HKIE Professional Assessment - Marine & Naval Architecture Discipline study plan
HKIE Professional Assessment - Marine & Naval Architecture Discipline · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Ship Design and Naval Architecture Fundamentals
Derive and apply the principal dimensions, form coefficients (CB, CM, CP, CWP) and their interrelationships, working from lines-plan data rather than memorised formulas.
Compute displacement, LCB, LCF and sectional-area properties for a simple hull form and state the assumptions behind each calculation.
Explain how hull-form choices trade off internal volume, resistance and stability, and justify a form selection for a stated operational profile.
Sketch and annotate the general-arrangement logic of a mid-size vessel, linking compartment layout to tonnage, stability and access requirements.
Your checkpoint
A one-page calculation sheet computing CB, CM, CP, CWP, displacement and LCB for a supplied set of offset data, with a short written justification of the chosen hull-form trade-offs (500-word-equivalent commentary).
Ship Design and Naval Architecture Fundamentals & Ship Hydrostatics, Stability and Subdivision
Integrate hydrostatic curves, Bonjean curves and cross-curves into a coherent stability workflow and read them correctly at arbitrary draughts.
Compute intact stability at small angles and at large angles, including GZ curves derived from KN data, and identify the limiting stability criteria that govern a design.
Apply free-surface correction, inclining-experiment principles and the derivation of KG from a measured heel.
Assess the effect of subdivision on flooding and damage stability, including permeability assumptions and the concept of the margin line.
Your checkpoint
A worked stability booklet extract for one vessel: GZ curve plotted from KN data at three displacements, with free-surface correction applied and a written statement of which criteria are satisfied or violated.
Ship Hydrostatics, Stability and Subdivision & Ship Structures, Strength and Structural Design
Explain the structural idealisation of a hull girder and compute section modulus, second moment of area and bending stress at deck and keel for a simplified midship section.
Distinguish still-water and wave-induced bending moments and describe how classification rules envelope them for design.
Identify the primary, secondary and tertiary structural members of a hull and explain the load path each carries.
Describe buckling and ultimate-strength checks for stiffened panels, including plate slenderness and column buckling of stiffeners.
Your checkpoint
A midship-section stress calculation: section modulus and deck/keel bending stresses worked from a simplified scantling drawing, compared against allowable stress with a one-page commentary on governing failure modes.
Ship Structures, Strength and Structural Design & Ship Construction, Materials and Production Engineering
Apply the survey-and-rule logic that links structural design to classification requirements, including corrosion addition and minimum thickness criteria.
Explain welding procedures, weldability of marine steels and the inspection methods (visual, NDT, UT, MPI) used to accept structural connections.
Compare construction materials and grades (mild steel, higher-strength steel, aluminium, composites) on strength, weight, fatigue and cost grounds.
Describe the fabrication sequence from plate cutting and forming through block assembly and erection, and identify the tolerances and distortion controls that matter.
Your checkpoint
A two-page structural-and-fabrication note for a chosen block: material and grade selection with justification, welding and NDT regime, and a block-assembly sequence with the key dimensional controls identified.
Ship Resistance, Propulsion and Seakeeping
Decompose total resistance into its components and select the appropriate prediction method (ITTC, Holtrop-type, model-test scaling) for a given hull and speed range.
Apply the ITTC-78 extrapolation procedure and explain the assumptions and limitations of form-factor and correlation-allowance methods.
Match propeller characteristics (open-water curves, cavitation limits, wake and thrust deduction) to a hull and check a propulsion point against engine capability.
Explain seakeeping fundamentals: natural periods, response amplitude operators, added resistance in waves and the effect of speed and heading on motion response.
Your checkpoint
A resistance-and-propulsion estimate for one vessel at design and trial speeds: resistance curve, required power, propeller selection and predicted propulsion point, with the method's limitations stated explicitly.
Marine Machinery, Systems and Propulsion Plant & Marine Electrical, Control and Automation Systems
Explain the layout, matching and operating envelope of a marine propulsion plant, including engine load diagrams, propeller-law relationships and part-load fuel consumption.
Describe the essential auxiliary systems (fuel, lubricating oil, cooling, compressed air, bilge and ballast) and the failure modes each is designed to prevent.
Interpret the requirements for electrical generation, distribution, protection and redundancy on board, including the significance of class rules on essential services.
Explain automated monitoring and control architectures, alarm and safety interlocks, and how the human-machine interface affects operator error.
Your checkpoint
A propulsion-plant and systems schematic with a written explanation of engine-propeller matching across the operating range and a table of essential-service electrical loads with redundancy justification.
Marine Surveying, Classification and Regulatory Compliance & Maritime Safety, Risk and Environmental Protection
Map the regulatory framework: flag-state administration, classification societies, port-state control, IMO instruments and how statutory and class requirements differ in scope.
Explain the survey regime over a vessel's life, including the scope of annual, intermediate, special and dry-docking surveys and the meaning of class conditions and suspensions.
Apply the principal safety instruments (SOLAS, MARPOL, load line, tonnage, collision regulations) to a practical compliance question and identify the governing requirement.
Carry out a structured risk assessment (HAZID or FMEA style) for a defined marine operation and rank the findings by risk level.
Your checkpoint
A compliance-and-risk pack: a survey-cycle timeline for one vessel type, a mapped list of applicable statutory instruments, and a completed risk assessment for a chosen operation with ranked findings and proposed controls.
Engineering Practice, Ethics and Professional Conduct & Ship Design and Naval Architecture Fundamentals & Ship Hydrostatics, Stability and Subdivision & Ship Resistance, Propulsion and Seakeeping & Ship Structures, Strength and Structural Design & Marine Machinery, Systems and Propulsion Plant & Ship Construction, Materials and Production Engineering & Marine Surveying, Classification and Regulatory Compliance & Maritime Safety, Risk and Environmental Protection & Marine Electrical, Control and Automation Systems
Apply the professional-ethics and conduct expectations of the HKIE to realistic scenarios involving conflicts of interest, safety-sign-off pressure and reporting of non-conformity.
Practise structured written responses to professional-assessment style questions, including assumption-stating and clear justification of engineering judgement.
Consolidate the weakest two domains identified from earlier weeks through targeted re-working of failed calculations and explanations.
Rehearse a concise verbal defence of a design or survey decision, including how uncertainty is communicated to a client or regulator.
Your checkpoint
A full mock assessment: four written answers under time, covering one heavy-weight domain and one ethics scenario, self-marked against a written rubric, plus a one-page personal weak-points log with a remediation plan.
Milestones
Week 2: Produce, from memory and within 30 minutes, the definitions and relationships of the form coefficients and the intact-stability criteria, then verify against notes; any item you cannot reconstruct goes on the weak-points log.
Week 4: Complete the midship-section stress calculation unaided and explain the still-water versus wave-induced bending distinction aloud in under five minutes without notes.
Week 6: Explain engine-propeller matching and the essential-services redundancy philosophy to a non-specialist, and show that your resistance estimate and propulsion point are internally consistent.
Week 8: Score at least 60 percent on the timed mock assessment, with no domain left unaddressed, and demonstrate a written ethics response that identifies the conflict, the governing obligation and the action taken.