The above state-of-the-art gave incentive to further investigation of
this challenging problem. The present paper is intended to propose
the consistent theory for hydroelastic coupling between the structural
model, represented by either 1D beam model or 3D FEM model, and
3D hydrodynamic model. The well known principles of the modal
superposition method are employed. However, the proposed model is
slightly different: namely in the way in which hydrostatics is taken
into account and in the way the coupling with 3D hydrodynamic
model is performed.

The methodology of hydroelastic analysis, which includes definition
of the structural model, ship and cargo mass distributions, and
geometrical model of ship surface, is shown in Fig. 1 according
to [7]. First, dry natural vibrations are calculated, and then modal
hydrostatic stiffness, modal added mass, damping and modal wave
load are determined. Finally, wet natural vibrations are obtained as
well as the transfer functions (RAO-response amplitude operator) for
determining ship structural response to wave excitation.

OMAE2008
OMAE2008-57111

FIGURE 1. METHODOLOGY OF HYDROELASTIC
ANALYSIS

2. STRUCTURAL MODEL
The hydroelastic problem can be solved at different levels of
complexity and accuracy. The best, but highly time-consuming way,
is to consider 3D FEM structural model and 3D hydrodynamic model
based on the radiation-diffraction theory. Such an approach is
recommended only for the final strength analysis of ship structures.
However, in the preliminary strength analysis, it is more rational and
convenient to couple 1D FEM model of ship hull with 3D
hydrodynamic model.

1D FEM procedure for vertical ship hull vibrations is well known in
literature [1]. Coupled horizontal and torsional vibrations are a more
complex problem. The matrix finite element equation for coupled
natural vibrations yields [8]
{ } [ ] { } [ ] { }
e
e e e e
f k m = +

, (1)
where
{f}
e
nodal forces vector
{}
e
nodal displacements vector
[k]
e
stiffness matrix
[m]
e
mass matrix.

These quantities consist of flexural and torsional parts
{ } { }
e e
e e
,
P U
f
R V

= =
` `
) )
(2)
[ ] [ ]
e e
0
, .
0
bs sb st
wt ts tw
k m m
k m
k m m
( (
= =
( (

(3)
Vectors of nodal forces and displacements are
{ } { }
(0) (0)
(0) (0)
, ,
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
w
w
T Q
B M
P R
T l Q l
B l M l

= =
` `

) )
(4)
{ } { }
(0) (0)
(0) (0)
, .
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
w
U V
w l l
l l

= =
` `

) )
(5)
In the above formulae symbols Q, M, T and B
w
denote shear force,
bending moment, torque and warping bimoment, respectively. Also,
, , and w are deflection, rotation of cross-section, twist angle
and its variation, respectively. The submatrices have the following
meaning:

[k
bs
] bending - shear stiffness matrix
[k
wt
] warping - torsion stiffness matrix
[m
sb
] shear - bending mass matrix
[m
tw
] torsion - warping mass matrix
[m
st
] = [m
ts
]
T
shear - torsion mass matrix.

It is evident that coupling between horizontal and torsional vibrations
is realised through the mass matrix due to eccentricity of the centre of
gravity and shear centre.

Before assembling of finite elements it is necessary to transform Eq.
(1) in such a way that all the nodal forces as well as nodal
displacement, Eqs. (4) and (5), are related to the first and then to the
second node. Furthermore, Eq. (1) has to be transformed from local
to global coordinate system. The origin of the former is located at the
shear centre, and of the latter at the base line.

Regardless of the FEM approach for the structural model, the
governing matrix equation of dry natural hull vibrations yields [9]
[ ] [ ]
( )
{ } { }
2
0 = K M , (6)
where
[K] - stiffness matrix
[M] - mass matrix
- dry natural frequency
{} - dry natural mode.

As solution of the eigenvalue problem (6),
i
and {}
i
are obtained
for each i-th dry mode, where i = 1,2...N, N is total number of degrees
of freedom. Now the natural modes matrix can be constituted
[ ] { } { } { } { } , ... ...
1 2 i N
(
=

, (7)
and the modal stiffness and mass can be determined [9]
[ ] [ ] [ ][ ] [ ] [ ] [ ][ ] ,
T T
= = k K m M . (8)
Since the dry natural vectors are mutually orthogonal, matrices [k]
and [m] are diagonal. Terms k
i
and
2
i i
m represent deformation
energy and kinetic energy of the i-th mode, respectively.

Note that generally the first six natural frequencies
i
are zero with
corresponding eigenvectors representing the rigid body modes. As a
result, the first six diagonal elements of [k] are also zero, while the
first three elements in [m] are equal to structure mass, the same in all
directions x, y, z, and the next three elements represent the mass
moment of inertia around the coordinate axes.

3. GEOMETRICAL MODEL OF WETTED SURFACE
For determining pressure forces acting on the wetted surface it is
necessary to specify panels and their position in space. Wet surface is
given by offsets of waterline ordinates at body plan stations. If the
strip method is used for pressure calculation, then the panels bounded
with two close stations can be used.

If 3D radiation-diffraction theory is used for hydrodynamic pressure
determination, the wetted surface mesh can be created in such a way
that panels of more regular shape and refined subdivision in the area
of the free surface are achieved [10]. Such a rational mesh is shown
in Fig. 2, where the panel rows follow the ship body diagonals
similarly to the structural elements of ship outer shell. In this way, the
efficiency of hydrodynamic calculation is increased.

FIGURE 2. RATIONAL MESH OF WETTED SURFACE

4. DRY MODES OF WETTED SURFACE
As mentioned in Section 2, structural dry modes can be determined
by 1D or 3D FEM analysis. If 1D analysis is used, the beam modes
are spread to the ship wetted surface as follows.

Vertical vibration
d
( )
d
w
v
Z z w
v N v
x
= + h i k , (9)
horizontal vibration
d
d
w
h
Y w
h h
x
= + h i j , (10)
torsional vibration
( ) Z z Y
t S
= h j k , (11)
where w is hull deflection, is twist angle, Y and Z are coordinates of
the point on ship surface, and z
N
and z
S
are coordinates of neutral line
and shear centre respectively.

If strong coupling between horizontal and torsional vibration occurs,
as in the case of container ships, the coupled mode yields
d
d
( )
d d
w
h
Y u w Z z Y
ht h S
x x

| |
(
| = + + +
|
\
h i j k , (12)
where ( , , ) u u x Y Z = is the cross-section warping function reduced
to the wetted surface [11].

5. HYDRODYNAMIC MODEL
5.1. General
The fully consistent and efficient seakeeping model with forward
speed, even for rigid body, does not exist yet and only the
approximate models are employed for the time being. These
approximated models spread from the so called 2D strip theories,
over so called encounter frequency approximation (main effect is put
on the change of frequency due to speed) and different 3D
approximations based on the exact forward speed Green function
with or without coupling with the ship steady flow, to non-linear time
domain seakeeping models. However, according to the authors
knowledge, none of the above methods has been validated enough,
and the problem is still open.

The most widely used method, the one based on the encounter
frequency approximation, is applied in this study, even if the method
utilizing the exact forward speed Green function (together with so
called Neuman-Kelvin approximation) is also implemented in the
software used [12].

The choice of hydrodynamic model is not likely to change the
general conclusions of this paper, because the experience shows that,
in the case of a rigid body, the encounter frequency method agrees
quite well with more complicated methods, at least for the global ship
loadings. This, however, does not mean that we should forget this
important assumption, and that point should be kept in mind when
more detailed correlations with experiments and full scale results will
be undertaken.

Anyhow, the coupling procedure does not depend on the used
hydrodynamic model, and is therefore described here for the zero
speed case, as the simplest one.

5.2. Theoretical Background
The harmonic hydroelastic problem is considered in frequency
domain and therefore we operate with amplitudes of forces and
displacement. In order to perform coupling of the structural and
hydrodynamic models, it is necessary to subdivide the external
pressure forces in a convenient manner [13]. First, the total
hydrodynamic force F
h
has to be split into two parts: the first part F
R

depending on the structural deformations, and the second one F
DI

representing pure excitation
h R DI
F F F = + . (13)
Furthermore, the modal superposition method can be used. The
vector of the wetted surface deformations H

(x, y, z) can be presented
as a series of dry natural modes h
i
(x, y, z)
( , , ) ( , , )
1
( , , ) ( , , ) ( , , ) ,
1
N
x y z x y z
i i
i
N
i i i
h x y z h x y z h x y z
i x y z
i
=
=
(
= + +
(

=
H h
i j k
(14)
where
i
are unknown modal coefficients. Vectors h
i
(x, y, z) related
to wetted surface are obtained from the structural dry modes as
explained in the previous section.

As far as the hydrodynamic part of the hydroelastic problem is
concerned, the potential flow theory is adopted. Within this approach
the fluid is assumed inviscid and fluid flow irrotational, so that the
velocity potential can be defined and the corresponding boundary
value problem can be formulated. The general seakeeping problem
for ship advancing with forward speed in waves is an extremely
difficult problem and only approximate solutions exist today. In this
paper we do not enter into the details of the pure hydrodynamic
analysis and we concentrate on the coupling principles only. Indeed,
the coupling procedure remains the same regardless of the
complexity of the boundary value problems for velocity potentials.

Thus, this coupling procedure is illustrated for the seakeeping
problem without forward speed. The total velocity potential , is
defined with the Laplace differential equation and the given boundary
values
0 within the fluid
0 at the free surface, 0
on the wetted body surface, ,
z
z
i S
n
+ = =
Hn
(15)
where is the wave number,
2
/ g = , is wave frequency, n is
the wetted surface normal vector, and i is the imaginary unit.

Furthermore, the linear wave theory enables the following
decomposition of the total potential
1
N
i
I D j Rj
j
= +
=
, (16)
where
( )
e
gA z ix
i
I
+
= (17)

- incident wave potential
- diffraction wave potential
- radiation wave potential
A - wave amplitude
I
D
Rj

Now, the body boundary conditions (15) can be deduced for each
potential
,
Rj
D I
j
n n n

= =

h n . (18)
It is necessary to point out that the diffraction and radiation potentials
should also satisfy the radiation condition at infinity.

Once the potentials are determined, the modal hydrodynamic forces
are calculated by pressure work integration over the wetted surface.
The total linearised pressure can be found from Bernoulli's equation
p i gz = . (19)
First, the term associated with the potential is considered and
subdivided into excitation and radiation parts (16)
( ) d
DI
F i S
i I D i
S
= +
h n , (20)
2
d
1
N
R
F S
i j Rj i
j S
=
=
h n . (21)
Thus, (20) represents the modal pressure excitation. Now one can
decompose (21) into the modal inertia force and the damping force
associated with acceleration and velocity respectively
2
Re( ) , Re d
1
N
a R
F F A A S
i i j ij ij Rj i
j S
= = =
=
h n , (22)
Im( ) , Im d
1
N
v R
F F B B S
i i j ij ij Rj i
j S
= = =
=
h n , (23)
where A
ij
and B
ij
are elements of added mass and damping matrices,
respectively.

Determination of added mass and damping for rigid body modes is a
well-known procedure in ship hydrodynamics [1]. Now the same
procedure is extended to the calculation of these quantities for elastic
modes.

The hydrostatic part of the total pressure, gz in (19) is considered
within the hydrostatic model.

6. HYDROSTATIC MODEL
6.1. Pressure Forces
Hydroelastic analysis is performed by the modal superposition
method. Modal forces represent work of actual static and dynamic
forces on rigid body and elastic mode displacements. Thus, modal
restoring forces consist of time-dependent modal pressure forces and
modal gravity forces. In order to specify the contribution of the
hydrostatic part of the total pressure, gz in (19), to hydrostatic
stiffness it is necessary to determine the change of the modal
hydrostatic force as the difference between its instantaneous value
and the initial value for the vibration mode h
i
of the body wetted
surface Z = Z (x, y) [14]
d d
H
F g Z S g Z S
i i i
S S
= +

h n h n

. (24)
Each of the above quantities can be presented in the form,
( )
( ) ( ) ... ... ... = + where denotes the variation. By neglecting small

terms of higher order, one can write for the modal hydrostatic
force (24)

( )d .
H
F g Z Z Z S
i i i i
S
= + +
h n h n h n (25)
Variation of the particular quantity can be determined by applying the
notion of directional derivative H , where H is given with (14)
and is Hamilton differential operator
1 1
N N
j j j
h h h
j j j x y z
x y z
j j

| |
= = + +
|

\
= =
H h . (26)

As a result
( ) , ( ) , ( ) Z Z
i i
= = = = H Hk h H h n H n . (27)

Determining the variation of the body surface normal vector, n,
according to (27) is a rather difficult task. Therefore, a relatively
simpler procedure, taken from [14], is applied. By using Eqs. (26),
(27) and n from [14], the modal hydrostatic force (25) can be
presented in the following form:
1
N
H H
F C
i j ij
j
=
=
, (28)
where
Hp H Hh Hn
C C C C
ij ij ij ij
= + + (29)
is the i,j-th element of the hydrostatic stiffness matrix, composed of
static pressure, surface mode and normal vector contributions,
respectively

( )d
Hp j i i i
C g h h n h n h n S
ij z x x y y z z
S
= + +
, (30)
d ,
i i i
h h h
j j j Hh x x x
C g Z h h h n
ij x y z x
x y z
S
i i i
h h h
y y y j j j
h h h n
x y z y
x y z
i i i
h h h
j j j
z z z
h h h n S
x y z z
x y z
| |

|
= + + +
|

|
\
| |

|
+ + +
|

|
\
( | |

( |
+ +
( |

|
(
\
(31)
d
j j
j j
h h
h h
y y
Hn i z z
C g Z n n n h
ij x y z x
y z x x
S
j j j j
h h h h
i x x z z
n n n h
x y z y
y x z y
j j
j j
h h
h h
y y
i x x
n n n h S
x y z z
z z x y
( | |

( |
= + +
( |

( |
\
( | |

( |
+ +
( |

|
(
\
( | |

( |

+
` ( |

( |
\ )
.
(32)

Note that the wetted surface coordinate Z is measured from the
waterplane. Based on the constitution of the above coefficients, it is
evident that the hydrostatic stiffness matrix is not diagonal.

In literature, various definitions of hydrostatic stiffness matrix can be
found [15], [16]. The advantage of the present method is that the
derived formulae are general and applicable for a complex body, as
well as for its parts. This is important for determining the local
hydrostatic action as internal loads, transfer of load to a FEM
structural model, etc.

6.2. Gravity forces
The above expressions represent only the action of the hydrostatic
pressure, and the gravity part has to be added in order to complete the
total restoring coefficients. Similarly to the pressure part, Eqs. (24)
and (25), a change of the generalised modal gravity force associated
with a particular mode yields [14]
d
m
F g m
i i
V
=

h k , (33)
where V is body volume and dm is differential mass.

By employing (27) and further (26) one can write
( ) d
1
N
m i m
F g h m C
i z j ij
j V
= =
=
H , (34)
where
d
i i i
h h h
j j j m z z z
C g h h h m
ij x y z
x y z
V
| |

|
= + +
|

|
\
. (35)

6.3. Restoring Stiffness
Finally, the complete restoring coefficients read
H m
C C C
ij ij ij
= + . (36)
It is important to point out that the above expressions for the
hydrostatic and gravity coefficients are general and therefore valid
not only for the elastic modes but also for the rigid body modes as
well as for their coupling [14].

7. HYDROELASTIC MODEL
After the structural, hydrostatic and hydrodynamic models have been
determined, the hydroelastic model can be constituted. For that
purpose, let us impose modal hydrodynamic forces (21), (22) and
(23) and hydrostatic and gravity forces (28), (33) to the modal
structural model, Section 2
[ ] [ ]
( )
{ } { } { } { } { } { }
2 DI a v H m
= + + + + k m F F F F F . (37)
Furthermore, all terms dependent on unknown modal amplitudes,
i
,
can be separated on the left hand side. Thus, the governing matrix
differential equation, which combines rigid body motions and
vibrations, is deduced
[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] ( ) [ ] [ ] ( ) { }{ } { }
2
( ) ( ) . i + + + = k C d B m A F (38)
where all quantities are related to the dry modes:

[k] - structural stiffness
[d] - structural damping
[m] - structural mass
[C] - restoring stiffness
[B()] - hydrodynamic damping
[A()] - added mass
{F} - wave excitation
- encounter frequency.

Structural damping can be given as a percentage of the critical value
based on experience with similar ships. As it is well-known, added
mass and hydrodynamic damping depends on the frequency. The
solution of (38) gives the modal amplitudes
i
and displacement of
any point of the structure obtained by retracking to (14).

The wet natural modes can also be determined by solving the
eigenvalue problem extracted from (38)
[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] ( )
{ }
{ } { }
2
( ) 0 + + = k C m A . (39)
Now damping is neglected since its influence on the eigenpair is very
small. The solution of (39) gives natural frequencies of ship motion
and vibration in water and the corresponding so-called wet natural
modes. Since added mass is a frequency dependent function, it is
evident that an iteration procedure has to be employed to solve (39).
Therefore, the wet modes are not orthogonal. Also, there are no more
zero natural frequencies and pure rigid body modes due to their
coupling with the elastic modes [13].

8. HYDROELASTICITY OF A FLEXIBLE BARGE
The implementation of the structural model in hydroelastic analysis is
checked in case of a flexible barge, for which test results are
available [7], [13]. The barge consists of 12 pontoons, which are
connected by a steel rod above the deck level, Figure 3.

FIGURE 3. BARGE IN WAVES
The deformation centre is above the gravity centre and strong
coupling between horizontal and torsional vibrations is achieved as in
case of container ships. For illustration, Figures 4 and 5 show
correlation of the calculated and the measured transfer function of
horizontal bending moment and torque, respectively, as function of
wave period T, [13], [17].

FIGURE 4. TRANSFER FUNCTION OF BARGE
HORIZONTAL BENDING MOMENT, c cc c=60

FIGURE 5. TRANSFER FUNCTION OF BARGE TORQUE,
c cc c =60
Also, convergence of the applied modal superposition method in
hydroelastic analysis is confirmed in the case of the same flexible
barge with no forward speed. Figure 6 shows absolute amplitude
values
i
of normalized modes. The first three modes are related to
sway, roll and yaw, while the remaining modes are elastic. All
diagrams are determined for heading angle =120
o
, and each of them
is a result of single wave length in the range /L=0.5-2.

FIGURE 6. MODAL AMPLITUDES OF COUPLED
HORIZONTAL AND TORSIONAL VIBRATIONS OF
FLEXIBLE BARGE, U=0 kn, c cc c=120

9. HYDROELASTICITY ANALYSIS OF CONTAINER
SHIP
9.1. Ship Particulars
The application of developed theory is illustrated in case of a 7800
TEU VLCS (Very Large Container Ship), Figure 7. The main vessel
particulars are the following:

Length overall L
oa
= 334 m
Length between perpendiculars L
pp
= 319 m
Breadth B = 42.8 m
Depth H = 24.6 m
Draught T = 14.5 m
Displacement, full load
f
= 135336 t
Displacement, ballast
b
= 68387 t
Engine power P = 69620 kW
Ship speed v = 25.4 kn .


FIGURE 7. 7800 TEU CONTAINER SHIP

The ship hull stiffness properties are calculated by program STIFF,
based on the theory of thin-walled girders [11]. The geometrical
properties rapidly change values in the engine and superstructure area
due to closed ship cross-section. This is especially pronounced in
case of torsional modulus, which takes quite small values for open
cross-section and rather high for the closed one [18].

9.2. Natural Vibrations
Dry natural vibrations are calculated by program DYANA [18]. The
ship hull is divided into 50 beam finite elements. Finite elements of
closed cross-section (6 d.o.f.) are used in the ship bow, ship aft and in
the engine room area. Dry natural frequencies for vertical vibrations,
and coupled horizontal and torsional vibrations for full load and
ballast conditions are listed in Table 1. Their values for ballast
condition are higher due to the lower mass. The lowest frequency
value, which plays the main role in wave excitation, is detected for
coupled vibrations. As a result of rather low torsional stiffness, this
value belongs to primarily torsional mode.

TABLE 1 . DRY NATURAL FREQUENCIES, i [rad/s]
Full load Ballast
Mode
no.
Vertical
Horizontal +
torsional
Vertical
Horizontal +
torsional
1 4 2.18 5.59 3.98
2 8.41 4.23 11.6 6.79
3 13.22 7.08 17.85 11.55
4 18.07 9.23 25.02 14.9
5 23.04 13.19 32.52 20.59
6 28.09 15.37 39.21 23.03
7 32.77 18.22 46.29 27.98
8 37.22 22.65 53.25 32.64
9 41.73 23.75 60.4 36.33
10 42.27 28.38 66.96 40.38

Once the dry natural modes of ship hull are determined it is possible
to transfer the beam node displacements to the ship wetted surface for
the hydrodynamic calculation, Eqs. (9) and (12). The first two dry
natural modes of the ship wetted surface in case of vertical and
coupled horizontal and torsional vibrations for full load are shown in
Figures 8, 9, 10 and 11.

FIGURE 8. THE FIRST NATURAL MODE OF VERTICAL
VIBRATIONS, 1=4 rad/s

FIGURE 9. THE SECOND NATURAL MODE OF VERTICAL
VIBRATIONS, 2=8.41 rad/s

In addition, the values of natural frequencies of wet ship in full load
condition are listed in Table 2. By comparing them to those of dry
ship in Table 1, one sees that vertical vibration frequencies are more
reduced than those of coupled horizontal and torsional vibrations.

TABLE 2. WET NATURAL FREQUENCIES, i [rad/s]
Full load
Mode no.
Vertical
Horizontal +
torsional
1 3.07 2.04
2 6.33 3.65
3 10 6.57
4 13.96 8.28
5 18.09 11.73
6 22.18 13.46
7 26.23 16.34
8 30.48 20.38
9 35.01 21.51
10 41.23 25.88

FIGURE 10. THE FIRST NATURAL MODE OF COUPLED
HORIZONTAL AND TORSIONAL VIBRATIONS,
1 = 2.18 rad/s

FIGURE 11. THE SECOND NATURAL MODE OF COUPLED
HORIZONTAL AND TORSIONAL VIBRATIONS,
2 = 4.23 rad/s
9.3. Ship Response
Numerical calculation of ship response to waves is performed for full
load and ballast condition, unit harmonic wave amplitude, and set of
heading angles, ship speed and wave length [18]. Here, only some
selected results for full load and ship speed of U = 25 kn are
presented. Vertical response is shown for head sea, c = 180, and
coupled horizontal and torsional response for quartering sea,
c = 120. In all figures hydroelastic response is correlated to rigid
body response determined by program HYDROSTAR [12], where
the so called encounter frequency approximation was used for the
solution of the seakeeping problem with forward speed. Due to the
lack of measured data on large container vessels, modal damping that
is usually used in global vibration calculations of merchant ships, i.e.
2% of the critical value, is applied in the analysis [19]. Figure 12
shows the transfer function of the vertical bending moment at the
midship section. Heave resonance occurs at encounter frequency
e
= 0.83 rad/s, while bending resonance is achieved at
e
= 3.74 rad/s. In the former case, bending moments determined by
hydroelasticity and rigid body motion are almost the same, Figure 13.
In the latter case, the hydroelastic bending moment takes very high
values compared to the rigid body one, Figure 14.

FIGURE 12. TRANSFER FUNCTION OF VERTICAL
BENDING MOMENT, x=161.35 m, c cc c=180, U=25 kn

FIGURE 13. VERTICAL BENDING MOMENT,
e=0.83 rad/s, =246.55 m, c cc c=180, U=25 kn

FIGURE 14. VERTICAL BENDING MOMENT,
e=3.74 rad/s, =33.82 m, c cc c=180, U=25 kn
The results of coupled horizontal and torsional ship response are
presented in Figures 15 to 20. Figures 15 and 16 show transfer
functions of horizontal bending moment and torque referred to the
shear (torsional) centre, at the midship section, respectively.
Hydroelastic effect is more pronounced in torsional than in bending
response.

FIGURE 15. TRANSFER FUNCTION OF HORIZONTAL
BENDING MOMENT, x=168.57 m, c cc c=120, U=25 kn


FIGURE 16. TRANSFER FUNCTION OF TORQUE,
x=168.57 m, c cc c=120, U=25 kn
Large relative discrepancies between the hydroelastic and rigid body
torque in low frequency domain in Figure 16 might be the result of
ill-conditioning of the former. In hydro-rigid-body analysis, namely,
sectional forces are determined by pressure integration over wetted
surface, while in hydroelastic analysis sectional forces are obtained
by derivation of hull displacements, which are predominantly rigid
body ones in low frequency domain. Looking through the modal
decomposition, derivatives of rigid body modes are zero, while those
of elastic body are quite small with decreased accuracy.

FIGURE 17. HORIZONTAL BENDING MOMENT,
e=1.0212 rad/s, =125.79 m, c cc c=120, U=25 kn
Distributions of bending moment in case of rigid body and elastic
resonance are shown in Figures 17 and 18. In the former case
hydroelastic and rigid body bending moments are quite close, while
in the latter case the elastic bending moment is much higher than the
rigid body one. Similar situation occurs with torques, Figures 19 and
20. When elastic response is in resonance with wave excitation the
hydroelastic torque takes very high values.

FIGURE 18. HORIZONTAL BENDING MOMENT,
e=2.0169 rad/s, =46.61 m, c cc c=120, U=25 kn

FIGURE 19. TORQUE, e=1.3236 rad/s, =85.31 m, c cc c=120,
U=25 kn

FIGURE 20. TORQUE, e=2.0169 rad/s, =46.61 m, c cc c=120,
U=25 kn
9.4. Validation Of 1D FEM Model
For this purpose, the light weight loading condition of dry ship with
displacement =33692 t is considered. The first dominantly torsional
mode and the second dominantly horizontal flexural mode of the
wetted surface are quite similar to those shown in Figures 10 and 11,
obtained for the full load. The reliability of 1D FEM analysis is
verified by 3D FEM analysis of the considered ship [17]. The first
two 3D dry natural modes are similar to those of 1D analysis, Figures
10 and 11. The corresponding natural frequencies obtained by 1D and
3D analyses are compared in Table 3. Quite good agreement is
achieved. Values of natural frequencies for higher modes are difficult
to correlate, since strong coupling occurs between global hull modes
and local substructure modes of 3D analysis.

TABLE 3. NATURAL FREQUENCIES OF CONTAINER SHIP
IN LIGHT WEIGHT CONDITION,

[rad/s]
Mode no. 1 (T+HB) 2(HB+T)
1D FEM 5.39 9.23
3D FEM 5.41 9.42

10. CONCLUSION
Ultra large container ships are quite flexible and stretch the bounds of
present classification rules for reliable structure design. Therefore,
hydroelastic analysis has to be performed. One of the basic steps is
dry natural vibration analysis of ship hull. Vertical vibration
calculation is performed in a standard way, while the coupled
horizontal and torsional vibration is rather complex.

The performed vibration analysis of the 7800 TEU Container ship
shows that the developed hydroelasticity theory, utilizing 1D FEM
structural model and 3D hydrodynamic model, is an efficient tool for
application in ship hydroelastic analyses. The obtained results point
out that the transfer functions of hull sectional forces in case of
resonant vibration (springing) are much higher than in resonant ship
motion. This is the main issue of the paper, which requires further
investigation.

In order to complete hydroelastic analysis of container ships and
confirm its importance for ship safety, it is necessary to proceed
further to ship motion calculation in irregular waves for different sea
states, based on the known transfer functions. This includes
determination of global wave loads, i.e. bending and torsional
moments and their conversion into stresses, stress concentration in
critical areas of ship structures, especially in hatch corners due to
suspended warping, and fatigue of structural details. The same
numerical procedures, which are used in hydro-rigid-body analysis,
are at disposal and are applicable in this case.

The used beam model of ship hull is a reasonable choice for
determining wave load. However, stress concentration in hatch
corners calculated directly by the beam model is underestimated
[20,21]. This problem can be overcome by applying substructure
approach, i.e. 3D FEM model of substructure with imposed boundary
conditions from beam response. In any case, 3D FEM model of
complete ship is preferable from the viewpoint of determining stress
concentration.

Another aspect of hydroelasticity is slamming and whipping, which
are related to vertical bending. This impulsive load is considered in
time domain and is outside the scope of this paper. However, it must
be considered within general container ship problematic.

At the end of a complete investigation, which also has to include
model tests and full scale measurements, it will be possible to decide
on the extent of the revision of Classification Rules for the design and
construction of ultra large container ships. Also, operational
conditions for this type of ships, i.e. reduction of ship speed and
change of heading angle for some sea states due to resonant flexural
and torsional response (as well as parametric rolling) have to be
reconsidered.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Ms. Estelle
Stumpf, research engineer of Bureau Veritas, Marine Division
Research Department, for performing the 3D FEM vibration analysis
of container ship and kind permission to publish the valuable results.

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Abstract for 23rd IWWWFB, Jeju, Korea, 2008
Some aspects of whipping response of container ships
Tuitman J
1
& Malenica

S
2
(1) Delft University of Technology, Netherlands (johan.tuitman@tno.nl)
(2) BUREAU VERITAS - DR, Paris, France (sime.malenica@bureauveritas.com)
Introduction
Whipping is usually dened as a transient hydroelastic ship structural response due to impulsive loading
such as slamming, green water, underwater explosion, etc. Here we concentrate on the slamming induced
whipping. Slamming induced whipping is observed both in experiments and in full scale measurements
for any kind of ships as far as they encounter heavy seas in which the slamming type of loading is likely
to occur. One example of the typical whipping event is shown in gure 1 (taken from [1]). This gure
represents the time evolution of the vertical bending moment, following severe slamming event, at the
midship of the relatively small (L
pp
= 124m) general cargo/container vessel. As we can see, the whipping
contribution to the overall vertical bending moment is not only very important but it also last for a
relatively long time due to the low structural damping. One slam event increases multiple extremes in
the bending moment which makes the whipping phenomena to be relevant both for extreme and fatigue
loading of the ship structure.
However, up to the authors knowledge, the hydroelastic whipping eects are not properly accounted
for in the ship design. This is mainly due to the diculties in the correct modelling of whipping and the
needed calculation time. Indeed, in order to calculate the whipping response, one should combine several
aspects (seakeeping in large waves at forward speed, slamming, hydroelasticity, etc.) which are dicult
to model even independently. In spite of all these diculties, there is a lot of research on whipping going
on nowadays, especially in the context of the ultra large container ships. There are several reasons why
the whipping is likely to be more important for the large container ships: high ship speed (close to 30
knots) and large bow are induce higher slamming loads, large ship size reduce the natural frequencies.
In this paper we present the recent numerical developments related to whipping and we apply them to
two container ships dierent in size (L
pp
260m and L
pp
360m). Both extreme loading and fatigue is
discussed.
Figure 1: Typical whipping event.
Numerical model
Numerical model that we use is based on the coupling in between the 3D diraction radiation seakeeping
code for hydrodynamic part and the Timoshenko beam model for structural part. The so called modal
approach is adopted which means that the ship motions and deformations are represented in a series of
6 rigid body modes and several (5 to 10) dry structural modes. The basics of the theory are presented
in [5] and [8] and here below we present just the nal dynamic modal equation:
([ m ]+[ A
]){
(t)}+[ b ]{

(t)}+([ k ]+[ C ]){(t)}+
t
0
[ K(t ) ]{
()}d = {F(t)}+{Q(t)} (1)

where is the vector of modal amplitudes, [ m ] is the modal mass matrix, [ A
] is the innite
frequency added mass matrix, [ b ] is the damping matrix, [ k ] is the structural stiness matrix, [ C ] is
the hydrostatic restoring matrix, [ K(t) ] is the matrix of the hydrodynamic memory functions, F is the
vector of the non-impulsive wave loading (linear and nonlinear) and Q is the vector of impulsive loads.
The dimension of all the above matrices is (6 +N
f
) (6 +N
f
) where N
f
represents the number of dry
structural modes. This equation is integrated in time using the 4th order Runge Kutta method.
It is important to note that the linear hydrodynamic coecients in the above equation are derived
from the frequency domain calculations, using the well known method proposed in [3, 7]. The nonlinear
part of the loading includes non-impulsive and impulsive parts. The non impulsive part represents the
so called Froude Krylov loads which basically corrects the hydrostatics and pressure distribution around
the waterline while the impulsive part represents the slamming loads. The slamming part is probably
the most dicult part to evaluate numerically. A very robust method is needed and the calculation
of the slamming force should not take to much CPU time to be able to preform long time whipping
simulations. The only fast and reliable methods for evaluation of the slamming forces which are available
today are based on the so called 2D strip approach. The bow is modeled by multiple 2D sections and the
slamming force is evaluated at these sections. In this paper we use two dierent methods for evaluation
of the slamming loads at each 2D section: the Generalized Wagner Model (GWM) [9] and the Modied
Logvinovich Model (MLM) [4]. The advantage of the second method is much lower CPU time, but the
disadvantages is the lower domain of validity. We do not discuss these methods in details here and we
refer to [6].
The above described procedure was integrated into a single numerical tool able to perform the long time
whipping simulations for any prescribed irregular sea state. These simulations allows for determination
of the probability of exceedence of the maxima and for determination of fatigue damage.
Numerical results
As already mentioned, two container ships of dierent size were chosen for illustration of the overall
procedure and for demonstration of the importance of whipping in container ship design. The rst ship
(S1) has the length between perpendiculars of 360m and the second one (S2) 260m. Only the case of head
waves and zero forward speed is investigated which means that the vertical modes only will participate.
The rst few structural natural frequencies in vertical plane, corresponding natural mode shapes for
Mode S1 S2
1 0.432 0.600
2 0.905 1.225
3 1.445 1.950
4 2.008 2.738
5 2.606 3.631
-0.8
-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
w
Time [s]
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
Figure 2: Structural natural frequencies and mode shapes.
S1 and transfer of the rst mode onto hydrodynamic mesh, are shown in Figure 2. Only ve natural
modes are used in the calculations because the tests showed that the higher modes do not participate
signicantly, and because the mode with the highest frequency determines the stable time step.
The midship bending moment is calculated using dierent approaches to investigate the eect of
whipping. The same wave trains are used for the dierent calculations for the same sea condition to
make comparison more valid. The st approach is using linear theory only with a rigid ship. The
contribution of the non-linear Froude Krylov forces is investigated using a rigid model with the non-
linear seakeeping code without slamming. The last approach is a exible ship using non-linear seakeeping
code and applying the slamming loads. For every sea condition six halve hour runs using 250 wave
components are glued to obtain enough statistical information.
Example of typical output is presented in Figure 3 where the zoom on the typical whipping event is
also shown. As we can see from this gure, the slamming usually occurs in sagging conditions but it last
long enough to inuence the maximum hogging moment too. These signals are rich of informations and
can be used for determination of the maximum expected values as well as for the determination of the
fatigue damage by using the rain-ow counting method.
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
M
y

[
G
N
m
]
Time [s]
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
8840 8860 8880 8900 8920
M
y
[G
N
m
]
Time [s]
Rigid non linear
Rigid linear
Figure 3: Typical time history of the vertical bending moment and zoom around a whipping event.
The probability of exceedence of the midship bending moment is shown in gure 4 for the dierent
approaches. Even if the relatively mild sea states were chosen, (H
s
= 9m, T
z
= 11s for S1, and H
s
= 10m,
T
z
= 13.95s for S2), the inuence of whipping is clearly visible. The non linear Froude Krylov forces
increase the sagging moment signicantly and the whipping response does increase it even more. Figure
5 shows the cycle count of the bending moment using the rainow method and the calculated fatigue
damage of the deck. The whipping increase the fatigue damage signicantly by increasing the amplitude
of the large cycles.
0.001
0.01
0.1
1
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
P
r
o
b
a
b
ilit
y

o
f

e
x
c
e
e
d
e
n
c
e
My [GNm]
Elastic - with slamming - Hogging
Rigid nonlinear - no slamming - Hogging
Elastic - with slamming - Sagging
Rigid nonlinear - no slamming - Sagging
Rigid linear - no slamming
0.001
0.01
0.1
1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
P
r
o
b
a
b
ilit
y

o
f

e
x
c
e
e
d
e
n
c
e
My [GNm]
Elastic - with slamming - Hogging
Rigid nonlinear - no slamming - Hogging
Elastic - with slamming - Sagging
Rigid nonlinear - no slamming - Sagging
Figure 4: Probability of exceedence of the midship bending moment (S1-left, S2-right).
1
10
100
1000
10000
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
N
u
m
b
e
r

o
f

c
y
c
l
e
s
Bending moment [GNm]
Rigid nonlinear - no slamming
0
2e-06
4e-06
6e-06
8e-06
1e-05
1.2e-05
1.4e-05
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
F
a
t
i
g
u
e

d
a
m
a
g
e
Bending moment [GNm]
Rigid nonlinear - no slamming
Figure 5: Rainow count of bending moment and fatigue damage of the deck for S1.
To obtain design values many sea states have to be evaluated. The sagging moment with a probability
of 10
5
calculated using a Weibull extrapolation and the fatigue damage per hour are shown in gure
6 for a limited number of sea states. In this case the slamming and whipping occurs only in the very
severe sea states. When a non zero velocity would be used, the number of cells where whipping occurs
will increase.
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
1e+06
2e+06
3e+06
4e+06
5e+06
6e+06
7e+06
8e+06
9e+06
1e+07
Rigid linear
Rigid non-linear
Tz [s]
Hs [m]
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
0
5e-05
0.0001
0.00015
0.0002
0.00025
0.0003
0.00035
0.0004
0.00045
Rigid linear
Rigid non-linear
Tz [s]
Hs [m]
Figure 6: The 10
5
probability sagging moment (left) and the fatigue damage per hour (right).
Conclusions
We presented here the numerical method which can be used in ship design for determination of the
inuence of whipping on wave loadings and ship structural responses. The method was demonstrated on
two container ships of dierent size and in both cases the inuence of whipping was found to be important
not only for the maximum values but also for fatigue. It should be mentioned that the examples which
were chosen are just demonstrative ones, and the general methodology should include more complex set
of calculations namely the model should include the eects of forward speed, heading, dierent loading
conditions (full, ballast, etc.) and dierent sea states. At the same time the sensitivity to some other
parameters such as damping, direction of 2D slamming strips, aft slamming, l ength of runs, number of
wave components, etc. should be properly investigated. Maybe the most critical point in the analysis is
the determination of slamming loads which are extremely dicult to evaluate. In this work we used two
dierent methods GWM and MLM and even if there are some dierences in the evaluation of the local
forces the nal results in terms of maximum values and fatigue seem to be in good agreement. This is
important because the MLM method requires much less CPU time. It should also be kept in mind that
both methods are limited to the 2D calculations and some 3D correction coecients need to be employed.
How this should be done is not clear yet.
References
[1] Aalberts P.J. & Nieuwenhuijs M. 2006. : Full scale wave and whipping induced hull girder
loads., 4th. Int. Conf. on Hydroelasticity, Wuxi, China.
[2] Bishop, R.E.D. & Price, W.G., 1979. : Hydroelasticity of ships, Cambridge University Press.
[3] Cummins W.E., 1962. : The impulse response function and ship motions., Schistecknik
[4] Korobkin A.A., 2005.: Analytical models of water impact., Euro. J. Applied Mathematics, 16,
pp. 1-18.
[5] Malenica

S., Molin B., Remy F. & Senjanovi c I., 2003. : Hydroelastic response of a barge
to impulsive and non impulsive wave loads., 3rd. Int. Conf. on Hydroelasticity, Oxford, UK.
[6] Malenica

S. & Korobkin A.A., 2007. : Some aspects of slamming calculations in seakeeping.,
9th. Int. Conf. on Numerical Ship Hydrodynamics, Ann Arbor, USA.
[7] Ogilvie T.F., 1964. : Recent progress toward the understanding and prediction of ship motions.,
5th. Symp. on Naval Hydrodynamics.
[8] Tuitman J. Aanhold H 2007: Using generalized modes for time domain seakeeping calculations,
22th IWWWFB, Croatia
[9] Zhao R., Faltinsen O.M. & Aarsnes J.V., 1996. : Water entry of arbitrary two dimensional
sections with and without ow separation., 21st Symp. on Naval Hydrodynamics, Trondheim, Nor-
way.
A COMPREHENSIVE AND PRACTICAL STRENGTH ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY
FOR CONTAINER SHIPS TAKING INTO ACCOUNT NON LINEAR AND HYDRO-
ELASTIC LOADING

G de Jong and M Huther, Bureau Veritas, France

SUMMARY

The drive for economy of scale effects has fuelled the strong growth in size and capacity of new container ships. The
combination of relatively low hull girder stiffness and high speed (decreased natural frequency of hull girder vibrations
and increased wave encounter frequency) may cause phenomena which are of second order for average size vessels to
become of high importance for these large vessels. This is particularly the case for vibratory structural response and
associated fatigue damage caused by whipping and springing.

Making use of experience feedback with calculations and full scale measurements this paper presents a methodology to
estimate the consequences of these phenomena during the design stage of the vessel. Practical application of the
methodology has been made possible by further developing the Bureau Veritas in-house hydrodynamic suite
HydroSTAR to take into account hydro-elasticity and non linear time domain simulations. The software has been
validated against model tests, while a full-scale measurement campaign is ongoing.

Application of the methodology to ultra large container ships confirms that stress levels are indeed increasing. As a
consequence, a significant increase both hull girder loads and fatigue damage accumulation is found, which can no
longer be ignored when analysing the ship structure. When considering future designs for even larger container ships of
400 m in length and beyond, the effects of whipping and springing will become even more important.

1. INTRODUCTION

Over the past five years the maximum size of Post-
Panamax container ships has increased dramatically to
achieve economy of scale effects. Together with the
rapid growth in trade volume and mileage between the
emerging production economies in the Far East and the
established economies (mainly Europe), as well as a firm
belief that market share is the key for future success, an
unprecedented surge in new orders for ultra large
container ships (ULCS, 10 000+TEU) has been created.
According to data published by Clarkson, the world
orderbook for this segment stood at 187 vessels at the
end of the first quarter of 2008. The majority of these
giant boxships are expected to be delivered in 2009
(17%), 2010 (29%) and 2011 (43%).

Although the turmoil in the financial markets and
uncertainty regarding economic growth (possible
slowdown in China, fear for recession in the US, high oil
price) have drastically reduced the amount of new orders
in the first quarter of 2008, there is no reason to believe
that the drive for increasing the vessel size will come to a
halt at the present maximum of 13 300 TEU for a ship
overall length of about 370 m
1
. Therefore, realizing that a
new upheave in container ship ordering would probably
produce designs of well over 400 m in length, it is of key
importance to reflect on the technical challenges
associated with scale enlargement of ultra large boxships.

1
The only exemption is the E-class series of Maersk,
with an estimated capacity of 15 200 TEU and a length
of 397 m according to data from AXS Alphaliner.
In fact, if the increase in size is achieved through
extrapolation of existing ship dimensions and application
of environmental loads estimated from dimensional
analysis, it may be expected that phenomena which are
of second order for average size vessels can become
important for large vessels. This is particularly the case
for vibratory structural response and associated fatigue.

Experience feedback shows that two dynamic
phenomena affecting the hull girder require specific
attention when considering large container ships:
whipping (transitory hull girder vibrations caused by
hydrodynamic impact at the bow) and springing
(excitation of the first natural modes of vibration of the
hull girder). Indeed, increasing the size of ships with
large deck openings will decrease the natural frequencies
of hull girder vibrations, while an increase in service
speed will result in a higher wave encounter frequency.
Consequently the wave encounter frequency may be in
the same range as the lowest hull girder natural
frequencies, causing important dynamic amplification
effects.

As it is not fully clear to what extent these phenomena
are covered by the implicit and explicit safety margins of
classical rules and regulations, the effect of the dynamic
behaviour of large container ships in a seaway is to be
studied by direct calculations.

In this paper the two phenomena and their impact on ship
structures are analysed. In addition, the methodology
recently developed by Bureau Veritas to assess whipping
and springing effects in large container ship is presented,
as well as the implementation into the in-house
developed hydrodynamic simulation suite HydroSTAR.
2. WHIPPING

Whipping can be characterised as transitory response of
the hull girder in the first natural mode caused by
hydrodynamic impact at the bow due to re-entry of the
foreship into the water (slamming) or violent wave
impact at the stem (slapping), see figure 1.

Figure 1: Container ship experiencing slamming

The first natural mode of the hull girder could be
simulated by a system with one degree of freedom
damped at the corresponding frequency. The associated
forces are extremely high but of short time duration,
similar to an impulse [1] and consequently infer
transitory damped vibrations.

2.1 SHIP STRUCTURAL RESPONSE

Slamming and slapping are known to occur in head seas
when the vertical (relative) motions are highest. The
deformations associated with the hull girder vibration
caused by hydrodynamic impact are superimposed on the
wave induced hull girder deformations, see figure 2.

Figure 2: Full scale measurements of stresses in the deck
of the vessel Marcel Bayard

It has been known for several years that ships with large
deck openings are prone to sustaining damages as a result
of whipping. First of all, the design value of the vertical
bending moment can be exceeded, causing permanent
deformation of the hull girder. Secondly, high frequent
stress cycles can be generated, causing premature fatigue
cracks in structural details [2, 3].

The understanding and analysis of the phenomenon of
exceeding the acceptable bending moment is relatively
straightforward, while the prediction of the occurrence of
fatigue cracks is much more difficult. However, the risk
for fatigue damages has been clearly demonstrated on the
vessel Marcel Bayard. In fact, the full scale measurement
campaign [2] was initiated after the appearance of fatigue
cracks when the vessel was only three years in service.
The study showed that, although the vessel length is only
110 m, the cracks could be explained by frequent
occurrence of whipping as a result of particular operating
conditions for this type of vessel and large deck openings
causing high stress concentrations in the deck.

Therefore, it is important to be able to estimate effects of
whipping on the stresses in the deck during the design
stage. This requires the combined simulation of the
behaviour of the vessel under wave loading and
hydrodynamic impact caused by slamming and slapping.

2.2 CALCULATION METHODS

Direct calculations on a ship in a seaway in order to
determine the extreme hull girder loads and the fatigue
life of structural details have been common practice for
some decades. The methods used are based on the fast
spectral approach and are, after calibration, sufficiently
accurate for the classical checks. As whipping is a non
linear impulsive phenomenon, the (linear) spectral
approach does not longer hold. Instead, time domain
methods have been developed which can solve the
coupling problem between the 3D hydrodynamic
diffraction-radiation calculations and the dynamic
deformation of the hull girder modelled as a Timoshenko
beam or a 3D finite element model. For this modal
approach the motions and deformations of the vessel are
represented by a series of six rigid modes and five to ten
dry structural modes [4]. It is to be noted that the linear
hydrodynamic coefficients in the time step equations are
obtained from the classical frequency domain
calculations [5, 6].

There are two methods available for the determination of
the slamming and slapping loads (dynamically exciting
the hull girder), which are essentially 2-dimensional: the
Generalized Wagner Model and Modified
Logvinovich Model.

The determination of the structural response to whipping
is possible by combined application of calculation tools
for the rigid ship in the frequency domain and for the
elastic ship in the time domain (non linear). This set of
tools was successfully verified on vessels of 260 m and
360 m of length [7], see figures 3 and 4.

Figure 3: Example of time history of non linear bending
moment time including whipping

Figure 4: Zoom of figure 3 at the instant of hydro-
dynamic impact (response types: elastic non-
linear, rigid non linear and rigid linear)

The calculations are performed according to the scheme
shown in table 1.

Table 1: Step-by-step procedure for estimating the
extreme hull girder loads
1
Selection of the sea states and their probability of
occurrence for the relevant operational profile of
the vessel (standard: North Atlantic)
2
Calculation of the linear response and
determination of the possible extreme navigation
conditions for the incident waves (ship speed,
wave height)
3
Determination of navigation conditions for which
slamming could occur (wave incidence, ship
speed, wave height)
4
Calculation of the non linear behaviour for
navigation conditions with high risk of slamming
CwpSw CwpSw
=
+

2.3 EXTREME HULL GIRDER LOADS

Observation of the elastic response shows that whipping
increases the extreme values of the vertical bending
moment. Therefore, it is necessary to take this effect into
account for checking the ultimate strength of the hull
girder. The performed calculations [7] and full scale
measurements [2] show that whipping occurs when the
ship is in sagging condition. Therefore, for the most
severe navigation conditions the extreme slamming loads
and consequently the increase of the sagging wave
bending moment are calculated. Full scale measurements
show that the damping of the vibratory response is small
(of the order of =1.5%), which means that whipping is
still important half a wave period later when the vessel is
in hogging condition and that the ultimate strength check
is also to be carried out for this condition
2
. This check
can be done in analogy with the class rules for the
bending moment corrected for the whipping effect as
described [8].

2
Especially since container ships normally operate in
hogging condition, thus providing the extreme hull girder
bending moment.
Application on a 250 m container ship shows that the
increase of the total bending moment can reach 20 to
30% for severe navigation conditions, which is in
agreement with full scale measurements [2]. The
calculations performed for ultra large container ships
show that a similar percentage of increase may be
expected for these ships.

2.4 FATIGUE

Observation of the whipping response (figures 3 and 4)
reveals two effects regarding fatigue:
Increase of amplitude of the wave frequent hull girder
stresses
Creation of high frequent damped stress cycles at the
first natural frequency of hull girder bending

For welded details it is considered that the residual
stresses due to the heat input create a high level of
tension in zones where cracks may be expected, resulting
in a high R coefficient (minimum stress divided by
maximum stress, R > 0.5). For these high R values
variation of the average stress level has little influence on
the fatigue lifetime.

For details without welding there are no residual stresses
and analysis becomes somewhat more delicate. In order
to simplify matters, in first instance the same approach as
for welded structures is applied. As this means that a
high level of residual stress is presupposed, this is a
conservative simplification.

Application of Miners law, which is linear by nature,
allows for separating the low frequency (wave) and high
frequency (whipping) contributions and add both
individual effects to obtain the total result, see figure 5.

Figure 5: Separation of whipping effects for fatigue
calculation

Knowing the stress range of the first whipping cycle and
the damping it is possible to determine the distribution of
cycles and their associated stress ranges as depicted in
figure 6.

Figure 6: Distribution of high frequent, whipping
induced, stress cycles
The associated equations are
( )
=
2
3 j 4
2
1
exp A
j
Swp

(1)
with j designating the n
th
whipping cycle

=
2
1
exp
Sw Cwp
A
2
(2)

The short term distribution is obtained by noticing that
for every single whipping response there is only one
cycle at every level and that there will be a whipping
response associated to every wave cycle, i.e., at each
level the number of cycles is equal to the total number of
waves, see figure 7.

Figure 7: Short term distribution of whipping stresses for
a given wave amplitude

Miners sum can be computed by superimposing the
short term distributions of the stress ranges. Every cycle
can be considered as a response to a regular wave of
constant amplitude, while non linear response
calculations to regular waves can be utilised as well.

For a given wave frequency in head seas (being the
dominant wave condition for slamming to occur) it is
possible to determine the response function for a wave
height H and a threshold wave height H
th
below which
there is no risk of slamming:
( ) H f Sw Cwp = (3)
th
H H >

An overview of the step-by-step calculation method is
presented in table 2.

A study performed for an ultra large container ship
shows that whipping effectively causes amplification of
the hull girder bending stresses, as well as a measurable
contribution to the accumulation of fatigue damage. In
short term head sea condition the correction of the low
frequency stress range can yield a very significant
increase of up to 100% for some navigation conditions.
Considering that whipping disappears for non-severe sea
states, which are far more numerous than severe sea
states, and that there is no whipping for transverse and
following seas, the total long term increase of the Miner
sum due to whipping is estimated to be of the order of 3
to 5%.

whipping induced fatigue damage
1
Determination of the maximum speed of the vessel
as function of the wave height for the considered
wave frequencies and incidence angles (maximum
bearable navigation condition on the bridge)
2
Calculation of the transfer functions and associated
short term response spectra without whipping
3
Determination of the whipping response in head
seas as function of the wave height according to
the wave frequencies of the considered sea states
and taking into account the whipping threshold
4
Approximation of a linear rule giving the
amplitude of the first whipping cycle as a function
of the amplitude of the rigid body response
5
Approximation of the variation on the linear rule
as a function of the wave incidence angle
6
Identification of the short term sea states for which
whipping is likely to occur
7
Correction of the low frequent (wave) stress range
distributions for the whipping effect
8
Calculation of the Miner sum for all short term
low frequent distributions
9
Determination of the high frequent whipping
responses and associated Miner sums for every
short term distribution for which whipping occurs
10
Calculation of total Miner sum taking into account
low frequency contributions corrected for
whipping and high frequency contributions

Following the analysis it can be concluded that the Miner
sum associated to the high frequent part has a relatively
small contribution for the following reasons:
Whipping occurs only in a limited number of sea
states (head seas, wave height above threshold value)
The reduction of the stress amplitudes due to
damping puts the majority of the cycles under the
changing point of the slope of the S-N curve used
(due to the random character of the phenomenon a 2-
slope S-N curve is used for calculating the Miner
sum).

3. SPRINGING

Springing can be described as enforced wave induced
hull girder vibrations. The calculation of the natural
frequency of the two node hull girder bending mode for
vessels with a length up to 350 m shows values above the
frequency of the shortest observed waves. For instance,
North Atlantic wave tables give a lower period Tz=3.5 s
(0.28 Hz), while the natural frequency including added
mass of a 300,000 dwt tanker has been calculated at 0.5
Hz (T=2.0 s). Springing was identified in 1972 during a
full scale study on board a 340 m tanker [9], see figure 8.
The response of the first natural mode of hull girder
vibration, in spite of the high frequency, can be explained
by the fact that for a given wave period the energy is
distributed over a broad bandwidth. Using a Pierson-
Moskowitz spectrum, the energy associated to a wave
period of 3.5 s is distributed over a bandwidth of 0.12 to
0.65 Hz, while for a wave period of 8.5 s this is 0.05 to
1.7 Hz.

In addition, for head seas the encounter frequency is
increased by the ship speed as follows:
V
g
2
H
H e

+ = (4)

Figure 8: Response spectrum deck longitudinal stresses
on a tanker in head seas for rigid mode and
including springing [9]

For the referenced tanker, sailing at a speed of 15 kn (7.7
m/s), the energy for a wave period of 3.5 s will be
distributed over a bandwidth of 0.19 to 2.73 Hz, while
for a wave period of 8.5 s this bandwidth is 0.06 to 16 Hz.
These data clearly show that it the natural mode at 0.5 Hz
is effectively excited.

On vessels ranging from 300 to 350 m in length, if
springing is at all visible from the spectral analysis, the
level will be very weak and without effect on the
structural resistance. When the length of the vessel
increases or when the deck contains large openings the
structural rigidity and therefore the first natural
frequency mode decrease. When the ship speed increases,
the encounter frequency increases as well. In both cases
the frequency band associated with springing moves
towards the region where the spectral density of wave
energy is higher, thus amplifying the springing response
(the springing associated peak in figure 8 moves to the
left). This effect was noticed when performing design
analysis for tankers of 550,000 dwt (414 m in length) and
later confirmed during a four year full scale measurement
campaign [10, 11].

When considering the characteristics of a typical ultra
large container ship, with a length of over 360 m, speed
of about 25 kn and large open deck structure, it becomes
clear that springing is a phenomenon to be considered
during the design of the ship structure.


A typical time series of measured longitudinal stress in
the deck is presented in figure 9, which shows a high
frequent springing signal of nearly constant amplitude
superimposed on the low frequent (wave) component.

Figure 9: Measurement of deck longitudinal stress with
visible springing effect

Studies and measurements performed on 550,000 dwt
tankers show that springing is sensitive for sea states
with short wave periods. For these periods the maximum
wave height is generally low, see table 3.

Table 3: Maximum significant wave heights for North
Atlantic wave environment according to IACS
Tz (s) 3.5 4.5 5.5 6.5 7.5 8.5
Hs (m) 1.5 4.5 9.5 13.5 14.5 14.5

Due to the weak damping, =1.5% obtained from full
scale measurements [2, 11], the available energy for the
whipping response is limited and the amplitude remains
small compared to the wave frequent response.
Therefore, the influence of springing on the extreme hull
girder loads, corresponding to severe sea states (higher
natural period and very high significant wave height), is
not significant.

On the other hand, the high frequency and character of
the enforced vibration (a quasi permanent phenomenon
in sea states with relatively small waves, which are the
most frequent during the life of the vessel) yield a non
negligible springing induced contribution to the
accumulated fatigue damage. This is confirmed by
experience feedback of the 550,000 dwt tankers [11].


Taking into consideration that the springing induced
deformations are much smaller than the rigid body
motions of the hull girder, it can be assumed that the
problem can be treated in a linear sense and that the total
response can be obtained by summation of the separately
calculated rigid and elastic contributions [10]. Therefore
it is possible to apply the linear tools developed for
hydrodynamic and structural response calculations [13].

First of all, a classical calculation can be performed to
determine the linear hydrodynamic coefficients, in
particular the added mass and the transfer functions of
the rigid body responses (figure 10). Secondly, the
natural frequencies for the elastic hull and the associated
transfer functions for springing are calculated (figure 11).

Figure 10: Calculation of rigid body transfer functions

Figure 11: Calculation of transfer function for springing
in torsional mode (elastic hull)

In this way the transfer functions for the quasi static,
springing and total response are obtained for the selected
navigation conditions (figure 12).

=
+
=
+

Figure 12: Transfer function of peak stress in hot spot
(welded detail) in a container ship (springing,
wave and total)

shown in table 4.

Table 4: Step-by-step procedure for springing analysis
1
2
wave height)
3
springing could occur (wave incidence, ship speed,
wave height)
4
Calculation of the linear elastic behaviour for wave
incidences where springing occurs

3.3 FATIGUE

Observation of the springing response for a given sea
state (figure 9) shows that, on top of the wave frequent
response, a time series of stress cycles with nearly
constant amplitude at the first natural frequency of the
hull girder is generated.

The calculation of the short term fatigue damage
accumulation requires the determination of the
distribution of the high frequent stress cycles. The exact
method for achieving this would be Rainflow counting.
In order to do that a time history needs to be available,
which is impractical for the spectral approach. By
considering the same hypothesis as for the whipping and
the using the linearity of Miners rule, it is possible to
separate both the high frequent and low frequent
contributions as depicted in figure 13 superimpose them
to obtain the total result.

As shown for whipping, the range of the wave frequent
stress cycles needs to be corrected for the springing
effect as well. As only the navigation conditions with a
risk for the occurrence of springing need to be considered,
it is important to take into account speed reduction in
case the wave height increases, because this can cancel
the springing effect altogether.

Figure 13: Separation of springing effects for fatigue
calculation

For each of the contributions corresponding to a signal
with narrow banded spectrum, the fatigue accumulation
can be computed according the methodology for wave
frequent fatigue assessment [12]. The short term
distribution of the stress range S
i
can be described by a
Rayleigh distribution, where the coefficient m
0
is
determined by the area under the response spectrum:
( )

= >
0
2
i
i
m 8
S
exp S S prob (5)

For a given structural detail with known S-N curve it is
possible to calculate the Miner sums separately and add
them, taking into account the probability of occurrence of
each short term navigation condition (wave height and
period, vessel speed and wave incidence angle):
springing corrected , wave total
D D D + = (6)


springing induced fatigue damage
1
2
short term response spectra without springing
3
Determination of the frequency bands with high
energy density within the wave spectra for the
considered navigation conditions
4
Calculation of the natural frequencies of the hull
girder, taking into account the added mass
5
springing is likely to occur
6
Calculation of the transfer functions for springing
and associated short term response spectra for the
considered sea states
7
springing and high frequency contributions

The method has been checked at short term level against
the considered exact method, i.e. the Rainflow counting
of the stress time history. To do so, a time history has
been generated from the short term 2-peak response (see
figure 12) using specific software. Then a Rainflow
counting according to the AFNOR standard procedure
has been performed and the Miner sum calculated.

Two typical cases have been identified. For sea states
with Tz above 5 s the low frequent wave stress is
dominant over the high frequent springing, while for
smaller Tz the situation is reversed, see figure 14.

Figure 14: Stress time histories for Tz =6.5 s (above)
and Tz =3.5 s (below) (First modal period T
1

=2.15 s)

The comparison between the methods confirms that the
proposed procedure provides acceptable short term
Miner sum values. However, the correction factor for the
low frequent wave stress range has to be adjusted to the
typical cases to prevent underestimations.

shows that, due to the large deck openings, the first
natural mode of the hull girder is a torsional mode, which
is followed by a number of vertical bending and torsional
modes, see table 6.

Table 6: Wet natural hull girder modes and frequencies
ultra large container carrier
Hull girder vibration mode f (Hz)
1-node torsional 0.37
2-node vertical bending 0.47

An investigation of the navigation conditions with a risk
for springing occurrence showed that the torsional modes
are to be considered for wave incidence angles of 120
and 90 degrees, while the flexural modes are to be
considered for wave incidence angles of 180 and 120
degrees (180 degrees corresponding to head seas).

The fatigue lifetime of a structural detail in the deck
experiencing high dynamic loading has been calculated
according applying North Atlantic scatter diagram, see
figure 15.

Figure 15: Fatigue analysis of hatch corner detail of an
ultra large container ship

The springing response has been calculated for all wave
heights and periods of the wave data table until a
significant wave height of 5 m. For greater wave heights
it is assumed that the vessel speed will be reduced and,
consequently, that the shifted encounter frequency will
yield only irrelevant springing response.

The calculation of the short term Miner sum including
springing shows that, compared to the situation
excluding high frequent springing part, an increase in
fatigue damage of up to a factor 3 can be reached for
small period sea states. However, as small period sea
states represent only a limited part of the long term total
Miner sum, and taking into account that springing does
not occur for transverse and following seas, the total long
term increase of the Miner sum due to springing is
estimated to be of the order of 4 to 10%.
A sensitivity study shows that if the maximum
significant wave height is increased from 5 to 6 m, the
springing related Miner sum increases by 20%. However,
the effect on the total Miner sum is of second order.

4. HYDROSTAR

The described methodology to assess the effects of
whipping and springing during the design stage of ultra
large container ships has been made practically
applicable within the Bureau Veritas in-house
hydrodynamic simulation suite HydroSTAR, which has
been developed and validated for more than 20 years to
support new technological challenges. Originally started
as a linear 3D diffraction-radiation scheme for floating
offshore units, today HydroSTAR is a multi disciplinary
hydrodynamic package widely used in the marine and
offshore industry. Typical issues like irregular
frequencies, forward speed effect, roll damping,
automatic mesh transfer, second order wave loads and
multi body interactions are accounted for.

In order to simulate whipping and springing hydro-elastic
and non linear effects are to be accounted for. Hydro-
elastic effects are handled using the modal approach, for
which the equation of motion can be written as [13]:
[ ] [ ] ( ) [ ] [ ] ( ) [ ] [ ] ( ) { }{ } {
DI
F C k b B A m = + + + + i
2
} (7)
where [m] is the structural mass, [b] the structural
damping, [k] the structural stiffness, [A] the
hydrodynamic added mass, [B] the hydrodynamic
damping, [C] the hydrodynamic restoring, {} the modal
amplitudes and {F
DI
} the modal hydrodynamic excitation.
The hydro-elastic coupling is visualised in figure 16.

Figure 16: Hydrodynamic mesh following the structural
deformation of the hull (first modal period)

The non linear time domain simulations make use of the
procedure proposed by Cummins (1962), for which the
equation of motion can be written as follows [13]:
[ ] [ ] ( ) ( ) { } [ ] [ ] ( ) ( ) { }
( ) [ ] ( ) { } ( ) ( ) { t t d t t
t t
t
0
Q F K
C k A m
+ = +
+ + +

&
& &
}
(8)
where [A
] is the infinite frequency added mass matrix

and [K(t)] the matrix of impulse response functions,
which can be calculated from the frequency dependent
damping coefficients [5, 13]:
( ) ( )
d t cos B
2
t K
0
ij ij

= (9)
This method enables the introduction of non linear
components in the excitation forces F(t) and Q(t) [13].
As an example, for the calculation of the extreme hull
girder bending moment including whipping effect a
(weakly) non linear Froude-Krylov model is applied, see
figure 17.

Figure 17: Non linear time domain simulation using
Froude-Krylov approach (loads on finite
element model)

The resulting overall computation scheme of the software
called HydroSTAR++is depicted in figure 18.

Figure 18: Computation scheme of HydroSTAR++for
hydro-structural simulation of container ships

4.1 MODEL TESTING

In order to validate and calibrate the methodology for the
hydro-elastic and time domain simulations, several
model tests have been carried out and compared to the
calculation results. In figure 19 depicts the torsional
response of an elastic barge, showing good agreement
between measurements and calculation results [13].

Figure 19: Elastic barge in torsion (impression of test left,
RAO of torsional angle right): comparison
between experiments and calculation results
In figure 20 the initial deformation and the time history
of the vertical displacement after releasing it from the
original position are depicted. Again, there is good
agreement between calculations and experiments.

Figure 20: Elastic decay test (initial position left, time
history right): comparison between
experiments and calculation results

4.2 FULL SCALE MEASUREMENTS

Within the scope of the J oint Industry Project
Lashing@Sea full scale measurements are carried out on
board the BV class 9,400 TEU container ship CMA-
CGM Rigoletto. Motion and acceleration sensors have
been distributed over the hull and two cross sections have
been equipped with strain sensors to record the dynamic
response in terms of accelerations and internal hull girder
loads.

In order to study the behaviour of stacked containers and
lashing equipment a dedicated measurement container
has been installed above the aft deck. An example of a
time series of measured accelerations in the container is
shown in figure 21.

Figure 21: Time series of full scale measurement in
transverse accelerations in container
(normalised)

The results of the measurement campaign can be used to
study the real life behaviour of large container ships
and to further validate and calibrate the developed
numerical tools.

5. CONCLUSIONS

An increase in the size and speed of container ships
importantly changes the behaviour in a seaway.
Phenomena already known for smaller size vessels can
be amplified to reach levels high enough to have an
impact on the design of the hull. This is particularly true
for the cases of whipping and springing.

The springing phenomenon was first studied during the
construction of the 550,000 dwt tankers in 1975, for
which time domain calculations have been performed. At
that time the whipping phenomenon was also known,
specifically in relation to ships with large deck openings,
but computer simulation was not yet feasible. Recent
developments in computer computation power and
efficient algorithms allow performing non linear hydro-
structural calculations in the time domain.

A methodology has been proposed to estimate the effects
of whipping and springing on the extreme hull girder
loads and fatigue lifetime of structural details. In order to
be able to study the fatigue related effects during the
design stage of a vessel, it is assumed that the low
frequent and high frequent contributions can be dealt
with separately. This simplification importantly reduces
the required amount of non linear time domain
simulations.

The application of the methodology has been made
possible by further development of the Bureau Veritas
in-house hydrodynamic simulation suite HydroSTAR to
solve hydro-elastic and non linear time domain problems.
Extensive validation has been done by model testing,
while the ongoing full scale measurement campaign will
provide additional valuable feedback.

Application of the methodology to ultra large container
ships confirms that the stress levels are indeed increasing.
As a consequence, a significant increase both hull girder
loads and fatigue damage accumulation is found, which
can no longer be ignored when analysing the ship
structure.

Whipping effects can cause an increase of about 20% in
total vertical bending moment, for which the hull girder
ultimate strength is to be checked.

For current container ship designs of about 350 m with
extremely large open deck structure, whipping can cause
an increase in short term fatigue damage accumulation
by a factor of up to 100% for some head sea navigation
conditions. The increasing effect on the long term
whipping induced fatigue damage accumulation is
estimated to be in the range of 3 to 5%.

With regard to springing, as a consequence of the
flexibility of the hull girder and high vessel speed,
current designs of about 350 m in length show an
increase in short term fatigue damage accumulation by a
factor of up to 3 for small period sea states, which is
superior to the referenced tankers of 414 m. The
increasing effect on the long term springing induced
fatigue damage accumulation is estimated to be in the
range of 4 to 10%.

It is expected that full scale measurements results will
provide valuable insight into the real dynamic behaviour
of large container ships, as well as the accuracy of the
calculations. In addition, further development of the
methodology and hydro-structural computation schemes
are ongoing and are expected to further enhance
prediction capabilities.

When considering future designs for even larger
container ships of 400 m in length and beyond, it is
certain that with similar hull structural design the
increase of fatigue damage accumulation due to
whipping and springing will become even more
important. By realizing that springing is a forced
vibration phenomenon with little damping and that the
whipping response is of non linear character, the
dynamic phenomena and associated consequences will
have to be analysed with greater attention.

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The models and results presented in this paper require
strong interaction of many technical competencies.
Therefore, the authors would like to thank all the people
involved in the research and application of the developed
methodologies, in particular . Malenica, F. Mauduit, N.
Germain, F. Bigot, F.X. Sireta, S. Maherault, E. Stumpf,
V. Bouitillier, J . Henry and G. Parmentier.

7. REFERENCES

1. Huther M, Ket N, Water impact risk estimation
during ship design, Ship Behaviour at Sea,
International Symposium on Ship Hydrodynamics
and Energy Saving, ISSHES, Madrid, September
1983
2. Osouf J , Etude exprimentale du comportement
dynamique dur houle du navire cblier Marcel
Bayard, Revue NTM, 1973 (in French)
3. Drummen I, Moan T, Storhaug G, Moe E,
Experimental and full scale investigation of the
importance of fatigue damage due to wave-induced
vibration stress in a container vessel, Design &
Operation of Container Ships, RINA, London,
November 2006
4. Malenica , Molin B, Remy F, Senjanovic I,
Hydroelastic response of a barge to impulsive wave
loads, 3
rd
International Conference on
Hydroelasticity, Oxford, 2003
5. Cummins WE, The impulsive response function
and ship motions, Schiffstechnik, 1962
6. Ogilvie TF, Recent progress toward the
understanding and prediction of ship motions, 9
th

International Conference on Numerical Ship
Hydrodynamics, Ann Arbor (USA), 2007
7. Tuitman J , Malenica , Some aspects of whipping
response of container ships, 23
rd
IWWWFV, J egu
(Korea), 2008
8. Bureau Veritas, Rules for the Classification of Steel
Ships, November 2007
9. Planeix J M, Wave loads, A correlation between
calculations and measurements, Revue International
Shipbuilding Progress, August 1972
10. dHautefeuille B, Huther M, Baudin M, Osouf J ,
Calcul de springing par quations intgrales, Revue
NTM, 1977
11. Huther M, Osouf J , SEFACO, Four years of
experience in ship hull girder stress monitoring,
MARINTEC, Shanghai, October 1983
12. Huther M, Beghin D, Mahrault S, A fatigue
strength guidance note for welded ship structure
assessments, IIW/IIS doc XIII-111742-98/XV-992-
98, 1998
13. Malenica , Hydro structure interaction in
seakeeping, International Workshop on Coupled
methods in numerical dynamics IUC, Dubrovnik,
September 2007

8. AUTHORS BIOGRAPHIES

Gijsbert de Jong holds the current position of product
manager at Bureau Veritas. He is responsible for the
international business development in the field of
container ships. Gijsbert joined Bureau Veritas in 2001
after obtaining an MSc in Naval Architecture & Marine
Engineering from Delft University of Technology.
Before moving to the sales and marketing management
team in Paris, he has worked as hull surveyor and
department manager in the plan approval office in
Rotterdam.

Michel Huther is a graduate Mechanical Engineer
(Ecole Centrale de Lyon, 1965) and Naval Architect &
Marine Engineer (Ingnieur Civil du Gnie Maritime,
1967). Michel joined Bureau Veritas in 1969 and has
worked as research engineer and department head for the
ship research and rule development department, with
many contributions to European R&D projects. In 2000
he was promoted deputy to the director of the marine
technical management. After his retirement in 2003
Michel is holding the position of technical advisor to the
Bureau Veritas marine technical management. He is a
member of SNAME, ATMA & SF2M and has published
over 200 scientific and technical papers on ship structural
behaviour and safety.

STRUCTURE
Managing structural fatigue onboard ships requires either fitted
approaches for existing fleet and new tools to prevent the emergence of
new fatigue sources such as whipping or springing. The papers in this
section focus on risk based maintenance versus crack propagation and
prediction of fatigue loads resulting from hydrodynamic structural
interaction in large containerships.
1
SIMULATION OF THE BEHAVIOUR OF FATIGUE CRACKS: A TOOL FOR
INSPECTION DECISION MAKING ON A SHIPS DECK BEAM

V. Boutillier, M. Serror, G. Parmentier, Bureau Veritas, 17 bis place des Reflets,
La Dfense 2, 92400 COURBEVOIE

ABSTRACT

To assess the condition of ships and FPSOs, it is necessary to fit the inspection process to the safety
targets. By using the knowledge gained from the inspection data, failure of the ships structural
components may be avoided. Crack propagation is an important issue to consider when devising an
appropriate inspection plan; this is particularly true for ships and FPSOs that operate in regions with high
sea states. On some types of ships, it can be very difficult to perform inspections due to certain structural
arrangements, for example wall fascias that hide the structural members, and the time required to perform
this task leads to heavy costs. Thus, it is important to know the exact behaviour of how cracks propagate
in order to determine, as far as possible, if the inspection process may be delayed.

The original feature of the methodology is the use of Line Spring Method to calculate the stress intensity
factors. Based on this approach, we have developed a probabilistic analysis using Monte Carlo
simulation.

The main benefit of this assessment technique is the added flexibility in the development of an inspection
plan that best suits the ship or FPSO considered. This approach may help operators and engineers to
make decisions for inspections, repairs and maintenance processes, in order to have the lowest cost
whilst complying with the required safety targets. Finally, an example is provided on a ships deck beam,
which shows us the effects of inspection parameters on the probability of failure and probability of
detection.

1. INTRODUCTION

The aim of a fatigue analysis on ships or offshore
structures is to evaluate the damage due to cracks
propagation, leading sometimes to the failure of
parts of the structure. Ship structures are submitted
to cyclical forces, such as wave actions, as well as
loading and unloading sequences. On some types
of ships, it can be very difficult to perform
inspections due to certain structural arrangements,
(for example wall fascias that hide the structural
members), and the time required to perform this
task leads to heavy costs.
Therefore, in order to help operators and engineers
to make decision for inspections, maintenance and
repairs, a probabilistic crack propagation approach
based on a new crack propagation method has
been developed.
This probabilistic approach is based on SAPHIRS
[1] which evaluates crack propagation and a
Monte Carlo simulation for the probabilistic part.
That methodology gives us probability of failure.

2. SAPHIRS

2.1 METHODOLOGY

The aim of the methodology is to forecast as
accurately as possible the fatigue crack initiation
and the fatigue crack growth in ships or offshore
structures components that have been submitted to
fluctuated and repeated loads. These loads can be
represented by a combination of unitary loads or
modes if the response of the component is linear
elastic. To take into account the discontinuity of
the presence of a crack which induces non-
linearity effects, the mathematic models generally
use the contour integral evaluation related to the
energy release rate. That action implies re-
meshing after each propagation step. Re-meshing
is very time consuming. The stress intensity factor
is one of the most important parameter
responsibilities of the crack propagation. It
depends on the notch geometry and on the stresses
on the crack lips. It is well known that the fatigue
crack propagation varies exponentially with it.
2
Therefore, with the use of both Line-Spring and
the stress intensity factors to determine the stress
field, success is achieved accompanied with very
easy implementation. This method allows taking
into account the stiffness variation during crack
propagation, impossible with analytical solutions
or finite element methods without re-meshing.

2.2 POSITION OF THE CRACKS

The finite element model must be carefully
performed with shell elements including all the
directions of loads that the structure encounters.
This first and very important step establishes stress
cartography. From these results with the use of the
concept of hot spot, we are able to define the
position of one or several cracks. The experience
showed that the position of the cracks is more
commensurate with the structural geometry, rather
than the forces directions. However, the software
leaves open the ability for a crack possibly
growing due to a forces direction, and somewhere
else, growing from another forces direction. But
most importantly is the software which has the
ability to consider the interactions between several
cracks (Figure n1).

Figure n1: Two cracks
Our process needs to know a priori the crack path.
So it has to be determined [2], and the simplest
method is to use the principal stresses directions
(Figure n2). The main assumption consists of
setting the crack path in a direction perpendicular
to the maximum principal stresses whose
directions are the eigenvectors of the stress tensor.
So the first step is to determine the stress field of
the component to be able to draw the path of the
hot spots.
Figure n2: Principal stress directions
Often, the hot spots appear at an intersection of
two sheets, and the crack must be defined at the
weld toe position, even if no weld has been
modeled. Wherever the hot spots take place, we
build one or several part-through cracks, by one or
several lines of coupled nodes.

2.3 THE LINE SPRING METHODOLOGY

The Line Spring model was introduced in 1972 by
Rice and Levy [3] to estimate stress intensity
factors due to tension and bending in large plates
containing part-through surface cracks. He
essentially reduced the three-dimensional problem
to a two-dimensional one, in mode I. This model
has been extended to the modes II and III by
Desvaux [4]. The idea was to analyze the part-
through crack as a several single edged specimen,
the cracked structure part (Figure n3).

Figure n3: A several single edge specimen
The crack is defined as a line of couple of nodes,
with same coordinates, and separated. The both
nodes simulate the crack, each node located on
each crack lip.
The Line-Spring model is based on the fact that
there is a relationship at each point along the cut,
Two cracks

Principal stress
directions
3
between local displacements and the loadings, the
compliance coefficients. Then, from the point of
view of the plate, the surface crack is represented
by a through-crack with a continuous distribution
of generalized springs connected across the line of
discontinuity, the Line Spring (Figure n4).
Figure n4: Line-Spring
After the crack has been defined as upper, the
keystone of the software can be set up. The
compliance coefficients, the S
ij
pq
matrix, are
defined by the additional relative displacements
and rotations due to the cracks presence. Thanks
to a finite element calculation, the second ones
being the displacements of the crack lips, d
i
p
are
determined for each couple of nodes i, in the
direction p, resulting in an unitary force F
j
q
,
exerted on the couple node j in the direction q, in
order to build the compliance matrix. It is the
same to evaluate the displacements of the crack
lips on each couple of node i, d
i
p
due to external
loads, F
ext
, which are applied on the fully-cracked
component. These loads may be unitary and
exerted on any point on the structure and
according to any direction. The displacements will
be then worked out by an easy linear combination.
Thus, for the desired crack shape, the resolution
kernel of the software SAPHIRS, is to find loads
{F}, and {d
i
p
} to solve:
d
i
p
- d
i
= - S
ij
pq .
F
j
q
(1)
This first equation lets us verify the loads along
the virtual crack, when there are no cracks yet, i.e.,
d
i
p
=0.
The stresses on the intact structure are again
evaluated from the equation:
d
i
= S
ij
pq .
F
j
q
(2)

At the end of this step, all the behavior of the
structure followed by the behavior of the crack is
condensed in the S
ij
matrix.
2.4 CRACK INITIATION

The propagation crack process always begins by
the crack initiation. This step is fundamental for
the next propagation step. The shape of the crack
front is drawn by the stress field distribution. If the
stress gradient is important, the initiation and then
the propagation will occur in the hot spot and its
neighborhood. If the stress gradient is small, the
initiation will go off gradually, and the crack will
extend first along the surface. It leads to a multi-
initiation of the crack. All these phenomena are
taken into account in the software. In this phase,
the damage is cumulated cycle after cycle, either
by a local approach or by an SN curve approach.

2.4 (a) Local approach

The module CALEND stems from Petitpass [5]
works. It uses the local stresses determined by the
precedent step. For designing welded components,
it allows you to take into account stress
concentration factors K
t
to evaluate the stress
tensor at the weld toe. Residual stresses can be
included, too. As the local stresses are often
greater then the yield stress, a plastic correction
has to be done. Then a fatigue stress criterion is
calculated on different planes of the stress tensor
(using Dang Van criterion [6]) and damage is
accumulated (using Miners rule and Basquins
law) on extracted cycles (using Rainflow
counting). Finally, damage is taken as the
maximum damage obtained on all planes of the
stress tensor, and the crack initiation occurs when
damage at a node is given and overestimated
critical value.
In each point where the damage is an upper
critical damage, it is assessed as an initial flaw,
generally the 1/10
th
of the sheet thickness. After
that, the propagation may occur.

2.4 (b) SN curve approach

This treatment of the initiation phase is built on
the initiation SN curves, which supply the
probability to get an initial flaw, after N
i

solicitations under the stresses, S
ij
, on the couple j.
This probability is supposed following a Weibull
Lower crack tip
Line Spring Upper crack tip
d dd d
i
p

4
distribution, with two parameters a and b.
) ( exp 1
1 ij
n i
i
j
KS
N
P

=

=
=
(3)
The crack initiation occurs when the probability at
a node is over a given critical value.
Those critical values may be different if the non-
homogenous surface weld toe is taken into account
This step allows initiating the crack by laying an
initial flaw with a given size, a
0
(Figure
n5).While the crack growths on this node (Figure
n6), the other nodes will initiate at their turn. So,
this phase allows the crack propagating through
the thickness of the sheet, but also, in the direction
parallel to the sheet. The crack propagation
diagram may be summarized as follows:
Figure n5: Multi-Initiation

Figure n6: Propagation through thickness

2.5 CRACK PROPAGATION: PART
THROUGH THICKNESS

The crack grows from each point where the
initiation has occurred. The Tada coefficients A
ij
,
depend only on the ratio l/h, (l: crack depth and h:
plate thickness), and vanish when l=0.These
coefficients set up relations between the forces
acting upon the crack lips and the crack lips
opening displacements.
d
i
p
= A
ij
pq .
F
j
q
(4)
Then, for any crack depth, it is easy to find the
displacements d
i
, and the forces F
j
q
, by solving
both (1) and (4). Now the Irwins (1967) relation
in potential energy accompanying a variation of
crack depth and the stress intensity factor are
employed as a basis for calculating the stress
intensity. The stress intensity factors, first in mode
I, K
I
from Tada (1973) [7] and then extended to
the modes II and III, K
II,
K
III
by Desvaux (1983)
may be expressed as follows, in every cracked
point, j:
)
6
( ) (
2
, ,
h
g M
h
g N
h j K
M I j N I j
I
+ =
(5)
) , ( ) , ( ) (
)) , ( (
2
) 2 / tan(
/ 24 ) , (
)) , ( (
2
) 2 / tan(
2 ) , (
T j K Q j K j K
h l f
h
h l
h T T j K
h l f
h
h l
Q Q j K
II II II
II
II
+ =
=
=
(6)

,
) (
II III
g h j K = (7)
) 1983 (
,
), , (
:
:
:
:
:
:
5
3
1
4
2
Desvaux by given
x II
g h l f with
F moment twisting antiplane T
F shearforce antiplane Q
F s shearstres transverse
F moment bending M
F tension N
with

Then, for every crack depth on each node
belonging to the crack line, the three stress
intensity factors are evaluated according to the
loads acting on the structure. In the structures, we
study the mode I because it is the most
preponderant crack propagation. Then, the crack
propagation rate, in the software SAPHIRS
follows the Paris law:
, ) ( /
m
s I
K K C dN dl = (8)
With Ks: the threshold stress intensity factors,
and
K
I
=K
I,max
- K
I,min
The crack propagation through the plate thickness
goes cycle after cycle until a failure criterion
occurs. After every propagation step, an update of
the defect size is performed, and the equations (3)
and (4) are solved again.
The software proposes three failure criteria:
Ductile criterion
Brittle criterion
Critical size
When one of these criteria is realized, the ligament
Plate
thickness
Flaws on the surface
Plate
thickness
5
breaks and the crack becomes a through thickness
crack.

