Alexandria Engineering Journal (2019) 58, 1025–1032

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Alexandria University

Alexandria Engineering Journal

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Rational structural design of Nile barges

M.A. Shama, Y.A. Abdel-Nasser, M.M. Abdel-Rahim

Alexandria University, Faculty of Engineering, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Department, Egypt

Received 10 July 2019; revised 24 August 2019; accepted 4 September 2019

Available online 21 October 2019

KEYWORDS Abstract This paper has demonstrated the design aspects for inland water units working in the
River Nile. The acting loads and stresses induced within the structural elements of Nile barges
Nile barges;
are still water bending moment and stresses, local hydrostatic pressure and local stresses. The objec-
Rational design;
tive of this work is to rationalize the design procedure using the actual data of loads, weights and
Strength estimation;
Modes of failure design procedure. The rational structural analysis includes the elastic and plastic stresses analyses of
a unit. It composed from different stages of analyses such as primary, secondary and tertiary anal-
ysis in addition to the plastic analysis. Applied this approach on an existing barge will lead to sig-
nificant reduction in steel weight of the barge without violating the safety of the structure.
Accordingly, the cargo carrying capacity will increase which can economically have an effect on
all terms of transportation business.
Ó 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria
University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction

Regarding inland navigation vessels various design aspects

Abbreviations: AB, sectional area of bottom structure; AD, sectional ought to be taken under consideration such as cargo capacity,
area of deck structure; AS, sectional area of side structure; a‘j, sectional speed and environment. The design aspects which can be
area of one longitudinal, j= B, D, S, BL; B, ship breadth; CB, block thought-about as a priority vary from one place to another
coefficient of the barge; D, ship depth; g, distance of E.A.A from base
according to various considerations. In Bangladesh, some rec-
line; il, second moment of longitudinal section area with attached
plating; INa, moment of inertia of the vessel around its neutral axis;
ommendations were proposed by optimizing the hull form of
MP, fully plastic moment; MV, total vertical bending moment; tb, some existing vessels to scale back the consequences of CO2
thickness of bottom plating; td, thickness of deck plating; ts, thickness emission [1]. In Republic of Poland an enquiry was created
of side shell plating; tBL, thickness of longitudinal bulkhead plating; yp, concerning the long run of inland water transport relating to
distance of the attached plating from the neutral axis of the the fuel consumption by inland waterway. It was found that
longitudinal section; Yb, distance of the bottom plate from the neutral inland water transportation has a lower saving in fuel con-
axis of the vessel; yp, distance of the deck plate from the neutral axis of sumption for the same amount of cargo than that used for
the vessel; Zb, elastic modulus of ship section at bottom; Zd, elastic other modes of transportations. The expected total sum of
modulus of ship section at deck; ZP, plastic section modulus; rcr, inland water transportation by 2027 will be 2.57 million
critical buckling stress of deck plating; rb, hull girder stress at bottom
TEU per year [2].
plating due to (MV); ry, yield strength of the material
Basic design includes the choice of ship dimensions, hull
Peer review under responsibility of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria
University.
form, power, preliminary arrangement of hull and machinery,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2019.09.005
1110-0168 Ó 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
1026 M.A. Shama et al.

Yielding

Buckling

Fatigue

material deterioration due to corrosion

3.1. Yielding of structural members

The elongation would improve quickly if the load applied to

an explicit structure exceeds a certain critical value. This is
called yielding. Therefore, the designer sometimes requires care
not to exceed the yielding point to take care of the strength of
the structure.

