Mid-December
2004
Table
of Contents:
Pacific Northwest |
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Gulf |
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Texas |
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Northern California |
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Canadian Atlantic |
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Mid-December
2004
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Pacific
Northwest Section On Friday, October 15th, the Pacific Northwest Chapter of SNAME hosted a meeting at Ivar’s Acres of Clams restaurant in Seattle. The technical presentation was given by Mr. Eric Blumhagen, P.E. of Jensen Maritime Consultants, Inc. Mr. Blumhagen’s presentation was on Fishing Vessel Safety and Jensen Maritime’s efforts in educating the fishing industry with low cost approaches to enhancing a vessel’s safety capabilities. Because of lack of regulation and the costs of major safety improvements, the fishing industry in our local region has become the most dangerous fishery in the U.S. Jensen Maritime surveyed fishing vessels in the Northwest and Alaska to develop effective and inexpensive solutions to common safety problems. By using a non-regulatory approach and working with the industry, one of Jensen Maritime’s goals was to produce a pamphlet to distribute at no charge to owners and operators at trade shows. Phase 1 of the project consisted of looking at the crabbing industry where many injuries are related to machinery and falls overboard. Phase 2 dealt with small fishing boats and injury data. The next phase of the ongoing project is to support the industry with an efficient means of analyzing vessel stability and developing corrective actions. Part
of Mr. Blumhagen’s success in this endeavor was due to the non-regulatory
approach in developing cost efficient, and sometimes very simple, safety
measures. Crewmembers and owners were more open to questions, interviews
and surveys when they realized the approach taken and the understanding
of the limitations of the industry. |
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Richard Jorge
The November 13th, 2004 Pacific Northwest Section technical meeting was held at Cheer’s Restaurant in North Vancouver, BC. Thirty professionals from Vancouver, BC and Seattle, WA, turned out for what was to be an excellent meeting and an exquisite Saturday morning buffet brunch. Registration for the meeting began at 0830hrs and presentations began promptly at 0900hrs. These were initiated by an awards presentation to four UBC students who won 3rd place at an intramural Marine Design competition. Congratulations go out to Mr. Dan Vyselaar, Erik Berzins and the other two team members, who were unable to attend. No doubt all four were very proud and honored to be recognized by the SNAME PNW Section. In the first presentation of the morning, Mr. Chris McKesson of John J. McMullen Associates (JJMA) Inc. spoke about the "Design of a Surface Effect Ship for the USN Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program." JJMA (partnered with Raytheon, Umoe, Goodrich, Atlantic Marine) received a $10M contract from the US Navy to develop the “seaframe" or ship platform in addition to assisting with other key Focussed Mission Ship (FMS) requirements. Mr. McKesson discussed the challenges, test procedures, and outcomes of JJMA’s efforts in the design bid for a design-build contract with the U S Navy. For more information on this project, please visit JJMA’s website: www.jjma.com and follow the “WHAT WE DO” and “Ship Design” links. Mr. Kevin Reynolds of The Glosten Associates gave the second presentation entitled, “Shipboard Ballast Management.” His topic included Glosten software, which helps ship operators to plan and execute intake and discharge of ballast water based on planned route, ports of call and applicable local and international regulations. In a world where environmental concerns abound and AIS/GPS tracking systems are becoming ubiquitous, this was an appropriate topic indeed. For more information please visit www.glosten.com.
Insightful questions followed all three presentations, and the meeting concluded in a timely fashion allowing all attendees to delve into the delicious buffet lunch at the early hour of 1130. Thanks to all who participated in this very timely and topical meeting. For
more information please visit the SNAME PNW website at:
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Gulf
Section The Society of Naval Architects & Marine Engineers in conjunction with the American Society of Naval Engineers hosted the Gulf Section Meeting: Comparison of Bow Shape on Anchor Handling Tug Supply Vessel Hydrodynamics Presented
by Dr. Robert Latorre, Special guest Dr. Robert Latorre, Professor of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the University of New Orleans, presented his study comparing bow shape on Anchor Handling Tug Supply Vessel Hydrodynamics. The Gulf Section’s October 21st meeting drew a crowd of over 50 SNAME and ASNE members to historic Patton’s Restaurant in Old Town Slidell, Louisiana. Dr. Latorre opened by explaining why Anchor Handling Towing Supply Vessels (AHTS) are operating further offshore with their service envelopes being stretched to even deeper oil and gas fields. This deepwater exploration is requiring AHTS vessels to perform in increasingly extreme conditions. As deepwater operations become more and more common, the need to improve their resistance and seakeeping characteristics is highly desired. Dr. Latorre’s research revealed that the majority of U.S.-designed AHTS vessels are built with a U-Shape bow in mind. His research exposed the reasoning behind the V-Shape bow’s popularity with its advantages while offshore and on station. The paper presented the comparison of AHTS resistance and seakeeping results utilizing SHIPMO.BM software and a 2.75m tow tank model. Weighing against published model tests, Dr. Latorre was able to precisely correlate the adoption of V-Shape bows with reduced resistance as well as reduced heave and pitch responses in head seas. Dr. Latorre and his assistant constructed a 2.75 m Anchor Handling Tug Supply Vessel to verify industry standard software for evaluating hull form shapes. Their tow tank models interestingly enough were named using two female names, UMA (U-Shape) and Veronika (V-shape). He quoted that you have to bring a little life to your research. A CNC mill enabled two bows to be constructed and joined to the stern with rigid tolerances. The model utilized weights located in the hold to recreate an inertial center for the seakeeping test.
