Ship Construction: Plate Machining, Assembly of Hull Units And Block Erection

In the last article we discussed how material is shifted from the stockyard to the surface
treatment plant, then marked, nested and cut to required shapes. We also discussed
the methods used to carry out the above processes.

This article will take the material flow forward. We will see how the plates and sections
are given shape and curvature according to the design of the hull. Following surface
preparation, machining of plates and sections are carried out in the hull shop where
they are made ready to be welded into two dimensional and three dimensional
structures.

Plate Bending:

A ships hull usually has multiple curvatures (unless only straight plates are used in the
design). It might seem quite easily achievable on a 3D modelling software package, but
production of the same is not. To bend and develop steel plates and stiffeners to
required 3D curvatures in order to make them fit the shape of the hull, special methods
are used by a shipyard.

Before understanding these processes, it is important to appreciate two very important

aspects of developing curved surfaces. There are two basic types of 3D geometries:

Non Developable Surface: These are 3D surfaces which cannot be achieved by

direct rolling or hydraulic bending of straight plates. So the fundamental method
of producing these shapes is an interesting example of reverse engineering.
 Figure 1: Production of non-developable surface

The hull surface is first modelled in a production design software. Welding seams and
butts are marked in advance. So, let us assume, for the purpose of understanding this
process, that the intended shape to be obtained is a part of the curvature at the bow.
The desired shape of the plate in the computerised format is called the virtual 3D patch.
Algorithms are so designed that this serves as an input to the CNC machine which cuts
out a 2D plate of such shape and size (which is called 2D blank), so that when the 2D
blank is hot-worked, it produces the required 3D surface geometry.

Developable Surface: Any 3D surface that can be obtained directly by rolling or

bending a 2D plate is called a developable surface. For example, the bilge
strake of a ship usually has an ellipsoidal or circular curvature. This is obtained
by directly passing a flat plate under a set of rollers, and the process is repeated
until the required curvature is obtained.
A shipyard uses various methods to bend sections, plates, stiffeners into the required
3D geometry. The most widely used methods are discussed below:

Hydraulic Press:

Hydraulic presses are used in plate and section formation for a wide range of purposes,
like bending of plates, straitening of pre-bent plates, flanging (in case of sections like
beam knees), and swaging of plates.

Hydraulic pressing is a cold work, hence there is no residual stress induced on the
worked plate. Another advantage of this process is its very low capital cost.

However, there are some disadvantages to this method. Elastic spring-back is a

common phenomenon in case of bending by hydraulic press. To understand this, we
need to go back to the basics of stress strain curve. When the hydraulic ram hits the
steel plate, it induces a stress on the plate, which is more than the proportional limit. As
a result, the plate enters the elastic region. When the plate is removed from the
hydraulic ram (i.e. it is unloaded), the unloading takes place along a line that is parallel
to the stress strain curve up to the proportional limit (See Figure 2).
 Figure 2: Elastic Springback during Hydraulic Pressing

Thus, after load is removed, the actual deformation obtained is less than what was
actually required. This is called elastic springback. To prevent this it is important to
choose the proper value of stress to be induced onto the plate for a particular
deformation.

Other disadvantages of this method are requirement of skilled and experienced labour,
and implementation of a proper monitoring system after each ram.

Plate Rolling:

Shell plates are rolled using this method. A total of three rollers are used in plate rolling.
Two lower rollers are driven and the plate is fed above them. One top roller, larger in
diameter than the other two rollers, rotates along with the motion of the plate. A
hydraulic beam is used above the top roller to apply downward load on the plate (See
Figure 3). This method is also often used to correct the curvature obtained by hydraulic
press.

Figure 3: Plate rolling

Another type of plate roller is the pyramid full circle roll, which is used to roll a straight
plate into a full circle. This is done to obtain sections like masts, derrick posts, bow
thruster tunnels.

Heat Line Bending:

The above two methods were cold working methods of plate and section bending. Heat
line bending uses thermal means to induce bending moment, which in turn gives rise to
curvatures in plates.
In line heating, the flame torch is applied along a line on the plate. Since the torch is
applied only on one surface of the plate, it results in a temperature gradient along the
thickness of the plate as shown in Figure 4 (Section AA).

Figure 4: Temperature gradient in Line heating of plates.

In Figure 4, the graph shows how the surface temperature varies from the heat line to
the edge of the plate (which is almost at the room temperature). Therefore, line heating
has two main effects:

1. Part of the breadth of the plate remains unaffected by the heat. We will see soon,
how this helps in achieving the required bending effect.

2. A temperature gradient is created along the thickness of the plate.

The parameters to be controlled in line heating are the amount of heat, speed of torch,
and rate of heating. The quality of work depends on these parameters, and they are
altered depending on the material and thickness of the plate.

We will now see how line heating affects thin and thicker plates differently.

For thin plates, there is no temperature gradient along the thickness of the plate. In
simpler terms, after the torch is applied, the temperatures on both the surfaces along
the line of heating is same, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Line heating of thin plate

The heated regions of the plate (shown in orange in Figure 5) would try to expand due
to increase in temperature. But the remaining part of the plate, being at lower
temperature, acts as a clamp, restricting the lateral expansion of the heated area. This
gives rise to compressive loads on the heated area as shown above. As a result of this,
the heated area contracts laterally, increasing the plate thickness along the heat line (as
shown in Figure 6). This leads to shrinking of the entire plate (Figure 6).
 Figure 6: Shrinking of thin plates after line heating.

Note here, that in case of thin plates, the purpose of bending the plate (or giving it a 3D
curvature) is not achieved. In spite of that, why is line heating used to bend plates? The
answer to this is in the following section that deals with line heating on thick plates.

