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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Phinisi a Wooden Sailing Boat from Indonesia

180px-Taopere.jpgIndonesia is the largest archipelago in the World. It has more than 17,000 islands scattered between the continents of Asia and Australia. As a maritime nation, Indonesian people have a long tradition of building boats both for transporting goods and people. One of the famous types is the Phinisi. It is a wooden sailing boat from South Sulawesi. The people there make Phinisi boat using traditional equipments and methods. In the past boats were only powered by sails. Now most of the boats have diesel engines. Here in Indonesia people call such boats as KLM (Kapal Layar Motor literally translated as Ship Sail Motor). Because of this hybrid system, Phinisi can be considered as an environmentally friendly boat.
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In recent years, Western Naval Architects have given their serious attention to Phinisi. They try to modify the sailing boat from cargo oriented to pleasure one. Now Phinisi has been modified to function as yacht. Its construction system has also been adapted to conform with the standard classification rules set by BKI (Biro Klasifikasi Indonesia) or GL (Germanisher Lloyd). In addition,boatbuilders of Phinisi also install internal combustion engine (or diesel engine) to power the boat. For instance, a 36-meter Phinisi which has been powered with a 650 hp Yanmar diesel can have a service speed of 10 knots. This speed is considered fast compared to similar other Phinisi boats. The use of computer ship design software such as Maxsurf in optimizing the propulsion efficiency and hull-form does not change the construction method.
With the improvement of design, speed and quality of interior material of the Phinisi boats, we will see that yacht owners from around the world will be interested in ordering such sailing boats to travel the waters of not only Indonesia but also the Carribean, the Mediteranean and the Pacific. by Charles Roring

Monday, December 28, 2009

Naval Architecture Schools in Indonesia

180px-Ship-IMG_3429.JPGSuppose that you are interested in studying Naval Architecture and you are looking for schools that provide such study program in Indonesia. Indonesia is a maritime country but it has less than ten naval architecture schools which are located in several islands. For state owned universities I will recommend Pattimura University in Ambon city of Maluku islands, Institut Teknologi Surabaya (ITS) in Surabaya city of East Java and Hasanuddin University in Makassar city of the Province of South Sulawesi.

These universities have cooperation which they call Segitiga Biru or Blue Triangle. Experts or lecturers from the respective department of naval architecture and marine engineering meet regularly to discuss the latest development in the national shipbuilding industry.

Sometimes these universities conduct researches that are related to ship design and propulsion using the towing tank of Pattimura University or the hydrodynamic laboratory that is located in ITS. A new naval architecture study program has just been opened in the University of Diponegoro. But I don't know how far they have built their cooperation and relation with the three campuses. Pattimura University is the only department of naval architecture and marine engineering that has its own slipway that repairs boats up to thirty meters in length. This facility allows the students to experience direct dockyard works before entering bigger shipyard.

Other private universities that also offer naval architecture and marine engineering study programs are Universitas Dharma Persada in Jakarta and Hang Tuah University in Surabaya. I don't have any information about them, so, I cannot give you any explanation about them.

If you are not an Indonesian, you need to contact the deans of the universities to get more information whether you are allowed to study naval architecture there or not. Although most of the textbooks in these campus are written in English, you might need to master bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language) before being able to join the classooms. by Charles Roring

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Beautiful Flowers from Tomohon

My sister ordered some bunches of flowers from Tomohon for decorating our Catholic church during the Christmas mass. The flowers arrived 12 hours late and they could not be used during the Christmas eve celebration. The distance the flowers had to travel was very far. From Tomohon in the Minahasa regency, her friend who bought the flowers had to bring them to Sam Ratulangie airport and handed them over to cabin crew of Batavia air. After that the flowers would be flown to Hasanuddin airport in Makassar city where it would then be transferred from the airplane to another one that would be flying to Rendani airport of Manokwari in the Province of West Papua. So, the flowers need around 8 hours flying not including the time they needed on land from the airport to the church before they could be used for decorating the altar.
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Because of the late arrival of these flowers, my sister decided to use them for the New Year's eve celebration. To keep the freshness of the flowers, she put them in a number of baskets that have been filled with water. Also she put them near our bathroom to keep the temperature lower.
Flower farmers in Tomohon have exported their products to customers as far as Jakarta and Balikpapan. Although on the map the distance between Manokwari and Tomohon is not too far, there is no direct flight between these towns. Flowers have to be transported by car or Datsun trucks from Tomohon to Manado and be flown to Makassar before taking another flight to Manokwari.
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Selling Flowers can be a good business especially during the economic downturn like what many people experience right now. Growing flowers can be done at backyards where unused lawns have been converted into flower patch. The favorite and expensive flowers that customers like to buy in this town are cut flowers such as red roses, orchid and possibly Adenium (mostly sold as live plants) Less expensive flowers such as Canna is also good for home interior.
When buying flowers, customers must know that beautiful flowers from high land areas may not grow well in lowland areas. So it is better to ask the vendors about the kind of flowers which are suitable for lowland. by Charles Roring
Also read: Barringtonia Asiatica beautiful but poisonous flower

Friday, December 25, 2009

Christmas Lunch

Today is Christmas day. I am spending all day at home watching television and talking with my parents, sisters and my wife. I think that we need some time to talk with our family sharing some interesting stories which we don't do during workdays. Now I am about to eat my lunch and I am happy to show you how Christmas at my home has been a great day for my family.

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Perhaps some of you don't celebrate Christmas. It's okay. I hope that God will bless you all with healthy life and happiness.
Next year will be a challenging year with many opportunities that we can take to improve our living condition. We may plant a tree in front of our house as a simple resolution in fighting global warming. Or We may have planned to take a long holiday aboard a sailing yacht that will bring us to remote islands in the Pacific or the Carribean. Or you might have considered of giving up smoking as your resolution.
For me, I will try to update this blog more frequently and improve the content so that more of you will enjoy reading the posts. Happy Christmas

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

My Watercolor Painting of To Girls Fishing At A Wooden Jetty

I made this painting to create awareness among us all about the importance of keeping our beach clean. In the painting you can see how dissappointed the girls were when they found out that it was not a fish that they caught but a worn shoe. They were sitting on a wooden jetty accompanied by a small teddy bear doll in a bright day. The background of the scenery shows a container ship sailing out of the bay to the open sea. There were three other boats in the bay. At a far distance, we could see the green hills and a light house standing at the end of the cape.

