The Structural Design Improvement of a Twin-Hull Ship

Abstract

The paper is focused on the strength analysis of the structure of twin-hull ships, particularly a passenger catamaran. Catamarans have some advantages against conventional monohulls: larger deck area and cargo volume, better transverse stability and, in general, improved behavior in waves. But due to the need of large open spaces, for passenger / car ferry ships and having as major restriction the structure weight, one of the problems which arise during the designing of the catamaran structure is the determination of the effectiveness of deck structure. The Finite Element Method was used for examining the behavior of different deck structure designs in order to determine the solution which meets better designing criteria regarding allowable stress and deformations and total weight. The results of this analysis show that, making a proper structural analysis and using lightweight materials, important gains for ship owners and for environment protection can be achieved.