Dr. M.

Rafiqul Islam
Professor
Department of Naval Architecture and Marine
Engineering
&
Director, IQAC, BUET
Bangladesh University of Engineering and
Technology

October 30, 2018

 Introdcution
The economic importance of hull condition

The economic importance of underwater hull condition cannot be

understated. Any increase in underwater hull roughness can result in a
significant rise in vessel operating costs. There are two main types of hull
roughness: physical and biological (fouling), each with their own macro
(large scale) and micro (small scale) characteristics.

• Macro physical roughness can be attributable to plate waviness, plate

laps, welds and weld quality, mechanical damage and corrosion.

• Macro biological roughness is typically attributable to animal and weed

fouling.

• Micro physical roughness can be attributable to steel profile, minor

corrosion and coatings condition.
•Any increase in underwater hull roughness will increase hull
frictional resistance or vessel drag, resulting in an additional power
requirement with increased fuel consumption and cost to maintain
vessel speed.
•Conversely, maintaining constant power will result in decreased
vessel speed and longer voyage times. Whilst this may appear
obvious, the IMO Convention on the Control of Harmful Antifouling
on Ships and the subsequent debate on the performance merits of
TBT free antifouling and fouling control systems has demonstrated
that the principles of hull roughness, plus the performance effects
and costs of increased hull roughness on vessel operating efficiency
may not be widely understood.
•According to a study by RINA, for every 10 microns of increase in
surface roughness an incease in engine power of 0.5 to 1.0% is
required to maintain a given speed. The actual figure depends on the
initial roughness and the hull form.

•Frictional resitance incrase due to paint system alone is much lower

but still can be of importance when fuel costs are high.

•In this respect , it is to be kept in mind that fouling causes a very

large friction incrase, especially animal fouling such as barnacles and
algae fouling.
Typical proportions of frictional to total resistance
Ship Type CF/CT
ULCC (500000 DWT) 0.85
CC (150000 DWT) 0.78
PRODUCT TANKER 0.67
(50000 DWT)
REFRIGERATED CARGO 0.53
SHIP (8500 DWT)
CONTAINER SHIP 0.62
(37000 DWT)
RORO 0.55
CRUISE LINE 0.66
OFFSHORE TUG 0.38
•So, it is clear from the table that the frictional resistance
components play a large role for almost all types of vessels.
Naturally the larger the hull form the larger the frictional
components.

•Hull surface roughness= permanent roughness + temporary

roughness

•Permanent roughness results from any kind of discontinuities

and protruding parts that affect flow pattern over hull surface.

•The initial permanent roughness of the underwater hull

depends mainly on the quality of the steel, the construction, the
coating system and the coating application. With reference to
the quality of steel, it will be clear that the initial condition of the
steel surface is the prime importance.
 Roughness increase during service

Ship’s hull will roughen during service. The main causes are:
•Mechanical damage followed by corrosion
•Corrosion
•Fouling
•Coated defects such as flaking and blistering
•Cold flow
•Uneven areas due to build up of so called sandwich coatings
Predicting the effect of biofouling on ship resistance using CFD
Author links open overlay panelYigit KemalDemirelOsmanTuranAtillaIncecik
 Characteristics of Surface Roughness

The representation o f the Surface Roughness:

The early hull surveys showed that the nature of the roughness was a complex
function of superimposed undulations for which there appeared to be no simple
parameter which could be used to characterize the hull surface.

It is well known that a real surface represents a 3D random structure. In other
words, in order to gain a complete knowledge of the surface one should be look
at a 3D representation.

However, question may be raised of how far the accuracy of surface

measurement needs to go, taking account the needs of quality control and
economic constraints.
 Characteristics of Surface Roughness (contd..)
For representing 3D surface roughness problem, two principal planes are to be
considered: at right angles to the surface and in the plane of the surface.

The former can be characterized by a set of height parameters, whereas the

texture in the plane of the surface can be characterized by as et of wavelength
parameters.

In case of painted ship hull, the surface topography is made of wavelengths
ranging from a few microns to several meters, classified into three regimes:
surface roughness, waviness and error of form. Waviness and error of orm are
the termed as structural roughness.

The effect of structural roughness was very serious in the past. However, it
becomes less significant when welding replace riveting and secondly with the
advent of more advanced welding technology which resulted in a better finish of
the weld seams.
 Characteristics of Surface Roughness (contd..)

Sampling of a roughness profile as a measure of roughness is still based on the

original concept of considering a sample length deemed long enough to
represent the roughness but short enough to ignore the undulations of possible
waviness. Removal of these wavelengths is known as filtering.

In spite of the usefulness and impressiveness of modern instruments, there is

today still a lack of universally accepted standard measures of roughness.

It is now generally accepted that two parameter representation of roughness is

required in the correlation between surface roughness and drag.

Surface profiles may be analyzed by statistical techniques to produce various

roughness parameters to describe both the roughness heights as well as the
surafce texture parameters.