Fracture Mechanics Applications on Sea-going Vessels

John E. Kokarakis1, Robert K. Taylor2

1
Bureau Veritas, Piraeus, Greece, 2Design Research Engineering, MI, USA

1. Introduction

Fatigue assessment in ships is traditionally performed on the basis of

linear damage accumulation. This method is popular due to its relative
simplicity. The major shortcomings of the damage accumulation are the
neglect of the sequence of loading and crack blunting, the effect of
surrounding structure on crack arrest due to stress redistribution and the
lack of distinct qualitative differences on the basis of the damage ratio.
The alternative approach is one based on crack propagation models.
Although this type of fatigue assessment is well founded, crack
propagation finds limited application in ship design. A notable exception
is the utilization of Leak Before Break, LBB, criteria in LNG carriers.
This study presents examples of crack-propagation-based design and
repairs in the marine work. It was chosen to present applications of
deterministic and probabilistic fracture mechanics on repair and
maintenance. Last, but not least, a damage tolerant ship design technique
is proposed.

2. Deterministic Fracture Mechanics Analysis

Target of the study was to determine the likely cause of fractures that
occurred in the longitudinal bulkhead near the cargo hold access door in
two sister container ships. As a result of a cut-out through the
longitudinal bulkhead for an access door leading from the second deck
passageway into the cargo hold, doubler plates were added on to the
bulkhead above and below the door to provide structural reinforcement.
The location of the deck passageway longitudinal bulkhead is shown in
Fig. 1. In both ships, cracks initiated at the toe of a fillet weld located at

Figure 1: Geometry of Fracture

the aft end of the upper doubler plate. On one ship, the crack extended
through the bulkhead, vertically up to the main deck, and downward to

1
the second deck as depicted in Fig.1. The distance between main and
second deck was 2.40 meters. In the other ship the extend of cracking
was much less due to early detection; the crack did not penetrate the 25
mm thick bulkhead and was about 300 mm long. A task of equal
importance was the definition and analysis of various proposed
modifications.
In an effort to understand the causal mechanism of the doubler tip
fractures, an extensive analysis program was proposed and implemented.
The program involved strain gauge testing of a ship of the same class,
structural analysis of the as-built configuration of the longitudinal
bulkhead and a fracture mechanics evaluation of the doubler tip region.
Strain gauges were placed aboard the ship to obtain actual strain and
stress data during voyages in the North Pacific during a two month
window and to develop predictions of stress cycles experienced by the
doubler tip over her lifetime of service. Sea state data were recorded with a
wave height sensor manufactured by TSK. Three channels of environmental
data were recorded: significant wave height, average encounter period and real
time wave height. The objective of this task was to find a probability
distribution function general enough to approximate the stress histories.
Theoretical and experimental work ,[1], provide persuasive arguments for
the applicability of the Weibull distribution to describe long term wave-
induced load histories on ships.
Since a strain gauge could not be placed exactly at the toe of the doubler
tip fillet weld, structural analysis was used to scale the actual measured
strain data recorded near the doubler tip to the toe of the weld, thereby
providing the predicted stress cycle history at the fracture location. In
addition, the stress analysis provides the distribution of the through-plate
stress at the toe of the weld, i.e., the stress gradient at the areas of fracture
initiation. The fracture mechanics analysis requires both the stress level
and the stress gradient as inputs.
In order to develop an appropriate modification, various alternative
configurations were considered. During the study of alternatives, it
became clear that sufficient reduction of the cyclic stress amplitudes
could not be achieved with any alternative that included doublers.
Accordingly, an alternative design without doublers was proposed,
following its evaluation from the structural and fracture mechanics
standpoints. The proposed removal of the doublers resulted in
unacceptably high stresses at the corners of the access door. Therefore, to
reduce stresses, the modification included the addition of a 150 mm wide
by 25 mm thick coaming placed into the door opening and welded to the
bulkhead. The structural integrity and fatigue life of the proposed
configuration were evaluated to extend far beyond the service life of the
ship.
An evaluation of fatigue crack initiation and subsequent fatigue crack
growth was performed for the doubler tip to assist in the determination of
the cause of observed cracking in the longitudinal bulkheads. The annual
stress occurrence histogram described above (Lifetime prediction of stress
history), and the spatial distribution of stress around the doubler tip
obtained from a 3-D finite element analysis were combined to produce
fatigue stress inputs to the fracture mechanics analysis. A linear damage
accumulation analysis based on S-N data was used to evaluate the time
required to initiate a fatigue crack in a 'good weld' subjected to the
computed fatigue stress spectrum. In this context, a 'good weld' refers to
one without any pre-existing flaws larger than 0.5 mm, a typical size for
weld flaws found in welds made using good welding procedures. A fatigue

