Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Generals

In this chapter, basic requirements and functions, terminologies, and design stages
of a ship are explained. How a ship floats in the water, what terminologies should be
known to understand ship design, and how a ship is designed are described in each
section.

1.2 Basic Requirements and Functions of a Ship

A structure can be defined as a ship if it satisfies basic requirements and has basic
functions. The basic requirements are minimum conditions for a ship and there are
four basic requirements. First, a ship should float and be stable in the water. The
weight of the ship is equal to its buoyancy in static equilibrium. Second, a ship
should transport cargoes. For this purpose, inner space should be large enough for
storing the cargoes. Third, a ship should move fast to the destination and be possible
to control by itself. For this purpose, the shape of the ship should be made to keep
low resistance. And the ship should be equipped with propulsion and steering
equipment like a diesel engine and a rudder. Lastly, a ship should be strong enough
in all her life. For this purpose, in general, the ship is made of welded structures of
steel plates and stiffeners. How does a ship float in the water? The force that enables
it is the buoyant force directed upward. The buoyant force cancels out the
gravitational force directed downward and makes the ship to keep static equilib-
rium state, that is, floating condition. According to the Archimedes’ principle, the
magnitude of the buoyant force acting on a floating body in the fluid is equal to the
weight of fluid which is displaced by the floating body. The weight of displaced
fluid by the floating body is called displacement.

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 1

M.-Il. Roh, K.-Y. Lee, Computational Ship Design,
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4885-2_1