University “Dunărea de Jos” from Galați

Faculty of Naval Arhitecture

MASTER THESIS
Building methods and tranportation of blocks units from VARD Braila
to VARD Tulcea. The block shall be seafastened on the main deck of a
heavylift vessel for river transportation

Student, Coordinator teacher,

Simion Alexandru Ionut Senior lecturer PhD. Eng. Eugen Găvan
 Table of contents
1. General description of the ship
2. Hull division in watertight compartments
3. Hull scantling in midship area
4. Dividing the ship's hull into prefabricated elements
5. Assembly of the hull from block sections
6. Tranportation of blocks units from VARD Braila to VARD Tulcea. The
block shall be seafastened on the main deck of a heavylift vessel for
river transportation
 1. General description of the ship
A cable layer or cable ship is a deep-sea vessel
designed and used to lay underwater cables for Ship’s type: Cable Layer Vessel

telecommunications, electric power transmission, military Owner: Van Oord

purposes or other purposes. Cable ships are distinguished by GENERAL DATA
Internal order: N922
large cable sheaves for guiding cable over bow or stern or both.
Class: DNV

Total length (L.O.A.): approx. 131.2 m

Length between p.p. approx.121.4 m

MAIN PARTICULARS
Breadth (B): approx. 28.0 m

Depth at Main Deck: approx. 9.8 m

Aft… FR10: 600 mm

FRAME SPACING FR10 – FR149: 700 mm

FR149 – Fore: 600 mm

Figure 1.1 - Cable layer ship built int VARD Table 1.1-Main dimensions[1]
Tulcea shipyard [1]
 2. Hull division in watertight compartment

In order to maintain the safety, integrity and acceptable conditions of stability of the vessel in the event of damage, all compartments
below the main deck shall be enclosed with bulkheads.
The number of partition bulkheads was chosen in accordance with Classification Society rules NR467 – Part B, Chapter 2, Section 1, using table
[2.1].
Thus, the ship will have 6 bulkheads:
- 1 watertight transverse walls that delimit the stern peak;
- 1 watertight transverse walls that delimit the energy storage and pump room;
- 1 watertight transverse walls that delimit the cable room;
- 1 watertight transverse walls that delimit the equipment room;
- 1 watertight transverse walls that delimit the engine room;
- 1 watertight transverse walls that delimit the bowthruster room and bow peak.

Figure 1.2 - Watertight bulkheads positioning

3. Dividing the ship's hull into prefabricated
elements
Vard Braila is currently undergoing extensive modernization that aims to boost production capacity and

accommodate bigger and more diverse vessels. This process is set to continue into 2021 and features:

Purchase and installation of four new 100-ton capacity cranes.

Modernization of launching capacity (mounting platform, launching system and launching platform) that will double

capacity from 3,000 tons to 6,000 tons.

Construction of mobile halls comprising five modules that can be assembled in different configurations according to

requirements.

Figure 4.1 – VARD Braila shipyard [1]

