[pdf]

Note:

Abstract: The computation of intermediate flooding stages for current damage stability rules is a very complex and time consuming task for the designer and normally only performed manually for certain critical cases and stages. For a more detailed investigation of any damage case or other applications such as incident investigations or even on-board systems for the prediction of flooding scenarios, a new numerical progressive flooding simulation method is developed. Detailed subdivision data models of the investigated ships are used. The method is developed within the ship design system E4, which allows all necessary computations such as intermediate equilibrium stages or the exact filling levels of the compartments to be directly calculated in the same scope. This fact and the direct approach allow a very fast computation of the selected flooding scenarios. The developed method is validated by comparison with model tests performed by P. Ruponen at Helsinki University of Technology in 2005. Furthermore, the collision accident of the European Gateway in 1982 near the port of Harwich causing the loss of six peoples life is reconstructed.