The Effect of Measured Whipping and Springing on LNG Vessels
Strain measurements of structural members onboard two LNG vessels have been collected for a period of 5 years. The vessels have been sailing in the world wide trade except for the North Pacific area. The time spent in the North Atlantic is about 40%, which is higher than for typical LNG vessels. The vessel speed has been relatively low in average and well below the service speed, still the effect of springing and whipping has been significant on the fatigue and extreme loading. Previously, results from the strain sensors have been presented versus the fatigue and extreme loading on a general level, independent on the environmental conditions. In this paper the focus is more towards how the vessel behaves in wind/waves with respect to springing and whipping in order to understand more of the relationship between accumulated fatigue damage, heading and loading condition. The vessels have been equipped with wave radars and wind sensors. The effect of whipping and springing on accumulated or part fatigue damage versus relative heading is demonstrated. The effect as a function of the wave height/wind speed is shown for selected headings. One of the objectives is to check if the wind sensor can be a useful alternative to the wave sensor to capture the physics. Some of the data is studied for ballast and cargo condition separately in order to see if these loading conditions can be merged, which is desirable from an assessment point of view.