bravo zulu 1/2008 - GL Group

Germanischer Lloyd 

bravo zulu 

Newsletter for Customers and Business Partners Issue 01/2008 

BIg Bang. 

controlled blast 

at the Spadeadam 

test site. 

SpadEadam TEST SITE 

Safe Explosion 

It’s a dramatic phenomenon. A sudden 

burst of energy causes a pressure wave 

to propagate outward through the air. The 

blast wave shocks up, dust clouds are created 

as the blast wave races across the 

ground. Hot gases and smoke form a rising 

fireball. 

With a net explosive quantity (NEQ) of 

up to 400 kg TNT equivalent, Spadeadam 

has a capability to carry out a wide range 

of full-scale, hazardous testing projects. 

The Spadeadam test site located in 

Cumbria, England, is operated by Advantica, 

a GL Group company which has been 

part of GL Industrial Services since August 

2007. At Spadeadam, mainly projects for 

the oil and gas industry as well as highly 

confidential work for a number of government 

agencies are implemented. From its 

heritage in British Gas, the site has been 

actively involved in the study of largescale 

hazards for over 30 years. “Spadead- 

conTEnTS 

TEchnology SpEcIal: Virtual 

Experience for navy Ships ........... 3 

SUBmERSIBlES: deep-diving 

Record at lake Baikal .................... 6 

acoUSTIcS: 

noise Under control ....................... 7 

nEWS: contracts, Services, 

Rules, Fairs ....................................... 6–8 

Spadeadam is a test centre where full-scale destructive and non-destructive experiments of a hazardous 

nature can be designed and undertaken professionally, discreetly and in complete confidentiality 

am’s remote and heavily secured location 

in the extreme north of England makes it 

ideal for conducting large full-scale hazard 

tests discreetly and with confidentiality assured,” 

explains David Brown, Spadeadam 

General Manager. “The 35-hectare site was 

purpose-built in 1977 and has the necessary 

infrastructure permanently on site including 

a multi-disciplinary team of staff 

who have unique experience in managing 

hazardous test projects.” Seventeen 

bravo zulu 01/2008 1

gaS EXploSIon. The rigs enable real world tests to be conducted at large scale. 

separate test facilities are maintained 

and constantly being developed to simulate 

most of the hazards that the oil and 

gas industries could experience. All the 

test rigs include advanced data acquisition 

systems for comprehensive analysis. 

The Spadeadam test site has a wide 

range of existing facilities and test rigs with 

specialized instrumentation. In addition 

scientists and engineers can design and 

construct experimental test rigs tailored 

to satisfy specific test requirements. Major 

projects have involved joint industry 

projects in support of the oil and gas industry 

and testing new designs and processes 

for a range of industries. These include oil 

and gas exploration, production and transmission, 

water processing and distribution, 

and ballistics and defence systems among 

many others. 

Full-scale fracture propagation of transmission-pipe 

and long-term high-pressure 

sour-gas corrosion testing of process 

equipment have established the site’s 

credentials for accurate and reliable data 

capture over periods of milliseconds or 

months. Gas distribution pipes in polyethylene 

are intensively tested to measure the 

resistance of material to rapid crack propagation. 

Operating conditions can range 

from – 20°C and pressures to 30 bar. 

The effect of intense jet fires on structures 

is met by two flame impingement 

test facilities. The test rigs enable full-scale 

tests to be conducted with nominal flame 

2 

bravo zulu 01/2008 

aREa. Bird‘seye 

view of 

the test site. 

capacity up to 2,000 MW, long-term testing 

(longer than one hour) can be sustained at 

300 MW. Heat-flux densities and internal 

temperature gradients can be readily provided 

along with film or video recording 

for later analysis. 

The effect of gas explosions on structures 

are investigated over a wide range 

of conditions on a large scale. Fire pressure 

transients from explosions can be recorded 

of conditions such as variable confinement 

or congestion. Alternatively, site 

engineers have developed unique facility 

to enable pressure transients to be 

accurately produced by gas explosions. 

These pressure transients can be tailored 

from 0 to 7 bar and with periods of 5 ms 

to 1 second. 

high-sea Testing on dry land 

This remote, land-locked location in the 

North of England seems an unlikely setting 

for maritime tests. But over the years 

a great deal of work for the marine sector 

has been carried out at Spadeadam and it 

is still a feature of current and future trial 

activity. 

