DELFTshipTM user manual

Version 3.3
Homepage www.delftship.net
E-mail info@delftship.net
Contact Delftship BV
Vinkenpolderweg 38
2952 AV Alblasserdam
The Netherlands
© Delftship BV 2006, 2007, 2008 The Netherlands
 DELFTship
Table of Contents
1. License and copyright.........................................................4
1.1 DELFTshipTM program...........................................................4
1.2 DELFTshipTM user manual....................................................4
1.3 DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY...............................................4
2. Registering your software...................................................5
3. Background to surface modeling.........................................6
3.1 Surface modeling.....................................................................6
3.2 Subdivision surfaces................................................................6
3.2.1 Points........................................................................................7
3.2.2 Edges........................................................................................7
3.2.3 Faces.........................................................................................7
3.3 Subdivision explained..............................................................8
3.4 Guidelines to subdivision modeling.........................................9
4. Coordinate system adopted by DELFTship......................10
5. Using the hull modeling windows......................................13
5.1 Zooming, panning and rotating..............................................13
5.2 Selecting objects....................................................................13
5.3 Moving control points with the mouse...................................13
5.4 Manually modifying points.....................................................14
5.5 Drawing modes......................................................................14
5.6 Working with background images..........................................15
5.6.1 Visible......................................................................................15
5.6.2 Clear........................................................................................15
5.6.3 Load........................................................................................15
5.6.4 Save........................................................................................15
5.6.5 Origin.......................................................................................16
5.6.6 Set scale..................................................................................16
5.6.7 Transparent color.....................................................................16
5.6.8 Tolerance.................................................................................16
5.6.9 Blending..................................................................................16
6. File import ........................................................................17
6.1 Import Surface.......................................................................17
6.2 Import chines.........................................................................18
6.3 Table of offsets......................................................................19
6.4 Background images...............................................................23
7. Program preferences........................................................24
7.1 General..................................................................................24
7.2 Hullform..................................................................................24
7.3 Hydrostatics...........................................................................24
7.4 Report....................................................................................24
7.5 Tanks.....................................................................................24
7.6 Load cases.............................................................................24
8. Project settings..................................................................25
8.1 General..................................................................................25
8.2 Main dimensions....................................................................25
8.3 Hydrostatics...........................................................................26
8.4 Critical points.........................................................................26
8.5 Tanks.....................................................................................27
8.6 Load cases.............................................................................27
8.7 Longitudinal strength.............................................................27
8.8 Probabilistic damage stability................................................28
9. Edit options.......................................................................29
9.1 Undo......................................................................................29
9.2 Redo......................................................................................29
9.3 Delete.....................................................................................29
9.4 Point.......................................................................................29
9.4.1 Add..........................................................................................29
9.4.2 Align........................................................................................29
9.4.3 Collapse..................................................................................29
9.4.4 Fair points................................................................................30
9.4.5 Plane intersection....................................................................30
9.4.6 Intersect layers........................................................................30
9.4.7 Copy values.............................................................................31
9.4.8 Lock points..............................................................................31
9.4.9 Unlock points...........................................................................31
9.4.10 Unlock all points.....................................................................31
9.4.11 From markers........................................................................31
9.5 Edge.......................................................................................31
9.5.1 Extrude....................................................................................31
9.5.2 Split.........................................................................................32
9.5.3 Collapse..................................................................................32
9.5.4 Insert.......................................................................................32
9.5.5 Crease.....................................................................................32
9.6 Face.......................................................................................33
9.6.1 New.........................................................................................33
9.6.2 Invert.......................................................................................33
9.7 Curve.....................................................................................34
9.7.1 General information about control curves and fairing...............34
9.7.2 New.........................................................................................35
9.7.3 Fair..........................................................................................35
9.7.4 Convert to marker....................................................................35
9.8 Layer......................................................................................36
9.8.1 General layer information.........................................................36
9.8.2 Active layer color.....................................................................36
9.8.3 Auto group...............................................................................36
9.8.4 New.........................................................................................36
9.8.5 Delete empty...........................................................................36
9.8.6 Dialog......................................................................................37
10. Display............................................................................39
10.1 Controlnet............................................................................39
10.2 Control curves......................................................................39
10.3 Interior edges.......................................................................39
10.4 Show both sides..................................................................39
10.5 Grid......................................................................................39
10.6 Stations................................................................................40
10.7 Buttocks...............................................................................40
10.8 Waterlines............................................................................40
10.9 Diagonals.............................................................................40
10.10 Hydrostatic features...........................................................40
10.11 Critical points.....................................................................41
10.12 Leak points only.................................................................41
10.13 Flowlines............................................................................41
10.14 Normals..............................................................................41
10.15 Curvature...........................................................................41
10.16 Markers..............................................................................42
10.17 Marker points.....................................................................42
10.18 Tanks.................................................................................42
10.19 Sounding pipes..................................................................42
10.20 Transparent tanks..............................................................42
10.21 Tank names.......................................................................42
10.22 Curvature scale..................................................................42
11. Tools...............................................................................43
11.1 Check model........................................................................43
11.2 Move to baseline..................................................................43
11.3 Remove negative.................................................................43
11.4 Remove unused points........................................................44
11.5 Extract critical points............................................................44
11.6 Subdivide controlnet............................................................44
11.7 Keel and rudder wizard........................................................44
11.8 Markers................................................................................44
11.8.1 Import....................................................................................45
11.8.2 Export....................................................................................45
11.8.3 Delete....................................................................................45
11.9 Add box................................................................................45
11.10 Add cylinder.......................................................................45
11.11 Edit criteria.........................................................................46
11.11.1 Section.................................................................................47
11.11.2 Freeboard............................................................................47
11.11.3 Equilibrium angle.................................................................47
11.11.4 Combined heel and trim angle..............................................48
11.11.5 Area under the GZ curve......................................................48
11.11.6 Value of max. GZ.................................................................49
11.11.7 Angle of max. GZ.................................................................49
11.11.8 Metacentric height................................................................49
11.11.9 GM in damaged condition....................................................50
11.11.10 Wind heeling criterion.........................................................50
11.11.11 Passenger crowding angle.................................................51
11.11.12 High speed turning angle...................................................52
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12. Transform........................................................................53
12.1 Scale....................................................................................53
12.2 Move....................................................................................53
12.3 Rotate..................................................................................53
12.4 Mirror....................................................................................53
12.5 Hullform transformation.......................................................53
13. Tanks..............................................................................55
13.1 General information about tanks.........................................55
13.2 Edit.......................................................................................55
13.2.1 Adding a tank.........................................................................56
13.2.1.1 Abbreviation......................................................56
13.2.1.2 Group................................................................56
13.2.1.3 Tank position.....................................................56
13.2.1.4 Relative density................................................56
13.2.1.5 Intact permeability.............................................57
13.2.1.6 Damage permeability........................................57
13.2.1.7 Non-buoyant.....................................................57
13.2.1.8 Use FSC when slack........................................57
13.2.2 Adding a compartment...........................................................57
13.2.2.1 Type of compartment........................................57
13.2.2.2 Compartment position.......................................58
13.2.2.3 Positive/negative...............................................58
13.2.2.4 Trim at hull........................................................59
13.2.2.5 Use all layers....................................................59
13.2.2.6 Select................................................................59
13.2.3 Copy a tank or compartment..................................................59
13.3 Tank arrangement...............................................................59
13.4 Comparison of internal and external geometry...................60
13.5 Overview..............................................................................60
14. Load cases......................................................................61
14.1 General information about load cases.................................61
14.2 Edit.......................................................................................61
14.2.1 Using the weight list...............................................................63
14.2.2 Editing load cases..................................................................63
14.2.2.1 Add a new load case........................................63
14.2.2.2 Modify the load case name...............................63
14.2.2.3 Selecting a wind silhouette...............................64
14.2.2.4 Adding weights..................................................64
14.2.2.5 Modifying the different types of weights...........64
14.2.2.6 Selecting a tank or a weight from the weight list
........................................................................................64
14.2.2.7 Add all tanks.....................................................65
14.2.3 Deleting a load case..............................................................65
14.2.4 Copy a load case...................................................................65
14.2.5 Solve a load case...................................................................65
14.2.6 Show report...........................................................................65
14.2.7 Interpreting results.................................................................65
14.2.8 Bending moment and shear force calculations.......................66
14.3 Wind silhouette....................................................................68
14.3.1 Adding a new wind silhouette.................................................69
14.3.2 Modifying wind silhouette data...............................................69
14.4 Wind moment calculation....................................................69
15. View................................................................................70
15.1 Intersections.........................................................................70
15.2 Linesplan..............................................................................71
15.3 Design hydrostatics.............................................................71
15.4 Hydrostatics.........................................................................71
15.5 Inclined hydrostatics............................................................72
15.6 Crosscurves.........................................................................73
15.7 Max VCG'.............................................................................74
15.8 Plate developments.............................................................74
15.9 Resistance...........................................................................76
15.9.1 Delft series.............................................................................76
15.9.2 Kaper.....................................................................................76
15.10 Probabilistic damage stability............................................77
16. Selection.........................................................................78
16.1 Selecting objects in DELFTship...........................................78
16.2 Select all..............................................................................78
16.3 Deselect all..........................................................................78
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1. License and copyright

1.1 DELFTshipTM program.

Copyright © 2005-2008 Delftship BV
DELFTship is copyrighted and all rights are reserved. The license for use is granted to the purchaser by Delftship
BV as a single user license and does not permit the program to be used on more than one machine at one time.
Copying of the program to other media is permitted for back-up purposes as long as all copies remain in the
possession of the purchaser.

1.2 DELFTshipTM user manual

Copyright © 2005-2008 Delftship BV
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval
system, or translated into any language in any form or by any means, without the written permission of Delftship
BV. Delftship BV reserves the right to revise this publication from time to time and to make changes to the
contents without obligation to notify any person or organization of such changes.

1.3 DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

NO LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. In no event shall Delftship BV or the author of this
program or document be liable or responsible for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation,
incidental, direct, indirect and consequential damages, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption,
loss of business information, or other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use or inability to use this product and its
attendant documentation, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. No Delftship BV distributor, or agent,
or employee is authorized to make any modification, extension, or addition to this warranty.

No warranty. Any use by licensee is at the licensee's own risk. product is provided for use "as is" without warranty
of any kind. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author disclaims all warranties of any kind, either
express or implied, including, without limitation, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular
purpose and non infringement.

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2. Registering your software

After having installed the professional version (not the free version!) of DELFTship you first need to register your
software in order to enable the printing and saving features. Registering is done by sending a registration code to
support@delftship.net. The registration code is used to generate a license file which will be send to you by email
and must be placed in the program directory (default c:\program files\delftship ). Only then the software will be fully
functional. The license file depends on several hardware components available in your computer, so the software
only runs on the computer(s) where the registration code was generated. If you want to run the software on more
than one computer, for example on a PC and a laptop, DELFTship BV can provide you with an extra license on
request. If you have made modifications to your computer's hardware you can also request a new license file.
Extra licenses will be supplied on a “fair use” policy.
You can find the registration code at the bottom left
corner of the about window. The about window is
accessible from the main menu and is located under
Help => About...
The code consists of several groups of 4 characters
each. The groups are divided by spaces. You can either
type the code manually into your email client, or copy
and paste the code. The easiest way however is to
simply press the Send button displayed right next to
the registration code. A new email message will be
generated automatically with the registration code in
the body ready to be sent to Delftship BV.
Illustration 2.1:
2.1: The about window.

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3. Background to surface modeling

3.1 Surface modeling

DELFTship uses a technique called surface modeling to completely define the
outer shape of a ship. This technique involves “sculpting” the hull as if it were a
very thin and flexible piece of cloth by pulling and shifting points. It is however
not limited to the hull alone as we will see later. Decks, superstructures, masts,
keels and rudders can be modeled this way too. The biggest advantage of
surface modeling is that the model can be completely and accurately described
using only a few points. Illustration 3.1 shows an example of a developable tug
that was created with only 54 points. Unlike other programs, DELFTship uses
subdivision surfaces for this task. Compared to other types of surface
definition, subdivision surfaces give the designer more flexibility in designing
any desired shape. But when you want to get the most of this technique it is
important to have a basic understanding of some of its underlying principles.
Illustration 3.1:
3.1: Surface modeling.

3.2 Subdivision surfaces

A subdivision surface is a special type of spline-surface.
Conventional modeling programs work with parametric spline
surfaces like B-Spline surfaces or NURB surfaces. These surfaces
are completely defined by a set of control points. These are the
points which the user can modify to control the shape of the surface.
Any point on the surface can be directly calculated from these
control points using a set of parametric formulas. The drawback of
these parametric surfaces is that they always require a topologically
rectangular grid of points. This grid in reality almost always follows
the shape of a hull, so it does not look like a true rectangular grid.
But it always has say N points in the longitudinal direction and M
points in the vertical direction where both N and M might be any
number equal to or larger than 2. On illustration 3.3 N=4 and M=4
and the total number of control points equals 4*4=16. Using
Illustration 3.2:
3.2: Inserting a row or column.
parametric spline surfaces it is not possible to insert a single new
point in the control grid. To maintain the rectangular topology an
entire row of points have to be inserted as demonstrated on
illustration 3.2. This results in having more control points than
actually needed or desired, and more control points means more
work to the designer. Also very complex shapes cannot be
modeled using a single surface. But when using multiple surfaces
the designer is challenged with the difficult task of aligning these
surfaces at their boundaries. It is often desirable to maintain a
smooth transition along these boundaries. Each time one of these
surfaces is modified, the adjacent surface has to be modified by
the user to maintain this smooth transition. To overcome these
problems DELFTship makes use of subdivision surfaces.
Subdivision surfaces also use control points as a modeling
handle, just like NURBS or B-Splines and they share the same
mathematical background. The main difference however is that Illustration 3.3:
3.3: Parametric spline surface.

the formulas are no longer restricted to a rectangular grid of

points. The downside is that points on the surface can no longer
be directly calculated due to this different approach. Instead the original set of points (called the control mesh) is
refined and smoothed in a number of steps. Each step is called a “subdivision step”, hence the name subdivision

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surfaces. Before explaining in detail how subdivision actually works it is important to know something about the
internal geometry of subdivision surfaces. The surfaces are build from the following three components:

3.2.1 Points
Points form the basis of the surface. In fact most of the
modeling is done by moving points to different locations since
this changes the shape of the surface. Additionally, new points
may be inserted or existing points can be removed. There are
two different types of points:

● Ordinary points. These are any points other then corner

points. It is important to realize that these points have a
certain offset to the resulting surface. This deviation is larger
in surface areas with high curvature. It becomes smaller Illustration 3.4:
3.4: Points, edges and faces.
when more points and edges are inserted.
● Corner points are very specific points, usually connected to
2 or more crease-edges. Just like a crease-edge can be used to specify that two faces have to be connected in a
discontinuous way, corner points may be used to do so with two adjacent edges. Corner points are the only type of
points actually located on the hull surface. Points where 3 or more crease-edges meet are automatically set to corner
points by the program. Corner points are displayed blue.

3.2.2 Edges
All points are connected with lines which are called edges in subdivision surface terminology. Edges also can be
divided into two different categories:

● Boundary edges. These are edges which are located, just as the name suggests, on the boundary of the surface. A
boundary edge is characterized by the fact that it has always only 1 face attached to it. Examples of boundary edges
are the sheer line (if the ship is not fitted with a deck) or the centerline of the ship. The centerline, or profile, is in fact a
special case. When defining the hull only its port side is created. So all edges on the center plane are boundary edges
as they have only one face connected to it. In reality the ship is symmetric, and when performing calculations
DELFTship creates a virtual symmetric ship by mirroring the model in the center plane.
● Internal edges. These are all other edges away from the boundary of the surface, and must always be shared by 2
adjacent faces. Internal edges are drawn as dark gray lines. The two faces connected to an edge are joined smoothly
along their shared edge. It is possible however to mark an edge as a crease-edge. When doing so, the two faces are
joined in a tangent-discontinuous way. In other words, crease-edges are used to define knuckle lines. A boundary
edge is in fact a specific case of a crease edge since there is no second face to make a smooth transition.

3.2.3 Faces
A face is a little piece of the entire surface (sometimes also called a patch) that is completely surrounded by edges
and is usually defined with 4 points. In some areas it is desirable to have less (or even more) points, but generally
the best results are obtained when most of the faces consist of 4 points. Faces are surrounded by edges where
the type of edge determines how the faces should be connected to each other.

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3.3 Subdivision explained

Now there is a basic understanding of the underlying geometry the process of transforming the control mesh into
the final hull surface will be clarified. Illustration 3.5 shows the process of one subdivision step.

● To the left the original control mesh of a beveled cube is

visible. The first step in the subdivision process is refining
the mesh. This is done by inserting a new point in the
middle of each edge (called an edge-point).
● New points are also inserted at the center of each face
(called a face-point) which has more than three points.
For faces with three points each new edge-point is
connected with the new point of the previous edge, thus Illustration 3.5:
3.5: One subdivision step.
creating 4 new triangles. All other faces are subdivided
by connecting all surrounding edge-points to the face-
point. This results in a refined mesh which still has the same shape as the original. This process is shown
in the middle.
● Finally all the points in the surface are shifted to a new location in such a way that the refined surface is
smoothed. This is called averaging in subdivision terms (right side).

If this process of subdividing is repeated several the resulting mesh will be very fine and smooth. The following
illustration shows the same beveled cube after a number of subdivision steps.

