PROGRESS IN THE ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF MARINE STRUCTURES

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 6TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MARINE STRUCTURES
(MARSTRUCT 2017), LISBON, PORTUGAL, 8–10 MAY 2017

Progress in the Analysis and Design

of Marine Structures

Editors
C. Guedes Soares & Y. Garbatov
Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

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 CRC Press/Balkema is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

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ISBN: 978-1-138-06907-7 (Hbk + CD-ROM)

ISBN: 978-1-315-15736-8 (eBook)

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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Table of contents

Preface xi
Organisation xiii

Fluid-structure interaction
Design and structural testing of a physical model for wetdeck slamming analysis 3
D. Dessi, E. Faiella, J. Geiser, E. Alley & J. Dukes
A storm-based procedure to generate standardised load-time history for fatigue strength
assessment of offshore structures 13
S. Li & C. Guedes Soares
A numerical simulation for coupling behavior between smoothed particle hydrodynamics
and structural finite element method 21
C. Ma, M. Oka & K. Iijima
Vertical wave loads acting on a cruise ship in head, oblique and following regular waves 29
S. Rajendran & C. Guedes Soares
Still water vertical bending moment in a flooding damaged ship 35
J.M. Rodrigues & C. Guedes Soares
On parameterization of emulsification and heat exchange in the hydraulic modelling
of oil spill from a damaged tanker in winter conditions 43
M. Sergejeva, J. Laanearu & K. Tabri
Practical verification of loading computer by laser measurements 51
G. Storhaug, O. Fredriksen, D. Greening & I. Robinson
Hydroelastic effects on slamming loads and dynamic response of flexible panels 59
S. Wang & C. Guedes Soares
Prediction of pressure induced by liquid sloshing for LNG carrier 69
R.-Q. Zhu, H.-X. Ma, Q.-M. Miao & W.-T. Zheng

Vibrations
Forced vibration analysis of the hull girder by propeller excitation and rudder interaction 77
F.J. Dominguez Ruiz, E.M. Cali Y. & L.A. García J.
Experimental characterization of viscoelastic materials for marine applications 87
J. Fragasso, L. Moro, P.N. Mendoza Vassallo, M. Biot & A. Badino
On the experimental characterization of resilient mounting elements 97
A. Hecquet, B. de’Vidovich, E. Brocco, M. Biot, F. Licciulli, G. Fabro, C. Pestelli,
H. Le Sourne & L. Moro
A new van der Pol equation based ice-structure interaction model for ice-induced vibrations 107
X. Ji & E. Oterkus
Whirling analysis of shaft line with a new compact flexible coupling 113
T. Pais, D. Boote & G. Repetti

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 Estimation of damping from wave induced vibrations in ships 121
G. Storhaug, K. Laanemets, I. Edin & J.W. Ringsberg
Optimization of the gun foundation structure of an offshore patrol vessel using a modern
genetic algorithm 131
A. de Vaucorbeil & K.E. Patron

Structural analysis
Shape and stress sensing of offshore structures by using inverse finite element method 141
A. Kefal & E. Oterkus
Effect of pressure distribution on the capacity of ship structure frames 149
M. Kõrgesaar, P. Kujala, M. Suominen, G.S. Dastydar, J. Romanoff,
H. Remes & J. Kämäräinen
Reduced finite element models for mast analysis 155
A. Lorenzetti, M. Gaiotti, S. Ghelardi & C.M. Rizzo
Modeling microstructure of materials by using peridynamics 165
N. Zhu, D. De Meo, S. Oterkus & E. Oterkus

Structural design
Influence of different topological variants on optimized structural scantlings of passenger ships 173
J. Andric, P. Prebeg & K. Piric
Conceptual ship design framework for designing new commercial ships 183
T. Damyanliev, P. Georgiev & Y. Garbatov
FEA based optimization for stiffened plate considering buckling and yield strength 193
J.D. Kim, B.-S. Jang, T.-Y. Park & S.B. Jeon
Ship hull structural scantling optimization 203
K. Stone & T. McNatt
The design and analysis of a heavy transportation and jacket launch barge 213
L.D. Cherian, T. Mathew, J. Land & J. Evans

Ultimate strength
Hull girder ultimate strength of container ships in oblique sea 225
I. Darie & J. Rörup
Progressive collapse analysis of a container ship under combined longitudinal bending
moment and bottom local loads 235
M. Fujikubo & A. Tatsumi
Optimal design of stiffened plate subjected to combined stochastic loads 243
Y. Garbatov & P. Georgiev
Compressive strength of double-bottom under alternate hold loading condition 253
J.M. Gordo
Residual strength estimation and imperfection modelling for plastically deformed stiffeners 263
I. Kahraman & G.T. Tayyar
Rapid, early-stage ultimate limit state structural design for multihulls 269
J.T. Knight
Accuracy improvement of PCM using simple box girder-based LSE data 277
I. Kvan & J. Choung
Geometrically nonlinear bending response of a ship-like box girder using an enhanced
single-layer theory 289
M. Metsälä, B.R. Gonçalves, J. Romanoff & J. Jelovica

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 IACS common structural rules as an element of IMO goal based standards
for bulk carriers and oil tankers 297
J. Peschmann, H. von Selle, J. Jankowski, G. Horn & T. Arima
FE model calibration and validation of a tested plate with an opening under compressive load 305
S. Saad-Eldeen, Y. Garbatov & C. Guedes Soares
Ultimate strength of the hull girder of large container ships 313
S. Zhang, R. Villavicencio, N. White & L. Jiang
Experimental study on cumulative buckling deformation of stiffened panel subjected
to cyclic loading 319
Y. Tanaka, T. Ando, Y. Hashizume, A. Tatsumi & M. Fujikubo

Fatigue and fracture

Numerical analysis of mixed-mode fracture toughness of glass/vinylester composite laminates 329
F. Alizadeh & C. Guedes Soares
Fatigue strength assessment of an annealed butt welded joint accounting
for material inhomogeneity 337
Y. Dong, Y. Garbatov & C. Guedes Soares
Uncertainty analyses of local strain and fatigue crack initiation life of welded joints
under plane strain condition 349
Y. Dong & C. Guedes Soares
Reliability based inspection planning using fracture mechanics based formulations
for ship structures 361
K.M. Doshi, Y. Parihar & T. Roy
Study on fatigue life prediction of details with a surface crack under spectrum loading 369
X.P. Huang
Prediction of crack growth of an aged coast guard patrol ship based on various approaches 379
C.S. Kim, C.B. Li, J. Choung & Y.H. Kim
Benchmark study on considering welding-induced distortion in structural stress analysis
of thin-plate structures 387
I. Lillemäe-Avi, H. Remes, Y. Dong, Y. Garbatov, Y. Quéméner, L. Eggert,
Q. Sheng & J. Yue
Palmgren–miner’s rule and fracture mechanics based fatigue analysis of deepwater
mooring lines 395
X. Xue & N.-Z. Chen

Collision and grounding

A simplified method to assess the damage of an immersed cylinder subjected
to underwater explosion 405
K. Brochard, H. Le Sourne & G. Barras
Plate tearing mechanics of high-speed vessels’ aluminium plates during grounding incidents 415
B.C. Cerik & R. Villavicencio
Numerical investigation on a side-shell structure subjected to collision impact load 423
B.Q. Chen & C. Guedes Soares
Plastic and fracture damages of double hull structures under lateral collisions 431
S.-R. Cho, S.-U. Song, S.-H. Park & H.K. Shin
Double-hull breaching energy in ship-tanker collision 439
M. Heinvee & K. Tabri
Full thickness material tests for impact analysis verification 449
M. Hoogeland & A.W. Vredeveldt

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 Material relationship identification for finite element analysis at intermediate strain
rates using optical measurements 459
J.M. Kubiczek, K.S. Burchard, S. Ehlers & M. Schöttelndreyer
Numerical assessment of the resistance of ship double-hull structures in stranding 469
B. Liu, L. Zhu & L. Chen
Correlation analysis of IMO collision damage parameters 477
J. Parunov, M. Ćorak & S. Rudan
Probability of failure of composite beams under high velocity impact 487
S.D. Patel & C. Guedes Soares
Validation of a simplified method for the crashworthiness of offshore wind turbine jackets
using finite elements simulations 497
T. Pire, S. Echeverry, P. Rigo, L. Buldgen & H. Le Sourne
Structural response and energy absorption of the simplified ship side under the impact
of rigid indenters with different shapes 507
X. Qiu, L. Zhu, M. Yan & B. Liu
Experimental investigation of accidental sliding loads on the response of hull plating 513
B.W.T. Quinton, C.G. Daley, D.B. Colbourne & R.E. Gagnon
Performance assessment of the crashworthiness of corroded ship hulls 523
J.W. Ringsberg, Z. Li & E. Johnson
Impact of sea bottom shapes on grounding damage: Suitability of modelling
with Gaussian processes 533
O-V.E. Sormunen
A new simplified method to investigate the side-by-side collision of two ships 541
Q. Yuan, Y. Zhang & X.B. Li
Experimental and numerical analysis of tanker double-hull structures punched by a wedge
indenter 549
M. Zhang, J.X. Liu & Z.Q. Hu
Study on residual velocity of high-speed projectile after penetrating back-water plates 557
P.D. Zhao & L. Zhang

Plate dynamics
Effects of HAZ on the response of impulsively loaded aluminium plates 565
B.C. Cerik
Comparison of different modeling approaches for dynamic analysis of corroded
plates 573
A. Eslami-Majd & A. Rahbar-Ranji
Research progress on saturated impulse for ship plates under dynamic loading 583
L. Zhu, X. Bai & T.X. Yu
Review of work on ship structures subjected to repeated impact loadings 591
L. Zhu, S. Shi & W. Cai

Welded structures
Determination of the double-ellipsoid heat source parameters for the numerical simulation
of a welding process 599
J.H. Chujutalli & S.F. Estefen
Finite element study on the ultimate strength of aluminum plates joined by friction
stir welding 609
V. Farajkhah & C. Guedes Soares
Investigations on thermo-mechanical tensioning as an active buckling mitigation tool 617
A. Gadagi, N.R. Mandal & S. Kumar

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 Distortions and residual stress analysis of thin butt welded plates accounting for manufacturing
imperfections 623
M. Hashemzadeh, Y. Garbatov & C. Guedes Soares
The influence of heavy weight loading method on the local welding deformation
and residual stress of a deck grillage 631
Y. He, Z. Chen & J. Wu
Fast computation on evaluation of critical welding buckling condition in fabrication
of lightweight marine structure 639
J. Wang, H. Zhou & H. Zhao
Experimental testing of under matched aluminum welds in tension 649
C. Wincott, R. Wiwel, K. Zhang, J. McCormick & M. Collette

Corrosion
A modified method assessing the integrity of carbon steel structures subjected
to corrosion fatigue 659
A. Cheng & N.-Z. Chen
Study on under-film corrosion simulation of free edges in water ballast tanks 667
N. Osawa, S. Takeno, S. Katayama, T. Oda, A.B.A. Halim, K. Shiotani & A. Takada
Concept design of an autonomous mechatronic unit for inspection of holds 679
E. Ravina
A study on corrosion condition assessment considering maintenance and repair 687
N. Yamamoto

Ice conditions
Experimental investigation of an accidental ice impact on an aluminium high speed craft 697
H. Herrnring, J.M. Kubiczek, S. Ehlers, N.O. Niclasen & M. Burmann
On a shifting pressure-area relationship for the accidental limit state analysis of abnormal
ice actions 705
E. Kim, J. Amdahl & M. Song
Dynamic response of ship side structure to the collision with ice sheets 713
X.H. Shi, P.X. Wang & C. Guedes Soares
Structural damage and residual ultimate strength of ship colliding with ice 721
M.C. Xu, J. Song, S.X. Chen & Z.J. Pan

Damaged structures
Damage assessment in concrete marine structures using damage plasticity model 733
S. Chandrasekaran & P.T. Ajesh Kumar
Assessment of residual life of existing fixed offshore platforms 745
S. Copello & C.M. Rizzo
Numerical validation tests of a damage assessment tool based on super-element method
within the scope of A.D.N. regulations 753
S. Paboeuf, Y.P. Sone Oo & H. Le Sourne
Strength enhancement of cracked swash bulkheads of jack-up spud-can 763
S. Saad-Eldeen, Y. Garbatov & C. Guedes Soares

Offshore structures
Analysis of FPSO accident and incident data 773
U. Bhardwaj, A.P. Teixeira & C. Guedes Soares
The latest development of reinforcement techniques on tubular joints 783
Z. Li, X. Jiang & G. Lodewijks

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 Design of offshore tubular members against excessive local indentation under lateral impacts 791
Z. Yu & J. Amdahl

Subsea structures
Strength analysis of corroded pipelines subjected to internal pressure and bending moment 803
A.A. Barbosa, A.P. Teixeira & C. Guedes Soares
A design of the subsea manifold protective structure against dropped objects 813
S.H. Woo, J. Choung & K. Lee
Analysis of the influence of spherical bulkhead reinforcement ring structure type
on the strength of the structure 821
S. Yuan & Q. Chen
Lateral buckling and post-buckling response based on a modified nonlinear pipe-soil
interaction model 827
X. Zhang, C. An, M. Duan & C. Guedes Soares

Composite structures
Numerical investigation of pre-damaged composite plates subjected to compressive
uniaxial load 841
F. Alizadeh, Y. Garbatov & C. Guedes Soares
Hotspot stress analysis of a composite T-joint accounting for geometric and surface
roughness effects 849
N. Kharghani, Y. Garbatov & C. Guedes Soares
The effect of laminate, stud geometry and advance coefficient on the deflection
of a composite marine propeller 859
F. Prini, S.D. Benson & R.S. Dow
Structural fire integrity testing of lightweight multiple core sandwich structures 869
M. Rahm, F. Evegren, E. Johnson & J.W. Ringsberg

Renewable energy devices

A higher-order coupling model of the blades of the floating offshore wind turbine 879
J. Chen & Z. Hu
The effect of marine growth dynamics in offshore wind turbine support structures 889
M. Martinez-Luengo, P. Causon, A.B. Gill & A.J. Kolios
An improved lumping approach for fatigue analysis of a spar-type wind turbine 899
J. Wu & N.-Z. Chen
Characteristics of p-y curves for monopile offshore wind turbines on clay soil 905
Q.L. Yin, C. Guedes Soares & S. Dong

Safety and reliability

Simplified method for structural safety assessment of an energy saving device subjected
to nonlinear hydrodynamic load 915
H.B. Ju, B.S. Jang & D.B. Lee
Reliability analysis of offshore wind turbine gearbox 923
M.X. Li, J.C. Kang, L.P. Sun & M. Wang
A generic framework for reliability assessment of offshore wind turbine monopiles 931
L. Wang & A. Kolios
System reliability of a jacket offshore wind turbine subjected to fatigue 939
B. Yeter, Y. Garbatov & C. Guedes Soares

Author index 951

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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Preface

This book contains the papers presented at the 6th International Conference on Marine Structures,
MARSTRUCT 2017, held in Lisbon, Portugal between 8 and 10 May. This is the sixth in the MARSTRUCT
Conference series and follows on from previous events held in Glasgow—Scotland, Lisbon—
Portugal, Hamburg—Germany, Espoo—Finland and Southampton—UK in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015
respectively.
The main objective of the MARSTRUCT Conferences is to provide a specialised forum for academics,
researchers and industrial participants to discuss progress in their research directly related with structural
analysis and design of marine structures. It was the intention that the MARSTRUCT Conferences be
specifically dedicated to marine structures, which complements other conferences on general aspects of
ships and offshore structures already available.
This series of Conferences is one of the main activities of the MARSTRUCT Virtual Institute, an
association of research groups interested in cooperating in the field of marine structures, which was
created in 2010 after the end of the Network of Excellence on Marine Structures (MARSTRUCT), which
was funded by the European Union. The MARSTRUCT Virtual Institute, http://www.marstruct-vi.com/,
was created with the same members as the EU project, but with the aim to extend that membership to
other interested groups in the future.
The Conference reflects the work conducted in the progress in the analysis and design of marine
structures, including the full range of methods, modelling procedures and experimental results. The aim
is to promote knowledge that enables marine structures to be more efficient, environmentally friendly,
reliable and safe using the latest methods and procedures for design and optimisation. This book also
deals with the fabrication and new materials of marine structures. The 105 papers are categorized in the
following themes and areas of research:
• Methods and tools for establishing loads and load effects—Fluid-structure interaction, vibrations;
• Methods and tools for strength assessment—Ice conditions, collision and grounding, fatigue and frac-
ture, ultimate strength, plate dynamics;
• Experimental analysis of structures—Experimental analysis;
• Materials and fabrication of structures—Composite structures, welded structures;
• Methods and tools for structural design and optimisation—Structural analysis, structural design,
renewable energy devices, offshore structures, subsea structures;
• Structural reliability, safety and environmental protection—Structural reliability models.
The MARSTRUCT 2017 Conference also includes 5 keynote lectures from industrial experts covering
ship and offshore structures:
• Evolution of the structural design of fast craft—Stefano Ferraris, Fincantieri SpA, Italy
• General approach to the design of high speed craft structures—Gil Pina Cabral, Damen Shipyards
Gorinchem, The Netherlands
• Challenges in the structural design of jack-up and semi-submersible rigs’—Alberto Morandi,
GustoMSC, Houston, USA
• Practical aspects of structural integrity of FPSOs—Timo de Beer, SBM Schiedam BV, The Netherlands
• Structural design of Heavy Lift Vessels—Michiel Verdult, Vuyk Engineering Rotterdam BV, The Netherlands
We hope that the overview coming from important industrial companies will be an important
contribution to the audience.
The articles in this book were accepted after a peer-review process, based on the full text of the papers.
Thanks are due to the Technical Programme and Advisory Committees who had most of the responsibility

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 for reviewing the papers. We are also grateful to the additional anonymous reviewers who helped the
authors deliver better papers by providing them with constructive comments, and hope that this process
contributed to a consistently good level of the papers included in the book.

C. Guedes Soares & Y. Garbatov

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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Organisation

CONFERENCE CHAIRMAN

C. Guedes Soares, IST, University of Lisbon, Portugal

TECHNICAL PROGRAMME COMMITTEE

M. Biot, University of Trieste, Italy

R. Bronsart, Rostock University, Germany
N.Z. Chen, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
L. Domnisoru, University of “Dunarea de Jos” at Galati, Romania
S. Ehlers, Hamburg University of Technology, Germany
Y. Garbatov, Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
A.M. Horn, DNVGL, Norway
E. Oterkus, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
J. Parunov, University of Zagreb, Croatia
P. Rigo, University of Liège, Belgium
J.W. Ringsberg, Chalmers University Technology, Sweden
C.M. Rizzo, University of Genova, Italy
E. Rizzuto, University of Naples—Frederico II, Italy
J. Romanoff, Aalto University, Finland
A.R. Shenoi, University of Southampton, UK
K. Tabri, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia
M. Taczala, West Pomeranian University of Technology, Poland
P. Temarel, University of Southampton, UK
H. von Selle, DNVGL, Germany
S. Zhang, Lloyd’s Register, UK

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

S. Aksu, Defence Science and Technology, Organisation, Australia

Y. Bai, Zhejiang University, China
X. Cheng, CSSRC, Wuxi, China
S.R. Cho, University of Ulsan, Korea
M. Collette, University of Michigan, USA
W.C. Cui, Shanghai Ocean University, China
S.F. Estefen, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
M. Fujikubo, Osaka University, Japan
Z.Q. Hu, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
H.W. Leheta, Alexandria University, Egypt
Y.M. Low, National University Singapore, Singapore
N.R. Mandal, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India
L. Moro, Memorial University, Canada
J.K. Paik, Pusan National University, South Korea
N.G. Pegg, DND, Canada

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 Y. Yamada, National Maritime Research Institute, Japan
N. Yamamoto, MIJAC from ClassNK, Japan
L. Zhu, Wuhan University of Technology, China

LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Y. Garbatov, Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal (Chair)

J.M. Gordo, Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
A.P. Teixeira, Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal

TECHNICAL PROGRAMME SECRETARIAT

Maria de Fátima Pina, IST, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Sandra Ponce, IST, University of Lisbon, Portugal

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 Fluid-structure interaction

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Design and structural testing of a physical model for wetdeck slamming

analysis

D. Dessi & E. Faiella

CNR-INSEAN, National Research Council—Marine Technology Research Institute, Rome, Italy

J. Geiser, E. Alley & J. Dukes

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, USA

ABSTRACT: The investigation of wetdeck slamming phenomenon is a challenging Fluid-Structure

Interaction (FSI) problem for both experimental and numerical analysis, requiring detailed design and
structural assessment of the physical model. The focus of this paper is to document the design approach
and the testing effort devoted to provide a reliable and well identified physical model before the towing-
tank tests were carried out for giving key insights into the wetdeck load and responses as well as an FSI
validation dataset for numerical solvers. Thus, one of the main objectives is reducing the uncertainty
linked to the modeling of the multi-hull structure by performing a series of both static and dynamic char-
acterization tests on the as built catamaran model. The insight gained from this test campaign will be used
to update the structural models coupled within the FSI solvers to increase the accuracy of the predicted
hydrodynamic loading.

1 INTRODUCTION Among FSI problems still receiving posi-

Fluid-structure interaction experiments are a
challenging task because they are aimed to repro-
duce in a laboratory environment the ‘correct’
coupling between the fluid and solid, as it occurs
in real life. If the aim is to understand the phys-
ics behind these phenomena, the setup has to
scale both the body elasticity and the flow condi-
tions according to similitude relationships, typi-
cally the conservation of the Froude number if
wave excitation is involved. On the other hand, if
establishing a representative test case useful for
code validation or benchmarking is the objec-
tive, the involved physical parameters have to be
accurately estimated to feed correctly the numeri-
cal model. In this case, three sources of possible
errors have to be minimized as far as possible:
(i) errors in the fluid or structural numerical mod-
els as distinct frameworks, (ii) errors in the input
parameters (e.g., the forward speed or wave eleva-
tion), (iii) errors in the coupling between disci-
plines and/or in the numerical schemes employed
to achieve a time-marching solution. Therefore,
both to verify the correct hydroelastic scaling,
both to ensure the right modeling of the experi-
mental set-up, FSI testing requires the structural
identification of the elastic bodies interacting
with the fluid.
tive attention in ship and offshore engineering,
the accurate prediction of complex loading and
responses on multi-hull vessels is particularly
demanding, since it involves two-way coupling
of the deck structure with the flow imping-
ing on it. Currently, there is a gap in available
experimental FSI data related to this problem
that can be used for numerical solver validation.
Current FSI data sets are severely limited by the
uncertainties associated with the experimental
setups. Furthermore, though segmented model
tests have become more feasible and popular for
monohulls, not many experimental campaigns
(Hermundstad et al. 1995, Kyyro & Hakala 1997,
Cheng, F. 1997) exist for segmented catamarans
that provide both global and local loads and hull
responses. The only systematic investigation on
elastically scaled catamarans was carried out by
Lavroff et al. (2007, 2013). Dessi et al. (2016) have
already illustrated the preliminary experimental
results on an elastically scaled model of a SWATH
aimed to accurately depict the wave loading and
structural response from seakeeping tests. In the
present paper the focus is instead on the structural
tests performed for the physical model qualifi-
cation with an extended account of the dry and
wet vibration mode identification of the entire
catamaran.

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 2 FROM CONCEPT DESIGN TO
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The concept design of the catamaran was inspired
by the need of sophisticated integrated sensor
equipment (up to 88  signal channels at a maxi-
mum sampling rate of 20  kHz) with a realistic
and adaptable floating platform. Although proper
scaling is not required to provide a reliable data-
set for code validation, some critical phenomena
may be concealed or partially obscured by a mis-
match between the hydrodynamic and elastic time
scales. Thus, a prototype craft, the FSF-1, previ-
ously tested at full-scale and at model-scale at the
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division
(NSWCCD) towing-tank was chosen as a refer-
ence (Lin et al. 2007). For the FSI tests, the con-
structed model was elastically scaled to match the
full-scale structural characteristics of the FSF-1.
Initially, elastic scaling was performed by reduc-
ing the complexity of the reference structure which
is dictated by two main aspects: (i) the separation
of the hydrodynamic forces from the elastic defor-
mations using the backspline segmented model
approach which was previously implemented in
the past (Dessi & Mariani 2008), (ii) the defini-
tion of the hydroelastic scaling targets. The split
mode and the two-node vertical bending mode
were assumed as the reference modes to be scaled,
with frequencies equal to 2.2  Hz and 3.3  Hz at
full-scale, respectively. The frequency of the ship
vibration modes was determined during several
sea trials as reported in (Lin et  al. 2007, Swartz
et  al. 2012). The number of segments into which
the hull was divided (4 for each demihull and 2 for
the deck, see Figure 1) considered the need to exert
the hydrodynamic loads in a simplified but realistic
way. Several backspline layouts were analyzed dur-
ing the design process, but the selected one, shown
in Figure 2, provided the best convergence of the
FSF-1 hydroelastic scaling and the necessary sup-
port to the hull segments through the legs. A cus-
tom arrangement was chosen for the forward deck
that is mostly subjected to the water impacts: two
transverse bars, hinged to the demihull beams at
their ends, were placed to support the wet-deck, in
Figure 1. Segmented model of the catamaran.
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 4
Figure 2. Sketch of the elastic backspline.
a similar way as done by Lavroff et al. (2007). The
boundary conditions applied to these beams (sim-
ply supported at the ends) allow the indirect esti-
mation of the impact loads through applied force
(four piezoelectric Kisler load cells, Figure 3) and
strain gauges (three for each bar).
The length of the fore part of the wetdeck was
set as one third of the overall length, covering the
area where impacts were expected to be severe,
and ten pressure caps from Kulite were inserted to
sense the impulsive loads (Figure  4). The second
part of the wetdeck was cut near the stern to allow
for the installation of the anti-yaw system. To limit
the hull weight while ensuring protection from
sprays or green water, only the fore part of the ves-
sel superstructure was built and segmented in three
parts, with each segment separately connected to
the wetdeck and to the port and starboard bow
segments, respectively. The amount of freeboard
along the vessel sides was reduced elsewhere. All
the links to the carriage required reinforcement
due to the high yaw moment that the catamaran
could exert in the case of a small misalignment.
After choosing the backspline layout, the geo-
metrical dimension and stiffness distribution was
designed according to Froude scaling laws. An
optimization approach was chosen assuming the
thickness of the aluminum hollow beam sections
and the ballast position along the beam rails as
project variables. The model scale was set as a
parameter downstream of which the optimization
process took place. Scale ratios λ between 17 and
20 were initially considered, and λ = 19 guaranteed
the right compromise between acceptable model
dimensions and sufficient freedom in allocating
mass for the various subsystems. All the rigid body
features appeared as constraints as well as some
physical constraints such as those relative to the
minimum or maximum thicknesses of the back-
spline. A weighted combination of the difference
between the reference and the computed frequen-
cies was set as an objective function. The optimi-
zation algorithm was based on the method of the
interior extended penalty function, which called an
in-house code for the generation of the FE model
3/29/2017 9:33:48 AM
 Figure 5. Split mode from FE model.
Figure  3. PZT load cells used for the measuring the
wetdeck impact forces along with mechanical interfaces.

Figure  6. Two-node vertical bending mode from FE

model.

Table 1. Physical model parameters.

Variable Value

Mass 206.8 Kg
Length between PP 3.84 m
Figure 4. Wet-deck pressure caps positions (the deck is LCG 1.628 m
rotated so the suspension bars appear vertical). TCG 0.000
VCG 0.369
Pitch radius 1.143
(TABSS) and a Lanczos algorithm for extracting Trim 0°
the vibration modes. This in-house FORTRAN Draft 0.196
code is efficient, fast running, and allows for a
simple representation of the physical model. In
addition, a high-fidelity model developed in MSC
NASTRAN was used for tuning of the simplified the backspline central beam. The inclined rod was
FE model. The shapes of the two main bending constrained to move up and down between the ver-
modes are shown Figures  5–6. The final physical tical brackets, exchanging lateral forces to counter-
model features are summarized in the Table 1. act the hydrodynamic yaw moment.
A stiff seakeeping sliding bar was chosen to
allow for the vertical heave motion, and while pitch
motion was allowed by the single hinge mounted on 3 PHYSICAL MODEL ASSESSMENT
the central beam of the backspline truss in corre-
spondence of the model Center of Gravity (CoG). The reduction of the elastic structure uncertain-
The sliding bar device was fixed with respect to ties required the completion of preliminary tests
the carriage, allowing no surge oscillation. Limited specifically devoted to this purpose. This experi-
yaw rotation (less than one degree) was allowed by mental campaign was performed in dry and wet
the ball bearing mechanism. The anti-yaw system conditions, including static and dynamic tests on
consisted of a vertical pitchfork fixed to the car- the assembled physical model or on the backspline
riage and an inclined rod placed at the rear end of alone.

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 5 3/29/2017 9:33:49 AM

 3.1 Dry static tests of the main frame sections attached in order to gauge the response
of the fastener connection between the legs and
In order to use the numerical structural model
demi-hulls.
for FSI simulations, it was necessary to verify the
The displacements of the backspline truss during
represented stiffness by static response testing.
each test condition were collected with a combina-
The testing was designed to produce static defor-
tion of string potentiometers at key displacement
mations that replicate the first several vibrational
locations, and a Digital Image Correlation (DIC)
mode shapes. This included the split, first sym-
setup along the side of the truss beams. The DIC
metric (hog and sag), and whipping modes. The
uses stereo cameras and a speckle pattern to meas-
backspline structure contained four legs on each
ure displacements along a continuous section of
side which were designed to connect the indi-
the model.
vidual demi-hull sections to the backspline truss
Figure  9 illustrates an example of the outputs
with bolted connections at both ends. To accom-
obtained from the static tests. The continuous lines
plish the dry static testing, adapters holding either
refer to the distribution of displacement obtained
a ball knob for simply supported displacement
by the DIC system for various applied loads. The
Boundary Conditions (BC) or eye-bolt for hang-
dots represent the measurement of the vertical dis-
ing weight loads were placed at these leg-to-demi-
placement provided by the string potentiometers
hull attachment points, as shown in Figure 7. For
at the chosen locations. The displacement curves
the split mode condition, the center four legs were
agree well with the discrete measurements, show-
supported with the displacement BC’s and two
ing a near linear structural response of the back-
diagonally opposed weight stacks on the outer
spline. A similar conclusion can be drawn for the
legs. First symmetric bending modes used four
sag load condition from the measurements shown
displacement BC’s at the center with four weight
in Figure  10, where the DIC estimated displace-
stacks at the outer edges (hog), or displacement
ment is compared with the string potentiometers.
BC’s at the outer legs with weight stacks on the
The dependence of the displacement on the loads
center legs (sag, as in Figure  8). The whipping
shows a linear trend in the sagging case. It is worth
mode case required weight suspended between the
forward two legs, and another between the aft two
legs with a rope at a shallow angle giving a high
horizontal load. Sag and whipping shape tests were
also conducted with the forward and aft demi-hull

Figure 9. Displacement field in static hog tests obtained

Figure 7. Loading and displacement BC adapters. with DIC.

Figure  10. Dependence of the single-point displace-

Figure 8. Sag mode loading and BC. ment on the applied load for sag tests.

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 6 3/29/2017 9:33:50 AM

 highlighting that the applied loads were far beyond Table 2. Comparison between FEM and experimental
those that the segmented model is expected to bear (RHT) modal analyses for the aluminum backspline.
during the seakeeping tests. In Figure 11, the split
mode results show a successful agreement between 1D elements 2D elements Dry tests
(beam el.) (shell el.) with RHT
continuous and discrete displacements. The areas
measured by the DIC were limited by obstructions Split mode 24.5 Hz 21.4 Hz 19.1 Hz
from the model disturbing the camera view. For Bending-2 41.4 Hz 40.8 Hz 39.1 Hz
this reason the displacement curves are not con- symmetric
tinuous. The results of these tests characterize the Bending-2 57.9 Hz 56.5 Hz 54.8 Hz
global stiffness of the structure and fine-tune the asymmetric
numerical model to evoke the same response under Bending-3 108.8 Hz 107.5 Hz 102.3 Hz
the tested loading conditions. symmetric
Bending-3 123.2 Hz 120.4 Hz 115.7 Hz
asymmetric
3.2 Global dry vibration tests of the catamaran
The first set of dry vibration tests were carried out
on the aluminum backspline without the demihulls
attached to confirm the validity of the FE models.
The FE modal analysis was used for design pur-
poses and later for ballasting and fine tuning of the
modal frequencies. Welding the planar truss and
connections between the forward beams required
detailed modeling in the numerical solvers. Iden-
tification of the backspline by impulse tests
required the model to be suspended in air on four
soft springs. The experimental modal analysis was
carried out using the Roving Hammer Technique
(RHT) which exploits multiple-inputs (with the
instrumented hammer) and one output, the accel-
Figure 12. Physical model hanging on soft springs for
eration at one point sufficiently far from vibration
dry vibration tests.
nodes. The predicted FE modes using 1D (beam)
elements are in fair agreement with those experi-
mentally identified as the frequency comparison in
Table 2 shows.
A second set of tests was designed to extract the
modes of the fully assembled physical model with
the roving hammer technique in 19 points. Two
support configurations were employed with eight
and ten soft springs (Figure 12), respectively, pro-
viding rigid body oscillation frequencies less than
1.5  Hz, well below the frequency range of the
elastic modes (in Dessi et  al. 2016 a stiffer four-

Figure  13. Split mode from dry vibration tests

(10.3 Hz).

spring configuration was used). The split mode

Figure 11. Displacement field in split-like tests obtained
with DIC.
(10.3 Hz, Figure 13) and the two-node (symmet-
ric) vertical bending mode (16.6  Hz, Figure  14)
are in fair agreement with the numerical simula-
tions. The experimental modal analysis identi-
fied clearly the vertical, horizontal and mixed
modes up to 100 Hz (few of them are reported in
Figure 15). In the column named ‘1D elements’ of
Table 3, two numerical values are shown: the first
frequency value refers to segment masses lumped
at the CoG of each segment, whereas the second

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 7 3/29/2017 9:33:51 AM

 modes, some discrepancies with FEM appear in
Table 3.

3.3 Global wet vibration tests of the floating

Figure  14. Two-node vertical bending mode from dry
vibration tests (16.6 Hz).
catamaran
The wet vibration tests were performed before
and during the experimental campaign in the
towing tank. They were planned to identify the
effective behavior of the physical model and to
provide reference values for FSI modeling of
the mode decompositions. Two test series were
carried out: (i) for the first set of tests (“pool”
test), the physical model floated in a calm water
pool with an equivalent mass representing the
seakeeping vertical bar and the roving ham-
mer technique was exploited; (ii) later, during
regular seakeeping runs in the towing tank, the
operational mode shapes of the physical model
in its final configuration, including the link to
the carriage, were identified with an output-
only technique over 14 acceleration signals
(“towing-tank” test). The Operational Modal
Analysis (OMA for short) was carried out using
proper orthogonal decomposition coupled on

Figure  15. Horizontal 2-node symmetric bending

(22  Hz, top left), Mixed mode (24.5  Hz, top right),
2-node asymmetric vertical bending (29.2  Hz, bottom
left), 3-node asymmetric vertical bending (89.6  Hz,
bottom right).

Table 3. Comparison between FEM and EMA for the

dry vibration tests of the assembled model.

1D elements 2D elements
(beam el.) (shell el.) EXP

Split mode 11.0/10.6 9.8/9.92 10.4 Hz

Bending-2 18.5/16.9 17.5/16.3 16.3 Hz
Figure  16. Split mode from wet vibration tests in still
symmetric
water (8.6 Hz).
Bending-2 27.5/24.0–28.5 20.9/22.1 29.3 Hz
asymmetric
Bending-3 57.1/47.7 41.5/44.3 80.7 Hz
symmetric
Bending-3 64.4/54.5 44.6/48.3 89.6 Hz
asymmetric

frequency (after the slash) is relative to the same

FE model with information about the gyration
radii of the segments as well. The values relative
to the 2D (shell) FE model refer to a rigid mod-
eling of the segments (first value) and to reason-
ably modeled, flexible segments (second value),
within the limits and uncertainties that typically Figure  17. Two-node vertical bending mode from wet
apply to composite manufacture. For the vertical vibration tests in still water (15.5 Hz).

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 8 3/29/2017 9:33:52 AM

 Table 4. Results from the wet vibration tests and the FE
model analysis.

1D elements Towing-
(beam el.) Pool-RHT tank-OMA

Split mode 9.1 Hz 8.6 Hz 9.5 Hz

Bending-2 14.6 Hz 15.5 Hz 15.2 Hz
Bending-3 32.1 Hz 35.5 Hz 38.6 Hz

band-pass filtered data (Mariani & Dessi 2012). Figure 18. Three-node vertical bending mode from wet
The split mode is clearly shown both in the vibration tests in still water (35.4 Hz).
pool-RHT test (Figure  16) and towing-tank-
OMA tests (Figure 19), with a mode frequency
higher in the second case. The NASTRAN FE
model gave a frequency between those experi-
mentally obtained (see Table  4). The two-node
bending mode frequency, which varied between
15.2  Hz and 15.5  Hz in the identification tests,
was slightly under predicted by the FE code
model (14.6  Hz). The mode shape is clearly
defined (see Figures  17 and 20), but a similar,
less excited vibration mode was also identified
between 10–12 Hz. This fact probably demands
for larger arrays of measurement points, possi-
bly using 3-axis accelerometers, to get a clearer Figure  19. Split mode from vibration tests in waves
identification of the mode shapes. The same (9.5 Hz).
evidence of a high modal density applies as
we move to the subsequent modes (the term
“high” is set in comparison with similar identi-
fications on monohull segmented models). For
instance, the three-node bending (symmetric)
mode (Figures  18 and 21) shows experimen-
tal frequencies higher than the corresponding
FE-mode, with one accelerometer on the mid-
beam moving opposite with respect to the other
points in the case of tests with wave excitation
(Figure 21).

3.4 Dry vibration tests of the wetdeck Figure  20. 2-node bending mode from vibration tests
in waves (15.2 Hz).
The wetdeck is the most critical component of
the experimental platform because FSI modeling
of the wetdeck slam events fully benefits of a
correct representation of its structural proper-
ties. Using the roving-hammer (see Figure  22)
the mode shapes of the deck have been identi-
fied. It is worth underline that the tests were
done with the deck mounted on the suspension
bars. The lowest frequency mode nearly coin-
cides with the cantilever mode of the plate abaft
the fore suspension bar (Figure 23). The succes-
sive modes #2 and #3 are global torsional modes
of the entire deck but dominated by the twist-
ing of the fore (Figure 24) and after (Figure 25) Figure  21. 3-node bending mode from vibration tests
parts, respectively. In Figure 26 the mode shapes in waves (38.6 Hz).

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 9 3/29/2017 9:33:53 AM

 Figure  26. Deck mode #4 (170  Hz) and #5 (245.Hz)
from dry vibration tests.

#4 and #5 resemble to the 3-node and 4-node

Figure 22. Experimental set-up for the identification of
the wetdeck.
bending modes of the deck plate, respectively.
Mode #5  shows some significant oscillation of
the central portion of the deck, but at a relatively
high frequency. This indicates that the mid-part
of the deck is much stiffer than the fore and rear
parts.

4 HULL RESPONSE

The experimental campaign aimed to investigate

the complex FSI phenomena due to wetdeck
slamming was performed at the CNR-INSEAN
towing tank wave basin “Castagneto.” Only
a brief account, concerned with the elastic
response, is given here and the reader is referred
to Dessi et al. (2016) for more details. The strain-
Figure  23. Deck mode #1 (65.1  Hz) from vibration gauge layout is shown in Figure 27. Each meas-
tests.
urement point consisted of two strain-gauges
that were glued on the top-face of the beam and
closely connected to the bridge resistance with
a water-proof case to ensure protection against
water-on-deck events and permanent humid-
ity. The strain measurements were calibrated to
allow for the calculation of the distribution of
Vertical Bending Moments (VBM) along the cat-
amaran truss. For a single regular wave condi-
tion at a full-scale speed of 20 kts, the maximum
amplitude of the response (almost sinusoidal)
was plotted in terms of a discrete vector field
with vectors linked to the strain-gage points
Figure  24. Deck mode #2 (89.5  Hz) from vibration (Figure  28). The length of the vectors are pro-
tests. portional to the peak-to-peak values obtained
from the analysis of each signal, however phase
information between the strain-gauges is lost in
this data representation. Using the static cali-
bration factors, which allow transforming the
strains into vertical bending moments, the bend-
ing moment RAO can be calculated. An interest-
ing data representation is given by the surface
describing the VBM distribution My(x, t) along
the demihull beam, and in particular along
the starboard side. The 3D plot in Figure  29
describes the dependence of the VBM distribu-
tion (the x coordinate corresponds to the length
Figure  25. Deck mode #3 (131.5  Hz) from vibration of the demihull beam) on the non-dimensional
tests. wavelength λ/Lpp.

10

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 10 3/29/2017 9:33:53 AM

 time scales of the structure highlighting the
possibility of strong coupling with flow phenom-
ena. It is worth to point out that repeating the
tests at the end of a long-lasting experimental
campaign gives also the chance of verifying that
the experimental set-up did not suffer any signifi-
cant modification.

Figure 27. Position of strain-gages along the backspline.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work is supported by the U. S. Office of Naval

Research (ONR) under NICOP agreement under
the guidance of program officer Paul Hess. I wish
also to thank the PhD student Francesco Saltari
who gave his fruitful support to the structural test
campaign.

