Introduction to Basic ship design

Laws of Floatation
Forms Different Form Coefficients
Factors affecting ship form
Planes of reference and the lines plan
Terminology
Moulded Conventions
Estimation of weight and position of centre of gravity
Definitions Co-ordinate systems

Laws of Floatation

Archimedes principle states that when a body is wholly or partially immersed in a fluid,
it appears to suffer a loss in mass equal to the mass of the fluid it displaces.

Form Coefficients

In comparing ships forms, displacements, dimensions, etc use is made of a number of

coefficients. These coefficients are of particular use in making estimates of power based
upon speed trials with similar ships and models. They also give an indication of the form
of the ship.

Different form coefficients are

Block coefficients
Prismatic coefficients
Midships coefficients
Waterplane area coefficients.

Block coefficient of fineness of displacement (C b)

The block coefficient of ship at any particular draft is the ratio of the volume of
displacement at that draft to the volume of a rectangular block having the same overall
length, breadth, and depth.

Block coefficient (Cb) = Volume of displacement

L X BX draft

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Prismatic coefficient (Cp)

The prismatic coefficient of a ship at any draft is the ratio of the volume of displacement
at that draft to the volume of a prism having the same length as the ship and the same
cross-sectional area as the ships midships area.
Prismatic coefficient (Cp) = Volume of ship
L x Am

Midships coefficient (C )
m

The midships coefficient to any draft is the ratio of the transverse area of the midships
section (Am) to a rectangle having the same breadth and depth.

Midships coefficient (Cm) = Midships area (Am)

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 Bxd

Coefficient of fineness of the water plane area (C w)

The coefficient of fineness of waterplane area is the ratio of the area of the water-plane
to the area of a rectangle having the same length and maximum breadth.

Coefficient of Fineness (Cw) = Area of water-plane

Area of Rectangle
Factors affecting form of the ship

Service speed:- High speed-Powerful engines-large machinery spaces.

Endurance:- the form best suited to give low resistance at the required
endurance speed may differ from that required by service speed.

Stability:- Increase in beam conflicts with above and close watertight sub-
division which interferes with accommodation and cargo space layout.

Accommodation and cargo spaces:- requirements of this compete for the

space in a ship.

Planes of reference and the lines plan

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 Plane of symmetry or centre line plane
Transverse planes
Horizontal or water planes
Diagonal planes
Hull lines drawing
Body Plan Drawing
Half breadth plan
Buttock lines or profile view

Principle ship dimensions

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Terminology

Forward perpendicular:- is the trace of a transverse plane which passes

through the intersection of design waterline and the forward edge of the stem
contour plate.
After perpendicular:- In naval practice it is defined as the intersection of the
design waterline and after surface of transom of stern plating. In commercial
practice defined as the centerline of the rudder stock.
Length between perpendiculars (LBP/LPP) - Length measured between FP
and AP.
Length Overall (LOA) - Distance between the extreme points of the ship forward
and aft.
Amidships- the point midway between the forward and after perpendiculars.
Extreme breadth- the maximum breadth over the extreme points port and stbd
of the ship.
Extreme draft- the distance from the waterline to the underside of the keel.
Extreme depth- the depth of the ship from the upper deck to the underside of
the keel
Baseline- a horizontal line drawn along the top edge of the keel from midship.
Moulded breadth- the greatest breadth of the ship measured to the inside edge
of the shell plating
Moulded draft- distance from the summer loadline to the baseline measured at
midship

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 Moulded depth- distance from the upper deck to the base line measured at the
midship section
Freeboard- the vertical distance from the summer load waterline to the top of the
freeboard deck plating, measured at the ships side amidships.
Sheer-the curvature of the deck in a longitudinal direction. It is measured
between the deck height at midships and the particular point on the deck.
Camber-the curvature of the deck in a transverse direction. Distance between
the deck height at the centre and the deck height at the side.
Rise of floor- the height of the bottom shell plating above the baseline.
Bilge radius- the radius of the plating joining the side shell to the bottom shell.
Flat of keel- the width of the horizontal portion of the bottom shell, measured
transversely.
Tumblehome- An inward curvature of the midship side shell in the region of the
upper deck.
Flare- An outward curvature of the side shell at the forward end above the
waterline
Parallel middle body- the ships length for which the midship section is constant
in area and shape.
Entrance- the immersed body of the ship forward of the parallel middle body
Run- the immersed area of the ship aft of the parallel middle body.
Displacement- The weight of the ship and its contents, measured in tonnes.
Lightweight-The weight of the ship, in tonnes, complete and ready for sea
without crew, passengers, stores, fuel or cargo on board.
Deadweight- The difference between the displacement and the lightweight at a
given draft.