When we go to a beach we may not find such beautiful and clean water. The sea areas around coastal big cities and towns are now covered with industrial and domestic wastes. Many of them contain chemicals that are harmful to the marine environment. While we may now work hard to fight global warming, it seems that we are not aware of the continuous destruction of coral reefs caused by the dumping of wastes to the sea. I hope that this watercolor painting can be seen as my way of presenting how beautiful the sea is and how important for us to not throwing plastics and other domestic garbages to the sea.
Title: Painting of Sisters Fishing at a Wooden Jetty; Artist: Charles Roring; Year: 2004; Media: Watercolor on cold press acid free Canson paper

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The Largest Submarine in The World, Sentoku

During World War II, Japan built Sentoku the largest submarine in the world. This class of submarine, which was also named I-400, had hangar constructed on the upper main deck to accommodate three floatplane bombers, Aichi M6A Seiran. The submarine was reported to be 60% larger than the largest American submarine. The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ordered the construction of the I-400 submarine class as their secret weapons to destroy major US cities and the Panama Canal - the main route for the US to logistically supply their troops fighting against the Japanese in the Pacific. The Japanese had suffered great loss during the marine battles in Guadalcanal, and Midway as well as land battles in the Netherlands New Guinea island. It had been planned that the launching of surprised attacks on the Panama Cannal and US big cities would stop the US from immediately supplying their troops in that region thus providing enough time for the Japanese to consolidate and strengthen their troops.

Unfortunately for the Japan, the I-400 submarines could not fulfil their mission because the US had bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear weapon forcing the Japanese government to surrender without any condition. Sentoku and her sisters submarines could carry aerial torpedoes, three 800 kg bombs and twelve 240 kg bombs to arm their Seiran aircrafts. The propulsion of this submarine was powered by four 3,000 hp engines with enough fuel to travel around the world 1.5 times.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Bark Bag from Manokwari of West Papua

Tropical rainforest of West Papua has been the source of food for the indigenous people for thousands of years. It still plays an important role for the whole earth's inhabitants by converting CO2 emissions into fresh air that we breath everyday together with forests in Brazil, Borneo and other parts of the world.
In recent days, this forest is facing rapid illegal logging. Businessmen come to this island and convert the forest into large palm plantations that only give little benefits to the local people. When an area of the tropical rainforest has been cleared, various species of plants, mammals, birds and insects lose their habitat.
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Last week, I and my friend went to the Table Mountain to take some bark for making traditional bags. We had to climb up several steep hills before we could find the tree that we need for making the bark bag. More than a century ago, tree barks were used by the indigenous Papuan people as textiles. They had not known how to make cotton thread and for making clothes. It was 4 p.m. when we took the bark from a small tree that would regenerate again after its trunk had been cut.
Then we decended from the Table Mountain of Manokwari. While we were in the middle of our way home we found a burnt land in the middle of this protected tropical rainforest which has just been cleared for vegetable patch by a local farmer. The indigenous people usually cut trees and burn them to clear the land of the forest to make it as their farmland. We could not do anything because we were not the forest authority.
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Back to the story of bark bag. Arriving at Paul's house, I was given a seat to watch him pounding the bark to spread its fiber and make it tender. He needs three days to process such raw bark into a traditional bag.
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As I don't have enough time to wait for that process, Paul asked his daughter to take the already made bark bag. Yes, it looks just a simple bag which the locals don't use anymore in their daily activities. Modern leather bags have replaced the existance of this bark bags which frequently are decorated with attractive ornaments related to local culture.
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Writing the profile of Papuan artists who live in Manokwari is one of my ways to promote eco-tourism that is expected to improve their living quality the local people thus discouraging deforestation.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Two Dolphins Swimming in the Blue Sea

Have you ever seen dolphins swimming along side a sailing boat or ship? I have experienced such scenes many times. When I was still a university student studying naval architecture in the University of Pattimura Ambon, I frequently traveled with KM Dobonsolo or KM Sirimahu to my hometown in Manokwari. They were passangers ships operated by PT. PELNI. When the ships were in the middle of the sea with no bad weather at all, usually passengers could see big fish such as dolphins swimming in a close distance. It was a wonderful experience for me and I decided that one day I had to make a drawing or painting of such scene.

Charcoal sketch of Dolphins
Dolphins are smart mammals that live in the sea. They are often considered as guardian angels for sailors who experience accident at sea. I used to hear a story which said that dolphins helped crews of capsized or sunken ship by taking them to a nearest island. I don't know if such case do exist in real life. I only know that there are circus shows about instructors who ask dolphins to give them a ride around the big pond to entertain the spectators. The fish can also do simple mathematical calculation.
For me, the best thing that we can do to the dolphins is by letting them live where they are right now. The less we disturb them the better. This is also true for the whole marine environment. By the way, I made the painting of these swimming dolphins in 2004. The media was Fabercastell watercolor pencils on French made Canson paper.