REFERENCES

Cheng, F. 1997. Some results from Lloyd Register’s

open water model experiments for high speed craft.
In Proc. 4th International Conference on Fast Sea
Transportation (FAST97), Sydney, Australia, 21–23
July.
Dessi, D. & Mariani, R. 2008. Analysis and prediction
Figure  28. Maximum strain value distribution for a of slamming-induced loads of a high-speed monohull
regular wave test (V = 1.78 m/s, aw = 0.035 m, λ/Lpp = 1.5, in regular waves. Journal of Ship Research, 52 (1):
all quantities at model scale). 71–86.
Dessi, D., Faiella, E., Geiser, J., Alley, E. & Dukes, J.
2016. Design, assessment and testing of a fast cata-
maran for FSI investigation. In Proc. 31st Symposium
on Naval Hydrodynamics, Monterey, California, 11–16
September.
Hermundstad, O.A., Moan, T. & Aarsnes, J.V. 1995.
Hydroelastic analysis of a flexible catamaran and com-
parison with experiments. In Proc. 3rd International
Conference on Fast Sea Transportation (FAST 95),
Lübeck-Travemünde, Germany, 25–27 September.
Kyyro, K. & Hakala, M.H. 1997. Determination of
structural dimensioning loads of a fast catamaran,
using rigid backbone segmented model testing tech-
niques. In Proc. 4th International Conference on Fast
Sea Transportation (FAST97), Sydney, Australia,
21–23 July.
Lavroff, J., Davis, M.R., Holloway, D.S. & Thomas, G.
2007. The Whipping Vibratory Response of a Hydro-
elastic Segmented Catamaran Model. In Proc. 9th
Figure 29. Dependence on the wavelength of the VBMs International Conference on Fast Sea Transportation
along the starboard demihull for an irregular sea test. (FAST07), Shangai, China, 23–27 September.
Lavroff, J., Davis, M.R., Holloway, D.S. & Thomas, G.
2013. Wave slamming loads on wave-piercer catama-
5 CONCLUSIONS rans operating at high-speed determined by hydro-elas-
tic segmented model experiments. Marine Structures
33: 120–142.
Conducting a systematic set of tests for identify-
Lin, W.M., Zhang, S., Weems, K., Jones, P., Meinhold, M.,
ing the structural properties of the elastic bod- Metcalf, B. & Powers, A.M. 2007. Numerical Simula-
ies interacting with the fluid gives the chance tion and Validation Study of Wetdeck Slamming on
to validate or even update the structural models High Speed Catamaran. In Proc. 9th International
included in the FSI solver. Nonetheless structural Conference on Numerical Ship Hydrodynamics, Ann
testing may be also used to verify the fundamental Arbor, Michigan, 5–8 August.

11

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 11 3/29/2017 9:33:54 AM

 Mariani, R. & Dessi, D. 2012. Analysis of the global Vessels. Structure and Infrastructure Engineering:
bending modes of a floating structure using the Maintenance, Management, Life-Cycle Design and
proper orthogonal decomposition. Journal of fluids Performance 8(7).
and structures 28: 115–134.
Swartz, R.A., Zimmerman A.T., Lynch, J.P., Rosario, J.,
Brady, T., Salvino, L. & Law, K.H. 2012. Hybrid
Wireless Hull Monitoring System for Naval Combat

12

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 12 3/29/2017 9:33:55 AM

 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

A storm-based procedure to generate standardised load-time history

for fatigue strength assessment of offshore structures

Shanshan Li & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: A procedure to generate the fatigue load history based on a Storm Model is proposed
in this paper. Adopting one year as the climatic reference period the procedure determines the sea state
sequence within one year, and for each sea state, the wave-induced stresses are modelled by a stress response
spectrum that is calculated from the stress Response Amplitude Operator (RAO) and a wave energy
spectrum. Next, the stress time history is simulated for each sea state in the sequence corresponding to
one year. Finally, the one-year time series are repeated to the whole design life or until final failure occurs
in the studied structure. An application example is given to demonstrate the fatigue life prediction for a
tubular T-joint of an offshore platform by using the generated load history, which shows the practical and
effective use of the proposed procedure.

1 INTRODUCTION needs to be provided as the load-time history in

Fatigue is an important degradation phenomenon
that needs to be considered in the design of marine
structures. To assess fatigue life, it is necessary to
model the wave-induced loading, which is random
(e.g. Garbatov et al. 2011). One of the open prob-
lems is the load sequence effect on fatigue crack
growth rate, which has been proved from labora-
tory tests to be an influencing factor that cannot be
neglected in fatigue analysis. For marine structures
such as ships and offshore platforms, currently
used fatigue strength assessment approaches are
based on Cumulative Fatigue Damage (CFD) the-
ory, which is unable to calculate the crack growth
process and to take the load sequence effect into
account. Only approaches based on Fatigue Crack
Propagation (FCP) theory have the potential to
model the change of crack size as a function of
load intensity, and sequence.
The essence of developing an FCP-based
fatigue life prediction method is to establish a ‘cor-
rect’ crack growth rate relation under both con-
stant amplitude load and variable amplitude load.
Over the past few decades, much progress has been
made on this issue (Wheeler 1972, Newman 1981,
McEvily et al. 1999, Okawa & Sumi 2008, Sumi &
Inoue 2011, Huang et al. 2008, Cui et al. 2011).
The capabilities of these models have been dem-
onstrated and validated by comparing with experi-
mental results on a wide range of alloys within
their specific scope of application.
In order to apply the FCP-based approaches
in the design of marine structures, fatigue load
the time domain rather than the currently used
load spectrum in the frequency domain. This is the
other key issue that needs to be solved in develop-
ing fatigue life prediction methods based on FCP
theory. Generally, the long-term distribution of
the wave-induced stress ranges is fitted by a two-
parameter Weibull distribution (Guedes Soares
and Moan, 1991). Stress ranges for a certain
period are equivalent to a series of pseudo-random
numbers generated by a program when the scale
parameter and shape parameter are determined by
the spectral analysis method (Guedes Soares et al.
2003; Garbatov et al, 2010, Nguyen, et al. 2013) or
adopting classification society recommended val-
ues and empirical formulae.
But it is still not completely satisfactory and it
is essential to generate load sequences consisting
both rough and calm seas to accurately simulate
the random nature in real oceans, so that sequence
effect can be taken into consideration. Baxevani
et al. (2009) proposed a stochastic spatio-temporal
wave model, which can simulate significant wave
height sequence by using satellite wave data. This
model was adopted to calculate fatigue strength of
ship structures (Mao et al. 2010, 2013, de Gracia
et al. 2016). However in this model, the stochas-
tic nature of storms (e.g., storm duration and
various maximum wave height of storm) were not
clearly distinguishable. Furthermore, complicated
cross-correlation analysis at numerous data points
is required in the application, and such analysis
requires a very large effort that is not compatible
with practical ship design.

13

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 13 3/29/2017 9:33:55 AM

 Japanese researchers presented another rela-
tively simple load sequence generation model called
storm model. In the 1st generation of storm model
(Tomita et al. 1995), ocean conditions were clas-
sified into either storm or calm sea based on the
wave data in the North Pacific Ocean. Storms were
modelled as crescendo and decrescendo amplitude
waveform of individual wave height (hw), and calm
seas were modelled as time-independent random
waveform. These two conditions randomly occur
during the ships’ lifetime.
Kawabe et al. (2002, 2003) modified the 1st gen-
eration model so that the storm waveforms were
given by significant wave height (Hw) sequences,
and the correlation between Hw and mean wave
period (Tz), which was ignored in the 1st model,
was taken into account. Furthermore, the wave-
forms were determined so that Hw’s frequency dis-
tribution in a storm was similar to the tail of Hw’s
long-term distribution. That was called the 2nd
generation storm model.
On the basis of Japan Weather Association
(JWA)’s hindcast wave data, Prasetyo et al. (2012,
2013) presented the 3rd generation model so that
the variation of storm durations can be taken into
consideration. So far, the load sequences expe-
rienced by ocean-going ships and offshore struc-
tures can be approximately described by the storm
model. For a given structure, the fatigue life can be
obtained as the mean value of many calculations
with different combinations of storms and calm
seas in the whole lifetime, which is always a time-
consuming process due to a lot of computation.
In order to decrease such kind of redundant
calculations, Li et al. (2014, 2016) proposed a pro-
cedure for generating the Standardized Load-time
History (SLH) for marine structures based on the
storm model. SLH usually does not cover the total
design life, but only a representative fraction (a ref-
erence period of the design life), and all the storms
are expected to be located within the reference
period. Then a simulation is made with all possible
sequences of storms to identify which one leads
to the largest fatigue damage, this one is the SLH.
That is to say, the load sequence that leads to the
most serious condition of fatigue crack propagation
is chosen to be the SLH. Finally the SLH deter-
mined for the reference period will be repeated in
fatigue tests or numerical simulations until final fail-
ure occurs or the anticipated design life is covered.
However in the actual application, the number
of all possible load sequences within the reference
period is always too large to really obtain the one
that makes a crack grow fastest. For example, if
there are 14 storms experienced by an offshore
platform within one year, which is always selected
as the reference period for offshore structures when
determining the SLH, then all possible sequences
of storms should be about 8.7E10 (14*13*…*2*1).
14
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 14
It is obviously difficult to implement due to the
huge computing time.
This paper presents an improved procedure to
generate fatigue load history by using seasonal
Wave Scatter Diagrams (WSDs) instead of the
averaged one that was used before. This implies
the use of separate WSDs for each of the seasons.
Separating the analysis in four seasons makes each
of the studies much shorter computationally as the
number of load sequence variant decreases much,
for instance, if 5 storms in one season, then only
430 (5*4*3*2*1) possible storm sequences need
to be considered. Furthermore, it avoids studying
unrealistic storm sequences as one would not expect
winter storms and summer storms, for example,
to be mixed in sequence. The whole procedure is
implemented by a MATLAB program. Finally,
an example is given to demonstrate the fatigue life
prediction for a tubular T-joint of an offshore plat-
form by using the generated load sequence.
2 THE PROCEDURE TO GENERATE
LOAD HISTORIES FOR OFFSHORE
STRUCTURES
First it is critical to select the length of the refer-
ence period, trying to make sure that the full vari-
ety of load amplitudes is contained in this analysed
time period in their correct percentages. Too short
means that infrequent but high load amplitudes are
not contained in the load history, although they do
occur in service and will greatly affect the fatigue
life. In that case, the generated load history would
be quite different from that in service. Conversely
if too long, the amount of calculation work would
increase significantly. As for offshore structures,
the service life is generally designated as 20∼25
years, so one year seems to be an appropriate selec-
tion because structures experience similar weather
conditions every year, especially offshore platforms
with relatively fixed working locations.
Then the procedure determines the sea state
sequence within the selected reference period, and
then in each sea state, the wave-induced stress can
be modelled by stress response spectrum which
is calculated from the stress Response Amplitude
Operator (RAO) and a wave energy spectrum.
Finally, the stress time history is simulated for
each sea state in the sequence corresponding to
one year, the one-year time series will be repeated
to the whole design life or until final failure occurs
in the studied structure.
2.1 Sea state sequence generation
2.1.1 Wave data collection
Wave data collection in the studied sea area is
the first necessary step. For offshore structures,
3/29/2017 9:33:55 AM
 the most commonly used form to describe wave
environment is the Wave Scatter Diagram (WSD),
which is represented with significant wave height
(Hw) and mean wave period (Tz). According to sta-
tistical data in the WSD, the occurrence probabil-
ity of each sea state (Hw, Tz) can be estimated. In
this paper, the separate WSDs for each season in
the studied sea area are needed to generate fatigue
load history.

Figure 1. Hw waveform in the i-th class storm.

2.1.2 Storm profile configuration
For the studied sea area, the wave environment in
each season, e.g., the mean value of Hw (Hw,mean) It was also recommended that a crescendo and
and occurrences of each sea state (Hw, Tz), can be decrescendo waveform starts from Hw = min (1.0,
obtained according to the seasonal WSD. Hw,max/storm − Jend) (Prasetyo 2013).
First divide storms and calm seas by using a However, the threshold (2Hw,mean in this paper)
threshold that is related to Hw,mean: for example, if between calm seas and storms is normally consid-
the threshold is chosen as 2Hw,mean, in calm seas, ered to be the starting Hw of a storm. In this work,
the maximum Hw is 2Hw,mean; storms are classi- by analysing the statistical wave data from Kawabe
fied according to the maximum Hw in each storm (2002, 2003), the starting Hw in a storm is taken as
(Hw,max/storm), which ranges from (2Hw,mean + 1) m to min (2Hw,mean + 1, Hw,max/storm − Jend). More precise
the extreme value of Hw (Hw,ext), assuming the step studies on determining how many levels of Hw there
of Hw is 1 m. should be in a storm will be made in the future.
The storm duration (d), which actually varies N (j) is the repeat number of Hw in each level,
for different storms, can be determined according which can be determined as follows,
to wave statistics in the studied sea area. In this
paper, d is assumed to be the mean value of all
storm durations, which is fixed for all the storms.
N1 i ⎣ {
⎡ NSS Pex ( Hw sstorm }
torm ) ⎦ ;
⎤
More precise models for variable storm durations ⎣ { ( )}
N2 i ⎡ NSS Pex Hw ,max/ storm −1 − N1 ⎤
⎦ (4)
can be incorporated at a later stage of the study.
The sea state number in each storm is given as, N3 = i t ⎡ NSS
⎣ { ( 2
)} − ( N1 + N2 ) ⎤ ;
⎦
…
d( ) × 24( )
NSS = (1) The summation of N(j) should be equal to Nss.
IOB ( )
The frequency distribution of Hw in a calm
sea, pcalm(Hw), is determined from the number of
where IOB is the observation interval of sea state sea states with Hw < 2Hw,mean, which do not appear
data, which means a sea state stays unchanged dur- in storms, and the sequence of Hw in a calm sea
ing this short period. Then the total number of sea is determined by random number selection using
states in each season can be given as, pcalm(Hw).
0.. ( year ) (days ) ( hours )
Ntotal / season = (2) 2.1.3 Assessment of each storm number
IOB ( ) Let n(i) be the occurrence number of i-th class
storm in one season, then for the 1st (severest)
For each storm, the crescendo and decrescendo class storm with Hw,max/storm = Hw,ext,
amplitude waveform is determined so that the fre-
quency distribution of Hw is similar to the long- n( ) n( Hw ,eext
xt ) (5)
term probability distribution of Hw, as shown in
Figure  1. In that figure, J represents how many for the 2nd severest class storm with Hw,max/storm  = 
levels with different Hw in a storm, Jend is the maxi- (Hw,ext−1) m,
mum number of levels. An equation has been given
to determine Jend as follows (Prasetyo 2013), ( )
Next 1 − Next
∗
ext 1 (6)

⎡ ⎧( NSS − ) ⎫⎤ where Next−1 is the total occurrence number of sea

J end I ⎢exp ⎨
Int ⎬⎥ (3)
⎢⎣ states with Hw  =  (Hw,ext−1) m, N*ext−1 is the number
⎩ k ⎭ ⎥⎦
of sea states with Hw =  (Hw,ext−1) m that occurred
where, k and λ are the scale and shape parameters in the 1st class storm. By repeating this procedure,
of the Weibull distribution. the numbers of storms in all classes, n(i) i = 3,4,…,

15

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 15 3/29/2017 9:33:55 AM

 can be determined. Then the total number of all
the storms in one season is given as,
(i )
∑
iend
n( storm / season ) i =1
n (7)
and the number of calm seas in one season can be
determined as,
Ntotal
n( calm / season ) = total / season
− n( storm / season )
NSS
According to the total number of storms in one
season, divide all the sea states (storms and calm
seas) into some blocks, making sure each block has
one storm, as shown in Figure 2.
Once Hw’s sequence in each block is acquired,
the mean wave period Tz can be determined by ran-
dom number selecting using the conditional prob-
ability of Tz given Hw according to the WSD, as the
following equation,
p ( Hw , Tz ) p( Hw ) p(Tz / Hw )
Until now, the sea state sequence in each block
and how many blocks would occur in each season
can be obtained.
2.2 Stress history generation
Once the sea state (Hw, TZ) sequence is determined,
the stress range of each individual wave height, Sa,
can be calculated in which the calculation condi-
tions are:
• The heading angle of the studied structure is
determined by using all-heading model;
• The stress RAO of wave-induced stress acting
on the structural member will normally be made
by performing wave load assessment and FEM
analyses (e.g. Guedes Soares et al. 2003);
• In each sea state (Hw, TZ), the individual wave
height is generated by assuming obeys Rayleigh
Figure 2. Simplified random wave model in one season.
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 16
Figure  3. Simplified random load model within one-
year referenced period.
(8)
distribution, whose wave energy spectrum is given
by the Pierson-Moskowitz spectrum, as follows:
−44
⎧ ⎛ Tz ⎞ ⎪⎫
4
S( ) ⎛ ωTz ⎞
= 00..1111 × exp ⎨ −0.44
⎝ 2π ⎠ ⎬ (10)
exp
Hω2 ⎝ 2π ⎠
⎩ ⎭
where w is the wave’s angular frequency in rad/s.
The cumulative probability distribution function
of Sa is assumed to obey Rayleigh distribution and
given by the equation below,
(9) ⎛ S2 ⎞
F (Sa ) = 1 − exp ⎜ − a 2 ⎟ (11)
⎝ 2R ⎠
where R is the standard deviation of the stress
response.
2.3 Storm sequence determination
Within each season, the sequence of storms (blocks)
will be changed with all possible combinations, and
then the fatigue crack propagation will be calculated
under every different load sequence by using a crack
growth rate relation. Finally the load sequence that
makes a crack grow fastest will be chosen as the
generated load sequence. Here, all possible combi-
nations of storms within one season will be much
less than those within one year, which makes the
study much shorter computationally. It is therefore
possible to calculate all possible load sequences and
to decide the most serious one. Moreover, the gener-
ated load sequence would be more realistic to the
real ocean condition, as for example, winter storms
and summer storms will not be mixed in sequence.
Finally, the determined one-year load history
will be repeated several times as fatigue loading
until final failure occurs in the studied structure or
the design life is covered, as shown in Figure 3.
3 APPLICATION EXAMPLE
In this section, an example is given to demonstrate
the fatigue life prediction for a tubular T-joint of
an offshore platform by using the generated load
history. The T-joint is one of steel tubular joints
16
3/29/2017 9:33:57 AM
 and widely used in offshore platforms. Experi-
mental results have shown that, in most cases, the
fatigue hot spot is located at the saddle point of a
T-joint under brace tension. A surface crack at the
saddle point of a T-joint is considered in this study
for fatigue life prediction, as shown in Figure 4.
In this work, the seasonal WSDs are obtained
from 11-year (1991–2001) wave hindcast produced
in the HIPOCAS project (Guedes Soares 2008),
which was already compared with various others
data sets (Campos & Guedes Soares, 2016). The
data is limited to one point (28oN, 41oW) in the
North Atlantic Ocean with a time step of 3 hours Figure 6. Storm profile in each class.
(Pilar et al, 2008). The occurrence probability of
every sea state in each season can be estimated. Table  1. Occurrence number of storms (Jan.–Mar.)
One year is selected as the length of the ref- within one year.
erence period, and the WSD from January to
March is taken as a demonstration. Figure  5 Storm Hw,max/storm Occurrence
shows the Hw’s frequency distribution. All the sea class (m) no.
states are divided into storms and calm seas by
2Hw,mean = 6.8 m, then storms are characterized with 1 18 0
Hw,max/storm (from 7 m to 18 m), calm seas are from 2 17 0
1 m to 6 m. 3 16 0
Here the storm duration is assumed to be 3.5 4 15 0
5 14 1
days. The number of sea states in each storm is
6 13 0
Nss  =  3.5  days  *  24  hours/3  hours  =  28, and the
7 12 0
total number of sea states from January to March
8 11 3
is Ntotal/season  =  0.25 years  *  365 days  *  24 hours/
9 10 2
3 hours  =  730. As described in Figure  1, storms
10 9 0
with different classes are configured as shown in 11 8 0
Figure 6. 12 7 0
Total – 6

As introduced in section  2.1.3, the number of

storms occurring in each class are obtained as
shown Table  1. It shows that there are totally six
storms with three different classes occurring from
Jan. to Mar. within one year.
All these 730 sea states are then divided into six
blocks, each block has one storm with 28 sea states
Figure 4. Surface crack at the saddle point of a T-joint. and 94 (730/6–28) sea states in calm seas. Then in
each block, the wave-induced stress history is mod-
elled according to equations 9–10. (Assuming that
stress RAO = 10; stress ratio = −1), see Figure 7.
Now there are in total 720 (6 * 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1)
possible combinations with these six storms
(blocks). The surface crack propagation is calcu-
lated under 720 different load sequences by using
the crack growth rate model presented based on the
concept of partial crack closure in Unified Fatigue
Life Prediction (UFLP) method (Cui et al. 2011).
Under variable-amplitude loading, the model can
be written in the following form:

da AM m
Figure  5. The relative frequency distribution of Hw = (12)
(Jan.–Mar.). dN 1 − ( K max / KC )n

17

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 17 3/29/2017 9:33:58 AM

 Table  2. Material parameters used in the
improved crack growth rate model.

Parameter Value

A (MPa−mm1−m/2) 2.737 E−9

m 1.349
n 6.0
re (m) 1E−6
KIC (MPa * m1/2) 150.0
ΔKth0 (MPa * m1/2) 13.2
σu (MPa) 980
σy (MPa) 800
Figure  7. Wave-induced stress history in each block
(Jan.–Mar.).
Table  3. Dimensions and initial surface
crack sizes of the tubular T-joint.
M K max − K op′ ΔK effth (13)
Value
K op′ = φ K op = φ fop K max (14) Parameter (mm)

where Kmax is the maximum stress intensity factor; D 914.56

Kop is the stress intensity factor at the crack open- d 457.28
ing level, and Φ is the modified factor of the crack T 32
opening level and its expression varies with the t 16
different loading modes; ΔKeff  = Kmax – K′op, is the L 5486.4
effective stress intensity factor range, and ΔKeffth is a0 3.5
c0 10
the threshold effective stress intensity factor range;
KC is the fracture toughness of the material ana-
lysed. More information on the crack growth rate
model can be found from the respective references
(Cui et al. 2011, Chen et al. 2012).
The material property parameters used in the
UFLP model are given in Table  2. For the sur-
face crack at the saddle point of the T-joint, stress
intensity factor K can be calculated according
to the parametric formulae proposed by Rhee
et al. (1991). Geometric dimensions of the tubular
T-joint are detailed in Table 3. These values lie well
within the validity ranges of the Rhee’s equations.
The whole process, including all possible combina-
tions of storms and fatigue crack growth simulations,
is implemented in a MATLAB program. The simu- Figure  8. Simulated a-N curves under 720 different
load sequences.
lated results of fatigue crack propagation are shown
in Figure 8. It can be found that crack growth behav-
iour is sensitive to the load sequence effect. Basically Here it is repeated to 11 years in order to com-
storms have a far greater impact on crack growth rate pare with the hindcast wave data from 1991–2011.
than calm seas. After a big storm occurs, retardation A series of 11 years sea state (Hw, Tz) sequences
due to overloading has a large effect on the crack are generated at the chosen point. The exceedance
growth rate. The corresponding load sequence that probability (Pex(HW)) of the simulated sea state
makes the crack grows fastest in Figure 8 is chosen as sequence and the source hindcast data is plotted in
the final load sequence, see Figure 9. Figure 11. It can be seen that Pex(HW) of simulated
Load sequences in other seasons can be deter- sequence agrees very well with hindcast data. This
mined in the same way, and the generated load his- comparison shows that the statistical characteristic
tory within one year is shown in Figure 10. of the sea state sequence generated from the storm
Assuming that the designed service life of an model almost agrees with that derived from hind-
offshore platform is 25 years, the one-year load cast wave data.
history as shown in Figure 10 can be repeated 25 The comparison of fatigue crack propagation
times as the fatigue loading in FCP-based fatigue result is shown in Figure 12. It can be found that
life prediction methods. the studied surface crack at the saddle point of a

18

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 18 3/29/2017 9:34:00 AM


Figure 9. The final load sequence during Jan. to Mar.
Figure 10. The final generated load history within one-
year reference period.
Figure 11. Long-term (11 years) exceedance probability
of Hw at the studied point.
Figure 12. Comparison of crack propagation under the
generated load history and hindcast load history.
19
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 19
T-joint grows very slowly within 11 years under
both stress histories, so this can be regarded as an
acceptable flaw of the offshore platform. The two
curves have similar growth tendency, and the final
crack depth under the simulated load history is a
little larger than that under the hindcast one. This
would be expected as the simulated result models
the worst case and the hindcast data is just one
random realization.
4 CONCLUSIONS
A procedure to generate the fatigue load his-
tory for offshore structures based on the storm
model has been presented in this paper. Sepa-
rating the analysis in four seasons makes each
of the studies much shorter computationally as
the number of load sequence variant decreases
much. It is thus possible to calculate all possible
load sequences within each season and to decide
the one that leads to the most fatigue damage.
Furthermore, the generated load history using
the seasonal WSDs in a studied sea area would
be more realistic to the real ocean condition, as
it avoids studying unrealistic storm sequences,
for example, mixing winter storms and summer
storms in sequence. Finally, an example is given
to demonstrate the load history generation and
application for a tubular T-joint of an offshore
platform. Through these analyses, the following
conclusions can be drawn:
1. Retardation of crack growth due to overload-
ing can be clearly seen from the fatigue analy-
sis results. When big storms occur earlier in the
overall load history, the final crack size is usu-
ally smaller than that when they occur later. It
can thus be concluded that earlier occurrences
of major storms are helpful in slowing the crack
growth rate and in prolonging the fatigue life of
offshore structures.
2. Fig. 11 shows that the exceedance probability
of the simulated sea state sequence agrees very
well with hindcast data. As for fatigue crack
propagation life in Fig. 12, the final crack size
under the simulated load history is a little larger
than that under the hindcast data. This would
be expected as the simulated result models the
worst case and this would be appropriate as a
design condition for offshore structures.
3. The load sequence generating procedure pro-
posed in this paper can also be applied in fatigue
life prediction for structural members of ships,
which do not usually work in a relatively fixed
location like offshore platforms but frequently
sail along the given routes during their service
period, as long as the seasonal WSDs in the
working area are available.
3/29/2017 9:34:01 AM
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was performed within the Strategic
Research Plan of the Centre for Marine Technology
and Ocean Engineering, which is financed by
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technol-
ogy (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia-FCT).
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

A numerical simulation for coupling behavior between smoothed

particle hydrodynamics and structural finite element method

C. Ma & M. Oka
National Maritime Research Institute, Japan

K. Iijima
Osaka University, Japan

ABSTRACT: In this research, a new numerical coupling model between Smoothed Particle
Hydrodynamics (SPH) and Structural Finite Element Method (FEM) is proposed to evaluate the Fluid-
Structure Interaction (FSI) behavior. The coupling scheme between the fluid model and structural model
is introduced. In order to confirm the feasibility of the proposed coupling model, three 2D validation
works are conducted which include beam impact, elastic gate and dam break with an elastic plate. The
comparison results between the simulation and model test or analytical solution are discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION step which can be regarded as weakly coupling.

With an increase of size of ships or floating off-
shore structures, how to evaluate the structural
elastic-plastic response under hydrodynamic load
become more significant in order to assess the
structural safety. It is highly necessary to propose a
validated numerical model to predict the structural
response under wave load qualitatively and quanti-
tatively, especially for the structural collapse behav-
ior under severe wave load such as slamming.
Lots of researches about FSI have been con-
ducted in recent years. According to the coupling
algorithm, the FSI model can be divided into
two categories; simultaneous (or direct) model
(Rugonyi et al. 2001) and partitioned (or iterative)
model (Zhang et al. 2011).
In the simultaneous approach which is also called
as strongly coupling, a system of equations for the
fluid and structure is set up as a whole system and
solved in the same time step. The divergence prob-
lem between the fluid and structure domains can be
eliminated which means the calculation time incre-
ment can be taken relatively larger. However, simul-
taneous model needs more knowledge for both fluid
and structure domains in order to establish the cou-
pling equation of motion for both models. It is usu-
ally difficult to utilize the most advanced fluid and
structure model in the coupling process.
On the other hand, partitioned model provides
rather simpler coupling scheme in which, the only
the force and displacement/velocity is transferred
in the physical contact interface between fluid and
structure. The convergence is conserved by utiliz-
ing small time increment and iteration in same time
Even though more computation time is usually
necessary for partitioned model, benefiting from
the simple coupling scheme, the fluid model and
structure model can be kept relatively independent
and more complex model for both fluid and struc-
ture can be easily adapted.
The accuracy of Eulerian Grid-based fluid
model has been proved in many literatures. An
FSI model was successfully proposed in (Liao
et  al. 2013) based on Constraint Interpola-
tion Profile (CIP) method. However, for Grid-
based method, the distortion problem always
exists and large computation efforts is needed
to renew the fluid mesh in the free surface or
contact surface between fluid and structure. As
an alternative fluid model, particle method has
been developed rapidly in recent decades. As it
is a Lagrangian meshless method, the distor-
tion problem in free surface or contact surface
does not exist anymore. As the results, parti-
cle method may be more proper choice for the
FSI problem. (Hermange et  al. 2016) validated
their SPH-FEM coupling model by the beam
impact test and elastic gate test. A numerical
model coupling SPH and structure model with
nonlinear beam element is proposed in (Ma
et  al. 2016) to predict the occurrence of struc-
tural ringing under green water. Another FSI
model was established based on MPS (Moving
Particle Semi-implicit Method)-FEM model in
(Mitsume et al. 2014). The structure can be also
simulated as particle model rather than finite
element. Both fluid and structure are simulated
by SPH model in (Antoci et al. 2007).

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 In the all above researches, most attention Ab
is paid on how to improve the fluid model or Aa ∑m b W
ρb ab
(2)
coupling algorithm theoretically or numerically.
The structure model is usually simplified based
where Wab W ( a − b , h ). m and ρ are the mass and
on linear assumption. As the plastic and post-
density for particles. The subscript, a or b, corre-
ultimate structural behavior may occur under
sponds the relevant particle id.
severe hydrodynamic load condition which is
The performance of SPH models highly depends
significantly important to evaluate the safety of
on the choice of the kernel function which should
the structure, it is indispensable to establish an
satisfy the positivity, compact support and nor-
FSI model which can not only solve the nonlin-
malization condition. For instance, in this research,
ear fluid behavior but also nonlinear structural
the utilized kernel (Quintic Wendland Kernel) is
behavior. Meanwhile, in order to assess the struc-
written as:
tural behavior of real ship or offshore & ocean
structure with complex shape and internal con- 4
struction, the present simplified structural model ⎛ q⎞
W ( r, h ) (2q + 1) 0≤q≤2 (3)
is obviously not sufficient. ⎝ 2⎠
In this research, a new partitioned numerical FSI
tool is proposed. Fluid model is built based on SPH where, α = 1621
π h3
for 3D simulation. q is the non-
theory which can simply deal with the nonlinear dis- dimensional distance given by q = r/h.
tortion problem and contact interface construction. The Euler equations are formulated for the rate
Parallel calculation based on GPU is carried out for of change of velocity, density and position:
SPH model to achieve a high calculation efficiency.
Structural FE model is built in Abaqus which can dv 1
deal well with not only the elastic but also the plastic = − ∇P + g, momentum equation (4)
dt ρ
behavior of structure with enough reliability. Par-
allel calculation of Abaqus on CPU is also imple- dρ
= − ρ∇iv, continuity equation (5)
mented during the FSI coupling process. By this dt
numerical model, the fully nonlinear fluid-structure
dr
interaction can be taken into account. Besides, as = v, trajectory equation (6)
the fluid and structure model is kept relatively inde- dt
pendent, the proposed FSI model can be easily
updated when new SPH strategy is proposed or new Equation  5  shows that the SPH can deal with
version of Abaqus is released. the variable density as it is initially designed for the
In this paper, the SPH theory is firstly intro- astrophysical problem. Four unknown parameter, v,
duced. Then the coupling algorithm is mainly P, ρ and r existing in three Euler equations and one
discussed. A 2D validation work is performed by additional equation is necessary to solve all these
comparing the simulation results with the experi- four parameters. The equation of state is imple-
ment data for the elastic beam impact problem, mented here according to Tait’s equation of state.
elastic gate problem and dam break with an elastic
plate problem. ⎡⎛ ρ ⎞ r ⎤
P B ⎢⎜ ⎟ − 1⎥ (7)
⎢⎣⎝ ρ0 ⎠ ⎥⎦

2 NUMERICAL MODEL where

2.1 SPH fluid model
∂P
γ 7 B 0 ρ0
2
γ ρ0 = 1000 kgm
g −3 , c0 = c ( ρ 0 ) =
In SPH theory (Monaghan 2005), the fluid is con- ∂ρ ρ0
sidered as particle and the spatial derivatives can
be solved by some interpolation technique based
on special kernel function as shown: is the speed of sound at the reference density.
Dynamic Boundary Condition (DBC) is utilized
to simulate the boundary particles in which, the
A( ) ∫ A(
A( )W ( , h )dr′ (1) boundary particles are calculated based on Equa-
tion 4,5,7 without updating the coordinates given
where, r is the spatial coordinates, h is the kernel by Equation  6 (Crespo et  al. 2007). Comparing
smoothing length and W is the kernel function. with other boundary condition like ghost particle
The integral in Equation 1 can be written as dis- condition (Merino-Alonso, P. et al. 2013) or repul-
crete notation Equation 2 for numerical modeling: sive boundary conditions (Monaghan 2005), DBC

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 22 3/29/2017 9:34:02 AM

 is relatively easier to be adapted especially when
the boundary geometry is complex. The feasibility
of DBC is discussed in (Dominguez et al. 2015).
As an intrinsic problem of particle method, the
unphysical fluid pressure oscillations has to been
eliminated as much as possible during the FSI cou-
pling process. DeltaSPH (Molteni, D. et al. 2009)
formulation is applied by which a diffusive term
for reducing the density fluctuation is introduced.
In this research, the open-source code Dual-
SPHysics is used to simulate the SPH flow. Dual-
SPHysics (Crespo et  al. 2015) is developed for
on the boundary surface which can cause an irreg-
ular fluid pressure.
Figure  1  shows the main idea for the calcula-
tion of the fluid pressure on the boundary in this
research. Fluid pressure calculated on the probe P
at distance 1.5 h (h: kernel smoothing length, see
Equation 1) from the boundary particle is regarded
as equivalent pressure acting on the boundary.
Pp =
∑ PW b bp
(8)
∑W bp

large-scale SPH calculation by unitizing the par-

allel computation ability of both CPU and GPU
which has been validated in many researches such
as (Altomare et al. 2015).

2.2 FE structural model

FE structural model is established in commercial
software, Abaqus. Abaqus has been proved in lots
of literatures as a robust structural simulation tool
for analyzing elastic, plastic and post-ultimate
behavior. In this research, explicit dynamic analysis
of Abaqus is used to simulate the structure behav-
ior under imposed fluid pressure. More informa-
tion about the Abaqus can be found in Abaqus
Analysis User’s Guide. Figure  1. Calculation of the fluid pressure on the
boundary.

2.3 FSI coupling scheme

The partitioned algorithm is used to weakly cou-
ple the fluid and structure models. In SPH model,
the fluid and structure are built by the fluid par-
ticles and boundary particles relatively. Same FE
structure model is also created in Abaqus. By user-
subroutine function, VDload, supplied by Abaqus,
the structure displacement/velocity and fluid pres-
sure is transferred between the SPH and Abaqus
model. Open code DualSPHysics is reconstructed
and compiled to Dynamic Link Library (DLL)
which can be directly called from the subroutine
VDload in each time step.
During the coupling process, the coordinates
and velocity of boundary particles will be calcu-
lated based on the interpolation/extrapolation
results of displacement and velocity of mesh
surface center of structure model. Interpolation/
extrapolation projection index between the bound-
ary particle ID and mesh ID is initially generated
based on the relevant coordinates.
As pointed out in Users Guide of DualSPHys-
ics code and (Hermange et al. 2016), it is difficult
to achieve the stable pressure just on the surface of
boundary particles. Due to the existence of pos-
sible gap between the boundary and fluid particles,
there may not be sufficient number of neighbor
fluid particles to interpolate the correct pressure Figure 2. Flowchart of calculation.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 23 3/29/2017 9:34:05 AM

 Figure 3. Flowchart of coupling process.

where Pb is the pressure on neighbor particle b.

To avoid pushing the structure away unphysi-
cally, the fluid particle number is counted around
the center of mesh surface point Po. When there
is no surrounding fluid particle, the pressure acted
on the boundary will be set to zero.
The main calculation process and coupling algo-
Figure 4. Dimension of the elastic beam.
rithm are schematically explained in Figure 2 and
Figure 3, respectively.

3 NUMERICAL RESULTS Table 1. The physical and numerical parameters for the
elastic beam.
3.1 Elastic beam impact Young’s modulus 67.5 Gpa
An elastic beam impact is simulated in this section. Possion Coefficient 0.34
The dimension of the beam is shown in Figure 4 ρbeam 2700 kg/m3
(Gotoh et al. 2016). In this test, both end of beam ρwater 1000 kg/m3
and midpoint A are forced to move down with con- Particle size 0.002 m
stant velocity 30 m/s. The physical and numerical Mesh size 0.01 m
parameters for the elastic beam is given in Table 1. Particle number 759502
In order to confirm the prediction accuracy of Mesh number 496
the proposed FSI model, the comparison between Calculation time-consuming 77 hours
per physical second
the simulation results and the analytical solu-
tion (Scolan 2004) is presented in time domain.
In (Scolan 2004), an hydroelastic approach was
established by coupling the linear thin shell struc-
tural model based on modal formulation and lin-
ear hydrodynamic model based on Wagner theory.
Figure 5 illustrates the comparison of the inte-
grated vertical force acting on the elastic beam.
An acceptable accuracy is basically obtained.
The comparison of deflection and impact pres-
sure at measuring point C and D is shown in
Figures  6 and 7. It is found that, even though a
good agreement is confirmed for the deflection, a
high frequency vibration of pressure still exists and
the predicted pressure is underestimated. (Gotoh
et al. 2016) has clarified that by adapting defined
schemes for accuracy and stability enhancements
for fluid model, the accuracy of predicted pressure
can be improved significantly. Figure 5. Comparison of integrated vertical force.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 24 3/29/2017 9:34:06 AM

 Figure 6. Comparison of deflection at measuring point C.

Figure 8. Distribution of fluid pressure and structural

stress (t = 1.5 s).

Figure 7. Comparison of impact pressure at measuring

point D.

The fluid pressure distribution and correspond-

ing structural stress distribution is qualitatively
shown in Figure  8 and Figure  9 for time instant
1.5 s and 2.5 s respectively.

3.2 Elastic gate

Another benchmark test is conducted for an elastic
gate. Figure 9. Distribution of fluid pressure and structural
Figure  10  shows the arrangement of the elas- stress (t = 2.5 s).
tic gate according to the model test supplied by
(Antoci et al. 2007). As only the top of the elastic
gate is fixed on the rigid wall and the bottom of
the gate (gate tip) is free for deflection, the fluid
is initially released through the elastic gate to the
left-hand side due to the gravity. The particular
parameters are concluded in Table 2.
The time history of the gate tip displacement
along horizontal and vertical direction is shown in
Figure 11. A good agreement between the simula-
tion results and model test data is obtained as well.
For the horizontal displacement, the predicted
value is a little smaller than the model test value.
Similar tendency is also observed in others MPS
based FSI model (Khayyer et  al. 2016) in which Figure 10. Arrangement of elastic gate.

25

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 25 3/29/2017 9:34:07 AM

 Table 2. The physical and numerical parameters for the
elastic gate.

H 0.14 m
B 0.1 m
L 0.079 m
w 0.005 m
Young’s modulus 12 Mpa
Possion Coefficient 0.5
Ρgate 1100 kg/m3
ρwater 1000 kg/m3
Particle size 0.0005 m Figure  12. Comparison of the height of fluid
Mesh size 0.001 m free-surface.
Particle number 68761
Mesh number 405
Calculation time-consuming 10.6 hours
per physical second

Figure 11. Comparison of gate tip horizontal and verti-

cal displacement.

lots of MPS stability enhancements are enabled.

This discrepancy may be interpreted by the errors
existing in the utilized Young’s modulus for the
elastic gate. As pointed out by (Antoci et al. 2007),
the gate is made of rubber which shows nonlinear
material property and the modulus depends on
the strain and strain rate. The 12 Mpa is only the
“equivalent” value which cannot represent the real
Young’s modulus exactly. Figure 13. Distribution of fluid pressure and structural
Figure 12 demonstrates the time history of the stress (t = 0.13 s).
height of the fluid free-surface. The proposed FSI
model can also capture the similar behavior well.
Figure 13 presents the distribution of fluid pres-
sure and structural stress at time instant 0.13 s.

3.3 Dam break with an elastic plate

The elastic plate behavior under the impact pres-
sure of dam break flow is simulated and compared
with the model test data (Liao, K. et  al. 2014).
The demonstration of the model test is shown in
Figure 14 in which, the gate is removed suddenly
along arrow’s direction to generate the dam break
flow. Table  3  shows the particular parameters of Figure 14. Arrangement of dam break with an elastic
the model test. Even though Liao conducted a plate.

26

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 26 3/29/2017 9:34:08 AM

 Table 3. The physical and numerical parameters for the
dam break with an elastic plate.

Plate thickness 0.004 m

Plate height 0.1 m
Young’s modulus 3.5 Mpa
Ρplate 1161.54 kg/m3
Ρfluid 997 kg/m3
Particle size 0.001 m
Mesh size 0.002 m
Particle number 45268
Mesh number 100
Calculation time-consuming 1.1 hours
per physical second
Figure  15. Comparison of plate tip horizontal
displacement.

Figure 16. Flow profile and corresponding structure stress distribution.