Spadeadam has carried out several ship- 

to-ship and ship-to-shore tests looking at 

vapour ignition and rapid-phase transition 

effects as well as fuel fires and the effects of 

blasts against ship structures whilst alongside 

a dock. 

“The GL Industrial Services large-scale 

test site is certainly worth serious consideration 

if any planned maritime tests or 

trials have a significant hazardous component,” 

says Brown. The site is currently 

exploring the possibility of a series of compartment 

fire tests with GLIS. This involves 

using a representative ship superstructure 

whilst keeping a weather-eye on novel and 

future fuel technology. ■ 

For further information: David Brown, 

General Manager, Phone: +44 1697749138 

E-Mail: david.brown@advanticagroup.com 

www.advanticagroup.com/spadeadam 

technology special 

FIGURE 8. Aerodynamic flow 

simulation for frigates.

SImUlaTIon-BaSEd dESIgn 

Virtual Experience 

for navy Ships 

TEchnology SpEcIal 

Simulation-based design increasingly replaces traditional experience-based design. an overview of 

techniques now used in advanced industry practice, with particular focus on navy applications 

by Volker Bertram 

Ship design is increasingly supported by 

sophisticated analyses. Traditionally, 

ship design is based on experience. This is 

still true to some extent, but we increasingly 

rely on “virtual experience” from dedicated 

and well chosen simulations. Scope 

and depth of these simulations guiding our 

decisions in design and operation of ships 

have developed very dynamically over the 

past decade. Described is the state of the art 

as reflected in the work, but now with particular 

focus on applications for navy ships. 

1. Structural analyses 

1.1 Finite-element analysis 

(FEa) 

FEA for global strength within the elastic 

material domain have been standard for 

a long time, see Fig. 1. These simulations 

were the starting point for more sophisticated 

analyses, e.g. fatigue strength assessment, 

ultimate strength assessment, etc. 

Until 1998, the SOLAS regulations on 

subdivision and damage stability specified 

damage stability requirements only for 

cargo ships longer than 100 m. Since 1998, 

this limit has been lowered to 80 m for new 

cargo ships. Additional transverse bulkheads 

to fulfil damage stability require- 

ments are costly and restrict operations. 

However, the new SOLAS regulations allow 

alternative arrangements for some ships, 

provided that at least the “same degree of 

safety” is achieved. This notation allows 

some flexibility of structural designs supported 

by advanced simulations. For example, 

a structural design with increased 

collision resistance, thus reducing the 

probability of penetration of the inner hull, 

could eliminate the need for additional 

bulkheads. 

Based on extensive FEA simulations for 

ship collisions, GL has developed an approval 

procedure which provides the first such 

standard for evaluation and approval of alternative 

solutions for design and construction 

of these ships, see Fig. 2. The basic philosophy 

of the approval procedure is to compare 

the critical deformation energy in case 

of side collision of a strengthened structural 

design to that of a reference design complying 

with the damage stability requirement 

described in the SOLAS regulation. 

FEA require load specifications which 

for ships often involve frequently external 

hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads. GL 

ShipLoad supports efficient load generation 

for global FEA of ship structures. Hydrostatic 

and hydrodynamic computations 

are integrated into the program. GL Ship- 

Load supports the generation of loads from 

first principles (realistic inertia and wave 

loads for user supplied wave parameters), 

but the program is also helpful in the selection 

of relevant wave situations for the 

global strength assessment based on bending 

moments and shear forces according to 

GL’s rules. The result is a small number of 

balanced load cases that are sufficient for 

the dimensioning of the hull structure. 

1.2 Vibration analyses 

Advances in computer methods have made 

three-dimensional FEA today the standard 

choice for ship vibration analyses today. 

The computations require longitudinal 

mass and stiffness distribution as input. 

The mass distribution considers the ship, 

the cargo and the hydrodynamic ‘added’ 

mass, see Fig. 3. The added mass reflects 

the effect of the surrounding water and depends 

on the frequency. One can either use 

estimates based on experience or employ 

sophisticated hydrodynamic simulations. 

For local vibration analyses, see Fig. 4, 

added mass needs to be considered if the 

structures border on tanks or the outer hull 

plating. Because of the high natural frequencies 

of local structures, FEA models 

must be detailed enough to include also the 

bending stiffness of structural elements. 

1.3 acoustics 

FIgURE1. global 

strength analysis; grid 

and stresses 

for frigates. 

FIgURE 2. FEa for collision of two ships. 