2.6 THROUGH CRACK BOX: THE CRACK
BOX TECHNIQUE

It is important to emphasize that the stress
intensity factors calculated with Tada coefficients
are available for cracks propagation in the depth of
a plate. When the ligament rupture occurs, the
crack propagation extends in a longitudinal
direction parallel to the plate (Figure n7).

Figure n7: Three crack configurations

The Crack Box idea, developed by Lebaillif
(2005) [8], is set to use the technique of sub-
modeling: the displacements of nodes located in
the neighborhood of the cracks, determined in the
same way of the crack lips displacements, are used
to drive a 3D sub-model of the structure, including
the crack tip which is meshed using fracture
mechanics elements (Figure n8).

Figure n8: Crack Box Technique
Thus, the stress intensity factors are previously
calculated at all the crack tip nodes of the sub-
model, with unitary displacements applied at its
border. Next, the three stress intensity factors are
calculated using a linear combination with the
displacements in each mode.

3. PROBABILISTIC APPROACH

3.1 METHODOLOGY

A sensitivity study has helped us to determine the
random parameters (such as material
characteristics, initial crack length, etc.) which
govern crack propagation. These parameters are
described here after respectively with their density
function [9].

Random
parameter
Density function

Yield stress
minimum Weibull law
- 355 =
threshold
MPa
- 411 = u
- 1 . 2 = k

Ultimate
strength
minimum Weibull law
- 490 =
threshold
MPa
- 558 = u
- 1 . 2 = k
Paris law
parameter:
Kthreshold
normal law
- Mean = 10 MPa m
-Standard deviation=2.5 MPa m

Toughness
minimum Weibull law
- 40 =
threshold
MPa m
- 106 = u
- 3 . 3 = k

We have to notice that we didnt take loads as
random parameter.

For each simulation, we observed the detail
behaviour, considering the ship used 80% of 30
years in navigation. During this span time, we
inspect the ship considering one inspection plan.
Each plan is described by its type and the time
interval between each inspection.

SAPHIRS evaluates the crack propagation and
gives the crack length at each step.
At the end of each simulated inspection, two
possibilities exist. The first one, no crack is
detected, so the simulation goes on. The other
possibility is, a crack is detected. Therefore, we
repaired the structure (without redesign). Thereby,
a new detail is done, so we make a new Monte
Carlo simulation in order to give new material
Plate
thickness
A through thickness crack
u
j

6
characteristics for the considered detail. If a
failure appends during the simulation, we do not
repair, we stop the simulation.

Inspection type is defined by a probability of
detection (pod). This pod helps us to know either
the surveyor detect the crack or not during the
inspection. In fact, thanks to this pod, we were
able to determine the probability the surveyor had
to detect this crack length. Next, we choose a
random value between 0 and 1, if this value is
lower than the probability to detect the crack, that
means we detect it, however if the random value is
greater than the probability to detect the flaw, the
crack propagation goes on until the next inspection
or a failure.

We have decided to look at two different
inspection types. Therefore, we defined two pod
represented by two lognormal laws whose
parameters are defined below:
Visual inspection:
- mean = 20
- standard deviation = 10
NDT (Non Destructive Testing)
inspection:
- mean = 2.87
- standard deviation = 1.03

The total number of simulation depends on the
wanted accuracy.
After each inspection, probability of failure and
confidence interval are calculated.

Probability of failure, p, is evaluated by:

With: n: the total number of simulations
k: the total number of failure

Confidence interval is calculated by:

( )
2 1 2 / 1
,

F
: is a Fisher-Snedecor law
1 : is a confidence interval

This confidence interval is used to limit the
parameter estimation. In our case, this interval
corresponds to 95%.

The following figure shows us the program
mechanism.

Figure n9: program mechanism

4. A SHIPS DECK BEAM SIMULATION

4.1 HYPOTHESIS

The loading histories are all the sea states
significant heights encountered by the ship during
its life. Each sea cycles is supposed to last 6 hours,
i.e. 1 800 cycles. The diagram below shows the
significant height distribution state, HS1.
New random
simulation
Monte Carlo
simulation
Planning inspection
Detail description
Crack propagation
SAPHIRS
Monte Carlo
simulation
Visual Crack
Repair required
No Visual Crack
The crack keeps going
Yard inspection
Inspection
Critical length crack
reached
Failure
n
k
p =
n k si p = =1
sup
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ) ( 2 ), 1 ( 2 1
2 , 1 2 1
5 . 97
5 . 97
sup
k n k F k k n
k n k F k
p
+ + +
+
=
0 0
inf
= = k si p
( ) ( ) ) ( 2 ), 1 ( 2 1
5 . 97
inf
k k n F k n k
k
p
+ + +
=
7
Sea states HS1
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
1 32 63 94 125 156 187 218 249 280 311 342 373 404 435 466 497
Hs
n
u
m
e
r
o
u
s

o
f

t
h
e

s
e
a

s
t
a
t
e
s
Initiation after the step
61
73200 cycles

Figure n10. Significant heights of loading histories

4.2 EFFICIENCY OF INSPECTION PLAN
ON FAILURE PROBABILITIES

Time interval influence

On these simulations, we show the time interval
influence on the failure probabilities.
The first one is visual inspection every 6 year, the
second one is annual visual inspection and finally
the last one is visual inspection every 6 month.

Table 1: failure probabilities for visual
inspection plan

Failure
Probabilities
Lower
boundary
Mean
estimation
Upper
boundary
Visual
Inspection
Every 6 year
3.15*10
-1
3.93*10
-1
4.76*10
-1

Visual
Annual
Inspection
4.71*10
-3
1.17*10
-2
2.39*10
-2

Visual
Inspection
Every 6 month
1.41*10
-2
2.5*10
-2
4.09*10
-2

The following diagrams show the failure
probabilities evolution after each simulation of
80% of 30 years.
1.00E-03
1.00E-02
1.00E-01
1.00E+00
3 24 45 66 87 108 129 150

Figure n11. failure probabilities - visual inspection every 6
year
1.00E-03
1.00E-02
1.00E-01
1.00E+00
3 24 45 66 87 108 129 150 171 192 213 234 255 276 297 318 339 360 381 402 423 444 465 486 507 528 549 570 591

Figure n12. failure probabilities - visual annual inspection
1.00E-03
1.00E-02
1.00E-01
1.00E+00
3 54 105 156 207 258 309 360 411 462 513 564

Figure n13. failure probabilities - visual inspections every 6
month

The upper diagrams show that we run only 150
simulations for visual inspection every 6 year
against 600 simulations for visual annual
inspections and visual inspection every 6 month.
Nevertheless, we may notice that the confidence
interval is rather large for inspection every 6
month or every year than for inspection every 6
year.
8
The reason is that during annual inspection, the
number of failure decreases and therefore the
confidence interval is more difficult to evaluate. It
is the reason why we carry out more simulations
when inspections are close together than for every
6 year inspections.

Inspection type influence

On this calculation, we show the influence of
inspection type. We changed visual inspections by
NDT inspections.
As we may predict, NDT inspections give better
results than visual inspections.

Table 2: failure probabilities for NDT
inspection plan

Failure
Probabilities
Lower
boundary
Mean
estimation
Upper
boundary
NDT
inspection
Every 6 year
2.34*10
-1
3.07*10
-1
3.87*10
-1

NDT
Annual
inspection
6.89*10
-3
1.50*10
-2
2.83*10
-2

NDT
inspection
Every 6 month
1.82*10
-3
6.67*10
-3
1.70*10
-2

Here again, it can be observed, as for visual
method, that if we carry out every 6 month
inspections, it didnt provided better results than
annual inspections.

Failure results depend either on the probability of
the structure to resist to fatigue and crack
propagation and on the performance of inspection
process.
The selected detail was known as ill designed for
the applied loads. Therefore, the question was how
a reinforced inspection planning would improve or
not, the structural reliability, and show the limit of
inspection versus inspection methods and
inspection periods.

These failure probabilities show us that the time
interval has much influence than the type. In fact,
reducing the time interval will supply better results
than changing the inspection type.
4.3 EFFICIENCY OF INSPECTION PLAN
FOR DETECTING CRACKS BEFORE
FAILURE

We evaluated two different probabilities of
detection.
The first one is the probability to detect a flaw
leading to a repair (table 3 & 4).
The second one is the probability to detect a crack
before a failure (table 5 & 6).

Table 3: Probabilities to detect a flaw leading to
a repair for visual inspection plan

Probability to
detect a flaw
leading to a
repair
Lower
boundary
Mean
estimation
Upper
boundary
Visual
inspection
Every 6 years
1.98*10
-1
2.31*10
-1
2.66*10
-1

Visual
inspection
Annual
8.22*10
-2
8.65*10
-2
9.10*10
-2

Visual
inspection
Every 6 month
4.86*10
-2
5.11*10
-2
5.36*10
-2

Table 4: Probabilities to detect a flaw leading to
a repair for NDT inspection plan

Probability
to detect a
flaw leading
to a repair
Lower
boundary
Mean
estimation
Upper
boundary
NDT
inspection
Every 6 years
2.51*10
-1
2.48*10
-1
3.19*10
-1

NDT
inspection
Annual
1.08*10
-1
1.13*10
-1
1.18*10
-1

NDT
inspection
Every 6 month
5.13*10
-2
5.37*10
-2
5.63*10
-2

Table 3 and 4 show no significant discrepancies
between visual inspection and inspection carried
out with the help of NDT methods.
9
This is due to the fact that the probability to detect
a flaw depends mainly on the probability that a
flaw exists.

Table 5: Probabilities to detect a crack before a
failure for visual inspection plan

Probability
to detect a
crack before
a failure
Lower
boundary
Mean
estimation
Upper
boundary
Visual
inspection
Every 6 years
5.3*10
-1
6.13*10
-1
6.92*10
-1

Visual
inspection
Annual
6.72*10
-1
7.1*10
-1
7.46*10
-1

Visual
inspection
Every 6 month
7.53*10
-1
7.88*10
-1
8.20*10
-1

Table 6: Probabilities to detect a crack before a
failure for NDT inspection plan

Probability
to detect a
crack before
a failure
Lower
boundary
Mean
estimation
Upper
boundary
NDT
inspection
Every 6 years
5.44*10
-1
6.27*10
-1
7.04*10
-1

NDT
inspection
Annual
7.16*10
-1
7.53*10
-1
7.87*10
-1

NDT
inspection
Every 6 month
6.87*10
-1
7.25*10
-1
7.60*10
-1

Table 5 and 6 show us that increasing the number
of inspection (for example performing inspection
every 6 month instead of every 6 year) increases
the probability of crack detection before failure.
In the same way, help of NDT methods increases
the probability of crack detection before failure.
Increasing the number of simulation would
probably shows that inspection every 6 month
would be better that every year.
Nevertheless, the lower boundary of simulation
shows that the efficiency to this improvement is
limited. This is mainly due to the probability to
miss a crack of a large size. In fact, failure
happens because we repair identically after we
detect it. Therefore, the crack will propagate as the
same as before. Furthermore, the surveyor could
miss a crack during inspection (due to the chosen
pod), and this is that crack which is going to fail.

4.4 CRITICAL LENGTH INFLUENCE ON
STRUCTURAL RELIABILITY

For previous simulations the critical length was
equal to 114 mm, but for these simulations, it was
taken equal to 54 mm.
Considering a visual inspection every 6 year and
this new critical length, we may compare results
with those obtain for the former one.

Table 7: probabilities for visual inspection plan
function of the critical length

Visual
inspection
every 6 year
ac = 54mm
Lower
boundary
Mean
estimation
Upper
boundary
Probability of
failure
5.71*10
-1
6.53*10
-1
7.29*10
-1

Probability to
detect a flaw
leading to a
repair
1.66*10
-1
2.02*10
-1
2.41*10
-1

Probability to
detect a crack
before a
failure
3.53*10
-1
4.33*10
-1
5.17 *10
-1

Regarding the probability of failure, if we consider
that the failure is happening with a smaller critical
length (54 mm instead of 114mm), the probability
of failure will increase.
However, concerning the both probabilities of
detection, we can see that the critical length has no
influence.

10
Table 8: probabilities for visual inspection plan
function of the critical length

Annual
visual
inspection
ac = 54mm
Lower
boundary
Mean
estimation
Upper
boundary
Probability
of failure
1.48*10
-2
4.00*10
-2
8.50*10
-2

Probability
to detect a
flaw leading
to a repair
9.16*10
-2
1.01*10
-1
1.11*10
-1

Probability
to detect a
crack before
a failure
7.86*10
-1
8.53*10
-1
9.06*10
-1

The same conclusions may be done for annual
inspection with (ac = 54mm) (table 8).

We may explain this because the crack grows up
quickly when it is possible to see it. In other terms,
the crack grows slowly at the beginning and will
grow very quickly after.
In fact, probabilities are almost the same, either
with a critical length of 54mm or 114mm. It
means that we consume a lot of cycles to arrive at
54 mm.

5. CONCLUSION

For the considered ship, wall fascias lead to high
inspection costs. Relative improvement of
inspection every 6 month is not sufficient to
justify additional cost and time lost of operating
availability resulting from this additional
inspection.
Monte Carlo approach is very effective to simulate
successive inspection and repair due to a poor
detail design.
To justify the reliability and inspection planning of
a well design detail, Monte Carlo approach will
lead to a very large number of simulations.
Nevertheless, alternative approach based on
FORM-SORM methods will better suit for design
stage, due to the fact that the design is made in
order to avoid failure.

An overall methodology has been introduced to
forecast crack initiation and propagation without
re-meshing. This method rounds up a lot of strong
points: realistic stresses, local approach initiation,
easily calculable stress intensity factors, several
cracks with their interactions. It has been applied
on a ship deck beam, and we have seen that lots of
data are accessible to monitor the crack
propagation. The fundamental idea is that the
perfect knowledge of the crack lips displacements
allows for determining the stress intensity factors
which govern the crack propagation. Taking into
account realistically the propagation phenomena
seems the right way to lead to a life span close to
reality.
These results performed with this probabilistic
crack propagation approach have shown that the
code is efficient and easy to carry out.
It proved that the tool may helps operators to
make decisions for inspection, repair and the
maintenance process. In fact, we can determine,
function of how cracks propagate if the inspection
process may be delayed or not.

REFERENCES

1. Serror M., Lebaillif D., Huther I., 2007,
Simulation of behavior of fatigue cracks: A
complete industrial process on a ship deck beam,
PRADS 2007

2. Lebaillif D., Ma S., Huther M., Lieurade H.P,
Petitpas E., Recho N., 2003, Fatigue Crack
Propagation and Path Assessment in Industrial
Structures, International Conference on Fatigue
Crack Paths / FCP 200318-20 Sept. 2003, Parma
(Italy)

3. Rice J.R. and Levy N, 1972 The Part-Through
Surface Crack in an Elastic Plate, Journal of
Applied Mechanics, March 1972, 185-184

4. Desvaux G.J., 1985 The Line Spring Model for
Surface Flaw, an extension to mode II and mode
III, Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
at the MIT, June 1985

5. Petitpas E., Lebrun B., de Meerleer S., Fournier
P., Charrier A., Pollet F., 2000, Use of the local
11
approach for the calculation of fatigue strength of
welds. IIW, Florence, 9-14/07/2000

6. Recho N., 2008, Calculation tools for fatigue
in french Outils de calcul pour la fatigue, EPF-
etude bibliographique, Feb 2008

7. Tada H., Paris P.C. & Irwin G.R., The stress
analysis of cracks handbook- DEL Research
Corporation

8. Lebaillif D., Huther I., Serror M., Recho N.,
2005, Fatigue Crack initiation and propagation: a
complete industrial process compared with
experiments on industrial welded structure,
Fatigue Design. Cetim, Senlis, Nov. 2005

9. Parmentier G., 2007, Internal Bureau Veritas
report

ATMA 2008

QUELQUES ASPECTS HYDRODYNAMI QUE/STRUCTURE
EN CONCEPTI ON DES PORTE-CONTENEURS GEANTS

ime MALENI CA, Florence MAUDUI T, Michel HUTHER
BUREAU VERITAS Division Marine Paris (France)

SOMMAIRE
La nouvelle tendance accrotre la taille des porte-conteneurs (jusqu' 400m de longueur) fait
apparatre en conception et en procdures de vrification des thmes nouveaux en calculs
hydrodynamiques et de structures concernant les vrifications en rsistance ultime et en fatigue.
Certains thmes concernent la rponse hydrolastique qui devient importante en raison des priodes
propres structurelles relativement basses des ces navires et des fortes contraintes oprationnelles
(vitesse maximale de l'ordre de 27 nuds). Effectivement, la combinaison de la diminution des
frquences propres et l'augmentation des frquences d'excitation peut conduire l'excitation force des
vibrations de la poutre navire par la houle appel "springing", vibrations qui peuvent affecter de
manire significative la dure de vie du navire. En sus de ce phnomne, la vibration transitoire
engendre par le "slamming" ("whipping") peut affecter aussi bien la rsistance ultime que la fatigue.
Dans ces conditions, les rgles classiques des socits de classification atteignent leurs limites pour ces
navires et ainsi il est ncessaire de faire appel une approche dite calculs directs. Cette
communication prsente et discute la procdure complte du Bureau Veritas base sur des calculs
directs

SUMMARY
SOME ASPECTS OF HYDRO STRUCTURAL ISSUES
IN THE DESIGN OF ULTRA LARGE CONTAINER SHIPS
Recent trends in increasing the size of the container ships (up to 400m in length), raise the new hydro
structural issues in their design and verification process, both from ultimate strength and fatigue points
of view. Some of these issues are related to the hydroelastic structural responses which become
important due to the relatively low structural natural frequencies of these ships, and due to the strong
operational requirements (maximum speed around 27 knots). Indeed, the combination of the reduced
natural frequencies and increased excitation frequency can lead to the forced wave induced hull girder
ship vibrations called springing, which might significantly affect the ship fatigue life. In addition to
this, the slamming induced transient vibration (whipping) can affect both the ultimate strength and
fatigue. In any case, the classical classification societys rules are reaching their limits for these ships
and the so called direct calculation approach is needed. In this paper the over-all Bureau Veritas
procedure based on direct calculations is presented and discussed.

1. I NTRODUCTI ON
Plus grand semble aujourd'hui synonyme de
plus rentable, mais en fait le gigantisme a
toujours fascin l'homme. L'histoire nous
apporte de nombreux exemples depuis la plus
haute antiquit et la construction navale de
notre poque n'chappe pas ce phnomne.
Les 40 dernires annes ont t fertiles en
projets et constructions de navires gants. Dans
les annes 60 les ptroliers ont doubls de
taille tous les 2 ans jusqu' atteindre en 1975
550.000 tdw pour une longueur de 414m [1],
puis ce furent les navires de croisires qui
passrent de 2000 passagers dans les annes 60
5000 passagers pour le dernier navire en
construction [2].
Aujourd'hui c'est au tour des porte-conteneurs
qui de 6.000 TEU dans les annes 60 ont
atteint 11.000 et 11.400 TEU en 2007 [3] avec
aujourd'hui des projets de 14.000 TEU et une
longueur de l'ordre de 400m.
Si l'augmentation de taille peut tre obtenue
par extrapolation des dimensions de navires
existants et les sollicitations de houle values
par analyse dimensionnelle, des phnomnes
dynamiques de second ordre pour des tailles
moyennes peuvent devenir importants pour de
grandes dimensions. C'est en particulier le cas
pour les rponses structurelles vibratoires et la
fatigue.
Il suffit de regarder le pass pour s'en
convaincre. Deux exemples peuvent illustrer
l'apparition au premier plan de phnomnes
antrieurement secondaires, l'avion Comet
(1954), premier grand avion commercial
raction, qui a fait apparatre l'importance de la
fatigue en aronautique et le ptrolier Magdala
(1968), premier 250.000 tdw, qui a mis en
lumire les risques de flambement des
composants primaires[4].
Le retour d'exprience conduit considrer
deux phnomnes dynamiques affectant la
poutre navire avec une attention toute
particulire pour les porte-conteneurs gants,
le

whipping
1
(mise en vibration transitoire due
aux chocs hydrodynamiques l'avant
slamming et slapping), le springing (excitation
entretenue du premier mode de vibration libre).
En effet, la taille croissante des navires et leur
pont ouvert diminuent les frquences propres
de la poutre navire alors que la vitesse
augmente les frquences de rencontre avec les
houles les amenant dans la mme gamme avec
des effets dynamiques amplifis.
Il apparat alors que les rgles classiques des
socits de classification atteignent leurs
limites rendant ncessaire des approches
faisant appel des calculs directs de
comportement dynamique sur houle.
Nous allons analyser ces deux phnomnes,
leur impact sur les structures des navires, les
moyens disponibles pour les aborder et leur
incidence sur la conception des navires.
2. WHI PPI NG
Le whipping est la rponse transitoire du
premier mode de la poutre navire aux chocs
hydrodynamiques sur les fonds l'avant du
navire aprs djaugeage (slamming) ou sur un
fort dvers d'trave (slapping) (figure 1).

Figure 1: Retour violent dans l'eau de l'avant
d'un navire aprs djaugeage
Le comportement du premier mode de la
poutre navire peut tre simul par un systme
un degr de libert amorti de mme frquence.
Les efforts sont de courte dure mais trs

1
Les termes tossage et fouettement sont utiliss en
franais pour slamming et whipping mais slapping
et springing n'ayant pas d'quivalent franais, nous
utiliserons la terminologie anglaise dans le texte

levs, similaires une impulsion [5] et
induisent ainsi des vibrations transitoires
amorties.
2.1. I ncidence sur la tenue de la structure
Les slamming et slapping sont connus pour se
produire par mer de l'avant, lorsque les
mouvements verticaux sont les plus forts.
La dformation de vibration de la poutre navire
engendre par le choc se superpose celle
engendre par la houle (figure 2).

Figure 2: Navire Marcel Bayard, mesures la
mer des contraintes au pont,
houle plus whipping
Les risques de dommage dus au whipping sur
des navires pont ouvert ont t identifis
depuis de nombreuses annes, le premier effet
tant un moment vertical suprieur celui
d'chantillonnage et engendrant une
dformation permanente de la poutre navire, le
second tant la gnration de cycles de
contraintes pouvant conduire des fissurations
de fatigue prmatures[6 , 7].
Si le dpassement du moment maximum de
flexion admissible entranant la dformation de
la poutre navire est ais comprendre,
l'apparition de fissure de fatigue est plus
difficile admettre.
Cependant, le navire Marcel Bayard illustre
bien ce risque. Les mesures la mer rapportes
en [6] ont t dcides suite l'apparition de
fissures au bout d'un temps anormalement
court, 3 ans. Les mesures et l'tude ont montr
que malgr sa taille moyenne, 110m longueur,
les avaries pouvaient s'expliquer par le
whipping frquent provenant des conditions
d'opration particulires ce type de navire et
les grandes coutilles entranant de fortes
concentrations de contraintes au pont.
Au niveau du projet d'un navire il est donc
important de pouvoir valuer l'incidence du
whipping sur les contraintes au pont, ce qui
requiert le calcul du comportement du navire
sur houle puis celui de la structure aux efforts
impulsifs engendrs par les slamming et
slapping.
2.2. Moyens de calcul et mthode
Depuis quelques dcennies le calcul direct sur
houle d'un navire est devenu courant pour les
analyses en effort extrme et de cumul de
fatigue.
Les mthodes utilises par les bureaux d'tudes
reposent sur l'approche spectrale, rapide
mettre en uvre, et ayant aprs calibration une
prcision suffisante pour les vrifications
classiques.
Par contre le whipping tant un phnomne
impulsif non linaire, l'approche spectrale
devient insuffisante. Il a donc t dvelopp
des mthodes de calculs pas de temps
permettant de rsoudre le problme de
couplage entre la diffraction/radiation 3D
hydrodynamique et la dformation dynamique
du navire modlis par une poutre suivant
Timoshenko.
Dans cette approche modale, les mouvements
et dformations du navire sont reprsents par
une srie de 6 modes de corps rigides plus 5
10 modes structurels sans masse d'eau ajoute
[8]. Mais il est noter que les coefficients
hydrodynamiques linaires dans les quations
pas de temps sont obtenus partir de calculs
dans le domaine frquentiel classique [9 , 10].
Les mthodes de dtermination des efforts de
slamming/slapping, excitations de la rponse
dynamique, correspondent aux deux mthodes
disponibles aujourd'hui "Generalized Wagner
Model" et "Modified Logvinovich Model",
toutes deux bases sur des approches 2D.
Les calculs de rponse de whipping sont ainsi
possibles par la mise en uvre de la chane de
logiciels de calcul de comportement du navire
rigide dans le domaine frquentiel et un calcul
pas de temps non linaire de la poutre navire
lastique. L'ensemble a t vrifi avec succs
sur des navires de 260 et 360 m de longueur
[11] (figure 3 et 4).

Figure 3:Exemple de moment de flexion non
linaire avec whipping sur un tat de mer fix

Figure 4: Zoom l'instant d'un choc de
slamming (rponses: lastique, rigide non
linaire, rigide linaire)
La mthode de calcul se droule alors suivant
les tapes ci-dessous:
1. slection des tats de mer et de leur
frquence d'existence suivant les zones
d'opration du navire (standard: Atlantique
Nord)
2. calcul de comportement linaire avec
dtermination des conditions extrmes
possibles suivant l'incidence de la houle
(vitesse du navire, hauteur de houle)
3. dtermination des conditions de navigation
avec possibilit de slamming (incidence de
houle, vitesse, hauteur de houle)
4. calcul de comportement non linaire pour
les conditions de navigation avec
slamming
2.3. Effets sur efforts extrmes
L'observation des rponses lastiques montrent
que le whipping augmente les valeurs extrmes
du moment de flexion vertical de la poutre
navire. Il est donc ncessaire de prendre en
compte cet accroissement pour les vrifications
de la structure l'tat ultime.
Les calculs effectus [11] et les mesures la
mer [6] montrent que le whipping apparat
lorsque le moment de houle est en contre-arc.
A partir de la condition de navigation la plus
svre, force de slamming extrme, il est
dtermin l'augmentation du moment
rglementaire maximal en contre-arc.
Les mesures la mer montrent que
l'amortissement de la vibration transitoire est
faible, de l'ordre de =1,5%, aussi la vibration
de whipping est encore sensible lorsque le
moment de houle passe en arc (figure 4). La
valeur du moment rglementaire en arc peut
donc aussi ncessiter une augmentation.
Les calculs de structure peuvent alors tre
effectus suivant le rglement de classification
en utilisant les moments rglementaires
corrigs des accroissements dus au whipping.
L'application sur un porte conteneurs de 250m
de longueur montre que l'accroissement du
moment de flexion maximal total (houle plus
eau calme) pouvait atteindre 20 30 % pour
des conditions de navigation svres, en accord
avec les mesures la mer [6].
Les calculs effectus sur des porte-conteneurs
gants conduisent considrer que cet ordre de
grandeur reste valable pour ces navires
2.4. Effets sur la fatigue
L'observation de la rponse en whipping
(figure 4) montrent deux effets en fatigue:
accroissement de l'tendue de contrainte
poutre navire rigide la frquence relative
de la houle
gnration de cycles d'amplitudes
dcroissantes la frquence du premier
mode de la poutre navire lastique.
Pour les dtails souds, on considre que les
contraintes rsiduelles de soudage entranent
un niveau de traction lev dans les zones
d'apparition des fissures permettant d'admettre
pour les calculs un rapport R (contrainte min
divise par contrainte max) lev (R>0.5).
Les essais de fatigue montrent que ce rapport
lev efface l'influence des variations de
contrainte moyenne sur l'estimation de la dure
de vie en fatigue.
Pour des dtails sans soudure il n'y a pas de
contraintes rsiduelles, aussi le traitement

devient trs dlicat. Pour simplifier on
applique cependant la mme approche que
pour les dtails souds ce qui revient
considrer qu'il existe un niveau lev de
contrainte moyenne en traction, en fait
hypothse du ct de la scurit, donc
acceptable.
L'utilisation de la rgle linaire de Miner
permet alors de sparer les deux composantes,
basse frquence (houle) et haute frquence
(whipping) et de calculer les dommages
sparment, puis de les sommer (figure 5).
=
+

Figure 5: Sparation des effets de whipping en
vu du calcul de fatigue
Ayant dtermin par un calcul de rponse de la
poutre navire l'tendue du premier cycle d'une
rponse de whipping (not CwpSw sur la
figure 6), il est possible de dterminer la
distribution transitoire amortie des tendues
(figure 6):
CwpSw CwpSw

Figure 6: Composante haute frquence
transitoire de whipping
Les quations sont alors:
Swp
j
=A
2
) 3 4 (
1
exp
2
j (1)
avec j n d'ordre du cycle
A =
2
1
exp
2
Sw Cwp
(2)
La distribution court terme est obtenue en
remarquant que pour une rponse il n'y a que 1
cycle chaque niveau et qu'il y a une rponse
chaque cycle de houle (figure 7).
n
Swp
CwpSw
n
Swp
CwpSw

Figure 7: Distribution des contraintes de
whipping pour une amplitude de houle donne
Le calcul de la somme de Miner peut
s'effectuer partir des distributions court
terme des tendues de contraintes. Chaque
palier d'une distribution peut tre assimil la
rponse sur une houle rgulire d'amplitude
constante, aussi on peut utiliser des calculs de
rponses non linaire sur houle rgulire.
Pour une houle de frquence donne mer de
l'avant, puisque le slamming ne se produit
pratiquement que mer de l'avant, il est possible
de dterminer les rponses fonction de la
hauteur de houle H et la hauteur de houle seuil
H
th
au dessous de laquelle il n'y a plus de
risque de slamming:
CwpSw =f(H) H >H
th
(3)
La mthode de calcul devient alors la suivante:
1. dtermination, pour les frquences de
houle de la table des tats de mer et les
incidences retenues, de la vitesse du navire
maximale suivant la hauteur de houle
(conditions de navigation extrmes
supportables la passerelle)
2. calcul des fonctions de transfert et des
rponses court terme sans whipping
3. dtermination, mer de l'avant et pour les
frquences de houle de la table des tats de
mer retenue de la hauteur de houle seuil et
des rponses en whipping en fonction de la
hauteur de houle
4. approximation d'une loi linaire donnant
l'amplitude du premier cycle de whipping
fonction de l'amplitude de la rponse en
mode rigide
5. approximation de la variation de la loi
linaire en fonction de l'angle d'incidence
de la houle
6. identificatioon des tats court terme avec
possibilit de whipping

7. correction de whipping de l'tendue de
contrainte des distributions court terme
basse frquence concernes
8. calcul des sommes de Miner pour tous les
court termes (avec et sans whipping)
9. pour chaque court terme avec whipping,
dtermination des distributions de la
composante haute frquence de whipping
et somme de Miner
10. somme de Miner totale, basse frquence
corrige du whipping et haute frquence de
whipping.
Une valuation effectue pour un
porte-conteneurs gant montre que le whipping
concerne essentiellement les contraintes
engendres par le moment de flexion vertical
et a une incidence mesurable sur le cumul de
fatigue.
La correction d'tendue de contrainte basse
frquence entrane une augmentation de l'ordre
de 3% de la somme de Miner totale, avec
100% d'accroissement pour les mers de l'avant
seules.
La somme de Miner de la composante haute
frquence par contre est ngligeable,
principalement du aux faits que:
le whipping n'apparat que sur un nombre
limit d'tat de mer (mer de l'avant, houles
de hauteur suprieur au seuil)
la dcroissance des amplitudes des cycles
entranent la majorit des cycles sous le
niveau de changement de pente de la
courbe S-N utilise en raison du caractre
alatoire des phnomnes.
3. SPRI NGI NG
Le springing est une vibration de rponse
force de la poutre navire excite par la houle.
Des calculs de frquence propre du mode
deux nuds de la poutre navire effectu sur
des navires de taille jusqu' 350m de long
conduisent des valeurs bien suprieures
celles des plus courtes houles observes. Les
tables de l'Atlantique Nord donnent comme
plus basse priode Tz=3,5s (0,28Hz) et le
calcul pour un ptrolier de 300.000tdw donne
comme frquence propre avec masse d'eau
ajoute 0,5Hz (T=2,0s).
Cependant le springing a t identifi ds 1972
lors du dpouillement de mesures la mer sur
un ptrolier de 340m [12] (figure 8).
La rponse du 1er mode de vibration de la
poutre navire, malgr sa frquence leve,
s'explique par le fait que pour une priode de
houle donne, l'nergie est rpartie sur une
large bande de frquence. En utilisant la
reprsentation de Pierson-Moskowitz, pour une
houle de 3,5s on peut considrer une nergie
dans la bande de [0,12-0,65]Hz et pour une
houle de 8,5s dans la bande de [0,05-1,7]Hz.

Figure 8:Spectre de rponse de la contrainte de
flexion au pont d'un ptrolier, mer de l'avant,
mode rigide et springing [12]
En outre mer de l'avant, en raison de la vitesse
du navire, la frquence d'excitation
e
est
suprieure celle de la houle
H
. Cette
frquence d'excitation (frquence de rencontre)
est donne par la formule:
e
=
H
+
V
g
H
2
(4)
ce qui pour le ptrolier mentionn, avec une
vitesse de 15nd (7,7m/s), donne l'nergie pour
une houle de 3,5s dans la bande de [0,19-
2,73]Hz et pour une houle de 8,5s dans la
bande de [0,06-16,0]Hz. Comme on le
constate, le mode 0,5Hz est effectivement
excit.
Sur les navires de 300 350m de longueur, si
le springing est visible sur une analyse
spectrale, son niveau est trs faible et sans
incidence sur la rsistance de la structure.
Lorsque la longueur du navire augmente ou si
le pont principal comporte de grandes
ouvertures, sa rigidit diminue et la frquence
propre du 1er mode diminue. Lorsque la
vitesse augmente, les frquences d'excitation
augmentent. Dans les deux cas la frquence de
springing se dplace vers la rgion des spectres

plus forte densit d'nergie accroissant la
rponse (figure 8, le pic de springing se
dplace vers la gauche).
Cet effet a t constat lors des tudes des
projets des ptroliers de 550.000tdw (longueur
414m) puis confirm par 4 annes de mesures
la mer [13,14].
Lorsque l'on considre les caractristiques des
porte-conteneurs gants, longueur 363m,
vitesse 24nd, pont trs largement ouvert [15], il
apparat clairement que le springing est un
phnomne prendre en considration pour la
conception de la coque.
3.1. I ncidence sur la tenue de la structure
La rponse temporelle de la contrainte au pont
a la forme de la figure 9, un signal haute
frquence d'amplitude quasi constant
(springing) sur une porteuse basse frquence
(houle)

Figure 9: Mesure de la contrainte au pont avec
springing apparent
Les tudes et mesures effectues sur les
ptroliers de 550.000tdw montrent que le
springing est sensible pour les tats de mer
plus faible priode. Pour ces priodes, les
tables d'observations montrent que les hauteurs
de houle maximales sont faibles (tableau 1).

Tz (s) 3.5 4.5 5.5 6.5 7.5 8.5
Hs (m) 1,5 4,5 9,5 13,5 14,5 14,5
Tableau 1: Hauteurs significatives maximales
pour l'Atlantique Nord (table IACS)
Due au trs faible amortissement, =1.5%
obtenu par mesures la mer [6,14], l'nergie
totale de la rponse reste trs limite, et
l'amplitude est faible par rapport celle de la
houle (figure 9).
Ainsi l'influence du springing ne sera pas
significative sur les valeurs extrmes qui
correspondent aux fortes houles de priode
importante.
Par contre la haute frquence et le caractre
vibration force, donc quasi permanente du
phnomne sur les faibles houles qui sont les
plus frquentes au cours de la vie du navire,
entrane un cumul de fatigue non ngligeable,
confirm par le retour d'exprience des
ptroliers de 550.000tdw [14].
3.2. Moyens de calcul et mthode
Si l'on considre les mouvements verticaux de
la poutre navire et sa dformation due au
springing, il est possible de faire l'hypothse
des petits mouvements pour le springing ce qui
permet d'effectuer un calcul linaire en
sparant les deux phnomnes, rponse rigide,
rponse lastique [13].
Il est ainsi possible d'utiliser les outils linaires
dvelopps pour les calculs hydrodynamiques
et de comportement des structures [17].
Un premier calcul, classique de comportement
sur houle, permet de dterminer en linaire les
coefficients hydrodynamiques, en particulier
les masses d'eau ajoutes, et la fonction de
transfert de la rponse de la poutre navire
rigide (figure 10).

Figure 10: Calcul de la fonction de transfert
poutre navire rigide
Un deuxime calcul de poutre navire lastique
permet de dterminer les frquences propres
poutre navire, et la fonction de transfert de
springing (figure 11).

Figure 11: Calcul de la fonction de transfert de
springing en torsion de la poutre
navire lastique

On obtient ainsi les fonctions de transfert
quasi-statiques, springing et totales pour les
conditions de navigation slectionnes pour les
calculs de structure (figure 12)
La dtermination des fonctions de transfert
permet de calculer les rponses sur spectres de
houle et les distributions court terme sur
chaque tat de mer correspondant aux
conditions de navigations retenues pour le
projet avec les outils classiques mis au point
pour les effets de houle navire rigide.

Figure 12: Fonctions de transfert de la
contrainte au point chaud d'un dtail soud de
porte-conteneurs (springing, houle, totale)
La mthode de calcul se droule alors suivant
les tapes ci-dessous:
1. slection des tats de mer et de leur
frquence d'existence suivant les zones
d'opration du navire (standard: Atlantique
Nord)
2. calcul de comportement linaire avec
dtermination des conditions extrmes
possible suivant l'incidence de la houle
(vitesse du navire, hauteur de houle)
3. dtermination des conditions de navigation
avec possibilit de springing (incidence de
houle, vitesse, priode de houle)
4. calcul de comportement linaire lastique
pour les incidences de houle avec
springing
3.3. Effets sur la fatigue
L'observation de la rponse en springing sur un
tat de mer donn (figure 9) montrent une
gnration de cycles d'amplitude quasi
constante la frquence du premier mode de la
poutre navire lastique sur la rponse la
frquence de houle.
Le calcul de cumul de fatigue court terme
requiert la dtermination de la distribution des
tendues de contrainte. La mthode exacte
serait un comptage Rainflow, mais pour ce
faire il est ncessaire d'avoir un historique
temporel, ce qui est peu pratique partir d'une
approche spectrale.
En considrant les mmes hypothses que dans
le cas du whipping et la rgle de cumul linaire
de Miner, il est possible de sparer les deux
composantes (figure 13), basse frquence
(houle) et haute frquence (springing), et de
calculer le dommage par somme de Miner.
Comme pour le whipping, l'tendue de
contrainte de vague doit tre corrige de
l'amplitude de springing. Seules les conditions
de navigation avec risque de springing sont
considrer, il est donc important de prendre en
compte les rductions de vitesse lorsque la
hauteur de houle augmente car elle rduit ou
mme supprime le phnomne de springing.
=
+
=
+

Figure 13: Sparation des effets de springing
en vu du calcul de fatigue
Chacune des composantes, houle seule et
springing seul, correspondant un signal
spectre troit il peut tre appliqu la
mthodologie du calcul de fatigue sur houle
[16]. La distribution de l'tendue de contrainte
S
i
court terme est reprsente par une
distribution de Rayleigh dont le coefficient est
dtermin partir de l'aire du spectre de
rponse m
0
:
prob{S >S
i
}=
0
2
8
exp
m
S
i
(4)
Lorsque le nombre de cycles total du court
terme est connu N
t
(dure du court terme
divis par la priode moyenne de passage par
zro), pour chaque S
i
il peut tre calcul le
nombre de cycles n
i
:
n
i
=(p
i
p
i-1
)N
t

en notant p
i
=prob{S >S
i
}
Pour un dtail de structure donn, connaissant
le courbe S-N, il est possible de calculer
sparment les sommes de Miner puis de les

sommer en tenant compte des probabilits
d'existence de chaque condition court terme
(priode et hauteur de houle, vitesse du navire,
incidence de la houle):
D
total
=D
houle/corrige
+D
springing
La mthode de calcul devient alors la suivante:
1. dtermination, pour les frquences de
houle de la table des tats de mer et les
incidences retenues, de la vitesse du navire
suivant la hauteur de houle (conditions de
navigation extrmes supportables la
passerelle)
2. calcul des fonctions de transfert sans
springing et des rponses court terme
3. dtermination des domaines de frquences
des spectres de densit d'nergie pour les
conditions de navigation de calcul
4. calcul des frquences propres de la poutre
navire avec masses d'eau ajoutes
5. dtermination des tats court terme avec
risque de springing
6. calcul des fonctions de transfert de
springing et des rponses court terme
pour les tats court terme concerns
7. somme de Miner totale, basse frquence de
houle corrige du springing et haute
frquence de springing.
Une valuation effectue pour un
porte-conteneurs gant montre que, en raison
du pont trs largement ouvert, la frquence
propre de poutre navire la plus basse est celle
en torsion, suivi par celle de flexion vertical
(tableau 2).

Mode de vibration de la poutre f (Hz)
mode en torsion 1 noeuds 0,37
mode en flexion 2 noeuds 0,49
mode en torsion 2 noeuds 0,50
mode en flexion 3 noeuds 0,90
Tableau 2: Frquences propres de la poutre
navire avec masses d'eau entrane
La dtermination des conditions de navigation
avec risque de springing a conduit considrer
le springing de torsion pour les incidences de
120 et 90 et le springing de flexion pour les
incidences de 180 et 120 (180 correspond
une mer de l'avant).
Sur un dtail de structure au pont (figure 14),
rgion la plus sollicite en dynamique
d'ensemble, une analyse de la dure de vie en
fatigue a t effectue suivant la mthode
dcrite.

Figure 14: Dtail de structure de pont d'un
porte-conteneurs gant: coin d'coutille
La rponse de springing a t calcule pour
toutes les priodes de houle et les hauteurs de
la table d'observation jusqu' 5m significatif.
Pour les hauteurs suprieures il a t considr
qu'il y avait rduction de vitesse et que la
modification des frquences de rencontre
rendait le springing ngligeable.
Les sommes de Miner ont t calcules court
terme. Le springing entrane une augmentation
de l'ordre de 4% 10% de la somme de Miner
totale.
Une analyse de la sensibilit la hauteur de
houle maximale montre que le passage de 5m
6m significatif augmente le cumul de Miner de
springing de 20%, mais a un impact du second
ordre sur la somme totale.
Une tude en cours analyse une alternative
plus prcise l'approche ci-dessus. Pour ce
faire un signal temporel de la contrainte est
gnr par transforme de Fourrier inverse
partir du spectre de rponse global (houle plus
springing) sur lequel le comptage des tendues
de contraintes est effectu par la mthode
Rainflow. Le cumul de fatigue par somme de
Miner est alors considr plus prcis.
Les rsultats obtenus montrent des carts entre
les deux approches mais confirment la validit
de l'approche simplifie utilise.

4. CONCLUSI ON
L'augmentation des tailles et vitesses des
navires, en particulier des porte-conteneurs,
modifie les comportements sur houle.
Des phnomnes connus sur les navires de plus
petites tailles peuvent tre amplifis jusqu'
atteindre des niveaux impactant la conception
des coques. C'est en particulier, pour la poutre
navire, le cas du whipping, rponse vibratoire
transitoire suite un slamming ou slapping, et
du springing, vibration force par la houle
irrgulire.
Le phnomne de springing avait t analys
puis vrifi la mer lors de la construction des
ptroliers de 550.000tdw en 1975, avec les
moyens de calcul de l'poque.
Le whipping est aussi connu depuis cette
mme poque avec des consquences gnantes
sur des navires pont ouvert, mais alors sans
possibilit de calcul en raison de la faiblesse
des moyens informatiques.
Le dveloppement des outils informatiques
ayant permis la mise en uvre de mthodes
complexes d'hydrodynamique navale dans le
domaine non linaire et avec couplages
fluide/structure, il a t possible de dvelopper
une approche d'estimation de ces phnomnes
et de leurs consquences sur les contraintes
extrmes et la fatigue en service.
La mise en application pour des projets de
porte-conteneurs gants a confirm que leur
taille et disposition gnrale conduisent des
accroissement des niveaux de contrainte et du
cumul de fatigue significatif, ne permettant
plus de les ignorer pour l'chantillonnage des
structures.
Les effets de whipping peuvent entraner un
accroissement de l'ordre de 20% du moment de
flexion vertical total, important pour les
vrification l'tat ultime.
Concernant le springing, les projets actuels de
350m de long, en raison de la flexibilit due
un pont trs ouvert et de la vitesse leve,
montrent un niveau d'accroissement en fatigue
suprieur ceux des ptroliers de 414m,
restant cependant limit et se mesurant en pour
cents.
Pour des projets de plus grande taille, 400m et
au-del, il est certain qu'avec des dispositions
de coques similaire, l'accroissement de fatigue
deviendra plus important. En se rappelant qu'il
s'agit d'un phnomne de vibration force trs
peu amorti, les rponses ne sont pas linaires et
devront donc tre analyses avec une plus
grande attention.

5. REFERENCES
[1] Bureau Veritas 1828/1978 - A record of
150 years - PEMA 2B Publishing, 1978
[2] Another Genesis for Aker - The
MotorShip review - May 2007, p 6
[3] H.J . REUSS et J . BARNES, Maersk takes
world biggest and fastest - The
MotorShip review - November 2006,
p 16-17
[4] P. de Livois et B. Parizot Le gigantisme
en construction navale, ses consquences
sur la scurit des navires Revue
Navigation Avril et juillet 2007
[5] M. Huther et N. Ket Water impact risk
estimation during ship design Ship
Behaviour at Sea, International
Symposium on Ship Hydrodynamics and
Energy Saving, ISSHES 83 Madrid,
September 1983
[6] J . Osouf Etude exprimentale du
comportement dynamique dur houle du
navire cblier "Marcel Bayard" Revue
NTM 1973

[7] I. Drummen, T. Moan, G. Storhaug, E.
Moe Experimental and full scale
investigation of the importance of fatigue
damage due to wave-induced vibration
stress in a container vessel Design &
Operation of Container Ships, Royal
Institution of Naval Architects, London,
November 2006
[8] .Malenica, B. Molin, F. Remy, I.
Senjanovic Hydroelastic response of a
barge to impulsive and non impulsive
wave loads 3rd International
Conference on Hydroelasticity Oxford,
2003
[9] W.E. Cummins The impulse response
function and ship motions
Schiffstecknik, 1962
[10] T.F. Ogilvie Recent progress toward the
understanding and prediction of ship
motions 9th International Conference
on Numerical Ship Hydrodynamics
Ann Arbor (USA), 2007
[11] J . Tuitman,S. Malenica Some aspects of
whipping response of container ships
23rd IWWWFV J egu (Korea), 2008
[12] J .M. Planeix Wave loads, A correlation
between calculations and measurements
Revue International Shipbuilding
Progress, August 1972
[13] B. d'Hautefeuille, M. Huther, M. Baudin,
J . Osouf Calcul de springing par
quations intgrales Revue NTM, 1977
[14] M. Huther et J . Osouf SEFACO, Four
years of experience in ship hull girder
stress monitoring MARINTEC
Shangai, October 1983
[15] L. Grard - De 6 500EVP 11 400EVP
sur un mme concept, jusquo sera-t-il
possible daller ? ATMA, juin 2007
[16] M. Huther, D. Beghin, S. Mahrault A
fatigue strength guidance note for welded
ship structure assessment IIW/IIS doc
XIII-111742-98 / XV-992-98, 1998
[17] S. Malenica Hydro structure interaction
in seakeeping International Workshop
on Coupled methods in numerical
dynamics IUC Dubrovnik (Croatia),
September 2007

OFFSHORE ENGINEERING
& MOORING
Finding the right site for an offshore unit, understanding the local
conditions and then designing moorings which will hold it in place are the
three apparently simple but in practice complex problems which many of
the papers in this section address. There is a strong focus on moorings,
and also papers which summarise the long experience of Bureau Veritas
with offshore concrete floating structures.
1 Copyright 2008 by ASME

CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYESTER MOORING LINES

Michel FRANOIS
Bureau Veritas, Paris
Peter DAVIES
IFREMER Brest Centre

ABSTRACT
Fibre ropes are extensively used in marine applications.
One critical area of interest is their application as mooring lines
for floating offshore platforms, for which primarily polyester is
now employed in various regions (offshore Brazil - now for 10
years, West Africa, Gulf of Mexico). Evaluating the response of
the system requires a description of the load-elongation
properties of the rope.
A practical model involving two sets of stiffness data is
currently used, and procedures for their measurement are
available. This paper presents an overview of this model, then
focuses on recent work on the quasi-static stiffness of polyester
ropes. This is addressing the variations of the mean tension in
the lines, at a very slow rate, under changing weather
conditions.
Extensive tests were performed, principally on polyester
sub-rope samples. Some tests were also performed on a full
size 800-ton MBS rope. Besides standard tests, specific tests
were performed over an extended range of loading, to cover the
situations that may be found in a wide range of systems and
design conditions. The factors (measurement accuracy, test
conditions, etc) affecting the values are discussed along with
the presentation of tests and results.
Results are interpreted to provide practical data for
mooring analysis, in the form of a quasi-static load-elongation
characteristic. These results also give a better insight into the
visco-elasto-plastic response of polyester fibre ropes.
For the dynamic stiffness of polyester ropes, an overview
of recent and earlier test data is presented. The dependence of
dynamic stiffness on testing parameters is discussed,
highlighting mean load as the principal parameter under real
stochastic loading, and confirming the current practice for
modelling dynamic stiffness in design.

1 INTRODUCTION
Fibre ropes are extensively used in a number of marine
applications. One critical area of interest is their application as
mooring (anchoring) lines for the station-keeping of floating
offshore platforms in deep-water. Following a development
period, and now ten years after the first installations of floating
production systems by Petrobras in Brazil, this technology has
reached a stage of maturity: fibre rope station keeping systems
are now employed commonly offshore Brazil, and also in other
regions around the world (in West African waters, in the Gulf
of Mexico, ). Polyester, the material primarily used in this
application, is addressed in this paper.
Evaluating the response of the system, and then the
adequacy of maximum offset and line tensions with the
relevant acceptance criteria, requires a description of the load-
elongation properties of the rope. However, these properties are
rather complex to evaluate and specify, in comparison with the
linear elastic behaviour of equivalent steel components, as they
are non-linear and time dependent. Besides, the loading
regimes of a rope in an anchoring line are quite specific with
respect to usual service conditions of fibre ropes.
A first insight into the load-elongation properties of fibre
rope lines was given in [1]. Within the French CLAROM fibre
rope projects, since 1997 [2], extensive testing has been carried
out. This resulted, in 2000, in a practical (Engineering) model
for the load-elongation characteristics of polyester ropes, that
was presented and documented in [3] and [4], and is currently
in use within several State of the Art mooring analysis and line
dynamics software packages. Tests performed since on other
materials [5] have generally confirmed the applicability of this
model.
In the meantime, testing procedures have been developed
for rope qualification (see [6]), that are now available with the
ISO standard for rope qualification [7] and the BV Guidance
Note [8]. The model for engineering and analysis of fibre rope
mooring systems and the testing procedures in these documents
define rope properties in a consistent manner. This model
OMAE2008
OMAE2008-57136

involves a separation into several terms. One of these terms is
the Quasi-static stiffness, that is the focus of the present
paper.
The tests were performed principally on polyester sub-rope
samples. Some tests were also performed on a full size parallel
construction 800-ton MBS rope. In addition to the standard
tests, an extended series of test sequences was performed, to
get an understanding of rope behaviour under a wider range of
load and elongation, and to cover the particular situations that
may be found in some systems or design conditions.
Besides the interpretation of results to provide practical
data for analysis, these results also gave a better insight into the
visco-elasto-plastic response of polyester fibre ropes. As
correct measurement and interpretation of test data are essential
for platform safety, the factors affecting the values are
discussed (measurement accuracy, test conditions, ) along
with the presentation of tests.
For the dynamic stiffness, a discussion on the dependence
of dynamic stiffness on testing parameters is made, based on
the comprehensive data from recent tests and on earlier data.
2 FIBRE ROPES LOAD-ELONGATION PROPERTIES
AND MODEL
Issues
The load-elongation properties of fibres and fibre ropes
exhibit a non-linear and time dependent (visco-elasto-plastic)
behaviour. This is primarily the result of the load and time
dependence of the materials forming the filaments (a complex
assembly of long chains of organic molecules), and to a lesser
extent from the effects of rope construction [9]. As a result
these properties cannot be reduced to a load-elongation
characteristic, even a non linear one, and particularly, NOT
to the load elongation curve of a new sample under monotonic
loading (as obtained from a standard breaking test).
In the lines of a station-keeping system, once the system is
deployed/installed and set under tension, the rope will be
maintained under a sustained tension for months, even years or
decades in the case of a deep-water permanent mooring, then
subjected to the random loads induced by the environment
(wind, waves, current). It is then convenient for the evaluation
of system response, as proposed in [8], to separate the response
into three terms, related to the time scale of actions, and
matching the typical steps of a mooring analysis (be it
frequency or time domain) :
Mean elongation (system pretension, permanent load),
Visco-elastic response to slow variations of mean load
under changing weather, modelled by the quasi-static
stiffness, as further discussed in sections 3 and 4 below,
Response to dynamic actions (both low frequency and wave
frequency) modelled by the dynamic stiffness (see section 5
below).
A particularly important aspect, quite specific to fibre
ropes, is the modification of the properties of a rope during the
first loading(s) and during the early stages of rope service. This
process, called bedding in, is primarily due to changes at a
molecular level within fibres. It results in a stabilisation of the
rheological properties of the rope, and in an essentially
permanent - not recoverable - elongation with respect to the
rope initial length at the time of manufacturing. The length of a
finished rope is thus defined in [7] as a bedded-in length at a
specified tension.
Besides, as a noteworthy consequence of time dependence,
it is important to consider in the definition of test sequences
and the derivation of engineering data that the time scale of
actions on a test bench is much smaller than for a line in-situ:
this time dependence (also bedding-in) will thus affect
somewhat differently the response.
Quasi-Static stiffness
Following the concept proposed in [1], a quasi-static
stiffness was defined, ten years ago, in order to model the
visco-elastic response of ropes to slow variations of mean load,
under the effect of changing weather conditions, i.e. a time
scale of several hours or days, where the tension in the line,
initially the line pre-tension, increases (in the "windward"
lines) or decreases (in the "leeward" lines), at a very slow rate.
In this test (see [7], [8] and below), after a proper bedding-
in, the rope is cycled between two tension levels, with a
constant load plateau at each level, during which creep or
recovery is measured. Several cycles are needed to get rid of
the initial condition of the rope on the test bench (which is not
representative of actual conditions), and to obtain stabilised
results. Typically, 3 cycles of twice hour each are used,
keeping the duration of the test within a practical time frame.
In order to get a stiffness that is more representative of the
real loading duration of the events intended to be modelled (see
below), cycles of longer duration can be simulated as follows
from test results (load and elongation versus time).
1) The elongation L( t ) along each creep (or recovery)
plateau can be written, by a three parameter fit (see [8] ), as :
L( t ) = L( t
p
) + a
c
. log [ 1 + ( t - t
p
) / t
a
] (1)
This fit (on a
c
, t
a
, and L(t
p
)) is independent of time unit
and origin, and the result does not depend on the selection of t
p
,
the time at any point along the load plateau.
2) From L( t ) , the elongation L at the end of each
cycle of duration can be obtained as :
L L( t
p
) + a
c
. log [ / t
a
] (2)
3) The (linearised) quasi-stiffness is then taken as a secant
stiffness between the end points of the last successive cycles
of duration . Normalising loads by rope MBS, the non-
dimensional quasi-static stiffness KrS is obtained.
The two load levels are normally taken as 10% and 30% of
MBS, and the duration is normally taken as 12 h, providing
values for typical storm conditions. Different levels or
durations could apply to some design or metocean conditions
(e.g. a damaged system, a loop current event). The tests
presented in this paper were performed to get an understanding
of rope behaviour under a wider range of load and elongation,
and in order to provide data for such conditions.

3 ROPE TESTING
General :
The CLAROM French Mooring Line project has been
working on fibre rope moorings over the last ten years and has
generated a large database of material properties. Tests have
been performed at scales from single filament [9] up to 800-ton
break load ropes [10], including the intermediate yarn,
assembled yarn and sub-rope levels. Here only results from the
sub-rope and full scale ropes will be discussed, but it is
important to underline that by working on filaments and yarns
the material and rope construction contributions to overall rope
behaviour can be quantified and modelled. This provided also
some light on the underlying mechanisms at molecular level, if
not yet a definitive interpretation.
Experimental set-up
Sub-rope tests were performed at the IFREMER test
facilities in Brest. A 9-meter long 100-ton capacity test frame
was used, equipped with a 1.5-meter course hydraulic piston
(see Figure 1). A programmable controller enables loading
sequences to be pre-programmed, so that long, complex test
sequences lasting several days can be defined and run. Full size
rope tests were run at the LCPC test laboratory in Nantes, on
the 2400-ton test frame (see e.g. [10]).

Figure 1 . Sub-rope on test frame

Both series of tests used the same instrumentation to
measure strains in the central rope section away from the
splices : wire transducers clamped to the rope for stiffness
measurements and digital cameras linked to an image analysis
system for break tests and to check wire transducer
measurements. The tension in the rope is measured by the
strain-gages load cell system of the test frame. All
measurements are recorded, at a high data acquisition rate (up
to 5 Hz for dynamic stiffness), and stored on a PC for
subsequent analysis. Accurate and continuous time series of
load and elongation are thus available for analysis.
Materials
The tests described here were performed on 8-strand
braided polyester sub-rope samples, with a 70 t breaking
strength, and on test lengths of a full size (800 t MBS) parallel
construction rope based on the same sub-ropes. The fibre is a
standard high tenacity grade with marine finish. Oliveira S,
Portugal supplied all samples.
Test sequences
The standard test to measure quasi-static stiffness
described in [7] consists of three 1-hour load-unload cycles
between 10% and 30% (of the break strength), applied to a
rope which has been fully bedded-in (i.e. an initial loading to
50% , with the load maintained constant for 30 minutes, then
100 cycles between 10 and 30%).
In order to widen the scope of this characterisation, an
extended quasi-static stiffness test was developed : As shown in
Figure 2, a series of load-unload cycles is applied, similar to
those of the standard test, all with the same 20% range but at
different sets of load levels, starting and ending with a set of
cycles at 10-30%. Four cycles are applied at each load
condition, in order to verify stabilisation.

0
100
200
300
400
500
600
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time, h
F
o
r
c
e
,

k
N
Linear
density

Figure 2 . Extended quasi-static stiffness sequence
Force versus time applied to sub-rope samples 3 and 4

On two samples , an extended sequence was applied to a
rope that has been previously subjected to bedding-in cycles
following the standard procedure quoted before, or equivalent
(on one of them). On two other samples, a sequence was
applied to a rope with a lower degree of bedding-in cycles,
obtained by applying instead the procedure defined in [7] for
the linear density test (i.e. an initial loading to 20%, then 100
cycles between 15 and 25%, ending at a 20% load). Samples
were then loaded to failure. A fifth sample was used for
dynamic stiffness measurements (see section 5 below).

Test results - stiffness
Figure 3 shows an example of the resulting force-strain
plot during the extended quasi-static stiffness test (continuous
record over 48 h).

0
100
200
300
400
500
600
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Strain, %
F
o
r
c
e
,

k
N

Figure 3 . Extended quasi-static stiffness sequence, sub-
rope samples 3 and 4.

From the elongations at the end of the last two half cycles,
a secant stiffness is obtained (without extrapolation at this
stage). The quasi-static stiffness is found to be increasing with
mean load, with a trend similar to that of the dynamic stiffness
(see Figure 5). As shown in Figure 4, there is a close match
between the results of all four samples, and a very limited
effect of previous bedding-in : stiffness for the samples with
mild bedding-in are only marginally lower than for well
bedded-in samples, the lowest point corresponding to the very
first load set after measurement of L
20
.

0
8
16
24
32
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Mean Load (% of MBS)
K
r
S

Figure 4 . Quasi-static stiffness versus mean load,
all four samples.

Comparing (see Figure 5) the results of the measurements
performed on sub-ropes with those from full size 800 ton break
load ropes, an excellent agreement is found for both the quasi-
static and the dynamic stiffness when expressed in tenacity unit
(N/Tex), as on Figure 5. Same result would be found if these
stiffnesses are expressed as a non-dimensional Kr, using a
normalisation by MBS of the full size rope (see [8]).

Influence of mean load
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Mean load, %
S
t
i
f
f
n
e
s
s
,

N
/
t
e
x

Rope DYN
Sub-rope DYN
Rope QS
Sub-rope QS

Figure 5 . Correlation between results for sub-rope and full
size ropes; quasi-static and dynamic stiffness.

Test results - mean elongation
The tests also provided information on the mean
elongation of the rope, and its dependence on the loading
history.
On the samples to which the linear density test sequence
was applied, the elongation at a 20% load, at the end of the
sequence provides the reference length L
20
for rope purchasing,
according to the length measurement method in the
standard [6].
Besides, a mean elongation at 20% can be obtained from
each set of 10-30 cycles (indeed taken as the mean between the
elongation at the end of the last 10% and 30% cycles), or
inferred from the fully relaxed condition (see 4 below). As
shown in Figure 6, a very good agreement between the results
of each group of two ropes is found.

20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
elongation (% ) above L
20
F
m
a
x

(
%

o
f

B
S
)
OL1 OL2
OL3 OL4

Figure 6 . Mean elongation at a 20% load
all four samples.

The mean elongation of well-bedded-in samples is stable,
about 1.6% higher than L
20
, for all loads up to 40%. For higher
maximum loads, further (delayed) permanent elongation is
observed, increasing almost linearly until 70% (the maximum
load for these two samples).

For the samples with a milder bedding-in, the elongation
increases quickly when the load exceeds the maximum seen
during bedding-in, confirming that L
20
is a lower-bound of the
installed length, and is always lower than for well bedded-in
ropes, up to 70% load. Given the time frame of the test (within
48h of the very first loading of the rope, i.e. much less than the
time required to install a system and to have it actually
operating) the resulting permanent elongations may be also
considered as a very lower bound.
4 INTERPRETATION
QS stiffness
From the fitting of creep and recovery plateaus (greatly
facilitated by the very good accuracy of load control) and the
extrapolation of last cycle plateaus, the elongations for
different levels and durations can be obtained : the standard
duration of 12h and 7 days, that would be more representative
of slowly growing events, such as loop currents, are considered
here. When normalising loads by full size rope MBS and
elongations by the length at 20%, including permanent
elongation), the quasi static stiffness for the standard levels (10
and 30%) is found, , to be about 14.5 for 12h (i.e. 17% less
than for the 1/2h duration in test), and about 12.5 for 7 days,
i.e. 12 % lower than for 12h. This decay is consistent with
earlier findings, as shown in Figure 7 .
Q-S PRACTICAL characteristics
For other loads, a stiffness between two levels could be
calculated in the same way, but this is not very representative
of the situation in a station-keeping system, where line tension
will generally not oscillate between such levels : Together with
vessel offset, the tension will gradually increase (or decrease)
more or less monotonically in most cases, and over the same
period of time, from initial tension to a maximum (or
minimum) value which will be different in each line.
Then, by considering the relevant points, a practical
characteristic for the specified loading time can be obtained,
that is shown in Figure 8. This characteristic was derived from
data from the different samples: a very consistent behaviour
was found.

10
11
12
13
14
15
16
0 1 10 100 1000
loading time (hours)
K
r
S

1
0
-
3
0

OL1
Clarom 2000

Figure 7 . Q-S stiffness KrS
10-30 ,
blue : data from reference [3] (corrected).

0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
-3.0 -2.0 -1.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0
20
T
e
n
s
i
o
n

(
%

o
f

B
S
)
Xij 12h
Xij 7d
QS 12h
QS 7d
included Xp
fully relaxed
oliv1 Xtrap2 f

Figure 8 . Q-S PRACTICAL characteristics
included Xp, and fully relaxed characteristic (see text)

A first observation is that, for the 12h (standard) loading
time, this characteristic is almost linear, i.e. the standard quasi-
static stiffness derived from tests between 10 and 30 % is valid
over a large range, from about 7 to above 70%.
For the 7 days loading time, the slope of the characteristic
(dX/dT =1/Kr ) is higher between 10 and 30 % (as per the
lower stiffness noted above) but, above 30%, is the same as for
12h.
Taking the pre-tension T
0
as a start point, this characteristic
(elongation versus load) can be written as :
X(T) - X(T0) = ( T - T
0
) / Krs

for T between 10 and 30% (3)
X(T) - X(T0) = ( 30 - T
0
) / Krs
+ ( T - 30 ) / Krs
12h

for T above 30% (4)
where Krs
is the 10-30 stiffness for loading time considered

(12h or 7 days).
For tensions below 10%, there is a clear increase of
compliance with decreasing load. From a fitting between
available data points, the characteristic may be taken as :
X( T ) = X( 10 ) - 10 / Krs
* ( u + 1.8 * u^3.6 )
where u = 1 - T / 10 (5)
In a system working at low tensions in leeward lines, this
effect will have a similar effect as the catenary effect in
weighty components of the line.
Fully relaxed condition
During the test, at a given load, either creep can be
observed, or recovery from a larger elongation. There should be
a stable point in between. As discussed below, this point can be
obtained by extending the loading duration to t
, the time at
the intersection point of elongation versus (log) time of two
cycles terminating at same level, and correcting for the
permanent elongation (when applicable).
Taking t
as 4 10
7
s , i.e. about 15 months, all points
converge to a single curve, that is the non linear, but elastic
(reversible) fully relaxed characteristic, i.e. the characteristics
Xrx(T) for infinitely slow rate of loading , also shown (round
dots) on Figure 8.
Arriving at or approaching a point on the fully relaxed
characteristic in a shorter time than t
is possible, but requires

some specific test sequences.
Discussion - Toward a rheological model
Based on the above fully relaxed characteristic Xrx(T), the
load-elongation relation around this condition could be written
as follows in order to address, if needed, more complex cases
than the practical QS characteristic presented above can handle:
L= L
20
* ( 1 (+ Xpe) + Xrx ( T
0
)) (6)
X( T ) - X( T
0
) = Xrx( T ) - Xrx( T
0
) + Xdpe - Xv (7)
In this equation, Xpe is the permanent elongation at T
0
, if
not included in Xrx, and Xdpe is the delayed permanent
elongation :
Xdpe = Xpe ( T
max
) Xpe( T
0
) if T > T
0
else 0 (8)
where Tmax is the maximum between tension T and the
maximum reached before (since last re-tensioning).
Xdpe for a well bedded-in rope (maximum 0.8% at 80%)
is indeed included in the practical characteristic above. It could
be that for particular situations a lower initial bedding-in level,
thus higher Xdpe, needs to be considered, but as discussed
before, considering data from the samples with milder bedding-
in would be unduly over-conservative.
The term Xv is the (remaining) un-developed visco-elastic
elongation : Xv is positive in a situation where the rope tend to
creep, i.e. X is lower than Xrx, and negative in the opposite case
(relaxation).
For the 12h standard duration, the amount of Xv (also
included in the practical characteristic above) is below 0.2%
but, towards low tensions, is going from - 0.2% to - 0.5% for
loads going from 20 to 2%. The values for 7 days are 40%
lower.
On the other hand, if neither cycling nor load holding time
was applied in the tests, Xv would have been of the order of
0.5 to 1%, or more : this highlights the importance of time scale
in such tests.
For a constant load, i.e. creep or recovery, Xv could be
modelled as the response of a non-linear spring and damper
system. With an adequate (argsinh) damper function, a solution
can be found, that can be approximated by:
Xv = a
c
log ( t
/ ) for << t

(9)

Xv = 0 for >> t

(with a transition over one or two decades around t
).
where a
c
is the creep (or recovery, then <0) per decade. This
supports the method above to determine t
. However a
c
is not
an intrinsic material constant but depends on load history, and
the spring and damper model suggested above does not fully
address the growth of Xv. Besides, a closer look at time traces
shows that Xpe is not only a function of Tmax, but depends also
on the time under load (as also shown by Figure 6), so Xp and
Xv are likely not fully separable.
The characteristics above are thus given for the Designer,
as PRACTICAL Q-S characteristics. Development of a true
time domain rheological model still requires further effort.
5 DYNAMIC STIFFNESS
The Dynamic stiffness is modelling the near-elastic
response of the rope to cyclic actions (both low frequency and
wave frequency) induced by the environment.
In tests (see [7] and [8]), after bedding-in, the rope is
cycled around a pre-set mean tension. For harmonic (constant
amplitude, sinusoidal) loading, at least 100 cycles are typically
used today and, as the load-elongation graph converges to a
fairly linear relation, a stiffness can be defined. This is taken as
the mean slope over several cycles at the end of the sequence
(i.e. 500 data points, in the results below). Normalising loads
by rope MBS, the non-dimensional dynamic stiffness KrD is
then obtained.

In order to complement the characterisation work
performed earlier (see [3]), a number of dynamic stiffness tests
were performed, on the same sub-ropes and full size ropes as
those above. Similar tests were also performed on another full
size rope with a different polyester fibre (see [11]). Results will
be briefly summarised, together with a discussion of the
dependence of dynamic stiffness on testing parameters.
Cycling period
A series of tests was performed with the same mean load
and amplitude, and cycling periods from 12.5 s to 500 s.
Results confirmed that the effect of this parameter on dynamic
stiffness is negligibly small (1.4% variation over the above
range). This is in accordance with earlier findings from bi-
harmonic loading, and those of stochastic loading below.
Load history
During tests with harmonic loading, at a constant mean load,
the stiffness quickly increases in the first cycles, then tends to
stabilise (at least apparently), and 100 cycles minimum are
typically used today to obtain results in a practical time frame.
There is however some effect of previous load history affecting
the results. Indeed, the increase of stiffness during cycling is
quite linear with log of time, as is the variation of mean
elongation (be it creep or recovery) over the same time: From
different tests, it seems that the stabilisation of the dynamic
stiffness (toward the maximum stiffness for applied mean load)
and that of mean elongation (towards the fully relaxed
condition) are closely related.
Load range, stochastic loading
From a series of tests under harmonic loading, with
different mean load and range, the effect of both parameters
can be identified. Figure 9 shows the influence of load range,
with the dynamic stiffness normalised by the value at a 5%
range (obtained from a fit of data) . The dynamic stiffness is
clearly decreasing when range is increased, more sharply
towards higher amplitudes and lower mean loads. This may be
due, at least in part, to the increase in rope temperature
observed during such tests (see [12]).
However, the real loading is not harmonic. Series of tests
were thus performed on the two full size ropes, using 1-hour
time series obtained by mooring analysis (i.e. a wide band
signal, with realistic low frequency and wave frequency
contents), and different combinations of mean load and
amplitude. Figure 10 shows an example of applied time series
and resulting load-elongation plot. It is noteworthy that the
load-elongation is very close to a single overall linear relation
(linear regression over 18000 points). A closer look to signals
clearly shows effect of neither the amplitude of individual
cycles, nor the period of underlying (low and wave frequency)
components.
Besides, from different tests it is apparent (see Figure 9)
that this stiffness is almost independent of the overall (min to
max) amplitude of the signal, and is slightly higher (within -1
to +5%) than the stiffness under harmonic loading at a 5%
0.75
0.80
0.85
0.90
0.95
1.00
1.05
1.10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Amplitude (range/2) (% of BS)
K
r
D

/

K
r
D
2
.
5

Figure 9 . Influence of load range on dynamic stiffness
harmonic loading (10 , 20, 30, 40% light to dark blue),
stochastic loading (red and pink)

1500
2000
2500
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
time, minutes
F
o
r
c
e
,

k
N

1500
1750
2000
2250
2500
3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4
Strain, %
F
o
r
c
e
,

k
N

Figure 10 Example of stochastic loading (1h)
a) time trace;
b) resulting load-elongation and linear regression

range. In this respect, it must be observed that in such realistic
stochastic signals, the energy, being related to the standard
deviation of the signal, is 5 to 10 times lower than in an
harmonic signal having the same range. Besides, it seems that a
better stabilisation, i.e. closer to real conditions, was achieved
by these sequences.
Thus, there is no point in taking into account an effect of
load range in analysis.

Mean Load
Mean load has been identified before as the dominant
parameter affecting the dynamic stiffness, and a linear relation
is currently used. As an update of [3] (where a comparison with
the relation in [1] and those by other authors was shown),
Figure 11 shows the variation of dynamic stiffness with mean
loads, for 11 different ropes from 6 rope manufacturers,
including the results of recent tests.
Besides the overall trend for an increase of stiffness (about
linearly) with mean load, some scatter is observed that can be
attributed to several reasons. A first set is the effect of the
parameters noted above : load range (10% maximum on this
figure), load regime and effect of previous history/stabilisation.
There is also some small effect of measurement inaccuracy and
small discrepancies between the testing laboratories (three, in
addition to IFREMER), along the measurement and data
processing chain.
The principal reason is, however, the differences between
the ropes themselves (material and construction), that are
reflected in the dynamic-stiffness-at-end-of-bedding-in Krebi.
For the ropes in Figure 11, Krebi (shown by bigger marks, at
20% mean load) is in the range of 18.5 to 23, i.e. the range of a
normally stiff rope according to A1-5.7 in [8].
Normalising data by Krebi, for each rope, significantly
reduces the scatter, but does not lead to a single relation, due to
the other reasons quoted.

Values for Analysis.
As shown in Figure 11, all data points are lying within the
envelope formed by the design (upper-bound) stiffness and the
minimum stiffness, as proposed in [8] :
KrD = 18.5 + 0.33 ML (design)

KrD
m
= 15 + 0.25 ML (lower bound),
where ML is mean load (in % of MBS).
Only a few points are marginally outside.
Towards low mean loads, results now available confirm
that stiffness is decreasing, and that the linear relation is on the
conservative side. Therefore, the minimum value proposed
earlier has been dropped. Towards higher mean loads, there is a
trend for the stiffness to increase less than predicted by the
linear relation. This was attributed to an insufficient number of
cycles in earlier test procedures, and does not appear in some
results, therefore was not considered.
The envelope given above is thus adequate for the design
of a mooring system, i.e. typically some significant time in a
project before a particular product is selected and
manufactured. This envelope covers the possible range of
stiffness of a normally stiff rope. Then the standard
measurements during rope qualifications will confirm that the
purchased product has properties within the range used for
Design. This envelope should be adjusted if stiffer ropes are
considered. Besides, for some cases (e.g. a site assessment)
where the rope is already known, a more accurate relation
could be defined. This will however require that further
measurements are made, e.g. using stochastic loading, and that
due care is taken is the derivation of engineering values, that
cannot be simply taken as the raw results of a few tests.

15
20
25
30
35
40
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Mean load ( % MBS )
K
r
D

Krebi

Figure 11 . Dynamic stiffness as a function of mean load :
test data from [3] (blue and green), recent (red and pink), and relations in ref [8]

CONCLUSION
Within the French CLAROM fibre rope project, tests have
been performed to confirm and complement the currently used
practical engineering model that was derived from earlier work.
This work focused principally on the response of ropes to slow
variations of mean load, under the effect of changing weather
conditions, usually modelled by the Quasi-static stiffness. In
addition to the standard tests described in [7], extended test
sequences were defined. From these specific sequences, and the
number of data points provided, an interpretation can be given
that overcomes the discrepancy between the time scale of tests
(one or two days), and the real world.
Tests reported in this paper were principally performed on
sub-ropes. Some full size rope test results are also reported.
The scalability of results, an already known fact, was shown.
Due attention was given to the accuracy of load and elongation
measurement methods. Continuous time traces were obtained :
this is also an important factor for interpretation of test data.

Based on the interpretation of test results, a practical Q S
characteristic can be defined, addressing monotonic changes of
line mean load, from around the line pre-tension. This
characteristic is an extension of the current Quasi-Static
stiffness KrS. Two characteristics are proposed for the 12h
(standard) loading time, and for 7 days, a loading time more
appropriate for some other design conditions (e.g. the effect of
a loop current). Both are scaleable by KrS.
A first observation is that, for the 12h loading time, the
quasi-static stiffness (Krs
10-30
) derived from standard tests is
valid over a large range of tensions, from about 7 to above
70%, i.e. the characteristic is linear over this range.
Another significant observation is that, for tensions below
10%, the characteristics show a clear increase of compliance
with decreasing load : this should be considered for systems
working at low tensions in leeward lines.
As background to the above characteristics, further
separation of the rope response is presented, based on the
derivation of a fully relaxed characteristic (the characteristic for
infinitely slow rate of loading), and two additional terms : a
permanent (non recoverable) elongation, and a (remaining) un-
developed visco-elastic elongation, modelling the effect of
loading rate. Nevertheless, development of a true time
domain rheological model and a definitive understanding of
underlying mechanism will require further effort.

For the dynamic stiffness, the discussion of the
dependence of dynamic stiffness on testing parameters, based
on recent data, highlighted mean load as the principal
parameter under real stochastic loading. This confirmed the
adequacy of current practice in the analysis of a system, of
modelling the dynamic stiffness as a linear function of mean
load only. Besides, for a particular rope, it is important to note
that load history and other effects will always affect the test
results, thus due care is to be taken in the derivation of
engineering values that cannot be simply taken as the raw
results of a few tests. Using stochastic loading time series for
the testing appears an efficient method in this respect.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work presented in this paper was performed within the
framework of the CLAROM group, the French Club for
research activities on offshore structures. The contributions of
project partners are gratefully acknowledged.
The authors wish also to thank Oliveira S for providing
test ropes, their colleagues that contributed to performing tests
and analysing results, and their respective companies for
permission to publish this paper.
The views expressed are those of the authors, and do not
necessarily reflect those of their respective companies.
REFERENCES
[1] Del Vecchio CJ M (1992), Light weight materials for
deep water moorings, PhD thesis University of
Reading
[2] Grosjean F, Davies P, Francois M, (2005), Synthetic
Fiber Ropes mooring: technical status and stiffness
prediction, Proc CMOO4
[3] Franois M, Davies P, (2000), Fibre rope deep water
mooring : a practical model for the analysis of polyester
mooring systems , IBP 247 00, Rio Offshore 2000
[4] Franois M, Giulivo R, (2000), Practical procedures for
fibre rope moorings, Continuous Advances in Mooring
& Anchoring, Aberdeen
[5] Davies P et al., (2002), Synthetic mooring lines for
depths to 3000 meters, OTC14246
[6] Franois M. (2005), Fiber ropes for Station-keeping :
Engineering properties and qualification procedures,
OCEANS 2005, Washington
[7] ISO 18692:2007, Fibre ropes for offshore station
keeping - Polyester
[8] Bureau Veritas, (2007), Certification of fibre ropes for
Deep water offshore services, NI432R01
[9] Lechat C, Bunsell AR, Davies P, Piant A, (2006),
Mechanical behaviour of polyethylene terephthalate &
polyethylene naphthalate fibres under cyclic loading,
J ournal of Materials Science, Vol. 41, pp 1745-1756
[10] Davies P, Baizeau R, Grosjean F, Franois M, (1999),
Testing of large polyester cables for mooring line
applications, Proc ISOPE, Brest, p360
[11] Davies P, Lechat C, Bunsell A, Piant A, Franois M,
Grosjean F, Baron P, Salomon K, Bideaud C, Labb J P,
Moysan AG., (2008), Deepwater Moorings with High
Stiffness Polyester and PEN Fiber Ropes OTC 19315
[12] Davies P et al, (2008), Infuence of fibre Stiffness on
Deepwater Mooring Lines , OMAE2008-57147

OTC-19450-PP
Impact of the use of FullQTF on LNGC Moored in Shallow Water Studies
Cdric BRUN, Flvia REZENDE, Damien COACHE, J ohan MOMBAERTS (Bureau Veritas)
Copyright 2008, Offshore Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2008 Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas, U.S.A., 58May2008.

This paper was selected for presentation by an OTC program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Offshore Technology Conference, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Offshore Technology Conference is prohibited. Permission to
reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of OTC copyright.

