Application of a ship-routeing fatigue model to case studies of 2800 TEU and 4400 TEU container vessels

Ship structures will always be subjected to and suffer from fatigue damage and fracture. However, we can become better at utilising the materials and the structures and operating them more wisely, leading to less maintenance, extended service life, and enhanced safety. In this study, a fatigue model useful for ship routeing is presented. Similar to ship routeing design for ETA and fuel reduction, the objective here is to demonstrate the possibility and benefits of ship route planning leading to a reduction of fatigue damage accumulation. In the context of ship fatigue route planning, uncertainty analysis in fatigue assessments of container ships is discussed. The proposed ship routing fatigue model is employed by case studies on two container vessels to illustrate the possible benefits to the fatigue safety of ship structures. Sea environments in the application are obtained from hindcast wave data and a spatio-temporal wave model. The results show that the fatigue damage of the studied container ship structures can be decreased by more than 50% if the awareness and knowledge of ship fatigue route planning is employed