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Calculation of Weight of SWATH Ship in Preliminary Design Stages

Article · July 2009

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 Journal of Ship Technology, Vol. 5, No.2, July 2009, pp 34-38

Angela P. Boiko Alexander V. Bondarenko, Ph.D

Lecturer Associate Professor
Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding, Faculty of Naval Architecture
9, Geroyev Stalingrada avenue, Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding
Nikolaev, Ukraine 9, Geroyev Stalingrada avenue,
E-mail: anzhela@trion.mk.ua Nikolaev, Ukraine
E-mail: abondarenko@usmtu.edu.ua

Calculation of Weight of a SWATH Ship in Preliminary

Design Stages
Angela P. Boiko and Alexander V. Bondarenko

ABSTRACT
The review of existing calculated formulas for definition of components of displacement of small
waterplane area twin hull (SWATH) ships has been carried out. The approached dependences
for calculation of weight of SWATH ship in preliminary design stages are described in the paper.
Keywords: weight, SWATH, lightship weight, hull weight, outfit weight, machinery weight.

1. INTRODUCTION 2. WEIGHT MODEL

One of the initial requirements for designing a Small According to the traditional approach accepted in ship
Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) ship is the design, displacement of SWATH ship can be presented
tentative estimation of its weight, based on summation of as follows:
weight groups. This weight estimation is crucial, since
the process of estimation of weight groups is also D = WLS + DWT (1)
necessary for carrying out many ship-building where WLS – lightship weight, ton
calculations and also for estimation of economic
DWT – deadweight, ton
efficiency of the SWATH ship. Accuracy of definition of
weight groups is especially important for SWATH, Dividing the lightship weight into groups can be carried
because ships of this type are very sensitive to change of out in various ways depending on the design objective
displacement and draft (owing to their small waterplane and the phase of the design. In the preliminary design
area). phase, calculation of lightship weight of SWATH ship
may be estimated by summing the following
Literature review of various studies [1 to 8] on the
components:
calculation of weights of SWATH ships reveals that at
present, it is difficult to estimate weight groups for WLS = WHull + WSup + WM + WOut + WSM (2)
SWATH ships with accuracy suitable for preliminary where
design phases.
Whul – weight of hull, tons
Therefore the purpose of this paper is to develop
WSup – weight of superstructure, tons
simplified expressions for calculation of weight of
SWATH ship as a first approximation, based on external WM – weight of machinery, tons
conditions of area of operation and requirements of WOut – weight of outfit, tons
Classification societies. WSM – weight margin, tons.

34 Journal of Ship Technology Vol. 5, No. 2, July 2009

It is advisable to consider the weight of superstructure as lower hulls, struts, sponsons, cross structure, internal
a separate component, since in most cases on a SWATH, decks and platforms, longitudinal and transverse
the material of the superstructure differs from the bulkheads.
material of the hull. The weight of these structural elements may be
The most crucial component is the weight of the hull. determined by the following expression:
According to statistics for SWATH ship, the weight of n
Wsi = 0.001å Sitiqi (4)
hull amounts to 50 to 60 % of the lightship weight. i=1

In the formula offered by the authors to estimate the hull where Si – the area of ith element of the hull,
weight, the method stated in [6] is taken as basis. qi – density of material of ith element of the hull,
According to this method, the weight of hull of SWATH ti – thickness of an ith element of the hull, given by:
ship is determined based on the thickness of structural
——
elements, which is based on the operating pressure and ti = ks Ö p / ss (5)
requirements of the Classification society: where s – frame-spacing, m;
Wh = (1 + C0) å (1+Ci) Wsi (3) ss – allowable stress, MPa;
i

where: k – material factor according to specific Classification

C0 = 0.085 – Coefficient considering weight of additional
elements (7% – for painting and welding material, 1.5 %
– for margin);
Ci – Coefficient considering weight of elements of the
supporting framing, taken as 26% to 42 % (depending on
material and framing system);
Wsi – weight of structural elements of the hull, tons.
The hull of a Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull ship may
be subdivided into the following structural elements:
society;
P – maximum design load, determined for various
structural elements of the hull according to requirements
of a Classification society.
It is necessary to note that the value of maximum design
load (P) depends on requirements of the particular
Classification society. Figure 1 shows the variation in
calculations of maximum design load for the upper
(weather) deck, calculated as per requirements of various
Classification societies.