27

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 27 3/29/2017 9:34:10 AM

 series of model test with different initial fluid
height, in this paper, only the fluid with initial
height 20 cm is discussed.
Figure  15  shows the time history of plate tip
horizontal displacement. It is observed that, the
simulation results overestimate the plate tip hori-
zontal displacement. As noted in Liao’s paper,
the air cavity may influence a lot on the response
of the elastic gate. However, in this research, the
air influence is not considered in the SPH model.
Besides, the surface tension model is also not taken
into account in the SPH model which may be
important when splash generation becomes severe
(Gotoh, H. et al. 2016).
Flow profile and corresponding structure stress
distribution for four different time instants is
shown in Figure 16.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this research, a new FSI numerical model is
demonstrated. The SPH fluid is weakly coupled
with the Abaqus structural model. Benefiting from
the partitioned coupling algorithm, the proposed
model is relatively easier to be updated whenever
the new SPH model or Abaqus version is released.
Three benchmark tests, elastic beam impact, elastic
gate and dam break with an elastic plate, are car-
ried out to validate the feasibility of the FSI model
qualitatively and quantitively. A good correlation
between the simulation results and analytical/
model test results is proved for the first two bench-
mark tests. For the cases with severe fluid splash
problem, it may be still necessary to improve the
fluid model to considering the air influence and
surface tension effect.
Both GPU acceleration and CPU parallel cal-
culation technique are utilized in the proposed
FSI model by which, large-scale FSI calculation
becomes possible. Even though only elastic struc-
ture model is discussed in this research, due to the
robust capability of structural solver, Abaqus, a
good performance of the proposed FSI model can
be expected for the plastic/post-ultimate structure
phenomenon which will be discussed in the near
future.
REFERENCES
Altomare, C. et al. 2015: Applicability of Smoothed Par-
ticle Hydrodynamics for estimation of sea wave impact
on coastal structures. Coastal Engineering 96: 1–12.
Antoci, C. 2007: Numerical simulation of fluid–
structure interaction by SPH. Computers and Struc-
tures 85: 879–890.
28
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 28
Crespo, AJC et al. 2007. Boundary conditions generated
by dynamic particles in SPH methods. Computers,
Materials & Continua 5: 173–184.
Crespo, AJC et al. 2015: DualSPHysics: Open-source
parallel CFD solver based on Smoothed Particle
Hydro-dynamics (SPH). Computer Physics Communi-
cation 187: 204–216.
Domínguez, JM. et al. 2015. Evaluation of reliability and
efficiency of different boundary conditions in an SPH
code. Proceedings of the 10th SPHERIC International
Workshop, Parma, Italy.
Gotoh, H. et al. 2016: Current achievements and future
perspectives for projection-based particle methods
with applications in ocean engineering. J. Ocean Eng.
Mar. Energy 2: 251–278.
Hermange, C. et  al. 2016: Development of a coupling
strategy between Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics
and Finite Element Method for violent fluid-structure
interaction problems. Proceedings of 3rd International
Conference on Violent Flows, Osaka, Japan.
Khayyer, A. et al. 2016: Enhanced fully-lagrangian MPS-
Based solvers for violent incompressible fluid flow,
non-linear elastic structure interactions. Proceedings
of 3rd International Conference on Violent Flows,
Osaka, Japan.
Liao, K. et al. 2013: A coupled FDM-FEM method for
free surface flow interaction with thin elastic plate.
Journal of Marine Science and Technology 18: 1–11.
Liao, K. et al. 2014: Numerical simulation of free surface
flow impacting on an elastic plate. Proceedings of the
29th Intl Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bod-
ies, Osaka, Japan.
Ma, C. et  al. 2016: Ringing-like behavior in tethered
buoy system by numerical simulation technique cou-
pling between nonlinear FE and SPH. Proceedings of
3rd International Conference on Violent Flows, Osaka,
Japan.
Merino-Alonso, P. et  al. 2013: Consistency analysis of
flow field extension models into ghost fluid regions
for SPH solid body boundary condition implementa-
tions: Proc. SPHERIC, 8th International Workshop,
Trondheim, Norway.
Mitsume, N. et al. 2014: MPS-FEM partitioned coupling
approach for fluid-structure interaction with free
surface flow. International Journal of Computational
Methods.
Molteni, D. et al. 2009: A simple procedure to improve
the pressure evaluation in hydrodynamic context using
the SPH. Computer Physics Communications 180(6):
861–872.
Monaghan, J. 2005: Smoothed particle hydrodynamics.
Rugonyi, S. & Bathe, K.J. 2001: On finite element
analysis of fluid flows fully coupled with structural
interactions. Computer Modeling in Engineering and
Sciences 2(2): 195–212.
Scolan, YM. 2004: Hydroelastic behavior of a coni-
cal shell impacting on a quiescent-free surface of an
incompressible liquid. J Sound Vib 277:163–203.
Zhang, Z. et  al. 2011: Coupling of smoothed particle
hydrodynamics and finite element method for impact
dynamics simulation. Engineering Structures 33:
255–264.
3/29/2017 9:34:11 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Vertical wave loads acting on a cruise ship in head, oblique

and following regular waves

S. Rajendran & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: The vertical shear force and bending moment acting on a cruise ship in moderate to large
amplitude regular waves are calculated using a body nonlinear time domain method based on strip theory.
The Froude-Krylov and hydrostatic forces are calculated for the exact wetted surface under the incident
wave profile for each time step. Frequency dependent coefficients are used for calculation of the radiation
forces. The radiation forces are linear and are calculated for mean water level. The ship responses in dif-
ferent headings are numerically analysed and compared with experimental results obtained from a wave
tank. The main objective of this paper is to conduct a preliminary investigation on the applicability of
the developed numerical method for calculation of loads in different headings for practical engineering
applications.

1 INTRODUCTION Table 1. Main particulars of the cruise ship.

Due to pronounced bow and stern flare and small
block coefficient, the cruise vessels are susceptible
to nonlinear seakeeping responses even in moder-
ate seas. To the author’s knowledge, unlike con-
tainership and tankers, not many studies have been
conducted on the wave loads acting on cruise ships
in moderate to high seas, particularly in oblique
seas. Generally, the seakeeping characteristics of
the cruise vessels are given secondary importance
compared to the fuel efficiency and powering of
the vessel. From the IACS scatter diagram in IACS
Rec. No. 34, Table 1, it can be deducted that 0.2%
of the waves encountered by a ship during its life
cycle have a significant wave height of 11  m or
larger. During a 25 year life period, it can encoun-
ter 111,000 waves of height 11  m or over, (Smith
2007). Therefore, structural integrity, passenger
safety and operational safety in high seas are areas
of key importance.
Prediction of cruise vessel responses in moder-
ate to high seas is a highly complex task because
of the associated nonlinearity. One of the main
sources of nonlinearity results from the body
nonlinearity which results from the instantane-
ously changing wetted surface area of the ship
hull. Several nonlinear time domain (TD) meth-
ods are available for calculation of ship responses.
2D nonlinear methods based on strip theory, for
e.g., Fonseca and Guedes Soares (1998), Mikami
and Shimada (2006), Zhang and Beck (2006, 2007),
Mortola et al. (2011), Rajendan et al. (2015a, b and
2016), are fast and suitable for calculation of long
Length between perpendiculars [m], Lpp 216.8
Breadth [m], B 32.2
Draught [m], D 7.2
Displacement [t] 33250
Block coefficient [-], CB 0.66
LCG from aft [m], Xcg 99.6
VCG from baseline [m], Zcg 15.3
Transverse metacentric height [m], GMt 2.5
Scale 1:50
Mass moment of inertia, Ixx [kgm2], 5.8816e+09
Mass moment of inertia [kgm2], Iyy 1.1108e+11
Mass moment of inertia [kgm2], Izz 1.1108e+11
term loads acting on a ship during its life cycle. 3D
nonlinear methods based on potential flow, such
as LAMP (Lin and Yue 1990, 1993, 1999), Huang
and Sclavounos (1998), Shao and Faltinsen (2010)
give accurate results, particularly for ships with
high speeds. However, the main drawback asso-
ciated with these codes is the time consumption,
particularly for generation of long duration time
series for calculation of the short term distribution
of loads.
In this paper, the authors intend to validate a
2D TD method based on strip theory for calcula-
tion of vertical wave loads acting on a cruise ship
in head, oblique and following regular waves. The
numerical method is developed keeping in mind
that the program should be fast and robust and
should be applicable for engineering application,
particularly during the conceptual design stage.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 29 3/29/2017 9:34:11 AM

 It is a 5-DoF code, extending an earlier 3-DoF
version (Rajendran et al. 2015a, b).
2 NUMERICAL METHOD
Rajendran et al. (2015a, b) developed a body non-
linear TD method based on strip theory for calcu-
lation of ship responses in large amplitude waves.
The main objective was to calculate the long term
vertical bending moment acting on a ship during its
life cycle. Therefore, the formulation was limited to
head sea conditions and the equations of motions
involved only 3-DoF. In this paper, a numerical
model with 5-DoF has been developed in order to
deal with ship responses in oblique waves.
Based on strip theory and slender body assump-
tion, surge mode is neglected. The ship is assumed
to follow a rectilinear path. Two kinds of frame of
reference are used. 1) An inertial frame that moves
steadily along the ship but does not follow any of its
oscillation. The radiation/diffraction problem is set
up and solved in this frame of reference. 2D bound-
ary element method based on patch method, origi-
nally proposed by Soeding (1993), is used to solve
the linear boundary conditions for the radiation/
diffraction problem. 2) A second frame is fixed on
the ship and follows the oscillation of the ship. In
the equilibrium position, the inertial frame and body
frame coincides. The equations of motion are solved
in this frame. Therefore, the rigid body kinematics
associated with large angle body motion are prop-
erly taken into account. The transformation between
the inertial frame to body frame is carried out by
means of Euler angles without any approximations.
Since the tests are conducted in regular waves,
the frequency dependent coefficients are used to
represent the radiation forces instead of the con-
volution integrals based on Cummins formulation.
The radiation forces are linear and calculated for
the mean water level and the mean wetted surface
area of the sections. The Froude-Krylov and the
hydrostatic forces are calculated for the exact wet-
ted surface area under the incident wave profile for
each time step.
The equations of motion are solved by means of
numerical integration based on 4th order Runga-
Kutta method. Once the ship motions are known,
the wave loads are calculated in the next stage. The
wave loads at a particular section are calculated
from the difference between the inertia forces and
the hydrodynamic/hydrostatic forces, Rajendran
et  al. (2015a, b). Here the integration is carried
from forward of the ship to the section where the
wave loads needs to be calculated.
Table  1  shows the main particulars of the
cruise ship for which the ship responses in dif-
ferent wave headings are numerically calculated.
Figure 1 shows the body plan of the cruise ship.
30
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 30
Figure 1. Body plan of the cruise vessel.
3 RESULTS
3.1 Experimental data
A cruise vessel in regular waves for different head-
ings was tested at the wave basin of Ship Dynam-
ics of the El Pardo Model Basin (CEHIPAR) in
Madrid. The model consisted four segments and the
ship responses were measured at three joints between
the segments. The model was also extensively tested
in the wave basin for a range of sea storm sea con-
ditions in head seas and was numerically analysed
by the authors, Rajendran et  al. (2015a, 2016b).
However, in the current paper, the focus is on the
wave load acting on the ship for different heading
angles. Table 2 shows the details of the experiments.
The wave heights of the regular waves (H) are var-
ied between 3.52–6.50 m for a wave to ship length
ratio (l/Lpp) of 0.6 to 1.2. The ship was tested in head
waves, bow-quartering (150  deg), stern-quartering
(60 deg) and following waves.
During the experiment, resistive wave sensors
were used to measure the wave elevation. They
were fixed on the carriage and were kept at 153 m
(on prototype scale) ahead of the model. The wave
loads were calculated at three locations along the
length of the ship (measured from aft perpendicu-
lar) between the segments and at sections  13, 16
and 20 i.e., 25% of LBP (0.25 Lpp), at the midship
(.50 Lpp) and at 75% of LBP (0.75 Lpp), respectively.
3.2 Validation of the numerical method
In order to validate the TD numerical method, the
vertical responses of the cruise ship are calculated
in small amplitude waves and are compared with
Frequency Domain (FD) results. The incident
waves have a wave steepness of 0.005 (H/l). The FD
results are calculated using an in-house code based
on STF, Salvesen et  al. (1970), strip theory. The
RAOs of the heave, pitch and the Vertical Bend-
ing Moment (VBM) at amidship are calculated
and plotted against the encountering frequency
as shown in figure  2. The vertical responses are
3/29/2017 9:34:11 AM
 calculated in head waves (left plot), bow quartering of gravity (LCG) of the ship. The experimental
waves with 150º heading (centre plot) and follow- wave elevations were measured ahead of the ship,
ing regular waves (right plot). A good agreement as mentioned in the previous section 3.1, therefore
is observed between the TD and FD results in they do not coincide with the numerical wave ele-
small amplitude waves which show the validity of vation. However, for the sake of comparison the
the TD method for calculation of the vertical ship experimental waves are time shifted so that they
responses in waves with different headings. coincide with the numerical waves.
In the following figures, ‘+ve’ and ‘-ve’ VBMs
represent the hogging and sagging moments. The
3.3 Comparison of numerical results with
wave loads that are calculated and measured at
experimental results in head, oblique
the aft end of the ship (0.25  Lpp), at the midship
and following waves
(0.5 Lpp), and at the forward end (0.75 Lpp) are plot-
Ships often experience the largest vertical bending ted on the left, centre and right side of the figure,
moment in head seas. Time series of the numeri- respectively. Similar arrangement of plots can be
cal wave elevation, vertical shear force (V3) and the observed in figure 4 in which the peaks of the wave
vertical bending moment (M5) in head waves for amplitude, vertical shear force (VSF) and VBM
case 5 (as given in table 2) are compared with the are plotted against to wave to ship length ratio
measured values in figure  3. The numerical wave (l/Lpp), and are compared with the experimental
elevation is calculated at the longitudinal centre results. A ship experiences the largest VBM at
amidships and the largest VSF at quarter lengths
of the ship. A good agreement is found between
Table 2. Details of the experiment. the numerical and the measured responses for the
‘+ve’ and ‘-ve’ peaks of VSF acting at 0.25 LPP and
No. H(m) T(sec) Heading(deg) 0.75 LPP, respectively. The hogging peaks are also
better predicted however, the sagging peaks are
1 3.52 9.5 180 overestimated.
2 4.88 11.2 The time series of the vertical responses in
3 5.42 11.8 bow quartering waves with a heading angle of
4 5.96 12.4 150 degrees for case 10 are plotted in figure 5. The
5 6.50 12.9 time series plot of the numerical wave elevation,
6 3.52 9.5 150
vertical shear force (V3), and the vertical bending
7 4.88 11.2
moment (M5) are compared with the experimental
8 5.42 11.8
results. Figure 6 shows the comparison between the
9 5.96 12.4
numerical and measured peaks for the wave eleva-
10 6.50 12.9
tion, VSF and the VBM for the cases 6–10 as given
11 3.52 9.5 0
12 4.88 11.2
in table 2. Left, centre and right plots shows the ver-
13 5.42 11.8
tical responses at the aft end of the ship (0.25 Lpp),
14 5.96 12.4 at the midship (0.5  Lpp), and at the forward end
(0.75  Lpp), respectively. In general, the hogging

Figure 2. Comparison between the time domain and frequency domain results in small amplitude waves. The RAOs
of the heave, pitch and vertical bending moment at amidship are compared and plotted against the encountering fre-
quency. The vertical responses in head waves (left plot), bow quartering waves (centre plot) and the following waves
(right plot) are shown.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 31 3/29/2017 9:34:12 AM

 Figure 3. Comparison of the time series data for the numerical and experimental wave loads in head waves. Wave
elevation, vertical shear force and vertical bending moment acting at 0.25 LPP (left), 0.5 LPP(centre), and 0.75 LPP (right)
are shown for case 5 (H = 6.50 m, T = 12.9 sec).

Figure 4. Comparison between numerical and experimental wave bending moment peaks in head waves. Peaks of the
wave amplitude, vertical shear force and vertical bending moment acting at 0.25 LPP(left), 0.5 LPP(centre), and 0.75 LPP
(right) are plotted against wave to ship length ratio.

Figure  5. Comparison of the time series data for the numerical and experimental wave loads in bow quartering
waves. Wave elevation, vertical shear force and vertical bending moment acting at 0.25 LPP (left), 0.5 LPP (centre), and
0.75 LPP (right) are shown for Case 10 (H = 6.5 m, T = 12.9 sec) (150 deg).

32

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 32 3/29/2017 9:34:12 AM

 Figure 6. Comparison between numerical and experimental wave bending moment peaks acting at amidship in bow
quartering waves (150 deg).

Figure 7. Comparison of the time series data for the numerical and experimental wave bending moment in following
waves (0  deg). Wave elevation, vertical shear forces and vertical bending moment acting at 0.25  LPP (left), 0.5  LPP
(centre), and 0.75 LPP (right) are shown for case 14 (H = 5.96 m, T = 12.4 sec) are given.

Figure 8. Comparison between numerical and experimental wave bending moment peaks in following waves. Peaks
of the wave amplitude, vertical shear force and vertical bending moment acting at 0.25 LPP (left), 0.5 LPP (centre), and
0.75 LPP (right) are plotted against wave to ship length ratio.

33

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 33 3/29/2017 9:34:13 AM

 peaks are well predicted, however the sagging peaks
are slightly overestimated as observed for the ship
responses in head waves as shown in figure 4.
Finally, the vertical wave loads in following
waves are given in figure 7 and 8. The time series
plots of the VSF and VBM for case 14 are given
in figure 7. Similar to the results presented in pre-
vious discussion regarding the wave loads in head
waves, the vertical wave loads that are calculated
and measured at the aft end of the ship (0.25 Lpp),
at the midship (0.5  Lpp), and at the forward end
(0.75  Lpp) are, respectively, plotted on the left,
centre and right side of the figures  7 and 8. The
agreement is good for the VBM peaks particularly
for the responses at 0.25 LPP. However the sagging
peaks are overestimated by the numerical model,
particularly at the bow section of the ship.
Previous research (Rajendran et  al. 2015a and
2016b), have shown that the inclusion of the body
nonlinear radiation/diffraction forces in the calcu-
lation generally improves the prediction of the sag-
ging moments. The cruise ship has a pronounced
bow and stern flare and a small block coefficient.
Therefore, the body nonlinearity plays a signifi-
cant role in the prediction of the ship responses. It
is expected the numerical results can be improved
by taking account of the body nonlinear radiation
and diffraction forces. Moreover, the tests were
not repeated during the experiment. Therefore, the
uncertainties associated with the measurements
are unknown.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The wave loads acting on a cruise ship in head,
oblique and following regular wave are numerically
calculated using a TD method based on strip the-
ory. The vertical responses RAOs calculated using
the TD method are compared with FD results in
order to validate the code. Finally, the numerical
ship responses in moderate to large amplitude
waves are compared with the experimental results
that are measured in the wave tank.
Discrepancies between the numerical and the
experimental are observed for some of the cases dis-
cussed. The numerical hogging peaks are generally
in good agreement with experimental results. The
sagging peaks of the VBM are overestimated by the
numerical method for some of the cases. Previous
researches on the same ship in head seas have also
shown similar results. Therefore, it is expected that
the numerical results with body nonlinear radiation
and diffraction forces can improve the results.
REFERENCES
Fonseca, N. & Guedes Soares, C. 1998. Time Domain
Analysis of Large Amplitude Vertical Motions and
34
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 34
Wave Loads, Journal of Ship Research, Vol 42, No 2,
pp. 100–113.
Huang, Y. & Sclavounos, P.D. 1998.  Nonlinear Ship
Motions, Journal of Ship Research, 42, 2, 120–130.
Lin, W.M. & Yue, D.K. 1990. Numerical Solutions for
Large Amplitude Ship Motions in Time Domain. Pro-
ceedings of the18th Symposium on Naval Hydrody-
namics, Ann Arbor, MI.USA, 41–66.
Lin, W.M. & Yue, D.K.P. 1993. Time-Domain Analysis
for Floating Bodies in Mild-Slope Waves of Large
Amplitude, Proceedings of the Eighth International
Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies,
St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.
Lin, W.M., Zhang, S., Weems, K.M. & Yue, D.K.P., 1999.
A Mixed Source Formulation for Nonlinear Ship-
Motion and Wave-Load Simulations, Proceedings of
the 7th International Conference on Numerical Ship
Hydrodynamics, Nantes, France.
Mikami, T. & Shimada, K. 2006. Time-domain Strip
Method with Memory-effect Function Considering
the Body Nonlinearity of Ships in Large Waves, J. of
Marine Science and Technology, 11(3), 139–149.
Mortola, G., Incecik, A., Turan, O. & Hirdaris, S.E.,
2011. Nonlinear Analysis of Ship Motions and
Loads in Large Amplitude Waves. Trans. of the Royal
Institution of Naval Architects Part A: International
Journal of Maritime Engineering, 153(2), 81–87.
Rajendran, S., Fonseca, N. & Guedes Soares, C., 2015a.
Simplified Body Nonlinear Time Domain Calculation
of Vertical Ship Motions and Wave Loads in Large
Amplitude Waves. Ocean Eng. 107, 157–177.
Rajendran, S., Fonseca, N. & Guedes Soares, C., 2015b.
Prediction of Vertical Responses of a Container Ship
in Abnormal Waves. Ocean Eng. 119, 165–180.
Rajendran, S., Fonseca, N. & Guedes Soares, C. 2016a.
Body Nonlinear Time Domain Calculation of Ver-
tical Ship Responses in Extreme Seas Using a 2nd
order Froude-Krylov Pressure. Applied Ocean Res.
54, 39–52.
Rajendran, S., Fonseca, N. & Guedes Soares, C. 2016b.
Prediction of Extreme Motions and Vertical Bend-
ing Moments on a Cruise Ship and Comparison with
Experimental Data. Ocean Eng. 127, 368–386.
Salvesen, N., Tuck, E.O. & Faltinsen, O., 1970. Ship
Motions and Sea Loads. Soc. Nav. Archit. Mar. Eng.
78, 250–287.
Shao, Y.L. & Faltinsen, O.M. 2010. Use of Body-fixed
Coordinate System in Analysis of Weakly-nonlinear
Wave–Body Problems. Appl Ocean Res. 32(1), 20–33.
Smith, C.B. 2007. Exteme Waves and Ship Design.
10thInternational Symposium on Practical Design of
Ships and Other Floating Structures, Houston, Texas,
USA.
Soeding, H. 1993. A Method for Accurate Force Calcu-
lations in Potential Flow. Ship Technology Res., 40,
176–186.
Zhang, X.S. & Beck, R.F. 2006. 2-D Body-exact Com-
putations in the Time Domain. In Proc. 2 1th Inter-
national Workshop on Water Waves and Floating
Bodies, Loughborough, England, pp. 197–200.
Zhang, X.S. & Beck, R.F. 2007. Computations for Large-
Amplitude Two-Dimensional Motions. J. of Engineer-
ing Mathematics (Special Volume in Honor of J.N.
Newman).
3/29/2017 9:34:14 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Still water vertical bending moment in a flooding damaged ship

J.M. Rodrigues & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de
Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: A study of the transient still water vertical loads progression throughout the flooding
process is presented for a shuttle tanker in full load condition, which is damaged amidships. Box-shaped
volumes delimit the damage zones, where structural parts inside these volumes are considered as openings
through which fluids may flow. A discharge coefficient is applied, to each damaged area, which hinders the
flow. This coefficient typically relates to the effects of viscosity that reduce the flow rate, but it may also
relate to effective damage areas which are smaller than those resulting from box-structure intersection. The
flooding progression is simulated by a numerical tool, using a dynamic equation of motion. A particular
discharge coefficient distribution is applied to different damage locations near amidships. Maximum values
of the vertical still water bending moment are obtained and compared with intact values and the ones from
a quasi-static solution to the motions with unitary discharge coefficient distribution at the damage openings.

1 INTRODUCTION moment of about 150% of the intact case. In their

Collisions are still a relatively common phenomenon
at sea despite all the technology developed in auxil-
iary systems to avoid these and have larger incident
where the traffic is more intense (Silveira et al., 2013).
In addition to the concern for ship, cargo and, more
importantly, crew’s physical integrity, tankers are
particularly worrisome due to the risk of breaches
to the hull and possible oil spilling to the sea (Kollo
et al., 2017).
Although the double hull design contributes
to lower the risk of pollution due to oil spillage,
it may also decrease the stability of these ships
when damaged (National Research Council,
1991). Furthermore, it has been shown by several
authors that strong additional bending moments
are witnessed as a consequence of leaked lateral
water ballast tanks, whose severity is actually
much smaller if adjacent cargo oil tanks are also
breached, (e.g Primorac et al., 2015).
Rodrigues et al., (2015a) carried out a study on
the final bending moments as consequence of box
shaped damages, leading to partial flooding of a
shuttle tanker in full load condition. The model
used, described by Rodrigues and Guedes Soares
(2015), has the Froude-Krylov forces computed
following Rodrigues and Guedes Soares (2014).
However, other progressive flooding tools have
been developed by other authors that compute
the loads distribution, e.g. (Santos and Guedes
Soares, 2008) and (Santos et  al., 2009), although
no waves can be introduced in those tools. The
worst case, in Rodrigues et al., (2015a), resulted in
an aggravation of the maximum vertical bending
study, increased penetration led to smaller moment
increase, in general, while extent of damage would
have a mix of two opposing effects: amount of
flooding water and its longitudinal distribution.
Later, Rodrigues et  al., (2015b) analysed the
probability of levels of vertical bending moment
and shear force outcomes as a consequence of
collision damages with the same box-like shapes.
It was found that, when accounting for the prob-
ability density functions for damage position and
extent reported in (IMO, 2003), the probabilities
for bending moment and shear force increase due
to damage would be between 34.4% and 27.8% to
52.4% and 56.8%, respectively, comparing with not
accounting for the probabilistic distribution. This
outcome is directly related to the fact that shorter
penetrations are more expected at the same time
the loads are increased more for these cases.
On the other hand, the aforementioned publica-
tions only reported the final attained loads, i.e. when
the flooding progression was finished. Making a
detailed analysis of the intermediate loads required
a much smaller time step on the simulations and a
backlogging of all load relevant quantities. This was
done by Rodrigues and Guedes Soares (2017), where,
in addition, the main effects of, and interactions
between, damage longitudinal position, longitudinal
extent and penetration were assessed. Besides cor-
roborating the main conclusions of previous works,
it was found that intermediate maximum loads
higher than, or equal to, the initial or final conditions
remained below 1% of the intact maximum for most
cases, when considering the IMO (2003) distribu-
tion. On the other hand, an increase between 15%

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 35 3/29/2017 9:34:14 AM

 and 20% of the intact maximum bending moment
had a probability of 8%, when considering IMO
(2003), while the value for a uniform damage distri-
bution was only 1%. The authors also proposed a
2.5% round margin to be added in methods that do
not account for intermediate loads.
All the above studies assume that damage extents
are the same as damage breaches, that viscous effects,
in the form of discharge coefficients (Cd), are equal
in all locations of all openings, and that the whole
process is well approached by a quasi-static formula-
tion. The present paper aims to be an initial step into
Figure 2. Shuttle Tanker’s body plan (Rodrigues et al.,
introducing assumptions that are more realistic:
2015a).
I. A dynamic approach to the motions of the
ship is implemented.
II. A “probabilistically representative” damage con- Table  1. Shuttle Tanker’s main characteristics
figuration is considered amidships. A coefficient (Rodrigues et al., 2015a).
of discharge is introduced that changes across Particular Value Units
the openings areas as a function of the distance
to the centre of damage. The IMO (2003) prob- Length between perp (Lpp) 227.0 m
abilities density functions are normalized to their Breadth (B) 32.0 m
maximum value, i.e. at the damage centre, and Height of main deck (D) 18.5 m
used for the variation of Cd in the openings. Draft (T) 12.0 m
Displacement (Δ) 78000.0 ton
More importantly, the study gives some light
Block coefficient (Cb) 0.881 –
into assessing the significance of the assumptions
done on previous studies by the authors.

2 STUDY CASE AND DAMAGE

CONFIGURATION

2.1 The ship under investigation

A shuttle tanker is the case study. In Figures 1 and 2
a simplified general arrangement and the hull body
plan is presented, respectively. The ship is in full
load condition—see Table  1—and the lightweight
has been estimated to the lightweight curve shown
in Figure 3—see (Rodrigues et al., 2015a) for details.
Figure  3. Shuttle Tanker’s lightweight longitudinal
loading (Rodrigues et al., 2015a).
2.2 Damage cases
The probabilistic damage distribution by the
Marine Environment Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO, 2003),
was considered by Rodrigues et al., (2015a, 2015b).
The distribution model considers box-shaped dam-
ages with the following probability density functions:

pX1 10 X1 ∈[0 1], (1)

⎧11.95 − 8844.5X
X2 X 2 [0 0 1]
⎪
pX 2 = ⎨6.65 31.5X 2 X 2 ∈[0 1 0 2] , (2)
⎪0.35, X 2 ∈[ ]
⎩
⎧24.96 − 399.2Y
Y2 Y2 [0 0 05]
⎪
pY2 = ⎨9.44 88.8Y2 Y2 ∈[0 05 0 1], (3)
Figure  1. Shuttle Tanker’s general arrangement ⎪0.56, Y2 ∈[0.1, 0.3]
(Rodrigues et al., 2015a). ⎩

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 36 3/29/2017 9:34:14 AM

 ⎧Z1 Z1 ∈[0 0 25] In the present study, an equivalent damage case
⎪ is considered, where X2  =  Y2  =  Z2  =  0.3 but with
pZ1 = ⎨5Z1 1 0 Z1 [0 25 0 5], (4) the damage areas, resulting for the intersection of
⎪1.5, Z1 ∈[0 5 1 0] the boxes with the structure of the ship, having
⎩
effective local areas, or Discharge coefficients (Cd),
⎧3.83 1111.1Z2 Z2 ∈[0 0 3] dependent on the directional distance from the
pZ2 = ⎨ (5)
⎩0.5, Z2 ∈[0 3 1 0], damage centre. This dependency is expressed by
normalizing Equations (2, 3, 5) as follows:
where: Cdx /11.95 (11)
X2
X1 x1 /Lpp (6) Cdy pY2 / 24.96 (12)
X2 x2 /Lpp (7) Cdz pY2 / 3.83 (13)
Y2 y2 /B (8)
The coefficient to be used at each area element
Z1 z1/D
D (9)
is then given by the average of Cdx, Cdy and Cdz.
Z2 z2 /D
D (10) It should be noted that Z2 = 0.3 corresponds to the
expected value from Equation (5) and that Z1 has
In the aforementioned equations, x1 denotes been taken to be 0.654: the expected value from
the longitudinal centre of the damage box, x2 its equation (4), which corresponds to approx. The
longitudinal extent, y2 its penetration, z1 its vertical vertical location of the waterline. Figure 4 shows the
position and z2 its vertical extent. The origin of the coefficients values at the surface of a damage box.
(x1, y1, z1) coordinate system is at the intersection The cases simulated herein are the ones cor-
of  the aft perpendicular and the line defined responding to the highest increasing of bending
between the base plane and centre plane of the moment reported by Rodrigues et  al., (2015a)—
ship. It should be clear that y1, the transversal coor- X1 = 0.45, 0.55, 0.65, 0.75—relative to the initial,
dinate of the center of the damage box, lies always intact, condition.
at the cross section contour, i.e. Y1 = Y1(X1, Z1). Figure 5 depicts the damage boxes side by side
with the shuttle tanker; the greyed box being the
Table  2. Shuttle Tanker’s full load deadweight items one considered in the current analysis.
(Rodrigues et al., 2015a).

Full Mass
Item (%) (ton)

Fore peak tank 100 1285.96

Generator fresh water tanks (P+S) 100 2014.54
Portable fresh water tanks (P+S) 100 559.43
Distilled water tank 100 79.87
Heavy fuel oil tanks (P+S) 100 1618.96
Dirty tank 70 310.79
Cargo oil tanks (1–6) (P+S) 100 56317.01
High sea chest 100 49.02 Figure  4. Discharge coefficient limits at damage box
Low sea chest (P+S) 100 81.76 surface; values shown are (Cdx, Cdy, Cdz).
Bilge water tank 100 48.93
Fuel oil drain tank 100 77.98
Fuel oil overflow tank 100 46.79
Hydraulic oil tank 100 29.41
Boiler heavy oil tank 100 11.05
Grey water tank 10 6.05
Sludge water tank 10 6.05
Lube oil dirty tank 100 21.44
Lube oil renovation tank 100 10.76
Generator lub. oil settling tank 100 10.32
Generator lub. oil storage tank 100 10.32
Marine diesel oil storage tanks (P+S) 100 347.16

Total deadweight 62943.59 Figure  5. Damage boxes and 3D model of Shuttle

Tanker’s hull.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 37 3/29/2017 9:34:15 AM

 3 PROGRESSIVE FLOODING AND and the dynamic forces induced by the floodwater
GOVERNING EQUATIONS is applied (Rodrigues, 2016).
The lump mass approach is a relatively simple
The flooding algorithm used has already been method to be applied to the problem of damage ship
described by Rodrigues et  al., (2015a), and vali- dynamic behaviour. The motion of the floodwater
dated by Rodrigues and Guedes Soares (2015), so centre of volume, at each flooded compartment,
only the flow at the openings is herein presented. is coupled with the ship motions by considering it as
The expression for the flow, based on the the application point of a concentrated mass, which is
application of the Bernoulli equation, for a given intrinsically attached to the ship. Under this approach,
element En, which belongs to the kth opening, con- and considering the origin of the body frame for
necting the ith and jth compartments comes: motion equation purposes at the body centre of
gravity, the equation of translational motion for the
Q Ai j ,k ,n (Cd )i j ,k ( )
2 pi − p j / ρ , (14)
damaged shipis based on the variation of the linear
momentum, p, being equal to the resultant force, i.e.:
   N 
where p are the pressures at each side of the ele- dp ddu  
ment belonging to the ith and jth compartments, =m +ω ×u F − ∑ fi , (16)
dt dt B i =1
Cd denotes the prescribed discharge coefficient at
the element, A is the area of En, sgn ( x ) x / x,
and ρ is the density of the fluid corresponding to where the differentiation is carried
 out on  a body
the highest p. The flow is positive if going from fixed frame, B. The terms m, u, and ω , denote
the ith to the jth compartment. Note that opposite the mass of the ship, its translational velocity and
flows in the same opening are possible. angular velocity, respectively.
p Regarding the RHS
Already full compartments cannot be dealt prop- terms in Eq. (16), F is the resultant force exclud-
erly with Eq. (14). For those cases, the following non- ing the flooded water dynamic effects. The last
linear system of equations is solved for the pressures term, fi introduces these, where N is the total
p*, which correspond to the pressures inside the tank number of flooded compartments.
that add to those solely from the fluid density and Likewise, the equation of angular motion for
free surface level inside each compartment: the damaged ship is based
 on the variation of the
angular momentum, L, being equal to the result-
NC Ni j N E
ant force, which is expressed by:
∑∑∑ (C ) d i j ,k Ai j ,k ,n ⋅ pi − p j + pi* p*j = 0,
(15)

dL     N
 
= [ I ]ω ω [I ]ω = M ∑ri × fi ,
j =1 k =1 n =1
i = 1,…
…,N
NF (17)
dt i =1


In Eq. (15), NC is the number of compartments where [I ] and M are the inertia generalized matrix
which take part in the process, Ni,j represents about the centre of gravity and the resultant
the number of openings connecting the ith full moment excluding the flooded water dynamic
compartment to the jth compartments which are effects, respectively.
included in NC, NE denotes the number of elements Finally, the equation that governs the motion
that form each kth opening, and NF is the number of the lumped mass follows Manderbacka et  al.,
of full compartments. (2011):
However, contrary to the aforementioned studies,
which used a quasi-static approach to the motions,  
⎡ du d ω      ⎤
⎢ dt dt × ri + × (u + × ri )⎥
+
one now implements a dynamic approach. This
means that the abrupt entrance of water will result in mi ⎢  ⎥
free damped oscillations of the ship. Furthermore, ⎢ du   ⎥,
+ i + 2ω × ui (18)
there is now a coupling between the motion of the ⎢⎣ dt ⎥⎦
floodwater and that of the ship, however simplistic. 
dm
The approach chosen is a simplified version of the + i ( + + × ) = fi
lump mass method presented by Zaraphonitis et al., dt
(1997); being the major simplification done herein 
that the floodwater free surface is assumed horizon- where ri stands for the coordinates of the centre
tal at all times. The authors believe this to be a valid of volume of the floodwater, i.e. the lumped
assumption in still water. mass
 position, u is the velocity of the ship and
Regarding the ship motions, a weakly nonlinear ui denotes the velocity of the lumped mass.
time domain method, able account for the nonlin- Although Eq. (18) does describe the motion of
earities of the Froude-Krylov forces on the hull a lump mass on the body frame of reference, the

38

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 38 3/29/2017 9:34:17 AM

 floodwater cannot be blindly regarded as such.
Terms involving the lump mass rate of change,
velocity and acceleration will produce spurious
results when the flooding is taking place, and so
are not considered herein—this was also done by
Manderbacka et al., (2011).
Equations (16) through (18) are combined, result-
ing in a second order differential equation system of
six equations and six unknowns. It is solved follow-
ing a Runge-Kutta 4th explicit order scheme, where
stability of the solution has been shown to be pre-
sent with a time step equal to 0.1 [s].
Froude-Krylov forces and moments are com-
puted using exact expressions for pressure inte-
grations, as presented in (Rodrigues and Guedes
Soares, 2014). Radiation forces are linearized and
accounted for by implementing a Cummins equa- Figure 6. Variation of the coefficient of discharge at a
damage opening amidships (X1 = 0.45, or L5D).
tion (Cummins, 1962) formulated on a body fixed
frame, whose convolution terms are obtained by
performing frequency domain calculations with
the commercial software WAMIT (Newman and
Sclavounos, 1988). Viscous roll terms are calcu-
lated using experimental data or some empirical
method’s estimation.