Illustration 3.6:
3.6: Original control mesh and resulting surface after 1, 2 and 3 subdivision steps.

Illustration 3.7 shows the same control mesh, but this time a
number of edges have been marked as crease-edges (red
lines). The result is a sharp knuckle line going around the
cube. It is clearly visible that the faces on both sides of the
crease-edges are no longer joined smoothly.

Illustration 3.7:
3.7: Crease edges.

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3.4 Guidelines to subdivision modeling

In theory almost any control mesh is valid, however when designing ships the fairness of the resulting surface is of
uttermost importance. In this paragraph some guidelines are given that will assist you in obtaining the best results.

● Use a regular grid whenever possible. A grid is

considered regular if all faces consist of four points,
and all points are connected to four edges and faces. A
point on a boundary edge is considered regular if it has
3 edges and two faces connected to it. Of course this
is not always possible. Triangular faces may be used
as a means to reduce the number of points in an area.
5-sided faces, or 5 different 4-sided faces can be used
to increase the number of points. A truly regular grid
would look exactly the same as the B-spline surface
from illustration 3.3 on page 6.
● Always have two faces connected to all edges other
Illustration 3.8:
3.8: Regular points.
than boundary edges. If more than two faces are
connected to an edge, that specific edge will be drawn
thicker and in a light green color. This must be avoided at all cost as it messes up hydrostatic calculations.
boundary edges are allowed, but once they become submerged hydrostatics will no longer be calculated.
(see also paragraph 8.3 on page 26 and paragraph 11.1 on page 43 for leak points).
● Ensure that the normals of all the faces point outward (in the direction of the water). This is of crucial
importance since DELFTship calculates hydrostatics by integrating the enclosed volume at the back of
the faces. If the normal of a face points inward, the volume outside the hull would be added to the total
volume. By using the actual surface for hydrostatic calculations instead of a number of stations, a higher
accuracy is obtained compared to the conventional method of using cross sections. This is especially true
if the model has a heeling angle and/or trim, or is fitted with a superstructure. DELFTship can also check
the direction of normals automatically. Automatic checking can be disabled in the project settings dialog as
explained in paragraph 8.3 on page 26.

Illustration 3.9:
3.9: Example of a highly irregular grid where some of the
irregular points have been pointed out by red arrows.
Illustration 3.10:
3.10: Same ship with a more regular grid in the foreship.

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4. Coordinate system adopted by DELFTship

DELFTship uses the coordinate system as displayed

on illustration 4.1. The aft perpendicular is always
located at the origin of the coordinate system. The axis
have the following directions with respect to the ship
model:
● The X axis corresponds to the longitudinal
direction of the ship.
● The Y axis is oriented transversely. Positive
values are located on port side.
● The Z axis is oriented vertically and points
upward.

Positive values for heeling angles are also to portside

while for negative values the ship heels to starboard Illustration 4.1:
4.1: DELFTship coordinate system
side.

Illustration 4.2 shows the most important reference lines:

● The aft perpendicular which is located at the origin (x=0.0).
● The forward perpendicular. The location is specified by the user in the project settings and must be a a
value greater than zero since the aft perpendicular is located at the origin. The length of the ship is defined
as the distance between the two perpendiculars.
● The base line. The base line corresponds with the horizontal plane through the origin (z=0.0). All drafts are
measured with respect to this baseline so it's important that the lowest part of the ship coincides with this
plane.

Illustration 4.2:
4.2: Reference lines

Draft is defined as (see illustration 4.3) :

● Draft aft: The distance measured along the aft perpendicular from the base plane to the intersection of the
water plane with the center plane.
● Draft forward: The distance measured along the forward perpendicular from the base plane to the
intersection of the water plane with the center plane.
● (Average) draft: The average of both drafts =0.5* (TAft+TForward)

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These definitions are valid both in upright and heeled conditions. Note that in the event of large heeling angles and
small values for the displacement this can lead to negative values for the draft as can be seen to the right of
illustration 4.3. The intersection of the water plane and the center plane is located below the base plane resulting
in a negative value for the draft.

Illustration 4.3:
4.3: Draft measured when heeled.

Trim is defined as the difference in draft at both perpendiculars (Illustration 4.4).

Trim =TForward-TAft
If the draft aft is greater than the draft forward the trim will be negative. So negative trim values indicate the ship is
trimmed by the stern, while for positive trim values the ship is trimmed by the bow.

Illustration 4.4:
4.4: Definition of trim.

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Finally all values for the various hydrostatic

properties are measured with respect to the ships
main axis with the ship in upright position.
Illustrations 4.6 and 4.5 show a ship with trim and
a ship heeled to port side. Rather than heeling the
ship the water plane is rotated instead. All
dimensions are measured along the three main
axis that pass through the origin. Both illustrations
show the presentation of the location of the center
of buoyancy in 3D space as an example. This
presentation will be consistently used throughout
the program.

Illustration 4.5:
4.5: Transverse and vertical measurements for a heeled ship.

Illustration 4.6:
4.6: Longitudinal and vertical measurements for a trimmed ship.

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5. Using the hull modeling windows

5.1 Zooming, panning and rotating

After opening or starting a new model the program by default adds 4 windows. Each window has a different view
on the 3D hull. The area of the window where the model is drawn is called a viewport. These viewports also
appear in several other windows, for example when viewing plate developments. Zooming and panning works the
same in all viewports used throughout the program.

Zooming can be done in different ways:

● Ctrl-A (zoom all)

● Move the mouse up or down while keeping the left button pressed.
● Press Ctrl-I (zoom in) or Ctrl-O (zoom out)
● Users having a mouse wheel may find it more convenient to zoom in or out using their mouse wheel.
● By drawing a selection rectangle with your mouse.
Zooming is only allowed until the maximum zoom level has been reached. Zooming beyond this level is not
possible.

Panning is done by moving the mouse with the right button pressed.

If the viewport displays a perspective view then two scrollbars will be visible also, located below and to the right of
the viewport. These scrollbars can be used to rotate and tilt the model in order to see your model from a different
viewing angle. Another more convenient way to rotate the model is keeping the middle mouse button (or mouse
wheel) pressed while dragging the mouse. This also works only in a perspective view.

5.2 Selecting objects

Selecting objects is explained in paragraph 16.1 on page 78.

5.3 Moving control points with the mouse

One of the most important features when it comes to surface modeling is the ability to move points. In order to do
this the controlnet must be visible (see also chapter 10). Although it is possible to select points in a perspective
view, the actual dragging of the point can only be done in the bodyplan view, profile view or plan view. While
dragging a point all geometrical information is updated real-time. This includes intersection curves, control curves,
flowlines and tanks, especially when the precision of the model is set to a high level this updating process might
become slow due to the amount of calculations involved. If it becomes too slow, try using a lower precision or
turning off some of these objects in your display settings.

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5.4 Manually modifying points

Once a point is selected, the window from illustration 5.1 displays all the information for
that point, including the position of the point in 3D space. These properties can be
altered manually by typing the new values in the appropriate fields. In addition they can
also be altered relative to the current location by typing the character @ in front of the
numerical part. If for example the string @ -0.2 is entered in the field for the y-
coordinate, then all the y-coordinates of all selected points will be decreased by 0.20. Illustration 5.1:
5.1: Control point
So the y-coordinate for the displayed point becomes 2.10-0.20=1.90. This is a form.
convenient way to shift a number of selected points.

Another way of moving points is by pressing the cursor keys in the bodyplan, profile or plan view. The active point
moves a certain distance in the direction of the arrow key that was pressed. The magnitude of this distance, called
“incremental distance” is visible on the status bar of the program, next to the amount of undo memory that is in
use. By clicking on the text displaying the value for the incremental distance a window is opened in which a new
value for the incremental distance can be specified. Another and faster way is to press either the + or – key. The
incremental distance is then changed by 10%.

Finally the black arrows displayed next to each input field on the form can be used to modify the values by the
same incremental distance as mentioned above. Chapter 4 on page 10 describes the coordinate system used by
DELFTship.

5.5 Drawing modes

DELFTship has several ways of presenting the hull. These drawing modes are accessible from the popup-menu
under the right mouse button.

● Wireframe (Ctrl-W). Only the points, lines and edges

are drawn. Any objects, such as tanks for example,
are drawn using line representations.
● Shade (Ctrl-F). The surfaces are drawn in a solid
color, lines and curves are drawn on top of the
surfaces. Submerged areas of surfaces can
optionally be displayed using a different color.
● Developability check (Ctrl-D). The surfaces are
shaded again, only this time areas of the surface that
are developable are colored green while parts that
are not developable are colored red. More about
developable surfaces can be found in paragraph
9.8.6 on page 37 and paragraph 15.8 on page 74.
● Gaussian curvature (Ctrl-G), used to check the Illustration 5.2:
5.2: Gaussian curvature display.
fairness of a surface. The model is drawn using a
range of colors, based on the discrete Gaussian
curvature in each point of the subdivided surface. Most surfaces are curved in two directions, called the
principal curvature directions. The Gaussian curvature is the product of these two principal curvatures.
Now when it comes to the sign of the Gaussian curvature there are 3 possibilities :

• Negative Gaussian curvature. One of the curvature components must be positive while the other
is negative, meaning that the surface is curved in opposite directions. The area surrounding the
point is concave in this case and resembles the shape of a saddle. Areas with negative Gaussian
curvature are colored blue.
• Zero Gaussian curvature. At least one of the two principal curvatures is zero, so the surface is
either completely flat or curved in only one direction. In both cases the surface is developable

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 DELFTship

(This is in fact a very important property of developable surfaces). These areas are colored green.
• Positive Gaussian curvature. The curvature in both directions can be positive or negative, but
must have the same sign. These areas are convex and colored red.

● Zebra shading (Ctrl-E). Another option to check the

model for fairness. Regions with a constant light-
reflection intensity are shaded in bands. This is
similar to the way the human eye detects unfair spots
on a surface since the shininess and shadows vary in
those areas. If the edges of the zebra stripes are
curved smoothly then the surface is smooth in these
areas. At knuckle lines they vary abruptly.
Illustration 5.3:
5.3: Zebra stripe shading.

5.6 Working with background images

DELFTship has the ability to display images in the background of your model. This feature is particularly
convenient if you have an existing linesplan on paper and want to recreate the lines in DELFTship. You can load a
maximum of three images. Each of
these images is assigned to a specific
view (profile, plan or bodyplan view).
You can not assign an image to the
perspective view. All options related to
background images are located in the
menu that pops up if you press the
right mouse button in a viewport. When
using background images you should
pay special attention to make sure that
all horizontal and vertical lines on the
images are truly horizontal or vertical.
Illustration 5.4:
5.4: Using background images to trace an existing design.

5.6.1 Visible
Once you have assigned an image to for example the profile view, it will be shown in all viewports showing the
profile view on the model. By changing the visible property you can hide the image from a particular viewport.

5.6.2 Clear
The clear command removes the image not only from the current viewport but also from all other viewports
displaying the same view. It is entirely removed from the DELFTship model.

5.6.3 Load
Imports a background image. DELFTship only reads bmp and jpg images. For performance reasons you must
ensure that the images you are going to use are not too big in size. After having imported an image you must set
the origin (paragraph 5.6.5 on page 16) to make sure it is displayed at the right location. You also have to set the
scale of the image (paragraph 5.6.6 on page 16) to match the size and scale of your model. For importing several
images, including their settings, the user is referred to paragraph 6.4 on page 23.

5.6.4 Save
Exports the background image as a bitmap image to a file.

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5.6.5 Origin
If you use this option a special cursor is used to indicate you're modifying the origin of your background image.
You can simply drag to image to the correct location by keeping the left button of your mouse pressed.

5.6.6 Set scale

Make sure you set the scale of an imported image before opening another image. DELFTship assigns the same
scale of the previously imported image to the freshly imported one. This is particularly useful if you have multiple
images imported from the same linesplan thus having the same scale. Whenever this option is executed the user
is required to click on a point within the actual image of which the location is known. The program uses the same
scale for both the horizontal and vertical direction.

5.6.7 Transparent color

Quite often background images are in
black and white. Having a huge white
area on your viewport can sometimes
be distracting. By setting white as the
transparent color the program does not
draw the white areas. So only the black
lines are drawn on your screen. The
transparent color is selected by clicking
on an area of the background image
that has the color you want to hide. If
you click on a point that lies outside the
physical area of the background image
transparency is disabled again.
Illustration 5.5:
5.5: Background image made transparent.
Illustration 5.5 shows an example of a
transparently rendered background
image.

5.6.8 Tolerance
Sometimes images that simple seem
just black and white may have a lot of
shades of gray in between. This is
particularly the case where some of the
image quality has been lost due to
compression, as is the case with jpg
images. If white is the designated
transparent color and is filtered out, a
lot of “nearly white” pixels remain as
can be seen on illustration 5.6. By
increasing the filtering tolerance these
pixels can be excluded by the program Illustration 5.6:
5.6: Example where higher tolerance is needed.
too. Most of the time setting the
tolerance to 30 is sufficient.

5.6.9 Blending
If the background image is till too dominant it can be blended with the viewport color. By doing so it dissolves in
the background and the geometry of your DELFTship model will be better visible.

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6. File import

6.1 Import surface

This feature is used to import a number of 3D curves from a text
file (make sure a decimal point is used for separating the
decimals, not a comma!). The program subsequently fits a lofted
surface through these curves. This is a good way to import round
bottomed hulls. The curves may have any number of points, and
the number of points might differ from curve to curve. Usually the
curves run from the bottom of the hull upwards, however
longitudinal curves are allowed too, just as long as all the curves
have the same orientation and run in the same direction. It is
important that the curves do not overlap each other.
Illustration 6.1:
6.1: Hull defined with transverse curves.
After opening the data file the user will be prompted to specify the
number of points in longitudinal direction (number of columns)
and in vertical direction (number of rows) the imported hull must
have. Then the program fits a B-Spline surface through these
points such that the new surface interpolates the original points.

The format used for the file is as follows:

● The first line of the file must either be a 0 (zero) or a 1. A

zero indicates that all coordinates are in meters while a
one indicates that the coordinates are in feet.
● Each curve is defined by a sequence of X,Y and Z
coordinates separated by at least 1 space.
● After the last coordinate of each curve there should be an
empty line.
● The last line in the file should be 'EOF' in capitals. Illustration 6.2:
6.2: Hull defined by longitudinal curves.

The following is an brief example of a file containing 3 stations. A

more extensive sample file can be found in the subdirectory \ships
and is called Round hull import demo.txt. When importing such a
text file DELFTship assumes the following:

● X-coordinates are longitudinal. Positive Y coordinates

correspond with the port side of the ship. The base lies at
z=0.0 and the aft perpendicular at x=0.0
● All curves have multiplicity of 1. Having 2 curves at the
same location leads to errors. Whenever 2 curves exist at
the same location, for example if the hull is fitted with a
bulbous bow, then these curves must be combined into a
single curve by connecting the segments with a line lying on
the center plane. These segments can later be removed.

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6.2 Import chines

Importing a hard chined hull requires a slightly different approach as described
in the previous paragraph. Rather then creating a lofted surface ruled surfaces
are fitted between two successive chines. The coordinates of each chine are
read from an input file with the extension .txt. The input file has the same format
as described in paragraph 6.1 on page 17, except for the fact that the type of
curves in the file is restricted to longitudinal curves only.

Once the data points of each chine have been read from file curves are fitted to
those points in such a way that the chines from the DELFTship hull match these
curves. The number of control points is the same for each chine and can be
specified by the user. The original curves are also added to the model as
markers as a reference. The file chines import demo.txt contains a more
elaborate demo. It is located in the DELFTship \ships subdirectory. The chines
must be ordered from the bottom up with coordinates going from aft to front. At
least three curves must be in the file representing:

1. The keel line

2. At least one chine
3. The deck- or sheer line.

Control curves are added to the crease edges corresponding to each chine to
make it easier to fair the chines.

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6.3 Table of offsets

Illustration 6.3:
6.3: Information stored in the file header

The following is a description of the file format that is used for importing a table of offsets. The file should have .txt
as a file extension and written as a proper ASCII text file. It looks like this:
The first line contains the number of waterlines.
The second line the number of stations
The third line indicates whether data describing the deck line at each station is present (1) or not (0).
The fourth line indicates whether data describing the contour line at each station is present (1) or not (0).
The fifth line indicates whether data describing the aft contour at each waterline is present (1) or not (0).
The sixth line indicates whether data describing the forward contour at each waterline is present (1) or not (0).
The seventh line indicates whether data describing the flat of bottom at each station is present (1) or not (0).
The next three lines describe the length, beam and draft of the ship as used in the project settings.

Illustration 6.4:
6.4: This line represents the heights of each of the 11 waterlines

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DELFTship

Illustration 6.5:
6.5: Distance of aft contour line to origin on each waterline.

Illustration 6.6:
6.6: Distance of each of the 20 stations ordered from aft to front.

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 DELFTship

Illustration 6.7:
6.7: Distance of forward contour line to origin on each waterline.

Illustration 6.8:
6.8: Actual offsets data. The intersection of each column and row gives the half beam on that waterline and station. The bottom right
value in the green rectangle indicates that on station 11.400 and waterline 1.600 the beam is 0.178.

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DELFTship

Illustration 6.9:
6.9: Data describing the deck line height (left column) and beam (right column) measured on each station.

Illustration 6.10:
6.10: The last column represents the height of the contour line on each station.

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6.4 Background images.