So, next time when you plan to have a vacation in the Caribbean islands or the Pacific region, don't forget to bring a telelens camera. You might encounter such rare scene.  Take some nice pictures as souvenirs for your family and friends. by Charles Roring

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Remains of Giant Clam on Tropical Rainforest of Manokwari West Papua

Could the Table Mountain of Manokwari of West Papua be a coral reef park several thousand or even million years ago? I and my friend Paul Werere, an indigenous Papuan, made a short hiking trip to a tropical rainforest located some five hundred meters at the back of my house. The locals here call it Table Mountain. There we found remains of giant clam shell (Tridacna gigas) and elkhorn shaped corals scattered around the mountain which are at 50 to 70 meters vertically measured above the sea surface. We also saw crabs swimming in the pond of spring water with physical appearances similar to their brothers that live among the mangrove forest. But we were not at the beach. We were on the mountain that is covered with large trees whose diameters range from 50 centimeters to 1.5 meters.
There have to be some explanations for why coral reef thrived in an area of a mountain far and high from the sea. The distance to the current beach is around 1 kilometer.
The first explanation will be that the ancestors of Papuan people might have taken the giant clams from the sea and ate them on the mountain. But this might not be true due to the existance of other corals that were not edible. The remains of hard corals and various large and tiny shells can still be found on this mountain.
The second explanation is that the corals and the giant clams had been swept away to the land by a giant wave or tsunami. While this answer might be possible, there has to be a maximum line where the giant wave had reached and stopped. Usually the line could be indicated by a long row of stones, corals, and other earth materials which had been carried into the land by the waves. So far we have not found such row of coral remains.
Then the third answer is that yes, the region used to be under the sea level. It means today's Manokwari town was under the sea level. Due to tectonic movements, the earth layers along the Table Mountain and the Northern Coastal Region of Papua island has been greatly pressed to emerge from the sea. That was how the mountain range along the northern coast of Papua had been formed. It could happen some several million years ago. Who knows?
Well while we are still guessing why this coral reef park thrived in this Table Mountain, I want to invite you to come to this forest to watch the birds singing and dancing, and to breath in the fresh air it produces while exploring the ancient coral reef without having to wear diving gear. by Charles Roring in Manokwari of West Papua

Also read:
Snorkeling in Arborek of Raja Ampat
Kingdom of Nemo
Snorkeling and Freediving in drop off Reef of Manokwari

Monday, December 14, 2009

The earthquake resistant wooden house of Minahasa enter the internet world

The traditional house of Minahasa has been recognized in Indonesia as one of the best earthquake resistant home construction that is suitable for tropical region. It looks beautiful especially when constructed in a village that is still fully decorated with flowers and green plants. In recent days, these wooden houses are increasingly being exported to other regions in the country and even abroad.

With the availability of internet connection in Woloan village, a major place where the traditional home builders can be found, traders of this earthquake resistant wooden houses try to expand their market by promoting their products on the internet. There are some websites that already offer these wooden houses. Potential buyers can choose the designs that they like based on the ones presented or can request custom designs from the housing company which are more suitable for their needs and climate condition where the houses will be erected.
The science of design and construction of Minahasan traditional wooden house has evolved over hundreds of years through trial and error of experiments that continues to improve the craftsmanship of the designers and builders. As a matter of fact, most of the wooden house design is not created by professional architect who got their expertise from college, not either by the use of Archicad home design software. Instead, the skills in designing and building of the houses have been passed on from generation to generation among the families of the house builders. Although the export of this type of wooden house is rising, there are concerns among the home builders to the availability of the raw materials.
The wooden house of Minahasa is mostly made of Cempaka, Lingua and Jati (tectona grandis) woods. Wood as home materials are getting scarce in the region. Home builders there now order planks and blocks from southern and central region of Celebes island. Some times they order wooden blocks from Kalimantan. This creates sensitive environmental issue such as illegal logging or irresponsible deforestation. This wooden house business can still survive if the local villagers are asked to plant trees that will become the housing materials after 30 years.
Timber frame houses are more resistant to earthquake. But the wood has to be properly treated to protect its fiber from direct contact with water. The application of varnish or paints on its surface will greatly protect the wood from decaying. In addition the standardization of sizes and types of wood used in the manufacture of wooden houses will ensure the safety of the houses. by Charles Roring in Manokwari of Papua

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Ventilation System of Tropical House

Tropical houses are different from European houses. In cold region, houses must have good insulation to keep the indoor temperature warm during cold or winter season. Most of the houses in the sub-tropic or polar region have wood or gas stoves installed to keep warm temperature in the rooms. The case is different for tropical houses, ventilation system plays very important role in controlling the temperature of the rooms. In tropical region, sun shines all year long. The humidity is very high. Tropical houses need to have large openings such as windows and holes above doors to let the air circulate freely in and out of the houses.
Besides providing many jalousie windows, some house owners install the roof ventilators which will turn and suck the cool air into roof to cool the houses from above. City dwellers that install Air Conditioning Machines at their houses usually cover the ventilation windows and holes with transparent plastic sheets to keep the inside temperature of their houses cool. But this practice is considered not healthy because  new or fresh air cannot enter the houses.
Many tropical house owners grow trees and flower plants at the front or beside their houses to filter air and harness fresh oxygen produced by the trees to directly enter the houses during the day. This is one of the best natural ventilation systems that integrates trees as air filter and cooler. It can reduce the cost of electricity spent for operating artificial exhaust fan or Air Conditioning (AC) machines.
Although tropical houses need to have large window openings, they also need to be closed at nights to prevent mosquitoes from entering the houses. When the glass windows are closed, the air will still circulate through air holes located above the windows that are covered with mosquito nets. It means the fresh air can enter the house but the mosquitoes can't. by Charles Roring in Manokwari of Papua island.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

A Naval Architect Who Also Likes Painting and Drawing

Besides running this blog (the diary of a naval architect), I also run a home based bookstore where I sell various titles of books. As a naval architect, I am very fond of art especially drawing. I spend my pasttime drawing or painting. Sometimes I draw boat or ship not in an engineering perspective but art.
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Some friends say that the drawings are very good. They suggest me to open a painting gallery. After considering their advice, this month I decide to put some of my artworks on the wall of my bookstore. So, if those of you ask what actually my profession is then I would say that I am a naval architect, an entrepreneur and an artist and a nature lover.
Dealing with the stability, resistance and propulsion calculations of ships can be stressful especially when the ship is a completely new design with unconventional hull form. So, I need to find a way to reduce my stress. Some naval architects play sports, others travel to foreign countries, and me? Drawing is my choice. It is not expensive, and it can be done at home or outdoor.
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For me naval architect is passion and profession. But this will be more meaningful if it is done in an artistic way. We must remember that naval architecture is an art and science of ship design and ship building. Therefore, all naval architects must consider ships or boats or yachts that they are working on not only as products of engineering but also as artworks. by Charles Roring

