Historical Background
Launched in 1854, the USS Constellation was the last
sailing man of war designed and built by the US Navy. Unlike the
more well known USS Constitution, the Constellation
has not been extensively rebuilt over its history; consequently,
a far higher percentage of its wooden structure of the vessel is
the original, irreplaceable fabric. The wooden hanging knees show
original adze marks made during their shaping -- clearly from
their form they were once massive, live oak trees.
Prior to its drydocking, the vessel was in very bad condition
and in danger of total loss from either through sinking,
structural failure or simply through decay. The immediate goals
of the hull repair were to restore the vessel's hull strength
while retaining as much historic structure as possible. The
repaired hull will be the foundation of the complete restoration
of the vessel an operational vessel during the US Civil War.
Technical Support
- Rebuilding the USS Constellation is a massive, three year
effort. TCM has supplied all the engineering
technical support necessary for the project:
- Structural analysis and design of the hull repair
- Documentation of the hull before and after the repair
- Measured scale drawings of the structure as built
- Historic Structures Report
Digitizing the hull
- Characteristic lines on the hull are digitized using a
"total station" surveying instrument.
After establishing an arbitrary spatial reference system,
the operator aims the intrument at a reflective target at
the point of interest on the hull. The 3D points
are recorded in an ASCII file, transformed into the ship
local coordinate system, and finally turned into AutoCad
3D polylines. This method is extremely accurate and
much more efficient than previous methods of hull lines
take-off.
Digitizing the new sheer line
These 3D polylines can be used to: document the shape
of the hull, record distortions, or to map the hull for
additons or repairs. We used them as the basis for
a complex surface model of the hull:
Multisurf hull model of USS
Constellation
The surface model then is used to make the lines plan
and to accurately generate the shape of new structure
such as the replacement topside frames.
Frames waiting for installation
Replacement topside frames
USS Constellation
is back at its home berth
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