DMS conducted a concept design for a combination landing craft / dive support vessel to carry out maintenance operations on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, in Eastern Australia. This challenging vessel needed to fit several mission parameters into a very small design package.
It is not immediately obvious, but stairwells and inclined ladders require a great deal of space on an ship! For smaller vessels, this sacrifices valuable living space to useless transition pieces. On this concept, DMS replaced most of the stairwells with vertical ladders and hatches, to maximize living space in crew quarters. This arrangement provides maximum private space in crew cabins.
Above all else, this vessel required excellent seakeeping capability. The waves in Australia presented extremely short wavelengths and created very uncomfortable conditions for small vessels. Despite this challenge, DMS achieved approximately 0.30g accelerations on the vessel, while traveling full speed in 2.0 m significant waves. Astounding results! Imagine going from an earthquake of explosion down to just a gentle rolling motion. DMS achieved this strong performance through a combination of three systems:
Given the extreme waves, normal methods of retrieving a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) via davits were not sufficient. DMS developed a new method to launch and retrieve the RIB. The response launch system (RRLS) reacted to oncoming waves; it avoided the painful experience of landing hard on davit falls.
Beyond beach loading operations, the landing ramp also acts as a sea lift. The ramp is double hinged, with the second segment built from open grating. That second segment can be lowered below water level to act as a loading platform for heavy objects like mooring buoys. This creates extended mission flexibility for dive support and open water marine operations.
No design is perfect, and DMS acknowledged that innovative concepts face more challenges than most.
The arrangement of hatches and vertical ladders restricted the possible locations of the deckhouse. This resulted in placing the deckhouse without any supporting bulkheads underneath, which is not ideal. The deckhouse can be supported by deep frames and confirmed by FEA analysis. But further design refinement would ideally place supporting bulkheads under the deckhouse.
Do you like pieces of this concept? DMS can happily take ideas from this vessel and apply them to your next project. Contact us to discuss your goals.
DMS can start with you general goals and prepare a scientific description of performance requirements for your next vessel.
The first stage in any ship design. Start with a blank piece of paper, and we end with the major elements of your vessel designed and ready for refinement.
We work with our Clients to understand their goals and define the vessel that achieves those goals. We create a custom vessel design that meets your expectations.