Moulded Conventions:

Moulded conventions defines the placement and orientation of various

plating and profile systems such as for
Deck
Transverse Bulkhead
Longitudinal Bulkhead
Profile system

Estimation of weight and Position of centre of gravity

The centre of gravity has a direct bearing upon the stability of the ship.
The centre of gravity of a body is the point through which the force of gravity is
considered to act vertically downwards with a force equal to the weight of the
body.
The centre of buoyancy is the point through which the force of buoyancy is
considered to act vertically upwards with a force equal to the weight of water
displaced. It is the centre of gravity of the under water volume.

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 To estimate weight of the ship the mass of each item of equipment in the ship is
calculated.

Position of center of gravity or centre of mass

Position of centre of gravity is measured relative to baseline (VCG), amidships

(LCG), and centerline (TCG).
Metacentre denoted by M is the point on the centre line of the ship about which
the ship pivots.
The distance between the centre of gravity and Metacentre is called as
metacentric height.
Positive Metacentric height-centre of gravity below M - Stable equilibrium
Negative Metacentric height-centre of gravity above M - unstable equilibrium
Zero Metacentric height-centre of gravity coinciding with M- Neutral equilibrium
Heel: - A ship is said to be heeled when ship is inclined by an external force e.g.
by action of waves
List: - A ship is said to be listed when ship is inclined by forces within the ship.
For e.g. when the ship is inclined by shifting a weight transversely within the ship
Trim:- may be considered as the longitudinal equivalent of list, but instead of
being measured in degrees it is measured by the difference between the drafts
forward and aft.
Angle of loll:- is defined as the angle to which a ship with negative initial
metacentric height will lie at rest in still water.

Co-ordinate systems

The co-ordinate systems provide a locating scheme while working in a model.

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 The origin is placed at the aft perpendicular.
Ships length is measured along X-Direction
Ships breadth is measured along Y-direction
Ships depth is measured along Z-direction

Introduction to Major structural items

Keel
Double bottom structure
Structure to resist pounding
Shell plating
Framing systems
Bilge keel
Decks
Hatch coamings
Bulkheads
Pillars
Fore end construction
Aft end construction
Rudders
Superstructures and accommodation

Major Structural Items

Keel:-Runs along the centerline of the bottom plating of the ship.

They are three types:-

Flat keel-Fitted for majority of the Ocean going and other vessel
Duct keel- This provides an internal passage of watertight construction to carry
the Pipe work along the length of the ship to the various holds or tanks.
Bar keel-found on smaller vessels like trawlers, tugs, ferries etc

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Single bottom construction:

Vertical plate floors are fitted at every frame space and are stiffened at their upper
edge. A centerline girder is fitted and one side girder each side of the centerline
where the beam is less then 10m, for beam between10m-17m two side girders and if
the bottom shell panel has width to length ratio greater then four additional
continuous or inter coastal stiffeners are fitted.

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Double bottom structure

Where double bottom or inner shell is fitted it is water tight up to the bilges,
providing complete watertight integrity.
Double bottom may be framed longitudinally or transversely, but where the ships
length exceed 120m, it is desirable to adopt longitudinal framing.
Machinery space double bottom- has solid plate floors at every frame space
under the engine. Additional side girders are fitted outboard of the main engine
seating. Double bottom height increased to provide fuel oil, lubricating oil, and
fresh water tanks of suitable capacities. Plating and girder material in the
machinery space is of increased scantlings in the order of 10%.

Structure to resist pounding

Pounding or slamming results from the ship heaving or pitching.

Additional strength must be provided from the fwd perpendicular aft for 25-30%
of the ships length. The shell plating either side of the keel is increased in
thickness. Frame spacing reduced, full and half height intercostals side girders
are fitted and solid floors are fitted at every frame space. With longitudinal
framing the longitudinal spacing is reduced, intercostals side girders are fitted
and transverse floors are installed at alternate frames.

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Shell Plating

Shell plating forms the watertight skin of the ship, contributes to longitudinal
strength, and resists vertical strength. Composed of many strakes or plates
arranged in fore and aft direction and welded together. The horizontal welds are
termed as seams and the vertical welds are termed as butts. The strake of side
plating nearest to the deck is called as sheerstrake. The region where the sheer
strake meets the deck plating is known as the gunwale. All opening in shell
plating must have rounded edges to avoid stress concentration.
For bottom shell and side plating two different types of framing i.e. transverse
and longitudinal or a combination of both are employed.

Transverse framing-

Consists of vertical stiffeners, either of bulb plates or deep flanged web frames
which are attached by the brackets to the deck beam and the flooring structure.
Frame spacing is generally not more than 1000mm but is always reduced in the
pounding region and at the fore and aft ends in the peak tank regions

Longitudinal framing:
Employs horizontal offset bulb plates with increased scantlings towards the lower
side shell Transverse webs are used to support the longitudinal frames this being
spaced not more than 3.8m apart in ships of 100m length or less and spacing of
2.5m in the peaks. For ships exceeding length 300m the spacing is 3.5m.

