Bulkhead (partition)

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Compartmentalisation of a ship, to reduce floodability

A bulkhead is an upright wall within the hull of a ship or within the fuselage of an aeroplane.

Other kinds of partition elements within a ship are decks and deckheads.

Contents
  [hide] 

 1Etymology
 2History
 3Purpose
 4Requirements of bulkheads
o 4.1Fire-resistance
o 4.2Prevention of damage from EMI and EMP
 5Other uses of the term
 6See also
 7References
 8External links

Etymology[edit]
The word bulki meant "cargo" in Old Norse. Sometime in the 15th century sailors and builders in
Europe realized that walls within a vessel would prevent cargo from shifting during passage. In
shipbuilding, any vertical panel was called a "head". So walls installed abeam (side-to-side) in a
vessel's hull were called "bulkheads."[dubious  –  discuss] Now, the term bulkhead applies to every vertical
panel aboard a ship, except for the hull itself.

History[edit]
See also: Naval history of China
Bulkhead partitions are considered to have been a feature of Chinese junks, a type of ship. Song
Dynasty author Zhu Yu (fl. 12th century) wrote in his book of 1119 that the hulls of Chinese
ships had a bulkhead build. The 5th-century book Garden of Strange Things by Liu Jingshu
mentioned that a ship could allow water to enter the bottom without sinking. Archaeological
evidence of bulkhead partitions has been found on a 24 m (78 ft) long Song Dynasty ship
dredged from the waters off the southern coast of China in 1973, the hull of the ship divided into
twelve walled compartmental sections built watertight, dated to about 1277.[1][2]
Texts written by Western writers such as Marco Polo (1254–1324), Niccolò Da Conti (1395–
1469), and Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) describe the bulkhead partitions of East Asian
shipbuilding.[1][3] An account of the early fifteenth century describes Indian ships as being built in
compartments so that even if one part was damaged, the rest remained intact — a forerunner of
the modern day watertight compartments using bulkheads. [4]
Bulkhead partitions became widespread in Western shipbuilding during the early 19th century.
[1]
 Benjamin Franklin wrote in a 1787 letter that "as these vessels are not to be laden with goods,
their holds may without inconvenience be divided into separate apartments, after the Chinese
manner, and each of these apartments caulked tight so as to keep out water." [5] A 19th century
book on shipbuilding attributes the introduction of watertight bulkheads to Charles Wye Williams,
known for his steamships.[6]

Purpose[edit]
Bulkheads in a ship serve several purposes:

 increase the structural rigidity of the vessel,

 divide functional areas into rooms and
 create watertight compartments that can contain water in the
case of a hull breach or other leak.
 some bulkheads and decks are fire-resistance rated to
achieve compartmentalisation, a passive fire
protection measure; see firewall (construction).
On an aircraft, bulkheads divide the cabin into multiple areas. [dubious  –  discuss] On passenger aircraft a
common application is for physically dividing cabins used for different classes of service
(e.g. economy and business.) On combination cargo/ passenger, or "combi" aircraft, bulkhead
walls are inserted to divide areas intended for passenger seating and cargo storage.

Requirements of bulkheads[edit]
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Fire-resistance[edit]

Firestopped electrical cablepenetration in a bulkhead which is required to have a fire-resistance rating.

The firestop is made of a purpose-designed putty on the outside and a proprietary cementitious fill on the
inside.

Openings in fire-resistance rated bulkheads and decks must be firestopped to restore the fire-
resistance ratings that would otherwise be compromised, if the openings were left unsealed.
The authority having jurisdiction for such measures varies depending upon the flag of the ship.
Merchant vessels are typically subject to the regulations and inspections of the Coast Guards of
the flag country. Combat ships are subject to the regulations set out by the navy of the country
that owns the ship.
Prevention of damage from EMI and EMP[edit]
Bulkheads and decks of warships may be fully grounded (electrically) as
a countermeasure against damage from EMIand EMP due to nuclear or electromagnetic
bomb detonations near the ship, which could severely damage the vital electronic systems on a
ship.
In the case of firestops, cable jacketing is usually removed within the seal and firestop rubber
modules are internally fitted with copper shields, which contact the cables' armour in order to
ground the seal.

Other uses of the term[edit]

The term was later applied to other vehicles, such as railroad cars, hopper
cars, trams, automobiles, aircraft or spacecraft, as well as to containers, intermediate bulk
containers and fuel tanks. In some of these cases bulkheads are airtight to prevent air leakage or
the spread of a fire. The term may also be used for the "end walls" of bulkhead flatcars.
Mechanically, a partition or panel through which connectors pass, or a connector designed to
pass through a partition.
In architecture the term is frequently used to denote any boxed in beam or other downstand from
a ceiling and by extension even the vertical downstand face of an area of lower ceiling beyond.
This usage presumably derives from experience on boats where to maintain the structural
function personnel openings through bulkheads always retain a portion of the bulkhead crossing
the head of the opening. Head strikes on these downstand elements are commonplace hence in
architecture any overhead downstand element comes to be referred to as a bulkhead.

See also[edit]
 Compartmentalization (fire protection)
 Fire protection
 Fireproofing
 Intumescent
 Rear pressure bulkhead
 Structural steel

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:      Needham, Joseph. (1971). Science and Civilization in
a b c

China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil

Engineering and Nautics. Cambridge University Press., reprinted
Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd.(1986), pp. 391, 420–422, 462-463.
2. Jump up^ Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, Anne Walthall, James B.
Palais (2006). East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-618-13384-4, p. 159.
3. Jump up^ Gernet, Jacques. (1996). A History of Chinese
Civilization. Translated by J.R. Foster and Charles Hartman.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-49781-7, p.
327.
4. Jump up^ Early History (Indian Navy), National Informatics
Center, Government of India.
5. Jump up^ Benjamin Franklin (1906).  The writings of Benjamin
Franklin. The Macmillan Company. pp. 148–149. Retrieved 5
October  2012.
6. Jump up^ Sir Edward James Reed (1869).  Shipbuilding in iron
and steel: A practical treatise, giving full details of construction,
processes of manufacture, and building arrangements. Murray.
p. 213. Retrieved  5 October  2012.

External links[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Bulkheads.

 Britannica definition
 Merriam-Webster definition
 WIPO Bulkhead for motor vehicle
 Canadian Armed Forces Glossary, see Fire Zone, page 5 of 14
 Det Norske Veritas Type Approval for a fire damper inside and
A60 bulkhead
 Subject-related patent by Free Patents Online
 An example treatise on the use of A60 bulkheads onboard
tankers.
Categories: 
 Shipbuilding
 Nautical terminology
 Chinese inventions
 Maritime history
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