For thick plates, a temperature gradient is achieved along the thickness (as in Figure 7).
As explained above, local heating gives rise to compressive loads on the heated area.
But in this case, the compressive load at the heated surface will be more than the
compressive load on the other surface (due to difference in temperatures on both
surfaces). As a result, a couple is generated, as shown in Figure 8. This couple now
leads to bending of the plate.
 Figure 7: Line heating of thick plate.

In order to obtain the required 3D curvature, the heat rate is decided by a program and
fed to the torch. Gap between the torch and plate surface, diameter of nozzle is also
pre-decided by a computer program depending on the curvature. The required
curvature is usually not obtained by a single heat line. A pattern of multiple heating lines
and their sequence is computed by a program for the required geometry.

Frame Bending:

For stiffening of sections at the bow and stern, the frames too need to be bent to the
required curvatures. Frames can be bent using both cold work and hot work. The
methods are discussed below.

Inverse Curve Method:

This is a typical cold work method used to achieve required curvatures in frames. The
inverse curve of the required curvature is first drawn on the web of the frame. The web
is then cold worked and bent to the required curvature, the accuracy of which is
checked for until the inverse curve appears as a straight line on the web, as shown in
Figure 8.
 Figure 8: Inverse Curve bending

Bending by Line Heating:

The most common hot working method used to bend frames is by the principle of line
heating. The same principle of bending moment generated due to compressive stresses
is used to bend the web of frames, as shown in Figure 9. Here, the heat is applied in a
pattern at certain intervals on the web of the frame. The amount of heat or speed of
torch at each location determines the final shape of the curve.

Figure 9: Bending of frame by line heating

The above topics have spanned over the entire plate rolling, bending, and frame
bending processes which are carried out in the Hull shop of the shipyard. The flow of
material and carrying out of all the processes we have understood above and in the
previous article, are now shown schematically in the following figure in order to give you
a clear idea of the flow of material in a shipyard.

Figure 10: Material flow in shipyard from stockyard to unit assembly areas
In reference to Figure 10, we have seen all the processes involved till cutting, marking,
shaping and bending. What was not explained, was the process that runs parallel to all
the above preparation of outfit materials, pipe bending and outfit fabrication. We will
first look into this, and then see how they are assembled together.

Preparation of Outfit:

As soon as the material for the ship is ordered, most of the orders for a large
percentage of outfit items are also placed by the shipyard, so as to keep the hull
fabrication and outfit installation processes in parallel. This reduces the building time,
but also requires advanced design processes and proper building management plans.
This is called advanced outfitting (which is explained in detail here [please hyperlink the
articles on Advanced Outfitting]).

Since the details of outfit preparation are not in the scope of this article, we will shift
focus to the sequence of processes. In parallel to plate stocking, plate surface
preparation, cutting and bending, outfit equipment like pumps, compressors, heat
exchangers, etc. and their corresponding piping systems are ordered. The pipes are
bent in the pipe bending shop, and the outfit items are kept ready to be installed onto
the hull assemblies.

Assembly of Hull Units:

Once the plates and frames are prepared and given the required shape, they are
welded according to the structural drawings prepared by the design department of the
shipyard. The hull is divided longitudinally into blocks (Figure 11), and each block is
again divided into assemblies and sub-assemblies.
 Figure 11: Division of a ship into blocks

After plates and sections are machined, they are ready to be welded into two
dimensional structures called sub-assemblies. This is carried out in the Prefabrication
Shops. A sub assembly would consist of a plate (Straight of curved), and its
corresponding strengthening stiffeners welded to it. For example, for a particular block,
a panel of outer bottom shell and outer bottom longitudinals would form a sub assembly.
Assemblies may be prepared by manual welding or automatic welding, depending on
the complexity of the job and the efficiency of the shipyard. Often, flat panels are
manufactured by automatic welding, where the stiffeners are marked on the panel, and
welded by robotically controlled welding torches.

Adjacent sub-assemblies are welded together to form three dimensional structures

called block assemblies. The size of assemblies are decided in the designing stages,
considering the carnage capacities and special layout of the shipyard. It is ensured by
all shipyards that all joining processes are carried out mostly by downhand welding. In
case of blocks towards the aft of the ship where equipment and pipework are a major
part of the blocks, first the assembly is upturned to fir the piping on the underside, and
overturned again by cranes for fitting of the equipment. For example, the double bottom
is used to house pipes, and most of the equipment are housed on foundations over the
double bottom plating. In order to manufacture such an assembly with a pipe and
associated pipework, first the assembly is turned so that the pipework can be installed
on the underside of the double bottom. The assembly is them overturned by cranes for
the pump to be erected on the double bottom plating. A schematic of this process is
shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12: Erection of outfit on an assembly.

Adjacent assemblies are welded to erect a block. For example, for a particular block of
a double hull tanker as shown in Figure 13, the units or assemblies that the block
consist of are as follows:

1. Double bottom centre unit.

2. Double bottom wing unit.

3. Bilge unit.

4. Longitudinal or transverse bulkhead unit.

5. Double hull side unit.

 6. Deck side unit.

7. Centre deck unit.

8. Main deck unit.

Figure 13: Units on a block of a double hull tanker.

The assemblies are erected and welded to their adjacent structures in the above
sequence. The sequence is pre-decided in the design and modelling stage using
CAD/CAM optimisation techniques, so that minimum shifting of assemblies are
required, and proper use of carnage facilities is ensured.

Once all blocks are erected based on their welding sequences, they are now ready to
be joined. This process is carried out at a different site. It is that process we will discuss
in the next article of this series and see how a ship is prepared to be delivered to the
client.