4 RESULTS

Figure 6 shows the variation of Cd at the damage-

induced opening in the water ballast and cargo oil
tanks, regarding case X1 = 0.45. In this situation,
four ballast and cargo oil tanks are affected. The
colour scheme (shown only in the electronic ver-
sion) allows for identifying the gradients of the
values of an equivalent Cd, obtained from averag-
ing the values from Equations (11) through (13).
It is seen that the COT’s are significantly more
penetrated at the damage centre. Discharge coef-
ficients at COT2.S-COT3.S and COT4.S-COT5.S
are below 0.5.
In addition to the four longitudinal damage
locations with equivalent Cd, a supplementary one Figure 7. Flooding progression for X1 = 0.45, with Cd
was carried out to assess the effect of the applied dependent on distance to damage centre.
Cd distribution relative to a uniform one, for
X1 = 0.45.
Figure  7  shows the temporal evolution of the
flooding for one of the damage-Cd configurations,
where one may observe the typical very fast nature
of the flooding process with such a big damage
zones.
The volume of fluid inside each tank through-
out the progressive flooding process is shown in
Figures 8 through 10, for X1 = 0.45.
Figure 8 corresponds to the results from a quasi-
static motion solution and with Cd = 1. It is clear
the very fast nature of the problem with no signifi- Figure  8. Fluid volume in each affected compartment
cant change in volume after 10 [s]. The same is not for damage X1  =  0.45, unitary Cd and a quasi-static
true when the same unitary Cd is considered but solution.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 39 3/29/2017 9:34:20 AM

 with a dynamic motion solution, where the same
can only be said after 18 [s] (Figure 9). The delay
in stabilization of the volumes goes even further,
to 30 [s], for the case of equivalent Cd and dynamic
motion solution, in Figure 10. Irrespective of these
differences in simulation numerical setup, all three
cases show the same trend for the volumes’ evolu-
tion with the aft and fore most ballast tanks to take
longer to flood than the others do.
The difference between quasi-static and dynamic
solutions for the motion are evident in the outputs
shown in Figures 11, 12 and 13, regarding heave,
roll and pitch, respectively, for X1 = 0.45.
Figure  9. Fluid volume in each affected compartment
for damage X1  =  0.45, with unitary Cd and dynamic
solution.
Figure 10. Fluid volume in each affected compartment
for damage X1 = 0.45, with equivalent Cd and a dynamic
solution.
Figure 11. Heave motion for damage X1 = 0.45.
40
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 40
Figure 12. Roll motion for damage X1 = 0.45.
Figure 13. Pitch motion for damage X1 = 0.45.
A quasi-static solution provides monotonic
convergence to the final attitude for heave and roll
motions, but not for pitch. However, pitch motion
is very small for all studied combinations of Cd dis-
tribution and solution approach. Observed minute
discontinuities in the smoothness of the respective
motion curves relate directly to discontinuities in
the progressive flooding process. The one seen at
approx. 1  s, corresponds to the instant when the
COT’s finish their initial discharge to the adjacent
ballast tanks.
The dynamic approach to the solution with
unitary Cd results in an underdamped decaying
motion pattern in the three motion modes. The
final attitude of the ship, considering Cd  =  1 (or
equivalent Cd), is the same only for the heave
motion. The roll final angle is higher, which is pre-
sumed to be caused by the deeper starboard side
intermediate submergence, forcing a bigger flood-
ing flow, but also by a larger discharge from the
affected COT’s to the adjacent ballast tanks.
With the equivalent discharge coefficient and
dynamic motion solution, the motions are oscillat-
ing with a decaying pattern, but the overshooting
of the response in each mode is much less pro-
nounced than with unitary Cd.
The way the method deals with different den-
sities for fluids inside different compartments is
made patent in Figures 14 and 15. The COTs have
3/29/2017 9:34:21 AM

Figure 14. Density of fluids inside each affected com-
partment for damage X1 = 0.45, unitary Cd and a dynamic
solution.
Figure 15. Density of fluids inside each affected com-
partment for damage X1  =  0.45, equivalent Cd and a
dynamic solution.
an initial density of 980 [kg/m3] and the sea one
of 1010 [kg/m3] (Caspian sea). There is a dynamic
variation of the density on each communicating
compartment and the sea; only the sea density is
kept constant. The hydraulic model, governed by
Equations  14 and 15, only accounts for viscous
effects in the form of a delay forced on the flow,
i.e. on the general progression of the flow with no
consideration for an actual viscosity of the fluids
in contact. Furthermore, the method adopted con-
siders that a homogenous fluid is always present in
each compartment, with an average density being
a weighted sum of parts of each fluid mass at each
moment due to all past in and out flows. The result
is that a general density homogeneity, equal to the
sea, is achieved after some time: a much shorter
time than in reality, where viscosity of oil has a
major effect, naturally.
Figure  16  shows the temporal progression of
the vertical still water bending moment amidships
for different damage locations with equivalent
Cd; L4D,…,L7D correspond to X1 = 0.45,…,0.75.
In addition, the curve for unitary Cd at X1 = 0.45
(L5D1) is presented for comparison. All results
refer to dynamic motion simulations. For the fore-
most and aftmost damage locations, the dynamic
effect is particularly important, for significant
41
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 41
higher intermediate moments are seen relative to
final ones. However, the other damage locations
have the moments to converge to approx. The
same value as for the Cd = 1 case at the end of the
flooding process.
Comparison of these final and maximum val-
ues with those from a quasi-static, with unitary
Cd, simulation is shown in Figure 17. Quasi-static
values are those by Rodrigues and Guedes Soares
(2017); for these particular damage configurations,
their simulations led to a zero, or negligible, inter-
mediate moment increase i.e. maximum and final
values were the same.
It is clear that the dynamic solution has a sig-
nificant effect on the maximum moments for all
cases, and that higher intermediate moments take
place, although with different significances. Table 3
quantifies these observations, where: ΔMm/Mf
stand for the intermediate moment increase rela-
tive to final moment; ΔMm/M0 represents interme-
diate moment increase relative to final moment;
ΔMm/Mqs denotes maximum moment increase rela-
tive to the maximum moment from a quasi-static
solution.
Figure  16. Intermediate vertical still water bending
moments for different damage locations in the amidships
vicinity.
Figure  17. Comparison of final and maximum verti-
cal still water bending moments, from using a dynamic
motion solution, with those from a quasi-static solution
to the motion; trailing “Q”, “D_f ” and “D_m” denote
maximum (quasi-static sol.), final (dynamic sol.) and
maximum (dynamic sol.) moments. Values are relative to
intact maximum moments.
3/29/2017 9:34:22 AM
 Table 3. Intermediate moment increase.
L4D L5D L6D L7D L5D1
ΔMm/Mf 7% 1% 2% 8% 2%
ΔMm/M0 74% 110% 118% 61% 115%
ΔMm/Mqs 8% 13% 8% 10% 16%
5 CONCLUSIONS
From the results obtained, the following assertions
can be made, regarding still water vertical bend-
ing moments’ progression during flooding for the
simulated cases:
I. The average of intermediate maximum moment
increase relative to final moment (ΔMm/Mf) is
4.5%.
II. The average of maximum moment increase
relative to the intact case (ΔMm/M0) is 90.75%.
III. The average of the maximum moment increase
relative to the maximum moment from a
quasi-static solution (ΔMm/Mqs) is 9.75%.
IV. For a damage amidships, considering a uni-
tary Cd instead of an equivalent one, leads to
the aggravation of all the above mentioned
ratios I, II and III from 1 to 2%, from 110% to
115% and 13% to 16%, respectively.
As a general conclusion, it can speculatively be
inferred that considering a dynamic motion will
lead to an aggravation of the maximum moment
increase during flooding. On the other hand, the
reduction of the discharge coefficients, at least
in the manner proposed in this study, will hinder
this phenomenon. However, further studies must
be made, to consider other Cd distributions and to
extend the damage locations to all the ship before
one may conclude that a quasi-static simulation is
sufficient for probabilistically assessing maximum
still water vertical moments during flooding.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The first author has been funded by the Portuguese
Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT—
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) under
the grant SFRH/BD/64242/2009.
REFERENCES
Cummins, W.E., (1962). The impulse response function
and ship motions. Schiffstechnik. 9:101–109.
IMO, (2003). Revised Interim Guidelines for the Approval
of Alternative Methods of Design and Construction
of Oil Tankers under Regulation 13F(5) of Annex I of
MARPOL 3/78, Resolution MEPC 110 (49) (2003).
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 42
Kollo, M., Laanearu, J., Tabri, K., (2017). Hydraulic
modelling of oil spill through submerged orifices in
damaged ship hulls. Ocean Eng. 130:385–397.
Manderbacka, T.L., Matusiak, J.E., Ruponen, P., (2011).
Ship motions caused by time-varying extra mass on
board. STAB2011, Washington D.C., 263–269.
National Research Council, (1991). Tanker Spills: Pre-
vention by Design, Sciences-New York. The National
Academies Press, Washington D.C.
Newman, J.N., Sclavounos, P.D., (1988). The computa-
tion of wave loads on large offshore structures, in: Pro-
ceedings of International Conference on the Behavior
of Offshore Structures. Trondheim, 605–622.
Primorac, B., Corak, M., Parunov, J., (2015). Statistics of
still water bending moment of damaged ships. Anal.
Des. Mar. Struct. 491–497.
Rodrigues, J.M., Guedes Soares, C., (2014). Exact pres-
sure integrations on submerged bodies in waves using
a quadtree adaptive mesh algorithm. Int. J. Numer.
Methods Fluids. 632–652.
Rodrigues, J.M., Teixeira, A.P., Guedes Soares, C.,
(2015a). Assessment of still water bending moments
for damaged hull girders, in: Maritime Technology
and Engineering. Taylor & Francis Group, London,
UK, 331–340.
Rodrigues, J.M., Teixeira, A.P., Guedes Soares, C.,
(2015b). Probabilistic analysis of the hull-girder still
water loads on a shuttle tanker in full load condi-
tion, for parametrically distributed collision damage
spaces. Mar. Struct. 44:101–124.
Rodrigues, J.M., Guedes Soares, C., (2015). A general-
ized adaptive mesh pressure integration technique
applied to progressive flooding of floating bodies in
still water. Ocean Eng. 110 A, 140–151.
Rodrigues, J.M., (2016). Behaviour of damaged ships
subjected to flooding. PhD Diss., IST, Univ. Lisboa.
Rodrigues, J.M., Guedes Soares, C., (2017). Still water
vertical loads during transient flooding of a tanker in
full load condition with a probabilistic damage distri-
bution. Ocean Eng. 129:480–494.
Santos, T.A., Guedes Soares, C., (2008). Global loads
due to progressive flooding in passenger ro-ro ships
and tankers. Ship and Offshore Structures. 2008;
3(4):289–302.
Santos, T.A., Dupla, P., Guedes Soares, C., (2009).
Numerical simulation of the progressive flooding of
a box-shaped barge. Proceedings of the 10th Inter-
national Conference on Stability of Ships and Ocean
Vehicles. St. Petersburg, Russia, 281–294.
Silveira, P., Teixeira, A.P., Guedes Soares, C., (2013). Use
of AIS Data to Characterise Marine Traffic Patterns
and Ship Collision Risk off the Coast of Portugal.
Journal of Navigation. 66(6):879–898.
Zaraphonitis, G., Papanikolaou, A., Spanos, D., (1997).
On a 3-D mathematical model of the damage stabil-
ity of ships in waves, in: Proceedings of the 6th Inter-
national Conference on Stability of Ships and Ocean
Vehicles. Varna, Bulgaria, 233–244.
3/29/2017 9:34:23 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

On parameterization of emulsification and heat exchange

in the hydraulic modelling of oil spill from a damaged tanker
in winter conditions

M. Sergejeva, J. Laanearu & K. Tabri

Department of Mechanics, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

ABSTRACT: A parametric study of hydraulic analysis of oil spill from a damaged tanker in winter
conditions is presented. The oil-spill model is extended to account the effects of emulsification and heat
exchange. The emulsification is associated with an interfacial mixing and transfer of mass and momentum
between the counter-flowing layers. Therefore, the effect of emulsification is included only for bidirec-
tional stratified flow, whereby oil flows out from a leaking tank and seawater flows in opposite direction.
The effect of heat-exchange is considered in both cases i.e. uni- and bidirectional stratified flows. For
these purposes two key parameters are introduced i) the seawater inflow-rate reduction parameter f and
ii) the thermal expansion coefficient α. The water-ice-oil mixture near the ship hull affects the oil outflow
conditions, resulting in changes of outflow duration and volume. The extended hydraulic model is tested
to consider the outside temperature variations between summer and winter conditions.

1 INTRODUCTION from collisions, but outside the ice season, ground-

Oil spills in winter conditions can reveal different
outflow characteristics as compared to spill situ-
ations without large temperature gradients, corre-
sponding to summer conditions. For instance, in
the presence of ice, the oil may be frozen and cap-
tured in growing ice or spread below an ice sheet.
The sea ice results in lowest possible water tem-
peratures near the sea surface. The temperature
variations due to the warm inside and cold outside
fluids can affect the oil outflow volume and dura-
tion in tanker accidents. Therefore, the winter con-
ditions influence significantly the spill situation. It
is essential to identify the key factors in spill opera-
tions in cold seas such as the Baltic Sea, and also
the Artic.
Ship collisions and groundings are major acci-
dent types in maritime transportation (EMSA
2010, 2014). Also in e.g. the Northern Baltic Sea
during winter conditions, these are the most fre-
quently occurring accident types (Goerlandt et al.,
2017). Depending on the ship type and extent of
damage, such accidents can result in human cau-
salities, adverse environmental effects and/or finan-
cial loss. Accidents involving oil tankers can result
in adverse environmental effects if a structural
damage to the ship hull occurs at a location where
compartments containing oil are breached, leading
to significant spills. A recent risk analysis of win-
ter navigation risks in the Finnish waters indicates
that major oil spills in ice conditions are most likely
ings pose a higher risk (Valdez Banda et al., 2015).
To assess potential environmental risks posed, it is
essential to understand possible consequences of
accidental breaches in tanker hulls. Furthermore, it
is also important to be able to predict the amount
of potential oil spill for different hull configura-
tions and breach points and typical trajectories of
oil slick movement. Risk and oil spill consequence
models have been proposed to assess risks of win-
tertime collision accidents (Valdez Banda et al.,
2016, Goerlandt and Montewka 2014), but these
state-of-art models do not take the oil outflow
dynamics, nor the specific effects on cold tempera-
tures on this phenomenon into account, while these
may have significant effects. The oil-spill model pre-
sented here is a part of the Accidental Damage and
Spill Assessment Model (ADSAM) to estimate fast
possible oil spill scenarios from hull collision and
grounding damage (Tabri et al., 2015).
When modelling oil outflow dynamics in winter
conditions, in addition to hydrostatic driving pres-
sure and hull-damage characteristics, it is essential
to include changes of liquids physical properties
(density and viscosity) due to temperature varia-
tions. It is important to consider the heat-exchange
modified shear-induced mixing processes in strati-
fied flows. Turbulent fluxes within the strong
interfacial shear layer between fluids can result in
significant interfacial mixing and transfer of mass
and momentum between the layers. Oil emulsifica-
tion plays a significant role in the modelling of oil

43

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 43 3/29/2017 9:34:24 AM

 slick trajectory (see Alves et al., 2015), as emulsion
with an 80% water content may have a volume that
is five times the spilled volume of a parent oil (Xie
et al., 2007). In the formation of emulsions due to
the physical mixing promoted by turbulence at the
sea surface, the density and viscosity of a liquid
is constantly changing. In winter conditions the
oil-water emulsion may be frozen and captured in
growing ice or spread below an ice sheet.
The study presents the enhanced internal-flow
hydraulic model, which is used for a parametric
study on the influence of the winter conditions on
oil spill outflow quantities. The Computational
Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis could also be used
for this purpose. However, a CFD tool (see Tavakoli
et al., 2012) for a rapid assessment of oil-spill acci-
dents can be also computationally demanding. Thus,
the use of a hydraulic model is well justified for fast
prediction of multiphase-flow quantities. Usually
the oil spills encompass the flow of two immiscible
liquids in a complex geometric system, involving a
wide range of length scales. Recently the analytical
solutions of uni- and bidirectional stratified flows
through a circular hole (orifice) were introduced in
Kollo et al. (2016). In the present study the flow sep-
aration at hole edges and the dynamic interaction
of superimposed layers (e.g. mixing), the uni- and
bidirectional stratified flow rates at the hole are also
depend on large temperature differences.
The hydraulic framework based on the quasi-
steady- and steady-flow equations is firstly intro-
duced, focusing on the modelling of uni- and
bidirectional flows through the submerged orifice,
respectively. Next, the oil-spill model of stratified
flow is extended to account the effects of emul-
sification and heat exchange. Thus the extended
hydraulic model is tested for a parametric cases to
figure out the influence of the winter conditions on
oil-spill quantities. Finally, the overall results are
concluded and discussed.
2 HYDRAULIC THEORY
2.1 Unidirectional stratified flow
Oil outflow occurs when the inside pressure (pI) in
a cargo tank exceeds the outside pressure (pO) at
the level of a submerged hole. Excess hydrostatic
pressures can also result from a relatively high oil
level (ΔI) and gas pressure (pgas) in a ductless tank,
as compared to the water level (ΔO) and air pres-
sure (pair) on the sea surface. Here, the density of
oil (ρoil) is considered to be slightly less than that of
sea-water density (ρwater), i.e., corresponding to the
condition (ρwater – ρoil)/ρoil <<1. In case of a unidirec-
tional stratified flow through hole and pgas > pO, the
Bernoulli’s equation can be expressed as:
44
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 44
2
uoil ⎛ pgas p ⎞
(1+ ) = ( z0 z1 ) + − O , (1)
2g ⎝ ρoil g ρoil g ⎟⎠
where z0 – z1 = ΔI + d0/2 is the elevation-head dif-
ference; and (pgas – pO)/ρoilg = (pgas – pair)/ρoilg – ρwater
(ΔI + d0/2) is the pressure-heads difference. In the
presence of ventilation, the gas pressure is the air
pressure, i.e. pgas = pair, and the pressure-heads dif-
ference is simplified to (pgas – pO)/ρoilg = – ρwater (ΔO +
d0/2)/ρoil. The internal-flow head loss in Equation 1
is represented by the sum of local head-loss coef-
ficients ∏ = ∑ki. The unidirectional stratified flow
through the submerged hole with diameter d0 is
depicted in Figure 1(ii). However, the same condi-
tions as described above will apply to the hole in
the hull bottom. Therefore, the description herein
is limited only to the side-hull case.
The unidirectional oil outflow rate can be calcu-
lated by the formula:
Qoil uoil A0 , (2)
where uoil = oil outflow velocity; and A0 = the area of
orifice. It is important to emphasize that in the case
of a bottom hole, oil outflow stops when the hydro-
static balance is attained at the submerged hole level
between the oil surface in the tank and the sea sur-
face outside. However, in the case of a side hole, the
bidirectional stratified flow follows when the unidi-
rectional stratified flow spins down in a hydrostati-
cally balanced situation (cf. Tavakoli et al., 2011). It
should be noted that during unidirectional stratified
oil outflow the vertical movement of tanker can
occur, due to a weight decrease, and therefore the
difference between the oil and water surfaces can
reveal changes. However, herein the hydraulic mod-
elling is limited to the vertically fixed tank.
Figure 1. Oil tank sketch with the single-hull side: i) no
damage and ii) damaged with unidirectional stratified oil
spill through orifice under excess hydrostatic pressure.
3/29/2017 9:34:24 AM
 2.2 Bidirectional stratified flow 1/ 2
⎡ g ′ 2 d 05 q 2 ⎛ 2 ∂A* 2q 2 ∂A* ⎞ ⎤
−1

The bidirectional stratified flow through the hole is
depicted in Figure 2(i). The equations governing a
two-layer flow, with a small density difference and
at equal pressures at the water and oil surfaces are
following:
1
E u +p +
2
g (doil dwater + h ) ,
oil
2
oil oil oil
1
water uwater + p + ρoil gd
2
E water doil
2 =
+ ρwater g (dwater + h ) ,
where p1 = pI and p2 = pO are the pressures at the upper
lip Inside (I) and Outside (O) of the side hole, respec-
tively; d0 = vertical size of the hole (d0 = doil + dwater);
doil  =  centre-line depth of the lighter (ρoil) liquid
layer; dwater = centre-line depth of the heavier (ρwater)
liquid layer, uoil  =  flow velocity in the upper layer;
uwater = flow velocity in the lower layer; and h = hole
lower lip height measured from the oil-tank bottom.
In the modelling of two-layer flows it is com-
mon to define the internal-flow energy equation:
Ewater Eoil
Eint ≡ , (5)
ρwater g ′
where Ewater and Eoil correspond to the water and oil
layer Bernoulli heads in the stratified flow, respec-
tively; and g′ = the reduced gravity which is fixed
by the density ratio r = ρoil/ρwater.
It is demonstrated in Kollo et al. (2016) that
the upper-layer flow rate i.e. oil outflow during
the bidirectional stratified flow under hydro-
statically balanced situation is determined by the
formula:
Figure  2. Oil tank sketch with the single-hull side
damage: i) bidirectional stratified flow through orifice
without excess hydrostatic pressure and ii) no oil spill.
Qoil = ⎢ + ⎥ , (6)
⎝⎜ A*3 ∂d * (1 − A* )3 ∂d * ⎠⎟ ⎥⎦
⎢⎣ 8
where q = the ratio of upper layer (Qoil) and lower
layer (Qwater) discharges, and the following func-
tions apply:
(3) Qoi2 l
q2 = 2
and
Qwa ter
∂A* 2 1 4
+ d * − d *2
(4) ∂d * π 11− ( d * − )2 π
1 ( d* − )
+ ( − d * ),
π d * − d *2
where the dimensionless lower layer area (A*) and
depth (d*) are defined as:
A* =
Awater
water d
and d * = water .
A0 d0
According to Equation 6, the lower-layer flow
rate is determined by Qwater  =  Qoil /q. Due to the
continuity, the flow rates in the lower-and upper-
layer are related to the flow velocities and the areas
according to Qwater = uwaterAwater and Qoil = uoilAoil  = 
uoil (A0 –Awater), respectively.
It should be noted that during a bidirectional
stratified flow with oil outflow, the vertical move-
ment of tanker can occur, due to a weight increase,
and therefore the difference between the oil and
water surfaces is changing. Herein a modelling is
limited to the vertically fixed tank.
3 PARAMETRISATION
3.1 Unidirectional stratified flow
A particular goal of the hydraulic modelling pre-
sented herein is to investigate the sensitivity of
unidirectional stratified flow in winter conditions.
The effects of emulsification and heat exchange on
the unidirectional stratified flow are indicated in
Figure 3. It is assumed, that the oil flow separation
occurs at orifice outside edges, and this process can
be parametrized by the coefficient of discharge
(see Kollo et al., 2016). The flow separation of oil
results in the formation of emulsions due to the
mixing promoted by turbulence. The outflow oil
temperature variation (ρoil(TI) → ρoil(TO)) results
from heat exchange. To consider the effect of heat
exchange, the thermal expansion coefficient α is
introduced by the simplified state formula ρ(T) ≈
ρ(TI) + α(TI – T). The oil spill volume due to the
density difference between oil at inner temperature
and water at outer temperature, and the spilt oil
cooling outside is

45

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 45 3/29/2017 9:34:24 AM

 Figure 3. Oil tank sketch for the single hull side orifice Figure 4. Oil tank sketch for the single hull side orifice
unidirectional stratified flow case. bidirectional stratified flow case.

Voil (TO ) =
Qoil Q − δ Qoil
⎛⎛ d0 ⎞ TO ) ⎛ d 0 ⎞ ⎞ ρoil (TO ) qO = , (10)
⎜⎝ ⎝ Δ I + 2 ⎠ − ρ (T ) ⎝ Δ O + 2 ⎠ ⎟⎠ S ρ (T ) ,
water
t
Qwater
oil
il I oil I

where ρwater(TO) = water density at outside tempera-
ture; ρoil(TO) = oil density at outside temperature;
ρoil(TI)  =  oil density at inside temperature; and
S  = oil-surface area in the tank. The oil spill dura-
tion due to density difference between inner oil and
outer water can be considered as:
2S 1 added volume due to heating. The interplay between
Tspill = Voil (TI ) / S ,
A 2g C d
where Cd = discharge coefficient; and Voil(TI) = oil
spill volume at inside temperature (Sergejeva et al.,
2013).
(7)
where ΔQ is added volume due to mixing and δQoil
is lost volume due to cooling. The flow-rates-ratio
parameter at the inside end of the orifice is defined as:
Qoil
qI = , (11)
Qwater Q + δ Qwater
where ΔQ is lost volume due to mixing and δQwater is
(8) the effect of mixing and heat exchange on the
exchange-flow dynamics can be related to the tem-
perature variations, resulting from the warm inside
and cold outside fluids, which changes the internal
buoyancy force exerted by the outflowing oil.

3.2 Bidirectional stratified flow 4 EMULSIFICATION

A particular goal of the hydraulic modelling pre- To consider the effect of emulsification the non-
sented herein is to investigate the sensitivity of bidi- dimensional parameter ƒ  =  1 – ΔQ/Qwater is intro-
rectional stratified flow in winter conditions. The duced. Thus the flow-rates-ratio parameter at the
standard flow-rates-ratio parameter is defined as: outside end of the orifice is defined as:
Qoil δ Qoil
q= , (9) qO = q + ( − f ) − , (12)
Qwater Qwater

where Qoil and Qwater are the oil and seawater dis- and the flow-rates-ratio parameter at the inside
charges, respectively, through the submerged orifice. end of the orifice is defined as:
The effects of emulsification and heat exchange is
to modify the parameter q in the hydraulic calcu- q
lations. These effects on the bidirectional flow are qI = . (13)
δ Qwater
shown in Figure 4. The flow-rates-ratio parameter f+
at the outside end of the orifice is defined as: Qwater

46

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 46 3/29/2017 9:34:26 AM

 5 HEAT EXCHANGE
The lost volume due to the cooling of oil during
the outflow can be considered as relative change of
the upper layer volume:
δ ρoil (TI ) ρoil (TO ) α oil
oil
→ =
ρwater (TO ) ρwater (TO )
Qwater
where αoil is the thermal expansion coefficient of
oil. Thus the flow-rates-ratio parameter at the out-
side end of the orifice is defined as:
α oil
qO = q + ( − f ) − (T TO ).
ρwater (TO ) I
The added volume due to the heating of seawa-
ter during the inflow can be considered as relative
change of the lower layer volume:
δ ρwater (TI ) ρwater (TO )
water
→ =
ρwater (TO ) ρwater (
Qwater
where αwater is the thermal expansion coefficient of
seawater. Thus the flow-rates-ratio parameter at
the inside end of the orifice is defined as:
q
qI = . (17)
α water
f+
ρwater (TO )
(TI TO )
The coefficient of thermal expansion is defined
as α = −(1/ρ)(dρ/dT), where α is a function of tem-
perature. In the approximate calculations the value
around 0.0007 1/K can be used for an unspecified
crude oil (cf Manual of Petroleum Measurement
Standards 2016).
6 APPLICATION: PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
OF FLUIDS
In the Baltic Sea the temperature in the surface layer
varies seasonally, and due to strong fresh-water
inputs the water salinity is lower (6–7 psu) as com-
pared to the underlying deep waters. The sea water
at surface is densest just before it freezes. On the
long-term average, the Baltic Sea is ice-covered at
the annual maximum for about 45% of its surface
area, and the density maximum is about 1006 kg/m3
(Krauss 1973). In oceans the density maximum of
water at surface is about 1025 kg/m3, depending on
the temperature and salinity (Shokr & Sinha 2015).
The winds generated mixed layer is character-
ized by being nearly uniform in properties such as
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 47
temperature and salinity throughout the layer. The
mixed layer is usually formed on top of the stably
stratified deep water during storms. The Baltic Sea
water freezing temperature is −1…−0.1°C. In sum-
mer the surface layer temperature is 16…18°C in the
southern part and 13…14°C in the northern part of
the Baltic Sea (Krauss 1973).
(T TO ) , (14) There are many types of oil transported on the
I
Baltic Sea such as crude oil and products refined
for use as fuel. Complex processes of oil transfor-
mation in the marine environment start developing
from the oil’s contact with seawater. During oil spill
incident, the behaviour of an oil released into the
environment is shaped not only by its chemical com-
(15) position but also by its physical properties, such as
density, viscosity, cloud and pour point, and adhe-
sion (Kenneth et al., 2015). Oil outflow dynamics
is strongly dependent on temperature and will slow
to insignificant rates as temperatures approach
freezing (National Academies of Sciences, Engi-
neering, and Medicine 2016). The density of crude
α water
(T TO ) , oils commonly ranges from 700 to 990 kg/m3 and
I
) even the heaviest oils will usually float on top of sea
O
(16) surface. The density decreases more-or-less linearly
with the increase of temperature and these values
fit in to the equation: ρ(T) = ρ0 + T (∂ρ/∂T), where
ρ(T) = density at any temperature T, ρ0 = standard
density (George & Singh 2015).
Like oil density, also oil viscosity is affected by
temperature. As temperature decreases, viscos-
ity increases and the variations with temperature
are commonly large. Oil that flows readily at 40°C
can become a slow-moving, viscous mass at 10°C
(George & Singh 2015).
Whenever the oil temperature decreases the
dispersed paraffins begin to align together and
begin to form a crystalline wax structure. In clear
crudes the wax deposition gives the oil a cloudy
appearance, thus this temperature is called the
cloud point. At some point the precipitates accu-
mulate to the point where the fluid can no longer
flow. This phenomenon can occur with light oils
as well as heavy oils and is a major problem in the
extraction and transportation of oils in offshore
(Coutinho & Daridon 2005). The pour point is the
lowest temperature at which oil will pour when it
cools during spill. The standard range of pour
point for lubricating oils is between −45°C and
30°C. The amount of wax contained in a crude
oil varies, depending on the geographic source of
the crude. High values of pour point +12…+36
(16.33)°C indicate waxy nature of the South
region (Sindh) crudes; whereas, North region
(Punjab) crude oils show extremely low pour
point +18–+30 (27.43)°C and indicating interme-
diate or napthenic nature (Yasin et al., 2013). It is
generally observed that the cloud point tempera-
ture is 10…20°C higher than the pour point of
47
3/29/2017 9:34:28 AM
 crude oils. Unfortunately, most oils have very low According to the bidirectional stratified flow
precipitation rates close to the cloud point mak- hydraulic analysis in Figure  6, the oil outflow vol-
ing difficult a reliable measurement of the cloud umes and the oil spill time are increasing for larger
point. Also all the currently available techniques temperature gradients i.e. in winter conditions. How-
present shortcomings that prevent the detection ever, the oil spills in winter conditions can reveal
of the true cloud point and that the incertitude different outflow characteristics as compared to
of the measurements is as much oil as technique spill situations with smaller temperature gradients,
dependent since the error is not only associated
to the technique but also to the oil composition
(Coutinho & Daridon 2005).
Handling and transporting crude represents a
major challenge for crude oil producers. Several
methods are used to ensure a liquid product and an
uninterrupted flow of crude. One of these include
additizing crude with pour point depressants to
improve low-temperature fluidity of oils used in
cold conditions.

7 RESULTS

7.1 Unidirectional stratified flow

Figure  5. The oil spill volume and duration of heavy
The unidirectional stratified oil outflow is exposed crude oil (924  kg/m3 at 60°C) for summer (18°C) and
to ambient temperatures at opening, the decrease winter (−1°C) conditions for side damaged tanker with
in temperature affects only the spilled oil proper- d0 = 0.5 m, S = 281.6 m2, ΔO = 5.8 m and ΔI = 7.16 m.
ties. The difference in spilt oil and sea water tem-
perature changes the density and viscosity values.
However, higher flowrates near the opening cause Table 1. Heavy and light oil physical properties (Neste
2016a, b).
the emulsion formation and water content increase
in larger scale. Oil type Heavy fuel oil Light fuel oil
As shown in Figure 5 the heavy fuel oil (see Table 1)
at inner temperature 60°C is reduced by volume Name PORL80 PÖ-29
3% and outflowing duration 1% between summer Density at 15°C 950 kg/m3 820 kg/m3
(18°C) and winter (−1°C) conditions. According to Viscosity 24 mm2/s at 80°C 2 mm2/s at 40°C
Equation 7 the volume of outflowing oil is depend- Pour point 5°C *
ent on density difference between oil at inner tem- Cloud point * −29°C
perature and water at outer temperature, and the
spilt oil cooling outside. According to Equation 8 it *Data not available.
can be easily shown that with small temperature gra-
dients the oil outflow duration is longer as compared
to the situation with large temperature gradients.
It can be noted here that in the presence of ice,
the oil may be frozen and captured in growing ice
or spread below an ice sheet. Therefore, the effects
due to cooling of oil may be associated with the
blockage of outflow in the winter. This situation is
considered to be beyond this study.

7.2 Bidirectional stratified flow

The oil outflow rate and flow-rates-ratio param-
eter variation of heavy crude oil at different emul-
sification rates for summer and winter conditions
are shown in Figure  6. In the present study the
ambient sea water temperature that mimics the Figure  6. The oil outflow rate and flow-rates-ratio
summer conditions is 18°C, and the winter condi- parameter variation of heavy crude oil (924  kg/m3 at
tions is −1°C. The oil at inner temperature 60°C 60°C) at different emulsification rates ƒ  =  1…0.50 for
was maintained constant for both seasons. summer (18°C) and winter (−1°C) conditions.

48

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 48 3/29/2017 9:34:29 AM

 corresponding to the summer conditions. Similar to
the unidirectional flow, in the presence of ice, the
oil may be frozen and captured in growing ice or
spread below an ice sheet. This situation may be
also associated with the blockage of oil outflow.
This is considered to be beyond present study. The
sea ice results in lowest possible water temperatures
near the sea surface. It is shown that the tempera-
ture variations due to the warm inside and cold
outside fluids can affect the oil outflow volume and
duration in tanker accidents. Therefore, the winter
conditions more or less dominate the spill situation.
8 CONCLUDING REMARKS
In present study the hydraulic model is extended
to consider the effects of emulsification and heat
exchange in the winter conditions. For this pur-
pose, the two key parameters were introduced i)
the seawater inflow-rate reduction parameter in
the bidirectional stratified flow and ii) the thermal
expansion coefficient of oil in the uni- and bidi-
rectional stratified flows. The oil flow separation
in the uni- and bidirectional stratified flows at
orifice outside edges was not considered, because
this process can be parametrized by the coefficient
of discharge (see Kollo et al., 2016). The param-
eterization of emulsification was related only to
an interfacial mixing and transfer of mass and
momentum between the counter-flowing layers.
It was found that the oil spills in winter condi-
tions can reveal different outflow characteristics
as compared to spill situations with smaller tem-
perature gradients, corresponding to the sum-
mer conditions. According to a parametric study
of hydraulic analysis of oil spill from a damaged
tanker it can be concluded that:
• without large temperature gradients (summer
conditions) the oil outflow volume is larger and
the outflow duration is longer for unidirectional
stratified flow;
• with large temperature gradients (winter condi-
tions) the oil outflow rate is larger for bidirec-
tional stratified flow;
It can be concluded that winter conditions more
or less dominate the spill situation in the unidirec-
tional and bidirectional stratified flows.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research work has been financially supported
by the BONUS STORMWINDS (Strategic
and Operational Risk Management for Winter-
time Maritime Transportation System) project,
by the research grant IUT1917 from Estonian
49
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 49
Science Foundation and by Tallinn University
of Technology project B18 (Tool for direct dam-
age calculations for ship collision and grounding
accidents).
REFERENCES
Alves, T.M., Kokinou, E., Zodiatis, G., Lardner, R.,
Panagiotakis, C. & Radhakrishnan, H. 2015. Model-
ling of oil spills in confined maritime basins: The case
for early response in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Environmental Pollution 206: 390–399.
Coutinho, J. A. P & Daridon, J. L. 2005. The Limitations
of the Cloud Point Measurement Techniques and the
Influence of the Oil Composition on Its Detection.
Petroleum Science and Technology 23(9–10):1113–
1128. DOI: 10.1081/lft-200035541
EMSA. 2010. Maritime Accident Review 2010. Avail-
able at: http://www.emsa.europa.eu/emsa-documents/
latest/item/1219-maritime-accident-review-2010.html.
Retrieved 03.03.2015
EMSA. 2014. Annual overview of marine casualties and
incidents 2014. Available at: http://www.emsa.europa.
eu/emsa-documents/latest/item/2303-annual-over-
view-of-marine-casualties-and-incidents-2014.html.
Retrieved 03.03.2015.
George, A.K. & Singh, R.N. 2015. Correlation of
Refractive Index and Density of Crude Oil and Liq-
uid Hydrocarbon. International Journal of Chemical,
Environmental & Biological Sciences 3(5): 2320–4087.
Goerlandt, F. and Montewka, J. 2014. A probabilistic
model for accidental cargo oil outflow from product
tankers in a ship–ship collision. Marine Pollution Bul-
letin 79 (1–2): 130–44.
Goerlandt, F., Goite, H., Valdez Banda, O.A., Höglund,
A., Ahonen-Rainio, P., Lensu, M. 2017. An analysis
of wintertime navigational accidents in the Northern
Baltic Sea. Safety Science, 92:66–84.
Kenneth, L., Boufadel, M., Chen, B., Foght, J., Hod-
son, P., Swanson, S. & Venosa, A. 2015. Expert Panel
Report on the Behaviour and Environmental Impacts
of Crude Oil Released into Aqueous Environments.
Ottawa, ON. ISBN: 978-1-928140-02-3: Royal Society
of Canada.
Kollo, M., Laanearu, J. & Tabri, K. 2016. Hydraulic mod-
elling of oil spill through submerged orifices in dam-
aged ship hulls from collisions or grounding. Accepted
for publication in journal Ocean Engineering.
Krauss, W. 1973. Methods and Results of Theoreti-
cal Oceanography I: Dynamics of the Homogenous
and the Quasihomogenous Ocean. Berlin: Gebrüber
Borntraeger.
Manual of Petroleum Measurement Standards. 2016.
Chapter 11—Physical Properties Data Section 2, Part
4—Temperature Correction for the Volume of NGL
and LPG Tables 23E, 24E, 53E, 54E, 59E, and 60E,
ASTM Technical Publication [Stock No. PETROLT-
BL-TP27], GPA Technical Publication TP-27.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medi-
cine. 2016. Spills of Diluted Bitumen from Pipelines: A
Comparative Study of Environmental Fate, Effects, and
Response. Washington, DC: The National Academies
Press.
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 Neste Technical Data Sheet. 2016a. Diesel for non-
road use –29/–34. For heating—and diesel engine
use. Available at: https://www.neste.fi/static/
datasheet_pdf/160205_fi.pdf
Neste Technical Data Sheet. 2016b. Heavy fuel oil 80.
Low sulphur. Available at: https://www.neste.fi/static/
datasheet_ pdf/ 170246_fi.pdf
Sergejeva, M., Laanearu, J. & Tabri, K. 2013. Hydrau-
lic modelling of submerged oil spill including
tanker hydrostatic overpressure. In: Proceedings of
4th International Conference on Marine Structures,
MARSTRUCT 2013: 4th International Conference on
Marine Structures, Espoo, Finland.
Shokr, M. & Sinha, N. 2015. Sea Ice: Physics and Remte
Sensing. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Tabri, K., Aps, R., Mazaheri, A., Heinvee, M., Jönsson,
A. & Fetissov, M. 2015. Modelling of structural dam-
age and environmental consequences of tanker ground-
ing. Analysis and Design of Marine Structures V:
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5th International Conference on Marine Structures,
25–27.03.2015, Southampton UK. Ed. C. Guedes
Soares and R. Ajit Shenoi. Taylor & Francis, 703–710.
Tavakoli, M.T., Amdahl, J. & Leira, B.J. 2012. Analytical
and numerical modelling of oil spill from a side tank
with collision damage. Ships and Offshore Structures
7 (1): 73–86.
Valdez Banda, O.A., Goerlandt, F., Kuzmin, V., Kujala,
P., Montewka, J. 2016. Risk Management Model of
Winter Navigation Operations. Marine Pollution Bul-
letin, 108:242–262.
Valdez Banda, O.A., Goerlandt, F., Montewka, J.,
Kujala, P. 2015. A risk analysis for winter navigation
in Finnish sea areas. Accident Analysis & Prevention
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Practical verification of loading computer by laser measurements

G. Storhaug & O. Fredriksen

DNV GL, Oslo, Norway

D. Greening & I. Robinson

Seaspan Ship Management Ltd., Vancouver, Canada

ABSTRACT: Ships are designed to withstand hull girder loads, most importantly the vertical bending
moment, consisting of still water bending, wave bending and whipping. Exceeding these design moments
in operation may cause accidents, e.g. MOL Comfort and MSC Napoli. Wave bending and whipping are
handled by good seamanship avoiding severe storms, adjusting course and speed. Hull stress monitoring
is also useful. An onboard loading computer is required to predict still water bending. Mis-declared cargo
weights and erroneous input introduce uncertainties. Draught survey can reveal mis-declared weights, but
is less useful for checking the moment. To reduce the risk of overloading and to verify the loading compu-
ter, a practical alternative has been developed in a joint effort between Seaspan and DNVGL. It consists
of a laser and target grid mounted onboard the ship, measuring the hull girder deflection resulting from
the bending moment. The theory, uncertainties and calibration are explained, and preliminary results for
an ultra-large container ship are shown. The system effectively reveals significant deviations which may
need corrective actions.

1 INTRODUCTION the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) approved

Recent major container ships accidents like MSC
Napoli and MOL Comfort, which broke in two,
have caused concerns amongst stakeholders in
the industry. Their double bottom collapsed due
to overloading, but even though these two ships
may be regarded to have substandard strength
compared to the rest of the container ship fleet,
it can be difficult to understand why they broke
in moderate storms. It is a matter of load versus
strength, and both aspects are important. On the
load side whipping has got large attention, and it
has already been demonstrated that dimensioning
vertical bending can occur in moderate storms for
container ships (Storhaug & Andersen 2015, Ober-
hagemann et al. 2015) due to high forward speed.
The still water bending has got less attention, but
the reports covering the MOL Comfort accidents
also suggest significant uncertainties to the still
water bending moment by 10% (ClassNK 2014).
This report referred also to a JG Interim Report
stating: “According to the report, Ms maximum
value was estimated to be 126% of the allowable
value”, suggesting that the actual vessel may have
been overloaded by more than 10%.
These accidents have resulted in two major
changes. Firstly, IACS has issued new Unified
Requirements (UR) S11A and S34, which came
into force in July 2016 (IACS, 2016). Secondly,
changes to SOLAS regarding required verifica-
tion of container weights taken onboard. This is
required from July 2016 (IMO, 2016). The latter
should reduce the uncertainties to misdeclared
weights. The former UR S11 defines a new wave
bending moment and a new ultimate capacity (col-
lapse) check for container ships above 90 m length
as well as functional requirements to whipping for
Post-Panamax container ships with beam above
32.25 m. UR S34 on the other hand require finite
element models for cargo hold analysis for ships
above 150  m and global ship analysis for ships
above 290 m. Even though this has been included
within DNV GL ship rules for a long time, now all
class societies must adopt this. The challenge for
class societies is to define the functional require-
ments for whipping. One solution is included in
DNV GL ship rules and class guidelines (DNVGL,
2015). IACS may however harmonize functional
requirement to whipping through a revised or new
UR. All these changes and improvements confirm
that these topics are essential for the safety of con-
tainer ships.
Despite the new requirements for weighing
the containers or its content, there will be uncer-
tainties to the dead weight, which also consist of
ballast and possible manual input mistakes in the
loading computer. Further, the loading computer
consider only the vertical bending moment from

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 51 3/29/2017 9:34:30 AM

 vertical difference between mass weights and buoy-
ancy, while there are other physical effects like sea
pressure at the ship ends, internal fluid pressures
on bulkheads, and hydroelastic effects which can
result in several percent change of the still water
moment (Storhaug et al., 2016). It is therefore still
regarded necessary to have an independent check
of the loading computer other than the draught
survey check. This new practical approach will be
explained and has been tested out on a 10 000 TEU
container ship. The theory, calibration and prelimi-
nary measurement results will be explained in the
following.
2 THEORY
2.1 Vessel
The container ship used in the calculations and
equipped with a laser measurement setup is a
10  000  TEU container ship with the following
main characteristics in Table 1.
EI
M max k δ max (1)
L2
where L is the ship length in m, and the maxi-
mum deflection is estimated from the draught
survey as:
( )
δ max = Tmidshipi −
aft
f forward
(2)
2
T is the draught in m and the subscript denotes
the position. The factor k depends on the loading
case, and for a uniform loading k is 9.6, while it is
10 for a triangular loading with maximum at mid-
ship and zero at both ends, and π2 (i.e. 9.87) for a
sinusoidal loading with maximum at midship and
zero at both ends. From the draught survey, the
still water bending moment amidships can then be
estimated. The sinusoidal loading may be the most
realistic loading case of these three, but it appears
not crucial to have this accurately described since
the factors are quite similar.

2.2 Simple beam and loading

2.3 Finite element beam model
When the hull is exposed to a net load (difference
The simple beam model is useful for hand calcu-
between buoyancy and mass) it will deflect into a
lations, but the ship hull girder is not simply sup-
sagging or hogging condition (the container ships
ported at both ends, but freely floating based on the
have hogging conditions, i.e. compression in bot-
water line stiffness. The cross-sectional properties
tom plating). The curvature of the deflection relates
are not constant along the hull and shear deforma-
to the bending moment. For a homogeneous beam
tion may contribute. The loading case is also not
simply supported at both ends and with constant
sinusoidal. This all affects the relation between the
cross sectional properties, analytical expressions
deflection from the draught survey and the actual
can be derived from simple loading cases. The con-
bending moment at midship and where it is maxi-
stant cross sectional properties refer to the bend-
mum. The net weight in t/m is illustrated in Figure 1.
ing stiffness EI where E is the young’s modulus in
In Figure  2 the bending stiffness distribution is
N/m2 and I is the area moment of inertia in m4. I
illustrated.
can be calculated for a ship by the DNVGL soft-
The finite element model is generated using
ware Nauticus or Poseidon. The relation between
Abaqus CAE software, and is divided into 315
the maximum deflection, δmax, in m as estimated
beam elements each represented by a hollow box
by a draught survey and the maximum bending
cross section with dimensions as main ship depth,
moment, Mmax, in Nm can be estimated as:

Table 1. Ship characteristics.

