Cutting-edge software for hull design
29 Aug 2022
At the base of even the most beautiful yacht lies the hull structure. Ensuring the elegance, safety and efficiency of the hull is at the core of ship design
To facilitate the design of hulls, RINA has developed a pioneering software known as ‘Leonardo Hull 2D’.
This software, with its user-friendly interface, provides an easy and powerful functionality for the structural analysis of boats.
The aim is to provide a holistic approach to hull design, in which the software provides full structural analysis and calculation.
This includes easy modelling capabilities, the automatic application of loads, quick Rules checking, and a visual representation of the results.
The software shows quickly and simply the results of the application of RINA Rules to the structural design of the yacht, and the hull components of any transverse section or transverse bulkhead.
‘Leonardo Hull 2D’ provides the user with a clear and accessible interface, allowing:
- Easy input and visual checks of the hull structural elements of the considered transverse section,
- Easy check of all the still water and wave induced loads, automatically generated by the program,
- Immediate evaluation of the safety factor of each hull plating and ordinary stiffeners, on the basis of the results of the yielding, buckling and ultimate strength checks carried out automatically by the software, according to the RINA Rules.
Meanwhile, the structural analysis of the hull plating and ordinary stiffeners is carried out on the basis of the more advanced RINA Rules prescriptive formulae, considering:
- The still water and wave loads induced by the sea and cargoes carried, including uniformly distributed loads, or concentrated loads,
- The hull girder loads,
- The local strength of the cross section structural elements versus yielding, buckling and ultimate strength criteria,
- The strength of the hull structural elements, accounting for different materials (e.g., steel and aluminum).
‘Leonardo Hull 2D’ also includes the evaluation of the fatigue life of the structural details relevant to the connections between ordinary stiffener ends, by way of transverse reinforced rings and
transverse bulkheads.
The effects of the wave induced local and hull girder loads, as well as those due to the relative deflection of the transverse reinforced structures, are also taken into account in the fatigue checks.
In particular, the ‘Leonardo Hull 2D’ software can offer huge time savings if adopted at the design stage.
This opens the possibility of an iterative design process, including the optimization of hull scantling placement, in order to achieve the maximum overall safety for the yacht.