Fig. 1 Design spiral (Ref. No. [3]). 3.2. Buckling of structural members

and major structure. Proper choices assure the attainment of If a structure is subjected to a compressive load, it should sud-
the mission necessities like sensible seakeeping performance, denly deflect once a critical value is reached by the load. This
maneuverability, the desired speed, endurance, loading capa- critical value is called the point of buckling. When a big deflec-
bility, and deadweight [3]. The procedures of design are illus- tion occurs, even once the load is removed, the structure may
trated within the Design Spiral, Evans (1959) (see Fig. 1). not recover its initial shape [5].
In this paper, a redesign of the Nile barges on the basis of
the rational structural analysis is applied. The rational struc- 3.3. Fatigue
tural analysis includes the elastic and plastic stresses analyses
of a unit. It composed from different stages of analyses such Small loads can fracture the structure when repeated fre-
as primary, secondary and tertiary analysis in addition to the quently. The fracture occurs due to fatigue. Sometimes fatigue
plastic analysis. Applied this approach on an existing barge comes from reduced loads than yielding strength, particularly
can result in decrease the building materials that needed for where there is a very big amount of cycles. Sometimes vibra-
this unit. tion causes this sort of fracture, particularly when the fre-
quency is very high [5].
2. Structural analysis for inland water units Fatigue doesn’t have a great effect in the case of Rive Nile
units because there are no waves, so the structure is subjected
The hull structure was initially planned by the designer in a only to cyclic loads resulted from the machinery which could
strategy that will efficiently withstand the most likely load esti- be neglected in that case.
mated from past failure modes knowledge [4]. Consequently,
once damage happens in the structure, the following facts 3.4. Material deterioration due to corrosion
are indicated:
It is the gradual destruction of fabric by chemical reaction with

The magnitude of the failure load is greater than or equal to their surroundings like sea water. This must be considered as a
the load anticipated. mode of failure. Deterioration is not expected to be severe for

Specific failure occurs in a very distinct mode from the Nile barges because the vessel is working in fresh water.
assumed one.

2.1. Procedures of ship design

The following design procedures are adopted in order to con-

sider the structural strength estimation [4]:

Determine the initial structural component stiffening

scheme.

Assume load magnitude, direction and possibility.

Assume failure mode of structure due to the load.

3. Modes of failure

There are many failure modes knowledgeable in inland water

units [3]. The following modes are significant when dealt with Fig. 2 Various stresses affect ship structure (Ref. No. [6]).
the structural analysis:
Rational structural design 1027

4. Stresses induced in ship structural members

All vessel structure strength members are exposed to many

types of stress evoked by external and internal loads. Manufac-
turing vessel structural members through gas cutting, forming,
welding, and assembly work induces complex residual stress
processes. In the structural members, these residual stresses
do not appear as they are in internal equilibrium. The loadings
of the hull girder cause stresses in the primary strength mem-
bers referred to as primary stresses. The strength of vessel
structure assemblies is subjected to loads of cargo and addi- Fig. 4 Secondary stresses (Ref. No. [6]).
tional water pressure that cause stresses called secondary stres-
ses. Members of tertiary strength are subject to tertiary loads
that cause a third form of stress called tertiary stresses. The MV
rb ¼ ð1Þ
bottom plate is subjected to extra local loads by external water Zb
pressure [6] (see Fig. 2).
For a few strength members, the combination of these stres-
4.1.2. Secondary stresses in structural members
ses can achieve unacceptable elevated values of equivalent
stresses that can exceed the material’s acceptable stresses and The secondary moments and shear forces are the reason why
trigger structural failure. secondary stresses appear that affect the structural members
of the vessel. By evaluating a defined length of the secondary
4.1. Hull girder bending stress components structure assembly as a hold length, these loadings could be
determined. Assembly of the structure consisting of a complete
hold length plus half hold length aft and forward of the chosen
The hull girder primary stresses are evoked by the subsequent
hold. If the full hold length is fully loaded and the two half
bending moment components:
hold lengths are empty, an example is given for the case (see
Fig. 4).
(1) Stresses due to longitudinal vertical bending moments:
Secondary stresses doesn’t exist during this case as a result
(1) Still water bending stresses
of most of the inland water units have only 2 cargo holds. It is
(2) Wave-induced bending stresses (sagging /hogging
illogical to fill one hold with cargo and leave the other hold
conditions)
empty.
(3) Dynamic stresses
4.1.3. Tertiary loading and stresses in structural members
(2) Stresses due to horizontal bending moment.
The strength components supporting tertiary stresses in the
Wave-induced bending stresses, dynamic stresses and stres- bottom structures are the top longitudinals and plating at
ses caused by horizontal bending moment don’t affect the the bottom and tank. The following are instances of analytical
structure in the case of River Nile units, because River Nile tertiary stresses.
don’t have waves. Each bottom longitudinal is subject to a load covering a
Still water bending stress is that the solely stress which will rectangular area of length ‘‘a” equal to the longitudinal length
be taken into consideration during this case. between two floors and breadth ‘‘b” equal to the sum of the
half-spaces between two adjacent longitudinals or between a
4.1.1. Hull girder primary stresses induced by longitudinal longitudinal girder and the adjacent one. In the longitudinal
vertical bending moments cross section, the bottom longitudinals are also subjected to
The hull girder primary stresses at the deck and bottom plating
due to a longitudinal vertical bending moment [6] (see Fig. 3)

