K5106 – Marine Engineering Practice and

Legislation

BEDPLATES

Requirement:

1. Strength: To resist considerable forces exerted on it.

2. Rigidity: To give correct alignment to running gear. However a certain degree of
flexibility is required too, to prevent high stresses caused by slight misalignment.
3. Lightness: To increased power/weight ratio.
4. Toughness: To withstand fatigue conditions.
5. Simple design: To save cost in manufacturing and installation.
6. Access: For easy inspection and maintenance of running gears and holding down
bolts.
7. Dimensions: To be smallest possible to give more engine room space.
8. Seal: To seal off oil and vapour effectively bedplate should also provide an oil
tight chamber and housing for thrust bearing.

Forces on bedplate:

1. Gas pressure in cylinder.

2. Inertia forces of moving masses.
3. Side thrust from guide faces (only for crosshead engine).
4. Weight of parts above bedplate.
5. Thrust reaction from propeller (for integral thrust block).
6. Hull deflections.
7. Vibration forces due to torque fluctuations.
8. Thermal stresses.
9. Forces due to ship movements in heavy seas.

CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS

Bedplate made up of longitudinal and transverse girders.

a) Longitudinal Girders (fabricated).

View from aft. To forward

Single Longitudinal Girder Double Longitudinal Girder

To gives longitudinal strength, maintains alignment and support for attachment of

transverse girders.

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 K5106 – Marine Engineering Practice and
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b) Transverse (or Cross) Girders:

Longitudinal
girder Bearing Transverse
pocket girder

port starboard

Single plate transverse girder

Top
plate

Transverse
girder Bearing
pocket Top
plate

Stiffening
joint longitudinal and
tube
Transverse girder
Double plate transverse girder

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 K5106 – Marine Engineering Practice and
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TYPE OF BEDPLATE

Two most common types are:

1) Flat bottom or box type.

2) Trestle type.

MATERIALS FOR BEDPLATES

1. Fabricated mild steel.

2. Cast iron.
3. Composite (fabricated steel and cast steel).

1. Fabricated Steel

- Lightest construction.
- Good strength against shock load.
- Easiest to manufacture and repair.
- Poor vibration damping characteristics.
- Liable to crack (due to numerous welds).
- After welding, requires stress relieving and thus size of bedplate controlled by
lifting equipment and annealing furnace.

Note: Bearing pocket are of cast steel.

2. Cast Iron

- Never used in large bedplates, except in small/high speed engines.

- Excellent vibration damping characteristic.
- Repairs difficult.
- Low tensile strength and usually supported by tie bolts.

3. Composite or hybrid arrangement.

- Fabricated longitudinal girder and cast transverse girder.

- Transverse girder continuous with integral bearing pocket.
- Strengthening ribs cast-in and completes unit stress relieving before bolting or
welding to longitudinal girders.
- High resistance to cracking due to lack of welds and irregular grain flow.

Note: Steel used must be have good weld ability properties.

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 K5106 – Marine Engineering Practice and
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FAULTS IN BEDPLATE

A) Cracks.
B) Oil Leaks.
C) Loose Chocks.
D) Loose Frames.

a) Crack Occur.
Longitudinal girder
Tie Bearing pocket
bolt Tie bolt hole
5
Lightening
4 hole
2
3 1

Frame bolt hole

Cross section Plan view

view

1) Under bearing pocket (fabricated steel bedplates).

2) Radially around tie bolt and frame bolt holes.
3) Between longitudinal and transverse (cross) girders.
4) Around lightening holes.
5) At base of main bearing keeps.

Causes of cracks

1) Excessive vibration.
2) Slack tie bolts.
3) Overloading due to excessive bearing wear.
4) Poor welding/stress relieving.
5) Stress raisers on welds or stress concentration.

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b) Oil leaks

1) Sump pan.
2) Doors and casing.
3) Crankcase relief valves.
4) Bedplate cracks.

c) Loose chocks

Chocks fret when holding down bolts slack. Bolts hardened with shims as
temporary repair. As soon as possible, chock removed, tank top faced-up
by grinding and a new thicker chock prepared and rebedded.
Note: Chocks become thinner and clearance will be appeared between the
bedplate and tank top, and thus effect the bedplate alignment and so the
crankshaft.

Bedplates inspection:

1) Cracks.
2) Corrosion – moisture or acidic compounds (may be due to oxidation of lubricating
oil, high temperature).
3) Cleanliness – sludge and carbon (in lubricating oil).
4) Loose connections.
5) Oil leaks.
6) Faulty welding on new engines.
7) Faulty castings.

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 K5106 – Marine Engineering Practice and
Legislation

CHOCKS

Without chocks, the tank top surface have to be machined which is very large area and
take longer time to machine. It is also very difficult to get flat machined surface for large
area, whereas when chocks is used only the surface at the chocks area are machined with
small area and easier to be done.

Chock location

a) Supporting chocks (between bedplate and tank top)

b)

1) Any variations in tank top surface does not cause misalignment.

2) Fretting can be repaired by adjusting individual chocks.
3) Any distortions after fitting (due to settlement) can be corrected.
4) To facilitates shaft alignment (tailshaft aperture is fixed).

b) End chocks.

