In the United States Commercial Shipbuilding Industry
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SSC-273 SURVEY OF STRUCTURAL TOLERANCES IN THE UNITED STATES COMMERCIAL SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY This document has been approved for public release and sale; its distribution is unlimited. SHIP STRUCTURE COMMITTEE 1978 SHIP STRUCTURE COMMITTEE AN INTERAGENCY ADVISORY COMMITTEE DEDICATED TO IMPROVING THE STRUCTURE OF SHIPS MEMBER AGENCIES ADDRESS CORRESPONDENCE TO: UNITED STATES COAST GUARD SECRETARY NAVAl SHIP SYSTEMS COMMAND SHIP STRUCTURE COMMITTEE MII hART SEALIFT COMMAND U.S. COAST GUARD HEADQUARTERS MARITIME ADMINISTRATION WASHINGTON. D.C. 20591 AMFRICAN BUREAU OF SHIPPING SR-l233 With, the vast increase in ship size during the past two decades, great emphasis has been placed on reducing hull scantlings through rational determination of loads, working stresses and material properties. To support an extended use of rational analysis in ship design, it is necessary to determine the deviations from 'ideal'1 design that can be expected in construction and their effects during the vessel's service life. The Ship Structure Committee initiated a project to deter- mine the factors leading to and the extent of deviation from theoreti- cal design that can be expected. This is the final report of that project and is being pub- lished to assist in developing a rational approach to ship design0 £/ ,&.J:i W. M. Benkert Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard Chairman, Ship Structure Committee SsC.23 FINAL REPORT on Project SR-1233 'TStructural Tolerance Survey" SURVEY OF STRUCTURAL TOLERANCES IN THE UNITED STATES CO1MERCIAL SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY by N. S. Basar R.F. Stanley M. Rosenblatt & Son, Inc. under Department of the Navy Naval Ship Engineering Center Contract No. N00024-76-C-4059 This document has beenapproved forpublicrelease andsale:itsdistribution is unlimited. U. S. Coast Guard Headquarters Washington, D.C. 1978 ABSTRACT Deviations from ideal structural design of differenttypes of vessels during construction and serviceare investigated. Selected U.S. commercial shipyards, ship owner/operators, steel mills, and foreignclassification societies are surveyed or interviewed with thepurpose of documenting major deviations and recurring structuralimperfections, and determining the factors lead incj to these deviations. An effort is also made to deter- mine the extent of deviations fromtheoretical design and to establish, wherever possible, structural tolerance limitswhich are most commonly used ¡n U.S. yards and whichcan therefore be considered representative of U.S. shipbuilding practice. These are compared to published internationalstruc- turai tolerance standards, and recommendationsare given for further study. CONTENTS ABS TRA C T List of Tables List of Figures Section 1. INTRODUCTION 1 Background 1.2 Objective and Scope 1.3 Limitations of Surveys Section 2. SURVEY METHODOLOGY 2-1 2.1 General 2l 2.2 Standard Survey Format 2-2 2.3 Scope of Vessels for Actual Surveys 2-2 Section 3. STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS/SUBSYSTEMS AND DEVIATIONS 3-1 3.1 Structural Imperfections/Deviations 3-4 3.2 Extent of Consideration for Each Deviation 3-6 Section 4. DISCUSSION OF SURVEY RESULTS AND TRENDS 4-1 4.1 Shipowners and Operators 4-2 4.2 Shipyards and Steel Fabricating Facilities 4-5 4.3 Steel Mills 4-23 4.4 Classification Societies 424 4.5 Foreign Institutions 4-29 4.6 Overview 4-29 Section 5. FOLLOW THROUGH OF A TYPICAL STRUCTURAL DEVIATION 5-1 5.1 Factors Related to Ideal Design 5-1 5.2 Influence of Structural Deviations on Strength Section 6. CONCLUSIONS 6-1 Section 7. RECOMMENDATIONS 7-1 Shipyard Practice in 7.1 Recommended Guide to U.S. 7-1 Structural Tolerances 7-1 7.2 Relation of Tolerances toRational Design Quality Assurance and InspectionRequirements 7.3 7-4 in Shipyards Section 8. REFERENCES 8-1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 8-3 Section 9. APPENDIXES 9-1 9.1 Bibliography 9-1 9.2 U.S. Commercia] Shipyard Standards 9-8 9.3 Existing International Standards 9-63 iii LIST OF TABLES Table N Descriytion Pase Nc. 4.1 Structural Tolerance Standards as Reported 4-4 by Shipowners/Operators 4.2 Deviations and Tolerances at Shpyards 4-8 6.1 Comparison of USA Practice in Structural Tolerances with Published International 6-3 S tanda rds 7.1 Structural Tolerances in United States 7-2 Shipyards iv LIST OF FIGURES Fiure No. Descr t ion Pase No. 4.1 Bulkhead Misalignment 14_3 4.2 Damage Occurence Rate 4-6 by Age of Vessel 43 Example of Poor Detail ing 4-6 of Design 1414 Graphical Representation of Reported Struc- 14-18 tural Deviations and Tolerances 14 5. A. Full Penetration Weld 14-27 Alternate Detail 14-27 Explosion Bonding k-27 5.1 General Relationship of Cost to Dimen- 5-5 sional Accuracy 5.2 Alignment of Subassemblies 5-5 5.3 Detail Design of a Beam Bracket 5_9 5.14 Effects of Weld Undercut 5-11 7.1 Critical Quality Areas 7-3 V SHIP STRUCTURECOIiTTEE The SHIP STRUCTURE CMITTEE is constituted to prosecute a research programto improve the hull structures of ships by an extension of kno;ledge pertaining to design, materials and methods of fabrication. RAUM W. M. Berikert, USCG (Chairman) Chief, Office