Naval Architecture: Past, Present and Future

What is Naval Architecture?

A quick lesson in basic naval architecture is presented so that all viewers may enjoy my page. Throughout my studies in naval architecture I was not exposed to the history behind the science and this project will present some of the history for you, followed by topics of today and visions for the future.

Introduction to Naval Architecture

Past : A look at the history of Naval Architecture

Present : Current aspects of Naval Architecture throughout the world

Future : Concepts and ideas for the future of Naval Architecture

Glossary of Naval Architecture terms

References and Recommended Readings

Since God created man up until the mid-1700's, boats, ships and other watercraft were built primarily upon the practice of trial and error. Once a ship was built and it performed the needed task, then others were built like it without considering the physical and mathematical laws and principles. Attempts were made at ship design, but most failed and then reverted to trial and error in order to improve their fleets. In 1721, Fredrik Henrik Chapman was born within the walls of the Royal Dockyard in Sweden. At the young age of 10, Fredrik made a body plan from a drawing of the sheer and half-breadth plans. His father, captain of the dockyard, was so impressed that he told a shipwright to measure the frames in the actual size to see how the spacing was done on Fredrik's body plan. Fredrick went to sea at fifteen and in his late teens worked in private and state-owned dockyards (ref. 2). Throughout his young life he became more involved in ship design, but was convinced that he needed an advanced education in order to solve the design problems he saw at the yards. He did not believe that the practical experience in yards and at sea would be satisfactory for true ship designing. He went to school to study mathematics and physics in London because he believed he could receive more extensive education there. After all his education, Chapman returned to apply his knowledge to shipbuilding and eventually became the First Naval Architect. The shipwrights of his time did not like his ideas and provided considerable opposition. "Ultimately, Chapman was responsible for changing ship construction from a traditional craft to an industry based on the application of scientific principles to the solution of design and construction problems (ref. 2)."

Some of the tools used by naval architects were the planimeter, weights and splines, and general drafting tools for the superstructure. These tools are still used today in the educational arena, but computers have replaced most of these in industry and government.

"Historically, a very important and standard cargo for European sailing vessels was wine, stored and shipped in casks called tuns. These tuns of wine, because of their uniform size and their universal demand, became a standard by which a ship's capacity could be measured. A tun of wine weighed approximately 2,240 pounds, and occupied nearly 60 cubic feet (ref.1)." Today the ship designers standard of weight is the long ton which is equal to 2,240 pounds.

Class societies were established as long as 130 years ago for the purpose of establishing minimum ship construction requirements for insurance companies and developing marine safety technology. A commercial vessel must be "classed" before it can be insured and subsequently operated for its intended use. Today, class societies set the standards for new ship design and are vital to establishing new regulations and requirements in order to improve the safety of the maritime industry. The elite class societies are grouped into one body called IACS, International Association of Classification Societies, and consist of Det Norske Veritas (DNV), American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), Germanischer Lloyd (GL), Bureau Veritas (BV), Korean Register of Shipping (KR), China Classification Sociey (CCS), Lloyd's Register of Shipping (LR), Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (Class NK), Polski Rejestr Statkow (PRS), Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS), and Registro Italiano Navale (RINA).

Many changes have occurred since the beginning of ship building, such as the evolution from wooden ships to steel ships, rivets to welded structures to composites, steam to diesel to nuclear power, and standard full hull commercial vessels to addition of bulbous bows in order to improve resistance. Many of these changes occurred due to wartime ship production or other immediate needs for vessels of all types.

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Over 70 % of the earth's surface is covered by ocean and naval architects must take advantage of this fact. Naval architecture is a small field, but one that is vitally important for all people. A large amount of goods are shipped on commercial ships and the majority of oil used in the U.S. is brought via oil tankers. Ships will always need to be built for commercial, private, recreational, military, and government entities. Today we see a large increase in cruise ships, gambling casino boats, and enormous oil tankers. Computers are becoming commonplace, but the art of hand drawing ship's lines is still performed today. The main focus of today's naval architect is safety for people and the environment. Visit some sites below to see what is going on in the maritime industry today.

• U.S. Coast Guard Academy
• U.S. Naval Academy
• U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
• UC-Berkeley Dept. of Offshore Engineering Group
• University of Michigan Dept. of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology Dept of Ocean Engineering
• Webb Institute
• University of New Orleans, Dept of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
• California Maritime Academy

• Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME)
• Cal-Berkeley SNAME homepage
• American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE)

• National Shipbuilding NETwork (NSNET): Best comprehensive web site, including discussion groups. HIGHLY recommended.