Parameter Unit

Length between perpendiculars, Lpp 320.0 m

Rule length, L 315.73 m
Beam, B 48.2 m
Depth moulded, D 27.2 m
Draught moulded, T 15.0 m
TEU 10 000
Area moment of inertia at midship, I 793.3 m4
Youngs modulus, E 2.1 ⋅ 1011 N/m2
Max. perm. still water moment 6500 MNm Figure 1. Net vertical load for maximum hogging con-
midship, Ms dition in the loading manual corresponding to 95% of the
maximum permissible hogging.

52

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 52 3/29/2017 9:34:30 AM


Figure  2. Bending stiffness distribution, EI, along the
ship.
Figure 3. Bending moment distribution in KNm.
D, and beam, B, and with constant thickness to
represent the bending stiffness distribution. The
effective shear area is not accurate, but a result of
this box girder assumption, but the shear defor-
mation is a secondary effect. The deflection is
estimated and compared to the simplified beam
models with maximum deflection adjusted to the
same value. The normalized deflection curves from
the simplified beam models are very similar, while
the maximum deflection of 425 mm (correspond-
ing to draught survey) based on realistic input is
shifted slightly aft. The moment curves display a
larger difference for the given maximum deflection
of 425  mm as seen in Figure  3, and the realistic
curve is clearly different.
Comparison between the simplified beam mod-
els and the finite element beam model confirm that
it is necessary to use finite beam elements for the
deflection shape of the hull. A further compari-
son was also made normalizing the stiffness dis-
tribution from a smaller vessel to the stiffness at
midship of this 10 000 TEU ship. It was then also
confirmed that taking the stiffness distribution
from another ship gives too high uncertainties. The
deflection difference was 10% in this case, so it is
necessary to use a ship specific bending stiffness
distribution.
2.4 Laser measurements
The laser gun is mounted at a fixed position
onboard. When mounted fixed, it will follow the
53
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 53
local co-ordinate system where it is located. If a
target (bulls eye) is in the bow and the laser gun at
stern pointing towards the bull’s eye, and if the hull
is deflecting, the offset reading will be exaggerated
and not directly measure the deflection of the hull
girder. This is illustrated in Figure 4.
When the distance between the laser and the
bulls eye is reduced, the offset will also be reduced,
and as the distance is approaching zero the offset
will approach zero. It is therefore desirable to have
a maximum distance between the laser gun and the
bulls eye, i.e. at stern and bow of the ship. It may
however not be free line of sight over this distance.
Since the curvature of the hull girder is also maxi-
mum amidships, it is beneficial to have the laser
gun on one side and the bulls eye on the other side
of the maximum curvature to obtain maximum
offset. In any case, it is necessary to convert the
offset into a deflection factor, i.e. the hull girder
deflection can be calculated from the offset. This
ratio between the offset and the deflection at mid-
ship is displayed in Figure 5 as a function of laser
gun position and distance between laser gun and
the bulls eye. For 200 m distance between the laser
gun and the bulls eye there is an amplification of
the offset at any position from the aft end, while
for shorter distances it is a reduction.
Based on the arrangement inside the passage
way of the ship, the maximum free line of sight is
between frames #206 and #300 which are 168.7 m
and 244.5  m forward from aft perpendicular
Figure 4. Illustration of deflection versus offset.
Figure 5. Deflection factor, i.e. ratio between offset and
midship deflection as a function of laser position and as
a function of distance (e.g. 80 m) between the laser and
the bulls eye.
3/29/2017 9:34:31 AM
 respectively, i.e. a distance of 75.8 m. This area also
coincides with almost the maximum deflection fac-
tor in Figure 5. Unfortunately, the deflection fac-
tor is less than 1 and in the order of 0.3.
From the hull girder deflection, the moment also
needs to be estimated. The rule still water bend-
ing moment, i.e. maximum permissible, in hogging
was set to 6500  MNm. Based on this, the maxi-
mum offset was estimated to 123 mm correspond-
ing to a hull girder deflection of 447  mm. Based
on the offset reading in percentage of the 123 mm,
the moment value can be estimated as the same
percentage of 6500 MNm. It should be noted that
the conversion applies to the moment at midship,
and for many of the realistic loading conditions a
slightly higher moment may occur aft of midship
thereby also representing a higher utilization. The
laser offset reading should therefore be compared
strictly with the loading computer reading for mid-
ship section.
2.5 Uncertainties
Prior to the decision on the instrumentation an
attempt was made to estimate the uncertainties
in the moment from the laser measurement. For
instance, this could be necessary to define the qual-
ity of the laser gun with respect to the size of the
laser beam dot on the bull’s eye.
The moment can be expressed as in Equation
1. It is dependent on the Young’s modulus, E, the
area moment of inertia, I, the deflection, δ, and
the length, L. To account for the inaccuracy of
the beam FE model used in the analysis, a factor
kmom was defined. Further to convert the deflection
measured by the laser equipment to the actual hull
girder deflection, another factor kdef can be defined
as the ratio between the hull girder deflection,
δ, and the measured laser offset, δoffset. In other
words, this is the inverse of the deflection factor
presented in Figure 5. This states that the moment
is proportional to the following parameters:
EI δ ooffset kmom kdef
M∝ (3)
L2
From this, the fractional uncertainty in the
actual bending moment can be derived by linear-
ized approximation and expressed in accordance
with Coleman & Steel (1989):
Δ ΔE ΔI Δδ ooffset Δkmom Δkdef ΔL
= + + + + −2
deef
M E I δ ooffset kmom kdeef L tribution associated with forward speed can be
(4)
Uncertainties for each parameter were esti-
mated, and the resulting total uncertainty was
54
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 54
Figure 6. Uncertainty in the bending moment calcula-
tion from different parameters.
estimated to 11.5%. The uncertainties of the dif-
ferent parameters are illustrated in Figure 6. The
most uncertain parameters are regarded to the
bending stiffness, EI, and the analysis model,
together accounting for 80% of the uncertainties.
Therefore, a FE beam model was also regarded
necessary compared with the analytical model.
3 CALIBRATION
Calibration is necessary to have the laser beam
pointing at a correct non-zero reference position
on the bull’s eye. This is based on the actual loading
condition at the time of the calibration. Because
the container weights are associated with uncer-
tainties, calibration should be done when there is
a minimum of containers onboard, i.e. preferably
when delivered from the yard or in a straight dock
pointing at zero.
When calibration is carried out it is then nec-
essary to receive the loading condition, perform
the calculations and deliver the target point on
the bull’s eye to the personnel performing the cali-
bration onboard. This must be done quickly, and
therefore the calculation procedure should have
been run through once prior to the calibration.
This also needs to be done to define the size of the
bull’s eye (laser screen) depending on the location
of the bull’s eye and the distance between the laser
gun and the bulls eye.
The maximum deflection can simply be calcu-
lated based on the rule bending moment. However,
during calibration the actual bending moment
needs to be estimated more accurately and addi-
tional effects needs to be accounted for. If the
speed of the vessel is zero, a sagging moment con-
avoided. The sun should also not heat the deck and
large fluid tanks should also not be filled. The sig-
nificant remaining contributions are the hydroelas-
tic effect and the sea pressure end effects. This was
3/29/2017 9:34:31 AM
 accounted for, and the effect of tank filling was Table  2. Comparison of utilization of midship bend-
checked and confirmed to be insignificant during ing moment in% from loading computer (LC), laser and
the calibration. draught survey (DS). mt refers to metric tons declared
The hydroelastic effect and the sea pressure end and MDmt refers to misdeclared metric tons.
effects can be significant and are estimated for mt MD mt LC Laser DS
four container ships by Storhaug et al. (2015). The Date TEU t t % % %
hydroelastic effect is caused by a change of buoy-
ancy distribution because of the deflection of the 15.06.2016 924 10266 −40 66.9 69.1 63.8
hull. Numerically this represents a fast converging 16.06.2016 1838 16971 358 68.1 65.0 63.8
iterative process. The sea end pressure effect comes 18.06.2016 5342 44335 2054 59.3 56.9 22.3
from the sum of the hydrostatic pressure attack- 21.06.2016 7189 62118 518 69.4 66.7 43.6
ing a center below the neutral axis. This causes a 07.07.2016 6874 59545 −634 94.8 81.3 86.2
hogging contribution, while the hydroelastic effect 16.07.2016 6556 42007 71 87.6 97.6 84.1
reduces the hogging. At best the two effects cancel 17.07.2016 6127 38653 75 77.2 79.7
out, but rarely do so. 22.07.2016 6836 42192 138 68.5 85.4
For the actual ship, the loading condition at the 28.07.2016 8053 45458 −173 76.6 85.4 64.9
time of the calibration corresponded to a loading 19.08.2016 6125 26075 99 84.8 69.1 74.5
condition without containers onboard. The still 23.08.2016 5045 30316 151 72.3 81.3 69.2
water bending moment corresponded to 72.4% of 25.08.2016 5101 36897 60 49.3 65.0 52.1
maximum permissible still water bending moment 27.08.2016 6406 52154 181 61.5 56.9 53.2
according to the loading condition. The hydroelas- 30.08.2016 8080 67744 −227 87.8 81.3 66.0
tic effect gave a 4.1% reduction of the moment and 17.09.2016 7623 64709 106 87.5 89.4 64.9
the end pressure effect at 6.96  m draught gave a 24.09.2016 7969 51454 −5 56.1 56.9 63.6
2.4% increase of the moment. The final moment 26.09.2016 7645 49250 −965 64.8 65.0 53.2
was estimated to 71.2% and should give an offset 29.09.2016 8034 56484 −118 63.7 73.2 55.3
of 87 mm. The laser gun was the set to point at this 05.10.2016 8750 60249 −221 59.4 73.2 37.2
reading position.

4 PRELIMINARY RESULTS

After the calibration, the ship has reported meas-

urements from many ports. The results in terms of
utilization, i.e. percentage of the maximum per-
missible still water bending moment, are shown
in Table  2 based on the loading computer, the
laser measurements and the draught survey. For
the latter estimate of the bending moment, a con-
version factor of 0.88 is used as the ratio of the
FE-based bending moment and the simplified
bending moment based on uniform loading. This
corresponds to a factor k equal to 8.45, as opposed
to 9.6. From Table  2 it can be estimated that the
amount of misdeclared cargo has an average of
0.8% and 95% confidence interval of ±2.1%, i.e.
95% of the time the misdeclared weights are from
−1.3% to 2.9% of the declared container weights.
Based on the numbers in Table  2, the average
utilization and 95% confidence interval are shown
in Figure 7. Based on the results, the draught sur-
veys cannot be excluded as being useful. The aver-
age loading conditions from the loading computer,
laser measurement and draught survey are 71.3%,
73.8% and 59.9% respectively. The laser measure-
ments show marginally higher mean value than the
loading computer, hence, the laser measurement
is regarded more useful than the draught survey.
The 95% confidence intervals from the loading
Figure 7. Average value and 95% confidence interval of
midship still water bending moment from loading com-
puter, laser and draught surveys.
computer and laser measurements compares
also well with ±24.4% and 23.0% respectively.
This means that from the laser measurements,
the midship moment is within 50.8 and 96.8% of
maximum permissible hogging moment 95% of
the time. Exceeding the maximum permissible is
thereby not likely. Based on this vessel more than
100% utilization, as relevant for MOL Comfort at
the time of the accident, is not a frequent loading
condition.
The distribution of the loading condition can
also be expressed as in Figure  8. Loading condi-
tions between 60–70% and 80–90% are most fre-
quent from both the loading computer and the
laser measurements. The laser measurements have
slightly higher probabilities at high utilization.

55

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 55 3/29/2017 9:34:32 AM


Figure 8. Distribution of loading conditions from load-
ing computer and laser measurements.
Figure  9. Maximum utilization along hull girder
(y-axis) versus utilization at midship.
The moment considered for the laser measure-
ment is the midship moment. For a container ship,
moments aft of midship may be larger than at mid-
ship, and secondly the utilization may be higher aft
than at midship. The maximum utilization from the
loading computer versus the utilization at the mid-
ship section is displayed in Figure 9. It is observed
that the utilization is larger in many cases, however
when the utilization is large, then it appears to be
better agreement. This suggests that the method of
using only the midship bending moment as basis
for the utilization is promising.
5 DISCUSSION
The uncertainty analysis carried out prior to the
installation of a laser system for measurements
indicated significant uncertainties of up to 11.5%.
Most of the uncertainties were related to the bend-
ing stiffness EI, and the analysis model to esti-
mate the moment from the deflection. It was also
stressed that accurate calibration was necessary for
the system during setup. Both two issues would
lead to a bias in the estimated moment.
The analysis model was represented by a beam
FE model including both bending stiffness and
shear deformation. The bending stiffness in terms
of area moment of inertia was calculated for the
actual design for several locations along the hull
and with interpolation in between. The calibration
56
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 56
was performed with input on the actual loading
condition with mass distribution and without con-
tainers on board. More accurate analysis model
and bending stiffness distribution is difficult with-
out a global finite element model of the whole ship,
which is also more cumbersome to handle.
The comparison between the loading computer
and the laser measurements shows fair agreement
with a difference in utilization of 2.5%. During
calibration, it was found that when including the
hydroelastic effect and end pressure effect the uti-
lization was reduced by 1.2%. It would then be
expected that the laser measurements should show
slightly lower utilization than the loading com-
puter. The sum of these two numbers may indicate
the amount of bias included in the measurements,
which is then in the order of 3–4%. This is regarded
of acceptable magnitude.
There are also inaccuracies related to the off-
set read from the bull’s eye due to the size of the
laser beam on the screen. On several of the read-
ings, rounding off to nearest centimeter appear to
have been done, i.e. a reading error of up to 5 mm.
Based on the maximum offset of 123  mm, this
would correspond to 4% utilization. This is also
in the same order as the bias. Potentially the sum
of the bias and reading error may cause an exag-
geration of about 7–8%. The offset reading should
be attempted to be done towards closest millim-
eter, but as seen on a picture of the bull’s eye in
Figure  10, this may be practically difficult. Some
transverse offset due to torsion is also seen.
There are relatively few observations made so far
to define the difference between the loading com-
puter and the measurements in average, but also for
Figure 10. Example of offset by laser beam on bulls eye
18th of June 2016.
3/29/2017 9:34:32 AM
 the variation between those two means to estimate
the still water bending. Also, more offset readings
are necessary to see if the utilization at midship con-
verge towards the maximum utilization in Figure 9.
This is also needed to cover a better probability dis-
tribution of the still water hogging moment in Fig-
ure 8 and to define the probability of exceeding the
maximum permissible hogging moment. Based on
this the measurements should continue, and should
potentially also be tested out on more vessels.
6 CONCLUSIONS
A laser measurement system has been installed suc-
cessfully onboard a large container ship, and pre-
liminary comparison between laser measurements
and loading computer have been carried out for a
period of about 4 months. Setup of laser system
based on a beam finite element model with accu-
rate bending stiffness distribution as well as proper
calibration including hydroelastic effect and end
pressure effect without containers onboard are
regarded necessary.
The comparison between the loading computer
and the laser measurement is good. The draught
mark survey is considered less good as a check of
the still water bending moment.
The preliminary comparison suggests that the
difference between the loading computer and the
laser measurements in average is 2.5% with a 95%
confidence interval of ±17.8%. This represents a
significant uncertainty of the loading computer,
but may be biased by few offset readings due to
the limited testing period. The test period should
therefore be extended.
The utilization at midship appears to well repre-
sent the maximum utilization when the utilization
is high. For this purpose, the setup of the system
also seems satisfactory and useful, despite that the
distance between the laser gun and bulls eye is rela-
tively small.
The number of observations with utilization
being high and close to 100% is low. The bias and
offset reading error may be in the order of up to
7–8%. It is proposed that the captain need to check
more carefully the loading computer when: a) the
loading computer shows a utilization above 95%,
and b) the laser measurements show a utilization
of more than 105%. Based on this it would be a
limited number of times when recheck of the load-
ing computer input is necessary, and only when it
is regarded necessary.
For large cargo ships, laser measurements can
be an inexpensive and practical means to verify
the loading computer and maximum utilization
of the still water bending moment. It can be supe-
rior to the draught mark surveys which may be
limited to discovering error in declared weights.
57
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 57
It is emphasized that the laser system can be the
first alert tool to possible overload situations as the
measurements can be quickly taken in ideal condi-
tions (inside passageway with good environmental
conditions and good lighting) and this can be eas-
ily performed in the short time between the end of
cargo operations and getting underway. The first
alert would then focus the ship’s staff on careful
check on the loading computer and draught sur-
vey. The draught survey will not always be in ideal
conditions and will always require more measure-
ments; two or more specific gravity measurements
and ideally 6 draught readings (3 on port side and 3
on starboard side).
REFERENCES
ClassNK, 2014. Investigation report on structural safety
of large container ships. The investigative panel on
large container ship safety. September 2014. 123p.
http://www.classnk.or.jp/hp/pdf/news/Investigation_
Report_on_Structural_Safety_of_Large_Container_
Ships_EN_ClassNK.pdf.
Coleman, H.W. & Steele Jr, W.G., 1989. Experimenta-
tion and uncertainty analysis for engineers. Published
by John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1989, 205p. ISBN
0-471-12146-0.
DNVGL, 2015. DNVGL rules for classification: Ships
(RU-SHIP). Part 5 Ship types; Chapter  2 Container
ships. July 2016. & DNVGL class guidelines (CG),
DNVGL-CG-0153 Fatigue and ultimate strength
assessment of container ships including whipping and
springing. October 2015. http://rules.dnvgl.com/
ServiceDocuments/dnvgl/#!/home.
IACS, 2016. UR S Requirements concerning strength
(including S11 Longitudinal strength standard &
S11A Longitudinal strength standard for container
ships). International association of classification soci-
eties, June 2015. 368p. http://www.iacs.org.uk/publica-
tions/default.aspx.
IMO, 2016. Solas Chapter VI carriage of cargoes and
oil fuels. Reg. 2. Par. 4. Resolution MSC.380(94)
(adopted on 21 November 2014). Amendments to
the international convention for the safety of life at
sea (Solas), 1974, as amended. http://www.imo.org/
en/OurWork/Safety/Cargoes/Containers/Documents/
resolution MSC-380-94.pdf.
Oberhagemann, J., Shigunov, V., Radon, M., Mumm,
H. & Won, S.I., 2015. Hydrodynamic load analysis
and ultimate strength check of an 18000 TEU con-
tainership. Proceedings 7th international conference on
hydroelasticity in marine technology, 16th to 19th of
September 2015, Split, Croatia, pp. 591–606.
Storhaug, G. & Andersen, I.M.V., 2015. Extrapolation of
model tests measurements of whipping to identify the
dimensioning sea states for container ships. 25th annual
international ocean and polar engineering conference
ISOPE-2015. 21st to 26th June 2015, Kona, Hawaii, USA.
Storhaug, G., Aagaard, O. & Fredriksen, O., 2016.
Calibration of hull monitoring strain sensors in deck
including the effect of hydroelasticity. The 26th Inter-
national Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference,
June 26th to July 2nd, 2016, Rhodos, Greece.
3/29/2017 9:34:34 AM
MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Hydroelastic effects on slamming loads and dynamic response of

flexible panels

Shan Wang & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.

ABSTRACT: Hydroelastic water impacts of panels with different deadrise angles (10º and 30º,), entry
velocities (1m/s, 3m/s, 6m/s and 8m/s), plate thicknesses (5 mm, 8 mm and 11 mm), and edge boundary con-
ditions are simulated by using the finite element method. To quantify the hydroelastic effects, the results
of the slamming loads and maximum deflections from the fully coupled ALE/FEM method are compared
with the calculations from the quasi-rigid/dynamic analyses. For the fully coupled ALE/FEM method, a
multi-material Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) and a penalty based coupling algorithm are applied
for the interaction between the fluids and structures. The governing equations are solved using the finite
element method based on explicit time integration schemes. For the quasi-rigid/dynamic analysis method,
the slamming loads on the rigid structures are firstly assessed, and then the predicted loads are applied on
the elastic structures to conduct the dynamic analysis.

1 INTRODUCTION speed. These theoretical analyses were validated

Hydroelastic analysis of marine structures has
been becoming increasingly important as an area
of research in naval architecture. As marine ves-
sels become larger and their structure becomes
lighter, the elastic behaviour gains prominence,
leading to adverse effects like hull bottom damage,
severe fatigue due to prolonged hull whipping and
springing, and local failures. As multi-hull vessels
tend to have better seakeeping and wave-resistance
characteristics, there is an increasing interest on
multi-hull crafts both for naval and commercial
applications. Local slamming is likely to happen on
the wet-deck connecting two hulls of a catamaran.
A wet-deck has a wedge-shape cross section with a
small deadrise angle, which can be zero or as large
as it is for the wave-piercer catamaran. A consid-
erable amount of work on the hydroelastic water
impact problem of the wet-deck is being investi-
gated using different approaches.
The wave impact on horizontal elastic plates
of steel and aluminium was studied theoretically
by Kvalsvold and Faltinsen (1993, 1994), and the
results are compared with the experimental results
of Kvalsvold et  al. (1995). Faltinsen et  al. (1997)
presented the detailed theoretical study of hydroe-
lastic slamming, which represented the wet deck of
a multihull as an Euler–Bernoulli beam and solved
the fluid flow with a velocity potential. Wang et al
(2016) extended this solution to the water impact
problem of a horizontal plate with a forward
through experimental data. The velocity potential
on the body was predicted by an asymptotic solu-
tion of Wagner’s theory, and only the linear part of
the Bernoulli equation was taken into considera-
tion for the hydrodynamic pressure on the body.
The work presented in Lu et al. (2000) demon-
strates a fully coupled BEM/FEM analysis of the
elastic wedges impacting with water. The fluid flow
is solved by the Boundary Element Method (BEM)
together with the fully nonlinear free surface con-
dition. The structural response is analysed based
on linear elastic theory using the Finite Element
Method (FEM). Korobkin et al. (2006) developed
a method that coupled the beam finite element
model with Wagner theory of water impact. Due
to the flat-disk approximation of Wagner’s theory,
this method is only applicable to any elastic body
with small deadrise angle entering water vertically
at moderate velocity. A fully coupled simulation of
an elastic wedge entering into water was studied by
Stenius et  al. (2011) to investigate the hydroelas-
tic effects on the structural response for different
impact velocities, boundary conditions and struc-
tural mass. Wang et al. (2016) applied a fully cou-
pled ALE/FEM to simulate the water impact of an
elastic horizontal plate.
The structural analysis of the water impact
of ship structures has also relied on simplified
approaches for years, considering the hydrody-
namic loading calculated by assuming a rigid struc-
ture, and the loading is then applied to the structure

59

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 59 3/29/2017 9:34:34 AM

 in a quasi-static manner (el Moctar et  al., 2006;
Oberhagemann et al., 2009; Khabakhpasheva and
Korobkin, 2013; Van Nuffel et al. 2014; Shams and
Porfiri, 2015). The hydroelastic analysis of ships
slamming has been studied using coupled CFD
and FEM tools (el Moctar et  al., 2006; Schellin
and el Moctar, 2007; Oberhagemann et al., 2009).
Their method utilizes the time-domain structural
equations of motion, and the CFD-predicted
rigid-body fluid forces are applied to the struc-
tural model in a one-way manner. The added mass
due to flexure is accounted for in an approximate
way using two-dimensional calculations. Similarly,
Maki et al. (2011) studied the impact of an elastic
wedge onto the free surface by using a loosely cou-
pled method which combines CFD and FEM tools
in a one way manner. The CFD was used to assess
the loading on a rigid body, and the pressure and
stress field was projected onto a structural FEM
model.
Wang and Guedes Soares (2014) investi-
gated numerically the hydroelastic water impact
of a wedge by using a fully coupled ALE/FEM
method. The deflections at the centre of the plate
were in good agreement with the results from the
coupled BEM/FEM method of Lu et  al. (2000).
For the water impact of a horizontal plate stud-
ied by Wang et  al. (2016), the predictions of the
structural deflections from the fully coupled
ALE/FEM method were validated through exper-
imental data. To quantify the hydroelastic effects
on the water impact of various plates, this work
compares the results of the slamming loads and
maximum deflections from the fully coupled
ALE/FEM method in LS-DYNA with the cal-
culations from the quasi-rigid/dynamic analyses.
The various deadrise angles, 10º and 30º, differ-
ent entry velocities, ranging from 1 m/s to 8 m/s,
and two different edge boundary conditions are
considered.
2 METHODOLOGY
A symmetric water entry of a two-dimensional
wedge is shown in Figure  1. The deadrise angle
is denoted as β. A Cartesian coordinate system
(x, z) is introduced, and the x-axis is placed in
the undisturbed water surface, while the z-axis is
located in the symmetric line of the wedge. The
wedge enters the calm water with a vertical velocity
which is denoted as V  = dz/dt. During the water
entry, h(t) indicates the penetration of the body, L
means the length of the wedge and B/2 represents
the half-width of the horizontal dimension of the
body. The boundaries of the water are denoted as
SL, SR and SB. Due to the symmetry, only half of
the problem in Figure 1 is modelled.
60
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 60
Figure  1. Definition of coordinate system for a 2-D
symmetric wedge.
2.1 The fully coupled ALE/FEM method
The explicit Finite Element Modelling (FEM)
code LS-DYNA (2007) is applied to simulate the
water impact of wedge plates. The FEM analy-
sis is based on an Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eule-
rian (ALE) formulation and a penalty coupling
method. The Lagrangian formulation is used to
describe plane-strain deformations of the plate
and geometric nonlinearities are considered. The
Eulerian formulation is used to analyse the fluid
flow. The deformations of the plate and of the
water are coupled through the hydrodynamic pres-
sure exerted by water on the plate, and the velocity
of particles on the wetted surface affecting defor-
mations of the water. The continuity of surface
tractions and the inter-penetrability of water into
the hull are satisfied by using a penalty method,
which was explained by Aquelet et al. (2006).
In the present study, the fluid, water and air, are
modelled with Solid164 elements which are 8-nodes
brick elements, and they are defined as void mate-
rials (*MAT_NULL) which allows equations of
state to be considered without computing devia-
tory stresses. In the water domain, the Gruneisen
equation of state is applied with a water density
of 1000 kg/m3, while the air domain is described as
polynomial equation of state. The main parame-
ters used in the equations of states can be found in
Wang et al. (2016). The wedge plates are modelled
with Shell163 elements which are 4-nodes elements
and can only be used in explicit dynamic analysis.
Both elastic and rigid models are applied for the
plate to study the hydroelastic effects on the slam-
ming loads. For the elastic models, the density of
structure is 7850 kg/m3, and the Young’s modulus
is 210 GPa.
The Lagrange–Euler coupling algorithm adopted
in the numerical solution uses a penalty based for-
mulation, which can generate high frequency oscil-
lations due to the nearly incompressible nature of
the fluid. This is an explicit finite element method
3/29/2017 9:34:34 AM
 and is conditionally stable. To ensure the computa-
tional stability and accuracy, very careful selections
of related numerical parameters are required. A
convergence study for the modelling of rigid wedge
entering into water with drop velocity was carried
by Luo et al. (2011). It showed that the mesh den-
sity in the impact domain (Region A as shown in
Figure 2a) was of the most significance.
Wang and Guedes Soares (2014) simulated the
water entry of elastic wedges by using the fully
coupled ALE/FEM method. The numerical results
were in good agreement with the calculations
from the coupled BEM/FEM method of Lu et al.
(2000). The same model and meshing as shown in
Figure 2 are used in this work. Based on the conver-
gence study of the mesh size in Wang and Guedes
Soares (2014), the mesh size of the structure and
the impact domain is of 2.5 mm. The length of the
plate is L = 0.4 m and two different edge boundary
conditions are considered as plotted in Figure 3.
2.2 Quasi-rigid/dynamic analysis
In order to investigate the hydroelastic effects on
the structural response during water entry, the
Figure  2. (a) Modeling setup and (b) FE model of
two-dimensional symmetric water impact problems in
LS-DYNA.
61
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 61
Figure  3. Sketch of the boundary conditions studied.
(a) simply supported at both ends (ss); (b) clamped at
both ends (cc).
results from the hydroelastic water entry scheme
that is solved using the fully coupled ALE/FEM
method are compared with the solutions from
a quasi-rigid/dynamic analysis. For the quasi-
rigid/dynamic analysis, the structural deflection
does not affect the hydrodynamic loading on the
plate. Actually, it is a two way coupled ALE/FEM
method. Firstly, the hydrodynamic loading on the
plate is assessed by simulating the water entry of
a rigid structure, and secondly the assessed pres-
sure signals are applied on the structural elements
of the new finite element simulation of dynamic
analysis for the structural deflections.
For the ALE simulation in the first step, the
same model shown in Figure 2 is used, with only
the changing of the elastic material model of
the wedges to the rigid material model. For the
dynamic analysis in the second step, the assessed
pressures are applied on the model with different
edge boundary conditions as seen in Figure 3.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In this section, the predictions of the slamming
pressure and total slamming force on the elas-
tic and rigid wedge panels, and the results of the
structural deflection on the centre of the plates
from the fully coupled method and the quasi-
rigid/dynamic analyses, are presented. The non-
dimensional time is given as the ratio between the
entry depth and the vertical dimension of the plate
as τ = Vt/Lsinβ, where V is the entry velocity L is
the length of the wedge, β is the deadrise angle and
t means the time instant during the impact, and the
non-dimensional coefficients of the total slamming
force and the slamming pressure are expressed as
3/29/2017 9:34:35 AM
 Cp = 2P/ρV2 and CF = 2F/ρV2Lsinβ, where P is the
slamming pressure, F is the impact force, ρ is den-
sity of water.
3.1 Comparisons of slamming load
Figure 4 presents the predicted time histories of the
slamming pressures on the elastic and rigid wedge
panels with a deadrise angle of 10  degrees and a
plate thickness of 0.005  m. The constant entry
velocity is V  =  6  m/s. The pressures on the four
Figure  4. Slamming pressure on the elastic and rigid
wedge plates with a deadrise angle of 10 degrees and a
plate thickness of 0.005 m. (a) P1 at x = 0.25 Lcosβ; (b)
P2 at x = 0.5 Lcosβ; (c) P3 at x = 0.75 Lcosβ; (d) P4 at
x = Lcosβ.
62
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 62
points, P1 at x = 0.25Lcosβ, P2 at x = 0.5Lcosβ, P3
at x = 0.75Lcosβ and P4 at x = Lcosβ are consid-
ered. It is found that the rising timing, maximum
value and the trend of the pressure signals are all
affected by the structural deflections during the
water entry. For the rigid wedge, the rising timing
of the pressure signal is earlier than the one of the
elastic structures. It means that the wave surface
elevation induced by the rigid body evolves faster.
The peak values of the pressure signals from the
rigid wedges occur at the initial stage when the
water reaches the points, however the ones of P1
and P2 for the elastic wedge occur at the late stage.
Generally, the maximum values of P1 and P2 from
the rigid wedge are higher, while the ones of P3 and
P4 are lower than the ones from the elastic body.
Figure 5 plots the predicted time histories of the
slamming pressures on the elastic and rigid wedge
panels with a deadrise angle of 30  degrees and a
plate thickness of 0.005 m. Compared to the wedge
with a deadrise angle of 10  degrees, the pressure
signals from of the rigid wedge are more close to
those from the elastic wedge when the deadrise
angle is 30 degrees. The rising timings of these sig-
nals at the same points are almost the same.
For the maximum pressure, the predicted values
at the points P3 and P4 are still lower when the
rigid structure is considered. For the rigid wedge,
the initial peak values are higher at the point P1
and P2. It is also found that the slamming pres-
sure is affected by the edge boundary condition of
the wedge. The predicted pressure signals from the
rigid body are applied on the corresponding ele-
ments of the plate to assess the structural dynamic
deflections for the Quasi-rigid/dynamic analyses.
The non-dimensional coefficients of the total
slamming forces on the rigid and elastic wedges
are presented in Figure 6 and Figure 7, respectively
for the wedge with β = 10º and β = 30º. Different
entry velocities, ranging from 1  m/s to 8  m/s are
considered. For all the wedges studied here, the
plate thickness is 0.005 m. It is seen that the maxi-
mum values of the slamming force are larger for
the elastic wedges. The difference of the maximum
values between the predictions on the rigid and
elastic bodies becomes smaller for the wedge with
a larger deadrise angle and a lower entry speed.
For the wedge with β  =  30º, the maximum force
is highest for the plate with simply-supported
boundary conditions. When it comes to the wedge
with β = 10º, the maximum force is highest for the
plate with simply-supported boundary conditions
for the cases with V = 1 m/s and V = 6 m/s, while
the values is highest for the plate with clamped-
clamped boundary conditions for the cases with
V = 3 m/s and V = 8 m/s.
The total slamming force is calculated by integrat-
ing the slamming pressures along the wetted surface.
3/29/2017 9:34:35 AM

Figure  5. Slamming pressure on the elastic and rigid
wedge plates with a deadrise angle of 30 degrees and a
plate thickness of 0.005 m. (a) P1 at x = 0.25 Lcosβ; (b)
P2 at x = 0.5 Lcosβ; (c) P3 at x = 0.75 Lcosβ; (d) P4 at
x = Lcosβ.
During the water impact, the slam-induced loads on
the wetted surface affect the geometry of the elastic
wedge section. For example, according to the first
mode of a simply supported beam, the deadrise
angle near the keel of the section becomes larger,
and the deadrise angle near the knuckle becomes
63
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 63
Figure 6. Slamming force on the elastic and rigid wedge
plates with a deadrise angle of 10  degrees and a plate
thickness of 0.005 m.
smaller. As presented in Wang et  al. (2012), the
slamming force is higher for a wedge with a smaller
deadrise angle. Since the peak force occurs before
the flow separation from the knuckle, the location
of the peak value has a decrease on the deadrise
angle. This is the main reason for the differences of
the peak forces between the rigid and elastic cases.
3.2 Comparisons of structural deflection
The time histories of the structural deflection on
the centre of the elastic and rigid plates with a
plate thickness of 0.005  m and an entry velocity
3/29/2017 9:34:36 AM

Figure 7. Slamming force on the elastic and rigid wedge
plates with a deadrise angle of 30  degrees and a plate
thickness of 0.005 m.
of 1 m/s are shown in Figure 8, in which two dead-
rise angles, β = 10º and β = 30º are considered. The
results from the fully coupled ALE/FEM method
are compared with the calculations from the quasi/
rigid dynamic analyses. When the entry velocity is
1 m/s and the plate thickness is 0.005 m, the largest
difference is obtained for the wedge with a dead-
rise angle of 10º and the simply-supported edge
boundary condition, while the smallest difference
is observed for the case with a deadrise angle of
30º and the clamped-clamped edge boundary con-
dition. For the case with simply supported edge
boundary conditions that presented in Figure 8(a),
64
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 64
Figure  8. Structural deflection on the center of the
elastic and rigid wedge plates with a plate thickness of
0.005 m and an entry velocity of 1 m/s. (a) β = 10º; (b)
β = 30º.
the maximum deflection from the fully coupled
ALE/FEM method is about 7% higher than the
quasi/rigid solution, besides, the maxima also
occurs at a later moment. This is consistent with
the results of the total slamming force shown in
Figure  7 (a). It can been seen that the maximum
deflections of the plate with simply-supported are
about 4 times than the values from the one with
clamped ends when the deadrise angle is 10º, and
about 4.8 times when the deadrise angle is 30º.
Figure 9 shows the results of structural deflec-
tion on the centre of the wedges with an entry
velocity of 6 m/s. For the wedge with β = 10º, the
trend of the time history is largely influenced by
the hydroelasticity for the cases with both the two
edge boundary conditions. At the early stage, the
calculations from the quasi-rigid solution are larger
than the results from the fully coupled ALE/FEM
method. When the deadrise angle is 30º, the results
of the clamped-clamped case between the two solu-
tions do not diverge too much, while the calcula-
tions from the quasi/rigid solution vibrate around
the values from the fully coupled ALE/FEM
method for the case with simply-supported bound-
ary conditions.
3/29/2017 9:34:36 AM
 Figure  9. Structural deflection on the centre of the
elastic and rigid wedge plates with a plate thickness of
0.005 m and an entry velocity of 6 m/s. (a) β = 10º; (b)
β = 30º.

3.3 Discussion on hydroelastic effects

The results presented in last section show that the
hydroelastic effects are affected by the entry veloc-
ity, deadrise angle and the edge boundary condi-
tions of the wedge. These parameters, together
with the plate thickness are discussed to quantify
the hydroelasticity.
The ratios of the maximum slamming force
(CFMh/CFMr) on the centre of the plate between the
results from the fully coupled ALE/FEM method
and the solutions of the quasi/rigid dynamic anal-
ysis are plotted in Figure  10. It can be seen that
the maximum values of the total slamming force
on the elastic plates are higher than the values on
the rigid bodies due to the structural deformation.
The hydroelastic effects are larger when the dead-
rise angle and the plate thickness are smaller.
Generally, the hydroelastic effects are increasing
with the increasing of the entry velocity, except for
the case of the plate with β = 30º and V = 8 m/s.
The largest hydroelastic effect on the slamming
force is about 31% which is found in the case of
with β = 10º, V = 8 m/s and bs = 5 mm. When the
deadrise angle is 30º, the largest hydroelastic effect
on the slamming force is about 22% which is found
Figure 10. The ratio of the maximum slamming force
on the plate between the result from the fully coupled
ALE/FEM method and the solution of the quasi/rigid
dynamic analysis.
in the case of the simply-supported plate with
V = 8 m/s and bs = 5 mm.
The calculations of the maximum deflections on
the plate from the fully coupled ALE/FEM method
(wmmh) and the quasi/rigid dynamic analysis (wmmr)
are summarized in Figure  11. It can be seen that
the structural responses for the cases with simply-
supported boundaries are significantly larger than
the solutions for the cases with clamped-clamped
boundaries.
The hydroelastic effects on the structural
responses become smaller for the case with a lower

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 entry velocity and a larger plate thickness. It can
be found that the maximum deflection from the
fully coupled ALE/FEM method is larger than
the result from the quasi/rigid dynamic solution
for some cases, but is smaller for the other cases.
The largest hydroelastic effect on the maximum
deflection is about 17.5% which is found in the case
of with β = 10º, V = 6 m/s and bs = 5 mm. When
the deadrise angle is 30º, the largest hydroelastic
effect the maximum deflection is about 7% which
is found in the case of the simply-supported plate
with V = 8 m/s and bs = 8 mm.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Hydroelastic effects on slamming load and

dynamic response of flexible panels are investi-
gated by using the explicit FEM code LS-DYNA.
The predictions of the slamming load on the elas-
tic wedges are compared with the ones on the rigid
bodies.
From the comparisons of the time histories of
the slamming loads and deflections on the centre
of the plate, it is shown that the hydroelastic effects
depend on the entry velocity, deadrise angle and
the edge boundary conditions of the wedge. These
parameters, together with the plate thickness are
supposed to be considered to quantify the hydroe-
lasticity of slamming problems.
The maximum values of the total slamming
force on the elastic plates are higher than the val-
ues on the rigid bodies. The hydroelastic effects on
the slamming force are larger for the case with a
lower deadrise angle, a smaller plate thickness and
a higher entry velocity.
The largest hydroelastic effect on the slam-
ming force is about 31% which is found in the case
of with β = 10º, V = 8 m/s and bs = 5 mm. When
the deadrise angle is 30º, the largest hydroelastic
effect on the slamming force is about 22% which
is found in the case of the simply-supported plate
with V = 8 m/s and bs = 5 mm. The largest hydroe-
lastic effect on the maximum deflection is about
17.5% which is found in the case of with β = 10º,
V = 6 m/s and bs = 5 mm. When the deadrise angle
is 30º, the largest hydroelastic effect the maximum
deflection is about 7% which is found in the case
of the simply-supported plate with V = 8 m/s and
bs = 8 mm.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This work was performed within the Strategic

Figure  11. Maximum deflection on the center of the Research Plan of the Centre for Marine Technol-
elastic and rigid wedge plates with different plate thick- ogy and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), which is
nesses and various entry velocities. financed by Portuguese Foundation for Science

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 and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e
Tecnologia-FCT).
REFERENCES
Aquelet, N., Souli, M., Olovsson, L. (2006). Euler–
Lagrange coupling with damping effects: Application
to slamming problems, Computer Methods in Applied
Mechanics and Engineering. Vol. 195, 110–132.
El Moctar, O., Schellin, T.E., Priebe, T. (2006). CFD and
FE methods to predict wave loads and ship structural
response, 26th Symp. Naval Hydrodynamics, Rome.
Faltinsen, O.M., Kvalsvold, J., Aarsnes, J.V., 1997. Water
impact on a horizontal elastic plate. Journal of Marine
Science and Technology. 2, 87–100.
Khabakhpasheva, T.I., Korobkin, A.A., 2013. Elastic
wedge impact onto a liquid surface: Wagner’s solution
and approximate models. Journal of Fluids and Struc-
tures. 36, 32–49.
Korobkin, A., Gueret, R., Malenica, S., 2006. Hydroe-
lastic coupling of beam finite element model with
Wagner theory of water impact. Journal of Fluids and
Structures. 22: 493–504.
Kvalsvold, J., Faltinsen, O.M., 1993. Hydroelastic mod-
elling of slamming against the wetdeck of a catama-
ran. Proc. Second Int Conf Fast Sea Transportation,
Fast’93, Japan. 681–697.
Kvalsvold, J., Faltinsen, O.M., 1994. Slamming loads on
wetdecks of multihull vessels. Proc. Second Int Conf
Hydroelasticity in Marine Technology, Trondheim,
Norway. 205–220.
Kvalsvold, J., Faltinsen, O.M., Aarsnes J.V., 1995. Effect
of structural elasticity on slamming against wetdecks
of multihull vessels. Pro 6th Int Symp Practical Design
of Ships and offshore Mobile Units (PRADS), Seoul,
South Korea, September. 1.684–1.699.
Lu, C.H., He, Y.S., Wu, G.X., 2000. Coupled analysis
of nonlinear-interaction between fluid and structure
during impact. Journal of Fluid and Structures. 14,
127–146.
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Maki, K., Lee, D., Troesch, A., Vlahopoulos, N., 2011.
Hydroe-lastic impact of a wedge-shaped body. Ocean
Engineering. 38:621–629.
Oberhagemann, J., Holtmann, M., el Moctar, O.,
Schellin, T.E., Kim, D., 2009. Stern Slamming of a
LNG Carrier, Journal of Offshore Mechanics and
Arctic Engineering. 131, 013303–1.
Schellin, T.E., El Moctar, O., 2007. Numerical predic-
tion of impact-related wave loads on ships. Journal of
Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering. 129(1),
39–47.
Shams, A., Porfiri, M., 2015. Treatment of hydroelastic
impact of flexible wedges. Journal of Fluid and Struc-
tures. 57, 229–246.
Stenius, I., Rosn, A., Kuttenkeuler, J., 2011. Hydroelas-
tic inter-action in panel-water impacts of high-speed
craft. Ocean Engineering. 38: 371–381.
Van Nuffel, D., Vepa, K.S., De Baere, I., Lava, P.,
Kersemans, M., Degrieck, J., De Rouck, J., Van
Paepegem, W., 2014. A comparison between the
experimental and theoretical impact pressures acting
on a horizontal quasi-rigid cylinder during vertical
water entry, Ocean Engineering. vol. 77, 42–54.
Wang, S., Guedes Soares, C., 2014. Numerical study on
hydroelastic water entry of a wedge. Developments
in Maritime Transportation and Exploitation of
Sea Resources, Guedes Soares, C. and López Peña
F. (Eds.). Francis & Taylor Group, London, UK,
199–208.
Wang, S., Guedes Soares C., 2012. Water Impact of
Symmetric Wedges with a multi-material Eulerian
formulation. International Journal of Maritime Engi-
neering. 154 (A4):191–206.
Wang, S., Karmakar, D., Guedes Soares, C., 2016.
Hydroelastic impact of a horizontal floating plate
with forward speed, Journal of Fluids and Structures.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Prediction of pressure induced by liquid sloshing for LNG carrier

Ren-qing Zhu
School of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology,
Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province, China

Hai-xiao Ma
Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (China) Co. Ltd., Yan-An West Road, ShangHai City, China

Quan-ming Miao
Hangdao Offshore Engineering Co. Ltd., Xujiahui District, Shanghai City, China

Wen-tao Zheng
China Ship Scientific Research Center, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, China

ABSTRACT: A numerical technique based on VOF method is introduced to study the sloshing problem
in a prismatic LNG tank. With incompressible assumption, the governing equations including Navier-
stokes equations and continuity equation for liquid sloshing are described. The equations are discre-
tized by finite volume method and solved by SIMPLE scheme. The free surface is reconstructed by the
Volume Of Fluid (VOF) method. The numerical simulation is performed by CFD software—FLUENT.
A LNG tank model with 1:55 scale is used for experimental test at China Ship Scientific Research Center
(CSSRC). The numerical results including free surface profiles and pressure time histories are provided
and compared with the test ones. These comparisons show that the present method can be used to predict
the pressure induced by liquid sloshing.