Use this option to import a file containing one or more background images that was exported from another
DELFTship project. The file does not only contain the images but also all settings applied to these images such as
scale origin, transparency etc. To import a single image for use in the current project see paragraph 5.6.3 on page
15

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7. Program preferences
You can modify the look and behavior of DELFTship by
changing the default settings in the preferences window.
The actual appearance of this window might differ from
version to version depending on which extensions are
included into the software.
The following settings can be modified:

7.1 General
Modify the language used by the program. The language
files are located in the subdirectory delftship\languages of
the program directory and only language files that are
located in this specific directory can be selected. A
special piece of software is available from
www.delftship.net that can be used to maintain existing or
create new translations.
Additionally the size of control points, amount of undo
memory and color of the viewports can be altered.

7.2 Hullform
Change settings of default colors used by the program for
displaying various items.

7.3 Hydrostatics Illustration 7.1:

7.1: Tab pages from the preferences dialog.

Select which hydrostatic properties should be displayed in the hydrostatics report or modify the order of
appearance by dragging the various properties in the list. All items will appear in the same order in the report as
displayed in the list.

7.4 Report
Modify the font type and size used in the reports throughout the program.

7.5 Tanks
Modify color settings or the amount of transparency used for shading tanks. The transparency must be a value in
the range 0..255. A value of 0 means the tanks are completely solid (no transparency) whereas a value of 255
means that they are fully transparent, even to the point where they are no longer visible.

7.6 Load cases

On this page settings for the transparency of the hull surface and tanks used for drawing the load case in the load
case editor window can be adjusted. The list to the right shows which items are included in the intact stability
report and in what order. The order can be modified by dragging items to a new positions. The check boxes can be
used to exclude items from the report.

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 DELFTship

8. Project settings
In the project settings window you can modify various project settings. It has a number of tab pages that varies
depending on the extensions included into the program.

8.1 General

The first tab page is used for general information about the
project, such as:
● Project name
● Name of the designer
● Project comment
● The name of the person who created the file
● The type of units used for this project. This can either
be imperial or metric units.
Illustration 8.1:
8.1: General project settings.
When changing the unit format the entire model will be
scaled to the new format. When switching from meters
to feet for example all dimensions are divided by 0.3048.

● The shade underwater option is used to draw submerged surface areas in a alternate color when viewing
the shaded hull, linesplan, plate developments, inclined hydrostatics and load cases. Note: Only surfaces
assigned to a layer that is included in the hydrostatics calculations is shaded this way.
● The save preview options is is used to store a small preview of the project in the file. This preview is
primarily used for browsing designs from the on-line design database on the DELFTship website.
● The simplify intersections option is more or less obsolete. When intersections such as stations are
calculated the can contain a large amount of points. This option removes points that do not substantially
contribute to the shape of the calculated curves, however in some rare occasions it might lead to
inaccurate curves. Only when file size is of importance it might be useful to use this option.

8.2 Main dimensions

The tab sheet to enter the main dimensions looks as shown on
illustration 8.2. The project length generally is the length
between perpendiculars for large ships or the waterline length
for pleasure craft.

The aft perpendicular is assumed to be located at x=0.0. The

forward perpendicular is located at the positive x-coordinate
that is equal to project length. (see also paragraph 4 on page
10).
Illustration 8.2:
8.2: Main dimensions.
Depending on the hydrostatics settings these dimensions are
used for calculating various hydrostatic coefficients such as the block coefficient. By default the midship location
lies at half the project length which is generally true for large ships. For some ships different values might be
specified.

The input values for the three draftmarks are optional and are only visible if the load cases extension is included
into the software. The longitudinal location of the three marks can be specified together with the local keel plate
thickness. This information is used to calculate the actual draft measured from the keel under heel and trim for
load cases.

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8.3 Hydrostatics
Tab page to modify all hydrostatics related settings, such as the relative density of the surrounding water and the
appendage coefficient . This is a factor normally used to
compensate for shell thickness and appendages such as the
rudder in the displacement calculation, usually in the range
1.005 - 1.010. The professional edition also has an input value
for the mean shellplate thickness. This is multiplied with the
wetted surface area to obtain the submerged volume of the
shell which is added to the displacement.

There's also a drop down box which can be used to specify how
hydrostatic coefficients, such as the block coefficient and
prismatic coefficient should be calculated. This can be done Illustration 8.3:
8.3: Hydrostatics settings.
using either the dimensions specified in the project page
(standard for large ships) or the actual dimensions of the submerged body (usually for yachts and small boats). In
the latter case the submerged length and beam varies with the draft.

The program is not able to check whether the specified length and beam are correct. If one or more incorrect
values have been specified the calculated coefficients mentioned above will also be incorrect!

Each time hydrostatic properties need to be calculated, the program checks if the direction of the normals of faces
is consistent. It also automatically corrects the direction if necessary. In some rare cases it is possible that the
normals point in the wrong direction after this check. If this is the case erroneous hydrostatic values are the result,
such as a negative volume and displacement. If this happens it is best to first disable the automatic surface check
and then manually correct the normals. When in doubt, always check the direction of normals manually by
selecting control faces (paragraph 9.6.2 on page 33). Hydrostatic properties will not be calculated once leak points
become submerged.

8.4 Critical points

The critical points page is optional. Critical points are points that deserve special consideration for stability
calculations. DELFTship features the following types of critical points:

● Marker. These are points of which the user

wants to know when they become submerged.
Markers have no effect on a ship's stability.
● Downflooding. Probably the most important
type of all. If a downflooding point is
submerged it means that the ship will flood
and sink. Downflooding points are used to
incorporate the location of openings in the
hydrostatics calculations. These can be
windows, doors, hatches, ventilation openings
etc. Another option is to connect a tank to the
sea water. If the point becomes submerged
the connected tank will be flooded. The actual
flooding of the tank is NOT incorporated into
the hydrostatics or stability calculations however. To achieve this a tank has to be made non-buoyant (see
paragraph 13.2.1.7 on page 57).
● Weathertight. Openings that are weathertight are very important for damage stability calculations and are
treated in a special way. If a damage case has been solved and one or more weathertight openings are
submerged in the equilibrium condition then the damage case is solved again but this time the connected
tanks will be flooded too. The process is repeated until the ship sinks or no other weathertight openings
become submerged in the equilibrium condition.

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 DELFTship

● Margin line. For use in the classical deterministic damage stability calculations.
● Deck line. These points are used to check the amount of freeboard or when the deck edge becomes
submerged in the stability calculations which is used in several stability criteria. See paragraph 11.11 on
page 46 for a detailed description on the use of stability criteria.
● Tank connection. This type of critical point is used to connect two tanks for use in the (probabilistic)
damage stability calculations. If the first tank is flooded and the water level rises above the location of the
critical point then the second tank will be flooded as well.

Critical points are primarily used in the extension for: cross curves, max VCG', the load cases and the probabilistic
damage stability. Each point needs a description to identify it and a location in 3D space. In addition you can use
the symmetry property if a critical point has a counterpart on the other side of the ship.

You can use the Windows Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V shortcuts to quickly copy properties of one critical point and apply it to
another.

8.5 Tanks.
On the tab page for tanks (optional) you can specify the
preferred use of tank names. If it is set to “abbreviation” then
the tank abbreviation is used throughout the program, else the
full name of the tank will be displayed.

8.6 Load cases Illustration 8.4:

8.4: Settings for tanks.
The load cases page is also optional. Several settings can be
altered. The most important of these are the heeling angles that are used to evaluate the stability while solving a
load case. For very large ships it is often not necessary to go beyond 60°, while for sailing yachts heeling angles
up to 180° are not uncommon. Only positive values are allowed
for the heeling angles and the first angle must be zero. The
more heeling angles are calculated the more accurate the
stability curve will be but how longer the entire calculation
process will take.
The program is able to automatically determine which side the
ship heels to, but it is also possible to force it to calculate
stability with a heel to either port or starboard.
Furthermore you can choose between a short version of the
load case report or the default extensive version. See Illustration 8.5:
8.5: Load case settings.
paragraph 14.2.6 on page 65 for more information about the
load case report.

8.7 Longitudinal strength

The longitudinal strength tab page (optional). For complex
vessels a huge number of weight items need to be evaluated in
order to calculate the shear force and bending moment. In the
report the results of the calculation are displayed on a regular
interval. A smaller interval yields more values. You can also
specify the maximum values for the sagging and hogging
moments.

Illustration 8.6:
8.6: Longitudinal strength.

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8.8 Probabilistic damage stability.

Illustration 8.7:
8.7: Probabilistic damage stability

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9. Edit options

9.1 Undo
This feature can be used to undo previous editing actions. DELFTship stores all actions into memory. When a new
file is read into memory, the undo data associated with the previous model is cleared.

9.2 Redo
Redo a action that has been undone with the undo command.

9.3 Delete
Use this to delete items that have been selected. The program first deletes all selected faces, then the edges and
finally the selected points. Any points or edges that remain unused after this process are deleted also.

If a point is deleted all attached faces and edges are deleted too. If an edge is deleted, any attached faces
will also be deleted. See paragraph 9.4.3 on page 29 on how to remove a point without deleting the
connected faces and edges. Paragraph 9.5.3 on page 32 shows how to remove an edge without deleting the
attached faces by using the edge collapse command.

Not only items from the surface geometry can be deleted this way but also markers, control curves, flowlines and
tanks.

9.4 Point

9.4.1 Add
Adds a new point in 3D space. The new point is by default located at the origin (0.0, 0.0, 0.0).
Adding new points is only enabled if the control net is visible.

9.4.2 Align
In the event that multiple points have been selected it is possible to align those points so that they form a straight
line. This is done by projecting all the selected points on the line that goes through the first and last selected point.
They are projected on the line rather than uniformly distributed to keep the displacement of the points minimal.
Additionally you can also choose to only modify certain coordinates of the points. For example: if you have
selected multiple control points forming the outer edge of a transom you should only adjust the X-coordinate in
order to put all the points in the same plane seen from the profile view. The shape of the transom as seen from the
back will in this particular case remain unaltered.

9.4.3 Collapse
This removes selected points without deleting the surrounding geometry. A point can only be collapsed if it is
attached to exactly two edges. The point is then removed, and the two edges are replaced by a single edge. If a
point is attached to more than 2 edges, the other edges need to be removed first by collapsing these edges as
explained in paragraph 9.5.3 on page 32. The process of collapsing a point is shown on illustration 9.1. Note that
the point that is to be collapsed is irregular since it has two faces connected to it and two edges. By collapsing the
point the number of points of the two attached faces is reduced to 4 and the control net is made more regular
making it easier to produce a fair hull surface.

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 DELFTship

Illustration 9.1:
9.1: Removing a point with the collapsing command.

9.4.4 Fair points

You can use the automatic fairing routine in DELFTship to fair the entire surface for you or only selected control
points. The automatic fairing routine will only affect internal points of the surface, points that are not located on
crease or boundary edges. These edges form feature lines on the hull that are generally very important for the
appearance. Therefore it is best to fair those points manually or automatically by using control curves (paragraph
9.7.2 on page 35). As the automatic fairing routine is called by the user the required points are shifted to a new
location in such a manner that the overall smoothness of the surface improves. By repeatedly using the command
a very smooth surface can be obtained but the deviation of the original surface might be significant. If this method
of fairing is applied to models with just a few control points the faired surface might differ considerably from the
original surface. This is caused by the fact that the area of influence of a control point decreases with the total
number of points. The solution to this is to subdivide the control net to increase the number of points before using
the automatic fairing algorithm. This process is described in paragraph 11.6 on page 44.

9.4.5 Plane intersection

The plane intersection algorithm intersects all visible edges with a plane. It inserts a new control point on each
edge that intersects that plane. Afterwards faces containing multiple newly inserted points will be split by inserting
a new edge. This is a convenient way to insert for example a whole range of points at a certain ordinate location.
There is also an option to add a control curve (paragraph 9.7.2 on page 35) to the newly created edges.
The type of plane (vertical, horizontal or transverse) can be specified as well as the location by entering the
desired distance into the dialog.

9.4.6 Intersect layers

You can use this option to find the intersecting curve of two layers. Obviously this option is disabled in the menu in
the event that the model only has one layer. All the edges of the first layer are checked for an intersection with the
faces of the second layer. If an intersection exists than the the intersection point is inserted on the edge. All
inserted points are connected with new edges which form the intersecting curve of the two layers. Remember that
only the first layer is affected by this entire operation, the second layer is left unmodified. Another thing to keep in
mind is that points are only inserted in edges, not in faces. Intersecting layers is useful for example to find the
intersection of the hull with a keel or rudder.

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9.4.7 Copy values

If multiple control points have been selected you can copy values from the first selected point to all the other
points. This way you can quickly assign all selected points the same X, Y or Z coordinate.

9.4.8 Lock points

All selected points will be locked. Locked points are shown as dark gray points on your screen and cannot be
modified. None of the available editing operations has any effect on locked points. This option will only be enabled
in the menus if at least one unlocked point is selected.

9.4.9 Unlock
Unlock points
This unlocks selected points that have previously been locked, so that they can be modified again. Again this
option is only enabled in the menus if at least one locked point has been selected

9.4.10 Unlock all points

All locked points in the model will be unlocked, whether they are selected or not.

9.4.11 From markers

markers
Extracts all points from the currently selected markers and adds these as control points to the subdivision surface.
These control points are not connected by edges or faces yet.

9.5 Edge

9.5.1 Extrude
The most used and preferred way to create new surfaces is by
extruding edges. Since an edge may only have a maximum of two
faces attached, only boundary edges are allowed to be extruded.
The selected edges are copied in the specified direction and new
faces are created between each old and new edge. The new faces
are assigned to the active layer (see paragraph 9.8.1 on page 36)

Illustration 9.2 shows how a deck is easily added by extruding the

sheerline. The three stages of the process are:

● Select the boundary edges that you want to extrude. Then

choose the edit => edge => extrude option from the
mainmenu. A window will show up requesting direction of
the extrusion. In the example the extrusion direction is
(0.0, -2.25, 0.02) meaning that a copy of all selected
edges will be created and moved 0.0 units in longitudinal
direction, -2.25 units in the transverse direction and 0.02
units upwards. Illustration 9.2:
9.2: Create a deck by extruding edges.
● The extrusion command creates new faces between each
original edge and its copy. These new faces will be
assigned to the active layer.
● After moving the newly created edges to the centerline the deck is finished.

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9.5.2 Split
Selected edges are split by inserting a new point in the middle. After this
operation all newly created points are selected. This is a convenient way
to insert new edges. In that case multiple edges can be selected and split
in two. All selected points belonging to the same face may then be split by
inserting a new edge. The image to the right shows two selected edges
before and after the split. Note that this way a face consisting of 6 points
is created, resulting in an irregular mesh (see paragraph 3.4 on page 9).
The two selected points should preferably be connected, thus splitting the
face in two regular faces. This ensures a more regular grid and a
smoother surface.

Illustration 9.3:
9.3: Inserting points on an edge.
9.5.3 Collapse
Collapsing an edge removes the edge and combines the two attached
faces into one new face. Since edge collapsing requires two faces it can
only be applied to internal edges and not to edges on the surface
boundary.

9.5.4 Insert
A face can be divided by inserting an edge. To do this at least two points
have to be selected. Both points must share the same face, and no edge
is allowed to already exist between the selected points. To ensure a fair
surface it is recommended to extend inserted edges as those seen on
illustration 9.4 to a crease or boundary edge if possible.

Illustration 9.4:
9.4: Inserting an edge.

9.5.5 Crease
Setting selected edges as
crease-edges allows the
user to add knuckle lines
to the hull. The crease
property of boundary
edges cannot be
changed, they are by
default treated as crease
edges. Illustration 9.5
shows how a hard chine
is created. To the left the
model without the chine is
visible. To the right the
yacht with the new
knuckle line is displayed. Illustration 9.5:
9.5: Creating knucklelines.
In this specific example
the knuckle line runs over
the full length of the hull. This is not absolutely necessary, knuckle lines may run freely over the surface.

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9.6 Face

9.6.1 New
Creates a new face from selected points. These points have to be selected in the correct order.

9.6.2 Invert
This option can be used to manually flip the direction of normals of selected faces to the other side in case the
automatic surface check has failed. All surface normals should point outwards, in the direction of the water. The
normals of a face can be visualized by selecting the specific face. Make sure that both interior edges and normals
are made visible in your display settings (see chapter 10). Each displayed normal is calculated as the average
normal in a point of the refined subdivision mesh. This average is calculated from all faces surrounding that point.
Along the boundary of an edge sharing two faces with opposite normal directions, this may seem a bit peculiar as
can be seen on the left side of illustration 9.6. The normals along these boundaries look as if they are projected on
the surface. The right side of the illustration shows the normals after the face has been inverted and they normals
face the right direction.

Illustration 9.6:
9.6: Manually inverting the direction of face normals.

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 DELFTship

9.7 Curve

9.7.1 General information about control curves

curves and fairing.
fairing.
To have a better control over the shape of the surface, control curves can be added to the model. These control
curves are assigned to edges, and after each subdivision step the newly created edge-points are not only inserted
into the surface but also into the curve. This ensures that the control curves are always exactly embedded in the
surface. If the display of curvature plots is enabled from the display menu then selected control curves will be
drawn including their curvature plot. This curvature plot is updated in real-time if one of the control points of the
curve is moved making it an excellent fairing tool. If the curvature plot is interpreted and used correctly it is
possible to produce a perfectly fair surface provided the surface contains no irregular points (see paragraph 3.4 on
page 9). Bumps or dents in the surface that are normally too small to be seen on screen with the naked eye are
easily identified. Control curves are especially useful for fairing knuckle lines on the hull, such as the deck line,
profile, and chines but they can also be used for fairing internal edges.