Fig. 3 Primary stresses induced by bending moment (Ref. No.

[6]). Fig. 5 Tertiary stresses affecting bottom plate (Ref. No. [6]).
1028 M.A. Shama et al.

5. Plastic structural analysis of inland water units

The entire structure is influenced by the yield stress in a struc-

ture’s plastic design method. The plastic stress happened
because the ultimate load is detected in the plastic spectrum
from the strength of steel [7]. During this methodology, the
strength of steel beyond yield stress is fully utilized. It offers
a placement economy regarding steel weight as the segments
intended by this technique are lower in size than those intended
by the elastic design method.
Fig. 6 Local bending stress in bottom plating in the transverse
direction (Ref. No. [6]). 5.1. Calculation of plastic bending moment

In fact it is impossible to carry out the precise analysis of a

structure. Idealizing a framework is a technique of conserva-
normal in-plane loadings (see Fig. 5). Hull girder and sec- tively simplifying the structural system parts while maintaining
ondary bending moments evoke these normal tensile or com- the same conduct under the same load. To simplify calcula-
pressive stresses [6]. tions, this is performed. Design could take a massively longer
The bending stress at the attached bottom plating is given time without an idealized framework.
by: The Neutral axis (NA) is associated with the fiber that does
m  yp not undergo change in its length when an element bends and
rP ¼ ð2Þ stresses are all less than yield stress. It is also defined as elastic
il
neutral axis. Equal area axis (EAA) is the location of the axis
The hydrostatic pressure on the exterior shell is the most which results in equal compressive and tensile forces when all
local load on the longitudinals at the bottom. The design loads fibers in a section have reached yield stress. Equal area axis is
are described in terms of bending moments and shear forces, also defined as plastic neutral axis (see Fig. 8).
and the simple theory of beams could calculate them (see The plastic section modulus for the ship section is given by:
Fig. 6).

D g2
ZP ¼ AD  g þ 2As gþ þ AB ðD  gÞ ð3Þ
4.2. Compounding of stresses in ship strength members 2 D
The distance between equal area axis and the base line in
The most popular technique of calculating vessel structure given by:
strength is based on calculating each longitudinal and local  
stress. The stresses influencing each ship structural member AB þ 2As  AD
g¼D ð4Þ
should be estimated based on the compound stresses placed 4AS
on them by the vessel hull girder’s longitudinal bending X
action and the induced bending under the local loads (see AB ¼ B  tB þ alb ð5Þ
Fig. 7). X
AD ¼ B  tD þ alD ð6Þ
X
AS ¼ D  ðts þ tBL Þ þ ðals þ alBL Þ ð7Þ

The plastic moment Mp is given by:

MP ¼ ZP  rY ð8Þ

Fig. 7 Compounding of stresses on bottom plating. Fig. 8 Midship section.

Rational structural design 1029

Fig. 10 Bending moment for the fully loaded condition.

