Bureau Veritas appoints Damen RD&I as ‘Service supplier’

Noise and vibration measurements on board new-build ships with comfort class notation no longer require a Bureau Veritas noise and vibration specialist to accompany Damen in taking measurements. The classification society now allows Damen Research, Development & Innovation (RD&I) to perform measurements independently. “This makes sea trial planning far more flexible.”

Noise and vibration affect crews’ comfort and health. For this reason, more and more ships are sold with a comfort class notation, incorporating corresponding stricter requirements regarding on-board noise and vibration levels. During comfort class on-board noise measurements, a sound and vibration specialist from Bureau Veritas was always present to carry out measurements. RD&I was already allowed to independently perform noise and vibration measurements for ships without a comfort class notation.

Principal Research Engineer Tjakko Keizer, RD&I: “Now that we are an approved service supplier, we are allowed to measure on board ships classified by Bureau Veritas and report the results. Based on our measurements and reporting, Bureau Veritas issues the class certificate.”

Service supplier

RD&I Development Engineer Frenk van Leersum is involved in noise measurements during sea trials. He initiated and supervised the application to Bureau Veritas to obtain approval for RD&I to act as a service supplier and perform measurements independently.

Frenk: “A service supplier is an individual or company, not employed by a classification society, acting at the request of, for example, a shipyard. The service supplier performs inspections and provides services such as measurements. Class surveyors use the results to make decisions affecting classification and certifications.”

Quality manual

Meeting the requirements for being admitted as a service supplier was ‘doable’, explains Frenk. “Based on a joint project with Bureau Veritas, we had already been able to build up experience with comfort class measurements, especially on tugs. We were already following many of the required procedures, we just needed to defi ne them more clearly. Some points, such as the feedback loop, also needed a little improvement.

For this reason, we wrote a quality manual, ensuring procedures are fixed and clear for everyone involved. With the tightening of the feedback loop, a continuous improvement process is guaranteed: practical measurement experiences flow back as process improvements and knowledge building. Due to possible conflicts of interest, we also had to demonstrate our independence within the Damen organisation. The corporatisation of the RD&I department as a separate entity in the Damen holding company in 2022 helped with this.”

Frenk: “External specialists are scarce, so planning trial runs has become easier now that we can provide this service ourselves. Costs will also be lower as a result, because we used to also carry out measurements ourselves in order to feed data into our noise prediction database, and we can increase our knowledge, making it possible to provide good design recommendations regarding noise and vibration.”

On the photos from left to right: Frenk van Leersum and Tjacco Keizer