So what is curvature anyway? The curvature of a curve can be defined as follows:

the rate of change (at a point) of the angle between a curve

and a tangent to the curve

In other words, the curvature is a measure for how strongly a curves changes in a point. It shipbuilding it is
important that fair lines are produced where the curvature changes gradually along that curve.

Illustration 9.7 shows a control

curve in the aft part of a container
ship. To the left the control curve is
shown in blue, while to the right the
control curve is show in a selected
state (yellow) together with it's
curvature plot (fuchsia). The
straight parts of the curve have zero
curvature. If you travel along the
curve from the bottom to the
direction of the deck, first the curve
starts bending to the left. In this
area the curvature is positive. At a
height of about 2.5 meters the
curve starts bending to the right,
here curvature becomes negative.
A little bit further along the curve it
bends to the left again, so the
curvature becomes positive.

So how is this information

translated into the curvature plot? Illustration 9.7:
9.7: Control curve with curvature plot.
At regular intervals on the curve the
curvature is calculated and drawn as a line, perpendicular to the curve. The length of this line segment is
proportional to the magnitude of the curvature in that point. If the curvature is negative the line is drawn on the
opposite site of the curve. Whereas the absolute value of the curvature in a point is generally not that interesting,
the way it changes along the curve is. This is a measure of the fairness of the curve. You don't want abrupt
changes in the curvature plot, it should vary as smoothly as possible. And very often, especially with small boats
and yachts, a change of the sign of the curvature as seen in the image above is highly undesirable. Illustration 9.8
shows an example of a control curve from a sailing yacht. The upper part of the image shows a poorly faired curve.

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 DELFTship

We see a change of the curvature sign in an area where it obviously should not occur, followed shortly after by a
sudden peak. The lower half of the image shows the same control curve after being faired using the automatic
fairing tool for curves. The curvature now
changes gradually and the curve is very
smooth.

One thing to bear in mind is that the

curvature at the first and the last point of
the curve is always zero. The curve has
unclamped end conditions that correspond
with a natural wooden spline batten that
has no moment forced upon its ends. This
can be seen by the way the curvature plot
coincides with the end points of the curve
because the curvature drops to zero.

Control curves are easier to fair if the

points are spaced more or less evenly
along the curve and are regular whenever
Illustration 9.8:
9.8: Control curves of a sailing yacht.
possible. The less points a curve has, the
easier it is to produce a good running
smooth curve.

9.7.2 New
To add a new control curve first select a number of connected edges. (This is easier when you hold the control key
on your keyboard pressed down when selecting an edge with the mouse) Subsequently it is possible to create and
assign a control curve to these edges. Only one curve can be assigned to each edge. If the new curve is not
shown on the screen, make sure that control curves are made visible in your display settings.

9.7.3 Fair
The automatic fairing routine for control curves can be used to quickly let the program fair the points for you. All the
points defining the curve are distributed and moved in 3D to produce a better faired curve. The deckline from
illustration 9.9 was faired by using the command several times. Note that the curve has changed at the bow area
also. To avoid this you can lock the points which you don't want to be affected by the fairing routine.

Illustration 9.9:
9.9: Deckline before and after applying the automatic fairing routine.

9.7.4 Convert to marker

This option is only enabled if one or more control curves are selected. It converts the control curves into a marker
for future reference and to visualize or track changes made to the model. See also paragraph 11.8 for more
information on markers.

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 DELFTship

9.8 Layer

9.8.1 General layer information.

information.
The hull created with DELFTship consists of only 1 mathematical surface, even if the model contains multiple
isolated layers or faces. When modeling it is often desirable to divide the model into different parts with different
properties, such as for example the color. Therefore layers have been implemented into the program. A layer is
nothing else than a container that groups faces together that share the same properties.

There must always be at least one layer in your model, and also
one layer that is marked as active. Each time a new face is added
to the model it will be assigned to the active layer. You can identify
which layer is active by looking at the layer toolbar at the top of the
screen (illustration 9.10) It contains a list of all layers, and only if no
faces are selected it displays the name of active layer. You can
modify which layer is active when no faces are selected by simply
selecting another layer from the drop down list in your toolbar.

If the event that faces have been selected there are two
possibilities:
Illustration 9.10:
9.10: Layer toolbar showing the active layer.

● All selected faces belong to the same layer. In that case

the name of that layer is shown, even if it is not the active layer.
● The selected faces belong to different layers. No layer name is shown in the toolbar at all, it will be blank.

By selecting a layer from the list with layers while faces are selected, all the selected faces will be removed from
their current layer and assigned to this selected layer.

9.8.2 Active layer color

Modify the color of the active layer. This color is also visible in the toolbar, right next to the drop-down list
containing the layer names.

9.8.3 Auto group

This extracts groups of faces which are totally surrounded by crease edges. Then each group of faces is assigned
to a new layer. If no faces are selected, every visible layer will be processed, otherwise only the selected faces.
DELFTship tries to save as much of the present layer information as possible. If a set of faces is extracted, and
they already belong to the same layer then this layer is left undisturbed. Auto grouping is enabled in the menus
only if the display of interior edges is switched on.

9.8.4 New
Add a new and empty layer to the model, and make it the active layer.

9.8.5 Delete empty

Only enabled if the model contains at least two layers, one of which is empty. All empty layers are removed from
the model. This also includes the active layer if it is empty. At least one layer will remain as the active layer, even if
that layer is empty.

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 DELFTship

9.8.6 Dialog
This brings up the window where
you can view and modify all the
layers. The following layer
properties can be modified:

● Description. The layer

name is displayed in the
leftmost column.
DELFTship does not
Illustration 9.11:
9.11: Layer properties.
require the layer name to
be a unique name, since
all layers are identified by an internal unique identification number. Some CAD programs however, such as
Autocad, do not allow spaces in the name of a layer or duplicate names. Exporting to such a program can
cause problems if layers with identical names are used. It is therefore advisable to always use unique
descriptions when naming layers.
● Visibile. These check boxes indicate whether the corresponding layer is visible or not. Click on the check
box to turn the layer on or off. Points or edges from the control net belonging to invisible layers are also
hidden, which makes modeling of complex models easier.
● Symmetric. The free version of DELFTship does only support asymmetrical layers that do not contribute
the hydrostatic calculations. In addition the professional version allows the use of asymmetrical layers
provided that those layers are completely (physically) separated from any symmetrical layers in your
model.
● Color. The layer color is used for drawing the model. It is also used in the linesplan and for plate
developments. The color of a layer can be modified by clicking the small button displayed in the color
rectangle. A window is opened from which a new color can be chosen.
● Transparency. Sometimes it is nice to shade certain surfaces (partially) transparent, such as windows.
The amount of transparency can be modified in the range from 0 (totally solid) to 255 (invisible). Note that
transparent shading might consume a lot of memory and significantly slow down the shading process.
Since normal Z-buffer shading or plain alpha blending produces strange artifacts, the only way to do this
properly is by keeping track of all surfaces covering a particular pixel on the screen and then drawing all
these surfaces from the back to the front. This process uses extra memory and CPU time, but apart from
being a bit slower it should not pose any real problems.
● Hydrostatics. DELFTship uses the faces of the subdivision mesh for hydrostatic calculations (see
paragraph 15.3 on page 71) It calculates the volume enclosed by these faces. Sometimes however the
surface contains faces that should not be included in the hydrostatic calculations. This is particularly the
case if the faces of a layer do not form an enclosed volume, but only a bounded surface, such as a sail for
example. If a sail were to be included in the calculations, DELFTship would calculate the volume aft of the
sail (if it is submerged) as a volume. Since this volume extends to infinity (there is no backside surface
present) it would introduce an error. So specific layers can be excluded from the calculations. See also
paragraph 11.1 on page 43 for more information concerning leak points.
● Intersection curves. This property tells the program if a layer should be used when intersection curves
are calculated. For complex models it is often convenient to display stations, buttocks, waterlines and
diagonals of the hull only, and not for the deck, superstructure etc. This setting has no influence on the
hydrostatics.
● Developable. Developable hulls are of particular interest to shipbuilders since they can be build from flat
plates which are only bend in one direction. Most hulls are not developable since the surface is curved in
two directions (called compound curvature). Developable layers can be shaded differently. Developable
areas of these layers are colored green while areas which are not developable are colored red. This is a
convenient way to visually check if a hull is indeed developable. Illustration 9.12 shows an example of a
developable tug. It can immediately be seen by the green color that almost the entire hull is developable.
Just a few very small spots in the topside and a larger area in front at the bottom are colored red. Those
very small spots are mostly numeric errors (DELFTship uses a very small tolerance). The larger red
bottom area however is not developable from a mathematical point of view. Developable hulls are often
made of plywood, which is far easier to bend than metal as a result of different material properties. In

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 DELFTship

reality layers that are “almost” developable can perfectly

be build using plywood, whereas the same hull build of
metal requires “torturing” the metal to get it into shape.
Developable layers can be unfolded (or developed) by the
program onto a flat plane for building purposes. This will
be explained in paragraph 15.8 on page 74.
● Loadcases. If this option is enabled the layer will be
drawn in the optional loadcases extension and the
inclined hydrostatics extension. By excluding some layers
you can have a better view on the model. This setting will
not affect hydrostatic calculations.
● Linesplan. Sometimes a layer contains items you don't
want to be seen in the linesplan and it should be
excluded. Be aware though that the scale of items in the Illustration 9.12:
9.12: Developable areas.
linesplan is also determined by the intersection curves. If
a layer would contain a sail, and the intersection curves
property is checked, intersection curves of this sail would still be calculated and seen in the linesplan, even
if the sail as a surface is not being drawn. Therefore it is best if you want to hide layers from this view to
also disable calculating intersection curves from those layers.
● Density. The relative density (compared to fresh water) of the material for a particular layer, for examply
7.8 for steel.
● Thickness. The thickness of the surface. This value is only used for weight calculations, so stations for
example are not corrected for the shell thickness of the hull. By combining the surface area, thickness and
density the approximate weight can be calculated. This weight is displayed in the design hydrostatics
report (paragraph 15.3 on page 71) together with the center of gravity for each layer.

The black up and down arrows in the tool bar can be used to move a selected layer up or down in the list.
Developable layers will appear in the same order in the window with developed panels as displayed in this list.

In the layer dialog you can use Ctrl-C to copy all the properties of the selected layer. By pressing Ctrl-V these
properties can be quickly pasted to another layer.

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 DELFTship

10. Display
This chapter deals with the various display settings that are available in
DELFTship. Please not that some of the settings are optional, depending
on the purchased extensions.

10.1 Controlnet
The controlnet is the combination of all points and edges that form the
initial subdivision mesh. These are the entities that can be manipulated
Illustration 10.1:
10.1: Controlnet
by the user to shape the surface. If all the faces attached to a certain
point or edge belong to layers which are turned off, it will not be drawn on
the screen. That way only the points or edges of interest will be shown.

10.2 Control curves

Control curves are curves that are assigned to edges of the controlnet and are used to fair the surface (see
paragraph 9.7.1 on page 34). The visibility of these control curves is not depending on the visibility of the
controlnet. In fact, selecting and manipulating control curves is often easier if the control net is not visible. Points
and edges assigned to a control curve automatically become visible whenever a control curve is selected, all other
points will remain hidden.

10.3 Interior edges

The interior edges are in fact the edges of the subdivided surface. The
higher the precision is set, the more edges are shown. The interior edges
are drawn in the color of the layer they are assigned to. You can select a
face by clicking on one of the interior edges of that face.

Illustration 10.2:
10.2: Interior edges.

10.4 Show both sides

Since most surfaces are symmetrical with respect to the center plane, only
the portside of the hull is modeled and symmetrical surfaces are virtually
mirrored by the software to reduce the modeling time. If less information is
shown it is easier to select a point, edge or face. Both sides can be shown
however so that the designer has a good impression of what the entire
model looks like. Not only the surface is drawn symmetrical, also the
intersection curves, flowlines, control curves etc. Showing both sides of the
hull is possible in both wireframe view and shaded views.

10.5 Grid Illustration 10.3:

10.3: Show both sides of the
model.

If intersection curves are added to the model it is possible to have a grid

displayed that marks the location of these intersection curves. It is visible in wireframe and shaded mode and next
to each line its distance to the origin is printed. In addition the baseline, centerline and design waterline are also
indicated. The grid is visible in all views except for the perspective view. It is displayed regardless of the display
settings of the intersection curves. The same grid is also visible in the linesplan. See illustration 10.4 for an
example.

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 DELFTship

Illustration 10.4:
10.4: Grid of stations, buttocks and waterlines.

10.6 Stations
Use this setting to modify the display of stations. If no stations have been added to the model the option will be
disabled in the menus.

10.7 Buttocks
Use this setting to modify the display of buttocks. If no buttocks have been added to the model the option will be
disabled.

10.8 Waterlines
Use this setting to modify the display of waterlines. If no waterlines have been added to the model the option will
be disabled in the menus.

10.9 Diagonals
Use this setting to modify the display of diagonals. If no diagonals have been added to the model the option will be
disabled.

10.10 Hydrostatic features

DELFTship also provides the option to plot some key hydrostatic values in the model for the design draft.
These are:

● Displacement and center of buoyancy

● Center of flotation
● Lateral area and center of effort
● Transverse metacentric height
● Curve of sectional areas. Contrary to the other values
this curve is only plotted in the profile view of the hull.
Illustration 10.5:: Hydrostatic features.
Illustration 10.5 Hydrostatic features.
Of course these values can only be displayed if the model is
consistent enough to calculate the hydrostatics, meaning that
if the model contains leak points below the water plane no values will be calculated or displayed. The values are
updated in real-time when the model is being modified. You can specify which data you want the program to show
in the project settings window (see paragraph 8.3 on page 26)

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 DELFTship

10.11 Critical points

Critical points can also be displayed in all views. See paragraph 8.4 on page 26 for more information regarding
critical points. The display option for critical points is optional for the professional version of the software.

10.12 Leak points only

By enabling this display option all regular control points will be
hidden from the control net so only points from the model that are
considered “leak” by the program will be drawn. This makes it
easier to identify points restraining the hydrostatic calculations.
Paragraph 11.1 on page 43 covers leak points in detail.

Illustration 10.6:
10.6: Only the leak points of the model are
10.13 Flowlines displayed.

The flowlines that are displayed by DELFTship are calculated

through analysis of the surface geometry only and have nothing to do with CFD. This is a huge simplification since
speed, pressure and waves are excluded from the calculation. Despite this simplification the flowlines show a
remarkable resemblance with those calculated with CFD
programs at low speeds, but they only are meant to give the
designer an impression of how the water will approximately flow.
Real CFD calculations are of course much more accurate and
reliable.

Flowlines are added by keeping the alt-button pressed and

clicking with the mouse on a point below the waterline (profile,
plan or body plan view only). This point is used as the origin of
the flowline. From there the flow is traced as far as possible to Illustration 10.7:
10.7: Flowlines.
the stern until it penetrates the design waterline.

Flowlines are only traced along surfaces that belong to a layer that is also used for hydrostatic calculations
(generally the shell of the hull). The image above shows some flowlines at the bow of a hull with a bulb fitted. The
background image shows the results obtained from a CFD calculation. The small black lines represent the
direction of the flow as calculated with CFD, the blue curves are the flowlines calculated by DELFTship. Flowlines
can be selected and deleted like any other geometry.

Areas on the surface where flowlines are converging to each other are high pressure areas whilst areas
where the flowlines diverge are low-pressure areas.

10.14 Normals
If this option is switched on, normals of faces that have been selected are displayed. These normals are drawn as
thin white lines, pointing either inward or outward the hull (illustration 9.6). This display option is disabled if the
display of interior is set to false (paragraph 10.3 on page 39). A normal is drawn at each interior point of the
subdivision surface. The higher the precision is set, the more normals are drawn.

10.15 Curvature
This option enables or disables the drawing of the curvature plot of control curves and certain intersection curves.
Only of intersection curves which appear checked in the intersection dialog (paragraph 15.1 on page 70) the
curvature will be plotted.

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10.16 Markers
Markers are curves that are added to the model as a reference. For example the body plan of an existing design
could be imported as markers. Stations could then be added to the DELFTship model at the same location as the
markers. Finally the points can be dragged until the stations and the markers are exactly on top of each other. In
that case the DELFTship hull matches the hull from the existing design. For more information on markers please
read paragraph 11.8 on page 44.

10.17 Marker points.

Sometimes markers contain so many points that displaying these points obscures the marker or even the model.
In other cases you're only interested in the shape of the markers, not the points used to model the markers. To that
purpose the marker points can be hidden from view. Note that this option is only enabled in the menus if the
display of markers is set to true. (see also the previous paragraph).

10.18 Tanks
Enables/disables the drawing of tanks. If the model contains tanks and a number of modifications to the hull have
to be performed it is better to turn of the displaying of tanks. Otherwise all tanks have to be rebuild after each hull
modification which can be time consuming.

10.19 Sounding pipes

Display sounding pipes of tanks (only enabled if the model contains tanks and the display of tanks is set to true).

10.20 Transparent tanks

Switch between solid shading of tanks or transparent shading.

10.21 Tank names

Display the names of tanks in the model.

10.22 Curvature scale

The scale of the curvature plot of control curves and intersection curves can be decreased by pressing the F9 key,
so that curves with high curvature can be evaluated. Pressing F10 increases the curvature scale.

