Theory and practice: Requirements for adhesive bonding in marine structures

Abstract

The use of adhesive bonding in ship structures has been slow compared to other industries. For high-speed craft adhesives are used for the panes, seat rails, the rudder bearings in the housing and propulsion shafts. Adhesives are used for the connection of rotor blades of a wind turbine. This paper describes specialities of the design of adhesive bonds, rules and guidelines as well as approval aspects for adhesives and manufacturing requirements. For panes of a cruise vessel a calculation method is compared with full-scale test results and finite element results. The authors of this paper want to show that adhesive bonding is a suitable way of joining elements, assuming that all relevant pre-conditions are fulfilled.