of Merchant Marine Safety U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters Nr. P. M. Palermo Mr. N. Pitkin Asst. for Structures Asst. Administrator for Naval Ship Engineering Center Corraiercial Development Naval Ship Systems Command Maritime Administration Nr. John L. Foley Nr. C. J. Whitestone Vice President Engineer Officer American Bureau of Shipping Military Sealift Coiriiand SHIP STRUCTURE SUBCOMMITrEE The SHIP STRUCTURE SUBCOMMITTEE acts for the Ship Structure Committee on techn-ical matters by providing technical coordination for thedetermination of goals and objectives of the program, and by evaluating andinterpreting the results in terms of ship structural design, construction and operation. NAVAL SEA SYSTEMS COMMAND NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES SHIP RESEARCH CONMITTEE Nr. R. Johnson - Member tir. J. B. O'Brien - Contract Administrator Nr. O. H. Oakley - Liaison Nr. C. Pohier - Member Mr. R. W. Rumke - L{aison Mr. G. Sorkin Member SOCIETY OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS & GUARD U.S. COAST MARINE ENGINEERS LCDR T. H. Robinson - Secretary Mr. A. B. Stavovy - Liaison LCDR S. H. Davis - Member CPT C. B. Glass - Member WELDING RESEAPSCH COUNCIL Dr.W. C. Dietz -Member Mr. K. H. Koopman - Liaison MARITIMEADMINISTRATION INTERNATIONAL SHIP STRUCTURES Mr. F. Dashnaw - Member CONGRESS Mr. N. Harner - Member Prof. J. H. Evans - Liaison Mr. R.K. Kiss - Member U.S. COAST GUARD ACADEMY Mr. F. Seibold - Member CAPT W. C. Nolan - Liaison MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND STATE UNIV. OF N.Y.MARITIME COLLEGE Mr. T. W. Chapman - Member COR J. L. Simmons - Member Dr. W. R. Porter - Liaison Mr. A. B. Stavovy - Member N'IERICAU IRON & STEEL INSTITUTE Mr. D. Stein - Member R. H. Sterne - Liaison ERICAN BUREAuOF SHIPPING tir. Mr. S. C. Stiansen - Chairman U.S. NAVAL ACADEN'! D.. H.Y. Jan - Member Dr. R. Bhattacharyya -Liaison Mr. I.L. Stern - Member U.S. MERCHANT MARINE ACADEMY Oc. Chin-Bea Kirn - Liaison vi 1.0 INTRODUCTION .1 Back9 round A ship or any vessel, like any other complex structure,is sub- jected to certain imperfections or deviationsfrom their ideal structural design during construction. The deviation can be avoidable or un- avoidable depending on its location, ease ofinspection, and the pos- sbility of accomplishing corrective action. For purposes of clarity, it may be desirable tofirst attempt a definition of the''ideal design.'' The structural design of ships is based on strengthcalculations performed using the dimensional characteristicsof the vessel, the loading criteria for the service the vesselis to be employed in, and the prevailing sea-states. Assumptions are made in carrying out the design, and safety factors are used to compensatefor unknown or un- predictable parameters. The structural model of ships developed in this fashion is expected to perform its intended service underall conditions. This is labelled the''ideal design.'' The ideal design assumes that the finished constructionwill repre- sent accurately the configuration shown onthe theoretical structural drawings. Even though there have been cases where allowance wasmade in the ideal design for certain major deviations, ingeneral, a great ma- jority of newly constructed vessels do not have any suchallowance as- sociated with their design except for what is intrinsicallyallowed in the classification society rules. Yet in everyday practice, it is impossible to maintain an exact duplication of the geometric configuration depicted onideal design draw- ings on the physical ship being constructed. The ideal design is deviated from during the production of shipbuilding materials, duringfabrication and assembly operations, and during erection on thebuilding ways. These deviations may consist of flaws in base material, errors¡n fit-up and alignment work, unfairness of plating, errors originatingfrom the manu- facturing processes used, and errors in the detail designof structures. A ship may develop additional imperfections or deviationsfrom the ideal design during its service life. These ''in-service' deviations may originate from the actual service conditions of the vessel. Impact loads experienced during operations in heavy seas, or mechanical damageduring operations in port or at sea, may result in deviations such asunfairness of the plating, distortion or deflection of structural members, orreduc- tion of steel thickness due to corrosion, etc. If an initial imperfection exists on a newly built vessel, the service conditions may cause a worsen- ing of an otherwise tolerable deviation and lead to brittlefracture or fatigue cracks. Even with today's technology, which allows the use of improved quality shipbuilding materials, much improved manual or automatic fabrication and assembly procedures, sophisticated welding techniques, and new non destructive testing methods, some shipbuilders may not be, for varying reasons,in a position to fully utilize these improvements and provide a finished product reflecting the available technology. Furthermore, even when all available technology ¡s Fully utilized, it ¡s still impossible to eliminate all structural imperfections due to the inherent errors ¡n the automatic fabrication equipment and the human factors involved.