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11. Tools

11.1 Check model

DELFTship can check the model for any inconsistencies, and corrects most of them automatically. This check is
also performed each time hydrostatics are calculated, unless automatic checking is disabled in the project settings
(paragraph 8.3 page 26) . First of all the surface is checked for any disjoint segments. Then each segment is
checked for a consistent direction of the face normals. If not, it adapts those faces. Next the lowest point of each
isolated surface segment is identified. For conventional ships this usually is the bottom. If this is indeed a point on
the bottom then the average normal of this point should point down in order to face the water. Under this
assumption all faces are adapted such that the direction of their normal corresponds to the direction of the normal
of this particular point. In some rare cases this might cause the normals to point in the wrong direction. In that case
it is recommended to manually flip the normals to the correct side (see paragraph 9.6.2 on page 33) and to disable
automatic checking of the surface. This test also identifies edges with more than two faces attached. Secondly a
list of leak points is provided where the hull is considered leak. A point is considered “leak” if:

● It is not situated on the center plane, meaning that the y-coordinate of the point >0.0001.
● The point is situated on a boundary edge (An edge with only 1 face attached to it).

Note that for hydrostatic calculations an edge counts also as a boundary edge if two faces are
attached to it of which one is excluded from hydrostatic calculations. This could for example be the
case for a ship with a closed deck, from which the deck is put in a separate layer that is not included
in the hydrostatics calculations. In that case DELFTship keeps calculating until the deck line is
submerged. Also windows or any other none watertight surfaces could be treated similar.

It is important to realize that leak points are not actually always leak in the sense that they are always making
water. A leak point in DELFTship is a point that is potentially leak and only becomes actually leak if it is
submerged. So the presence of leak points does not always have to pose a problem, just as long as they are
not submerged.

If more then 10 leak points are found, only the first 10 are displayed. The points are shown sorted in increasing
height above the base plane.

Finally, if the test is called from the menu, an overview of corrected items and possible remaining errors is shown.

11.2 Move to baseline

In DELFTship the draft is always measured from the baseline. If the lower point of the hull does not coincide with
Z=0.0 the model can simply be moved to the correct vertical position with this command. The lowest point of all
layers that are included in the hydrostatics is calculated and the model is moved vertically such that this lowest
point will be on the baseline. Note that after this operation it is still possible that surfaces not included in the
hydrostatic calculation are located below the baseline.

11.3 Remove negative

Sometimes, after importing a hull the geometry of both sides of the ship is present. DELFTship only needs the port
side. This option removes all faces from the model that are completely on the starboard side.

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11.4 Remove unused points

Remove all points from the model that have no edge or faces connected to it.

11.5 Extract critical points

Extract control points from a selected set of control points and control edges. Rather than the position of the
control points the corresponding points on the surface are added to the list with critical points. A dialog is shown
where the user can specify the type and symmetry of the critical points he wants to add.
Note: This option is only visible in the menus if the critical points extension is included.

11.6 Subdivide controlnet

If a model contains too few control points you can subdivide the
controlnet to increase the number of points so more detailed
modeling can be performed. This is a global action however, so it
increases the number of points throughout the entire model. This
option can be particularly useful in combination with the automatic
fairing routine described in paragraph 9.4.4 on page 30.

Illustration 11.1:
11.1: Control net before and after subdividing.

11.7 Keel and rudder wizard

The keel and rudder wizard enables the user to quickly define a
keel or rudder with a predefined planform. You can select the
desired wing section from a list of standard NACA sections. The
keel or rudder is show in 3D along with it basic properties such as
aspect ratio, volume, center of buoyancy etc. Once the keel or
rudder is complete it can be exported in two ways. Using the “send”
button it is inserted at the current DELFTship model at the origin.
Using the “save as part” button it can be saved to a file as a
DELFTship part which can be imported in other designs. The
lift/drag tab shows an estimation for the lift and drag curves.
Illustration 11.2:
11.2: Keel and rudder wizard.

11.8 Markers
Markers are curves that can be added to the model as a reference. For example the offsets of another design can
be imported as markers. Then intersection curves can be specified at the same location as the offset data in
DELFTship. If the intersection curves coincide with the markers both models are exactly the same. Another use for
markers is to visually check the differences between two versions of a design. If you convert all stations to markers
before modifying the model then the difference between the markers and updated stations reflect the modifications
made to the design.

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11.8.1 Import
DELFTship can read the following file formats and convert the data
1
into markers: 0.000 0.000 0.150
0.856 0.000 0.048
1.884 0.000 -0.046
● Autocad DXF files (*.dxf). The files need to be in Autocad 3.939 0.000 -0.158 KNUCKLE
R12 format. Only lines, polylines arcs and circles are 4.966 0.000 -0.184
imported as markers. 5.994 0.000 -0.195
8.049 0.000 -0.192
● IGES files (*.igs, *.iges). The following entities are 9.590 0.000 -0.163
imported as markers: 10.618 0.000 -0.122
11.645 0.000 -0.059
● NURB curves (entity 126) 13.700 0.000 0.150
● DELFTship marker files (*.mrk). This native file format is
-0.771 0.000 1.056
meant to exchange markers between different (versions of) 0.685 0.662 0.844
designs. 2.398 1.219 0.666
4.110 1.536 0.565
● Text files (*.txt). If you need a different way to import 5.822 1.664 0.524
markers you can specify the data yourself in a text file. The 7.535 1.672 0.522
9.248 1.575 0.553
file should meet the following format: 10.960 1.300 0.640 KNUCKLE
• The first line of the file must either be a 0 (zero) or a 12.672 0.795 0.802
1. A zero indicates that all coordinates are in meters 14.471 0.000 1.056

while a one indicates that the coordinates are in -0.053 0.000 1.683
feet. 0.856 0.421 1.498
2.911 1.071 1.211
• Each curve is defined by a sequence of X,Y and Z 4.966 1.375 1.077
coordinates separated by at least 1 space. 7.021 1.436 1.050
9.076 1.344 1.090
• You can optionally add the word “KNUCKLE” after 11.131 0.989 1.247
the z coordinate to introduce a knuckle point in the 13.186 0.272 1.563
13.753 0.000 1.683
curve.
• The end of a curve is indicated by an empty line EOF
after the last coordinate.
• The last line in the file should be 'EOF' (use
capitals). The following is an example of a file containing 3 longitudinal curves.

11.8.2 Export
All available marker curves are exported to a file in the native file format of DELFTship. This file has the
extension .mrk and can be imported into other designs.

11.8.3 Delete
This deletes all markers from the model. It speaks for itself that this option is disabled if there are no markers
added to the model.

11.9 Add box

Use this option to add a box shaped volume to your model, for example to represent a superstructure or even as a
starting point for a new hull. The box can be added to either the currently active layer or to a new layer.

11.10 Add cylinder

Lets you add a cylinder to the model. You can specify the start point, endpoint, radius and number of points in the
window that appears. The points are calculated in such a way that the resulting surface has the required
properties, even though the points are located outside the cylinder. The minimum number of points that can be
used to form the cylindrical shape is 4, however 6 or more is recommended. You can use the cylinder for example
to add a bow thruster to your model. Optionally the cylinder can be added to the currently active layer or to a new
layer.

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11.11 Edit criteria

The professional version of DELFTship includes a list with default stability criteria. Those criteria are programmed
in such a way that it's relatively easy for the user to create his own set if for some reason the included criteria are
not sufficient or applicable. A set of stability criteria must always be selected in order to calculate load cases or to
perform the max vcg' calculations. There are two different ways to open the window with stability criteria:

1. Through the load case tab from the project settings window (see paragraph 8.6 on page 27). This is
correct way if you want to select a set of criteria for your project or if you want to modify settings of the
already selected project criteria. The selected criteria for your project will be stored in the project file.
Modifications the the criteria other than the project criteria are not saved to file and will be lost.
2. By using the “Edit criteria” option from the main menu. This allows you to modify (and save) the list with
criteria for future use. No modifications are made to the the selected set of criteria from your currently
open project since those criteria are stored in the project file rather than the criteria list.

Illustration 11.3 shows the stability criteria

window. The criteria tree to the left of the
window allows you to group criteria
together any way you like using so called
“sections”. By selecting a criterion or a set
of criteria it will become active and its
properties are displayed to the right. All
criteria or sections can have a lock
displayed next to them in the tree.
Depending on the color of this lock it has
the following meaning:
● Yellow: The selected item or its
children are not locked in any way
and can be freely modified.
Possible input fields in the grid to
the right are displayed in white.
● Gray: The selected set or criterion
Illustration 11.3:
11.3: Stability criteria window.
is locked. It can still be modified
by the user after unlocking it.
Locking or unlocking is simply done by clicking on the lock with the left mouse button. You can lock or
unlock a individual criterion, but if you lock the parent section of a criterion than all underlying items will
also be locked. All input fields will be displayed in gray to indicate they can not be modified. You can not
unlock an item if its parent is still locked without unlocking this parent first.
● Blue: These are special items that are frozen. These items can not be unfrozen, unlocked or modified in
any way, not even deleted. However it is possible to create a copy of those items which can be unlocked
and modified.

Besides the lock an additional image is drawn in some cases:

● Each criterion has a light bulb displayed next to it. If the light bulb is yellow the criterion will be drawn in the
stability curve. If it is white then the criterion will not be visible in the graph of the stability curve. Note that
this setting only affects the appearance of the stability curve, it does not exclude a criterion from the test
that checks whether a set of criteria complies or not.
● A section can have only the lock displayed or another additional image that resembles a stability curve. In
the first case the section contains other sections or is empty. In the second case the image indicates that
the section is in fact a valid set of criteria that can be selected for a project. If the image with the stability
curve is not displayed then the section can not be selected as project criteria!

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DELFTship distinguishes the following objects that can be used in the process of making your own set of stability
criteria:

11.11.1 Section
A section is a container for other sections or criteria. If a
section contains other sections it is no longer considered a
selectable set of criteria any more.
The parameters of a section that can be modified are:
● Description. The description should be chosen
carefully as it is displayed in the reports of load case
and max vcg' calculations. The description can be
modified by modifying the description text in the
criteria tree.
● Valid for. This additional line of text is displayed also
in the reports and should indicate to what type of
vessels the criteria are applicable.
● Desired units for output. This input field makes it
possible to switch between the type of units used for Illustration 11.4:
11.4: Parameters for a section.
input and output of values for the underlying criteria. If
the selected section does not represent a selectable set than this parameter remains hidden.

11.11.2 Freeboard
The freeboard criterion is used to check if a minimum amount
of freeboard is achieved. In order to be able to check the
freeboard a sufficient number of critical points of the deck line
type must be specified. The calculated freeboard is the
smallest distance of any of the deck line points to the water
plane. The following parameters may be specified:
● Required value. The minimum required value for the
freeboard.

Illustration 11.5:
11.5: Freeboard criterion.

11.11.3 Equilibrium angle.

This criterion is used to check if the equilibrium angle does not
exceed a specified value.
The following parameters may be specified:
● Required value. The maximum allowed heeling angle
for the equilibrium state.

Illustration 11.6:
11.6: Equilibrium angle.

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11.11.4 Combined heel and trim angle.

For small barges containing lifting equipment a requirement
can be that the combined angles for heel and trim are not
allowed to exceed a certain value. The following parameters
may be specified:
● Required value. The maximum allowed value for the
sum of the heeling and trim angles in the equilibrium
state.

Illustration 11.7:
11.7: Combined heel and trim angle.

11.11.5 Area under the GZ curve

This is a very frequently used criterion which calculates the
area under the GZ curve between two heeling angles.
The following parameters may be specified:
● The lower angle. This can either be a user defined
angle, the equilibrium angle or both. In case both are
to used the greater of the two angles is chosen.
● The upper angle can be a combination of a user
defined angle, the downflooding angle (if critical
points have been specified), the angle of vanishing
stability and the angle at which the maximum GZ
occurs. If more than one angle is selected then the
lowest value is used for the upper angle. Illustration 11.8:
11.8: Area under the GZ curve criterion.
● Required area varies with angle of max GZ. Most of
the times the required area is a constant value. Sometimes however the required area depends on the
angle of maximum GZ. In that case 4 values must be
specified:
● A lower limit heeling angle
● The corresponding required area at this angle
● An upper limit heeling angle
● The corresponding required area at this angle
If the angle of max. GZ is smaller than the lower limit
angle the lower limit area is used (yellow area from
illustration 11.9). If the angle of max. GZ is larger
than the upper limit angle then the required area
corresponding to the upper limit is used (green area).
In case the angle at which max. GZ occurs is in
between the two defined limits then the required area
is obtained by linear interpolating between the two
defined required areas (gray area).

Illustration 11.9:
11.9: Required area under the GZ curve varies.

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11.11.6 Value of max. GZ

This criterion calculates the maximum value of the GZ curve
between two limiting angles.
● The lower limit can be a user defined angle, the
equilibrium angle or the greater of both.
● The upper limit is a heeling angle defined by the user,
the downflooding angle, the angle corresponding to
the first peak in the GZ curve or the smallest value of
those angles in case a combination of multiple values
is used.
● Heeling moment. In addition you can select a heeling
moment criterion if the set contains such a criterion.
In that case the GZ is corrected by subtracting the
heeling arm and the remaining value is used to test if
this criterion complies.
● The final parameter is the required value for the Illustration 11.10:
11.10: Input parameters for the “Value of max. GZ”
criterion that must be met. Normally this is a constant criterion.
value. According to some regulations however the
required minimum value for GZ depends on the angle of vanishing stability according to the following
formula: GZRequired = C1-C2*ϕV where:
C1 = a constant.
C2 = a multiplier for the angle of vanishing stability. When set to zero the required value will be
equal to C1.
ΦV = the angle of vanishing stability (in radians).
Additionally you can specify the lower and upper limit to
be used for the angle of vanishing stability.

11.11.7 Angle of max. GZ

Besides the maximum value of the GZ curve also the heeling
angle at which this maximum value occurs is an important
criterion. By default the full range of the curve is evaluated
however by modifying the following settings you can limit this
range:
● First peak in the GZ curve. The part after the fist peak
is ignored even if the GZ curve rises again after this
first peak.
● Downflooding value. The curve is evaluated up to the Illustration 11.11:
11.11: Input parameters for the "Angle of max. GZ"
criterion
downflooding angle.
● The lesser angle of the two is used if both are
parameters are chosen.

11.11.8 Metacentric height

This is a relatively simple criterion with only a few parameters:
● User defined heeling angle. If this option is enabled
then the GM is calculated for the user defined heeling
angle. If disabled the equilibrium angle is being used.
● Heeling angle. The user defined heeling angle
described above.
● Required value. The value of GM that must be met.
Illustration 11.12:
11.12: Input parameters for the "Metacentric
height"criterion

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11.11.9 GM in damaged condition.

This criterion is used to use the GM values from the damage
stability calculations as an extra constraint for the minimum
required GM values. The following parameters can be
specified:

● Partial draft. The partial draft according to the

regulations for (probabilistic) damage stability.
● Minimum GM'. The Minimum required value for GM
for the partial draft.
● Summer draft. The summer draft.
● Minimum GM'. The Minimum required value for GM
for the summer draft.
Illustration 11.13:
11.13: GM in damaged condition.

11.11.10 Wind heeling criterion

The wind heeling criterion is a complicated criterion with a lot
of parameters. This criterion is always used in combination
with a wind silhouette. If no silhouette is selected in the load
case or max VCG' calculations then the criterion will not be
met. Summarized the criterion calculates the heeling angle
caused by a static wind pressure. Then it is assumed the hull
rolls back to a certain angle due to the action of waves. Finally
a wind gust is applied to the ship and the area between the
wind gust heeling arm and the GZ curve is calculated. The
area left of the wind gust equilibrium angle (14.2o on
illustration 13.5) is called “Area A” while the area to the right is
called “Area B”.
The settings that can be adjusted for this criterion are:

● Wind speed. Wind speed in knots.

● Drag coefficient CD. The default value for CD according
Illustration 11.14:
11.14: Input parameters for the wind heeling criterion.
to the IMO is 1.220. The formula to calculate the
2
windpressure on the silhouette is 0.5*g*ρ*CD*V
where:
g is the gravitational acceleration
ρ is the density of air.
CD is the drag coefficient of the projected silhouette.
V is the windspeed in m/sec.
● Cosinus power. The formula used to calculate the wind heeling moment for any given heeling angle is:
Mφ=M0*cos(φ)N where:

Mφ is the wind heeling moment at heeling angle φ

M0 is the wind moment in upright position.
N is the value for “cosinus power”. A value of 0 will result in a constant heeling moment for all
heeling angles as prescribed by the IMO. By setting this value to 1 the wind lever will be multiplied
with cos( φ)1. If set to 2 the lever will be multiplied with cos( φ)2.
● Wind gust multiplier. A factor to calculate the wind pressure of the wind gust relative to the static wind
pressure. The IMO prescribes 1.5 times the static wind pressure.
● Lateral CE at half draft. By default DELFTship calculates the heeling lever as the vertical height between
the center of effort of the wind area and the lateral center of effort. The latter is calculated exactly from the
wind silhouette. If this option is enabled the actual height of the lateral center of effort is replaced by the
ships half draft which is in most cases slightly lower.

