Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
(MM 5001)
NIVIN V
AM15M038
M.Tech 3rd Semester
1. Introduction
The evolution of composite material boat construction has created the need to evaluate the
basic design tools that are used to create safe marine structures. As materials and building
practices improve, it is not unreasonable to consider composite construction for vessels up to
100 meters (approx. 330 feet). The origins of composite material concepts date back to the
builders of primitive mud and straw huts. Modern day composite materials were launched with
phenolic resins at the turn of the century. The start of fiberglass boatbuilding began after World
War II. The U.S. Navy built a class of 28-foot personnel craft just after the war based on the
potential for reduced maintenance and production costs. During the 1960s, fiberglass
boatbuilding proliferated and with it came the rapid increase in boat ownership. The mass
appeal of lower cost hulls that required virtually no maintenance launched a new class of
boaters. Early FRP boat builders relied on build and test or empirical methods to guarantee
that the hulls they were producing were strong enough. Because fiberglass was a relatively new
boatbuilding material, designers tended to be conservative in the amount of material used.
In 1960, Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation sponsored the naval architecture firm, Gibbs
& Cox to produce the Marine Design Manual for Fiberglass Reinforced Plastics. This book,
published by McGraw-Hill, was the first fiberglass design guide targeted directly at the
boatbuilding industry. Design and construction methods were detailed and laminate
performance data for commonly used materials were presented in tabular form. The guide
proved to be extremely useful for the materials and building techniques that were prevalent at
the time. Airframe loads in aerospace structures also differ from those found with maritime
structures. However, in recent times the two industries are coming closer together. High-end
marine manufacturing is looking more to using prepregs, while aircraft manufacturers are
looking to more cost-effective fabrication methods.
Fig 1: Safety Enclosed Driver Capsule with Prepreg Material [Ron Jones Marine]
curing process. This has the effect of applying uniform pressure to the skin and drawing out
any excess resin or entrapped air. Another technique used to achieve consistent laminates
involves using a mechanical impregnator, which can produce 55% fibre ratios.
2.8 Alternate Reinforcement Materials
The field of composites gives the designer the freedom to use various different reinforcement
materials to improve structural performance over fiberglass. Carbon and aramid fibers have
evolved as two high strength alternatives in the marine industry. Each material has its own
advantages and disadvantages. Both are significantly more expensive than fiberglass but have
created another dimension of options with regards to laminate design. Some low-cost
reinforcement materials that have emerged lately include polyester and polypropylene. These
materials combine moderate strength properties with high strain-to-failure characteristics.
The design and fabrication of a large GRP cargo ship was shown to be totally within
the present state-of-the-art, but the long-term durability of the structure was
questionable.
The most favourable laminate studied was a woven-roving/unidirectional composite,
which proved 43% lighter than steel but had 20% of the stiffness.
Major structural elements such as deckhouses, hatch covers, king posts and bow
modules appear to be very well suited for GRP construction.
4. Fishing Industry
4.1 Commercial Fishing Fleet
The most important application of GRP in the construction of commercial vessels is found in
the field of fishery. GRP constructions here offered many potential advantages, particularly in
reducing long-term maintenance costs and increased hull life. In addition, GRP offers
reductions in hull weight and provides cleaner, more sanitary fish holds.
The materials selected for the GRP structures of these trawlers and cutters are essentially
extensions of current pleasure boat practice. Resins are generally non-fire retardant, non air6
inhibited rigid polyesters, reinforcing a lay-up of alternating plies of mat and woven roving.
The chopper gun is being used in limited areas for depositing chopped strand mat. Several of
the designs incorporate sandwich construction in the shell. End grain balsa is the principal core
material used, though it has often been restricted to areas above the turn of the bilge to minimize
the possibility of core soakage or rotting in the wet bilge areas. Bottom stiffening is generally
wood (pine or plywood) encapsulated in GRP.
Plywood is highly favoured for the construction of bulkheads and flats. A facing of GRP is
applied for water resistance, but the plywood provides strength and stiffness. Wood has also
been used extensively for decks in conjunction with GRP sheathing. This extensive use of wood
increases the trawler's weight above the optimum values, but represents a significant cost
saving. The space between the fish hold and the shell is usually foamed in place, which gives
an excellent heat-insulation.
Many GRP trawlers incorporate concrete in the skeg aft for ballast. This has been required in
some cases to provide adequate submergence of the propeller and rudder in light load
conditions. Thus, the potential weight savings afforded by GRP is often partially reduced by
the requirement for ballast. The use of concrete can be minimized by proper selection of hull
shape. GRP construction is generally credited with reducing the hull structural weight,
sometimes as much as 50%. However, this saving has not been realized in these trawlers, since
hull scantlings have tended to be heavier than theoretically required to increase hull ruggedness
and resistance to damage. In addition, the extensive use of wood in the hull structure and nonintegral steel fuel tanks has increased hull weight considerably.