Figure 4.21 Crane of 100, 50 tons
 Shipyard facilities
B1 – Administrative Building C18 - Mounting place No 1
D1 - Plates store C19 - Mounting place No 23
D2 - Profiles store C21 - Mounting place No 4
C1 - Blasting and shop priming station C22 - Mounting place No 5 C2, C3, C4 - Cutting machines C23 - Mounting place No 6
C5 - Profiles shaping C24 - Mounting place No 7
C6 - Profiles cutting and performing C30 – Mobile Hall
C7- Grinding L1 - Platform (Transfer platform)
C8 – Preassembling L2 - Launching Ramp
C9 - Panels line L3 - Quay
C10 – Plates shaping D3 - Finished pipes store
C11- Plates roughing cutting D4 - Pipes Store
C12 - Finished preassembling (waiting for assembling) A1 - Pipes bending and welding
C13 – Assembling A2 - Handwork and pipes welding
W1 – Welding Facilities A3 - Pipes finishing and testing
C14 - Finished units (waiting for mounting) A4 - Stainless steel pipes performing
C15 - Preassembling - Subcontractors (small hall) A5 - Machine
C16 - Assembling - Subcontractors (small hall) A6 – Mechanics workshop - Metallic confections C17 - Assembling - Subcontractors (engine
hall) A7- Locksmith workshop
A8 - Engine hall A15 - Vard Electro
A9 – Thick Plate workshop V1 – Outfitting Units hall
A10 - Area for outfitting of assembled units T1- Car Weighter
A11 – Performing mounting Pipes T2 – Transport Facilities
A12 - Subcontractors Piping U1 – Water Castle
A13 – Carpentry U2 – Utilities
 • The stages of material preparation are as follows:
1. Sandblasting and passivation of steel sheets:
 Removal of roughness from the steel sheets and painting them with a protective paint to prevent rusting.
 Passivation involves marking the steel sheets with information on which workshop they need to go to, the batch of plates to be cut, and where they will be
used.
2. Cutting of steel sheets:
 The sheets are placed on a set of rollers driven by motors.
 An operator brings an electronic template that is inserted into the cutting machine.
 Once the sheets are centered on the rollers, the cutting process begins.
3. Shaping of the plates:
 This operation or set of operations involves plastic deformation of the material to obtain a component with a specific shape, without changing its thickness or
mechanical properties.
 Shaping can be performed at both hot and cold temperatures.
4. Welding of elements:
 For welding elements of different thicknesses, the excess material is removed using a cutting machine positioned at a specific angle. It cuts through the
thickness, preparing it for welding.
 For welding elements of the same thickness, the edges are cut in a way that allows the welding layers to reach the root on both sides.
5. Fabrication:
 The structure formed by welded plates constitutes the LSP panel, onto which simple skeletal elements (e.g., rolled profiles: bulb, angle) and compound skeletal
elements are mounted.
6. Assembly:
 The purpose of the assembly process is to obtain ship sections by combining volume sections, flat sections, simple and compound skeletal elements,
subassemblies, formed plates, and saturating them with elements.
 Assembly of volume sections can be done on a pin-jig bed or on beam beds.
 Figure 4.5 Blasting and shop priming station
Figure 4.6 Plates with shop primer
Figure 4.7 Profiles with shop primer aplied aplied

The shipyard has 3 type of cutting

machines which are mentioned in Table.2.1:
Ekerts Onyx 3D, Esab SUPRAREX SXE-P 5000
and Esab Telerex TXB6500
 Figure 4.12 Shaping machines
Figure 4.13 IMG Panel line view

Figure 4.15 NIELAND – SBP-500 Figure 4.16 URSVIKEN – VPF 500

Figure 4.19 Assembly hull
4.5 Dividing the hull of the ship into units and block units
The ship will be divided into units and block units with annular transverse and longitudinal
coupling of 200 mm from the frame and 100 mm from the deck respectively, and the length of the section
does not exceed the maximum length of the steel sheet format.

The purpose of this division is to optimize the pre-assembly and assembly actions, respecting the
technological flow of the construction site.

The most rational numbering systems are those that take into account the position of the units in the
ship's hull, their symbols being made up of a grouping of numbers or a grouping of numbers and letters.
Under this aspect we distinguish:

- the decimal numbering system (with digits), where each block receives a group of digits starting from the
stern to the bow (01, 02...), which will constitute the first part of the section symbol;

- the second group of numbers will specify the position of the units in height starting from the bottom to the
top (C, B, A, 1, 2, 3, 4 etc.);

- the third group of digits will symbolize the code and order of the units in the block, order assigned from
stern to bow (1, 2, ...);

- the last symbol will consist in letters and will refer to the division of the unit into portside (P), starboard (S),
 Figure 4.4 - Centerline

Figure 4.5 - Deck A at 8300 mm above baseline

Figure 4.6 - Tank top at 1300mm above baseline

Figure 4.6 - Tank top at 1300mm above baseline

 Chapter 5. Assembly and Welding Technology
Documentation required ( Welding table)
For to execute welding of unit elements it is neccesary to have as a main documentation the welding table which
contain information about: weld type, plates thikness, calibre of welding.
Also another important things which can be found in documentation are typical nodes of welding. Depending on the
area where the welded seal is located it is used one of the following cases: fillet welding, partial penetration welding or full
penetration welding. This nodes are ilustrated in the Figures below.