Abstract
The prediction of slow drift motions for the design of a mooring system is usually made using the Newman approximation
[1], based on the assumption of a very low resonance frequency of the system and small contribution of the second order
wave fields. This hypothesis is commonly satisfied for most parts of the mooring systems in deep water. However, this is not
the case for LNG terminals moored in shallow water.
Unlike the Newman approximation, the FullQTF formulation to compute the low frequency wave loads is more accurate
but requires much longer time of computation, which presents limitations in practice when a large quantity of simulations is
needed.
Further to the work presented in [2] on the quadratic transfer function (QTF) of low-frequency loading, a new
approximation has been developed in [3]. The F1 approximation gives comparable results to the FullQTF and presents the
interesting aspect that the loads time series can be reconstructed by means of simple summations, presenting the same
efficiency in computation time as Newman approximation.
In this paper, main parameters of mooring systems are analyzed to evaluate the impact of the choice of each method,
Newman, F1 or FullQTF. Indeed, this choice is a compromise between calculation time and accuracy of results. The
conclusions raised are underlined in the study of an LNG terminal.
2 OTC OTC-19450-PP
Introduction
More and more LNG carriers are built across the world to transport the liquefied gas from a location to another. These
locations sometimes propose LNG terminals in the proximity of the harbors, thus in shallow water. For those terminals, the
accurate prediction of low-frequency wave loads is a key issue in the design of mooring systems.
The approximation proposed by Newman (1974) is generally used for the simulations of low frequency loading due to the
fact that it is based only on the diagonal terms of the QTF (Quadratic Transfer Functions). Those terms, the mean drift loads,
are contributed only by the first-order wave field and body motions and are easily calculated once the first order solution is
obtained. In moderate and deep water depths it can be shown that the second order wave field contribution is small
comparing to the first order one. This way, the assumptions applied to the Newman approximation are satisfied and the
results obtained through this approximation can be considered adequate. However, this is not the case in shallow water,
where the contribution of the second order wave field can not be neglected.
The use of the complete QTF matrix gives more accurate estimations of the low-frequency loads, but it requires the
solution of the second order problem and the time series reconstruction is more time-demanding. Recently, a new
approximation has been presented in [2] and [3] considering that the resonant frequencies of mooring systems are often small
(<<1). This approximation consists in developing the QTF as an expansion of difference frequency and keeping the
terms dependent on the first order quantities T
0
and another term T
1
linearly proportional to . From this expansion two
approximations can be derived: the F0 approximation, which is equivalent to the Newman approximation, and the F1
approximation.
In this paper the F0 (Newman) and F1 approximations are compared to the FullQTF considering the influence of the
water depth and mooring stiffness. The time efficiency of each method is also addressed.
Finally, the conclusions raised are highlighted in an LNG terminal example, under specific environmental conditions.

QTF Formulations
The full quadratic transfer function (QTF) of low-frequency loads is composed of two parts: one depends on the quadratic
product of the first-order quantities and another is contributed by the second-order potentials:

( ) ( ) ( )
2 1 2 2 1 1 2 1
, , , T T T + = (1)

The Newman approximation is obtained by disregarding the second term of equation (1). This approximation is based on
the assumption that 0, where =
1
-
2
. For shallow water applications, however, the second-order potentials
contributions can not be neglected and the Newman approximation may largely underestimate the low frequency loading.
Recently, a new approximation has been presented in [4]. Assuming <<1, the QTF is developed as an expansion:

( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
2 1 0
2 1
, , , + + = T i T T (2)

The quadratic transfer function T(
1
,
2
) is then composed of one component T
0
() depending on =(
1
+
2
)/2 and
another T
1
() linearly proportional to =
1
-
2
. From this expansion two approximations are derived. The F0
approximation, which is equivalent to the Newman approximation, is based only on the use of T
0
() so that is of ) 1 ( and the
F1 approximation that consider also the term T
1
() so that is of ) ( .

Considering the fact that:

( ) ( ) ( ) [ ] [ ]
2 1 / 0 1 / 0 1 / 0
, ,
2
1
, + + =
j j i i
T T T with
2
j i

+
= (3)

The F1 approximation in [3] can be rewritten as:

( ) ( ) ( ) [ ] ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) [ ]
j j i i j i j j i i j i
T T i T T T , ,
2
1
, ,
2
1
,
1 1 0 0
+ + + = (4)

OTC OTC-19450-PP 3

Time series reconstructions
For an irregular sea, the wave elevation can be noted as follows:

( )
( )
=
+
=
x k t i
N
j
j
e a t
1
with
j j j
d S a = ) ( . 2 (5)

Where S() is the irregular wave spectral density and d is the sampling space of the spectrum.
The low frequency loads can now be defined in time domain as below.

FullQTF formulation
FullQTF is a two dimensions complex matrix. The Real part of the matrix is symmetrical whereas the Imaginary one is
anti-symmetrical. The low-frequency drift loads time signal using the FullQTF formulation is obtained by a double
summation:

( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
[ ]
=

= =
+
N
i
N
j
x k k t i
j i j i FullQTF
i j i j i j
e a a T t F
1 1
. . , ) (

(6)

F0 approximation (Newman)
This method consists in approximating |T(
i
,
j
)| by a function of T(
i
,
i
) and T(
j
,
j
). Thus, the FullQTF double
summation can be transformed into the simple following formulation:

( )
( ) ( )
=

=
+
=
+
N
j
x k t i
j
N
j
x k t i
j j j
j j j j j j
e a e a T t F
1 1
0
0
. . , ) (

(7)

F1 approximation
Introducing (4) into (6), the time series reconstruction for the F1 approximation presented in [3] can be obtained as
follow:

( )
( ) ( )
=

=
+
=
+
N
j
x k t i
j
N
j
x k t i
j j j
j j j j j j
e a e a T
dt
d
t F t F
1 1
1
0 1
. . , ) ( ) (

(8)

Remarks
The FullQTF formulation is the most accurate method to describe the physical phenomenon. However this kind of
calculation is very time consuming due to the double summation on the frequencies and the calculation of the FullQTF
matrix. The F1 approximation is a new method that provides more accurate results comparing to the F0 approximation and
presents the advantage that the time series reconstruction can be described as simple summations instead of double
summations, hence faster to compute.

Numerical results
Different parameter influences are studied before computing a complete example of LNG terminal. Thus, varying water
depth, wave period and mooring stiffness, differences between the three methods are evaluated in terms of accuracy and time
efficiency.

I nfluence of water depth and peak period of sea state
In this case, numerical calculations are performed for a standard 138km
3
LNG vessel with main dimensions (Length,
Breadth and Draft) = (274m, 44.2m and 11m), respectively. The half hull mesh is composed of 2204 panels.

At a first stage, the vessel is considered fixed and the low-frequency loads are calculated in frequency domain for different
water-depths and for sea states with Hs=2.0m and peak periods varying from 6s to 18s.

Figures 1 to 6 present the spectral density of low-frequency loads. For each peak period the left bar is used for F0
approximation, the middle bar for F1 approximation and the right bar for the FullQTF. Two differences of frequencies ()
are evaluated, 0.025 rd/s and 0.05 rd/s, which are directly linked to the resonance of the mooring system. It can be noticed
that the F0 approximation largely underestimates the loads in shallow water comparing to the FullQTF. For moderate water
4 OTC OTC-19450-PP
depth, such like 60m, the F0 approximation may give conservative results except for very long waves. In all the cases the F1
approximation presents results which are comparable to those obtained through the FullQTF.

0.00E+00
5.00E+04
1.00E+05
1.50E+05
2.00E+05
2.50E+05
3.00E+05
3.50E+05
4.00E+05
4.50E+05
Tp=6s Tp=8s Tp=10s Tp=12s Tp=14s Tp=16s Tp=18s
S
p
e
c
t
r
a
l

d
e
n
s
i
t
y

(
k
N
^
2
.
m
^
2
.
s
)
F0 Approximation F1 Approximation Full QTF
0.00E+00
2.00E+05
4.00E+05
6.00E+05
8.00E+05
1.00E+06
1.20E+06
1.40E+06
S
p
e
c
t
r
a
l

d
e
n
s
i
t
y

(
k
N
^
2
.
m
^
2
.
s
)

Figure 1 LF spectral density WD 15m Tn ~251s Figure 2 - LF spectral density WD 15m Tn ~126s
0.00E+00
2.00E+09
4.00E+09
6.00E+09
8.00E+09
1.00E+10
1.20E+10
1.40E+10
1.60E+10
S
p
e
c
t
r
a
l

d
e
n
s
i
t
y

(
k
N
^
2
.
m
^
2
.
s
)
0.00E+00
5.00E+09
1.00E+10
1.50E+10
2.00E+10
2.50E+10
3.00E+10
3.50E+10
4.00E+10
4.50E+10
5.00E+10
S
p
e
c
t
r
a
l

d
e
n
s
i
t
y

(
k
N
^
2
.
m
^
2
.
s
)

Figure 3 - LF spectral density WD 30m Tn ~251s Figure 4 - LF spectral density WD 30m Tn ~126s
0.00E+00
1.00E+09
2.00E+09
3.00E+09
4.00E+09
5.00E+09
6.00E+09
7.00E+09
8.00E+09
S
p
e
c
t
r
a
l

d
e
n
s
i
t
y

(
k
N
^
2
.
m
^
2
.
s
)
0.00E+00
1.00E+09
2.00E+09
3.00E+09
4.00E+09
5.00E+09
6.00E+09
7.00E+09
8.00E+09
S
p
e
c
t
r
a
l

d
e
n
s
i
t
y

(
k
N
^
2
.
m
^
2
.
s
)

Figure 5 - LF spectral density WD 60m Tn ~251s Figure 6 - LF spectral density WD 60m Tn ~126s

Regarding the two resonance periods studied from Figure 1 to Figure 6, it is shown that the differences between the three
methods increase for smaller resonance periods. To highlight this phenomenon, the mooring stiffness influence is studied in
time domain.

Mooring stiffness influence
LNG carrier motions are analyzed using different mooring system stiffnesses. To study the mooring stiffness influence, a
typical reference characteristic shown in Figure 7 is multiplied by coefficients from 0.2 to 2.0 with a step of 0.2.
OTC OTC-19450-PP 5

-10000
-5000
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Horizontal distance (m)
H
o
r
i
z
o
n
t
a
l

t
e
n
s
i
o
n

(
k
N
)

Figure 7: Mooring system characteristic

In each study case, the same environment is imposed. It is composed of waves (Jonswap spectrum with Hs=3m, Tp=10s
and =3.3). Only surge motion direction has been studied for head sea condition.
Figure 8 and Figure 9 give a comparison of the vessel motions time series for three different mooring stiffnesses, (from
the softest on the left to the stiffest on the right), comparing respectively F0/FullQTF and F1/FullQTF.

20% of reference stiffness
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
8
-1000 1000 3000 5000 7000
Time (s)
V
e
s
s
e
l

p
o
s
i
t
i
o
n

(
m
)

Reference stiffness
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
0 1000 2000 3000 4000
Time (s)
V
e
s
s
e
l

p
o
s
i
t
i
o
n

(
m
)
F0 FullQTF

200%of reference stiffness
-2
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
0 1000 2000 3000
Time (s)
V
e
s
s
e
l

p
o
s
i
t
i
o
n

(
m
)

Figure 8: Vessel position time series under F0 and FullQTF drift loads

With reference to Figure 8, it can be clearly shown that changing the global mooring stiffness accentuates the differences
between the F0 and FullQTF calculations. Indeed, when the mooring system is very soft, the two resulting signals from F0
and FullQTF are quite similar. On the contrary, when the stiffness is increasing, the time series become more and more
different.

20%of reference stiffness
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
8
-1000 1000 3000 5000 7000
Time (s)
V
e
s
s
e
l

p
o
s
i
t
i
o
n

(
m
)

Reference stiffness
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
0 1000 2000 3000 4000
Time (s)
V
e
s
s
e
l

p
o
s
i
t
i
o
n

(
m
)
F1 FullQTF

200% of reference stiffness
-2
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
0 1000 2000 3000
Time (s)
V
e
s
s
e
l

p
o
s
i
t
i
o
n

(
m
)

Figure 9: Vessel position time series under F1 and FullQTF drift loads

Figure 9 shows that the differences in the vessel motions time series when using the F1 approximation or FullQTF
formulation are not as consequent as when using the F0 approximation. Indeed, it seems to suggest that the F1 expression
gives suitable results even for the stiffest mooring stiffness evaluated.
In case the F0 approximation is used with a very soft mooring system, the ratio between the F0 and FullQTF time series
standard deviation of loads is about 0.8 whereas it could be less than 0.4 for a stiff mooring system (see Figure 10). In fact,
the stiffer is the mooring system, the bigger the difference between the F0 and FullQTF time series.
However the ratio between F1 and FullQTF time series standard deviation is less than 1.10 for most of the mooring
stiffnesses, except for the stiffest mooring system with a maximum of 1.25 (see Figure 10). In addition, it can be seen that the
ratio is always greater than 1.00, which seems to suggest that the F1 approximation is conservative.
6 OTC OTC-19450-PP

0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
0 50 100 150 200
Stiffness rate (%)
R
a
t
i
o

o
f

S
t
d
.

D
e
v
.
F0/FullQTF F1/FullQTF

Figure 10: F0 and FullQTF time series standard deviation relative difference function of the stiffness rate

Computation efficiency in time domain reconstruction
As shown in equations (6), (7) and (8), the FullQTF reconstruction is based on a double summation on frequencies
whereas F0 and F1 are based on simple summations. Figure 11 shows an example of comparison between the methods when
irregular waves are reconstructed by 200 elementary airy waves.

0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
FullQTF F0 F1
C
a
l
c
u
l
a
t
i
o
n

t
i
m
e

r
a
t
e

(
%

o
f

m
a
x
)

Figure 11: Calculation time comparison between FullQTF, F0 and F1

A solution to make FullQTF calculations faster is to reduce the number of terms of the double summation. Thus, a new
parameter called
max
is introduced, considering that the vessel is less sensitive to the difference frequency greater than
max
. Only terms of the FullQTF matrix that satisfy the following inequality are taken into account:

max
<
j i
(9)

Remark: if
max
>
N
-
0
, the complete drift load is calculated whereas if
max
= 0. only the mean drift load is computed.
Figure 12 shows that the computation time decreases significantly when
max
< 0.4.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
max (rad/s)
T
i
m
e

r
a
t
e

(
%

o
f

m
a
x
)

Figure 12: Double summation time consumption in function
of
max

0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
max (rad/s)
E
r
r
o
r

r
a
t
e

(
%
)

Figure 13: F(t) standard deviations error rate
Choosing
max
= 0., there is no more time dependency, meaning that the time series is a constant signal, and standard
deviation is logically 100%. In Figure 13, it is possible to see that the wave drift load time series is well recomposed for
s rad / 3 . 0
max
> , that gives about 20% reduction of the calculation time.
This conclusion is set for this particular example. The main notion is that it is possible to analyze a mooring system and
quickly determine a
max
in function of its resonance frequency.

OTC OTC-19450-PP 7
Study case: LNG terminal in shallow water
In this section, one practical example is used to compare the different low frequency wave loads calculation methods in
order to illustrate the results previously obtained.
The selected mooring system is a typical configuration for LNG terminals in shallow water. This system, called Soft
Yoke (SY) is composed of a fixed structure, mooring legs and the yoke (see Figure 14)[5].

Figure 14: SY for LNG terminals (Cortesy of SBM)

The mooring system is modeled by its characteristic horizontal distance/horizontal tension used as the reference one for
the stiffness influence study (see Figure 7). The neutral point is 30 meters from the yoke nose. The mooring system is
symmetrical. The LNG carrier can turn around the fixed structure and around the yoke nose. As previously presented, the
main properties of the 138km
3
LNG carrier are respectively (Length, Breadth and Draft) = (274m, 44.2m and 11m). The
water depth is 15 meters and studies are done with 3 hours time series of vessel motions and SY tensions.
In order to be able to compare correctly the different temporal signals, the same wave spectrum is imposed. The selected
spectrum is a Jonswap one defined by respectively (Hs, Tp, ) = (3m, 10s, 3.3). The wave spectrum is discretized into two
hundred elementary Airy waves.
A current load is applied in order to change the vessel azimuth with respect to the wave. Different incidences are studied,
thus different relative wave headings. Current is supposed to be constant with a velocity of 1.2m.s
-1
.

Table 1: Simulation results under different environmental conditions
F0 F1 FullQTF F0 F1 FullQTF F0 F1 FullQTF F0 F1 FullQTF
Azimuth std. dev. (deg) 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.88 2.85 3.16 1.47 1.65 1.69 2.27 2.45 2.50
North std. dev. (m) 0.63 2.19 2.03 3.58 3.67 4.39 4.74 5.42 5.48 6.83 7.40 7.64
East std. dev. (m) 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.35 2.43 2.44 3.01 3.18 3.19 3.52 3.85 4.01
Std. Dev. (kN) 167.37 602.91 555.28 125.40 412.72 359.72 185.95 397.28 456.42 323.93 574.88 660.10
Relative diff. / FullQTF 0.30 1.09 0.35 1.15 0.41 0.87 0.49 0.87
SY horizontal
tension
Vessel
position
Wave: 0, current: 30 Wave: 0
Wave relative heading at mean
position (deg)
Wave: 295, current: 90 Wave: 0, current: 60
0.0 42.1 28.5 17.0

Table 1 illustrates the differences between the drift loads calculation methods varying the relative heading between the
wave and the vessel. The first point that could be underlined is that for all simulations, F0 approximation underestimates the
loads on the mooring system. Indeed, this difference is always over 50% on the standard deviation of loads and is more
important in head sea (70%).
Moreover, the F1 approximation presents comparable results to the FullQTF ones. The maximum difference observed is
15%, and F1 could underestimate the loads as well as overestimating them.

Conclusions
This paper presents a comparison between different formulations for the calculation of slow drift loads for the
applications in shallow water. It has been shown that the F0 approximation, commonly used in practice, largely
underestimates the low-frequency loads for shallow water depths (below 60m) or when the mooring system is stiffened.
The FullQTF method, in spite of giving more accurate results, is less efficient in computation time due to the fact that the
time reconstruction of the loads is made by double summations instead of simple summations as in the case of F0
approximation. The F1 approximation is a new method to evaluate the low-frequency loads in a more accurate way than F0
approximation. The most interesting aspect of this approximation is that the time reconstruction can be done by simple
summations, thus it presents the same calculation time efficiency as the F0 formulation.

8 OTC OTC-19450-PP
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank SBM for providing mooring system information for this study.

Nomenclature
SY = Soft Yoke
QTF = Quadratic Transfer Function
LNG = Liquefied Natural Gas

References

[1] NEWMAN J.N. (1974) Second Order, slowly-varying forces on vessels in irregular waves, Intl. Symp. Dyn. Marine
Vehicle & Struc. In Waves, Mech. Engng. Pub., London (UK).
[2] CHEN X.B & DUAN W.Y. (2007) Formulation of low-frequency QTF by O() approximation, 22
nd
IWWWFB,
Plitvice (Croatia).
[3] CHEN X.B. & REZENDE F. (2008) - Computations of low-frequency wave loading, 23
rd
IWWWFB, Jeju (Korea)
[4] CHEN X.B. (1994) Approximation on the Quadratic Transfer Function of Low-Frequency Loads, BOSS
[5] NACIRI M. & QUEAU J.P. (2003) - The Soft Yoke Mooring and Offloading System for LNG Offloading
Applications, OMAE, Cancun (Mexico)

Tables
Table 1: Simulation results under different environmental conditions...........................................................................................7

Figures
Figure 1 LF spectral density WD 15m Tn ~251s .......................................................................................................................4
Figure 2 - LF spectral density WD 15m Tn ~126s ........................................................................................................................4
Figure 7: Mooring system characteristic............................................................................................................................................5
Figure 8: Vessel position time series under F0 and FullQTF drift loads........................................................................................5
Figure 9: Vessel position time series under F1 and FullQTF drift loads.........................................................................................5
Figure 10: F0 and FullQTF time series standard deviation relative difference function of the stiffness rate .............................6
Figure 11: Calculation time comparison between FullQTF, F0 and F1............................................................................................6
Figure 12: Double summation time consumption in function of
max
.........................................................................................6
Figure 13: F(t) standard deviations error rate....................................................................................................................................6
Figure 14: SY for LNG terminals..........................................................................................................................................................7

Latest evolution of Metocean analysis
practices and their applications
Thomas Barberon Hydrodynamic and Mooring technical department
Bureau Veritas
Guillaume Gourdet Offshore Project Engineer Bureau Veritas

1. Abstract
Lately hydrodynamic analysis performed for moored floating units have known a little
revolution. From the typical Metocean data in directional scatter diagrams format, the industry is
moving to the regular use of hindcast data. These data are presented as a list of sea-states,
including swell, wind sea or secondary swell, wind and current data. The combination of these
effects allows a proper estimation of heading analysis for a turret moored vessel. Thus wave
loads effects can be assessed more accurately, in particular the occurrence of beam and
quartering sea conditions. As results of heading analysis ones get the common wind and wave
directions with regards to the ships heading which may lead to important information regarding
safety and marine operations.
Firstly, the paper details the methodology for heading analysis and the typical required site data..
Secondly, it presents the effect of such analysis of the wave loads applied onto the vessel hull
and some applications in hull structural and fatigue calculations.
The paper follows the different steps of a typical project: review and analysis of Metocean data,
heading analysis, hydrodynamic and spectral assessment. Finally, typical structural classification
finite elements computations are described with ways to adapt them for site conditions.

2. Hindcast data analysis
The first step of every project is the environmental conditions analysis. The results of these
analysis will then be used by most of the different studies done during the project.
In design reports, Metocean data may be given in two forms. The first one is the statistical form
(e.g. intensity versus return period), that eliminates information of simultaneous occurrence of.
waves, wind, and current. The second one is the form of n years hindcast data base issued by
meteorological companies.
Time series of environmental parameters are provided for 5, 10, 25 years at 3-hourly (most of the
time) intervals and include the following Metocean parameters:
- Parameters corresponding to the lowest frequency spectral peak (sometime referred to
as swell),
- Parameters corresponding to the highest frequency spectral peak (sometime referred
to as wind-sea),
- Wind speed and direction,
- Current speed and direction.
In reference [9] is presented one solution for the partitioning of waves into swells and wind-sea.
Before processing into hydro/mooring analysis, the assumptions made by the companies
provinding data should be analysed.
- Wave described by an uni-modal or bi-modal / bi-directional spectrum (each part
representing respectively swell and wind seas),
- Spectrum used,
- Wave, wind and current heading (coming from or going to) and characteristics.
As some seastates present some spurious data, these ones have to be removed from the hindcast
data.
Based on the cleaned database, plots are used to assess the validity of the data. One of the most
usefull plot is steepness curves (see Figure 1). This reveals the partitioning between waves and
allows the comparison with steepness curves (ratio Hs/Tz).

Figure 1: Hs vs. Tz (Swell front) and Hs vs. Tz (Wind Sea front)
Next, in order to assess the validity of the partitioning, a plot Tp_swell vs. Tp_windsea (see
Figure 2) may be investigate. Following example shows typical results where peak periods of the
swell are higher than peak periods of the wind sea.

Figure 2: Tp swell vs. Tp WindSea
After checking the partitioning of the waves, correlation between environmental parameters
should be looked for. An obvious correlation is the wind sea with respect to the wind. Shape of
the plot close to median line indicates a connection between elements. The graph shown on
Figure 3 could also be split according to the seasons (Figure 4 and Figure 5).

Figure 3: Hs Wind sea vs. Wind
Speed
Speed - Winter
Speed - Summer

In case partitioning is well done, a weak correlation between swell intensity and wind intensity is
obtained as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Hs Swell vs. Wind Speed
Relation between a parameter (intensity, period ) versus the direction allows to validate the
data with respect to geographical parameters.

Figure 7: Hs Swell vs. Swell Direction Figure 8: Hs Swell vs. Swell Direction

Figure 7 for example indicates that point is located far from the coast with a prevailing direction
from swell (in a channel for example). Figure 8 shows a sector without swell. This could be close
to a coast. It should be underlined that points in the sector 220-360 are probably spurious wind
sea seastates.
Directional plots between correlated parameters allow to determine the intensity of this
connection. The sharpest the plot is, the closest the parameters are (see Error! Reference source
not found.).

1000Y Scatter Diagram
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Tz [s]
H
s

[
m
]
Steepness 1/7
Steepness 1/10
Steepness 1/15
Steepness 1/18
Steepness 1/20
1-Y
10-Y
100-Y

Figure 9: Wind Sea vs. Relative
Wind Sea direction
Figure 10: 1000 Year graph

For some Metocean analysis, 1000 years (or 10000 years) data are available. Plotting the couples
(Hs,Tz) for all data allows to get information on the extrapolation of the extreme values. On
Error! Reference source not found., it is clear that extreme values have been computed only
based on steepness curves.

3. Heading Analysis
Heading Analysis are usually performed to obtain the heading of the vessel with respect to global
axis and then to extract the relative heading of the vessel with respect to the environmental
parameters.
Results of these calculations are used for long term and short term computations of
hydrodynamic parameters (wave bending moment, wave shear forces, relative wave elevations,
accelerations, motions ...). Actual link between heading analysis and hydrodynamic computation
is performed by the mean of Fata, BV in house software. The heading analysis itself is performed
by the help of Ariane 3-Dynamic software, which allow to combine wind, current and waves
loads.
Description of the mooring pattern is not fundamental for the simulation of each seastate but
recommended. However, as heading is computed over 3-hours duration (mean heading computed
for each seastate of the hindcast data base), real stiffness of the mooring pattern could avoid
some errors.
Mandatory required data are generally the wind coefficients, wind areas, current coefficients, the
characteristics of the vessel (draft, length, beam ), QTFs (coming from hydrodynamic
software, such as BV-Hydrostar), Added mass, Damping, Metocean parameters

Optional data could also be required such as mooring lines description (length, composition, ),
anchors positions, pretension in lines at fairlead, water depth, position of the fairlead

Time domain simulation
All environmental parameters (swell, wind sea, current and wind) are taken into account during
the simulations. Mean heading is computed for each seastate based on low frequency time
simulation over 3-hours after a transient time depending of the studied vessel.
As mean drift force are of interest, effect of the seed for wave or wind spectrum is not to be
considered.

Heading Analysis Results
Attention must be given on the fact that software could give equilibrium position that is not the
most stable. In the case of turret moored vessel (majority of mooring pattern encountered in
heading analysis), some wrong static position can be found at the beginning of the simulation.
For example, static position with all environmental parameters in line coming from stern can be
found instead of parameters coming from bow.
In some cases, after a time simulation (variable), the vessel could turn around its mooring point
to reach the normal steady position.
In the worst case, the wrong initial static position can subsists during a long time simulation
(more than 3 hours). That is the reason why it is recommended not to use only the static position
given by mooring software to perform heading analysis.

Result of the total heading analysis is a time serie of heading of the vessel relative to global axis
system (generally North, depending of the model).
Then, this time serie - one result per seastate (time step depending on the database) is extracted
to be post treated relatively to waves heading.
After having performed the heading analysis, some graphs are interesting to be plotted.
Among these, heading of the vessel relative to environmental parameter is probably the most
important.

Figure 11: Vessel Heading Relative to North Figure 12: Vessel Heading Relative to Wind
Direction

Figure 11 could be compared to the site position. For previous example, the position of the vessel
on a west coast gives parameters to check results.
In Figure 12, it is important to precise how relative heading is computed. Such graph could
permit to give information such as position of the flare, position of equipment onboard.

Figure 13 and Figure 14 represent the heading of the vessel relative to swell and wind-sea
direction. Conclusion is that vessel is governed by wind-sea and not by swell (in this case).

Figure 13: Vessel heading vs. swell direction Figure 14: Vessel heading vs. wind sea direction

Another interesting graph to be plotted is the absolute heading of the vessel in polar coordinate.
All lines connecting two following time step results should be in the vicinity of the circle and not
crossing the circle (large change of direction probably due to wrong heading result or spurious
seastate).

Figure 15: Heading Analysis with sudden change (inversion)
Probably wrong
Figure 16: Heading Analysis with smooth variation
Probably correct

For some projects, on-site records are available and should be compared with heading analysis
results. Some examples are given hereafter:

Figure 17: Comparison Heading analysis vs.
Excursion monitoring system
Figure 18: Comparison Heading Analysis vs. Excursion
monitoring system
Previous comparison Figure 17 gives correct results. It should be underlined that some data are
missing around the 24 of July for the on-site data. Moreover, on-site data are given every minute
and heading analysis is performed every 3-hour (due to database time step).
Example Figure 18 shows some spurious cases due to inverted heading of the vessel.
Attention should be care on the fact that vessel could have some temporary periods with heading
forced by tug (for maintenance for example), offloading sequences...

Analysis of parameters time series
The results of the heading analysis are often used to compute motion time series. Motion
response can be computed for each sea-state. Then, motion time serie over 10 (or 20, 25) years
can be analysed.

Figure 19: Roll response over several years Figure 20: Roll response over 12 days

Figure 19 shows the roll response of the vessel over several years. Analysis of the maxima can
be correlated with the season (depending of the hemisphere).
Time serie over lower time duration (1 week) give information on the continuity of the results. If
points are not in accordance with previous and following, results of the heading analysis is
probably wrong (see Figure 20).

Disambiguation of spurious points
When plotting Metocean parameters in function of relative heading, some spurious points can
occur (for example, points surrounded in red in Figure 21).

Figure 21: Wind Velocity vs. Vessel Heading
These points can have a statistical significance and correspond to exceptional events in the
distribution of the values of the Metocean parameters. They can correspond to spurious or odd
events in the hindcast data. First, the Metocean conditions must be recomputed to determine the
validity of the odd points. Afterward, one way to determine whether these points have a
statistical significance is to examine the distribution of the value of the analyzed parameter per
heading.

4. Hydrodynamic Analysis
In this paper, the hydrodynamic computation itself will not be detailed. By hydrodynamic
computations we mean the way to assess hull specific behaviour (motions, accelerations &
waveloads) of the hull using radiation-diffraction methods. The outputs of such analysis are
RAOs (Response Amplitude Operator). These RAOs are then analysed through spectral analysis
in order to get the site and hull specific waveloads. Additional information can be found in [11].

5. Spectral analysis
The structural analysis needs as input the response of the ship at a certain Return Period (RP). In
principle, the response should be obtained by cumulative Long Term (LT) statistics requiring
extrapolation of Metocean data. In lieu of such analysis, Short Term analysis is carried out using
the short term extremes sea-states in each direction.

Short Term & Long term calculation
In the philosophy of a short term calculation, a single sea state is considered representative of the
Metocean condition to be encountered, and the response of the unit of this sea-state is considered
representative of the extreme response. In a long term calculation, each sea state is taking into
account in the unit response.
This type of study in necessary for fatigue study and is generally considered more accurate for
extreme response.
The LT response is then obtained by cumulative long term statistics with BV software, FATA.
The summation over all spectrums is made. Given a sea-state and assuming a Rayleigh
distribution of maximum, the probability associated to a response level S is equal to:
( )
( )

=
2
,
2 exp ,
P S S
P S
T H R
S
T H S p

And then the number of cycle associated to a response level S is:
( ) ( )
( )
P T
ref
P S P S
T R
T
T H S p T H S N , , =

The number of cycle, over all the seastates, associated to a given response level S is equal to:
( ) ( ) ( )
( )
=
j i P T
ref
P S P S
j Z
j i j i
T R
T
T H p T H S p S N
,
, ,

Where:
-
T
the average duration of a sea-state (3h)
- ) , (
P S
T H S p the probability of a given stress level S within a sea-state characterize
by the wave significant height Hs and the peak period Tp
- ( )
j i
P S
T H p , the probability to encounter the sea-state Hsi, Tpj
- ( )
j E
P T
T R the mean period of the response for a sea-state with a peak period of Tpj

6. Bureau Veritas FPSO Structural methodology

Once the final waveloads computed we can start structural loading. This first chapter gives an
overview of structural computation in BV. The next chapter will make the link with
hydrodynamic loads.

Bureau Veritas approach is based on the analysis of the stress level acting in the structure (for
yielding, buckling and fatigue strengths) and on its verification according to permissible stresses
ratios. The evaluation is carried out including:
3D FEM coarse mesh models to evaluate stresses and buckling behaviour.
3D fine meshes analysis to complete the necessary structural analysis of primary structural
members from 3D coarse mesh.
Fatigue analysis for connections details
It should be noted that definition of coarse mesh is changing now in Bureau Veritas Rules in
order to harmonize offshore Rules with Common Structural Rules for bulk carriers and double
hull tankers (IACS).

Typical FPSO loading patterns from loading sequences are used for fatigue analysis. While
yielding and buckling analysis can be performed for special loading conditions (inspection,
repair LC)
For all FPSO calculations, site conditions are applied.
At the end, the following criteria will be considered to identify elements which do not comply
with the Rules criteria for intended operation as FPSO:
Elements with stress ratio above 1.00 do not comply with the applied criteria.
Elements with stress ratio between 0.975 and 1.00 are considered as suspects areas.
Elements with ratio less than 0.975 comply with applied criteria.
Calculations are performed at both tanker and FPSO stages. Tanker phase gives an overview of
the structural integrity of the original vessel against the newest set of Rules. The conclusions of
such study can lead the pre-dry-dock inspections directly to the most critical areas. This study
may also help to determine the level of criticality of elements found critical in FPSO or tanker
phase.
As part of tanker phase, an accumulated damage is also calculated, based on the available trading
history of the ship.
On the other hand, the FPSO assessment enables to define where renewals or reinforcements will
be needed either because of ageing of the structure (corrosion, accumulated damage) either
because of its new use of FPSO (loading/unloading sequence, site conditions)
This VeriSTAR approach is generally preceded of a 2D analysis, performed in Mars BV
software. Mars enables to check longitudinal elements and transverse bulkhead against BV Rules
for both hull girder and local scantlings.

Figure 22: 2D Sections

The 3D models can be either a set of partial models (called 3-holds models) to assess separately
each tank either a Complete Ship Model (CSM).
3-holds models are used at first stage of project, to quickly and efficiently assess the strength of
the cargo region. They are generally linked to fix load cases defined in the Classification
Societies Rules.
However offshore engineers are used to adapt these load cases to offshore projects and their
particular wave behaviour (like spread or turret mooring, specific site conditions, etc)
Finally it is now a common practise to model the whole unit, from transom to bow. These
models generally tolerate a higher flexibility for the loads to use. If this flexibility allows a better
representation of the actual wave loads, it is also synonymous of a lot more of loading conditions
to run, increase the time of the computations and post-treatment.

Figure 23: 3-holds coarse mesh model
(including deck fine mesh)
Figure 24: Complete Ship coarse mesh model

7. Hydro to Structure
Once hydrodynamics waveloads computed with the state of the art methods, hydrodynamic
engineers and structural engineers need to decide how these waveloads should be used in the
structural assessment.
Several types of analysis are performed using direct waveloads computations:
Hull structure analysis
Topsides structure analysis
These two cases include both extreme conditions for yielding and buckling check and fatigue
conditions
Sloshing loads on hull structure
Green waters effects
Slamming
These 3 analyses may also require hydro-elastic methods. This means that stiffness of the
structure should be taken into account in the hydrodynamic analysis. These methods if already
applied for several ship and offshore designs are still quite exceptional studies.
Mooring and offset analysis
Motions analysis
Etc

Wave loads as described in ship Rules
On the contrary of traditional offshore engineering, naval architects are not used to apply directly
computed wave loads on hull structure. The common way to design a hull is to apply wave loads
from Rules (Classification Rules, mainly based on IACS unified requirements with regards to
wave loads).
These loads are issued from North Atlantic waves conditions, recognised as the worst area for a
ship to sail. A hull design with these loads should then be able to sail all around the world
without any restrictions.
It should however be noted that a few exceptions exist, mainly for shuttle tankers operating
continuously in harsh conditions like in North Sea, or in North Pacific.
For ships sailing in mild environment, classification societies also developed navigation
notations, which limit the areas where the ship is able to sail (tropical waters, sheltered waters,
etc). These navigation notations are simple coefficient applying to the IACS North Atlantic
waveloads.

The Rules always define a set of load cases to be applied on the hull structure. For example
Bureau Veritas Rules defined 4 basic load cases which combine the following effects of the
waves:
- Vertical bending moment
- Horizontal bending moment
- Vertical shear forces
- Torsion
- Accelerations
- Elevation of the waves as view per the hull

The difficulty of the combination is to know which loads are correlated with the other. For
example, it is quite obvious that maximum vertical accelerations will not happen at the same
time than maximum horizontal acceleration. While vertical bending moment is maximum at the
same time than the crest wave pressure on the side shell.

Wave loads in load case A
crest
& A
trough

Wave loads in load case B

Wave loads in load case C

Wave loads in load case D

Figure 25: BV Combinations of waveloads.
Extracted from the Offshore Rules, Part D, Chapter 1, Section 5

It is also a challenge to define the values of secondary wave loads when trying to maximise one
of them. For example to evaluate the wave vertical bending moment to be applied, when
maximising wave horizontal bending moment. Rules defines default coefficient for these
combinations.

Application of hydrodynamic wave loads on structural models
As for all engineering studies, it is possible to define different methods, depending of course of
what it is the purpose of the study or of the schedule of the project. But it may also depend of the
quality of available data.

BV keeping Rules load cases.
The simplest methods keep the Rules load cases for basis. These methods are quick to put in
place, using Rules Finite Element Software like VeriSTAR Hull.
They do not require complex interactions between structural and hydrodynamic analysis.

At first stage of FPSO projects, it is quite common to perform structural analysis by just applying
a single coefficient to Rules wave loads. This can even be done without hydrodynamic
computations, based on the experience of offshore engineers for well-known areas (like West
Africa, Brazil).
These methods should be used with care and only to pre-project analysis, before any better
hydrodynamic results are available.

When hydrodynamic results are known, it is then possible to tune the Rules load cases wave
loads by wave loads.
For example in the load case maximising the transversal accelerations, the site transversal
accelerations is combined with the site vertical accelerations multiply with the Rules coefficient
for this load case.
This method is known as conservative for extreme computations. However it presents limitations
mainly in 2 cases:
Fatigue issues, because of the difficulties to combine load cases results on a long term
approach.
Exceptional waves, like cyclones when Rules combination of waves loads may not be
realistic.
Direct transfer of wave loads on the structural model is then the next possible step.

Direct transfer
The most common direct transfer is used for Spectral fatigue analysis. In this method, basic data
from radiation-diffraction analysis are applied directly to the structural model: accelerations and
pressure of waves.
At the end of the structural we get stresses RAOs, exactly like RAOs define in the first part of
this paper.
It is then possible to follow the spectral computation defines in the section 5 to get probability of
each stress cycle. These stress cycles and their probabilities are then summed using Miner-
Palmgren formula to get final damage of the details and so fatigue life.
The Spectral Fatigue Analysis takes into account the exact site conditions and the relative
heading of the vessel. It is known as the most up-to-date fatigue methods for ship details.
Apart from the huge numbers of calculations to define stresses RAOs, this methodology is
limited by the linear assumptions done in spectral domain. Even if corrective methods exist, it is
still difficult to interpret results on side shell area, where the wave pressure discontinuity has not
a negligible effect on stress repartition.

Figure 26: Example of stress RAOs for representative heading. Each node required
hydrodynamic computation, transfer to structural model and run of FEM.

It is also possible to perform time domain analysis. This is mainly used for extreme
computations, or with specific waves.
In this case the first is to define the wave, defined by its height, length and phase that should be
computed. Then hydrodynamic software can issue wave pressure all along the hull and hull
girder accelerations to be applied on the structural FEM.
0
5
10
15
20
25
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Omega (rad/s)
S
t
r
e
s
s

R
a
n
g
e

(
M
P
a
/
m
)
180
225
270
315
360
This methodology avoids spectral assumptions which are not always easy to apply on a structural
model. The main point of this methodology is to select the wave to be run. It is always easy to
use RAOs to select the most critical wave for one effect. However it is much more difficult to be
sure that this wave will be the most critical once combining all the loads it generates.

Limit of transfer
The main point of transferring hydrodynamic results to structural is the difference of
fundamental assumptions in both methodologies. They are particularly critical for
Viscosity, which is difficult to take into account in structural FEM models
Linearity again wave height, which basic assumptions in hydrodynamics, but quite
difficult to apply on structural assessment of side shell area.

Viscosity
While hydrodynamic analysis take into account the viscosity of the liquid, viscosity is not easily
added to structural finite element models (FEM). If the viscosity can be omitted for longitudinal
waveloads, it is an important input for beam sea cases, where roll motion and acceleration are the
some of the main parameters for the computation of
Transversal acceleration,
Wave pressure on side shell in beam sea cases,
Horizontal bending moment.
Viscosity and in particular roll damping calibration is already a challenge for hydrodynamic
analysis. It becomes even more complicated when transferring to structural finite element model,
which in naval architecture does generally not include viscosity capabilities.
For a structural computation it is reasonable assumptions to neglect the viscosity (except in way
of particular appendix such as bilge keel). However in case of direct transfer of wave loads from
hydrodynamic to structural FEM the loads will not be equilibrated, which is not acceptable.
Several methods have been developed to solve this problem. Bureau Veritas spectral fatigue
methodology is applying equivalent forces on the bilge keel to model viscosity effect.

Linearity with regard to wave height
Another point is the linear assumptions of hydrodynamic computation versus the wave height.
Most of the hydrodynamic calculations are not time simulation but spectral simulations (for
computation time reasons). They consider the waveloads as a linear function of the wave height.
Applying such assumptions for a structural model would lead to wrong results in way of side
shell, where the wave pressure is not proportional to the wave height. The following picture
shows the two types of waves.
However this assumption is relatively correct for details far from the side shell.

Linear wave pressures as used in spectral
hydrodynamic analysis
Non linear pressure as needed for time domain
structural analysis

Several methods exist to compensate this assumption. In particular Bureau Veritas recommends
to compute the effect of the missing pressures on a separate model. The stress correction
obtained is then applied to the stress RAOs.

8. Conclusions
To conclude this paper the authors would like to highlight the increase and generalization of high
level technical computation for offshore projects, including fast track conversion projects. This
increase in the number of studies has transferred existing tools and methodologies from research
departments to engineering common practice. It has also highlighted points where the industry
need to improve its standard like for Metocean data, whose quality is not always at the level of
the expected following studies , or areas where research and returns of experience are still to be
gathered.
Nowadays tools and methodologies are available to analyze site data and compute accurate
waveloads for a specific hull design. And these waveloads are now used at different levels in
structural extremes and fatigue computations.

9. Acknowledgement
The authors wish to thank Bureau Veritas for permission to publish this paper. The views
expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Bureau Veritas.

10. Reference
[1] C. Bran, R. Veyer Feedback on structural issues from FPSOs purpose built or converted
from oil tankers OMC2007
[2] Bureau Veritas Rules for classification of steel ships 2007
[3] C. Chauviere, J; Esteve Conversion of offshore floating facilities - How to tackle them with
an asset integrity focus OSEA 2008
[4] Bureau Veritas Rules for offshore units 2007
[5] P. Biasotto, V. Bonniol, P. Cambos Selection of trading tankers for FPSO conversion
projects OTC2005
[6] G. Gourdet Connection hull-topsides: principles, design and return of experience
DOT2008
[7] IACS Common structural rules for double oil tanker 2008
[8] Bureau Veritas NI 493 R01 E, July 2008
[9] R.Lawford, J.Brandon, T.Barberon, C.Camps, R.Jameson Directional Wave Partitioning and
its Application to the Structural Analysis of an FPSO, OMAE2008-57041
[10] M.Franois, C.Morandini, P.Gorf, M.Lewin Relative Wave Heading of an FPSO in Harsh
Environment OMAE-FPSO04-0043
[11] HYDROSTAR FOR EXPERT Reference guide and Tutorial for Naval and Offshore
Hydrodynamic Application (Summary); X-B C, Research Department Bureau Veritas.
[12] Xiao-Bo Chen Hydrodynamics in offshore and naval application, Part I, Keynotes lecture
at the 6
th
Intl Conf Hydrodynamics, Perth, Australia, 2004.

Connection hulltopsides:
principles, designs and returns of experience
Guillaume Gourdet - Bureau Veritas - Naval and Offshore Engineer
I . Abstract
In the 7 last years several findings have highlighted the importance of the system connecting the
topsides structure to the hull. This area at the border between hull design and topsides design is of
uttermost importance for the production integrity. Based on this observation, this paper will
present different existing designs of connection of the topsides to the hull, from stiff stools, to
sliding support. It will then focus on the way to assess such connections in order to insure the
integrity of the connection but also of the hull structures below the deck and of the topsides first
level structures. Interaction between the hull and the topsides will be developed. The paper
finishes on the challenges regarding inspection, maintenance and repairs of these connections. All
along the paper, feedbacks from existing units will be used to illustrate the speech, for converted
and new built units in mild and severe environment. There are approximately 170 Floating Unit
systems in operation or available worldwide. If about 45% of them are FSO with none or limited
topsides, about 55% are FPSO concerned by the question of the connection between their hulls
and their more or less complex topsides.
I I . I ntroduction
There are approximately 170 Floating Unit systems in operation or available worldwide. About
55% are FPSO. FPSO combines the refinery technologies for the topsides and the naval
architecture for the hull. One of the challenges in a FPSO project is to design, assess and validate
the structure between the topsides structure and the hull structure. The hull is under continuous
deformation due to the passing waves and these deformations should be absorbed by topsides
structures.
Since the first FPSO in the world, more than 20 years of experience have been gathered. Several
designs have been proved inefficient, expensive to build or on the contrary satisfactory choice.
And if the first FPSO were equipped with light topsides, the topsides are still becoming heavier
and heavier, and not limited to mild environment. Following the technology needs, the structural
assessment of FPSO is increasing in complexity, accuracy and quickness. Nowadays integrated
models, including hull and topsides, are a standard tool of validation of FPSO design for yielding
and spectral fatigue analysis.
This paper describes the different steps to assess the interface between topsides and hull
structure; starting by identifying the different loads to be taken into account, continuing on a
review of design of these interfaces and finishes the presentation of the different ways to assess
them.

I I I . Topsides loads and hull accelerations
Initially we can considered the hull as a rigid structure, to identified the first set of load than
apply to the interface hull-topsides. The effects of the elasticity of the hull will be described in
section IV.
I I I .1/ Topsides loads
The first aim of the interface hull-topsides is to transmit the topsides weights to the hull structure!
If topsides weights are generally well known when the project enter in the structural design
phase, their distribution on the topsides structure is known only after a first design analysis.
Moreover the loads distribution between the different support between the hull and the topsides
also depend of the design engineering of the topsides structure. To correctly assess these loads it
is needed to know:
the topsides main structure
the weight and centre of gravity of main equipements
the weight, centre of gravity and inertia of the rest of the topsides (both structure and
smaller equipments)
Depending of the stage of the project, the accuracy of the estimation of these data can lead to
different assumptions regarding the interface assessment. From a basic vertical weight to be
applied on each topsides supports to a fully coupled model. This will be detailed in section VI.
Of course the topsides loads to be transmitted to the hull are also depending of the hull on-site
motions and accelerations. These results are coming from the hydrodynamic analysis.
I I I .2/ Hull motions and accelerations from hydrodynamic analysis
Hull motions and accelerations are the first results of hydrodynamic computations. It takes into
account the unit shape, weight and inertia to get Response Amplitude Operators (RAOs) for each
of the motions and accelerations. These RAOs are specific to the unit and to the loading
conditions analysed.
Short terms accelerations can then be easily assessed for specific wave types.
However, it is recommended to perform long term calculations based on extended site condition
data. Such site data are now quite common and can be obtained either by on-site measurements
over several years, either by hindcast data.
In particular in case of units equipped with a weathervaning system (such as a turret) correlated
data of waves, wind and current are necessary to estimate the real heading of vessel with regards
to the waves. These heading calculations allow to determine the wave directions as seen by the
unit, depending of the wave heights and periods, but also of the wind and current speed and
direction. This is particularly relevant to assess the quartering and beam sea cases and estimate
how much transversal accelerations (and others transversal effects) will happen on the
weathervaning unit.
Once this heading analysis performed, long term analysis for defined return periods can be done
based on spectral computations.
These accelerations, computed at the centre of gravity of the unit can then be translated to any
point of the unit, considered as a rigid body.
Hydrodynamic analysis taking into account the real stiffness of the hull body, are now being
developed in research department, papers are mentioned in the references.

I V. Hull deformations
As said previously, the main reason of specificity of the interface hull-topsides is that the hull is
far from a rigid structure. The hull, much more than moving to follow the incoming waves, is
also continuously deformed under the wave loads and the internal pressures.

I V.1/ Hull girder deformations
The hull girder deformations can be divided in three main deformations:
Vertical bending moment
Horizontal bending moment
torsion
Those 3 deformations are always a combination of both mass distribution in the hull girder and
wave effect on the hull. Their RAOs are the next results of hydrodynamic analysis, after motions
and accelerations RAOs. Short and long term vertical and horizontal bending moment and torsion
are then computed with similar spectral computation then described for accelerations.

In ship engineering the terms static or still water analysis are used when assessing the self-
weight of the unit versus the buoyancy. The buoyancy is defined by the hull shape, draft and trim.
The self-weigh is a combination of lightship distribution (steel, piping, equipments, topsides
weights) and compartment fillings. The hull girder effects due to still water loads are known as
accurately as the self-weight distribution is known using stability software, as the on-board
loadmaster (at least for vertical bending moment). At early design stage a maximum still water
vertical bending is defined called permissible. All loading patterns used during the life of the unit
should then stay below this value.
Torsion is traditionally not computed for oil tankers and considered as negligible. However
recent FSO studies lead to such extreme inspection/repair loading pattern, that torsion was no
longer negligible
The wave types of effect on the hull girder depend of:
Waves and ship relative heading
wave length
The amplitude of the effect induced is then linked also to the wave height, the hull shape and
inertia.
The 2 following sections will illustrate each effect separately. But it should be kept in mind, that
the hull always sees a combination of them.

I V.1.1/ Vertical Bending Moment
Static vertical bending moment is generally maximized homogenous loading pattern.
Wave vertical bending moment is maximized in head sea sea-states, for waves about as long as
the length of the ship.

FPSO model in trough of waves
This effect is the one that creates the greater hull girder deflections. And due to the stiffness of
the hull compared to the topsides structure, the topsides are working under forced displacement.
Naval engineers say that elements longer than the tenth of the unit length are fully contributed to
the hull girder vertical bending moment. Even if class societies have generally in their Rules a
more refined way to estimate this participation, finite element models are often the only way to
determine exactly this participation.
For the interface hull topsides, it means that special care is to be paid to stiff modules, if they are
close or longer than the tenth of the hull length.

I V.1.2/ Torsion
Static torsion is generally negligible. When not, it is due to specific loading patterns, such as the
one on the following picture. This type of loading pattern is not common in shipping industry and
so, should be analyzed with the greatest care during FPSO project.
Wave torsion is maximized in quartering sea sea-states. It is strongly linked to the hull shape. It
should be noted than to assess directly the wave torsion, hydrodynamic assessment should know
the centre of torsion.

Deformation under both torsion and bending moment
(pictures of container vessel is used because torsion is easier to show on open-deck vessel)
Torsion is said negligible for ship with a complete deck. (On the contrary torsion is critical for
ships like container vessel with large deck openings). However FPSO loading pattern are
generally more severe than on a ship and it has been shown on several cases than torsion should
not be disregarded.

I V.1.3/ Horizontal bending moment
In ship design, horizontal bending is the moment around the vertical axis. Static horizontal
bending moment is null, since there is no transversal loads in stillwater conditions. This remark is
also applicable in case of pure head sea condition.
On the contrary, when the waves come transversally (beam or quartering seas) the gradient of
pressure between each side of fore and aft parts of the hull can generate a horizontal bending
moment.

View frombelow of a converted unit
beamsea wave loads inducing horizontal bending moment

Horizontal bending moment should be assessed particularly when wind sea and swell directions
are not directly associated, like for Campos Basin, offshore Brazil. In such case the hull is most
of the time seeing both head and side seas.
I V.2/ Effects leading to deck stresses concentration
Effects described in the previous sections were hull girder effects, affecting the whole ship. In
this section we will detail the effects than can locally modify the deck deformations, being
generated either globally on the hull or locally.
I V.2.1/ Effects of alternate filling
Cargo tank fillings have a direct effect on the hull deformations and so, on the deck structure. In
case of alternate filling the deck and the structures below will be sensible to the global
deformations of transverse and longitudinal bulkheads.
I V.2.2/ Poisson effect
When put in tension a steel piece will of course lengthen, but it will also transversally shorten.
The same thing happens for the deck. When the ship is in hogging, the deck is in tension. So it
will also have the tendency to retract itself transversally. This effect can create non-negligible
transverse effects in pure head sea conditions. Combined with the alternate filling between wing
and center tanks, this is one of the critical effects for the design of deck transverse web frames in
ships.

Typical section of single hull FPSO, under hogging moment and crest of waves
deck transverse webs are under transversal compression
I V.2.3/ Steel dilatation
Dilatation due the variation of temperature between the outside air, the fluid (air, sea water, oil)
below the deck and the temperature of the structure will also generate additional deformations.
This is particularly the case if the oil is warmed, or in tropical area (where the sun is harsh, but
the nights can be cold) or close to the flare tower
If the dilation is quite easy to estimate at first stage, a refine assessment is much more
complicated due to the number of heating sources and the complexity of screen effect of topsides
elements.
I V.2.4/ Effect of attached structures
Last but not least, the deck deformations are locally depending of the close by structures. The
hull girder effects are generally considered as a forced displacement, due the high stiffness of the
hull. However, it should not be forgotten than the local deformations can be significantly
influenced by the local structure such as:
longitudinal or transverse bulkhead;
Under deck secondary structure;
Under deck reinforcements for the hull equipment;
And, of course, the topsides stools
The stools arrangement and design depend of the several factors, it will also influence the type of
assessment to be performed.

Typical longitudinal and transverse deformations of ship with super-structures under bending
Discussion regarding the effects of super-structure on neutral fiber of hull section and hull girder
stresses can be found in reference [2]

V. Main interfaces hull topsides:
V.1/ Topsides supports philosophy
Topsides supporting stools arrangements and designs are almost as numerous as FPSOs. They
depend of the topsides equipments needed, of the weather severity of the site and of the hull.
Without trying to be exhaustive here are some criteria to class and assess the stools arrangements.

Number of stools
A high number of stools has the advantage to limit the loads by stools and so limiting the stresses
in the stool and the need for under-deck structure reinforcements. On the other hand that means
that the hull deformations will be much more transmit to the topsides pallet, which will have to
sustain it. In harsh environment it can appear to be difficult to design, particularly if the topsides
pallet are long compared to the unit length (around and more than one tenth of Lpp).

This picture highlights the effect of long modules combined with stiff stools: the fore and aft
stools are taking all the deformations

Length of the topside modules
The number of stool has very few effects on the stress concentration in way of first and last stool
at deck level. These stress concentrations are much affected by the length of the modules
compared with the unit length, as already mentioned in this paper.

Stool stiffness
The stool stiffness will generate the stress concentration at the connection with the deck. The
more stiff the design is the more their will be stresses between the hull and the topsides. Several
level of stiffness can be found from the complete stiff stools, which are generally large stools,
with heavy brackets in longitudinal and transversal direction in order to smooth the stress
concentration factor. These brackets should be backed by under-deck deck structure. This type of
stool allows to transmit heavy loads. Then there are some stools stiff in only one direction,
generally done with transverse or longitudinal bracket on the deck. These stool are less efficient
in case of heavy topsides. Stools stiffness can also be determined with the help of sliding joints.
In this case no stiffness will be seen by the connection in the sliding direction.

Example of four stiff stools module topsides.

Four stools, iso-static design
This arrangement aims to be quasi-isostatic. If one stool is generally stiff in every direction the
three others one are sliding in one or two directions in order to avoid too much hyperstatic. These
sliding arrangements allow the deck of the hull to move and be slightly deformed without
transferring too much displacement at the topsides level. Separate like this hull and topsides is
quite satisfying from structural point of view, however the sliding joints and their aging are still a
major engineering piece of work for huge topsides. Nevertheless some of the heaviest topsides in
the world are supported using such stools design.
It should be noted that a critical design load case for sliding joint is a damaged load case with a
lot of heel. Several degrees of heel can happen very quickly on a floating unit, as a recent
example remind us. If these cases are generally not critical for the hull (damaged stability should
be checked by Class Society) the topsides supports should also be designed for such extreme load
cases.

On the left, view of stools of a FPSO, under sagging conditions.
On the right, a view of deformed 4 stools iso-static support.

No real stools, but an integrated deck.
For mild environment, it can also be found a design of integrated deck, which allows a large
flexibility in term of topsides module integration on a deck linked to the main deck of the hull by
a series of transversal supports. These transversal supports let the hull move around its
transversal axis without transferring too much displacement on the integrated deck.

Double plate
In some designs, double plates are welded on the deck. Then the topsides stools are welded on
this double plate. If from structural point of view, double plate could be easily assess, in
particular in way of the weld which should transfert most of the loads, from integrity point of
view, this design is not recommended. In fact it leads to risk of undetectable problem such as root
cracking or corrosion between double plate and deck. This 2 damage could both lead to an
unexpected breach on deck and the linked risk of explosion.
Whatever the stools arrangement their integration within the hull structure is a critical point.
V.2/ I ntegration with hull
Looking at general arrangement of a ship, several points appear to be more adapted to support
high weight, in particular the connection between transverse web frames and longitudinal
bulkheads. Due to the hull girder loads this area is generally strong enough to support heavy
loads. On the contrary this are will support high longitudinal stresses. The stools welded above
such longitudinal primary members should be designed to support theses stresses.
However it is not possible to put all the stools on such areas, and most of them are put above
typical transverse web frames. Of course the deck transverse webs should be assessed for
yielding and buckling due to the additional loads but also local calculations should be performed
for stress concentration areas.
Generally thick insert plates are put in the deck below the stools. However, great care should be
taken to the under-deck structure. This area is quite difficult to inspect and even more difficult to
repair on site due to the necessity of scaffolding. The connection between deck longitudinal
stiffeners and transverse web can be critical in fatigue due to bending. In way of topsides stools
stresses longitudinal stresses can be increased at longitudinal bracket toes increasing this risk of
low fatigue life.
Cut-out on deck transverse web around deck longitudinal stiffeners are very common in shipping
industry. The deck is not loaded and such cut-outs are not critical. But in way of topsides stool
the shear can be significantly increased and the cut-outs may become critical in shear and fatigue
due to shear. In such cases they will need to be closed by collar plates.
It should also be noted than the structure below the deck is generally found very corroded on
older F(P)SOs. This gaseous corrosion has already leaded to on-site steel renewal. It is strongly
recommended to paint this area.
Before detailing the different ways to assess structural integrity of this integration of the stool
topsides within the hull structure in section VII; the next section will introduce typical hull
structural analysis for FPSO.
VI . Hull structural analysis
Bureau Veritas approach is based on the analysis of the stress level acting in the structure (for
yielding, buckling and fatigue strengths) and on its verification according to permissible stresses
ratios. The evaluation is carried out including:
3D coarse mesh models to evaluate stresses and buckling behaviour.
3D fine meshes analysis to complete the necessary structural analysis of primary
structural members from 3D coarse mesh.
Fatigue analysis for connections details
This VeriSTAR approach is generally preceded of a 2D analysis, performed in Mars. Mars
enables to check longitudinal elements and transverse bulkhead against BV Rules for both hull
girder and local scantlings.
Typical FPSO loading patterns from loading sequences are used for fatigue analysis. While
yielding and buckling analysis can be performed for special loading conditions (inspection, repair
LC)
For all FPSO calculations, site conditions are applied.
At the end, the following criteria will be considered to identify elements which do not comply
with the Rules criteria for intended operation as FPSO:
Elements with stress ratio above 1.00 do not comply with the applied criteria.
Elements with stress ratio between 0.975 and 1.00 are considered as suspects areas.
Elements with ratio less than 0.975 comply with applied criteria.
Calculations are performed at both tanker and FPSO stages. Tanker phase gives an overview of
the structural integrity of the original vessel against the newest set of Rules. The conclusions of
such study can lead the pre-dry-dock inspections directly to the most critical areas. This study
may also help to determine the level of criticality of elements found critical in FPSO or tanker
phase.
As part of tanker phase, an accumulated damage is also calculated, based on the available trading
history of the ship.
On the other hand, the FPSO assessment enables to define where renewals or reinforcements will
be needed either because of ageing of the structure (corrosion, accumulated damage) either
because of its new use of FPSO (loading/unloading sequence, site conditions)
VI I . Structural Assessment of the interface
The following sections will detail the different ways to assess the interface hull-structure
regarding yielding, buckling and fatigue. They are classed from the most basic to the most
complex one. Each of them can be relevant depending of the status of the project (particularly of
the knowledge of the topsides main structure and weight distribution), but depending of what is
the question to answer, from the easiest: can the hull structure support my topsides loads? to
the most difficult: is my design able to stay 20 years on site?
For each of the different assessment types, we will try to highlight the advantages and
disadvantages. Of course this list is not exhaustive; project needs and specificities on one hand
and engineer imagination and subtlety on the other hand could lead to slightly different
calculations. But the main methods are summarized here:
VI I .1/ Hull partial models and topsides loads
The hull structure is analyzed trough 3-holds FEM models.
Topsides loads are distributed on deck structure by mean of
forces. The lower of the topsides can be modeled or not. For
such analysis the topsides loads are generally obtained through
basic assumptions.

This first level of analysis is particularly adapted for a quick estimation of the global yielding and
buckling capacities of the primary members under the deck:
Upper strakes of longitudinal bulkheads
Upper plates of transversal bulkheads
Deck transverse web and brackets.

For a local assessment of the connection between the stool and the deck structure, the lower part
of the stool can be modeled, and the concentrated loads from topsides analysis input on top of the
modeled stools. With such models, the local design of topsides stools support can be checked,
regarding yielding and buckling.
However these models do not take into account the topsides stiffness between stools. Most of the
time the topsides loads are also maximum topsides loads, combining gravity and hull
accelerations) which are not relevant for fatigue analysis.
Fatigue analysis based on such model will only assess the fatigue due to the hull
dynamic effects.

VI I .2/ Hull partial models and main structure of topsides
The hull structure is still analyzed trough 3-holds
model. But this time the topsides are modeled up to the
first main structural level. Topsides weights and inertia
are them distributed either by mean of concentrated
loads on the model, either by an additional weight at
the centre of gravity of the topsides modules.
Based on such models, the effect of hull deformations
on the interaction hull-topsides can be analyzed, and
relevant yielding and fatigue assessment can be done.
VI I .3/ Complete models and main structure of topsides
The next level of analysis corresponds to a similar hull-topside interface modelling, but extended
on the whole ship length.
These models increase the accuracy of the hull
girder deformations, in particular in the fore and aft
part of the cargo area, where the hull scantlings and
the topsides design show discontinuities. These
areas are generally more difficult to analyze using
3-holds models.
These models can also better assess the secondary hull girder effects such as horizontal bending
moment and torsion, described previously.
Nevertheless, these models are longer to build than a 3-holds model, due the complexity of the
hull design in the fore and aft part.
VI I .4/ I ntegrated models
The higher level of analysis is a coupled model,
including the whole ship model, the complete
topsides main structures and weight distribution.
The main advantage of these models is that the
topsides weight distribution and inertia is directly
including in the model. The load distribution on topsides stools is then directly calculated by the
software, using an accurate modeling of hull and topsides and the wave induced effects.
These models allow to assess the effect of the interaction hull topsides even in the higher
structural nodes.

Whatever the level used the global weight of topsides and their longitudinal weight distribution is
taken into account for hull girder still water load. For 3-holds, the results from stability or load
master calculations are input in the model. For complete ship model, the hull girder loads are re-
calculated for each load cases.
Wave loads computed trough hydrodynamic studies, will always take into account the topsides
and superstructures mass, centre of gravity and inertia to determine on site accelerations. Wave
bending moment, wave shear and relative wave elevation computation will also use the total
weight distribution.
VI I I . Conclusions
To conclude this paper, which was focused on design, here are a few remarks regarding the
inspection/maintenance of the interface hull/tospides. Without carrying out a full risk analysis, it
appears that the interface hull/topsides is a critical area regarding both stress concentrations and
possible consequences. In case of damage and due to the proximity of the deck, the risks of gas
leaking (and so explosion) or hull weakening are quite high. Generally repairs will require hot
works.
On the other hand, in most cases stresses at the deck and topsides level can be reduced by adapted
loading and unloading sequence. It should also be noted that if the part above the deck is easy to
inspect regularly, others part such as under-deck structure are difficult to access, particularly if no
passageways is put in place, but not less critical.
Finally, behind the complexity of FPSO the connection between the hull and topsides structure, at
the border between the hull and the topsides, the marine engineers and the offshore engineers, the
shipyard and the oil industry, should not be neglected. Using the up-to-date naval and offshore
tools, it is now possible to build effective coupled models, integrating both the complete hull
structural mode and the complete topsides structure. These models can then be used to assess
accurately the yielding and fatigue of these connections, under realistic wave loads.
I X. Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank Bureau Veritas for permission to publish this paper. The views
expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Bureau Veritas.
Thank also to all of my colleagues of the VeriSTAR team who participated to the various studies
which inspired and guided the writing of this paper. In particular: Cristian Bran and Nolwenn
Lorans, who put in place the fully integrated model methodology; J ose Esteve, who took the time
to read and comment this paper.
X. References:
[1] Owen F. Hughes, Ship Structural Design: A rationally-based, computer-aided optimization
approach, 1988
[2] Babinet J -N, Passenger Ships: Contribution of superstructures to overall bending strength,
Bulletin Technique Bureau Veritas, 4 - 1995
[3] Bureau Veritas, Rules for the Classification of Steel Ships, J uly 2007
[4] Bureau Veritas, Rules for Offshore Units, J une 2007
[5] Arselin E, Cambos P, Frorup U. Bureau Veritas : New FPSO rules based on return of
experience , OMAE FPSO 2004
[6] Malenica Bureau Veritas ; Hydro-structure interactions in sea seakeeping, International
Workshop on Coupled Numerical Dynamics 2007.
[7] Blandeau F., Franois M., Malenica , Chen X.B. Bureau Veritas, Linear and non-linera
wave loads on FPSO, ISOPE 1999
OSEA 2008 1 Conversion oI OIIshore Floating Facilities
Conversion of Offshore Floating Facilities: How to tackle them with an
asset integrity focus
Christophe Chauviere, Deputy Head oI the Oil & Gas Marine Technical Department, Jose Esteve, OIIshore
Projects Manager.

ABSTRACT

These last years have seen an ever increasing demand Ior Iloating Iacilities, many oI
which have been made possible thanks to converting existing trading vessels. Most oI
those tankers had only minor issues, iI any at all, during their sailing times and it is quite
tempting to conclude that as it didn`t have problems in the past it will probably not have
problems in the Iuture as long as corrosion is kept at bay.
This is not quite true as the approach towards a trading ship and an oIIshore Iloating
Iacility (be it Ior production, storage or both) are completely diIIerent since the very
beginning, starting Irom the design. In new built units the Iormer is designed considering
that it will be Irom time to time in harbor saIety, Irequent dry-docking and the captain
always has the possibility to act on speed and heading to avoid extreme weather. The
latter is designed expecting it to remain on site Ior several years and being able to
centennial conditions.
This paper will present the state-oI-the-art on conversion attitude and everything that can
be done as a preparation Ior eIIicient perIormance and risk management. Examples oI the
typical concerns that have been reported in converted unit will be given, as well as the
diIIerent numerical analyses that are available in order to assess the condition oI the unit
in order to avoid them.
The authors expect this paper to help push up the quality and level oI outstanding
converted units.

INTRODUCTION
F(P)SO Conversions are usually considered Ior Iast track projects as they normally
provide the lowest times to Iirst oil, ReI. |1|. The main structural concern oI such units,
as the action implies, is that they are modiIied in order to Iit a diIIerent purpose other
than what it was originally designed Ior, trading tanker. It is true that both purposes are
very alike but they still have diIIerences that must be kept in mind:
A tanker is designed usually under an IACS member Rules Ior sailing ships.
These rules have been draIted considering that the each trip can be measured, at
most, in months. The maximum loads calculated take this into account. Corrosion
margins and local strength criteria used in its design have as background the Iact
that a trading tanker must go to dry-dock periodically Ior a Iull survey, where
renewals and repairs can be done easily.
A tanker wasn`t designed to continuously support upper deck structure throughout
its length, such as topsides in a FPSO.
A trading tanker inspection plan usually limits to the Class Surveys, predeIined
Irom Rules.
In opposition to all oI the above a converted F(P)SO intended to stay Ior several years on
site with continuous production must have a taylor-made inspection plan to account Ior
the particularities oI its operation. The consequences oI Iinding areas oI concern during
any oI the surveys must be acknowledged as repairs will be costly (direct and opportunity
costs Irom eIIects on production).
This paper will move along the structural key issues that need to be closely regarded
when doing a conversion. Examples oI the diIIerent analyses that can be carried out to
avoid the main concerns are given and the main points will be illustrated with images.

STRUCTURAL KEY ISSUES
1. Design Parameters

BeIore starting the conversion oI an oil tanker, a certain number oI design parameters
should be careIully assessed in order to evaluate the potential consequences on the
structure. The as-built design parameters oI the existing tankers should be checked and
possible modiIication oI these parameters due to the conversion should be assessed. In
the Iollowing chapters some oI these most important parameters are detailed together
with their inIluence. It should be noted that most oI the as-built parameters could be
included in the Midship Section and Trim and Stability Booklet (Loading Manual) oI the
oil tanker.

1.1 Allowable loading cases

The list oI actual allowable loading conditions oI the oil tanker is deIined in the Trim and
Stability Booklet and/or Loading Manual. Generally the as-built design loading
conditions are not relevant Ior the use as an OIIshore unit Ior which the loading
conditions will reIer to the loading/oIIloading sequences. It should be noted Ior example
that some existing oil tankers where not designed Ior partial Iillings conditions and/or
alternate loading conditions. The maximum cargo oil density Ior which the vessel has
been designed could also be an issue because this density will be related to the maximum
scantling draught. These points should be identiIied at the very beginning oI the
conversion project since this could induce some necessary reinIorcements oI the structure
and/or induce limitations on the allowable loading conditions Ior the FPSO, see ReI. |8|.
As an example an oil tanker Ior which the Iull load homogeneous was obtained Ior a
cargo density oI 0.87 t/m3 means that the unit may not be allowed to be Iully loaded at a
density oI 0.9t/m3 because the maximum draught will certainly be exceeded. To
summarize the Iollowing non exhaustive list oI design parameters oI the existing oil
tanker should be checked and compared with the requested ones Ior the use on oIIshore
site:
- Maximum cargo density
- Scantling draught
- Allowance oI partial Iillings
- Allowance oI alternate loading cases
Figure 1 shows the design loading condition Ior new-built double side units. Some
converted units were not expected to see such internal Iillings at their design. II
inspection and repairs on site are an accepted possibility while maintaining production
then this means such alternate Iillings need to be addressed.

Figure 1: Design Loading Conditions

1.2 Still water bending moments and shear Iorces

When starting the conversion oI an oil tanker, any additional equipment to be Iitted on
board is to be identiIied with their weights and locations. Each oI these added weights
will not only induce local reinIorcements oI the structure but will also modiIy the
lightship weight distribution oI the vessel. This will induce modiIications oI the
longitudinal strength assessment oI the unit, i.e. the still water bending moments
(SWBM) and shear Iorces (SWSF). For each oI the expected loading conditions,
calculation oI SWBM and SWSF should be perIormed and compared with the admissible
values which were assigned to the oil tanker (remark : most oI the existing oil tankers are
Iitted with a loading calculator on board that can be used to make such veriIication).
When listing all the loading cases to be checked due consideration is to be given to
Inspection and Maintenance cases which are generally the most critical loading cases.
See ReI. |3|. The ideal is to Iind realistic loading patterns that allow inspection and
repairs on any tank while keeping the SWBM and SWSF within original admissible
values. However this is not always possible. In such cases it is still possible to use the
actual meteocean conditions at site to justiIy an increase oI SWBM and SWSF as Iar as
these site conditions are less severe than North Atlantic conditions (see also 1.3 below).

1.3 Site wave environment

One oI the key parameter that will greatly inIluence the needed modiIications and/or
reinIorcements oI the existing oil tanker is the expected wave environment oI the
oIIshore site. The existing oil tankers are generally designed Ior navigation during 20
years in North Atlantic based on deterministic wave parameters deIined by Class Rules.
However the design oI oil tanker does consider that it will always be possible Ior an oil
tanker to avoid being trapped in the most severe weather conditions Ior the structure oI
the vessel. For example it is assumed that the captain oI the vessel will avoid typhoon
conditions or will change the route oI the vessel iI being in very severe head seas or beam
seas conditions. For FPSO the 100 year maximum statistical wave on site is used Ior the
design oI the structure see ReI.|8| and |9|. In some parts oI the world, Ior example Ior
FPSO located in North Sea or GulI oI Mexico, the wave environment is very harsh and
will be more severe than the 20 years North Atlantic basis oI oil tankers. This means that
quiet important reinIorcements will be needed in order to avoid any structural damage on
site. On the opposite, some FPSOs are located in very mild wave environment such as
West AIrica and this gives some additional margin Ior the design oI the FPSO that could
be used to increase some design parameters (see 1.2 above). ThereIore a hydrodynamic
analysis oI the FPSO on site conditions should always be perIormed to assess wave
parameters (motions and sea pressures) on the unit. (Remark: Ior some FPSO, the most
severe wave environment will not be the site one but could be met by the unit during
towing phase. In such case it is important to consider this towing condition Ior the
design.)

Figure 2: Hydrodynamic results and comparison with Rules values

The assessment oI the actual site conditions that the unit will see in F(P)SO service is
carried out through hydrodynamic analysis, iI possible using 3D diIIraction-radiation
models hydrodynamic models oI the hull and its weight distribution. Such models, in
Irequency domain, calculate the vessel motions and the main hull girder parameters, such
as Relative Wave Elevation, Vertical Wave Bending Moment, Vertical Wave Shear
Force, Horizontal Wave Bending Moment, torsional moment. Their result is usually
given in Iorm oI transIer Iunctions or Response Amplitude Operators. Combining these
to the site wave spectra enables to obtain the short-term response and when the
meteocean data is rich enough obtain the long-term distribution, which is very important
Ior Iatigue analysis. For turret-moored units a heading analysis is needed Iirst beIore an
appropriate long-term distribution can be calculated.

Figure 4: Max draIt and minimum draIt hydrodynamic models
RAO Roll
Long Term Distribution
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
9.00
10.00
11.00
12.00
13.00
14.00
1.E+00 1.E+01 1.E+02 1.E+03 1.E+04 1.E+05 1.E+06 1.E+07 1.E+08 1.E+09

Figure 5: TransIer Iunction Ior max draIt Roll response and long term reponse Ior
VWBM Ior max and minimum draIt

Two complementary means are used to veriIy the primary structure or hull girder with the
loading conditions selected and under the calculated environmental loads, 2D section
analysis and 3D Coarse Mesh Models, see ReI. |2|. Figure 6 below illustrates a Complete
Ship Model (CSM) Ior the assessment oI the primary hull structure with the application
oI the internal loads and the external wave eIIects resulting Irom the hydrodynamic
analysis.

Figure 6: Complete Ship Finite Element Model

2. Local Strength

Even though a converted tanker has suIIicient global strength as discussed on previous
sections it may well Iail locally Irom high stresses or buckling when assessed in oIIshore
operation. Once again, the main reason is that loading patterns change and the assessed
external loads probability level is diIIerent Irom the original tanker design.
There are also additional Iactors, such as the weight, placed above the deck, oI the
topside modules. The eIIect oI such loads must not be analyzed only at the deck structure
but on the whole transversal ring, as buckling Irom vertical compression may now occur.

Figure 7 : FEM Ior local strength assessment oI a typical transverse section.

3. Fatigue issues

3.1 General

Many existing oil tankers were designed at time oI their building without any
consideration to Iatigue issues because Iatigue calculation was not requested by Class
Rules at that time. Fatigue issues became mandatory in the Class Rules only in the end oI
the Nineties. Even though the oil tankers are since then designed with consideration to
Iatigue, the design Iatigue liIe is generally about 20 years oI navigation in North Atlantic.
Attention is drawn to some oil tankers that are designed with higher Iatigue lives but with
the reduced so called Worldwide` environment. The actual age oI the vessel and the
expected design liIe on site should be taken into account Ior evaluation oI Iatigue risks
when considering the conversion into an FPSO unit. Whereas Iatigue cracks on oil
tankers could be managed thanks to the regular dry-dock surveys, every Iatigue crack on
an FPSO will be very diIIicult to repair. Indeed FPSO are not expected to go in dry-dock
and so cracks should be repaired on site and probably aIIecting the production. In
addition to the commercial impact, repairs on site also imply a lot oI saIety measures to
be taken in order to minimize accident risk. Examples exist where this has been carried
out successIully, see ReI. |4|. But there will always be some risk. The best repair is the
one that does not to be done.


Figure 8: Iatigue crack in transverse web Irame

3.2 Actual accumulated Iatigue damage

Even though the oil tanker does not present any existing Iatigue crack and/or history oI
cracks, actual Iatigue damage oI the unit should be assessed. Indeed it could appear that
actual Iatigue damages are so close to the limits that the cracks will appear very soon on
site. ThereIore the actual Iatigue damages are to be calculated by taking into account the
navigation history oI the vessel looking at the routes that have been Iollowed by the
tanker during its liIe. This kind oI history is not always accurately available and so some
conservative hypotheses are generally needed to assess the accumulated Iatigue damages

Figure 9: example oI Iatigue studies at diIIerent hot spot location on a bracket

3.3 On-site Iatigue damage

The expected Iatigue damage on site conditions should be evaluated by taking into
consideration the site wave environment. Whenever possible the actual measured
thickness should be taken into account Ior this calculation (see 4.1 below). The on-site
damage will then be added to the previous service accumulated one (see 3.2 above) and
then risk oI Iatigue crack appearing during liIe on site is assessed. Depending on the
conclusion oI this assessment preventive measures could then be undertaken during
conversion to reduce the Iatigue-induce crack risk. Possible preventive actions are
reinIorcements oI the structure, post-welds improvements by using Iatigue enhancement
techniques such as grinding, TIG dressing, hammer peening.
Fatigue damage not only comes Irom the external sea states but might also have the
loading/oIIloading scheme as a source. See ReI. |2|. As such it should be accounted Ior.

Figure 10: Hammer peening operation

4. Corrosion issues

4.1 General

The corrosion level oI the oil tanker is a very important aspect to be considered beIore
starting the conversion. Indeed the corrosion will reduce the strength oI the structure but
will also accelerate Iatigue propagation as described in ReI.|2|. ThereIore an exhaustive
campaign oI thickness measurement should be done beIore the conversion in order to
identiIy the area with high level oI corrosion. Depending on structural analysis oI the
elements under consideration necessity oI renewal oI the plates could be decided.
DiIIerent approaches Ior renewal philosophy are given in ReI.|2| and |6|. An estimation
oI the corrosion on site based on actual measurements is strongly recommended in order
to anticipate potential problems and take preventive actions iI needed.


Figure 11: pitting oI bottom plating

IMPORTANCE OF SURVEY DURING CONVERSION
Generally schedule Ior conversion is very tight and so it is quiet diIIicult to perIorm
extensive surveys. However it is a very important to check that there is no existing crack
on board that could propagate on site and then create troubles Ior the production. This is
why the surveys should be prepared in advance by identiIying the critical areas oI the
structure (called hot spot` areas) that will be subject to a close inspection during
conversion. Structural calculation Ior yielding, buckling and Iatigue can allow identiIying
the critical areas oI the structure and based on these analyses, hot spot maps could be
created and delivered to surveyors prior to their inspection. Since structural calculation is
time consuming it is necessary to start the calculation as early as possible in the project.
Anticipating the calculation is a key point to have an eIIicient survey that will prevent
problems on site and maximize reIurbishment eIIorts.

NECESSITY OF A NUMERICAL MODEL
All oI the previous sections clearly lead to understand the converted unit as a 'new
design that needs validation/improvement prior to service. Any past liIe must be used to
learn Irom errors and not to lay-back unworried. Finite Element Models allow
understanding the structure behavior under the estimated Iuture loads and can highlight in
advance any potential issue. It can also help direct the surveys and identiIy locations that
otherwise may pass unseen being the surveyor concentrated on more immediate issues,
see ReI. |2| and |5|.
A new numerical model is being discussed within IACS that will contain an accurate
description oI the structure, plates, secondary stiIIening, seams and buts.Such a model
will have a standard Iormat known as Hull Condition Monitoring, HCM. It will be able to
store the gauging results and the highlighted elements Irom the FEM. It will thus be
possible to evaluate in a rational manner the required steel weight renewal.
In addition, once on service the model can be updated with the inspection campaigns and
be used to display survey results in a very intuitive manner, helping deIine next actions.
The next Iigures show some snap shots oI a real FPSO structure.

Fig. 12 Snapshop oI a Hold being 'Ily-through in HCM Iormat

Fig. 13 Thickness measurements taken on a bottom transverse plate

CONCLUSION
The Iact that no signiIicant deIect was recorded while sailing doesn`t mean that nothing
will happen in the Iuture. Tools exist that can help avoid bad surprises and minimize
Iuture risks (deIined as probability oI Iailure x consequences oI Iailure). II a saIe long
oIIshore service is wanted Irom a converted F(P)SO eIIorts must be done at the
conversion time.

AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank Bureau Veritas Ior permission to publish this paper. The views
expressed are those oI the authors and do not necessarily reIlect those oI Bureau Veritas.
The authors also wish to thank the VeriSTAR team Ior providing the images oI the 3D
models.