2
crack growth analysis was performed utilizing spatial distributions of
stress normal to the crack plane obtained from the 3-D analysis. The stress
at the toe of the weld is 1.33 times greater in magnitude for both tension
and compression than the corresponding stress at the location of gauge.
A fatigue crack initiation analysis was performed to determine the length of
time required to initiate a fatigue crack in the absence of any major weld
defects. S-N data for steel grade AH36 from Matsumoto, [2], were curve-
fitted to obtain a relation between stress range and number of cycles to
failure for smooth round bar fatigue specimens containing a weld. A linear
damage summation was computed utilizing Miner's rule and the stress
histogram for gauge no. 4. The stress spectrum was scaled to represent
conditions at the toe of the doubler weld, and each stress level was
converted into the corresponding total strain range. The number of fatigue
cycles to failure was computed for each strain range. The individual
damage fractions were summed over the entire stress spectrum to obtain a
total predicted accumulation per year of 0.199. This analysis was
performed to determine the initial size of a fatigue crack at the weld toe that
would propagate to critical size within one year. A typical value for fatigue
threshold in steel of 6.5 MPa m1/2 was chosen, and a fracture toughness Kic
equal to 55 MPa m1/2 was obtained from data in Fortner and Preager, [3].
The crack growth rate curve in Fortner and Preager is based on data for a
stress intensity factor ratio R, equal to zero. This assumption is somewhat
conservative due to the fact that the R-ratio predicted for the light load
design condition was R= -0.47 which would result in a lower crack growth
rate for a given stress intensity range. In addition local yielding would
further decrease the R-ratio, i.e. the crack growth rate. A slower crack
growth rate would require a larger initial crack size to grow to failure in
one year. Therefore, the predicted initial crack size is at least as small as
the actual flaw that caused the fracture.
The doubler tip crack was modeled as a semi-elliptical surface crack in a
plate, [4]. The crack centre was located on the doubler side of the
bulkhead at the toe of the weld. The crack model has three degrees of
freedom, one at each surface crack tip and one at the deepest point of the
semi-ellipse, as shown in Fig. 2. Each degree of freedom can grow at a
different rate depending on the magnitude of the local range of root-
mean-square stress intensity factor. The results of the fatigue crack
propagation analysis showed that a semi-elliptical surface crack 2.2 mm
deep by 5.2 mm surface length, located at the toe of the doubler tip weld
would propagate to a critical size of 8.1 mm deep by 24.5 mm surface
length in one year. Since the cracks under study grew to critical size in
approximately one year, the initial flaw in the doubler tip weld must have
been 2.2 mm deep or larger. The crack propagation analysis also showed
that a semi-circular surface crack 0.5 mm deep would grow to failure in a
little more than 18 years. If a fatigue crack 0.5 mm deep was to initiate in
a good quality weld after 5 years, as shown in the crack initiation analysis,
the predicted life of a good quality weld at the doubler tip is more than 20
years.
Several proposed modifications are listed below:
(i) removal of doublers, no reinforcement of access door corners;
(ii) removal of doublers, 150 mm by 25 mm ring reinforcement at
door;
(iii) extension of doublers aft, up to the nearest frame, no door
reinforcement;
(iv) extension of doublers aft, 100 mm past the nearest frame, no door
reinforcement;
(v) same as (iv) but with lower thickness doubler;
(vi) removal of doublers with smaller access door.

