Quasi-optimization of structural design of crude oil tanker

Abstract

Throughout the years, human kind has been looking for ways to improve previous designs. Improvements are made in order to achieve more precise results, increase efficiency, increase productivity, save energy, being greener, save money and staying competitive. In ship design, optimization is also an important procedure to be considered, it can lead to decreasing construction and operational costs, fuel consumption, greenhouse gases emission, increase cargo capacity and overall efficiency. This work studies the influence of the web frame spacings and longitudinal stiffeners spacings on the weight of the cargo hold of a crude oil tanker. The least weight is desired. In order to analyse the weight of the cargo hold of the vessel, the scantling of five spacings of web frames are calculated. The cargo hold will always have the same length, and the swash bulkhead will remain always in the middle of the cargo hold, in the longitudinal direction. After finding the least weight of the five different spacings of web frames, the spacings of the longitudinal stiffeners are changed five times and the option with the least weight is selected. The weight of all the scantlings calculated with the help of Nauticus Hull is then compared, considering that the web frames and bulkheads did not suffer any change in weight.