Preliminary design of a tanker ship in the context of collision-induced environmental-risk-based ship design

Abstract

This paper proposes an efficient, simulation-driven method for the preliminary design of a double-hull oil tanker where the oil outflow risk due to ship-ship collisions are considered alongside other conventional ship design merits.The simulation procedure was established by integrating a probabilistic oil outflow model with common ship design software to evaluate various aspects of performance. The procedure was implemented in a parametric way, such that by systematically varying the parameters that define the design, large amount of design variants can be evaluated. The comparisons of several ship design merits, including safety, across the variants are discussed through a case study with a Suezmax tanker to get an insight into the trade-offs, which is crucial for modern ship design.Decision in regard to choosing the optimal designs depends on the intended purposes and service profile of the vessel. When equal weights and thus no preferences were given to the design merits, the most favorable designs are concentrated in the smaller size segments, whereas in environmentally sensitive areas, when more preferences should be given to the designs with relatively low oil outflow risk, some larger vessels can become competitive too. Finally, the sensitivity of the preference factors is discussed.