• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.77-79
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• 2006

To achieve high productivity of assembly hull blocks, it is important to predict welding deformations accurately and to apply these data to the production planning. In the deformation analysis of hull block, simplified methods (elastic analysis) such as inherent method, equivalent loading method and local & global approach are usually used instead of thermal-elastic-plastic analysis because of calculating time and cost. To be much more practical, these simplified methods should consider gravity effect of plate and contact condition between the plate and the positioning jig. In this research, using finite element method, practical predicting method for the welding deformation of the curved hull blocks with considering welding sequence, gravity effect and contact condition is proposed.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.87-92
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• 2012

Alignment of the main plates during the tack welding is essential to block assembly since most of the curved blocks and outfitting parts are assembled on the jigs and fixtures. Tact welding of main plates is the initial process of the curved hull block assembly. Due to the heavy weight of the main plates it is difficult to locate the plate on the accurate position of the jig and fixtures before welding. The conventional masonry process requires much time and manual work in order to achieve the accurate alignment. This labour-intensive process results in relatively high errors and correction works. Due to their larger dimensions and heavier weights, these hull blocks are not ergonomically desirable and, therefore, various mechanical devices such as hydraulic balancers or hydraulic jigs are used for the plate alignment. In this study, the position-sensing scheme implemented by sensors is presented in order to align the main plates on the accurate position during the hull block assembly. Integrating the Infrared photo sensors and micro processor unit, a small scaled prototype of the position-sensing module is developed to determine the alignment of main plates.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.17-19
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• 2005

To achieve high productivity of assembly hull blocks, it is important to predict welding deformations accurately and to apply these data to the production planning. In the deformation analysis of hull block, simplified methods (elastic analysis) such as inherent method, equivalent loading method and local & global approach are usually used instead of thermal-elastic-plastic analysis because of calculating time and cost. To be much more practical, these simplified methods should consider gravity effect of plate and contact condition between the plate and the positioning jig. In this research, using finite element method, practical predicting method for the welding deformation of the curved hull blocks with considering welding sequence, gravity effect and contact condition is proposed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.938-941
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• 1995

This paper is concerned with the determination of assembly unit for hull block assembly processes for shipbuilding. In this study,genetic algorithm is adopted for assembly level allocation and assemaly unit is determined by rule-based reasoning. The criteria to detemine assembly unit is to minimize welding operation time for the block assembly.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.95-100
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• 2021

If we know the location of the hull block and the welding feeder in the shipyard, we can easily obtain the location information of the worker. That data is very useful for implementing a workplace safety monitoring system. However, it is difficult to apply a fixed communication network to the workplace due to the specificity of the hull structure and welding process. In this study, inductive power line communication, which can replace dedicated communication line, was reviewed. A ferrite core was used as an inductive coupler to be installed on the power cable of the welding machine, and a nano-crystalline core was applied as a coupler to be fastened to the support rod of the metal block. In order to visualize the operating principle of the proposed couplers, 3D modeling and finite element analysis were performed with the COMSOL AC/DC module. In the communication performance test using an aluminum profile, when the communication channel was formed by the contact of the welding electrode, the bandwidth was kept above 6 Mbps.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.62-67
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• 2015

A very large shell-structure built in shipyards like ship hulls or offshore structures are joined by welding through full process. As the welding contains a high thermal cycle at a local area, the welded structures should be distorted unavoidably. Because a distorted ship block should be revised to the designed value before the next stage, the ability to predict and to control the weld distortion is an accuracy level of the yard itself. Despite the ship block size, several present thermal distortion methodologies can deal those sizes, but it is a different story to deal full ship size model. Even a fully constructed ship hull not remaining any welding can have an accuracy issue like outfitting installation problems. Any present thermal distortion methodology cannot accept this size for its recommended element size and the number. The ordinary welding breadth at erection stage is about 20~40 mm. It can hardly be a good choice to make finite element model of these sizes considering human effort and computational environment. The finite element model for structure analysis of a ship hull is prepared at front-end engineering design stage which is the first process of the project. The element size of the model is as fine as the longitudinal space, and it is not proper to obtain a weld distortion at the erection stage. In this study, a methodology is suggested that a weldment can be shrunk at original place instead of using structural finite element model. We cut the original shell elements at erection weld-line and put truss elements between the edges of cut elements for weld shrinkage. Additional truss elements are used to facsimile transverse weld shrinkage which cannot be from the weld-line truss element shrink. They attach to weld-line truss element like twigs from barks. The capacity of developed elements is verified through an accuracy check of erection process of a container vessel at the apt. hull. It can be a useful tool for verifying a centering accuracy after renew and for block-separating planning considering accuracy.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.220-224
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• 2005

The thermal elasto-plastic analysis for the prediction of welding distortion of a 3 dimensional large-scaled ship structure is a very time-consuming work since the analysis is a nonlinear problem, and a lot of finite elements are needed to simulate the large ship hull block. Generally, 3-D finite elements have been used in the 3-D welding distortion problem to assess precisely the temperature gradient through the thickness direction of the welding plate. As a result of the adoption of 3-D element, degrees of freedom are rapidly increased in the problem to be solved. In this study, to improve the time efficiency of welding thermal elasto-plastic analysis, a layered shell element was proposed to simulate 3-D temperature gradient, and the results were compared with the experiment. The experiments were carried out for the type of bead-on-plate welding, and we found the measured data have a good agreement with the FEA results.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.4717-4722
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• 2014

In shipyards, a large number of dog-pieces are used to align welding joints and prevent welding deformation in the block assembly stage. The huge working man-hours consumed in the working process of dog-pieces impedes the productivity growth of shipyards. In this study, an analysis method based on the experimental results was proposed to simulate the welding deformation of butt joints with a dog-piece setting. The simulation of welding deformation of a hull block joint was performed using the proposed analysis method. Finally, the proposed analysis method can be used to establish guidelines for the proper use of dog- pieces in the block assembly stage.

• International Journal of Korean Welding Society
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.34-38
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• 2003

It has been used many kinds of horizontal butt-welding methods at block-to-block erection stage in shipbuilding companies. For examples, some companies use conventional FCAW process with one side or both sides groove joint welding, others use carriage with torch holder type mechanized welding method. Although lots of efforts were done until now, some problems in quality and productivity still remain in ship's hull welding. In this study, we have attempted to raise productivity and quality on horizontal position of welding with following 3 items. 1) Prepare groove condition with no root gap for making easy fit-up work. 2) Develop improved MAG (100% $CO_2$ gas shielding) welding process with solid wire for making sound root bead from one side. 3) Develop and apply quite new automatic welding carriage. The stability of new welding process was confirmed by conducting mechanical tests of weldments to verify the soundness of weldments.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.425-429
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• 2002

It has been used many kinds of horizontal butt-welding methods at block-to-block erection stage in shipbuilding companies. For examples, some companies use conventional FCA W process with one side or both sides groove joint welding, others use carriage with torch holder type mechanized welding method. Although lots of efforts were done until now, some problems in quality and productivity still remain in ship's hull welding. In this study, we have attempted to raise productivity and quality on horizontal position of welding with following 3 items. 1) Prepare groove condition with no root gap for making easy fit-up work. 2) Develop improved MAG (100% $CO_2$ gas shielding) welding process with solid wire for making sound root bead from one side. 3) Develop and apply quite new automatic welding carriage. The stability of new welding process was confirmed by conducting mechanical tests of weldments to verify the soundness of weldments.