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Plastic Option
(GRP)
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1 Introduction........................................................................................................................................ 5
1.1 Aims: ...............................................................................................................................5
1.2 Objectives; ......................................................................................................................5
1.3 Prerequisites;..................................................................................................................5
1.4 Course GRP ....................................................................................................................5
1.5 Using this document ......................................................................................................6
3
4
Chapter 1
1 Introduction
GRP ((Glass Fibre) Reinforced Plastics) is a technique to design and construct normally rather small vessels by
replacing the standard metal plates and profiles (made of steel or aluminium) by laminated plastics. The "plates" consist
of a relatively light and fragile core material that is reinforced by several layers of fibre carpets glued together to form a
tensile and endurable coating, normally on both sides of the "plates". Originally the carpets were made of glass fibres
but an alternative is to use coal fibres that are lighter and stronger.
The TRIBON Hull application has an option that simplifies the design and production of vessels built in different variants
of the GRP technique.
Certain characteristics of the GRP technique are defined in a so called "GRP Object" that is defined by the customer and
stored in the Tribon data bank associated with the environment variable SB_OGDB. The existence of such an object is
compulsory for Tribon Hull to be able to run in "GRP mode". Tribon Hull is switched into GRP mode by defining the
Tribon environment variable SBH_GRP to __SBH_GRP_OBJECT__.
The GRP object is created via the Tribon Hull utility program inithull from an input file written in TIL format. The syntax of
this input is described to some detail below. The GRP object has the fixed name __SBH_GRP_OBJECT__.
1.1 Aims:
The aim of the course is to provide the skills required to use Tribon GRP functions in the most productive way.
1.2 Objectives;
To familiarise user with GRP technique
To create laminate panels
To be able to use GRP module
1.3 Prerequisites;
The participants must have completed the Tribon M3 Drafting, Planar and Curved Modelling training courses.
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1.5 Using this document
Certain text styles are used to indicate special situations throughout this document, here is a summary;
Menu pull downs and button press actions. Are indicated by bold dark blue text.
Information the user has to Key-in 'Will be red and in inverted commas.'
Annotation for trainees benefit
Additional information
Pay close attention to
Refer to other documentation
System prompts should be bold and italic in inverted commas i.e. 'Choose function'
Example files or inputs will be in the courier new font, colours and styles used
as before.
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Chapter 2
Moreover, a quite new component type has been implemented, the bead. This is corresponded by a new statements
type of the design language, the BEAD statement. Flanges, pillars and brackets have so far not been affected by the
GRP option and cannot be used with any reasonable meaning in a GRP vessel.
The concept of material quality (keyword QUALITY in the design language) has got a somewhat changed meaning when
used in connection with the GRP option. It is used to define the density of the core material in kilograms per cubic meter.
The function to create a plane panel interactively (menu function Panel ( Create) has support for the changes to the
types of components mentioned above, including the quite new component type bead. Hull Curved Modeling supports
the definition of shell plates in the GRP technique.
2.1 Views
Views generated for a vessel modeled in the GRP technique differ to some extent from symbolic views for normal ships.
Panel sections:
Sections of panel plates will show the thickness including the thickness of the lamination.
Views of stiffeners:
In symbolic hull views stiffeners are in top views represented by its mould line, a material symbol and endcut symbols at
its ends. In GRP views the mould line is replaced by two lines indicating the actual width of the profiles and the material
and endcut symbols are skipped.
Holes:
Holes may be laminated along their edges. This lamination is (in planar views) indicated by a dashed contour parallel to
and outside the actual hole contour.
Beads:
In planar views beads will be indicated by a dashed line parallel to the boundaries along which they have been defined.
In section views, beads will be shown with their true size. Beads will be displayed both in symbolic planar views and in
3D views.
Beads belonging to the stiffeners will be shown in section view of the stiffeners.
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2.2 Plane Panel Parts
Plane panels modelled in GRP mode will be split into plate parts in the same way as in a normal ship.
However:
currently the parts will not retain any information about their lamination,
they will be stored with the thickness equal to the sum of the core material and the thickness of the
lamination(s).
Moreover, the ppanparts program calculates and outputs areas of core material and of fibre carpets, considering the
number of layers of the lamination.
PANEL: BASIC-GRP_1
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Chapter 3
The version of TIL used for creation of the GRP object has two different statement types:
LAMINATE_PLANE: The statement defines different laminates in "plates", i.e. it is surface oriented.
LAMINATE_BEAD: The statement defines laminates used for beads along panel boundaries.
The two statement types may occur in an arbitrary order in the input file. Since the number of instances of each of them
has a maximum of 99, this is also the limit number for statements of each type.
<type_no_plane>: An integer number in the interval 1-99 that identifies a specific laminate
combination. This number will be used for plates, stiffeners and holes to define the
lamination.
NAME: A name to identify the laminate.
PERCENT_...: The percentage of glass of the laminate.
