NAOE 2103 – Ship Design

Lecture – 1
Lecture Material :
Chapter 2 (Practical Ship Design, D.G.M Watson)
&
Chapter 1 (Elements of Ship Design, R. Munro-Smith)
Setting objectives in broad terms – Designer’s perspective

• It is most important that the objectives which a new

design is to meet should be stated in a way that does
not rule out any possible solution.
• It is only too easy when setting requirements to have a
particular type of design in mind and write terms of
reference in a way that leads to a solution along these
lines but excludes some other equally good or better
answer.
• Objectives should be set at their most desirable level
even if their attainment seems unlikely or impossible.
• This will stretch designers and may cause them to come up
with novel ideas that are ahead of any current solution.
• When setting objectives, it is wise to differentiate between
qualities which are essential and those which are only
desirable and can be modified if the price of their
attainment is too expensive or turn out to be to the
detriment of a higher rated goal.
• Objectives vary with type of vessel and its intended service.
• For instance, a merchant ship’s requirements will usually
originate in a transportation study which examines the
economic background to the projected service.
• On the other hand, the requirements for a warship will
have been based on consideration of possible threats and
will usually have been preceded by many strategic studies.
Owner’s requirements

• The decision by a ship owner to have a ship or

ships built is only made after consideration of
many factors – type of business/trade, size of
ship, routes, etc.
• Ship owners are in the business to make a profit
as well as to give a service.
• The development of the requirements of the
owner which are to be finally presented to the
shipbuilder is quite an extensive process.
• It is essential to have the details and results of
market research.
• There is a large variety of ship types for which the
design, construction and operation has to be
adjusted to take account of the likely
developments and changes during the life cycle
of a ship – which may be in the region of 25-30
years.
• The ship owner has to compute with reasonable
accuracy the cost of the ship over its entire life
and set this against his estimate of what the ship
can earn.
• Costs which occur in sea transport can be divided into three
classes:
a. Capital costs – Depend on how the ship is financed and its
owner’s responsibility.
i. These are fixed costs associated with the ship’s
purchase/construction.
ii. Include pre-delivery costs, loan repayments, interest, leasing
charges, initial registration fees, taxes, depreciation costs,
etc.
iii. Depreciation is the reduction in the value of an asset over
time, due in particular to wear and tear. It depend on:
cost of the asset,
expected salvage value of the asset,
estimated useful life of the asset, and
a method of apportioning the cost over such life
b. Voyage costs – These are variable costs
associated with the commercial employment of
the ship. These costs are the responsibility of the
ship’s commercial operator and include:-
i. Fuel costs
ii. Port charges - port dues and service charges tugs
hire, pilotage, cargo handling, agent fees)
iii. Canal charges
c. Running costs – These are semi-variable costs
which fall between capital and voyage costs and
are the responsibility of the ship owner or
manager. These include:-
i. Stores (food, fresh water, lubricants, etc.)
ii. Crew costs (wages, medical pay, pensions, etc.)
iii. Repair and maintenance costs
iv. Insurance and Administration
Dimensional constraints

• Dimensional constraints may impose a limit on length,

breadth, draft and air draft or two or more of these.

a. Length:
• A constraint on length may be set by the dimensions of
canal locks or docks or the need to be able to turn the
ship in a narrow waterway.
• In either case the necessity of the limit set should be
thoroughly questioned if it appears likely to limit the
ship’s length to less than that which would be desirable
if there was no such constraint.
• If the limit is set by a dock or canal, question whether
the use of these is essential or so desirable that this
limit must be accepted, or whether rerouting could
avoid the canal, or the choice of another port avoid the
constraint set by the dock.
• A limit set by turning ability can be considerably eased
by fitting a high-performance maneuvering device such
as a bow thruster.

b. Breadth:
• A limit on breadth is usually set by canal or dock lock
gates breadth.
• The outreach of other shore-based cargo-handling
devices such as grain elevators or coal hoists can limit
the desirable distance of the offshore hatch side from
the dockside and thereby limit the breadth of the ship.

c. Draft:
• A draft limit is usually set by the depth of water at low
tides in the ports (or their approaches) to which the
ship is intended to trade.
• For very large tankers the depth of the ocean itself
must be considered.
d. Air draft:
• The last of the dimensional constraints is that of air draft.
• This is the vertical distance from the waterline to the
highest point of the ship’s structure and denotes the
ship’s ability to pass under a bridge spanning the seaway
which forms part of the projected route.
• Where necessary, air drafts can be greatly reduced by
equipping the ship with folding or telescopic masts and
funnels.
• Other measures which can be taken to reduce the effect
of an air draft limit are to arrange that transit under the
bridge at low tide and or to load or ballast the ship to the
deepest permissible mean draft.
Merchant ship requirements and transportation studies