3
Figure 2: Crack Geometry Modeled.

The proposed configurations were evaluated utilizing a two-dimensional

model. The optimum modification was (ii), namely removal of the
doublers and reinforcement of the door by a 150 mm by 25 mm coaming.
This configuration resulted in significantly reduced bulkhead stresses
without any local hot spots.
A fatigue crack propagation analysis was performed on the door corner for
the proposed modification. The same semi-elliptical crack model was used
as was used for the as-built analysis. Stress distributions were obtained
from the 2-D finite element analysis for light load hogging and sagging
conditions. Results of the fatigue crack propagation analysis for the door
corner with the proposed modification showed the predicted life of a 0.5
mm deep crack oriented transverse to the coaming weld to be greater than 100
years. The tolerable crack size for 20 years of remaining life was
approximately 5 mm by 10 mm surface length. Since the stresses for the as-
built door corner were only 7% higher than the ones for the proposed
modification, similar fatigue life was predicted for the as-built configuration.

3. Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics Analysis

Lengthening of a number of container ships dictated the installation of

reinforcing doubler plates in order to meet the increased section modulus
requirements. The doubler plates were fillet welded longitudinally to the main
deck over nearly the entire length of the ship. The doublers were also butt-welded,
fusing the root of the weld to the main deck, as shown in Fig. 3. The relatively
large thickness of the doubler plates, heat input, and the high degree of restraint
imposed by the longitudinal fillet welds resulted in high longitudinal residual
stresses in the butt welded joints. Shortly after the ships were put into operation,
cracks were discovered in some of the transverse butt welds. These cracks were
found to have initiated from large internal defects, such as lack of fusion in the
butt welds.
Fractographic evaluation confirmed that the cracks originated at fabrication
defects at the root of the weld. In one instance, a crack propagated through both
the deck plating and the doubler. The problem at hand was a complex one,
involving several technical and economic issues. The technical issues involved

4
ultrasonic inspection procedures, repair schemes, welding procedures, and
alternative joint geometries for main deck doubler butt joints. The economic

Figure 3. Crack Geometry and modeling

factors included inspection time and interval, lost time required for repairs, the
costs associated with future crack development, and the potential for
catastrophic failure. Several weld repair alternatives were considered in an
effort to increase the predicted reliability of the joint. These alternatives
incorporated one or more of the following features:
(a) Improvement of butt weld quality and weld fracture toughness
(b) Use of forced cooling during butt welding
(c) Partial relief of fillet welds during butt welding
(d) Modification of root penetration
(e) Prevention of root fusion to main deck.
The above features, combined with an improved inspection procedure, were
aimed at the reduction of the initial flaw size and the reduction of residual
stresses. The order of importance of each parameter affecting the butt weld life
was not known in advance and had to be determined through analysis. In
addition, several of the input like the initial flaw size distribution, the material
properties and the stress state were random in nature. A probabilistic fracture
mechanics algorithm was ideally suited to this type of life prediction problem. A
probabilistic model was developed to predict the expected life of doubler butt
joints for any set of input variables such as flaw size distribution, flaw detection
criteria, flaw rejection size, weld fracture toughness, joint residual stress, and
inspection interval.
The model was based on a deterministic fatigue crack propagation, with the
following input variables taken to be random: initial crack size, maximum cyclic
stress level, and fracture toughness. The developed code was a Monte Carlo
simulator that calculated a histogram of lifetimes by sampling from each of the
random variables, calculating the corresponding deterministic lifetime, and
placing the result in the appropriate bin of the histogram of lifetimes. In this
method, the value of each input random variable is selected at random from its
distribution. The randomly sampled input variables are used to calculate a value
of the dependent variable. Each such deterministic computation is called a trial. A
high number of such trials is carried out. This way the histogram of lifetimes is
ceated, or rather the statistical distribution of lifetimes.

