3.

5 Transverse Strength of Tanker 403

(a) Bucking due to (b) Buckling due to (c) No buckling by

shearing force vertical force of sharing force
bottom pressure opposite to (a)

Fig. 3.5.9 Paper craft model of transverse web buckling

Figure 3.5.10 shows the shear buckling critical stress τcr of a plate with a slot
compared with the shear buckling critical stress τ0 of a plate without a slot. τ0 is
obtained for the boundary supported condition [17].

3.5.6 Straight Type and Circular Type Construction

From the fabrication viewpoint, much discussion has been held on which is bet-
ter, straight type or circular type construction. Eventually in Japanese shipyards the
circular type was adopted, on the other hand in European shipyards, the straight
type is widely adopted. The straight type construction is better for labor saving
and the circular type is better for weight saving and strength. New fabrication
techniques such as NC cutting and automatic welding support the circular type
construction.
A cross tie mainly plays the role of a pillar and the straight type cross tie seems
to be reasonable in supporting the axial force. However, the circular type cross tie is
lighter, because as shown in Fig. 3.5.11 the heavy face plate of the “A” part can be
omitted.
404 3 Transverse Strength of Ship

Fig. 3.5.10 Decrease of shearing buckling stress due to slot opening

Fig. 3.5.11 Straight type and round type of cross tie

3.6 Transverse Strength of Ore Carrier 405

3.5.7 Transverse Rings at Fore & Aft Parts of Tank

In the design of the transverse strength of the tank part of a tanker, the scantlings
of each member are decided based on the midship shape and the same scantling
is applied to the fore and aft parts of a tank where the shape is different from the
midship part. In Fig. 3.5.12 the shapes of transverse rings at the fore and aft parts of
a 250,000 DWT and a 150,000 DWT tanker are shown respectively. It seems that a
remarkable material saving can be achieved if the proper design to meet the shapes
is carried out.

3.6 Transverse Strength of Ore Carrier

As stated in Sect. 5.2 of Part I, the ore carrier has a long and big ore hold in the mid-
dle of the ship which is sandwiched by ballast tanks. To achieve more efficient ore
handling, no transverse bulkhead is fitted in the cargo hold and the hatch opening
is bigger than that of an ordinary cargo ship. The transverse bulkhead is an impor-
tant member in maintaining the transverse strength of a ship, and special care must
be taken when designing a hull structure without a transverse bulkhead. In such a
case, the double bottom and decks between hatches play a major role in maintain-
ing transverse strength. In this Section the transverse strength members in the wing
tank, knuckled part of longitudinal bulkhead, double bottom floor and deck between
hatches are explained.
As shown in Fig. 3.6.1 the transverse bulkhead and the transverse ring in a wing
tank suffer from compression in the fully loaded condition, and tension in the bal-
lasted condition. This is also true for a transverse ring in a ballast wing tank of
a tanker. However for a transverse bulkhead the condition is a little different. As
shown in Fig. 3.6.2 for the fully loaded condition the transverse bulkhead supports
about twice the compression than in the case of a tanker. This is why a horizontal
girder on a transverse bulkhead of an ore carrier suffers from buckling damage.
A knuckle is, in some cases, provided at the mid-level between the upper deck
and double bottom on the longitudinal bulkheads of an ore carrier. In the design of
the knuckle part and the radius part, attention should be paid to the vertical force on
the plate caused by in-plane force. Designers of land structures always provide rein-
forcement against the vertical force on the plate caused by an in-plane force but the
hull structure designers are so optimistic that they pay little attention to this point.
Buckling damage happens at the radius part of a cross tie shown in Fig. 3.1, and this
is caused by the vertical force on the plate due to an in-plane force. An example of
a crack caused by the vertical force on the plate due to an in-plane force is shown in
Fig. 3.6.3. A countermeasure against this crack is to provide a longitudinal stiffener
at the knuckled part to prevent the vertical movement of the plate.
In the design of an ore carrier, the height of the double bottom can be increased
taken because of the small volume of the cargo hold due to the high specific gravity
of ore. In this regard the design of transverse strength of an ore carrier is easier than
that of a bulk carrier.
 406
3