• Maritime Administration (MARAD)
• Naval Sea Systems Command
• Office of Naval Research
• U.S. Coast Guard office of Marine Safety, Security, and Environmental Protection
• U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center
• U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Center

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Computers are becoming the primary tool for naval architects and there are some excellent programs available or in development for designing ships. Another future technique for designing quality ships is currently being attempted by designers using Intergraph's Integrated Ship Design and Production software. A typical tanker takes 18-24 months to go from design to production and this costs the owner money in down time when the vessel could be making money. The Virtual Shipyard project is currently underway to try and challenge this time frame. Eight different companies, specializing in different areas of ship design, are working from separate offices throughout the United States. They are all connected via the internet and are able to send the design around to each site and can even store voice comments on an area of the design. The future is moving fast and as can be seen by the picture above, naval architects are designing vessels to keep up with it.

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Back to the Stability and Ship Characteristics section of the introduction lesson

• After perpendicular: AP, the point where the aftermost section crosses the design water line (DWL). On commercial vessels, generally located on the vertical rudder post.
• Beam: The maximum breadth of the hull.
• Bow: The forward end of the ship.
• Bulbous bow: A prominent appendage attached to the bow in order to reduce resistance and thus reduce required horsepower.
• Buoyancy force: A ship displaces a certain amount of water and the pressure of the water on the external surface of the underwater body causes this upward force.
• Buttock lines: Regularly spaced reference planes cutting the ship's hull parallel to the centerline, generally spaced one,two or four feet apart.
• Coefficients of form: Geometric qualities used to describe the ship more precisely. Presented as ratios or dimensionless coefficients. The most common being the block coefficient, Cb, which is equal to the displacement divided by the length times beam times draft.
• Depth: The vertical distance from the baseline, or keel, to the top of the freeboard deck, measured at mid-length of the vessel.
• Displacement: The weight of the water displaced by the vessel. Salt water equals 64 pounds per cubic foot.
• Draft: The depth of the vessel below the waterline measured vertically to the lowest part of the hull or other reference point. Forward, aft, and mean draft are commonly found.
• Forward perpendicular: FP, the point where the design waterline crosses the forward most section of the hull.
• Gravity force: Downward force equal to the sum of all the weights on the ship. Acts at the center of gravity, point G on the diagram.
• Gross tonnage: A measure of the capacity of the ship in which 1 ton is equivalent to 100 cubic feet.
• Heel: The inclination of the vessel to one side vice roll, which is the angular motion in waves.
• Keel: The principal fore and aft component of a ship's framing, located along the centerline of the bottom.
• Length Between Perpendiculars: The length between the forward and aft perpendiculars.
• Length OverAll: The extreme length of a ship measured from the foremost point to the aftermost point.
• Long ton: Equal to 2,240 pounds.
• Metacenter: The point where the intersection of a vertical line drawn through the center of buoyancy of a slightly listed vessel intersects with the centerline plane.
• Metacentric height: The distance between the center of gravity and the metacenter.
• Planimeter: A tool used to measure the distance around a section in order to develop accurate lines drawings.
• Port: The left hand side of the ship.
• Resistance: A force that opposes the forward motion of a ship through the water. Broken down into frictional and residual, where residual includes air and eddy-making resistance, but is primarily wave-making resistance.
• Section: The intersections with the hull of transverse planes perpendicular to the centerline plane of the ship.
• Stability: The tendency of a ship to remain upright or the ability to return to normal upright position when heeled by the action of waves, wind, etc.
• Starboard: The right hand side of the ship.
• Stern: After end of the ship.
• Superstructure and deckhouse: The structures built above the hull form, ie. pilothouse and accomodation areas.
• Table of Offsets: Table of coordinates of a ship's form, ie. height above the baseline and half-breadths at each section.
• Waterlines: The line of the water's edge when the ship is afloat.
• Weights and splines: Small weights and plastic pieces used to draw "fair" lines for ship's lines drawings.

Back to the Stability and Ship Characteristics section of the introduction lesson

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(2) Harris, Daniel G., FH Chapman: The First Naval Architect and His Work, Naval Institute Press, 1989.

(3) Muckle, W., Modern Naval Architecture, Temple Press Limited, 1951.

(2) Rawson, K.J. and E.C. Tupper, Basic Ship Theory, Longman Scientific and Technical, 1983, Volumes 1 and 2.

(3) Taggart, Robert, Ship Design and Construction, Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, 1980.

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