For very high frequencies (structure-borne 

noise), the standard FEA approach to vibration 

analyses is impossible due to excessive 

computational requirements. For a typical 

passenger vessel for a frequency of 1,000 Hz, 

an FEA vibration model would lead to several 

million degrees of freedom. However, 

the very fact that information is required 

only averaged over a frequency band allows 

an alternative, far more efficient approach 

based on statistical energy analysis. 

GL’s Noise Finite Element Method (GL 

NoiseFEM) is based on a related approach. 

GL NoiseFEM predicts the propagation 

of noise by analysing the exchange of energy 

between weakly coupled subsystems. 

Validation with full-scale measurements 

shows that the accuracy of GL NoiseFEM 

is sufficient for typical structure-borne 

sound predictions for the frequency range 

between 80 Hz and 4,000 Hz. While further 

development is still needed, struc- 



ture-borne noise analyses have been 

validated on the wetted shell and met the 

requirements. Reliable prediction of the 

structure-borne noise is an important 

step towards predicting radiated underwater 

noise of vessels. In the meantime, GL 

NoiseFEM structure-borne noise analyses 

are already applied to support the design 

of navy ships and mega yachts, see Fig. 5. 

2. computational Fluid 

dynamics (cFd) 

2.1 Seakeeping 

For many seakeeping issues, linear analyses 

(assuming small wave height or small 

wave steepness) are appropriate and frequently 

applied due to their efficiency. 

The advantage of this approach is that it is 

very fast, thus allowing the investigation of 

many parameters (frequency, wave direction, 

ship speed, metacentric height, etc.). 

Non-linear computations employing timedomain 

approaches are usually necessary 

for the treatment of extreme motions. 

They are also the recommended choice for 

planning hulls. These simulations require 

massive computer resources and allow 

FIgURE 5. Underwater noise 

validation for mine-hunter, 

grid and computed noise level on hull. 

4 


FIgURE 4. local FEa of 

deck vibrations. 

only the simulation of relatively short periods 

(seconds to minutes). 

Intelligently combining linear frequency-domain 

methods with nonlinear timedomain 

simulations allows exploiting the 

respective strengths of each approach. The 

approach starts with a linear analysis to 

identify the most critical parameter combination 

for a ship response. Then a nonlinear 

CFD (computational fluid dynamics) 

analyses determines motions, loads 

and free surface (green water on deck). 

We employ the commercial RANSE solver 

Comet for our purposes, see Fig. 6. 

Fluid-structure interaction is a topic of 

increasing importance in our experience. 

In a weak coupling, the computed pressures 

from the seakeeping analyses are 

used to compute the structural response 

to these forces. In a strong coupling, the 

hydrodynamic and the structural problem 

are solved simultaneously. The hydrodynamic 

model then considers the deformation 

of the hull, the structural model the 

loads from the hydrodynamics. 

2.2 Rudder flows 

FIgURE 3. 

global FEa of vibrations. 

CFD is the most appropriate tool to support 

practical rudder design, see Fig. 7. The propeller 

is typically modelled in a simplified 

way using external forces distributed over 

the cells which cover the location where 

the propeller would be in reality. The sum 

of all axial body forces is the thrust. The 

body forces are assumed to vary in radial 

direction of the propeller only. 

This procedure is much faster than geometrical 

modelling of the propeller (by two 

orders of magnitude) at a negligible penalty 

in accuracy (about 1%). The procedure has 

been extensively validated for rudder flows 

both with and without propeller modelling. 

The same approach for propeller and rudder 

interaction can be applied to podded drives. 

Comet also allows the treatment of cavitating 

flows. The extensive experience gathered 

in the last five years has resulted in a GL 

guideline for rudder design procedures. 

2.3 HVAC and fire simulations 

Aerodynamic flows around ship superstructures 

can be computed by CFD, see 

Fig. 8 (page 3), although wind tunnel tests 

are still popular and widely used. CFD offers 

the advantage of overcoming scale 

effects which can be significant if thermodynamic 

processes are involved. HVAC 

(heating, ventilation, air conditioning) 

simulations involve the simultaneous solution 

of fluid mechanics equations and 

thermodynamic balances, often involving 

concentrations of different gases. Navy applications 

include, for example, the smoke 

and heat (buoyancy and turbulence) conditions 

on helicopter decks affecting safe 

helicopter operation. 

At present, zone models and CFD tools 

are considered for fire simulations in ships. 