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 DELFTship

● Area B is calculated from the wind gust equilibrium angle to an upper angle which can be a user defined
angle, the downflooding angle, the angle of the first peak in the GZ curve, the angle at which the maximum
GZ occurs or a combination. If multiple limits for the upper angle are specified then the lesser value will be
used.
● Use IMO rollback angle. The IMO offers a
formula that can be used to calculate the
rollback angle due to the action of waves. The
formula uses information automatically
extracted from the hull, such as LWL and CB for
example, but also the type of bilge and the
bilgekeel area which are stored in the wind
silhouette (see also paragraph 14.3 on page
68). If this option is selected the IMO formula for
the rollback angle is used, otherwise the user
must manually specify a rollback angle.
● Test for maximum static heeling angle. This
option should be enabled if the heeling angle
caused by the static wind pressure is not
allowed to exceed a certain maximum angle.
● Maximum allowed static heeling angle. The Illustration 11.15:
11.15: Wind heeling criterion AreaA and AreaB
actual value of the maximum allowed heeling
angle due to static wind.
● Test static angle against against deck immersion angle. This parameter limits the heeling angle as a
percentage of the deck immersion angle. The IMO uses a maximum allowable heeling angle of 80% of the
deck immersion angle for example.
● Max. allowed ratio static angle/deck immersion angle. Used in combination with the previous parameter.
This is the actual allowed ratio expressed as the maximum allowed heeling angle divided by the deck
immersion angle. The value must be in the range 0.0 -1.0 and is 0.80 for the IMO wind criterion.
● Ratio of AreaA/AreaB. Used in combination with the next parameter.
● Required ratio of areas. The area ratio is a dimensionless number calculated as Area A/Area B. As long as
the value for Area B is larger than the value calculated for Area A the ship has enough stability to recover
from the wind gust. If it is smaller than it will capsize.

11.11.11 Passenger crowding angle

Criterion for passenger vessels that tests whether the heeling
angle caused by putting all passengers a certain distance
from the centerline of the vessel does not exceed a maximum
heeling angle. The magnitude of the exerted heeling moment
depends on:
● The number of passengers the vessel was designed
for.
● Passenger weight. Average weight for each
passenger.
● Passenger location. You can choose between half the
beam of the ship (as specified in the project settings)
Illustration 11.16:
11.16: Input parameters for the "Passenger crowding"
or a user defined distance. criterion.
● Cosinus power. The formula used to calculate the
heeling moment for any given heeling angle is
Mφ=M0*cos(φ)N where
Mφ is the heeling moment at heeling angle φ
M0 is the upright heeling moment.
N is the value for “cosinus power”. A value of 0 will result in a constant heeling moment for all
heeling angles.
● Required value. The maximum heeling angle that is allowed.

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 DELFTship

11.11.12 High speed turning angle

The heeling angle caused by turning the ship at high speed is

also limited in some cases. The heeling moment is calculated
from:
● Service speed. The speed of the ship while turning.
This speed is in knots.
● Turning radius. The turning radius can be specified as
an absolute value or expressed in terms of the ships
length.
● The heeling lever. This can either be the height of
VCG above half the draft or a user specified value.
● A constant multiplier is used to increase or decrease
Illustration 11.17:
11.17: Parameters for the "High speed turning"
the heeling moment. criterion.
● Cosinus power. The formula used to calculate the
heeling moment for any given heeling angle is
Mφ=M0*cos(φ)N where
Mφ is the heeling moment at heeling angle φ
M0 is the upright heeling moment.
N is the value for “cosinus power”. A value of 0 will result in a constant heeling moment for all
heeling angles.
● Required value. The maximum heeling angle that is allowed.

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12. Transform
The transformation operations described paragraph 12.1, 12.2, 12.3 and 12.4 are intended to be used with a
selection. There are two different ways to create such a selection.

1. Select the items manually with the mouse

2. Select nothing. As soon as one of the commands below is chosen and no selection exists, the program
shows a window from which you can select the appropriate layers. Then the operation is performed on
the selected layers.

12.1 Scale
Scales (part of) the model. For this operation all selected points are assembled in a list together with all the points
that belong to selected edges and faces. If nothing is selected, a window is presented to the user from which entire
layers can be selected. If the checkbox at the bottom of this dialog is checked (the one saying: “include points that
are shared with unselected layers”) then a point is selected automatically if at least one attached face belongs to a
selected layer. If the checkbox is not checked, then a point is selected only if all the faces around it belong to
selected layer(s). If all the points of the model are selected, then not only is the hull scaled, but all other
information such as main particulars, intersection curves, tanks and critical points too.

12.2 Move
Moves (part of) the model. Works on points extracted from a selection, as described in paragraph 12.1.

12.3 Rotate
Rotates (part of) the model. Works on points extracted from a selection, as described in paragraph 12.1.

12.4 Mirror
In contrast to the previous transformation commands this one is based on
selected faces only, not points. First the faces need to be selected that must be
mirrored. Only then you can use the mirror command to create a mirrored copy
of the selected faces. The mirror plane can be either transverse (YZ plane),
horizontal (XY plane) or vertical (XZ plane). The distance of the mirror plane to
the origin must be specified in the distance field. The checkbox at the bottom of
the form tells the program if the mirrored points should be connected to already
existing points or not.

Illustration 12.1:
12.1: Mirror faces.

12.5 Hullform transformation

DELFTship has the ability to automatically adjust some hullform parameters. You can use two different types of
transformation:

● The hullform transformation method developed by Lackenby is used to transform the hull to match a
desired displacement or longitudinal center of buoyancy while maintaining fairness of your design. This is
done by shifting control points in the longitudinal direction. So the overall length of the design will be
different after the transformation. The window looks as shown in illustration 12.2.
● The midship coefficient transformation adjusts the shape of the hull so that a specified midship coefficient
is met. Note that after this transformation the displacement is also altered. If both the midship coefficient
and the displacement need to be modified it is advised to adjust the midship first before transforming the
hull to the desired displacement or center of buoyancy. The midship coefficient transformation might result
in a distorted deck line.

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 DELFTship

The input fields to the left are divided in 3

columns. The left column shows the current
values as calculated from the model. The middle
column shows the desired values which can be
modified by the user. Depending on which
transformation method is selected some input
fields can be disabled. The right column shows
the difference between the current and desired
values. The left and right column are updated
after each iteration so the progress can be
monitored.

Below these 3 columns the maximum number of

iterations that may be performed can be
modified. The default is 15, but sometimes more
iterations are needed to obtain the desired
result. This is specially true when a design has a
high prismatic coefficient in the aft ship, such as
planing motor craft, or when the midship
location is far from the usual place at Illustration 12.2:
12.2: Automatic hull form transformation.
0.5*Length.

The checkbox below that ensures that all windows of the program are updated after each iteration, so the progress
can be monitored in 3D.

As can been seen on illustration 12.3 is the bodyplan of the original hull displayed in black. If the transformation
was successful then the transformed bodyplan is displayed in red dashed lines on top of the original bodyplan to
visualize the difference between the original and transformed hull.

At the bottom of the window the original sectional area curve and design waterline are displayed, also in black.
Again the new sectional area curve and design waterline are displayed on top of these if the transformation was
successful. The dark gray dashed line is the location of the midship section as defined by the user in the project
settings. It is important to know that in contrast to the hydrostatics calculated elsewhere in the program here it is
calculated using ordinates, and not surface panels. This can cause a slight difference between the displacement
shown here and calculated elsewhere. A total of
82 ordinates is used to calculate the sectional
area curve and hydrostatics, 41 for the aft ship
and 41 for the fore ship.

Finally at the bottom-left corner all layers of the

model are shown. The transformation is only
applied to the layers that have a check mark
next to them. As stated previously the
transformation consists of shifting control points
longitudinally, so the location of for example a
keel, centerboard or cabin is also likely to
change. By excluding layers from the
transformation they remain unchanged, but it
may result in a distorted or unfair model if the
model was transformed excessively.

Illustration 12.3:
12.3: Hull after transformation of displacement.

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13. Tanks

13.1 General information about tanks

Tanks are modeled as 3D volumes and described by surfaces, just like the
hull shape. The biggest advantage of this is that a higher accuracy is
obtained, especially when the volume of a tank is calculated under trim and
heel as is the case when intact or damage stability is being calculated. In
order to be able to create complex shapes, tanks are created from multiple
objects called compartments. To create complex tanks you can use as many
compartments as you like (see illustration 13.1) Tanks and compartments
may be deleted by selecting them in the tree and pressing the delete key. It is
also possible to drag a compartment from one tank to another with the
Illustration 13.1:
13.1: Tank made out of
mouse. Although the compartments are modeled as separate items all multiple compartments.
compartments within a tank are treated as one, meaning that the fluid level in
all compartments is the same. If one of the compartments of a tank could not
be build properly, both the compartment and tank it belongs to will have an
exclamation mark displayed next to them in the tree (illustration 13.2). This
makes it easy to see if your model contains any invalid tanks. A compartment Illustration 13.2:
13.2: Invalid tank.
should be fully closed at all sides after it has been build. If this is not the case
the exclamation mark will be displayed and the model contains some purple
edges. These are the edges where the compartment could not be closed. In
the case of illustration 13.3 the top of the compartment was extended to the
deck while there is no deck in the ship. Therefore the aft, top and front side
could not be closed. The remedy for this specific case is to either drop the top
of the compartment to below the sheer line or to create a deck to make the
hull closed.

Illustration 13.3:
13.3: Invalid compartment.

13.2 Edit
Illustration 13.4 shows the tank editor window. There is no menu, all edit commands are accessible through the
toolbar at the top. The tree to the right shows all
the available tanks and compartments. By
selecting a tank or compartment a panel
displayed at the top of the windows shows the
properties of that item. Only the item that is
currently selected is drawn. If no tank or
compartment is selected all the available tanks
will be drawn. This can be done by clicking on
the white area at the bottom or to the right of the
tree.

Illustration 13.4:
13.4: Tank editor window showing tanks and compartments.

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 DELFTship

13.2.1 Adding a tank

Press the new tank button on the toolbar or the insert key on your keyboard. A new tank will be added to the tree
and is automatically selected. The new tank contains 1 compartment by default. You can modify the following
properties of the tank (illustration 13.5):

Illustration 13.5:
13.5: Tank properties

13.2.1.1 Abbreviation
A short description of the tank. The full description can be changed by clicking on the name of the tank in the tree.

13.2.1.2 Group
All tanks must be assigned to a weight group by
selecting the appropriate group from the drop-down
list. Weight groups are, just as the name implies,
groups of weights (or tanks) having the same
properties. This is especially useful if you have multiple
tanks with the same contents. To manage the weight
groups you should press the button from the toolbar
with the weight groups icon:

In the weight group window (illustration 13.6) weight

groups can be added, deleted or modified. It also
offers an overview of how many tanks or weights are
Illustration 13.6:
13.6: Weight group dialog.
assigned to each group. By default all the weight
groups will be shown in the load case editor unless you
explicitly hide them from the load cases. If a weight group is specified as a “lightship” group then all the weights
assigned to this group are added to the lightship weight used in the load case editor.
New groups are added by pressing the insert key on the keyboard. The delete key deletes the selected weight
group.
Note that the order of weight groups is very important and can be changed by dragging the the first column of a
weight group to a new row. The same order of the weight group window is applied when creating the tank overview
and intact stability report.
The last column shows the type of weightgroup. This information is used in the probabilistic damage stability
extension where the damage permeability of a tank or space is calculated automatically based on this setting.

13.2.1.3 Tank position

The tank position indicates on what side of ship the tank is located (port, starboard or center). By modifying this all
compartments of this tank will switch to the selected side. You can also modify this on a compartment-level by
selecting the appropriate compartment first.

13.2.1.4 Relative density

The density of the contents of the tank relative to the density of fresh water, which is 1.000. Sea water has a
relative density of 1.025.

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13.2.1.5 Intact permeability

The intact permeability is the permeability of the tank which is used for calculating the volume when loaded with
fluids. Due to the fact that the walls of the tank have a thickness and the presence of construction parts the real
internal volume is always smaller than the volume as calculated from the surface describing the outer side of the
tank. Therefore the permeability is always a number between 0.0 and 1.0. By default the permeability is set to
0.98. For tanks with few or no internal construction parts this could be set to 0.98-0.99.

13.2.1.6 Damage permeability

Not used in version 3.3.

13.2.1.7 Non-buoyant
This property enables user to directly connect he selected tank with the surrounding (sea) water. This feature is
particularly useful when modeling non buoyant volumes such as moon pools, bow thrusters or sea chests. The
volume of all these tanks is automatically subtracted from the displacement and other hydrostatic properties such
as water plane area, sectional area curve etc. The relative density can not be modified since the program
automatically uses the water density as specified in the project settings.

13.2.1.8 Use FSC when slack

The IMO requires that for tanks containing consumables at least from one tank (or one pair of tanks) the free
surface correction is applied to the stability curve, even when the tank is empty. Enabling this option ensures that
the maximum free surface correction of this tank is applied, even if the tank is empty.

13.2.2 Adding a compartment

You can add new compartments by selecting the appropriate tank and pressing the new compartment button from
the toolbar. The new compartment is added to the tank and will be automatically selected.
The following properties of the compartment can be modified:

Illustration 13.7:
13.7: Compartment properties.

13.2.2.1 Type of compartment

Basically there are two type of compartments available in
DELFTship at this stage.
● Simple. The most frequently used type of
compartment. The shape of the compartment is
defined as a simple box that is trimmed against the hull
(see also paragraph 13.2.2.4 on page 59). The aft,
forward, inner, outer, lower and upper boundary of the
compartment must be specified as shown on
illustration 13.8. In the input fields you can either enter
an absolute value/number or the identifier shell which
tells the program that the compartment extends to the
shell.

All compartments are modeled at the port side of

Illustration 13.8:
13.8: Input of a simple box compartment.
the ship, so only positive values are accepted in the

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 DELFTship

input field for breadth values. You can switch a compartment from the port side to starboard as
described in paragraph 13.2.2.2 on page 58.

● Advanced. In some cases compartments have tilted sides. If you set the compartment type to advanced
you can enter the coordinates of each of the 8 cornerpoints of the compartment's bounding box. For each
side DELFTship fits a plane through the four cornerpoints. This plane is used to build the compartment.

The sides of a compartment that do not extend to the

shell are always flat (as in planar), regardless of the
values specified for the cornerpoints.

A plane is uniquely described by three points in

space. If the fourth point of a side is not exactly on
that plane the best average fitting plane through the
four points is used.

Illustration 13.9 shows the input fields of an advanced

compartment.

Illustration 13.9:
13.9: Input of an advanced box compartment.

13.2.2.2 Compartment position

While modeling compartments only positive numbers are allowed for the breadth values. This is due to the fact that
only 1 side of the hull is physically present in the program. By modifying the compartment position setting you can
switch a compartment to starboard side or both sides of your ship. You can also do this on a tank level as
explained in paragraph 13.2.1.3 on page 56.

13.2.2.3 Positive/negative
Sometimes tanks contain recesses that are difficult to model. In
fact it might be simpler to model that recess and subtract it from
the total tank rather than modeling the parts of the tank
surrounding the recess. If a compartment is set to negative all
properties such as volume, COG, free surface moment etc. are
subtracted from the total tank. Be careful not to subtract a
compartment from a tank that has a larger volume than the total
tank volume! Negative compartments show up in a different
color than positive compartments to make them easier to
identify. In most cases the tank can also be build using only
positive compartments but is easier to create by using negative
compartments. An example is shown on illustration 13.11 Illustration 13.10:
13.10: Tank containing negative compartments (in
where two identical tanks are displayed. The green tank to the red).

left is made out of 4 positive compartments while the blue tank

is made out of only two compartments, 1 positive and one negative
(dark red).
By using negative compartments it can sometimes be difficult to see
the actual shape of the tank, especially if multiple negative
compartments are used. By using only positive compartments this
can be avoided as you always see the true shape of the tank.

Illustration 13.11:
13.11: Two identical tanks build in a different
way.

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 DELFTship

13.2.2.4 Trim at hull

Normally compartments are automatically trimmed at the hull. If this is not desirable then you can disable this so
the compartment will have exactly the shape as defined in the input fields. This is especially useful if you want to
define compartments in areas where no hull definition exists, for example when modeling the superstructure as a
tank.

If one of the input fields contains the value shell then the compartment is automatically trimmed at the shell
and this option is disabled.

13.2.2.5 Use all layers

By default all layers are used when building a compartment. If you disable this
option you'll be able to explicitly define what layers should be used for the
selected compartment as described in paragraph 13.2.2.6.

13.2.2.6 Select
This enables you to select which layers should be used when the selected
compartment is being build. As stated in paragraph 13.1 a compartment must
be fully closed along all edges. By carefully excluding layers from the selecting
sometimes errors can be avoided. Layers containing boundary edges can
sometimes cause problems. Also it might be clear that layers that contain
items such as sails, masts etc. should not be included in the selection.
Illustration 13.12:
13.12: Selecting layers.

13.2.3 Copy a tank or compartment

You can copy the selected tank or compartment by pressing the copy button on the toolbar.

13.3 Tank arrangement

By pressing the tool button with the tank arrangement icon you can access the window to create a layout for a tank
arrangement. This layout is being used in the load case report to show the filling of tanks. The probabilistic
damage stability has its own tank arrangement layout to visualize the damage cases. By default a tank
arrangement contains no views and the grid to the right of the window is empty. Creating a layout can be done in
two ways:
1. Manual. By pressing the Ins key on
your keyboard in the grid to the right a
new view is created and added to the
list. A view is a cross section of the 3D
model. In the grid you can specify the
type of cross section (plan, profile or
bodyplan) and its location with respect
to the origin. The views are
automatically sorted when drawn on
screen. The Del. Key can be used to
delete a specific view.
2. Automatic. Manually creating a layout
of complex vessels can be very difficult
since generally the goal is to visualize
as much tanks as possible with a
minimum of views. DELFTship has the Illustration 13.13:
13.13: Tank arrangement window.