REFERENCES
|1| 'Reducing Cycle Time To First Oil For Deepwater Field Developments, Beverley F.
Ronalds. OMAE2005-67016
|2| 'Converted Fpso's. Making A Worthwhile Conversion, J. Esteve Otegui, M. Franco
Orsini. DOT 2004, New Orleans.
|3| 'Converted Single Hull F(P)SO Challenges Regarding Inspection Repair and
Maintenance Guillaume Gourdet, Paulo Biasotto, DOT 2006
|4| 'Major Steel Renewals in FPSO Ballast Tanks Without Ceasing Production, P.
Nelson, OTC 1990.
|5| 'FPSO Hull Maintenance Field Experience, Rodrigo Andre Hoppe, Rodrigo Klim
Gomes, Viviane C.S. Krzonkalla, OMAE-FPSO 04-0070.
|6| 'Hull Structural Assessment and ReIurbishment Ior Conversion FPSOs OMAE-
FPSO'04-0030, T. de Beer, N. van Nood
|7| Bureau Veritas, 'Rules Ior the ClassiIication oI Steel Ships, July 2007
|8| Bureau Veritas, 'Rules Ior OIIshore Units, June 2007
|9| Arselin E, Cambos P, Frorup U. Bureau Veritas : 'New FPSO rules based on return
oI experience , OMAE FPSO 2004

INFLUENCE OF FIBRE STIFFNESS ON DEEPWATER MOORING LINE RESPONSE

Peter Davies / IFREMER
29280 Brest, France, pdavies@ifremer.fr
Patrice Baron / Doris Engineering
75013 Paris, France

Karine Salomon / Saipem
13321 Marseille, France
Charles Bideaud / Technip
92973 La Dfense, France
J-P Labb / Acergy
92156 Suresnes, France

Stphane Toumit / Principia
13600 La Ciotat, France

Michel Francois / Bureau Veritas
Francois Grosjean / IFP
69390 Solaize, France

Tony Bunsell / ENSMP
91003 Evry, France

A-G Moysan / Total
ABSTRACT
Polyester Iibre ropes are now an accepted solution Ior
deepwater mooring oI production platIorms and a single high
tenacity Iibre grade is widely used. Few studies oI other Iibres
have been reported but polyesters can be produced with a range
oI properties by varying drawing parameters, and other stiIIer
Iibres are also available. This paper presents a study oI these
alternative Iibre rope solutions, perIormed within the French
Mooring Line project. First, in order to obtain the input data
necessary Ior mooring line analyses an extensive test program
was perIormed to characterize polyester, improved polyester,
PEN, LCP, aramid and HMPE Iibre ropes Irom yarns up to 800
ton break load ropes. Tests at diIIerent scales have allowed
property transIer to be quantiIied. Rope modelling has been
used in parallel to examine the inIluence oI material and
structural parameters. Then, using these data, a series oI
analyses was run by engineering contractors, which quantiIied
the beneIits oI higher stiIIness Ior diIIerent supports (semi-
submersible, production platIorm and oIIloading buoy) down to
2500 meter depth. Under certain conditions the stiIIer ropes can
result in signiIicantly reduced rope diameter and weight.

Keywords: Synthetic, Station-keeping, Fibre, Rope

INTRODUCTION
Following studies by del Vecchio and Chaplin |1,2|
Bureau Veritas approved the Iirst polyester mooring system Ior
a Iloating platIorm Ior Petrobras in 1997 in 800 meters water
depth. Since then polyester ropes have been used extensively
oIIshore Brazil Ior station keeping |3|, and in 2004 the Iirst
synthetic mooring lines were installed in the GulI oI Mexico
|4,5|. The Iibre used Ior all oI these applications has been a
high tenacity polyester, with a tensile modulus around 15 GPa.
However, there is a very large range oI polymeric Iibres
commercially available, with moduli up to 280 GPa, and even
polyester can be drawn and heat treated to obtain moduli over a
wide range. Trials have been perIormed successIully with
higher stiIIness Iibres such as HMPE on drilling rigs |6| and
ropes composed oI mixtures oI Iibres are being used Ior deep
sea handling |7|. The choice oI the best rope Ior a given
mooring application is not simple, and extensive data are
necessary to validate the selection.
The paper is organized as Iollows: Iirst, a short overview
oI work perIormed over the last 10 years within the French
Mooring Line project is given. Then the diIIerent materials
which have been studied are presented, both Iibres and ropes.
Next the tests which have been perIormed are discussed and
results are given. The use oI rope modelling to complement
tests is then discussed. Finally the data which have been
generated are used in mooring line analyses Ior three case
studies, to illustrate how Iibre stiIIness aIIects mooring line
perIormance.

OMAE2008
OMAE2008-57147
FRENCH MOORING LINE PROJECT
Since 1996 a group oI research institutes, engineering
companies, a classiIication society and an oIIshore operator
have been working together within the French Mooring Line
project to understand the behaviour oI synthetic mooring lines
and characterize their short and long term behavior. Part oI that
work has been published previously and has included stiIIness
tests on ropes and sub-ropes |8,9| development oI rope stiIIness
models |10,11|, creep and long term tests |12|, modelling oI
long term behaviour |13| and a study oI tension-torsion
interactions |14|. Rope construction has also been examined
and correlations between model predictions and some oI the
experimental data, notably Ior aramid ropes, have been
presented |15,16|. In a parallel project tests at sea were also
perIormed in order to measure loads in-situ |17|.
Throughout the project there has been an interest in
alternative materials to polyester, and some work presented
earlier on very stiII Iibres such as HMPE and aramid indicated
that, while reducing rope weight, these materials could cause
long term Iatigue problems in the chain sections oI a taut
mooring line system |18|. However, since then more tests
particularly on intermediate modulus Iibres such as PEN |19|
and Jectran have been perIormed, and the present paper
presents a wider view oI how stiIIness aIIects mooring line
perIormance and the role oI Iibre stiIIness and strength.
MATERIALS CONSIDERED
High tenacity polyester is the reIerence Ior oIIshore
mooring applications today, and the perIormance oI all other
materials is compared to polyester ropes. Two aspects must be
considered, the behavior oI the Iibre itselI, which provides the
material response, and the translation oI this behavior into the
rope. The eIIiciency oI this transIer is critical and both aspects
must be quantiIied and understood iI an eIIicient mooring line
is to be designed. Table 1 lists the seven materials which have
been studied in the project and the type oI specimens tested.

Polymer ReIerence Fibre Yarn Sub-rope
(Tons)
Rope
(Tons)
PET
Standard
855TN
1W81

25 -70
30
500 - 800
450
PET
ModiIied
1W83

35 500
PEN 1P70 36
LCP HS 50
Aramid T1000 25 205
HMPE SK75
SK78

70
70
700, 750
PBO HM 60

Table 1. Samples tested

Two types oI PET (polyethylene terephthalate) have been
studied, standard grades Irom Diolen and PerIormance Fibers
and a grade modiIied to give higher initial stiIIness supplied by
the latter. PEN (polyethylene naphthalate), also Irom
PerIormance Fibers, was chosen to represent the intermediate
stiIIness range, Iibre initial stiIIness is around twice that oI PET
at 30 GPa compared to 15 GPa. The other Iibres are all in the
high perIormance category, LCP (liquid crystal polyester) is a
generic name Ior the Iibre more commonly reIerred to as
Jectran developed by Celanese and now marketed by Kuraray.
The aramid is a Iibre Irom Teijin similar to the Kevlar 29 grade,
two HMPE (high modulus polyethylene) grades Irom DSM
have been studied, and a small number oI tests were perIormed
on PBO (poly-p-phenylenebenzobisoxazole), a very high
perIormance Iibre Irom Toyobo sold under the trade name
Zvlon.

MATERIAL CHARACTERIZATION
In order to characterize the material, (as opposed to the
rope, which can be considered as a structure), tests are
perIormed on either single Iibres or yarns. These are the basic
elements which will conIer to the rope all or part oI their
properties, and they provide the input data Ior subsequent
modelling.
Single filament testing
Testing oI single Iilaments oI diameters in the range Irom
10 to 30 microns is a very delicate operation. Within the project
this activity was perIormed at the Ecole des Mines in Paris,
using the special test machine shown below, Figure 1 |20|. This
enables quasi-static, creep and cyclic loads to be applied.

Figure 1. Single filament test machine

Yarn testing
Yarns are bundles oI tens or hundreds oI Iilaments and
yarn testing is the basic quality control method used in the rope
industry. The main concern is the gripping system and machine
suppliers provide special grips Ior this type oI test. In most
cases only yarn tenacity (strength) is measured, but Ior
modeling purposes stiIIness is also required. In order to
measure strain accurately the machine crosshead displacement
is not accurate enough and a non-contact extensometer is
essential. In this work two digital cameras and in-house image
analysis soItware were used at IIremer to obtain stress-strain
data with the test set-up shown in Figure 2a. Additional tests
were perIormed on assembled yarn samples in which tens oI
yarns are twisted together, Figure 2b.

aa

bb

Figure 2. Yarn test fixtures and camera extensometer
a) yarn, b) assembled yarn

ROPE CHARACTERIZATION
The best way to characterize rope properties is to test Iull
size ropes. Within the project Iive campaigns were perIormed
on a total oI ten Iull size rope samples at the LCPC civil
engineering center in Nantes, on a 2400 ton capacity test
machine, Figure 3. The samples were spliced at both ends
overall length was around 12 meters.

Figure 3. Full size rope on test machine, LCPC Nantes

UnIortunately Iull size rope tests are expensive and there
are very Iew suitable test machines available, so in parallel with
the tests on Iull size samples over 50 sub-rope samples were
tested, on three test machines with up to 100 tons capacity, at
IFP and IIremer, Figure 4.

Figure 4. Sub-rope on test machine

The parallel construction oI most oI the ropes means that
sub-rope tests can provide data representative oI that Irom Iull
size ropes provided exactly the same sub-rope geometry is
retained. Sub-rope samples were 6 to 8 meters long. End
terminations were spliced loops, as shown in Figure 4.
In order to obtain input data Ior mooring line analyses the
Iollowing stiIIness values are required:
- quasi-static (QS) 10-30 MBS (minimum break
strength), 1 hour test
- dynamic (typically in the ranges 20-30, 30-40 and
40-50 oI MBS)
It is also important to quantiIy the inIluence oI mean load and
amplitude on dynamic stiIIness values |18,21|. The recent ISO
document |22| provides guidelines on testing Ior polyester,
while guidelines Ior testing oI both polyester and other,
including higher stiIIness ropes are given in |23|. Testing oI the
latter is however, a specialist activity requiring many
precautions to be taken iI valid, useIul data are to be obtained.
Extensometry is again a key point, and the systematic doubling
oI extensometers, using cameras and wire displacement
transducers on the same sample, to check displacement
measurements can help to detect sources oI error such as
transducer clamp movements.
One point which is oIten raised is the need to perIorm
measurements on wet ropes, and the eIIect oI testing samples
dry rather than in water. While it is clear that the environment
will be critical Ior Iatigue tests, the majority oI the work
perIormed within the project involved stiIIness measurements
lasting Ior relatively short periods. When such tests are not
perIormed in water there may be spurious heating eIIects, not
representative oI the Iinal application. In order to examine
when such eIIects might inIluence measurements an InIra-Red
camera was employed during one campaign on polyester ropes.
This enabled surIace temperature to be measured continuously,
and an embedded temperature probe between the outer strands
and the core strand provided additional measurements oI
temperature inside the rope. A series oI cyclic tests was run
with progressively increasing amplitude. Figure 5 shows
thermographs at the end oI cycling at three amplitudes, Figure
6 shows an example oI temperature probe results. These tests
were perIormed on a 500 ton break load twisted strand parallel
construction rope, loaded at increasing amplitudes oI +3.5,
+5, +7.5, +10 and +12.5 MBS, with 100 cycles at each
level, Ior a mean load oI 30 Fr and a loading Irequency oI 0.1
Hz.

+3.5
+7.5
+12.5

Figure 5. IR Thermographs showing rope surface
temperature for different loading amplitudes.

Temperature increase, 100 cycles at each amplitude.
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Time, s
T
C
7%
10%
15%
20%
25%

Figure 6. Temperature variations inside the rope
measured by temperature probe during loading at
different amplitudes.

A signiIicant temperature increase, above 1C, is only noted at
high amplitudes (above +7.5). It is interesting to note,
however, that above this amplitude there is a change in slope oI
the plot oI stiIIness versus amplitude, Figure 7. This plot is
normalized with respect to the stiIIness at the lowest amplitude.

0,85
0,9
0,95
1
0 10 20 30
Amplitude % MBS
K
r

10
15
20
25
30
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
,

C
Kr
T C

Figure 7. Influence of amplitude on stiffness.

These results suggest that it is not necessary to make dynamic
stiIIness measurements in water provided the applied amplitude
is below +7.5MBS. Above this value the results should be
treated with caution.
TEST RESULTS
In this section some examples oI test results will be
presented. In the limited space available it is not possible to
give all the data so only some examples will be shown. Figure
8 presents a comparison oI typical material properties oI the
diIIerent types oI Iibre tested in the project, based on single
Iilament and yarn tensile tests.
Fibre behavior
0
1
2
3
4
0 5 10 15
Strain, %
T
e
n
a
c
i
t
y
,

N
/
t
e
x
PBO HM
PET
Pentex
Vectran
Aramid
HMPE

Figure 8. Properties of different fibres, as received.

In most oI the test procedures Ior ropes a bedding-in
procedure is recommended. This involves cycling the rope to
load levels above those which will be subsequently used Ior
stiIIness testing in order to stabilize it. During this cycling, Iive
cycles up to 50 oI break load Ior example, the material can be
re-oriented and the rope structure can change.
Tests at diIIerent scales with and without bedding in enable
the inIluence oI the rope structure to be evaluated. Figure 9
shows one example, Ior a modiIied polyester, which has been
tested aIter bedding in at single Iilament, yarn, assembled yarn
and sub-rope scales. This shows how Iilament properties are
transIerred to sub-ropes
0
0,2
0,4
0,6
0,8
1
0 3 6 9 12 15
Strain (%)
F
o
r
c
e

(
N
/
t
e
x
)
filament
yarn
rope-yarn
sub-rope

Figure 9. Modified polyester, bedded-in, tested at four
scales [24]

ROPE MODELLING
When material properties are available Irom either single
Iilament or yarn tests they can be used in rope modelling
soItware to predict rope properties. The most developed tool is
FRM (Fibre Rope Modeller), a commercial set oI soItware
Irom TTI |25|. This is a useIul tool and proved very successIul
in simulating tension/torsion results Irom Iull scale tests
perIormed within the project |14|. It can take non-linear Iorce-
strain plots Irom low level tests such as those perIormed on
Iibres, yarns or assembled yarns, and use these data together
with details oI the rope structure (dimensions, lay lengths) to
predict the behavior oI Iull size ropes. This oIIers the
possibility to reduce the amount oI testing, provided the models
have been validated, and one oI the aims oI the present project
was to develop a data base enabling the models to be checked
Ior a range oI materials.
MOORING LINE CASE STUDIES
Using data generated within the project a large number oI
mooring line analyses were perIormed over the 10 year period.
Initially the conditions oI interest were oII West AIrica at
depths oI 1000 to 1500 meters, but gradually the analyses were
extended and Ior the last series 2500-3000 meter depths Ior
both West AIrica and the GulI oI Mexico were examined.
Three examples oI mooring line applications will be
discussed here. Five materials will be examined, using the
properties shown in Figure 10 and Table 2. Here Kr is a
normalized stiIIness parameter, deIined as (Load/MBS)/Strain.

Kr values
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Mean Load, % MBS
polyester
Pentex
Vectran
Aramid
HMPE

Figure 10. Mean load dependence of stiffness. Open
symbols: quasi-static, Closed symbols: dynamic.

Material Static Dynamic response
PET 15 18.5 0.33 (ML)
PEN 20 23 0.33 (ML)
LCP 33 30 0.61 (ML)
Aramid 47 45 0.58 (ML)
HMPE 56 59 0.54 (ML)

Table 2. Normalized stiffness values used in analyses

It should be emphasized that this is not a deIinitive set oI
data Ior these materials, but simply one set oI data generated by
tests on samples oI these materials with particular rope
constructions. From these tests we know that we can obtain
these stiIIness values, but by changing rope constructions it is
undoubtedly possible to obtain other higher or lower values.
This approach was preIerred, as results such as those shown in
Figure 9 indicated that there can be very large diIIerences
between Iibre and yarn behaviour and rope perIormance.
Modelling was also used within the project, but the models do
not account Ior unloading behaviour during dynamic cycling.
The rope break strengths and weights used in the analyses
were taken Irom both measurements and rope suppliers data.
Figure 11 shows the properties used Ior the diIIerent materials.

0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Diameter, mm
B
r
e
a
k

l
o
a
d
,

t
o
n
s
HMPE, Vectran
Aramid
PET, PEN

Figure 11. Nominal rope strengths versus diameter

Key issues in dimensioning with materials other than
polyester are what saIety Iactors to use and how low a value oI
minimum tension can be allowed. Table 3 shows the saIety
Iactors and minimum tensions adopted in the Iirst analyses Ior
each material. These were subsequently varied, as will be
discussed Iurther below.

Material Minimum
tension
SaIety Iactors
Intact / Damaged
PET 2 1.925/1.375
PEN 5 2.1/1.5
LCP 5 2.1/1.5
Aramid 10 2.1/1.5
HMPE 5 2.1/1.5

Table 3. Assumptions used in analyses for each
material.
Case study 1.
The Iirst case examined is that oI a semi-submersible
drilling rig in 2500 meters water depth in the GulI oI Mexico.
The rig is moored with 8 lines, with a length oI chain at the top,
3300 meters oI synthetic rope, and 100 meters oI steel cable at
the sea bed. The analysis was perIormed using the Ariane
soItware and a quasi-dynamic analysis. For each analysis there
are three parameters to Iix : the material, the rope diameter and
the pre-tension. From the analysis, with a maximum oIIset
criterion oI 3 oI water depth, the active length oI the line and
the maximum and minimum horizontal and axial tensions are
obtained. Given the environmental conditions (wave, wind and
current including loop currents) the two lines with the highest
and lowest tensions are examined to check that the criteria oI
minimum tension and maximum tension (saIety Iactor) are
respected. DiIIerent pre-tensions are studied in order to
optimize the response Ior each material.
Particular attention was paid to the minimum tension, and
Ior each material three minimum tension values were
examined. Figure 12 shows an example oI results.
0
30
60
90
120
150
180
PET PEN LCP Aramid HMPE
D
i
a
m
e
t
e
r
,

m
m
2%
5%
10%

Figure 12. Influence of minimum tension on rope
dimensions, semi-submersible drilling rig GOM.

First it is clear that the high perIormance ropes oIIer very
signiIicant reductions in rope diameter. This results in even
greater weight savings. There is also a strong inIluence oI
minimum tension, simply reducing the value Irom 5 to 2
minimum tension can result in a weight saving oI around 10.
The value oI 2 was chosen Ior polyester Iollowing extensive
Iatigue tests which showed that Iatigue liIetimes were not
aIIected when minimum tension was reduced Irom 5 to 2
|26|. This exercise has not been perIormed Ior the other ropes,
which is why higher values were taken initially.
For this application, where long term durability is not the
main concern, these alternative materials appear very
promising, and indeed, sea trials with HMPE were very
encouraging |6|. An analysis oI the Iatigue behaviour showed
that the Iatigue liIe (oI the chain section) decreased as rope
stiIIness increased, Figure 13, but even Ior the stiIIest Iibres a
liIetime oI 250 years (saIety Iactor oI 10) was achieved.
0
0,5
1
> 250 years

Figure 13. Relative fatigue life of chain, compared to
chain fatigue life in PET line
Case study 2.
The two Iollowing examples illustrate production
applications expected to remain in operation Ior 20 years. Here,
in addition to station-keeping perIormance Iatigue behaviour
must be guaranteed.
First a production barge moored in 2500 metres oI water
oII West AIrica by 16 lines was considered. Figure 14a shows
the diameters required Ior the diIIerent materials, Figure 14b
shows potential weight gains on the synthetic part oI the lines.

a) Diameter
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
D
i
a
m
e
t
e
r
,

m
m

b) Rope weight
100
77
52
66
33
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
%

Figure 14. Influence of material on a) rope
dimensions and b) weight gain, production barge
West Africa.

Once again signiIicant reductions in rope diameter and
weight can be achieved. The limiting Iactor in this case is the
Iatigue perIormance oI the line, and in particular the high loads
introduced in chain elements due to the high line stiIIness |18|.
This was one oI the main incentives Ior studying intermediate
modulus Iibres such as PEN, which allow a more modest
reduction in diameter and weight but without greatly reducing
Iatigue liIetime.
Case study 3.
A second example Ior West AIrica involves an oIIloading
buoy in 1000 meter water depth, Figure 15. The buoy is
moored by 9 (3x3) lines.

CALM
Buoy
CALM
Buoy
CALM
Buoy

Figure 15. Case study 3, offloading buoy

Here a Iull dynamic analysis was perIormed using the
Deeplines soItware Ior the diIIerent materials. Figure 16 shows
an example oI rope diameters Ior the diIIerent materials. Again
the stiIIer Iibre ropes can reduce mooring line diameters.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
D
i
a
m
e
t
e
r
,

m
m

Figure 16. Rope diameters, offloading buoy.

CONCLUSION
This paper summarizes work perIormed on synthetic mooring
lines within the French Mooring Line project. The work
perIormed within the project has contributed to the
development oI standards |22|, practical rope models |10,11|
and classiIication society documents |23|. In this paper
particular emphasis is placed on a study into how alternative
Iibres to the polyester currently used can improve mooring line
perIormance.
Extensive testing oI Iibres and yarns has enabled a large
database oI material properties to be obtained. Tests on sub-
ropes and Iull size ropes then allowed stiIIness data to be
generated, in a Iorm which is suitable Ior mooring line analysis
soItware. Results Irom mooring line analyses Ior diIIerent
supports and environments have shown the beneIits oI higher
perIormance Iibre ropes Ior certain applications. However, long
term behaviour must also be characterized as many oIIshore
structures will be operational Ior 20 years or more. Current
installations are providing valuable experience Ior polyester
ropes but a signiIicant eIIort is needed to characterize the long
term behaviour oI other materials iI mooring systems are to be
improved.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The technical expertise oI the many colleagues at IIremer, IFP,
ENSMP and LCPC who were involved in the work presented
in this paper is grateIully acknowledged.

The opinions expressed in this paper are those oI the authors
and do not necessarily represent those oI their companies.

NOMENCLATURE

Kr Normalized stiIIness
MBS Minimum Break Strength
PET Polyethylene Terephthalate
PEN Polyethylene Naphthalate
QS Quasi-static
Tex weight in grams per km

REFERENCES

|1| Del Vecchio CJM (1992), Light weight materials Ior deep water
moorings, PhD thesis University oI Reading
|2| Chaplin CR, Del Vecchio CJM, (1992) Appraisal oI lightweight
moorings Ior deepwater OTC6965.
|3| De Pellegrin I, (1999), Manmade Iiber ropes in Deepwater
Mooring Applications, OTC 10907.
|4| Bugg DL, Vickers DT, Dorchak CJ, (2004) Mad Dog project:
Regulatory approval process Ior the new technology oI synthetic
(polyester) moorings in the GulI oI Mexico, OTC 16089.
|5| Haslum HA, Tule J, Huntley M, Jatar S, (2005) Red Hawk
polyester mooring system design and veriIication, OTC 17247.
|6| Corbetta I, Sloan F, (2001) HMPE mooring line trial Ior Scarabeo
III, OTC 13272
|7| Ingeberg P, Torben S, Bull S, SuccessIul use oI a Iiber rope
deployment system, Sea Technology July 2007, 23-25.
|8| Davies P, Baizeau R, Grosjean F, Franois M, (1999) Testing oI
large polyester cables Ior mooring line applications, Proc ISOPE,
Brest, p360.
|9| Grosjean F, Davies P, Francois M, (2005) Synthetic Fiber Ropes
mooring: technical status and stiIIness prediction, Proc CMOO4.
|10| Francois M, Davies P (2000) Fibre rope mooring a practical
model Ior the analysis oI polyester mooring systems, Rio Oil &
Gas, 2000.
|11| Francois M, Davies P (2008) Characterization oI polyester
mooring lines, OMAE 2008-57136
|12| Davies P, Huard G, Grosjean F, Francois M, (2000) Creep and
Relaxation oI Polyester Mooring Lines, OTC 12176.
|13| Davies P, Chailleux E, Francois M, Grosjean F, Bunsell A,
(2003), Prediction oI the long term behavior oI synthetic mooring
lines OTC 15379.
|14| Davies P, Bouquet Ph, Conte M, DeuII A, (2006) Tension-
Torsion Behavior oI Deepwater Synthetic Mooring Lines
OTC 17872
|15| Ghoreishi SR, Cartraud P, Davies P, Messager T, Analytical
modeling oI synthetic Iiber ropes subjected to axial loads. Part I:
A new continuum model Ior multilayered Iibrous structures, Int
J Solids and Structures, Vol. 44, Issue 9, 1 May 2007, 2924-2942
|16| Ghoreishi SR, Davies P, Cartraud P, Messager T, Analytical
modeling oI synthetic Iiber ropes. Part II: A linear elastic model
Ior 1 6 Iibrous structures, Int J Solids and Structures, Volume
44, Issue 9, 1 May 2007, 2943-2960
|17| Foulhoux L, Pennec S, Damy G, Davies P, (1999), Testing oI a
large diameter polyester rope oIIshore West AIrica, Proc ISOPE
1999, Brest.
|18| Davies P, Francois M, Grosjean F, Baron P, Salomon K,
Trassoudaine D, Synthetic mooring lines down to 3000 meters
depth, (2002) OTC 14246.
|19| Lechat C, Bunsell AR, Davies P, Piant A, Mechanical behaviour
oI polyethylene terephthalate & polyethylene naphthalate Iibres
under cyclic loading, Journal oI Materials Science, Vol. 41,
(2006), pp1745-1756
|20| Bunsell AR Hearle JWS, Hunter RD, (1971) An apparatus Ior
Iatigue testing oI Iibres, Jnl Physics E, 4, 868-72.
|21| Fernandes AC, Del Vecchio CJM, Castro GAV, Mechanical
Properties oI Polyester Mooring Cables, Int. J. OIIshore & Polar
Eng., 9, 3, Sept. 1999, pp207-213.
|22| ISO 18692 (2007), Fibre ropes Ior oIIshore station keeping
Polyester
|23| Bureau Veritas, (2007) CertiIication oI Iibre ropes Ior deep water
oIIshore services, NI432R01.
|24| Lechat C, (2007), PhD thesis, Mechanical behaviour oI polyester
Iibres and Iibre assemblies Ior oIIshore mooring lines, Ecole des
Mines de Paris, (in French).
|25| BanIield SJ, Flory JF, (1995), Computer modeling oI large high
perIormance Iiber rope properties, Proc OCEANS 95, San Diego,
October.
|26| BanIield SJ, Casey NF, Nataraja R, (2005) Durability oI polyester
deepwater mooring rope, OTC 17510.

DIRECTIONAL WAVE PARTITIONING AND ITS APPLICATION TO THE
STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF AN FPSO

Ruth Lawford
Fugro GEOS, Wallingford, UK
Jill Bradon
Fugro GEOS, Wallingford, UK

Thomas Barberon
Bureau Veritas, Paris, France
Claude Camps
Bureau Veritas, Paris, France
Richard Jameson
Hess Limited, Aberdeen, UK

ABSTRACT

A full characterisation of the individual components of a
sea-state is key to enabling the response of an offshore structure
to be accurately calculated. This paper discusses the
partitioning of a time series of directional wave spectra into
wind-sea and swell components with distinct frequency and
direction characteristics. Once the wave data have been
partitioned, JONSWAP or Pierson-Moskowitz parameters can
be fitted to each spectrum using best-fit techniques. The
result of the partitioning and fitting analyses is a time series of
wave parameters defining the wave spectrum for each
component of the sea state.

A 10-year site specific time series of directional wave
spectra has been partitioned in this way and used in the analysis
of the Triton FPSO, a turret moored FPSO in the central North
Sea. The representation of the directionality and magnitude of
each environmental force acting simultaneously on the vessel,
allows the relative heading of the vessel to be determined and
the mooring and hydrodynamic analyses to be performed.
These analyses provided input to a structural analysis of the
FPSO, which resulted in an inspection plan for monitoring the
effects of the metocean conditions on the unit.

1. INTRODUCTION
There is increasing interest among offshore operators and
classification societies in performing hydrodynamic and
mooring analyses in the time domain, i.e. for several years
duration. To calculate the response of a vessel at each time step
it is necessary to define the parameters of wave spectra that
represent the wave conditions at a particular location. At any
one point in time a wave climate consists of a combination of
locally-generated

Figure 1. Triton FPSO

wind sea, plus swells which have travelled to the site from
distant storms. The wind sea and the swells often approach the
vessel from different directions and hence it is important to be
able to separate these components before fitting analytical
spectra to the wave data.

Directional wave data for the vessel location can be in the
form of hindcast or measured data. Typically, hindcast data
provides spectral energy values for a range of wave frequencies
and directions at 6-hourly time intervals. The spectral data are
read into partitioning software which identifies the spectral
peaks and then fits a JONSWAP spectrum to each peak using a
least-squares fitting procedure. The output from the program is
a time series of Hs, Tp, direction and spectral parameters and
for each identified seastate.
a
and
b
may also be provided if
required.

OMAE2008
OMAE2008-57341

Hindcast data such as this has a variety of applications.
Here it is applied to the case of the Triton FPSO seen in Fig. 1.
Triton is a turret moored FPSO operated by Hess Limited in the
central North Sea, see Fig. 2. The vessel is free to weather-
vane around the turret in response to the wave, wind and
current forces acting on it. Depending on the magnitudes and
directions of the applied forces the vessel will take up a heading
relative to prevailing environmental conditions.

Figure 2. Location of Triton FPSO in the central North Sea:
5705N, 00053E
During late 2006 Hess decided that a cost effective,
proactive development program to monitor vessel integrity
would be advantageous. Analyses were performed by Bureau
Veritas to assess the current state of the unit, focusing on the
mooring system and the vessel structure. FPSO responses are
based on a hydrodynamic analysis, performed by combining the
environmental loads at the appropriate headings with the
response amplitude operators of the vessel. Key to this analysis
is the ability to describe analytically the wave spectra
approaching the vessel from different directions. Current and
wind effects may also be a factor. Fugro GEOS provided a ten
year hindcast metocean time series containing wave spectral
parameters for the bimodal spectrum along with wind and
current, speed and direction data.

2. PARTITIONING AND FITTING DIRECTIONAL
WAVE SPECTRA
2.1 DATA SOURCE
Hindcast directional wave spectra and wind time series
data are obtained from the Fugro Oceanor Worldwaves
database. The database is derived from the European Centre for
Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Wave Model
(WAM) and calibrated against satellite data. Model output may
be provided in the form of integrated wave parameters or for a
more complete set of information on the sea state a spectral
output is available. Bidlot et al [1], provide an overview of
recent changes to the ECMWF model and the ongoing
improvement of spectral information. The model currently
assimilates wave heights from the ENVISAT satellite altimeter
mission launched by the European Space Agency (ESA).
Previous to October 2003 the ERS-2 altimeter was used, also an
ESA mission. In order to provide spectral output the model
utilises more comprehensive, two dimensional observations
from Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR). Since 2000, directional
spectra from the model have been available for a range of 24
directions and 30 frequencies. Data from the wa ve model are
available on a global grid and for the purpose of this work, ten
years of spectral data from the nearest point on the model grid
were utilised.

Homogeneity changes in the model present challenges for
the provision of continuous long term hindcast data. For
example the failure of an altimeter has been shown to cause
changes in the bias and variance when compared to wave buoy
data (Bidlot et al [1]). Each satellite mission has a set length
and may be replaced from time to time with a more
sophisticated altimeter or SAR.
In order to combat these difficulties and provide a fully
integrated source of wave data, Fugro Oceanor AS perform
bespoke calibration of the model with a range of further
satellite data and, if available, in-situ buoy networks. The main
source of altimeter data for the calibration has been the
Topex/Poseidon mission, which ran from 1992 to 2002 before
replacement with the Jason mission. Topex 2 was introduced to
follow ground tracks midway between Jason tracks, increasing
the amount of data from 2001. The satellite data are reorganised
from individual tracks to data contained within a 10 x 10
square areas. All data are retained and no averaging is
undertaken. The wave height and wind speed data are corrected
to remove bias relative to a large satellite/buoy matched data set
and are run through a carefully designed automatic data control.
The closest along-track locations for each satellite mission to
each grid point are found and time series of the calibrated
satellite wave heights are extracted. Scatter plots are then
produced for the matched wave model against satellite
significant wave heights. Any inhomogeneities occurring in the
data are investigated and corrected if necessary. This method
of calibration has regularly yielded high quality results
throughout the North Sea when compared to sources of in-situ
data such as that from the Ekofisk and K13 platforms. The wind
speed is also calibrated using an analgous procedure. Global
comparison statistics for the model against satellite data are
presented in Barstow et al [2].

Calibration of this type is applied to each grid point on a
global grid both for the integrated parameters and for the
spectrum as a whole. In order to obtain a data set unique to the
Triton site, a further site specific calibration was undertaken
using data from the closest satellite tracks; Topex and Geosat
Follow-On. The resulting calibrated values of significant wave
height (Hs) from the wave model are plotted against the closest
satellite data in Fig. 3, demonstrating the high quality of these
data.

Data are provided as a sequence of spectral matrices for
each time step ready for input to the partitioning process. A
concurrent time series of integrated wave parameters, wind
speed and wind direction is also required as an output from this
process

Figure 3. Calibrated model significant wave height (Hm0) against
satellite (Hs).

2.2 PARTITIONING PROCEDURE
An established partitioning algorithm detailed in work by
Hanson and Phillips [3] and Aarnes and Krogstad [4] which in
turn used ideas from Hasselmann et al [5] and Gerling [6] is
used to identify the peaks within the spectra for each time step
and assign the energy to wind-sea or swell components.
Partitioning may be undertaken using spectra from numerical
model hindcast data or measured wave buoy data, or to allow
comparison between the two, as described in Feld and Mork
[7]. A summary of the partitioning methodology is provided in
the following sections.

2.2.1 Peak Isolation and Partitioning
Each value or point in the spectral matrix represents a
frequency-direction combination. Before analysis begins the
number of peaks required is specified. In the North Sea two
peaks, one wind-sea and one swell, is usually sufficient to
capture the dominant conditions. However the same
methodology may be applied to more complex systems where
additional swell peaks are expected. The spectral matrix is
analysed using the steepest ascent method to find the local
energy maxima. This is achieved by comparing the spectral
energy at each point in the matrix, to each adjacent point and
assessing which energy belongs to which local peak. If the
number of required peaks has been correctly estimated then the
number of local peaks should be equivalent to the number of
required peaks. In some cases there may be additional local
peaks but these are likely to contain small amounts of energy.
All energy belonging to that peak will be reassigned to a more
dominant peak or discarded according to whether or not it
meets certain criteria detailed in the following sections.

2.2.2 Identify and Combine Wind Sea Peaks
After the peaks have been identified they are assigned as
either a wind-sea or swell component. Concurrent wind speed
and direction data are required to assess whether each peak
meets the following criterion:

c
p
=
w
U
10
cos (1)

where c
p
is the phase speed of the spectral
component.
w
is a factor applied to the wind speed to
ensure all possible wind peaks are included.
U
10
is the wind speed at 10m elevation.
?is the angle between the wind and the wind
sea (0 = ?=???/2)

Or in deep water: f
p
= g/2 . [
w
U
10
cos]
-1
(2)

where f
p
is the peak wave frequency

The factor
w
is variable although is usually specified between 1
and 1.5. A typical value is 1.33.

Any partition whose peak falls within the parabolic
boundary defined in the criterion is considered to be forced by
the local wind, and all peaks within this region are combined
and defined as wind-sea.

2.2.3 Combine Swell Peaks
All peaks not assigned as wind-sea are considered to be
swell. If more than one peak is assigned to swell then the peaks
are analysed to assess whether or not they are part of the same
swell system. If either of the following criteria are met, then the
peaks are combined. The factors ? and v are variable user-input
thresholds.

Peak separation: Two peaks are combined if the spread
of either peak satisfies:

f
2
= .f
2
(3)

where f
2
is the distance between the peaks
f
2
is the spread of each individual peak
? ? ? ?is the spread function

Minimum height between peaks: Two peaks are
combined if the lowest point between them is greater
than the peak minimum factor, , times the smaller of
the two peaks:
s > . m (4)


2.2.4 Energy Threshold Check
Low energy peaks are negligible in comparison to the
total energy contained within the dominant peaks and these
partitions are therefore removed. When working with measured
data this step also serves to remove spectral noise belo w a
certain energy threshold.

The threshold is calculated from the peak frequency f
m

and two user-defined parameters a and b:

e = a / (b + f
m
4
) (5)

2.2.5 Evaluation of Partitioning Method
The Hansen and Phillips partitioning method was
compared with wave spectra measured off the west coast of
New Zealand by Ewans et al [8]. The comparison showed that
in general the method performed well, although in a few cases
small low frequency swells were missed because a maximum of
two partitions had been specified. Ewans et al also present
results using a bimodal spectral fitting method proposed by
Guedes Soares [9], which gave a good fit to the measured
spectra. However, this method only partitions the data in the
frequency domain, and so cannot separate sea states coming
from different directions if they have similar peak frequencies.

2.3 FITTING PROCEDURE

2.3.1 Calculation of JONSWAP or Pierson-
Moskowitz Spectra
The partitioning methodology allows identification of the
dominant peaks within the wave spectra for each time step. In
order to use this information, omni -directional spectra for each
peak must be calculated by summing the amount of energy in
each partition. Then each omni-directional spectra is
approximated using the JONSWAP spectrum, or the Pierson-
Moskowitz spectrum if the calculated peak enhancement factor
is less than or equal to 1. In the North Sea case this will
result in one or two spectra for each time step according to the
number of peaks identified during the partitioning process.

The aim of the fitting procedure is to obtain values of the
JONSWAP parameters alpha ()? ? ?, gamma (), sigma-a(
a
) and
sigma-b(
b
) for each peak. The enhancement widths may be
fitted along with alpha and gamma or may be fixed at the
accepted values 0.07 and 0.09.
Approximation to the JONSWAP spectra is achieved
using the Gunther method. A parabola is fitted to the highest
spectral density estimate and one point either side to identify
the peak frequency. Alpha is calculated by assuming that the
spectrum in the range 1.35f
m
to 2.00f
m
can be approximated by
the Pierson-Moscowitz spectrum. Given this information it is
possible to use a least squares fitting procedure t o find the
remaining parameters, gamma, sigma -a and sigma-b or just
gamma ,?if?sigma-a and sigma-b are fixed values. This involves
the input of initial values for the parameters and iterating until
the closest match to the function is found.
An example result for one time step is presented in Fig. 4.
The dark and light blue areas illustrate how the spectrum is
partitioned across the range of frequency and direction. The
bottom left hand plot shows the omni-directional spectrum for
each of the two peaks, the associated Hs values and whether the
peak has been assigned as wind-sea or swell. The bottom right
hand plot shows the full omni-directional spectrum of the total
seastate and how the combined fitted spectrum compares to the
original omni -directional spectrum before partitioning. In this
case a good fit has been achieved and the total energy within
the sea state is conserved.

2.3.2 Large Gamma Cases
In cases where two spectra are fitted and one of these is a
small swell with a low significant wave height, this spectrum
will often have a high gamma. As the time series of parameters
is prepared for entry to engineering software it is sometimes
necessary to enforce a sensible range of values. Typically
gamma will be limited to a value of 10. However, limiting
gamma will reduce the total wave energy represented by the
calculated spectral parameters unless some adjustment is made
to conserve the energy in the sea state.

If significant wave height values are calculated from a
peak with reduced gamma then they would be reduced and in
turn extreme wave height values derived from the output time
series would be underestimated. Therefore a routine has been
developed in order to allow limitation of gamma values without
loss of energy from the sea state.

This method is undertaken for each time step where one
of the peaks has a gamma value greater than 10 and has been
refitted using a gamma equivalent to 10. Alpha must be
adjusted in order to compensate for the reduction in energy
caused by setting a limit on gamma. The key considerations are
the accuracy of the significant wave height and zero-crossing
period for the entire sea state. These may be assessed by
comparing the original time series data for the sea state as a
whole, to the new values calculated from the fitted omni-
directional spectrum. Adjustments are made to the alpha value
of one of the peaks for that time step so that the correct
significant wave height for the total wave energy is obtained
and the total mean zero -crossing period value is as close as
possible to the required value.


Figure 4. Partitioning and fitting the spectrum.

2.3.3 Quality Control
The rigorous fitting procedure is the starting point for a
high level of quality control within the output time series of
spectral parameters. In addition for each spectral fit, a
normalised rms error and a bias are calculated so that the
goodness of fit may be assessed and unacceptable fits may be
removed. Each fit is identified in terms of the spectrum used;
JONSWAP or Pierson Moskowitz, and whether it has been
designated wind sea or swell.

The rms error and bias are available for each peak and if
the values fall outside of an acceptable defined range then
individual sea states are flagged or discarded. High error
values are most commonly found in the smallest sea states
where it is a challenge to fit spectra using standard methods.
Error values will also be higher if sigma values are fixed
rather than found using the least squares method. If treated as
free parameters then sigma values are limited a maximum of 1
and 2 respectively.

2.4 DATA FORMAT
Data are presented in time series format for each of the
required parameters. The wave parameters are provided in two
components, or more depending on the number of peaks
specified. Component one contains the parameters defining
the first spectral peak and component two the parameters
defining the second peak. Presentation of results is such that
component one corresponds to high frequency spectral peaks
and component two corresponds to low frequency spectral
peaks. For the majority of records component one will be the
wind-sea peak and component two will be the swell peak. In
periods of lesser wind influence there may be no wind-sea
peak. In this case the spectrum may contain one or two swell
peaks. In the case of two swell peaks, component one will
contain the higher frequency of the two peaks and component
two, the lower.

Further quality control must be applied to maintain
continuity of spectral peaks. This may be achieved by
applying an algorithm to track each peak as it grows and
decays through time and to ensure continuity in the
presentation of the parameters in the two components.

Table 1 lists the parameters that are available from the
analysis. Sigma values for each peak may also be provided if
they are not specified as fixed.

The procedure described in this section may be applied
to any site using any number of required peaks. For example
in areas exposed to swell waves from more than one direction
at the same time, more than one swell peak would be required
to accurately describe conditions. The approach may then be
extended to track individual swells to their original source.


Column Heading Definition
Time Time stamp (GMT)
Hs 1
Significant Wave Height (m) for low
frequency spectral peak
Tp 1
Peak Wave Period (s) for low frequency
spectral peak
Alpha 1
JONSWAP Equilibrium Range Constant
for low frequency spectral peak
Gamma 1
JONSWAP Peak Enhancement Factor for
low frequency spectral peak
WavDir 1
Mean Wave Direction (T, from) for low
Hs 2
Significant Wave Height (m) for high
Tp 2
Peak Wave Period (s) for high frequency
spectral peak
Alpha 2
JONSWAP Equilibrium Range Constant
for high frequency spectral peak
Gamma 2
JONSWAP Peak Enhancement Factor for
high frequency spectral peak
WavDir 2
Mean Wave Direction (T, from) for high
WindSpd
10-minute Mean Wind Speed at 10m
above sea level (m/s)
WindDir
10-minute Mean Wind Direction at 10m
above sea level (T, from)

Table 1. Parameters in the hindcast data set.

3. TRITON FPSO
3.1 METOCEAN REGIME
Directional spectral wave data, partitioned into wind-sea
and swell components and approximated to omni-directional
spectra, allow the comprehensive study of vessel response in
the time domain. It is important that each wave energy source
is identified and represented analytically so that all cases are
included within calculation of vessel motion and mooring
response. If omni-directional or single peak spectra alone are
used then the resulting responses could be over conservative.
Conversely, important design cases could be missed. Fitted
spectral parameters alpha and gamma (and optionally sigma-a
and sigma-b) are available for each time step providing a
much more accurate description of the sea state than if a
typical or average value of gamma were used.

The North Sea is a wind-sea dominated environment.
The strongest winds typically come from the sectors between
North-West and South-West and conditions are dominated by
the passage of anti-cyclonic systems often resulting in strong
storms. However, the North Sea also experiences longer
period swell waves especially in the more exposed Northern
region. In the central and southern North Sea the fetch is more
limited in most directions and significant wave heights are
lower, although storm waves are steeper with short periods.
The Triton FPSO is located in the central area and as such
experiences both wind sea and swell effects, although
conditions are dominated by the wind. Therefore within the
hindcast data set, the sea state for each time step is represented
by up to two peaks. Figure 6 plots all wind sea and swell
peaks against the peak wave direction ( from). As expected,
the data show that the highest waves were generated by the
wind-sea peak. The wind-seas approached from all directions
with a fairly consistent magnitude apart from the North-East
sector. The highest significant wave heights are generated by
westerly winds. The swells wave heights were much lower,
with the largest swells coming from the north.

Figure 6: Significant wave heights with direction for 2
peaks (each dot represents a sea state).

For the Triton analysis, 10-year hindcast data were
provided containing wave spectral parameters for up to two
peaks. In addition, a concurrent time series of wind speed,
wind direction, current speed and current direction were
provided, all of which may impact the heading of the vessel.

The following analyses, similar to a previous study
undertaken by Bureau Veritas [10], were undertaken for the
Triton FPSO using the hindcast data:

Calculation of vessel heading, and hence the heading
of swell and wind-sea relative to the vessel.
Mooring analyses including calculation of fatigue.
The 100 year response of wave bending moments,
wave shear forces, accelerations and relative wave
elevation using a long term approach.
Structural analyses.
Comparison with in-situ measurements.

3.2 HEADING ANALYSIS
Heading analyses were completed using the Bureau
Veritas ARIANE-3Dynamics software package.
The availability of the time series of partitioned wind-sea and
swell, with associated wind and current data allowed vessel
heading to be calculated for each sea state at each time step.
Further inputs required for this analysis are first order motion

response amplitude operators (RAOs), quadratic transfer
functions, wind and current vessel response characteristics
(obtained from wind tunnel tests) and total mooring pattern
description in the model.

Results of the heading analysis are presented in Figure 7
below. Each dot represents one three-hour seastate. The study
showed that the vessel heading is generally governed by the
wind-sea and by the wind directions when intensities are
important. However, the Triton FPSO can face wind-sea with
Hs equivalent to 4 metres from all directions. There is a weak
correlation between vessel heading and swell directions. High
intensities of these parameters can occur from almost all
incidences.

3.3 HYDRODYNAMIC ANALYSIS
Once the vessel heading, and hence the relative headings
of each environmental force, are known the hydrodynamic
responses of the vessel can be computed. The computation
used the spectral parameters fitted to the partitioned wave data
at each time step. The RAOs for the vessel at the relevant
headings were combined with the wave spectra to compute the
100-year vessel response at three-hourly intervals. Figure 8
shows the RAO for the vertical wave bending moment
amidships compared to a typical energy density spectrum for
the site.

The parameters of interest for structural assessment are
wave bending moments, wave shear forces, accelerations and
relative wave elevation at any point on the structure. The long-
term distribution of each parameter was calculated based on
the whole hindcast database. Figure 9 represents the long-term
distribution of the vertical wave bending moment amidships
and the 100-year extremes. The same approach was repeated
along the vessel in order to obtain the 100-year response (Fig.
10). Checks were then made to compare the actual stress
levels against the design values in order to monitor vessel
integrity. In addition, knowledge of the actual load ranges
experienced by the hull enabled fatigue calculations to be
carried out with a higher accuracy.

The final aim of the analysis was to ensure vessel
integrity for the future. This included consideration of the
possible evolution of the weight of the vessel, for example the
addition of topsides, and the extension of the operating life of
the vessel. To meet this objective, calculations needed to be as
refined as possible to allow an accurate description of the unit
to be drawn-up. The availability of hindcast data enabled the
conditions that the vessel had experienced over the past 10
years to be reproduced and analysed. It also allowed a good
estimate to be made of what the vessel will have to face in the
future. Practically, the results from the Bureau Veritas study
have yielded a plan for inspections of both the structural
elements of the FPSO, and also the mooring lines, prioritizing
areas where high stresses are expected. Further work involves
long term in-situ measurement aboard the vessel which may
be cross-checked with the results obtained using metocean
data. This will allow the actual vessel responses to be
predicted and ensure that the model and the vessel are in
accordance.

Figure 7 (left). Relative headings between each
element incidence and the vessel heading. 180 means that
the element is going towards the vessel bow (head waves).

0.0E+00
5.0E+07
1.0E+08
1.5E+08
2.0E+08
2.5E+08
3.0E+08
3.5E+08
4.0E+08
4.5E+08
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
Wave frequency (rad/s)
VWBM (N.m/m)
0.00
0.04
0.08
0.12
0.16
0.20
0.24
0.28
0.32
0.36
S(w) (m/s)
VWBM RAO amidships -
head seas
Energy density spectrum
Hs=1m, Tp=12s, gamma=2

Figure 8.Vertical wave bending moment RAO

Long-term distribution of vertical wave bending moment amidships
0.0E+00
5.0E+08
1.0E+09
1.5E+09
2.0E+09
2.5E+09
3.0E+09
3.5E+09
4.0E+09
1.E-01 1.E+00 1.E+01 1.E+02 1.E+03 1.E+04 1.E+05 1.E+06 1.E+07 1.E+08 1.E+09
Number of cycles
N.m
LT distribution - full LT distribution - intermediate LT distribution - ballast
100Y - full 100Y - intermediate 100Y - ballast

Figure 9. Long-term distribution of vertical wave bending moment amidships for different drafts and 100-year extremes.

Vertical wave bending moment along the vessel
0.0E+00
5.0E+05
1.0E+06
1.5E+06
2.0E+06
2.5E+06
3.0E+06
3.5E+06
4.0E+06
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250
x from aft perpendicular (m)
kN.m
Full Intermediate Ballast

Figure 10. 100-year long-term response of vertical wave bending moment along the vessel for different drafts.

4. CONCLUSION
A time series of wave spectral output from the ECMWF
WAM model was obtained and passed through a bespoke
calibration procedure using various satellite altimeter data
sets. Each individual spectrum from the calibrated time series
was analysed using partitioning software. The spectra were
partitioned into 1 or 2 peaks using a steepest ascent algorithm
and then fitted using the JONSWAP or Pierson-Moscowitz
spectrum to give time step specific values of the defining
spectral parameters alpha and gamma. This in addition to the
usual parameters Hs, Tp and peak wave direction. Quality
control checks were applied to the parameters and the data
were presented so that parameters associated with a wind-sea
peak were contained within the first component of the
presentation and parameters associated with the swell peak
were contained in the second.
The data were then applied to the case of the Triton
FPSO, located in the central North Sea. The partitioned data
showed that the highest waves were caused by wind-sea
dominated sea-states and that these may originate from a range
of direction sectors. Swell waves were highest when
originating from the North sector, as a result of the fetch
length. Heading analyses were completed for each time step
and showed that the heading was governed by the wind-sea
and by the wind. Swell waves and current had little effect on
the vessels heading. Headings were then combined with the
wave spectra and motion RAOs of the vessel to assess vessel
response, specifically for the 100-year case. Stress levels were
compared with design values. These analyses have resulted in
a comprehensive view of vessel integrity providing an
inspection plan for monitoring the effects of the metocean
conditions on the unit.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank their respective
companies and in particular Hess Limited, for permission to
publish the paper. The views expressed are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect those of their
companies.

Thanks are due to Gunnar Mrk and Stephen Barstow at
Fugro OCEANOR AS, for advising on and undertaking the
site specific calibration of wave model data with available
satellite data for the Triton site.

REFERENCES

[1] Bidlot, J.R., Janssen, P.A.E.M., and Abdalla, S., 2005.
On the Importance of Spectral Wave Observations in the
Continued Development of Global Wave Models , Paper 207,
Ocean Wave Measurements and Analysis, Fifth International
Symposium WAVES 2005, Madrid, Spain.

[2] Barstow, S.F., Mrk, G., Lnseth, L., Mathisen, J.P.,
and Schjlberg, P., 2005. The Role of Satellite Wave Data in
the Worldwaves Project, Paper 206, Ocean Wave
Measurements and Analysis, Fifth International Symposium
WAVES 2005, Madrid, Spain.

[3] Hanson, J.L., and Phillips, O.M., 2001. Automated
Analysis of Ocean Surface Directional Wave Spectra, J.
Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 18, 277-293.

[4] Aarnes, J.E., and Krogstad, H.E., 2001. Partitioning
Sequences for the Dissection of Directional Ocean Wave
Spectra: A Review, Part of work package 4 (Wp4) of the
EnviWave (EVG-2001-00017) research programme under the
EU Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development
programme.

[5] Hasselmann, S., Hasselmann, K., and Bruning, C.,
1994. Extraction of Wave Spectra from SAR Image Spectra,
Dynamics and Modelling of Ocean Waves, G. Komen (ed.),
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 391-401.

[6] Gerling, T.W., 1992. Partitioning Sequences and
Arrays of Directional Wave Spectra into Component Wave
Systems , J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 9, 444-458.

[7] Feld, G. , and Mrk, G. , 2004. A Comparison of
Hindcast and Measured Wave Spectra, The 8th International
Workshop on Wave Hindcasting and Forecasting, Hawaii.

[8] Ewans, K. C., Bitner-Gregersen, E. M. and Guedes
Soares, C., 2006. Estimation of Wind-Sea and Swell
Components in a Bimodal Sea State. Journal of Offshore
Mechanics and Arctic Engineering., 128, 265-270.

[9] Guedes Soares, C., 1984. Representation of Double-
Peaked Sea Wave Spectra. Ocean Eng. 11(2) 185-207.

[10] Francois, M., Morandini, C., Gorf, P. and Lewin., M,
2004. Relative Wave Heading of an FPSO in a Harsh
Environment, OMAE-FPSO04-0043, Proc. OMAE-FPSO
2004,Houston,USA.

OTC 19315
Deepwater Moorings with High Stiffness Polyester and PEN Fiber Ropes
Davies P /IFREMER Brest, Lechat C, Bunsell A, Piant A /ENSMP, Franois M /BV, Grosjean F / IFP,
Baron P/Doris, Salomon K/Saipem, Bideaud C /Technip, Labb J P /Acergy, Moysan AG /Total.
Copyright 2008, Offshore Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2008 Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas, U.S.A., 58May2008.

This paper was selected for presentation by an OTC program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Offshore Technology Conference, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Offshore Technology Conference is prohibited. Permission to
reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of OTC copyright.

Abstract
The benefits of synthetic fiber ropes for deepwater station keeping are now well established and their use is expanding.
Nearly all current applications use a single grade of polyester fiber, but for different supports and environments this may not
be the optimal choice. Properties of polyester fibers can be modified by adjusting processing parameters and there are other
fibers available such as PEN, which offer higher stiffness. This study examines the benefits of intermediate stiffness fibres,
stiffer than standard polyester but less stiff than the high performance fibers. The results indicate that there is scope for
improving mooring line performance and reducing line weight by careful evaluation of material options.

Introduction
Polyester fiber ropes are finding increasing applications in offshore mooring systems as production moves to deeper
water. Following successful installations offshore Brazil in the late 1990s [Pellegrin 1999] the first Gulf of Mexico mooring
was for the Mad Dog spar [Bugg 2004] in 2004, which employed 1200 tons of polyester down to 1670 meters water depth.
The recently installed Independence Hub platform also used polyester moorings, in 2440 meters water depth [Paganie 2007].
Different rope constructions have been used but these mooring lines were all composed of similar high tenacity polyester
fibers. The Red Hawk spar [Haslum 2005], also installed in 2004, used a modified polyester fiber with a higher initial
stiffness to facilitate installation, and this raised the question of whether a higher fiber stiffness might be beneficial for other
supports and allow rope diameter to be reduced. Previous work within the French Mooring line project [Davies et al 2002]
studied high performance fibres such as aramids and HMPE and concluded that their very high stiffness, while allowing
much smaller rope diameter and weight, did not improve durability as it would result in high fatigue loading of the metallic
components of the mooring line. However, there is an intermediate stiffness region, shown in Figure 1, situated between the
currently used fibres, with initial tensile modulus around 10-15 GPa, and the high performance fibers (>60 GPa) which has
not been explored previously for deepwater mooring applications.

Fiber behavior
0
0,2
0,4
0,6
0,8
1
1,2
1,4
1,6
1,8
2
0 5 10 15
Elongation, %
T
n
a
c
i
t
y
,

N
/
t
e
x
PEN
HMPE, Aramids, Vectran,
Polyester (PET)
INTERMEDIATE
STIFFNESS
RANGE

Figure 1. Available fiber properties and unexplored intermediate stiffness region
2 OTC 19315

The aim of the present study is to examine under what conditions intermediate stiffness fibers would be attractive for
deepwater moorings. In order to do this it was first necessary to examine how the properties of these intermediate stiffness
fibers transfer to ropes. Samples were then manufactured in order to characterize the ropes under appropriate loading
conditions, as few stiffness data were available when the study started. Based on these results mooring line analyses were
performed for different supports and environmental conditions to determine the influence of the improved rope stiffness.
Finally, a series of long term characterizations including creep and cyclic loading was performed, to check whether increased
stiffness results in deterioration of long term properties.

Materials and samples
Three fibers have been studied, a standard polyester (PET, polyethylene terephthalate) fiber, widely used today for offshore
tethers, an improved polyester, and PEN (polyethylene naphthalate), chosen to represent the intermediate stiffness range
(fibre modulus around 30 GPa). The difference between the PET and PEN polymers is the presence of a double aromatic ring
in the PEN molecule, Figure 2. Figure 3 shows the tensile response of new yarns, the PEN shows an initial modulus roughly
twice that of the standard polyester.

Ester group

Figure 2. Structures of pol yester PET (pol yethylene terephthalate) and PEN (polyethylene naphthalate) molecules
0
0,1
0,2
0,3
0,4
0,5
0,6
0,7
0,8
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
% strain
N
/
t
e
x
Modified
polyester
Standard
polyester
PEN

Figure 3. Tensile behavior of standard and modified PET, and PEN, tests on new yarns.

Stiffness data for the standard fiber ropes are available from previous work e.g. [Franois 2000], so the present study
concentrated on testing the two improved stiffness variants. Table 1 shows the samples studied.

Scale Dimensions
diameter/test length
Nominal break load
Single Filament 20-30m / 50mm 0.5 N
Yarn 110 tex 0.4 mm / 1 meter 90 N
Assembled yarn 4 mm / 1meter 5 kN
Sub-rope 32 mm / 8 meters 330 kN
Rope 132 mm / 12 meters 5000 kN

Table 1. Sample sizes tested

All materials were supplied by Performance Fibers, Longlaville, France, with marine finish. Rope yarns and 3-strand
twisted sub-ropes were produced by Bexco, Belgium with the same construction for both fibers. Full size modified polyester
ropes, an Integra parallel 7-strand construction, were manfactured by Scanrope, Norway.
OTC 19315 3
Test procedures
Various test machines were employed to measure the properties over the range from single fiber up to full size rope. The
single filaments were tested on a special machine, Figure 4a [Bunsell 1971]. Yarns and assembled yarns were tested on a 10
kN test frame, Figure 4b. 500 and 1000 kN test frames were used to test sub-ropes. Two digital cameras linked to an image
analysis system were used to measure strains, together with more conventional extensometry. More details of tests can be
found elsewhere [Davies 1999, Lechat 2007]. Some samples were in the new state, others were subjected to a bedding-in
sequence of 5 load-unload cycles to 50% break load.

aa

cc

bb

Figure 4. Test machines
a) Single filament testing, b) yarn tests, c) sub-rope test machine, d) full size rope test.

Single fiber and some assembled yarn tests were performed at the Ecole des Mines de Paris (ENSMP), yarn and
assembled yarn tests were also performed at Ifremer in Brest, tests on over 20 sub-rope samples were carried out at IFP in
Lyon and at Ifremer, and full size ropes were tested at the LCPC civil engineering laboratory in Nantes.

Fiber to rope transfer
By testing the components of large ropes at the different steps of fabrication it is possible to evaluate the influence of the
fiber properties on the rope behavior. This is important, as if the transfer is poor there may be little to be gained by improving
fiber properties. Figure 5 shows mean results from tests at each scale, for the improved PET and PEN fibers.
a) Modi fi ed PET
0
0,2
0,4
0,6
0,8
1
0 3 6 9 12 15
Strain (%)
F
o
r
c
e

(
N
/
t
e
x
)
fi l ament
yarn
rope-yarn
sub-rope
b) PEN
0
0,2
0,4
0,6
0,8
1
0 2 4 6 8 10
Strai n (%)
F
o
r
c
e

(
N
/
t
e
x
)
fi l ament
yarn
rope-yarn
sub-rope

Figure 5. Stress-strain results, tension loading to failure after bedding-in. (Note different strain scales).

4 OTC 19315
Figure 5 shows the similarities and differences between the two materials. The failure strains are significantly lower for
PEN fibers but failure stresses are similar. There is a drop in stiffness of sub-ropes compared to rope yarns but the stiffness
transfer coefficients are similar for both materials. The behavior of the PEN fiber is more linear than that of PET after
bedding-in. A permanent strain after bedding-in of around 1% is noted for both materials, significantly lower than that
measured on standard polyester fibers and ropes. The similar permanent strains for the three levels of construction indicates
that this strain is mainly due to orientation of the polymer structure rather than alignment of the rope construction. Based on
low level material properties and geometrical parameters rope mechanics equations can be used to predict the quasi-static
behavior of sub-ropes quite accurately. This will be reported elsewhere.

Stiffness properties
Mooring line analysis requires stiffness values measured under appropriate loading conditions. These are available for
standard polyester but not for modified PET nor PEN, so it was necessary to perform a complete stiffness characterization for
these materials. Tests were performed on sub-ropes to measure these values under quasi-static and dynamic loading as
specified in the recent ISO document [ISO 2007]. All samples were bedded in by 5 cycles to 50% break load followed by a
one hour hold period before starting stiffness measurements. Figure 6 shows examples of both types of stiffness test for PEN.

(a) last 10 of 60 QS cycles
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
2 2,2 2,4 2,6 2,8 3 3,2 3,4
Strain, %
F
o
r
c
e
,

k
N
(b) Dynamic stiffness, last 10 of 500 cycles
160
165
170
175
180
185
190
4,1 4,15 4,2 4,25 4,3
Strain, %
F
o
r
c
e
,

k
N

Figure 6. Stiffness tests, a) Quasi-static, b) Dynamic high load , PEN sub-ropes

Tests were also performed on a full size modified PET rope to examine whether these sub-rope values correspond to those
of full size ropes. Table 2 presents results, Kr is the normalized load/strain.

Material Quasi-static stiffness Kr
Standard PET [Franois 2000] 15
Modified PET sub-rope 14
Modified PET full-size rope 14
PEN sub-rope 20

Table 2. Example of measured quasi-static stiffness values over the range 10-30% break load

Although the stiffness of the modified PET yarn is higher initially, ie before bedding-in, as shown in Figure 3, after
bedding-in values are very similar to that of the standard PET material. Part of the permanent re-orientation strain has been
removed during processing but working properties are very similar to those of the standard material. This is not the case for
the PEN ropes, which are significantly stiffer before and after bedding-in, so this material was used subsequently to examine
how stiffness affects mooring line response. However, this example shows the importance of understanding the behavior of
these materials, as the relationship between yarn properties and useful rope stiffness can be complex. An initial factor of two
between standard PET and PEN is reduced to an increase of around 30% for quasi-static rope stiffness and around 15% for
dynamic stiffness at 45% mean load. Dynamic stiffness is strongly dependent on mean load [Fernandes 1999, Davies et al
2002].
In addition to these standard stiffness measurements some additional tests were performed on the full size rope to
examine the influence of stochastic loading. Various sequences were defined using mooring line analyses for different
scenarios and Figure 7 shows one example, for a production platform in the Gulf of Mexico.
OTC 19315 5
(a)
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2100
2200
2300
2400
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Time, s
F
o
r
c
e
,

k
N
(b)
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
2100
2200
2300
2400
4,8 4,85 4,9 4,95 5 5,05 5,1 5,15 5,2 5,25 5,3
Strain, %
F
o
r
c
e
,

k
N

Figure 7. Stochastic loading of 500 ton modified PET rope, mean load 200 tons. a) Sequence applied, b) Measured response.

These results are discussed in more detail elsewhere [Franois, 2008] but suggest that in a stochastic sequence, the stiffness
does not depend on the amplitude of individual cycles, nor on the period of underlying (low and wave frequency)
components.

Mooring line analyses
Once the necessary property data had been obtained a number of mooring line analyses were performed to examine how the
increased stiffnesses of a rope such as PEN would affect mooring line dimensions. Different supports were considered by the
engineering companies participating in the project, for a depth of 2500 meters in two locations, West Africa and the Gulf of
Mexico. The Ariane software was used, together with fatigue analyses.

Material Quasi-static Dynamic
(function of mean load (ML))
Standard PET 15 18.5 +0.33 ML
PEN 20 23 +0.33 ML

Table 3. Values of Kr used in first mooring line anal yses.

Then in a second series of analyses, designed to look for the optimal rope properties, parametric studies of the influence
of stiffness were performed. These studies generated a large amount of data. Three examples of of results are shown below,
for a semi-submersible drilling rig and a production platform, both in the Gulf of Mexico, and for a production barge off
West Africa. For analysis, two parameters must be specified, the safety factor T
max
/Break load, and the minimum allowable
tension T
min
. The choice of values to be taken for a new material clearly has an impact on whether a particular solution is
interesting compared to a standard polyester choice. For this test case higher safety factors were taken and a 5% minimum
tension was used for PEN, rather than the 2% now usually applied for polyester, taking into account the lack of experience
with this product and the uncertainties on load-elongation properties. For the semi-submersible drilling rig with 8 lines and
and production rig (a 12 lines system), loop current and hurricane conditions were applied. Tables 4 and 5 show examples of
results.

Material

Criteria:
SF Dyn Intact
SF Dyn Damaged
T
min
applied

Sizing:
Diameter
Break load

Polyester

1.83
1.375
2%

130 mm
542 T
PEN

2
1.5
5%

144mm
601 T

Table 4. Case study 1, Semi-submersible production platform, GOM 2500 meters depth.
6 OTC 19315
In the first example, the improved behavior of the PEN is clearly occulted by more conservative safety factors and, above
all, by the criterion of minimum tension that sets the level of pre-tension in the mooring lines, the level of maximum tensions,
hence the size.

Material

Criteria:
SF Dyn Intact
SF Dyn Damaged
T
min
applied

Sizing:
Diameter
Break load

Polyester

1.83
1.375
2%

246 mm
1778 T
PEN

2
1.5
5%

246 mm
1778 T

Table 5. Case study 2, Semi-submersible production platform, GOM 2500 meters depth.

It is clear for both examples that with these model parameters there is little to be gained by increasing the line stiffness.
The third example involves a large production barge moored using 16 lines in 2500 meters depth off West Africa.
Here the environment is much less severe and the offset criterion is governing the design. Table 6 shows an example of
results from this case. The minimum tension criterion was also varied : Figure 8 shows how this affects the rope diameter
and weight gain.

Material

Criteria:
SF Dyn Intact
SF Dyn Damaged
T
min
applied

Sizing:
Diameter
Break load
Prtension

Polyester

1.83
1.375
2%

168mm
782 T
150 T
PEN

2
1.5
5% / 2%

152 / 144mm
648 / 590 T
160 / 120 T

Table 6. Case study 3, Production barge, West Africa 2500 meters depth.

a) Rope diameter, mm
130
135
140
145
150
155
160
165
170
PET 2% PEN 5% PEN 2%

b) Rope weight, tons
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
PET 2% PEN 5% PEN 2%
-16%
-23%

Figure 8. Influence of minimum tension criterion on PEN rope diameter and weight gain.

These results indicate that the use of a higher stiffness material can lead to significant savings, over 200 tons of material
here. This reduction may also result in associated savings on account of easier handling of a smaller diameter rope and
reduced storage requirements during installation. A further gain is to be found in the line pre-tensions, these are somewhat
lower in the PEN line and may allow the use of a smaller tensionning system. It should also be noted that these are all
OTC 19315 7
conservative estimates, based on higher safety factors for the higher stiffness material. In order to justify lowering these
factors it would be necessary to provide evidence that the long term behavior of the higher stiffness material is at least as
good as that of the currently-used polyester ropes.

Long term behavior
Two aspects of the long term behavior of the two materials were considered in this study. This was not intended to
be an exhaustive study, clearly further qualification work would be essential if a PEN rope was to be considered for this type
of application, but simply to give a first indication of differences compared to the currently-used fiber.
First, creep tests were performed. Several types of test were run; first, constant loads were applied to single
filaments and rope yarns for short periods, then sub-ropes were subjected to 3-day creep-recovery cycles, and finally longer
creep tests (hundreds of hours) were performed to measure creep rates. Figure 9 shows an example of results for filaments,
which indicate no significant difference in creep rates for the two fibers. This suggests that the intrinsic creep mechanisms are
similar at a material level.

Creep of filaments
0,0
0,1
0,2
0,3
0,4
0,5
0,0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7
Creep load, N/tex
C
r
e
e
p

r
a
t
e
,

%
/
d
e
c
a
d
e
PET
PEN

Figure 9. Creep rates from tests on single filaments.

Then sub-ropes were subjected to short term creep/recovery cycles at different load levels, Figure 10, designed to produce the
parameters for a creep model developed previously (Davies 2003, Chailleux 2005). This allowed a direct comparison of the
strains to be expected for load levels of 10, 30 and 50% break load to be determined. The creep rates are again similar for the
two materials, but more importantly the overall strains and the permanent strain after unloading of the PEN ropes are much
smaller than those measured on the modified polyester. As the modified polyester has already a significantly lower
permanent strain than the standard polyester this indicates that the PEN rope may offer further significant advantages during
installation in crowded areas. Finally some longer creep tests were performed, up to 50 days, to check the creep response over
a longer period, Figure 11.

a) 72h Creep-recovery cycle
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Time, h
L
o
a
d
,

k
N

b) Sub-rope response
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
0 20 40 60 80
Ti me, h
S
t
r
a
i
n
,

%
PEN
PET mod.

Figure 10. Creep/recovery cycle results for new sub-ropes of modified PET and PEN

8 OTC 19315
a) PEN creep 18 days, 40% break load
0
1
2
3
0 2 4 6 8
log(t (s))
S
t
r
a
i
n

(
%
)

(b) strain =mx log(time, h)
0
0,02
0,04
0,06
0,08
0,1
0,12
0,14
0 20 40 60
Creep load, % break load
C
r
e
e
p

r
a
t
e
,

m
PET
PEN

Figure 11. Long term creep on sub-ropes, a) example of plots for 40% break load, b) creep rates versus applied load

The creep of PEN is linear on a semi-log plot, Figure 11a, and creep rates are plotted on Figure 11b. It is apparent from these
results and other data generated during the project that the creep rates are very similar for the two materials, and similar to
previously-published results for standard PET [Del Vecchio 1992, Davies 2000, Grosjean 2005 ].

The other property of interest for mooring line applications is fatigue life. It has now been clearly demonstrated by extensive
testing that the fatigue life of standard polyester tethers is more than satisfactory [Banfield 2005]. The aim of the present
study was not to generate fatigue data, but in order to obtain a first indication of whether fatigue behavior of PEN is
significantly different to that of PET fibers two types of test were performed, tensile fatigue on single filaments and yarn-on-
yarn abrasion. First, single filament tensile fatigue tests were performed in air at ENSMP. Figure 12 shows an example of the
results, which indicate that the intrinsic tensile fatigue behavior of the PEN is very similar to that of the polyester.
0
0,1
0,2
0,3
0,4
0,5
0,6
0,7
0,8
1,E+02 1,E+03 1,E+04 1,E+05 1,E+06 1,E+07
Lifetime (cycles)
M
a
x
i
m
u
m

f
o
r
c
e

(
N
/
t
e
x
)
Fi l aments PET
Fi l aments PEN

Figure 12. Tensile fatigue S-N curves, zero minimum load, various maximum loads, 50 Hz.

Then yarn-on-yarn abrasion tests were performed in natural sea water at Ifremer according to the standard test procedure
[Cordage Institute 2001]. Figure 13 shows results for the two materials compared to the response of a standard yarn. The
modified PET behaves in a very similar way to the standard material, the PEN lifetimes are a little lower and close to the
recommended values [ISO, 2007]. However, it should be emphasized that whereas the marine finish on the standard
polyesters has been developed over many years, the finish for the PEN fibers was not specifically developed for this fiber.
Improved yarn-on-yarn abrasion lifetimes could probably be obtained for the latter if further development was carried out.
OTC 19315 9
Yarn-on-Yarn abrasion tests, 110 tex
in natural seawater
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Applied load, mN/tex
L
o
g

c
y
c
l
e
s

t
o

f
a
i
l
u
r
e
PEN
Standard PET
Modified PET
ISO 18692

Figure 13. Yarn on yarn abrasion results

Qualification of higher stiffness polyester fiber ropes for mooring lines
These results suggest that the PEN material behavior is similar to that of standard PET fibers, so that additional safety
margins, as were considered in the above analyses, could be removed, subject to adequate qualification of fibre and rope. The
modified polyester fiber ropes studied here were tested and installed on the Red Hawk cell spar [Haslum 2005]. A standard
API/ABS test program was performed including full scale break tests and a range of tests on scaled (1:4) ropes including
80000 cycles over a range of 15-45% break load. Those provide confidence in the modified polyester, but, as was shown
above, the stiffness properties of the worked rope are very simlar to those of the standard material. For ropes with a new fibre
such as PEN or other improved polyester fibre (see below), the process of qualification [Bureau Veritas, 2007] shall focus,
besides standard tests, on the two following aspects, as discussed in [Franois 2005]:
- careful identification of the load elongation properties, that could be made for example by tests on sub-ropes, in addition to
standard tests on a full size rope,
- within the qualification of fibre, which is a pre-requisite to rope qualification, assessment of in-rope properties of the
fibres for long term endurance and capacity to withstand low minimum load under cyclic loading, by tests on small ropes,
and a comparison with results for current polyester grades (see [Banfield 2005]) .

Other material options
In the current work PEN was studied, as this is the only fiber in the intermediate range commercially available for rope
applications at present. It should be emphasized that this fiber was initially developed for tyre applications and there are
potentially a very large range of other PEN fiber properties which could be obtained by appropriate drawing and heat
treatment cycles [Wu, 2000]. A lower cost alternative to PEN might be to produce stiffer polyester fibers by drawing and heat
treatments, and again development work has shown that polyester yarns can also be produced with a wide range of
stiffnesses, up to those of PEN [Parguez, 2004].
While stiffness can be tailored to a particular application the strength of these fibers does not increase with increasing
stiffness. However, ongoing research work in J apan has shown that polyester fiber strength can also be significantly
improved [Kikutani, 2007] and this may result in an even wider range of possibilities for optimization in the future.

10 OTC 19315
Conclusions

While the polyester fiber grade used extensively today for station keeping ropes has proved very satisfactory, it is only
one of a very large family of materials which could be used for this application. In this study the influence of increasing rope
stiffness has been examined, and PEN ropes have been used to illustrate how in some locations where offset is the critical
design parameter a higher stiffness rope can provide improved performance through smaller diameter lines, weight gain and
lower pre-tensions. When strength is the dimensioning factor higher fiber tenacity is required compared to the standard fiber,
and the currently available intermediate stiffness fibers do not provide increased tenacity.
This paper has concentrated on the technical advantages of intermediate stiffness fiber ropes. For a particular application
the economic benefits of smaller diameter, lower weight ropes, in terms of transport, handling and installation must be offset
against the material cost penalty. The latter will depend on the manufacturing route, and in particular on whether the existing
polyester route can be modified or if a fiber based on a different molecular structure such as PEN is necessary.

Acknowledgements

This work was performed within Phase 5 of the French Mooring line project. The project, which started in 1996 and was
completed in December 2007, involved research institutes (Ifremer, IFP, ENSMP), engineering companies (Acergy, Doris,
Principia, Saipem, Technip), the Bureau Veritas and Total. It was performed within the framework of the CLAROM group,
the French Club for Research Activities on Offshore Structures.
The authors are grateful to Caroline Muller and Ren Soenen of Performance Fibers for supplying material samples. The
expertise of technical staff at Ifremer (N. Lacotte, A. Deuff, B. Forest, D. Choqueuse and L. Riou) at IFP (J. Bonnaves, P.
Hamdoun), at the ENSMP (Y. Favry, C. Teissedre) and at the LCPC (G. LeRoux, B. Philippot) is also gratefully
acknowledged.
The views expressed here are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect those of their respective companies.

References

Banfield SJ , Casey NF, Nataraja R, (2005) Durability of polyester deepwater mooring rope, OTC 17510.
Bugg DL, Vickers DT, Dorchak CJ , (2004) Mad Dog project: Regulatory approval process for the new technology of synthetic (polyester)
moorings in the Gulf of Mexico, OTC 16089.
Bunsell AR Hearle J WS, Hunter RD, (1971) An apparatus for fatigue testing of fibres, J nl Physics E, 4, 868-72.
Bureau Veritas , (2007) Certification of fibre ropes for Deep water offshore services, NI432R01
Chailleux E, Davies P, (2005) A non-linear viscoelastic viscoplastic model for the behaviour of polyester fibres, Mechanics of Time
Dependent Materials, 9, pp147-160.
Cordage Institute standard, Test method for yarn-on-yarn abrasion, CI 1503-00, August 2001.
Davies P, Baizeau R, Grosjean F, Franois M, (1999) Testing of large polyester cables for mooring line applications, Proc ISOPE, Brest,
p360.
Davies P, Huard G, Grosjean F, Francois M, (2000) Creep and Relaxation of Polyester Mooring Lines, OTC 12176
Davies P, Francois M, Grosjean F, Baron P, Salomon K, Trassoudaine D, Synthetic mooring lines down to 3000 meters depth, (2002) OTC
14246.
Davies P, Chailleux E, Francois M, Grosjean F, Bunsell A, (2003), Prediction of the long term behavior of synthetic mooring lines OTC
15379
Del Vecchio CJ M (1992), Light weight materials for deep water moorings, PhD thesis University of Reading
De Pellegrin I, (1999), Manmade fiber ropes in Deepwater Mooring Applications, OTC 10907.
Fernandes AC, Del Vecchio CJ M, Castro GAV, Mechanical Properties of Polyester Mooring Cables, Int. J . Offshore & Polar Eng., 9, 3,
Sept. 1999, pp207-213.
Francois M, Davies P (2000) Fibre rope mooring a practical model for the analysis of polyester mooring systems, Rio Oil & Gas, 2000.
Francois M, (2005) Fibre ropes for Station-keeping : Engineering properties and qualification procedures, OCEANS 2005 MTS/IEEE -
Washington
Francois M, Davies P (2008) Characterization of polyester mooring lines, OMAE2008.
Grosjean F, Davies P, Francois M, (2005) Synthetic Fiber Ropes mooring: technical status and stiffness prediction, Proc CMOO4.
Haslum HA, Tule J , Huntley M, J atar S, (2005) Red Hawk polyester mooring system design and verification, OTC 17247.
ISO 18692 (2007) , Fibre ropes for offshore station keeping Polyester.
Kikutani T, (2007) Private communication
Lechat C, Mechanical behaviour of polyester fibres and fibre assemblies for mooring offshore platforms, PhD thesis (in French), Ecole des
Mines de Paris, 2007.
Lechat C, Bunsell AR, Davies P, Piant A, Mechanical behaviour of polyethylene terephthalate & polyethylene naphthalate fibres under
cyclic loading, J ournal of Materials Science, Vol. 41, 2006, pp1745-1756
Paganie D, (2007) Independence Hub breaks records through collaboration, innovation, Offshore, volume 67, issue 12
th
December,
Parguez O (2004), Private communication
Wu G, Li Q, Cuculo J A, (2000) Fiber structure and properties of poly(ethylene-2,6-naphthalate) obtained by high-speed melt spinning,
Polymer, 41, 8139-8150.

IPTC-12546-PP
LESSONS LEARNT FROM 12 YEARS OPERATIONS OF A HUGE FLOATING
PRODUCTION UNIT MADE OF PRE-STRESSED HIGH PERFORMANCE
CONCRETE
Bertrand LANQUETIN TOTAL S.A., Heidi DENDANI TOTAL S.A., Pascal COLLET TOTAL S.A. and J ose
ESTEVE Bureau Veritas
Copyright 2008, International Petroleum Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the International Petroleum Technology Conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 35 December 2008.

This paper was selected for presentation by an IPTC Programme Committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
presented, have not been reviewed by the International Petroleum Technology Conference and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily
reflect any position of the International Petroleum Technology Conference, its officers, or members. Papers presented at IPTC are subject to publication review by Sponsor Society
Committees of IPTC. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper for commercial purposes without the written consent of the International Petroleum Technology
Conference is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous
acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, IPTC, P.O. Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax +1-972-952-9435.

Abstract
The last years have seen an impressive increase of Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) units deployed all
over the world both in number and in variety of designs. But all of them in steel.
This paper presents the lessons learned from the huge floating production unit made of pre-stressed high performance
concrete in operation for TOTAL E&P Congo. They touch all aspects of the life of the unit, design, construction and
maintenance on site. The paper will also present the main key issues for the floating concrete structures and some guidelines
on how to avoid them, resting on some of the available existing codes.
The unit is in production since 12 years on the NKOSSA oil field in 170 m water depth. Main characteristics: L 220 m, B 46
m, D 16 m, displacement 107,000 t including 73,000 t for the hull and 34,000 t for the topsides. This concrete unit used for
construction 27,000 m3 concrete, 2,350 t pre-stressed steel and 5,000 t passive steel.
This paper focuses on the following aspects specific to this floating production unit:
- Structural modeling techniques taking into account the non-linear characteristics of concrete and incorporating a
description of passive and active steel.
- Ageing processes of the concrete units and the general typology of the defects encountered.
- Development of a tailor-made inspection program.
Pre-stress concrete has many virtues and the fabrication process gets more and more industrialized, with better knowledge of
the parameters and how controlling them. This makes it a potential material candidate that can allow new-builds outside
traditional shipyards, providing new opportunities.
However the paper is not intended to make a recommendation between steel and concrete because this entails many other
considerations that are not only technical; the paper remains on the technical ground and shares valuable knowledge on the
behavior of floating concrete units on the long term prospective of a field life time and on the integrity management
techniques developed to minimize the risk of production shutdown and optimize maintenance and repair costs.