Friday, December 4, 2009

Marine Propellers and Propulsion - A Book Review

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Marine Propellers and Propulsion
This is a great book for propeller designers, marine engineers and naval architects. Its author is John Carlton. The first chapters deal with types of propulsion system from the conventional fixed pitch propellers to the controllable pitch propellers and the unconventional magnetohydrodynamic propulsion. When I read this book particularly on chapters related directly to propeller design, I found that the author does not present the whole BP delta diagrams of Troost or B-Series from Wageningen Model Basin. The B- series propellers are very popular due to their high propulsion efficiency and simplicity. Although there are now the latest or more advanced design such as the highly skewed propeller which significantly reduces the vibration and increase efficiency, the Troost series are still widely used around the world.
In chapter 12 on the Resistance and Propulsion, Mr. Carlton discusses the theoretical foundation of ship resistance which is mainly made up of frictional and wave resistance. A diagram which depicts the components of ship resistance is presented on page 289. Methods of calculating the resistance are given on pages 299 - 306 with detailed discussion is emphasized on Taylor's Method, Ayre's Method, Auf'm Keller, Harval, Standard Series Data, and Regression Based Methods (by Holtrop). The direct model test for determining the resistance of ship model in her relation to full scale ship is discussed on page 304.
For beginning level students of naval architecture, this book can be considered as complicated because it is lack of sample calculations. As an alternative, they can choose another title i.e.
The
Design of Marine Screw Propellers
written by T.P. O'Brien as great reference for doing their semester assignment on ship propulsion particularly the propeller design.
All practicing propeller designers, marine engineers and naval architects must have this book in their library both as a reference and as a manual. This Marine Propellers and Propulsion book review was written by Charles Roring a freelance Naval Architect who lives in Manokwari of Papua

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Adding Doors and Windows in Archicad Home Design

Archicad of Graphisoft is a great tool for house design. Architects who have mastered it will definitely recommend it to their friends. This Building Information Modeling software (BIM) is easy to be operated. In addition, Archicad provides various construction elements which home designers can use to accelerate their work. One of the elements is door.


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In Archicad, doors and windows have similar behavior and handling properties. Before we add doors or windows to the floor plan drawing, we must remember that we can only use them if we have drawn walls for them. When we put a door or a window into the wall, Archicad will cut or create an opening into the wall.

To add a door into a wall, click the Door in the ToolBox. Then click the Door Default Settings located below the Toolbar to choose the type of door and to modify it. You can select the types of the doors, change its material or its color.
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On the following floorplan view, I have added 4 doors and 7 windows into the walls of the drawing. This is a small house with one bed room, one living room and one toilet room. You can see the floor plan of the house which I have made using Archicad below.
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To visualize the design in 3 Dimensional view, just press Ctrl + F5. The floor plan which I have created is then presented in the following 3D view presentation:
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It seems that the doors are closed. To change them to be in Open representation, with the doors on the floor plan selected, click again the Door Default Settings. Then click open the Parameters. Activate the 3D representation and change the Opening Angle in 3D to 80 degrees.
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After you have clicked the OK button, press F3. The 3D representation of the small house is now showing that the doors are open as you can see in the first picture above. by Charles Roring

Monday, November 30, 2009

Units and Drawing Scale in Archicad

Archicad is a very powerful Building Information Modeling (BIM) Software from Graphisoft. It is increasingly being used by architects around the world. In this article I am going to explain a little about how to set units and scale prior to designing a house or a building.
If you are an Architect who lives in India, you will use SI units as project preferences for your design. But if you live in the United States, you might prefer to keep the default settings which are in Imperial Units. As a new Archicad user, you might be confused about how to change the units from the Imperial System to the International System. If this is your case, don't worry. Take a look at my following explanation:
With the Archicad BIM software running on your computer screen, locate the Option menu. After you have found and clicked it, you will see such list as Element Attributes, Element Snap, Auto Intersection, Magic Want Settings, Add-on Manager, Project Preferences and Work Environment.
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Click the Project Preferences, you will see Working Units and Levels, Dimensions, Calculation Units, Construction Elements, Zones, Layout, Miscellaneous. Click Each of them to set your desired units of measurements.
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After setting the SI units, you can continue to setting the drawing scale. It is very easy. Click the Document menu and then the Floor Plan Scale… You can change the scale of the drawing which is suitable for your design project and the printer or plotter size.
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Saturday, November 28, 2009

Archicad and Home Design

The following articles discuss Archicad tutorials and home design for architects and interior designers. At the moment the latest release from Graphisoft is Archicad 13. It is introduced with Graphisoft BIM Server to support model based team collaboration. As the number of users of this home modeling software is going up, there is a need or demand for information on how to use it. What I provide below are not meant to replace the official explanation presented by Graphisoft - the official company which has created the Archicad rather they are my personal journals which contain stories of how I study this great software.
I hope that by sharing some of the following articles, new Archicad users especially on the introductory level may find them useful for their own personal studies. I am not sure if I am able to provide more step by step Archicad tutorials in the future.
I write about anything in this blog from earthquake resistant wooden house to how to protect our tropical rainforest which is facing rapid deforestation. So, when you come again in this blog and find out that there are no new articles about Archicad then I suggest that you visit the official website of graphisoft.com There, you will find various information that is more suitable to your needs.
If after reading the following posts, you find that there are some mistakes, then please use the comment form to write some of your opinions which are very important for the corrections or improvements of these tutorials.
Before I finish this post, I would like to recommend other similar products created by Autodesk which many architects from around the world use in their home or building design projects. They are Revit Architecture, Revit MEP and REVIT Structure. Because the three BIM softwares are made by one company, they are more compatible for one another. As every software has its advantages and disadvantages, every new user of REVIT or Archicad must consult his or her needs with experienced users of each of the software to assess the right solution for his or her design needs.
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Archicad and revit for house design

