Ship Classification Societies Research Articles

Navigating Safety and Compliance in High-Voltage Shore Connection Systems: A Comprehensive Exploration of IEC/IEEE 80005-1 Standards and the Guidelines of Ship Classification Societies

This paper addresses the growing concern over air pollutant emissions (NOx, SOx, PM, CO2) from ocean-going vessels in harbor areas and the role of Onshore Power Supply (OPS) systems in mitigating these emissions during vessel berthing. However, the slow progress in global shore power facilities is attributed to safety- and specification-related concerns. Our study conducts a comprehensive analysis, comparing international shore power regulations, with a specific focus on the IEC/IEEE 80005-1 standard and guidelines from various ship classification societies. We introduce checklists, scoring tables, and spider diagrams to evaluate the regulatory content, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Furthermore, this paper emphasizes the significance of a well-defined operational process for high-voltage shore connection (HVSC) to ensure the safety of OPS operations. We present process diagrams for key operational stages, based on IEC/IEEE 80005-1 specifications and evaluation criteria. The ultimate goal of this research is to drive the global adoption of shore power and foster the establishment of shore power facilities worldwide. This aligns with the broader environmental protection objectives of achieving cleaner ports and reducing emissions for a sustainable future.

Shipyard’s Quality System involvement in the classification process at the new construction phase

The Quality Management System (QMS) of a shipyard is considered as a dynamic system which ameliorates in parallel with the evolution of the shipyard, having as purpose to optimize construction performance, to reduce risks, costs and time. The interaction and participation with external organizations play an important role in the cycle processes of maintenance and improvement of the Shipyard QMS. Bureau Veritas (BV) being a Ship Classification Society, contributes to the certification process through compliance with regard to BV technical rules and statutory requirements for each ship configuration. This paper illustrates the importance of the interaction between shipyard and class society starting at early design phase until delivery of the ship. Process described is based on specifics BV rules and New Building procedures which are continuously updated based on new international regulations, experiences, researches and developments. The pre-project process is founded on the definition of the scope of work, a thorough review of the contract, familiarization with the shipyard’s facilities, and the definition and agreement of all activities to be addressed throughout the entire construction. The construction process unfolds according to the agreements outlined during the pre-project phase. This part is specifically concentrated on Design Review (drawings and documents), Documentation System (procedures and methods), the Verification System (monitoring, control & reporting, witnessing, inspection & test), and the Management System (but not limited to); all of which are managed under a specific BV IT Tool. The result of all this is an efficient classification process that ensures ships remain safe, compliant, efficient, and environmentally friendly throughout their operating life.

Safer Ships and Cleaner Seas: Reducing Vessel Risks through Targeted Inspections and Recognized Organization Oversight

Abstract This article explores the lessons that might be learned from port State con-trol (PSC) inspections for flag States, examining the scholarly literature on vessel risk targeting. It begins by identifying the major classification socie-ties (and recognized organizations or ROs) before discussing the obligations and responsibilities of governments in achieving a global ‘safer ships and cleaner seas’ objective. It then presents a framework for thinking about the relationship between owner/operators, ship classification societies, flag State authorities and PSC parties in order to improve safety, discussing where gaps remain in the execution of the objective. The author draws con-clusions about where the future focus by flag States might achieve addi-tional improvements in their oversight of classification societies when they act as ROs, carrying out ship survey and certification functions on behalf of flag States. Identified challenges include improving the quality of data used in vessel risk targeting, expanding the transparency of that data for RO oversight, and focusing efforts on those flag States and ROs who do not meet their obligations.

Airborne Sound Power Levels and Spectra of Noise Sources in Port Areas.

Airborne port noise has historically suffered from a lack of regulatory assessment compared to other transport infrastructures. This has led to several complaints from citizens living in the urban areas surrounding ports, which is a very common situation, especially in countries facing the Mediterranean sea. Only in relatively recent years has an effort been made to improve this situation, which has resulted in a call for and financing of numerous international cooperation research projects, within the framework of programs such as EU FP7, H2020, ENPI-CBC MED, LIFE, and INTERREG. These projects dealt with issues and aspects of port noise, which is an intrinsically tangled problem, since several authorities and companies operate within the borders of ports, and several different noise sources are present at the same time. In addition, ship classification societies have recently recognized the problem and nowadays are developing procedures and voluntary notations to assess the airborne noise emission from marine vessels. The present work summarizes the recent results of research regarding port noise sources in order to provide a comprehensive database of sources that can be easily used, for example, as an input to the noise mapping phase, and can subsequently prevent citizens’ exposure to noise.