The testing concluded that the V-Shape bow AHTS had lower high-speed resistance as well as reduced heave and pitch response in head seas. However, the testing showed the AHTS with the U-Shape bow had smaller roll motion due to its larger linear and non linear damping. In typical Dr. Latorre style, he closed by inviting industry to join him in discussions concerning the results of his study and the real world concerns regarding design, production, and operations of AHTS hull forms. Phil Nuss, Outgoing Chairman of the Gulf Section (2003-2004) was presented with a plaque for his outstanding service to the Gulf Section. The SNAME Gulf Section officers and members would like to thank Phil Nuss for his time and commitment to the organization. We would also like to thank Dr. Robert Latorre for spending the evening cultivating the section on the advances in bow shape within AHTS hull forms.
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Texas
Section 14th
Offshore Symposium – LNG: From Source to Market Author’s Reception On November 9th the Texas Section hosted a reception for the authors and presenters at the 14th Offshore Symposium. The presenters, session co-chairs and SNAME Texas executives enjoyed a pleasant evening at the Houston Maritime Museum. Regional Vice-President, Peter Noble, presented a model of the Polar Endeavour to museum director, Jim Manzolillo. The Polar Endeavour class of vessels is state-of-the-art crude-oil carriers for the Alaskan waters. The model should fit in nicely along the numerous models and naval artifacts on display at the museum. Opening Session The next day more than 170 attendees showed up at the Westchase Marriott for the 14th Offshore Symposium. This year’s topic was Liquefied Natural Gas, or LNG. Presenters came from far away to educate the attendees about the marine aspects of this increasingly important sector of our industry. After enjoying coffee and breakfast, Texas Section Vice-Chair, Lars Ronning of ConocoPhillips Marine, welcomed the attendees and introduced the first speaker, Capt. Jonathan Cook from Excelerate Energy. Capt. Cook gave an overview of the global LNG market and explained why imports of LNG are necessary to keep up with the domestic energy demands. The second half of his presentation was dedicated to a discussion of Excelerate Energy’s EnergyBridge LNG import terminal. This LNG import solution uses modified LNG carriers equipped with equipment to regassify the LNG directly into a Submerged Turret Loading buoy, from where it is piped into the gas grid for further distribution. The second presenter was introduced by session co-chair and SNAME member, Dr. Johan Wichers from Marin USA. Bill Glenn, Jr. (SNAME member) from Royston, Rayzor, Vickery & Williams discussed the differences between traditional ocean-going transportation and LNG transportation. Mr. Glenn started with an outline of who holds authority over which parts of the ocean. He then touched on the Deepwater Ports Act and it’s implications for offshore LNG re-gas facilities. Mr. Glenn also discussed the roles of flag states and port states in LNG shipping and concluded his presentation with a discussion on security concerns regarding LNG shipping, particularly in light of the ISPS code and the Marine Transportation Security Act of 2002.
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Northern
California Section Changing Regulations for Air Pollution from Ships November 10, 2004, the Northern California Section met with the Golden Gate Section of ASNE. Twenty-eight members of these societies and four students from the University of California, Berkeley and California Maritime Academy attended the meeting, which was held at the Pasta Pelican Restaurant in Alameda, CA. The social hour and dinner preceding the program afforded an enjoyable opportunity for the members and students to share recent experiences. The program, presented by Professor Paul Jackson of the California Maritime Academy, provided a summary of new and proposed air pollution regulations affecting the maritime industry. The discussion included the air pollution annex to MARPOL, which went into effect in June 2004, regulations developed by the European Union for ships using EU ports, and regulations being developed by the Air Resources Board of the State of California that will affect both ocean going ships and harbor craft in the State. The impact of these regulations on the design and maintenance of ships was also discussed.
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Canadian
Atlantic Section The Canadian Atlantic Section met on November 17 with Eric Thornhill delivering an oral presentation entitled, “Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Overview for Ship Hydrodynamics.” He explained that in the engineering design of marine vehicles there are several options for analysis methods ranging from rules of thumb to testing full-scale prototypes. Mr. Thornhill described where CFD fits in and when it is appropriate for CFD to be used. A brief overview of some of the key components of CFD such as meshing and turbulence was given with respect to practical applications. The strengths and weaknesses of CFD for marine hydrodynamics problems was discussed along with how CFD is likely to evolve in the future.
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