1) To position the engine.

2) Absorb collision load (prevent the forward movement of the engine due to
momentum when the ship collide. If not the frame and foundation bolts
will shear off).
3) In case of integral thrust blocks, end chocks also absorb propeller thrust
and propeller excited vibrations).

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 K5106 – Marine Engineering Practice and
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c) Side chocks.

1) Absorb side loads (thrust from guide shoe, crankshaft, rolling etc.).
2) Prevent fretting of supporting chocks and tank tops.
3) Helps holding down bolts to resist lateral forces when rolling.

Materials for chocks

Cast iron, cast steel and epoxy resin.

a) Cast iron.

- Good vibration damping properties.

- High compressive strength.
- Retain shape under load, thus chances of bolt slackening/fracture less.
- Hard and liable to ‘bed’ into tank top or bedplate (due to fretting).
- Brittle and liable to crack under impact loads.

b) Cast steel.

- Reduce problems of cast iron.

- Vibration damping low but with modern hydraulic tightening of bolts, little
vibration will get transmitted to chocks.
- Chocks size slightly bigger

c) Epoxy resin (non-metallic)

- Latest development.
- Eliminates fitting and machining.
- Improved resilience which absorbs vibration, reduces noise and greater
ductility.
- Resist degradation by fuel, lubricants and eliminates corrosion in chock area.

Fitting of epoxy resin chocks

a) Surface cleaned (a thin film of zinc is necessary for corrosion resistant surface).
b) Dam prepared in chock area.
c) Holding down bolts greased, inserted and hand torque prior to pouring,
temperature keep above 16C.
d) Resin mixed and poured into position. Ensure no local hot spots.
e) After harden, keep chock and plate to 16C or higher for 48 hours. Allow resin to
cure another 48 hours.
f) Holding down bolts tensioned.
g) Crankshaft deflection taken to confirm alignment.

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 K5106 – Marine Engineering Practice and
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d) Rubber chocks

- high speed engines in small vessels.

- Resilient mountings to reduce vibration transmission from hull to engine and
vice-versa.
- Careful selection of right size and stiffness to obtain optimum operation and
sufficient flexibility must be arranged to prevent re-straining.
- 4 to 8 mountings are normal.

HOLDING DOWN DOLT (OLD DESIGN)

1. stud screwed hard into tank top to get a watertight seal between plate and conical
face.
2. Lower nut harden and tack weld or caulk over thread to lock.
3. Upper nut harden.
4. Chock with bearing face around bolt hole to avoid bending of bedplate and to
make unit solid.

Disadvantages

1. Difficult in designing metal chock.

2. When removing the lower nut, usually the caulked and tack weld, the lower
thread may damage.
3. The conical surface will damage after the bolt is removed.
4. Manual tightening is not good – shear the bolt – tightening force is not uniform.

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Chockfast typical damming arrangement (for medium speed diesel engine)

HOLDING DOWN BOLT ARRANGEMENT (MODERN DESIGN)

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 K5106 – Marine Engineering Practice and
Legislation

HOLDING DOWN BOLT ARRANGEMENT (MODERN DESIGN)

Advantages

1. Used epoxy resin chock – much superior – for good alignment and easy
installation.
2. Improved tightening by using hydraulic tightening – tightening force is more
uniform and faster.
3. Spherical washer and nut will prevent the bolt from moving when imposed by
side force.
4. Removing and fixing of bolt is faster – save time.

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 K5106 – Marine Engineering Practice and
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HOLDING DOWN ARRANGEMENT (USING LONG BOLT)

Advantages

1. Less stress reversal – initial tightening is more, so reducing reversal stress and
fatique failure – reduced the magnitude of the reversal stress (load that acts on the
bolt and release by the bolt).
2. Keep parts under compression even when the engine at rest.

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 K5106 – Marine Engineering Practice and
Legislation

JACK OR THRUST BOLT ARRANGEMENT

1. Jack bolt under compression retain bearing keep in position.

2. Save more space on either side of bearing.
3. Transverse (cross) girder can be made shorter, and so reduce weight and reduce
chances of crack and fatique failure.
4. Thus distance ‘x’ can be kept minimum – bending moment (and stress) on
bedplate is minimum.

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 K5106 – Marine Engineering Practice and
Legislation

RUNNING WITH SLACK TIE BOLTS.

1. Cylinder beam flex and lift at location of slack bolts.

2. Landing faces will fret and machined surfaces eventually destroyed.
3. Fitted bracing bolts between cylinder jacket slack.
4. If tie bolt tightened after fretting has occurred on landing faces, alignment of
cylinder to piston stroke destroyed. Also fitted bracing bolt damaged.
5. Fretting makes landing out of square. If tightened, bending moment induced in tie
bolt – uneven stress pattern – early fatique failure.
6. Damage in way of transverse (cross) girder of bedplate.
7. Rigidity of whole structure destroyed – side thrust from guides absorbed by frame
bolts and dowels – structure may ‘work’ due to slack bolts and dowel.
8. Guide faces and bar slacked since they are bolted to supporting structure.

HYDRAULIC TENSIONING DEVICE (TIE BOLT)

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