Flood Control Watertight Compartments for Ship Damage Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vessels face excessive flooding due to restricted design freedoms and compartment arrangements, as international rules dictate damage stability requirements that limit the degree of freedom in vessel form and compartment layout, leading to excessive flooding volumes when compartments like engine rooms are damaged.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of flood control watertight compartments within the vessel's hull, which are strategically positioned between decks and side walls, dividing the space from the freeboard deck to the bottom, and are in contact with both side walls and bulkheads, to contain and manage flooding, thereby reducing the risk of water entry into multiple rooms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional compartment arrangement is used to meet damage stability requirements, then vessel safety is improved, but flooding volume becomes excessive and design freedom is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces flood control watertight compartments that segment the hull interior into distinct floodable and non-floodable zones. These compartments are arranged to create multiple watertight sections, allowing flooding to be contained within specific segments while protecting critical areas, thus achieving both safety requirements and design flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The flood control watertight compartments act as intermediary structures between the external environment and the vessel's critical spaces. These compartments serve as buffer zones that can be flooded without compromising the safety of the vessel, mediating between the need for damage stability and design freedom.
2Reliability
If compartment size is reduced to minimize flooding volume, then damage stability is improved, but available space for vessel operations is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the hull into floodable and non-floodable compartments, the invention allows critical spaces to be protected while permitting flooding in designated areas. This segmentation enables the vessel to maintain adequate damage stability without sacrificing overall available space for operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention converts the harmful effect of flooding into a beneficial design feature by designating specific compartments as floodable zones. These compartments are intentionally made vulnerable to flooding to protect more critical spaces, thus converting the potential harm of water ingress into a protective mechanism that maintains both stability and space utilization.
Data Source
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AI summary
Abstract: A ship (1) is provided with: left/right side walls (20a, 20b); a ship bottom; a hull (10) that comprises a plurality of decks including a freeboard deck; a plurality of rooms (41, 42) that are the inner section of the hull (10) and that are demarcated at the front/rear of the longitudinal direction of the hull (10) by a partition wall (23); and flood-inhibiting watertight compartments (31a, 31b, 32a, 32b) that are arranged in the interiors of the plurality of rooms (41, 42), that demarcate the space from a double-bot-tomed upper deck that is a lower level than the freeboard deck to the freeboard deck or from the ship bottom to the freedboard deck, and that are in contact with the port-side side wall (20a) or the starboard-side side wall (20b) and the partition wall (23).