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The Maritime Engineering Reference Book


A Guide to Ship Design, Construction and Operation. When I read it for the first time, I remember the volumes of the Principles of Naval Architecture which were published by the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.(SNAME). Although it has just been released in 2008 by Elsevier, most naval architects will feel that they are quite familiar with the content of this book. As a matter of fact, it is a compilation of various naval architecture books printed by the same publisher.
For instances, the Chapter 2 which discusses the various types of marine vehicle is similar to Chapter 17 on Ship Types of the Introduction to Naval Architecture written by E.C. Tupper. The Chapter 3 Flotation and stability of the book is also the same as Chapter 5 Flotation and initial stability of the above mentioned book. For Chapter 4 the Ship Structures, it is taken from Chapter 6 The Ship Girder of volume 1 of Basic Ship Theory.
If you are a practicing naval architect, you will find that Chapter 6 on Marine Engines and Auxiliary Machinery is an interesting part of the book because it might be new subject for you. This chapter is actually a subject which is more suitable for marine engineers. Yet, naval architects who work in the design office or at shipyard will need to read it because they will always deal with such problems as propulsion systems, diesel engine performance, main engines, auxiliary machinery and equipment, instrumentation and control in their every day practical jobs. Whether you are a ship designer or a naval architect who works at dockyard, you will find that this book is very suitable for you. It does not have examples and exercises which you can study to understand each subject comprehensively but it discusses all the subjects that naval architects and marine engineers must know. Chapter 10 which deals with Underwater Vehicles is mostly about ROV or Remotely Operated Vehicles. There are not any discussions about how to design, construct and operate submarines.

Monday, November 23, 2009

A naval architect from Indonesia

She is a fresh graduate from naval architecture department of Hasanuddin University. She studied ship theory, ship construction and ship design. The most memorable experience was when she had to calculate the longitudinal and vertical centers of gravity of a ship (LCG and VCG). It was a semester assignment and not many naval architecture students passed easily. She was one of the few who could do and pass the subject in first attempt. Although naval architecture is an interesting field of engineering, it seems that now she is more interested in art particularly dancing. Nadia Siregar, an Indonesian girl, began learning Papuan traditional dance in 1993 when she was still at grade 3 of elementary school. She likes dancing because she sees that Papua island has many tribes and every tribe has its own unique cultural characteristics. "They are very interesting but I only want to focus on the traditional dance," she said.
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National and International Performance - Nadia is now a member of IRIANTOS Dance Group. Its chairman is George Wellem Yomaki. Their dance group has 30 members. Together with this group, Nadia has traveled across the country and even abroad to perform various Papuan dances. Some of the festivals where she and her friends performed were: Papuan Art Festival in Biak island in 2002; Multicultural Festival in Australia from 14-18 February 2004; Dance performance in Korror city of Palau islands in 2004; T heater Performance on the Exiled and Virtual Body in Makassar city from 10 to 11 August 2007; Monolog Performance of Makkunrai Project at the Societet de Harmoni building of Makassar city celebrating Kartini Day on 1 May 2008; Nusantara Cultural Carnival in Jembrana Bali in September 2008; President and Vice President of Indonesia's Campaign Declaration at the Monument of Proclamation in February 2009; Festival of Folk Theater Media on national level in Malang city of East Java, 30-31 May 2009; Nusantara Cultural Festival at the State Palace of Jakarta on 18 August 2009.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Ship Design and Performance for Masters and Mates

If you are now working in Ship design office or are now doing your ship design semester assignment in the university, then this book is suitable for you. Students and practicing Naval Architects will find that this book is very useful in helping them carrying out preliminary design calculations to obtain the principal dimensions of ships ranging from container ship to bulk carrier and passenger ship.
If you are a yacht designer then this book is not recommended for you. There is another book entitled Principles of Yacht Design written by Lars Larsson and Rolf E Eliasson that is more suitable for you. Most of the ships that are discussed in this book are displacement ships with hull material made of steel.
This ship design and Performance for Masters and Mates is divided into two main parts. Part 1 deals with Ship Design and Part 2 dicusses the Ship Performance.The followings are the detailed information about the book.
When I was still studying Naval Architecture in Pattimura University in 1996, I used Merchant Ship Design book which was written R Munro Smith and Caldwell's Screw Tug Design as a major reference for the design assignments. Although Merchant Ship Design is an old book, it is still widely read by most of students of naval architects in Indonesia due to the availability of explanations on how to develop hull form or lines plan manually without using ship's hull fairing software such as Maxsurf, Autoship, Rhino Marine, or Delftship. But now with the development of computer technology, the tedious hull fairing task has been omitted by these software.
Title: Ship Design and Performance for Masters and Mates
Author: Dr. C.B. Barrass
Publisher: Elsevier
Thickness: 265 pages, First published in 2004
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction xi
Part 1 Ship Design
1 Preliminary estimates for new ships: Main Dimensions 3
2 Preliminary estimates for group weights for a new ship 17
3 Preliminary capacities for a new ship 34
4 Approximate hydrostatic particulars 40
5 Types of ship resistance 54
6 Types of ship speed 63
7 Types of power in ships 68
8 Power coefficients on ships 74
9 Preliminary design methods for a ship's propeller and rudder 82
Nomenclature for ship design and performance 91
Part 2 Ship Performance
10 Modern Merchant Ships 103
11 Ships of this Millennium 109
12 Ship Trials: a typical 'Diary of Events' 116
13 Ship Trials: speed performance on the measured mile 120
14 Ship Trials: endurance and fuel consumption 132
15 Ship Trials: manoeuvring trials and stopping characteristics 137
16 Ship Trials: residual trials 144
17 Ship squat in open water and in confined channels 148
18 Reduced ship speed and decreased propeller revolutions in shallow waters 164
19 The phenomena of Interaction of ships in confined waters 180
20 Ship vibration 191
21 Performance enhancement in ship-handling mechanisms 202
22 Improvements in propeller performance 218
Useful design and performance formulae 228
Revision one-liners for student's examination preparation 235
How to pass examinations in Maritime Studies 239
References 241
Answers to questions 243
Index 247

