Ship Structural Design Revision June 2018

Part 1 : MCQ
Complete with the right statement: [ The right answer is not always the aim; the aim is to let you
think about the reason behind this answer. You may be asked to comment !!]

1. To increase the flexural rigidity of a tanker hull girder, I would first think about:
a) Increasing the deck plating thickness
b) Increasing the bottom plating thickness
c) Increasing the side shell thickness

2. To increase the shear rigidity of a tanker hull girder, I would first think about:
a) Increasing the deck plating thickness
b) Increasing the bottom plating thickness
c) Increasing the side shell thickness

3. For a clamped plate the absolute maximum bending moment occurs:

a) At the mid point of the long side
b) At the mid point of the short side
c) At the central point of the plate

4. the set of restraints on the structure is referred to as:

a) the degrees of freedom
b) the applied nodal forces
c) the support conditions

5- Rim reinforcement is used to some holes to reduce the effect of stress concentration due to:
a) a corner radius of less than about 1/20 of the side
b) a corner radius of more than 1/6 of the side
c) sharp corners

6. Navier solution is valid for the biharmonic equation governing:

a) plates of all boundary conditions
b) simply supported plates.
c) clamped plates

7. The explosion bond is:

a) a type of bolts
b) a technique used in the construction of long superstructures
c) an intermediate alloy used to join steel and aluminium

8. The use of HTS deck panel would be a good option if

a) A reduction in weight is desirable
b) A reduction in cost is desirable
c) An improvement in design strength level is required

9. The boundary conditions of a plate fully clamped at y=b:

a) ( w) x 0,a  0 and ( w) x 0,b  0
 
b) ( w) y b  0 and  w  0
 y  y b
c) ( w) y b  0 ; (m y ) y b  0

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10-The value of the superstructure efficiency is……………..
a) Calculated based on the actual design.
b) Assumed by the designer for the analysis of the structural design when done.
c) assumed by the designer in the design stage

11- The plate bending equation:

a) a nonhomogeneous biharmonic equation
b) a homogeneous trigonometric equation
c) a nonhomogeneous harmonic equation

12-The effect of intermediate transverse bulkhead in ship's hull and superstructure……………..

a) is to reduce local bending of the superstructure deck at that point (BHD location)
b) may cause fatigue at the bottom corners of the deckhouse
c) is to increase shear stresses at the bottom corners of the deckhouse

13-Sufficient area of attachment between the deckhouse sides and the deck structure must be
provided………….
a) to avoid stress concentration.
b) To provide sufficient compensation
c) to keep the cyclic stresses small .

14-The first step to derive the plate bending equation is:

a) the expression of equilibrium of external and internal forces acting on a plate element
b) the expression of equilibrium of internal forces acting on a plate element
c) the expression of internal forces in terms of stresses and strains

15- The state of a long submerged pipe subjected to axial load is a case of :
a) plane stress
b) plane strain
c) neither of them

16- For a deckhouse (where side is offset from ship side), the resulting stress at its midlength will
be......... in the case of a superstructure of the same length.
a) greater than
b) the same as
c) much smaller than

17-The sharp reentrant corner would be avoided in practice since they cause………….
a) large cyclic stresses
b) very high stress concentration
c) large residual stresses

18- For a superstructure (where the house side is continuous with ship side) the vertical distribution
of stress is not linear because of……………….
a) A plane cross section of house and hull remains plane.
b) The longitudinal shear deformation of the house side.
c) The section modulus is not constant over the cross-section

19- Heavy scantlings of a superstructure with high efficiency……….

a) would not save weight from other structural parts of the hull girder.
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 b) Would not have any effect on other structural parts of the hull girder
c) would save weight from other structural parts of the hull girder.

20 . Critical locations in ship structures are identified thanks to ..

a) a very fine mesh 3D FEA
b) Global 3D FEA
c) Local fine mesh 2D FEA
Part 2 : Composite Sections
1. Choose and comment:
The use of HTS deck panel would be a good option if
i. A reduction in cost is desirable
ii. A reduction in weight is desirable
iii. An improvement in design strength level is required
HTS is certainly more expensive than mild steel (about 10% ) more; it would be used for
structural parts that require large scantlings in order to save weight. The allowable stress
may then be increased.

2. Right or wrong; comment:

 The buckling characteristics of a panel don't depend on the direction of stiffening (the type of
framing system).
Wrong. The expression giving the buckling critical stress is appropriate of the type of
stiffening of the panel. For instance, the material sustaining axial longitudinal
compression in a deck panel is not the same for a longitudinally and a transversely
framed panel.
 If the buckling stress is less than the allowable stress in a HTS panel, this means
that the use of this material should be rejected.
Wrong. Other solutions may be adopted: for longitudinally stiffened panels, the spacing
between stiffeners may be reduced, or the thickness of the plating may be increased
(certainly to a value less than that of mild steel).
 The explosion bond consists of intermediate alloys used to join steel and aluminium
Right. No comment; this is a technological innovation instead of bolts!!

Part 3: Hull-superstructure interaction

1. True or not; correct, if not, and comment:
 The thickness of the sheer strake at the ends of the superstructure is increased by about 50%.
Right. The ends of large superstructures represent the major discontinuities which exist in a
ship's structure; where there is high bending stress (especially due to midship superstructures)
this measure is taken to avoid stress concentrations.
 It is economically better to increase the superstructure efficiency.
Right, but not practical. Heavy scantlings would then be required for the superstructure decks
and this would lead to large top weights. Thus, the opposite view has often been taken, i.e., a
superstructure should be allowed to distort that maximum reduction in bending stress will be
achieved (from here comes the idea of the expansion joint- see the notes you have!-)

 The superstructure efficiency is calculated based on the actual design.

