DEALING WITH THE HINGED SHIP - A REVIEW OF THE ANALYTICAL AND PRACTICAL ISSUES BASED UPON THE M.T. ELLI SALVAGE

摘要

In August 2009, south of Suez, the MT Elli broke her back in calm water while being ballasted in preparation for drydocking. The hull girder hinged near amidships and the deformation, about 22m, was sufficient for the bottom of the hull to clear the water. This paper outlines the subsequent salvage and some of the analytical issues in salvaging such a hinged ship including; modelling the geometry, estimating the moment distribution and how it got there, problems with predicting hinge behaviour, estimating residual strength. The practical issues in straightening the ship and subsequent separation into two parts in preparation for removal are discussed.