1 INTRODUCTION (Hu and Faltinsen, 2005), Moving Particle Semifinal

It is known that the partially filled tanks are prone
to produce liquid sloshing phenomena. Under
certain external excitations, liquid sloshing will
be violent which will induce high impact pressure.
This impulsive impact load may cause structural
damages. The study on liquid sloshing is supported
and motivated by an increasing demand for LNG
and LPG carriers, double-hull tankers, moored
FSO tankers, and VLCCs, which may not avoid
the most sea states and may consequently experi-
ence severe sloshing induced loads.
There are several potential numerical methods,
which have been developed to solve liquid slosh-
ing problems. Before breaking and fragmentation
phenomena occur, and in the regions where the
flow can be studied through a potential theory, the
most efficient and accurate instrument is given by
the use of the Boundary Element Method (BEM).
After that more general field methods able to
capture the post-breaking phase have to be consid-
ered. CFD methods based on solving the Navier-
Stokes equations such as Smoothed Particle
Hydrodynamics (SPH) method (Monaghan 1992),
Constrained Interpolation Profile (CIP) method
Implicit (MPSI) method (Koshizuka, 1996), Mesh-
less Local Petrov-Galerkin (MLPG) method
(Atluri, 1998), and finite difference method or
finite volume method in which the free surface is
captured by the Volume Of Fluid (VOF) method
(Hirt and Nichols, 1981) or Level Set (LS) method
(Sethian, 1996) are generally more robust than
BEM to solve violent fluid motion. Further, mix-
ture between air and fluid may occur and viscous
effects can be accounted for. As to its own advan-
tages and defects of different methods for different
applications can be found from the references (Zhu
et al., 2004; Hu and Faltinsen, 2005; Ma, 2010).
In this paper, a numerical technique to simu-
late liquid sloshing in a prismatic LNG tank is
introduced. The motion of incompressible fluid
is described by Navier-stokes equations and con-
tinuity equation. The governing equations are
discretized by finite volume method and solved
by SIMPLE scheme. The profile of liquid sur-
face is reconstructed by the Volume Of Fluid
(VOF) technique. The numerical simulation is
performed by CFD software—FLUENT. A LNG
tank model with 1:55 scale is used for experimen-
tal test at CSSRC. The numerical results including

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 free surface profiles and pressure time histories are which have to be described with proper turbulence
provided and compared with the test ones. These models such as k -ε model.
comparisons show that the present method can
be used to predict the pressure induced by liquid
2.2 Free surface reconstruction
sloshing.
Non-linear kinematic free surface conditions are
adopted in the analysis of liquid sloshing. The pro-
2 MATHEMATICAL MODEL file of liquid surface is reconstructed in each time
step by a scalar function of the volume of fluid,
2.1 Governing equations for liquid sloshing F(x, y, z, t) on the basis of the VOF method. The
average value of F in a cell of the computing mesh
The fluid domain in a tank is composed of two-
is equal to the fractional volume of the cell occu-
phase fluid, namely, one is liquid and another is
pied by liquid. Therefore the meaning of F is as
air. The effect of air cushion enclosed in the tank
follows
as well as the cavitations and other phase change is
neglected. Under the assumptions of incompress-
ible viscous fluid, the flow motion is described ⎧⎪1 fluid cell
F ( x, y z , t ) ⎨0 ~ 1 free surface cell (6)
by mass and momentum conservation equations
(Ferziger and Peric, 1999) ⎩⎪0 void cell

∂( )=0 For the velocity field changes with simulation

(1) time, the F value in cells propagates and meets the
∂xi scalar advection equation
∂( ) + ∂( ) = ρF −
∂p ∂τ ij
+ (2) ∂F ∂F
∂t ∂x j
bi
∂xi ∂x j + ui =0 (7)
∂t ∂xi

where xi(i  =  1, 2, 3) three components of the Because F is a step function and its kinematic
Cartesian coordinate systems; ui(i = 1, 2, 3) = veloc- equation belongs to advective form, a straightfor-
ity components (u, v, w); ρ = constant fluid density; ward numerical approximation cannot be used to
t = time; p = fluid pressure, Fbi = body force com- solve this equation otherwise numerical diffusion
ponent in the xi direction, τij = components of fluid and dispersion errors will destroy the sharp, step-
viscous stress tensor: function, nature of the F distribution. It needs a spe-
cial technique of volume capturing, which includes
⎛ ∂u ∂u j ⎞ two key procedures: the calculation of evolution of
τ ij μ⎜ i + ⎟ (3) volume fraction F and interface reconstruction. PLIC
⎝ ∂x j ∂xi ⎠ (Piecewise Linear Interface Calculation) technique is
adopted to reconstruct the free surface in FLUENT.
where μ = dynamic viscosity.
Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS)
equations are applied to treat turbulent flow. The 3 NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL
averaged continuity and momentum equations MODEL
can, for incompressible flows, be written in tensor
notation in Cartesian coordinates as In this paper, the numerical and experimental model
used is shown in Figure 1. The model was made of
∂( )=0 plexiglass of 5 mm thickness. The principle dimen-
(4) sions are that the internal length L  =  0.899  m,
∂xi
breadth B = 0.707 m, height H = 0.486 m, and the
) + ∂( ) = ρF chamfer angles are 45°, and top chamfer is 0.149 m
∂( + ′ ′ ∂p ∂τ ij height, also bottom chamfer is 0.079 m height.
− +
∂t ∂x j ∂xi ∂x j
bi

) + ∂ ( ρ ui u j + ) = ρF (5)
∂( ui′u ′j ∂pp ∂τ iij 4 NUMERICAL SIMULATION AND
− +
∂t ∂x j ∂xi ∂x j
bi
EXPERIMENTAL TEST

4.1 Numerical Method

where the variables with over bar are the aver-
aged ones and the variables with superscript “´” In this paper, the governing equations are discre-
are fluctuant ones, ρ ui′u ′j are the Reynolds stresses tized by finite volume method and solved by Simple

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 full range of these pressure transducers reaches
50 KPa. Their acquisition frequency is 20 kHz.

4.3 Numerical and experimental test cases

Two typical filling levels in a tank are considered
in numerical simulations and model experiments
to study the features of liquid sloshing and have
a comparison between simulation and experiment.
Case 1: The filling level is 10%. The model
tank undertakes harmonic sway. The first order
resonant frequency of liquid sloshing is about
0.647 Hz. The sway amplitude is 0.10 m and two

Figure 2. The 6-DOF liquid sloshing platform.

Figure  1. Experimental model and the allocation of

pressure sensors.

scheme. A k-ε model is adopted to treat turbulence

flow. As to detail introduction of the solution of
RANS equations can be found in the general CFD
books, such as the literatures by Ferziger and Peric
(1999). The geometric model and computational
mesh of flow field are established using Gambit
software. A solver embedded in commercial soft-
ware—FLUENT is employed to solve velocity and
pressure field.

4.2 Experimental setup Figure 3. The system console of liquid sloshing

platform.
The liquid sloshing test was carried out on a
6-DOF test platform shown in Figure  2. It was Table  1. The main parameters of liquid sloshing
specially designed and made for liquid sloshing platform.
experiments. The ultimate load bearing capacity of
the platform is 4 tonnes. The highest frequency of
Motion mode θ max ξ max θmax ξmax
motion is 1 Hz. The platform is driven by hydrau-
lic cylinders controlling the translational and rota- θpitch ±25° ±25°/s
tional oscillations. Figure  3 is the system console θroll ±45° ±50°/s
of liquid sloshing platform. The main parameters θyaw ±15° ±15°/s
are listed in Table 1. ξheave ±0.5 m ±1.4 m/s
Pressure variations were sensed by 21 pressure ξsway ±0.4 m ±1.0 m/s
transducers which were installed on the model ξsurage ±0.4 m ±1.0 m/s
tank at various locations as shown in Figure 1. The

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 excitation frequencies are chosen, which are 0.6
and 1.0 times resonant frequency respectively.
Case 2: The filling level is 70%, and the first
order resonant frequency is about 0.849 Hz under
harmonic surge motions. The excitation ampli-
tudes are 0.05 m and 0.1 m respectively under reso-
nant frequency.

4.4 Numerical and experimental results

The computational grid is generated by Gambit
software, as shown in Figure 4. During the numeri-
cal solution, the external excitation is input by User
Defined Function (UDF). For 2D model, there are
16,356 quadrilateral girds and time step is 0.004s,
while for 3D model they are 370,620 tetrahedral
girds and 0.002s respectively.

4.4.1 Free surface configurations for test case1

For the test cases of 10% filling level, our research
focuses on the free surface motions. The experi-
mental and numerical results are shown in Figure 5
and Figure  6, in which figures at the left column
are experimental snapshots and those at right col-
umn are numerical ones. In Figure 5, because the
excitation frequency deviates from the resonant
frequency, a stable sloshing wave occurs and travels
Figure  5. The free surface configurations under 10%
periodically and smoothly, with longer wave length filling level and 0.6 time resonant frequency (time inter-
and small wave amplitude. In Figure 6, the excita- val is T/4).
tion frequency is near to resonant frequency and
violent motions of the free surface are induced.
As shown in Figure 6, a significant traveling wave
occurs and impacts the wall. The figures show the
numerical simulation is valid to capture free sur-
face motions.

4.4.2 Pressure time histories for test case2

The effective prediction of the impact pressure is
the key issue for tank sloshing problem. For the
test case2 with 70% filling level, the measurement
of time histories of the impact pressure attracts
our attention. Here only the pressure results at
the points P07, P04 and P20 are given. For these
three points, P07 is at 70% filling height on the
front wall, and P04 is near the roof height on
the front wall, and P20 is at the roof height near
the front wall. The results shown in Figure  7,

Figure  6. The free surface configurations under 10%

Figure 4. The computational girds of 2D model and 3D filling level and 1.0 time resonant frequency (time inter-
model. val is T/4).

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 Figure 7. The comparison of pressure history between
experiment and simulation at P07 location under 70%
filling level with 0.05 m surge amplitude.
Figure 8. The comparison of pressure history between
experiment and simulation at P07 location under 70%
filling level with 0.10 m surge amplitude.
Figure 9. The comparison of pressure history between
experiment and simulation at P04 location under 70%
filling level with 0.05 m surge amplitude.
Figure  9 and Figure  11 are under surge excita-
tion of 0.05 m amplitude, while those in Figure 8,
Figure 10 and Figure 12 are under surge excitation
of 0.10 m amplitude.
At the point P07, the experimental and numeri-
cal results are displayed in Figure 7 and Figure 8.
Because P07 is at initial filling height, the free
73
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 73
Figure 10. The comparison of pressure history between
experiment and simulation at P04 location under 70%
filling level with 0.10 m surge amplitude.
Figure 11. The comparison of pressure history between
experiment and simulation at P20 location under 70%
filling level with 0.05 m surge amplitude.
Figure 12. The comparison of pressure history between
experiment and simulation at P20 location under 70%
filling level with 0.10 m surge amplitude.
surfaces cover this point in most of the time, so
the pressure time histories behave smoothly and
continuously compared with P04 and P20. For
it is near the left upper chamfer, sometimes pres-
sure impact will happen. But this impact process
is prone to be averaged by the large liquid volume
and duration time for its lower height, thus impact
3/29/2017 9:34:43 AM
 peak pressure tends to be lower compared with
P04 and P20. The negative pressure values appear
during the impact which was explained by Arai
(1984). By comparing the pressure time histories
in Figure 7 and Figure 8, we can conclude that the
averaged peak values increase with the excitation
amplitude both for numerical and experimental
results. The reason is that excluding the impulsive
pressure in pressure time histories, the peak values
is determined by the immersed water depth, and
obviously the immersed depth at P07  increases
with the excitation amplitudes increasing.
In Figure  9 and Figure  10, the experimental
and numerical results are shown for the point P04.
Near the tank top, P04 is beyond the free surface
in most of the time, and is immersed only periodi-
cally, so the pressure time histories tend to be peri-
odically impulsive compared with P07, and so does
P20. And this tendency is clearly in Figure 9 and
Figure  10. The impact process occasionally hap-
pens in a short time with a high velocity, resulted
in an impulsive impact pressure with high peak val-
ues, and so does P20.
This can be seen in these figures especially in
Figure 10. Compared Figure 9 and Figure 10, it is
clear that the peak values increase with the excita-
tion amplitude both for numerical and experimen-
tal results. Compared numerical and experimental
results in Figure 9 with lower excitation amplitude,
they share the overall tendency, but the numerical
result under-predicts the peak values of impulsive
pressure, and the reason is numerical dissipation
possibly which block the evolution of the impact
process.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the authors carry out numerical sim-
ulation by VOF and experimental measurement
on sloshing in the prismatic LNG tank, focusing
on free surface motions and pressure prediction.
By summarizing the compared results of simula-
tion and experimental, we can draw conclusions as
following
1. For test cases at low filling level 10%, the excita-
tion frequency is the key factor for evolution of
free surface configurations in tanks. Under the
resonant frequency, violent sloshing phenom-
enon occurs.
2. For test cases at high filling level 70%, under the
resonant frequency and large excitation ampli-
tude, the pressure time histories show charac-
teristics of impulsive variation for the points on
the wall beyond the static free surface, especially
for those at the tank roof.
74
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 74
3. The comparison between numerical simulation
and experimental test shows that the present
method is available to capture the impact slosh-
ing pressure. But further study needs to be per-
formed based on the experimental tests to assess
the intensity of numerical parameters including
discretisation schemes, turbulence models etc.
for improving the accuracy of numerical results.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The present work was supported by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China under the
grant No.51579120,10472032, 50879030, China
Ship Industry Foundation under the grant No.
04J1.4.4, Ministry of Industry and Information
Technology of the People’s Republic of China and
the Project Founded by Priority Academic Pro-
gram Development of Jiangsu Higher Education
Institutions.
REFERENCES
Arai, M. 1984. Experimental and numerical studies of
sloshing pressure in liquid cargo tanks. Journal of the
Society of Naval Architects of Japan, 155:114–121.
Atluri, S.N. & Zhu, T. 1998. A new meshless local
Petrov—Galerkin approach in computational mechan-
ics. Computational Mechanics, Vol 22:117–127.
Faltinsen, O.M. 1974. A nonlinear theory of sloshing
in rectangular tanks. Journal of Ship Research, 18(4):
224–241.
Ferziger, J.H. & Peric, M. 1999. Computational Methods
for Fluid Dynamics. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
Hirt, C.W. & Nichols, B.D. 1981. Volume Of Fluid
(VOF) method for the dynamics of free surface fluid
flow. J Compute Physics, 39:201–225.
Hu, C.H. & Faltinsen, O.M. 2005. Recent progress in CIP
method for strongly nonlinear ship-wave interaction.
Proceedings of IWSH’2005, Shanghai China, Sept.
24–27.
Koshizuka, S. & Oka, Y. 1996. Moving-particle semi-
implicit method for fragmentation of incompressible
fluid. Nuclear Science and Engineering, 123:421–434.
Ma, Q.W. 2010. Advances in Numerical Simulation of
Nonlinear Water Waves. World Scientific Publishing
Co. Pte. Ltd.,
Monaghan, J.J. 1992. Smoothed particle hydrodynamics.
Ann. Rev. Astronom. Astrophys, 30:543–574.
Sethian, J.A. 1996. Level-set Methods: Evolving Inter-
faces in Geometry Fluid Mechanics, Computer Vision
and Material Science. Cambridge University Press.
Zhu, R.Q., Wu, Y.S. & Incecik, A. 2004. Numerical simu-
lation of liquid sloshing-A review. Shipbuilding of
China, 45(2):16–27.
3/29/2017 9:34:45 AM
 Vibrations

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Forced vibration analysis of the hull girder by propeller

excitation and rudder interaction

F.J. Dominguez Ruiz

Tecnavin S.A., Guayaquil, Ecuador

E.M. Cali Y.
COTECMAR, The Science and Technology Corporation for Development of the Naval and Riverine
Industry of Colombia, Cartagena, Colombia

L.A. García J.
Tecnavin S.A., Guayaquil, Ecuador

ABSTRACT: The hydro-vibration analysis of hull girder has become a very important methodology in
the design stages of a ship, for predicting resonance problems that can be caused by the encountering wave
loads, or due to the interaction between the ship’s drive line and rudder. This paper presents the methodol-
ogy that has been used to analyze the Hull-girder vibrations induced due to propeller—rudder interaction,
in the design stage of a Coastal Patrol Vessel (CPV). The methodology at first analyze the interaction of
the propulsion system and the rudder as two separate sub-systems and finally the interaction with the
hull girder in a system of forced vibration caused by the excitation of the propeller. The resulting interac-
tion takes into consideration: the excitation of the propeller, natural frequencies of the drive line, natural
frequencies of the rudder, natural frequencies of the structure of equipment foundations, added mass,
and damping of both the propeller and the hull girder. Vibration levels acting in the vessel structure are
compared with the limits proposed by ISO 6954 (2000).

1 INTRODUCTION work; it was necessary to include mass and inertia

Dynamic propeller forces need to be included to
accurately verify that the hull girder supports all
loads acting on it. These forces are a function of
thrust, torque, and propeller frequency. Namely, it
is a function of: i) rotational speed for fixed pitch
propellers, and ii) pitch angle for controllable pitch
propellers.
In the present work, Finite Element Method
was used to estimate the deformation due to these
forces acting over the hull girder. This method
allows modeling hull girder considering all struc-
tural elements and the propeller dynamic forces.
Numerical results expressed in RMS speed of
vibration are compared to the limits proposed by
the Classification Societies.
of the structural elements of hull and superstruc-
ture, incorporating machinery foundations for hull
girder vibration analysis.
Shell elements were used in the hull and
in primary structures, and frame elements to
model the secondary structures and pillars, see
Figures 1 and 2. The mass of the structure, equip-
ment, tank liquid, and the added mass values of
40 and 20 [kg/m2] on decks and sides respectively
were distributed on the corresponding nodes fol-
lowing Germanischer Lloyd, Asmussen (2001)
recommendations.

2 FINITE ELEMENT METHOD APPLIED

TO THE HULL GIRDER

There are several recommendations for the devel-

opment of a Finite Element Model (FEM), espe-
cially by Classification Societies, in the present Figure 1. Ship Finite Element Model.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 77 3/29/2017 9:34:45 AM


Figure 2. Ship photography.
Figure 3. FEM interior view: Engine room.
3 HYDRO ELASTIC HULL BEHAVIOR
Restraints were placed to simulate the ship behav-
ior into the water, using an equivalent spring sys-
tem placed in the submerged surface of the hull to
balance the ship weight. Spring stiffness was calcu-
lated using the volume of water displaced within
specific sections, see Figure  3. To verify that the
restrictions are conveniently applied, each node
deformation was verified using static weight of the
vessel.
4 HULL ADDED MASS ESTIMATION
On elements that are submerged in water vibra-
tion moves a small fluid volume; its mass is called
added mass. This mass is added to FEM model as
a distributed mass over all submerged elements.
The added mass can be obtained from Seakeep-
ing analysis for each speed and sea state (Lewis,
1929). This mass is a function of the vessel encoun-
ter frequency,
2
( )
ω e = ω + ω g (U μ) (1)
where ωe = Encounter frequency (rad/s), ω = Wave
frequency (rad/s), g  =  Gravity acceleration (m/
s2), U = Ship speed (m/s), and μ = Wave incidence
angle (rad)
Added mass values for three different ship
speeds with the same sea state 3 and following seas
are shown in Table 1.
78
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 78
Table 1. Hull added mass.
Vel. Sea State ωe Added mass % of displacement
Knts rad/s ton %
11 3 1.24 483 173%
18 3 1.5 436.9 157%
21 3 1.61 425.1 152%
5 PROPULSION LINE BEHAVIOR
The propulsion line transmits the thrust of the
ship as well as the exciting forces from the propel-
ler. It’s lateral, axial, and torsional natural frequen-
cies need to be considered to assess resonance.
Figures  4 and 5  show the FEM propulsion line
included in this analysis.
5.1 Bearings location
Cutless bearings or roller bearings are included
in our FEM model. Usually, bearing center is the
support point, except for bearing close to the pro-
peller, which is considered to 1/3 from the aft end
of bearing.
The propulsion line natural frequencies depend on
bearing position and stiffness. In the present study,
3 bearings were used, as shown in Figure 6. Two aft
supports are bronze—rubber cutless bearings. The
propeller shaft had been modeled using beam ele-
ments. The propeller and flanges masses are included
in their respective locations. The manufacturer pro-
vided the bearing stiffness value for accurate results.
5.2 Propeller added mass
The propeller accelerates its surrounding water
and an added mass is generated, that was esti-
mated using PRAMAD program (U of Michigan,
1980). There are several formulas for estimating
these masses Parsons (1980), Schwanecke (1963)
or MacPherson (2007).
5.3 Thrust bearing and engine/gearbox flexible
coupling Stiffness
In our model, thrust bearings are placed on the
gearbox; and flexible mounts of gearbox & engine
with the stiffness provided by manufacturer.
Mounts properties were modeled for each direc-
tion (x, y, z). Figure  8  shows the position of the
elements used.
5.4 Natural vibration analysis
Once the mentioned hull and propulsion line proper-
ties are modeled, vibration analysis can be performed
3/29/2017 9:34:45 AM
 Table 2. Propeller added mass.

Direction Units Value

M11 N.s2/m 332.6

M22 N.s2/m 48.9
M52 N.s2 37.2
M55 N.m.s2 40.0

for both, hull girder and propulsion line natural

frequencies.
The FEM and the eigenvalue matrix method
had been used to calculate the propulsion system
Figure 4. Ship interior view at construction. vibrational modes. The finite element method
divides a body in finite elements interconnected by
nodes, which are equivalent to the original body;
in the elastic zone the equations to find the nodes
deformation can be expressed in matrix form as
follows:

[M ]{ } [K ]{Y } = { } (2)

where:
[M] is the mass matrix of the system
[K] is the stiffness matrix of the system
{{Y}} is the displacement vector
{ }
Y is the second derivative of displacement Y
Figure 5. Aft frame – Hull bottom restraints. Nowadays, computers allow this calculation
accurately and for several degrees of freedom.
Tables 3 and 4 present the natural frequencies in
the system working range.
Figures 9 and 10 show the modal shape of natu-
ral frequencies.
It is recommended that the working range has
to be from 650 RPM to 2000 RPM on engine, due
Figure 6. Longitudinal section at propulsion line. to coincidence between hull girder natural frequen-
cies and engine and propeller excitation range as
can be seen in Table 5.
Figures 11 and 12 show the natural frequencies
mode shape found in the propulsion line. It should
be noted that the first vibration mode is at the tun-
nel between Stern tube bearing and gearbox and
the second mode at the propeller end. The first
axial natural frequency is 37.77 Hz.
Propulsion line natural frequencies are within the
working range and forced analysis should be consid-
Figure 7. Propulsion line in FEM. ered to check the structures resistance and whether
the proposed vibration levels standards are met.

5.5 Damping
Energy due to vibration on the ship can be dissi-
pated as damping. Vibration analysis should con-
sider three types of damping, namely: the propeller
damping, the hysteresis damping and hull damping
Figure 8. Propulsion line drawing. in water.

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 Table 3. Hull girder natural frequencies.

Vertical direction

Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4

Hz Hz Hz Hz
3.59 7.46 15.16 28.3
Horizontal direction

Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4

Hz Hz Hz Hz
5.59 10.23 16.17 28.27

Table  4. Propulsion line natural

frequencies.

Mode 1 Mode 2

Hz Hz Figure 11. Vertical direction mode shapes.

23.49 29.73

Figure 9. Added mass nomenclature.

Figure 12. Horizontal direction mode shapes.

5.5.1 Propeller damping

Damping is generated when the propeller rotates
in the water, the approximation of these values are
shown in Schwanecke (1963) or Parsons (1980).
Figure 10. Thrust bearing and engine/gearbox mounts. The damping depends on the propeller rotation
speed, therefore is determined for each operating
Table 5. Engine and propeller working ranges.
condition, see Table 6. The damping is placed on
Engine working range the propeller node in the FEM. Structural defor-
mations caused by the propeller excitation forces
RPM 600 650 2000 decreases due to the damping effect.
Hz 10 10.83 33.3
5.5.2 Structure damping
Propeller working range Hysteresis damping is caused by internal molecu-
RPM 197 213.4 658
lar friction on vessel structures, and its value is esti-
Hz 13.16 14.22 43.86 mated using a coefficient 0.05 proportional to the
stiffness.

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 Table  7. Transmissibility for engine mount at 650
RPM.

650 RPM

Effectiveness %
Figure 13. First vibration mode 23.49 Hz.
Equiv. arrangement
Flexible mounts dB Isolation

RD314 B-65Sh −8.390 −590.2%

RD314 B-60Sh −3.821 −141.0%
RD314 B-55Sh −1.790 −51.0%
RD314 B-50Sh 0.165 3.7%
RD314 B-45Sh 1.821 34.3%
Figure 14. Second vibration mode 29.73 Hz. RD315 HD-65Sh −1.009 −26.1%
RD315 HD-60Sh 2.819 47.8%
RD315 HD-55Sh 3.785 58.2%
Table 6. Propeller damping for vibration analysis. RD315 HD-50Sh 5.221 69.9%
RD315 HD-45Sh 6.919 79.7%
Damping (Schwanecke)

Engine RPM 1071 1356 1722 2000 Table  8. Transmissibility for engine mount at 2000
Frec HZ 23.49 29.73 37.77 43.86 RPM.
C11 N.s/m 109071 138045 175354 203655
C22 N.s/m 11070 14011 17797 20670 2000 RPM
C52 N.s 11119 14073 17876 20761
C55 N.m.s 12197 15436 19608 22773 Effectiveness %
Equiv. arrangement
Flexible mounts dB Isolation

RD314 B-65Sh 9.742 89.4%

6 TRANSMISSIBILITY
RD314 B-60Sh 10.877 91.8%
RD314 B-55Sh 11.651 93.2%
Flexible mounts reduce vibration effect produced RD314 B-50Sh 12.604 94.5%
by the engine on their foundations. In the case RD314 B-45Sh 13.578 95.6%
of study, the propulsion system has 2 front flex- RD315 HD-65Sh 12.006 93.7%
ible rubber mounts for each engine and 2 flexible RD315 HD-60Sh 14.236 96.2%
mounts for each gearbox. RD315 HD-55Sh 14.919 96.8%
Transmissibility is the relationship between the RD315 HD-50Sh 16.011 97.5%
perturbing force and the transmitted force to the RD315 HD-45Sh 17.403 98.2%
foundation and depends especially of the con-
nection stiffness between the engine and the boat
structure. For this study, flexible rubber mounts 7 FORCES AND MOMENTS
had been used. OF PROPELLER EXCITATION
There are several references that provide recom-
mendations to know whether a particular mount Propeller vibration forces are predominant in calcu-
is suitable to reduce engine forces transmission to lating propulsion line and boat structure vibration.
structures. Thomson (1972) shows a graph that has These forces occur due to non-uniform water flow
frequency (cpm) and the static deformation pro- in the propeller creating periodic forces depending
duced by the engine on the flexible mount or the on the number of blades called propeller excitation
connecting element as variables. forces. These forces are generated in the vertical,
For the present study, the engine manufac- transverse and longitudinal directions.
turer provides several options for flexible mounts,
Tables 7 and 8 show the percentage of effectiveness
7.1 Forces transmitted to the propulsion shaft
of the system foundation.
(bearing forces)
According to transmissibility analysis results
had been decided to use the 315  mount – 55SH For lateral vibration analysis (bending) should be
due to the appropriate reduction of excitation considered vertical forces F33 and transverse F22
forces transmitted by the engine and therefore and their moments M33 and M22, while for the axial
these forces will not be considered in the analysis analysis the longitudinal force F11 is considered,
of vibration of the boat. following same nomenclature shown in Figure 7.

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 Exciting forces are decomposed into harmonic 7.3 Working conditions to evaluate
components using the Fourier analysis, Kumai
For this study case, the reduction ratio is R = 3.04,
(1961). Currently, Classification Societies recom-
and a 4 blades propeller were used. Therefore, the
mend excitation values for each order based on the
excitation will occur at a frequency:
number of blades and thrust or torque on the propel-
ler, as appropriate. For the study boat, the excitation
values recommended by ABS (2006) had been used.
fexc (RPM engine ) (N ) / R
blades (3)
The values of the forces applied to the study boat in
4 different working conditions are shown in Table 9. Generally, the two first orders of the propeller
excitation are considered: 1Z and 2Z, due to lower
excitation magnitudes presented by higher orders.
7.2 Hull pressure forces (pressure fluctuation) Resonance conditions between the excitation
There are several causes that produce fluctuating frequency and propulsion line natural frequencies
pressures on the hull in the area of the propeller. had been analyzed. Additionally Maximum Work-
These pressures fluctuate proportional to the pro- ing Condition (MCR) had been analyzed, which in
peller rotation speed, its number of blades (blade this case is 2000 RPM.
rate frequency), and cavitation. The following table shows the resonances to be
Pressures can be obtained by experimentation, considered.
by numerical approximation (CFD) or by empirical
formulas (Holden, 1980). For the current analysis, 8 RUDDER LINE BEHAVIOR
Holden formulas were used. These pressures vary
according to working condition. Table  10  shows Vibration analysis must consider the rudder behav-
pressures values applied in an area of 1 m2 of each ior, to check if there is any resonance in the working
propeller, in all working conditions analyzed. range. Additionally it is important to know if the
rudder holds up propeller fluctuating stress loads.
Table  9. Propeller excitation forces for vibration
analysis.
8.1 Rudder supports location
Frequency (HZ) 23.49 29.73 37.77 43.86 Rudder supports are usually cutless bearings. The
FEM represents these supports in the correspond-
Order 1Z 1Z 1Z 1Z
ing directions. In the present study, rudder has two
Engine RPM 1071 1356 1722 2000
supports, upper one restricting rudder shaft axial
Total thrust 20503 35677 65830 91605
Total torque 4974 8476 15141 20936 Table 12. Calculated rudder added mass.
Propeller excitation forces Transversal added mass
Axial F11 (N) 2358 4103 7571 10535 C 0.73
Vertical F33 (N) 246 428 790 1,099 psw 1025 Kg/m3
Transv. F22 (N) 472 821 1514 2107 B 0.824 m
Moment M11 (N.m) 433 737 1317 1821 L 1.44 m
Moment M33 (N.m) 622 1059 1893 2617 B/L 0.572
Moment M22 (N.m) 1134 1932 3453 4773 M* y 574.6 Kg
Longitudinal added mass
Table 10. Hull fluctuating pressures applied. C 0.21
psw 1025 Kg/m3
Frec. (HZ) 15.2 23.5 28.3 29.7 37.8 43.9
B 0.824 m
Order 1Z 1Z 1Z 1Z 1Z 1Z A 0.182 m
Engine RPM 691 1071 1290 1356 1722 2000 B/L 4.53
Pressure PT (N/m2) 1108 3114 4962 5667 9847 14335 M* x 20.89 Kg
Added inertia

Table 11. Resonances table. C 0.73

psw 1025 Kg/m3
Natural Frec. (HZ) 15.2 23.5 28.3 29.7 37.8 43.9 B 0.824 m
L 1.44 m
Order 1Z 1Z 1Z 1Z 1Z 1Z B/L 0.572
Engine RPM 691 1071 1290 1356 1722 2000 MI* 12.2 Kg.m2

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 movement and allowing only rotation and lower sup-
port. Due to the rudder shaft is modeled with frame
element; constraints simulating the contact between
the flanged shaft and the rudder shell had been
included.
8.2 Rudder added mass
Rudder is also immersed in water and its added
mass is considered in the FEM. Rudder is
considered as a plate to find the rudder added
mass. Mukundan (2002) method was used and its
values are presented in Table 12. The rudder added
mass was evenly distributed at nodes on rudder
surface in their respective directions.
9 CLASSIFICATION SOCIETIES
ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA
Classification Societies recommend limits for
vibration velocity for crew, passengers, structures
and machinery areas.
These limits are recommended to ensure people
comfort in the accommodation areas and to pre-
vent fatigue failure in local structures.
9.1 Living areas limits
Classification Societies recommend limits depending
on craft type and accommodation or work sectors.
ISO 6954 (2000) proposed by Classification
Societies such as ABS and Germanischer Lloyd
had been taken as acceptance criteria for the evalu-
ation of the study boat.
On Table 13, the classification refers to the area
of application:
Table  13. RMS vibration limits ISO 6954 (2000) of
1–80 Hz.
RMS values of global vibration (mm/s)
Classification A B C
Values on which adverse comments 4 6 8
are probable
Values below which adverse com- 2 3 4
ments are not probable
Figure 15. Perturbing force transmitted by the springs
and damper. Thomson W., (1972).
83
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 83
• A Class: is for passenger cabins,
• B Class for accommodation of crews and
• C Class for workspaces
There are voluntary limits known as comfort
notations, which are limit values proposed by the
Classification Societies to grant class notations,
especially for passenger vessels.
9.2 Structure limits
There are vibration limits for not accommodating
areas as tanks, mast, lazaretto structures, engine
room, etc. These limits seek to avoid structural
damage due to fatigue and the cracks occurrence
due to vibration. Figure  15, taken from ABS
(2006), shows vibration peak limits for structures
bellow which the risk to fatigue crack is expected
to below. From Figure 15 can be seen that for fre-
quencies between 5 Hz and 10 Hz vibration peak
limit recommended is 30 mm/s.
10 HULL STRUCTURE AND DECK
HOUSE FORCED ANALYSIS
EVALUATION
Finite element method was used to perform a
forced vibration analysis of the hull structure,
using the following equation:
[M ]{ } [C ]{Y } [K ]{Y } {F } (4)
where [M] is the mass matrix of the system, [K] is
the stiffness matrix of the system, [C] is the damp-
ing matrix system, {Y}: is the displacement vector,
{ }
the first derivative of displacement Y, {Ÿ} Y is
is the second derivative of displacement Y, {F}:
is the excitation force vector.
Deformation was estimated at all nodes in the
model, for each load condition. Figures 16, 17, 18
and 19 graphically show deformation results.
Figure 16. Rudder finite element model.
3/29/2017 9:34:51 AM
 Figure 20. Deformation (mm) at 37.77 Hz condition1.

Table 14. Vibration speed at accommodation.

RMS vibration velocity (mm/s)

Frec, (HZ)

Sector 15.2 23.5 28.3 29.7 37.8 43.9

ACCOMODATION AREAS
Inner main 0.44 0.32 0.25 0.33 0.84 0.52
deck
Fore exterior 0.16 0.15 0.09 0.24 0.99 0.51
main deck
Exterior 0.22 0.37 0.09 0.37 1.38 0.71
Figure  17. Peak vibration limits for local structures, deck 200
American Bureau of Shipping (2006). Interior 0.3 2.27 0.77 0.46 0.59 0.73
deck 200
Upper side 0.38 0.17 0.13 0.38 2.58 2.05
deckhouse
Lower side 0.55 0.12 0.54 0.22 4.24 2.65
deckhouse
Aft bulkhead at 0.27 0.48 0.26 0.10 5.13 20.9
deck 200

Table 15. Vibration speed at structure.

