EPI International Journal of Engineering ISSN:2615-5109

Vol. 1, No. 1, February 2018, pp. 25-29

DOI: 10.25042/epi-ije.022018.05

Analysis of Corrugated Bulkhead against Transverse Plane

Bulkhead in a Tanker Ship
Hamzah,a,* Ganding Sitepu,b Muh. Hidayat Arif,c
a
Department of Naval Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hasanuddin University. Email: [email protected]
b
Department of Naval Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hasanuddin University. Email: [email protected]
c
Department of Naval Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hasanuddin University.

Abstract

Ship is built from thousands of integrated construction materials. The selection of a strong and efficient construction material is significant
since it directly affects the weight of the ship. For a watertight bulkhead in a tanker ship, there are two kinds of bulkhead construction which
are transverse plane bulkhead and corrugated bulkhead. The selection of these two bulkhead constructions for watertight bulkhead is based
on the bulkhead strength analysis as well as bulkhead weight. The analysis was conducted using an engineering structural analysis software
by comparing the bulkhead structural configurations which has the same von Misses tension. For corrugated bulkhead, corrugation angle
was simulated between 45°- 90° while for transverse plane bulkhead, the range of stiffener distances was simulated between 400-1400 mm.
The result shows that minimum corrugated bulkhead weight which is 41.18 ton can be obtained on the corrugation angle of 60o with the
structural efficiency ratio of 1.79% - 30.91% while for transverse plane bulkhead, minimum weight of bulkhead which is 71.175 ton can be
obtained on the stiffeners distance of 600 mm with structural efficiency ratio of 2.62% - 60.25%. It can be seen that for the same von Misses
tension, corrugated bulkhead construction is more efficient in terms of bulkhead weight and cost with the difference weights of almost 30
ton.

Keywords: Corrugated bulkhead; tanker ship; transverse plane bulkhead; von Misses tension

1. Introduction which are being used in a tanker ship namely transverse

plane bulkhead and corrugated bulkhead.
The construction configuration and material must be The selection of the design watertight bulkhead
carefully selected when designing ship construction. The construction is based on the cargo hold capacity
common selection criteria are the construction strength to maximization as well as for easy and reduced cargo tank
fulfil the ship strength requirements as well as the cleaning process time. In addition to the parameters, the
construction weight to reduce the ship building cost. One bulkhead selection is also considered the ease of tank
example of the selection of construction configuration is the operational process, construction structural strength and the
selection of watertight bulkhead construction configuration economic aspect of the selected bulkhead.
for a tanker ship. Watertight bulkhead is a bulkhead In the ship construction rules, the use of transverse plane
constructed in a ship to divide ship into compartments. It has bulkhead or corrugated bulkhead as transversal bulkhead is
to be watertight to prevent water to flow to the nearest not regulated. Furthermore, for corrugated bulkhead, the
compartments. In a tanker cargo tank, the watertight plate geometry is not fully regulated in the construction
bulkhead is constructed to prevent one liquid cargo to mix rules. The rules only regulate the corrugation depth, angle
up with other different liquid cargo especially with different and the radius between corrugations. Even, for some
density and viscosity. The watertight bulkhead is classification bureaus, the rules for corrugation angle are
constructed transversally and longitudinally in the tanker different. Therefore, there is no exact rule for determining a
cargo tank. There are two kinds of watertight bulkheads good geometry form of corrugated bulkhead.
In the construction application, both types of the
bulkhead are being used interchangeably or being used
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +62-812-4420-9266 together on the same ship. As in a tanker ship which is being
Jalan Poros Malino km. 6, Bontomarannu the case study for this research, the watertight bulkhead to
Gowa, Sulawesi Selatan, Indonesia, 92171

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EPI International Journal of Engineering, Vol. 1 No. 1, Feb 2018, pp. 25–29

separate between cargo hold are constructed using both

types of the bulkheads. Transversal bulkhead uses
corrugated bulkhead with the plate thickness of 14 mm while
longitudinal bulkhead uses transverse plane bulkhead with
the same thickness. An analysis for comparing the two forms
of the watertight bulkhead in a tanker ship is conducted in
order to identify the most efficient use of those two
bulkheads in terms of some criteria as explained previously.
The tanker ship which is under investigation is owned by
one of the oil company in Indonesia which is still under
construction in a shipyard. Material used for cargo hold tank
is Steel Grade A while the ship itself is 17,500 LTDWT.
Figure 2. Horizontal and vertical corrugated bulkhead [4]
2. Theoretical background
In a corrugation plate, the main parameter for
2.1. Transverse plane bulkhead determining bulkhead structural strength is the value of
bulkhead corrugation angle. The construction of corrugated
This type of watertight bulkhead construction is the most bulkhead can be seen in Fig. 3.
common bulkhead construction being used in a ship. This
bulkhead is constructed by installing a plane plate with a
required plate thickness in a longitudinal or transversal
position in a ship. This plate then be strengthened with
stiffeners using angle bar, T bar and bulb plate (Fig. 1).
Based on Indonesian Bureau Classification (BKI) Vol. II,
Rules for Hull, Section 9/A.1.1 [1], the distance between
stiffeners is no less than the distance between ship frames or
no less than 600 mm.
Figure 3. Element of the corrugated bulkhead [5]

