Two methods of rubber fender arrangement
The arrangement of rubber fenders shall ensure the safe berthing of ships under various water levels and drafts.
- Vertical arrangement
When rubber fenders are arranged in the vertical direction of the wharf, the ship should be able to use the freeboard part of the hull to contact the fenders under different draughts and different water levels. When arranged vertically, large wharves with the similar tonnage of docked ships can be arranged intermittently. For docks with large differences in tonnage of docked ships, continuous arrangements should be made. For the wharf with large water level variation and multi-layer mooring structure, it should be arranged in layers.
According to the relevant engineering design experience, when the tidal range changes greatly, when designing the low tide level, in order to make the hull and the fender have sufficient contact length, it is usually necessary to ensure that the top of the ship’s side is higher than the centerline of the rubber fender. The fenders can be extended to a certain distance below the design low water level. When designing the high water level, pay attention to the roll problem of the empty ship when berthing. If the height of the fender top is too low, the hull will tilt to the shoreside, causing the accident of the hull collision with the dock.
- Horizontal arrangement
In order to prevent the ship from directly colliding with the quay wall of the wharf, the rubber fenders should be arranged along the horizontal direction of the wharf at a certain lateral spacing. The wall-type wharf should be arranged at equal intervals, generally 5~20m. High-piled wharves should be arranged on bents. The dolphin pier should be arranged symmetrically on the docking pier. When the ship is docked, the hull and the dock are generally in point contact at an incident angle. The lateral arrangement of the fender must ensure that after the fender is compressed, the ship will not directly collide with the dock.
The information is edited by Nanjing DEERS. If you are interested in rubber fenders, welcome to contact us: benny@chinarubberfender.com.