A METHOD FOR ESTIMATING STRENGTH

AND RELIABILITY OF STIFFENED PLATES

FOR PONTOON-TYPE VLFS
Hiroo OKADA, Koji MASAOKA, Takashi TSUBOGO
Osaka Prefecture University
Sakai-shb Osaka 599-8531, Japan
Email: okadaG,:marine.osakafu-u.ac.ip masaoka@,marine.osakafu-u.ac.iD tsuboPo@:marine.osakafu-u.ac.ip

Shinji KATSURA
KRI, Inc.
Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto 600-8813, Japan
Email: katsura@!kri-inc. iI,

Shin-ichi KAWAMATA
Formerly Graduate Student, Osaka Prefecture University
Sakai-shi, Osaka 599-8531, Japan

Abstract - This paper deals with a simplified

method for estimating strength and reliability of
stiffened plates for pontoon-type very large floating
structures (VLFS), which are supposed floating airport,
as a part of studies on reliability based preliminary
design systems. Firstly, limit state conditions are
shortly presented for the buckling and ultimate
collapse strength of stiffened plates under combined
compression, shear and lateral pressure in the deck,
bulkhead and bottom parts of VLFS, especially, by
using a simplified estimation formula. Next, the validity
is shown by non-linear finite element method. Finally,
the reliability level is investigated through numerical
examples for a 5,000m-class VLFS under a trial design.
I. Introduction
Recently, many studies for the hydro-elastic response behavior
and structural strength analysis of very large floating structures
(VLFS) under wave induced loads are reported at this and other
conferences such as VLFS, ISOPE, and OMAE’)”).
As a part of studies on reliability-based preliminary structural
design systems, this paper is concemed with a method for
estimating strength and reliability of stiffened plates for
pontoon-type very large floating structures (VLFS, which are
supposed floating airport).
Firstly, a limit state and reliability analysis method is shortly
presented for the buckling and ultimate collapse strength of
stiffened panels under combined compression, shear and lateral
pressure in deck, bulkheads and bottom parts of pontoon-type
VLFS. Next, the validity of above simplified estimation methods
are briefly shown by using non-linear finite element analysis.
Finally, the applicability of the methods is investigated through
numerical examples for a 5,000m-class VLFS under a trial
design for the severe sea-state condition in Tokyo Bay. The
effect of design parameter such as bulkhead space on
characteristics of the reliability level are numerically shown.
A. Probabilistic Model for Wave-Induced Load Effect
We consider a method for the preliminary design of stiffened
plates in structure parts of pontoon-type VLFS as shown in Fig. 1,
based on collapse behavior and reliability analysis in irregular
waves4).
This process is composed of following terms as follows:
1) Environmental condition
2) Load effect analysis considering combined with hydro-elastic
response analysis and statistical response analysis
3) Limit state analysis for buckling and ultimate collapse of
stiffened panels under combined with compressive and shear
stresses and lateral pressure.
(1) Environmental condition
Primary structural loads on a VLFS are due to wave-induced
loads. In this study, 200-year retum period value in Tokyo Bay is
assumed as a severe sea-state condition for the ultimate limit
state5).
( 2 ) Statistical response analysis
The wave-induced bending moment and shear force of the
structure are evaluated by using a simplified method shown in
Appendix A. Then, the expected value and standard deviation of
,
the maximum load effects M max and F , max are evaluated
by using a simplified method shown in the reference 4).
Next, the distributions of the bending moment M(x) and shear
force F(x) in the longitudinal direction are assumed to be as
follows:
sin(2m/lW)
M ( x )= Mwmax
(1-1)
F(x) = F, c0s(2m/lw)
where
&,: length of deflection wave in the structure (not to be length of
incident wave)

II. A Outline of Estimating Strength and Reliability of

Stiffened Plates for VLFS

0-7803-8669-8/04/$20.00 02004 IEEE. - 193 -

 T

...................
................... 11’
Ba
...................
..........p..i;.,
...4.............
The ultimate strength of stiffened plate:
P, = Ppf or Pf
(4)
I
I
I
JDa , & 1 -
From these results, limit state failure conditions are given for the
I buckling and ultimate strength of stiffened plates of the structure
lf lfdraft in the following forms, where the assigned panel labeling is
shown in Fig. 2:
Fig. 1 A pontoon-type very large floating structure (VLFS).