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Ship Stability for Masters and Mates

Hydrostatics and Stability of ships are important subjects that are studied not only by naval architects but also by deck and engineering officers who are working aboard ships. The topics in this book are similar to the volume 1 of Basic Ship Theory and another ship theory book written by Russian naval scientists entitled Statics and Dynamics of the Ships.
I like this book very much because it provides a lot of worked examples ranging from simple up to complicated ones. The concept of mathematical integration using Simpsons' rules is introduced in page 68. These rules are used in most of the hydrostatics and volume calculations of ship forms.
Hydrostatic components such as form coefficients, ship displacement, center of buoyancy, center of gravity, metacenter height are discussed in the first few chapters of the book while more complicated subjects related to transverse stability, and effect of free surface of liquids on stability of ships are presented in later chapters of the book.


Although most of the ship form calculations are now executed using naval architecture and ship design software such as Maxsurf, Delftship and Fasthip, the author of the book deliberately provides samples of manual calculations to help students and practicing naval architects understand the philosophy and the theoretical foundation involved in ship theory and design.
The followings are the table of contents of the book
Preface vii
Introduction ix
Ship types and general characteristics xi
1 Forces and moments 1
2 Centroids and the centre of gravity 9
3 Density and speci®c gravity 19
4 Laws of ¯otation 22
5 Effect of density on draft and displacement 33
6 Transverse statical stability 43
7 Effect of free surface of liquids on stability 50
8 TPC and displacement curves 55
9 Form coef®cients 61
10 Simpson's Rules for areas and centroids 68
11 Final KG 94
12 Calculating KB, BM and metacentric diagrams 99
13 List 114
14 Moments of statical stability 124
15 Trim 133
16 Stability and hydrostatic curves 162
17 Increase in draft due to list 179
18 Water pressure 184
19 Combined list and trim 188
20 Calculating the effect of free surface of liquids (FSE) 192
21 Bilging and permeability 204
22 Dynamical stability 218
23 Effect of beam and freeboard on stability 224
24 Angle of loll 227
25 True mean draft 233
26 The inclining experiment 238
27 Effect of trim on tank soundings 243
28 Drydocking and grounding 246
29 Second moments of areas 256
30 Liquid pressure and thrust. Centres of pressure 266
31 Ship squat 278
32 Heel due to turning 287
33 Unresisted rolling in still water 290
34 List due to bilging side compartments 296
35 The Deadweight Scale 302
36 Interaction 305
37 Effect of change of density on draft and trim 315
38 List with zero metacentric height 319
39 The Trim and Stability book 322
40 Bending of beams 325
41 Bending of ships 340
42 Strength curves for ships 346
43 Bending and shear stresses 356
44 Simpli®ed stability information 372
Appendix I Standard abbreviations and symbols 378
Appendix II Summary of stability formulae 380
Appendix III Conversion tables 387
Appendix IV Extracts from the M.S. (Load Lines) Rules, 1968 388
Appendix V Department of Transport Syllabuses (Revised April 1995) 395
Appendix VI Specimen examination papers 401
Appendix VII Revision one-liners 429
Appendix VIII How to pass exams in Maritime Studies 432
Appendix IX Draft Surveys 434
Answers to exercises 437
Index 443

Basic Ship Theory

Basic Ship Theory were published in two volumes. The first deals with Hydrostatics and Strength of Ship whereas the second deals with Ship Dynamics and Design.
I have been reading the books since 1993 or 1994. They are easy to understand reference both for students and practicing naval architects.

Contents of volume 1:
1 Art or science? 1.1 Authorities
2 Some tools 2.1 Basic geometric concepts; 2.2 Properties of irregular shapes; 2.3 Approximate integration; 2.4 Computers; 2.5 Appriximate formulae and rules; 2.6 Statistics; 2.7 Worked examples; 2.8 Problems
3 Flotation and trim; 3.1 Flotation; 3.2 Hydrostatic data; 3.3 Worked examples; 3.4 Problems
4 Stability; 4.1 Initial stability; 4.2 Complete stability; 4.3 Dynamical stability; 4.4 Stability assessment; 4.5 Problems
5 Hazards and protection 5.1 Flooding and collision; 5.2 Safety of life at sea; 5.3 Other hazards; 5.4 Abnormal waves; 5.5 Environmental pollution; 5.6 Problems;
6 The ship girder 6.1 The standard calculation; 6.2 Material considerations; 6.3 Conclusions ; 6.4 Problems;
7 Structural design and analysis; 7.1 Stiffened plating;7.2 Panels of plating; 7.3 Frameworks; 7.4 Finite element techniques; 7.5 Realistic assessment of structral elements; 7.6 Fittings; 7.7 Problems;
8 Launching and docking; 8.1 Launching; 8.2 Docking; 8.3 Problems;
9 The ship environment and human factors 9.1 The external environment. The sea; 9.2 Waves
9.3 Climate;9.4 Physical limitations;9.5 The internal environment; 9.6 Motions; 9.7 The air
9.8 Lighting; 9.9 Vibration and noise; 9.10 Human factors; 9.11 Problems;
Bibliography
Answers to problems
Index
Contents of Volume 2
Powering of Ships: General Principles; Powering of Ships: application; Seekeeping; Maneuverability; Major ship design features; Ship design; Particular ship types
The thickness of volume 1 is 400 pages. For volume 2, it has 373 pages. The books are now published in a combined volume by the publisher to lower the price so that it can be sold or bought easily.
I like these books very much because they have many worked examples which can be solved through manual calculation or using computer spreadsheet software.
For volume 1 which deals with Ship Hydrostatics the use of computer spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel is highly recommended. To further your investigation on this subject, I should recommend another important book entitled Statics and Dynamics of the Ship published by Mir, now Pacific Publisher, whose authors are V Semyonov, Tyan, Shansky.
I remembered seeing, the first time, the two volumes of these Basic Ship Theory books in 1993 or 1994 in the library of Pattimura University of Maluku islands Indonesia. They were red labeled meaning that they could only be read in the room and were not available for renting.
I had to approach a staff of the library to request permission from him for photocopying them. During that years, internet was not available in my campus and the students did not know how or where to order the Basic Ship Theory books.
After long conversation and some arguments, I was then allowed to take the books out of campus to photocopy them in the downtown of Ambon city. That's what most university students in Indonesia did to be able to read the books. Why we photocopy them? The price of these two books equals to one month salary of middle level government employee in this country. So, a father must stop feeding the whole members of the family to set aside the money for his son or daughter to buy them.
I hope now that it is more affordable to students all around the world. Perhaps Longman as the publisher of Basic Ship Theory has provided the e-book or international edition versions to make the price cheaper.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Introduction to Naval Architecture