Assessment of criteria of ship classification societies

ABSTRACT Shipowners, whether chartering out ships or using ships to carry goods, want their ships to sail safely in accordance with conventions and regulations. Shipowners must constantly maintain and repair the structure, engine and marine equipment of ships to ensure their seaworthiness. All these rely on the assistance of ship classification societies (CLASSs). With their reputation of fairness and profession, CLASSs offer ship surveys and audits to assist shipowners in safely managing their ships. CLASSs also follow current and future shipping development trends and provide international maritime organizations (IMO) and flag states (FLAGs) with information to safely operate ships in an environmentally friendly manner, thereby fulfilling their social responsibility to protect those at sea and the marine environment. This study utilized the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method to assess of criteria of CLASSs and also investigated the practices of Taiwanese shipowners. The results revealed that the top three criteria shipowners considered when assessing CLASSs were emergency technical support service and timely response to accidents, membership in international association of classification societies (IACS), and surveyors’ adherence to the boarding schedule. A causal relationship diagram indicated CLASS technical ability as a cause dimension and shipowner operation cost as an effect dimension.

A New Function for Frequency Analysis in the Risk Assessment of Offshore Oil-Related Platforms

_ Risk assessment of offshore oil-related platforms such as the floating production storage and offloading system (FPSO) is extremely important. In earthquakes prone to target sea areas, earthquakes should be considered as one of the important external forces that cause severe damage. In such risk assessments, for estimating the appearance frequency of seismic energy, the complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF) of seismic energy of a considered area is usually based on the Gutenberg–Richter law. Furthermore, it is important to estimate the CCDF of the leak hole diameter when estimating the damage caused by an oil spill accident in an offshore oil-related platform. Some ship classification societies recommend using a formula based on the power law distribution as used in those processes. However, the power law distribution has a drawback in that, i.e., it is essentially impossible to accurately estimate the CCDF over the entire domain of the random variables. The authors have developed an enhanced power law distribution function that eliminates such defects in the power law distribution function and some practical methods for estimating its parameters. In this study, the developed function is applied to the CCDFs of the seismic energy and leak hole diameter. The results demonstrate that the function fits the existing data with sufficient accuracy. Therefore, the new function introduced here can be well used in the frequency analysis of the risk assessment of offshore oil-related platforms. Introduction In the risk assessment of offshore oil-related platforms like floating production storage and offloading system (FPSO), it is necessary to estimate probabilistic characteristics of external forces against them. Earthquakes are a major external force. Furthermore, it is necessary to estimate the damage when an external force is applied. The frequency of external forces, such as earthquakes, is low, but the damage is extensive. However, damage to offshore oil-related platforms is caused by not only these external forces, but also oil leaks resulting from some factors, such as operation errors and corrosion, that may cause accidents such as fire and explosion. Therefore, it is also essential to estimate the probabilistic characteristics of such damage for the risk assessment of offshore oil-related platforms.

LG and Others v. Rina SpA, Ente Registro Italiano Navale

352State immunity — Jurisdictional immunity — Action for damages against ship classification and certification company acting upon delegation from Republic of Panama — Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters — Article 2(1) — Whether Italian court having jurisdiction under Regulation — Article 1(1) — Scope of civil and commercial matters — Operations of ship classification and certification societies — Public powers — Whether classification and certification operations conducted in exercise of public powers — Immunity from jurisdiction — Whether customary international law principle of jurisdictional immunity of States precluding court from exercising jurisdiction under Regulation — The law of the European Union

International harmonization of procedures for measuring and analyzing of vessel underwater radiated noise

