NA programs approval

[Guillermo]

I'm interesteed in knowing what the procedures in the different countries to get a naval architecture software approved by the maritime authorities. As far as I know in Spain we have not an official approvement procedure (just a common practice one) and there could be an interest in stablishing some, for the sake of professional users of such programs. We have been talking to the authorities through our Association and we are looking for a way to go.

Do the local maritime authorities in other countries approve by themselves? Are there any companies or institutions (a certifying institution, i.e.) carrying on the approval process? What the procedures?

I'd greatly appreciate whatever information.
Thanks in advance.

[MikeJohns]

Guillermo
Nothing approved here (Australia). Stability is accepted from the major packages that have been shown to be accurate, Scantlings are still thoroughly checked in the certification process.

If designing to USL, if to Lloyds DNV etc it's all over to the society anyway.

I doubt there will ever be any official acceptance from our state authorities. The level of acceptance depends very much on the individual who occupies the office.

[Guillermo]

Thanks, Mike.

It's pretty much the same around here, but I've tested four well known (in Spain at least) programs with the same vessel and results presented significative differences between them, specially with the GZ curves (hydros were quite the same, there were some random differences in KN - in general increasing with increasing displacements- and there were even some relevant deviations when deriving KG from the inclining experiment.

Two of the programs have been developed in Spain, and the two other abroad. I submitted results to the authorities and asked them about which program should I use from then on. Still waiting.....

Have anyone conducted this kind of crossed testing using several programs with the same vessel?

Cheers.