I read it for the first time in 1993 when I was still a student studying Naval Architecture in Pattimura University in Ambon city of Maluku islands Indonesia. Previously it was entitled Muckle's Naval Architecture for Marine Engineers. This book has been revised several times by its author E.C. Tupper. The latest edition of this book has Appendix B that explains how to use spreadsheet computer software for calculating hydrostatic properties of ships. This Appendix B is closely related to Chapter 4 and 5 which are the main topics that beginning students of naval architecture must understand before continuing their studies to more complicated theories.
In my opinion, the book is suitable for anybody who wants to study Naval Architecture for the first time besides similar other naval architecture books i.e. Basic Ship Theory Volume 1 and Volume 2, also written by the same author with his colleague K.J. Rawson.
The followings are the table of contents of the book Introduction to Naval Architecture
Preface to the fourth edition ix
Acknowledgements xiii
1 Introduction 1
Ships 1
Naval architecture and the naval architect 1
The impact of computers 6
2 Ship design 8
The requirements 8
Design 10
Developing the design 11
The design process 12
Some general design attributes 20
Safety 23
Summary 29
3 Definition and regulation 30
Definition 30
Displacement and tonnage 38
Regulation 40
Summary 48
4 Ship form calculations 49
Approximate integration 49
Spreadsheets 59
Summary 61
5 Flotation and initial stability 62
Equilibrium 62
Stability at small angles 66
Hydrostatic curves 74
Problems in trim and stability 76
Free surfaces 81
The inclining experiment 84
Summary 86
6 The external environment 87
Water and air 87
Wind 88
Waves 89
Wave statistics 99
Freak waves 100
Other extreme environments 101
Marine pollution 101
Summary 103
7 Stability at large angles 104
Stability curves 105
Weight movements 111
Dynamical stability 113
Stability standards 116
Flooding and damaged stability 118
Summary 127
8 Launching, docking and grounding 128
Launching 129
Docking 133
Grounding 139
Summary 142
9 Resistance 143
Fluid flow 143
Types of resistance 146
Calculation of resistance 157
Methodical series 162
Roughness 164
Form parameters and resistance 165
Model experiments 169
Full scale trials 169
Effective power 172
Summary 172
10 Propulsion 174
General principles 174
Propulsors 176
The screw propeller 178
Propeller thrust and torque 186
Presentation of propeller data 189
Hull efficiency elements 195
Cavitation 199
Other propulsor types 205
Ship trials 209
Main machinery power 214
Summary 216
11 Ship dynamics 218
The basic responses 218
Ship vibrations 224
Calculations 226
Vibration levels 230
Summary 232
12 Seakeeping 233
Seakeeping qualities 233
Ship motions 234
Presentation of motion data 236
Motions in irregular seas 237
Limiting factors 240
Overall seakeeping performance 243
Acquiring seakeeping data 244
Effect of ship form 247
Stabilization 248
Summary 252
13 Manoeuvring 253
Directional stability and control 254
Manoeuvring 255
Manoeuvring devices 261
Ship handling 269
Dynamic stability and control of submarines 272
Modifying the manoeuvring performance 273
Underwater vehicles 274
Summary 275
14 Main hull strength 276
Modes of failure 277
Nature of the ship's structure 279
Forces on a ship 280
Section modulus 289
Superstructures 294
Standard calculation results 297
Transverse strength 301
Summary 303
15 Structural elements 304
Strength of individual structural elements 304
Dynamics of longitudinal strength 311
Horizontal flexure and torsion 317
Load-shortening curves 318
Finite element analysis 321
Structural safety 322
Corrosion 324
Summary 327
16 The internal environment 328
Important factors 328
Summary 334
17 Ship types 335
Merchant ships 336
High speed craft 359
Warships 363
Summary 373
References and Further reading 375
Appendix A: Units, notation and sources 385
Appendix B: The displacement sheet and hydrostatics 391
Appendix C: Glossary of terms 414
Appendix D: The Froude notation 423
Appendix E: Questions 428
Index 437

