Ship Structural Response: Loads

Ship Structures - EN358

Loads?
Ship Structural Loads

 Loads to be Combined:
 Basic Loads
 Sea Environment Loads

 Individual Loads
 Operational Environment Loads
 Combat Loads
Basic Loads

 Loads which are assumed to act on the

structure regardless of environmental
influences and special operational conditions
 Standard Live loads

 Dead Loads

 Liquid/Tank Loads

 Equipment Loads
Basic Loads
 Live Loads
 Used primarily in designing decks.
 Represent typical loads due to weight of minor
equipment, personnel, etc.
 Loads usually depend on function of space.
 Dead Loads
 Weight of the structure itself.
 The load is generally minor, but can not be
ignored.
Typical Live loads

Type of Compartment Live Loading

Living and control spaces, offices and passages, 75 psf
main deck and above
Living spaces below the main deck 100 psf
Office and control spaces below main deck 150 psf
Shop Spaces 200 psf
Storerooms and Magazines 300 psf
Weather Decks (Main and 01 Levels) 250 psf
Basic Loads
 Liquid/Tank Loads
 Hydrostatic pressure exerted on tank
boundaries by the liquid.
 Must look for worst case loading combination
to determine design load.
 i.e., adjacent tanks; one full, one empty.
 Equipment Loads
 Usually in addition to live loads and act in
concentrated area.
 Wheel loads, aircraft loads, storage racks, etc.
Sea Environment Loads
 Loads which arise from the vessel being at
sea. These loads are considered to the most
significant design loads.
 Hull Girder Loads
 Sea Loads
 Weather Loads
 Ship Motion Loads
Hull Girder
Loads
 Model the hull as a Free-Free Box Beam.
 Beam is experiencing bending due to the
differences between the Weight and
Buoyancy distributions.
 Navy standard procedure is to look at three
cases:
 Still water.
 Hogging wave.
Quasi-Static Analysis
 Sagging wave.
(Load * g “factor” ie DAF)
Still Water
Condition

 Static Analysis - No Waves Present

 Most Warships tend to Sag in this
Condition
 Putting Deck in Compression
 Putting Bottom in Tension
Sagging
Wave

Excess Weight Amidships - Excess Buoyancy on the Ends

Compression

Tension
Hogging
Wave

Excess Buoyancy Amidships - Excess Weight on the Ends

Tension

Compression
Hull Girder Load
Effects

Hughes 1988
Sea Loads
 Represent the effects of sea and wave action on:
 Shell and weather deck
 Deckhouse and superstructure
 Intended to account for :
 Passing waves and bow submergence
 Wave slap and slam
 Heeling
 Wave slap loads depend on the angle of the
surface and the height above the water.
Example Sea
Loads30°
Heeling
Angle: Generally 30°

hw Passing Wave
DWL h w = 0.55 LBP

Pitch & Green Seas

12' Head at FP
DWL Decreases to 4' Head
Constant Aft
AP FP
Weather Loads
 Effects of temperature, wind, precipitation,
humidity, etc.
 The most important structural weather loads
are:
 Ice & Snow – use 7.5 psf on weather decks.
 Wind – use 30 psf on exposed vertical (or
nearly vertical) surfaces.
Ship Motion Loads
 Sea conditions generate ship motions, which produce
dynamic loads.
 Customary in early design stages to estimate loads based
on earlier designs and treat as quasi-static.
 U.S. Navy determines design factors for two conditions
for dynamic loads:
 Storm conditions.
 Moderate (normal) conditions.
 Design factors are based on accelerations experienced
and are used to increase dead loads and cargo or
equipment weights.
Operational Environment Loads

 These are loads which are normally not combined

with other loads for analysis.
 Some of these are extreme loads which may
happen only once in a vessels life, if at all.
 Others are loads which occur due to special
circumstances.
 The effect of these loads need to be determine for
each special case or circumstance, in addition to
the Basic and Sea Loads.
Operation Environment Loads

 Flooding Loads
 These are the critical design loads for
bulkheads and decks below the main deck.
 Hydrostatic pressure distribution loads.
 Aircraft Landing Loads
 High intensity loads of short duration.
 Apply only to specific portions of the decks in
the landing zones.
Operation Environment Loads
 Docking Loads
 Specific locations along the hull need to be
strengthened to carry loads from docking blocks or tug
positions.
 Usual block load is about 20 LT/in2 and occurs every
two or three frames.
 Ice Loads
 Certain classes of ships need special additional
structure to be able to operate in ice regions.
 Typically use Classification Society Rule (ABS, DnV,
etc.) to develop hull structure.
Combat Environment Loads

 Ships which are expected to operate in a combat

environment should have certain loads taken into
account. The main combat loads taken into
consideration are:
 Underwater explosions/shock
 Nuclear air blast loading
 Own weapons effects
Combat Environment Loads

 Underwater blast/shock loads

 Underwater explosions can cause the ship to “whip” or
vibrate near its fundamental two node frequency.
 Large amplitude hog-sag cycle deflections happen in a
second or less.
 Large amplitude high frequency vibration can cause
machinery to break off foundations, equipment to fail,
and may cause damage to the hull.
 Usually treated in design by strengthening foundations
and providing shock isolation mountings and absorbing
systems.
Combat Environment Loads
 Nuclear Air Blast
 After a nuclear explosion the expansion of hot
gases causes a huge pressure wave.
 The impact of the shock wave upon exposed
structure can be critical in a ship design.
 Superstructure and hull plating
 Masts, antenna, radars, fire control systems
 This is usually considered in a later stage of
design by strengthening exposed structure and
equipment foundations
Combat Environment Loads

 The effect of gun blasts and missile

launching must be considered when
designing all structure in the vicinity.
 Gun blasts can generate significant pressures
for very short durations.
 The structure of missile motor stowage
areas must be able to contain accidental
ignition.
Gun Blast Pressure Distribution
20
10 psi
5 psi
3 psi
16

12

Muzzle

0
-12 -8 -4 0 4 8 12

5”/54
-4