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 Wrong. The superstructure efficiency is not a value to be calculated. It is a concept that should
be considered by the designer to decide how to construct the superstructure (scantlings, length,
deck flexibility and their influence on the structural design of the main hull girder).

 The actual stresses in the superstructure deck are always greater than the theoretical stresses.
Wrong. The actual bending stresses will be less than expected by the linear simple beam
theory due to the longitudinal shear deformation (warping) of the house side; that is a plane
cross section of house and hull does not remain plane, and the shear lag effect. The shorter the
superstructure, the smaller are the stresses.
 The superstructure of a tanker should be designed so as to withstand the hull girder bending.
Wrong. As a general design requirement, the superstructure of a tanker is short and cannot
cooperate in the hull girder strength. Heavy scantlings of the superstructure would not save
weight from other structural parts of the hull girder.

2. Comment:
 It is usually advisable to terminate the deckhouse at transverse bulkheads.
 Very large "lift off" forces may exist at the bottom corners of the deckhouse.
[Find the answer in the notes]

Part 4 : Discontinuities (Stress concentration):

1. Comment
 The use of rim reinforcement to some holes
To avoid the penalty of a corner radius of less than about 1/20 of the side

 It is advised to align a square hole with rounded corners with the direction of stress.
There may be an excess of up to 25% in the stress concentration factor if a side of the hole
is not parallel to the direction of stress (see the chart Fig.3)

 Propagation of the crack may occur for very low values of stress.
A crack may be, ideally, considered to be a long thin ellipse; then, if the crack is 20 times
as long as its width, for example, lying across the direction of loading would cause a stress,
at the ends 41 times the general stress level.

Part 5 : Plate Bending

1. State the main assumptions of the basic equation governing the behavior of panels of plating under lateral
load.
2. What are the principles used to derive the biharmonic plate equation?
1. The equilibrium of vertical forces acting on a differential element of plating.
2. The equilibrium of moments as taken parallel to the x-axis and parallel to the y- axis.
3. The principle of complementary shear (myx= -mxy).

3. Choose:
The given curves of maximum deflection and maximum stress of rectangular plate are useful for the
analysis of the following response level:
i. Primary
ii. Secondary
iii. Tertiary
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 Tertiary. That is the local strength analysis of the plate strip located between longitudinal
and transverse stiffeners. You should revise the level of response analysis as summarized in
the sketch and the block diagram studied in ship structural design (1).

4. What do you understand by Navier solution?

(I expect you to give the aim of this solution and the expression of the double trigonometric
series representing the load p(x,y), and give the coefficient for the case of a uniform pressure).
5. True or not:
 Navier solution is valid for the plate biharmonic equation is valid for all boundary conditions
Wrong. This method is for simply supported plates. For clamped plates the usual methods are the
energy method and the method of Levy.
 For clamped plate where a/b is beyond 2 the influence of aspect ratio becomes negligible.
True.

6. For a clamped plate where does the absolute maximum bending moment occur?
At the mid point of the long side

General knowledge
1. For purpose of weight saving, the following section is preferred:
i- angle
ii- bulb angle
iii- flat bar
Is this choice always satisfied? Why?
The angle section would give the greatest moment of inertia for the same sectional area, since
the effect of the flange in I (area×distance2) is more noticed than bulb angles. It is the best for
weight saving BUT for long sections the effect of warping may be undesirable; the shear center
for the angle is larger than for bulb angle (remember that the shear center is zero for
symmetrical section [1]).
2. Give the expression and the units of the following (define the symbols you use):
i- The torsional rigidity of a beam
ii- The shear rigidity of a beam
iii- the flexibility of a simple spring
The torsional rigidity of a beam is "G J" (Units force.area, MN.m2), G is the shear modulus
(units of stress, MPa) and J is the polar moment of inertia of the beam cross-section (m4).
The shear rigidity of a beam is "G A" (units of force, MN)
The flexibility of a simple spring is the internal deformation (elongation or shortening) per unit
of axial force (m/MN). (Note that the stiffness of the spring in the inverse of the flexibility)

3. Choose and comment the answer:

4. To increase the flexural rigidity of a tanker hull girder, I would first think about……………………..:
i- Increasing the deck plating thickness
ii- Increasing the bottom plating thickness
iii- Increasing the side shell thickness
The flexural rigidity EI can only be increased by increasing I (the second moment of area of
the longitudinal material); it is better increased by allocating some longitudinal material as far
as possible from the neutral axis (which is in general below the mid-depth). The first option
would then be the best especially that the deck of a tanker has no openings.

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 5. To increase the shear rigidity of a tanker hull girder, I would first think about:
i- Increasing the deck plating thickness
ii- Increasing the bottom plating thickness
iii- Increasing the side shell thickness
The shear rigidity GA would be increased if much sectional area is placed anywhere over the
cross-section; BUT it is certainly better to increase the side shell thickness (or the scantlings of the
longitudinal vertical material) since this forms the web of the hull girder cross-section which carries more
than 95% of the shearing force (remember the shear stress distribution across an I- section ).
4. In order to increase the hull girder section modulus, what do you prefer:
i. Increase the thickness of deck plating,
ii. Insert (add) deck girders or increase their scantlings?
The first option is certainly good if the deck is continuous (in the absence of large deck
openings); otherwise, the second may be adopted.

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