• The main requirements that need to be set for a

merchant ship are:
- the type and quantity of cargo to be carried;
- the service speed, the voyage route and distances.
• The type of cargo and how it is to be stowed on the
ship and handled on and off the ship determines the
ship type, whilst the quantity of cargo to be carried is
obviously the main determiner of the ship’s size.
• Even if the type of cargo is set as the starting point,
a wide-ranging economic study will usually be
necessary to assess the quantity of cargo that will
need to be carried in the future and the loading
and discharge ports which will best meet the trade.
• Consideration must be given to whether the ship
should cater for one cargo only or should be so
designed that it can carry more than one cargo at
the same time or a different cargo or cargoes on
different voyages.
• The possibility of there being a suitable return
cargo for the “homeward” leg of the voyage
avoiding a ballast leg must be investigated as this
can appreciably improve the economics.
• In a simple case it may be possible to link the
number of ships, their carrying capacity and the
number of voyages per year directly to the
quantity of cargo requiring transport. The aim may
either be to ensure that the transport demand can
be met or that the trade is a profitable one, or
more usually both.
• The number of voyages per year is clearly a
function of time spent at sea and that spent in port
loading and discharging. The sea time is set by the
voyage distance and the ship’s speed; the port time
by the cargo-handling arrangements provided.
• Once a preliminary decision has been taken to fix
the ship’s cargo capacity, the next step should take
the form of a sensitivity study to optimize such
things as the speed and cargo-handling methods.
• When these have been optimized, further
refinement of the cargo capacity may follow.
• The transportation study should consider where the
ship should load fuel. A short addition to the voyage
route may enable the ship to divert to a port where
fuel can be shipped at a lower price than prevails in
the cargo terminal ports.
Design spiral

• Designing a ship is perhaps the most rigorous of all

engineering problems.
• It takes a lot of technical expertise, often across many
disciplines to design such structures.
• A ship not only floats on the surface of the ocean but
also makes its way around the world, along different
routes through rough weather - "in one piece".
• The Design Spiral is a systematic approach to
achieving near perfect designs for a given ship
design problem.
• A naval architect traces his way along the design
spiral through the different stages of design given
below:
i. Concept Design
ii. Preliminary Design
iii. Contract Design
iv. Detailed Design
i. Concept Design:

• The key objective is to arrive at the feasibility of the

project.
• This stage witnesses the translation of the mission
requirements into naval architectural and engineering
characteristics.
• The fundamental elements of the ship such as length,
beam, depth, draft, fullness, power, or alternative sets
of characteristics, all of which meet the required speed,
range, cargo cubic, and deadweight are used
to perform feasibility studies.
• Light-ship weight estimation is done.
• Alternative designs are analyzed during this phase to
determine the most economical design solution.
ii. Preliminary Design:

• The key objective is to plan the project.

• This stage essentially improves and elaborates the
major ship characteristics affecting cost and
performance.
• The factors such as length ,beam, horsepower
deadweight, would not be expected to change after the
completion of this stage.
• It also provides basis for the development of contract
plans and specifications.
iii. Contract Design:

• The key objective is to arrive at the costing of the

project.
• This stage describes more precisely features such as
hull form based on a faired set of lines, powering based
on model testing, seakeeping and maneuvering
characteristics, the effect of number of propellers on
hull form, structural details, use of different types of
steel, spacing and type of frames.
• Paramount, among the contract design features, is a
weight and center of gravity estimate taking into
account the location and weight of each major item in
the ship.
• The final general arrangement is also developed
during this stage. This fixes the overall volumes and
areas of cargo, machinery, stores, fuel oil,
fresh water, living and utility spaces and their inter
relationship, as well as their relationship to other
features such as cargo handling equipment, and
machinery components.
• Check on Quality standards of hull and outfit and the
anticipated performance for each item of machinery
and equipment is done. Also describe the tests and
trials required.
iv. Detailed Design:

• The key objective is to prepare detailed working plans.

• These plans are the installation and construction
instructions to the ship fitters, welders, outfitters,
metal workers, machinery vendors, pipe-fitters, etc.
• At this stage the interchange is from
engineer to artisan, that is, the engineer's product at
this point is no longer to be interpreted, adjusted, or
corrected by any other engineer.