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Bilge Keel:

Prime function of Bilge Keel is to help damp the rolling motion of the vessel,
protection to the bilge on grounding and increase longitudinal strength at the bilge.
The bilge keel is fitted at right angles to the bilge radius spacing but does not extend
beyond the extreme breadth line. Construction is of steel plates with a stiffened free
edge or a section such as bulb plates. The ends are fastened to a doubling plate on
the shell.

Decks

Deck of the ship is a horizontal platform which completes the enclosure of the hull.
Decks are arranged in plate panels with transverse or longitudinal stiffening. Decks
at different levels in a ship serve various functions; they may be either water tight
decks, strength decks or simply cargo or passenger accommodation decks. The
plates or strakes nearest to the deck edges are termed stringer plates. The plating of
the weather decks is cambered towards the ship side to assist drainage of any water
falling on the deck. Container ships can have horizontal decks.

Deck stiffening:
Deck stiffening is supported from bellow in a manner determined by the framing
system if the ship with longitudinal framing, series of closely spaced longitudinal are
used in addition to deep web transverses. With transverse framing, transverse deck
beams are used at every frame space. Where hatches are fitted to a ship,
continuous longitudinal girders are fitted over the length of the ship running along
side the hatches.

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 Deck Supports

Hatch coamings

On the weather tight deck the coamings must be at a minimum height of 600mm
to reduce the risk of water entry to the holds. The coaming must be a minimum of
9mm thick and where the height is in excess of 600mm it must be stiffened by
horizontal stiffeners and vertical brackets must be fitted not more than 3m apart.

Bulkheads

The vertical divisions arranged in the ship structure are known as bulkheads.
They are of three types:
Water tight bulkheads
Corrugated water tight bulkheads
Non water tight bulkheads
The spacing of water tight bulkheads is governed by rules dependent upon ship
type, size, etc., all ships must have:
A collision or forepeak bulkhead, which is to be, positioned not less than 0.05 X
length of the ship, nor more then 0.08 x length of the ship, from the forward end
of the load waterline.
An after peak bulkhead which encloses the stern tube(s) and rudder trunk in a
water tight compartment.
A bulkhead at each end of the machinery space.

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 Additional bulkhead are to be fitted according to the vessels length example a
ship between 145m and 165m long must have 8 bulkheads with machinery
midships and 7 bulkheads with machinery aft.
Made of several strakes of plating and welded to the shell, deck and tank top.
Plating strakes are horizontal and the stiffening is vertical.

Corrugated bulkhead:

The use of corrugations or swedges in a plate instead of welded stiffeners produces as

strong a structure with a reduction in weight.

Non water tight bulk heads:

Any bulk heads other that those used as main sub divisions and tank boundaries may
be non water tight. Examples of these are engine room casing bulkheads,
accommodations partitions, store room divisions etc.

Pillars

Pillars provides a means of transferring loads between decks and fastening

together the structure in a vertical direction the use of pillars also enables a
reduction in size of the hatch girders and beams, since their unsupported span is
reduced. At the head a plate is used often with tripping brackets with the
surrounding structure. At the heel an insert plate or doubling plate is used.

Fore End construction:

It refers to the structure forward of the collision bulkhead. Constructed in two parts a bar
stem from the keel to the load water line and a plate stem up to the deck. The side shell
plating is flared out to increase the deck area. This arrangement serves to deflect sea
water and spray away from the ship in heavy weather. The forecastle houses the wind
lasses and winches required for anchor and mooring duties.

Stem:
It is terminating point of the forward shell plating. It consists of solid round bar known as
stem bar. The shell plating is welded to either side of the stem bar.

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HAUSE PIPE

Aft end construction:

The aft end of the ship terminates the structure and is designed to provide a
smooth water flow into and away from the propeller.
Two types of stern construction:
cruiser stern
transom stern

Rudder

The rudder is used to steer the ship. Rudder with all of its area aft of the turning axis
is known as unbalanced rudder. A rudder with a small part if its area forward of the
turning axis is known as semi balanced rudder. When more than 25% of the rudder
area is forward of the turning axis there is no torque on the rudder stock at certain
angles and such an arrangement is known as balanced rudder.

Superstructures

The superstructure is that part of the ships structure built above the uppermost
complete deck and is full width of the ship. Deckhouses are smaller structures
not extending the full width and one or more storeys high.
Forward section of the superstructure is known as forecastle deck. Any section
of the superstructure around the midships region of the ship is known as bridge
structure. The deck area aft is known as the poop .

