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October
11 , 2004
(Houston, TX---) The Society of Naval Architects and
Marine Engineers (SNAME) awarded their highest honor,
the David W. Taylor Medal for notable achievement in
naval architecture or marine engineering, to recently
retired ABS Executive Vice President and Chief Technology
Officer Dr. Donald Liu at the society’s Annual
Banquet during the SNAME Marine Technology Conference
and Expo in Washington, D.C.
Liu, a 37-year veteran of ABS and the “Father
of ABS SafeHull”, believes "technology is
the servant of safety." Liu, and the technology
team at ABS, first developed the Dynamic Loading Approach
(DLA) to assess the structural strength of vessels,
and then extended that pioneering approach with the
development of the innovative SafeHull system.
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SafeHull is a dynamic-based ship design evaluation system
founded on engineering first principles. SafeHull has received
widespread industry recognition as one of the most significant
technical contributions toward enhanced ship safety, and the
consequent protection of life, property and the environment
in recent years.
“Liu has played a key role in building the technological
foundation for the modern ABS Rules,” said SNAME President
Bruce S. Rosenblatt. “Ship classification is based on
fundamental analysis of the loads and structural response
to those loads. In an era of rapid change in ship size and
structural arrangements the fundamental work and research
and development that has taken place under Dr. Liu’s
decades of technology leadership at ABS has contributed significantly
to safety in the shipping industry.”
Dr. Liu graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at
Kings Point and began his career by sailing as a deck officer.
With the support of SNAME scholarships he earned BS and MS
degrees in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Upon graduation,
Liu joined ABS as a Surveyor. In the early 1970s he was selected
to represent ABS at the University of Arizona to work on a
joint ABS, Chevron Shipping and University of Arizona research
project to develop computer software to analyze very large
tanker structures. During this time, Liu earned a PhD in Mechanical
Engineering from the University of Arizona focusing his research
on Finite Element (FE) Analysis of ship structures.
Dr. Liu has authored or coauthored more than thirty five
papers, reports and book chapters dealing with FE analysis,
structural dynamics, ultimate strength, hull loading, structural
stability, structural optimization and probabilistic aspects
of ship loading and strength.
He has been an active participant in key national and international
organizations concerned with ship structures research, development
and design. Liu served as the ABS representative on the interagency
Ship Structures Committee, a member of the Standing Committees
of the International Ship and Offshore Structures congress
(ISSC) and conference member on Practical Design of Ships
and Mobile Units (PRADS). He has also served on the National
Research Council’s Marine Board Implementation and Review
Committee for the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and served as
a member of the Board of Trustees of the Webb Institute of
Naval Architecture.
Liu retired from his position at ABS earlier this year. However,
he continues in the role of consultant and was recently elected
to the ABS Board of Directors.
Founded in 1862, ABS is a leading international classification
society devoted to promoting the security of life, property
and the marine environment through the development and verification
of standards for the design, construction and operational
maintenance of marine-related facilities.
(Editor’s Note: A photograph of Dr. Donald Liu is available
for download from the ABS website at: http://www.eagle.org/news/photogallery/execs/Liu/dliu.jpg.
For more information, contact:
Susan V. Gonzalez, ABS
1-281-877-5853
or sgonzalez@eagle.org
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