Hull stress monitoring for new hybrid ferries

The vessels are under construction at Guangzhou Shipyard International in China for P&O Ferries. Delivery, installation, and commissioning is expected to be completed within 2022.

Light Structures’ SENSFIB Global+ system will be used to monitor stress loading on the advanced new hull, providing precision data in real-time, which will also contribute to optimising maintenance windows based on real-world fatigue. The data collected by the SENSFIB sensors will also be used to validate integrity of the hull design over a sustained period, enabling improvements for future iterations.

Leveraging the reliability and precision of Fibre Bragg Grating technology, SENSFIB provides unique visibility into asset integrity, enabling improved predictive and condition-based monitoring to be integrated in newbuild vessels or retrofits. Data from SENSFIB systems is available on dedicated user terminals, through integrated automation and control systems, and as part of IoT networks and cloud-based operational platforms.

At 230 metres in length with 3,600 lane meters and a passenger capacity of 1,500, the ferries will become the largest double ended RoPAX vessels ever built and the largest vessels to operate on the route between Dover and Calais when they go into service in 2023. They feature features that will cut fuel consumption by 40%, including advanced power management and heat recovery systems.

Further design advances focus on passenger comfort and satisfaction with the inclusion of dedicated viewing platforms that provide panoramic sea views and a revolutionary new hull shape designed for safe, efficient, and comfortable passage in the English Channel, and to accommodate the effective use of azimuth thrusters that improve vessel manoeuvrability.

“As part of our intensive lifecycle maintenance regime, the data unlocked by the SENSFIB system will help us to improve asset availability and reduce operational overheads, while maximising the lifetime of our new vessels,” said a P&O Ferries spokesperson.

The patented and intrinsically safe SENSFIB range gives shipowners and operators the potential to avoid incidents before they happen or to gain a deeper understanding of causes during incident investigation. The range includes diverse solutions that can be customised for specific applications such as hull stress monitoring, FPSO monitoring, ice load monitoring, sloshing monitoring, and the customised HullInfo application. In addition to real-time operational data for decision support on board, SENSFIB provides data for active fatigue management reports, which can contribute to reducing operational cost and extending a vessel’s lifetime.