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Introduction to minor structural items

Funnel
Engine casing
Shaft tunnel
Bulwarks
Deep tanks
Sea tubes and inlet boxes

Minor Structural items

Funnel
Funnel is used to disperse the exhaust gases into the atmosphere and away from the
ship. Shape sometimes determined by the ship-owners requirements. The owners
housemark or trademark is often carried on the outside of the funnel structure.

Engine casing
The accommodation or upper deck spaces are separated from the engine room or
machinery spaces by the engine casing. Access doors are provided at suitable levels
between the engine casing and the accommodation. The casing is a lightly plated
structure with closely spaced vertical stiffeners. Swedge or corrugated bulkhead can
also be used.

Shaft Tunnel

Where a ships machinery space is not right aft, an enclosed area or tunnel is
provided to lead the shafting to the after peak bulkhead. The tunnel should be of
watertight construction and the forward end of the tunnel is fitted with sliding
watertight door.
Two types of construction used are Curved roof type and Flat roof type

Bulwarks

Bulwarks are barriers fitted to the deck edge to protect passengers and crew and avoid
the loss of items overboard should the ship roll excessively. Bulwarks are considered
solid or open- the solid type being constructed principally of plate, the open type being
railings.

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Deep Tanks

Deep tanks are often fitted adjacent to the machinery spaces amidships to provide
ballast capacity, improving the draft with little trim, when the ship is light.

Sea tubes and inlet boxes

Where the piping system requires water to be drawn from the sea, for example
fire and wash deck, ballast and machinery cooling systems, the inlet valve is
fitted to a substantial box called as inlet box within the line of the shell plate
containing the sea inlet opening.

Introduction to Outfit

Hatch covers
Mooring equipment and arrangements
Mast, derricks and deck cranes
Scuppers and sounding pipes
Stabilizers- fin and tank stabilizers

Hatch Covers

Hatch covers are used to make the cargo hatch watertight, to protect the cargo
and to stiffen up the structure of the hatch opening. Two basic types are in
general use- the wooden hatch cover and the Patent steel covers manufactured
by MacGregor-Navire International A.B. The Hatch covers fit on top of the hatch
coamings.

Access Hatches:

Access to the cargo tank spaces is by oiltight hatches.

Circular or oval shapes are usually employed with coamings at least 225 mm
high.
Steel covers with suitable oil tight fastening arrangements are used

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Mooring equipment and arrangements

The winches and windlasses positioned on the forecastle and poopdecks and
sometimes the upper deck perform the mooring and
warping duties required by the ship when arriving and departing its various ports
of call.
The windlass has warping ends which are used while mooring the ship.
One or more warping winches are fitted on the poop deck aft for similar duties.
Different types of Fairleads that are used to guide the hawsers or mooring wires
to the bollards or mooring winches are multiangled fairlead, pedestal fairlead,
roller fairlead and the panama fairlead.

Masts, derricks and deck cranes

The ships mast acts as a lookout platform and a mounting point for navigation
equipment such as lights, radar, aerials, etc.
Access to the upper platform is by a ladder which, depending upon the mast size,
may be fitted internally or externally.
Derrick rigs

The derricks used for cargo-handling work can be arranged or rigged in several
different ways to provide for different manpower requirements, cargo-lifting
capacities or lifting cycle times.
Different types of derricks in use are Single swinging derrick, union purchase rig,
butterfly rig, and yo-yo rigs.

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 Cranes- Derricks have been replaced on many modern cargo ships by deck
cranes mounted on platforms between the holds.

Scuppers:-

Scuppers are fitted at the ships side to drain the decks. Below the freeboard
decks and with the intact houses on the freeboard deck these scuppers are led to
the bilges.

Sounding pipes.

Sounding pipes are fitted to all tanks to enable soundings to be taken and the
depth of the liquid present to be measured.
Reference to the tank calibration tables will then permit the quantity of liquid
present in the tank to be found.
They are made of straight pipe and are carried above the main deck. Minimum
bore of 32 mm is required and a striking plate is provided at the bottom.

Stabilizers

Only the rolling motion of a ship can be effectively reduced by stabilization.

Two basically different stabilizing systems used on ships are fin and the tank.
Both systems attempt to reduce rolling by producing an opposite force to that
attempting to roll the ship.

Fin stabilizers
one or more pair of fins are fitted. They may be retractable or fixed. Fins are
rectangular in shape and streamlined in section. System operation is dependent
on ship speed.

Tank Stabilizers
A tank stabilizer provides a righting or anti-rolling force as a result of the delayed
flow of fluid in a suitably positioned transverse tank. The system operation is
independent of ship speed and will also work when the ship is at rest.

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Ventilation

Mast

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