Folded Flanges

There are different ways in shipbuilding to stiffen free plate edges. One way of doing it is to weld a flat bar ("face plate" - in Hull called (welded) flange) symmetrically or asymmetrically to the edge. Another method is to weld a stiffener parallel to the edge at a certain distance.

A third method, often used especially in small parts, typically brackets, is to bend a part of the actual plate to form a structure that looks and acts like a profile. This is in Hull called a folded (or bent) flange.

A number of characteristics of folded flanges, for example, the width of the area to be bent related to the nominal height, the radius of the bending tool, the shapes of the ends of the flange, may vary considerably between different yards. Therefore, a yard should be able to set up a suitable flange standard of its own. AVEVA Marine has a facility with exactly this objective. Based on a number of basic patterns it may establish any number of flange alternatives to be used both in brackets and other plate parts. The flange definition facility is described in this document.