5
The simulated crack geometry consists of a single edge crack in a plate which is
constrained against rotation due to the presence of the crack, as shown in Fig. 1.
This configuration can be modeled as a double edge cracked plate with thickness
twice that of the doubler plate. The boundary conditions of the model used in the
analysis are equivalent to those of the actual configuration due to symmetry.
Cracks were considered to be very long relative to their depth, so a plane strain
stress intensity factor solution was used in the evaluation of K. Fracture
toughness was described by a Weibull distribution.
Fatigue crack growth characteristics for the doubler plate steel were based on the
modified Forman relation. Forman equation was utilized to account for the R ratio
and thus include the effect of residual stresses. Crack growth rate can increase
significantly with the increase of mean stress. The modified Forman crack growth
equation, [5], utilized is:
da
[∆K − (1 − 2 R / 3)∆K th ] p
n
dN = C (∆K ) (1)
[(1 − R) K ic − ∆K ] q
Where ∆K = Kmax-Kmin the crack driving cyclic stress intensity, R =
Kmin/Kmax, ∆Kth is the stress intensity threshold, Kic the fracture toughness
taken as a random variable as described above and C,n,p,q are constants.
An estimate of the initial flaw size distribution was made from the reported
results of early UT inspections. The estimates are based on the assumption that
all the reported indications in the vicinity of the bottom of the doubler plate were
defects. Out of 116 doubler plate butt welds that were inspected, 68 had
indications corresponding to root defects greater than 24 mm long and 0.6 mm
deep. 14 of them had indications of root defects longer than 24 mm with depths
between 0.3 and 0.6 mm. Assuming the crack depth to be log-normally
distributed, the parameters of the initial flaw size distribution can be evaluated.
The prediction yields the interesting result that 2% of the initial flaws will be
greater than the doubler plate thickness. If the sampled defect is found to be
larger than the thickness, the sampling process is repeated. Since the cracks are
much longer than their depth, the depth is the only relevant measure of crack size.
Residual stress at the butt joint normal to the weld line stems from high constraint
imposed by the pre-existing longitudinal fillet welds, non-uniform cooling, and phase
transformation during cooling. Measurements were obtained by the hole drilling
method. Uncertainty of the magnitude of the residual stress dictated parametric
variation in order to assess its importance.
Cyclic stresses result from relatively low frequency (less than 0·3 Hz) wave
induced bending and high frequency motions (slamming or whipping). The
cyclic stress peaks are assumed to follow a Rayleigh distribution. The RMS-
value of the distribution was estimated by a ship motion code, as a function of
the significant wave height. Subsequently the long-term responses were
estimated based on a conditional probability relation, employing the distribution
of significant wave height. In this class of container ship, bending stresses
induced by slamming and whipping are significant due to the flared bow.
Incorporation of the whipping stresses into the statistical description of the
bending stresses is a challenging problem and still under research. This fact is
due to the nonlinear dependence of whipping stresses on the wave height. Two
different methods were utilized in the incorporation of whipping stresses. In the
first method, the standard deviation of the combined high and low frequency
stresses was estimated based on 100% correlation and a derived nonlinear
relationship between whipping stresses and wave height. The second method
employed the assumption that the maximum whipping stress is induced by the
maximum wave height. For each value of low frequency bending stress a

