Stainless Steel ROV Garage design

Initial design involved ensuring that the garage frame could house the ROV and all of the required TMS equipment while remaining within strict size, weight and weight balance restrictions. To achieve as light and unobtrusive a frame as possible we used high strength 31803 duplex folded sections for the main structural load path and less strong 316L rolled stainless steel sections elsewhere. The decision to use folded sections, rather than fabricated plate girders, was taken to reduce costs and to reduce potential excessive distortion during fabrication of stainless steel plate girders. In addition to ensuring that the frame was structurally adequate during operation, it was also imperative to ensure its integrity in the stowed condition, where it will be subjected to very large horizontal accelerations from the movement of the ship in the most severe marine environments.