LR and ABS join forces to deliver new industry standard software

Common Structural Rules Software LLC, a joint venture company formed by Lloyd’s Register (LR) and ABS, has released new software tools for meeting the requirements of the IACS Common Structural Rules (CSR), which entered into force on 1 July 2015.
Developed from the technical strengths of LR and ABS, version 2.5 of the CSR Prescriptive Analysis and the new CSR Finite Element (FE) Analysis software, allow assessment of whole vessel structures, including new bulk carrier and oil tanker designs. Both class societies will use these new tools to evaluate new designs to the CSR.
“I am pleased that the strategy laid out more than a decade ago is achieving our objectives,” says LR’s Marine Director Tom Boardley. “Following the development of the CSR in 2005, LR and ABS quickly realized that only common software would support the industry desire for common scantlings, and our CSR Software tools had become widely used. With the introduction of the new Common Structural Rules, we have developed a completely new generation of CSR software that will enable shipbuilders and shipowners to easily and consistently address the requirements of the new IACS Rules.”
“This software constitutes a new industry standard,” says ABS Chairman, President and CEO Christopher J. Wiernicki. “In our collaboration as two of the world’s leading class societies, we continue to achieve our primary objective to enable the advancement of the maritime industry through reliable and dependable software applications.”
The CSR Prescriptive Analysis software requires only that the user input the appropriate data. All of the outputs are clear, straightforward and easy to read. A summary report provides required and offered scantlings with graphic representation of any deficiencies. An intermediate report summarises dominate criteria for each structure and a detailed report provides data for every parameter value. In conjunction with CSR FE Analysis, this complete tool makes verifying compliance with CSR possible with minimal effort.
The software has quickly become popular with users. Nearly 500 licenses were issued prior to the production release. This release will be followed with regular updates for additional structural coverage and functionality and to address ongoing CSR changes.