HCSR – IACS Harmonised Common Structural Rules - MarinePoland.com
HCSR – IACS Harmonised Common Structural Rules
Date of publication: 28.04.2014

Polish Register of Shipping hosted representative of naval design offices, on 27 March2014, inits Head Office Gdańsk to familiarise naval architects with the new harmonised common technical requirements of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) for bulkcarriers and tankers.

The meeting was attended by members of the Association of Maritime Industries “Forum Okrętowe” (predominantly by representatives of design bureaus in Szczecin, Gdynia and Gdańsk).

The first part of the meeting was devoted to IACS ‘Harmonised Common Structural Rules’ - HCSR for bulkcarriers and tankers, to come into force on July 1, 2015.
The meeting participants were shown the HCSR amendments to the Common Structural Rules (CSR) in force since 2006, i.e. IACS member requirements for bulkcarriers and oil tankers (at present different rules apply for these two ship types).

Dr inż. Marian Bogdaniuk presented in brief the wide scope of strength calculations required by HCSR regulations for the ship’s hull, and related calculation performance methods. The new requirements mean the application of finite element method (FEM) in the extensive calculations of shear strength and fatigue life of a ship’s hull.

The calculation workload necessary under HCSR requirements will be at least threefold in comparison to CSR requirements.

Polish Register of Shipping is open to the needs of the maritime sector in times of quickly changing technical regulations developing relevant software, providing technical consultancy services and training courses in areas of own expertise.
Software packages facilitating efficient generation of FEM meshes, the input of local and global loads to FEM models, “automatic” assessment of resistance to buckling of the structure and the calculation of geometric stress for fatigue life are becoming indispensible.

HCSR requirements entail the development of sophisticated IT tools. PRS is developing software for calculating hull strength of bulkcarriers and tankers inline with the projected IACS HCSR. Computer programs are used to calculate thickness plating and plating stiffeners cross section, to perform zone strength FEM analysis, calculate fatigue life, resistance to buckling and hull design load during hull bending. Dr Monika Warmowska familiarised the participants with the issue of bulkcarrier and tanker hull strength calculations according to HCSR requirements, the software application and sample calculation results. The developed software can be used for technical expertise reports and to verify compliance of designed vessels with international standards.

HCSR assures comprehensive assessment of the entire ship hull structure. The replacement of CSR by HCSR requirements will no doubt improve bulkcarriers and tankers hull safety in terms of structural strength, but generates an immense workload in the designing process.  

New goal based HCSR mark the beginning of changes that should improve ship structural safety and the need for designers, classification societies, shipyards and the industry to expedite efforts and catch up with scientific progress and public expectations. Another subjected presented during the meeting was the problem of mutual recognition of Certificates of Conformity for Marine Equipment, which was presented by Jacek Poturalski, Chief Surveyor in PRS and Head of the Technical Committee of Recognised Organisations.

Recognised Organisation, working for 5 years on implementing provisions of Article 10.1 of the Regulation (EC) No 391/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 2009 on common rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organisations, developed, among others, the procedure for common rules and standards for type approval and technical requirements for a group of products covered by the procedure. Several meetings were arranged for consultations of recognised organisations with representatives of the maritime industry sector and a meeting agenda for all stakeholders of „mutual recognition of class certificates for marine equipment” is to be held in London on May 28.
Polish Register of Shipping, a contributor in developing the new approach, is ready to share knowledge and experience with other stakeholders of the maritime market.

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