Introduction
It will now be twelve years since the concrete FPU (Floating Production Unit) NKP was installed offshore Congo. During
that time it has undergone one technical stop for process maintenance as scheduled in the design, else has been on
uninterrupted service.
The unit was built in south of France in 1994-95 and installed one year later in the NKOSSA oil field in 170 m water depth
and some 60 km offshore the Congo Coast. To the authors knowledge it is the biggest floating production concrete unit ever
built and in service. Its main dimensions are 220 m long, 46 m wide and 16 m deep. This concrete barge used in its
construction 27,000 m3 of concrete, 2,350 t of pre-stressed steel and 5,000 t of passive steel, references [3], [4]. Its
displacement (weight of the equivalent volume of water occupied by the submerged body of the vessel) is 107,000 t. Two
thirds account for the hull and the remaining 34,000 t are the topsides weight.
The production facilities and living quarters for 160 people are fitted on the 10,000 m deck area which, for construction
purposes, is subdivided into six modules: accommodation and central control, utilities, electric power generation, gas
compression for re-injection, crude oil, and gas.
2 IPTC-12546-PP
Design production is 120,000 b/d of oil sent to the shore terminal and 1,300 metric tons/day of Liquefied Petroleum Gas sent
to an 80,000 cu.m LPG FSO.
The unit is hold in place, 70 meters away of the NKF2 platform, in a spread moored configuration by means of 12 mooring
lines. Figure 1 shows the unit in place with the fixed platform vaguely seen behind.

Figure 1: FPU NKP
Asset Integrity Management
In order to constantly analyze and monitor the condition of the units, a tailor-made methodology has been developed and
implemented since 2004 for the Integrity Management of Total Floating Units currently in operation.
The aim of Floating Units Integrity Management is to ensure management and continuous follow up of Floating Units
from the safety, environmental, operational, maintenance and quality management viewpoints. It includes recommendations
on inspection, maintenance and repairs. This calls for:
1. Structural and anchoring modeling and analysis (1
st
assessment and subsequent annual re-assessments).
2. Qualitative RBI implementation (Risk Based Inspection).
3. Yearly reviews of the IRM plan (Inspection, Repair and Maintenance).
4. Data management and storage (including reports).
5. Assistance for Emergency Response.
6. Gives the framework for exceptional analysis.
A detailed description of the Floating Units Integrity Management program is given in references [1] and [2].
The program is divided into four complementary, interacting modules as shown on Fig. 2:
1. Structural non linear Finite Element Analysis (FEM) model and dynamic mooring model. (ABAQUS,
HYDROSTAR and ARIANE Models).
2. IRM (Inspection Repair Maintenance): inspection plan and schedule incorporating class requirements (renewal of
certificates, repairs), and incorporating RBI (Risk Based Inspection).
3. Database (plans, results of models, inspection reports, class status, etc.), with information shared in a network
system.
4. ERS (Emergency Response Service).
IPTC-12546-PP 3

Figure 2: Units I ntegrity Management Modules

FEA,
Anchoring
Models &
Management
Tool

RBI Analysis
& IRM Cycle

Data
Management
& Reporting

Emergency
Response
=interaction
Periodical
(re-)assessment

In alignment with the integrity management program the unit has been placed within a Classification scope. This holds an
important part as the surveys and maintenance actions required by the Classification Society are introduced and accounted for
within the system. As they are known in advance they can be arranged to minimize impact on production. The french class
society also reviews the work carried out by the Third Party Assistance company who contributes to the content and
deployment of the program. Falling within the Class scope of work are the mooring, hull and marine systems,
accommodation quarters and helideck structures and topsides connection to deck. In some cases risers and subsea equipment
are also included.
Pre-Stressed Concrete FPU presentation
The unit is divided in 26 lateral capacities (B and T capacities) and 13 central capacities (C capacities). The lateral capacities
can be used as ballast tanks but only the 4 tanks in the corners are used on site to maintain trim and pitch. The central
capacities are void spaces.
Running through the central void spaces as a spine is the Technical gallery that connects the aft and fore pump rooms (see
dark grey color in figure 3) and provides access to the internal capacities.
The nose that can be seen on the fore end is a concrete cantilever that supports the flare tower as far away as it can be from
the accommodation quarters.

Figure 3: Capacity plan & starboard profile
4 IPTC-12546-PP
The shell is not a full watertight continuous skin. It is pierced in several locations in order to suck in water for different
purposes; process plant cooling, ballast, fire extinction means, fresh water production. The most important of all comes in
through space T9 with a pipe (metallic outside and concrete inside) that penetrates the side shell and runs through two
capacities before reaching the piscine, an enclosed basin within C10. Three pumps (two in service, one spare) then move
the water from the piscine to the process plant for cooling purposes.
As it can be seen from figure 3 the hull self supporting structure is made of longitudinal and transversal walls (called
bulkheads) that also provide the internal subdivision. They are made of reinforced concrete through which longitudinal,
vertical and transversal tendons (pre-stress cables) extend providing compression in the shell plane directions. Depending on
the location their thickness varies from 40 to 80cm.
Figure 4 illustrates the most common way naval architects represent the main structure of a vessel, through the midship
section, which is a transversal cut done halfway along the length of the unit. On it the transverse main dimensions are given.

Figure 4: Midship section
Concrete pre-stressing
Concrete structure prestressing consists in applying a compressive load in order to provide global enhanced properties. The
main aim is to maintain the concrete always on compression under the design forecasted external loads.
This pre-stress can be applied either internally through the concrete walls or externally. On NKP its the former that was
applied by using tendons made of several ultra-high.tensile steel strands going through metallic ducts set within the concrete
section. The path of these ducts is carefully defined at the design stage having to solve practical constraints (access holes,
equipment foundations) while maintaining the required compressive load.
In order to protect the steel tendons and provide a solid concrete section the ducts are filled with injection grout. Quality
control procedures are set in place to minimize the risk of having water or air gaps trapped within. Figure 5 shows the
horizontal tendons stretching throughout the deck concrete slabs above one capacity to illustrate the grillage density set in
place. Each yellow line is a horizontal pre-stress cable within the deck thickness. Highlighted in red are shown the position of
the main members; bulkheads and shell. Figure 6 illustrates the transversal cables through one section.

Figure 5: Deck pre-stress grillage
IPTC-12546-PP 5
C6, C7, C8cables
C5cables
C1, C3cables
C2, C3cables
C2, C4cables

Figure 6: Cables running through a typical transverse section
In particular the longitudinal tendons were arranged from design in order to provide an overall bending moment in opposition
to the hogging (deck in tension) still water bending moment of normal operation. The distribution of the longitudinal cables
across a typical section results in a pre-stressing tension barycenter above the section neutral axis. This is illustrated in figure
7.

Figure 7: position of pre-tension centre of application and hull girder neutral axis.
Tensions barycenter
The pre-stress is set in place by a pulling jack capable of tensioning cables up to 200m long. Figures 8 and 9 present the
pulling jack and a bundle of pre-stressed tendons. On construction the pulling force is calculated to counteract the friction
losses, plus the anticipated loss of tension that will come with time from the concrete shrinkage and creep, the steel relaxation
and the cable anchorage penetration into the concrete.

Figure 8: Tensioning phase Figure 9 : Tendons anchored
Once the winch removed the cable distribution of tension will depend on its length and on its path. Figure 10 shows the
theoretical variation along a side shell vertical cable that runs from the deck to centerline along the side shell (cables C2 or
C3 of figure 6), with active anchorage at both ends (the cables were pulled from both ends before clamping them onto the
concrete).
As said before, the metallic ducts through which the cables are extended are filled with grout, poured before releasing the
pulling jack. This grout (a sort of concrete) will help retain the cables by bondage even if it severed at one point. In such case
instead of having a sudden release of the cables tension it will redistribute with a local loss at the point of rupture.
Neutral axis
6 IPTC-12546-PP
" Long L" Cables C2&C3
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
3
3.1
0 10 20 30 40 50
Cable l ength m
T
e
n
s
i
o
n

M
N
Original Prestress
Modelled prestress
Side shell Bottom
Bilge
Theoretic prestress
Modelled prestress
" Long L" Cables C2&C3
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
3
3.1
0 10 20 30 40 50
Cable l ength m
T
e
n
s
i
o
n

M
N
Original Prestress
Modelled prestress
Side shell Bottom
Bilge
Theoretic prestress
Modelled prestress

Figure 10: Tension distribution along pre-stress cable
So pre-stressing is done in order to ensure that concrete has a background compression in all directions high enough to keep
it in that state even under the maximum operational external loads. In order to ensure appropriate loads distribution and shear
capacity the known passive reinforcement steel is embedded in the concrete. They are those bars typically seen protruding
from concrete beams in any building site on any city. They are also shown in figure 11, which is a photo taken during
construction of the NKP barge.
The design of this concrete structure was done according national standards Ref. [7], [8], [9]. Considering the environmental
context such procedures enabled to define the operational, ultimate and accident limits.

Figure 11: NKP under construction
Materials
Reinforced concrete has three particular properties worth of mention. First, its thermal expansion coefficient is very close to
that of steel. This avoids internal stresses from expansion or contraction differences. Secondly, concrete naturally changes
state from a flowing material to a solid as the chemical reactions within it take place. When it is poured care is taken to
ensure that it occupies all the space between reinforcing steel. As it hardens concrete conforms and bonds to the steel bars,
that are usually roughened to increase bonding surface. This bondage avoids relative deflection between concrete and steel
and allows considering reinforced concrete as a material on its own as long as it works within the elastic behaviour zone.
Third, the alkaline chemical environment provided by calcium carbonate (lime) causes a passivating film to form on the
surface of the steel, thus protecting it from corroding.
A high performance concrete was used for construction due to its qualities such as flowing capacity for pouring; resistance
and low porosity once dried out. Low porosity in particular is essential to reduce phenomena like carbonatation and chloride
ingress.
As could be expected the steel used for the pre-stressing cables is not the standard marine steel. It has a very high yield limit
although very sensitive to corrosion, particularly once loaded.

IPTC-12546-PP 7

Materials used:
High Performance Concrete BHP 70:
Minimum compressive yield stress : 70MPa
Additive: Silica Powder
Initial resistivity 55 KOhms/m
Permeability <10-12 m/s
Passive steel: HA Fe E 500 / Mild Steel 235
Pre-stressing steel:
Tensile strength 1860 MPa
Yield limit: 1653 MPa
Young Modulus: 190000 MPa
Protected by steel shaft filled with cement mixtures.
Finite Element Model Analysis
A numerical model was built aiming at assessing actual and future conditions. ABAQUS was chosen in order to evaluate the
particular behavior of reinforced pre-stressed concrete, mainly due to its non-linear analysis capacity. The dynamic loads
(motions and sea pressures) were assessed using HydroSTAR (a 3D diffraction-radiation analysis software) and taking into
account the latest site meteocean data. An interface between HydroSTAR and ABAQUS has been developed in order to
transfer the hydrodynamic loads directly to the structural model.
The model was built with the following particularities:
Reinforced concrete was considered as a homogeneous material with yield capacity values according to tests performed
at construction time and using 3D 20-node solid elements (see Fig.12). Young Modulus was taken from standard
literature, see references [8], [9].

Figure 12: FE Model cross section with elements shrinked for better view.
Pre-stress cables were explicitly modeled, as illustrated in figure 6 showing the cables branching on a transversal section
and in figures 13 and 14 where the whole model longitudinal and transverse tendons are presented. The modeled cables
tension accounted for the variation of the pre-stressing load along each cable due to friction and losses due to anchorage
penetration. The comparison between the theoretical cable tension and the one obtained in the model was seen in figure
10.

Figure 13: FE model longitudinal cables Figure 14: FE model transversal cables
Concrete creep and shrinkage properties were considered bias coefficients directly applied on the tendons loads, see
references [8], [9], [10].
8 IPTC-12546-PP
Topside loads were introduced as concentrated masses placed at each topside module Center of Gravity (CoG) and
connected to its supporting stools at deck through rigid connections as shown in figure 16. The flare tower cantilever
support was assessed individually and illustrated in figure 15.

Figure 16: Complete FE model with topside masses and flare.
Operational experience
The present section is fed from the experience feedback of the last years during the set in
place of the integrity management system. Several different surveys and numerical analyses
were carried out in order to define the foundation for the future unit inspection and
maintenance plan.

I nspection and Maintanance plan
Based on drawings review, survey reports and FE results an inspection campaign has been
set up. It includes not only the Class requirements but also additional tasks in order to
maximize the unit efficiency. The main objectives are:
Identify any defect and the deterioration process:
Chemical attack.
Corrosion.
Crack.
Coating deterioration.
Accidents.
Define the severity of damage.
Provide recommendations for repair.
Provide an image of the condition of the unit to be compared in future campaigns.
Figure 15: Flare tower
Means of survey
Depending on location and inspection time differents means of survey will need to be used. They can be classed as follows:
GVI: Global Visual Inspection or Overall survey. Intended to report on the overall condition of the hull structure and
determine the extent of additional close-up surveys. It should be able to detect meaningful cracks, spills, concrete surface
spalling, rust coloring from passive steel corrosion emanating from cracks, material loss, coating deterioration and
corrosion of steel structures.
CVI: Close Visual Inspection or Close-up survey. When carrying out a CVI the details of structural components are
within the close visual inspection range of the Surveyor, i.e. normally within reach of hand. Prior cleaning of the
inspection area may be required.
NDT: Non-Destructive Testing. Is a close inspection by electrical, electrochemical or other methods to detect hidden
damage. The inspection method requires direct access to the inspected area. Prior cleaning of the inspection item is
normally required. For steel elements such methods include MPI (Magnetic Particle Inspection), ultrasonic images and
penetrating dyes. For reinforced concrete such methods include the Sclerometer, sonic measures, potential mapping and
radiography.
Sample taking: In some cases the NDT for concrete only provide information of the surface (less than 20mm) and if
doubts exist of the actual level of chlorures penetration or carbonatation depth samples may need to be taken. Adequate
filling of the space left behind is necessary and procedures and materials to be used have been defined. If the samples are
good enough strength tests can be undertaken for confirmation of concrete young modulus and mechanical behaviour.
IWS: In-Water Survey: Survey carried out underwater by divers and/or Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). It usually
implies prior marine growth cleaning.

IPTC-12546-PP 9
I nspection Program
Finally the inspection program was defined by division of the asset into different zones as shown on figure 17.
Submerged Zone: everything below the water surface at the service draft.
Splash Zone: area submitted to intermittent wetting due to waves.
Atmospheric Zone: comprises structure and equipment on and above the upper deck.
Internal Zone: includes all structure, spaces and reservoirs beneath the upper deck.
Each zone is then divided in sub-areas, each of which envelopes structure and/or equipment with similar inspection scopes.

Atmospheric zone
I nternal zone
S Sp pl la as sh h z zo on ne e
Underwater zone
Figure 17: Zones sub-division
The following two figures 18, 19 are an extract of the inspection schedule and defined tasks for the internal compartments of
NKP. Although empty capacities need appropriate ventilation before man-entry and the outer spaces need prior ventilation of
the central ones. This means that surveys are carried all along the year as the different capacities are opened, ventilated,
inspected and closed.

Figure 19
One of the requirements of the Asset Integrity Management is to
know at any time the status of the scheduled inspection
campaigns. It is necessary in order for the Integrity Manager to
follow the condition of the unit. If a programmed survey has not
been carried out he will be informed and make sure it is done.
In figure 20 is illustrated an extract of the web-based inspection
calendar for NKP. Colour levels indicate the survey status; done,
to be done or overdue.

Figure 18
10 IPTC-12546-PP

Figure 20: Extract of web-based inspection calendar
Return of Experience
Unconsciously reinforced concrete is understood as a durable, hard material and structures made with it are automatically
assumed to be built to last. And that is exactly the impression one has when entering the capacities of the NKP. In its
majority the walls are smooth and unscathed and making abstraction one would think himself on the basement of a building
and not on a floating structure above 170m of water 60 miles from the coast.
The doubts arise with the first cracks and for those not used to work with pre-stressed concrete structures some look
menacing. It is then that it has to be recalled that concrete is a continuous chemical reaction and natural cracking is expected
(endogenous cracking) during cement hydration. Concrete solidifies and hardens after mixing with water and placement due
to a chemical process known as hydration. The water reacts with the cement, which bonds the other components together,
eventually creating a stone-like material. During construction as the concrete is poured in different phases, shrinkage from
water consumption exists at different levels at adjacent pouring blocks. Cracks may then appear from restrained shrinkage in
any of the pourings. Such fissures are usually extremely thin and will end up sealing themselves up if appropriate resin
injection is done between pourings, but will still be visible. Thats why simply reporting cracks (except those clearly
indicating a significant loss of prestress) is not enough to indicate a problem is occurring. Crack progression with time needs
to be recorded. In order to evaluate the risks the FE model is used to try to find an explanation to the defect.
The different surveys mentioned above were defined in order to detect typical concrete degradation process namely:
- Effect of sea water on cements (sulfate, chloride),
- Lime leaching-carbonation,
- Alkali aggregate reaction,
- Reduction in cement content and strength,
- Increase of permeability (permitting Chloride Ingress),
- Fatigue.

As expected from the use of high quality concrete, only a number of the above defects were found on board and are presented
on pictures below. Figures 21 & 22 show external hull photos, whereas figures 23 & 24 are pictures taken from the inside:
IPTC-12546-PP 11
Figure 21: outer shell
1: The corner of the hull had been protected by fiber reinforced layer against abrasion from over hanging object like chains,
ropes, etc.
2: All steel pipe penetrations are protected by coating
3: The concrete hull was left unpainted and doesnt present any major defect
4: Metallic inserts or passive bars with lack of concrete cover present local and superficial corrosion
5: Marine growth as usual on offsshore unit
6: Metallic insert protectd by coating
Figure 22 : Manhole on deck
7: Manhole for construction phase creates local corrosion
Figure 23: bottom of internal capacity
8: Anchors of prestress cables
9: Capacity ullage gauge
12 IPTC-12546-PP
Figure 24: inner sufarce of outer shell
10: Pouring bloc joint
11: Typical shrinkage crack

Concrete damage from steel corrosion
As seen in the pictures one of the most common detectable defects is steel corrosion. Reinforcing steel (passive steel and pre-
stressed cables) in concrete is protected from corrosion due to the formation of a passive oxide film on the surface of the
steel. The process of hydration of cement in freshly placed concrete develops a high alkalinity, which in the presence of
oxygen stabilizes the film on the surface of embedded steel, ensuring continued protection as long as the alkalinity is
retained.
However even without mechanical degradation (impacts, abrasion), there are two major situations in which corrosion of
reinforcing steel can occur; carbonation and chloride ingress. Either way the removal of the passive film leads to the galvanic
corrosion process. When this occurs the produced rust takes up a lot more space than the originating steel, straining the
surrounding concrete. Since concrete is relatively weak in tension, cracks develop, exposing the steel to even more chlorides,
oxygen and moisture and the corrosion process accelerates.
1. Carbonatation: Carbonatation is a process in which carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere diffuses through the porous
concrete and neutralizes the alkalinity of concrete. The carbonation process will reduce the alkakine pH to approximately 8 or
9 in which the passive film is no longer stable. With adequate supply of oxygen and moisture, corrosion will start. The
penetration of concrete structures by carbonation is a slow process, the rate of which is determined by the porosity and
permeability of the concrete. Carbonatation not only can induce embedded steel corrosion but it also alters the concrete
properties.
2. Chloride ingress: Chloride ions can enter into the concrete from de-icing salts or from seawater in marine environments. If
chlorides are present in sufficient quantity, they disrupt the passive film and subject the reinforcing steel to corrosion. The
levels of chloride required to initiate corrosion are extremely low. Macro cell corrosion can develop from differences in
chloride ion concentration in different parts of the concrete structure. Such variations of chloride ion concentration are found
whenever concrete deteriorates.
Chlorides penetration and carbonation levels were measured at
different locations on NKP. In all locations the values showed
high quality concrete with weak depths of both phenomena. As
Figure 25 presents, the chloride depth on the outer shell after 7
years on site is limited to the first 10mm.
However, there are places were the steel elements had a too thin
concrete layer and steel has been reached as seen on the pictures
21 & 22. As it is a superficial defect (no more than 20mm in shells
that are 500mm thick) the repairs are relatively easy to carry out
with appropriate scaffolding were necessary.

Figure 25: Chlorides penetration after 7 years on site at outer
shell

IPTC-12546-PP 13
In addition, the following corrosion protective systems were set in place at building stage:
- Structure cathodic protection: Cathodic protection is a technique to control the corrosion of (reinforcing) steel by making
the steel the cathode of an electrochemical cell. CP is defined as the reduction or elimination of corrosion by making the
metal a cathode by connecting it to a sacrificial or galvanic anode, or via an impressed direct current. Cathodic areas in an
electrochemical cell do not corrode. If all the anode sites are forced to function as current-receiving cathodes, then the entire
metallic structure would be a cathode and corrosion would be eliminated. Electrical Continuity of all passive steels and other
structural metallic parts is necessary for obvious reasons.
183 anodes (the anodes on internal shell are located in the four capacities used as water ballast tank at the corners of the unit)
provide a steel-reference electrode potential around -850 mV as recommended in reference [7] and are intended to protect the
reinforcing steel.
- Exposed steel structures painted: High quality coating will eventually fail with time as shown of pictures 21 & 22. It is then
necessary to clean exposed steel and repaint in order to avoid loss of steel and concrete damage.

One way to check if corrosion of embedded steel is occurring is by means of potential mapping. If corrosion exists the
current flow in the concrete is accompanied by an electrical field which can be measured at the concrete surface, resulting in
equipotential lines that allow the location of the most corroding zones at the most negative values. This is the basis of
potential mapping, the principal electrochemical technique applied to the routine inspection of reinforced concrete structures.
The use of the technique is described in Ref.[12]. On NKP all measured potentials correspond to a very low probability of
corrosion (less than 10%).
Apart of visual examination of anodes oxidation the working order of the cathodic protection can be carried out by measuring
the steel potentials in concrete versus reference cells. On NKP anodes showed consumptions of around 10% and potential
measurements between -950 and -1100mV that correspond well to literature to the Aluminum anodes used.

Figure 26 & 26: NKP at construction site showing anodes on side shell and location of these on a cross section.
Concrete cracking.
Concrete cracks due to tensile stress induced by shrinkage or stresses occurring during setting or use.
As mentioned earlier shrinkage cracks can occur when concrete members undergo restrained volumetric changes (shrinkage)
as a result of its water consumption either from autogenous shrinkage or thermal effects (concrete dries faster than normal).
Plastic-shrinkage cracks are immediately apparent, visible within 0 to 2 days of placement, while drying-shrinkage cracks
develop over time.
Althoug high-performance concrete can accept a minor degree of tension it is insignificant compared to its capacity to resist
compressive loads. Therefore it is usually considered as having no capacity for tensile stress and if a member is under tension
loads it is the steel reinforcements that are assumed solicited.
On NKP nearly all the significant cracks detected have been declared as plastic-shrinkage. Exceptions are found on the fore
end where, due to flare heating, superficial drying-shrinkage cracks have developed. On the flare tower cantilever support
surface signs indicate the structure probably got close to operational limit during towing phase.

FE Model comparison with real life
The FE assessment has verified that the design construction keeps the overall structure in compression.
However the structural analysis has highlighted some localized areas where lack of compression can be found. These
localized areas coincide with the findings of the inspection showing superficial defects, mostly due to practical difficulty of
concrete reinforcement in these areas. Examples are degradation of deck edges and flare tower support ends, the latter having
pre-stress cables ending on them. All of those are easy to repair and dont need a high-tech qualification to bring back to as-
built situation. Flare tower cantilever surface cracks were explained by the FE model showing that the design was optimized
for the site conditions. Particular surveys have been defined for this member as a result of the numerical calculations.
14 IPTC-12546-PP
Figures 26 and 27 show the areas with localized lack of compression.

Figures 27, 27: Highlighted areas with lack of compression. Fore end and whole model.

Main conclusions
So far it has been concluded that an efficient cathodic protection was set in place and is actively protecting reinforcement
steel.
The choice of high quality of concrete is proving adequate protection agains carbonation and chloride penetration as well as
satisfying ageing.
After 10 years concrete hull maintenance and repairs basically consisted on restoring concrete surface cover lost from
abrasion and impacts.
Design enhances capacity inspectability. Spaces are open without intermediate members blocking the view (in opposition to
webframes and secondary stiffening on steel vessels). GVI is easily done with a number of fixed illumination sources
although additional means of access for CVI of the upper parts are necessary.
The main background danger will always be steel corrosion.
A better comprehension of structure aging process could have been obtained if samples had been prepared during
construction and left on board (in order to have same ambient conditions) for posterior strength and mechanic properties
tests. Similarly pre-stressed samples for fatigue capacity re-assessment should have been performed prior construction and
not just base design values on literature. Although concrete preparation is now a well-known science it is also true that there
are never two alike as their final properties depend on the used local water and aggregates.
Construction quality control is a must to ensure durability. Once properly set up with competent personnel the building site
can be placed nearly anywhere without need for an empty drydock slot.
The definition of the Floating Units Integrity Management program for NKP has allowed changing from a passive and
corrective action frame into a proactive scheme. Main non-accidental degradation process and most exposed locations have
been identified enabling to set in place an inspection program particular to NKP. It has also made apparent that the sooner
such a system is set in place the better. If it can be kept in mind during design it would help on the definition of means of
access and identify critical members that cannot be repaired/replaced on site and allocate appropriate safety margins, not only
to external loads but also corrosion allowance.
The creation of a finite element model representing as close as possible the as-built and site conditions has helped understand
survey outcome. It also means that in case of accident it could be used to evaluate the condition of the unit and help make the
right decisions.

References

1. Lanquetin B. TOTAL S.A.: Floating Units Integrity Management and Life Cycle Enhancement, Offshore Europe 2005 Conference,
Aberdeen 6-9 September 2005.
2. Lanquetin B. TOTAL S.A.: Experience gained from Floating Units Integrity Management, paper OTC 18146, OTC 2006, Houston 1-
4 May 2006.
3. Lanquetin B. TOTAL S.A., Collet P. Bureau Veritas, Esteve J . Bureau Veritas Structural Integrity Management for a Large Pre-
Stressed Concrete Floating Production Unit paper 29535, OMAE 2007, J une 10-15 2007, Sandiego, California.
4. Crozat F. NKossa barge, VSL News, 1995, n.2 v.6.
5. Valenchon C. Bouygues Offshore A Concrete Oil Production Barge, Congo, Structural Engineering International, February 1996, n.1
v.6.
6. Colliat J -L. TotalFinaElf, Boisard P., Andersen K., and Schrder K.: "Caisson Foundations as Alternative Anchors for Permanent
Mooring of a Process Barge Offshore Congo", paper OTC 7797, OTC 1995, Houston.
IPTC-12546-PP 15
7. Electrochemical corrosion protection Cathodic protection of concrete reinforcement Buried or immersed works, Normalisation
Francaise A 05-611 February 1992.
8. French National Pre-stressed Concrete Standard BPEL 91.
9. Norwegian Standard NS 3473.E3.
10. R. Chaussin, A. Fuentes, R. Lacroix, J . Perchat.: La Prcontrainte, Presses de lEcole Nationale des Ponts et Chausses.
11. Denys Breysse et Odile Abraham Mthodologie dvaluation non destructive de ltat daltration des ouvrages en bton, Presses de
lEcole Nationale des Ponts et Chausses.
12. ASTM C876-80, Standard Test Method for Half Cell Potentials of Reinforcing Steel in Concrete.

RULES AND CLASSIFICATION
Building practical rules from theoretical knowledge and new tools requires
deep evaluation. The papers in this section show how new understandings
in structural behaviour of containerships and deep water moorings can be
built into class rules. The papers also cover development of rules for
submarines and the future of maritime regulation.
A COMPREHENSIVE AND PRACTICAL STRENGTH ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY
FOR CONTAINER SHIPS TAKING INTO ACCOUNT NON LINEAR AND HYDRO-
ELASTIC LOADING

G de Jong and M Huther, Bureau Veritas, France

SUMMARY

The drive for economy of scale effects has fuelled the strong growth in size and capacity of new container ships. The
combination of relatively low hull girder stiffness and high speed (decreased natural frequency of hull girder vibrations
and increased wave encounter frequency) may cause phenomena which are of second order for average size vessels to
become of high importance for these large vessels. This is particularly the case for vibratory structural response and
associated fatigue damage caused by whipping and springing.

Making use of experience feedback with calculations and full scale measurements this paper presents a methodology to
estimate the consequences of these phenomena during the design stage of the vessel. Practical application of the
methodology has been made possible by further developing the Bureau Veritas in-house hydrodynamic suite
HydroSTAR to take into account hydro-elasticity and non linear time domain simulations. The software has been
validated against model tests, while a full-scale measurement campaign is ongoing.

Application of the methodology to ultra large container ships confirms that stress levels are indeed increasing. As a
consequence, a significant increase both hull girder loads and fatigue damage accumulation is found, which can no
longer be ignored when analysing the ship structure. When considering future designs for even larger container ships of
400 m in length and beyond, the effects of whipping and springing will become even more important.

1. INTRODUCTION

Over the past five years the maximum size of Post-
Panamax container ships has increased dramatically to
achieve economy of scale effects. Together with the
rapid growth in trade volume and mileage between the
emerging production economies in the Far East and the
established economies (mainly Europe), as well as a firm
belief that market share is the key for future success, an
unprecedented surge in new orders for ultra large
container ships (ULCS, 10 000+TEU) has been created.
According to data published by Clarkson, the world
orderbook for this segment stood at 187 vessels at the
end of the first quarter of 2008. The majority of these
giant boxships are expected to be delivered in 2009
(17%), 2010 (29%) and 2011 (43%).

Although the turmoil in the financial markets and
uncertainty regarding economic growth (possible
slowdown in China, fear for recession in the US, high oil
price) have drastically reduced the amount of new orders
in the first quarter of 2008, there is no reason to believe
that the drive for increasing the vessel size will come to a
halt at the present maximum of 13 300 TEU for a ship
overall length of about 370 m
1
. Therefore, realizing that a
new upheave in container ship ordering would probably
produce designs of well over 400 m in length, it is of key
importance to reflect on the technical challenges
associated with scale enlargement of ultra large boxships.

1
The only exemption is the E-class series of Maersk,
with an estimated capacity of 15 200 TEU and a length
of 397 m according to data from AXS Alphaliner.
In fact, if the increase in size is achieved through
extrapolation of existing ship dimensions and application
of environmental loads estimated from dimensional
analysis, it may be expected that phenomena which are
of second order for average size vessels can become
important for large vessels. This is particularly the case
for vibratory structural response and associated fatigue.

Experience feedback shows that two dynamic
phenomena affecting the hull girder require specific
attention when considering large container ships:
whipping (transitory hull girder vibrations caused by
hydrodynamic impact at the bow) and springing
(excitation of the first natural modes of vibration of the
hull girder). Indeed, increasing the size of ships with
large deck openings will decrease the natural frequencies
of hull girder vibrations, while an increase in service
speed will result in a higher wave encounter frequency.
Consequently the wave encounter frequency may be in
the same range as the lowest hull girder natural
frequencies, causing important dynamic amplification
effects.

As it is not fully clear to what extent these phenomena
are covered by the implicit and explicit safety margins of
classical rules and regulations, the effect of the dynamic
behaviour of large container ships in a seaway is to be
studied by direct calculations.

In this paper the two phenomena and their impact on ship
structures are analysed. In addition, the methodology
recently developed by Bureau Veritas to assess whipping
and springing effects in large container ship is presented,
as well as the implementation into the in-house
developed hydrodynamic simulation suite HydroSTAR.
2. WHIPPING

Whipping can be characterised as transitory response of
the hull girder in the first natural mode caused by
hydrodynamic impact at the bow due to re-entry of the
foreship into the water (slamming) or violent wave
impact at the stem (slapping), see figure 1.

Figure 1: Container ship experiencing slamming

The first natural mode of the hull girder could be
simulated by a system with one degree of freedom
damped at the corresponding frequency. The associated
forces are extremely high but of short time duration,
similar to an impulse [1] and consequently infer
transitory damped vibrations.


Slamming and slapping are known to occur in head seas
when the vertical (relative) motions are highest. The
deformations associated with the hull girder vibration
caused by hydrodynamic impact are superimposed on the
wave induced hull girder deformations, see figure 2.

Figure 2: Full scale measurements of stresses in the deck
of the vessel Marcel Bayard

It has been known for several years that ships with large
deck openings are prone to sustaining damages as a result
of whipping. First of all, the design value of the vertical
bending moment can be exceeded, causing permanent
deformation of the hull girder. Secondly, high frequent
stress cycles can be generated, causing premature fatigue
cracks in structural details [2, 3].

The understanding and analysis of the phenomenon of
exceeding the acceptable bending moment is relatively
straightforward, while the prediction of the occurrence of
fatigue cracks is much more difficult. However, the risk
for fatigue damages has been clearly demonstrated on the
vessel Marcel Bayard. In fact, the full scale measurement
campaign [2] was initiated after the appearance of fatigue
cracks when the vessel was only three years in service.
The study showed that, although the vessel length is only
110 m, the cracks could be explained by frequent
occurrence of whipping as a result of particular operating
conditions for this type of vessel and large deck openings
causing high stress concentrations in the deck.

Therefore, it is important to be able to estimate effects of
whipping on the stresses in the deck during the design
stage. This requires the combined simulation of the
behaviour of the vessel under wave loading and
hydrodynamic impact caused by slamming and slapping.


Direct calculations on a ship in a seaway in order to
determine the extreme hull girder loads and the fatigue
life of structural details have been common practice for
some decades. The methods used are based on the fast
spectral approach and are, after calibration, sufficiently
accurate for the classical checks. As whipping is a non
linear impulsive phenomenon, the (linear) spectral
approach does not longer hold. Instead, time domain
methods have been developed which can solve the
coupling problem between the 3D hydrodynamic
diffraction-radiation calculations and the dynamic
deformation of the hull girder modelled as a Timoshenko
beam or a 3D finite element model. For this modal
approach the motions and deformations of the vessel are
represented by a series of six rigid modes and five to ten
dry structural modes [4]. It is to be noted that the linear
hydrodynamic coefficients in the time step equations are
obtained from the classical frequency domain
calculations [5, 6].

There are two methods available for the determination of
the slamming and slapping loads (dynamically exciting
the hull girder), which are essentially 2-dimensional: the
Generalized Wagner Model and Modified
Logvinovich Model.

The determination of the structural response to whipping
is possible by combined application of calculation tools
for the rigid ship in the frequency domain and for the
elastic ship in the time domain (non linear). This set of
tools was successfully verified on vessels of 260 m and
360 m of length [7], see figures 3 and 4.

Figure 3: Example of time history of non linear bending
moment time including whipping
CwpSw CwpSw
=
+

Figure 4: Zoom of figure 3 at the instant of hydro-
dynamic impact (response types: elastic non-
linear, rigid non linear and rigid linear)

shown in table 1.

extreme hull girder loads
1
2
wave height)
3
slamming could occur (wave incidence, ship
speed, wave height)
4
Calculation of the non linear behaviour for
navigation conditions with high risk of slamming

2.3 EXTREME HULL GIRDER LOADS

Observation of the elastic response shows that whipping
increases the extreme values of the vertical bending
moment. Therefore, it is necessary to take this effect into
account for checking the ultimate strength of the hull
girder. The performed calculations [7] and full scale
measurements [2] show that whipping occurs when the
ship is in sagging condition. Therefore, for the most
severe navigation conditions the extreme slamming loads
and consequently the increase of the sagging wave
bending moment are calculated. Full scale measurements
show that the damping of the vibratory response is small
(of the order of =1.5%), which means that whipping is
still important half a wave period later when the vessel is
in hogging condition and that the ultimate strength check
is also to be carried out for this condition
2
. This check
can be done in analogy with the class rules for the
bending moment corrected for the whipping effect as
described [8].

2
Especially since container ships normally operate in
hogging condition, thus providing the extreme hull girder
bending moment.
Application on a 250 m container ship shows that the
increase of the total bending moment can reach 20 to
30% for severe navigation conditions, which is in
agreement with full scale measurements [2]. The
calculations performed for ultra large container ships
show that a similar percentage of increase may be
expected for these ships.

2.4 FATIGUE

Observation of the whipping response (figures 3 and 4)
reveals two effects regarding fatigue:
Increase of amplitude of the wave frequent hull girder
stresses
Creation of high frequent damped stress cycles at the
first natural frequency of hull girder bending

For welded details it is considered that the residual
stresses due to the heat input create a high level of
tension in zones where cracks may be expected, resulting
in a high R coefficient (minimum stress divided by
maximum stress, R > 0.5). For these high R values
variation of the average stress level has little influence on
the fatigue lifetime.

For details without welding there are no residual stresses
and analysis becomes somewhat more delicate. In order
to simplify matters, in first instance the same approach as
for welded structures is applied. As this means that a
high level of residual stress is presupposed, this is a
conservative simplification.

Application of Miners law, which is linear by nature,
allows for separating the low frequency (wave) and high
frequency (whipping) contributions and add both
individual effects to obtain the total result, see figure 5.

Figure 5: Separation of whipping effects for fatigue
calculation

Knowing the stress range of the first whipping cycle and
the damping it is possible to determine the distribution of
cycles and their associated stress ranges as depicted in
figure 6.

Figure 6: Distribution of high frequent, whipping
induced, stress cycles
The associated equations are
( )
=
2
3 j 4
2
1
exp A
j
Swp

(1)
with j designating the n
th
whipping cycle

=
2
1
exp
Sw Cwp
A
2
(2)

The short term distribution is obtained by noticing that
for every single whipping response there is only one
cycle at every level and that there will be a whipping
response associated to every wave cycle, i.e., at each
level the number of cycles is equal to the total number of
waves, see figure 7.

Figure 7: Short term distribution of whipping stresses for
a given wave amplitude

Miners sum can be computed by superimposing the
short term distributions of the stress ranges. Every cycle
can be considered as a response to a regular wave of
constant amplitude, while non linear response
calculations to regular waves can be utilised as well.

For a given wave frequency in head seas (being the
dominant wave condition for slamming to occur) it is
possible to determine the response function for a wave
height H and a threshold wave height H
th
below which
there is no risk of slamming:
( ) H f Sw Cwp =
th
H H > (3)


shows that whipping effectively causes amplification of
the hull girder bending stresses, as well as a measurable
contribution to the accumulation of fatigue damage. In
short term head sea condition the correction of the low
frequency stress range can yield a very significant
increase of up to 100% for some navigation conditions.
Considering that whipping disappears for non-severe sea
states, which are far more numerous than severe sea
states, and that there is no whipping for transverse and
following seas, the total long term increase of the Miner
sum due to whipping is estimated to be of the order of 3
to 5%.

whipping induced fatigue damage
1
2
short term response spectra without whipping
3
Determination of the whipping response in head
seas as function of the wave height according to
the wave frequencies of the considered sea states
and taking into account the whipping threshold
4
Approximation of a linear rule giving the
amplitude of the first whipping cycle as a function
of the amplitude of the rigid body response
5
Approximation of the variation on the linear rule
as a function of the wave incidence angle
6
whipping is likely to occur
7
Correction of the low frequent (wave) stress range
distributions for the whipping effect
8
Calculation of the Miner sum for all short term
low frequent distributions
9
Determination of the high frequent whipping
responses and associated Miner sums for every
short term distribution for which whipping occurs
10
whipping and high frequency contributions

Following the analysis it can be concluded that the Miner
sum associated to the high frequent part has a relatively
small contribution for the following reasons:
Whipping occurs only in a limited number of sea
states (head seas, wave height above threshold value)
The reduction of the stress amplitudes due to
damping puts the majority of the cycles under the
changing point of the slope of the S-N curve used
(due to the random character of the phenomenon a 2-
slope S-N curve is used for calculating the Miner
sum).

3. SPRINGING

Springing can be described as enforced wave induced
hull girder vibrations. The calculation of the natural
frequency of the two node hull girder bending mode for
vessels with a length up to 350 m shows values above the
frequency of the shortest observed waves. For instance,
North Atlantic wave tables give a lower period Tz=3.5 s
(0.28 Hz), while the natural frequency including added
mass of a 300,000 dwt tanker has been calculated at 0.5
Hz (T=2.0 s). Springing was identified in 1972 during a
full scale study on board a 340 m tanker [9], see figure 8.
The response of the first natural mode of hull girder
vibration, in spite of the high frequency, can be explained
by the fact that for a given wave period the energy is
distributed over a broad bandwidth. Using a Pierson-
Moskowitz spectrum, the energy associated to a wave
period of 3.5 s is distributed over a bandwidth of 0.12 to
0.65 Hz, while for a wave period of 8.5 s this is 0.05 to
1.7 Hz.

In addition, for head seas the encounter frequency is
increased by the ship speed as follows:
V
g
2
H
H e

+ = (4)

Figure 8: Response spectrum deck longitudinal stresses
on a tanker in head seas for rigid mode and
including springing [9]

For the referenced tanker, sailing at a speed of 15 kn (7.7
m/s), the energy for a wave period of 3.5 s will be
distributed over a bandwidth of 0.19 to 2.73 Hz, while
for a wave period of 8.5 s this bandwidth is 0.06 to 16 Hz.
These data clearly show that it the natural mode at 0.5 Hz
is effectively excited.

On vessels ranging from 300 to 350 m in length, if
springing is at all visible from the spectral analysis, the
level will be very weak and without effect on the
structural resistance. When the length of the vessel
increases or when the deck contains large openings the
structural rigidity and therefore the first natural
frequency mode decrease. When the ship speed increases,
the encounter frequency increases as well. In both cases
the frequency band associated with springing moves
towards the region where the spectral density of wave
energy is higher, thus amplifying the springing response
(the springing associated peak in figure 8 moves to the
left). This effect was noticed when performing design
analysis for tankers of 550,000 dwt (414 m in length) and
later confirmed during a four year full scale measurement
campaign [10, 11].

When considering the characteristics of a typical ultra
large container ship, with a length of over 360 m, speed
of about 25 kn and large open deck structure, it becomes
clear that springing is a phenomenon to be considered
during the design of the ship structure.


A typical time series of measured longitudinal stress in
the deck is presented in figure 9, which shows a high
frequent springing signal of nearly constant amplitude
superimposed on the low frequent (wave) component.

Figure 9: Measurement of deck longitudinal stress with
visible springing effect

Studies and measurements performed on 550,000 dwt
tankers show that springing is sensitive for sea states
with short wave periods. For these periods the maximum
wave height is generally low, see table 3.

Table 3: Maximum significant wave heights for North
Atlantic wave environment according to IACS
Tz (s) 3.5 4.5 5.5 6.5 7.5 8.5
Hs (m) 1.5 4.5 9.5 13.5 14.5 14.5

Due to the weak damping, =1.5% obtained from full
scale measurements [2, 11], the available energy for the
whipping response is limited and the amplitude remains
small compared to the wave frequent response.
Therefore, the influence of springing on the extreme hull
girder loads, corresponding to severe sea states (higher
natural period and very high significant wave height), is
not significant.

On the other hand, the high frequency and character of
the enforced vibration (a quasi permanent phenomenon
in sea states with relatively small waves, which are the
most frequent during the life of the vessel) yield a non
negligible springing induced contribution to the
accumulated fatigue damage. This is confirmed by
experience feedback of the 550,000 dwt tankers [11].


Taking into consideration that the springing induced
deformations are much smaller than the rigid body
motions of the hull girder, it can be assumed that the
problem can be treated in a linear sense and that the total
response can be obtained by summation of the separately
calculated rigid and elastic contributions [10]. Therefore
it is possible to apply the linear tools developed for
hydrodynamic and structural response calculations [13].

First of all, a classical calculation can be performed to
determine the linear hydrodynamic coefficients, in
particular the added mass and the transfer functions of
the rigid body responses (figure 10). Secondly, the
natural frequencies for the elastic hull and the associated
transfer functions for springing are calculated (figure 11).

=
+
=
+

Figure 10: Calculation of rigid body transfer functions

Figure 11: Calculation of transfer function for springing
in torsional mode (elastic hull)

In this way the transfer functions for the quasi static,
springing and total response are obtained for the selected
navigation conditions (figure 12).

Figure 12: Transfer function of peak stress in hot spot
(welded detail) in a container ship (springing,
wave and total)

shown in table 4.

Table 4: Step-by-step procedure for springing analysis
1
2
wave height)
3
springing could occur (wave incidence, ship speed,
wave height)
4
Calculation of the linear elastic behaviour for wave
incidences where springing occurs

3.3 FATIGUE

Observation of the springing response for a given sea
state (figure 9) shows that, on top of the wave frequent
response, a time series of stress cycles with nearly
constant amplitude at the first natural frequency of the
hull girder is generated.

The calculation of the short term fatigue damage
accumulation requires the determination of the
distribution of the high frequent stress cycles. The exact
method for achieving this would be Rainflow counting.
In order to do that a time history needs to be available,
which is impractical for the spectral approach. By
considering the same hypothesis as for the whipping and
the using the linearity of Miners rule, it is possible to
separate both the high frequent and low frequent
contributions as depicted in figure 13 superimpose them
to obtain the total result.

As shown for whipping, the range of the wave frequent
stress cycles needs to be corrected for the springing
effect as well. As only the navigation conditions with a
risk for the occurrence of springing need to be considered,
it is important to take into account speed reduction in
case the wave height increases, because this can cancel
the springing effect altogether.

Figure 13: Separation of springing effects for fatigue
calculation

For each of the contributions corresponding to a signal
with narrow banded spectrum, the fatigue accumulation
can be computed according the methodology for wave
frequent fatigue assessment [12]. The short term
distribution of the stress range S
i
can be described by a
Rayleigh distribution, where the coefficient m
0
is
determined by the area under the response spectrum:
( )

= >
0
2
i
i
m 8
S
exp S S prob (5)

For a given structural detail with known S-N curve it is
possible to calculate the Miner sums separately and add
them, taking into account the probability of occurrence of
each short term navigation condition (wave height and
period, vessel speed and wave incidence angle):
springing corrected , wave total
D D D + = (6)


springing induced fatigue damage
1
2
short term response spectra without springing
3
Determination of the frequency bands with high
energy density within the wave spectra for the
considered navigation conditions
4
Calculation of the natural frequencies of the hull
girder, taking into account the added mass
5
springing is likely to occur
6
Calculation of the transfer functions for springing
and associated short term response spectra for the
considered sea states
7
springing and high frequency contributions

The method has been checked at short term level against
the considered exact method, i.e. the Rainflow counting
of the stress time history. To do so, a time history has
been generated from the short term 2-peak response (see
figure 12) using specific software. Then a Rainflow
counting according to the AFNOR standard procedure
has been performed and the Miner sum calculated.

Two typical cases have been identified. For sea states
with Tz above 5 s the low frequent wave stress is
dominant over the high frequent springing, while for
smaller Tz the situation is reversed, see figure 14.

Figure 14: Stress time histories for Tz =6.5 s (above)
and Tz =3.5 s (below) (First modal period T
1

=2.15 s)

The comparison between the methods confirms that the
proposed procedure provides acceptable short term
Miner sum values. However, the correction factor for the
low frequent wave stress range has to be adjusted to the
typical cases to prevent underestimations.

shows that, due to the large deck openings, the first
natural mode of the hull girder is a torsional mode, which
is followed by a number of vertical bending and torsional
modes, see table 6.

Table 6: Wet natural hull girder modes and frequencies
ultra large container carrier
Hull girder vibration mode f (Hz)

An investigation of the navigation conditions with a risk
for springing occurrence showed that the torsional modes
are to be considered for wave incidence angles of 120
and 90 degrees, while the flexural modes are to be
considered for wave incidence angles of 180 and 120
degrees (180 degrees corresponding to head seas).

The fatigue lifetime of a structural detail in the deck
experiencing high dynamic loading has been calculated
according applying North Atlantic scatter diagram, see
figure 15.

Figure 15: Fatigue analysis of hatch corner detail of an
ultra large container ship

The springing response has been calculated for all wave
heights and periods of the wave data table until a
significant wave height of 5 m. For greater wave heights
it is assumed that the vessel speed will be reduced and,
consequently, that the shifted encounter frequency will
yield only irrelevant springing response.

The calculation of the short term Miner sum including
springing shows that, compared to the situation
excluding high frequent springing part, an increase in
fatigue damage of up to a factor 3 can be reached for
small period sea states. However, as small period sea
states represent only a limited part of the long term total
Miner sum, and taking into account that springing does
not occur for transverse and following seas, the total long
term increase of the Miner sum due to springing is
estimated to be of the order of 4 to 10%.
A sensitivity study shows that if the maximum
significant wave height is increased from 5 to 6 m, the
springing related Miner sum increases by 20%. However,
the effect on the total Miner sum is of second order.

4. HYDROSTAR

The described methodology to assess the effects of
whipping and springing during the design stage of ultra
large container ships has been made practically
applicable within the Bureau Veritas in-house
hydrodynamic simulation suite HydroSTAR, which has
been developed and validated for more than 20 years to
support new technological challenges. Originally started
as a linear 3D diffraction-radiation scheme for floating
offshore units, today HydroSTAR is a multi disciplinary
hydrodynamic package widely used in the marine and
offshore industry. Typical issues like irregular
frequencies, forward speed effect, roll damping,
automatic mesh transfer, second order wave loads and
multi body interactions are accounted for.

In order to simulate whipping and springing hydro-elastic
and non linear effects are to be accounted for. Hydro-
elastic effects are handled using the modal approach, for
which the equation of motion can be written as [13]:
[ ] [ ] ( ) [ ] [ ] ( ) [ ] [ ] ( ) { }{ } { }
DI
F C k b B A m = + + + + i
2
(7)
where [m] is the structural mass, [b] the structural
damping, [k] the structural stiffness, [A] the
hydrodynamic added mass, [B] the hydrodynamic
damping, [C] the hydrodynamic restoring, {} the modal
amplitudes and {F
DI
} the modal hydrodynamic excitation.
The hydro-elastic coupling is visualised in figure 16.

Figure 16: Hydrodynamic mesh following the structural
deformation of the hull (first modal period)

The non linear time domain simulations make use of the
procedure proposed by Cummins (1962), for which the
equation of motion can be written as follows [13]:
[ ] [ ] ( ) ( ) { } [ ] [ ] ( ) ( ) { }
( ) [ ] ( ) { } ( ) ( ) { } t t d t t
t t
t
0
Q F K
C k A m
+ = +
+ + +

&
& &
(8)
where [A
] is the infinite frequency added mass matrix

and [K(t)] the matrix of impulse response functions,
which can be calculated from the frequency dependent
damping coefficients [5, 13]:
( ) ( )
d t cos B
2
t K
0
ij ij

= (9)
This method enables the introduction of non linear
components in the excitation forces F(t) and Q(t) [13].
As an example, for the calculation of the extreme hull
girder bending moment including whipping effect a
(weakly) non linear Froude-Krylov model is applied, see
figure 17.

Figure 17: Non linear time domain simulation using
Froude-Krylov approach (loads on finite
element model)

The resulting overall computation scheme of the software
called HydroSTAR++is depicted in figure 18.

Figure 18: Computation scheme of HydroSTAR++for
hydro-structural simulation of container ships

4.1 MODEL TESTING

In order to validate and calibrate the methodology for the
hydro-elastic and time domain simulations, several
model tests have been carried out and compared to the
calculation results. In figure 19 depicts the torsional
response of an elastic barge, showing good agreement
between measurements and calculation results [13].

Figure 19: Elastic barge in torsion (impression of test left,
RAO of torsional angle right): comparison
between experiments and calculation results
In figure 20 the initial deformation and the time history
of the vertical displacement after releasing it from the
original position are depicted. Again, there is good
agreement between calculations and experiments.

Figure 20: Elastic decay test (initial position left, time
history right): comparison between
experiments and calculation results

4.2 FULL SCALE MEASUREMENTS

Within the scope of the J oint Industry Project
Lashing@Sea full scale measurements are carried out on
board the BV class 9,400 TEU container ship CMA-
CGM Rigoletto. Motion and acceleration sensors have
been distributed over the hull and two cross sections have
been equipped with strain sensors to record the dynamic
response in terms of accelerations and internal hull girder
loads.

In order to study the behaviour of stacked containers and
lashing equipment a dedicated measurement container
has been installed above the aft deck. An example of a
time series of measured accelerations in the container is
shown in figure 21.

Figure 21: Time series of full scale measurement in
transverse accelerations in container
(normalised)

The results of the measurement campaign can be used to
study the real life behaviour of large container ships
and to further validate and calibrate the developed
numerical tools.

5. CONCLUSIONS

An increase in the size and speed of container ships
importantly changes the behaviour in a seaway.
Phenomena already known for smaller size vessels can
be amplified to reach levels high enough to have an
impact on the design of the hull. This is particularly true
for the cases of whipping and springing.

The springing phenomenon was first studied during the
construction of the 550,000 dwt tankers in 1975, for
which time domain calculations have been performed. At
that time the whipping phenomenon was also known,
specifically in relation to ships with large deck openings,
but computer simulation was not yet feasible. Recent
developments in computer computation power and
efficient algorithms allow performing non linear hydro-
structural calculations in the time domain.

A methodology has been proposed to estimate the effects
of whipping and springing on the extreme hull girder
loads and fatigue lifetime of structural details. In order to
be able to study the fatigue related effects during the
design stage of a vessel, it is assumed that the low
frequent and high frequent contributions can be dealt
with separately. This simplification importantly reduces
the required amount of non linear time domain
simulations.

The application of the methodology has been made
possible by further development of the Bureau Veritas
in-house hydrodynamic simulation suite HydroSTAR to
solve hydro-elastic and non linear time domain problems.
Extensive validation has been done by model testing,
while the ongoing full scale measurement campaign will
provide additional valuable feedback.

Application of the methodology to ultra large container
ships confirms that the stress levels are indeed increasing.
As a consequence, a significant increase both hull girder
loads and fatigue damage accumulation is found, which
can no longer be ignored when analysing the ship
structure.

Whipping effects can cause an increase of about 20% in
total vertical bending moment, for which the hull girder
ultimate strength is to be checked.

For current container ship designs of about 350 m with
extremely large open deck structure, whipping can cause
an increase in short term fatigue damage accumulation
by a factor of up to 100% for some head sea navigation
conditions. The increasing effect on the long term
whipping induced fatigue damage accumulation is
estimated to be in the range of 3 to 5%.

With regard to springing, as a consequence of the
flexibility of the hull girder and high vessel speed,
current designs of about 350 m in length show an
increase in short term fatigue damage accumulation by a
factor of up to 3 for small period sea states, which is
superior to the referenced tankers of 414 m. The
increasing effect on the long term springing induced
fatigue damage accumulation is estimated to be in the
range of 4 to 10%.

It is expected that full scale measurements results will
provide valuable insight into the real dynamic behaviour
of large container ships, as well as the accuracy of the
calculations. In addition, further development of the
methodology and hydro-structural computation schemes
are ongoing and are expected to further enhance
prediction capabilities.

When considering future designs for even larger
container ships of 400 m in length and beyond, it is
certain that with similar hull structural design the
increase of fatigue damage accumulation due to
whipping and springing will become even more
important. By realizing that springing is a forced
vibration phenomenon with little damping and that the
whipping response is of non linear character, the
dynamic phenomena and associated consequences will
have to be analysed with greater attention.

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The models and results presented in this paper require
strong interaction of many technical competencies.
Therefore, the authors would like to thank all the people
involved in the research and application of the developed
methodologies, in particular . Malenica, F. Mauduit, N.
Germain, F. Bigot, F.X. Sireta, S. Maherault, E. Stumpf,
V. Bouitillier, J . Henry and G. Parmentier.

7. REFERENCES

1. Huther M, Ket N, Water impact risk estimation
during ship design, Ship Behaviour at Sea,
International Symposium on Ship Hydrodynamics
and Energy Saving, ISSHES, Madrid, September
1983
2. Osouf J , Etude exprimentale du comportement
dynamique dur houle du navire cblier Marcel
Bayard, Revue NTM, 1973 (in French)
3. Drummen I, Moan T, Storhaug G, Moe E,
Experimental and full scale investigation of the
importance of fatigue damage due to wave-induced
vibration stress in a container vessel, Design &
Operation of Container Ships, RINA, London,
November 2006
4. Malenica , Molin B, Remy F, Senjanovic I,
Hydroelastic response of a barge to impulsive wave
loads, 3
rd
International Conference on
Hydroelasticity, Oxford, 2003
5. Cummins WE, The impulsive response function
and ship motions, Schiffstechnik, 1962
6. Ogilvie TF, Recent progress toward the
understanding and prediction of ship motions, 9
th

International Conference on Numerical Ship
Hydrodynamics, Ann Arbor (USA), 2007
7. Tuitman J , Malenica , Some aspects of whipping
response of container ships, 23
rd
IWWWFV, J egu
(Korea), 2008
8. Bureau Veritas, Rules for the Classification of Steel
Ships, November 2007
9. Planeix JM, Wave loads, A correlation between
calculations and measurements, Revue International
Shipbuilding Progress, August 1972
10. dHautefeuille B, Huther M, Baudin M, Osouf J ,
Calcul de springing par quations intgrales, Revue
NTM, 1977
11. Huther M, Osouf J , SEFACO, Four years of
experience in ship hull girder stress monitoring,
MARINTEC, Shanghai, October 1983
12. Huther M, Beghin D, Mahrault S, A fatigue
strength guidance note for welded ship structure
assessments, IIW/IIS doc XIII-111742-98/XV-992-
98, 1998
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methods in numerical dynamics IUC, Dubrovnik,
September 2007

8. AUTHORS BIOGRAPHIES

Gijsbert de Jong holds the current position of product
manager at Bureau Veritas. He is responsible for the
international business development in the field of
container ships. Gijsbert joined Bureau Veritas in 2001
after obtaining an MSc in Naval Architecture & Marine
Engineering from Delft University of Technology.
Before moving to the sales and marketing management
team in Paris, he has worked as hull surveyor and
department manager in the plan approval office in
Rotterdam.

Michel Huther is a graduate Mechanical Engineer
(Ecole Centrale de Lyon, 1965) and Naval Architect &
Marine Engineer (Ingnieur Civil du Gnie Maritime,
1967). Michel joined Bureau Veritas in 1969 and has
worked as research engineer and department head for the
ship research and rule development department, with
many contributions to European R&D projects. In 2000
he was promoted deputy to the director of the marine
technical management. After his retirement in 2003
Michel is holding the position of technical advisor to the
Bureau Veritas marine technical management. He is a
member of SNAME, ATMA & SF2M and has published
over 200 scientific and technical papers on ship structural
behaviour and safety.

RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
DOT PERTH December 2008 p 1 / 18
Fibre rope deepwater moorings:
Complete and consistent
design and qualification procedures
Franck Legerstee, Michel Francois, Cedric Brun
Bureau Veritas

ABSTRACT
Fibre ropes are today extensively used for station-keeping of permanent Floating Production
Systems and Mobile Offshore Drilling Units in deep waters, and constitute a key technology,
as the waters in which they operate go deeper and deeper. Since the very first installations,
back in the late 90s by Petrobras pioneers, this technology of lightweight mooring has been
widely used in various regions, yet not stopping a sustained Research and Development effort
from the Industry, including operators, designers and product manufacturers. This continuous
R&D effort led to a better understanding of a number of issues, and coupled with the
feedback from design, manufacturing, operation and related certification activities, permitted
the development of up-to-date and optimised product qualification and Certification
procedures, with a stage of maturity confirmed by the issuance of International Standards and
Guidance Notes from Classification Societies. An overview of these procedures will be given
in a first part of this paper.
An important aspect of this effort was the understanding of the engineering properties of the
rope as a line component, particularly the load-elongation characteristics of fibre ropes, which
are needed for the evaluation of the response of the mooring system. The current practical
model involves a separation in several terms, following the time scale of actions (ranging
from seconds - a passing wave - to system lifetime), that need to be consistently defined
between measurement procedures and data for analysis.
These properties have been the subject of a recent research project, aiming at confirming
previously acquired knowledge on polyester ropes, the material principally used. This project
RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
also provided a more complete understanding on some aspects, particularly the quasi-static
stiffness of polyester ropes, (addressing the variations of the mean tension in the lines, at a
very slow rate, under changing weather conditions). Results of extensive tests performed
principally on polyester sub-rope samples were interpreted to provide practical data for
mooring analysis, in the form of a quasi-static load-elongation characteristic.
As regards the dynamic stiffness of polyester ropes, recent test data confirmed the current
practice for modelling dynamic stiffness in design.
This paper then summarises how these recent advances resulting from Research and
Development have been successfully implemented in software tools and corresponding
Classification Guidelines, thus achieving a complete and consistent approach for design and
product certification of fibre ropes mooring systems.

I NTRODUCTI ON
Fibre ropes are today increasingly used for the station-keeping system of permanent Floating
Production Units in deep waters, where they offer an elegant and efficient lightweight
solution, and for MODU's, where they give an extended water depth capability to existing
units.
Following a development period, and ten years after the first installations of semi-submersible
FPU's in Brazil, this technology has reached a stage of maturity now addressed in
International Standards:
the ISO station-keeping standard ISO 19901-7 includes provisions and design criteria for
fibre rope station-keeping systems [1],
a standard for polyester ropes for station-keeping : ISO 18692. This document is a product
standard, defining qualification and testing requirements for ropes [2].

This situation is the result of accumulated knowledge on the engineering properties of the
ropes, through a number of R&D studies over the world, and of growing practical experience
in the Industry, for both Users and Manufacturers, from which product qualification and
Certification procedures were developed [3].

The present paper reviews these two aspects that are indeed closely interrelated:
RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
qualification and acceptance procedures of the product, ensuring that the purchased rope
has the expected properties and adequate durability,
engineering properties of the rope as a line component, i.e. the properties that are required
for the design of a station-keeping system, such as rope breaking strength, endurance
under cyclic loading (T-T fatigue), load-elongation properties, etc

This review highlights the most important parameters for system design and rope
qualification, focusing on the prevailing materials, principally polyester, setting the way for a
complete and consistent methodology for fire ropes mooring systems.

ROPE QUALI FI CATI ON
Objectives of rope qualification
The process of implementing the station-keeping system of a floating structure is, from the
initial stage of concept selection to the final installation, a multi-stage process, that is run
under scrutiny of all parties involved, particularly the Classification Society, to ensure that the
final installed system has the specified performance (vessel offset, strength and endurance).

During the engineering phase, where the station-keeping system is designed, the type, size,
and dimensions (length) of line components are specified, based on the today well known
properties of the products, clearly defined in international standards as [2] and [3]: it is
therefore of paramount importance that these properties are well understood by the Designer.
At the purchasing stage, the manufactured line components must be verified to have these
properties. The necessary assurance is obtained through a qualification process, based on
testing of a prototype rope identical to intended supply.
This rope qualification is thus an essential stage, indeed a corner stone, in the process of
designing, manufacturing and installing a fibre rope station-keeping system:
to ensure, prior to starting production of this ropes, that the product proposed by the
Manufacturer has the required characteristics, in terms of strength , durability, and
engineering properties such as rope load-elongation properties,
to provide a documented reference to ensure, during the next step of rope production, that
the ropes supplied are identical to the prototype, thus have the expected properties.

RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
On the other hand, the rope for a given project is not in itself a unique product, that the
Manufacturer will never have produced before (except possibly for size), but one size in the
proposed design, and he will have normally produced, tested, and qualified other (often
smaller) sizes. Besides evidence of the Manufacturer's capability, this is giving possibilities to
resolve the dilemma between the high level of assurance that this application demands and the
economical (time and cost) constraints of a project.
Whilst some essential tests (such as breaking strength) shall be performed on full size
prototypes, other tests may be omitted when test results are available from previously
qualified ropes of the same model having gone through the full process, including
certification by the Classification Society, rather than being made on a scaled rope.
Selection of tests required (or not) on the same size depends on both the nature of the
properties and their criticality. As discussed below, the latest documents are reflecting State of
the Art practice (much more was required a few years ago). Besides, being defined as a
standardised process, the qualification does not need to be repeated if the same rope is already
qualified.
What has to be identical (except size) between production, prototype, and previous
prototype has been carefully defined, albeit in broad terms, and will be verified during rope
Certification.

Most salient aspects are outlined below. Further guidance and discussion may be found in [2]
and [3].

Breaking Strength
The rope Required Minimum Breaking Strength is the principal parameter by which the rope
size is defined, as a result of the design, with other parameters that are accounted for in the
design loop being defined as a function of rope MBS.
Safety factors are basically the same as for steel components. However, most Operators and
Classification guidelines [4] specify an additional margin for permanent systems. In practice,
a size will be selected in the Manufacturer's catalogue, implying an additional (small) margin.
For the selected size, breaking tests on full size samples are required to get an independent
verification of the Manufacturer's prediction (i.e. to verify the breaking strength of the rope
against the specified MBS, not to determine it). For rope qualification, having 3 samples
tested, with all 3 results above the specified MBS is required.
RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
When a rope is already qualified, one test is considered sufficient to validate production, on
top of QA/QC and Surveys activities.
For this test, a standard bedding-in sequence is defined, in order to get meaningful stable
results for the breaking strength. This also provides an opportunity to get a measurement of
the rope dynamic stiffness at the end of that sequence (see below).

Cyclic loading endurance (T-T fatigue)
The T-T fatigue endurance has now been quantified, for typical polyester ropes for station-
keeping, by the extensive cyclic loading tests (up to 40 million cycles endurance) performed
within the Rope Durability project [5], and found to be far above that of a steel wire rope of
the same size. Tests also indicated that the prevailing mode of failure of a properly designed
and manufactured rope under such conditions is internal abrasion.
A consequence of the high endurance revealed by the above-mentioned tests is that testing to
failure large ropes, even sub-ropes, with a load range that is relevant for internal abrasion, is
not practically achievable.
However, there are other potential failure mechanisms and a cyclic loading test remains
necessary to show that the overall construction of a particular rope does not present risks of
premature failure due to inadequate design or manufacturing, so can be expected to have the
required endurance. The range of load amplitude and the related endurance, in [2] and [3] are
keeping test duration within reasonable limits, without unduly triggering creep failure.
Besides, although fatigue is not fully size-independent, but as it is expected not to be critical,
a range of validity is defined around the size of tested rope, within the scaling allowance
quoted before, so as to avoid unnecessary repeat of a costly test, or the testing of very large
sizes - currently not reasonably achievable.

For Polyester ropes, the abrasion resistance comes from using marine grade fibres. A test
method of Yarn-on-Yarn abrasion is specified within fibre qualification requirements.
However, this test is rather qualitative and comparative, and there is no documented
correlation between the results of the rope fatigue-testing project and the level of acceptance
specified for the Y-o-Y abrasion tests.
Therefore, for polyester fibres other than those tested in that project, or other materials, a
direct demonstration of endurance, e.g. on small size scaled ropes (or sub-ropes) is expected
to be presented, before claiming for the high level of endurance now expected by designer.
RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12

Compression fatigue is also a potential mode of failure for synthetic fibres, but has been
evidenced not to be an issue, for polyester and HMPE, down to 1% of MBS minimum loads.
For fibres in other materials, compression failure should be documented by appropriate tests,
and pertinent minimum tensions are needed.

Durability
Chaffing, cutting, and internal abrasion by ingress of foreign materials (soil, marine
organisms) are known threats to any fibre rope, and can happen, in the first place, during the
installation of the mooring system. Detailed guidance on rope handling care is now provided
in [2].

A braided cover is currently used as the primary barrier. Polyester is most often used but other
materials could offer better abrasion resistance. Soil (or other particle) ingress below the
cover can in turn exacerbate internal abrasion mechanisms under cyclic loading, leading to a
drastic reduction of rope endurance. Therefore, providing a secondary barrier to avoid particle
ingress is an elementary precaution. Non-woven material is typically used, and the rope
standard [2] defines minimum performances to be achieved. Consequently, laying of ropes
fitted with such qualified filters on the sea-bottom during installation, with due care, is now
considered as acceptable.

Load-Elongation properties
As further discussed in the next section, load-elongation properties are critical data for
designing a station keeping system, but are rather complex to evaluate and specify, in
comparison with the linear elastic behaviour of equivalent steel components.
However, sufficient data are now available, as needed for analysis, i.e. far in advance of any
rope purchasing.

Then, on the basis that the load-elongation properties of a given fibre and rope construction
are known or have been previously identified, the purpose of rope qualification is to verify
that the supplied rope achieves the expected performance, and only a limited amount of full
size testing is needed. Besides, tests have shown that the dynamic stiffness Krebi at the end
RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
of the standard bedding-in sequence (of the breaking test) does provide a pertinent indication
of the degree of stiffness of a given rope. Therefore, such test repeats can now be avoided.
In the polyester rope standard [2], this verification is thus defined as a three-step process:
verification testing on one size in a given series of ropes, for a limited number of
conditions,
measurement of Krebi, the dynamic stiffness at the end of bedding-in, for each new rope
to be qualified, within the breaking test procedure.
measurement, for each new rope to be qualified, of the linear density, for later derivation of
rope length.

The length of a finished rope is defined, rather than the manufacturing length (or the length on
storage reel), as a bedded-in length at a reference tension. Issues of length variation are
discussed later below.
Torsional properties of rope can also be important in some cases, and will be addressed by the
selection of rope type (torque-neutral or torque-matched) on one hand, and by testing on one
size of a given model, when relevant.

FI BRE ROPES LOAD-ELONGATI ON PROPERTI ES AND MODEL
I ssues
A proper knowledge of the load-elongation properties of ropes is critical in designing a fibre
rope station-keeping system and evaluating its integrity under the expected conditions.
However, these properties are rather complex to evaluate and specify, in comparison with the
linear elastic behaviour of equivalent steel components. Besides, the loading regimes of a
rope in an anchoring line are quite specific with respect to usual service conditions of fibre
ropes.
A considerable improvement in the knowledge on this subject has been achieved in the recent
years, following the first insight given in [6]. Within the French CLAROM fibre rope
projects, since 1997, extensive testing has been carried out, over a wide range of sizes and
materials. Tests have been performed at scales from single filament to full-size ropes,
including the intermediate yarn, assembled yarn and sub-rope levels, over a wide range of
loading conditions.
RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
In 2000, based on these tests and the data from qualification tests of ropes for Petrobras, a
practical (engineering) model for the load-elongation characteristics of polyester ropes, was
presented and documented in [7] and [8], and is currently in use within several State of the Art
mooring analysis and line dynamics software packages [11]. Tests performed since on other
materials have generally confirmed the applicability of this model.

Model
The load-elongation properties of fibres and fibre ropes exhibit a non-linear and time
dependent (visco-elasto-plastic) behaviour. As a result these properties cannot be reduced to a
load-elongation characteristic, even a non-linear one, and particularly, NOT to the load
elongation curve of a new sample under monotonic loading (as obtained from a standard
breaking test).
In the lines of a station-keeping system, once the system is deployed/installed and set under
tension, the rope will be maintained under a sustained tension for months, even years or
decades in the case of a deep-water permanent mooring, then subjected to the random loads
induced by the environment (wind, waves, current).
It is then appropriate for the evaluation of system response to separate the response into three
terms, related to the time scale of actions, also matching the typical steps of a mooring
analysis (be it frequency or time domain):
Mean elongation (system pretension, permanent load),
Visco-elastic response to slow variations of mean load under changing weather, modelled
by the quasi-static stiffness,
Response to dynamic actions (both low frequency and wave frequency - a separation was
found unnecessary) modelled by a mean-load-dependent dynamic stiffness.
For polyester ropes, numerical values for the parameters in this model were proposed
following the observation that, in spite of different fibres (i.e. fibre suppliers) and rope
constructions, ropes targeted to this application had very similar properties, and normalisation
by the (full size) rope MBS could be made.

In the latest phase of the CLAROM project, extensive tests were carried out, with the
objective of getting data on rope behaviour under a wider range of load and elongation than in
standard tests, so as to cover the particular situations that may occur in some systems or
design conditions. These tests also confirmed a number of aspects in this practical model, and
RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
gave a better insight into the visco-elasto-plastic response of fibre ropes, further
complementing the knowledge gained from earlier phases in this project.
The tests were performed principally on polyester sub-rope samples. Some tests were also
performed on a full size parallel construction 800-ton MBS rope based on the same sub-ropes
and on another full size rope with a different fibre.
Detailed presentations of the testing protocols and discussion of results are given in [9] and
[10].

Mean elongation
A particularly important aspect, quite specific to fibre ropes, is the modification of the
properties of a rope during the first loading(s) and during the early stages of rope service. This
process, called bedding in, results in an essentially permanent - not recoverable - elongation
with respect to the rope initial length at the time of manufacturing. Being primarily due to
changes at a molecular level within fibres, it also results in a stabilisation of the rheological
properties of the rope.

To define the length of a finished rope as a bedded-in length at a reference tension (typically
20% of rope MBS), a loading sequence that is deemed representative of the typical
installation conditions of a stationkeeping system is specified in the linear density test in [2]
and [3]. Then this purchase length may be deemed a lower-bound evaluation of the as-
installed length of line under pre-tension. The length under pre-tension will however increase
with time, and re-tensioning may be needed from time to time, e.g. after an important storm.
Results of the extended quasi-static stiffness test described later below gave data on the rope
length at a mean tension of 20%, as a function of the principal parameter affecting this length:
the maximum load previously attained (see Figure 1). Some dependence on the loading
history is however clearly apparent.
On two samples to which the linear density test sequence was applied, the elongation at a
20% load, at the end of the sequence gave the reference length L
20
for rope purchasing,
according to the length measurement method in the standard [2]. The two other samples, for
which the standard bedding-in sequence of strength and stiffness measurements in [2] and [3]
was used as initial loading sequence, showed a stable mean elongation, about 1.6% higher
than L
20
, for all loads up to above 40%.
RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
For the samples with a milder bedding-in, the elongation increases quickly when the load
exceeds the maximum seen during first bedding-in: given the time frame of the test (within
48h of the very first loading of the rope, i.e. much less than the time required to install a
system and to have it actually operating) it is likely that most of the permanent elongation will
quickly accumulate in the early days of the installed system, if not during installation itself.
Thus, in analysis, it can be normally assumed that, at a given time, the pre-tensions have been
reset to their design values. If needed for some particular situations (such as sudden storms),
lower bound pretentions may be considered.
For higher maximum loads, further (delayed) permanent elongation is observed, increasing
almost linearly until 70% MBS. This delayed permanent elongation is indeed included in the
quasi-static characteristic defined in the following paragraphs.

20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
20
F
m
a
x

(
%

o
f

B
S
)
OL1 OL2
OL3 OL4

Figure 1 . Mean elongation at a 20% load as a function of (previous) maximum load - four
samples.

Quasi-Static stiffness
Following the concept proposed in [6] a quasi-static stiffness was defined, ten years ago, in
order to model the visco-elastic response of ropes to slow variations of mean load, under the
effect of changing weather conditions, i.e. a time scale of several hours or days, where the
tension in the line, initially the line pre-tension, increases (in the windward lines) or decreases
(in the leeward lines), at a very slow rate.
In this test (see [2] and [3]), after a proper bedding-in, the rope is cycled between two tension
levels, with a constant load plateau at each level. Typically, 3 cycles of twice hour each are
used (a practical time frame for the duration of the test). A secant stiffness can be obtained
RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
from the end points of the last cycles but, in order to get a stiffness that is more
representative of the duration of load rise of the events intended to be modelled, cycles of
longer duration are simulated from the measurement of creep or recovery during load
plateaus and fitting to a log function of time.
The two load levels are normally taken as 10% and 30% of MBS, and the duration of load rise
is normally taken as 12 h, providing values of the non-dimensional quasi-static stiffness Krs
for typical storm conditions. However different levels or durations could apply to some design
or metocean conditions (e.g. a damaged system, a loop current event).

Extended quasi-static stiffness test
In order to widen the scope of characterisation, an extended quasi-static stiffness test was
developed: as shown in Figure 2a, a series of load-unload cycles is applied, similar to those of
the standard test, all with the same 20% range but at different sets of load levels, starting and
ending with a set of cycles at 10-30%. Figure 2b shows an example of the resulting force-
strain plot during the extended quasi-static stiffness test (continuous record over 48 h).

0
100
200
300
400
500
600
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time, h
F
o
r
c
e
,

k
N
Linear
density

0
100
200
300
400
500
600
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Strain, %
F
o
r
c
e
,

k
N

Figure 2 . Extended quasi-static stiffness sequence - samples 3 and 4
a) Force versus time, b) Force versus elongation

From the elongations at the end of each cycling, a secant stiffness is obtained (without
extrapolation at this stage). A close match was found between the results of all four samples,
with a very limited effect of previous bedding-in.
From the fitting and extrapolation of creep and recovery plateaus, the elongations for different
levels and durations are obtained, and a stiffness between two levels could be calculated.
RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
Indeed, in a station-keeping system, the tension will gradually increase (or decrease) more or
less monotonically in most cases, and over the same period of time, from initial tension to a
maximum (or minimum) value which will be different in each line. Then, by considering the
relevant points, a practical characteristic for the specified loading time can be obtained, that is
shown in Figure 3.

A first observation is that, for the 12h (standard) loading time, this characteristic is almost
linear over a large range of loads, i.e. the standard quasi-static stiffness derived from tests
between 10 and 30 % remains valid from about 7 to above 70%. At higher loads, this is
inclusive of the above mentioned delayed permanent elongation. Besides, for the 7 days
loading time, the slope of the characteristic (dX/dT =1/Kr ) is only marginally different from
that for 12h.
Besides, for tensions below 10%, there is a clear increase of compliance with decreasing load.
In a system working at low tensions in leeward lines, this will have a similar effect as the
catenary effect in weighty components of the line.
More details and corresponding equations can be found in [10].

Figure 3 . Q-S PRACTICAL characteristics and included Xp

Dynamic stiffness
The Dynamic stiffness is modelling the near-elastic response of the rope to cyclic actions
(both low frequency and wave frequency) induced by the environment.
In tests (see [2] and [3]), after bedding-in, the rope is cycled around a preset mean tension,
with harmonic (constant amplitude, sinusoidal) loading. The dynamic stiffness is taken as
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
-3.0 -2.0 -1.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0
elongation (% ) above L20
T
e
n
s
i
o
n

(
%

o
f

B
S
)
Xij 12h
Xij 7d
QS 12h
QS 7d
included Xp
RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
the mean slope over several cycles at the end of the sequence. Normalising loads by rope
MBS, the non-dimensional dynamic stiffness KrD is then obtained.
In order to complement the characterisation work performed earlier (see [7]), a number of
dynamic stiffness tests were performed, on the same sub-ropes and full size ropes as those
above, with systematic variations of mean-load level, load range, and cycling period, so that
the dependence of dynamic stiffness on testing parameters could be definitely clarified,
beyond its known dependence on mean load.

A series of tests confirmed that the effect of cycling period (from 12.5 s to 500 s) on dynamic
stiffness is negligibly small, in accordance with earlier findings.
During tests (with harmonic loading), the stiffness quickly increases in the first cycles, then
tends to stabilise (at least apparently). From different tests, it seems that the stabilisation of
the dynamic stiffness (toward the maximum stiffness for the applied mean load) and that of
mean elongation (towards a stable condition) are closely related.
A series of tests under harmonic loading, with different mean loads and ranges, highlighted a
dynamic stiffness clearly decreasing when range is increased. However, the real loading is not
harmonic. Further tests were thus performed on the full size ropes, using time series obtained
by mooring analysis (i.e. a realistic wide band signal, with low and wave frequency contents).
An example of applied time series and resulting load-elongation plot is shown in Figure 4. It
is noteworthy that the load-elongation is very close to a single overall linear relation, with
effects of neither the amplitude of individual cycles, nor the period of underlying (low and
wave frequency) components.
Further analyses of the signals, both in time and frequency domains (FFT of signals)
confirmed that stiffness is independent of frequency, and indicated that the scatter around
mean position is primarily due to a small shift in mean elongation and tension, along the test,
secondarily to an axial (material) damping in the low frequency response: this can generate
only a small contribution to the overall low frequency damping of the system in the order of
1% of the critical damping.

Besides, from different tests it is apparent that this stiffness is almost independent of the
overall (min to max) amplitude of the signal, and is slightly higher than the stiffness under
harmonic loading, indicating that a better stabilisation, i.e. closer to real conditions, was
RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
achieved by these sequences. Thus, there is no point in taking into account an effect of load
range in analysis.
1500
2000
2500
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
time, minutes
F
o
r
c
e
,

k
N

1500
1750
2000
2250
2500
3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4
Strain, %
F
o
r
c
e
,

k
N

Figure 4 Example of stochastic loading (1h)
a) time trace; b) resulting load-elongation and linear regression

Mean load has been identified before as the dominant parameter affecting the dynamic
stiffness, and a linear relation is currently used. As an update of earlier work, Figure 5 shows
the variation of dynamic stiffness with mean loads, for 11 different ropes from 6 rope
manufacturers, including the results of recent tests.
Some scatter is observed that can be attributed to several reasons such as differences in
amplitudes, degree of stabilisation, etc... The principal reason is, however, the differences
between the ropes material and construction, which are reflected in the dynamic-stiffness-at-
end-of-bedding-in Krebi (shown by bigger marks, at 20% mean load in Figure 5). All are in
the range of 18.5 to 23, i.e. the range of a normally stiff rope according to A1-5.7 in [3].

As shown in Figure 5, all data points are lying within the envelope formed by the design
(upper-bound) stiffness and the minimum stiffness, as proposed in [3]:
KrD = 18.5 + 0.33 ML (design)
KrDm = 15 + 0.25 ML (lower bound), where ML is the mean load (in % of MBS).
Only a few points are marginally outside.

The envelope given above is thus adequate for the design of a mooring system, i.e. typically
some significant time in a project before a particular product is selected and manufactured.
This envelope covers the possible range of stiffness of a normally stiff rope. Then the
RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
standard measurements during rope qualifications will confirm that the purchased product has
properties within the range used for design.

A more accurate relation could be likely defined for a particular rope. This will however
require that further measurements are made, e.g. using stochastic loading, and that due care is
taken in the derivation of engineering values, which cannot be simply taken as the raw results
of a few tests.