Figure 18. Deformation (mm) at 23.49 Hz condition.
RMS vibration velocity (mm/s)

RPM 691 1071 1290 1356 1722 2000

Frec. (HZ)

Sector 15.2 23.5 28.3 29.7 37.8 43.9

STRUCTURE
Long. Beam 0.25 0.25 0.65 0.42 0.80 4.99
Figure 19. Deformation (mm) at 29.73 Hz condition. over strut
Hull at stuffing 0.65 0.94 1.82 1.44 2.60 2.70
box
Harmonic motion deformation as the case of Long. Beam 0.39 2.32 1.28 1.84 5.62 5.77
vibration can be represented as follows, at any time t: over tunnel
bearing
δ (ω ) (5) Pilot house 0.07 0.49 0.04 0.25 5.98 5.84
roof
Transom/side 1.05 2.14 3.98 2.26 5.64 10.0
Where:
intersection
A = deformation amplitude (m)
ωv = Vibration frequency (rad/s)
t = time (s) V A * ωv (6)
Since the speed is the relationship between the
deformation and the time, the vibration speed mag- Figures 16, 17, 18 and 19 show as color-sectors
nitude (V) can be obtained by the following equation: the deformation that is proportional to vibration

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 speed. There is greater deformation on aft bulk-
head of upper deck house at 43.86 Hz condition.
Tables  14 and 15  show vibration speed values
by sector for each condition, calculated from the
deformation found with the FEM. Most vibra-
tion levels do not exceed the limits set by the rules,
except the aft bulkhead on upper deck at 2000
RPM, where the limit is 6 mm/s.
11 LOCAL REINFORCEMENTS TO
REDUCE HIGHER VIBRATION LEVELS
The FEM allow us to carry out structural modifi-
cations to comply with the recommended limits. In
this case, it is requested to increase the section of
the vertical reinforcements to the aft bulkhead on
upper deck house.
Figure  20  shows the deformation in the same
scale as the previous figures and shows the defor-
mation decrease on aft bulkhead at upper deck,
with respect to Figure  19. This improvement can
be seen in Table 16.
12 CONCLUSIONS
• Acceptance criteria are effective, so the best
way to avoid resonance problems is configuring
the propulsion system to keep vibration below
criteria.
• Natural frequencies of the propulsion line
need to avoid the working range to prevent
resonances.
• Natural frequencies of ship panels and structure
need to avoid the working range of propeller
excitation forces.
• Forced vibration analyses on hull girder includ-
ing propeller excitation forces should be per-
formed to identify sectors that do not meet
standards.
• The results obtained in the design stage allow
identifying possible failures, especially when
there is resonance risk in the propulsion line.
ANNEX
Boat main particulars

Ship type Investigation boat

Overall length: 46 m
Bea: 7 m
Depth: 4 m
Draft: 1,9 m
Engine data
Strokes 4
Figure 21. Deformation (mm) at 43.86 Hz condition. Cylinders Nº 12
V angle 90 GRADES
Bore 165 mm
Stroke 190 mm
Connecting rod l. 354 mm
Weight 6800 Kg
Minimum rpm 500
Maximum rpm 2000
Max power × rpm 1680 KW × 2000 RPM
Torque @ 1680 kw 8.02 KN.m
Figure  22. Deformation (mm) at 43.86  Hz condition
(reinforced bulkhead at upper deck).
Propeller data

Table  16. Vibration speed after upper deck bulkhead Type Fixed pitch
reinforcement. Blades Nº 4
Diameter 1.397 m
RMS vibration velocity (mm/s)
Pitch 1.283 m
RPM 2000 D.A.R 0.91
Mass 363.7 Kg
Frequency (HZ) Polar inertia 41.18 Kg.m2

Sector 43.86 Limit Direction

Gearbox data
ACCOMODATION AREAS
Aft bulkhead at deck 200 4.42 6 X Ratio 3.04

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 REFERENCES
American bureau of shipping, 2006, Guidance on ship
vibration, Houston, ABS.
Asmussen I./W. Menzel/H. Mumm, 2001, Ship Vibra-
tion, GL Technology, Germanischer Lloyd, Hamburg.
Dept. of naval architecture and marine engineering of
university of Michigan, 1980, Propeller added mas
and damping program (PRAMAD). Revision of Sep-
tember 5.
Holden, Fagerjord, Frostad, 1980, Early Design stage
approach to reducing hull surface force due to propel-
ler cavitation, SNAME Trans.
ISO, 2000, International Standard ISO 694: Mechanical
vibration—Guidelines for the measurement, reporting
and evaluation of vibration with regard to habitability
on passenger and merchant ships.
Kumai, T., 1961, Some Aspects to the Propeller – Bearing
Forces Exciting Hull Vibration of a Single Screw Ship,
Research Inst. For Applied Mechanics, Kyushu Univ
86
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 86
Lewis F.M., 1929, The inertia of the Water Surrounding
a Vibrating Ship, SNAME transactions.
Mukundan, H., Finite Element Analysis of a Rudder,
July 2002, Undergraduate Thesis for the completion
of Bachelor of Technology in Ocean Engineering and
Naval Architecture, Indian Institute of Technology,
Madras.
Parsons, M., 1980, Added mass and damping of vibrat-
ing propellers, Department of naval architecture and
naval engineering University of Michigan.
Quek, S. G.R. LIU, 2003, Finite Element Method: A
Practical Course, Burlington MA, Elseiver Science.
Rameswar Bhattacharyya, 1978, Dynamics of marine
vehicles, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Schwanecke H., 1963, Gedanken zur Frage der hydrody-
namisch erregten Schwingungen des Propellers und
der Wellenleitung, Jahrbuch STG.
Thomson W., 1972, Theory of vibration, Prentice Hall,
New Jersey.
3/29/2017 9:34:55 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Experimental characterization of viscoelastic materials

for marine applications

J. Fragasso & L. Moro

Department of Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

P.N. Mendoza Vassallo & M. Biot

Ship Technology Centre, Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, Italy

A. Badino
C.S.N.I. Scarl, Italy

ABSTRACT: The application of Viscoelastic Materials (VEM) to ship structures is a common practice
in the maritime field. VEM provide a reduction of structure borne noise and vibration levels onboard.
In the present paper, the results of an ongoing joint research activity among Memorial University of
Newfoundland, University of Trieste and C.S.N.I. Scarl are discussed. The long-term objective of this
research is to define a rational approach to the optimal application of VEM in marine structures, in order
to control structure-borne noise on marine vehicles and achieve higher comfort levels on board.

1 INTRODUCTION are insulated and decoupled from the ship struc-

On modern ships, noise and vibrations are key fac-
tors to high comfort. The effect of high levels of
noise and vibration is an issue of great concern
in the maritime industry, as they can affect crew
members’ health and passengers comfort (Bull
et al. 2001, Neitzel et al. 2006, Zytoon 2012). Sev-
eral studies highlight the danger of a prolonged
exposition to high levels of noise and vibration on
the health of crew members (DNV, 2009). Hear-
ing reduction and increased levels of stress are
documented. Moreover, the design of luxury ves-
sels requires high levels of comfort, to be achieved
through the mitigation of noise and vibrations
transmitted from the onboard sources (Biot et al.
2014, Biot et al. 2015).
In order to avoid this problem, researchers have
focused their studies on the development of design
procedures to control noise and vibration on ships,
and devices that can be installed on ships in order
to isolate ship structures form the main sources, or
to dampen noise and vibration energy. As far as
structure-borne noise and vibration are concerned,
in order to increase the level of comfort the inter-
action between on-board sources, ship structures,
and receivers (i.e. crew members and passengers)
should be kept as low as possible. For this rea-
son, structure-borne noise and vibration sources
are usually decoupled from the ship structures by
means of resilient mounting systems, while cabins
tures using insulating materials and floating floors
(Moro et  al. 2015). These solutions decrease the
structure-borne noise and vibration energy trans-
mitted from the sources to the ship structures, and
from the ship structures to the receivers. Some-
times these methods are neither suitable nor effi-
cient in the control of the structure-borne noise in
the frequency range of 20 Hz-250 Hz. Viscoelastic
materials (VEM) are usually applied to ship struc-
tures in order to dampen the vibration energy in
this frequency range. These materials have been
first used in non-commercial aerospace industry
since the early 1960’s. Later, they have been used in
several other industries such as automotive, com-
mercial airplanes, railways, and ships. Although
these materials have been widely used in the above
mentioned industries since several years, research
activities and studies for their comprehensive
applications to these vehicles have been confined
to internal procedures of companies. Only recently,
researchers have focused their activities to the
study of the effect of these materials on noise and
vibration control.
Fan et  al (2009) performed an experimental
study on the effect of VEM on the control of
noise and vibration levels on trains. The research
draws a comparison between the noise levels in a
railway carriage before and after the application
of three VEMs in FLD and CLD configurations.
Rao (2003) presents the state-of-the-art viscoe-

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 lastic damping materials used in vehicles and
commercial airplanes and highlights the lack of
dissemination of these materials and their applica-
tions in academia and archival literature.
As far as the maritime industry is concerned,
viscoelastic materials are usually applied to con-
trol structure-borne noise and vibration on mega-
yachts and cruise vessels. They are usually applied
in two different configurations: free layer and con-
strained layer (Figure 1).
Even though VEMs have been used in the mari-
time industry for several years, their application
is mainly based on the practice and experience of
shipyards and sub-contractors as a comprehensive
procedure for the design of these damping solu-
tions is still missing. For this reason, researchers
have recently focused their research activities on
the characterization of VEMs and on the defini-
tion of Physical quantities that can describe the
behavior of VEMs. The ASTM international
standard “Standard test method for measuring
vibration-damping properties of materials sound
international standard for the characterization
of damping properties of viscoelastic materials”
(2010) is a sound standard for the measurement
of the main characteristics of VEMs, but the out-
comes of the tests performed in accordance with
this standard, cannot be directly used in the design
of complex structures, as shown by Fan et  al.
(2009) and Rao (2003).
Ferrari & Rizzuto (2003) emphasized the lack
of international standards for the experimental
characterization of acoustic treatments for marine
structures. In later research activities, they devel-
oped experimental procedures for the characteri-
zation of viscoelastic materials applied to ship’s
decks (Ferrari & Rizzuto 2007) and they investi-
gated the effects of several anti-noise treatments
on the modal characteristics of a panel of ship
deck (Ferrari & Rizzuto 2005). The outcomes of
the experimental tests have also been presented in
terms of Insertion Loss and Insertion Loss Base
Figure 1. Geometry of the free-layer damping (a) and
constrained-layer damping (b) configurations.
88
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 88
Structures. These quantities have been developed
building on the definition of Insertion Loss intro-
duced by Cremer (2013) and developed further by
Ødegard (2004). These studies provided insights
into the dynamic characterization of VEMs that
are applied to typical marine structures. On the
other hand, more research activity should be car-
ried out in order to develop mathematical models
and design procedures that allow ship designers to
properly simulate the effects of this treatment when
it is applied to marine structures. Such models and
procedures could eventually lead to the optimiza-
tion of the application of these materials.
A joint research activity is currently carried out
at Memorial University of Newfoundland, at the
University of Trieste, and at the C.S.N.I. Scarl in
order to develop a procedure built on numerical
simulations that allow the designers to simulate
the VEMs when applied to marine structures.
The first outcomes of this research activity are
hereinafter presented. These consist in the experi-
mental dynamic characterization of typical VEMs
for marine applications. The experimental setup
employed for this research, along with the theo-
retical formulation underlying the representation
of the damping properties of VEM layers are dis-
cussed in the next section.
2 METHODS
VEMs are applied to ship structures in order to
increase the damping of the metal plates. This
application results in a sandwich configuration
where the metal plates provide proper strength,
and the viscoelastic materials generate the desir-
able structure-borne sound properties.
When the VEM is attached to the surface of the
base plate in one or more layers, the resulting con-
figuration is called free layer. In this case, when the
base plate is excited by a dynamic load the VEM
participates to its deflections (Figure  2a). In this
Figure  2. Dissipation of energy in the FLD (a) and
CLD (b) configurations.
3/29/2017 9:34:56 AM
 way, the VEM stores the vibration energy that is where
dissipated into heat because of the hysteresis of the
2
material. ⎛ ρ H ρ2 H 2 ⎞ ⎛ f n ⎞
In the constrained configuration, the VEM is Z* = ⎜ 1 1 ⎟⎠ ⎜ f ⎟ ( i ) (3)
ρ1H1
n
⎝ ⎝ 0,n ⎠
applied to the base plate in order to form a layer of
1–3 mm and a rigid upper plate of structural mate- H2 ⎛H ⎞
rial is then applied atop of the layer of damping A2* = 5 6 + 3⎜ 2 ⎟ − Z* (4)
H1 ⎝ H1 ⎠
material. The upper plate is usually made of steel
or aluminum. In this configuration, the upper plate
and ρ2 is the density of the viscoelastic material,
induces shear deformation in the VEM, and this
H2 is the thickness of the viscoelastic layer, fn is the
increases its capability to dissipate vibration energy,
damped resonant frequency of the n-th mode of
especially when the base plate is stiff and undergoes
the composite structure and ηn is the loss factor of
small dynamic deformations (Figure 2b).
the n-th mode of the composite structure.
As the VEM undergoes two different loads in
Once the dynamic properties of the viscoelastic
the free layer and in the constrained configurations
material are known, we can evaluate the optimal
(i.e. bending moment and shear respectively), dif-
thickness of the layer of viscoelastic material, i.e.
ferent quantities should be achieved in order to
the thickness of the VEM layer that maximize the
completely characterize these materials. In par-
loss factor of the sandwich, elaborating the rela-
ticular, in the free-layer configuration, the complex
tionship between the loss factor of the VEM η1,
Young’s modulus E2 is needed in order to proper
the loss factor of the sandwich ηc and thickness of
simulate the damping characteristics of the vis-
the bare beam H1 and the VEM layer H2, proposed
coelastic material when it is subjected to bending
in the ASTM standard (2010). The maximum value
moment. When it comes to the constrained config-
of the ratio ηc/η1 can be evaluated as follows:
uration, the complex shear modulus G2* is needed
to describe the behavior of the VEM that is sub- ηc (MT ) (3 6T + 4T
2
+ 2MT 2 + 2MT 3 + M 2T 4 )
jected to shear loads. The complex Young’s modu- =
lus and the complex shear modulus of damping
η1 (1 MT ) (1 + 4MT 6MT 2 + 4MT 3 + M 2T 4 )
materials are both frequency dependent (Cremer, (5)
2013).
In the following sections, the theory for the where
experimental characterization of viscoelastic mate- E2
rials is introduced for the two configurations. M= (6)
E1
2.1 Free-layer damping configuration
and
When a layer of viscoelastic material is applied
to the surface of a base plate the resulting com- H2
T= (7)
posite material dissipates vibrational energy via H1
tension-compression.
For a clamped beam in a Free-Layer Damp- For example, considering an aluminum beam
ing (FLD) configuration, the real part of the bare (E1 = 69000 MPa) coated with a layer of a typical
beam Young’s modulus is computed as follows VEM for marine applications (E2 = 4.4 MPa), the
(Jones, 2001): ratio ηc/η1 is plotted as a function of T, as shown
in Figure 3.
48ρ1π 2 L4 f02,n
E1 = (1)
H12ξ n4

where ρ1 is the density of the beam material, L is

the length of the beam, H1 is the thickness of the
bare beam and f0,n is the undamped resonant fre-
quency of the n-th mode, and ξn is the n-th eigen-
value of the modal problem.
Then, the Young’s modulus of the viscoelastic
material is obtained as follows:

A2*
(A 2
h22 (Z
(Z * 1) A2*
E2 E1 (2) Figure  3. Relationship between the thickness of the
2 h2 VEM and the loss factor of the composite FLD structure.

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 The curve plotted in Figure  3  shows that
increasing the ratio H2/H1 the ratio ηc/η1 increases
from a minimum value of 10−2 to the maximum
value 100, where the compound beam has the
same loss factor of the VEM. In the case pre-
sented as an example, this means that increasing
the thickness of the viscoelastic material beyond
0.2 H1, the damping effect of the VEM does not
increase and the addition of VEM results in a
useless increasing of weight of the compound
structure.
2.2 Constrained layer damping configuration
When the VEM is bonded between the structure
surface and an additional structural layer, the
resulting composite material dissipates vibrational
energy through shear strain.
The equations describing the constrained layer
damping configuration are derived from the Ross-
Kerwin-Ungar (RKU) equations (Ross, 1959). For
common marine applications, E2* (complex Young’s
modulus of the viscoelastic material) is usually neg-
ligible when compared to E1* (complex Young’s
modulus of the bare beam material), thus the RKU
equations are simplified as follows (Jones, 2001):
E1H13 E1H1 ( H )2 g*
(EI )* = + (8)
6 1 + g*
where
G2* λ n2
g* =
E1H1H 2π 2
in the case that the thickness of the structural
beams is equal. In Equation  9, λn is the effective
semi-wavelength of the n-th mode.
The complex flexural rigidity of the composite
beam (EI)* is given by:
2
⎛ ρ H ⎞⎛ f ⎞
(EI ) *
= E1I1 1 + 2 2 2 ⎟ ⎜ n ⎟
ρ1H1 ⎠ ⎝ f0, n ⎠
( +i
⎝ The value of ηn can be estimated as:
The symbols used in the previous equations
have the same meaning of the ones used in the
analysis of the free-layer viscoelastic damping. I1
is the bare beam’s second moment of area, while
G2* represents the complex shear modulus of the
viscoelastic material.
2.3 Loss factor estimation
This part of the research activity is focused in the
estimation of the loss factor of the n-th vibrational
mode of the structure.
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 90
Figure 4. Example of the use of the half-power band-
width method.
As it can be seen in the previous formulation,
computing the loss factor is critical in the dynamic
characterization of the viscoelastic material.
The loss factor is defined as the ratio of energy
dissipated per radian:
D
ηn = (11)
2πW
where D is the energy dissipated per cycle and W is
the maximum energy stored in the system.
The loss factor of a material or a compos-
ite structure can be measured using the half-
power bandwidth method (Papagiannopoulos &
Hatzigeorgiou 2011, Wang 2011). This technique
provides an estimation of the loss factor through
the approximation of the system with a single-
degree-of-freedom model at the resonant circular
frequency ωn. ηn can be estimated as follows:
(9)
ω 2 ω1
ηn = (12)
2ω n
where ωn is the resonant frequency of the n-th
mode and ω1 and ω2 are the frequencies where
the frequency response function values are 3 dB
lower than its the maximum value, measured at the
resonant frequency. For the case of high-damped
resonant frequencies, a generalization of the half-
n ) (10) power bandwidth can be used: the “n dB” method.
⎛ 1 ⎞ ω 2 ω1
ηn = ⎜ (13)
⎝ x 2 − 1 ⎟⎠ ω n
where x  =  10(n/20) and n is the difference (in dB)
between the amplitude of the Frequency Response
Function (FRF) of the selected mode and the fre-
quency points ω1 and ω2.
2.4 Experimental setup
This part of the research activity on VEMs for
marine applications is focused in the estimation
90
3/29/2017 9:34:58 AM
 of the loss factor of the n-th vibrational mode of
plates treated with VEMs for marine application.
In the present study, the characterization of the
VEM is performed through the analysis of the fre-
quency response function of a steel plate, covered
with viscoelastic material, in a free-free boundary
condition. Equations 1–10 are valid in the case of
a clamped beam. According to Jones (2001), these
equations are still valid for other boundary con-
ditions, if we consider a value of λn equal to the
length of a pinned-pinned beam that has the same
resonant frequency of the actual beam. Once we
calculate the value of λn, we can obtain ξn accord-
ing to the following formula:

πL
ξn = (14)
λn Figure  6. Experimental setup, consisting of the plate
supported by the nylon wires.
This experimental setup resembles the one pre-
sented by De Fenza (2011) who used this method-
ology to characterize aircraft panels with different Table  1. Tested viscoelastic materials with
configurations of VEM layers. certified density values.
The steel plate used to perform the experiments
Material Density [kg/m3]
has the following dimensions: length 300  mm,
width 500 mm. The thickness of the plate is 2 mm 1 1550 ± 50
in the FLD configuration, while in the CLD case 2 1675 ± 15
two identical plates with a thickness of 5 mm were 3 1300 ± 50
used. The plate was placed vertically, supported
by nylon wires. The vibrational data are acquired
using a piezoelectric accelerometer, placed on one
of the corners of the plate. Figures 5 and 6 show
the plate, a different test was carried out. Data
the experimental setup. The position of the accel-
were acquired as time-domain samples. A real-time
erometers are marked with P1, P2 and P3, while PImp
Fourier transform of the experimental signals was
is position of the excitation point.
computed, in order to verify the reliability of the
The exciting force was provided by an impulse
signals as they were acquired. In order to compute
hammer, having a piezoelectric load cell on the
the loss factor, a frequency-domain analysis of the
tip. The time-domain force signal of the load cell,
recorded signals was performed.
having the same sampling frequency of the accel-
The experiments were conducted using a steel
eration signals was recorded. The impact of the
plate in a free-free configuration. Three viscoelas-
hammer on the plate provides the trigger for the
tic materials were tested. The materials density and
acquisition time. For each vibrational model of
number of identification are listed in Table 1.
In the case of VEM 3, four different chemical
compositions were compared, denoted respectively
with 3 A, 3B, 3C and 3D. Composition 3 A refers
to the commercial composition of the material. In
composition 3B, a lower quantity of catalyst was
used. Composition 3C was created using an iso-
cyanate-free catalyst. Composition 3D is the same
as 3C, but a lower quantity of the isocyanate-free
catalyst was used.

3 RESULTS

The following Figures (7–21) show the outcomes

Figure  5. Position of the measurement points on the of the experimental activities for the charac-
plate. terization of the three VEMs. The modulus of

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 the accelerance FRF, i.e. the ratio between the in the amplitude of the peaks of the accelerance
amplitude of the acceleration signal and the of the composite structure in the entire frequency
amplitude of the applied force for each fre- range. It can be seen that the dynamic behavior
quency line, was calculated and plotted for each of the structure covered with VEM 3  in the 4
configuration. The FRFs obtained for each different compositions is very similar, but ana-
VEM has been compared with the FRFs meas- lyzing the relationship between loss factor and
ured on the bare plate, in order to highlight frequency (Figures 15, 17, 19 and 21), we notice
the effect of the damping materials.. Moreo- that VEM 3 A has the highest loss factor values,
ver, the relationship between the loss factor of and therefore it can provide the highest vibration
each mode of the composite plate and the fre- reduction.
quency of the mode was investigated. A linear
regression analysis (represented with the dashed
lines) was performed. In agreement with the
ASTM standard precautions, the points having
(fc/fn)2(1+DT)<1.01 (marked with an  ×  in the
plots) were not considered (see Figure 8).
In Figure 7, the accelerance of the bare beam is
compared with the accelerance of the plate covered
with a 4 mm-thick layer of VEM 1.
The loss factors of the composite structure are
computed and plotted in Figure 8. A linear regres-
sion analysis (represented with the dashed line)
was performed.
In Figure 9 the accelerance measured using the Figure  7. Comparison of Accelerance FRF between
sandwich configuration with VEM 1 and the accel- the 2 mm-thick bare plate and the FLD VEM 1 configu-
erance of the 5  mm-thick steel plate are plotted. ration (thickness = 4 mm).
It is worth pointing out that the sandwich con-
figuration damps all the vibrational modes of the
bare plate, and the overall damping appears to be
higher than that one of the free-layer configura-
tion. This is proved by the plot of Figure 10, that
shows the loss factors of the modes of the compos-
ite structure.
Following the procedure of the ASTM stand-
ard, the data point corresponding to the 11th
mode of the composite structure was neglected,
since the corresponding value of the expression
(fc/fn)2(2+DT) was greater than 2.01.
Figure  11  shows the comparison between the
accelerance of the bare plate and the accelerance Figure  8. Loss factor values of the plate covered
of the structure after the application of a 2  mm- with VEM 1 (thickness  =  4  mm) in the FLD damping
thick layer of VEM 2. Even if the thickness of configuration.
the viscoelastic layer is lower than in the case of
Figure 7, a higher reduction of vibration levels is
achieved over the entire frequency range, as shown
in Figure 12.
The use of a thicker layer of the same VEM
(Figure 13) produces the overdamping of most of
the modal forms of the plate. In this case, it was
not possible to analyze the loss factor values of the
composite structure, because most of the modes
are overdamped.
The Accelerance of the plate covered with
VEM 3 is plotted in Figures  14, 16, 18 and 20,
for the 4 different chemical compositions. In this
case, a layer of 2 mm of viscoelastic material was Figure  9. Comparison of Accelerance FRF between
applied to a 5 mm-thick steel plate. The applica- the 2 mm-thick bare plate and the CLD VEM 1 configu-
tion of the viscoelastic layer causes a reduction ration (thickness = 0.5 mm).

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 Figure 10. Loss factor values of the plate covered with Figure  14. Comparison of Accelerance FRF between
VEM 1 (thickness = 0.5 mm) in the CLD configuration. the 5 mm-thick bare plate and the FLD VEM 3 A con-
figuration (thickness = 2 mm).

Figure  11. Comparison of Accelerance FRF between

the 2 mm-thick bare plate and the FLD VEM 2 configu- Figure 15. Loss factor values of the plate covered with
ration (thickness = 2 mm). VEM 3 A (thickness = 2 mm) in the FLD configuration.

Figure 12. Loss factor values of the plate covered with Figure  16. Comparison of Accelerance FRF between
VEM 2 (thickness = 2 mm) in the FLD configuration. the 5  mm-thick bare plate and the FLD VEM 3B con-
figuration (thickness = 2 mm).

Figure  13. Comparison of Accelerance FRF between

the bare plate and the FLD Viscogel configuration Figure 17. Loss factor values of the plate covered with
(thickness = 2 mm, type C). VEM 3B (thickness = 2 mm) in the FLD configuration.

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Figure  18. Comparison of Accelerance FRF between
the 5 mm-thick bare plate and the FLD VEM 3C con-
figuration (thickness = 2 mm).
Figure 19. Loss factor values of the plate covered with
VEM 3C (thickness = 2 mm) in the FLD configuration.
Figure  20. Comparison of Accelerance FRF between
the 5 mm-thick bare plate and the FLD VEM 3D con-
figuration (thickness = 2 mm).
Figure  21. Loss factor values of the plate covered
with Viscogel (type D, thickness  =  2  mm) in the FLD
configuration.
94
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 94
4 CONCLUSIONS
Several tests were carried out in order to estimate
the effect of different viscoelastic damping config-
urations on the modal forms of a steel plate. The
results, obtained in a free-free boundary condition,
are then analyzed in agreement with the ASTM
standard procedure (2010), using an equalization
procedure, defined by Jones (2001).
Three viscoelastic materials were tested, and
both the free-layer damping and the constrained-
layer damping configurations were taken into
account. The frequency analysis of the vibrational
data highlights the damping effect of the viscoe-
lastic materials, through the estimation of the loss
factor of the composite plate with the half-power
bandwidth method.
Furthermore, the relationship between the
thickness of the viscoelastic material in a FLD
configuration and the loss factor of the composite
structure is investigated.
The obtained results will be used as a base-
line for the future research activity, focused on
the characterization of viscoelastic materials for
marine applications, in order to develop a set of
design guidelines for the optimization of the use
of viscoelastic materials when applied to marine
structures.
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

On the experimental characterization of resilient mounting elements

A. Hecquet, B. de’Vidovich, E. Brocco & M. Biot

Department of Engineering and Architecture, Ship Technology Centre, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy

F. Licciulli & G. Fabro

Marine Solutions, Engines, Wärtsilä Italia, Trieste, Italy

C. Pestelli
Technology, Noise and Vibration, Wärtsilä Italia, Trieste, Italy

H. Le Sourne
Mechanical Engineering Department, ICAM—Site de Nantes, Nantes, France

L. Moro
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University, St. John’s, Canada

ABSTRACT: The results of an experimental campaign aimed to the dynamic characterization of a

typical resilient mounting element are presented, showing the force of the applied approach and the apti-
tude of the testing devices available at the Ship Noise and Vibration Laboratory (NVL) of the Univer-
sity of Trieste. The paper presents the fundamentals of the method for the dynamic characterization of
Resilient Mounting Elements (RME) through the experimental measurement of their Dynamic Transfer
Stiffness (DTS). In the paper, the problem definition is given making reference to the one-dimensional
approach and the theoretical background is introduced, which is based on the hypothesis of the inde-
pendent single-point-connected system. Then the experimental method is introduced by recalling the ISO
10846 standard, and a description is given of the facilities available at the NVL. Finally, the results of the
test campaign are discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION

On board ships where high levels of comfort are

required (Turan, 2006), as mega-yachts or cruise
ships, noise and vibrations are undoubtedly the
main topics among all the different factors relat-
ing to comfort (Biot & De Lorenzo, 2007). In a
comfort-oriented design of a ship, stationary back-
ground noise and vibrations caused by machinery
(propulsion, ventilation, conditioning, etc.) are
considered as the primary discomfort source in the
accommodation decks and limit values quoted in
the international are to taken into account (Biot
et al., 2005).
Among the many sources of structure borne
noise there are the medium-speed diesel engines Figure 1. Resilient mounting in marine application.
(Moro et al., 2013a) that are decoupled from the ship
structure by arrays of resilient mounting elements In order to make a complete analysis of the die-
(see Fig.  1). This solution allows the reduction of sel engine structure-borne noise, the vibrational
transmitted noise and vibrations to acceptable levels energy transmitted by an engine in all directions
(Ran Lin et al., 2009; Tao et al., 2000). through the whole system of resilient mountings,

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 should be considered (Biot & Moro, 2012, Biot
et al., 2014). The most comprehensive approach
is the one by which the structural noise source
and receiver are considered as a multi-point-con-
nected system (Fulford & Gibbs, 1997; Mondot &
Petersson, 1987; Verheij, 1982); alternatively, to
help address this complex problem, the effec-
tive mobility has been introduced (Petersson &
Plunt, 1982) and the most simplified approach the
problem is treated as a one-dimensional problem
(Hynnä, 2002). Finally, the structure-borne noise
prediction the accommodation decks is performed
by adopting methods like the Statistical Energy
Analysis (Asmussen et al., 2001).
According to the outlined simplified approach,
dynamic coupling between diesel engine and founda-
tion may be solved once the resilient mounting sys-
tem mechanical impedance is known (Nilsson et al.,
1998; Cremer et al., 2005; Moorhouse et al., 1993),
which may be related to the Dynamic Transfer Stiff-
ness (DTS) of the single Resilient Mounting Ele-
ment (RME). So, the main purpose of studies for the
dynamic characterization of a resilient mounting ele-
ment is to determine, by direct test (Besio et al., 1997;
Thompson et al., 1998) carried out according to the
ISO 10846 standard, its dynamic transfer stiffness
(Moro & Biot, 2013, Moro et al., 2015).

Figure 2. Model for the 2-DOF single-point-connected

2 METHODS FOR RME EXPERIMENTAL system.
DYNAMIC CHARACTERIZATION

2.1 Problem definition L , ( f ) = L ,s ( f ) + LZ, i ( f ) + LM,r ( f )

The simplified approach to measure the dynamic
stiffness of a Resilient Mounting Element (RME)
is based on the assumption of treating the prob-
lem as a one-dimensional problem in which the
structure-borne noise prediction is carried out by
considering independent from each other all the
transmission paths through the single resilient
mounting. By means of this approach, resilient
mountings interactions are neglected. A further
assumption is made of considering any resilient
mounting to develop only the vertical translational
velocity V and the vertical force F, so neglecting
the presence of moments and angular velocities.
Under these assumptions, the system composed by
engine, isolators and foundation can be treated as
a series of 2-DOF lumped parameter systems.
Fig.  2  shows a 2-DOF lumped model system,
where parameters characterizing the system are
given: the mass ms and mr of source and receiver,
the static stiffness k0 of the spring-like isolator,
the input force F0 acting on the source, and forces
and velocities mutually exerted by the bodies. The
velocity level at any frequency f on the foundation
is given by (Hynnä, 2002):
V V
(1)
where the foundation velocity level LV,r (r for
receiver) is a function of the source velocity
level LV,s (s for source), of the resilient mounting
mechanical impedance level LZ,i (i for isolator) and
of the foundation mobility level LM,r. So, to be able
to predict the foundation velocity level, the three
terms on the right hand of the equation have to
be known.
With respect to the determination of the resil-
ient mounting impedance level LZ,i, it has to be
emphasized that it cannot be determined resorting
to traditional FE methods without resorting to a
complex tuning of the model by experimental tests
(Moro & Biot, 2013c), like the Dynamic Mechani-
cal Analysis (DMA) tests or the direct tests on
components according to the ISO 10846 standard.
In effect, the resilient mounting vibro-acoustic
transfer properties can be reliably determined only
by means of measurements performed on labora-
tory test rigs.
The resilient mounting transfer function can
be expressed by referring to the definition of the
dynamic transfer stiffness as the ratio between the

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 force F2b( f ) measured on the blocked side (side 2) − mounting impedance level and, therefore, to an
that is the blocking force at the isolator output side increase in structure-borne noise measured on the
that implies a null displacement at the same side, engine foundation.
and the displacement u1( f ) measured on the driven
side (side 1). Once the resilient mounting dynamic 2.2 Theoretical background
transfer stiffness k2,1( f ) curve has been achieved
by direct measurements, the isolator impedance is As above discussed, the dynamic characterization
then given by: of resilient mountings is obtained by means of
measurements performed on laboratory test rigs.
F2 ( f ) 1 F2 ( f ) 1 The ISO 10846 standards are widely accepted as
Zi ( f ) = = −i ≈ −i k2,1 ( f ) (2)
V1 ( f ) 2 π f u1 ( f ) 2π f a sound reference for the experimental measure-
ment of the dynamic transfer properties of resil-
ient mountings both in low and in high frequency
The transfer stiffness curve is used to character-
range. Those properties are evaluated referring to
ize the behavior of a marine diesel engine resilient
the diesel engine as a suspended vibration source.
mounting at low frequencies and is represented in
According to that approach (ISO, 2008a; Dickens,
narrow band on a linear scale. At low frequency
2000), the characterization of a resilient mounting
the only important forces are the elastic and damp-
system is achieved by making reference to a three
ing forces, thus the transfer stiffness curve is only
block system (Fig. 3): the vibration source (i.e., the
weakly dependent on frequency. Typically, the low
diesel engine), the N isolators and the receiving
frequency dynamic transfer stiffness and the static
structure (i.e., the engine foundation). Application
stiffness of resilient mountings are different.
of the procedure is subject to the main assump-
On the other hand, the resilient mounting
tions, that only passive linear-response resilient
transfer function can be expressed by referring
elements may be studied and that the N contacts
to the definition of the dynamic inertia as the
between the three blocks may be treated as a series
ratio between the force F2b( f ) measured on the
of independent single-point-connected systems.
blocked side (side 2) and the complex acceleration
According to the ISO 10846-1, to describe
a1( f ) measured on the driven side (side 1). Once
the vibro-acoustic characteristics of a resilient
the resilient mounting dynamic inertia curve has
been achieved by direct measurements, the isolator
impedance is then given by:

F2 ( f ) F2 ( f )
Zi ( f ) = =i f) ≈i f )T2b,1 ( f ) (3)
V1 ( f ) a1 ( f )

where the dynamic inertia is usually referred to

as a dynamic transmissibility, and so denoted as
T2b,1( f ), in consideration that it is an output to
input force ratio where the input force is referred
to a unit mass.
The typical transmissibility curve of a marine
diesel engine resilient mounting is represented in
narrow band on a log-log scale. The transmissibil-
ity curve is divided into three different parts. The
first part of the curve shows a linear reduction of
transmissibility, that gives evidence of an ideal
spring-like behavior of the resilient mounting.
In the second part, transmissibility deviates from
ideal behavior and shows two successive peaks
where transmissibility increases. At last, in a third
part, it resumes its original trend. Such behavior is
due to the presence of the resilient rubber, which is
the cause of two different phenomena: on the one
hand, stationary waves propagate in the rubber due
to the natural vibration modes; on the other hand,
the rubber mass effect implies coupled transversal
movements. It is clear that an increase in transmis- Figure 3. Four-pole parameters for the characterization
sibility corresponds to an increase of the resilient of a lumped mechanical system.

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 mounting the most significant parameter is the
dynamic transfer stiffness k2,1( f ).
The dynamic transfer stiffness is defined as the
ratio between the dynamic force on the blocked
output side of an isolator F2b( f ) and the complex
displacement on the driven side u1( f ). To prove the
statement about the significance of the dynamic
transfer stiffness, the simple case of a unidirec-
tional transmission of vibrations through an iso-
lator is considered in the following. If k1,1( f ) and
k2,2( f ) are the driven-point stiffnesses when the
resilient element is blocked at the opposite side
(u2 and u1 are null, respectively) and k1,2( f ) and
k2,1( f ) denote the ratio between the force at the
blocked side and the displacement on the driven
side, the equilibrium equations of the isolator can
be written for each frequency as:
⎧F1 k1,1u1 k1,2 u2
⎨F k2,1u1 k2,2 u2
(4)
⎩ 2
In the three block system, isolator excites the
receiving structure with the force F2 which may be
derived by the definition of the driven-point stiff-
ness of the receiving structure, that is kt = −F2/u2.
So, F2 may be given by:
kt
F2 k2,1 u1 (5)
k2,2 kt
From a practical point of view, if |k2, 2| < 0.1 |kt|
it comes out the very significant relationship given
by:
F2 F2 b = k2,1u1 (6)
In general, displacements and forces are char-
acterized by 6 orthogonal components and a
12 × 12 global dynamic stiffness matrix is defined.
Owing of symmetry, many elements of the stiff-
ness matrix are equal to zero and some non-zero
elements are equal in magnitude. In practical cases,
few diagonal elements are enough to describe the
isolator behavior in the translational directions
(ISO, 2008a).
Damping properties of isolators may be
obtained from the phase angle ϕ2,1( f ) of the
dynamic transfer stiffness k2,1( f ), provided that
general assumptions can be reasonably applied.
Indeed, under the hypotheses of blocked output
side, that is u2  ≈ 0, and that inertial forces play no
role, a simple relationship can be written between
the phase angle of the dynamic transfer stiffness
and the damping properties of resilient element.
Being at low frequencies k1,1 f ≈ k2,1( f ), and
denoting k( f ) the common value, the loss factor
η can be defined as:
100
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 100
k f ) = k0 f )( i f )) (7)
where k0( f ) is the real part of the dynamic transfer
stiffness k2, 1( f ). So, the loss factor η can be esti-
mated according to:
η( ) t n ϕ 2,1 ( f ) (8)
It is worth noting that the so estimated damping
property may lose its meaning at high frequencies
where the assumptions made may no longer apply
and other methods should be referred to, as the
one making use of the direct measurement of the
dynamic forces.
Complete characterization of a resilient mount-
ing may be achieved by knowledge of the dynamic
impedance LZ,i( f ) which may be correlated to
dynamic transfer stiffness k2,1( f ) by Eq. 2 and to the
dynamic transmissibility T2b,1( f ) by Eq. 3. Even if,
by a theoretical point of view, dynamic impedance
is the reference parameter, usually dynamic behavior
of resilient mountings is discussed in terms of com-
plex transfer stiffness and complex transmissibility.
2.3 Experimental method
In order to measure the vibro-acoustic transfer
properties of resilient mountings, laboratory meas-
urements are needed. The most efficient method to
evaluate such properties when inertial forces can be
neglected is the so-called direct method discussed
in the ISO 10846-1 and ISO 10846-2  standards
(ISO, 2008a; ISO, 2008b), whereas in the audio-fre-
quency range it is necessary to refer to the so-called
indirect method discussed in the ISO 10846-1 and
ISO 10846-3 standards (ISO, 2008a; ISO, 2005).
So, depending on the frequency range to be
investigated, three different methods are pro-
posed in the five parts of the ISO 10846 standards
“Acoustics and vibration—Laboratory measure-
ment of vibro-acoustic transfer properties of resil-
ient elements”.
To characterize resilient mountings at low fre-
quencies the so-called direct method is the most
appropriate (ISO, 2008a; ISO, 2008b). This method
assumes that, in the test rig, the resilient element
is placed between a vibration exciter and a rigid
foundation. Between the isolator and the rigid
foundation is placed a load cell for force dynamic
measurement and a sensor between the exciter and
the isolator is placed to measure displacement,
velocity or acceleration. Basing of the measured
data, the dynamic transfer stiffness is given by:
F2 F
k2,1 f ) = = −(2
( 2 f )2 2 (9)
u1 a1
3/29/2017 9:35:04 AM
 The method is applicable in a limited frequency
range from 1 Hz to an upper frequency limit that
can be as high as 300–500 Hz. This range limita-
tion is due, on the one hand, to the vibration actua-
tor bandwidth, and, on the other hand, to the first
mode shape of the test rig chassis which, in the test
rig used for testing large resilient mountings, such
as those for marine engines, is of about 100  Hz.
The dynamic transfer stiffness of a resilient
mounting in the low-frequency range can be also
obtained by the so-called driving point method
(ISO, 2009). The test rig configuration is similar
to that used in the direct method: the resilient ele-
ment is subject to the test static preload and is
placed between the exciter and a very stiff founda-
tion. In this case, however, both dynamic load cell
and accelerometers are placed between the exciter
and the input side of the isolator and therefore the
measured parameters are F1 and a1.
Assuming that the inertial forces are small in
comparison to the elastic forces, the dynamic
transfer stiffness k2,1 becomes approximately equal
to the driving point stiffness k1,1:
F1 F1
k2,1 k1,1 = = − ( 2 f )2
u1 a1
u2 = 0 a2 = 0
that is valid, in the case of very large resilient
mountings, up to about 100  Hz. In fact, beyond
this frequency the inertial forces are generally no
longer negligible compared to the elastic forces
and the method is no longer valid.
In the audio-frequency range, the dynamic
transfer stiffness of resilient elements is deter-
mined using the so-called indirect method (ISO,
2005). In the indirect method the blocking force is
not directly measured and is derived from accel-
eration measurements performed on the block-
ing mass which is dynamically decoupled from
the test rig chassis. The resilient mounting is not
directly coupled with the vibration source, as a
compact mass, called excitation mass, is inter-
posed. The excitation mass function is to provide
the condition of contact point at the input side of
the resilient mounting and, as the blocking mass,
it is dynamically decoupled from the test rig struc-
ture using auxiliary isolators. Under the resilient
mounting, the so-called blocking mass is placed.
It provides a high-stiffness contact point at the
isolator output side, so that the forces between
the isolator output side and the receiving mass
are approximately equal to the blocking forces.
The blocking mass must have a high inertia, both
translational and rotational, whereas its decou-
pling isolators should have a suitable low stiffness
so as to keep low the resonance frequencies of the
6 rigid motions of the mass. An actuator is used
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 101
for applying a static preload, so that the resilient
mounting is tested in working condition.
In the indirect method test, the acceleration of
the excitation mass and the acceleration of the
blocking mass are measured and the dynamic
transfer stiffness is derived as:
F2 u a2
≈ − (2 f ) m2 2 (2 f ) m2
2 2
k2,1 ≈ (11)
u1 u1 a1
where the F2 force has been derived making use of
the Newton’s law applied to the blocking mass m2
and considering that F2 ≈ m2a2. The latter relation
comes from the dynamic equilibrium of the block-
ing mass, on which are acting the force F2, the reac-
tion given by the auxiliary isolators Fk,ae  =  kaeu2
(where kae is the dynamic stiffness of the auxiliary
isolators) and the inertial force m2a2. So, if |Fk,ae| <<
|m2a2| it comes out that the driven-point stiffness of
the receiving structure kt is approximatively given by:
m2 ( f) kae ≈ m2 ( f)
2 2
kt (12)
(10)
2.4 Laboratory test equipment
Since 2007, research activity on elastomeric resil-
ient mounting systems is being developed at the
Ship Noise and Vibration Laboratory (NVL) of
the University of Trieste (now part of a network
of research bodies linked in the Ship Technology
Centre), when a research program on structural-
borne noise caused by the main engines on board
cruise ships was funded. Within that project, a first
test rig was designed and built, and it is now work-
ing for the characterization at high frequencies of
passive resilient mountings as far as both their ver-
tical and transverse transmissibility is concerned
(HF Test Bench). Characteristics of the test rig
fulfill the guidelines given in the ISO-10846 stand-
ards for laboratory measurement of the resilient
element transmissibility (ISO, 2008a, Dickens and
Norwood, 1997 and 2001; Vermeulen et al., 2001).
Specifically, experimental investigations may be
carried out by applying the indirect method in the
audio-frequency range.
The core of the test rig (Fig. 4) are the vibrat-
ing bodies, whose assembling is the so called mov-
ing system. The moving system, being tightened
by a hydraulic piston between an upper and a
lower elastic bed of auxiliary isolators, may verti-
cally move under the action of an electrodynamic
shaker. The moving system is made by the resilient
element supported by a blocking mass and holding
on the top the excitation mass, by which the whole
system is connected to the elastically suspended
shaker.
101
3/29/2017 9:35:05 AM

