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
Living and control spaces, offices and
passages, main deck and above

Live
Loading
75 psf

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

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

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.
Quasi-Static Analysis
Hogging wave.
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

Example Sea
Loads
30

Heeling
Angle: Generally 30
Passing Wave

hw
DWL

h w = 0.55 LBP
Pitch & Green Seas
DWL

AP

FP

12' Head at FP
Decreases to 4' Head
Constant Aft

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 quasistatic.
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

These are the critical design loads for

bulkheads and decks below the main
deck.
Hydrostatic pressure distribution loads.

Aircraft

Loads

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

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.

Air Blast

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

5/54
-4

12