6
maximum wave height was computed from a linear relationship. Subsequently,
the corresponding significant wave height was computed and finally the
whipping stress by the same functional relationship utilized in the first method.
Clearly, the second method yields a higher stress state and constitutes a bounding
case. This bounding curve was conservatively utilized in the algorithm. Both
methods feature a knee due to the fact that certain motion thresholds have to be
exceeded for slamming to occur.
The absolute number of predicted failures and repairs to pass inspections may
be high because of conservatism in the crack size population, neglect of crack
growth retardation effects due to overloads and conservative stress state. The
relative improvements in reliability, however, are believed accurate. 136 weld
failures are predicted in the first two years out of the entire fleet of 1074 main
deck butt welds. The weld failures in 20 years increase to 487. Results also
indicate that in-service inspections are very beneficial, with at least an initial
inspection being especially effective. For an inspection-rejection crack size of
1 mm, just one initial inspection reduces the predicted number of failures in 20
years by one order of magnitude. Periodic inspections also reduce the predicted
failures by up to another two orders of magnitude. The influence of various
inspection plans is pronounced at inspection/rejection crack sizes" greater than 1
mm. As shown in Fig. 4, for larger crack sizes there is a great benefit to multiple
repetitive inspections throughout the life of the ship, while there is less
difference between various other schemes where inspections cease after several
years. Inspection reliability for ultrasonic inspections was taken to be 95%.
Inspection reliability means that all of the cracks with depths less than the
inspection/rejection crack size will remain unrepaired; 95% of the cracks with
depth equal to or greater than the inspection/rejection crack size will be repaired
and 5% of the cracks with depth equal to or greater than the inspection/rejection
crack size will go undetected and will remain in the structure after anyone
inspection.
Reductions in residual stress are not very beneficial in general from a numerical
point of view. In actuality, reductions in residual stress would probably result in
improved repair weld quality and a less severe post-repair crack depth
distribution.
It is noted in each case presented that the total number of repairs for the fleet
stays relatively constant for inspection/rejection crack sizes equal to or greater
than 1 mm. If an inspection/rejection criterion is less than 1 mm, then total
repairs increase dramatically. Therefore, if an inspection/rejection crack size
criterion is set too low, there is potential for performing unnecessary repairs
without improving reliability. Butt joint life is greatly increased by frequent in-
service inspections, especially early in the ship's life.

4. Damage Tolerant Ship Design

The essence of the damage tolerant ship design is that the structure must contain
successfully the growth of an assumed initial damage for a specified period of service.
The safe growth period is coupled to either the design life of the ship or to the
scheduled in-service inspection intervals. The structure is designed such that an initial
defect will grow at a stable, slow rate under service environment and it will not
achieve a size large enough to cause rapid unstable propagation. In other words the
initial damage will grow at a stable, slow rate under service environment and it will
not achieve a size large enough to cause rapid unstable propagation. Residual strength
capacity is necessary as well. For example it is also required that a main deck crack
will not reach such a size to cause the section modulus to be reduced below the

7
required minimum by IACS. It is assumed that sub-critical growth with sufficient
residual strength capacity will be either detected during the surveys or the crack will
be below critical for several ship design life times. The product of the analysis is the
determination of inspection-rejection criteria, which when applied will ensure sub-
critical growth preferably for the ship lifetime or between inspection intervals.

Figure 4. inspection Frequency Effect Versus Inspection-Rejection Crack Size

The most critical location for the initial flaw should be determined by reviewing all
elements of the ship structure. The basic premise in arriving at the initial damage size
is the assumption that the as-fabricated structure contains flaws of a size just smaller
than the maximum undetectable flaw size found with the non-destructive inspection
procedures used in the ship production line. The assumptions relative to the shape,
size and location are based on review of existing Non-destructive Detection
Technique, NDT data and are also based on 90% probability of detection. The NDT
capability must be judged in terms of the flaw shape as well, rather than simply
surface length or crack depth.
Application of these ideas on a new-building containership commenced with the
determination of the critical areas in the vessel, not only from the stress standpoint,
but also with respect to accessibility and criticality. Examples of such areas include
but not limited to thickness transitions on main deck and bottom, misaligned plates,
top plates of hatch coamings with or without thickness transition, drain and vent holes
on stiffeners, deck penetrations and fixtures welded on deck and coamings.
Depending on location semi-elliptical surface cracks or corner cracks grew through a
design life of 35 years and the initial size to avoid critical crack size was determined.
The higher the acceptable initial flaw size the more damage tolerant the structure is.
Utilization of butt welds at the most highly stressed region of the vent holes rendered
these details as the most critical with respect to weld quality and tolerable defect. The
“acceptable” defect sizes are then specified as the inspection-rejection criteria to be
utilized by the shipyard in the NDT assessment of the welds.
The effect of catalyzed crack growth due to the presence of sodium chloride is also
accounted for by considering different parameters in the growth equation. The
analysis included consideration of sub-surface defects which were modeled by buried