Fig. 3.5.12 Shape of transverse ring at fore, midship and aft

Transverse Strength of Ship
3.6 Transverse Strength of Ore Carrier 407

Fig. 3.6.1 Load on wing tank of ore carrier

Fig. 3.6.2 Horizontal load acting on transverse bulkhead in full load condition

Fig. 3.6.3 Crack occuring at knuckled part in longitudinal bulkhead of ore carrier
408 3 Transverse Strength of Ship

In the floor in a double bottom, slots are provided for the longitudinal stiffeners as
well as in a transverse ring of a tanker or an ore carrier’s wing tank. Around the slots
in a transverse ring of a tanker or an ore carrier’s wing tank, many cracks occurred.
However no cracks were reported around the slots in the double bottom floors of
ore carriers, bulk carriers, and cargo ships. This is an important phenomenon, and
we need to make clear the reason why such cracks happened around the slots. As
shown in Fig. 3.6.4 the stress distribution at the connection between a web stiffener
and a longitudinal stiffener is uniform in the case of the double bottom floor because
there is no out-of-plane displacement of the floor. On the other hand, the stress
concentration due to out-of-plane displacement of a transverse ring exists at the
connection between a web stiffener and a longitudinal stiffener in a transverse ring
of a tanker or an ore carrier’s wing tank. For this reason no countermeasure will be
necessary against cracks around the slots in the case of a double bottom floor.
In ore carriers a transverse force is generated in the deck between hatches. The
force is compression in the case of a fully loaded condition, and tension in the case
of a ballasted condition.
The forces can be estimated easily as follows. In a fully loaded condition a sec-
tion of an ore carrier can be modeled as shown in Fig. 3.6.5. Applying bottom pres-
sure, side pressure and weight of ore on the model the following equation can be
obtained by the equilibrium of moments. Here the double bottom is more rigid than
on upper deck between hatches.
 
dB B b
l × −W × − Fm × D = 0 (3.6.1)
2 4 2

where
d: full load draft
l: distance between centers of upper decks between hatches
B: breadth of ship

Fig. 3.6.4 Stress distribution in lower end of web stiffener

3.6 Transverse Strength of Ore Carrier 409

Fig. 3.6.5 Equilibrium of forces acting to transverse members of ore carrier

W: half of ore weight per unit length of ship

b: half the breadth of the ore hold
D: depth of ship
Fm : force on upper deck between hatches due to bottom pressure and ore weight
Expressing the force on the upper deck between hatches due to side pressure by
Ff , Eq. (3.6.2) can be derived.
d2 d
Ff × D − l × × =0 (3.6.2)
2 3
From Eqs. (3.6.1) and (3.6.2) the total force in the upper deck between hatches
(Fm + Ff ) can be obtained as shown by Eq. (3.6.3).
 2 
l dB d3
(Fm + Ff ) = −W b + (3.6.3)
2D 4 3

The estimated compressive stresses in the upper decks between hatches, for large
ore carriers, are shown in Table 3.6.1, and these were obtained assuming that the
upper deck plate is 12 mm thick and the transverse beams of 300 × 90 × 11/16
inverted angle are fitted with 800 mm spaces. The critical buckling stress of the
800 × 4, 000 × 12 rectangular plate with compressive force on the shorter edges
is 152 MPa. Accordingly the safety factor for Ship A is 1.34, for Ship B is 1.17,
and for Ship C is 2.54. In this case the design criteria of safety factor is taken to
be the minimum value among the analyzed values for ships in service without any
buckling, or the maximum value among the analyzed values for ships in service with
buckling, if any.
410 3 Transverse Strength of Ship

Table 3.6.1 Compressive stress of upper deck between hatch openings of ore carrier

