Integrating innovative solutions for ship design has always been a great challenge for the maritime sector due to complex design and construction processes. With this scenario in mind, the objective of this study was to develop a procedure to evaluate the potential benefits arising from the integration of innovative light-weight structures in ship hull structural design. To achieve such an objective, a hybrid light-weight ship hull structural design solution, in which aluminium honeycomb sandwich panels were used to build the conventional steel inner side shell of the cargo holds, was adopted for a bulk carrier. The authors of this study used a multiple criteria decision-making approach. An optimal ship hull structural design solution was identified based on capital cost, voyage cost, annual cost, energy efficiency design index, dismantling–reselling cost, cargo transportation, energy consumption and carbon footprint. The optimal solution, identified with the multiple criteria decision-making approach, improved the ship’s efficiency and costs by combining the hybrid structural design with efficient cargo transportation. In addition, using recycled aluminium was found to be a promising strategy to reduce the energy consumption and carbon footprint related to the shipbuilding process.
The present study makes a consistent attempt to evaluate promising additive manufacturing (AM) processes and materials for marine structural applications, paving the way for the development of additively manufactured light-weight composites. The main objective is to analyse the structural performances of fibre-reinforced plastics (FRP) produced by AM for marine applications. In particular, the tensile response of chopped and continuous carbon-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics have been investigated through destructive and non-destructive testing, considering the influence of AM process settings and thermal post-manufacturing treatments. The results demonstrate that continuous fibre-reinforced thermoplastics produced by AM are potentially suited to marine structural applications, since their tensile capacity is superior to the minimum imposed by the Classification Society Rules. However, the mechanical properties of additively manufactured FRP are currently lower than conventional composites. The continuous carbon fibre reinforcement is far more effective than the chopped one, and the additive manufacturing deposition pattern significantly influences the structural capacity. The annealing post-manufacturing treatment enhances the mechanical properties by approximately 10%, decreasing material ductility and manufacturing defects.
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