Zone models are suitable for examining 

more complex, time-dependent scenarios 

involving multiple compartments and levels, 

but numerical stability can be a problem 

for scenarios involving multi-level 

ship domains, HVAC systems and for postflashover 

conditions. CFD models can yield 

detailed information about temperatures, 

heat fluxes, and species concentrations. 

However, the time required for this approach 

currently makes CFD unfeasible for 

long periods of real time or for large computational 

domains. Nevertheless, applications 

have graduated from preliminary 

validation studies to more complex applications 

for typical ship rooms (accommodation, 

atrium, engine room), see Fig. 9. 

3. Evacuation Simulation 

Evacuation assessment became a major 

topic at the International Maritime Organization 

(IMO) after the loss of the “Estonia”, 

resulting in new requirements for evacuation 

analyses in an early stage of the design

FIgURE 7. cFd model for 

hull-propeller-rudder interaction. 

FIgURE 6. cFd grid. 

process. GL and TraffGo have developed 

the software AENEAS for this purpose. 

Evacuation analyses focus on safety, but 

the tool can also be used for the optimization 

of boarding and deboarding processes, 

or space requirements for promenades on 

cruise ships and large RoPax ferries. These 

simulations are very fast, typically allowing 

500 simulations per hour, to gain a 

broad basis for statistical evaluation. The 

ship is represented by a simplified grid of 

different cell types (accessible floor, doors, 

stairs, obstacles/walls), see Fig. 9. Passengers 

and crew are represented by intelligent 

agents. The same approach can be used to 

simulate crew movement on board of navy 

ships, e.g. time to man battle stations. 

GL has developed an integrated methodology 

called NESTOR combining fire 

simulations with the Multi Room Fire 

Code, evacuation simulation with AENEAS 

and an Event Tree Analysis for risk assessment. 

Meyer-König et al. (2005) coupled 

seakeeping simulations and evacuation 

simulations in a semi-empirical approach 

to find the influence of ship motions on 

evacuation times. Since trim and pitch 

angles are usually relatively small, their effect 

is mostly negligible. Roll motions were 

found to be less critical for evacuation 

time than static heel. 

4. Final Remarks 

Technological progress is rapid, both for 

hardware and software. Simulations for 

numerous applications now often aid decisions, 

sometimes “just” for qualitative 

ranking of solutions, sometimes for quantitative 

“optimization” of advanced engineering 

solutions. Continued validation 

feedback serves to improve simulation 

tools as well as to build confidence. 

However, advanced simulation software 

alone is not enough. Engineering is more 

than ever the art of modelling, finding the 

right balance between level of detail and resources 

(time, manpower). This modelling 

often requires intelligence and considerable 

(collective) experience. The true value 

offered by advanced engineering service 

providers thus lies not in software licenses 

or hardware, but in the symbiosis of highly 

skilled staff and these resources. ■ 

FIgURE 9. Steps 

to aEnEaS model 

from cad 

model to cells 

with assigned 

information. 

REFEREncES 


• asmussen, I.; mumm, h. (2001), Ship vibration, 

GL technology, Germanischer Lloyd, Hamburg, 

www.gl-group.com/brochurepdf/0E094.pdf 

• Bertram, V.; couser, p. (2007), CFD possibilities 

and practice, The Naval Architect, September 2007, pp. 

137–147 

• Bertram, V.; El moctar, o. m.; Junalik, B.; nusser, 

S. (2004), Fire and ventilation simulations for ship 

compartments, 4th Int. Conf. High-Performance Marine 

Vehicles (HIPER), Rome, pp. 5–17 

• cabos, c.; Eisen, h.; Krömer, m. (2006), GL Ship- 

Load: An integrated load generation tool for FE analysis, 

5th Int. Conf. Computer and IT Applications for the 

Maritime Industries, Leiden, www.compit.info 

• cabos, c.; Jokat, J. (1998), Computation of structure-borne 

noise propagation in ship structures using 

noise-FEM, 7th Int. Symp. Practical Design of Ships and 

Mobile Units (PRADS), The Hague, pp. 927–934 

• cabos, c.; Worms, c.; Jokat, J. (2001), Application 

of an energy finite element method to the prediction of 

structure-borne sound propagation in ships, Int. Congr. 

Noise Control Engineering, The Hague 

• El moctar, o. m. (2005), Computation of slamming 

and global loads for structural design using RANSE, 8th 

Num. Towing Tank Symp. (NuTTS), Varna 

• El moctar, o. m. (2007), How to avoid or minimize 

rudder cavitation, 10th Num. Towing Tank Symp. 