8
elliptical cracks. They were subject to bi-modal crack growth rates. The slower rate
was applied during the sub-surface growth, whereas as the crack reached the surface
the catalyzed growth due to sodium chloride was applied. The spatial variation of the
stresses was necessary since the gradients in the crack growth directions (through
thickness and on plate surface) are necessary for the analysis. The stress gradients
were determined by finite element analysis or by utilization of published solutions for
the stress concentration factors, [6]. The cyclic stress histogram which was utilized for
deck butt welds is shown on Fig.5. Determination of the histogram was greatly
simplified by the fact that the main deck is subject only to primary hull girder stresses.
The study produced results similar to the one shown on Figure 6. In this plot the
remaining life for subcritical crack growth is depicted as a function of the initial
defect size. It can be thus concluded from this plot, that the initial defect should have

Figure 5: Cyclic Stress Histogram Utilized for Deck Butt Welds

Figure 6: Life versus Defect Size (e = 3 mm misaligned butt weld)

9
length and depth than about 4.3 mm and 1.7 mm respectively to ensure subcritical
crack growth during the 35 years design life for the ship. These results can be utilized
as inspection-rejection criteria for the NDT assessment of the vessel. Similar results
were developed for all critical ship details as described above.

5. Conclusions

Crack propagation-fracture mechanics based approach might be more realistic for

assessment of the cracking resistance of a ship. Fracture mechanics based evaluations
have been routinely applied to study a variety of cracking problems. Fracture
mechanics based evaluation of the cause and repair of cracking at the toe of a doubler
in a containership is presented in this study as an example of how to choose the most
crack-resistant repair method. Cracking on the deck of a container-ship is studied with
probabilistic fracture mechanics. Monte Carlo simulation is utilized to evaluate the
optimum inspection schedule and the corresponding inspection criteria. Finally, a
method for fracture mechanics based ship design is proposed. Its application on a
container-ship is depicted. Experience gained from the application of such method,
will provide advance knowledge of areas of potential problems.

6. References

[1] International Association of Classification Societies, Common Structural Rules for

Oil Tankers and Bulk Carriers, July 2006.

[2] S. Matsumoto, Fatigue properties of high strength hull structural steels

manufactured by thermo mechanical control process, Kawasaki Steel Technical report
No. 13, Kobe, 1985.

[3] E. Fortner, M. Preager, Fracture toughness of wrought and cast steels, Report
MPC-13, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1980, New York.

[4] D.O. Harris et al, NASCRAC A fracture mechanics analysis code, proceedings of
the Advanced Earth-to-Orbit Propulsion technology Conference, Huntsville, Alabama,
may 1988.

[5] R.G. Forman, Derivation of crack growth properties of materials for

NASA/FLAGRO, NASA, and Materials Branch Report 86-ES5-1, Houston, July
1986.

[6] Geometric stress concentration factors for classified details, Health and Safety Executive,
Report, OTO- 97-024, August 1997.

