1

Ignacio López
L Almenaar
Naval Archhitect and Ma
arine Enginee
er
                                                            
1
 These calcculations havve been inco
orporated into
o thelast vers
sion of SCT : small boatss scantlings with
w ISO
12215
657677483@ @orange.es
http://6576777483.wix.com
m/tansl#!softw
ware 
ASSUMPTIONS :

 Hulls are rigid and are joined by the deck, which is flexible

 The upper deck is calculated as always, under normal design pressure for a deck.

 The wet deck is calculated by applying a design pressure equal to the slamming pressure. (See
ANNEX I)

 Cross beams are considered embedded in hulls so, besides having "brackets" that materialize this
recess, should extend inside the whole width of the hulls.

 Hulls can rotate about the three axes of the figure, but being flexible the deck, relative displacements
occur between them. These relative movements are those that result in bending moments to be
supported by the beams.

PROPOSAL FOR CALCULATION

SSC Rules by Lloyd’s Register : the torsional stress is to be determined by direct calculation methods using
the twin hull torsional connecting moments MB and MT
 

Torsional moment MT

produces a relative rotation ϑ of hulls about Y-Y

axis.

As a result of this rotation, the ends of each beam are 
no longer in the same plane, a Zx displacement occurs 
generating a bending moment in the cross beam. 

 
 
The relative displacement, different for
each beam, is directly proportional to the
distance of the beam to the torsion axis.

And results in a different bending moment

mfx for each beam.

Knowing the overall torque MT we can calculate Θ, the relative torsion angle between the two hulls :

See Annex II

where :
b : length of the cross beam
G : material’s shear modulus
J : St.Venant torsional constant or twisting module.

Thin wall simple closed section : In this case the shear flow is approximately constant along the thickness
of the section wall. Calling A the area enclosed by the middle curve that defines the section, L Γ its perimeter
and e the wall thickness, the torsion modulus is given by the Bredt’s formula:

And knowing the torsional angle we can obtain the following data for a cross beam at a distance of (Xi - x ')
from the torsion shaft:
 
                                               6 E I (Xi – x’) Θ 
Bending moment     mt = ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ 
                                                        b2 
 
E = modulus of elasticity of beam’s material
I = second moment of beam transversal section
b = beam length
 
mt
Bending stress st = ----------- where SM It is the modulus of the beam
SM (second moment of area)

mt
torsional shear stress for a closed profile tt = --------
2At
where :
A = area enclosed by the cross beam profile
t = profile thickness
Torsional moment MB (X-X axis) is supported by all of the transverse beams that, being all equal to each
other, each one absorbs a partial bending moment mf proportional to their number :

MB
mf = ---------------
No. Beams
.

Stresses generated by this bending moment :

mf
bending stress sB = ---------- SM is the first moment of the beam area about “X-X”
SM 

2 mf
Shear stress tB = -----------
Aw b

where :
Aw = shear area of the cross beam
b = distance between hulls

.The Transverse bending moment Mbt (Z axis)

Mbt as per C3.4.2.3 “HSC” by BV :

D.b. at. g
Mbt = ------------------ kN.m
5

where :

b = transverse distance, in metres, between the centres of the two hulls

at = transverse acceleration

 
 
HSL = permissible significant wave height at maximum service speed
r = distance of the point from waterline at mLDC draugh
This bending moment is distributed evenly among all the cross beams.

Mbt
mbt = ---------------
No. Beams

Stresses generated by this moment are :

mbt
bending stress sbT = ---------- SMy is the first moment of the beam area about “Y-Y”
axis
SMy Y

2 mbt
Shear stress tbT = -----------
Aw b

where : Y
Aw = shear area of the cross beam
b = distance between hulls

The superposition principle allows us to calculate the total effort as the sum of the partial stresses
 ANNEX I
VALUES FOR MT and MB

According “Special Service Craft” Rules by Lloyd’s Register:

 
MT = Gf D LR av    kNm 
 
MB = Gf b D av    kNm 
 
were :
Gf = service gropu factor.
We’ll take (G4)
Gf = 2 for MB
Gf = 1 for MT
D = displacement, in tonnes
LR = Rule length, in metres
b = transverse distance, in metres, between the centre of the two hulls
av = the vertical acceleration at the LCG

The vertical acceleration in the displacement mode for all craft is to be taken as:

av = 0,2 g+34/LWL

in planning mode :

av = (fa * LWL / D) * (Bm * H1/3 + 0.084 *Bm2) * (5 - 0.1 * JD) * Γ2 / 1000

where :
fa = 4,5 for catamarans and multi-hull craft with partially submerged hulls
JD = dead rise, in degrees
Bm = hullbeam. Multi-hull will be taken as the sum of the breadts of the single hulls.
H1/3 = Minimum significant wave height

Service Minimum significant wave value adopted for

Group height in metres H1/3
1 0.6
2 1.0
2A 1.5
3 2.0 4.0
4 4.0
5 4.0
6 4.0

V = speed at displacement D, in knots

LWL = waterplane length, in metres
Pt 5, Ch 2

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
H03 = 1.29 H1/3
 ANNEX II

THEORETICAL JUSTIFICATION

The strain energy of a deformed cross beam is given by the expression:

where the bending moment is given by : mfi = mf0i (1-2y/b), and mt is the torsional momento given by .

By operating is obtained :

As assumed rigid hull, it holds that Z(x) = (xi – x’)Θ for each beam, being (xi – x’) the distance between the axis of
each beam and the torsion shaft. The strain energy of all beams can be determined by the expression:

 
 

Equating this formula to the external work done by the torque applied to the ship, you can find the angle of rotation:

 
once ϑ angle is known :

For a cross-beam located at a distance Xi from the twist axis, we have the following :