(NuTTS), Hamburg 

• El moctar, o.m.; Bertram, V. (2002), Computation 

of viscous flow around fast ship superstructures, 24th 

Symp. Naval Hydrodyn., Fukuoka 

• Fach, K.; Bertram, V. (2006), High-performance 

simulations for high-performance ships, 5th Int. Conf. 

High-Performance Marine Vehicles (HIPER), Launceston, 

2006, pp. 455–465 

• gl (2005), Recommendations for preventive measures 

to avoid or minimize rudder cavitation, Germanischer 

Lloyd, Hamburg 

• Imo (2002), Interim guidelines for evacuation 

analyses for new and existing passenger craft, MSC/ 

Circ.1033, International Maritime Organization 

• Junglewitz, a.; El moctar, o.m. (2004), Numerical 

analysis of the steering capability of a podded drive, 

Ship Technology Research 51/3, pp. 134–145 

• meyer-König, T.; Valanto, p.; povel, d. (2005), 

Implementing ship motion in AENEAS – Model development 

and first results, 3rd Int. Conf. Pedestrian and 

Evacuation Dynamics, Vienna 

• oberhagemann, J.; El moctar, o. m.; holtmann, 

m.; Schellin, T.; Bertram, V.; Kim, d. W. (2008), 

Numerical simulation of stern slamming and whipping, 

11th Numerical Towing Tank Symp., Brest 

• petersen, U.; meyer-König, T.; povel, d. (2003), 

Optimizing boarding and deboarding processes with 

AENEAS, 7th Int. Conf. Fast Sea Transportation FAST, 

Ischia, pp. 9–16 

• petersen, U.; Voelker, J. (2003), Deviating from the 

rules – ways to demonstrate an equivalent level of 

safety, World Maritime Technology Conf., San Francisco 

• Wilken, m.; cabos, c.; Semrau, S.; Worms, c.; 

Jokat, J. (2004), Prediction and measurement of 

structure-borne sound propagation in a full-scale 

deckhouse-mock-up, 9th Int. Symp. Practical Design of 

Ships and Mobile Units (PRADS), Lübeck-Travemünde, 

pp. 653–659 

• Zhang, l.; Egge, E. d.; Bruhns, h. (2004), Approval 

procedure concept for alternative arrangements, 3rd 

Int. Conf. Collision and Grounding of Ships (ICCGS), 

Tokyo, pp. 87–96 

bravo zulu 01/2008

SUBmERSIBlES 

deep-diving Record at lake Baikal 

With the two manned submersibles mIR 1 and mIR 2, a new benchmark 

in freshwater deep diving has been reached. germanischer 

lloyd played a crucial part in the success of this record 

lake Baikal’s volume, at 23,600 km3 , is 

greater than any other fresh water lake 

and makes up approximately 20 per cent of 

the world’s surface fresh water. As a point 

of comparison, if you were to drain Lake 

Baikal, it would take the Great Lakes of 

North America: Superior, Michigan, Huron, 

Erie, and Ontario to refill the empty basin. 

In August 2008, Baikal was definitely not 

empty. 

A new benchmark in freshwater deep 

diving has been reached. The two manned 

submersibles MIR 1 and MIR 2 have 

touched the bottom of Lake Baikal. The new 

record for deep-diving in freshwater is now 

at 1,580 metres. Germanischer Lloyd played 

a crucial part in the success of this record. 

The expedition to the depths of Lake Baikal 

6 

coopERaTIon. georgios Spiliotis, gl area 

manager australia (l.), and chris Eggleton, 

anZac Spo director, signing the contract. 


pREpaRaTIon. The mIR in transport position. 

was led by scientist Artur Chilingarov, corresponding 

member of the Russian Academy 

of Natural Sciences, who previously 

participated in the Arctic submersible mission 

at the North Pole in August 2007. 

Extensive Security checks 

In the run-up to this dive, extensive calculations 

and drawing approvals were carried 

out for the support vessel: a barge carrying 

the MIRs, a 100-tonnes crane, accommodation 

for the team and all the supplies 

needed for the expedition. These results 

were pre-checked by the Russian Register 

and verified by Germanischer Lloyd. 

For the expedition, the submersibles 

and the equipment were carried from Kaliningrad 

to Irkutsk by a large cargo plane. 

