Abstract
The effects of flexibilities of supporting structures on shaft alignment are growing as ship sizes are Increasing mainly for container carrier and LNG carrier. But, most of classification societies not only do not suggest any quantitative guidelines about the flexibilities but also do not have shaft alignment design program considering the flexibility of supporting structures. A newly developed program, which is based on innovative shaft alignment technologies including nonlinear elastic multi-support bearing concept and hull deflection database approach, has S basic modules : 1)fully automated finite element generation module, 2) hull deflection database and it's mapping module on bearings, 3) squeezing and oil film pressure calculation module, 4) optimization module and 5) gap & sag calculation module. First module can generate finite element model including shafts, bearings, bearing seats, hull and engine housing without any misalignment of nodes. Hull deflection database module has built-in absolute deflection data for various ship types, sizes and loading conditions and imposes the transformed relative deflection data on shafting system. The squeezing of lining material and oil film pressures, which are relatively solved by Hertz contact theory and built-in hydrodynamic engine, can be calculated and visualized by pressure calculation module. One of the most representative capabilities is an optimization module based on both DOE and Hooke-Jeeves algorithm.
