Thesis
A holistic approach to damage survivability assessment of large passenger ships
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2019
- Thesis identifier
- T15378
- Person Identifier (Local)
- 201666888
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- A retrospective look at the history of maritime accidents, reveals that the knowledge of how to build safe ships is based predominantly on experience which, in turn, stems from "trial and error", but "errors" in this case imply disasters at sea. Lessons from sea catastrophes materialised in rough recommendations on suitable proportions and dimensions of the vessel hull and its construction, which in turn, would cater for stability. One paramount example in this direction was the establishment of SOLAS after the capsize event of Titanic. Thereafter, the whole history of SOLAS conventions has been linked to disasters at sea. The face of maritime safety is changing rapidly and, as a result, SOLAS struggles to keep pace with technological and scientific developments. Contemporary developments, such as Safe Return to Port, Risk-Based Design and Alternative Designs and Arrangements are aiming at enhancing the safety level and stability standards of passenger ships. However, in this quest, many principal aspects have been overlooked: A survivability factor that does not differentiate between ships types and has been developed merely on the basis of RoRo vessels; absence of alternative and more efficient ways of survivability estimation of passenger ships in waves; lack of consideration of actual operational profiles in damage stability assessment; inadequate consideration of the actual operational wave environment at the operating location on survivability; accident databases addressing cargo and passenger ship accidents in the same vain and finally, permeability values that do not reflect the actual permeable volume of different rooms, while their impact on damage survivability is unknown. The aforementioned present a few of the pitfalls that surface and exhibit allegedly the Achilles heel of passenger ships, namely damage stability. To this end, this thesis aims to overcome these shortcomings as well as identify any emerging potential drawbacks in the way SOLAS 2009 and subsequently SOLAS 2020 have been constructed. Even though the application of the common survivability assessment practices is wide in the passenger ship industry, it lacks some rationalisation, while, the integration of actual data is absent. Therefore, the thesis proposes and aims to develop viable alternatives that will constitute more accurate means in assessing damage survivability of large passenger ships (L≥120m) and more particularly modern cruise liners in a holistic manner considering actual and ship-specific data. In this line, a framework for a holistic damage survivability approach is provided, which entails development, use and comparison between statistical (traditional) and direct (modern) approaches to damage survivability pertaining to actual operational and ship specific data and parameters. This involves the development of a cruise ship-specific survivability factor numerically and with a new systematic approach and consideration of wave statistics and operational data in the development of ship-specific methodologies and formulations in order to more accurately account for survivability of this type of vessels. This is a unique and novel development, particularly addressing the use of modern tools as a means of direct assessment of damage survivability in waves as well as providing the requisite data for the development of a statistical approach, the main emphasis being on cruise ships, unlike any of previous development, where the focus was on cargo and RoPax vessels. Hence, the kernel of the PhD thesis “Holistic Approach to Damage Survivability Assessment of Large Passenger Ships”, more specifically large cruise vessels.
- Advisor / supervisor
- Boulougouris, Evangelos
- Vassalos, Dracos
- Resource Type
- Note
- This thesis was previously held under moratorium from 27th November 2019 until 27th November 2024.
- DOI
- Date Created
- 2019
- Former identifier
- 9912770490302996
Relations
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