engineering fenders
ELASTOMERIC CHARACTERISTIC
AND PIANC-2002
FENDER TESTING GUIDELINES
Indian company, IRM Offshore and Marine
Engineers Pvt Ltd is a well known fender
manufacturing company and puts in
continuous effort for improving the products,
processes and testing methods for fenders.
In this article Dr Sujit Datta,Senior Technical
Manager at IRM offers a commentary on
the PIANC-2002 Testing Protocols.
T
esting Protocols for evaluation of Fender
Performance and reporting in PIANC-
2002 guideline can be briefly classified in
two main categories, (A) Type approval testing
where influence of berthing conditions and
environmental factors like temperature are
discussed and (B) Verification and quality
assurance testing where the discussion is based
on different compliance testing.Type approval
testing mainly deals with “in the lab” simulation
testing of a scaled down model of a fender of
specific size under different conditions.These
variables are:
a) Variable Velocity - Velocity Factor
b) Variable Ambient Temperature - Temperature
Factor
c) Variable contact / berthing angle - Effect of
contact angle
Rubber - the visco-elastic material
Solid rubber elements of different profiles are
one of the integral components of fendering
systems, used in berth side application for
commercial and naval vessels. Rubber fenders
are available with several variations of its material
besides shape and sizes.The “visco-elastic”
behavior of rubber is exploited in the selection
of rubber fender, being an energy absorbing
element. Completely elastic materials require
the same stress, which was applied during the
last moment of deformation, to maintain the
deformation indefinitely and do not show any
dependence on the rate of deformation. In the
case of liquids, deformation in the static sense
does not exist; progressive deformations are
not recovered and energy cannot be stored
in the liquid or regained. Instead, the process
of deformation requires force, and the work
done in this irreversible process is quantitatively
dissipated as heat.The term “visco-elastic” has
come to refer to the dealing of those materials
which show a behavior intermediate between
those of liquids and solids. In rubbers, the elastic
element forms the continuous phase but
encompasses frictional viscous elements. Such
materials are termed visco elastic.When they
are deformed, the viscous element consumes
energy and retard the elastic deformation;
similarly energy is dissipated when the elastic
phase returns in the process of strain recovery
and releases its stored energy.The viscose
element or internal frictions are thus responsible
for the energy difference or hysteresis between
work recovered and expended.The superimposed
elastic and viscous behavior of rubbers is clearly
demonstrated during cyclic deformation. Consider
a rubber fender subjected to a sinusoidally
varying deformation. During a deformation
half cycle - from zero deformation, through a
maximum, to zero deformation - the rate of
deformation and hence the viscous force is a
maximum at zero deformation and zero at
maximum deformation.The force due to such
cycling may be elastic owing to the deformation
or viscous owing to the rate of deformation.
Each of these force components will be in phase
with its contributing process and therefore
900 out of phase with each other in the cycle;
their vector sum is the resultant force which
is parallel to the rate and extent of the
deformation. In an ideally elastic material, all
stress is due to strain and is in phase with the
deformation; in an ideally viscose material,
the stress is in phase with the rate of straining
or deformation. In visco-elastic materials, the
resultant stress magnitude lags behind the
deformation by a phase angle; the more viscose
the material, the greater the lag and hence
phase angle.The response of rubber to imposed
stresses is governed by a characteristic parameter
with the dimension of time, which is called
relaxation or retardation time, and defined as
the ratio of viscous modulus to elastic modulus
of a rubber vulcanizate.
Necessity of velocity correction
Raw rubber consists of a large number of
flexible long chain molecules possessing a
structure which permits free rotation about
certain chemical bonds along the chain.The
balanced vulcanization introduce cross links
distributed randomly throughout the material
and build up a three dimensional network
structure. Controlled spatial distribution of
network structure throughout the rubber
vulcanizate helps to resist flow and thus balance
the viscous component as well as partly
overcomes the irreversible deformation.The
elastic component (responsible for recovery
from a given deformation) of rubber vulcanizate
(visco elastic material) responds instantaneously
and does not dissipate energy, but viscose
flow or relaxation requires time in dissipating
energy proportional to the deformation rate.
At low deformation frequency the viscose
element will operate but contribute little and
the stress will be almost in phase with the
deformation. As the deformation frequency is
raised the dissipative effort will rise sharply
and the stress will become increasingly out
of phase with the deformation and largely
dependent on the rate of straining or deformation.
PIANC-2002 guideline for establishing the
performance data corroborate the principles
of visco elastic material such as rubber. It
demonstrates the process of evaluation of
performance parameters like reaction force
and energy absorption at different strain rates
or berthing velocities. Different initial velocities
have been taken into consideration to evaluate
the velocity factor on scaled down model
fenders of specific size.Velocity factor thus
evaluated in a laboratory simulation test on
model fender can be applied on actual size
fender to calculate corrected performance
parameters in practical use. In most practical
situations the frequency of deformation of
actual fender is low and thus a pre-assumption
is made in guideline that the deflection (berthing)
frequency of not less than one hour i.e.,
maximum deformation cycle is one per hour.
This assumption greatly reduces the effect of
viscous component on overall performance
of the fender and thus the resultant property
tends to be more elastic at different deflection
rates. As a result the magnitude of deviation
of performance parameters at different
deformation rates from that at RPD deformation
 fenders engineering