Here, the still bending moment is calculated according to

three different loading conditions for the barge. The highest
value of the still water bending moment will be in the fully
loaded condition.
Mst = 6155.368 KN m
It is noticed that the acting still water moment of the barge
Fig. 9 Structural scantlings at the midship section. is (6155.368 KN), which is less than that calculated by rules
(12166.934 KN m). This because many factors of safety are
considered by rules.
The distribution of the of still bending moment calculated
6. Case study by MAXSURF is shown in Fig. 10

This case study is a self-propelled Nile barge, which was con- (3) Calculation of section modulus for the midship section
structed in 2015. of the unit.
The following particulars are as follows:

LBP = 67.735 m INa

Zb ¼ ð8Þ

LOA = 70 m Yb

LWL = 68.985 m
Zb¼ 3:79 m3 .

Breadth = 10 m

Depth = 2.8 m INa
ZD ¼ ð9Þ

Draft = 1.8 m Yd

CB = 0.899
Zd ¼ 1:46 m3 .

Light weight = 323.6 ton
Compounding of stresses at bottom plate as mentioned
before = 1.65 MPA
The midship section of the vessel is shown in Fig. 9.
The primary hull girder analysis on the basis of the design
7. Modification of the barge structure
rules and a MAXSURF Software is calculated for the case
study.
As mentioned before, there are no waves in the River Nile and
(1) The still water bending moment is calculated according wave bending moment does not exist. There is also a large dif-
to BV rules of the barge is as follows [8]. ference in the values of the still water bending moment as given
from the empirical formula from the rules and the actual bend-
ing moment calculated by MAXSURF software. In this study,
an attempt is made to reduce scantlings of the barge using
MS ¼ 0:273 L2 B1:347 D0:172 ð1:265  CBÞ KN:m ð7Þ basic structure methods to save steel weight and assure that
The still water bending moment is = 12166.934 KN m the structure is completely safe, as shown in the flow chart
(see Fig. 11).
(2) The still water bending moment by using MAXSURF Some constraints are associated with reducing scantlings of
software is calculated as follows. the structure such as:
1030 M.A. Shama et al.

Table 1 Scantlings of the barge before and after

modifications.
Structural Before After Reduction in
member modification modification thickness
Bottom plate 8 mm 6 mm 2 mm
Tank top 8 mm 6 mm 2 mm
plate
Bottom 80  80  8 mm 80  40  6 mm 2 mm
longitudinal
Tank top 80  80  8 mm 80  40  6 mm 2 mm
longitudinal
Inner side 8 mm 6 mm 2 mm
plate
Outer side 7 mm 6 mm 1 mm
plate
Side 80  80  8 mm 80  40  6 mm 2 mm
longitudinal
Bilge plate 10 mm 10 mm 0
Sheer strake 8 mm 8 mm 0
Deck plate 12 mm 8 mm 4 mm
Weight per 4.48 t/m 4.36 t/m 0.12 t/m
unit length

7.1. Procedure of modification of the midship section

The scantlings of the barge are modified as follows:

Decrease gradually the structural member scantlings step by

step.

Check primary stresses, tertiary and local stresses.

If they are acceptable, repeat the first step again and check
the stresses, till the scantlings reach the value 6 mm.

The following Table 1 shows the scantlings of various struc-

tural member of the barge before and after modification in the
parallel middle body:

7.2. Calculation of elastic section modulus of the midship section

for the unit after modification

Zb ¼ 3:64 m3

Zd ¼ 1:35m3
Fig. 11 Modification of structures.
Compounding of stresses at bottom plate after modifica-
tion = 1.72 MPA

The acting stress that affects the structure should be less
than the yield stress of the material and the Euler buckling 7.3. The plastic section modulus of the mid ship section for the
stress. unit is given by:

The thickness of the plates used in the structure shouldn’t
be less than 6 mm.
ZP ¼ 10:31 m3
It is to be noted that the acting bending moment on the
MP ¼ 2577500 KN m
structure due to still water, cargo and various loads will pro-
duce tensile and compressive stresses on structure members. Here, the plastic moment that required to spread plasticity
in the whole section of the inland water unit is

Tensile stresses will cause yielding of strength members. (2,577,500 KN m). This a greatest value of plastic moment
These stresses are less than yield stress of the material. can never reached, because the still water bending moment that

Compressive stress will cause buckling of strength members. can affect the unit in the River Nile is very limited, it is about
These stresses are less than Euler buckling stress. (6155.368 KN m).
Rational structural design 1031

Fig.12 Double bottom structure of the barge.