3.7 Transverse Strength of Bulk Carrier

As explained in Sect. 5.2 in Part I, a bulk carrier has hopper tanks at both sides of
the double bottom and shoulder tanks below the upper deck, the torsional rigidity of
which supports the double bottom and side frame. From this view point the distance
between transverse bulkheads, that is the length of a hold, is important.
The shoulder tank and the hopper tank are connected by the side shell construc-
tion and have a strong resistance against the vertical force. Against the horizontal
force the hopper tanks connected to the double bottom also have a strong resistance.
The vertical force on the double bottom, such as water pressure on the bottom and
the cargo weight, and the vertical force on the side shell, causes torsional moments
in the fixed parts of the hopper and shoulder tanks. The torsional rigidity of these
parts is important in resisting the torsional moments. The torsional rigidity of a
cylinder is proportional to the square of the sectional area of the cylinder, so the
structural arrangement of small hopper and shoulder tanks, and of long cargo hold
may have a transverse strength deficiency.
The torsional angle θ of a thin hollow tube is expressed by the following
equation:
sT l
θ= 2 (3.7.1)
4A Gt
where
s : round length passing through mid-points of plate thickness
T : torsional moment
A : area surrounded by s
G : shear rigidity of material
t : thickness of s
l : length of tube
In the application of (3.7.1) to the hopper tank, l is to be half the length of a hold
and T is to be a function of the ship breadth B, draft d and l. Here T is represented
in (3.7.2) and θ is expressed by Eq. (3.7.3).

T ∝ B2 dl (3.7.2)

sB2 dl 2
θ∝ (3.7.3)
4A2 Gt
3.7 Transverse Strength of Bulk Carrier 411

The structural arrangement of a bulk carrier is to be based on the standard θ

which is derived by the analysis of θ in (3.7.3) for many ships in service.
The side shell construction connecting the hopper tank and the shoulder tank
originally consisted of ordinary frames and web frames which were arranged in
line with the transverse webs in the hopper tank and the shoulder tank. However,
in the new design it is common to omit the web frames, but the ordinary frames
are retained. This is because as explained above the transverse strength of a bulk
carrier is maintained by the torsional rigidity of the hopper and shoulder tanks. The
upper and the lower ends of the side shell construction suffer from a forced torsional
moment; in a deeper frame higher bending stress is generated and in a more shallow
frame a lower bending stress is generated.
At the upper and the lower ends of the side frame, brackets should be fitted
inside the shoulder tank and the hopper tank. There is no instruction to decide the
scantling of these brackets in classification rules. Hereunder a suggestion to design
these brackets is explained. As shown in Fig. 3.7.1(a) the bracket inside the hopper
tank is supported by the side longitudinal A and the longitudinal stiffener B on the
hopper plate; this resists the bending moment M at the lower end of the side frame.
In this condition the equilibrium of the forces is expressed by Eq. (3.7.4).
M = l1 F1 + l2 F2 (3.7.4)

M can be expressed by M = Z σ where Z is the section modulus of the side

frame and σ is the design stress of the frame. F1 and F2 are the reactions from the
longitudinal frame A and B, and can be obtained by limiting the stresses σ in the
longitudinal frame A and B as shown in Fig. 3.7.1(b). On the other hand there exists
a relation of (3.7.5) between F1 , F2 , l1 and l2 as shown in Fig. 3.7.1(c), assuming the
bracket is rigid.

Fig. 3.7.1 Bracket supporting lower end of side frame

412 3 Transverse Strength of Ship

k1 k2
dθ = F1 = F2 (3.7.5)
l1 l2
where k1 and k2 are spring constants of longitudinal frames.
According to the above consideration a reasonable design of the brackets at the
lower and the upper ends of the side frames can be obtained and this depends on the
size of the side frame.
An important point in designing the transverse strength of a bulk carrier is the
connection of the double bottom to the hopper tank. Many cracks shown in Fig. 3.7.2
where reported during the era of the increasing size of bulk carriers. There are two
ways of construction in this part, a straight welded type and a curved bending type,
on which many discussions have been held from design and fabrication view points.
It is easily understood that the crack shown in Fig. 3.7.2 is caused by the tensile
stress due to the cargo weight on the double bottom. However in the smaller bulk
carrier which has a narrow floor space in the double bottom no such crack has been
reported even with a scallop in this part. From experience with such cracking, clos-
ing the scallop with a collar plate has been a common practice but for a narrow floor
space up to about 2 m no collar plate arrangement is required.
At the connection of the double bottom to the hopper tank, either a straight
welded type or a curved bending type has to be chosen from a fabrication view
point as well as a strength view point. The latter requires a plate bending process
but the fillet welding is half of the former. As shown in Fig. 3.7.3 a side girder