In general, it may be stated that when initial expense is of primary importance, wood might be
preferred. However, when maintenance costs receive prime consideration, GRP should be
chosen.
5. Naval Application
5.1 Submarines
During the Cold War period, the U.S Navy had an aggressive submarine research and
development program that included the investigation of composites for interior and exterior
applications. Both these environments were very demanding with unique sets of performance
criteria that often pushed the envelope of composites design and manufacturing.
5.1.1 Submarine Applications
Various submarine structures are made of composite materials, including the periscope fairings
on nuclear submarines and the bow domes on combatant submarines. The use of filamentwound air flasks for the ballast tanks of the Trident class submarines has been investigated.
Unmanned, deep submersibles rely heavily on the use of composites for structural members
and for buoyancy. Syntactic foam is used for buoyancy and thick-walled composites are used
for pressure housings. One unmanned deep sea submersible, which has a depth rating of 20,000
feet, is constructed with graphite composite by the prepreg fabrication technique.
Periscope fairings have been built of FRP since the early 1960s. These autoclave-cured parts
are precision machined to meet the tight tolerances required of the periscope bearing system.
The fairings are all glass, with a recent switch from polyester to epoxy resins. The two-piece
fairing is bolted around a metal I-beam to form the structural mast.
A submarine launched missile utilizes a capsule module that is constructed of composite
materials. The capsule design consists of a graphite, wet, filament-wound sandwich
construction, metal honeycomb core and Kevlar reinforcements. Several torpedo projects have
investigated using a shell constructed of composites, including a filament-wound carbon fibre
composite in a sandwich configuration where the nose shell of the torpedo was constructed
with syntactic foam core and prepreg skins of carbon and epoxy resin. Testing revealed a
reduction in noise levels and weight as compared to the conventional aluminium nose shell.
The composite materials have great flexibility to be optimized for directional mechanical
damping characteristics based on material selection, orientation and lay-up sequence.
5.2 Surface Ships
There has been growing interest in applying composite materials to save weight; reduce
acquisition, maintenance and life-cycle costs; and enhance signature control. The Navy is
considering primary and secondary load-bearing structures, such as hulls, deckhouses and
foundations; machinery components, such as piping, valves, pumps and heat exchangers; and
auxiliary items, such as gratings, ladders, stanchions, ventilation ducting and waste handling
systems. These applications have generated research and prototype development by the Navy
to verify producability, cost benefits, damage tolerance, moisture resistance, failure behaviour,
design criteria, and performance during fires.
Non-structural ship components are being considered as candidates for replacement with
composite parts. Two types of advanced non-structural bulkheads are in service in U.S. Navy
ships. One of these consists of aluminium honeycomb with aluminium face sheets, and the
8
other consists of E-glass FRP skins over an aramid core material. Development of composite
propulsion shafts for naval vessels is being investigated to replace the massive steel shafts that
comprise up to 2% of the ship's total weight. Composite shafts of glass and carbon reinforcing
fibres in an epoxy matrix are projected to weigh 75% less than the traditional steel shafts and
offer the advantages of corrosion resistance, low bearing loads, reduced magnetic signature,
higher fatigue resistance, greater flexibility, excellent vibration damping and improved lifecycle cost.
Fig 4: Circumferential strain at the centre of the defect (a) Internal defect (b) External defect
Process type (Spray-up, HLU (Hand Lay-up), VARIM (Vacuum Assisted Resin
Infusion Moulding), Prepreg).
Topology (single skin monocoque, single skin stiffened, sandwich, hybrid).
Reinforcement type (CSM (Chopped Strand Mat), CFM (Continuous Filament Mat),
weaves and stitches).
Reinforcement material type
Resin variability
Core variability (balsa, PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride), honeycomb) densities vary from
part to part.
Variation of loads
10
9. Conclusions
In conclusion it can be clearly stated that there is a future for the continued and increasing use
of polymeric composite materials for structural marine applications. There is a great deal of
interest from industry in new ways to use existing materials and in using new and existing
materials in new applications. The performance of structures in marine craft need regular
and constant improvement, which will be driven by safety and quality issues. Economic
constraints will also play an increasing role in the future, hence the requirement for
development of concurrent engineering approaches. Life cycle assessment of composite
structures, in order to better understand and appreciate the environmental impact of their use,
is also required. Structural health monitoring and its associated inspection, intervention and
repair strategies will become increasingly important to both ensure the safe operation of
marine composites and to maximise and extend the life of these components.
References:
[1] Nariman Saeed, Composite overwrap repair system for pipelines - onshore and offshore
application, The University of Queensland, 2015
[2] MARINE COMPOSITES published by Eric Greene Associates, Inc
[3] R. A. Shenoi, Janice Dulieu-Barton, S. Quinn, Stephen Boyd, Composite Materials for
Marine Applications: Key Challenges for the Future, 2011
11
12