15
20
25
30
35
40
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Mean load ( % MBS )
K
r
D

Krebi

Figure 5 . Dynamic stiffness as a function of mean load : test data from [7] (blue and green),
recent (red and pink), and relations in ref [3]

Outline procedure
The latest tests of CLAROM fibre rope project confirmed the practical model and data for
analysis initially proposed in 2000 ([7], [8]), and expanded it to better account for:
Permanent (non-recoverable) elongation,
Quasi-static stiffness, addressing the variations of the mean tension in the lines, at a very
slow rate, under changing weather conditions,
Dynamic stiffness, for stochastic loading
Data for permanent elongation are based on purchase length L
20
defined in [2].
The Quasi-Static stiffness KrS
10-30
, defined in [3] is applicable:
over a large range of tensions,
for large amplitude loading towards low tension or with longer loading time,
RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
This is summarised by the quasi-static characteristic, as defined in [3], which is scalable
with KrS
10-30
.
The latest tests have also confirmed that the dynamic stiffness is a function of mean load only.
The model proposed in this paper is valid for a range covering design needs (tensions or
offset) and a range of products (all, based on ISO standard [2]).
The extended model described above is implemented in BV software [11].

CONCLUSI ON
The rope qualification process, a corner stone in the process of designing, manufacturing and
installing a fibre rope station-keeping system, is based on testing of a prototype rope
identical to the intended supply. The qualification process is however taking advantage of
previous qualifications of the same rope design in a different size, in order to optimize the
process whilst keeping the high level of assurance that this application demands.
Whilst essential tests shall be performed on full size prototypes, other tests need not be
repeated when results are available from previously qualified ropes, i.e. ropes having also
gone through the full qualification process, including certification by a Classification Society.

Within the French CLAROM fibre rope project, tests have been performed to confirm and
complement the currently used practical engineering model that was derived from earlier
work. This work focused principally on the response of ropes to slow variations of mean load,
under the effect of changing weather conditions, usually modelled by the Quasi-static
stiffness. In addition to the standard tests described in [2], extended test sequences were
defined. From these specific sequences, and the number of data points provided, an
interpretation can be given that overcomes the discrepancy between the time scale of tests
(one or two days), and the real world.
Tests reported in this paper were principally performed on sub-ropes. Some full size rope test
results are also reported. The scalability of results, an already known fact, was shown.

Based on the interpretation of test results, a practical Quasi-Static characteristic could be
defined, addressing monotonic changes of line mean load, from around the line pre-tension.
This characteristic is an extension of the current Quasi-Static stiffness KrS. Two
characteristics are proposed for the 12h (standard) loading time, and for 7 days, a loading time
RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
more appropriate for some other design conditions (e.g. the effect of a loop current). Both are
scalable by KrS.
As background to the above characteristic, further separation of the rope response is
presented, based on the derivation of a fully relaxed characteristic (the characteristic for
infinitely slow rate of loading), and two additional terms: a permanent (non recoverable)
elongation, and a (remaining) un-developed visco-elastic elongation, modelling the effect of
loading rate. Nevertheless, development of a true time domain rheological model and a
definitive understanding of underlying mechanism will require further effort.

For the dynamic stiffness, the discussion of the dependence of dynamic stiffness on testing
parameters, based on recent data, highlighted mean load as the principal parameter under real
stochastic loading. This confirmed the adequacy of current practice in the analysis of a
system, of modelling the dynamic stiffness as a linear function of mean load only. Besides, for
a particular rope, it is important to note that load history and other effects will always affect
the test results, thus due care is to be taken in the derivation of engineering values that cannot
be simply taken as the raw results of a few tests. Using stochastic loading time series for the
testing appears an efficient method in this respect.

The requirements of the International rope standard [2] and Bureau Veritas Guidance Note [3]
form a complete and consistent procedure for fibre ropes mooring systems covering:
Analysis, with practical (engineering) model and data taken from today in-depth
knowledge of rope properties, obtained through standardised testing, and successfully
implemented in State-of-the-Art Mooring analysis software [11].
Product qualification and certification, for verification at time of purchase
Service conditions (seabed contact, fatigue)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank Bureau Veritas for permission to publish this paper.
The views expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect those of Bureau
Veritas

RopDOT_2(ID70).doc 16/12/08 10:12
REFERENCES
[1] ISO 19901-7:2005, Stationkeeping systems for floating offshore structures and mobile
offshore units
[2] ISO 18692:2007, Fibre ropes for offshore station keeping - Polyester
[3] Bureau Veritas, (2007), Certification of fibre ropes for Deep water offshore services,
NI432R01
[4] Bureau Veritas, Classification of mooring systems of permanent offshore units,
NI 493, 2004
[5] Banfield S J , Casey N F, Nataraja R, "Durability of polyester deepwater mooring rope",
OTC 17510, 2005
[6] Del Vecchio CJ M (1992), Light weight materials for deep water moorings, PhD thesis
University of Reading
[7] Franois M, Davies P, (2000), Fibre rope deep water mooring : a practical model for
the analysis of polyester mooring systems , IBP 247 00, Rio Offshore 2000
[8] Franois M, Giulivo R, (2000), Practical procedures for fibre rope moorings,
Continuous Advances in Mooring & Anchoring, Aberdeen
[9] Davies P, Lechat C, Bunsell A, Piant A, Franois M, Grosjean F, Baron P, Salomon K,
Bideaud C, Labb J P, Moysan AG., (2008), Deepwater Moorings with High Stiffness
Polyester and PEN Fiber Ropes OTC 19315
[10] Franois M. , Davies P. , Characterization of Polyester Mooring Lines, OMAE2008-
57136, Estoril, Portugal, 2008
[11] Bureau Veritas, Ariane 7, Theoretical Manual, 2008

- 1 -

BUREAU VERITAS RULES FOR THE CLASSIFICATION OF
TRADITIONAL NAVAL SUBMARINES

Bureau Veritas will soon launch classification rules for naval submarines. These rules are
presently published as tentative rules that will be made available to the navies and the building
shipyards for comments and possible application in June 2008.

They will be updated and formally published one year later when the first comments are taken
into consideration.

This paper aims at introducing these rules to the naval community.

1. Philosophy of the rules

The rules for classification aim to protect the safety of the crew and of the environment by setting
minimum safety standards that will be verified neither by the shipyard nor by the end user Navy
but by an independent third party in charge of the submarine safety: the classification society.

Classification rules for surface vessels benefit from more than 150 years of experience. We have
adapted this experience to the underwater naval world.

1.1 Principles of classification

Classification is the compliance with safety rules developed and published by the classification
society. These rules are public, they belong to the classification society that is the only body
empowered to interpret them.

Classification rules include design requirements applicable at new construction stage and
maintenance requirements that are checked all along the life of the submarine.

1.2 Classification process

Classification is carried out within two major cycles:

- Initial verification at the newbuilding stage

- Maintenance of classification during the whole life of the submarine through a survey
regime based on periodical inspections.

The Navies involved in the classification process have for a long time classed their vessels at the
newbuilding stage. It is quite a recent policy to maintain the classification of the unit during its
whole life.

1.3 Verification at the newbuilding stage

The classification of submarines at the newbuilding stage results in the verification of their
conformity to the appropriate rules of the classification society, in our case the rules for
classification of naval traditional submarines.

Classification is carried out within a three-step process:

- Design approval where the conformity of all the parts related to safety is verified versus
the applicable rule requirements. This concerns: structure, production and distribution of
energy, propulsion, fire safety including structural fire protection and fire-fighting
- 2 -
devices, escape routes and evacuation, atmosphere control, stability at surface and
submerged.

- Materials and safety related equipment certification at makers works. The main
equipment concerned are: auxiliary engines, propulsion set, batteries, insulated
bulkheads, fire-fighting equipment, fire detection, electrical cables-switchboards-
connecting devices

- Construction survey at yard including:

kick-off meeting, where the applicable rules and the working procedures are agreed,
approval of internal shipyard fabrication and quality plan; that should provide Bureau
Veritas with the opportunity to carry out the verifications requested by the rules,
approval of welders and of welding procedures,
survey at the yards premises, where the surveyor will validate the different parts of
the submarine and will ask for modifications when deemed necessary,
attendance to tests and to quay and sea trials, which are the ultimate validation of the
whole building process,
issuance of classification certificates.

1.4 In service survey regime

The survey regime is based on a term of classification of five years. During the term the
submarine is to be inspected six times by the classification society:
- four annual surveys,
- one intermediate survey,
- one class renewal survey.

Annual surveys consist in deep visual inspections of all the safety related items without
dismantling, the submarine being alongside.

The intermediate survey focuses on the inspection of the capacities and on thickness
measurements.

The class renewal survey is the inspection of all parts of the vessel with dismantling of major
equipment including the propeller shaft and the visit of the hull in a dry-dock.

Example of the five year term survey regime.

Five year term survey regime

- 3 -
As an example of the verifications carried out, below is a description of the items inspected during
the annual surveys.

General
Examination of the naval submarine, logbooks, operational records.
A visual inspection of the hull, equipment and machinery of the submarine and some
tests thereof, so far as necessary and practicable in order to verify that the submarine is
in an acceptable general condition and is properly maintained.
A depression test to be carried out for pressure hull and means of closure including first
and secondary ones.
A diving test.
A schnorchel navigation test.
The demonstration that the alarms and safety devices are functioning correctly.

Pressure resistant hull, structures and hull equipment
Pressure resistant hull and structures.
Outer hull and exostructures above the waterline, and accessible parts of the rudder(s)
including blades and fines.
Internal examination of accessible parts of exostructures.
If retractable trimming devices are fitted, a functional test will be carried out.
Hull openings, doors and hatch covers, their securing arrangements and sealing
arrangements are to be checked in satisfactory conditions.
Hull penetrations with their sleeves, and weld connection to the hull.
General external examination of mooring equipment.
A functional test of hoistable or movable parts and of interlocks and safety devices is to
be carried out.
Spaces including compartments and cofferdams with particular attention to bilges.
Accessible resisting structures including torpedo tubes, capacities and collective rescue
platform.
Strength and watertight bulkheads, batteries compartments, watertight doors, and
associated local and remote controls, and their watertight penetrations.
Confirmation that watertight doors are not precluded from immediate closure.
Fire divisions and fire doors.
Hull and bulkhead cable penetrations.
Confirmation that emergency escape routes are practicable and not blocked.
Critical structural areas.
Hull equipment.
Hull valves and hull plugs.
Scuppers, valves on discharge lines and their controls.
Closing systems.

Machinery and systems
General examination of machinery spaces with particular attention to the fire and
explosion hazards.
General examination of the machinery, hydraulic, pneumatic and other systems and
their associated fittings, for confirmation of their proper maintenance.
General examination of the ventilation system, their ducts, valves and fans including
spare fan(s) with a functional test of the different modes.
Visual examination of the condition of flexible hoses and expansion joints in sea water
systems.
External examination of pressure vessels, high pressure piping, their appurtenances,
including safety devices, foundations, controls, relieving gear, clamp fittings, insulation
and gauges.
As far as practicable, external examination of heel, trim and regulating tanks, their water
level indicators and gauges and their piping systems.
Control and monitoring of air inlet valve of fresh air cupola.
- 4 -
Functional test, control and monitoring of hull opening moving equipments including
masts, air inlet valves and exhaust gas system.
External examination of leakage indicators, drains with associated cocks.
External examination of ballast vent valve as far as practicable.
External examination of sea water piping withstanding immersion pressure, their
accessories, including operation of the pumps and detection.
Bilge wells.
Examination and functional test of main and auxiliary steering arrangements, including
their associated equipment and control systems, and manoeuvring gear.
When the submarine is equipped with a refrigerating plant:
pressure vessels of the installation,
refrigerant piping, as far as practicable,
for spaces where refrigerating machinery are fitted:
electrical equipment, confirming its proper maintenance,
gas detection system.
Functional test of masts lowering without hoisting energy source available.

Communication
Underwater, surface, emergency and internal communication systems are to be
function-tested. It will be checked that the means of communication dedicated to rescue
teams are in place; they will be tested if applicable.
Test of means of communication and order transmission between the control station and
the propulsion station.

Navigation
Confirmation that the calibration of navigating and locating equipments including depth
is still valid. As a rule, calibration is not to have been performed for more than one year.
Confirmation that the rudders angle indicators on navigation control room and locally are
in working order.
Confirmation that navigation radar and gyro compass are in satisfactory working
condition.
Functional test of optical surveillance system.
Confirmation that safety navigation equipments including navigation lights and sound
signalling equipments are in satisfactory working conditions.
Functional test of echo sounding and speed loch systems.

Electrical machinery and equipment
General examination, visually and in operation, as feasible, of the electrical installations
for power and lighting, in particular main and emergency sources of electrical power if
fitted, electric motors, switchboards, converters, switchgears, cables, cable supports and
circuit protective devices, indicators of electrical insulation and automatic starting, where
provided, of emergency sources of power
Functional test of lighting fittings including main and emergency.
Checking, as far as practicable, of the operation of emergency sources of power,
including the automatic mode, if any.
Checking, as far as practicable, of the proper operation of safety and ultimate functions,
that their instrumentation and safety devices are operational and that their alarms are
satisfactory

Batteries
Batteries log books are to be made available to the Surveyor for examination of the
records since the last survey, and checking of any unusual record, breakdown or
defective items.
The survey of batteries is to cover the following items:
General examination of battery compartments, piping and equipments fitted inside
including battery cells and trays.
Examination of battery cells shoring and connections.
- 5 -
Examination and confirmation of the satisfactory operation of battery auxiliary
systems, including:
ventilation system,
electrolyte agitation system,
refrigeration system.
Checking that the hydrogen detection system is in working order and checking of
calibration.
Function testing, as far as practicable, of detection, remote control and monitoring
systems and alarms.

Fire protection, detection and extinction
Checking that relevant instructions are available.
Examination and testing, as feasible, of the operation of fire doors, where fitted.
Checking, as far as practicable, that the following are in working order: remote controls
for stopping fans and machinery, shutting off of fuel supplies in machinery spaces,
remote controls for stopping fans from a control station, means of cutting off power to
the galley.
Examination, as far as practicable, and testing, as feasible and at random, of the fire
and/or smoke detection systems and fire dampers.

Fixed fire-fighting systems
Examination of the system including piping.
Checking that fire hoses, nozzles, spanners and international shore connection, where
fitted, are in satisfactory working condition and situated at their respective locations

Fixed gas fire-extinguishing system
external examination of receivers of CO
2
(or other gases) fixed fire-extinguishing
systems and their accessories,
examination of fixed fire-fighting system controls, piping, instructions and marking;
checking for evidence of proper maintenance and servicing, including date of last
system tests,
test of the alarm triggered before the CO
2
is released.

Sprinkler system when fitted
examination of the system, including piping, valves, sprinklers and header tank,
test of the automatic starting of the pump activated by a pressure drop,
check of the alarm system while the above test is carried out.

Water-spraying system or water mist system
examination of the system, including piping, nozzles, distribution valves and header
tank,
test of the automatic starting of the pump activated by a pressure drop (applicable
only for machinery spaces)

Fixed foam systems (low or high expansion)
examination of the foam system,
checking of the supplies of foam concentrate and receiving confirmation that it is
periodically tested (no later than three years after manufacture and annually
thereafter) by the manufacturer.

Atmosphere control
Oxygen containers are to be surveyed.
The air regeneration systems including soda-lime, oxygen candle or unit, their fittings,
valves and safety devices when applicable are to be examined and a functional test is to
be carried out as far as applicable. Checking of their proper stowage, expiry date and
appropriate quantities.
The survey is also to include:
- 6 -
examination and testing as appropriate of gas analysis equipment,
confirmation of the availability and suitability of the portable gas detection equipment
and instruments for measuring gas levels.
verification of calibration status of the measuring instruments. As a rule calibration is
not to have been performed for more than one year.
checking of proper stowage and expiry date of emergency oxygen candles and
chemical product for carbon dioxide elimination and their appropriate quantities for
survival period.
checking that emergency breathing air appliances are in sufficient number, in
satisfactory condition and properly stowed onboard.

Flooding fighting
Detection systems and their alarms. Level detectors shall be tested at default and
incident levels. Flow detectors as far as practicable
Flow detectors inhibition of automatic action as far as practicable
Safety shut-off valves and their emergency system including hydraulic energy
accumulators

Emergency and rescue installations
Verification of expiry date of the alert and localization items including batteries when
applicable.
Verification of proper stowage and expiry date of the food and fresh water emergency
stock and their appropriate quantities.
Verification of proper stowage and expiry date of the medical supplies in each refuge
compartment.

General emergency alarm system
Functioning to be carried out

Stability
Confirmation that the following documents are available on board:
weighting, trim and stability booklet,
damage control documentation in the appropriate language.
Confirmation that periodical weighing and stability checks have been carried out in due
time.
Confirmation that the scales of draughts are permanently marked at the bow and stern
as far as visible.

One can see from this long list the extent of the annual survey. The same list applies to the class
renewal survey but all major equipment is dismantled and internally inspected.

2. Area covered by the rules

The rules for classification cover all parts participating in the safety of the submarine. These parts
are presented in the rules under seven main chapters covering stability and weight control,
resistance of the structure, propulsion and systems, human occupancy and fire safety, additional
class notations and trials.

The arm system itself is not covered by the rules except when it has a direct influence on the
safety of the submarine, water tightness of the torpedo tubes for example.

2.1 Stability and weight control

Intact stability, with requirement for a minimum module of stability of 0.2 meter in surface
condition.
- 7 -

Diving and resurfacing conditions, with stability module to remain positive, otherwise operational
precautions to be taken.

Damage stability with requirement that submerged module of stability remains greater than 75%
of minimum module in surface

Weight control with rule requirements about the capability of systems involved in weight and trim
control to be able to restore weight-buoyancy at any time and to operate trim correction.

2.2 Structure

The main concern about structure is the scantling of the pressure hull; particular attention is paid
to the scantling loads, the qualification of hull material and corrosion.

For a better calculation of the pressure hull the rule requirements introduce a correlation between
safety coefficients to be taken into account for design appraisal and the admissible shape default
acceptable during construction.

Exostructures, non-resisting structures and hull outfitting, in particular diving and direction rudders
are also covered by rule requirements.

2.3 Propulsion and energy

Requirements related to propulsion are to some extent similar to those of surface vessels with
special emphasis on the water tightness of the line shaft (at least two sealing glands).

Design and testing of diesel engine shall take into account surface and snorkelling operations.

Requirements related to energy concern batteries (two batteries and a recharging device are
required). The batteries are to be located in non-contiguous compartments; the system is to be
so designed that one battery remains operational in case of damage (including fire or flooding) of
one battery compartment.

The rules also include requirements concerning ventilation and monitoring of battery
compartment.

2.4 Systems

Diesel engines, pressure vessels, masts, piping systems, refrigerating systems, steering gear are
covered by requirements taking into account the operation in depth:
Requirements exist for automatic actions (engine shut down, air tube and exhaust
valves closing).
Specific requirements, in particular double closing devices, are developed for pipes
likely to withstand immersion pressure.
Requirements for masts deal with water tightness of the mast itself and associated
penetrations, and safety of mast in case of over-immersion.

Rules requirements also cover communication and navigations. Navigation radar, radio
navigation system, depth indicator, acoustic sensors, UT system are requested. COLREG
convention is applied for navigation lights and whistles.

2.5 Fire Safety and Human Occupancy

Fire structural protection and fire fighting systems requirements take into consideration the
specificities of potential fire hazards on board a submarine, i.e. little heat released but large
smoke production.
- 8 -

A15 insulation is the maximum standard for structural insulation.

Requirements dealing with atmosphere control on normal operation and under survival period are
cover:
Main gas monitoring systems (O
2
, CO
2
, CO, H
2
),
Oxygen production,
Dangerous gases elimination,
Emergency breathing air systems.

2.6 Emergency and rescue

Particular attention is paid to emergency situations:
Flooding fighting: detection of flooding and means designed in order to recover pressure
hull integrity are covered by the following requirements:
Compartments where detectors are to be implemented are detailed; location of
detectors in compartment is to allow proper detection independently from trim and
list,
Two levels for signals: default level just indicates presence of water in
compartment; incident level involves immediate actions against water leakage,
Safety shut-off valve closing shall remain possible even in case of loss of hydraulic
energy in order to recover pressure hull integrity.
Emergency blowing: this piping system is not to be used for another purpose than
emergency blowing
Emergency lightening: this system, when present, must remain available even in case of
loss of its energy source through a dedicated standby source

2.7 Additional Class Notations

Additional class notations cover functions or specific equipment that are not strictly related to the
safety of the vessel but indicate a greater level of equipment.

The rule requirements related to these additional notations become compulsory only when the
notation is selected by the client.

The additional class notations applicable to submarines are:

Comf-noise
Limit noise levels are defined per type of space, under 2 situations: transit and
snorkelling.
Conditions for the noise level measurements are defined in details: measuring
instruments and locations, operating conditions (water depth, meteorological conditions),
suggested format for recording the data.

Ref-store
This notation provides optional requirements for frigorific installations of submarines
such as equipment redundancy, arrangement of refrigerated chambers, design of
refrigerating units. It also enables review of the frigorific function in itself.

HSE
Granted when BV has been requested to check Health, Safety and Environmental
regulations specified by the Naval Authority.

AIP
Air Independent Propulsion is considered an additional means of propulsion, including:
Electric energy production system
Fuel & combustive storage systems
- 9 -
Discharge system of the residual products
Specific safety study is to be performed, addressing potential hazards: Explosion, Fire,
Toxicity, Collision, Overpressure, Failure of support systems, Leakages
Requirements are covering operation, installation, safety, certification and testing.

Anchoring
This notation provides optional requirements for: design of anchor chain, design of
anchor, design of windlass and chain stopper, arrangement of chain locker.

Refuge compartment
Refuge compartment is to be able to resist at least 20 bar immersion pressure (unless
other pressure explicitly required by the Naval Authority) when pressure hull integrity
has been jeopardized.
Refuge compartment is to include:
Rescue equipment mentioned in the Rules (oxygen supply,) and a direct access to
an escape trunk,
An access door able to withstand design pressure of refuge compartment.
Piping system entering in refuge compartment is to be designed in order to obtain water
tightness of refuge compartment when used

2.8 Quay and sea trials

Trials and in particular sea trials are the ultimate verification showing that all functions and
systems of the submarine are working correctly together.

For classification the success of sea trials is the confirmation that all the necessary controls have
been carried out satisfactorily. It is the validation of all the work done at the design stage and
during construction that enables the classification society to issue the certificates.

Quay and sea trials are carried out, in line with the following sequence:
Tests at harbour are required to validate essential functions involved in safety,
production and storage of energy.
Tests at sea are provided to validate submarine hull and systems ability to manoeuvre in
depth. This capability is tested gradually in an increasing range of immersion.

3. Interests of classification

The great interest of classification lies in the fact that a third independent party, recognised by
more than 125 government and flag authorities in the merchant ship community, will certify the
safety of the submarine.

This third independent party is bound neither to the building shipyard nor to the Navy that will use
the submarine, the classification society is solely dedicated to the safety of the unit.

The other advantage of classification is the classification rules themselves. These rules are self
supporting; they contain the exhaustive list of requirements related to safety and therefore are
easy to use for building shipyards and design offices.

The rules also benefit from the return of experience gained during classification of all types of
vessels, surface and submarine; they are developed, maintained and updated regularly under the
aegis of the naval ship committee of Bureau Veritas, the members of which belong to several
European navies and naval shipyards.

The maintenance carried out within the scope of submarine in-service survey regime is cost
effective and all the items important for the safety of the submarine are verified by the
classification society.
- 10 -
Last but not least, the classification of the unit when granted at newbuilding stage and maintained
through the submarine in-service survey regime is a guaranty for the Admiralty that the safety of
its submarine is effective, the certification by an independent recognised body is likely to protect
its legal liability in case of a casualty occurring during peace time operations.

222
Condition Assessment Scheme for Ship Hull Maintenance

Christian Cabos, GL, Hamburg/Germany, christian.cabos@gl-group.com
David J aramillo, GL, Hamburg/Germany, david.jaramillo@gl-group.com
Gundula Stadie-Frohbs, GL, Hamburg/Germany, gundula.stadie-frohboes@gl-group.com
Philippe Renard, BV, Paris/France, philippe.renard@bureauveritas.com
Manuel Ventura, IST, Lisbon/Portugal, mfv@mar.ist.utl.pt
Bertrand Dumas, Cybernetix, Marseilles/France, bertrand.dumas@cybernetix.fr

Abstract

The goals of the CAS Project (Condition Assessment of aging ships for real-time Structural
maintenance decision), which is concluded in spring 2008, were to increase ship safety through
improved hull condition monitoring. The first step, and also the particular focus of the project, was an
increased efficiency and quality of the thickness measurement process. The main results fromthe
project are a standard exchange format, called the Hull Condition Model (HCM), and a suite of
prototype tools which use this HCM format. Commercial tools are being derived fromCAS: although
they use the same HCM format, they involve different implementation principles. Validation of the
underlying concept has been achieved by a real demonstration, at the Lisnave shipyard, in Portugal.
We are exploring ways towards HCM acceptance as a maritime standard. The use of a Robot in the
thickness measurements process is considered. Risk Based Inspections RBI and associated
predictive tools would be of a great added value for HCM based processes.

1. I ntroduction

Inspection and maintenance of a ships hull structure are vital to ensure its integrity. Such inspections
are performed by surveyors of classification societies, by crew or owners superintendents, by vetting
inspectors and by thickness measurement companies. Hull inspections typically cover: the state of
coating, the assessment of possible structural defects and, most prominently, the remaining thickness
of plates and profiles. For many years, there have been clear procedures for measuring and assessing
thickness values (IACS URZ). Nevertheless, despite the large number of measurements which have to
be taken during class renewal for aging tankers or bulk carriers (see IMO MEPC.94(46) and
Resolution A.744(18)), measurement preparation, reporting and assessment are all typically performed
manually, or with minimal IT support (e.g. Excel tables).

Although the lack of IT support for handling thickness measurements seems obvious, no previous
successful attempt for an integrated electronic support for this process is known to the authors. A
prerequisite for the electronic exchange and interpretation of thickness measurement data is a data
model covering all required elements of hull structural inspections. Such a model would then also
form the basis for the development of tools for preparation, recording, reporting and assessment of
thickness measurements. The EU project CAS focussed on comprehensive IT support for hull
inspection and maintenance in general and the thickness measurement process in particular. In the
project, major stake holders of the thickness measurement process cooperated to devise an enhanced
process, design a data model for the exchange of measurement data and implement prototype tools to
examine possible benefits of the new procedure.

2. Business context

2.1 Virtual company

The CAS project was defined in the light of the virtual company concept, where several independent
companies act together as a single company, sharing the same information and using standard
exchange formats. It was also inspired from the industrial ISO STEP exchange standards. In this
particular project, all along the condition assessment process, involved companies (Owner, Thickness
measurement Company, Classification society, etc) behave indeed as a single virtual company.
223
2.2 Client driven developments

2.2.1 Software differentiation

The CAS project is now very close to its official end, so we have the resulting basic tools, which fit
the specifications of the project. However those basic tools are already being transformed into
commercial applications which are quite different because they cater with the needs of different types
of clients.

2.2.2 Ship-owners

For ship operators, it is of the utmost importance to reduce off-hire periods and to keep repair cost
under control. In that respect, a clear view of the current status of the hull structure is required so that
areas in need of further investigation could immediately be identified. Furthermore, decisions on
necessary repairs must be taken without delay and be communicated unambiguously to repair yards.
The electronic thickness measurement support devised in CAS largely supports these requirements,
through reduction of manual copying of data, clear visual display of measurement results directly on a
3D model of the ship and fast generation of final reports.

2.2.3 Oil companies

Floating Production Storage Offloading units (FPSOs) operators are showing interest for HCM type
tools, as a means for the follow-up of their units. They especially do not want to miss any future
degradation, which could potentially lead to the interruption of oil production. Prevention of
production interruption, through timely repairs, is their main objective. Therefore, the history of all
inspections on the FPSO (by the classification society and the owners people) should be recorded and
updated in the tool, enabling at any time the drafting of an exhaustive specification of the due repairs.
Predictive tools, extrapolating from the past inspections, would also help anticipate the need for
repairs.

2.2.4 Charterers

Charterers would like to protect themselves against bad surprises regarding the structural condition of
the vessels they charter, which could lead to environmental disasters and long litigation procedures.
Thus, as a condition for chartering a vessel, they may require an HCM file, providing a transparent
view of the structure condition.

3. Goals and State of the Art

3.1 Goals

The specific goals of the CAS Project were to increase ship safety, by providing a permanent easy and
transparent access to all ships structural data. This was a means of protecting the coasts of Europe
from oil spoilage disasters, as well as protecting crews of bulk carriers from sudden sinking. The CAS
project was a three-years EC funded project, gathering partners involved in all aspects of the condition
assessment process.

A standard exchange format, called Hull Condition Model HCM, was to be developed in order to
support the full condition assessment process. A standard exchange format is especially needed in this
process, because Thickness measurement companies work with all Classification societies, and ships
sometimes change their Classification societies.

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Fig.1: Condition assessment workflow

A by-product was the increase of the process efficiency, because measurement reports are made
available at any time during the measurement campaign, and in particular they can be delivered after 2
or 3 weeks only, which means before the ship leaves dry-dock, easing the undertaking of repairs
resulting from those measurements. Coherence of measurements between successive measurements
campaigns can be ensured, because the measurements are in a structured electronic format.

3.2 State of the art

The main results from the project are: the standard Hull Condition Model (HCM), a suite of prototype
tools using the HCM format and supporting the condition assessment process in all its phases,
including data interfaces to and from classification software. The following phases of the process are
particularly supported:

- Creation of the ships 3D-model,
- Entry of the measurements into the model, either by a robot or human operators,
- Assessment of the structural condition.

HCM was written in XML language and is made publicly available on the project web file:
http://www.shiphullmonitoring.eu

Validation of the tools, concepts and methodologies developed in the project has been successfully
achieved by a real demonstration in the Lisnave shipyard in Setbal / Portugal. This demonstration has
been documented by a video film that is shown at the end of this presentation. The ship chosen for
thickness measurements tests was an oil tanker, 150 000 DWT, L =274 m, 5 years old.

A portion of the ships outside shell was measured by a robot. The inside of some water ballast tanks
and cargo tanks was measured through rope access. Both groups of measurements were recorded
together into the HCM model, and analysed through visualisation and condition assessment tools.

After the end of the CAS research project, a Consortium is expected to take care of the updating of the
HCM standard. The Consortium will initially consist of all partners of the project, but will be open to
additional candidates. Therefore this paper is entitled to consider the potential developments and
applications expected in the next years.

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4. I T Tools

4.1 Developing around the HCM standard

Commercial tools are being derived from the CAS project. Although they use the same HCM format,
they involve different implementation principles and have been used for different types of marine
clients.

4.2 IST tool

4.2.1 Hull Modeling Software Tools

In the scope of CAS, prototype software tools were implemented by Instituto Superior Tcnico (IST)
to produce in a short period of time a product data model in accordance to the HCM standard.

The main concept of CAS, of a paperless data collection for a faster and more efficient processing,
requires the existence of a 3D product data model, to assist planning of the measurement campaigns,
to visualize the data collected and to provide support to its subsequent analysis. For the intended use, a
set of requirements were specified. From the geometric point of view, the model does not need to have
high accuracy because a simplified geometric description, based on linear approximations of both
curves and surfaces was adopted on the HCM. From the structural point of view, all the plates and
stiffeners to be inspected during a campaign must be present and identifiable on the model.

In future business scenarios, 3D models of the ship hull may be available during the operational life of
the ship, as a result from the engineering analysis carried out during the design process. However,
currently and in the near future, a large majority of existing ships will not have such models.

One of the issues of creating the hull models for existing ships is the eventual lack of information.
Whenever the only data available are the drawings available onboard the ship, the model must be
developed from a reduced set of data and also in a short period of time, due to the time constrains on
the repair yards. So, for the required purpose it was assumed that the simplified model should be able
to be developed from the information on the drawings commonly existing on board the ship, such as
the general arrangement, body plan, docking plan, midship section, shell expansion, transverse and
longitudinal bulkhead.

Sometimes, in an existing ship, neither the body plan nor an offset table is available. In this case, a
rough hull shape must be defined using the existing data. For instance, some aspects of the hull shape
can be obtained from the available drawings, such as some cross-sections from the docking plan, the
stern and bow contours from the general arrangement, the bilge radius, the rise-of-floor, and deck
camber from the midship section drawing.

For the purpose of creating a ship 3D product data model, compatible with the HCM, two new
prototype software tools were developed and implemented in CAS, one for the generation of a
simplified hull form and the other for the modeling of the ship hull structures.

4.2.2 Parametric Definition of the Hull Shape

An approximated hull shape can be generated from the main dimensions, some form coefficients, and
a set of main curves, each defined by a set of shape parameters. The parameters consist of a set of
distances and angles that can easily be obtained from the general arrangement and structures drawings.
The main curves used are the flat of bottom, the flat of side, the midship section, the stem and stern
contours, Fig.2. The sectional area curve is also obtained parametrically and used to generate
additional cross sections in the aft and fore bodies, in compliance with the required displacement and
form coefficients.
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From these curves a set of surfaces is generated. The intersection of those surfaces with transverse
planes produces the set of cross sections needed to define the hull in a way similar to the traditional
body plan.

The purpose of this tool is not to generate a fair hull form but only to provide an acceptable external
boundary for the development of the structure generation tasks. In this context, by acceptable it is
meant that the strakes of plates and the stiffeners existing on the ship can be entirely mapped into the
3D model.

Fig.2: Main hull curves

The application has a modular structure composed by two main modules, a NURBS kernel and a set of
naval architecture functionalities.

The NURBS kernel provides the basic functionalities for parametric curve and surface modeling, such
as curve fitting and approximation, surface generation, curve/curve intersection, curve/plane
intersection, surface/plane intersection and surface/surface intersection.

The naval architecture module provides the specific functionalities for the parametric generation of
curves, alteration of the section area curve, computation of areas.

4.2.3 Hull Structures Product Data Modeller

The modeller system developed is not just a geometric modeller but a product data modeller. The
system must be able to manage not only the geometry but also the data specified in the HCM model,
which contains information such as as-built plate thicknesses and stiffener scantlings, the associated
structural systems and compartments, as well as the acceptable diminutions in accordance to the
structural safety criteria adopted by the classification society.

The arrangement of the internal structures is kept separate from the hull form to allow a larger
flexibility during the modeling activity: slightly different hull shapes can use the same internal
structural arrangement or different internal arrangements can be evaluated for the same hull form.

For modeling purposes, the hull structure is considered divided into two main groups, the external hull
and the internal structural systems. The external hull can be composed of one or more shells and may
have planar or curved regions that depend directly of the hull shape and the main deck. The internal
structures are planar, and their boundaries can be partially obtained from the outer hull and main deck
shapes.

The structural systems considered are the bulkheads, the decks, the web frames, the bulkheads and the
girders. For each of these systems, generating templates can be defined. These templates have two
main parts, corresponding to the two stages of the modeling process: first the shape of the base molded
surfaces is obtained and next, the geometric description of plates and stiffeners is determined.

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The first part defines the geometry identifying the external boundaries, a set of shape parameters and
some form features specifications, such as openings, if any. The second part defines the associated
stiffened panels. Each generating template defines a family of structural system members, with similar
shape and scantlings. The scantlings are defined by one or more plate sets and stiffener sets, which
describe sequences of adjacent groups of plates/stiffeners, identifying the quantities, dimensions,
spacings, scantlings and materials. These generic definitions are designated by templates because they
do define explicitly neither the shape nor the exact arrangement of the associated plates and stiffeners.
Wherever the boundaries or the scantlings of the system change, a new template must be defined.

Input Main
Dimensions, Frame
Table
Import Hull Form
Compute Local Geometry
Define Templates of
the Main Structural
Systems
Define Actual
Instances of the
Structural Systems
Generate Plates & Stiffeners
and Store in Database
Ship Database

Fig.3: Structures Modeling Sequence

To obtain the actual system members, the templates must be instantiated to a precise location on the
hull. Then, the plane or planes associated to the system are first trimmed by the outer hull (shell and
main deck) and next by all the boundaries enumerated. The result of this process is the actual external
shape of the member, defined by a closed polygonal line. Then, from the application of the specified
plate sets to the member shape, a set of seam lines is obtained, defining the contours of the plates.
From the application of the stiffeners sets, a set of trace lines is obtained. The typical modeling
sequence is presented in Fig.3.

The system has a modular structure and is composed by seven main component layers.

The simplified geometry kernel provides the functionalities to process polygonal lines and surfaces,
including some elementary modeling and intersection operations.

The structural modeling functions provide the capability to process the input shape parameters to
generate the 3D representations of the mentioned structural systems. The ship data storage is a
relational database, implementing standard SQL language. The scripting engine is based on the Python
language and a number of extensions were developed to allow the generation, storage and retrieval of
data from the database. The XML processor provides capabilities to import and export data from
measurement campaigns in accordance to the HCM data model. The graphical interface provides the
3D visualization of all the entities generated by the modeller.

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In compliance with the simplified geometry adopted, plates and stiffeners are represented only as
surface meshes without thickness, Fig.4, Fig.5, although the product data stored in the database can
provide the information for a solid model representation.

Fig.4: Web frames Fig.5: Simplified plate and stiffeners

The shell can also be displayed in a 2D expanded view. The user interface is based on dialog-boxes for
data input and editing.

4.2.4 Validation and Testing

To validate the methodology implemented, one cargo hold of an existing Suezmax oil tanker was
modelled, based on a set of structural drawings. The system was able to produce a model on which, in
spite of some irregularities on the distribution of the plates on the shell, all the plates and stiffeners
were correctly mapped, Fig.6. An XML data file was exported in accordance to the HCM. The
information was used by the surveyors to associate the measurements obtained during the campaign
carried out on the ship, in a shipyard dock.

Fig.6: Suezmax cargo tank

Finally the file with the campaign measurements was imported back into the system. The points were
correctly assigned to the shell plates and able to be compared to the as-built thickness values.

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4.3 GL-Pegasus

4.3.1 Principles

The concept of the CAS Project aimed at the development of methodologies, data formats and
software prototypes to validate the developed ideas/solutions around Hull Condition Monitoring and
Assessment. Due to the urgent necessity for adequate computer tools for data collection, visualisation
and assessment of Thickness Measurements (TM) to be used operatively, for Germanischer Lloyd the
exploitation of the results of the CAS project have been reflected in the development of a commercial
tool GL Pegasus to support the whole TM Process. Within this context, GL Pegasus has been
developed in parallel to the CAS project, providing additional input for the refinement of user
requirements and for the development of the data model itself.

GL Pegasus utilises HCM as its main data format. According to the new defined TM workflow, Fig.7,
the initial HCM file is created in POSEIDON, GL's software system for ship structural design and
scantling calculations. For this purpose and as part of the activities of the CAS project, the
corresponding data interfaces from POSEIDON to HCM have been developed. However, as HCM has
been developed as a neutral data format and with interoperability in mind, it should be possible to
utilise any HCM file created with other Ship Structural CAD systems in a similar way. This has been
demonstrated within the CAS Project by using GL Pegasus with 3D Models that have been generated
from the FORAN system of SENER and from the CAS-Tool prototype of IST (see section 3.2).

Fig.7: TM Workflow with GL Pegasus

Once the initial HCM file is generated from POSEIDON, it is loaded into GL Pegasus and used for the
different phases of the TM process:
Campaign preparation
Data collection
Visualisation and Assessment
Reporting
Structural assessment

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4.3.2 Campaign Preparation

Based on the requirement to display the 3D model in the traditional 2D representation for TM
purposes, J aramillo et al. (2006), GL Pegasus generates corresponding views (TM configurations) as
typically shown in the sketches of the structural areas. Basically two different types of TM
configurations are used for this purpose, which correspond to the IACS recommended procedures for
reporting of Thickness Measurements:

a) Strake oriented: In this case the plate strakes of a single structural element are arranged in
tabular form together with a corresponding sketch (e.g. a deck or shell expansion view)
b) Cross section oriented: for so called ring measurements, transverse sections of longitudinal
structural parts at specific frame positions are considered. However, this type of view is also
applicable for transverse structural parts at the corresponding frame position.

A TM configuration displays a tabular and a graphical view of the relevant structural parts. Both views
are interconnected to each other as they show a different representation of the same data as contained
in the HCM file. Fig.8 and Fig.11 show a cross section oriented and a strake oriented TM
configuration, respectively.

Fig.8: Cross section oriented TM configuration

Depending on the scope of the measurement, the user creates the required TM configurations and
positions the points manually or automatically on the corresponding structural components, either
before or after the data collection. Furthermore, for a better organisation of the measurement
campaign, GL Pegasus introduces the concept of measurement sequence. A measurement sequence is
a set of numbered points arranged at a specific TM configuration that can be used to interface with an
UTM Gauge. The definition of measurement sequences can be achieved prior or during the data
collection. This provides additional flexibility and adaptability to different working procedures of TM
operators.

Measurement sequences play an important role for the interfacing mechanism with UTM gauges. Most
data interfaces of UTM gauges are based on different types of arrangements of points (often called
files) in form of lists and arrays. GL Pegasus communication with UTM gauges has been achieved by
mapping between the proprietary file format defined by the UTM Gauge vendor and the measurement
sequences. Fig.9 shows an example of a measurement sequence that has been transferred to a GEIT
DMS-2 UTM Gauge. This is one of the most sophisticated UTM gauges on the market and is equipped
with a large alpha-numeric display allowing for a tabular representation of the data. The bidirectional
data transfer possibilities of such an UTM Gauge makes it possible to define complete measurement
tasks, transfer them to the UTM Gauge, perform the measurement and send the results back to GL
Pegasus.
Tabular View
2D Sketch
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Fig.9: Data Transfer with UTM Gauge using a measurement sequence

4.3.3 Data Collection

Principally, the actual data collection procedure is not changed by GL Pegasus, as the TM operator
must take the readings one by one ensuring that they are correctly assigned to the corresponding
positions. However, GL Pegasus provides support in different ways. In particular, it is possible to
establish an optimised combination of the sketches and the lists of points being measured. The
corresponding print outs for use on board are generated from GL Pegasus prior to the measurement
task.

The entry of the data into the system can be achieved in different ways, adapting to the individual way
of working of the TM companies and the equipment available. Basically, the following possibilities
for data entry are supported by GL Pegasus:

Manual entry: this reflects the conventional procedure and represents the support for simplest
UTM devices that do not support any kind of data transfer with the computer.
Semiautomatic entry: for UTM Gauges supporting a one-way data transfer to the computer.
This a typical configuration for devices equipped with a simple data logger such as the GEIT
DM4-DT. Measurement sequences are marked manually on the printed sketches and are later
entered into GL Pegasus. The corresponding measurement values are then associated
automatically during data transfer from gauge to PC.
Automatic entry: For UTM Gauges supporting a bi-directional data transfer with the computer
such as the GEIT DMS-2. This allows for an easy identification of measurement points on
device and eliminates the creation of additional measurement configurations in the UTM
Gauge.
Direct connection: this requires two operators involved during measurement, which are wire
connected. The measurement equipment and the computer running GL Pegasus remain on
deck (e.g. within a container) and the operator inside the ship structure only has the probe in
the hand sending the reading values. Coordination for correct assignment of the readings in
GL Pegasus is ensured by voice/video communication. Fig. 10 depicts how data collection is
performed using a direct data communication between UTM equipment and GL Pegasus. This
procedure has been used by MME during the demonstration measurements in the CAS project.
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Fig.10: Data collection using a direct connection between UTM equipment and GL Pegasus

4.3.4 Visualisation and Assessment

As soon as the measured values are entered into GL Pegasus by any of the options explained above,
the results can be visualised in the tables, in 2D and in 3D. For this purpose, a colouring scheme has
been defined reflecting the degree of corrosion with respect to the specified corrosion margins. The
colouring schema is displayed in the tabular representation and in 2D as per measurement point. In
3D, the colouring schema applies additionally per plate/stiffener making it easier to identify hot spots
and areas that require special attention.

Fig.11: Visualisation of results on a strake based TM configuration
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The visualisation in 3D makes it possible to obtain an overview of the TM results in a consistent way.
Structural parts can be hidden or displayed as required, applying different mechanisms and criteria
such as the type (plate/stiffener), the functionality, the resulting degree of corrosion, etc.

Fig.12: Overview of the TM results

Fig.13: Easy identification of hotspots

Standard functionality for 3D visualisation such as rotate, pan and zoom are available. It is also
possible to limit the area being displayed by interactively applying a user defined clipping box as
shown in Fig.14.

Fig.14: limitation of the 3D display by a clipping box

4.3.5 Report generation

Addressing one of the highest prioritised user requirements concerning the reduction of the time
needed for the elaboration of the final TM report, see CAS Report D-1-2-1, J aramillo et al. (2006),
GL Pegasus provides the functionality to automatically generate a TM report in compliance with IACS
requirements. The time for availability of the final report is therefore reduced to a matter of minutes in
contrast to days or even weeks as for large TM campaigns utilising conventional procedures.

The generated report contains a cover page with information about the vessel and the corresponding
measurement campaign, a list of contents and the documentation of the each measured area (TM
configuration) including the tables and the corresponding sketches.

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Additionally, a summary of hotspots can be included in the report. For each individual item in the list
of hot spots, a link to the corresponding section in the report is available for easy reference. The
summary of hotspots is a valuable instrument for the TM assessment. The technical expert and
surveyor can concentrate on the areas requiring special attention and reflecting the actual result of the
measurements in terms of possibly required measures to be initiated.

Fig.15: Automatic generated TM Report

As the scope of documentation in the generated report can be adjusted by the user, the reporting
functionality can also be used for the generation of partial reports (e.g. reports at the end of each
campaign day). In Fig. 15 some sample pages of a TM report generated by GL Pegasus are shown.

4.3.6 Structural Assessment

Depending on the resulting hull condition with respect to corrosion degradation it might be necessary
to perform strength calculations to verify the integrity of structural components locally or globally and
to eventually determine the required scope of repairs. For this purpose and within the scope of the
CAS Project, corresponding data interfaces from HCM to POSEIDON have been developed. HCM
files can be imported directly into POSEIDON. The measurement values are associated automatically
to the respective plates and profiles of the POSEIDON model and the following longitudinal strength
assessment refers to the actual measured values.

4.4 VeriSTAR HLC

4.4.1 From theory to practice

A great deal of adaptations and ergonomic developments are required to move from the research
projects prototype to any derived commercial tool. In particular a commercial tool must be appealing
to operational people, typically to the ships superintendent or offshore oil fields operational people.
Although it can be used for ordinary vessels, the tool developed by Bureau Veritas is currently
oriented towards the offshore oil industry, because those clients have, in the first place, expressed their
interest. Therefore, the tool was associated with an existing asset management tool (AIMS), which
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was designed for the planning and reporting of all inspection and maintenance tasks for a given unit,
whether required by the classification society of the owners operational teams. The tool is understood
as the first module of a new series of customer oriented tools, providing a initial 3D geometric model
that will be used later on for finite element analysis, tonnage calculation, hydrodynamics, etc.

Fig.16: 3D View

4.4.2 Coarse modeling

The tool includes a function that allows starting up with a coarse model of the ship and later on the
addition of details, by super-imposition of smaller elements. For instance, only the area in way of one
single cargo tank may be initially needed for the first renewal survey, so this area must be modelled in
details, but the rest of the ships model may be fairly well represented with a good enough coarse
modeling. At the next renewal survey, other areas of the ship will have to be modelled in details,
which will be achieved by super-imposing smaller structural elements above the coarse structural
elements.

Fig.17: Super-imposition of smaller elements

4.4.3 2D views for data input

To ease the input of measurements into the 3D-model, the tool provides 2D views, which are
technically 3D views, but perpendicular to the structural elements to be measured. So the 2D views are
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automatically derived from the 3D model and there is no need for drawing additional 2D views for the
purpose of data input.

Fig.18: 2D view for measurements input

4.4.4 Visualisation means

A set of visualisation means has been added, for instance:
- to erase selected structural elements, in order to get a better view of previously hidden
structural elements,
- to extend a selected structural element to all similar elements on board or to larger structural
assemblies including this element.

Fig.19: Erasing elements

4.4.5 Google Earth

All inspection data (thickness measurements, coating condition, cracks, inspection reports, pictures,
video films), can be visualised on the 3D-model. Flags are displayed with a look and feel similar to
Google Earth pictures. The user adjusts the level of details to be shown on the screen, and the type
of information he wishes to see.

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Fig.20: Easy storage of inspection data

Fig.21: Google Earth look and feel

Fig.22: Repair preparation (what is wrong in the structure)

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4.4.6 Repairs preparation

The superintendent is expected to check the tanks, one by one, inside the virtual ship, which is a
convenient alternative to visiting the real ship, as a preparation of the repairs. But, it helps the
superintendent very much to have access to a dedicated view, which focuses on what is wrong with the
structure, for instance the plates to be repaired and the pictures and reports related to damages or
degradation.

5. Outlook and further development

5.1 Level of detail

The guideline for defining the proper level of detail of the 3D-model is expected to be clarified during
the real-life implementations which are to be carried-out in the next future:
- for new-building ships and for offshore units which always stay with the same owner at a fixed
location, a detailed model can be expected,
- at the contrary, for many ships in service, changing owners frequently and sailing around the
world, simpler models should be considered as an alternative.

5.2 Using a Robot

The Robot used in the project was a Magnetic Hull Crawler, designed for inspection and maintenance
of steel surfaces. A permanent magnet enables the Robot to crawl on a ships outer shell in dry-dock.
This robot is able to operate both in air and underwater (50 m). It is J oystick or PC controlled.
Dimensions are 610 x 460 x 400 mm and the weight is 60 kg.

Fig.23: Measurements Robot

In the air (as it was the case in the demonstration), the positioning of the Robot is done by 3 odometers
(each odometer consisting of a steel cable rolled around its coding device) which transmit in real time
the motion of the Robot as x, y, z coordinates to the Cybernetix software Robolocalisator. This
software is searched by the Hullmap software which merges the values of the position and the steel
thickness. The Hullmap software, from the position of the Robot in the 3D environment of the 3D-
model, detects automatically the reference of the plate, using an invisible video camera, always
perpendicular the plates. This reference is displayed on the Hullmap screen and is automatically
added to measurements and positions in the HCM file.

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Fig.24: Robot scanning outer shell Fig.25: Robot crawling on outer shell

The role of a Robot in the thickness measurements process is now clarified. The Robot is well adapted
to flat surfaces, such as outer shell and flat cargo bulkheads. Surfaces should be in a clean condition. It
is very good at scanning doubtful plates. Close-up survey, implying the physical proximity of the
surveyor, is not required for the outside shell, so that the robot can be left alone. The robot could even
be programmed to take, say, all bottom measurements alone and unattended. The Robot could also be
useful for naval vessels at sea, because they have clean hulls and consequently ultrasonic gauging can
be done without a prior cleaning of the hull. For FPSOs, which do not dry-dock, and therefore have
underwater hull covered with fouling, the Robot could be used, if it could be found a way to remove
the fouling (high pressure nozzles) or to take measurements through the layer of fouling.

In the future, other types of robots might be developed:
- for underwater NDT inspection of hull of vessels at harbour (hull thickness measurement and
cathodic protection inspection).
- to measure stiffened plates, for instance inside the ballast tanks.

In narrow double skin ballast tanks, where human access is difficult, a swimming robot could perform
the gauging. However, under current IACS rules, a close-up survey is required in this case, for
instance for web frames in ballast tanks, so that the surveyor must also be present, close to the robot, at
the time of measurements. Therefore, the advantage of the Robot is reduced, if anyway the presence of
a human surveyor is required in those locations.

5.3 RBI developments

Risk Based Inspections RBI and associated predictive tools would be of a great added value for
HCM based processes. The use of degradation models and extrapolation from several measurement
campaigns for planning of repairs is examined in this paper and can be combined with an evaluation of
the severity of resulting damage, to finally provide RBI based inspection schemes.

The main reasons for implementing a risk based approach in inspection planning are:
to ensure that the Base Line Risk does not exceed the risk acceptance criteria, as set by the
operator, at any time;
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to focus the inspection effort on items where the safety, economic or environmental risks are
identified as being high, whilst similarly reducing the effort applied to low-risk systems;
to identify the optimum inspection or monitoring methods to match the identified degradation
mechanisms.

A risk assessment has to consider all relevant failure modes and mechanisms, however, in a first
approach the focus is on corrosion. Starting point for a risk based inspection strategy is

1. a screening of the current ship condition, to identify areas of high risk as well as
medium and low risk level; followed by:
2. an estimation of a risk value on a consistent methodology and the development of a
risk matrix;
3. the prioritisation of the different areas;
4. the development of an appropriate inspection program.

The screening of the ship to identify the areas of high risk starts with the segmentation of the ship
structure. As not every part of the structure will have the same risk, segmentation is necessary. For
each segment, the risk can be estimated by evaluating the probability of failure and the consequence of
failure. The combination of both leads to the risk. The probability of failure can be estimated by using
different methods, such as: qualitative methods (e.g. questionnaire, simple risk matrix), semi-
quantitative methods (e.g. index procedure) and quantitative methods (fully probabilistic approach).

Qualitative methods deal with few essential data and lead to a rough estimation of the failure
probability. The semi-quantitative methods use more information and some calculations are carried
out, which result into a more accurate failure probability. The quantitative methods consider fully
probabilistic approaches and lead to an accurate estimation of the existing failure probability.

The semi-quantitative approach presents a good medium, because the fully quantitative approach
requires a lot of data which are normally not available for existing ships and the semi-quantitative
approach gives a more detailed failure probability than the pure qualitative approach. A combination
of index procedure, which leads to a general result for the probability of failure, and the remaining life,
which is related directly to the corrosion, is appropriate for the assessment of the threats due to global
thinning based on corrosion. The assessment of the consequence of failure for each segment considers
the consequences for safety, the environment and the economical consequences.

The combination of the failure probability and the corresponding consequence leads to the current risk
of the ship segment regarded. The joining of all segments leads to a risk value for the ship. The
merging of the local segment risk to a global risk is not considered, however this aspect should be
covered in a further study. Several different approaches exist in the literature, e.g. reliability block
diagram, fault tree analysis, reliability networks.

After the estimation of the risk related to each segment, an appropriate inspection strategy should be
developed. The inspection effort and interval should be determined taking into account the current and
the future risk of the segment regarded. The possible risk based improvements of the existing
inspection methods can be carried out in two ways:

adjustment of the inspection effort,
adjustment of the inspection schedule.

Both possibilities and a mixture of both are conceivable. The aim of the adjustment is to investigate
the vessel with the higher risk more intensively than the vessel with the lower risk. This could also
lead to a modification of the date for the next class inspection. It is thinkable that for ships where the
risk assessment was carried out and show a low risk level, the inspection intervals could be extended.
On the other hand, for ships with a high risk level, the inspection intervals should be reduced in order
to avoid unacceptable risks.
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Beside the modification of the inspection interval, the effort could also be modified. This is implicitly
already covered in the specific codes, as the inspection effort increases with the age of the ship. Using
the risk based approach would extend the current procedure to other effects than only regarding the
age. Based on the risk assessment, it is possible to identify areas of the ship with higher and those with
lower risk. The inspection amount taken at the higher risk areas should be larger than at the lower risk
areas. The procedure given above could be a starting point for a development of a risk based
inspection program.

5.4 IACS standard

There is an on-going action versus IACS to add the HCM-based reporting of thickness measurements
into the IACS Uniform Requirement UR Z10, as an alternative to the existing Excel-based reporting
formats. It is believed that a few real-life implementations of HCM by ship-owners are a pre-requisite
to having HCM accepted as an IACS standard.

Fig.26: Towards an IACS standard

5.5 Export of HCM from shipyard

All big enough shipyards center their shipbuilding process around a very complete CAD model of the
ships, which contains not only the ships detailed hull structure, but also mechanical systems, fluid
systems, ventilation and electrical systems. These CAD models are very detailed, because they must
provide enough information for the building of the real ship. They incorporate a lot of the shipyards
experience and know-how and are generally, for that reason, not handed-out to the ship Owners after
the delivery. The easiest way to have ships equipped with HCM files would be that the building
shipyard generates the HCM file directly out of its CAD model. We can expect that this would be
acceptable for shipyards, because HCM only covers hull structure and is so simplified that it cannot be
used by a competitor to build a sister-ship.

Fig.27: HCM from shipyard
242
5.6 Regional Waters Authority scheme

5.6.1 Definitions

A Regional Waters Authority (RWA) can be defined as the Official Body having the law
enforcement powers over an extent of sea waters (the controlled waters), surrounding a given region
of the world. Regional Waters Authorities could typically be the EC Maritime Administration, the US,
Canadian or J apan Coast Guards.

5.6.2 Technical approach

We examine hereafter the new technical possibilities offered by the HCM technology to an RWA,
however the legal aspects and the associated repartition of maritime actors responsibilities, would
have to be analysed as well, if we had to draft a complete proposal for implementation.

5.6.3 Continuous follow-up versus status control

The only way for the RWA, to make sure that the condition of a vessel, sailing in its controlled waters,
is safe, is to have a direct access to the current structural condition status of the vessel, at the time of
its entry into the controlled waters. Thus, the RWA does not need to examine the history of the vessel
(past owners, flags, classification societies, damages, detentions, etc), which may include some
missing or subjective aspects, but only needs to concentrate on the objective structural condition status
of the vessel, at this precise point in time.

Fig.28: Regional Waters Authority scheme

5.6.4 RWA scheme major steps

Therefore the following tentative scheme can be considered:

- all risky ships entering the controlled waters are required to have an updated HCM file.
- at the entry into the controlled waters, those ships must send their HCM file to the RWA. In
practice, this file would be complemented by a set of administrative and cargo-related
information.
- on the basis of the HCM file, the RWA will activate the proper response:
* continuous follow-up of the ship and communication to shore stations,
* request of an inspection by the Port State Control authority at next port of call,
* access refusal to the ship in the controlled waters.

243
- in a bad weather period, the RWA would require all risky vessels trading inside the
controlled waters to send their HCM to the RWA. Vessels deemed weak would be required
to reach the nearest port of call, to wait safely for the improvement of weather conditions.

5.7 Extension of ship status file

Following the same line of thoughts, in order to provide the RWA with a complete ship status, we
could develop a complementary tool, to reflect the condition of the machinery equipments.

Both structural and machinery status should indeed be taken into consideration, because:

- structural failures occur seldom, but usually cause serious consequences;
- machinery equipments failures (steering gear, diesel generators or main engine) are frequent,
but usually cause relatively less serious consequences, in relation with collision or grounding.

By opposition to the structure, where the condition is easily and obviously reflected by the thickness
of steel plates and stiffeners, some research is a pre-requisite to establish a list of the parameters
describing the condition of the machinery equipments.

References

RENARD, P.; WEISS, P. (2006), Automation of the ship condition assessment process for accidents
prevention, 5
th
Int. Conf. Computer Applications and Information Technology in the Maritime
Industries (COMPIT), Oegstgeest, pp.403-408

J ARAMILLO, D.; CABOS, C.; RENARD, P. (2005), Efficient data management for hull condition
assessment, 12
th
Int. Conf. Computer Applications in Shipbuilding (ICCAS), Busan

J ARAMILLO, D. et al. (2006), CAS Deliverable D-1-2-1, Business Process Analysis and User
Requirements, March 2006

J ARAMILLO, D. et al (2007), CAS Deliverable D-1-3-1, Specification of HCM (Hull Condition Data
Model), Oct. 2007

J ARAMILLO, D.; CABOS, C. (2006), Computer support for hull condition monitoring with
PEGASUS, 5
th
Int. Conf. Computer Applications and Information Technology in the Maritime
Industries (COMPIT), Ooestgeest, pp.228-236

IACS URZ, Requirements concerning Survey and Classification, 2003
ATMA 2008

DEVELOPPEMENT, I MPLEMENTATI ON,
MAI NTENANCE ET FUTUR DES REGLEMENTS
STRUCTURAUX COMMUNS DE L'I ACS POUR LES
VRAQUI ERS ET PETROLI ERS A DOUBLE COQUE

Philippe BAUMANS
Bureau Veritas, Dpartement Dveloppement, Paris-La-Dfense (France)

SOMMAIRE
Ce document expose les dfis rencontrs dans le dveloppement effectu par lIACS des Rglements
Communs pour la Structure (Common Structural Rules, CSR) des vraquiers et des ptroliers, en ce qui
concerne les techniques de modlisation utilises et intgres dans les hypothses de chargement, les
rponses structurales et les critres dacceptation.
Il prcise galement comment lIACS rpond au besoin de cohrence pour lapplication de ces
Rglements et de leur maintien dans le futur.
Comme tout document contenant des prescriptions rglementaires, il est ncessaire de trouver un juste
quilibre entre lintgration de mthodes de pointe de haute technicit dune part, et les besoins
dapplications dterministes et pratiques dautre part, sachant que lIndustrie souhaite de plus en plus
utiliser des modles de pointe au stade du projet tout en voulant, la fois, un procd lui fournissant
aussi bien des bauches rapides de conception que des cycles rapides de construction. Tout cela sans
jamais perdre de vue lobjectif principal: le dveloppement de Rglements allant dans le sens de la
scurit, de la solidit et de la dure dans le temps, ce que demande la socit dans son ensemble.
Au cours du dveloppement des critres des CSR, la ncessit de cet quilibre a conduit incorporer
des prescriptions de Rglements existants et des approches bases sur le risque pour identifier les
dangers et leurs consquences afin de concentrer, dans le dveloppement des nouveaux rglements,
lattention sur les zones les plus critiques. Alors que les CSR ont tendance reprendre des parties de
Rglements de Socits de Classification ou des parties de Rgles Unifies (UR) de lIACS, il faut
savoir que de nombreuses parties ont t dveloppes ou valides laide de techniques plus avances
et dune analyse des risques et de leurs consquences.
Paralllement la rdaction des CSR, commenait, lOrganisation Maritime Internationale (OMI), le
dveloppement de normes de construction des navires neufs en fonction dobjectifs (goal-based
standards ou GBS) et destines fixer les normes de base utilises pour la conception des navires. Les
personnes en charge des CSR suivaient en permanence ces dveloppements pour inclure dans les CSR
les critres qui semblaient pertinents.
Ce document traite aussi des nouvelles relations qui se sont tablies entre les Socits de Classification
et lIndustrie grce au processus de consultations mis en place durant la phase de dveloppement. La
rdaction des CSR par les dix membres de lIACS reprsente une tape dans la manire de fonctionner
de lIACS et de satisfaire les rgles dadministration de chacun de ces membres. Du fait de la
rdaction des CSR, lIACS se trouve devant une nouvelle ncessit : la maintenance des rglements
des CSR. Des processus ont t mis en place pour garantir une maintenance efficace des CSR, avec
consultation rgulire de lIndustrie. Des interprtations et des retours dinformation ou dexprience
ont t collects auprs de toutes les socits de lIACS et auprs de lIndustrie, et ce qui en a dcoul
a t accept et adopt par tous les membres. Par ailleurs un programme visant harmoniser les
versions actuelles des CSR pour les ptroliers et les vraquiers a t tabli dans lventualit dune
future extension dautres types de navires.
Tous droits de reproduction rservs - ATMA 2008

NOMENCLATURE
CSR Rglements Communs de lIACS
concernant la Structure. Applicables aux
ptroliers double-coque et aux
vraquiers simple ou double-coque.
GBS Normes de construction des navires
neufs en fonction dobjectifs (Goal-
Based Standards) dveloppes par
lOMI.
IACS Association Internationale des Socits
de Classification (International
Association of Classification Societies).
1 I NTRODUCTI ON
Ce document retrace le travail commun de
dveloppement des rglements entrepris par les
socits de classification de lIACS afin de
formuler de nouveaux Rglements pour la
Structure (CSR) des vraquiers et des ptroliers.
Lobjectif tant de donner une ide gnrale des
dfis et difficults rencontrs au cours du
processus de dveloppement et du travail
important fourni par les membres de lIACS en
charge du projet. Il prcise quelques-uns des
aspects de modlisation des rglements
communs et la faon dont ils ont t dvelopps
et calibrs pour les charges et les rponses
structurales.
Les prescriptions rglementaires doivent tre un
compromis entre les besoins intgrant des
mthodes de pointe de grande technicit et ceux
dune application dterministe pratique.
Lindustrie, globalement, rclame de plus en
plus lemploi de moyens de pointe au stade du
projet pour lapplication des rglements alors
quelle attend aussi des rglements permettant
dtablir rapidement la conception initiale dun
projet et la possibilit de satisfaire les exigences
rglementaires dans des cycles rapides de
conception et de construction. Tout cela ne
faisant pas oublier lIACS que son objectif
principal reste le dveloppement de rgles et
rglements allant dans le sens de la scurit, de
la solidit et de la dure dans le temps, qui
correspondent lattente de la socit au sens
large.
Au cours du dveloppement des critres des
CSR, ce mme compromis a amen incorporer
des prescriptions de Rglements existants et des
approches bases sur le risque pour identifier les
dangers et leurs consquences afin de concentrer,
dans le dveloppement des nouveaux rglements,
lattention sur les zones les plus critiques. Alors
que les CSR ont tendance reprendre des parties
de Rglements de Socits de Classification ou
des parties de Rgles Unifies (UR) de lIACS,
il faut savoir que des parties ont t dveloppes
et valides laide de techniques de pointe et
danalyses des risques et de leurs consquences.
Alors que les CSR taient en cours de rdaction
commenait, lOrganisation Maritime
Internationale, le dveloppement de normes de
construction des navires neufs en fonction
dobjectifs et destines fixer les normes de
base utilises pour la conception des navires.
Les personnes en charge des CSR suivaient en
permanence ces dveloppements pour inclure
dans les CSR les critres qui semblaient
pertinents
Aprs la publication de la premire dition des
CSR et des donnes techniques ayant servi son
laboration, des priodes dexamen taient
accordes lIndustrie pour leur permettre de
prendre connaissance du projet, den vrifier
lapplication et de transmettre leurs
commentaires. Ces priodes taient aussi un bon
moyen de perfectionner et dajuster le projet en
augmentant le nombre de tests dans les
dveloppements et les applications
rglementaires. Les rglements et documents
supports sen trouvant, par la mme occasion,
affins.
En plus des amliorations techniques apportes,
la rdaction des rglements voluait pour inclure
les corrections et les clarifications juges utiles
la suite des commentaires reus.
2 OBJ ECTI FS DE
DVELOPPEMENT I NI TI AUX
Les premires mesures dans le processus de
dveloppement des CRS consistent fixer les
objectifs du projet, en mettant en vidence les
besoins toujours croissants de scurit, de
solidit et de longvit des navires. Le
dveloppement de ces objectifs sous-jacents et
de leur cadre tait essentiel pour garantir une
comprhension et une orientation mutuelles du
projet. Ces objectifs peuvent se rsumer comme
suit :
liminer toute comptition entre les socits
de classification pour tout ce qui touche aux
exigences structurales et aux standards,
situation qui, si elle ntait pas abandonne,

pouvait aboutir au final une valuation et
une vrification incompatibles de l'intgrit
structurale de la coque et donc mettant en
pril la scurit du navire. Lide consiste
placer la comptition ultrieure sur le plan
les services apports aux clients.
Cerner par anticipation les intentions des
exigences de lOMI pour les normes de
construction des navires neufs en fonction
dobjectifs (GBS).
Exploiter toute lexprience des socits
IACS pour dvelopper un standard unique
accept, ou un jeu de rglements et
procdures, et ainsi aboutir des
prescriptions structurales identiques quelle
que soit la socit qui classe le navire.
Garantir tout navire satisfaisant les
nouveaux rglements dtre reconnu par
lIndustrie comme prsentant au moins la
mme scurit, la mme solidit et la mme
longvit quen application de nimporte
quels autres rglements existants.
Rduire le cot de lutilisation de plusieurs
rglements qui bien que similaires sont
malgr tout diffrents.
Sassurer que les rglements et procdures
rsultant sont rdigs de faon conduire
des exigences identiques en matire
dchantillonnage.
Ces objectifs ont t dvelopps, pour chaque
jeu de rglements, par lquipe constitue pour
le projet et par le comit de pilotage, en rponse
aux demandes des armateurs et des chantiers
pour une standardisation dj en place dans
dautres industries et aussi, en rponse aux
propositions nationales de coordonner les
prescriptions dchantillonnage qui avaient t
faites au sein de lOMI.... A lOMI, les
exigences reposeront sur des normes dobjectifs
de plus haut niveau.
La finalit des CSR est la cration dun standard
unique reconnu permettant la vrification de la
structure des ptroliers double-coque de
longueur suprieure ou gale 150 m et
dvelopp par le groupe IACS responsable du
Projet commun pour les ptroliers (J TP) dune
part, et des vraquiers simple ou double-coque
de longueur suprieure ou gale 90 m et
dvelopp par le groupe IACS responsable du
Projet commun pour les vraquiers (J BP) dautre
part, dveloppement fait, ds le dpart, en
collaboration troite avec la communaut
maritime.
3 TECHNI QUES DE
MODLI SATI ON
3.1 Concept d'paisseur nette
Les formules des CSR sont exprimes en
utilisant le concept d paisseur nette. Le
principe repose sur le fait que les lments de
structure se corroderont tous durant la dure de
vie du navire, mais de faon plus ou moins
importante. Cette approche en paisseur
nette permet de dterminer et de vrifier
lchantillonnage minimum de la structure
conserver tout au long de la vie du navire, et ce
ds sa construction, pour satisfaire les
prescriptions de rsistance. La distinction est
clairement faite entre lpaisseur nette et la
surpaisseur dpendant de la corrosion qui se
produira au cours de la phase oprationnelle du
navire.
Les concepts de base qui ont t couramment
utilises aux navires en service pr-CSR ont t
codifis dans ces rglements CSR. Ceci consiste
appliquer une perte moyenne globale sur la
poutre navire et les lments primaires telle que
la rsistance globale de ces lments soit assure.
La rsistance de ces lments est vrifie en
utilisant une marge de corrosion moyenne
moindre. Cependant ces grands ensembles sont
composs dlments locaux tels que mailles
lmentaires locales et raidisseurs ordinaires
dont la rsistance est vrifie en utilisant la
totalit de la marge de corrosion locale. Dune
manire gnrale, la rsistance des lments de
structure est vrifie en utilisant leur capacit
structurale dans ltat corrod, c..d. en
paisseur nette, tout en appliquant les charges
extrmes prsumes. Ceci assurera au navire de
possder une rsistance minimale alors quil
pourra se trouver en conditions extrmes vis--
vis de la corrosion considre. La fatigue tant
un mode de dfaillance cumulatif qui dmarre
ds le premier jour de mise en service, le navire
tant neuf, jusqu son dernier jour
dexploitation o lon peut supposer le navire
dans son tat de corrosion le plus avanc,
lpaisseur nette associe la poutre navire et
aux paisseurs locales pour vrifier la rsistance
la fatigue est moyenne et prise gale la
moiti des marges totales de corrosion.
La structure du navire est contrle en service
en utilisant des rfrences dpaisseur similaires

celles prises en compte lors de la vrification
de la structure au niveau du projet. En effet les
surpaisseurs de corrosion au neuvage sont
dfinies dans chaque rglement (pour le
rglement CSR/Ptrolier en Section 6/3 et les
limites de corrosion en service en Section 12/1;
pour le rglement CSR/Vraquier respectivement
au Chap 3, Sec 3 et Chap 13, Sec 2) Pour la
cohrence, les surpaisseurs de corrosion au
neuvage et les limites de corrosion en service
sont lies entre elles par une marge de rserve
afin de couvrir la corrosion qui peut se produire
dans lintervalle de temps entre 2 visites
successives. Lpaisseur nette est illustre la
Figure 1

Figure 1 : Principe de lpaisseur nette
Les valeurs de corrosion introduites dans les
rglements ont t tablies sur la base dun
travail approfondi du groupe de travail IACS sur
la rsistance (WP/S) qui a rassembl une base de
donnes de 600.000 mesures dpaisseur [1].
Cette base de donnes couvre les mesures
effectues sur une large amplitude de corrosion
de structures exposes un environnement
marin comme les cales de vrac, les citernes de
ptrolier, les citernes de ballastage, soumises
diffrentes tempratures, etc. pour lesquelles les
marges de corrosion sappliquent. Le processus
de propagation de la corrosion depuis son
dclenchement initial a t tudi par le biais de
la masse importante de donnes collectes sur
ces mesures. Un modle de corrosion a t
dvelopp sur la base dune thorie probabiliste
pour estimer la diminution des lments
structuraux. Une analyse statistique des donnes
a t effectue pour dterminer les marges de
corrosion associes une probabilit dusure de
95% de la marge sur une priode de 25 ans. Il
est cependant not que des lments de structure
sont peints de manire combattre les effets de
la corrosion. Bien quil soit admis que les
peintures assurent cette fonction, les effets
protectifs des peintures ne sont pas directement
inclus dans lapplication des surpaisseurs de
corrosion utilises pour la vrification de la
conception. En dautres termes, les surpaisseurs
de corrosion ne peuvent pas tre rduites par la
prsence de peinture. La raison principale de
cette dcision repose sur le fait tabli que les
peintures se fissurent en fin de compte en
certains points et quil nest pas toujours
possible de repeindre ces endroits lorsque le
navire est en opration et expos des
conditions environnementales difficiles. Par
ailleurs, lefficacit des peintures durant la vie
du navire dpend des conditions dapplication et
de la politique de maintenance de larmateur.
Mme en appliquant les normes de lOMI pour
le comportement des revtements de protection
des citernes spcialises ballastes l'eau de
mer de tous les types de navires et des espaces
de double muraille des vraquiers (PSPC), ces
conditions ne peuvent pas tre prise en compte
pour lvaluation des lments de structure au
neuvage.
La philosophie de lapproche en chantillonnage
net et les valeurs de surpaisseurs de corrosion
ont t adoptes dans les rglements IACS CSR
pour les ptroliers et les vraquiers.
3.2 Charges
Llment fondamental sur lequel les rglements
reposent est constitu par les charges appliquer.
Ces charges appliquer entranent 2 autres
lments galement fondamentaux dans le
processus de vrification : la dfinition des
formules de rsistance et les critres de
validation. Les charges sont dcomposes en 2
parties majeures qui sont respectivement les
composantes statique et dynamique. La
composante statique, ou en eau calme,
reprsente typiquement les charges associes
aux conditions de chargement telles que le poids
lge, la cargaison, les ballastes, la pousse
hydrostatique de mer. La Figure 2 illustre des
exemples de dispositions de chargement utiliss
pour de grands ptroliers (VLCC) et vraquiers
ayant des dispositions classiques de
citernes/cales. La partie dynamique, ou induite
par les vagues, reprsente les charges associes
aux mouvements du navire et acclrations
imposes au navire par la mer.
Les charges dynamiques sont bases sur les
paramtres fondamentaux du navire de manire
calculer en premier lieu les mouvements et
acclrations caractristiques du navire et
ensuite dobtenir les composantes dynamiques
des charges de pression extrieure, des moments
Epaisseur nette
requise
Surpaisseur
de Corrosion
Neuvage
Epaisseur
de
renouvel-
lement
requise
Corrosion limite en
service
En Service
Mesures
dpaisseur
ll
Rserve de Corrosion
suppose pour 2.5 ans
(0.5mm) (peinture or
visite annuelle)

et efforts tranchants appliqus la poutre navire
et des charges internes. Les charges dynamiques
associes aux phnomnes de ballotement
(sloshing), dimpact local sur les fonds plats
lavant et sur les parties avant de la muraille, les
paquets de mer sur ponts, sont galement
spcifis. Beaucoup de ces charges sont bases
sur des exigences unifies de lIACS (UR)
dveloppes dans le cadre de groupes de travail
sur les donnes et charges de mer, disponibles
sur le site web de lIACS www.iacs.org.uk

Chargem
ents
Dispositions de chargement
Tirant
deau
A1
(3)

0.9 Tsc
A2
(3)

Tsc
A3
(4)

0.6 Tsc
(4)
A4

0.6 Tsc
A5

0.6 Tsc
A6

0.6 Tsc
A7
(5)

TLC
A8
(6)

TbalH
Les efforts dynamiques sont valus pour
diffrents scenarios de chargement afin de
couvrir ltendue des oprations associes aux
exigences rglementaires. Pour la vrification de
la rsistance densemble, les charges
caractristiques sont obtenues en utilisant les
conditions mtorologiques et tats de mer
extrmes que le navire peut rencontrer, bass sur
une probabilit de dpassement de 10-8.

Figure 2 : Exemples de cas de chargement
pour des ptroliers et des vraquiers
Ces charges reprsentent les efforts extrmes
rencontrs lors dune exposition dans
lenvironnement de lAtlantique Nord dfini par
la recommandation n34 de lIACS, pour une
dure de vie de conception de 25 ans. Il a bien
t not lors du dveloppement des rglements
que de nombreux navires voluent leur vie
durant sans jamais transiter par lAtlantique
Nord ; cependant lAtlantique Nord a t
slectionn comme lenvironnement de
rfrence pour la conception de faon ne pas
limiter une flexibilit future. De plus, lIndustrie
et le public ont rclam que soient incorpores
dans les rglements une scurit accrue, une
plus grande robustesse et solidit ; lutilisation
dun environnement marin plus svre est une
des pistes suivies pour atteindre ce principe. Les
efforts dynamiques sont introduits par le biais
dune srie de facteurs de combinaison de
charge (LCF) pour prendre en compte la
superposition des nombreuses composantes
dynamiques des charges en un point donn au
moment prcis o la composante majeure
considre de la charge atteint son amplitude
maximale. Les facteurs de combinaison sont
appliqus en liaison avec les chargements
statiques comme montr la Figure 2.
Les rglements spcifient les conditions de
chargement et les dispositions de chargement
considrer lors de la vrification de la rsistance
de la structure. Ces dispositions correspondent
aux conditions oprationnelles les plus courantes
que le type et la taille du navire doivent
satisfaire. Ils constituent le niveau minimal en
terme de chargement que les ptroliers ou les
vraquiers doivent vrifier et viennent en
complment des conditions de chargement
spcifies dans le manuel de chargement propre
au navire.

