Investigation Case about Hull Girder Loads for a Damaged Chemical Tanker

In the rule making environment it has recently emerged the importance to investigate the ship hull residual strength after damage, besides the residual buoyancy and stability, in order to better appreciate the survivability characteristics of the ship. In fact, the awareness of the actual hull loading condition and the hull residual strength after damage can facilitate the coordination of the rescue emergency operations in terms of possible ship towing or cargo lightening with the aim to avoid environmental disaster. The proposed paper is focused on the investigation about the static state of loading with respect to shear forces and bending moments acting on the damaged hull girder of a 12000 DWT chemical tanker, in relation with different initial loading conditions. The considered damage cases are for one, two and three flooded compartments, exploring therefore also more severe scenarios with respect to damage standards described in the IBC code (International Bulk Chemical Code) for the damage stability.