The Australian Department of Defence and 

GL have renewed their cooperation by signing 

a contract for the maintenance of class of 

the ANZAC ships. The new contract includes 

the provision of one additional statutory certificate. 

The “Safety Equipment Certificate” 

was issued to the ANZAC ships following a 

careful analysis of the ships’ safety arrangements 

in close cooperation with the Naval 

Flag Authority to establish conformance with 

the relevant statutory requirements. 

The eight frigates for the Royal Australian 

Navy (RAN) were brought under 

Onsite the MIRs, the crane and the equipment 

were installed on the barge. The survey 

was carried out by Harald Pauli and 

Karsten Hagenah, both Germanischer 

Lloyd experts for underwater technology. 

They were responsible for the professional 

installation of the MIR submarines 

and the new 100-tonnes crane on the 

barge. Mainly the bearing strength, deck 

load, heeling of the barge and mounting 

of the equipment were of special interest 

to them. Before the submarine came into 

operation, extensive security checks and 

technical tests were carried out to ensure 

their safe operation during the dives. 

media attention at Test dives 

The first dives were undertaken by Harald 

Pauli together with Dr Anatoly M. Sagalevitch 

and by Karsten Hagenah with 

Yevgeny Chernyaev. Both Dr Sagalevitch 

and Mr Chernyaev are from the Shirshov 

Institute of Oceanology, Moscow. Different 

kinds of manoeuvres and diving conditions 

were executed where the submersibles 

showed their possible field of application. 

The test dives where accompanied by 

more than 60 journalists and TV teams. After 

completion of the diving tests, the survey 

statements and the certificate for operating 

the MIRs in fresh water was handed 

over to Dr Sagalevitch. 

“The whole expedition, as well as the survey, 

was made possible by the outstanding 

support of the company Metropol and the 

Province Buryatia,” said Harald Pauli, Head 

of Pressure and Underwater Technology. 

“Especially Bator Tsyrenov, Deputy Director 

of the Representative Office in the Republic 

of Buryatia, and his brother Bair Tsyrenov, 

Director of the Baikal Fund, were responsible 

for the success of the local support.” ■ 

EXpERT. harald pauli on the 

way to the first dive. 

conTRacT REnEWal 

germanischer lloyd Supports anZac 

GL class in 2002 for an initial period of 

six years. During this time, Germanischer 

Lloyd provided the Navy with assurance of 

the safety of the ships and their systems, 

utilizing the then newly-established naval 

classification regime. “This world’s first 

achievement, whereby naval combatant 

ships were granted full class and provided 

with statutory certificates, is a testimony 

to GL’s naval experience and the RAN’s 

foresight in facing the challenges of the 

navies of today,” said Georgios Spiliotis, 

GL Area Manager Australia. ■

claSSIFIcaTIon 

Second naval Submarine in class 

The second naval submarine has 

been submitted into GL class. The 

conventional class 209 submarine 

of type 1400 MOD for the South African 

Navy was built by the German 

Submarine Consortium, consisting 

of Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG 

(HDW), Kiel, Nordseewerke GmbH 

(NSWE), Emden, and MAN Ferrostaal 

AG, Essen. Delivery took place in November 

2006. 

The submarine “SAS Charlotte 

Maxeke” has received “100 N 6 Submarine” 

classification, the machinery 

plant was classed as “MC U” in June 

2008. The sister vessel “SAS ‘Mathatisi” 

was successfully classed last year 

cUSTomER SERVIcE 

network Expanded 

In order to provide worldwide navies with 

a single point of contact and enhance onsite 

customer service, GL appointed Naval 

Business Development Manager (BDM). 

They will interact with GL’s local representatives, 

all other internal and external 

technical and administrative specialists 

to carry out naval projects. Headquarters 

will prepare proposals, run projects and 

support field sales. 

The traditional range of services includes 

comprehensive classification 

services for newbuildings based on GL 

design requirements for surface craft and 

submarines, safety consulting for ships in 

operation, as well as a wide range of engineering 

services such as assessment of the 

strength of pressure hulls against buckling, 

sufficient fatigue life capacity, resistance 

against underwater explosions or vibration 

behaviour. 

“Much like in commercial shipping, 

these surveys are an excellent means of 

identifying wear and tear early on, thus 

helping to avoid more costly repairs at a 

later date,” said Lorenz Petersen, Head of 

Navy Projects. For newbuilding projects, 

GL’s global network of surveyors handles 

the full spectrum of construction monitoring 

services using modern software tools. 