Pwd, kPa
18.0
16.0
14.0
12.0
10.0 CCS
8.0 GL

6.0 RS

4.0
2.0
0.0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Distance f rom FP (fract ion)
Fig. 1 : Distribution of pressure on upper (weather) deck over length of a vessel: CCS – Chinese Classification
Society; GL – Germanischer Lloyd; RS – Russian Maritime Register

Vol. 5, No. 2, July 2009 Journal of Ship Technology 35

As an example, Figure 2 shows the scheme of pressure The weight of machinery is estimated depending on type
distribution due to the sea on the basic components of of propulsion system using formulas based on processing
the hull, obtained by calculations for the passenger of statistical data [5] (Table 2).
SWATH ship "Princess Maxima", as per Chinese
Classification Society requirements [9]. Table 2 : Relations for weight of machinery
installation of various types
Type of propulsion system Weight
Gas turbine WM = 0.0080SHPP
High-speed diesel WM = 0.0094SHPP
Medium-speed diesel WM = 0.0152SHPP

Diesel-electric WM = 0.663SHPP0.679

Gas-turbo-electric WM = 0.794SHPP0.610

where SHPP – design shaft horsepower, kW.

The weight of the outfit and supply for a passenger ship
depends not only on the size of the vessel, but also on
the number of passengers and volume of the
superstructure. Therefore, for calculation of weight of
the outfit and supply it is possible to use the following
Fig. 2 : Scheme of distribution of formula:
pressure on the hull
Wout = gOut (LOABOAD)2/3 + POutVSup , (7)
The area of structural elements of hull Si of the SWATH where LOA – length overall, m; BOA – beam, m,
ship can be calculated by empirical expressions [6]. But D–depth, m; gOut = 0,055 . . . 0,060 ; POut = 0,015 . . . 0,016
it is more convenient nowadays to use modern
According to world practice, the margin of displacement
developments in the field of CAD – systems to create a
for SWATH ship is accepted at a rate of 2 to 3 % of full
parametric model of the SWATH hull. This allows more
load displacement. Deadweight of SWATH (in tons) can
precise determination of values of Si and considerably
be calculated as:
reduces errors of calculation.
Weight of a superstructure may be approximately DWT = WP + WF + WF.w + WCrew + WStore , (8)
obtained by the formula: where WP – payload, t, WF – fuel weight, t; WF.w – fresh
Wstr = gStr Vsup , (6) water weight, t; WCrew – crew and luggage weight, t;
3
where Vsup – volume of a superstructure, m . Values of WStore – weight of provisions, supply, t.
specific weight of superstructure (gStr) are specified in The weight of payload is determined depending on
Table 1. purpose of a vessel. For example, for the passenger ship
the weight of payload can be roughly estimated by
Table 1 : Values of specific weight (gStr) for
following expression
superstructures of various materials
WP = PPas . NPas / 1000 , (9)
Material Value of gStr
where PPas – weight of one passenger and luggage, kg;
Aluminum alloys 0.012 to 0.014
NPas – the number of passengers.
Fiberglass 0.007 to 0.008
Calculation of fuel weight (in tons) is carried out by the
Steel 0.05
formula:

36 Journal of Ship Technology Vol. 5, No. 2, July 2009

 WF = 1,15 (WF.M + WF.C + WF.G) ,
where WF.M – fuel weight for the main (cruising) engines;
WF.C – fuel weight for augmented engines (it is
considered for the naval vessel or high-speed passenger
ships with propulsion of type CODAG); WF.G – fuel
weight for a diesel engine-generator.
Weight of fuel for the main engines [5]:
RMSHPpSFCM
WF.M = , (11)
VS
where RM – range at cruising speed, miles; SHPp – power
of the main engines (cruising power), kW; VS – cruising
speed (economical speed), knots; SFCM – specific fuel
consumption of the main engines, g/(kW-hr) can be
taken as per [5].
It is similarly possible to write an expression for
calculation of fuel weight for augmented engines [5]:
RCSHPPCSFCC
WF.G = , (12)
VC
where RC – range at maximum speed, miles; SHPPC –
power of augmented engines, kW; VC – maximum speed,
knots; SFCC – specific fuel consumption augmented
engines, g/(kW-hr) it is defined under the formulas
brought above depending on type of engines.
Weight of fuel for generator systems [5]:
WF.G = ( RM
VS
+
RC
VC ) SHPPGSFCG , (13)
where SHPPG = 0,25 (1,002 D0,924) – power of a diesel
engine-generators, kW; SFC G – specific fuel
consumption a diesel engine-generators, g/(kW-hr). As a
first approximation, this can be taken as 210 g/(kW-hr).
Other components of deadweight; WF.w, WCrew , WStore may
be calculated as per working specifications and sanitary
rules depending on quantity of people onboard and
durations of sailing (endurance).
3. CONCLUSIONS
The expressions presented can be used by the design
organization for tentative estimation of weight of
Vol. 5, No. 2, July 2009 Journal of Ship Technology
(10) SWATH ship with sufficient accuracy. These would offer
a reliable starting point in the process of preliminary
design, based on inputs from concept design and the
specific requirements of Classification Society standards.
Further research in this area may be directed towards
perfection of a design procedure which includes factors
considering weight of the auxiliaries.
4. REFERENCES
1. Astahov, A. P., Peshterjanu, A. N., Plenkin, J.,
Shmagin, N. G., "Specific weight of the hull steel
of small SWATH ships", Sudostroenie, No. 8, pp.
79, 1984.
2. Ivanitskij, K. F., Kamenetskij, J. Ò., Tantsjura, A.
G., Shostak, V. P., "Research of characteristics of
semi-submerged transport ships", Collected
papers of NKI, Nikolaev, Vol. 116, pp. 6671,
1976.
3. Tantsjura, A.G., "Specific weight of the hull steel
of semi-submerged ships", Collected papers of
NKI, Nikolaev, Vol. 128, pp. 132139, 1977.
4. Tantsjura, A.G., "Mathematical model of a small
waterplane area twin hull (SWATH ) ship for
optimization of its characteristics", Collected
papers of NKI, Nikolaev, Vol. 154, pp. 4453,
1979.
5. Bertram, V., MacGregor, J.,
"Gewichtsabschätzung von SWATH-Schiffen im
Vorentwurf", Schiff & Hafen, No. 8, ss. 5053,
1993.
6. Dubrovskiy, V. A., Matveev, K., Sutulo, S. Small
Waterplane Area Ships, Fair Lawn, Backbone
Publishing Co., 2007.
7. Nethercote, W.C., Schmitke, R. T., "A Concept
Exploration Model for SWATH Ships", The Naval
Architect, Vol. 124, No. 5, pp. 113130, 1982.
8. Stevens, R. M., "New Dimensions for Naval
Catamarans", David Taylor Naval Ship R&D
Center DTNSRDC Rpt 3830, May, 1972.
9. Guidelines for Construction of Small Waterplane
Area Twin Hull Craft, China Classification
Society, 2004
37
 Angela BOIKO is a lecturer of naval architecture at the Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding,
Nikolaev/Ukraine. She graduated from Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding, Ukraine, receiving her
MSc degree in 1993. Her research interests include SWATH ship design, simulation modeling, optimization, genetic
algorithms and their application in ship design.
Alexander BONDARENKO, PhD, is currently Associate Professor at the Faculty of Naval Architecture Admiral
Makarov National University of Shipbuilding (Nikolaev/Ukraine). He graduated from Admiral Makarov National
University of Shipbuilding, Ukraine, receiving his MSc degree in 1994 and PhD degree in 2002 in naval architecture,
with specialisation in design of tankers. His currently research interests include SWATH and multi-hull ship design,
simulation modeling, optimization, genetic algorithms and their application in ship design, and the development of
advanced ship design methodologies.

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