Fig. 3.7.2 Example of crack in double bottom end of bulk carrier

3.7 Transverse Strength of Bulk Carrier 413

Fig. 3.7.3 Rounded inner

bottom plate construction

is to be fitted around the midpart of the curve to avoid movement perpendicular

to the plate. Such movement caused cracks at the knuckled part of the longitudi-
nal bulkhead of an ore carrier, as shown in Fig. 3.6.3. This alignment of the side
girder is important to prevent structural damage from view point of strength, but
it takes many labor hours to provide accurate alignment from the fabrication view
point.
In the case of the curved bending type, the effective breadth of the curved part
relative to the bending moment at the end of the double bottom is reduced, for which
some reinforcement to avoid out of plane displacement is necessary. Summing up
the above discussion, the authors consider the curved type seems to have an advan-
tage due to strength, in spite of the curved type not being so easily fabricated.
At the time when designers discuss the strength of a structure, the load on the
structure should be kept in the designer’s mind. In the case of heavy cargo, alternate
holds are loaded. This is called alternate loading or jumping loading, because uni-
form loading will bring the center of gravity lower causing a shorter rolling period.
Alternate loading is most important in bulk carriers.
Here as an example, uniform loading and alternate loading are compared with
for a 33,000 DWT bulk carrier. The loads on the double bottom are shown in
Table 3.7.1. The load for the alternate loading is 6–7 times of that for the uniform
loading. The load for the ballast condition is obtained assuming the draft is 32%
of that of the fully loaded condition which is bigger than that for uniform loading.
As explained above the load for the alternate loading is important for a bulk carrier
double bottom which is supported by the torsional rigidity of the hopper tank.
Next, the in-plane load in the transverse bulkhead is to be considered. As shown
in Fig. 3.7.4 the load on the double bottom is transmitted to the transverse bulkhead
as an in-plane load, as well as to the side shell plates. The in-plane load in the
transverse bulkhead W is expressed by the following Eq. (3.7.6):
a1 w1 a2 w2 a1 α
W= α+ α= (w1 + w2 ) (3.7.6)
2 2 2
414 3 Transverse Strength of Ship

Table 3.7.1 Applied load to double bottom of bulk carrier

Fig. 3.7.4 Applied load to transverse bulkhead

where
α: double bottom load supporting ratio of transverse bulkhead
a: area of double bottom
w: load on double bottom shown in Table 3.7.1
The suffix 1 and 2 indicate the values for the adjacent holds. Generally in the
midship part a1 = a2 and with uniform loading and the ballast condition w1 = w2 .
(w1 + w2 ) is called the load factor for the transverse bulkhead and is shown in
Table 3.7.2 which is obtained using the values in Table 3.7.1. It can be seen that
the load factor for alternate loading is low because the load in the empty hold and
the loaded hold cancel each other at the transverse bulkhead. According to the re-
sult shown in Table 3.7.2 for the ballasted condition, the value for an empty hold is

Table 3.7.2 Load coefficient of transverse bulkhead of bulk carrier

3.8 Transverse Strength of Container Ships 415

applied in the calculation of the shear deformation of a transverse bulkhead, when

considering the total strength evaluation of a bulk carrier as shown in Sect. 1.2.2.

3.8 Transverse Strength of Container Ships

In the design and the construction of the first generation of container ships, many
wide and detailed assessments were made, especially on the torsional strength due
to large hatch openings and on engine room construction due to high engine output.
Regarding the transverse strength of a container ship, the hull structure designers
seem to be optimistic because a container ship has many transverse bulkheads with
intermediate partial bulkheads; also the breadth of a container ship is limited up
32.2 m, to be able to pass through the Panama Canal, which is called Panamax. In
addition to these the load on a double bottom is smaller than that of other kinds of
ship. As a result, very little damage on the transverse strength of container ships is
reported.
However to increase the efficiency of transportation, longer holds with less trans-
verse bulkheads and the deletion of the partial bulkhead will be required; sizes above
Panamax also appeared recently. For these matters more attention should be paid.