Stamford, Connecticut: A new set of guidelines is now available summing up all the steps necessary to design, create, inspect and repair all types of bonded joints in ships. Cruise ships and other advanced ships such as LNG tankers are increasingly utilising materials that cannot be cost-effectively joined by welding.

Adhesive bonding is considered by many to be a possible solution. DNV has carried out research on using adhesives in order to be able to assist designers, shipowners and builders to meet the challenges involved in this new joining method. The new guidelines describe a general framework for the safe use of bonded joints.

The new guidelines are the result of a 4.6 MEURO research & development project partly financed by the European Commission. The aim has been to make European shipyards more competitive by achieving considerable cost savings in the production of passenger ships and high-speed craft. The focus has been on aluminium-aluminium, aluminium-steel and aluminium-composite joints. The name of the project was BONDSHIP – Bonding of lightweight materials for the cost-effective production of high-speed craft and passenger ships.

DNV has co-ordinated the project and developed the guidelines for the design and modelling of bonded joints, including acceptance tests and criteria. The project had 13 partners from seven nations, and the industrial partners included Fincantieri, Meyer Werft, Vosper Thornycroft, Alcan, Sika and Stena Rederi.

“We have now published the BONDSHIP guidelines as a book. They show how to safely introduce bonded joints, first in less critical areas and then into more critical applications as service experience and confidence in long-term performance are gradually achieved,” explains DNV’s project manager Jan Weitzenböck.