The habitat of the endangered southern resident killer whale (SRKW) overlaps major international shipping lanes near the Port of Vancouver, British Columbia. Shipping is a dominant source of underwater noise, which can hinder SRKW key life functions. To reduce environmental pressure on the SRKWs, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority offers incentives for quieter ships. However, the absence of a widely accepted underwater radiated noise (URN) measurement procedure hinders the determination of relative quietness. We review URN measurement procedures, summarizing results to date from two Canadian-led projects aimed at improving harmonization of shallow-water URN measurement procedures: One supports the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in the development of a URN measurement standard; the other supports the alignment of URN measurement procedures developed by ship classification societies. Weaknesses in conventional shallow-water URN metrics are identified, and two alternative metrics proposed. Optimal shallow-water measurement geometry is identified.

Additive manufactured marine component – Ni Al bronze propeller

Seaworthiness, also known as Fitness For Service (FFS), assessment of marine structures and machinery components is performed in accordance with the actual ship classification society’s Rules and/or Standards.The maritime industry is for the time being taking an interest into Additive Manufacturing (AM) for the sake of design and manufacturing cost optimization. Components of particular interest appear to be valves, heat exchangers and propellers.For conventional manufactured materials, for example cast, forged, rolled, and extruded copper alloys there are well established marine classification rules and standards. Recently, Ship Classification Rules and Standards for AM materials has been published.The seaworthiness or FFS of a Ni Al bronze (NAB) marine propeller constructed by Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) has been scrutinized by a novel approach of combining conventional material qualification procedures with identification and data acquisition (DAQ) of essential WAAM process parameters. A 520 kg heavy marine propeller, with a diameter of 2 m, was manufactured by the South Korean company SY Metal under strict observation of DNV South Korea.In this report the authors are presenting essential WAAM process parameters and authentic mechanical properties of the Ni Al bronze WAAM marine propeller; benchmarked toward authentic NAB cast propeller data.

Pressure-Dependent Models in Ship Piping Systems

This paper aims to evaluate the feasibility of pressure-dependent models in the design of ship piping systems. For this purpose, a complex ship piping system is designed to operate in firefighting and bilge services through jet pumps. The system is solved as pressure-dependent model by the piping system analysis software EPANET and by a mathematical approach involving a piping network model. This results in a functional system that guarantees the recommendable ranges of hydraulic state variables (flow and pressure) and compliance with the rules of ship classification societies. Through this research, the suitability and viability of pressure-dependent models in the simulation of a ship piping system are proven.

Wind assisted propulsion systems and the role of a Ship Classification Society

As an independent third-party consultant, DNV GL provides dedicated simulation studies on comparing the performance, reliability and economic impact of different sailing rig concepts in a high-level assessment. In more detailed studies a comparison of the reduction of green-house gases on different shipping routes throughout the year can be assessed. Each newbuilding must fulfil mandatory EEDI limit values. What is almost unknown in the shipbuilding community is that wind propulsion systems can become a significant measure to fulfil future stricter limits. EEDI rules and regulations offer the possibility considering the effect of WAPS (Wind Assisted Propulsions Systems) in the EEDI calculation. The assumptions in the EEDI rule set regarding a global wind matrix with reference to the global shipping routes are explained and discussed. DNV GL has traditionally been dealing with certification and engineering of sailing rigs and uses these synergies for offering certification and engineering services within the wind propulsion segment. Recently technical standards for wind assisted propulsion systems and a new additional class notation for the ships carrying such devices has been developed. These services and standards are presented in the third part of the paper.

Durability and flammability evaluation of SGA structural adhesive joints consisting of a thick adhesive layer for shipbuilding

