Abstract :
Ship & Marine Data Systems worked with Lloyd´s Register for a number of years on the development of their Voyage Data Recorder, the shipping equivalent of the aircraft `Black Box´ flight recorder. This work included measurement of hull stress, and it was thus a natural progression to the design and manufacture of a hull stress monitor. The first three stress monitor systems were designed to a specification prepared by BP Shipping Ltd, who have now fitted them in six ships, as part of a long term study of stress in VLCC´s. The system design has been improved over the past four years as operational experience is gained, with changes in both hardware and software being implemented, particular attention being given to the transducers