Following the approval of a newly-built naval 

vessel, the ship continues to undergo 

technical inspections at regular intervals 

while in service. 

Additionally, GL opened a new office in 

Berlin. Dietmar Gossel, who is the on-site 

Liaison Officer, acts as contact person for 

authorities, institutions as well as governmental 

agencies and navies in the federal 

capital. ■ 

contact details: Dietmar Gossel, Liasion Officer, 

Phone: +49 30 2092-4168, 

E-Mail: dietmar.gossel@gl-group.com 

as the first naval submarine worldwide. 

The South African Navy had 

commissioned GL with the classification 

of a total of three submarines. 

The order includes the inspection 

of the construction plans as well as 

annual technical safety checks. The 

third vessel will be inspected at the 

end of 2008. In classifying newly-constructed 

submarines, Germanischer 

Lloyd’s services include the inspection 

of construction drawings, materials, 

joining, propulsion and systems 

technology, as well as supervision of 

construction and testing. GL also 

tests and certifies fuel cells and other 

AIP systems. ■ 

acoUSTIcS 

noise under control 

Ships are known to radiate noise 

in all frequency bands, with the 

highest sound levels at the lowest frequencies. 

Reducing the radiated noise 

level as far as possible, be it on board 

or outside the ship, is one of the GL 

Acoustics department’s main tasks. 

For naval vessels in particular, it is of 

great advantage to reduce the level 

of waterborne noise to make the ship 

more difficult to detect. 

For very high frequencies (structure-borne 

noise), the standard FEA 

approach to vibration analyses is impossible 

due to excessive computational 

requirements. For a typical passenger 

vessel for a frequency of 1,000 

Hz, a FEA vibration model would lead 

to several million degrees of freedom. 

VIRTUal. 

gl noiseFEm grid applied on the 

validation of radiated noise of a mine-hunter. 

noISE and VIBRaTIon – gl’S SERVIcE 

If you would like to be informed about 

noise and vibration analyses, please contact 

Jürgen Jokat, GL’s Head of Acoustics. 

Cooperation should start as early as possible, 

preferably in the conceptual design 

stage. If desired, standardized parts of the 

SUBmaRInE EXpERTS (from l. to r.). Burkhard lilienthal (automation), 

Joachim Zipfel (Electrical Systems), dr lars grünitz (Senior 

manager naval Services) and matthias Schmidt (Steam Boilers 

and pressure Equipment). 

However, the fact that information is required 

only averaged over a frequency 

band allows an alternative, far more efficient 

approach based on statistical energy 

analysis (SEA). 

The Noise Finite Element Method 

(GL NoiseFEM) of Germanischer Lloyd 

is based on a related approach. GL 

NoiseFEM predicts the propagation of 

structure-borne noise energy by analysing 

the exchange of energy between 

weakly-coupled subsystems. Validation 

with full-scale measurements shows 

that the accuracy of GL NoiseFEM is sufficient 

for typical structure-borne noise 

predictions in the frequency range between 

80 Hz and 4,000 Hz. 

Structure-borne noise analyses have 

been validated on the wetted shell and 

meet the requirements, which is an 

important step towards predicting the 

radiated noise of vessels. GL NoiseFEM 

structure-borne noise analyses have 

been already applied since 1997 to 

support the design of mega 

yachts, navy and passenger 

ships. ■ 

For further information: 

Jürgen Jokat, 

Head of Acoustics, 

Phone: 

+49 40 36149-9 8, 

E-Mail: juergen.jokat@ 

gl-group.com 

work scope can be conducted by the shipowner, 

for example, establishing the finite 

element model or local vibration analysis 

with GL training and supervision. Noise 

and vibration measurements such as SAT, 

HAT, FAT are also offered. 


conFEREncE 

Third TcnS meeting 

latest aspects of naval ship design and 

operation were high on the agenda 

at the annual meeting of GL’s Technical 

Committee for Naval Ships (TCNS) in 

Cape Town. A visit at the South African 

Navy highlighted the programme. Members 

could take a look at the first naval 

submarines under class supervision 

worldwide. 

8 

naVal SUBmaRInES 

new gl Rules 

With a new, revised edition of its 

Rules for Naval Submarines, GL 

supports shipyards and owners. They 

came into force on 1 June 2008. 

The rules have been completely revised, 

including major amendments. 