ABSTRACTThere are advantages to replacing weld joints with structural adhesive joints in shipbuilding, including reduction of labor associated with hot work and straightening work. However, the dimensional accuracy of the structural members must be the same for structural adhesive and welding, so the structural adhesive must fill gaps of the millimeter order. The lack of knowledge about the long-term reliability of thick adhesive layers is an obstacle to its practical use. Therefore, accelerated deterioration tests under high temperature and high humidity, recovery tests by drying after water absorption, xenon exposure weatherability tests, and salt water mist resistance tests were conducted to obtain relationships between each deterioration factor and decreasing time of strength retention rate. The durability evaluation was carried out for SGA structural adhesives from two different manufacturers. In this study, the substrate of the structural adhesives joint was A5052. It is assumed that the aluminum substrate shear joints are used for the installation of the aluminum equipment of a ship product to the aluminum ship where distortion is easy to generate because the wall surface is a thin plate. Evaluation of the acceptable design adhesive strength in shipbuilding was carried out using the deterioration estimate curve, where each deterioration factor was combined. According to the test results of this study, the use of adhesives satisfies the acceptance criteria in the guidelines of ClassNK, which is one a global ship classification society. It is concluded that the coefficients of the design reference strength in the guidelines of ClassNK are most appropriate. Additionally, a surface flammability evaluation was carried out in accordance with the International Maritime Organization Resolution MSC.307 (88). When the substrate was changed to A5052, it was confirmed that SGA satisfied the requirements.

Development of Empirical Formulation for Bow Flare Slamming and Deck Wetness for Displacement Vessels

The paper presents an empirical method to calculate bow flare slamming pressure and the green water load. Many empirical formulae for various types of vessels have been provided by rules of ship classification societies. In the present work, attempt is made to develop generalized formulations for all types of displacement vessels. Extreme sea conditions are considered. Bow flare pressure is derived in terms of flare and waterline angles. Specific condition for limiting waterline angle is derived based on 2D numerical simulations. Deck wetness is derived in terms of static and dynamic swell-up and the relative motion. Variation of static swell along the length is determined based on potential solution based analyses considering variation in vessels’ hull. 2D wedge simulations are carried out to validate the formulation of dynamic swell-up. Results of the calculated bow flare and deck pressures are compared with various ship classification society formulations and the trends are found to be in good agreement in general barring at bow flare where lower pressure is found in most of the presented cases. Also IACS UR S21A (2018) governing minimum pressure for deck scantlings is found to be conservative in few of the presented cases. Although scantlings assessment is not performed, the presented new formulations may help in realistic assessment of scantlings.

Power Quality Analysis for Ship-Photovoltaic Power System: A Case Study

Due to the seriousness of oceanic environmental pollution and the strict restrictions imposed by marine pollution protocol, the photovoltaic (PV) system has been tried to be implemented in traditional ships that use fossil fuel for power generation. This paper investigates the impacts of a large PV system on the ship power system. The installation of PV system of various operation modes on ship power system will significantly affect the power quality of ship grid. In this paper, one practical ship-PV power system of the COSCO TENGFEI vehicle carrier is selected for study. Various power quality issues like the voltage unbalance factor, voltage deviation, frequency deviation, harmonic ratio as well as total harmonic distortion (THD) are investigated and calculated by the calculation methods suggested by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and ship classification societies. The results will be compared with the relative standards to demonstrate the feasibility of the PV system to be installed in the ship power system.

Design HMI (Human Machine Interface) for Process Control System of Main Diesel Engine Fuel System

Controlling and monitoring of ship fuel treatment system is based on the needs of safety and business. Therefore, ship automatic fuel system is a support system recommended by ship classification society, engine manufacture, and shipping company. The new system may give highly efficiency operation and supervision. In this research, we developed marine diesel fuel system interface to monitor how the systems work. Main diesel engine fuel system consist of transfer system, separation system, feed system, and circulation system. The aim of this research is to control and display the shipboard fuel system. All valves, pumps, and separator units were controlled by programmable logic controller using tank level switches as input signal. We have tested this automation system with a computer simulations. As an initial step, valves, pumps, and separator units are successfully controlled and displayed. Based on program simulation, the operational leading time of settling tank and day tank are one hour and 9,8 hours, respectively. It is mean both of one settling tank or day tank are ready before the another tank empty. This system also have detection ability due to system failure.

Vessels for the Future

The European research association Vessels for the Future was launched in November 2014. It has members has 59 members (as of May 2015) in 14 EU Member States. Members represent ship owners, ship yards, ship system suppliers, classification societies, research institutes, university departments and industry associations. Hence Vessels for the Future brings together a leading group of maritime stakeholders with a common interest to ensure that European maritime research has a strong and vibrant future sustaining a competitive maritime industry. This will be achieved through agreeing collaborative research and with the support of public and private financing.