Pour les vraquiers, les dispositions de
chargement sont bases sur les exigences
unifies de lIACS pour la rsistance appele
UR S25. Cette exigence unifie a t introduite
en juin 2002 la suite dune discussion entre
lIACS et lIndustrie initie par une lettre de
lAssociation des Armateurs de Hong Kong qui
exprimait leurs inquitudes relatives aux dfauts
de conception des vraquiers existants. Cette
exigence UR S25 a t dveloppe pour viter la
conception de navire base uniquement sur des
conditions de chargement spcifiques prsentes
dans le manuel de chargement du navire
concern et galement la situation qui bien
quapprouv, ne puisse donner larmateur
lutilisation de la totalit de son potentiel dans
un grand nombre de cas.
Pour valuer la rsistance la fatigue, des
efforts caractristiques sont utiliss pour
reprsenter le grand nombre des amplitudes de
charge modestes et cycliques, bass sur une
probabilit de dpassement de 10-4. Sachant que
les rsultats de calculs en fatigue sont
extrmement sensibles aux charges et
lapplication de lamplitude de contraintes
correspondante, les charges les plus
reprsentatives sont appliques de manire
liminer au mieux les hypothses les plus
conservatives. Il faut remarquer que les
mthodes de calculs en fatigue requirent des
marges de scurit dans la mthode et dans les
critres dchantillonnage eux-mmes, de sorte
quil nest pas ncessaire dimposer des mesures
plus svres au stade de la dtermination des
efforts. Bien entendu comme indiqu ci-avant,
lenvironnement Atlantique Nord est utilis.
Les efforts rglementaires dynamiques,
dtermins pour le niveau extrme 10-8 ou pour
le niveau reprsentatif de la fatigue 10-4 ont
t extensivement dvelopps et vrifis en
utilisant des calculs directs hydrodynamiques.
Lintroduction des facteurs de combinaison de
charge pour les diffrents aspects, constitue la
partie majeure du travail effectu dans les
rglements. Les efforts sont combins par cas de
chargement en appliquant des paramtres
spcifiques maximaux corrls avec les autres
composants correspondants du cas de
chargement de manire approcher la vague
quivalente pour reprsenter des charges
dynamiques ralistes. Les paramtres
dynamiques de charge tels que moment de
flexion densemble, pression extrieure,
pression interne, etc. sont chacun maximiss
pour imposer les efforts statiques et dynamiques
sur les diffrents lments de structure. Les
rglements dfinissent des cas de chargement
spcifiques utiliser durant le processus
dexamen de la structure.
3.3 Exigences structuralles
La porte gnrale des exigences structurales est
similaire celle des rglements actuels des
Socits de Classification. Les prescriptions
structurales couvrent la rsistance de la poutre
navire, des lments primaires et des lments
locaux. Elles recourent des principes de
dimensionnement comprhensibles et
transparents travers le concept dpaisseur
nette et dapplication des charges rsum
prcdemment en association avec les critres
de validation. Ces critres sont dfinis en
fonction des cas de chargement et du mode de
rupture considrs.
En plus de lobjectif de transparence dans la
dfinition et la description des critres de
dimensionnement, la cohrence est galement
un objectif principal de sorte que des charges,
des modes de rupture et des critres de
dimensionnement similaires conduisent des
exigences rglementaires semblables.
3.3.1 Rsistance densemble
Les prescriptions pour la rsistance densemble
de la poutre navire relatives la documentation
bord et aux formulations des critres de
rsistance rglementaire sont en accord avec les
exigences unifies de lIACS (UR S1, S7, S11
en gnral et S17 et S25 pour les vraquiers). Les
prescriptions rglementaires couvrent les
procdures dtailles pour lexamen de la
structure soumise aux charges statiques et
dynamiques de flexion et de cisaillement.
Lvaluation de la rsistance au flambement des
tles et raidisseurs ordinaires est galement
effectue ce stade pour les contraintes induites
par la flexion et le cisaillement densemble
combins.
3.3.2 Elments primaires
Les exigences prescriptives relatives aux
lments primaires sont introduites dans le
rglement CSR Ptrolier pour le double fond, la
double coque, les porques de cloison
longitudinale, les transversales de pont, les
tirants et les serres de cloison. Les dispositions
de chargement des citernes et les combinaisons

de charge pour ces lments sont spcifies de
faon que les efforts rsultants soient maximiss
lors de la vrification des modes adquats de
rupture en utilisant des formules de
dimensionnement bases sur les charges. Des
exemples gnraux de ces prescriptions sont
donns aux quations (1) et (2) pour
respectivement la flexion et le cisaillement. Il
est ais de comprendre la combinaison entre les
charges et les contraintes admissibles pour la
flexion ou le cisaillement. Une configuration
typique de lanneau renforc dun VLCC est
donne la Figure 3 pour illustrer quelques uns
des paramtres des formules rglementaires.
La disposition structurale des vraquiers nest pas
propice cette approche prescriptive pour les
lments primaires. Par exemple, la structure du
double fond est constitue de varangues et de
carlingues se soutenant mutuellement ; il est
donc difficile de donner des formules simples
pour pr-dimensionner ces lments.
Pour les Rglements CSR, des critres
additionnels de hauteur ou dpaisseur minimale
sont introduits pour limiter les dformations
globales des panneaux raidis, donner une
robustesse minimale et effectuer une premire
analyse sommaire vis--vis du flambement des
panneaux ou de la stabilit des raidisseurs.
Les lments primaires sont vrifis par aprs
par lutilisation de mthodes de calculs directes
en lments finis. Lanalyse par lments finis
est incomparablement plus performante pour
dterminer linteraction entre les lments de
structure tels qulments participant la flexion
densemble, effets de grillage, dformation de
cisaillement densemble, etc. qui ne peut pas
toujours tre compltement prise en compte
dans une approche prescriptive. Les exigences
prescriptives bases sur les charges sont donc
typiquement plus conservatives que celles
bases sur une analyse en lments finis ; en
consquence, dans les zones o une analyse en
lments finis nest pas pratique les exigences
prescriptives demandent une rsistance
ncessaire.
Cependant, pour le rglement CSR / Ptrolier
uniquement, dans les zones o lanalyse en
lments finis est effectue, une rduction de
15% de lchantillonnage par rapport aux
exigences prescriptives est autorise sous
rserve que les rsultats associs aux lments
finis satisfassent les critres relatifs ces calculs.
yd pr s
C
M
Z
=
1000
cm
3
(1)
O:
M Moment de flexion de
conception, en kNm
2
vw bdg
l S P c

=
P Pression de conception pour
le cas de chargement
considr, en kN/m
2
.
l
bdg-vw
Porte de flexion, en m.
S Espacement des porques, en
m
C
s-pr
Facteur de contrainte de
flexion admissible
yd
Rsistance lastique
minimale spcifie du
matriau, en N/mm
2
C Coefficient correspondant
la disposition structurale
yd pr t
shr
C
Q
A
=
10
cm
2
(2)
O:
Q Effort tranchant de conception, en
kN:
= ] ) ( [
u u l u vw u
P h P P l c S +
P
u
Pression de conception pour le cas
de chargement considr calcule
mi-hauteur du gousset suprieur de
la porque, h
u
, situ mi citerne, en
kN/m
2
P
l
Pression de conception pour le cas
de chargement considr calcule
mi-hauteur du gousset infrieur de la
porque, h
l
, situ mi citerne, en
kN/m
2
l
vw
Longueur de la porque, en m
S Ecartement des porques, en m
h
u
Longueur effective de cisaillement
du gousset suprieur de la porque, en
m
h
l
Longueur effective de cisaillement
du gousset infrieur de la porque, en
m

c
u
Coefficient correspondant la
disposition structurale
C
t-pr
Facteur de contrainte de cisaillement
admissible donn en 2.6.2.2
yd
3
yd
= N/mm
2
yd
Rsistance lastique minimale
spcifie du matriau, en N/mm
2
l
t
l
t
l
side
l
bdg
C
L
c.
l
h
l
h
u
h
l
h
u
C
L

Figure 3 : Exemple de prescription pour les
lments primaires
3.3.3 Elments de support locaux
Les prescriptions pour les lments de support
locaux sont exprimes pour la coque extrieure
et la structure interne telle que double fond,
double coque, pont, cloison longitudinale et
transversale, etc. Les efforts utiliss pour la
vrification de lenveloppe externe des
citernes/cales proviennent des chargements
maximaux possibles pour des conditions
correspondant une capacit pleine dun cot et
vide de lautre cot de llment considr et
inversement pour que tous les scnarios soient
envisags. Sur le mme principe, la coque
extrieure est examine pour une charge externe
maximale correspondant au tirant deau
maximal sans contre pression interne et pour la
situation oppose, une charge interne maximale
(cale/citerne pleine) associe une charge
externe minimale correspondant aux conditions
de ballast. Les modes de dfaillance utiliss
dans les formules de dimensionnement sont
ainsi dveloppes pour les tles et les raidisseurs
ordinaires. Les prescriptions relatives aux
raidisseurs ordinaires incorporent lexamen des
dtails en extrmit de porte avec la prise en
compte ou non de la prsence dune mise ou
dun plat de raidissage dans le plan de son me.
Les lments locaux sont vrifis dans une tape
ultrieure pour les critres de contraintes dans le
cadre des calculs par lments finis. Lanalyse
en lments finis est plus adquate pour
considrer linteraction entre les lments de
structure et leur influence locale sur les lments
locaux comme les tles de muraille, de double
coque, de cloisons transversales et
longitudinales, etc. qui ne peuvent pas toujours
tre pleinement prises en compte dans les
exigences prescriptives. Cette vrification est
tablie par rapport la limite lastique et la
rsistance au flambement ou rsistance ultime.
Les lments de support locaux incluent
galement les exigences pour la vrification de
la raideur des cloisons ondules et des tles
locales la constituant, ainsi que la structure des
caissons de ces cloisons.
Des prescriptions supplmentaires concernant
les paisseurs minimales, les ratios pour lme
ou la semelle des raidisseurs ou dautres critres
locaux sont appliques pour sassurer de la
robustesse minimale et pour obtenir un premier
examen des panneaux et de la stabilit des
raidisseurs ordinaires.
3.3.4 Elments structuraux des citernes
avant et arrire
Les lments de structure des citernes les plus
en avant ou en arrire sont vrifis dans le
Rglement CSR/Ptrolier par utilisation de la
mme procdure que celle exige pour les
lments participant la rsistance densemble
dans les zones de transition et galement en
utilisant les exigences requises pour la
vrification locale. Une procdure gnrale est
galement introduite pour appliquer les rsultats
obtenus par lanalyse de la partie centrale par
lments finis aux citernes en dehors de la
rgion des 0.4 L de part et dautre du matre
couple.

3.3.5 Elments de structure lavant, dans
la machine ou larrire
Les lments de structure lavant, dans la
machine et larrire du navire sont vrifis par
le biais des prescriptions dtailles introduites
dans le rglement. La structure avant est vrifie
pour les impacts sur les fonds (slamming) et la
muraille en considrant les diffrents tirants
deau et remplissages des capacits utiliss pour
lopration du navire.
En plus des prescriptions mentionns ci-dessus,
des exigences gnrales vis--vis du soudage,
des matriaux, des moyens de fermeture, des
superstructures, des quipements de mouillage,
etc. sont donnes dans les rglements CSR.
3.3.6 Conformit la SOLAS XI I /6.5.1 & 3
pour les Vraquiers
Le nouveau chapitre XII de la SOLAS qui est
entr en vigueur le 1er juillet 2006 (date de pose
de quille) a introduit une exigence
supplmentaire pour les dommages des
raidisseurs ordinaires installs la priphrie de
la cale vrac. Lexigence exacte sexprime en
6.5.3 comme suit : La structure de la tranche
de la cargaison doit tre telle que la dfaillance
d'un quelconque lment structural de
raidissement n'entrane pas une dfaillance
immdiate d'autres lments structuraux
pouvant son tour entraner l'effondrement de
l'ensemble des parois latrales renforces. .
Dans le cadre de lIACS, lexigence unifie UR
S12 rev 4 a t discute depuis mi-2002
jusquau dbut de 2004. La consquence de ces
discussions a entrain lintroduction dans le
rglement CSR / Vraquier des rsultats du
groupe ISR ISWG et SOLAS XII/6.5.3.
Lobjectif lorigine tait daccroitre la
rsistance de la structure de muraille
(membrures mais galement leurs goussets ainsi
que les lisses les soutenant). Par la suite, la
discussion a volu sur la faon dviter un effet
domino par dversement des membrures.
Les principes suivants ont t appliqus :
Dformation locale de 20 mm impose aux
raidisseurs de la structure bordant la cale
pour la vrification de la rsistance ultime du
panneau raidi soumis 80% des charges de
houle (moments de flexion et pression)
Si le dommage est une cassure ou un
problme de soudage, ncessit dviter une
rupture fragile.
Les exigences sur la redondance structurale
donnes en SOLAS XII/6.5.1 et 6.5.3 ont t
introduites dans le rglement CSR / Vraquier au
travers des prescriptions prsentes par lIACS
et acceptes par lOMI :
80% des charges dynamiques sont appliques
Facteur de scurit de 1.15 requis pour les
calculs de rsistance ultime des panneaux
raidis bordant les cales de cargaison (sauf le
pont)
Grade D/DH exig pour les goussets
infrieurs de membrures et la tle de muraille
situe la jonction avec la tle du caisson
infrieur de ballast latral.
3.4 Analyse en lments finis
Les rglements CSR/Ptroliers et Vraquiers
exigent quune vrification de la structure soit
effectue par une analyse en lments finis sur
une modle de 3 cales/citernes.
Comme mentionn ci-dessus, lobjectif de cette
analyse structurale consiste sassurer que les
niveaux de contraintes et la capacit de
rsistance au flambement des lments primaires
et de la structure de la coque soumis des
efforts statiques et dynamiques restent dans des
limites acceptables. De plus, la rsistance la
fatigue de dtails de structure slectionns doit
galement tre valide.
La vrification structurale repose sur un calcul
en lments finis en 3 dimensions (3D) dcrit
dans une procdure dtaille dans les rglements.
Cette procdure couvre diffrents aspects
comme les dtails de modlisation, les
chargements, les conditions aux limites
appliquer, et les critres de dimensionnement
pour valider la disposition et lchantillonnage
des lments. Les rglements dtaillent aussi les
analyses mener sur des modles fins et trs
fins effectuer pour valuer les zones fortes
concentrations de contraintes et les dtails de
structure dans ces zones.
La Figure 4 donne deux exemples de modles
globaux de 3 cales ou citernes. La Figure 5
montre des exemples de modles trs fins
imbriqus dans des modles fins.
Ltendue des modles fins ou globaux, la
densit de maillage associ, les paisseurs nettes
prendre en compte, les critres de
dimensionnement appliquer chaque type
dlment structural, les charges rglementaires

et le type danalyse utiliser sont spcifis dans
les rglements.

Figure 4 : Modles globaux (3 cales/citernes)

Figure 5 : Modles fins
3.5 Rsistance ultime de la poutre navire
Les rglements CSR requirent un examen
simplifi de la rsistance ultime de la poutre
navire de manire donner un niveau
supplmentaire de vrification de la rsistance
densemble par rapport lapproche courante
lastique provenant des exigences IACS UR S11,
elles-mmes reprises dans les rglements. Cet
examen simplifi na pas pour objet de
reproduire une vrification complte de la
rsistance ultime de la poutre navire dans
laquelle toutes les charges et les courbes de
capacit de tous les lments participant la
rsistance densemble seraient dveloppes par
une approche typique non linaire. En effet, une
mthode a t dveloppe pour vrifier la
capacit en rsistance ultime dune section
transversale de faon exclure les navires dont
la conception pour ce mode de dfaillance pose
problme.
Pour la section transversale considre des
ptroliers et des vraquiers, un niveau
supplmentaire de scurit est ainsi introduit
pour les conditions de navigation en pleine mer
dont le moment de flexion total correspond au
moment de flexion admissible en eau calme et
une houle de probabilit gale 10-8. De plus
pour les vraquiers, des conditions davarie sont
galement examines ; elles correspondent au
cas denvahissement de nimporte quelle cale
associes un moment de houle rduit.
Il savre que les conditions en contre arc
produisent la plus faible capacit en rsistance
ultime. Le rglement CSR / Ptrolier donne de
ce fait uniquement des critres pour ces
conditions de contre arc.
3.6 Fatigue
Le but gnral du contrle en fatigue introduit
dans les rglements consiste sassurer que la
structure du navire soumise des charges de
fatigue c..d. des charges cycliques dynamiques
a une dure de vie en fatigue adquate par
rapport la dure de vie de conception du navire.
La procdure donne une approche oriente sur la
conception et permet la vrification de la
rsistance en fatigue de certains dtails
structuraux par une mthode dite simplifie au
lieu de mthodes plus labores comme par
exemple la mthode danalyse spectrale. Le
terme approche simplifie est utilis ici afin
de distinguer cette approche de mthodes
danalyse plus labores.

Les critres introduits dans les rglements ont
t dvelopps et proviennent de sources
diverses telles que le modle de dommage
linaire de Palmgren Miner, les mthodologies
des courbes SN, les donnes environnementales
long terme de locan Atlantique Nord (IACS
Wave Data), etc. et supposent que la qualit de
fabrication est acceptable pour les experts de la
Socit de Classification et reste dans les limites
des standards tablis. La capacit de la structure
rsister la fatigue est exprime en dommage
de fatigue pour assurer aux concepteurs la plus
grande flexibilit possible.
La procdure de calcul est axe sur lvaluation
de la rsistance en fatigue des dtails de
structure leurs connexions soudes et est base
sur une mthode simplifie. La vrification est
applicable aux dtails des extrmits de lisse en
utilisant la thorie des poutres base sur
lapproche par contrainte nominale ; les autres
dtails tels que la connexion du double fond, de
la tle de caisson infrieur et de la carlingue
latrale en abord se fait par la dtermination du
point chaud directement par un calcul en
lments finis.
Les principales hypothses utilises sont
donnes ci-dessous :
Modle de dommage cumulatif linaire (loi
de Palmgren-Miner) utilis en liaison avec
les courbes SN correspondantes,
Contraintes cycliques due aux charges
utilises et incluses dans les effets des
contraintes moyennes,
Dure de vie de conception gale 25 ans,
Donnes environnementales correspondant
lAtlantique Nord,
Les amplitudes des contraintes long terme
dun dtail de structure peut tre caractris
par une loi de distribution statistique un
paramtre (),
Les dtails de structure sont idaliss, pour
les ptrolier une classe de fatigue et pour les
vraquiers par un facteur de concentration de
contrainte, prcis dans les rglements,
Pour les connexions en extrmit de lisses, la
contrainte nominale obtenue par une la
thorie des poutres utilisant les charges
rglementaires est amplifie par des formules
empiriques bases sur des calculs en
lments finis pour une srie de dtails
semblables pour dterminer le facteur de
concentration de contrainte applicable au
dtail considr.
La classification des dtails structuraux dans les
rglements est base sur une connexion
gomtrique soumise des charges lmentaires.
Des exemples de connexions typiques et leur
classe de fatigue correspondante sont montrs
la Figure 6 pour les ptroliers et les facteurs de
concentration de contrainte la Figure 7 pour
les vraquiers.
Lorsque la gomtrie ou les chargements
deviennent trop complexes pour entrer dans une
classification par nature simplifie, un calcul par
lments finis du dtail doit tre men pour en
dterminer la contrainte prendre en compte.
Des conseils sur lanalyse en lments finis
requise pour dterminer le point chaud du joint
soud sont donns dans la procdure. Les dtails
devant tre analyss par fatigue en lments
finis sont pour les 2 types de navire langle
form par le double fond et le caisson infrieur
en abord et pour les vraquiers, indiqus la
Figure 8.

Cr itical L ocations
I D Connection type
A B
1
A B
d
l
eff
l
eff

F2 F2
2
A B
d
l
eff
l
eff

F2
F2
(s ee n o t e i v )
3

A B
d
l
eff
l
eff
d/2

F F2
Figure 6 : Classification des joints en fatigue

Figure 7 : Facteurs de concentration de
contrainte

Figure 8 : Exemples des dtails de structure de
vraquier vrifier pour la fatigue
Les rglements permettent galement
lutilisation optionnelle de mthodes spectrales
plus dtailles pour la vrification en fatigue.
Cependant ces analyses plus fines ne peuvent
pas conduire des rductions par rapport aux
prescriptions rglementaires.
4 NORMES DE CONSTRUCTI ON
DES NAVI RES NEUFS EN
FONCTI ON DOBJ ECTI FS
Au moment o les rglements CSR ont t
dvelopps, lOrganisation Maritime
Internationale (OMI) dmarrait les grandes
lignes des normes de construction des navires
neufs en fonction dobjectifs dont labrviation
anglaise est connue sous le sigle GBS, ayant
pour but de dterminer les normes de base qui
seront utilises pour tablir les rglements des
Socits de Classification. Le dveloppement de
ces GBS est toujours en cours lOMI.
LOrganisation envisage 2 formats pour ces
normes : une approche prescriptive et une
approche par niveau de sret .
Indpendamment du format, lOMI est donc en
train dvelopper un rglement pour les
rglements de sorte que les rglements des
Socits de Classification devront satisfaire un
niveau minimal de base de sret. Lors du
dveloppement des rglements communs, les
volutions en cours des GBS ont t suivies de
faon incorporer les critres pertinents dans les
CSR. Ainsi la dure de vie de conception de 25
ans et la houle correspondant lAtlantique
Nord ont t introduites dans les CSR.
Rcemment, lIACS a accept de tester les
rglements CSR dans le processus des GBS par
le biais dun projet pilote. Ce projet pilote sera
utilis pour amliorer les GBS et en parallle
didentifier les zones damlioration des CSR.
5 I MPLEMENTATI ON DES
REGLEMENTS COMMUNS DE
LI ACS
En juin 2003, le Conseil de lIACS ragit des
initiatives venant de lOMI et de lIndustrie et
dcide de dvelopper un jeu de rglements et de
procdures communs pour la dtermination des
chantillons de structure des ptroliers et des
vraquiers. Le 1er avril 2006, ces rglements
entrent en vigueur. Ils incorporent les
changements et amliorations antrieures et
proposent une approche harmonise pour la
structure du navire et ce pour lensemble des
Socits de Classification de lIACS.
5.1 Maintenance des CSR
Au moment o les rglements communs entrent
en application, lIACS crent 2 quipes de projet
sous la supervision du Hull Panel de lIACS.
Chaque quipe se voit confier la charge de la
maintenance de lun des 2 jeux de CSR. La
Figure 9 montre lorganisation de lIACS pour
les CSR.
Chaque quipe est compose de 4 membres de
lIACS, 3 appartenant aux Socits de
classification qui ont dvelopp le rglement du
type de navire concern et un autre membre.
A ce jour, la maintenance des rglements est
assure comme suit :
CSR / Ptroliers
DNV,
ABS,
LRS,
BV
CSR / Vraquiers
ClassNK,
BV,
GL,
ABS
Une rotation des membres est prvue tous les 2
ans.
A la suite des demandes dinterprtation et des
questions poses par les membres de lIACS, les
quipes de maintenance proposent des errata et
des propositions de mise jour rglementaires.
Les errata concernent principalement les
amendements ditoriaux des rglements alors

que les propositions de mise jour
rglementaires doivent recevoir laval des
comits techniques de chaque membre de
lIACS avant son adoption dfinitive par le
Conseil.

Figure 9 : Organisation de lIACS
5.2 I nterpretations des CSR
Les quipes impliques dans la maintenance des
CSR doivent galement effectuer des
interprtations des rglements. Ces
interprtations peuvent constituer un moyen
pour appliquer une exigence de la mme faon
par tous les membres de lIACS. Elles
tablissent une tape possible vers une mise
jour rglementaire en proposant une solution
temporaire aux membres et aux concepteurs de
navires.
Ces interprtations sont enregistres dans une
base de donnes accessible aux membres de
lIACS. Lorsquelles sont juges utiles pour
lIndustrie, le secrtariat de lIACS les rend
disponibles sur le site internet de lIACS.
Une fois par an, les quipes de maintenance
passent en revue les interprtations pour
proposer au Hull Panel une liste
damendements rglementaires.
5.3 Harmonisation des CSR
Les rglements communs des ptroliers et
vraquiers ont commenc des moments
diffrents et ds leur origine ont suivi des
cheminements de dveloppement galement
diffrents. Les membres de lIACS se sont
accords pour harmoniser les 2 approches et un
degr important dharmonisation a t dj
atteint entre les 2 jeux de rglements. Les termes
adopts par chacune des socits par rapport aux
CSR sont identiques et un travail
dharmonisation plus ample continue.
Le processus a t divis en 3 phases : un
processus court, moyen et long termes
La phase court terme sest concentre sur :
Les efforts tranchants verticaux de houle
Les marges et surpaisseurs de corrosion
La rsistance ultime de la poutre navire
La phase moyen terme sur :
Les exigences prescriptives de flambement
Flambement sous les efforts densemble
hors lments finis
Comparaison des analyses par calculs
directs
Analyse par calculs directs
Elimination des problmes majeurs
entre les 2 procdures pour un
chantillonnage commun
Analyse comparative des structures de
ptroliers et vraquiers par les quipes
J TP (Projet Ptrolier) et J BP (Projet
Vraquier)
Et la phase long terme sur :
Harmonisation des charges
Fatigue
Les tches des phases court et moyen termes
ont t menes bien et leurs rsultats
incorpors aux textes rglementaires des CSR.
Les projets long terme ont dabord t affects
au Hull Panel . Cette phase devait dmarrer
aprs une priode dimplmentation afin de
glaner un retour dexprience dans son
application.
Ds la fin 2007, le Conseil de lIACS a cr un
groupe de projet spcifique pour effectuer
lharmonisation des 2 rglements CSR, appel
Project Management Team (PMT). Ce groupe
est codirig par deux responsables, lun venant
du Bureau Veritas et lautre du Det Norsk
Veritas. Ce groupe rpond au SG/CSR (Small
Group/ CSR) mis en place par le Conseil pour
laider directement sur les problmes des CSR.
Lorganisation est dcrite la Figure 10.

IACS Council
SG/CSR
(ABS, BV, LR, NK)
Hull Panel
(10 members +1 associated)
Project Management Team
CSR Harmonization
(BV, DNV)
CSR Secretariat
Project Teams
(Including Cross Check Teams)
Project Teams
(Including Development Projects)
Technical
review
IACS Council
SG/CSR
(ABS, BV, LR, NK)
Hull Panel
(10 members +1 associated)
Project Management Team
CSR Harmonization
(BV, DNV)
CSR Secretariat
Project Teams
(Including Cross Check Teams)
Project Teams
(Including Development Projects)
Technical
review

Figure 10 : Organisation de lIACS pour les
CSR
Le groupe PMT a propos un plan de travail sur
4 ans pour produire un seul rglement harmonis
comportant une partie commune aux 2 types de
navire et une partie spcifique chacun des 2
types. Son objectif est de partir de lexistant et
de faire converger les exigences qui sont parfois
extrmement proches et de proposer des
solutions pour les mthodes qui le sont moins.
Les quipes de projets suivantes ont t cres
en 2008 :
Charge de mer
Flambement
Elments finis
Soudage
Surpaisseurs de corrosion
De plus le PMT supervise 2 autres projets, lun
traitant de la mise jour du rglement vraquier
relative la fatigue sous mer de trois-quarts et
lautre gr par le Survey Panel pour le suivi
en service des navires.
Ce plan 2008 sera complt lors des annes
venir par dautres quipes de projet (fatigue,
etc.) pour atteindre lobjectif final.
5.4 Manifestation de la conformit aux
CSR
Les ptroliers et vraquiers dont le contrat de
construction est sign aprs le 1er avril 2006 et
qui relvent de lapplication des rglements
communs de lIACS se voient attribuer une
mention de service complmentaire CSR ajoute
la mention de service ptrolier ou vraquier,
signifiant que le navire satisfait aux exigences
CSR ou Common Structural Rules. Cette
procdure est applique par toutes les Socits
de Classification de lIACS.
6 CONCLUSI ONS
Le dveloppement des CSR par lIACS a t
esquiss dans ce papier. Des exemples
dquilibre entre les mthodes de calculs
techniquement dveloppes et les besoins
dapproches dterministes et pratiques ont t
prsents. A lpoque o les rglements CSR
furent dvelopps, les normes de construction
des navires neufs en fonction dobjectifs (GBS)
de lOMI taient sous surveillance pour en
incorporer les critres pertinents dans les CSR.
Les rapports nouveaux entre Socits de
Classification et lIndustrie, consquence directe
des processus de consultation effectus durant
les phases dlaboration des rglements ont t
dcrits avec lentre en force et la maintenance
des CSR par les 10 membres de lIACS.
7 REFERENCES
[1] Common Structural Rules for Bulk Carriers,
J an 2006, NR522 DT R00 E
[2] Common Structural Rules for Double Hull
Oil Tankers, J an 2006, NR523 DT R00 E

Auteur
Philippe Baumans est responsable du Dpartement
Dveloppement au sein de la Branche Marine au
sige du Bureau Veritas, Paris-la-Dfense. Il
est ce titre responsable du dveloppement des
divers rglements du Bureau Veritas pour les
navires et loffshore ainsi que de celui des outils
informatiques. Anciennement reprsentant du
BV au Hull Panel de lIACS, il a t nomm
coresponsable du groupe PMT pour
lharmonisation des rglements communs.
RISK ENGINEERING
The papers in this section reflect a new focus by Bureau Veritas on
ergonomics and the man-machine interface. How to improve ship design
by focussing on the risks of human-system interaction is the main topic.

Proceedings of the 27
th
International Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering
OMAE2008
OMAE2008- 57362
INCLUDING ERGONOMICS IN THE DESIGN PROCESS TO ADDRESS THE RISKS
OF SLIPS, TRIPS AND FALLS: METHODOLOGY AND APPLICATION

Nicolas MERY
BUREAU VERITAS
Marine Division
Research Department
Risk, Sustainability and the
Human Element section
Marc LASSAGNE
Ecole Nationale Suprieure
dArts et Mtiers
GRID (research Group on Risk,
Information and Decision),
ENSAM-ESTP-IAE de Paris

Jonathan McGregor
BUREAU VERITAS
Marine Division
Research Department
Risk, Sustainability and the
Human Element section

ABSTRACT
Much effort has been spent by the offshore and maritime
industries in order to improve the safety of the vessels and
installations. However, accidents such as Slips, Trips & Falls
(STFs) still need to be particularly addressed since their
likelihood and severity are often underestimated. According to a
study by Jensen et al. [1], they cause more than 40% of non-
fatal injuries onboard and a study by the American Club P&I [2]
asserts they are responsible for 23% of the cost of claims for
illness and injury. The best way to prevent personnel from
slipping, tripping and falling is to integrate safety early in the
design of the ships or offshore installations.

This paper describes the way a classification society has
developed guidelines based on ergonomic design principles in
order to improve the design of the means of access onboard
ships. The outcome of this exercise is to increase the safety of
surveyors, seafarers and sea-going personnel who inspect,
operate or work aboard the vessels. The methodology we used
featured a two step approach: a risk analysis based on feedback
from surveyors and other sources was performed; an
anthropometric analysis was then used to establish the
guidelines. Both exercises are detailed in the paper along with
the resulting guidance. We show how this work is a first step
towards a more general methodology for the inclusion of
ergonomic consideration in the design process.

1. INTRODUCTION
Slips, Trips and Falls (STFs) are the accidents that occur the
most commonly at work. They can happen on an even level, on
ramps, on steps or stairs, or from a height. A wide range factors,
such as those identified by Haslam [3], namely health, age,
fatigue, medication, alcohol, environment (e.g. lighting and
floor surface) and activity (e.g. load carriage or performance of
a cognitive task) strongly influence the occurrence of STFs.

Because they feature numerous areas where STFs can occur,
ships and offshore installations should be seen as particularly
hazardous places, especially if maritime-specific contributing
factors, such as ship motion, weather conditions and work
organisation, are taken into consideration. This is reflected in
recent research. For instance Jensen et al in a 2005 paper [1]
present a study based on the statistical analysis of a
questionnaire filled in by 467 seafarers pointing out that STFs
would be responsible for more than 40% of non fatal-injuries
occurring onboard. Moreover, when analysing the seriousness
of the injuries (assessed by the number of days where the
seafarer is unfit for duty), this percentage increases to more than
60% for the most severe of them (involving more than 90 days
where the injured victim is unfit for duty).

The American P&I Club statistics [2], show that STFs
represented 23% of illness and injury claims costs for the 2001-
2003 period. This should be an incentive for the maritime
industry to not only focus on the prevention of ship losses but
also to save lives and money by trying to improve safety
onboard addressing STF accidents.
Bureau Veritas employs a significant number of surveyors who
have to face STFs related hazards during inspections of vessels
or installations. In addition to that, it has, as a classification
society, to be aware of and be involved in the ways to improve
safety at sea. It is consequently currently developing a guidance
note providing shipbuilders, shipyards and more generally the
maritime industry with requirements for a user-centred safe
design of the means of access onboard.

The areas of the ship most involved in the occurrence of STFs
are the Means of Access (MAs) i.e. walkways, ladders, stair
ladders, manholes, openings etc. The surveyors from the
classification societies have to carry out inspections using the
whole range of means of access and consequently, are very
likely to slip, trip or fall while onboard. Besides, classification
societies on behalf of IACS included in their rules unified
interpretations of the IMO Technical provisions for means of
access for inspections [4] which objective is to ensure the
surveyors can carry out inspections on board in safe conditions.

This paper presents the methodology employed to address STF
accidents and the way it has been applied for the development
of a guidance note for the ergonomic design of means of access
onboard ships.

2. METHODOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
The maritime industry, notably under the influence of the
International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is increasingly
addressing the human element issues when dealing with the
improvement of safety at sea. Indeed, IMO [5] agreed in May
2006 that significant reduction of accidents to seafarers and
human error can be obtained through the consideration of
ergonomics and their working environment onboard ship.
People are the most valuable resource that any company holds
and consequently, the whole panel of issues linked to the ship
operation as well as the ship design has to be dealt with taking
this into account.
Concerning slips, trips and falls, two main questions arise:
To what extent can the design of ships and offshore
installations prevent people from slipping, tripping and
falling?
How is it possible to have people adopt safe practices
and not take unjustified risks once they are provided
with a safe working environment?
These questions cannot be answered independently but should
be seen as describing a dual problem. The way people are likely
to behave has to determine the design; and the policies,
procedures and organisational factors should be developed in
close relation to the design of the equipments. This led us to the
adoption of a human-centred design perspective. Human-
centred design is a concept derived from ergonomic science that
addresses the wide range of interactions between people and the
ship or installation they work on or, more generally, the
workplace.
For instance, the effects of ship motion on crew safety, the
effects of light, vibrations and noise on their endurance, the
suitability of the permanent means of access onboard are some
of the topics that can be focused on through user-centred
design. Thus, any part of the ship should be adapted to the
mental, cognitive and physical capabilities of the various
seafarers that will operate and maintain it.

2.1. General description
The methodology that we have developed relies on the concept
that, in order to achieve the best results, the needs of end users
are of paramount importance and should be considered in the
earliest stages of the design process. Personnel operating, or
surveying, ships and installations should be invited to give
feedback to the engineers and designers on the usability of the
vessel or installation.
Moreover, it should be noted that the maritime industry does
not benefit from the advantages that can be derived from the
standardized production of vessels and offshore installations: as
each vessel is unique, even sister ships have differences, there is
almost no possibility to use prototypes and obtain expertise and
feedback from the users at this stage. Thus, feedback should be
collected from users who have a significant experience in the
operation of relevant vessels and installations.
Simulation is the second important means to integrate the
human element in the user-centred design process. Issues
arising from the ships operation that are not always observable
from trials and tests, but modelling can help to anticipate any
problems. Some emergency evacuation simulations, for
instance, are increasingly used for the design of stairs, escape
routes, and muster stations onboard vessels. For our purpose,
user-feedback can be used to describe the hazardous situations
that will then be modelled and assessed through simulation.

The methodology we developed has another important
characteristic in that it is explicitly risk-based. The
identification of hazardous situations or places where STF
accidents are most likely to occur is based on user feedback and
more specifically on the perception of the risks they face. Thus,
the users have the opportunity to give their own vision of the
STF hazards, i.e. their likelihood, their severity or the places
where they will most likely occur.
We decided to build several quantitative indexes based on the
users expertise: a probability or frequency score, a
consequence or severity score and with a combination of both, a
risk score that allows us to determine the level of significance of
the identified hazards. The rationale underlying the approach
we adopted is as follows: user-feedback is useful to make our
approach user-centred, but we could not hope to have found
accurate and reliable data about the probabilities of occurrence
of STFs or their severity depending on the situation or places.
Such maritime-specific databases do not exist or are not
complete enough to be used for our purpose. Furthermore, there
is no simple way to make analytical studies of STF accidents
depending on the ergonomics onboard.
That is why a simulation stage was necessary in the
methodology allowing for ergonomic-design concepts to be
introduced to address STFs.

The methodology that we developed is a two-stage-process
described in the figure below, which take into account the
points that we just presented.

Figure 1. Methodology for the development of
ergonomics-based design guidelines

2.2. First step: User feedback
Feedback from the users constitutes the core of the method.
During this phase, we try to gather the maximum amount of
information from people operating the ships and offshore
installations in order to focus on the most relevant and practical
issues that arise onboard. This step is very important as it
provides significant qualitative and quantitative data that is
essential to carry out in each of the next steps of the process.
In order to get the most valuable and complete information from
the users as possible, we used three different tools: free and
semi-structured interviews, a visit on a vessel and
questionnaires. The first two tools provided only some
qualitative data whereas the questionnaires allowed a
quantitative analysis.
2.3. Second step: Risk Assessment
The questionnaire we asked surveyors to complete is composed
of fourteen questions. Some of them are used for testing the
relevance of the answers. Another set of questions is focused on
the characteristics of the Slip, Trip and Fall accidents and the
way seafarers assess their likelihood and the injuries they cause.
This set will be helpful to evaluate the beliefs of the seafarers
about the STFs related risks; do they under or over-estimate the
risks? There is also a set of questions dedicated to the risk
analysis. Finally, some open questions allow us to have a
qualitative description of the issues with the Means of Access
(MAs) and the improvements they recommend to fix them.
Qualitative analysis of the questionnaire
In order to interpret the qualitative data obtained with the
results of the questionnaire, we used Factorial Analysis (FA). FA
is a way to represent contingency tables i.e. tables such as those
we obtained with the results of the questionnaire. These tables
are two-way tables which variables are qualitative. An example
of contingency tables is shown below.

Table 1. A contingency table representing surveyors
beliefs about STFs frequency of occurrence
Likelihood Slip Trip Fall
Never 7 12 23
Rarely 20 16 8
Sometimes 5 2 1
Often 0 2 0

The aim of FA is to allow the analyst to gather as much
information as possible on a very restricted number of graphs
called factorial plans formed by two factorial axes. The
different characters (slip, trip, fall, never, rarely, sometimes,
often) are analysed in terms of correspondences, i.e. only the
relative value between characters is important.
Each character is represented by a dot whose size depends on
the number of respondents and whose location determines its
relation with the other characters. The clouds of dots
representing the characters in line (never, rarely, sometimes,
often) and the clouds for the characters in column (slip, trip,
fall) are both centred on the origin of the space
1
. This space, in
which the clouds are centred and are represented on a common
scale, is composed of the factorial axes that are determined by
an eigen vectors calculus. The figures we analysed are
projections of the dots on factorial plans. Below is presented the
graph representing the previous contingency table:

1
The centres of the clouds are determined by the centre of gravity of the
dots, each dot bringing its own inertia (depending on the number of respondent
associated to this character) to the cloud.

4) Development of ergonomic guidelines
Design requirements definition
Guidelines development

1
st
stage
1) User feedback
2
nd
stage
Interviews
Diffusion of questionnaires
Field observations

2) Risk assessment
Qualitative analysis of the feedbacks
Quantitative analysis of the
feedbacks

Assessment of consequences
Assessment of frequencies
Risks ranking

3) Ergonomic /Anthropometric analysis

Application of the ergonomic/human factors design principles
Application of the anthropometric design process
Simulations

Figure 2. Projection of surveyors beliefs about STFs
frequency of occurrence on a factorial plan

A graphical analysis can be carried out with this type of graphs;
quantitative indicators can also be derived from the data
analysis, in order to confirm the validity of the analysis, namely
the percentage of inertia explained by each of the factorial axes,
the quality of representation of the dots on the factorial axes,
the significance of each character regarding the factorial axes
and obviously the contingency tables (that after all contain the
whole information). Thus, the graphical analysis can be
rigorously performed. Sub-populations appear like more or less
concentrated groups of dots. In general, the proximity of two
dots reveals that their profiles tend to be similar.
Risk analysis
We adopted a specific strategy to identify the hazards related to
Slip Trip and Falls. The hazards are characterized by their
location, their severity and their frequency. By constructing a
risk measure with severities and frequencies, we assessed the
STFs risks in the different areas of the ships and determined a
level of acceptance in order to focus on the areas that have to be
addressed in priority. We also assessed the severities associated
with each type of MA using the same method as for the
assessment of the frequencies.

It seemed more relevant to us to assess the frequencies of access
to the different places instead of the frequencies of occurrence
of STFs in these places. In fact, it is cognitively easier for a
surveyor to estimate frequencies concerning how often a given
location is accessed (by them or by seafarers) than estimate the
accidents frequencies, for the reasons that we previously stated.
To summarize, it is easier for the surveyors to give an estimate
on how often areas are accessed instead of how often a STF
occurs (whether or not the STF results in a injury).
Furthermore, this frequency is a good attribute for risk
assessment since more attention should be paid to the rooms
and compartments which are accessed more frequently.
Then, in order to provide a unique frequency score for each of
the areas onboard, we computed a weighted sum on the
percentages representing the different frequencies (several times
per year, several times per month, several times per week,
several times per day). The weights are directly proportional to
the frequencies i.e. the coefficient corresponding to the to the
frequency several times per day is 365 times the coefficient for
the frequency several times per year and so on. Finally,
assuming that the coefficient for several times per year is 1,
the scores obtained are ranked on a 1 to 365 scale that can be
turned into (division by 365) a 0.03 to 1 scale. We show this
calculus for the lower hold on an example below:

Table 2. Access frequency for the lower hold
LOWER HOLD
Frequencies
Percentages
i
p
Coefficients
i
k

several times / year 0.44 1.00
several times / month 0.11 12.00
several times / week 0.28 52.00
several times / day 0.17 365.00

We can calculate the score corresponding to the frequency of
access to the lower hold:
21 . 0
365
365 17 . 0 52 28 . 0 12 11 . 0 1 44 . 0
=
+ + +
=
lowerhold
F

Let us insist on the fact that F is a score and not a frequency;
here, F = 0.21 does not mean that the lower hold is accessed
every five days since 44% of people answered the lower hold
was accesses (only) several times per year.

We ranked each injury, ranging from a simple knock to a
fatality, into four groups based on their severity: not dangerous
at all, not really dangerous, rather dangerous, very
dangerous. As for the frequency score given to each of the
areas onboard, we calculated a score reflecting the severity
associated to each of them with a weighted sum. However,
when dealing with the severity of injuries, the coefficients
cannot be attributed according to a proportionality rule. In fact
the weights have to be defined according to the harm or
disutility each category of injury cause to the maritime industry.
Thus, the severity associated to very dangerous is about 50
times the one associated to not really dangerous. In fact, as
shown on the figure below, we assumed that the disutility
function or negative utility function has an exponential shape.
365

=
i
i i
p k
F

Figure3. Exponential model of the disutility associated to
injuries

It was not possible to actually elicit this utility function. This
could be another perspective for future research. However, the
coefficients that we used for the negative utility function made
it possible to assess the severity of injuries associated to each of
the areas and rank them as we show for the lower hold on the
following table.

Table 3: Dangerousness of the lower hold
LOWER HOLD
Severities
Percentages
i
p
- Utility
) (
i
u

Not dangerous at all 0.33 0
Not really dangerous (knock
benign wound, sprain)
0.40 0.02
Rather dangerous (back
injury, serious wound,
fracture, eye injury)
0.13 0.14
Very dangerous (death risk,
disability)
0.13 1

We can calculate the score associated to the severity of the
injuries occurring in the lower hold:
16 . 0 1 13 . 0 14 . 0 13 . 0 02 . 0 40 . 0 0 33 . 0 = + + + =
lowerhold
S

At this point, we had scores for the frequencies and scores for
the severities for each of the areas onboard vessels. We needed
to define a risk ranking in order to assess each compartment in
terms of safety. Because of the relatively low accuracy induced
by the process employed for the computation of the scores, it
seemed to be useless to find a new scoring function combining
the two previous scores in order to rank the compartments by
risks. Thus, we adopted a risk matrix containing four levels of
risks and presented in the table below:

Table 4. Risk matrix for the assessment of the areas
and means of access where STFs can occur
Severity < 0.2 Severity > 0.2
Frequency <
0.14
NO SIGNIFICANT RISK (no
action required)
SIGNIFICANT RISK
(immediate action required)
Frequency >
0.14
LOW RISK (non priority
action required)
SAFETY CRITICAL

Through this matrix, we (legitimately) assume that the severity
of the injuries caused by STFs has a lower weight than the
frequency of access in the risk assessment. A high severity is
unacceptable whatever the frequency of access whereas a high
frequency of access associated to a low severity is considered a
low risk.
Surveyors beliefs
The risk analysis we carried out results from thirty-two
feedbacks from surveyors. We have to consider its accuracy and
be aware of its limitations. In fact, biases may be introduced by
the way information is collected through questions. The most
significant biases come from the beliefs of the respondents
about the hazards linked to Slip, Trip and Falls (STFs) in
shipping. In fact, when they are asked to assess the frequencies
of occurrence of STFs or the severity of the injuries they cause,
the surveyors tend to underestimate the frequencies while they
overweight the consequences (severity of injuries). This seems
to be logical since people in general and even surveyors
consider STFs as common accidents and consequently do not
notice them when they occur except when they cause serious
injuries. The respondents also only keep in mind the most
serious STF accidents and forget to mention the various others
that occurred all along their career, in a fashion similar to what
Kahneman et al. describe as the availability bias [6].
Consequently, they are also often unaware of the STFs that
happened to their colleagues. That is the reason why we went in
field to attend a survey and interview the surveyors in their
working environments. Care was also taken to try to ask
questions in such a way that these biases are as minimised as
possible. Overall, the relevance and accuracy of the results we
worked on is good enough considering the type of analysis we
performed.

2.4. Third step: Ergonomic design of the Means of
Access
Anthropometric design
The following section explains the main concepts of
anthropometric design as defined by Pheasant [7].

Anthropometry is the branch of ergonomics dealing with the
measurements of body size, shape, strength, mobility and
flexibility. From the results of an anthropometric analysis we
Not dangerous at all
Not really dangerous
Rather dangerous
Very dangerous
) (severity f utility =
) (
=
i
i i
u k S
can extract many of the technical requirements for the user-
centred design. The objective of anthropometrics is to choose
the best compromise for the dimensions for equipment to be
employed by a large range of users. This compromise should
address the four cardinal constraints of anthropometrics:
clearance,
reach,
posture and,
strength.

The first constraint implies that the work environment should
provide adequate access and circulation space. Handles must
provide adequate apertures for the fingers or palm. These are all
clearance constraints. They are one-way constraints (i.e.
constraints defining semi-bounded dimensions) and usually
determine the minimum acceptable dimension in the object. The
second constraint defines the ability to grasp and operate
controls is an obvious example of a reach constraint, as is the
constraint mentioned above on the height of a seat or the ability
to see over a visual obstruction, etc. They are usually one-way
constraints but this time, are determined by a small member of
the population. A persons working posture will be determined
(at least in part) by the relationship between the dimensions of
his or her body and those of the workstation. Postural problems
are commonly more complex than problems of clearance and
reach, since posture will almost certainly be affected by more
than one dimension of the workplace. Finally, the fourth
constraint concerns the application of force in the operation of
controls and in other physical tasks. Often, limitations of
strength impose a one-way constraint, and it is sufficient to
determine the level of force that is acceptable to a weak user.
There are cases, however, where this may have undesirable
consequences for the heavy-handed (or heavy-footed) user, or in
terms of the accidental operation of a control, etc. In these cases
a two-way constraint (i.e. constraints defining bounded
dimensions) may be applied.

Before starting the anthropometric analysis, three types of data
are required:
The anthropometric characteristics of the user
population
The ways in which these characteristics might impose
constraints upon design
The criteria that define an effective match between the
product and the user
This information should be determined in accordance with the
requirements and suggestions obtained through the user
feedbacks.
Concerning the anthropometric characteristics of the
population, it is empirically true that most anthropometric
variables conform quite closely to the normal distribution (at
least with reasonably homogeneous populations). Thus,
population measurements are described with the percentiles of
the distribution. For instance, for the measurement of mens
stature, if we consider the limiting user as the tallest of the 95th
percentile of the population, it implies that 5% of the population
will be taller than this user. Generally, for classic design
analyses designers often use the 5th %-ile of woman and the
95th-percentile of men as the limiting users. However, the body
measurements depend on the population studied and of the
criteria we choose.

Then three types of design solutions can be adopted depending
on the characteristics of the interactions between the user, the
product and the task:
design for the limiting user,
define an area of common fit and
provide adjustments
Design of the means of access
With the first stage of the process, we identified the most
significant hazards related to STFs so that we could focus on
the most important ones through an ergonomic analysis. The
objective of this analysis is to determine the ergonomic
requirements for the Means of Access (MAs) to be safe for
seafarers, surveyors and other persons using them.

Four types of requirements had to be taken into account:
requirements from the international regulations about crew
safety and access arrangements (IMO, IACS, ILO, etc.),
requirements from Bureau Veritas rules for steel ships,
requirement from the seafarers and surveyors feedback and
obviously the requirements derived from the four cardinal
constraints of ergonomics. We gathered and ranked all these
requirements in tables in order to have an overview of the
whole set of issues related to MAs, the seafarers and surveyors
feedbacks, and the relevant regulations.

The environments on which we will focus are the locations
onboard vessels that we identified as the most risky. Moreover,
we had to take into account the marine environment since it also
determines the way MAs design should be addressed i.e. the
corrosive atmosphere that endanger the integrity of a certain
number of ladders and handles for instance and the weather
conditions that impact the vessels motions and consequently
the seafarers balance or alter their vision when using MAs on
the open decks.

Concerning the tasks carried out by surveyors and seafarers
while using the MAs, they are very simple, i.e. accessing rooms
or equipments and surveying.

The population that we targeted mainly comprised seafarers and
surveyors. As the ships can be operated by crews coming from
any region, the whole international population of seafarers and
surveyors had to be studied. However specific anthropometric
data about this population was not available. Data about the
whole international population was used. Assuming that there is
a majority of men among seafarers, we decided to use the
anthropometric data of the 5th %ile women Japanese population
for the lower limiting users while we chose the 99th %ile of
the man American population for the higher limiting users.
We also had to take into account the clothes and survey
equipments the members of the population are likely to have
since they increase the dimensions of their body. We assumed
that all of them wear protective boots, working clothes, gloves
and a protective helmet. Furthermore when this is required by
the situation analysed, the seafarers or surveyors were assumed
to wear specific survey equipment composed of oxygen
analyser or multi-gas detector, radiation meter, a camera,
gauges, a torch, a hammer and sometimes a self-breathing
apparatus for the study of emergency scenarios.

Each type of means of access implied scenarios depending on
the environmental conditions, the tasks to perform and the
seafarers physic characteristics (body measurements and
strength). Thus different design strategies had to be employed
for these different scenarios. Below are examples of design
strategies we adopted:

For the ladders, stairways and inclined ladders
Design for the heaviest user to be able to
climb;
Design platforms for the largest user;
Design for the smallest and the largest users
to comfortable climb the rungs of a ladder;
The handles, treads, steps, guardrails and
other arrangements for safe access to ladders
should be sized for common fit.
Handrails, treads and guardrails should be
designed for common fit.

For the openings, hatches and manholes
The vertical and horizontal openings should
be designed for access of the largest user.
People with dimensions higher than this
percentile must be advised of this. A person
wearing breathing apparatus should pass
through easily;
The handles, treads, steps, guardrails and
other arrangements for safe access to
openings and hatches should be sized for
common fit;
Markings of openings (especially horizontal
openings) should be clearly visible;
The openings should be large enough to allow
the evacuation of an injured crewmember.

For the walkways, tunnel corridors
Obstructions should be clearly visible and
clearance around them should be sized for the
largest user;
Width of passageways should be designed for
the largest user;
Handrails, treads and guardrails should be
designed for common fit.
Walkways, tunnels and corridors should be
large enough to allow the evacuation of an
injured crewmember.
Simulations
The simulation stage is the iterative phase of the process. The
objective is, considering the design strategies adopted and all
the constraints and requirements identified during the previous
steps, to find the best design trying to reproduce the real life
working situations on board. A CAD software was used in order
to model the interactions between the seafarers and the
environments they have to work in.
2.5. Step 4: Development of Ergonomic Guidelines
From three previous steps of the methodology, we obtained
dimensional requirements for the design and arrangement of the
means of access onboard as well as some good practices. Thus,
the last step consisted in the development of a complete and
comprehensive technical document gathering all these
requirements and practices so that anyone interested in the
design of human-centred design of the means of access for
vessels and offshore installations can be provided with relevant
guidance.
3. APPLICATION AND RESULTS
We applied our four-step methodology to the development of a
guidance note entitled Guidelines for the design or Means of
Access onboard steel ships, addressed to shipbuilders,
shipyards and every stakeholder intervening into the design
process of vessels. The main results that allowed us to develop
this note as well as the guidelines themselves are described in
the following sections.
3.1. The user feedback
First, we interviewed one of the societys ex-surveyors (whose
role is to carry out technical inspections onboard ships) in order
to collect background information concerning the main types of
issues encountered during a survey and to build the set of
questions that could be asked in the questionnaire. Furthermore,
this interview was very useful to prepare the further interviews
in terms of cultural background about the surveyors and the
relevant vocabulary and expressions to adopt when asking
questions.
Then we participated in a survey onboard a gas carrier (LNG)
led by an experienced surveyor who showed us the places and
means of access he has to use when inspecting a vessel. We
noted the good and bad practices in terms of safety and tried to
detect the STF hazards.


Figure 4. Visit onboard LNG Entering the cofferdam

After the visit, we discussed with two other surveyors about
these points and analysed the potential design improvements
they would recommend for the prevention of STFs. We also
presented a first draft of the questionnaire that we adapted
according to the surveyors comments.
At this point, we had gathered a significant amount of
qualitative information required by the ergonomics-oriented
steps of our process and the questionnaire was in its final stage.
We consequently derived two versions of the questionnaire,
respectively addressed to seafarers and surveyors. The objective
was to obtain feedback from the largest possible number of
users in order to carry out quantitative analyses that would
reflect the largest range of users around the world. However,
none of the seafarers associations and unions or shipyards we
contacted accepted to disseminate the questionnaires to
seafarers and consequently we could not obtain a feedback from
them. This is an important first limit of our case study, one that
we plan to overcome in future research; nevertheless, we
believe that the results we obtained provide interesting insights.
Thirty-two questionnaires were answered by Bureau Veritas
surveyors: this can be considered sufficient all the more because
the returns were from a great majority of experienced surveyors
who have carried out inspections on a wide range of different
vessels as shown on figures 5 and 6 below.
21%
61%
18%
< 5
5 _ 10
> 10

Figure 5. Work experience (number of years)

20%
20%
17%
11%
10%
8%
7%
7%
Oil/Chemical
DCargo/Reef er
Bulk Carrier
Gas Carrier
Container S
Pax S/Cruise
Ro-Ro Ro-Pax
Supply

Figure 6. Type of vessels surveyed
3.2. The risk analysis
Using the analysis of the causes involved in STFs and the
qualitative answers of the thirty-two respondents, we identified
on the one hand the root causes of Slip, Trip and Fall accidents
and on the other hand we developed a series of
recommendations to mitigate STFs and allow recovery.

First of all, we observed that (as expected) the seafarers tended
to minimise the likelihood with which STFs occur although they
seem to be aware of the severity of the injuries they may cause.
Seafarers seem to describe falls as the most dangerous STFs
accidents but do not systematically take into account the fact
that slips and trips are very often the root causes for falling and
would be probably almost as dangerous as direct falls. Maybe
a more precise definition of the STFs would have generated
more homogeneous answers.
Then, we identified the ballast tanks, the enclosed spaces, the
shaft tunnel and the pump room as the most risky areas
onboard. The fore and aft peaks, the steering gear and
machinery spaces appear to be very risky as well. These results
seem to be rather in accordance with the interviews and the visit
even though the peaks were said to be the most risky
compartments in vessels, followed by the ballast tanks.
Concerning the dangerousness of the means of access,
according to the feedbacks from the questionnaires, almost all
of them (excepted stairways and corridors) have a high risk
score. This is in accordance with the information we got from
our previous interviews.
Finally, the main causes identified as the root of STFs are the
lack of handles for a safe use of the Means of Access, the
location of the openings, the poor signalisation of hazards, and
the lack of space. Clearance appeared as primordial to carry out
surveys safely (on platforms of around ladders for instance) as
well as to use the means of access with comfort and confidence.

In conclusion, the first stage of the process provided us with
precious information for carrying out the second stage that we
will now describe.
3.3. The ergonomic analysis
We modelled four environments grouping the four main types
of Means of Access (MAs) that can be risky and cause Slip,
Trip and Fall accidents namely, vertical ladders, inclined
ladders and stairs, openings and walkways. The figure below
shows one of the environments modelled (walkways).

Figure 7. CAD model used for the anthropometric
analysis of walkways

Figure 8. CAD model used for the anthropometric
analysis of inclined ladders

Then we modelled the most risky working situations with
manikins and finally extract form the simulations the
dimensions and shapes the MAs would need to comply with in
order to fit the task and users requirements. Two examples
showing a simulation for the suitability of vertical ladders and
openings are presented in the figure below.

Figure 9. Pictures from the anthropometric analysis of the
vertical ladders and openings
3.4. The guidelines
Developing the guidelines for Bureau Veritas was the last step
of the process we adopted for addressing the Slip, Trip and Fall
accidents (STFs). The guidelines had to provide the maximum
relevant information gathered during the previous steps about
the way to prevent STFs, especially by improving the Means of
Access on board. Thus, vessels complying with all the
requirements stated in the guidelines should be safer for the
personnel operating and surveying them. Most of the guidelines
are dimensional requirements for the MAs; however the last
section is about the safe design best practices dealing with
MAs texture, colour and marking, maintenance and use, or the
environment lighting.
A very short extract from these guidelines is presented below.

Dimension
IMO-IACS
requirements
Guidelines
Requirements
A Ladder width
350 mm in
general
300 mm for
access to hold
frames
400 mm
450 mm is
recommended
B
Vertical distance
between rungs
250 mm
350mm
250 mm
350mm
C
Lateral distance
between two
adjacent sections of
ladder (linking
platform)

At least the width
of the ladder
500 mm
D
Gap length between
wall and guardrail
- 850 mm
E
Handles height
above floor
- 1000 mm
F
Lateral distance
between ladder and
linking platform
-
200mm
350mm
G
Rung dimensions
(square bars)
2222 mm
2222 mm
3535 mm
2525 mm is
recommended

Figure 10. Extract of the ergonomics-based guidelines
developed for Bureau Veritas
4. CONCLUSION AND FURTHER WORK
The maritime industry is increasingly aware of the necessity to
deal with the numerous issues raised around the human element
and has set to work its regulatory organs for sweeping along the
wide spectrum of stakeholders on these issues. Whereas much
effort is needed to increase safety through technology, there are
many gains to expect in terms of safety increase by addressing
the human element related issues. Consequently, this domain
was turned from a second zone concern into a strategic one.
What we suggested through this paper is a way to introduce
both risk concepts and user feedback in the processes for
assessing safety through ergonomics.
Driven by an ergonomic risk-based process we adapted from
the wide spectrum of human factors and ergonomic methods we
managed to provide useful guidance for preventing and dealing
with Slip, Trip and Falls accidents, that would lead if they
were followed to lives and money savings for the shipyards
and to get a bit closer to the objectives established by the
International Maritime Organisation concerning the human
element.
The type of approach we adopted has to be seen a part of a
more global risk management framework such as the Formal
Safety Assessment (FSA) for instance. Actually, once the risks
have been assessed through the user feedbacks and the solutions
to improve the design adopted, an evaluation of the risk
reduction and the gains expected from the application of the
design improvements could be processed. Then tradeoffs
between the costs and the gains like in the Cost-Benefit
Analysis could be done as well.
In addition, in order to determine clearly the way safety should
be assessed and thus find a common measure for the assessment
of costs and losses attributed to each type of injury, we propose
as a further work to encode some utility functions (from the
shipyards, the flag states, IMO, etc) describing the harm
caused by accidents and the gains obtained by addressing such
issues like human element issues that will help to set the criteria
for risk analyses. Determining precisely the way each of the
stakeholders perceives and manages risks at its own level would
clearly help the shipping industry to overstep management and
organisational issues surrounding the Human Element as well.
Finally, this way could be explored for addressing the whole
panel of human element issues, i.e. those dealing with the ship
design as well as those dealing with the ship operability.
REFERENCES
[1] Jensen, O. C., Sorensen, J. F. L., Canals, M. L., Yunping Hu,
Nicolic, N., and Mozer, A. A. 2005. Non-fatal Occupational
Injuries Related to Slips, Trips and Falls in Seafaring,
American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 47, pp. 161-171

[2] American Club P&I Current newsletter, issue number 18,
May 2004, Caring for the crew

[3] Haslam, R., A., 2001, Slip, Trip and Fall Accidents. In
Karwowski, W., International Encyclopedia of Ergonomics and
Human Factors.

[4] IACS. March 2006. Unified Interpretations for the
application of amended SOLAS regulation II-1/3-6 (resolution
MSC.151(78)) and revised Technical provisions for means of
access for inspections (resolution MSC.158(78)). IACS UI SC
191

[5] IMO. 22 May 2006. Framework for consideration of
ergonomics and work environment. MSC-MEPC.7/Circ.3

[6] Kahneman, D., Slovic, P., and Tversky, A. 1982. Judgement
under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. 163-200

[7] Pheasant, S., Haslegrave, C. 2006. Bodyspace:
Anthropometrics, Ergonomics and the design of work Third
Edition. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group

ProceedingsoftheASME27thInternationalConferenceonOffshoreMechanicsandArcticEngineering
OMAE2008
June15-20,2008,Estoril,Portugal
- 1 -
Copyright ASME 2008

OMAE2008-57734

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF DAVIT-LAUNCHED LIFEBOAT

Laurent Prat
Bureau Veritas
Paris La Dfense, France
Leo de Vries
Alex W. Vredeveldt
TNO
Delft, The Netherlands
Omar Khattab
Ship Stability Research Centre
Glasgow, UK
Jean-Jacques Maisonneuve
SIREHNA
Nantes, France
Thomas Boekholt
Fassmer
Berne/Motzen, Germany
Ole Andersen
Viking
Esbjerg, Denmark
David Cummings
Carnival plc
London, UK
Jan Block
MARIN
Wageningen, The Netherlands

ABSTRACT
In response to the recent changes to SOLAS, which further
encourage the alternative design of life-saving appliances, the
European Union has funded a Framework Programme 6 (FP6)
project called SAFECRAFTS that was initiated by the
Netherlands Research Organisation TNO. The aims of the
project are two fold: to develop a methodology for assessing
the performance of life saving systems (made up of life saving
appliances or LSA); and to develop novel concepts. This paper
focuses on the first objective and presents the results for
conventional davit-launched lifeboats.

The proposed performance indicator is the Success Rate of the
evacuation process, which compares the final Human Health
Status (the number of persons in good health, injured or
deceased at the end of the process) with the initial Human
Health Status (number of persons in good health onboard the
mother ship). The Human Health Status calculation follows a
step-by-step approach for both the human and the hardware as
they progress along an obstacle course, which represents the
evacuation sequence specific to the design. Associated to each
obstacle is a transformation function that characterises the
degradation of the Human Health Status. The determination of
the transformation functions is based on first principle
methods, risk analysis methods, and human factor methods
some of which are inspired by the automotive industry.

A scenario-based approach is applied to account for
increasingly severe environmental and damaged ship
conditions. In addition, the systems performance is
represented along the evacuation and rescue route, so that it is
possible to identify and quantify the contribution of individual
obstacles to the overall degradation. This is essential to select
the critical areas for improvement and support the
development of innovative designs. Finally, the paper
advocates that the set of scenarios and their associated Success
Rates represent performance criteria for LSA which can be
used for approving alternative designs and arrangements.
1. GENERAL
1.1. Context
In December 2006, the Maritime Safety Committee of IMO
adopted a new regulation of the SOLAS convention [1] which
provides for Alternative design and arrangements for life-
saving appliances. It allows operators and manufacturers to
equip a ship with LSA that deviate from the prescribed
requirements. This demands specific engineering studies and
comprehensive evaluations to demonstrate their equivalency
with prescribed designs.

In view of the growing market for large cruise ships, the new
regulation creates an opportunity for innovation in the field of
survival crafts. This also paves the way for an in-depth
investigation of the performance of current LSA.
1.2. Challenges and Objectives
To demonstrate the equivalent performance of novel concepts
with prescriptive designs, the methodology should include a
quantitative assessment in line with IMO guidelines [3]. In
particular, it is needed to apply the methodology to at least one
existing conventional design in order to derive the baseline
performance or the acceptance criteria against which
alternative designs are to be assessed.

In the case of LSA, novel concepts are not precisely novel
features because the function (saving lives) is not changed.
However, a novel concept or an alternative design may largely
deviate from the prescriptive requirements, so that a global
assessment is required to effectively address the principle of
equivalence. Thus, the methodology aims to derive the global
performance of LSA using a functional perspective that is not
design specific. In addition, input calculation data are mostly
supported by first-principle models.

This paper presents the basics of the assessment methodology
as well as the assessment results for a generic conventional
davit-launched lifeboat.

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Copyright ASME 2008
2. METHODOLOGY

This methodology was developed by Bureau Veritas and TNO
in the course of the SAFECRAFTS project [2].
2.1. Conceptual Background

Life-Saving System: An evacuation and rescue system is
more than just one category of LSA. Two or more different
types of LSA can be fitted on a ship. The capacity of each
LSA unit, the location on the ship, and the means of transfer
from the survival craft to the rescue ship are critical to
characterise a Life Saving System (LSS). The proposed
approach focuses on the system as a whole, because we deem
it necessary to tackle the rescue of the entire population being
evacuated. The global performance of a LSS is also the level
of analysis that allows objective comparison between
conventional systems and novel concepts.

Rescue Route: It is the sequence of actions required to
evacuate safely the entire population from the embarkation
station to a safe haven. It involves the passengers, the crew
and the hardware components of the LSS. Each LSS is
associated with a specific rescue route. Conventional existing
systems have similar rescue routes but novel concepts can
differ radically in this respect. The rescue route elements
(deployment, boarding, etc) that are identified for each LSA
type can be grouped together within three generic phases: (1)
Leaving the vessel; (2) Surviving at sea; (3) Being rescued
from the survival craft.

Obstacles: As the hardware systems and the humans
proceed along the rescue route, they may face hazards and
subsequent damages. Thus, the rescue route can also be
considered the series of obstacles that the hardware and
humans must overcome for the rescue to be completed. An
obstacle is characterized by the hazard generated when the
system meets with it. Some hazards directly affect the human
body (like seasickness), whereas some primarily affect the
hardware system (like mechanical failure).

Human Health Status: It is a metric of the state of health of
the population being evacuated: for each obstacle along the
route a proportion of the population will succeed without any
trauma whereas others will be injured, perhaps fatally. The
Human Health Status (HHS) is therefore a variable
representing the distribution of population (in %) in the
following four categories: Good Health, Moderately Injured,
Severely Injured and Dead (Table 1). The HSS of a particular
population can be seen as a 4-dimensional vector that is
transformed step-by-step. The comparison between the initial
and final HHS characterises the HHS degradation (Figure 1).

Design Casualty Scenarios: A set of assessment scenarios
is defined that account for the increasingly precarious situation
of the mother ship and severe weather conditions. This
approach follows the IMO guidelines [3] that refer to Design
Casualty Scenarios against which prescriptive and trial
alternative designs must be assessed. In the SAFECRAFTS
project, Design Casualty Scenarios represent the sequence of
obstacles ranging the assessment scenarios (Figure 2).

HHS categories Description Related mobility
Good Health
(GH)
Good physical and
mental health
Good mobility
Moderate Injury
(MI)
Moderate bleeding
No fracture, no trauma
Mobility impaired
Severe Injury
(SI)
Fractures and/or trauma
Mobility requiring
assistance
Deceased
(D)
Fatal injury No mobility
Table 1: Categories of Human Health Status (HHS)

Figure 1: Transformation of the Human Health Status
along the Rescue Route

Figure 2: Design Casualty Scenarios

2.2. Risk Model

Assumptions and Limits: Firstly, we look at the HHS
degradation along the rescue for one use corresponding to one
evacuation and rescue process. The risk is therefore
characterised by the expected degradation of the HHS,
provided the conditional event evacuation is required is
realised. Secondly, the model does not deal with timeline for
the evacuation and rescue aspects. Only the period of survival
at sea is set as a benchmark. Thirdly, we consider the sequence
of obstacles is linear: they come one after the other. This
assumption can be questioned if several obstacles act
simultaneously, for instance during the phase of survival at
sea. In this case, we compared the matrix products in different
orders and found no significant difference in the results, so
that we eventually chose the average sum of the different
combination of matrix products. As we focused on design
Sc 1
Sc 2
Sc k
-

-

-

Ob.1 Ob.2
[Assessment scenarios of increasing severity]
Design
casualty
scenarios
Ob.N
[Obstacles along the rescue route]
Rescue Route
Initial
HHS
N
N
N
N
Final
HHS
O
b
s
t
a
c
l
e

A

O
b
s
t
a
c
l
e

B

O
b
s
t
a
c
l
e

N

GH
MI
SI
D
GH
MI
SI
D
0
0
0
0
1
0 0 0 0
= + + + 1 = + + +
N N N N

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Copyright ASME 2008
Success Rate: Considering that the primary function of a
ed as the percentage of the
performance, first-principle methods were preferred. Thus
maintenance and training were generally not considered. In
some cases however, historical data were used that may
incorporate some maintenance and training shortages.

Life-Saving System is to save lives, the comparison between
the final and the initial HHS should be an adequate measure of
the LSS performance. To ease the assessment, it is also useful
to convert injuries into equivalent fatalities using the IMO
index [4] reproduced in Table 2.
Hence, the success rate is defin
initial ships population in equivalent Good Health which is
still in equivalent Good Health at the end of the rescue
process. It reflects the global degradation of the HHS along
the rescue route and therefore the global performance of the
LSS. The formal expression of the success rate is given below
in Eq. (1) with reference to one assessment scenario k.

Effects on human safety Equivalent fatalities
Single or minor injuries 0.01
M ultiple or severe injuries 0.1
Single fatality 1
Table 2: Equivalent Fatalities

( )
( )
0 0 0
01 . 0 1 . 0 1
01 . 0 1 . 0 1

+ +
+ +
=
k
N
k
N
k
N k
SR
(1)

lobal Degradation Function: The overall HHS G
degradation can be seen as a 4-dimensional function f: [0 ; 1]
4

[0 ; 1]
4
that is applied to the initial HHS vector. The
transformation can be written using matrix format in the
standard basis ) , , , (
4 3 2 1
u u u u B
r r r r
=

N
N
N
N
p l h d
o k g c
n j f b
m i e a
0
0
0
0
*

s the population cannot get healthier in the course of the
(2)

he global degradation function is a risk assessment tool
ocal Degradation Functions: Local degradation
ractically, one characterises each obstacle to determine the
/ Hardware obstacles
A
evacuation and rescue process, the global degradation function
can be simplified in Eq. (2):

=
1
0
0 0
0 0 0
l h d
k g c
f b
a
f
= +
= + +
= + + +
1
1
1
l k
h g f
d c b a
T
because the coefficients of the matrix are determined
according to the expected degradation of the HHS through the
sequence of obstacle and the likelihood of such degradation.
Yet, the global degradation function can only be derived from
the determination of the local degradation functions associated
with individual obstacles.

L
functions account for the local degradation of the HHS when
passing through one single obstacle and have identical
structure as global degradation functions. Given the models
assumptions, the global degradation is equivalent to the
successive degradations caused by the local degradations in
mathematical terms, the matrix product of the local
degradation functions.

P
coefficients of the matrix by means of engineering methods
and models. As a result, the global degradation matrix is
calculated as the product of the local degradation matrixes Eq.
(3). There are two types of local degradation functions
associated with two categories of obstacles:

1 refer to a failure or a hazard that
2/ an factor obstacles
directly affects the hardware components of the system, for
instance a mechanical failure in the deployment system. The
effect is binary with respect to the HHS of the people inside
the hardware. If the hardware fails all occupants are deemed
lost and furthermore the phenomenon does not depend of the
HHS before the obstacle;

Hum are associated with a number of
phenomena that degrade HHS while the hardware part of the
system remains operational. This includes impacts forces,
accelerations, seasickness, and other mobility failures.
Subsequently, the HSS before the obstacle is relevant because
an injured person is more likely to fail the next obstacle than
a healthy person.

A B N
f f f f * * ... *
(3)

plemented Methodology: On Table 3 hereunder is the Im
basic scheme of the implemented methodology. It includes a
phase of definition based on technical documentation and
brainstorming, followed by a phase of analytical work to set
up and perform the relevant analyses, and finally a phase of
consolidation and exploitation of the results.

Main steps Description
Documentation
System definition ving appliances, : ship, life-sa
population, scenarios
Brainstorming
cue route and
stacles
Description of the Res
characterisation of the sequence of ob
Analysis
Selection of relevant methods and risk criteria
for each obstacle
Assessment
al degradation matrixes

Determination of loc
through direct calculation, tests or simulations
Consolidation
Calculation of Global degradation functions,
final HHS and Success Rates
Exploitation
proval of Identification of critical areas, ap
alternative design and arrangements
Table 3: I p mplemented method step by ste

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Copyright ASME 2008
3. PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF DAVIT-
LAUNCHED LIFEBOAT
3.1. System definition

Abandoned Vessel: the mother ship model is a large cruise
ship whose main features are given in Table 4.

Ship type Cruise liner
Displacement 43,000 T
Passenger capacity 2,900
Crew members 900
L
OA
294 m
L
DWL
265 m
Moulded Breadth B 32.2 m
Moulded Draught T 7.8 m
KG 15.1 m
LCG 123.3 m
Table 4: Features of the abandoned vessel

Life-Saving System: The LSS that is assessed here is made
up of three hardware components that are (1) the davit system,
(2) the lifeboats, and (3) the pilot ladder that is used for
disembarkation. In our model, only the lifeboat is specified in
details because it is the most complex and important element
among the three. Also, we do not model spare capacities, so
that LSS capacity corresponds exactly to the population being
evacuated. We then consider that the entire population to
evacuate P is distributed in N lifeboats of full capacity
p. Since all lifeboats are identical, the risk of fatality or
injury expressed as a percentage of the total population is
calculated as if the entire population was evacuating on one
big lifeboat:

( )
=
N
failure
p lifeboat TotalRisk ) ( Pr

P lifeboat p lifeboat N TotalRisk
failure failure
= = ) ( Pr ) ( Pr

Survival Craft: Only one type of LSA is considered that is a
standard 150pax partially enclosed davit-launched lifeboat,
based on Fassmers SEL 8.8 design (Table 5 and Figure 3).

L
WL
(m) 8.69
B
WL
(m) 4.09
Draft T 1.05
Sinkage (m) 1.06
Trim () -1.35
Volume displacement (m^3) 17.58
Displacement (kg) 18 050
LCG (m) 4.16
VCG (m) 0.66
LCF (m) 4.25
Wetted surface area (m^2) 41.04
Table 5: Features of the lifeboat in fully loaded condition
(150pax)

Figure 3: General view of the lifeboat design

Population Features: Peoples age is an important aspect
to consider because the elderly are generally more vulnerable
to harsh conditions and unexpected physical stress. The
population used for analysis is distributed as in Table 6 on the
basis of internal data and IMO guidelines [5].

Age groups (years) Percentage of passengers (%)
a 50 28%
50 a 75 58%
75 a 14%
Total X +Y +Z =100 %
Table 6: Age distribution among typical cruise population

Initial Human Health Status: In realistic conditions, the
typical population onboard cruise ship cannot be considered
100% in Good Health according to the models assumptions.
In particular, people with impaired mobility are deemed more
vulnerable to the physical stress and efforts required by the
evacuation and rescue process. Based on IMO guidelines for
evacuation analysis [5], it is estimated that about 55% of the
population older than 50 years old has impaired mobility.
With reference to Table 1, we then obtain the initial HHS as
input for the calculation (Table 7):

Age groups (years) Initial HHS
a 50
00 . 0
00 . 0
00 . 0
00 . 1

50 a 75
75 a
00 . 0
00 . 0
55 . 0
45 . 0

Table 7: Initial Human Health Status

Assessment Scenarios: The selected scenarios have been
derived from the damaged ship and environmental
requirements that are currently in force with respect to the
operability of LSA. The scenario parameters are independent
from LSS design and arrangement and shall reflect the
increasing difficulty of the evacuation and rescue process. The
selection of relevant parameters may however depend on LSA
specificities: for instance low temperature was identified as a
relevant parameter for assessing the risk of hypothermia for
life rafts, whereas it was not deemed relevant for lifeboats.
Beam sea situation would correspond to the typical dead
ship that has lost its manoeuvring capacity; sea states
influence the motions of the abandoned ship and survival
crafts; and the period of time at sea is 24 hours as a reference

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Copyright ASME 2008
to LSA Code requirements [6]. In order to limit the number of
calculations, we have selected five assessment scenarios
(Table 8). The environmental parameters are also described in
Table 9; the ITTC spectrum with two parameters was used for
seakeeping and ship motions calculation.

Abandoned ship
Scenario
Sea
state
Period at
sea
Heading
angle
List
()
Trim
()
Sc 1 0-1 ../. 0 0
Sc 2 3 Beam 0 0
Sc 3 5 Head 10 5
Sc 4 5 Beam 20 10
Sc 5 6
24 h
Beam 20 10
Table 8: Five Assessment Scenarios

Sea
state
Beaufort
scale
Mean wind
speed
(knots)
Significant
wave height
Hs (m)
Wave peak
period
Tp (s)
0-1 0 0.0 0.00 ../.
3 3 11.5 0.88 7.5
5 6 24.5 3.25 9.7
6 7 37.5 5.00 12.4
7 10 51.5 7.50 15.0
Table 9: Description of Sea States codes (source NATO)

3.2. Rescue Route
For each LSA type, the rescue route in Table 10 was
determined during brainstorming exercises through hazard
identification and the contributions of experts from various
backgrounds including classification, naval architects, LSA
manufacturers, ship owners, shipyards and research institutes
in both marine science and human health.

Phases Elements Obstacles Type
Malfunction Hardware
Deployment
Engine failure to start Hardware
Boarding Mobility failure Human factor
Premature release Hardware
Failure /impact hull Hardware Lowering
Injuries / impact hull Human factor
Fail to release Hardware
1
Release
Injuries / Slamming Human factor
Clear ship Fail manoeuvring Hardware
Capsizing Hardware
Seasickness Human factor
2
At sea
Tossed around Human factor
3 Recovery Climbing pilot ladder Human factor
Table 10: Rescue Route for Davit-Launched Lifeboat
3.3. Obstacles and Degradation Functions

Malfunction: From stowed to lowered position before
disconnection, the failure probability is estimated based on
historical data available within the project. Over two years and
a half, a fleet of passenger ships has experienced 13,692
launches of lifeboats. Problem occurrences relevant to the
deployment phase are reported and turned into a failure rate
per launch of one lifeboat (Table 11). Due to the lack of
details regarding the events actually reported, it is ensure that
every occurrence actually prevented the use. Our approach is
therefore conservative in this respect.

We further consider that these basic events are independent
one from each other, and that Malfunction can occur
because of at least one of these causes. Using a simple fault
tree model (Figure 4), we eventually obtain an estimate of the
overall probability of failure associated with the obstacle
Malfunction that is to say 3.210
-03
per launch or about 1
malfunction every 300 launches.

Since the event is independent from age groups and scenarios,
there is only one degradation function to derive.

Failure type Occurrences Failure rate per use
Brake mechanism 8 5.8410
-04
Davit mechanism 12 8.7610
-04
Falls 7 5.1110
-04
Winch failure 17 1.2410
-03
Table 11: Failure rate per launch of davit-launched lifeboat

Figure 4: Fault Tree analysis of the obstacle " Malfunction"

0.9968 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9968 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 0.9968 0.0000
Malfunction

All scenarios
0.0032 0.0032 0.0032 1.0000

- 6 -
Copyright ASME 2008
Engine Failure to Start: Passenger ship disasters reports
[7-9], suggest that lifeboat engine may fail to start, hence
preventing the survival craft to clear the ship as required. The
associated failure probability per use was derived from
historical data available in the offshore industry [10]. The
estimate is 0.01 per use which was considered reasonably
applicable to passenger ships lifeboats. Since this failure is
independent from age groups and scenarios, only one
degradation function is derived.

0.9900 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9900 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 0.9900 0.0000
Engine failure

All scenarios
0.0100 0.0100 0.0100 1.0000

Mobility Failure: Boarding lifeboat and move to final seat
may be an obstacle for elderly people. However, if crew
assistance is provided, the probability of falling is deemed
negligible, so that the obstacle does not degrade HHS.

Premature Release: There are evidences that some on/off-
load release hooks currently in use may be instable even with
adequate maintenance [8, 11]. This concern in particular so-
called flat contact area cam designs reproduced hereunder in
Figure 5 and Figure 6, taken from [8]. Although many
lifeboats are equipped with safer hook designs, we found it
interesting to deal with this particular design in order to
evaluate the contribution of this hazard to the overall
performance of the system.

Figure 5: Mechanical description of flat contact area cam
hook design

Figure 6: Description of hook opening sequence

The contact surface between hook lever and cam is flat. The
end of the hook lever pushes the cam open, which is prevented
by the release cable attached to the cam lever. When the
release cable is removed, the hook will open instantaneously.

A simple mechanical model was developed to determine the
relationship between the retaining moment in the cam and the
cam angle. The following geometrical relations hold.

( ) ( )
2
0
2
cos sin ) ( v x v v x + + =

=
) (
sin
arcsin
x
v

) ( x

Distance cam contact force from cam hinge
v Lever cam contact force related to hook hinge

Hook angle with respect to the vertical
0
x

Lever cam contact force related to hook hinge, at cam
angle 0.0
Cam angle with respect to the vertical

Considering equilibrium of moments about the swivel pin:

v F h F
cpv h
=
cpv cpc
F F
) cos(
1
+
=

- 7 -
Copyright ASME 2008
h
F

Hook load [N]
h Lever hook load related to hook hinge
cpv
F

Cam contact force perpendicular to lever v [N]
cpc
F

Cam contact force perpendicular to cam plane [N]

In line with other experiments [11], the graph in Figure 7
shows the retaining moment is always negative, meaning that
the hook will open freely if, for whatever reasons, the
retaining control cable is removed or disconnected. More
importantly, if the cam is not properly reset, flat against the
hook tail, the opening moment is big enough to make the
mechanism open at any moment.

Assuming a human error probability that the control release
cable is improperly reset, the model goes on investigating the
problem of premature release. If improperly reset, the control
release cable will still apply a retaining force due to the
frictional resistance of the cable in the mechanism. As the
lifeboat is hoisted empty, back to its stowed position the
model help calculate the probability that the frictional
resistance of the control cable overcome the opening moment.

Considering a 150 persons partially enclosed lifeboat, its
typical total weight would be 17.70 tonnes. One hook would
carry 8.85 tonnes. The associated cam retaining moment
would be about 150 Nm. With a typical relative cam lever
length of 0.085, the required retaining force in the mechanical
operating cable (release cable) would be about 1760 N. A
typical travel of the cable would be 100 mm. A suitable cable
would then be a Heavy Duty cable with a travel of 5 inch and
push/pull loads 1780/4450 N (400/1000 lbs). For this cable the
manufacturer specifies an internal friction of ,
where cb stands for the total degrees of bend in the cable (in a
boat often 180 degrees) and F
cable
F cb 0015 . 0
cable
stands for the maximum
control force. Therefore a typical internal friction would be
481 N (0.0015 180 1780) in the push mode. When a boat
is retrieved after a launching exercise, the hooks will only
have to carry the weigh of the empty boat and perhaps six
crews. In case of a 150 persons life boat this will be about 6.18
tonnes. One hook has to carry 3.09 tonnes. The associated cam
retaining moment is shown in Figure 8.

-500.00
-400.00
-300.00
-200.00
-100.00
0.00
100.00
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00
CAM angle [deg]
C
A
M
M
o
m
e
n
t
[
N
m
]

Figure 7: Cam retaining moment against cam angle with
lifeboat fully loaded
-500.00
-400.00
-300.00
-200.00
-100.00
0.00
100.00
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00
CAM angle [deg]
C
A
M
M
o
m
e
n
t
[
N
m
]

Figure 8: Cam retaining moment against cam angle with
lifeboat unloaded

With a typical effective cam lever length of 0.085, the
required retaining force would be as shown in the Figure 9. Up
to a cam angle of 20 degrees the required cam retaining force
is about 600 N. A probability of undue resetting can now be
determined, assuming a normal distribution for the internal
friction force, with a mean of 481 N and a deviation of 20%,
as depicted in the Figure 10 below.

