CVF STRUCTURAL SAFETY CERTIFICATION

摘要

The Future Carrier (CVF) project presents a new challenge brought about not only by the type, size and role of the vessel, but also the project's 'Alliancing' organisational structure. Both are without precedent in UK naval history. This has required the re-examination of the process of ship structural safety certification. The advent of Classification Society naval ship rules in the late 1990s fulfilled a need within the industry at a time when the MoD's technical resources to maintain and update their own standards, or carry out other safety auditing activities themselves, were diminishing. Commercial rule sets benefit from regular update and are more fully proven from application to countless designs and from in-service experience. A number of organisations have since been designated Recognised Organisations (RO) by the Naval Authorities, to act on their behalf in the areas of safety certification. These ROs span the requirements from new designs to in-service support. The multiplicity of roles required of the CVF implies a very different scenario from that of any merchant vessel and Classification Society naval ship rules have had to bridge the gap and pull through all relevant knowledge from the defence world to build on their merchant ship expertise. However, from a structural design viewpoint interesting parallels can be drawn between an aircraft carrier and significant merchant ships such as the current generation of large cruise liners, which has aided development of both the structural design and design appraisal strategy for the CVF.