Substantial industrial gains
Led by Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding (DSNS) and Damen Gorinchem (DSGo) in cooperation with InfraCore Company, Evonik, Airborne UK and TNO a 6m high hull section made out of composite material has been developed scaling up the composite technology and capability to design, produce and market complete composite vessels up to 85 m length that comply with SOLAS and class regulations. In addition, the partners pioneered the capability to infuse thick laminates up to 6 meters in height that represent full ship hull structures.
Unique in this demonstrator project is that the whole cycle from product design, novel resin development, alternative fibre architectures, novel joining solutions, scaling up infusion technology, validation of large composite structures, and its risk based design are being developed and tested, all under the auspices of classification society Bureau Veritas (BV).
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Damen Gorinchem prepared the baseline design comparing traditional steel scantlings, sandwich panels, and monolithic structures. The production partners InfraCore Company and Airborne UK have been performing the process engineering incorporating their composites experience into the design.
One-shot vertical infusion
Unique in this project is to realize the infusion of such hull structure vertically up to 6 meters in height.This key milestone has been successfully achieved by the penultimate vertical infusion trials. Both InfraCore as well as Airborne have demonstrated that they can infuse hull sections for 6 meter high hulls with their technology of traditional sandwich structures by AEL and the representative oblique layers structure by InfraCore. Also robustness will be demonstrated as impact representative for actual helicopter emergency loading will be demonstrated on the oblique layers helicopter deck as well as on the sandwich side shell.
RAMSSES partner Evonik has been developing the resin in various iterations in close collaboration with the production partners focusing on the best balance between flow characteristics at different infusion temperatures and mechanical properties such as toughness.TNO will perform full scale tests for validation of design, quality management and structural performance. BV, as a Classification Society, offers consultancy and advice, resulting in a smart track to approval guideline. Currently many of the parts, including demonstrator outer shell, decks, and bulkheads have been produced by Airborne and InfraCore. Assembly at the steel yard is currently being prepared by Infracore as well as Damen. However due to the current COVID 19 restrictions, actual assembly is currently in delay.
A Fast Track to Approval
The process definition for approval has been developed in close cooperation with RISE - Research Institutes of Sweden, Netherlands Maritime Technology Foundation and Bureau Veritas. Bureau Veritas has defined a first draft of the approval process to be considered within RAMSSES project, and Damen demonstrator case will be used as a reference case for an innovative smart track to approval (FTtA) process. Concerning fire safety, a HazId (Hazard Identification) has been performed with RISE and Bureau Veritas to address all fire risks. Fire performance criteria have been defined as well and will be tested and validated at RISE facilities.
We congratulate the RAMSSES partners on this great success!