10
PREDICTOR-CORRECTOR SYSTEM FOR HEALTH MONITORING OF THE HULL
STRUCTURE OF BULK CARRIERS
J.E. Kokarakis, Bureau Veritas, Greece
J. Goyet, Bureau Veritas, France
G. de Jong, Bureau Veritas, France
J.F. Segretain, Bureau Veritas, France

SUMMARY

Today’s fleet of dry bulk carriers has been built to a variety of design standards. The associated safety level varies over
the fleet and is quite difficult to assess, especially for ageing ships. Probabilistic analysis methods, making use of
statistics based corrosion models, have been proposed and start seeing practical application. Traditional hull condition
monitoring has gravitated towards hull life cycle management, using advanced 3D hull modelling which can provide
effective assistance to communication and decision making processes.

Bureau Veritas is working on a practical methodology for monitoring the structural health of bulk carriers based on
reliability techniques to predict thickness diminution, which enables the identification of weak areas in the structure. The
basis is formed by a statistical corrosion model presented in this paper. The time varying residual thickness can be
estimated statistically in a rigorous manner on the basis of the as built thickness and the annual corrosion rate. The local
and global geometric hull and stiffener properties can then be estimated as time varying functions. Consequently, the
probability to comply with a variety of structural criteria can be assessed, like for example having 90% of the section
modulus after X years of service life.

Given that the method is as good as the corrosion model applied for the mathematical representation of the thickness
diminution, it is proposed to utilize the thickness measurements in a predictor-corrector scheme to update the corrosion
model as new information flows in. Recently developed advanced hull condition monitoring tools, such as VeriSTAR
HLC, provides a practical and efficient basis for the implementation of such scheme.

1. INTRODUCTION made by the subsequent introduction of a series of IACS

Unified Requirements (URs) related to structural strength.
Today’s fleet of dry bulk carriers, comprising about The first series, comprising UR S12, S17, S18, S20 and
7,000 ships, shows a wide spread in age. Fleet statistics S21 was introduced for bulk carrier contracted for
show that 38 per cent of the ships in service is 20 years construction on or after 1 July 1998 and considers
of age or older, with the highest contribution coming enhanced scantlings of side structures, strength
from the handysize segment (60 per cent), see Figure 1. requirements (longitudinal strength, strength of
For handymax, panamax and capesize bulk carriers the transverse watertight corrugated bulkheads and allowable
corresponding percentages are 23, 25 and 18 per cent, hold cargo loading) in flooded condition (of any cargo
respectively [1]. hold) and enhanced scantlings of hatch covers. This was
followed by a second series, comprising UR S25 and S28,
Age distribution of bulk carriers in service
Total fleet (>10 kDWT) vs. Handysize fleet (10-40 kDWT) which are applicable to bulk carriers contracted for
400 100
construction on or after 1 July 2003 and 1 January 2004,
360 90 respectively. With UR S25 harmonised notations (BC-A,
320 80
BC-B and BC-C) and associated loading conditions were
Cumulative distribution [%]

280 70
introduced, while UR S28 makes the fitting of a
Nr of ships

240 60

200 50 forecastle mandatory. Finally, on 1 April 2006 the

160

120
40

30
Common Structural Rules (CSR) have entered into force,
80 20 marking the beginning of a new era in the design and
40 10
construction requirements for bulk carriers. Key features
are the introduction of a harmonised net scantling
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
Ship age [yrs]
approach, extended fatigue design lifetime (25 years in
North Atlantic conditions) and the Performance Standard
Total (ships) Handysize (ships) Total (cumulative) Handysize (cumulative)

Figure 1: Age distribution of bulk carriers in service [1] for Protective Coating (PSPC, applicable to seawater
ballast tanks and double skin spaces of bulk carrier with
Due to the continuous enhancement of structural L ≥ 150 m).
requirements over the years, first by individual class
societies and later in harmonised from within IACS and As a consequence of the step-by-step introduction of
IMO, the in-service fleet has been built to a variety of enhanced requirements, the (design) structural safety
design standards. Following high loss rates in the 1980s level related varies over the fleet and is quite difficult to
and early 1990s, important steps in the development and assess and compare, especially for older ships which
harmonisation of class rules for bulk carriers have been