DESIGNATION: The designation/name of a layer of the laminate.
GLASS_WEIGHT: The weight of glass (kg/m2) of the corresponding layer of the laminate
TOTAL_THICKNESS: Total thickness of this laminate.
TOTAL_WEIGHT: Total weight (kg/m2) of the laminate.
The number of DESIGNATION and GLASS_WEIGHT attributes must be equal and the values should match each other
in order of appearance.
<type_no_bead>: An integer number in the interval 101-199 that identifies a specific laminate. This number will
be used to select the laminate at beads along boundaries.
NAME: A name to identify the laminate.
WEIGHT: Total weight per length of the laminate - unit (kg/m).
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An example of input file:
LAMINATE_PLANE, 10
/NAME='L10'
/PERCENT_OF_GLASS=44
/DESIGNATION='A'
/GLASS_WEIGHT=0.7
/DESIGNATION='B'
/GLASS_WEIGHT=0.45
/DESIGNATION='C'
/GLASS_WEIGHT=0.6
/TOTAL_THICKNESS=2.9
/TOTAL_WEIGHT=3.99;
LAMINATE_BEAD, 101
/NAME='FL1'
/WEIGHT=0.55;
EXERCISE 1
LAMINATE_PLANE, 13
/NAME='LP3'
/PERCENT_OF_GLASS=50
/DESIGNATION='QXLT850'
/GLASS_WEIGHT=0.815
/DESIGNATION='QXLT850'
/GLASS_WEIGHT=0.815
/DESIGNATION='QXLT850'
/GLASS_WEIGHT=0.815
/TOTAL_THICKNESS=1.96
/TOTAL_WEIGHT=3.62;
LAMINATE_PLANE, 14
/NAME='LP4'
/PERCENT_OF_GLASS=50
/DESIGNATION='QXLT850'
/GLASS_WEIGHT=0.815
/DESIGNATION='QXLT850'
/GLASS_WEIGHT=0.815
/DESIGNATION='QXLT850'
/GLASS_WEIGHT=0.815
/DESIGNATION='QXLT850'
/GLASS_WEIGHT=0.815
/TOTAL_THICKNESS=2.61
/TOTAL_WEIGHT=4.82;
3. Run Init Hull and create GRP object. See log file for results.
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Chapter 4
4.1 Plate
A new keyword, LAMINATE, has been added to the plate statement. It defines the laminate code (implies thickness,
designation and density of the laminate).
<lam1>: Indicates the laminate code on the side of the plate pointing at the side of the positive w-axis (or as
indicated by MSIDE).
<lam2>: Laminate for the opposite side. If <lam2> is omitted, then <lam2>=<lam1>.
In a GRP project QUAL is used to specify the density of the core material (in kg/m3).
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4.1.2 Shell Plate
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4.2 Stiffener
Only two profile types are available for use for stiffeners, the normal flat bar (type 10, with or without supporting beads)
and a special profile type with a cross-section in the shape of a trapezoid. The latter has been assigned the profile type
99. Use of any other profile type will return an error message.
Syntax:
STIFFENER, ...
,LAMINATE = <lam side>[,<lam top>]
[,BEAD = <width>]
[,BPO = <bead_posno>]
, ...
;
STI, PRO = 10, 200, 60, ...., LAM = 11, 12, QUA = 200, BEAD = 20, BPO = 4, ...;
STI, PRO = 99, 300, 100, 80, ..., LAM = 12, QUA = 300, ...;
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An example of profile definition form:
Syntax:
BEAD,
,LIMIT = <limit_no>
[,SIDE = <side>]
,POS = <pos_no>
,M1 = <width>
[,V = <angle>]
,LAMINATE = <lam>
,QUALITY = <quality>
;
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LIMIT: Indicates the number of the boundary for which the bead(s) will be defined.
SIDE: Indicates the side of the panel where to position the bead. Possible values: FOR, AFT, SB, PS, TOP,
BOT. If SIDE is not given, beads will be defined for both sides of the panel.
POS: Defines a position number of the bead(s).
M1: The leg length of the section of the bead(s).
V: The corner angle of the bead, i.e. the angle between the current panel and the adjacent panel to be
connected to.
LAMINATE: Indicates the laminate code for the lamination of the bead(s).
QUAL: Defines the density of the core material of the bead(s).
4.4 Hole
It is possible (but not compulsory) to laminate holes. This means that the additions to the hole statement specified below
are optional.
Syntax:
HOLE, ...
[,LAMINATE = <lam>]
[,D = <width>]
, ...
;
LAM: Specifies the laminate code for the lamination around the hole.
D: Defines width of the laminate zone around the hole.
After defining hole type, dimensions and position, the following will window will be displayed:
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Key in laminate code and click OK. System will display the second form:
EXERCISE 2
Create internal structure of training ship between FR62 and FR70. For elements position and laminate information
please refer to class drawings in General drawings data bank.
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