-7000
-6000
-5000
-4000
-3000
-2000
-1000
0
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00
CAM angle [deg]
R
e
t
a
in
in
g
f
o
r
c
e
[
N
]

Figure 9: Retaining force required with lifeboat unloaded

0
0.0005
0.001
0.0015
0.002
0.0025
0.003
0.0035
0.004
0.0045
200 300 400 500 600 700 800
friction force in morse cable [N]
p
r
o
b
a
b
ilit
y
d
e
n
s
it
y
[
]

Figure 10: Frictional resistance of the control cable

- 8 -
Copyright ASME 2008
Undue hook reset is possible when there is sufficient friction
in the control cable to provide for a required cam retaining
force of 600 N. The cam angle would then be somewhere
between 0 and 20 degrees. In this condition the weight of half
the boat can be transferred into the release hook without
immediate opening of the hook. Assuming the above density
function valid, the probability of this being the case is 0.11.

Subsequently, the probability of premature release is
dramatically high: any additional load can disrupt the fragile
equilibrium and trigger the release mechanism. In the worst
case scenario, this will happen during a real emergency as
people are starting to board the lifeboat. It is however true that
this result depends heavily on the average friction force in the
release cable and the deviation. The Table 12 below
demonstrates this.

Deviation
10% 20% 30%
425 0.00 0.02 0.08
450 0.00 0.05 0.13
475 0.00 0.09 0.19
500 0.02 0.16 0.25
A
r
i
t
h
m
e
t
i
c

m
e
a
n

525 0.08 0.23 0.32
Table 12: Sensitivity analysis of the control cable frictional
resistance model

Additionally we needed to determine the conditional
probability that the control cable is improperly reset. This is a
typical human error that can occur in the course of drill
operations. On the basis of human errors probabilities that are
quantified for generic tasks (Hunns & Daniels 1980) we
estimated that the control cable is improperly reset once every
20 times (0.05). As a result, the overall failure rate associated
with this obstacle is 0.0055.

0.9945 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9945 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 0.9945 0.0000
Premature
release

All scenarios
0.0055 0.0055 0.0055 1.0000

Structural Failure due to Impact against the Hull: As
lifeboats are lowered from the embarkation deck to water
level, their relative motions with the mother ship generate a
pendulum effects so that lifeboats may impact the hull of the
vessel. Apart from injuries induced by impact forces and
accelerations, a lifeboat can undergo structural failures that put
all occupants in danger irrespective of age or HHS.

The aim was to analyse the structural response of a lifeboat
during its lowering alongside the mother ship and with
reference to the five assessment scenarios. The model has
been implemented in Adams software which is dedicated to
poly-articulated mechanical systems with large displacements
and non-linearity. The mechanical system studied consists of
two main parts: the vessel hull and the lifeboat. The davits are
rigidly fixed to the hull. Shocks are detected and analysed to
extract the velocity of impacts against the hull (Figure 11).
The mother ships hull is modelled by a parallelepiped rigid
body (265m 32m 23m). The six degrees of freedom
motions of the vessel are obtained with a 3D-linear seakeeping
frequential code (AQUA+), and post-processed to take into
account irregular waves (ALEA+). Motions are imposed at the
vessel centre of gravity. The lifeboats geometry is inspired by
Fassmers partially enclosed lifeboats SEL 8.8 type.

Figure 11: Setting-up of the lifeboat descent model

As risk criterion, we focused on the velocity of impacts
against the hull, which is a relevant indicator with respect to
the structural integrity of lifeboats. Indeed, one of the testing
requirements for davit-launched lifeboats requires the
lifeboats structure to withstand a minimum impact velocity of
3.5m/s against a fixed vertical rigid surface [12]. From a
regulatory point of view, this requirement means that a
lifeboat is approved to withstand impacts up to 3.5m/s. As a
result, we deem the regulatory lifeboat design would not
withstand higher impact velocity even if a particular lifeboat
could actually withstand beyond the regulatory level. This
gives us a criterion to analyse the results of the simulations.
We consider that a structural failure would occur for each
recorded peak of impact velocity above 3.5m/s.

The frequency analysis is based on simulated motions over
1700s for two lengths of the davit falls 7.5m (half way) and
12.5m (lifeboat at waterline). This provides an insight of the
likelihoods of impacts against the hull. As the amplitude of the
pendulum effect increases with the falls length, these two
positions provides two reference values for estimating the risk
of structural failure due to impacts during the descent.

The results show that many impacts would occur in Beam
Seas, even for medium weather conditions (sea state 3). Yet,
most impacts would remain below the threshold of 3.5 m/s.
When the ship is listing, there are two aspects: on the positive
listing side, lifeboats would supposedly glide down along the
ships hull; on the other side, the distance to the hull increases
as the lifeboat is lowered, but impacts could occur with some
of them above the threshold.

- 9 -
Copyright ASME 2008
The only hazardous situation reported by the simulation is
represented in Figure 12 with reference to Scenario 5. Over
the time of the simulation (1700s), one dangerous impact is
reported for cable length 7.5m whereas height impacts are
reported for cable length 12.5m. At constant speed, for a
typical descent time of 30 seconds, this would give a
probability of respectively 0.017647 and 0.141176 of at least
one dangerous impact. At this stage, we can make use of these
reference values to approximate the overall probability of
structural failure during a descent of 30 seconds. To do so, we
have fitted an analytical function Eq. (4) thanks to the three
points of reference: [0;0]; [7.5;0.017647] and [12.5;0.141176].
The function F represented in Figure 13 is a probability
function associated to the event at least one impact against
the hull with velocity in excess of 3.5 m/s during the descent.

Figure 12: Simulated impact velocity of the lifeboat against
the mother ship's hull

with (4)
X b
e X a X F
.
. . ) ( =
1
4
10 137 . 3
10 237 . 2

b
a

0,141
0,018
0,000
0,000
0,050
0,100
0,150
0,0 2,5 5,0 7,5 10,0 12,5
Cable lengt h (m)
P
r
o
b
.

a
t

l
e
a
s
t

o
n
e

i
m
p
a
c
t

w
i
t
h

v
e
l
o
c
i
t
y

>

3
,
5

m
/
s

d
u
r
i
n
g

d
e
s
c
e
n
t

3
0

s

Figure 13: Probability function associated with dangerous
impacts of the lifeboat against the mother ship's hull

At constant speed, we can calculate the expected value with a
simple integration. The overall approximated probability that
at least one dangerous impact occurs is 2.710-02 for a
descent time of 30 s and with reference to Scenario 5.

2
5 . 12
0
10 7 . 2 ) (
5 . 12
1

=
dX X F

The consequence analysis is that impacts against the hull can
produce a failure in a lifeboats structure if the impact velocity
exceeds the prescribed level. As we have explained earlier in
the methodology, this kind of failure is considered as a
Hardware obstacle which is binary in nature with respect to
the human health status. In other words, when a structural
failure occurs to a lifeboat due to impacts against the hull, all
occupants are deemed lost. This is the worst case scenario, but
the approach is for an approval process and it is designed to
promote robust LSS. Age and HHS before the obstacle have
no influence on the results. This is reflected in the simplified
structure of the associated degradation function.

With reference to the scenarios defined in the methodology,
the results indicate no risk of structural failure due to impacts
against the hull for the first four scenarios. For Scenario 5, we
have derived the failure rate for lifeboats launched on the
negative listing side. On the positive listing side, it is assumed
no impacts during the descent. Hence, the overall failure rate
is half of 2.710
-02
, that is to say 0.0135.

1.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 1.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 1.0000 0.0000
Impacts /
structural failure

Scenario 1 to 4
0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 1.0000
0.9865 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9865 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 0.9865 0.0000
Impacts /
structural failure

Scenario 5
0.0135 0.0135 0.0135 1.0000

Injuries due to impacts against the hull: Provided that
no structural failures occur due to impacts against the hull, we
then considered the problem of injuries for the lifeboats
occupants. In short, lateral impact accelerations taken from the
previous simulation were converted into biomechanical
injuries in a way that is similar to a car crash accident using
the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) [13].

Injury is estimated on the basis of maximum acceleration that
is scaled relative to a tolerable acceleration limit which is 5g
for lateral impact. This value holds for cars where occupants
have a sort of bucket seat. In a lifeboat with absolute flat
benches and no armrests at all, we lowered the limit to 4g, and
3g for the oldest group of people. The conversion to AIS was
based on a regression formula. Furthermore, a fatality was
assumed for AIS 5 or beyond (critical or fatal); severe
injury for AIS 2.5 to 4.99 (serious or severe); and
moderate injury was assumed for AIS 1.0 to 2.5. Only
Scenario 4 & 5 gave peak accelerations greater than 3g or 4g.
Figure 14 below show the simulation results in scenario 5
conditions for the two cable lengths.

- 10 -
Copyright ASME 2008

Figure 14: Simulated impact accelerations of the lifeboat
against the mother ships hull

As with the previous obstacle, impacts and associated injuries
are only considered on the negative listing side. Considering
both sides, the overall degradation is as follows:

AGE 75
1.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 1.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 1.0000 0.0000
Impacts /
injuries

Scenario 1 to 4
0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 1.0000
0.9445 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0472 0.9898 0.0000 0.0000
0.0083 0.0103 1.0000 0.0000
Impacts /
injuries

Scenario 5
0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 1.0000

75 AGE
1.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 1.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 1.0000 0.0000
Impacts /
injuries

Scenarios 1 to 3
0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 1.0000
0.9584 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0417 1.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 1.0000 0.0000
Impacts /
injuries

Scenario 4
0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 1.0000
0.8234 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.1322 0.9479 0.0000 0.0000
0.0361 0.0419 0.9800 0.0000
Impacts /
injuries

Scenario 5
0.0084 0.0103 0.0201 1.0000

Fail to release: In addition to the risk of premature release,
there exist a risk that the release system fails when it is
required, hence preventing lifeboats to sail away from the
touchdown area. There are certainly various causes that
contribute to such event including poor maintenance. For the
purpose of the assessment, we used historical data from within
the project as well as from the offshore industry [8] (Table
13). For all age groups, the degradation functions are thus
provided hereunder.

Environmental conditions
Calm Moderate Severe
Internal data 9.4910
-04
./.. ./..
CMPT report 1999 0.000 0.015 0.140
SAFECRAFTS Data 0.001 0.01 0.1
Table 13: Release failure rate per use

0.9990 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9990 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 0.9990 0.0000
Fail to release

Scenario 1
0.0010 0.0010 0.0010 1.0000
0.9900 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9900 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 0.9900 0.0000
Fail to release

Scenario 2
0.0100 0.0100 0.0100 1.0000
0.9000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 0.9000 0.0000
Fail to release

Scenario 3, 4 & 5
0.1000 0.1000 0.1000 1.0000

Slamming: As the lifeboat is disconnected from the falls, it
may drop in water due to the relative vertical motions with the
surface of the sea. Slamming may then cause impact
accelerations leading to injuries for the occupants. This aspect
was investigated in the project but the results were not
sufficiently reliable to use them in the overall assessment. As a
result, we do not account for the degradation induced by the
obstacle Slamming.

- 11 -
Copyright ASME 2008
Fail Manoeuvring: This analysis was performed to derive
the operational limits of a conventional lifeboat while clearing
from the mother ship. Wind exposure may prevent lifeboats to
sail away from the touchdown area close to the vessels hull.
Lifeboats unable to clear are deemed lost because of the
dangerous vicinity with the hull. The model ignores the
influence of waves and does not account for several
unsuccessful trials before successful clearing. Manoeuvring
model of the lifeboat was generated from the main boat data
(Table 14) using the manoeuvring suite SIMX [14].The
lifeboat handling was done by the engine and rudder. The
lifeboat is steered away from the ship by using a combination
of engine and rudder setting. The handling criterion was set
for a limit of two boat lengths along the side of the mother
ship. Clearing from the bow or from the stern was considered
for five different wind directions and height wind speeds
ranging from 15 to 50 knots. If the trajectory was outside the
defined lanes or the boat was pushed away by the environment
in the direction of the mother ship, the manoeuvre was
considered unsuccessful. The simulation results are reported in
Table 15, whereas Figure 15 shows an example of graphical
representation.

Against the assessment scenarios, the results indicate that
lifeboats in windward side should be able to clear in the first
four scenarios. In Scenario 5, lifeboats in windward side could
not sail away. This conclusion is dramatically conservative
because some lifeboats could certainly withstand a few
impacts while sailing alongside the hull to escape from aft or
stern. However, it is very difficult to address such a complex
situation, so that the degradation function was set in
accordance with the simulation results. The authors believe the
simulation is yet quite informative regarding the operational
limits of conventional lifeboats.

Length Overall 8.80
Length between Perpendiculars 8.75
Beam (m) 4.26
Mean Draught (m) 0.85
Block Coefficient 0.5130
Position of LCB from Midship (m) 0.00
Trim (m) 0.00
Lateral Windage Area (m^2 23.76
L
i
f
e
b
o
a
t

d
a
t
a

Transverse Windage Area (m^2) 18.90
Propeller Type FPP
Number of Propellers 1
Propeller Diameter (m) 0.50
Propeller Pitch (m) 0.45
Propeller Shaft rev/s 14.10
P
r
o
p
e
l
l
e
r

d
a
t
a

Engine Delay Time 1.00
Number of Rudders 1
Rudder Area (m^2) 0.12
Rudder Height (m) 0.50
Rudder Aspect Ratio 1.67
R
u
d
d
e
r

d
a
t
a

Rudder Turning Rate (deg/sec) 2.25
Table 14: Input data for the lifeboat manoeuvring model

Wind direction (deg)
Head
Quarter
bow
Beam
Quarter
stern
Stern
15
Stern or
Bow
Stern Bow Bow
Stern or
Bow
20
Stern or
Bow
Stern Bow Bow
Stern or
Bow
25
Stern or
Bow
Stern or
Bow
Bow Bow
Stern or
Bow
30
Stern or
Bow
Stern N Bow Stern
35
Stern or
Bow
N N N Stern
40
Stern or
Bow
N N N Stern
45
Stern or
Bow
N N N Bow
W
i
n
d

s
p
e
e
d

(
k
n
o
t
s
)

50
Stern or
Bow
N N N Bow
Lifeboat can clear away
Lifeboat can clear away with difficulties
Lifeboat can not clear away
Table 15: Lifeboat clearing manoeuvre simulation results

Figure 15: (Up) Successful manoeuvre by the stern (wind
direction: Quarter bow / wind speed: 20 knots); (Down)
Unsuccessful manoeuvre by the stern (wind direction:
beam / wind speed: 35 knots)

1.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 1.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 1.0000 0.0000
Fail
manoeuvring

Scenario 1 to 4
0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 1.0000
0.5000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.5000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 0.5000 0.0000
Fail
manoeuvring

Scenario 5
0.5000 0.5000 0.5000 1.0000

- 12 -
Copyright ASME 2008
Capsizing: After disconnection, lifeboats have to sail until
they can safely use a sea anchor and drift head-on. During this
phase, dangerous wave incidences such as stern to beam
waves will be encountered. The risk is higher in beam waves,
and it is considered realistic that a lifeboat could be exposed
for a maximum cumulated time of ten minutes. If capsized, a
lifeboat is deemed lost with its occupants.

Two main events are considered that contribute to capsizing
the lifeboat: excessive roll motions and flooding as the ship
is partially enclosed. For excessive roll motions, risk criterion
is roll angle in excess of 30.5 that corresponds to the
maximum of the Gz curve. For flooding, risk criterion is
vertical relative motion at mid-ship in excess of freeboard
fully loaded: 0.78m. The assessment draws on seakeeping
analysis for lifeboat afloat with minimum speed. Lifeboat
motions and accelerations were calculated with AQUA+and
ALEA+in the same way as for the mother ship.

The simulation results reported on Figure 16 first indicate that
the risk is negligible in moderate sea conditions. For sea state
5 and 6, the risk is substantially higher, in particular for
flooding. In this respect, it is true that a canopy should protect
the openings from water entry. However, in a real gale the
canopy was deemed insufficient to prevent water entry, so that
we considered the openings opened. In addition, we adapted
the risk criterion by adding 20cm to the freeboard that
means vertical relative motions should be as high as 0.98 to
effectively cause flooding Eq. (5). Hence, for a period of ten
minutes in Beam Sea, it is possible to derive the associated
probability, assuming that it is proportional to the time of
exposure. We then used a simple fault tree analysis to combine
the two event using a OR gate as represented in Figure 17.
The probabilities of capsizing (Table 16) for sea states 5 or 6
are quite closed, so that we rounded up to the upper value that
is to say 0.0006. The corresponding degradation functions are
then derived.

Figure 16: Seakeeping simulation results of free-floating
lifeboat

( )
=
2
/ 98 . 0
exp ) (
2
98 . 0
RMS
flooding P
(5)

Figure 17: Capsizing probability using fault tree analysis

Sea states P (roll >30.5) P (flooding)
0.98
P(capsizing)
3 4.4310
-33
6.0110
-31
Negligible
5 2.0910
-04
3.8610
-04
5.9510
-04
6 2.7410
-04
8.4110
-05
3.5810
-04
Table 16: Capsizing probability of lifeboat for 600s
exposure in Beam Sea

0.9994 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9994 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 0.9994 0.0000
Capsizing

Scenario 3, 4 & 5
0.0006 0.0006 0.0006 1.0000

Seasickness: In real emergency cases, lifeboats occupants
may spend hours at sea before they can get rescued. Among
the difficulties that an individual may face in such situation,
seasickness is by far the most problematic.
Seasickness would generally only create discomfort but it can
also escalate to vomiting, headache, apathy, lack of appetite,
etc. The most dangerous impacts on human health are
dehydration and Loss Of Will To Survive (LOWTS).
Especially for the elderly, additional dangers of continued
vomiting are heart failure and suffocation in unexpelled vomit.
Physically motion sickness occurs when sensed motions and
accelerations differ strongly and continuously from what is
expected or anticipated in the inner ear organ. Typical
provocative motions include low-frequency
1
linear and
angular motions with special negative influence of vertical
motions and accelerations.

Within the project, the analysis was conducted by specialists
in motion sickness and human factors. The model is based on
the core concept of Motion Sickness Incidence [15] that
depends on the RMS of the vertical acceleration, the
frequency, and the exposure duration (Figure 18). The model

1
Between 0.01 Hz and 1 Hz, with most sickness observed around
0.17 Hz (McCauley et al., 1976)

- 13 -
Copyright ASME 2008
used in SAFECRAFTS is somewhat more sophisticated as it
also accounts for lateral accelerations and variations related to
peoples age. In this model, vomiting is taken as criterion of
being seasick. The sickness incidence is then so-called
Vomiting Incidence

As input data, we used lifeboats motions and accelerations
simulated for lifeboats floating free with minimum speed for a
constant incidence of waves on quarter bow (Table 17). The
Vomiting Incidence was estimated for different age groups
exposed for 24 hours (Table 18). The Vomiting Incidence
values were further interpreted to derive the actual percentage
in the HHS categories. The calculations do not include the
effect of seasickness pills, which are available on board ships
and LSA; however it is possible for these to be taken into
account.

Figure 18: Illustration of the Motion Sickness Incidence
model

Input data at Centre of Gravity
X acc Y acc Z acc Free
floating
lifeboat
RMS
(m/s
2
)
T2
(s)
RMS
(m/s
2
)
T2
(s)
RMS
(m/s
2
)
T2
(s)
Sea state 3 0.22 4.28 0.12 4.50 0.27 4.20
Sea state 5 0.57 4.72 0.32 4.96 0.71 4.59
Sea state 6 0.61 5.15 0.34 5.41 0.75 4.98
Table 17: Lifeboat motions input data for the calculation of
seasickness

Exposure Age groups (years) Vomiting Incidence (%)
SS3 SS5 SS6
a <50 6 13.6 12.3
50 <a <75 4.1 9.3 8.4 24h
75 <a 2.7 6.2 5.6
Table 18: Vomiting incidence for the three age groups for
24 hours at sea

AGE 50
1.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9950 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0030 0.9968 0.0000
Seasickness

Scenario 2
0.0000 0.0020 0.0032 1.0000
1.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9895 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0070 0.9930 0.0000
Seasickness

Scenario 3 & 4
0.0000 0.0035 0.0070 1.0000
1.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9906 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0063 0.9938 0.0000
Seasickness

Scenario 5
0.0000 0.0031 0.0062 1.0000

50 AGE 75
0.9981 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9953 0.0000 0.0000
0.0016 0.0032 0.9968 0.0000
Seasickness

Scenario 2
0.0003 0.0016 0.0032 1.0000
0.9958 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9878 0.0000 0.0000
0.0035 0.0070 0.9930 0.0000
Seasickness

Scenario 3 & 4
0.0007 0.0052 0.0070 1.0000
0.9963 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9906 0.0000 0.0000
0.0031 0.0063 0.9938 0.0000
Seasickness

Scenario 5
0.0006 0.0031 0.0062 1.0000

75 AGE
0.9953 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9945 0.0000 0.0000
0.0032 0.0032 0.9953 0.0000
Seasickness

Scenario 2
0.0016 0.0024 0.0047 1.0000
0.9895 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9878 0.0000 0.0000
0.0070 0.0070 0.9896 0.0000
Seasickness

Scenario 3 & 4
0.0035 0.0052 0.0104 1.0000
0.9906 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9890 0.0000 0.0000
0.0063 0.0063 0.9907 0.0000
Seasickness

Scenario 5
0.0031 0.0047 0.0093 1.0000

Tossed around: In view of the relatively rough seating
arrangement inside a lifeboat, people may glide or fall down
due to motions that may cause injuries. However, no data was
available on this issue to estimate the risk associated with this
obstacle.

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Copyright ASME 2008
Climbing pilot ladder: Contrary to the evacuation phase
that takes place on one specific vessel in some given
environmental conditions, the final rescue may be more
heterogeneous. Various means of rescue may be involved, and
to some extent, it is possible to postpone the final operations if
the weather conditions are too severe. In this assessment, we
have only considered pilot ladder as final means of rescue
because (1) it is likely to be the first means of rescue available,
and (2) we wanted to put emphasis on its drawbacks.

Full-scale experiments performed within the project showed
that age and gender have little influence on the ability to climb
if the volunteers are in good physical condition. Alternately,
the relative motions between the survival craft and the rescue
vessel were considered the most impairing factor. In this
context, it is assumed that rescue operations with ships would
only occur in calm or moderate sea conditions (Scenario 1 &
2). Thus, climbing a pilot ladder is possible and ship-to-ship
impacts should be limited. Only healthy people at that stage of
the process might be able to effectively climb the ladder. In
severe weather conditions (Scenario 3, 4 & 5), it is assumed
that no one would take the chance to climb a pilot ladder.

At this stage of the analysis, we present two alternatives:

1/ Case A: pilot ladder is the only means of rescue available;
therefore those unable to climb are deemed lost.

1.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Climbing pilot
ladder
Case A
Scenario 1 & 2
0.0000 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000
0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
Climbing pilot
ladder
Case A
Scenario 3, 4 & 5
1.0000 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000

2/ Case B: the other people onboard the lifeboat wait for
other means of rescue helicopter for instance. To account for
this drawback, we assigned these people at sea for another
period of 24h, facing the risk of seasickness and capsizing.

AGE 50
1.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 1.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 1.0000 0.0000
Climbing pilot
ladder
Case B
Scenario 1
0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 1.0000
1.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9950 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0030 0.9968 0.0000
Climbing pilot
ladder
Case B
Scenario 2
0.0000 0.0020 0.0032 1.0000
0.9994 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9889 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0070 0.9924 0.0000
Climbing pilot
ladder
Case B
Scenario 3 & 4
0.0006 0.0041 0.0076 1.0000
0.9996 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9902 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0063 0.9934 0.0000
Climbing pilot
ladder
Case B
Scenario 5
0.0004 0.0035 0.0066 1.0000

50 AGE 75
1.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 1.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 1.0000 0.0000
Climbing pilot
ladder
Case B
Scenario 1
0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 1.0000
1.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9953 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0032 0.9968 0.0000
Climbing pilot
ladder
Case B
Scenario 2
0.0000 0.0016 0.0032 1.0000
0.9952 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9872 0.0000 0.0000
0.0035 0.0070 0.9924 0.0000
Climbing pilot
ladder
Case B
Scenario 3 & 4
0.0013 0.0058 0.0076 1.0000
0.9959 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9902 0.0000 0.0000
0.0031 0.0063 0.9934 0.0000
Climbing pilot
ladder
Case B
Scenario 5
0.0010 0.0035 0.0066 1.0000

75 AGE
1.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 1.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000 1.0000 0.0000
Climbing pilot
ladder
Case B
Scenario 1
0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 1.0000
1.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9945 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0032 0.9953 0.0000
Climbing pilot
ladder
Case B
Scenario 2
0.0000 0.0024 0.0047 1.0000
0.9889 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9872 0.0000 0.0000
0.0070 0.0070 0.9890 0.0000
Climbing pilot
ladder
Case B
Scenario 3 & 4
0.0041 0.0058 0.0110 1.0000
0.9902 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.9886 0.0000 0.0000
0.0063 0.0063 0.9903 0.0000
Climbing pilot
ladder
Case B
Scenario 5
0.0035 0.0051 0.0097 1.0000

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Copyright ASME 2008
3.4. Success Rate and Identification of Critical
Areas for Improvements

Success Rates: Once local degradation functions are
determined, it is possible to calculate the global degradation
functions for each scenario and each age category. Given the
initial HHS presented in section 3.1, one obtains the
corresponding final HHS that are required to derive the
Success Rates for each scenario and each age category.
Eventually, the overall results are obtained (Table 19) using a
weighted sum of the three age categories (Table 6).

The results for Case A show that scenarios 3, 4 & 5 are not
practicable if only pilot ladders are used for the final rescue.
Climbing the pilot ladder is clearly a showstopper. Even in
drill conditions (Scenario 1), only 60% of the initial
population is able to complete the process. The results for
Case B show that the system performs rather well in the four
first scenarios. Scenario 5 has a very low performance due to
the obstacle Fail manoeuvring that accounts for 50% of the
degradation. However, even when lifeboats are able to clear
away from the wrecked vessel (Scenarios 1 to 4), many
fatalities are predicted in this assessment. For instance, if
4,000 people would be considered in this evacuation and
rescue process as modelled here, there would be around 80
fatalities in Scenario 1, and 480 fatalities in Scenario 3.

Success Rates
Scenario Case A Case B
Scenario 1 59% 98%
Scenario 2 59% 97%
Scenario 3 0% 88%
Scenario 4 0% 88%
Scenario 5 0% 43%
Table 19: Estimated Success Rates for LSS using
conventional lifeboats

Identification of critical areas: It is possible to calculate
the Success Rate step-by-step and determine the actual
contribution of individual obstacles to the overall degradation
associated with the rescue route. Critical obstacles were
selected if their contribution was higher than 1% of the total
degradation of the Success Rate (Figure 19).
For Case A, the obstacle Climbing pilot ladder is by far
the most critical obstacle in the first two scenarios. More
dedicated equipment should therefore be available on every
merchant ship to effectively address this issue. For Case B,
the contribution of the obstacle Climbing pilot ladder is
significantly smaller due to the availability of other means of
rescue. As a result, the relative contribution of the other
obstacles is highlighted: hardware obstacles are the most
contributing obstacles, whereas the two main human factor
obstacles are Seasickness and Climbing pilot ladder. If we
ignore Fail start engine and Fail to release that are based
on historical data, Premature release is the main contributor.
This confirms the feedback that the flat contact area cam
hook design has been at the origin of numerous accidents.
However, the vast majority of modern hook designs are
radically different and this problem would not occur on brand
new lifeboats using failsafe hook designs.
2% 2%
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Figure 19: Selected critical areas for LSS using
conventional lifeboats

- 16 -
Copyright ASME 2008
4. APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF
ALTERNATIVE DESIGN

In SAFECRAFTS, the proposed methodology was developed
with a view to (1) assess the performance of conventional
systems, (2) identify critical areas for improvements, and (3)
assess the performance of novel LSA concepts. This was
achieved by focusing research on the functional performance
of LSA, which was expressed as the Success Rate of the
evacuation and rescue process in different scenarios. Hence, it
is also possible to use it as an evaluation tool within a process
of approval of alternative design and arrangements.
4.1. Dealing with a complete Life-Saving System
As previously explained in the paper, a ship shall be equipped
with a Life-Saving System (LSS) made-up of several LSA
types. Hence, given the fact that the proposed methodology is
linear in all aspects, it is possible to combine the performance
of different LSA types in order to obtain the specific
performance of the LSS considered. This provides a great
flexibility in the application of the methodology and allows for
a global comparison with novel LSS concepts.
4.2. Acceptance Criteria
The process flowchart developed in the IMO guidelines for
alternative LSA design [3] is reproduced hereunder in Figure
20. It is explicitly requested to Evaluate performance of
prescriptive vs. proposed design in a quantitative fashion.
The methodology presented in this paper provides effectively
a conceptual approach to meet this requirement, where
Success Rates calculated for the prescriptive design stand for
acceptance criteria.

When all relevant assessment scenarios are defined, the trial
design should score a higher Success Rate than the
prescriptive design for all scenarios (Table 20). Thus, the
assessment results for a conventional design compliant with
prescriptive rules provide a reference baseline for the approval
process of alternative LSA designs.

However, the results presented in this paper are essentially
used to illustrate the methods and validate the identification of
critical areas for design improvements. Moreover, if the
methodology is generic, the implementation imposes many
choices and assumptions in the modelling of the system, the
rescue route and the scenario parameters that make every
assessment tailor-maid for the purpose of the ship design
project, for which alternative LSA design is envisaged.

Scenario
#
Success Rate
Prescriptive
design
Success Rate
Alternative
design
Acceptance
criteria
Sc 1 SR
1
(PD) SR
1
(AD) SR
1
(AD) SR
1
(PD)
Sc 2 SR
2
(PD) SR
2
(AD) SR
2
(AD) SR
2
(PD)

Sc k SR
k
(PD) SR
k
(AD) SR
k
(AD) SR
k
(PD)
Table 20: Acceptance criteria concept for the approval of
alternati ve LSA designs and novel concepts

Figure 20: Process flowchart for Alternative design and
arrangement for LSA

5. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

This paper demonstrates how one can practically implement a
global assessment of life-saving appliances. The Success Rate
of the evacuation and rescue process is recommended as the
principal performance indicator of life-saving systems. It
reflects the degradation of the Human Health Status as the
hardware system and the population faces a sequence of
obstacles along the rescue route. Different scenarios are
defined to account for increasingly severe environmental and
damaged ship conditions enabling the assessment of system
robustness.

Some obstacles were difficult to quantify such as slamming or
being tossed around. Use of historical data also introduced a
bias in the quantitative treatment, whereas the problem of
premature release is specific to one designated hook design
that is not representative of state-of-the-art designs.

In the near future, the methodology will be applied on novel
concepts developed within the SAFECRAFTS project. It is
also intended to further streamline this approach with the IMO
framework and contribute to defining a systematic approach
for assessing existing and novel LSA concepts.

- 17 -
Copyright ASME 2008
6. ACKNOWLEDGMENT

A major part of this study presented herein, was financially
supported by the European Commission under the FP6
Sustainable Surface Transport Programme. The support is
given under the scheme of STREP, Contract No. FP6-PLT-
506402. The European Community and the authors shall not
in any way be liable or responsible for the use of any such
knowledge, information or data, or of the consequences
thereof.

7. REFERENCES

[1] INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANISATION,
SOLAS convention, Chapter III, Part C, Reg. 38, as
amended in MSC 82, December 2006.

[2] McGREGOR J ., PRAT L., CORRIGNAN P., BOER
L., Risk-based approval of alternative designs and
arrangements for life-saving appliances onboard
passenger ships, Proceedings of the 3
rd
Design For
Safety conference, 2007, Berkeley, CA, USA.

MSC.1/Circ.1212, Guidelines on Alternative Design
and Arrangements for chapters II-1 and III, December
2006.

MSC/Circ.1023, Formal Safety Assessment Guidelines,
2002.

MSC/Circ.1033, Annex 2, Interim Guidelines for the
Advanced Evacuation Analysis of New and Existing
Passenger Ships, 2002.

International Life-Saving Appliance Code, Edition
2003, section 4.4.6.8.

[7] BAHAMAS MARITIME AUTHORITY, Report of the
investigation into fire on and sinking of the passenger
vessel Sun Vista on 20 and 21 May 1999 in the
Malacca Straits, November 2000.

[8] LANG J . S. REAR ADMIRAL, Review of Lifeboat
and Launching Systems Accidents, Maritime Accident
Investigation Branch, 2001.

[9] PEACHEY J ., POLLARD S., Burness Corlett-Three
Quays Ltd for the UK Maritime and Coastguard
Agency, MCA Research Project 555: Development of
Lifeboat Design, 2006.

[10] CMPT Centre for Marine and Petroleum Technology,
Guide to QRA for Offshore Installations, 1999

Measures to Prevent Accidents with Lifeboats
(submitted by Canada), FP 50/INF.4, 20 October 2005.

International Life-Saving Appliance Code, Edition
2003, section 4.4.1.7.

[13] AIS (1998): Association for the Advancement of
Automotive Medicine, The Abbreviated Injury Scale,
updated of revision 1990, AAAM Des Plaines, IL-USA.

[14] http://hydrosim.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/

[15] BOS, J .E., Scheepsbewegingen en Motion Sickness
Incidence (MSI): Voorspellingen van het percentage
bewegingszieken op basis van verticale bewegingen,
TNO-TM 1995 A-71, November 1995 (in Dutch)

16me Congrs de Matrise des Risques et de Sret de Fonctionnement - Avignon 6-10 octobre 2008 communication 7C-3 page 1/8

CONCEPTION ERGONOMIQUE ET ANALYSE DE RISQUE : METHODOLOGIE ET
APPLICATION AUX MOYENS DACCES A BORD DES NAVIRES

ERGONOMIC DESIGN AND RISK ANALYSIS: METHODOLOGY AND APPLICATION TO
MEANS OF ACCESS ONBOARD SHIPS

Nicolas Mery Marc Lassagne
Bureau Veritas - Division Marine Arts et Mtiers Paristech
Tour Manhattan GRID, Maison de la recherche de l'ESTP
5/6 Place de LIris La Dfense 2 30 avenue du Prsident Wilson
92095 Paris La Dfense Cedex 94230 Cachan

Rsum
Lindustrie maritime a mis en uvre dimportants moyens dans le but damliorer la scurit des navires. En effet, la navigation devient de
plus en plus sre, les navires sont mieux protgs contre les risques dincendie et denvahissement, de mme que les structures sont de
plus en plus fiables. Cependant, la majorit des accidents tels que les glissades, trbuchements et chutes (STFs), dont la gravit et la
frquence doccurrence est trs souvent sous-estime, ne bnficient pas encore dune attention suffisante. Pourtant, il est non seulement
possible mais il devient indispensable de prvenir les gens de mer de ces accidents et danalyser les risques quils reprsentent pour
loccupant. La matrise des risques passe en effet par la sant et la scurit au travail, en particulier dans lindustrie maritime o les
accidents sont frquents, conduisent des blessures graves et reprsentent un manque gagner norme dune part pour les entreprises
dont les employs doivent interrompre leur travail pour cause de blessure, dautre part pour les assurances et les clubs de protection et
dindemnits (clubs Pet I) qui indemnisent ces dernires.
Cet article dcrit la mthode suivie par une socit de classification pour dvelopper des recommandations concernant la conception
ergonomique des moyens daccs bord des navires commerciaux. Le but recherch est lamlioration de la scurit des marins, des
experts, ainsi que de tous les gens de mer dont le rle est dinspecter ou de travailler bord des navires. La mthodologie que nous avons
mise en uvre repose sur une approche en deux tapes : une analyse de risque base sur le retour dexprience provenant dentretiens,
dune visite sur le terrain et de la diffusion dun questionnaire aux experts t mene; une analyse anthropomtrique a par la suite t
conduite pour tablir des recommandations adresses aux chantiers navals et aux armateurs concernant la conception des moyens daccs
aux diffrentes parties des navires.

Summary
The maritime industry engaged significant means for improving vessels safety. In fact, navigation is getting increasingly safer, ships are well-
protected against fire and flooding risks, and in the same manner structures are getting increasingly reliable. However, the great majority of
accidents such as slips, trips and falls, of which the severity and frequency of occurrence are very often under-estimated, are not sufficiently
addressed. Yet, it is not only possible, but also indispensable to prevent seafarers from being the victims of these accidents and to analyse
the related occupational risks. Risk management also involves health and safety at work, particularly in the maritime industry where
accidents are frequent, lead to serious injuries and account for a very significant shortfall on one hand for the shipping companies which
employees have to stop working because of their injuries and on the other hand for the insurance companies and the Protection and
Indemnity Insurance clubs (P&I clubs) which have to compensate them.
This paper describes the method followed by a classification society for developing recommendations about the ergonomic design of the
means of access onboard commercial ships. The main objective is to improve safety of the seafarer and of the surveyor and of whoever has
to inspect or work onboard vessels. The methodology we adopted is a two-stage approach: a risk analysis based on user feedback from
interviews, a visit in the field and questionnaires have been sent to surveyors; an anthropometric analysis was then carried out in order to
establish recommendations for the shipyards and shipping companies to be provided with guidelines for the ergonomic design of the means
of access onboard.

Introduction

Selon une tude mene par Jensen et al. [1], les accidents de
type glissade, trbuchement et chutes (Slips, Trips and Falls, ci-
aprs STFs) seraient lorigine de plus de 40% des blessures
non mortelles se produisant bord des navires commerciaux. Il
est de mme communment acquis dans la communaut
maritime que cette proportion est identique en ce qui concerne les
accidents mortels. De plus, une analyse mene par lAmerican
club P&I (Protection & Indemnity) [2] les tient pour responsables
de 23% des cots associs aux plaintes pour maladies et
blessures ; ces cots doivent aussi tre ajouts ceux associs
au nombre de jours non travaills pour cause de blessures sur le
lieu de travail. Ces chiffres prtent penser que lon peut obtenir
des gains significatifs si lon arrive amliorer la scurit des
gens de mer. Pour ce faire, il est bien sr trs important de
communiquer sur ces accidents de travail et dinsister sur les
moyens de prvention simples tels que les bonnes pratiques de
travail ou encore le port des quipements et lutilisation des outils
appropris aux tches dopration, de maintenance et
dinspection des navires. Cependant une des stratgies pour
sassurer que le personnel ne glisse, trbuche ou ne tombe pas,
consiste intgrer la notion de prvention le plus tt possible,
cest--dire au moment mme de la conception des navires [3].
Il est vrai que le type daccidents mentionns ci-dessus concerne
tous les environnements de travail allant de la chaine de montage,
au travail de bureau en passant par les cuisines de restaurants.
Nanmoins, le caractre hautement accidentogne de
lenvironnement maritime en fait un des plus propices
loccurrence des STFs. En effet, la vie bord des navires
commerciaux est rythme par des oprations de navigation, de
veille, dinspections et de maintenance qui doivent tre assures
tout au long de la journe et de la nuit, et ce pendant parfois
plusieurs semaines daffile. Le travail du marin repose donc sur
une attention de tous les instants alors quil est particulirement
sujet au stress, la fatigue et cela cause des horaires, des
conditions mtorologiques, des pressions commerciales ou de
son isolement. Lenvironnement dans lequel il volue, lui, se veut
fonctionnel et malgr la taille des navires commerciaux actuels,
les contraintes structurelles et pratiques simposant ce moyen
de transport nincitent pas particulirement les concepteurs tenir
compte des besoins quont les marins pour accomplir en toute
scurit leur travail ; cet environnement est aussi son cadre de
vie. Sajoute encore cela la pense commune dcrivant le marin
comme une sorte de cow-boy des mers [4] qui sait sadapter
son environnement de travail, quel quil soit mme sil doit
prendre des risques inconsidrs pour y arriver. Pourtant,
lactualit semble montrer le contraire et il est important de garder
lesprit que le mtier de marin-pcheur est lun des plus
dangereux au monde.
Il est donc primordial pour amliorer la sant et la scurit dans
lindustrie maritime, de concevoir des navires moins dangereux
pour le personnel qui les opre, et mieux adapts leurs tches
quotidiennes.

1. Les STFs

Les STFs (Slips, Trips & Falls) sont des accidents se produisant
trs souvent sur le lieu de travail. Ils peuvent arriver de plain-pied,
sur des rampes, sur les marches dun escalier, ou en hauteur. Il
existe un grand nombre de facteurs susceptibles dinfluencer
fortement leur probabilit doccurrence : la sant physique, lge,
la fatigue, les mdicaments, lalcool, lquipement (exemple :
chaussures semelles lisses), lenvironnement (comme par
exemple : lclairage et ltat de surface du sol), et lactivit
pratique. La conception ergonomique de lenvironnement de
travail est donc bien videmment de premire importance lorsquil
sagit dessayer de limiter loccurrence des STFs.
Les glissades se produisent lorsque il y a trop peu de frottements
entre les pieds dune personne et la surface sur laquelle il marche,
ce qui se produit assez souvent dans lindustrie maritime, en
raison de la prsence frquente bord des navires de flaques
deau, dhuile et autres substances glissantes. Il se peut aussi que
le revtement du sol soit inappropri ou que lindividu en question
ne porte pas des chaussures adaptes.
Les trbuchements se produisent lorsque le pied dune personne
vient cogner un objet, causant une perte dquilibre. Marletta [5] a
suggr que des irrgularits du sol de 7 mm sont suffisantes
pour causer un trbuchement. Un faible clairage peut aussi tre
la cause de ce type daccidents. Des chercheurs en ergonomie
ont montr par exemple que la probabilit que quelquun vienne
buter sur une protubrance du sol lorsquil marche est fonction de
la distance verticale entre lobjet et laxe du champ de vision
effectif de cette personne [6].
Les chutes quant elles rsultent non seulement des glissades et
trbuchements mais peuvent galement se produire pour des
raisons telles que lutilisation inapproprie dune chelle ou dun
chafaudage. Il nest pas rare que des chutes sur leur lieu de
travail causent la mort de travailleurs.

En ce qui concerne lindustrie maritime, la plupart des causes
classiques lorigine des STFs sont runies bord des navires
commerciaux comme le soulignent les divers auteurs des articles
du numro 17 de HE Alert ! [7], une des revues professionnelles
les plus lues pour les questions qui touchent llment humain
dans lindustrie maritime.
Pour les glissades, la surface des ponts nest pas
systmatiquement revtue dun matriau antidrapant alors que
ceux-ci sont trs souvent sujets aux intempries dune part et aux
flaques dhuile et de graisse de lautre.
Les trbuchements, eux se produisent cause notamment du
grand nombre dobstacles sur le chemin des marins dont la vue
est souvent obstrue par les pices dquipement et autres
charges quil doivent transporter manuellement dun point un
autre du navire ou rduite cause du manque dclairage de
certaines zones du navire. Ces obstacles sont des cbles, des
tuyaux, des panneaux dclairage, des boites de jonction, des
conteneurs de stockage ou simplement des changements de
niveaux du plancher non indiqus et des renfoncements.

Pour ce qui est des chutes, deux facteurs spcifiques la vie
maritime sont trs importants : latmosphre trs corrosive due
lair marin et les mouvements du navire qui doit affronter
rgulirement une mer dmonte. Latmosphre corrosive cause
le vieillissement prmatur des chelles et rambardes de scurit
qui deviennent alors vtustes et dangereuses dutilisation. Les
mouvements du navire, eux, jouent un rle important lorsquil
sagit de maintenir son quilibre, particulirement en cours
dopration. Cependant, les causes les plus profondes lorigine
de ces accidents loccupant sont autant, voire plus importantes ;
elles sont lies la conception des navires ou plus prcisment
la conception du lieu de travail des marins [3]. En effet, si il est
important que les marins soient bien informs des risques quils
encourent lorsquils exercent leur profession et des moyens de
prvention des accidents dont ils disposent, cest ds la
conception du navire que doit se poser la question : Comment
assurer la scurit des marins qui seront amens travailler
bord ? . Cest au navire dtre conu en fonction des capacits
physiques et cognitives des marins et des tches quils ont
accomplir.

En guise dillustration nous avons retenu le rcit dun accident
survenu rcemment et mettant en cause la conception des
moyens daccs. Cet accident a t relat dans le Maritime
Accidents Reporting System

(MARS) qui est un systme de
notification confidentiel gr par le Nautical Institute [8]. Laccident
en question est survenu lors dun exercice de lutte contre
lincendie. Lingnieur en second, se rendant dans le
compartiment de la pompe durgence contre lincendie pour mettre
en route cette dernire a d emprunter une chelle verticale. Alors
quil descendait lchelle en se tenant aux rails latraux, il ne
sest par rendu compte quil y avait une coupure au niveau de ces
rails (figure 1).

Figure 1 : Echelle lorigine dun accident du travail (MARS)

Il sest alors retrouv soudainement sans prise manuelle et a
perdu lquilibre pour tomber finalement dune hauteur de trois
mtres directement sur le sol de la salle des pompes. Il na
heureusement souffert que de coupures et decchymoses mais
cet accident aurait pu lui causer des blessures beaucoup plus
importantes ou lui tre fatal.

Pour que des pratiques de conception prenant en compte la
scurit des marins soient acceptes, adoptes et promues par
les chantiers navals ainsi que par les armateurs, il semble
ncessaire dinclure ces pratiques au sein des rglementations
maritimes. Il convient tout dabord dexpliquer le double systme
de rglementation auquel doivent se conformer les navires. Les
rglementations maritimes internationales concernant la scurit
des gens de mer, leur formation, la conception des navires, la
sauvegarde de lenvironnement maritime, etc. sont discutes et
adoptes par une organisation des Nations Unies, lOrganisation
Maritime Internationale (OMI). Ces rglementations sont par la
suite adoptes et transposes dans les rglementations maritimes
nationales par les tats membres qui sont alors responsables de
leur application. Dun autre ct, il existe des socits de
classifications qui sont en charge de valider plus en dtail la
conception et ltat des navires suivant des critres (concernant
uniquement lintgrit structurelle du navire ainsi que la
machinerie) issus de leurs propres rgles. Ces rgles remplissent
nanmoins bien videmment les exigences des rglementations
internationales de lOMI. Pour ce qui est des rglementations
concernant la prvention des STFs, il nexiste pas pour linstant de
texte portant directement sur ces questions. Cependant, un
groupe de travail de lOMI, le Groupe de Travail sur lElment
Humain a entre autre pour mission de dvelopper les
rglementations et recommandations concernant lapplication de
lergonomie bord des navires dans le but dassurer un
environnement de travail sr [9]. De plus, certaines
rglementations internationales qui concernent la conception des
moyens daccs pour linspection des vraquiers et ptroliers ont
pour objectif non seulement dassurer un accs pour les
inspections des zones critiques de ces navires, mais aussi
dassurer la scurit des inspecteurs en leur garantissant des
moyens daccs appropris leur travail. On peut citer ce titre
lorigine de la rglementation II-1/3-6 de la convention SOLAS
(Safety Of Life At Sea) de lOMI qui en 2004 a t amende par
des rsolutions de lOMI [10]. En rponse ces amendements,
lAssociation Internationales des Socits de Classification (IACS)
a publi des Interprtations Unifies des recommandations
techniques de lOMI pour les moyens daccs [11]. Ces
interprtations fournissent aux chantiers navals et armateurs des
spcifications techniques comprenant des recommandations
dimensionnelles spcifiques garantissant la scurit daccs aux
diffrents compartiments des vraquiers et ptroliers. Cependant,
ces interprtations demeurent trop gnrales et ne prtendent pas
couvrir lensemble des problmes rencontrs avec les moyens
daccs ; on ne parle que dinspection alors que les oprations
pour le fonctionnement du navire et sa maintenance ncessitent
aussi lutilisation des moyens daccs. De plus, elles ne
considrent que les vraquiers et ptroliers bien que les autres
types de navires devraient eux aussi tre dots de moyens
daccs srs.

2. Dmarche de prvention et gestion du risque
des STFs

Nous nous sommes efforcs dadopter une dmarche structure
dans notre approche du risque de STF. Ainsi, nous nous sommes
inspirs des grands principes de prvention, tels quils sont
utiliss par exemple en France par lINRS.

2.1 De la mise en uvre des principes de prvention
Dans une logique de prvention, trois dmarches
complmentaires peuvent tre employes.

On distingue tout dabord une approche par laccident, qui
sappuie en gnral sur lutilisation darbres des causes
permettant de retracer les mcanismes ayant conduit une
situation dangereuse. Cette premire approche, rtrospective,
sinscrit dans une logique danalyse en vue de comprendre la
nature et les causes du danger afin den tirer des enseignements.
Dans cette optique, lanalyse par laccident, loin dtre seulement
un outil au service par exemple de lenqute conduite lissue
dun accident, sinscrit bel et bien dans une dimension
dapprentissage lchelle organisationnelle, au mme titre que
dautres dispositifs de retour dexprience et de capitalisation des
connaissances [12].

Une deuxime approche, plus proactive, sappuie sur lanalyse
des risques associs une situation donne. Cette dmarche fait
appel des techniques telles que les arbres de dfaillances, les
arbres dvnements [13]. Elle a pour finalit la dtermination a
priori de situations risque, et llaboration subsquente de
mesures de prvention ou de protection.

Enfin, la dernire approche de rduction des risques du poste de
travail sappuie sur son analyse ergonomique : partir de
lexamen dtaill et in vivo des postures, des gestes, de la
position de loprateur, il devient possible de prvenir les
dommages physiques.

Ces trois approches interagissent bien videmment et se
nourrissent les unes et autres. La conjonction des rsultats
obtenus dans chacune des dmarches est ce qui va permettre
llaboration dune politique de sant et scurit au travail.

Figure 2 : La prvention des risques au travail

2.2 La spcificit du milieu maritime en matire de prvention
Lanalyse des STFs en milieu maritime revt donc comme nous
lavons vu une dimension particulire. En effet, le navire dans son
ensemble constitue le poste de travail, ce qui induit une
complexit importante, qui nest certes pas compltement
singulire (aprs tout, une usine prise dans son ensemble est
aussi complexe), mais comporte quand mme la particularit que
de nombreux personnels, par la nature mme des tches quils
ont accomplir (inspection, maintenance) , vont tre amens
se dplacer dans des lieux dangereux, et non seulement y
travailler des postes spcifiques. Ce milieu est galement
particulirement dangereux en raison des contraintes
environnementales qui le caractrisent.
Une caractristique tend rendre le milieu maritime spcifique : il
est en effet en tension entre dune part la volont, en matire de
prvention des STFs, dtre le plus gnrique possible afin de
bnficier deffets dchelle (si une tude spcifique pour une
usine dans laquelle travaillent des dizaines de personnes peut se
justifier, raliser des tudes compltes pour des navires dont
lquipage comporte moins de 20 personnes nest a priori pas
conomiquement viable), et dautre part le fait que les navires
sont fabriqus au mieux en trs petite srie de quelques units.

Ces considrations nous ont conduit mettre en uvre des
techniques spcifiques pour notre analyse, au-del des pratiques
habituelles des prventeurs. Plus gnralement, nous avons
choisi de nous placer dans une approche avant tout ergonomique,
qui a guid le reste de notre travail. Adopter une telle approche
nest pas neutre dans le milieu maritime. En effet, nombre defforts
lchelle internationale ont vis essayer dintgrer le facteur
humain dans les analyses laide de techniques quantitatives,
par le biais danalyses fiabilistes. Sans remettre en cause la
valeur ou lintrt de telles approches, force est de constater qu
lheure actuelle, elles nont pas t trs fructueuses, tant pour des
raisons qui tiennent la difficult intrinsque de lexercice de
modlisation qu, frquemment, la faible qualit des donnes
dentre [14] [15]. Cest donc aussi un renversement de
perspective par rapport aux pratiques habituelles de recherche en
prvention dans lindustrie maritime que nous nous proposons de
procder, dans loptique dailleurs dfendue dans le plan
stratgique de lOrganisation Maritime Internationale concernant
llment humain [9].

2.3 Analyse par laccident et retour dexprience
Les techniques danalyse par laccident prsentent ceci
dintressant quelles sont fortement ancres dans la ralit du
terrain. Toutefois, elles souffrent dun dfaut majeur, en ce
quelles ne permettent quune vision a posteriori des mcanismes
accidentognes luvre dans une situation de travail. En outre,
si lon considre que lanalyse de laccident na pas seulement
pour but que de proposer des solutions techniques un incident
mais est le premier pas dun apprentissage, une difficult
supplmentaire peut se manifester : en effet, comme cela a t
montr dans de nombreux travaux, des mcanismes de
rationalisation de laccident particulirement puissants sont
souvent luvre, qui peuvent gner lapprentissage vis [16].
Ces arguments plaident pour une approche plus proactive du
retour dexprience dont lanalyse des accidents est une
composante, approche qui sattache galement la prise en
compte des quasi-accidents (near-misses), mais aussi la
dtection des signaux faibles [17]. Cest dans cette optique que
nous nous sommes situs.
Nous nous sommes donc proposs de mener des entretiens
auprs des utilisateurs les plus proches du danger, ce que
certains ont qualifi dutilisateurs at the sharp end [18]. Les
entretiens permettent dans un premier temps de faire une
valuation qualitative des diffrents problmes que les
inspecteurs et les gens de mer sont susceptibles de rencontrer
lorsquils utilisent les moyens daccs bord. Nous avons pu ainsi
faire un premier tat des lieux des risques de glissades,
trbuchements et chutes cest--dire faire une premire estimation
des endroits bord o ces accidents sont susceptibles de se
produire, des moyens daccs mis en question ainsi que de la
gravit des blessures engendres. Lobservation participante est
le dernier dispositif de recueil de donnes ce stade qui permet
doprer une triangulation et de sassurer de la validit des
lments obtenus en entretien. Le rsultat de cette dmarche
nest donc pas seulement une analyse rtrospective daccident
(lors des entretiens sont apparus des rcits de blessures), mais
Approche par
les risques
Approche par les
accidents
Approche par le
poste de travail
365

=
i
i i
p k
F
aussi et surtout une vision plus gnrale et dynamique des
mcanismes pouvant conduire laccident.
Lensemble des lments recueillis a galement pour but de
permettre le dveloppement dun questionnaire plus spcifique,
dont les rsultats seront utiliss dans lapproche par les risques.

2.4 Approche par les risques
Ces entretiens prliminaires ont aussi permis de dvelopper un
questionnaire dont nous dtaillerons le contenu plus loin.
Le questionnaire que nous avons demand aux inspecteurs de
complter se compose de quatorze questions. Certaines dentre
elles sont utilises pour tester la pertinence des rponses. Une
autre srie de questions est concentre sur les caractristiques
des glissades, trbuchements et chutes et la manire quont les
gens de mer dvaluer leur probabilit doccurrence et des
blessures quils causent. Cette srie sera utile pour valuer les
croyances des gens de mer concernant les risques lis aux
STFs ; sous-estiment-ils les risques ? Il y a aussi une srie de
questions ddies lanalyse de risque. Finalement, certaines
questions ouvertes nous permettent davoir une description
qualitative des problmes associs aux moyens daccs et des
amliorations quils recommandent afin de rsoudre ces derniers.
2.4.1 Analyse qualitative du questionnaire
Afin dinterprter les donnes qualitatives obtenues grce aux
rsultats du questionnaire, nous avons utilis une analyse
factorielle des correspondances (AFC). LAFC est un moyen de
reprsenter des tableaux de contingence i.e. les tableaux comme
ceux que nous avons obtenus avec les rsultats du questionnaire.
Il sagit de tableaux deux entres dont les variables sont
qualitatives. Un exemple de tableaux de contingence est prsent
ci-dessous :.

Frquence Slip Trip Fall
Jamais 7 12 23
Rarement 20 16 8
Parfois 5 2 1
Souvent 0 2 0

Tableau 1 : Tableau de contingence reprsentant les croyances
des inspecteurs en matire de frquence doccurrence des STFs

Le but de lAFC est de permettre lanalyste de rassembler autant
dinformations que possible sur un nombre de graphes restreint
appels plans factoriels et forms pas deux axes factoriels. Les
caractres diffrents (glissade, trbuchement, chute, jamais,
rarement, parfois, souvent) sont analyss en terme de
correspondances, i.e. seule la valeur relative entre les diffrents
caractres est importante. Chaque caractre est reprsent par
un point dont la taille dpend du nombre de rpondants et dont la
position dtermine sa relation avec les autres caractres. Les
nuages de points reprsentant les caractres en ligne (jamais,
rarement, parfois, souvent) et les nuages reprsentant les
caractres en colonne (glissade, trbuchement, chute) sont tous
deux centrs sur lorigine de lespace. Cet espace, dans lequel les
nuages sont centrs et sont reprsents sur une chelle
commune, est compos des axes factoriels qui sont dtermins
par un calcul de vecteurs propres. Les figures que nous avons
analyses sont des projections de points sur les plans factoriels.
Ci-dessous est prsent un graphe reprsentant le tableau de
contingence prcdent :

Figure 3 : Reprsentation des croyances des inspecteurs en
matire de frquence doccurrence des STFs

Une analyse graphique peut tre mene avec ce type de
graphes ; des indicateurs quantitatifs peuvent aussi dcouler de
lanalyse de donnes, afin de confirmer la validit de lanalyse,
soit le pourcentage dinertie expliqu par chacun des axes
factoriels, la significativit de chaque caractre au regard des
axes factoriels et surtout les tableaux de contingence (qui aprs
tout contiennent toute linformation). Ainsi, on peut mener bien
rigoureusement lanalyse graphique. Les sous-populations
apparaissent comme des groupes de points plus ou moins
concentrs. En gnral, la proximit de deux points rvle que
leurs profils tendent tre similaires.
2.4.2 Analyse de Risques
Nous avons adopt une stratgie spcifique pour identifier les
dangers lis aux glissades, trbuchements et chutes. Les dangers
sont caractriss par leur lieu, leur gravit et leur frquence. En
construisant une mesure de risque avec des gravits et des
frquences, nous avons valu les risques associs aux STFs
pour diffrentes zones du navire et dtermin un niveau
dacceptation afin de se concentrer sur les zones dont il faut
soccuper en priorit. Nous avons aussi valu les gravits
associes chaque type de moyen daccs en utilisant la mme
mthode que pour lvaluation des frquences.

Il nous a sembl plus judicieux dvaluer les frquences daccs
aux diffrentes zones au lieu des frquences doccurrence des
STFs dans ces lieux. En fait, il est cognitivement plus facile pour
un inspecteur destimer les frquences concernant laccs un
endroit donn (par eux ou les gens de mer), plutt questimer les
frquences des accidents. Pour rsumer, il est plus facile pour un
inspecteur de donner une estimation de la frquence daccs
plutt que la frquence doccurrence des STFs (surtout lorsque
les STFs nont pas de consquences graves). De plus, cette
frquence est une bonne variable pour lvaluation des risques
puisque lon devrait accorder une plus grande attention aux
pices et compartiments qui ont la plus grande frquence daccs.
Par la suite, afin de donner un score de frquence unique pour
chacune des zones bord nous avons effectu une somme
pondre des pourcentages reprsentant les diffrentes
frquences (plusieurs fois par an, plusieurs fois par mois,
plusieurs fois par semaine, plusieurs fois par jour). Les
coefficients de pondration sont directement proportionnels aux
frquences i.e. les coefficients correspondant la frquence
plusieurs fois par jour est 365 fois plus grand que le coefficient
pour la frquence plusieurs fois par an et ainsi de suite.
Finalement, en faisant lhypothse que le coefficient pour
plusieurs fois par an est 1, les scores obtenus sont rangs sur
une chelle de 1 365 qui peut tre transpose (division par 365)
une chelle de 0,03 1. Nous montrons ce calcul pour la cale
sur lexemple suivant :

CALE
Frquence
Pourcentages
i
p
Coefficients
i
k

Plusieurs fois/an 0.44 1.00
Plusieurs fois/ mois 0.11 12.00
Plusieurs fois /
semaine
0.28 52.00
Plusieurs fois / jour 0.17 365.00

Tableau 2 : Frquences daccs de la cale

Nous pouvons calculer le score correspondant la frquence
daccs la cale :

do

21 . 0
365
365 17 . 0 52 28 . 0 12 11 . 0 1 44 . 0
=
+ + +
=
cale
F
[1]

Insistons sur le fait que F est un score et non une frquence ; ici,
F = 21 ne veut pas dire que lon accde la cale tous les cinq
jours puisque 44% des personnes ont rpondu que lon accdait
la cale (que) plusieurs fois par an.
) (
=
i
i i
u k S
Nous avons class chaque blessure, allant de la simple bosse la
mort, en quatre groupes en se basant sur leur gravit : pas
dangereux du tout, pas vraiment dangereux, plutt dangereux,
trs dangereux. Comme pour le score de frquence pour chaque
zone bord, nous avons calcul un score refltant la gravit
associe chacune dentre elle grce une somme pondre.
Cependant, lorsquil sagit de la gravit des blessures, les
coefficients ne peuvent pas tre attribus en fonction dune rgle
de proportionnalit. En fait les coefficients de pondration doivent
tre dfinis selon le mal ou la dsutilit que chaque catgorie de
blessure cause lindustrie maritime. Ainsi, la gravit associe
trs dangereux est environ 50 fois plus grand que celle associe
plutt dangereux. En fait, comme montr sur la figure ci-
dessous, nous avons mis lhypothse que la fonction de
dsutilit ou dutilit ngative une forme exponentielle.

Figure 4 : Modle exponentiel de la dsutilit associe aux
blessures

Nous navons pas eu la possibilit dliciter cette fonction dutilit.
Ce pourrait tre une autre perspective pour des recherches
futures. Cependant, les coefficients de pondration que nous
avons utiliss pour la fonction dutilit ngative a permis dvaluer
la gravit des blessures associes chacune des zones du navire
et de les classer comme nous le montrons dans le tableau ci-
dessous pour la cale.

CALE
Gravit
Pourcentages
i
p

- Utility
) (
i
u

Pas du tout dangereux 0.33 0
Pas vraiment dangereux (bosse,
simple blessure, entorse)
0.40 0.02
Plutt dangereux (blessure au dos,
fracture, blessure loeil)
0.13 0.14
Trs dangereux (risqu de mort,
handicap)
0.13 1

Tableau 3 : Dangerosit de la cale

Nous pouvons calculer le score associ la gravit des blessures
se produisant dans la cale :

do

16 . 0 1 13 . 0 14 . 0 13 . 0 02 . 0 40 . 0 0 33 . 0 = + + + =
cale
S
[2]

Ceci nous a permis de disposer des scores de frquence et des
scores de gravit pour chacune des zones du navire. Nous avions
alors besoin de dfinir une mesure de risque afin dvaluer
chaque compartiment en terme de scurit. A cause du peu de
prcision du processus utilis pour le calcul des scores, il ne nous
a pas sembl ncessaire de trouver une nouvelle fonction de
scoring qui combinerait les deux prcdents scores afin de
classer les compartiments par risques.

Ainsi, nous avons adopt une matrice de risques contenant quatre
niveaux de risque et prsente dans le tableau ci-aprs :

Scores Gravit < 0,2 Gravit >0,2
Frquence < 0,14
Risque non
significatif (aucune
action ncessaire)
Risque
significatif
(action
immediate
requise)
Frquence > 0,14
Risque faible (Pas
daction prioritaire
requise)
CRITIQUE

Tableau 4 : Matrice des risques

Au travers de cette matrice, nous avons (lgitimement) considr
que la gravit des blessures causes par les STFs a un poids plus
important que celui de la frquence daccs dans lvaluation des
risques. Une grande gravit est inacceptable quelques soit la
frquence daccs tandis quune haute frquence daccs
associe une faible gravit est considre comme un risque
faible.

2.5 Les croyances des inspecteurs
Les analyses de risque que nous avons conduites se basent sur
le retour dexprience de trente-deux inspecteurs. Nous devons
considrer sa prcision et tre conscient de ses limites. En fait, il
se peut que des biais soient introduits par la manire dont
linformation est collecte travers les questions. Les biais les
plus significatifs viennent des croyances des interrogs en ce qui
concerne les dangers lis aux STFs dans le maritime. En fait,
lorsquon leur demande dvaluer les frquences daccidents lis
aux STFs ou la gravit des blessures quils causent, les
inspecteurs on tendance sous-estimer les frquences tandis
quils surestiment les consquences (gravit des blessures). Ceci
semble logique puisque les personnes en gnral et mme les
inspecteurs considrent les STFs comme des accidents de la vie
courante et par consquent ne les remarquent gnralement pas,
lexception de ceux qui causent des blessures graves. Les
rpondants gardent aussi lesprit les accidents lis aux STFs les
plus srieux et occultent nombreux autres accidents survenus au
long de leur carrire similairement ce que Kahneman et al.
dcrivent comme le biais de disponibilit [19]. De la mme faon,
ils ne sont pas conscients des accidents mettant en cause leurs
collgues. Cest la raison pour laquelle nous nous sommes rendus
sur le terrain pour assister une inspection et interroger des
inspecteurs au sein de leur environnement de travail. Nous avons
aussi port une attention particulire essayer de poser des
questions de telle faon que ces biais soient minimiss. Quoi quil
en soit, la pertinence et la prcision des rsultats partir desquels
nous avons travaill sont assez bons pour lanalyse que nous
avons mene.

2.6 La conception anthropomtrique
La section suivante explique les principaux concepts de la
conception anthropomtrique tels que dfinis par Pheasant [20].

Lanthropomtrie est la branche de lergonomie qui traite de la
mesure des dimensions, formes, force, mobilit et flexibilit du
corps humain. A partir des rsultats dune analyse
anthropomtrique on peut extraire bon nombre de conditions
techniques pour la conception anthropomorphique. Lobjectif de
lanthropomtrie est de choisir le meilleur compromis pour les
dimensions afin que lquipement soit employ par un large panel
dutilisateurs.
Avant de commencer lanalyse anthropomtrique proprement dite,
on a besoin de trois types de donnes :
Les caractristiques anthropomtriques de la population
dutilisateurs
Les manires quont ces caractristiques dimposer des
contraintes sur la conception
Les critres qui dfinissent une bonne correspondance
entre le produit et lutilisateur
Ces informations devraient tre dtermines en fonction des
spcifications et suggestions obtenues par les retours
dexprience des utilisateurs.
En ce qui concerne les caractristiques anthropomtriques de la
population, il est empiriquement vrai que la plupart des variables
anthropomtriques se conforment assez bien une distribution
normale (au moins pour une population raisonnablement
homogne). Ainsi, les mesures de la population sont dcrites par
Pas dangereux du tout
Pas vraiment dangereux
Plutt dangereux
Trs dangereux
) (severity f utility =
les centiles de la distribution. Par exemple, pour les mensurations
de la stature dun homme, si nous considrons lutilisateur limitant
comme le plus grand du 95
e
centile de la population, cela implique
que 5% de la population sera plus grand que cet utilisateur (en
termes de stature). Gnralement, pour des analyses de
conception classique, les concepteurs utilisent souvent le 5
e

centile de la population fminine et le 95
e
centile de la population
masculine comme utilisateurs limitant. Cependant, les mesures du
corps dpendent de la population tudie et des critres que lon
choisit.

Par la suite trois types de solutions pour la conception peuvent
tre adopts suivant les caractristiques des interactions entre
lutilisateur, le produit et la tche :
la conception pour lutilisateur limitant,
la dfinition dune zone commune tous les utilisateurs
et
lutilisation dajustements

Lors de la premire tape du processus, nous avons identifi les
dangers relatifs aux STFs les plus significatifs de faon ce que
nous puissions nous concentrer sur les plus importants travers
une analyse ergonomique. Lobjectif de cette analyse est de
dterminer les contraintes ergonomiques pour que les gens de
mer, les inspecteurs et les autres personnes amenes travailler
bord des navires commerciaux, utilisent les moyens daccs en
toute scurit.

Il nous a fallu prendre en compte quatre types de contraintes : les
contraintes venant des rglementations internationales
concernant la scurit de lquipage et la disposition des accs
(OMI, IACS, OIT, etc.), les contraintes venant des rgles de
classification pour les navires en acier de Bureau Veritas, les
contraintes venant des retours dexprience obtenus des gens de
mers et inspecteurs et bien sr, les contraintes cardinales issues
de lergonomie. Nous avons rassembl et class toutes ces
contraintes dans des tableaux afin davoir une vue densemble
des questions lies aux moyens daccs, les retours dexprience
et les rglementations pertinentes.

Les environnements sur lesquels nous nous sommes concentrs
sont parmi les lieux que nous avons identifis comme tant les
plus risqus bord. De plus, nous devions prendre en compte
lenvironnement marin puisquil dtermine aussi la manire dont la
conception des moyens daccs doit tre tudie i.e. latmosphre
corrosive qui met en danger lintgrit dun certain nombre
dchelles et de poignes par exemple et les conditions
mtorologiques qui influencent les mouvements des navires et
par consquent lquilibre des gens de mer ou altrent leur
visibilit lorsquils sont sur les ponts ouverts.

Concernant les tches menes bien par les inspecteurs et les
gens de mer pendant quils utilisent les moyens daccs, il sagit
des tches lies lopration, la maintenance et linspection du
navire.

La population que nous avons tudie comprend principalement
les gens de mer et les inspecteurs. Comme les navires peuvent
tre oprs par des quipages venant de toutes les rgions du
monde ou presque, il fallait tudier la totalit de la population
mondiale. Cependant les donnes anthropomtriques spcifiques
cette population ntaient pas disponibles. Les donnes
relatives lensemble de la population internationale ont donc t
utilises. En mettant lhypothse quil y a une majorit dhommes
parmi les gens de mer, nous avons dcid dutiliser les donnes
anthropomtriques se rapportant au 5
e
centile de la population
fminine japonaise pour lutilisateur limitant le plus petit tandis
que nous avons choisi le 99
e
centile de la population masculine
amricaine pour lutilisateur limitant le plus grand.
Nous avons aussi du prendre en compte les vtements et
lquipement dinspection que les membres de la population sont
susceptibles de porter. Nous avons considr que chacun dentre
eux portait des chaussures de scurit, un bleu de travail, des
gants et un casque de protection. De plus, lorsque la situation
tudie le demandait, les gens de mer et inspecteurs, taient
considrs comme portant un quipement dinspection spcifique
compos dun analyseur doxygne, dun radiomtre, dun
appareil photo, de jauges dune torche, dun marteau et parfois
dun masque et une bouteille doxygne pour les scnarii
durgence.
Chaque type de moyen daccs impliquait des scnarii dpendant
des conditions environnementales, des tches accomplir et des
caractristiques physiques des gens de mer. Ainsi il a fallu
adopter diffrentes stratgies de conception pour ces diffrents
scnarii : utilisation des chelles verticales, inclines et des
escaliers ; utilisation des ouvertures, coutilles et trous dhomme ;
utilisation des passerelles, tunnels et couloirs.

2.7 Les simulations
Ltape de simulation est la partie itrative du processus. Lobjectif
est, en considrant les stratgies de conception adoptes et
toutes les contraintes identifies pendant les tapes prcdentes,
de trouver le meilleur moyen de reproduire les situations de travail
relles bord. Un logiciel de CAO a t utilis pour modliser les
interactions entre les gens de mer et les environnements dans
lesquels ils doivent travailler.

2.8 Dveloppement de recommandations ergonomiques
A partir des trois prcdentes tapes de la mthodologie, nous
avons obtenu des spcifications dimensionnelles pour la
conception et la disposition des moyens daccs bord ainsi que
certaines bonnes pratiques utilises dans le maritime. Ainsi, la
dernire tape a consist dvelopper un document technique
complet et abouti rassemblant toutes les spcifications et bonnes
pratiques de faon ce que quiconque sintressant la
conception anthropomorphique des moyens daccs pour les
navires et installations offshore puissent se voir proposer les
conseils pertinents son problme.

3. Application et rsultats

Nous avons appliqu notre approche pour dvelopper une note
dinformation intitule Guidelines for the design of the Means of
Access for Inspection, Maintenance and Operation of Commercial
Ships , adresse aux chantiers navals, aux armateurs ainsi qu
tous les acteurs de lindustrie maritime intervenant dans la
conception des navires. Les principaux rsultats qui nous ont
permis de dvelopper cette note ainsi que les recommandations
ou guidelines elles-mmes sont dcrites dans les sections
suivantes.

3.1 Lutilisation du retour dexprience
Tout dabord, nous avons interrog un des anciens inspecteurs de
Bureau Veritas (dont le rle est de conduire des inspections
techniques bord des navires) afin de collecter des informations
de base concernant les principaux problmes rencontrs pendant
une inspection et laborer une srie de questions qui a t
ensuite intgre dans le questionnaire. Cet entretien fut trs utile
pour prparer les entretiens suivants en terme de pr-requis
culturel au sujet des inspections ainsi que le vocabulaire et les
expressions justes adopter pour poser des questions.
Puis nous avons particip une inspection bord dun gazier
(GNL) sous lgide dun inspecteur expriment qui nous a montr
les endroits o il se rend gnralement et les moyens daccs quil
utilise lors de ses inspections. Nous avons not les bonnes et
mauvaises pratiques en terme de scurit et avons essay de
dtecter les dangers lis aux STFs.
Aprs la visite, nous avons discut avec deux autres inspecteurs
au sujet des points soulevs prcdemment et analys les
amliorations potentielles de la conception des moyens daccs
quils recommanderaient pour la prvention des STFs. Nous leurs
avons aussi prsent une premire version du questionnaire que
nous avions prcdemment adapt.
Nous avons ainsi finalis deux questionnaires respectivement
adresss aux marins et aux inspecteurs de Bureau Veritas.
Lobjectif tait dobtenir le retour dexprience provenant du plus
grand nombre possible dutilisateurs afin de mener des analyses
quantitatives qui reflteraient le plus grand nombre dutilisateurs
travers le monde. Cependant, aucune des associations et
syndicats de marins ou des armateurs que nous avons contact
nont accept de dissminer les questionnaires aux marins et par
consquent nous navons pas pu obtenir leur retour dexprience.
Cest une des premires limites de notre tude de cas, que nous
projetons de franchir lors de nos tudes futures ; nanmoins, nous
croyons que les rsultats que nous avons obtenus constituent des
lments intressants. Trente deux inspecteurs de Bureau Veritas
ont rpondu au questionnaire, ce qui peut tre considr comme
suffisant, surtout parce que les retours viennent dune grande
majorit dinspecteurs expriments qui ont men des inspections
bord dun large panel de diffrents navires.

3.2 Lapproche par les risques
En utilisant lanalyse des causes conduisant aux STFs et les
rponses qualitatives des trente-deux rpondants, nous avons
identifi dune part les causes profondes des glissades,
trbuchements et chutes et dautre part nous avons dvelopp
une srie de recommandations pour combattre les STFs ou du
moins trouver des barrires pour les viter.

Tout dabord, nous avons observ que, comme nous le
pressentions, les inspecteurs avaient tendance minimiser la
frquence avec laquelle les STFs se produisent bien quils
semblent conscients de la gravit des blessures quils sont
susceptibles de causer. Les inspecteurs semblent dcrire les
chutes comme le type daccident le plus dangereux mais ne
prennent pas systmatiquement en compte le fait que les
glissades et trbuchements sont souvent les principales causes
lorigine des chutes et seraient probablement presque aussi
dangereux que les chutes directes. Peut-tre quune dfinition
plus prcise des STFs aurait engendr des rponses plus
homognes.Ensuite, nous avons identifi les rservoirs de ballast,
les espaces clos, le tunnel darbre et la salle des pompes comme
les zones les plus dangereuses bord. Les peaks avant et
arrire, la gouverne et les espaces machines apparaissent aussi
comme tant trs risqus. Ces rsultats semblent tre plutt en
accord avec les entretiens et la visite mme si les pics taient
censs tre les compartiments les plus risqus des navires, suivis
par les rservoirs de ballastage. Concernant la dangerosit des
moyens daccs, selon les retours dexprience issus des
questionnaires, presque tous (except les escaliers simples et les
couloirs) ont un score de risque levs. Ceci est aussi en accord
avec les informations que nous avons obtenues des entretiens
prcdents.
Finalement, les principales causes identifies comme les causes
profondes des STFs sont le manque de prises manuelles pour
utiliser les moyens daccs en toute scurit, la localisation des
ouvertures, la mauvaise signalisation des dangers, et le manque
despace. En effet, un espace libre minimum est apparu comme
primordial pour limiter les risques de glissade, trbuchement et
chute lors des inspections (sur des plateformes troites ou sur les
chelles par exemples) mais aussi pour utiliser les moyens
daccs en toute confiance et avec un sentiment de confort.

En conclusion, les prcdentes tapes du processus nous ont
fourni des informations prcieuses pour conduire la troisime
dmarche que nous allons dcrire dans les sections suivantes.

3.3 Lanalyse ergonomique
Nous avons modlis quatre environnements regroupant les
quatre principaux types de moyens daccs qui peuvent tre
risqus et causer des glissades, trbuchements et chutes cest--
dire, les chelles verticales, les chelles inclines, les escaliers,
les ouvertures et les passerelles.
Puis nous avons modlis les situations de travail les plus
risques avec des mannequins virtuels et finalement extrait des
simulations les dimensions et formes auxquels les moyens
daccs devraient se conformer afin de correspondre aux tches
et aux besoins des utilisateurs. Deux exemples montrant une
simulation pour les chelles verticales et les ouvertures sont
prsents sur la figure ci-aprs.

Figure 5 : Images issues de lanalyse anthropomtrique

3.4 Les recommandations (guidelines)
Dvelopper les recommandations pour Bureau Veritas est la
dernire tape du processus que nous avons adopt pour grer
les risques associs aux glissades, trbuchements et chutes. Les
recommandations devaient fournir les informations les plus
pertinentes possibles que nous avions rassembles durant les
tapes prcdentes sur les moyens de prvention des STFs,
particulirement en amliorant les moyens daccs bord. Ainsi,
les personnes qui utilisent les moyens daccs pour oprer
maintenir et inspecter un navire se conformant toutes ces
recommandations seront et se sentiront plus en scurit.. La
plupart des recommandations sont des spcifications
dimensionnelles pour les moyens daccs ; cependant, la dernire
section concerne les meilleures pratiques rencontres dans
lindustrie maritime pour amliorer la scurit par lors de la
conception, en traitant de la texture, la couleur et la signalisation
des moyens daccs, leur maintenance et utilisation, ou lclairage
de lenvironnement.

Conclusion

Les apports de cette recherche se situent deux niveaux. Sur un
plan mthodologique tout dabord, nous pensons avoir contribu
la possibilit denvisager les tudes de prvention de manire
diffrente de celle pratique usuellement : les techniques que
nous avons mobilises, tant lchelle du retour dexprience
qu celle de lanalyse de risques ou de lergonomie nont en effet
notre connaissance jamais t utilises conjointement jusqu
prsent. Sur un plan pratique maintenant, cette recherche a
dbouch, nous lavons vu, sur des directives ayant vocation
amliorer les conditions de scurit bord des navires. L aussi,
si de nombreux travaux se sont attachs cet objectif, rares sont
ceux qui prsentent une dimension directement oprationnelle
lchelle de la conception.
Les perspectives qui souvrent la suite de ce travail sont dau
moins deux ordres : dune part, il pourrait sagir dapprofondir, de
complter et de raffiner les techniques que nous avons utilises.
Par exemple, raliser un encodage des prfrences des individus
pourrait permettre damliorer lanalyse de risques. Lautre
perspective que nous envisageons concerne lextension de ce
travail dautres secteurs. Dores et dj, une analyse similaire
cette conduite sur les moyens daccs bord est en cours de
ralisation pour ce qui est des salles des machines. Dautres
industries pourraient toutefois sans doute galement bnficier de
lapplication des techniques que nous avons propose leur
politique de prvention.

Rfrences

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Nicolic, N., and Mozer, A. A. 2005. Non-fatal Occupational
Injuries Related to Slips, Trips and Falls in Seafaring, American
Journal of Industrial Medicine. 47, pp. 161-171
[2] American Club P&I Current newsletter, issue number 18, May
2004, Caring for the crew
[3] Fadier E. & De la Garza C., Safety design: Towards a new
philosophy, Safety Science N44, pp. 55-73, 2004.
[4] Perrow, C. 1984. Normal Accidents Living with High-Risk
Technologies. Basic Books.
[5] Marletta. 1991. Trip, slip and fall prevention. In Hansen, D.,
The Work Environment, Vol.1: Occupational Health
Fundamentals. Michigan, Lewis Publishers, pp241-261
[6] Zohar, D. December 1978. Why do we bump into things while
walking, Human Factors.
[7] David Squire, 2008, HE Alert! bulletin n17One hand for the
ship and one for yourself, pp. 4-5,
[8] Nautical Institute, 2007, Fall in pump room. MARS report n
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http://www.nautinst.org/mars/mars07/200703.htm
[9] IMO. MEPC 56/17/3. 4 Avril 2007. Plan daction relatif
llment humain mis jour.
[10] IMO Resolution MSC.158(78) (adopted on 20 May 2004) -
Adoption of amendments to the technical provisions for means of
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[11] IACS. March 2006. Unified Interpretations for the application
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Cottam, M.P., D.W. Harvey, R.P. Pape et J. Tait (d.), Foresight
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() characterized by the parameters like sig-

) as indicated on the gure, the integrand of F

in frequency domain, as shown in [1].

routines developed by Bureau Veritas are launched to:

relative to the LNG

) with the same frequency are com-

are depicted on Figure 6. The dispersion

(head waves) and the drift forces due to inter-

so that the QTFs are functions of :

B. On the boundaries, the components of perturbation potential satisfy the following

are compared to the 2D case. Due to lack of panel

3.3 Standard LNG above a sloped bottom

Figure 8: Heave RAO

a(u, v) = (Au, v),

. It enters calm water at imposed velocity 8.3 m/s.

S. Malenica, Bureau Veritas, France

(t)} + ([ k ]+[ C ]){(t)} (10)

] - innite frequency added mass matrix

( ) ( ) ... ... ... = + where denotes the variation. By neglecting small

()}d = {F(t)}+{Q(t)} (1)

] is the infinite frequency added mass matrix

is the 10-30 stiffness for loading time considered

is possible, but requires

] is the infinite frequency added mass matrix

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