where:
scg = length of the half wave, in mm
bw-cg = width of the web plate, in mm
bf-cg = width of the face plate, in mm
dcg = depth of the corrugated bulkhead, in mm
= bw-cg sin 
tf-net = thickness of the face plate, in mm
tw-net = thickness of the web plate, in mm
 = angle of the bulkhead corrugation ( 55o)

2.3. Optimization theory

There are three parameters in optimization theory which
Figure 1. Transversal watertight bulkhead using transverse are [6]:
plane bulkhead [2] 1. Design variable, the values are changing during
optimization process.
2.2. Corrugated Bulkhead 2. Constraints, the values are constant during the
optimization process.
Different cargo will require different packaging and
3. Objectives, contains criteria for the optimization
cargo hold shape. For liquid cargo such as oil in a tanker
process.
ship, the separation of cargo hold is compulsory. Corrugated
watertight bulkhead is commonly used to separate between
3. Research methodology
tanks. The main reason for selecting this bulkhead is for
maintenance reason as it is relatively easy to clean up the
tank. This type of bulkhead does not use stiffeners as the The analysis consists of three main steps. The first step is
corrugation form replaces the stiffener tasks. The determining variables and their values for optimization. The
corrugation in this bulkhead is made vertically (Fig. 2) in variables will be based on the parameters which have been
order to increase the bulkhead effectivity in maintaining explained in the previous section. The second step is
liquid density as well as supporting structural strength [3]. determining sloshing pressure in the tank. The main purpose
of this step is to determine pressure as a result of longitudinal

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liquid motion in the tank. The last step is determining corrugation angle then is varied in order to find the optimum
additional load of construction and equipment weight. angle. Hence, the design variables values for the corrugated
bulkhead can be seen in Table 3.
3.1. Variables for optimization While for transverse plane bulkhead, the design variable
values can be seen in Table 4.
The main variable for the optimization process in
corrugated bulkhead is the corrugation angle. As the Table 2. Variable for optimization of transverse plane bulkhead
asymmetry principle, the other bulkhead dimension will be Optimization
changed as well. The optimization variables for corrugated No Description
variables
bulkhead in this research can be seen in Table 1. 1 Transverse plane bulkhead plate
thickness
1 Design variables
2 The distance between stiffeners
Table 1. Variable for optimization of corrugated bulkhead structure 3 Bulkhead construction
Optimization 1
No Description Depth of the corrugated bulkhead (dcg)
variables
Working load on the corrugated
1 Angle of the corrugation bulkhead (θ) 2 Constraints 2
bulkhead
2 Length of the half wave (scg) Working stress
1 Design variables 3 Width of the web plate (bw-cg) 3
4 Width of the plate (bf-cg) 3 Objectives 1 Minimum bulkhead weight
5 Thickness o the corrugated bulkhead (t)
1 Depth of the corrugated bulkhead (dcg) Table 3. Design variable values for corrugated bulkhead with varied
2 Working load on the corrugated corrugated angles
2 Constraints
bulkhead
3 Working stress θ (deg) bf-cg (mm) bw-cg (mm) scg (mm)
3 Objectives 1 Minimum bulkhead weight 45° 68.02 1055.74 777.04
55° 508.95 916.88 1036.36
In transverse plane bulkhead, the main variable for the 60° 680.12 868.65 1120.36
optimization process is the distance between stiffeners. The 64° 840 830.32 1200
other variables for this bulkhead can be seen in Table 2. 65° 870 826.48 1217.84
75° 1158.08 776.46 1364.12
For corrugated bulkhead, the existing angle of 85° 1458.00 752.87 1499.00
corrugation is 64o. Based on this initial value, the 90° 1560 750 1560

Table 4. Design variable values for transverse plane bulkhead with varied stiffeners distance
Bulkhead Construction
Distance between stiffeners (mm)
number types
Bulkhead no. 1 Direct welding 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1200 1400
Bulkhead no. 2 Tied by Bracket 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1200 1400