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 DELFTship

feature to generate a layout automatically based on a selection of tanks. The option is located in the edit
menu from the tank arrangement form. First a window opens where you select one or more weight groups
containing tanks. Based on this selection 1 profile view on the centerline is added and a number of
bodyplan and plan views. These views are created in such a way that each tank is visible at least once in
the plan views and also in the bodyplan views. Once the layout has been created you can still add, delete
or modify the views manually to adjust it to your needs.

13.4 Comparison of internal and external geometry.

Another useful feature is the ability to compare the internal and external geometry of the ship. This feature can be
used to spot areas in the ship where the internal volume occupied by tanks is smaller or larger than the volume of
the hull. This can be used to track down errors in the tank definition.

13.5 Overview
Illustration 13.14 shows an example of the report that is produced by the tank overview option. Here you can
clearly see the use of weight groups as explained in paragraph 13.2.1.2 on page 56. Tanks are grouped according
to their weight group presented in the same order. If a tank arrangement layout has been created (see paragraph
13.3 on page 59) then it will also be included in the report.

Illustration 13.14:
13.14: Example of the tank overview report.

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14. Load cases

14.1 General information about load cases.

A load case is in fact nothing but a collection of weights and related centers of gravity. These weights can be fixed
(point) weights but also tanks that are (partially) filled or weights from a common weight list. The sum of alle these
weights equals the displacement of the ship. When the load case is being solved DELFTship tries to establish the
position of the ship in the water for a number of heeling angles. Using this information the program calculates the
draft, trim and heeling angle for the equilibrium state and also the stability curve. There's no restriction when it
comes to the number of load cases. They show up in the drop down list left in the toolbar. You can select the
appropriate load case from this list.

14.2 Edit

Illustration 14.1:
14.1: Load case editing window.

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 DELFTship

Illustration 14.1 shows an overview of the load case window. It can be subdivided into the following 5 main areas:
1. A 3D view on the model is displayed at the top. The
model is initially shown in a level position. Once the
load case has been solved and an equilibrium could
be established the model will be drawn in that
position. The submerged areas of the hull are
shaded in a different color. You can choose between
a shaded view of the hull or a wireframe view which
offers a better view on the the contents of tanks.
Both views are shown on illustration 14.2. The
amount of transparency for shading hull surfaces
can be adjusted in the preferences window Illustration 14.2:
14.2: 3D view on load case.
(paragraph 8.6 on page 27).

2. The input area is where most of the action takes

place. The top item shows the lightship weight and
center of gravity. This special weight item can not be
modified or deleted. It adds up all the weights from
the various weight groups which have been marked
as being part of the light ship. Below the light ship
item all the other weight groups are displayed.
The dark gray rows are the headers of each weight
group and they display a summary for each weight
Illustration 14.3:
14.3: Input area
group. This way you can instantly see how much
ballast water or HFO has been loaded for example.
The first column of each header contains the description of that particular weight group. By pressing the [-]
or [+] sign next to this description the weight group can be collapsed or expanded for a clearer view on all
items of this load case. Weight groups can be hidden from a load case or the order of appearance can be
modified in the weight group dialog (see also paragraph 13.2.1.2 on page 56).
Only the data in the light gray cells can be modified by the user. The other cells contain calculated data.
The two rightmost columns show the aft and forward boundary of each weight. These boundaries are
relevant only to determine the longitudinal weight distribution for determining the longitudinal bending
moments and shear forces (see paragraph 14.2.8 on page 66). If the bending moment extension is not
included then the data is irrelevant and those two columns will not be visible to the user.

3. A summary of all the specified weights is shown just

below the input area. It shows a summary for
lightship, deadweight and total displacement.
Illustration 14.4:
14.4: Summary of weights

4. Next to the weight summary details on the equilibrium

position are displayed. All relevant data is shown,
including the applied free surface correction and the
maximum allowable VCG for the selected stability
criteria if that extension is included into the software.
Illustration 14.5:
14.5: Equilibrium properties.

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 DELFTship

5. The final area shows two tab pages that either show
the numerical results for each heeling angle or the
stability curve. By default the tab page with the
stability curve is selected. The actual appearance of
the graph depends on the settings for the selected
set of stability criteria as every single criterion of the
set can be plotted in the curve or hidden. For more
information on the use of stability criteria the user is
referred to paragraph11.11 on page 46.

14.2.1 Using the weight list

The weight list is a convenient way to manage lightship items
and common weights that occur in multiple loadcases. All
weights in the weight list are added to a weight group. All
weights added to a weight group which is marked as a
lightship group are automatically added to the lightship
weight. In some cases specifying a single weight for the
lightship item suffices. However if you want to calculate the
longitudinal bending moment and shear force the lightship
must be subdivided in as many known weights as possible.
The aft and forward boundaries of each weight must be
specified also since it is used to generate the longitudinal
weight distribution. (see also paragraph 14.2.8 on page 66) If
the longitudinal center of gravity of a weight is outside the
range of 1/3 – 2/3 of the length between the aft and forward
boundary of a weight then the cells containing the values for
these boundaries are displayed in red to indicate that there might be a mistake in the input.
At the top of the input window a list is shown with all the available weight groups. The main area of the window
shows all weights added to the selected weight group. You can add new weights by pressing the insert (ins) key
on your keyboard while the delete (del) key will delete a weight. The order of weights can be modified by dragging
the number displayed in the leftmost column to a new row. With the Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V shortcuts you can quickly
copy and paste properties from one weight item to another.

14.2.2 Editing load cases

cases

14.2.2.1 Add a new load case.

By pressing the new load case button from the toolbar a new load case is added. By default it contains the light
ship item and all weight groups, which are still empty at this stage. Since all weights belong weight groups you
must first select the header of a weight group to which you want to add the new weight. By pressing the insert (ins)
key on your keyboard a new weight wil be added to the selected weight group. Weights can be deleted again by
selecting the row containing the weight to be deleted and pressing the delete (del) key. Only the light ship item and
the weight groups can not be deleted.

14.2.2.2 Modify the load case name

The name of the load case is displayed in the input field right next to the list with all load cases. The name of the

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 DELFTship

load case can be altered in this field.

14.2.2.3 Selecting a wind silhouette

Next to the load case name there is a list that contains all the wind silhouettes that have been defined (see chapter
14.3). You can select one of these silhouettes and assign it to the active load case. The wind moment caused by
this silhouette will be calculated and validated against the selected stability criteria. Editing stability criteria is
covered in paragraph 11.11 on page 46.

14.2.2.4 Adding weights

All weights from a load case must be assigned to a weight group. To add a new weight first select the header of
the weight group and then press the insert (ins) key on your keyboard. DELFTship identifies three different type of
weights:
1. Fixed weights. Mostly these are weights that only occur once in all load cases.
2. Tanks.
3. Weights from a list with common weights. If you have weight items that occur in multiple load cases then
you can add those weights to the weight list. (see paragraph 14.2.1)
By default new weights are set to the “fixed weights” (see also paragraph 14.2.2.5)

14.2.2.5 Modifying the different types of weights

The second column of each weight
contains a drop down button. Once
pressed you can select the new weight
type from the list. The following different
types of weights are available:
● Fixed. Fixed weights are weights
Illustration 14.6:
14.6: Selecting the type of weight.
represented by a point in space.
● Tank. Tanks containing liquids that is allowed to move under heel and trim.
● Fixed tanks. Tanks containing solid loads that will not move when heeled. Examples are lead ballast in a
sailing yacht or homogeneous cargo in the hold of a general cargo ship.
● Weightlist. Any weight from the weight list that is not part of the light ship weight.
If the weight type is set to “tank” or “weight list” then the first available item from the weight group is automatically
assigned to the selected weight.
Note: Tanks or weights from the weight list (paragraph 14.2.1 on page 63) can only be assigned once to each load
case.

14.2.2.6 Selecting a tank or a weight from the weight list

Assigning tanks or weights from the weight list is very similar to the process of changing the weight type. If the
drop down button in the first column is
pressed then a list is shown with all the
tanks (or weights) belonging to the
selected weight group. If the list is empty
it might be for one of the following
reasons:
1. There are no tanks or weights Illustration 14.7:
14.7: Selecting a tank or weight from the weight list.
assigned to the selected weight
group (paragraph 14.2.1 on page

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63).
2. All of the tanks or weights from the weight group are already in use in the load case.

14.2.2.7 Add all tanks

Especially if a project contains a large number of tanks it can be a tedious job to add all the tanks one by one.
Therefore the special option “Add all unused tanks” that is accessible through the toolbar menu by pressing the
button will do this for you.

14.2.3 Deleting a load case

You can delete the selected load case by pressing the button with the recycle bin from the toolbar.

14.2.4 Copy a load case

The copy option creates an exact copy of the currently selected load case.

14.2.5 Solve a load case

The solve button (or pressing the F9 key on your keyboard) initiates the calculation procedure. Load cases that
have been calculated but have been modified afterwards are automatically reset. After the load case has been
solved and an equilibrium has been found the hull and weight items are drawn in the equilibrium state. The
submerged surfaces are shaded accordingly.

14.2.6 Show report

You can only view the load case report if the load case has been solved. The short report (paragraph 8.6 on page
27) only shows a summary of all the weight items while the extensive report displays also a summary for each
individual weight group. It is possible to indicate which items should be shown in the report and in what order. This
is done in the file preferences window as covered in paragraph 7.6 on page 24. If a layout for the tank
arrangement has been created (see paragraph 13.3 on page 59) then it will be included in the report to show the
loading of tanks.

14.2.7 Interpreting results

GZ can be calculated according to the
formula displayed on image 14.8. Note that
the value used for the free surface correction
(GG') varies with the heeling angle in case a
load case has been calculated with the
actual center of gravity for tanks containing
fluids.

Illustration 14.8:
14.8: Calculation of GZ

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14.2.8 Bending moment and shear force calculations

If the software includes the bending moment extension then the
calculations are started by pressing the button from the toolbar
containing the bending moment icon or by pressing the F10 key on
your keyboard.

In order to be able to perform the still water bending moment calculation a

longitudinal distribution of all weight and buoyancy forces has to be
created. The weight forces are taken from the weight list and loadcases,
while the buoyancy forces are calculated from the sectional area curve.
The sectional area curve is calculated for the equilibrium position of the
load case, therefore the load case must be solved first.

DELFTship creates a trapezoidal weight distribution for each weight from

the load case based on the specified weight, center of gravity, aft boundary
and forward boundary (see illustration 14.9). The shape of this weight
distribution is rectangular if the center of gravity is exactly in the middle of
both the aft and forward boundaries (top image). The distribution is
trapezoidal if the center of gravity lies withing 1/3 and 2/3 of the length
between the aft and forward boundaries (second image). If the center of
gravity lies exactly on 1/3 or 2/3 of the length between the boundaries then
a triangular distribution of the weight is used. Finally if the center of gravity
Illustration 14.9:
14.9: Uniform weight distributions
is outside the 1/3 or 2/3 limit than the uniform weight distribution as shown
in the bottom part of the image is used.

Clearly this is not a valid distribution as the weight near the aft boundary
becomes negative and is subtracted. The software will display a warning
for all invalid weight distributions that are encountered during the
calculation process. Most of the times the invalid distribution is caused by
erroneous values for either the center of gravity, the aft boundary or the
forward boundary. In case the center of gravity really is outside the
1/3-2/3 range and a trapezoidal distribution cannot be used it is best to
split the weight in multiple items in order to create a valid distribution.
This is shown on illustration 14.10.

Illustration 14.10:
14.10: Valid distribution by splitting
the weight

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DELFTship

Illustration 14.11:
14.11: Graph showing wind silhouette, weight distribution, sectional areas, load, shear forces and bending moment.

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 DELFTship

14.3 Wind silhouette

A wind silhouette is a graphical representation of the projected outer contour of the vessel which is used to
determine the moment exerted by the wind on parts of the ship that are above the water. As shown on illustration
14.12 the wind area of cargo ships can be considerable.
Another application would be to calculate sail areas or the lateral area and center of effort at various drafts for a
sailing yacht.
Wind silhouettes can also be assigned to load cases in which case the wind moment is validated against the
selected stability criteria.

Illustration 14.12:
14.12: Definition of wind silhouettes

The right side of the input window can be subdivided into 3 different areas:
• The top area shows the numerical properties for the selected wind silhouette, such as wind area, lateral
area, center of effort etc. You can also specify the area of bilge keels here and the bilge type. This is only
used to calculate the rollback angle for the standard IMO wind criterion as defined in the IMO A.749
resolution.
• The middle part contains a tree-structured list with all the wind silhouettes. Each silhouette may consist out
of multiple sub-items, each one representing a closed contour. This way you may build up complex
silhouettes, for example by modeling each sail of a sailing yacht as an individual sub-item. DELFTship
identifies two different types of sub-items: hull or sail. Sails are treated differently in order to be able to
calculate sail area, center of effort and lead. Also, areas of sails that become submerged at large angles of
heel are not included into the lateral area.
• Below the list with silhouettes a grid is displayed that shows the coordinates of the currently selected sub-
item. You can insert, delete or modify these coordinates manually but you can also drag the coordinates
with the mouse on your screen.

Using the toolbar at the top you can:

1. Export and import silhouette data to or from a file
2. Create new silhouettes
3. Add new items to a silhouette

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 DELFTship

4. Create a copy of the currently selected silhouette or sub-item. A copy of a sub-item can be moved to
another silhouette by dragging it with the mouse.
5. Print a silhouette

14.3.1 Adding a new wind silhouette.

Make sure no wind silhouette or sub-item is selected. You can do this by clicking on the white space in the list with
wind silhouettes. Press the Ins key to insert a new wind silhouette or press the appropriate button on the toolbar.
DELFTship automatically extracts a new silhouette from the current model. Usually if the model is not too complex
it consists of a single sub-item. In other cases multiple sub-items can be generated. Some of these may be
obsolete and can easily be deleted.

Illustration 14.13:
14.13: Example of a wind silhouette.

14.3.2 Modifying wind silhouette data

Once a wind silhouette is selected, the corresponding data is shown and can be modified. The bilgekeel area and
type is only relevant for IMO stability criteria (see paragraph 11.11.10 on page 50). The name of a wind silhouette
can be modified by clicking on it with the mouse which causes the list to drop into editing mode. Once the enter
key has been pressed the new name will be assigned to the wind silhouette. Altering the name of sub-items is
done the same way. New sub-items are added by pressing the ins key on your keyboard. A selected sub-item (or
wind silhouette) is deleted by pressing the del key. The coordinates of a selected sub-item are shown in the grid.
Again coordinates are added or deleted by pressing the ins or del key.

14.4 Wind moment calculation

The wind moment calculation window shows a list with all the
available wind silhouettes. Apart from the range of drafts you can
select the appropriate silhouettes and specify a wind pressure. The
default wind pressure is 51.4 kg/m2 which is the standard IMO wind
pressure for most vessels. For each draft the lateral area, wind
area, wind lever and wind moment is calculated and displayed in a
report.

Illustration 14.14:
14.14: Input screen for the calculation of wind
moments.

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15. View

15.1 Intersections
Intersection curves are calculated from the surface model. Only their
location needs to be specified. Diagonals are always at an angle of 45
degrees to the center plane. Each time the model is modified the
intersection curves are dynamically recalculated and updated. The
buttons on the toolbar will let you switch between the different types of
intersections you want to add or delete. You can add one intersection at
a time by selecting the +1 option in the menu. A window is displayed
asking for the location of the intersection. It is also possible to add a
whole range of intersections by pressing the +N option. In that case the
location of the first and last intersection are requested as well as the
spacing between the successive intersection curves. If an intersection
with a surface has been found then it will be added to the model. The
intersection curves appear in an increasing order of their location with
respect to the origin.
To delete a single intersection, just select it and press the delete key on Illustration 15.1:
15.1: Intersections window.
your keyboard.
All intersections in the currently selected group can deleted in one pass by pressing the recycle bin button on the
toolbar.
Next to the recycle button there's another button on the toolbar that will let you convert all the intersections from
the currently selected group into markers.

The checkbox displayed to the left of each intersection indicates if the curvature
plot of that specific intersection curve must be plotted (see also paragraph 9.7.1
on page 34) Due to the limited size of the computer screen it is almost
impossible to determine if a curve is fair. To overcome this a curvature plot is
often drawn. A curvature plot means that in a large number of points of a curve
the curvature is calculated and plotted perpendicular to the curve ( the purple
line). Since the curvature can be positive as well as negative, the plot can swap
from one side of the curve to the other (illustration 15.2). Where the plot
coincides with the curve the curvature is zero. So in areas of a curve where the.
At a knuckle point on the other hand the curvature is infinitely high. So the
higher the absolute value of the curvature, the further the curvature plot is drawn
Illustration 15.2:
15.2: Curvature plot of a
buttock. away from the curve. Smooth curves are characterized by curvature plots with
no unexpected humps or hollows. The scale of the curvature plot can be
decreased by pressing the F9 key and increased by pressing the F10 key. Make
sure that the curvature plot is switched on in you the display settings.

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 DELFTship

15.2 Linesplan

Illustration 15.3:
15.3: Example of default linesplan output.