rate is low. Further the balanced compounding

and state of vulcanization can produce the
rubber article with optimized elastic-viscous
component, which perform within a close
tolerance (e.g., ± 10% of the performance
value at RPD velocity).
Velocity correction - an experiment
A laboratory evaluation has been tried to
establish the variation of key property of well
balanced rubber compound (e.g., modulus)
with variable strain rates followed by the effect
of strain rate on the properties of scaled
down model fenders of specific size. In this
experiment the modulus of elasticity of rubber
compound at different strains has been measured
at variable deformation rate e.g., 100, 200,
300, 400, 500 mm/min. Modulus factor and
strain ratio have been calculated as follows:
Figure 1: Modulus Factor vs. Strain Ratio Strain ratio = Strain Rate
Standard strain rate
(A moderate strain rate - 300 mm/min is taken
as standard strain rate)
Modulus Factor = Modulus of Elasticity at
a particular strain rate

Modulus at 300 mm/min

Figure 1 shows the variation of modulus factor
of modulus at different strain (50, 100, 200 &
300%) with strain ratio.Very marginal variation
of modulus factor with the strain ratio is
observed for all four modulus. Scale down
model fenders (Cell & Cone fender of 100mm
height are manufactured from the same rubber
compound and deformed up to 55% for cell
fender and 72% for cone fender at different
strain rate as stated above. In both the cases
(Figures-2 & 3), the variation of both reaction
factor as well as energy factor is marginal with
Figure 2: Reaction and Energy Factor vs Strain Ratio (scale down cell fender)
the strain ratio. Reaction factor and energy
factor are determined as follows:
Reaction factor = Reaction at a particular
strain rate

Reaction at standard strain

rate (300 mm/min)
Energy factor = Energy absorption at a
particular strain rate

Energy absorption at standard

strain rate (300 mm/min)
The above laboratory evaluation demonstrates
that the performance of rubber compound can
predict the different performance parameters
of actual fender if made up of same rubber
compound at variable conditions.
Temperature effect
Figure 3: Reaction and Energy Factor vs Strain Ratio (scale down cone fender) A property of visco-elastic materials like rubber
 engineering
Figure 4: Service temperature range of different rubbers
is that they progressively stiffen as the
temperature decreases. PIANC-2002 guideline
for type approval test also considers this fact.
It suggests the method of evaluation of
temperature factor over a wide temperature
range i.e. -300C to 500C. Figure 4 shows the
service temperature range of different elastomer.
Variation of berthing angle also has influence
on performance parameter i.e. reaction force
and energy absorption.Variation of contact
angle has been taken into consideration over
a wide range from 30 to 200. Studies prevail
that both the reaction force and energy
absorption value decrease with increase in
contact angle.
Compression testing of scale down model cone fender in high capacity computer controlled compression test equipment
fenders
shop level the testing can be carried out at
specified velocity, temperature and angle and
the performance can be adjusted as per the
corrections factors arrived at during the
prototype testing.
Verification testing
The second part of the guideline deals with
verification / quality assurance testing of actual
fenders as well as the importance of evaluation
of physical properties of rubber compound.
Evaluation of physical properties of rubber
compound and the performance of production /
actual fender is extremely important in view
of real functioning. On site performance trial
of actual fender under all possible real
environmental conditions is probably more
effective than test on scale down model fender
under ideal laboratory simulated working as
well as environmental condition. However at
About IRM Offshore &
Marine Engineers Pvt Ltd
☛ Established in 1964, having extensive
experience of manufacturing entire range
of Marine Fenders and Offshore Rubber
Engineering Products.
☛ Becoming the first Fenders and Offshore
Rubber Product manufacturing company
in this part of the World having complete
IMS (ISO 9001 : 2000, ISO 14001 : 2004,
OHSAS 18001 :1999) certified by
Germanischer Lloyd GmbH - Germany.
☛ Having valid Manufacturers Capability
Certificate (MCC) certified by
Germanischer Lloyds - Germany to
manufacture any type and size of Solid
and Pneumatic Fenders available in today’s
Maritime World.
☛ A corporate Member of PIANC.
☛ Offers the widest range of Marine Fenders
and Rubber Engineering Products for
offshore platform installation and
protection.
☛ Products and process conform to
various international standards like ASTM/
BS/ ASME/ PIANC/ AWS/ ISO/ and DIN.
☛ Fully Integrated quality management
system to ensure best quality of products
and services.
☛ Offers the full range of services- from
designing to manufacturing, testing,
installation and maintenance.
☛ Well equipped Research, Development
and Testing Laboratory approved by GL
- Germany.
☛ Globally networked for sales and services.
☛ Worldwide acceptance.
☛ Impressive clientele and supply record.
About the Author
Dr Sujit Datta (M.Tech, PhD in Polymer
Science and Technology) is a Sr. Manager
(Technical) of IRM offshore and Marine
Engineers Pvt. Ltd - India, having substantial
experience in research & development as
well as manufacturing field. He has published
many papers in International Journals and
Conference. If you have any query related
to content of this article, feel free to
contact on technical@irmome.com