Problems of power quality in the wake of ship technology development

This paper addresses the problem of electrical power quality and its influence on ship safety. There has been a perceptible increase in the importance of power quality in recent years due to the introduction of new methods for electrical energy production and utilization in ship systems. As a result, new challenges for ship designers, crew members, and ship classification societies are looming. In this paper, these challenges are considered in the context of their legal meaning and good engineering practice. The paper presents the authors׳ stance in the ongoing discussion ensuing after the accident on board the Queen Mary 2. The authors briefly discuss the following questions: How is it possible to describe the power quality in ship systems and by what indexes? What limiting values are to be imposed? How, when and where should the power quality be measured? Finally, how can the rules and procedures of ship classification societies related to power quality be improved to avoid catastrophic consequences of worsening power quality?

A class society's view on rationally based ship structural design

The paper describes a class society's view on rationally based ship structural design. Where ships were designed earlier solely on the basis of prescriptive rules from classification societies, the introduction of the finite-element method advanced rational analysis and design methods, giving the designer greater scope, capability and efficiency. However, a thorough knowledge is required of structural design and analysis together with practical experience in structural design. A 13,000 TEU containership is taken as a typical example for the present day rational ship structural design and analysis as conducted by a ship classification society. The core of this analysis is the three-dimensional overall finite-element model of the whole ship. Software packages efficiently generate long-term hydrodynamic loads. Usually, these tools are based on the design wave approach, finding the most relevant load combinations to dimension the ship's structure, whereby hull girder sectional forces and moments match design values specified in class rules. Action by class societies also addresses other design issues, such as the prediction of design accelerations that affect container stowage, the accurate assessment of slamming loads and the estimation of sloshing-induced pressure loads caused by fluid motions in partially filled tanks. Although class rules include formulas to estimate these loads, advanced numerical techniques that directly solve the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are better able to describe the physics associated with these phenomena. Larger ships with more flexible hulls are subject to increased risk caused by hydroelastic high-frequency hull girder loads. Although at present class rules rely on constant overall safety factors to account for the dynamic amplification of stresses in the ship structure, first principal numerical methods are being developed, which couple the non-linearly solved rigid-body ship motions and a simple finite-element Timoshenko beam model with the RANS equations.

Towards Quieter Seas

This article focuses on various research efforts that are being undertaken to address underwater noise. One of the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s findings is that underwater sound has been doubling every 10 years. Most of this sound is man-made, from the ever expanding fleet of ships that ride our oceans. Researchers believe that intrusive sound is harming sea life. Many organizations around the US shipbuilding industry have seen the need to address underwater noise. Standards organizations such as International Organization for Standardization (ISO), American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the Acoustical Society of America have been working overtime to develop standards for the measurement of underwater noise from ships, oil and gas exploration, pile driving, and other sources. The ship classification societies are adding underwater noise to their library of regulations. In the United States, the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers are planning to add their own regulations or guidelines in the near future.

Normalised fatigue and fracture properties of candidate titanium alloys used in the pressure hull of deep manned submersibles

The current available design rules of submersible structures from ship classification societies are based on the philosophy of strength design. Nowadays, higher requirements have been made for improved safe and economic design and operation of the submersibles, and the material selection criterion has paid more attention to the synthetic properties of materials of interest including fatigue and fracture properties of materials. Titanium alloys with relatively high ductility are widely used in pressure hull of deep manned submersibles nowadays. Much work should be devoted to systematic investigation of properties evaluation for candidate titanium alloys for submersible structures. This paper gives experimental results of fatigue and fracture properties of two candidate titanium alloys potentially used in pressure hull of deep manned submersibles. Test results are discussed by normalisation considering strength of the material which is an effective way to evaluate fatigue and crack growth properties of two materials. And to save cost and material test time in the future, an improved crack growth rate model proposed by the authors is used for prediction and unification of wide range of their crack growth rates. The comparisons between test data and prediction curves agree very well, which validate that the improved crack growth rate model can be used for prediction and unification of crack growth property of Ti80 and TC4 ELI at different load ratios.