Fig.13a Equivalent (von Mises) stress.

Fig.12a Equivalent (von Mises) stress.

Fig.13b Deflection contour at bottom plate and longitudinal.

Fig. 14 Double bottom structure of the barge.

Fig.12b Deflection contour at bottom plate.

Fig.13 Double bottom structure of the barge.

8. Validation of structural analysis

In this section we check the tertiary stresses for particulars

members by finite element model using ANSYS software to
be sure that the stresses we get by the basic design method
are accurate and ensure the safety of the structure after
modification. We use ANSYS software version R18.1 (see
Figs. 12–14). Fig. 14a Equivalent (von Mises) stress.
1032 M.A. Shama et al.

10. Calculation of weight of the modified structure

The weight of the steel used in the building of this unit in

the parallel middle body before modification = 4.48 t/m.

By applying the rational structural analysis, the decrease in
steel weight for the case study in the parallel middle body
is = 4.36 t/m.

That means that the weight saving of steel is 0.12 t/m after
modification for parallel middle body.

For bow and stern of the unit, the weight saving assumed is
0.06 t/m.

The amount of weight saving of steel used in this unit will
be 8 ton.
Fig. 14b Deflection contour at tank top plate and longitudinal.
11. Conclusions

Table 2 Stresses induced in various structural members.

The main conclusions drawn up from this research work are:
Comparison between stresses induced in various ship structural
members
The still water bending moment calculated by rules is
Type of Ship structural Basic design ANSYS greater by 50% than the actual still water moment.
stresses members method software
The existing inland water units designed according to clas-
Local stress Bottom plate 172.46 MPA 63.01 MPA sification society rules are overdesigned.
Tertiary Bottom 21.378 MPA 19.142 MPA
Applying the developed rational structural design proce-
stress longitudinal dure will lead to saving in steel weight of ship hull girder
Tertiary Tank top 49.37 MPA 35.262 MPA without violating structural safety of the unit.
stress longitudinal
Using ANSYS software has confirmed that the structure is
Tertiary Center girder 9.672 MPA 18.837 MPA totally safe after modification. It also validates the various
stress
stresses we get by using basic design method.

8.1. Bottom plating References

[1] Golam Zakaria, Sohanur Rahman, Energy Efficiency Design

Index (EEDI) for Inland Vessels in Bangladesh, Procedia Eng.
194 (2017) 362–369.
8.2. Bottom plating and longitudinals [2] Cezary Gołez biowsk, Inland water transport in Poland, Transport.
Res. Procedia 14 (2016) 223–232.
[3] Yasuhisa Okumoto, Yu Takeda, Masaki Mano, Tetsuo Okada,
Design of Ship Hull Structures: A Practical Guide for Engineers,
Springer, 2009th ed., ISBN-13: 978-3540884446.
8.3. Tank top plating and longitudinals
[4] K.J. Rawson, E. C. Tupper, Basic Ship Theory, vol. I, 15th ed.,
ISBN-13: 9780750653961.
[5] Volker Bertram, H. Schneekluth, Ship Design for Efficiency and
Economy, 2nd edition, ISBN-13: 978-0750641333.
9. Comparison between stresses induced in various ship [6] Mohamed Shama, Buckling of Ship Structures, Springer, 2013th
structural members Edition, ISBN-13: 978-3642179600.
[7] You-Sheng Wu,Wei-cheng Cui, Guo-jun Zhou, Practical Design
of Ships and Other Floating Structures, vol. I, Elsevier Science,
The following Table 2 shows a comparison between the stres- 2011, ISBN-13: 978-0444539212.
ses induced in the barge by both methods (basic design and [8] BV Rules for inland water vessels, 2017
ANSYS software) when calculate tertiary stresses.
A deviations is between the basic design stresses and that
developed by ANSYS software. This is due to the effect of
boundary conditions and the idealized acting loads.