Figure 5. Types of joints by position at gap during welding

Step 1
•The sheet laminates that will materialize the
panels will be brought in. The fabrication sketch of
the panel will be checked, and butt welding will be
performed on the sheets under a flux layer. To
ensure the quality of the weld bead, temporary
metal plates of the same thickness and with the
same processing will be temporarily installed at
both ends of the joint. Figure 5.2 - Assembly and welding of the
double bottom plates
Step 2
After the panel is completed, it will be transferred to the
assembly bed, and the first framework elements will be installed
using a crane. To limit panel deformations, it will be clamped to
the bed contour.
The profiles will be securely fastened at welding points
and semi-automatically welded using welding machines
according to a welding schedule, followed by manual closure of
the contour.
Figure 5.3 - Assembly and welding
diagram of the simple framework
Step 3
Similar to the assembly of the simple framework, the
composite framework will be clamped at welding points. To
minimize deformations, the flat bars will be welded first,
followed by the vertical welds and finally the corner welds.

Figure 5.4- Assembly and welding

diagram of the crossbeams

Figure 5.5 - Assembly diagram of the

ribs and longitudinal supports
Step 4
In the next step, additional elements such as stiffening and
sealing plates, as well as brackets, will be installed and welded.

Step 5
The next step involves the assembly of the bulkhead section.
Prefabricated panels will be taken and coupled together with reinforcement
elements that could not be installed in previous stages.
The assembly will begin with placing the deck on the assembly bed. To
ensure the correct positioning of the elements, a dimensional check of the
deck will be conducted.
All walls, whether structural or corrugated, as well as bulkheads and
brackets, will be mounted on the deck. After the installation of all the
elements, the section will be handed over for dimensional inspection to
verify the flatness, dimensions of the bulkhead section, and shape (due to
variations in thickness or the welding scheme applied, the panel may
assume a trapezoidal shape).
The final stage involves welding the section and conducting a technical
handover of the section for final delivery to the Class and Client.
Capitolul 6. tranportation of blocks units from VARD Braila to VARD Tulcea. The block shall be
seafastened on the main deck of a heavylift vessel for river transportation

• FEM analysis, or Finite Element Method analysis, is a numerical technique commonly used in engineering to
analyze and simulate the behavior of complex structures under various conditions. It can also be applied to
the transport analysis of a ship block. Here's a general overview of how FEM analysis can be used in this
context:
•Geometry and Mesh Generation: The ship block's geometry needs to be modeled accurately in a
computer-aided design (CAD) software. Once the geometry is defined, a mesh is generated by dividing the ship
block into a finite number of smaller elements (e.g., triangles or quadrilaterals for 2D analysis, or tetrahedra or
hexahedra for 3D analysis). The quality of the mesh affects the accuracy of the analysis.

• Material Properties: The ship block's material properties are assigned to the corresponding elements in the
FEM model. This includes information such as elastic modulus, density, Poisson's ratio, and any other
relevant material behavior characteristics
 Conclusion
The master's thesis presents the stages of the construction of the bow of the ship, starting from the general
particularities to the actual assembly and the economical part of those steps.
In the first part of the paper, I presented the particularities of the ship, developed within the project from the Ship
Layout discipline, as well as its division in watertight compartmens according to the rules imposed by the Bureau Veritas
Classification Society.
Next, we performed the scantling of the ship in the midship area with the help of the Mars2000 program, which
aimed to verify the strength of the ship's body and the mass calculation of the elements in the central area.
In the second part, we tackled a pre-division of the ship's hull into decks, which in turn were divided into units and
block units. The final division was designed based on the interframe distances, the maximum dimensions of an unit, the
technological facilities and the site lifting and handling capabilities.
In order to realize the technology of assembling and welding of the bow, we modeled the fore end of the ship in
Autocad based on the class drawings from the shipyard documentation.
Once I presented detailed enough the technology of assembling and welding the bow extremity, I could make an
analisys of the economical implication of those steps and the time needed to complete the block.
In the end, I consider that I have complied with the task given by the project theme.
 Bibliography
[1] Vard Tulcea documentation;
[2] Project for the general layout of a passenger ship-Anton Viviana Elena
[3] Bureau Veritas Rules for the Classification of Steel Vessels, no. 467,
part B, chapter 2, 5, 9; part D, chapter 11; part F, chapter 3, 6, 8.
[4] International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (1974)-SOLAS;
[5] MARPOL - Prevention of Pollution from Ships;
[6] Mars2000 program developed by Bureau Veritas
[7] AutoCAD program developed by Autodesk
[8] Course notes – Găvan Eugen;
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!