B. Limit State and Reliability Analysis of Stiffened Plates

Here we consider limit state conditions for structural design of
stiffened plates in deck, bulkhead and bottom parts of a pontoon
type floating structure (VLFS) which is shown in Fig.], and
composed of unit structures as shown in Fig. 2.
As limit state failure modes of the structure, the buckling and
ultimate strength of stiffened plates are considered by using a
simplified estimating formula under combined compression,
shear and lateral pressure shown in figures 3 and 4.
The following collapse modes have to be considered in
investigating the ultimate strength of stiffened plates:
1) The ultimate strength for the case of plate-induced failure
mode
2 ) The ultimate strength for the case of flange-induced failure
mode
These strengths are derived by using simplified estimation
method based on so-called Perry-Robertson’s type formula.
I I
In case of plate-induced failure mode: 2,
pp,/p, = ( . & / A )
[ ~ ~ - ~ ~ A ~ 2 - ~ ~ ~ 2 ~ - 4
) Y A e
( 1 - ~ ~ Fig.
) A 2 = Unit
~ structure of VLFS and its design parameters.

(2- 1)
B, = 1 + 1,’ + ?le, 1, = a/(nr, )-,

ye =&jX, r e =4(wqmax+80J/ze 9

~o=Wi9 Pe =Mqmax/OYZer
/
Wq,,, = 5qbp4/(384EI,)9 M,,, = 4bpa2/89
Effective moment of inertia le is estimated effective width bpeof Fig. 3 Dimension of stiffened plate.
the plate under compressive and shearing stresses in the (1) For the ultimate collapse of stiffened plates 1 in deck parts
following form. under compression
bpe/bp= @U (2-2)
gC/c =P,(t,,ay)-Aaw,, 5 0
(5- 1)
( 2 ) For the ultimate collapse of stiffened plates 2 in bottom parts
under compression and lateral pressure:

1.0 ( A p < 1.0) g,, = p c q ( t p ~ ~ Y ) - A ~ w5

I n0a x
(5-2)
2 . 2 5 / ~-~1.25/lP2 (1 .o I ap < 3.5)
1.9/Ap (3.5 5 Ap)

In case of flange-induced failure mode:

- 194 -
 n = i f 8 in bulkhead panels at the corner parts
Zw = Xwmax coS(x/4) : shear stress at x = 1 / 8 in
bulkhead panels at the comer parts
From limit state conditions defined as Eqs. (5-1) to ( 5 - 3 , the
failure probability and reliability index for each limit state is
given as in the following.

II
tttttttttt
I
19
@
.................
..................

Longitudinal
stiffener
I \ Transverse girder
Since the
<, in Eqs.(5 -1) to (5-5) is generally nonlinear
for random vanables, reliability index fi and/or

Second-Moment Method (AFOSM).

111. Numerical Examples for a VLFS under Trial Design

failure
probability Pi are calculated by using Advanced First-Order

Analyzed area
A. Target structure
Fig. 4 Stiffened plate subjected to combined loads.
Using the above-mentioned methods, numerical studies for a
5,000m-class VLFS whose rough arrangement and numerical
(3) For the ultimate collapse of stiffened plates 3 in bulkhead data are shown in Figures 1 and 2 and Table 1 are camed out,
parts under pure shear: and the characteristics of reliability levels are investigated under
gus =Ps(tp,gy)-AprWmax 20 (5-3) extreme wave loads.
For simplicity, the bending rigidity D and section modulus 23 of
(4) For the ultimate collapse of stiffened plates 4 in the bulkhead the structure are assumed to be approximately calculated by
comer parts under combined loads with bending moment and below equations.
shear force:

(5-4)
( 5 ) For the ultimate collapse of stiffened plates 5 in the bottom
comer parts under combined loads with compression, shear
stress and lateral pressure:

g, (tPd7Y, r w 1- Auw 2 0
= Gq Table 1 Numerical data of a 5,000m-class VLFS.
(5-5)
Here, P,,Pcq,P,, P,,, and Pcsqare obtained by using equation
(4) as follows: Length L 5,000m
BxDxd 1,000m x 5m x 2m
Bulkhead space Bbh 10,15,20m
Characteristic wave
number kp = ( P ~ / D ) ’ ’ ~ (calculated by Eq. (9))
Bending rigidity D=EZ/B, (calculated by Eq. (9))
(6-3) Linear density pA 2.00 x IO’ kg/m
Section modulus Z, (calculated by Eq. (9))

