By Stefan Kirchner

Dry cargo liquefaction of cargoes such as nickel, iron or bauxite leads to numerous losses of human lives and shipping vessels. Despite regulatory and technical efforts, it appears very difficult if not impossible to completely prevent dry cargo from getting wet. The particles of the dry cargo, e.g. iron ore, start to move like a lump of liquid after it has become partially humid. In strong seas, this can lead to the vessel capsizing and sinking. There are two approaches how to deal with this. One approach limits the effect of liquefaction while the second in addition serves to prevent liquefaction in the first place.
The first suggestion is the introduction of an ultralight honeycomb structure into the cargo hold, which limits the movements of the cargo. Such a lattice should consist of a small number of components so that it can be removed quickly (e.g. with an excavator which would be used to remove the dry cargo) before unloading the cargo at the destination.

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Authors

Stefan Kirchner

Metadata

Zenodo.15634

Published: 24 Feb, 2015

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