3.2. Sloshing pressure in the tank  9.6425 

2

= 1 - 2  0.7 -   0.875
According to NK Rules, 2016, Part CSR-T, Section  10.15 
7/4.2.2.1 [5], the sloshing pressure on the ship longitudinal
bulkhead as a result of longitudinal liquid motion can be LCSR-T = LWL on scantling draught position = 152.295
calculated using Eq. 1 below: m
nwash-t = number of wash bulkhead in tank which is
  1.71lslh  LCSR-T  (1) none
 Ps lg-ln g    g  lslh  f slh 0.4 -  0.39 -


LCSR-T  350 
 nwf = number of web frame in tank which is 7
 awash-t = 0, because no wash bulkhead
awf = coefficient of web frame in tank which is
where: 0.572
ρ = fluid density in the tank = 0.797 ton/m3 fwf = factor of sum of web frame and wash
g = gravitational force = 9.81 m/s2 bulkhead in tank
hfill = height of cargo, maximum height of the cargo
= nwf (1 + nwash-t) = 7 (1 + 0) = 7
for sloshing is 95 % of maximum height of tank
ltk-h = length of tank = 21.75 m
= 95 % × 10.15 m = 9.642 m
lslh = effective length of sloshing in tank (can be
hmax = maximum height of tank = 10.15 m
fslh = sloshing coefficient (Eq. 2) calculated using Eq. 3)
 1  nwash t  awash t  1  f wf  awf  ltk  h 
  (3)
1  nwasht  1  f wf 
2
 h fill   
 1 - 2  0.7 -  (2)  
 hmax 

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 1  0  0 1  7  0.572  21.75  of 150 N/mm2. Von Misses stress is a resultant stress of two
   different forces which is working on a structure in different
 1  0 1  7   direction. In the corrugated bulkhead structure, the two
 13.604 m forces are sloshing pressure in z-axis direction and the
additional load of construction and equipment weight in y-
axis direction.
Hence, sloshing pressure in tank is:
Once the optimum bulkhead thickness is known, the
bulkhead weight can be calculated as well by multiplying the
Ps lg-ln g = 0.797  9.8113.604  0.875 
bulkhead volume with steel density which is 7.85 ton/m3 for
  1.71 13.604  152.195  common steel. Stools weight (upper and lower stool) is then
 0.4-  0.39- 152.195  350  added to the bulkhead weight as an integrated component of
    the bulkhead.
 25.62 kN/m 2 The result shows that for 45o of corrugation angle, the
bulkhead weight is 52.85 ton. If the corrugation angle was
Based on the rules from Nippon Kaiji Kyokai increased to 55°, the bulkhead weight is reduced into 41.93
classification bureau, minimum value for sloshing pressure ton (20.67% of weight reduction). If the corrugation angle
in tank is 20 kN/m2. Sloshing pressure value to be used is the was increased to 60°, the bulkhead weight only reduced to
result value from calculation which is 25.62 kN/m2. The 41.18 ton (1.79% of weight reduction). This corrugation
sloshing pressure will be evenly distributed on the whole angle is the maximum angle for the corrugated weight
surface of the corrugated bulkhead. reduction because from 65° to 90° of corrugation angles, the
corrugated weight is increased with the percentage of 3.79%
3.3. Additional load of construction and equipment weight - 16.45%.
Hence, minimum weight of corrugated bulkhead can be
Apart from sloshing pressure, the bulkhead structure gets
achieved if the corrugation angle is 60° while maximum
an additional load of construction and equipment weight.
weight on the corrugation angle is 90°. Minimum weight of
The additional weight can be calculated using Eq. 4 from
corrugated bulkhead on 60° of corrugation angle can be
Nippon Kaiji Koyokai (NK) Rules, 2016, Part CSR-T,
obtained as the plate thickness to hold the same stress on
Section 7/2.2.5.1 [5] as follows:
each corrugation angle variation is the smallest. On 60° of
Fstat  mun  g (4)
corrugation angle, the stress concentration on the corner of
face plate and web plate of the corrugated plate geometry
can be minimized. The effect of stress concentration can be
where:
mun = weight of unit clearly seen on the 45°, 85°, and 90° of corrugation angles
g = gravitational acceleration as it requires more plate thickness to hold the same stress as
on the 60o of corrugation angle. On these angles, the corner
Referring to the Nippon Kaiji Koyokai classification of the face plate and web plate is almost broken to hold the
bureau rules, minimum construction weight and equipment stress.
working on the bulkhead is 20 ton. Accordingly, the In general, for the same stress value, the changing of
additional weight working on the bulkhead construction is: corrugation angles has changed the corrugation bulkhead
weight significantly (Fig. 4).
Fstat = 20 ton × 9.81 m/s2
= 196.2 kN or 196200 N

The above weight is a concentrated load. The average load

which is working on the plate surface is varying according
to the length of the corrugated plate as well as the
corrugation angle.