Deck, bulkhead and bottom plates data:

PA,( f P > C Y 9 r w m a x ) = P,
(6-5) Stiffener space bp 800 mm ( 600mm, 1,OOOmm)
Here, uWmax
and rwm, are also given by using Thickness tp : Mean value 20mm, (1 5mm, 25 mm)
before-mentioned probabilistic load effect values as follows: cov 0.02
Stiffener size (Tee-bar) W383~12+FlOOx17mm
Transverse stiffener space a 2.40 m
Yieldstress 9. : Mean value 363 MPa
cov 0.08
Fwmax = rwmax A p ‘ B o
(7-2)
Ap: total sectional area of longitudinal bulkhead
ow = max sin( a f 4) : bending stress at

- 195 -
The ultimate collapse strengths calculated from proposed
equation are compared with those obtained by non-linear finite
element method using shell elements in Fig 5.
Fig. 5 shows the comparison between the ultimate collapse
strength obtained by FEM and simplified estimation method for
stiffened plates under compressive and shear stresses and lateral
pressure. Moreover, the effective width is considered for the
estimation of ultimate strength of stiffened plate under
compressive and shear stresses, which is evaluated by results
(refer to Eq.(3-2)).
It is seen from these figures that these results are in
comparatively good correspondence.
Pu/Py(Proposed eq.)
O.8.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
P"/PY(FEM)
Fig. 5 Comparison between the ultimate collapse strength
obtained by FEM and simplified estimation method for stiffened
plates under compressive and shear stresses and lateral pressure.
B. Reliability Analysis Results for Various Panels under
Short-term Sea-states
In this section, reliability analysis results for various limit state
conditions of stiffened plates in the structure.
In Fig. 6, relations between reliability indexes j3 for various cases
are shown under significant wave height H, =3.7m.
Effects of bulkhead space Bbh on the reliability index for the case
of tp=20mm are investigated under various combined loads in
this figure. It is seen from this figure that all reliability indexes
for various panels are decreasing with increasing Bbh, the
reliability index for the ultimate collapse of deck under
compression and bottom panels under compression and lateral
pressure is smallest for the cases of &,=lo and 15m. On the
other hand, the reliability index for the ultimate collapse of
bulkhead panels under pure shear is smallest for the case of
&=20 m.
IV. Conclusions
In this paper, a simplified method was presented for estimating
strength and reliability of stiffened plates for pontoon-type VLFS
as a part of studies on reliability-based preliminary structural
design systems. The summary is as follows:
- 196 -
6
-8- Bbh=lOm
6.0 -
5.0 -
p.O -
3.0-
2.0 -
1.0-
0.0 -
-1 .ot
-2.01 I
':Pc 2:p,, 3:p, 4:p,, 5p,,
Fig. 6 Effects of bulkhead space Bbh on reliability index for
various failure modes of stiffened plates (bp=800mm, tp=20mm)
under HS=3.7m.
I ) A limit state and reliability analysis method was shortly
presented for the buckling and ultimate collapse strength of
stiffened plates in deck, bulkheads and bottom parts of
pontoon-type VLFS. Then, the validity of above simplified
estimation methods were briefly shown by using non-linear finite
element analysis.
2) The applicability of the methods was investigated through
numerical examples for a 5,000m-class VLFS under a trial
design for the severe sea-state condition in Tokyo Bay. The
effect of design parameter such as bulkhead space on
characteristics of the reliability level was numerically shown.
Acknowledgement
The authors are very grateful to the Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science for the financial support as Research
Project, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Scientific
Research (B)(2)).
References
[13 National Maritime Research Institute: Proceedings, 4th Int.
Workshop on VLFS (VLFS'03 (Tokyo), 2003.
[2] Proceedings (CD-ROM), ISOPE2004 (Toulon), 2004.
[3] Proceedings (CD-ROM), OMAE2004 (Vancouver), 2004.
[4] Okada, H. and et al.: A study on structural design of
Pontoon-Type VLFS based on collapse behavior and reliability
analysis, Proceedings, OMAE'04(Vancouver), Paper No.
OMAE2004-51459 (CD-ROM), pp. 1-9,2004.
[ 5 ] Fukuoka, T., Miyajima, S., Sato, C., Ohta, M.: Assessment of
structural safety and functionality of a floating air port model,
Proceedings, VLFS'O3 (Tokyo), pp.193-199,2003.