A new calculation method has been 

maRInE RESEaRch 

QinetiQ Ties up with gl 

close cooperation has been agreed 

a between GL and defence and security 

technology provider QinetiQ. The companies 

will collaborate in the fields of engineering 

services with a special focus on 

navy applications. They will jointly develop 

research projects, exchange experts 

and support each other with resources. 

QinetiQ provides a broad range of services, 

consultancy advice and test facili- 

Imprint 

bravo zulu, Issue No. 1/2008, November 2008, published in English by Germanischer Lloyd Aktiengesellschaft, Hamburg (Germany) Editorial director Dr Olaf Mager, 

Corporate Communications managing Editor Alice Hossain contributions by Volker Bertram, David Brown, Dorothea Brunckhorst, Dr Lars Grünitz, Jürgen Jokat, Michael 

Mechanicos, Harald Pauli, Lorenz Petersen design and production printprojekt, Schulterblatt 8, 203 7 Hamburg, Germany Reproduction copyright Germanischer O P E R A T I N G 2 4 / 7 

Lloyd Aktiengesellschaft 2008. Reprinting permitted on explicit request – copy requested. All the information is correct to the best of our knowledge, but subject to change. 

Enquiries to: Germanischer Lloyd AG, Corporate Communications, Vorsetzen 3 , 204 9 Hamburg, Germany, Phone: +49 40 36149- 911, Fax: +49 40 36149-2 0, E-Mail: pr@gl-group.com 

SUBScRIpTIon SERVIcE bravo zulu can be obtained free of charge from publications@gl-group.com or downloaded at www.gl-group.com > client Support > download center 


The TCNS is a conference organized by 

GL. Members are high-ranking international 

representatives of navies and shipyards. 

This year’s conference will be held 

in Singapore from 17 to 19 November. For 

the first time there will be a workshop on 

GL’s Rules for Naval Submarines. A visit 

at the Republic of Singapore Navy Facilities 

is included in the programme. ■ 

gRoUp pIcTURE. Top-class guests plain-clothed and in uniforms: lorenz petersen, head of 

projects navy, welcomed high-ranking representatives of navies and shipyards. 

introduced for the pressure hull. Additionally, 

a new section on design loads 

is included (section 5). 

In order to give guidelines for allowable 

fabrication tolerances, Appendix 

B has been added. Section 12 on Electrical 

Equipment has been revised to 

also allow alternative solutions for the 

power supply. ■ 

Downloads: 

www.gl-group.com/rulestandard/3494.htm 

ties to the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) 

and customers in the UK and overseas. The 

company will benefit from GL’s engineering 

expertise. It includes state-of-the-art 

calculation methods and simulations from 

the fields of strength, vibrations, acoustics, 

hydromechanics/CFD, measuring technology 

and evacuation analyses. GL will take 

advantage of QinetiQ’s broad naval experience 

including survivability tools. ■ 

moU. gl area manager georgios Spiliotis (r.) 

and nathan harding, BmT dS(a) 

managing director. Standing: gordon macdonald, 

BmT dS(a) Technical and operations 

director (l.) and michael mechanicos (gl). 

paRTnERShIp 

new dimension of 

naval Services 

To cooperate in the areas of provision 

of independent assurance, risk management 

and support to naval capability, 

GL and BMT Defence Services Australia 

have signed an MoU that aims to 

develop synergy between them. 

“The combination BMT capabilities 

with the vast naval certification experience 

of GL brings a new dimension 

to the area of naval assurance services 

in the region,” said Georgios Spiliotis, 

GL Area Manager for Australia and 

New Zealand, at the signing ceremony. 

Under the MoU, BMT DS Australia will 

utilize GL Naval Rules and Regulations 

to assure the integrity of BMT products, 

and GL will utilize BMT’s expertise and 

experience in further developing GL’s 

Naval Rules to meet individual navy 

needs. Together they will provide risk 

management, local support and safety 

assurances to naval capability. BMT DS 

Australia specializes in the provision 

of ship design and naval engineering 

consultancy services for new and inservice 

ships and submarines. ■ 

CALENDAR OF FAIRS 

2 December − 5 December 

Baron Sector, Chile 

Exponaval 

Booth 156 

www.exponaval.cl/index.php?idi=8 

3 December − 5 December 

Perth, Australia 

20th Deep Offshore Technology 

International Conference 

www.DeepOffshoreTechnology.com

bravo zulu 1/2008 - GL Group

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