4. Result and discussion

4.1. The weight of the corrugated bulkhead

Figure 4. The relationship between corrugation angles and corrugation
The determination of the optimum corrugated bulkhead bulkhead weight
form must be based on the weight of the bulkhead structure
with varied corrugation angle. The optimum bulkhead The difference weight between the minimum weight of
weight can be obtained by varying the bulkhead thickness corrugation bulkhead on 60° of corrugation angle with other
which have the same stress on every corrugation angle. The corrugation angles is in the range of 0.75 – 18.42 ton. The
stress indicator value in this analysis is the von Misses stress weight reduction value is only for 1 (one) bulkhead. For

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EPI International Journal of Engineering, Vol. 1 No. 1, Feb 2018, pp. 25–29

some bulkheads application in a ship such as tanker ship plate thickness to hold the von Misses stress. From Fig. 5,
which requires more bulkheads for its cargo hold, the careful the optimum distance between stiffeners for minimum
bulkhead selection will give a significant reduction in terms weight of the bulkhead is 600 mm.
of cost as well the weight reduction. From the same figure, the total weight value of bulkhead
with direct welding is 71.175 ton. This value is smaller
4.2. The weight of the transverse plane bulkhead 3.03% if compared with the total weight value of bulkhead
tied by brackets of 73.336 ton.
For transverse plane bulkhead, two alternatives of
bulkhead constructions have been tried out. The first type is
4.3. The comparison results of corrugated bulkhead with
transverse plane bulkhead with direct welding while the
transverse plane bulkhead
second type is the transverse plane bulkhead tied by some
brackets. The difference between those two alternatives is Minimum weight of corrugated bulkhead was obtained
laying on the integration method of the bulkhead and its when the corrugation angle is 60° while for transverse plane
stiffeners to the inner bottom plate and deck plate. For direct bulkhead, the minimum weight of the bulkhead was obtained
welding, the bulkhead and its stiffeners are directly welded when the distance between stiffeners is 600 mm with direct
into inner bottom plate and deck plate. While on the other welding.
alternative, stiffeners and brackets is first welded together. The total minimum weight of the corrugated bulkhead is
The brackets and the bulkhead plate are then welded into 41.18 ton while for transverse plane bulkhead with direct
inner bottom plate and deck plate. welding, the total minimum weight is 71.175 ton. The
The stiffeners and brackets dimension are all the same corrugated bulkhead weight is 29.095 ton or 57.86% smaller
with angle bar or profile L for stiffeners. The bulkhead than the transverse plane bulkhead weight. This number is
analysis was done with nine variations of stiffeners
for one bulkhead. In the tanker ship, there are 4 (four) cargo
distances. Hence, the number of stiffeners on each variation
holds. If the corrugated bulkhead is used instead of
is different.
transverse plane bulkhead in the ship, the total weight
With the same von Misses stress of 150 N/mm2
applications as an indicator, the bulkhead thickness has been reduction of the used material plate is significant.
simulated on each stiffeners distance variation. Based on the
simulation, the minimum bulkhead thickness for certain 5. Conclusion
stiffeners distance can be obtained. Hence, the bulkhead
weight can be calculated as well by multiplying it with steel Based on the analysis, some conclusions can be drawn as
density of 7.85 ton/m3. Fig. 5 shows the relationship between follows:
stiffeners distance and the bulkhead weight. • With the same strength, the minimum weight of
corrugated bulkhead can be obtained on 60o of
corrugation angle while for transverse plane bulkhead,
minimum weight can be obtained when the distance
between stiffeners is 600 mm.
• Corrugated bulkhead weight is smaller for about 57.86%
of the transverse plane bulkhead weight.

References

[1] Biro Klasifikasi Indonesia. 2014. Volume II. Rules for the Classification
and Construction Seagoing Steel Ship. Jakarta: Indonesia.
[2] Eyres, David J. 2001. Ship Construction, University of Plymouth:
Figure 5. The relationship between stiffeners distance and the bulkhead India.
weight
[3] Taggart, Robert. 1980. Ship Design and Construction. The Society of
Naval Architects and Marine Engineers: New York.
In Fig. 5, it can be seen that from 400-600 mm of the [4] Shama, Mohamed. 2013. Buckling of Ship Structures. Alexandria
distance between stiffeners, the bulkhead weight is University: Egypt.
decreasing but when the distance between stiffeners is [5] Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (NK) Rules. 2016. Rules for The Survey and
increasing, the bulkhead weight increases as well. The Construction of Steel Ship: Part CSR-T Common Structural Rules For
Double Hull Oil Tankers: Japan.
increasing tendency of bulkhead weight from 700 mm
[6] Rigo, Ph and J-D. Caprase. 2016. Optimization of Ship Structures.
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