Modern Naval Architecture

• Transportation by sea is an old, economical way to transport materials and people; this is due to lower costs compared to air or road transport.
• Shipping is a complex global industry with various ship types dependent on factors like distance and speed.
• The shipping industry is conservative and regulated by bodies like the IMO, Flag Administrations, and Classification Societies, which license ships.
• Naval architecture balances floating structure variety and comprises with the need to protect people/environment and is a capital-intensive need

Modern Naval Architecture

• Applies scientific, empirical, and artistic methods to study ship resistance, powering, maneuvering, structural integrity, and stability in waves.
• Includes socioeconomic and artistic principles related to human behavior, ergonomics, and aesthetics.
• Naval architects design safe, efficient, and environmentally friendly floating assets.
• Their role minimizes risks and uncertainties in engineering solutions, given various contributing factors.

Ship Design Spiral

• Serves as the iterative design logic in naval architecture.
• It comprises four phases: concept, preliminary, contract, and detailed design.
• The concept design stage translates mission requirements into the ship's basic outline.
• The preliminary design stage refines the concept design with non-changing properties.
• The contract design stage prepares plans and specifications for the shipowner's contract.
• Detailed design is the most time-consuming phase, making production plans.

Ship Types and Mission Requirements

• At the concept design stage, mission requirements should be objectively defined based on owner specifications, including type, speed, and cargo capacity.
• This ensures economic operations without compromising safety.
• For naval ships, concept exploration prioritizes capabilities and design parameters.
• For commercial ships, considerations include expansion, new services, vessel replacement, etc.
• Concept design decisions must consider size, type, and vessel speed, with economical factors like cargo handling and journey itineraries.
• Cargo ships transport cargo from A to B and maximize profit by maximizing payload and optimizing routes.
• Container ships use a prismatic volume for easy container storage but compromise between hull form and speed.
• Tankers have low freeboard and a full form for maximum deadweight capacity
• LNG carriers have double-walled structures with a containment system.
• Dry cargo bulk carriers lack special containment but have large deck openings.
• Oil bulk ore carriers possess longitudinal bulkheads for cargo separation.
• Passenger ships require comfortable travel with higher freeboard and roll stabilization.
• Offshore includes oil rigs and support vessels.
• There is development in renewable energy, including offshore wind turbines and wave energy.

Ship Design Parameters

• After assessing owner requirements and the mission, design variables like dimensions and power should be determined.
• The goal is to create a balanced ship design for conceptual or preliminary phases.
• Environmental parameters include wind-generated waves, increasing hull resistance and causing ship motions, structural damage, and operational difficulties.
• Predicting sea forces requires water surface modeling.
• Current and tides are also important.
• Salinity impacts submarines and causes hull corrosion, requiring treatment.
• Fouling and wind on the hull affect resistance and motions.
• Ice conditions require ship stiffening, increasing structural loads, resistance, and maneuverability.

Economic Parameters

• Ship design requires an overview of ship form, size, and main cost resources (hull, outfitting, machinery, fuel).
• Total ship cost is not constant; increased beam raises cost and the shorter the ship the higher the fuel costs.
• Ship type and operations affect the economic model.
• A lifetime cost model is appropriate for naval, while annual cost model is suitable for commercial vessels.
• The model must estimate annual cash flow to determine if the ship’s operations can be funded.
• The only source of inward cash flow is ship revenues and costs are operation, voyage, cargo handling, capital, taxes, and dividends.
• Freight rates, fuel prices, and interest rates fluctuate with market pressure with very difficult to predict particularly in a model applicable to the life of the ship.
• Comparison between investments needs to be enabled between investments in various marine transportation operations, services and investment opportunities in other sectors.

Shipping Regulations

• The path, ports, and seas are physical constraints while designing and the shipyard should consider those.
• Technical constraints include limitations of ship equipment and systems (e.g., propulsion, power generation and delivery, etc.), material choice and degradation, etc.
• Limitations link to budget and regulatory restrictions and should be considered at early design stages.
• Regulations ensure safe design and protect crew, passengers, cargo, and the environment.
• Key maritime regulation resources include the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO)
• Maritime safety regulation starts from the international level (UN), but it is also monitored at supra-national (the European Union – EU), national (e.g. Finland), and regional (e.g. the Gulf of Finland) levels (Figure 1-9).
• Worldwide regulations avoid states having their own ship structure/manning rules.
• The regulatory framework is based on the UN Convention on the Law Of the Sea (UNCLOS) which establishes rules governing ocean uses and obligates states to prevent pollution.
• The UN delegates maritime issues to the IMO and ILO.