Hull Monitoring

Highlights

• Hull monitoring is motivated by safer, more cost-effective operations, better assessment of operational risks, and support for docking schedules and capital expense planning.
• Improved knowledge of structural loads in ice is presented as enabling higher speeds when required and speed reductions at other times to limit fatigue loading.
• A lack of information on the bridge about the actual hull load is identified as a long standing challenge, and percentage based output is reported to be preferred over traffic light indications.
• Instrumentation is limited by inaccessible locations, the need for external voltage supplies and cabling, sensor deterioration in corrosive tanks, and data stored only at coarse intervals.
• Sparse monitoring with up to six sensors on longitudinals is contrasted with denser layouts required for slamming and fatigue, while around 100 vessels are reported to hold a DNV hull monitoring notation.