The BONDSHIP project guidelines

Foreword to the guidelines

The BONDSHIP project guidelines can be considered the main deliverable of the BONDSHIP project. They sum up all the steps necessary to design, build, inspect and repair all types of bonded joints in ships. The guidelines describe a general framework for the safe use of bonded joints. However, they do not provide detailed “recipes” for the user to follow. Hence additional information is needed to successfully use adhesive bonding.

There are two parts:
1) Code: The objective is to provide general requirements to ensure the reliability and safety of load-carrying bonded joints in ships.
2) Recommended Practices: This document provides guidance and examples on how to design, produce and inspect an adhesively bonded joint. Furthermore it shall provide the basis for meeting the general requirements laid out in the Code document.

Significant progress was made in BONDSHIP. However, most designers, builders and owners of ships are not aware of the possibilities (and limitations) that adhesive bonding offers. The BONDSHIP guidelines show how to safely introduce bonded joints, first in less critical areas and increasingly also in more critical areas as service experience is gained and confidence in the long term performance is built. By making the BONDSHIP guidelines available to the public we hope to establish a broad user base for adhesive bonding in marine structures – thus paving the way for establishing adhesive bonding as a standard joining process in shipbuilding.

  Jan R. Weitzenböck, DNV Research & Innovation
  Dag McGeorge, DNV Structural Integrity & Laboratories

What others say

Read a review of the BONDSHIP project guidelines in "The Naval Architect" January 2007.

How to purchase the guidelines

You can purchase a copy of the BONDSHIP project guidelines for 449,- Norwegian Kroner (incl. postage and packing) from the DNV webshop :  http://webshop.dnv.com/global/category.asp?c0=2675&c1=2676.

last edited: 05.12.2008