Saving weight and increasing performance by introducing a composite gangway for the Ampelmann system
Creating a producible and certifiable design
Jeroen Thuijs (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
Julien van Campen – Mentor (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
Jos Sinke – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
Otto Bergsma – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
Koen van Valkenhoef – Graduation committee member
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Abstract
With a changing market for offshore crew transfer systems the current Ampelmann systems are vulnerable for competitors. One of the downsides of the current system is its influence on the ship due to the system mass. A lightweight re-design of the current steel gangway using composites could start an overall weight decrease. A composite gangway has been designed with the focus on producibility and certifiability. As there are no active regulations regarding the use of composites for this offshore application collaboration has taken place to define the critical points. The created composite design saves 65% weight compared to the current design while being 40% cheaper over a 20 year life time excluding initial investments. A prototype needs to be build and tested to get the required certification once the fire requirements are decided upon.