Naval Architecture Books

While I was still studying naval architecture in Ambon city of the Maluku islands of Indonesia, I photocopied a number of ship theory books from the library of our faculty. These books might not be available anymore because they were published between 1950s and 1970s. If they are still being published. their contents might have been edited to adapt with the latest improvement in shipbuilding technology. Because most of our lecturers studied naval architecture and marine engineering in Russia during 1960s, the books that they used to teach us were written by Russian naval scientists. I still remember their titles. For ship theory, we used Statics and Dynamics of the Ships.
Here are naval architecture books that I have at this moment.
Introduction to Naval Architecture; E.C. Tupper- Elsevier; 2004
Ship Stability for Masters and Mates fifth edition; Captain D.R. Derrett, Revised by Dr.C.B. Barrass - Butterworth Heinemann; 1999
Maritime Engineering Reference Books
  • Volume 1 Hydrostatics and Strength; KJ Rawson; EC Tupper 2001 - Butterworth Heinemann
  • Volume 2 Ship Dynamics and Design; KJ Rawson; EC Tupper 2001 - Butterworth Heinemann
Basic Principles of Ship Propulsion - MAN Diesel A/S, Frederikshavn, Denmark
Boatowner's Illustrated Electrical Handbook
Controllable Pitch Propeller - MAN Diesel A/S, Frederikshavn, Denmark
Fishing Boat Construction: 2 Building a fiberglass fishing boat
A conceptual design of a fiber reinforced plastic fishing boat for traditional fisheries in malaysia
Fuel and Financial Savings for operators of small fishing vessels
Guide to Ship Repair Estimates (in Man Hours); Don Butler - Butterworth Heinemann; 2000
Added Masses of Ship Structures by Alexandr I Korotkin - Springer
Man on the Ocean; R.M. Ballantyne (edisi html)
Marine Design - Rhinoceros Advanced Training Series; 2003
Marine Structural Design; Yong Bai - Elsevier; 2003
Ship Design and Construction; written by a group of authorities - editor Robert Taggart - SNAME; 1980
Ship Design for Efficiency and Economy second edition; H. Sneekluth and V. Bertram - Butterworth Heinemann; 1998
Ship Handling Theory and Practice; D.J. House - Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann; 2007
Shipbuilding Technology; V.K. Dormidontov and friends, translated by J.H. Dixon - Mir Publisher 1966
Ship Hydrostatic and Stability; A.B. Biran - Butterworth Heinemann; 2003
Ships and Science - The Birth of Naval Architecture in the Scientific Revolution, 1600-1800; Larrie D. Ferreiro; The MIT Press; 2007
Fishing Boat Design: 2 V-bottom boats of planked plywood construction; FAO Rome 2004
You may ask where to get these books. If you want to buy them, you can go to Amazon.com but there are many of them which you can download from avaxhome.ws
Rules for ship and boat construction which can be downloaded from American Bureau of Shipping website
ABS Guide for Building and Classing Offshore Racing Yacht 1994
ABS Rules for Building and Classing Reinforced Plastic Vessels 1978
ABS Rules for Building and Classing Steel Vessels 2009; Part 3 Hull Construction and Equipment

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Hydrostatics and Stability


Ship’s hydrostatics and stability are the first subjects which students in naval architecture study before they deal with other subjects such as resistance and propulsion, ship’s strength and ship design.
Naval architecture is art and science of ship design and construction. In dealing with hydrostatic properties of ships, naval architects have to use mathematical approaches that are not exact calculations especially in determining the area of waterplane, the displacement of the ship and the position of the center of buoyancy and center-gravity of the ship.

Although naval architecture is not an exact science, it is a science. It is one of the most complicated yet fascinating engineering fields that demand every person involved in these subjects to have high proficiency in mathematics. The number of articles related to hydrostatics and stability on this blog, if you want to read, check them at  label Ship Stability of this blog. posts are still growing. So, if you find that the topics that you are looking for are not available, please come back again next time.

Propeller and Ship Propulsion

I have written a number of articles related to resistance and propulsion of ship especially in relation to the design of marine screw propellers. You can see them at labels Marine Propeler and Resistance of Ship that you can see on the left column of this blog. Please, click the following links to read each of them. In the design of marine screw propeller, the first thing that naval architects must perform is carrying out resistance calculation. After obtaining the effective power and speed curve the next step is doing the forward calculation to obtain delivered power, shaft power and finally the brake power. The calculation will then be continued backward using the real break power (in kilowatt or horse power) obtained from the engine's brochure to obtain the shaft power and delivered horse power by considering the losses in gear box, shaft bearings, stern tube and bossing. When these have been done, the next step is executing the propeller design calculation.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Adding Knuckle Line or Hard Chine to a Boat’s Hull in Delftship

Delftship is a ship design software which enables naval architects to create, or modify the hull of a boat or a ship effortlessly. The ship can be modeled accurately in Delftship environment. In my previous article, I discussed about the drawing modes which delfship has and how to draw deck for yacht design in Delftship.
delftship-knuckle-hull-1.jpg
When designing high speed boat, a naval architect will design the form of the hull that is not fully displacement one. In high speed displacement form boat will face problems related to stability. So, to solve the problems, naval architects will use plane hull or semi displacement hull which has V form. In other words, the hull will not round but will have knuckle lines.
To create such hull with chines, with the Delfship program on your computer screen opens, first click the longitudinal line of a half bread hull in perspective view while you are pressing Ctrl key. Look at the above picture.
After that when the line has got yellow color, click Edit in the menu bar and select Edge. Then click the Crease option. Now, the yellow line of the hull line which we want to knuckle will be stronger.
delftship-knuckle-hull-2.jpg
To visualize the hard chine which we have just created for the boat's hull, in perspective view, press Ctrl - G. The computer screen will present a 3D view of the designed boat like the following.
delftship-knuckle-hull-3.jpg
If we want to see the underwater form of the boat, we just turn it by moving the scroll bar at the right and at the bottom of the computer screen. The boat's or ship's hull with hard chine should look like the one below:
delftship-knuckle-hull-4.jpg
If you do not have the program, just go to delftship.net and register your name in the website. They will give you access to the content of the Delftship website including the download link for getting the free edition of Delftship. Delftship is similar to Maxsurf, Rhino Marine, and Autoship. It can be used to create 3D forms of ship models including the hulls, superstructure, masts, rudder and other appendages. It can also calculate the hydrostatic properties and resistance of the boat or ship. by Charles Roring