DELFTship enables the user to view the complete formatted linesplan of the ship. This can be done in two different
modes, wireframe mode (to the left) and the filled mode (to the right). The linesplan shows all the intersection
curves, regardless of the display settings of the corresponding intersection curves. So stations are always shown
in the linesplan, even if they are switched off in the display settings. Currently this linesplan can be saved as a
bitmap, to a dxf file, or sent directly to the printer/plotter. The linesplan can also be drawn in black & white by
clicking on the appropriate button in the toolbar. Using fill colors is not possible in black & white mode. Only if the
model contains no diagonals, the plan view might optionally be mirrored so that both sides are visible. Some layers
can be hidden from the linesplan. How this is done is described in paragraph 9.8.1.

15.3 Design hydrostatics

An elaborate hydrostatic calculation is performed of the ship at the
design draft, as specified in the project settings (paragraph 8.2) and
with level trim. The way coefficients are calculated and how to modify
this is explained in paragraph 8.3. The report does not only show
hydrostatic properties but also the surface area and center of gravity
for each layer. All properties are calculated for the entire ship. If the
model contains stations then the sectional area curve is also plotted.

If imperial units are used, the displacement is given in longtons (1

long ton equals 2240 lbs).

15.4 Hydrostatics
This option is used to perform hydrostatic calculations at a range of
drafts. An initial trim can also be specified in the professional version of
DELFTship. In addition the professional version shows some extra
data that is not displayed int the free version of software. The report
can be fully customized (see paragraph 7 page 24) and sent to either
the printer or saved to a HTML file. Illustration 15.4 shows an example
of the produced output.

Illustration 15.4:
15.4: Hydrostatics report.

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 DELFTship

15.5 Inclined hydrostatics

The inclined hydrostatics extension offers the designer a view
on the hull for a user specified heeling angle, trim and
displacement. The displacement corresponding to the design
draft is used as an initial value. The software will calculate
the corresponding draft and display the hull and (heeled)
waterlines. The extension is not only useful to optimize the
shape of sailing yachts in order to minimize the amount of
trim that occurs while the ship heels, it can also be used to
visually check when the deck edge submerges. The amount
of waterlines to be displayed can be in the range from 0 to
25. A regular spacing between the waterlines is used. Next to
the 3D view the most important hydrostatic features of the Illustration 15.5:
15.5: Inclined hydrostatics.
specified condition are displayed.

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 DELFTship

15.6 Crosscurves
If the optional crosscurves extension is included into the
software then stability calculations are also provided in the
form of cross curves. For a number of heeling angles, trims
and displacements KN*sin(ø) is calculated and presented in
both graphical and tabular form. If only one single
displacement is specified KN*sin(ø) curve is displayed. If
multiple displacements are provided the graph shows the
standard graph for cross curves as can be seen on illustration
15.6. The crosscurves are calculated while the hull is free to
trim. For each displacement the calculation is started with the
specified initial trim and subsequently for each heeling angle
the trim is adjusted to maintain a constant center of
buoyancy. In combination with the critical points extension the
report also shows a tabulated downflooding overview. For
each heeling angle the first submerged downflooding point is
displayed in combination with the corresponding
displacement. Other options are:

● Extended report or a simplified report.

● Heel to port/starboard, especially useful for
asymmetrical hulls.

Illustration 15.6:
15.6: Example of crosscurves report.

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 DELFTship

15.7 Max VCG'

The max VCG' extension calculates the maximum vertical
center of gravity for each stability criterion for which that
criterion still passes. This is done for all the criteria from the
selected set of stability criteria. The criterion with the lowest
value for the VCG is the limiting criterion. It is calculated for
a range of drafts, trims and wind silhouettes. For each
combination of draft, trim and silhouette a stability curve is
generated and the criteria will be evaluated. Due to the
many combinations possible it can be a time consuming
calculation. The report shows a graphical representation of
the calculations, called limiting VCG' curves, as well as the
tabulated numerical results. The green area in the graph
indicates the “safe area”. The red area on the other hand is
the “unsafe area”. VCG values in the red area will result a
failed test for the stability criteria.

If the selected criteria contains the wind criterion then at

least one wind silhouette must be selected also. For each
specified draft the actual wind area is calculated from the
silhouette.

For more information on selecting or creating a set of

stability criteria the reader is referred to paragraph 8.6 on
page 27 and paragraph 11.11 on page 46.

15.8 Plate developments

All layers that are marked as developable in the layer properties window (paragraph 9.8.6 on page 37) are
unfolded into flat plates (a process also called developing). If the model contains no developable layers then this
option is disabled in the menus. Both sides of the ship will be unfolded. A window then is opened showing the plate
developments. It is best to assign each strake or part of the hull to a different layer. Then each layer will have its
own unfolding. If a layer consists of multiple isolated
parts, each part again will have its own unfolding.
The unfolded panels can be moved by dragging
them with the mouse. Buttons on the toolbar at the
top of the window can be used to rotate the
currently selected plate. The rotation angle of each
panel may additionally be entered manually.
Zooming and panning is done exactly as in the
windows used for modeling the ship. Interior edges
or any present intersection curves are drawn on top
of the unfolded panels, and can be switched on or
off as desired. The initial display settings are the
same as the display settings from the mainmenu
but can be modified. The image displayed in the
viewport be can saved as a bitmap image, but
visible plate developments can also be exported to
a .dxf file or sent directly to the printer/plotter. The
coordinates forming the outer boundary of each part
Illustration 15.7:
15.7: Plate developments.
can be exported to an ASCII text file.

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 DELFTship

To the right of the window a list is visible with all the unfolded parts. By clicking on the check boxes each plate
development can be made visible or invisible. At the top some crucial information about the developments is
shown. After the plates have been unfolded to 2D, DELFTship compares the length of the unfolded interior edges
to the length of these edges in 3D. If this length is smaller then the edges are compressed (drawn in blue). If the
unfolded edges are longer then these edges are stretched (drawn in red). The minimum error shown at the top is
the largest compression error that occurred (in world space dimensions, so meters or feet). The maximum error is
the largest amount of stress of an edge. Compressed or stretched edges may be visualized by turning both the
visibility of interior edges and highlighting of compressed edges on. The difference in area between the 3D surface
and the unfolded surface is also shown. Below the displayed edges the number of iterations it took to unfold the
selected panel is shown. DELFTship makes up to 25 developments of each panel and uses the one with the
smallest overall error as the final one. Generally surfaces that are truly developable are unfolded in 1 iteration, and
have min. and max. errors of 0.0. Surfaces that are not exactly developable can in most cases still be unfolded but
might have significant errors due to the fact that the surface is curved in two directions. Think of it as the top half of
a sphere, you can not press this surface down to a flat surface without stretching or compressing certain areas,
unless you make some cuts in the surface. So it's very important to check these errors if you actually want to use
the unfolded plates for construction purposes!

There are also two input fields to adapt the grid spacing. The grid can be turned on and off from the toolbar. Each
intersection of a grid line and an unfolded panel has a number displayed next to it indicating the coordinate of that
intersection.

The two panels that are created from layers that border the center plane of the hull and are completely flat, such
as for example a flat transom or bottom, are merged into 1 unfolded panel.

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15.9 Resistance
DELFTship currently contains two
methods to predict the resistance of a
model. The resistance module is created
such that all data relevant to the different
prediction methods only needs to be
specified once and is shared by all of
those methods. This way optimal
consistency is ensured and the required
amount of user input is kept to a
minimum. To make things easier most
hullform parameters can be extracted
automatically from the model. Of course
it is also possible to enter those
parameters manually. The first tab page
contains a list with all the methods that are available. By clicking on the check box next to the name of each
method that particular method can be included or excluded from the calculations. You can easily compare the
results of different methods by plotting them simultaneously in the resistance graph as shown on the image above.
This resistance module has been completely rewritten in preparation of the addition of more resistance prediction
algorithms that will be added with the next release.
The report button shows the numerical results from the calculations for the selected prediction methods in a single
report.

15.9.1 Delft series

The Delft series resistance calculation is a method that is intended for fin-keeled yachts. From version 3.2 and up
the results are based on a the publication from 1998. It's a statistical method based upon a whole series of models
that are tested over the years in the towing tank of the Delft University of Technology. The software does not
restrict the calculations to use only models that that are in the same range as those of the tested models. Results
of models that are outside the range however can be very inaccurate with sometimes even negative results for the
residual resistance.

15.9.2 Kaper
The KAPER resistance method is intended for canoes and kayaks. It was originally developed by John Winters, a
naval architect now specializing in designing canoes and kayaks. (See http://www.greenval.com/jwinters.html) It is
based on statistical data obtained by model tests. His method is later extended by Matt Broze to higher
speed/length ratios and to incorporate more variables into the equations. This extended version is available in the
form of an Excel spreadsheet from http://www.marinerkayaks.com/mkhtml/downloads.htm. However while
implementing this method in DELFTship two serious discontinuities showed up in the curve of residual resistance.
These consist of a sudden drop in resistance of about 10% at speed/length ratios of 1.4 and 1.6 and are the result
of a correction implemented by Matt. After careful consideration the decision was made to only allow calculations
up to a speed/length ratio of 1.4 in order not to give the user a false sense of accuracy.

The range of valid parameters for the KAPER method is:

● Prismatic coefficient 0.48-0.64
● Submerged transom ratio 0.0-0.04
● None of the other variables other than the waterline entrance angle is allowed to be zero.

The center of buoyancy used in the Kaper method is measured from the bow and made dimensionless by
dividing the distance by the waterline length.

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15.10 Probabilistic damage stability.

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16. Selection

16.1 Selecting objects in DELFTship

Selecting objects in DELFTship is pretty straightforward. Almost any visible object in the hull modeling windows
can be selected by clicking on it with the mouse. Clicking it again will deselect it. Only critical points (paragraph
8.4) can not be selected this way. Selecting works only when the windows are in the wireframe mode (shading
must be turned off). Selected objects are highlighted in yellow.

For some objects there are some additional ways of selecting which can make life easier:

● Points. If a point is selected, and the user clicks on a different point, this new point will be selected and
the previous point will be deselected. Selecting multiple points however is possible by keeping the CTRL-
key pressed while selecting the new point.

● Edges. If the CTRL key is pressed while an edge is being selected, the program tries to trace the edge
until a irregular point is encountered or an edge with a different crease-property. This way it is easy to
select an entire row of edges (edge loop) such as for example the sheerline or a hard chine.

● Faces. Faces also can be CTRL-selected. In that case all the faces belonging to the same layer and
connected to the selected one are also selected or deselected. Faces that are isolated from the selected
face because they are totally surrounded by crease edges are not included.

16.2 Select all

With this command (also available by pressing the shortcut Ctrl-A) all visible objects are automatically selected.

16.3 Deselect all

Use this option to deselect all selected items simultaneously. Pressing the Esc-key has the same result.

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Alphabetical Index
A
Appendage coefficient..............................................................................................................................................................................................26
Automatic fairing...........................................................................................................................................................................................30, 35, 44
B
B-Spline............................................................................................................................................................................................................6, 9, 17
Background image..............................................................................................................................................................................2, 15, 16, 23, 41
Box..........................................................................................................................................................................................2, 26, 37, 45, 57, 58, 76
C
Compartment................................................................................................................................................................................3, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59
Position...........................................................................................................................................................................................................3, 58
Control curve........................................................................................................................................................2, 13, 18, 29, 30, 34, 35, 39, 41, 42
Controlnet.................................................................................................................................................................................................2, 13, 39, 44
Coordinate system..........................................................................................................................................................................................2, 10, 14
Critical point..........................................................................................................................................................2, 26, 27, 41, 44, 47, 48, 53, 73, 78
Cross curves.......................................................................................................................................................................................................27, 73
Cross curves,............................................................................................................................................................................................................27
Curvature................................................................................................................................................................2, 7, 14, 15, 34, 35, 37, 41, 42, 70
Plot.............................................................................................................................................................................................34, 35, 41, 42, 70
Cylinder.................................................................................................................................................................................................................2, 45
D
Damage stability...........................................................................................................................................................................................................
Probabilistic........................................................................................................................................................................2, 3, 27, 28, 56, 59, 77
Deck line.....................................................................................................................................................................................19, 27, 34, 43, 47, 53
Downflooding....................................................................................................................................................................................26, 48, 49, 51, 73
Draftmark..................................................................................................................................................................................................................25
Drawing mode.......................................................................................................................................................................................................2, 14
E
Edge..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Boundary............................................................................................................................................................................7, 9, 30, 31, 32, 43, 59
Crease............................................................................................................................................................................2, 7, 8, 18, 30, 32, 36, 78
Interior....................................................................................................................................................................................2, 33, 36, 39, 74, 75
Entrance angle..........................................................................................................................................................................................................76
Extrude..................................................................................................................................................................................................................2, 31
F
Fairing.................................................................................................................................................................................................2, 30, 34, 35, 44
Automatic...............................................................................................................................................................................................30, 35, 44
Flowline...............................................................................................................................................................................................2, 13, 29, 39, 41
Free surface............................................................................................................................................................................................57, 58, 62, 65
Freeboard.......................................................................................................................................................................................................2, 27, 47
H
Hydrostatics...........................................................................................................................................2, 3, 9, 24, 25, 26, 37, 38, 40, 43, 54, 71, 72
Inclined...............................................................................................................................................................................................3, 25, 38, 72
Settings...............................................................................................................................................................................................................25
I
Incremental distance.................................................................................................................................................................................................14
Inesplan....................................................................................................................................................................................................................38
Intersection curve.........................................................................................................................................13, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 44, 53, 70, 71, 74
Buttock......................................................................................................................................................................................................2, 37, 40
Diagonal.......................................................................................................................................................................................2, 37, 40, 70, 71
Station........................................................................................................................................................2, 9, 17, 19, 25, 37, 38, 40, 42, 44, 71
Waterline........................................................................................................................................................2, 19, 25, 37, 39, 40, 41, 54, 72, 76
K
Knuckle line..........................................................................................................................................................................................7, 8, 15, 32, 34
L
Layer.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Active..................................................................................................................................................................................................2, 31, 36, 45
Leak point.................................................................................................................................................................................2, 9, 26, 37, 40, 41, 43
Linesplan..........................................................................................................................................................................3, 15, 16, 25, 37, 38, 39, 71
Load case....................................................................................................................2, 3, 24, 25, 27, 46, 47, 50, 56, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68
Lock....................................................................................................................................................................................................................31, 46
M
Margin line................................................................................................................................................................................................................27
Marker..................................................................................................................................................................2, 18, 26, 29, 31, 35, 42, 44, 45, 70
Max VCG......................................................................................................................................................................................3, 27, 46, 47, 50, 74

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Mesh...........................................................................................................................................................................................6, 8, 9, 32, 33, 37, 39

N
Normal...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Direction...................................................................................................................................................................................................9, 26, 33
NURBS.................................................................................................................................................................................................................6, 45
P
Permeability..................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Damaged..................................................................................................................................................................................................3, 56, 57
Intact...............................................................................................................................................................................................................3, 57
Plate development..................................................................................................................................................................3, 13, 25, 37, 38, 74, 75
Point..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Corner...................................................................................................................................................................................................................7
Critical............................................................................................................................................................2, 26, 27, 41, 44, 47, 48, 53, 73, 78
Leak....................................................................................................................................................................................2, 9, 26, 37, 40, 41, 43
Lock................................................................................................................................................................................................................2, 31
Regular.........................................................................................................................................................................................................34, 78
Unlock.......................................................................................................................................................................................................2, 31, 46
Probabilistic damage stability...................................................................................................................................................2, 3, 27, 28, 56, 59, 77
Project settings...........................................................................................................................................2, 9, 10, 19, 25, 40, 43, 46, 51, 54, 57, 71
R
Registration code........................................................................................................................................................................................................5
Regular grid..........................................................................................................................................................................................................9, 32
Resistance............................................................................................................................................................................................................3, 76
Delft................................................................................................................................................................................................................3, 76
Kaper..............................................................................................................................................................................................................3, 76
S
Shading.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Developability.....................................................................................................................................................................................................14
Gaussian curvature......................................................................................................................................................................................14, 15
Wireframe...................................................................................................................................................................................14, 39, 62, 71, 78
Zebra..................................................................................................................................................................................................................15
Stability criteria.........................................................................................................................................................27, 46, 47, 62, 63, 64, 68, 69, 74
Stability curve.............................................................................................................................................................................27, 46, 57, 61, 63, 74
Subdivision surface................................................................................................................................................................................2, 6, 7, 31, 41
T
Tank.....................................................................................................2, 3, 13, 14, 24, 26, 27, 29, 42, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 76
Abbreviation.............................................................................................................................................................................................3, 27, 56
Arrangement.......................................................................................................................................................................................3, 59, 60, 65
Connection.........................................................................................................................................................................................................27
Non-buoyant.............................................................................................................................................................................................3, 26, 57
Position...........................................................................................................................................................................................................3, 56
Tank arrangement....................................................................................................................................................................................3, 59, 60, 65
Tank connection........................................................................................................................................................................................................27
U
Unlock.............................................................................................................................................................................................................2, 31, 46
W
Weathertight..............................................................................................................................................................................................................26
Weight...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Group...................................................................................................................................................................................56, 60, 62, 63, 64, 65
List................................................................................................................................................................................................3, 61, 63, 64, 66
Wind..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Moment........................................................................................................................................................................................3, 50, 64, 68, 69
Silhouette.........................................................................................................................................................................3, 50, 51, 64, 68, 69, 74
Y
Ydrostatics................................................................................................................................................................................................................37

80