Figure  4. Test rig layout for high frequency testing
(designed according to the ISO 10846 indirect method).
Connection between moving system and shaker
is a very significant part and is made by a “stinger”
rod. Through the stinger, vibrational energy is
transmitted to the excitation mass. Mechanical con-
nection among such elements has been designed to
avoid local resonance frequencies in order to pre-
serve measurements from such noise.
Length and diameter of the stinger rod, inertia
of the excitation and blocking mass and stiffness
of the two soft isolator beds (i.e., the auxiliary iso-
lators) are all to be set according to the test type
and the resilient element characteristics.
The most distinctive feature of the test rig lies
in its capacity of performing tests on the biggest
resilient mountings today used in the suspen-
sion systems of marine engines, with a static load
capacity up to 150  kN and a maximum dynamic
load capacity of 4 kN up to a frequency of 2 kHz,
which range largely covers the typical frequency
range in the investigations on medium-speed
marine diesel engines. Dimensions of test rig are
remarkable too, being supporting frame for mov-
ing masses very large, so allowing tests to be car-
ried out on resilient mountings 0, 5  meters wide
102
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 102
and weighting about 1 kN, placed on a foundation
of up to 8 kN weight.
In the 2015 year a second test rig has been stud-
ied and developed, coming to the realization of
a test bench for the dynamic characterization of
resilient mounting elements at low frequencies (LF
Test Bench). The project has been co-funded by
NVL and a private company with the aim to deep
the knowledge of the resilient mounting dynamics
in the very-low frequency range, so to open the way
to a complete static and dynamic characterization
of such components. Characteristics of the test rig
fulfill the guidelines given in the ISO-10846 stand-
ards for laboratory measurement of the resilient
element transmissibility. Specifically, experimental
investigations may be carried out by applying the
direct method.
The main feature of the test rig (Fig. 5) is a very
stiff bench housing the element to be tested, which
is statically loaded with a set of hydraulic actua-
tors and is dynamically excited by a further linear
hydraulic actuator controlled by a servovalve. The
moving system of the test rig is made by the resil-
ient element holding on the top the excitation mass
which is decoupled from the frame by a bed of
auxiliary isolators. The moving system is tightened
between two rigid supports (the upper mobile sup-
port and the lower foundation); between the mov-
ing system and the lower foundation the dynamic
load cells are placed.
Like in the design of the HF Test Bench, a spe-
cial attention has been paid to outline the “stinger”
rod connecting the hydraulic actuator generating
the dynamic excitation to the excitation mass, in
order to avoid local resonance frequencies and to
Figure  5. Test rig layout for low frequency testing
(designed according to the ISO 10846 direct method).
3/29/2017 9:35:06 AM
 limit the transverse forces exerted on the piston rod.
Moreover, length and diameter of the stinger rod,
inertia of the excitation mass and stiffness of the
soft isolator bed are all to be set according to the
test type and the resilient element characteristics.
The LF Test Bench too has the capacity of per-
forming tests on the biggest resilient mountings
today used in the suspension systems of marine
engines, with a static load capacity up to 100 kN
and a maximum dynamic load capacity of 45 kN
up to a frequency of 100 Hz. Dimensions of test
rig make it possible to test resilient mountings of
the same dimensions and weight of those housed
in the HF Test bench.
In conclusion, by making use of the HF Test
Bench and LF Test Bench, the laboratory tests
can be developed on small to big resilient elements
as test controlling parameters and test frequency
range may be adjusted in a wide range of values, so
completely covering the typical scope of the inves-
tigations on medium-speed marine diesel engines.
3 EXPERIMENTAL DYNAMIC
CHARACTERIZATION
To show the potentialities of the experimental
method for the characterization of the resilient
mounting elements, and the opportunities open by
the use of the specific test rigs available at NVL,
the results of an experimental campaign per-
formed on a passive resilient mounting element are
presented.
The tested resilient mounting element is cylin-
drical in shape and is made by stacking one over
the other a series of six rubber discs and by inter-
posing between each of them a low thickness steel
plate. All the parts are joined together during the
vulcanization process. The resilient mounting ele-
ment is typically used to work under axial load for
decoupling medium-speed marine diesel engines
on board ships.
The tests have been carried out on the two test
benches following the recommendations of the
ISO 10846 standard to cover the whole significant
frequency range. A systematic campaign has been
performed by varying the loading conditions on
the tested element: the RME has been statically
pre-compressed at different specific loads and
dynamically excited in a different frequency ranges
by applying various types of dynamic load (sine
dwell, sine sweep and random vibrations) identi-
fied by different energy spectra.
The resilient mounting has been tested at the
expected working load of 40 kN and at other static
loads in order to verify the linearity in the dynamic
response under different static loads. In all tests,
hydraulic actuator was controlled in order to
103
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 103
produce different given acceleration auto spectra
on the top of the excitation mass. On both test rig
arrangements, the stinger rod length and diameter
have been selected according to the dynamic char-
acteristics of the moving system.
Environmental conditions (ambient temperature
and air humidity) were checked to be unchanged
during all the test campaign.
All test outcomes have been collected in terms
of accelerations and forces acquired by accelerom-
eters and dynamic load cells controlled by a dedi-
cated data acquisition system, while the dynamic
actuator has been controlled by means of separate
measuring chains.
3.1 The low-frequency test
The dynamic stiffness has been evaluated with
reference the linear motion along the vertical axis
(driving direction) of the tested resilient element.
Dynamic transfer properties have been derived by
measuring the acceleration on the exiting mass and
force on the blocking mass. Experimental tests on
the LF Test bench have been performed in a useful
frequency range from about 5 Hz to 100 Hz.
Measured values comply with the standard limit
values. To preserve from insufficient stiffness mis-
match between the test element and the foundation
and from flanking transmission, it has to be ascer-
tained that ΔL1, 2 ≥ 20 dB. Moreover, the level of the
input acceleration in the excitation direction must
exceed that in the other directions perpendicular to
it by at least 15 dB. Finally, background noise level
has been checked and verified to be less than 15 dB
compared to the output acceleration level.
Being the method to measure the dynamic
transfer stiffness based upon linear models for the
vibration behavior of resilient elements, a test has
been performed to proven it in accordance with the
standard prescriptions: two spectra of input levels
have been applied differing each other by 10 dB
and the transfer stiffness levels come out to differ
by not more than 1.5 dB in the useful frequency
range.
A test, specific for the LF Test Bench, has been
also performed to check the effect of inertial forces
due to the mass between the test isolator and of the
output force transducers: it has been ascertained
that the inertial mass force does not affect the force
measurement for more than 0.5 dB.
3.2 The high-frequency tests
The dynamic stiffness has been evaluated with
reference the linear motion along the verti-
cal axis (driving direction) of the tested resil-
ient element. Dynamic transfer properties have
been derived by measuring the accelerations
3/29/2017 9:35:07 AM
 on the exiting mass and on the blocking mass. The curves shown in Fig. 7 summarize the results
Experimental tests on the HF Test Bench have obtained though the indirect method. In the figure
been performed in a frequency range from about two representations of the DTS are displayed: (a) the
100 Hz to 1000 Hz. typical representation for structure borne noise con-
In addition to the tests above described with siderations and (b) a curve only used for compari-
regards to the LF Test Bench, for assuring a high son purposes between experimental tests at high and
quality of the measures, a further pretest has been low frequencies. In this case a single experiment has
performed. Indeed, the approach is still valid if been carried out by applying a flat acceleration auto
tests are performed in a frequency range which is spectrum (constant value power spectral density
not affected, at the low frequencies, by the vertical
motion at resonance frequency f0 of the blocking
mass constrained between a soft isolator bed and
the resilient element, and, at the high frequencies,
by the limit of the rigid-body like behaviour of the
blocking mass at f3 frequency.
According to the ISO 10846 standards, meas-
urements are valid for frequencies higher than fe/3
(where fe is the lowest internal resonance of the
resilient mounting), but just if the resonant fre-
quency f0 is lower than fe/10. As for the upper limit,
the ISO 10846-3 standard provides the frequency
values f3 for steel blocking masses of cylindrical or
cubic shape. Upper frequency limit has been also
determined by means of experimental tests and
referring to the concept of effective mass. When the
effective mass m2,eff ( f ) has been determined, the
Figure 6. DTSs measured on the LF Test Bench.
upper frequency limit f3 has to be chosen as the
lower frequency value where the effective mass
does not vary more than 12% from the mass
value m2.

4 RESULTS OF THE RME

EXPERIMENTAL DYNAMIC
CHARACTERIZATION

The results of the described experimental cam-

paign, carried out by using two different methods
on test benches specifically designed, are presented
in terms of vertical Dynamic Transfer Stiffness
(DTS) of the tested RME.
Fig.  6  shows the DTS obtained though the
direct method by applying different acceleration
auto spectra on the top of the excitation mass:
sinesweep tests carried out with low rate of change
of the frequency and by keeping constant the value
of the input displacement or velocity; single fre-
quency excitation (dwell) tests performed by apply-
ing, at different frequencies, a harmonic input
displacement with fixed amplitude varying from
0.2 to 1.2 mm (in the figure only the average values
are shown). The measures strictly fulfill the stand-
ard requirements on the whole frequency range,
even if the DTS values concerning frequencies
lower than 10 Hz are based on possibly inaccurate
estimates due to the measuring instruments. The
static stiffness of the RME has also been measured
and presented in the same figure. Figure 7. DTS measured on the HF Test Bench.

104

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 104 3/29/2017 9:35:07 AM


Figure 8. The complete DTS measured in laboratory.
equal to 0.33 ms−2/Hz over the full frequency range).
The measures strictly fulfill the standard require-
ments in the frequency range above 350  Hz, due
to a pretty high level of transverse accelerations at
lower frequencies, caused by a transverse resonance
of the moving system—which can be corrected by
changing the test configuration. Moreover, at very
low frequencies the method cannot be implemented
due to the cut-off frequency f0 and the DTS values
should be carefully considered.
Finally, Fig. 8 gives on the same chart the DTS
curves derived by the two sets of experiments: on
the left the outcomes of the tests carried out on
the LF Test Bench according to the direct method
and on the right the outcomes of the tests carried
out on the HF Test Bench according to the indi-
rect method. The two curves well relate each other
being the average percentage difference equal to
8% in the frequency range where the two curves
are overlapped (see the small frame of Fig. 8).
5 CONCLUSIONS
The dynamic characterization of an RME is a
challenging task that can be only accomplished
by performing experimental tests. The tests are to
be carried out according to methods based on dif-
ferent measurement principles and the DTSs so
obtained are the products of not consistent meth-
ods and are prone to experimental approximations
and errors. Nevertheless, as evidenced by the con-
sistency shown between the partial DTSs derived
by using different experimental devices and proce-
dures, a direct characterizations of RMEs can be
achieved with a certain degree of accuracy.
The main conclusions that can be drawn from
the analysis of the outcomes of the experimental
105
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 105
campaign presented in the paper are the following:
first of all, the comprehensive method proposed
by the ISO 10846 standard is effective; secondly,
the DTS curves so obtained are prone to a series
of approximations, which imply that the results
need to be carefully considered when used as input
data in successive numerical or analytical simula-
tions; finally, since the fine tuning of the testing
parameters can be achieved, on the experimental
test benches, with great efforts, one should clearly
know, before to start with testing, which are the
physical parameters he need to measure and which
is their acceptable approximation.
The latter consideration links to the question of
the real needs of technician and researchers who
make use of the experimental outcomes. The situ-
ation is made more difficult by the fact that same
parameters, in the medium to high frequency
range, are not unambiguous (e.g., the loss factor)
and procedures to use the complex DTSs to cap-
ture the interactions among RMEs are not effi-
cient. So, a limited use is made of the experimental
outcomes.
It is within this framework that research will be
addressed with the aim to design more comprehen-
sive experimental tests (like those in Moro et al.,
2013b) able to clarify some basic open questions.
REFERENCES
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 Dickens J.D. & Norwood C.J. 1997. Design of a test facil-
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

A new van der Pol equation based ice-structure interaction

model for ice-induced vibrations

X. Ji & E. Oterkus
Department of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Marine Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

ABSTRACT: A dynamic single degree-of-freedom ice-structure interaction model is developed based

on a novel approach combining self-excited vibration and forced vibration. Van der Pol equation, together
with ice stress-strain rate curve and ice-velocity failure length are coupled to model the internal fluctuat-
ing nature of ice force in conjunction with the relative velocity and relative displacement caused by the
structure as external effect. General results on three distinct structural responses, quasi-static, steady-
static and random modes show good agreement for a model ice with those in full-scale measurements as
well as numerical results available in the literature. Moreover, ice force frequency lock-in phenomenon
during Ice-Induced Vibrations (IIV) is also observed.

1 INTRODUCTION • In forced vibration, the sustaining alternating

The Offshore structures subjected to the action of
drifting ice floes may experience several kinds of
interactions with the ice. For instance, columns fixed
to the seabed are commonly used as a form of ice-
resistant offshore structures. Sometimes, this kind of
structures experience sustained interaction with the
ice, which is called as ice-structure interaction and
severe vibrations due to drifting ice sheets crushing
against it may occur under certain velocities (Yue &
Guo, 2011). These vibrations, known as Ice-Induced
Vibrations (IIV), may lead to fatigue problems,
safety issues and uncomfortable working conditions.
Researchers haven’t reached an agreement on the
physical mechanism of IIV for almost 50 years. There
are two theories in general. These are self-excited
vibration and forced vibration, proposed by Määt-
tänen (2015) and Sodhi (1988), respectively. If ice
force frequency is strongly dominated by structural
natural frequency, ice force frequency lock-in will
occur, which can be found in both of these two mech-
anisms (Määttänen, 1983, Wang & Xu, 1991, Huang
& Liu, 2009, Yue & Guo, 2011). Määttänen (2015)
mentioned that there should not be any self-excited
vibration even for resonance caused by frequency
lock-in if the structure is not flexible enough. On
the other hand, Sodhi (1988) claimed this situation
as forced vibration because ice force still exists even
when the structure is stopped from moving, which is
also supported by Timoshenko & Young (1937) as
well as definitions from Den Hartog (1947):
• In self-excited vibration, the alternating force
that sustains the motion is created or controlled
by the motion itself. When the motion stops, the
alternating force disappears.
force exists independently apart from the motion
and persists even when the vibratory motion is
stopped.
From ice point of view, in forced vibration
model, ice has its own failure characteristic and
is not associated with either structural proper-
ties or structural motion variables. On the other
hand, in self-excited vibration, ice force is con-
trolled by not only ice itself, but also structural
motions. Since it is a fact that ice has its own
characteristics, structural properties or motion
variables will definitely be involved when ice is
in contact with a structure and ice failure occurs.
So, regardless of the structure being rigid or flex-
ible, wide or narrow, vertical or conical, the main
issue is how strong these structural effects can be
added to the original ice failure behaviour. This
is the reason why forced vibration or self-excited
vibration mechanisms are predominant from
time to time.
2 MECHANICAL FEATURES OF ICE
FAILURE
To simulate or predict a proper result, an approxi-
mate equivalent forcing term is applied to the
equation of motion, which makes each numerical
model different from each other (Matlock et  al.,
1971, Wang & Xu, 1991, Sodhi, 1995, Huang &
Liu, 2009). Different ice failure properties can
cause different distinctive forces either on fre-
quency or amplitude under different velocities
(Blenkarn, 1970, Sodhi & Haehnel, 2003, Timco &
Johnston, 2004, Kärnä, 2007).

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 107 3/29/2017 9:35:07 AM

 2.1 Ice stress-strain rate curve
It is found and proved that ice uniaxial strength
or indentation strength is a function of strain rate
as shown in Figure  1 (Blenkarn, 1970, Michel &
Toussaint, 1978, Palmer et  al., 1983, Sodhi &
Haehnel, 2003). The strain rate ε is defined by
vr/λD, where the dimensionless coefficient λ varies
from 1 to 4 and D is the structural diameter (Yue &
Guo, 2011). Based on the dimensionless numeri-
cal relationship between the stress and strain rate
(Huang & Liu, 2009), it can be expressed by two
separate dimensional exponential functions:
σ= {
(σ max − σ d )( r / vt )α + σ d , vr / vt ≤ 1
(σ max − σ b )( r / vt )β + σ b , vr / vt > 1
(1)
where σmax is the maximum stress at ductile-brittle
range, σd and σb are the minimum stress at ductile
and maximum stress brittle range, respectively, α
and β are positive and negative indices to control
the envelope profile, respectively, and vt is the tran-
sition ice velocity approximately in the middle of
transition range.
2.2 Ice failure length
Observations show that ice fails in wedge shape
after one loading phase with a characteristic fre-
quency at both full-scale and small-scale experi-
ments. During the loading phase, micro-cracks
inside the ice accumulate. When the density of
micro-cracks reaches a critical level, ice is incapa-
ble of taking more load, leading to a coalescence
of ice cracks in a whole amount, which is called
unloading phase (Yue & Guo, 2011). Kärnä et al.
(1993) used high speed camera and observed
that ice fails at a certain amount after each load-
ing phase. Neill (1976) reviewed numerous data
and emphasized that ice fails by following a cer-
tain size distribution and ice velocity controls
the ice failure frequency. Sodhi & Morris (1986)
Figure  1. Strain rate vs. uniaxial or indentation stress
corresponding to ice failure and structural response
mode.
108
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 108
conducted small-scale tests pushing different
diameter rigid cylinders at different velocities
against ice sheets with different thicknesses, and
found that the ice failure frequency is strongly
proportional to ice velocity and slightly inversely
proportional to diameter, and proposed that
vi
fi c (2)
H
where fi is the ice failure frequency; H is the ice
thickness; c is the ratio of the ice thickness to ice
failure length L, i.e. c=H/L, and it ranges from 2
to 5, with an average value of around 3. Tong et al.
(2001) conducted another similar series of small-
scale tests and found the same trend. Palmer et al.
(2010) reviewed both full-scale and small-scale
data and proposed that the dimensionless velocity-
thickness ratio parameter is more consistent than
velocity-diameter ratio parameter to define differ-
ent structural response modes.
2.3 Similarity with vortex-induced vibrations
As a result of the ice failure mechanism described in
the previous section, ice-induced vibrations is often
discussed as analogous to vortex-induced vibrations
(Johansson, 1981, Palmer et al., 2010). The fluctuat-
ing nature of vortex shedding is similar to that of
ice failure, causing periodic force upon structure.
Furthermore, the similarity between vortex-shed-
ding spacing and ice failure length leads to the ana-
logical frequency calculation to Equation 2 (Sodhi,
1988), in which vortex-shedding frequency fv can be
defined as fv = St (vf /D), where St is the Strouhal
number describing the oscillating flow mechanism
and vf is the vortex shedding frequency.
3 MODEL DESCRIPTION
As shown in Figure 2, the structure is modelled as a
mass-spring-damper system. Ice is moving towards
the structure at a constant velocity. Ice force is
calculated by area times stress. Ice failure is con-
trolled by a periodic force-time oscillator, Van der
Pol equation, which is used to model the saw-tooth
shape of ice force fluctuation profile to demon-
strate its internal natural failure behaviour, cou-
pling the relative velocity vr to correlate the strain
energy into ice during both loading and unloading
phases (Wang & Xu, 1991). Apart from utilization
of the ice stress-strain rate relationship given in
Equation 1, another main advantage of the current
approach is that the relative displacement between
ice and structure is also considered during compu-
tations because compressive stress will transfer to
ice deformation. When the deformation exceeds
3/29/2017 9:35:08 AM
 Figure  2. Schematic sketch of dynamic ice-structure
model.
the natural ice failure length, ice will also fail, over-
coming the overlook of structural effect on ice fail-
ure in Wang and Xu’s model. So, in addition to the
Van der Pol oscillator, ice will also fail instantane-
ously when the relative displacement is larger than
ice failure length, L. Therefore, ice will fail under
both internal and external effects.
Therefore, this single degree-of-freedom ice-
structure interaction model can be represented
by using three equations. These are equation of
motion and Van der Pol equation, i.e.
⎧MX + CX + KX = F (T ) = ADH (q + a )
⎪ To show the ice force (red line) and structural
⎨  bω i   (3)

⎪⎩q + i (q − )q + i q = H (Y X )
2 2
in conjunction with the ice stress-strain rate equa-
tion given in Eq. (1). In Eq. (3), X is the displace-
ment of the structure; the “dot” symbol represents
the derivative with respect to time T; α is the mag-
nification factor obtained from experimental data;
D is the structural diameter; q is the dimensionless
fluctuation variable, a and ε are scalar parameters
that control the q profile, ωi  =  2πfi is the angular
frequency of ice force, b is a coefficient depending
on ice properties and Y is the displacement of ice.
4 DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR
To date, studies have mainly focused on the ice
velocity effect on ice force and structural dynamic
behaviour. Coupled system configuration param-
eters are determined from the tests described in
Huang et al. (2007) and specified as:
σmax = 110 kPa, σd = 840 kPa, σb = 650 kPa,
α = 0.2, β = −1.5, vt = 0.15 m/s, A = 0.068,
a = 2, ε = 3.17, b = 0.1, D = 0.076 m, ζ = 0.15,
K = 27.44 kN/m, H = 0.048 m, c = 3.
During the steady-state vibration, the maximum
structural velocity is found to have approximately
a linear relationship with the ice velocity in many
experiments (Kärnä, 2001). Figure 3 shows a good
match for both the amplitude and the different
structural response mode under different ice veloci-
ties. Steady-state vibration range in the test (black
line) is from 0.11 m/s to 0.205 m/s and from 0.08 m/s
109
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 109
Figure  3. Ice velocity vs. the maximum structural
velocity.
to 0.22 m/s in the model (red line), which is deter-
mined from the corresponding ice force frequency
lock-in range in Figure 5 (red line). On the left and
right side of this range are quasi-static mode and
random response mode, respectively.
response (blue line) transition during time histo-
ries, three representative velocities are picked from
three distinctive structural response mode regions,
as shown in Figure  4. Both of them captured the
key characteristic behaviours observed in experi-
mental tests done by Huang et al. (2007). Moreover,
overall behaviour, i.e. saw tooth profile, sinusoidal
structural response, and how the ice force and struc-
tural response change with ice velocity, are in good
agreement both qualitatively and in most cases
quantitatively with experimental results for a model
ice and what many researchers cited in this paper
including Matlock et al. (1971) and Kärnä (2001).
In quasi-static region, shown in Figure 4a, ice sheet
fails in bending with ductile behaviour where a slow
loading to the maximum is then followed by a quick
unloading. At this stage, ice force and structural dis-
placement are in phase with each other.
When ice speed increases to a critical value cor-
responding to the transitional ice velocity at the
lower limit of the ice force frequency lock-in range
as shown in Figure 4b, where ice fails between bend-
ing and crushing with ductile-brittle behaviour,
loading and unloading takes less time. In addition
to the ice internal natural failure behaviour defined
in Equation  2, failure as a result of the real-time
ice-structure external effect is more significant, in
which sudden unloading takes place sometimes
due to the fact that relative displacement exceeds
the tolerable ice failure length. Consequently, ice
force frequency will stay in this range leading to a
resonance condition for a fairly large range as Yue
& Guo (2011) observed in the field, where ice force
and structural displacement are 90 degrees out-of-
phase. In other words, ice and structure are moving
in the same direction and structure is accelerated by
3/29/2017 9:35:08 AM

Figure  4. Time vs. ice force (red line) and structural
displacement (blue line): (a) Quasi-static at vi = 0.02 m/s;
(b) Steady-state at vi = 0.17 m/s (c) at vi = 0.19 m/s and
(d) Random at vi = 0.29 m/s.
Figure 5. Ice velocity vs. ratio between predominant ice
force frequency fi and structural natural frequency fn.
the ice during loading phase. During the unloading
phase, ice and structure are moving in the opposite
direction. Moreover, the structure is decelerated by
the ice as well since ice deformation will cause fail-
ure to occur when the compressive stress exceeds a
condition that the natural failure length can toler-
ate. Figure 4c is another vibration where this fail-
ure leading to the uniform peak value. These two
types of structural vibrations can be also found in
Huang & Liu (2009).
When ice speed exceeds another critical value
corresponding to the transitional ice velocity at
the upper limit of the ice force frequency lock-
in range, ice will fail as crushing with brittle
110
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 110
Figure 6. Reduced velocity vs. ratio between predomi-
nant structural response frequency fs and structural natu-
ral frequency fn.
behaviour, in which structure responds at small
amplitude with no obvious predominant frequency,
as shown in Figure 4d and Figure 6, respectively.
5 ICE-INDUCED VIBRATION
PHENOMENON
Ice force frequency lock-in is the significant phe-
nomenon during IIV process. By transforming the
time-history forces to spectrum analysis using fast
Fourier transform method, the predominant ice
force frequencies is shown in Figure 5. Most of the
lock-in frequencies are slightly lower than the struc-
tural natural frequency that can also be confirmed
from Kärnä et al. (2013). On the left and right side
of this region are quasi-static and random modes,
in which the ice force frequency in these two ranges
is following a linear relationship with the ice veloc-
ity, and the slope is equal to c, as defined in Equa-
tion  2. This similar lock-in range prediction can
also be found in Huang & Liu (2009), whereas there
is no need to define the initial conditions specifi-
cally in the present model and system will adjust to
stable conditions automatically.
Accordingly, the predominant frequency of the
structural response increases with the velocity till
the lock-in range, as shown in Figure  6. Then, it
fluctuates under the natural frequency of the struc-
ture following a similar trend with that in Figure 5,
and stays at around the natural frequency after-
wards. This relationship can also be confirmed
from experimental results obtained by Määttänen
(1983) and Tsuchiya et  al. (1985), and numerical
model result generated from Matlock et al. (1971)
model. However, structural response frequency
has not only its value, but also its corresponding
response amplitude at the same time, indicating
the structural response amplitude. The blue dash
line in Figure 6 shows the relative amplitude differ-
ence (relative amplitude is based on the maximum
3/29/2017 9:35:09 AM
 response value at vi = 0.2 m/s), from which it shows
the structural response increasing at quasi-static
region then vibrating at high response as well as
reaching the maximum during steady-state range.
As the velocity increases further, frequency value
stays at around the natural frequency while the
response amplitude is decreasing to almost zero,
which can also be verified from Huang et al. (2007).
6 CONCLUSIONS
In this study, the described mechanism in ice-
induced vibrations between forced vibration and
self-excited vibration and the similarity between
ice-induced vibrations and vortex-induced vibra-
tions are discussed. On the basis of ice behaviour
observed in full and small scale experiments, a
novel dynamic ice-structure interaction numerical
model is developed considering ice stress variations
as well as its internal and external effects. Results
show good agreements with that in full and small
scale experiments for a model ice and that in other
numerical models, like Matlock et  al. (1971) and
Huang and Liu (2009), including structural velocity
relationship with ice velocity, ice force and structural
displacement profile for three distinct modes from
low to high velocities, and the IIV phenomenon
caused by ice force frequency lock-in. Investigation
of the capability of the current approach for a real
ice behavior will be considered in future studies.
REFERENCES
Blenkarn, K. Measurement and analysis of ice forces on
Cook Inlet structures. Offshore Technology Confer-
ence, 1970. Offshore Technology Conference.
Den Hartog, J. 1947. Mechanical Vibrations, New York,
McGraw-Hill.
Huang, G. & Liu, P. 2009. A dynamic model for ice-
induced vibration of structures. Journal of Offshore
Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, 131, 011501.
Huang, Y., Shi, Q. & Song, A. 2007. Model test study of
the interaction between ice and a compliant vertical
narrow structure. Cold Regions Science and Technol-
ogy, 49, 151–160.
Johansson, P. 1981. Ice-induced vibration of fixed off-
shore structures, part 1: review of dynamic response
analyses.
Kärnä, T. Simplified modelling of ice-induced vibrations
of offshore structures. 16th International Symposium
on Okhotsk Sea & Sea Ice, 4–8 February 2001 Mom-
betsu, Japan. 114–122.
Kärnä, T. Research Problems Related to Time-Varying
Ice Actions. Proceedings of the Int. Conference on
Port and Ocean Engineering Under Arctic Condi-
tions, 2007.
Kärnä, T., Andresen, H., Gurtner, A., Metrikine, A.,
Sodhi, D., Loo, M., Kuiper, G., Gibson, R., Fenz, D. &
Muggeridge, K. Ice-Induced Vibrations of Offshore
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 111
Structures–Looking Beyond ISO 19906. 22nd Inter-
national Conference on Port and Ocean Engineering
Under Arctic Conditions (POAC), Espoo, Finland,
2013. 1673–1684.
Kärnä, T., Muhonen, A. & M., S. Rate effects in brit-
tle ice crushing. Conf. Port Ocean Eng. under Arc-
tic Conditions. (POAC’93), August 1993 Hamburg.
59–71.
Määttänen, M. 1983. Dynamic ice-structure interaction
during continuous crushing. DTIC Document.
Määttänen, M. Ice induced frequency lock-in vibrations —
Converging towards consensus. Proceedings of the
International Conference on Port and Ocean Engi-
neering under Arctic Conditions, POAC, 2015.
Matlock, H., Dawkins, W.P. & Panak, J.J. 1971. Ana-
lytical model for ice-structure interaction. Jour-
nal of the Engineering Mechanics Division, 97,
1083–1092.
Michel, B. & Toussaint, N. 1978. Mechanisms and theory
of indentation of ice plates. Journal of glaciology, 19,
285–300.
Neill, C.R. 1976. Dynamic ice forces on piers and piles.
An assessment of design guidelines in the light of
recent research. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineer-
ing, 3, 305–341.
Palmer, A., Goodman, D., Ashby, M., Evans, A., Hutch-
inson, J. & Ponter, A. 1983. Fracture and its role in
determining ice forces on offshore structures. Annals
of glaciology, 4, 216–221.
Palmer, A., Qianjin, Y. & Fengwei, G. 2010. Ice-induced
vibrations and scaling. Cold Regions Science and Tech-
nology, 60, 189–192.
Sodhi, D.S. Ice-induced vibrations of structures. Pro-
ceedings of the 9th Int. Association of Hydraulic
Engineering and Research Symposium on Ice, 1988.
625–657.
Sodhi, D.S. 1995. An ice-structure interaction model.
Studies in Applied Mechanics, 42, 57–75.
Sodhi, D.S. & Haehnel, R.B. 2003. Crushing ice forces
on structures. Journal of cold regions engineering, 17,
153–170.
Sodhi, D.S. & Morris, C.E. 1986. Characteristic fre-
quency of force variations in continuous crushing
of sheet ice against rigid cylindrical structures. Cold
Regions Science and Technology, 12, 1–12.
Timco, G. & Johnston, M. 2004. Ice loads on the caisson
structures in the Canadian Beaufort Sea. Cold Regions
Science and Technology, 38, 185–209.
Timoshenko, S. & Young, D. 1937. Vibration Problems in
Engineering, (1937). D van Nostrand Company, Inc.,
New-York.
Tong, J., Song, A. & Shi, Q. 2001. An experimental study
of ice-induced vibration and dynamic characteristics
of ice loads. Ocean Eng, 19, 34–39.
Tsuchiya, M., Kanie, S., Ikejiri, K., Ikejiri, A. & Saeki,
H. An experimental study on ice-structure interaction.
Offshore Technology Conference, 1985.
Wang, L. & Xu, J. Description of dynamic ice-structure
interaction and the ice force oscillator model. 11th
International Conference on Port and Ocean Engi-
neering under Arctic Conditions-POAC’91, St. John’s,
Newfoundl, Can, 09/24-28/91, 1991. 141–154.
Yue, Q. & Guo, F. 2011. Physical Mechanism of Ice-
Induced Self-Excited Vibration. Journal of Engineer-
ing Mechanics, 138, 784–790.
3/29/2017 9:35:10 AM
MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Whirling analysis of shaft line with a new compact flexible coupling

T. Pais & D. Boote

University of Genoa, Italy

G. Repetti
Vulkan-Italia, Italy

ABSTRACT: The comfort on board is a fundamental parameter to deal with in the yacht design
process. The acoustic comfort is a condition that has to be pursued in the yacht design process in order to
meet the owner requirements and to allow the crew to work safely. The essential part of a ship propulsion
system is the propulsion shaft line. The excitation forces originated from the shaft line can greatly affect
the dynamic response of the whole ship structure. Yacht designers and builders are continuously looking
for new solutions to reduce the noise and vibration on board a vessel. Within this context, the technical
office of the Vulkan-Italia has developed a flexible coupling which, because of its modular and compact
design, fits the installation requirements and guarantees excellent performance in terms of noise and
vibration. In this paper, the operation principle of the elastic joint is explained and a numerical whirling
vibration analysis is carried out. The whirling vibration analysis is able to check the shaft line with regards
to vibrations due to the rotation of the shaft line and the hydrodynamic effects of the propeller.

1 INTRODUCTION same functions are carried out by three separate

Buildings, vehicles and ships are all equipped with
many types of machineries and devices which,
during operation, produce vibrations and noise;
such devices are defined as “sources”. In a ship,
the noise, or better the acoustic energy generated
by the onboard sources, is transmitted to the sur-
rounding environment by two main transmission
path: air and structures (Biot et al. 2015). This
fact gives the name to two categories of noise: air-
borne and structure-borne sound. The structure-
borne sound influences the acoustic comfort at
long distance from the sound source due to the low
material damping (Pais et al. 2016). As well known,
space availability on motor yacht engine rooms is
always very limited; this is particularly true when
dealing with small size motor-yachts. Then the
implementation of a compact, integrated system
seal/thrust bearing/flexible coupling to reduce the
structure-borne noise should become a very inter-
esting subject to be investigated.
The assumption of this system improves vibro-
acoustic comfort, as it allows to disconnect the
main propulsion from the line shaft, so that the
engine-reduction unit can be moved on soft elas-
tic supports that also bear the propeller’s thrust
(Boote et al. 2013). Considering that, generally, the
systems (stern tube bearing, thrust bearing and
flexible coupling), the traditional transmission lay-
out requires a considerable amount of space.
In many cases the new elastic joint can solve
this problem because it is mounted directly on the
propeller shaft and fitted with a shrink disk that
integrates the propeller shaft and the thrust bear-
ing; the thrust bearing is also integrated with the
rotating part of the stern tube bearing.
The fixed parts of the system, the external part
of the thrust bearing with the relative casing and
the fixed part of the stern tube bearing are respec-
tively connected to the hull by brackets secured to
the casing with a semi-rigid connection and to the
stern tube bearing by a bushing made from Polyu-
rethane. The return springs on the fixed part guar-
antee the necessary pressure for the contact of the
shifting parts during the rotation and avoid water
leaks caused by small movements. The propeller
shaft is then connected with a flange hub that sup-
ports the internal part of the bearing to a rubber
socket joint with a constant velocity configuration.
In the first part of this paper, an operating anal-
ysis of the flexible couplings created by Vulkan
is carried out. In the second part, the new elastic
joint is included into a whirling analysis of a clas-
sic line shaft.

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 2 FLEXIBLE COUPLING

The new elastic joint is a mechanical coupling with

elastic torsion capability, able to transmit a torque
moment. The torque moment is proportional to
the elastic yielding of the elastic bushes interposed
between two metal disks when subject to compres-
sion load. This joint is able to:
− ensure an effective damping of any torsional
vibration due to the load or self-induced (in par-
ticular at the high frequencies);
− attenuate the impacts and torque peaks during Figure 1. The elastic bushing.
the start-up;
− compensate small angular, radial and axial mis-
alignments between shafts of coupled machines;
− ensure an acceptable service life;
− possibility of reverse.
Typical applications of the flexible couplings
in the nautical fields are between the gearbox and
propeller shaft or between motor/inverter and
water-jet. The technical department of Vulkan
Italy has developed a series of flexible couplings
versions of different dimensions according to the
type of application and the torque to be transmit-
ted. The current produced versions are:
− S type: installed between gearbox and propel- Figure 2. The basic unit of the new elastic joint.
ler shaft when the propeller thrust is transmit-
ted directly to the thrust bearings inside of the
elastic bushings are radially forced and axially
gearbox;
locked by elastic rings forced into suitably holes
− T type: installed between gearbox and propeller
prepared on the disk bushings holding, while inner
shaft if the transmission of thrust propeller to
tubes of the bushings are connected to the conju-
the gearbox bearings is not requested;
gate disk by screws. The elastic bushings, studied
− N type: installed between engine/gearbox and
and developed in a way to be easily assembled and
hydrojet and also in all applications where sup-
disassembled in the disk bushings holding, require
plying any thrust is not required.
high fatigue strength due to compressive loading
These couplings allow the nominal torques trans- cycles.
mission from 1.40 kNm to 60 kNm and thrusts for As before mentioned, the external part of the
the T and S type up to 280 kN. bushing is divided into three sectors. During the
The operating principles at the base of the new assembly phase, this ensure a radial forcing in
flexible couplings are very simple: the transmission the housing on the disk bushings holding. Further-
of torque takes place exclusively through the elastic more, a greater radial rubber pre-compression is
bushes subject to compression and consequent elas- imposed ensuring a longer operational durability.
tic deformation. The progressive elastic characteris- These precautions prevent the metal parts of the
tics and the exceptional damping capabilities allow bushing from slipping on the disk bushings hold-
to effectively prevent dangerous torsional vibrations. ing. At the same time, any housing holes defor-
The rubber part of the bushings facilitates the mation and consequent frictional oxidation are
compensation of angular or radial misalignment avoided as well. The elastic bushings are suitable
and reduces the antagonistic forces. The elas- to operate at ambient temperatures between −30°C
tic bushings are made by a metallic inner tube, a and +80°C with short peaks up to 120°C.
metallic outer tube divided into three sectors and,
finally, by central part consisting in a precom-
pressed vulcanized rubber perfectly adhering to 3 CONSTRUCTIVE NOTATIONS
the metal parts (Fig. 1).
The basic unit of this joint consists of two All the new flexible couplings allow to be assem-
metal disks connected through the elastic bushings bled and disassembled without any axial displace-
described above (Fig.  2). The outer parts of the ment of the engine or machines. In this way, the

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 decouple machines can be radially disassembled.
The new elastic joint is provided with interfaces
and lengths in accordance to customer require-
ments. They are fabricated in steel in order to
ensure reliability in the time and, on the base of
the work environments, specific surface treatments
are implemented. They are completely balanced
thanks to symmetrical processing of the individual
components and do not require any maintenance.
Following a brief description of the constructive
differences of N, T and S types are explained:
− N type: is the basic version of the joint. The flex-
ible coupling N is simply constituted by a disk
bushing holding, a number of variables bushings Figure 5. The S version.
according to the application and by a conjugate
disk. This joint can be constructed in single or
double version. The presence of the double row
− S type: on the contrary of the N version, between
of bushings at a variable distance between them
the disk bushings holding and the conjugate
allows a cardan effect which amplifies benefits.
disk, a thrust element properly sized is placed.
For these reasons, if the application allows it,
The entire axis thrust propeller is transferred
the double version is better than the single one.
throughout the joint.
− T type: is the composed version of the joint.
The N version is coupled with a thrust bearing
suitably dimensioned. Once joint T is clamped
4 WHIRLING
on girders, it is able to withstand the whole axis
propeller thrust generated by the propeller when
The shaft line transfers mechanical energy from
the boat is in navigation (Fig. 4).
the engine to the propeller that provides the neces-
sary thrust for ship’s navigation (Shaft Engineering
2005). A series of mechanical devices are used to
realize connections between engine and propeller.
They are essential for the power transmission from
the power unit to propeller (in terms of torque per
angular velocity) and from propeller to the hull
(in terms of thrust per forward velocity). Due to
this important function, the shaft line is the object
of particular attention during the construction
design and verification phases of the ship herself
(McGeorge 2013).
The whirling vibration analysis is able to check
the shaft line with respect to bending vibrations
Figure 3. The N version.
due to the self-rotation and the hydrodynamic
effects of the propeller (Den Hartog 2013). When
a shaft rotates, it may generate transverse oscil-
lations (Figure  6). If the shaft is misaligned, the
resulting centrifugal force will induce it to vibrate.
When the shaft rotates at a speed equal to the
natural frequencies, this vibration becomes large
and shows up as a whirling of the shaft. This also
occurs at multiples of the resonance speed. This
can significantly damage heavy rotatory machines,
such as turbine generators, set and designed to
have a natural frequency different from the rota-
tional speed. During switch on and off phases, the
critical speeds must be avoided to prevent damage
to bearings, shaft etc.
The distributed mass of the shaft, shown in
Figure 4. The T version. Figure  6, is negligible with respect to the mass

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 vector. In roto-dynamics, this equation gets addi-
tional contributions from the gyroscopic effect [G]:

[M ]{U } + ([G ] [C ]){U } [K ]{U } {F } (6)

This equation holds when motion is described

in a stationary reference frame. The gyroscopic
matrix, [G], depends on the rotational velocity
(or velocities if parts of the structure have differ-
ent spins) and it is the major contributor to roto-
dynamic analysis. The system of equations can be
solved as an eigenvalue problem. The correspond-
ing eigenvalues represent the squared of the natu-
Figure 6. A shaft with a dish. ral frequencies of the system and the eigenvectors
describe the mode shape and orbit of the rotor
system.
M positioned in the middle of it. In addition, the
centre of mass is not on the centre line but it has
a distance “e” from the shaft axis. This eccentric- 5 SHAFT LINE CASE STUDY
ity generates important inertia forces that tend to
bend out the shaft. Being “r” the shaft deflection The shaft line assumed as case study consists in
the distance to the center of gravity is then r + e an engine Cat 3516B with 16 cylinders supported
(Dunn). by resilient mounted RD214 55Sh(A) and a gear-
The shaft rotates at ω rad/s, and the transverse box ZF 7641 supported by a resilient mounting.
stiffness is Kt [N/m]. The deflection force is: The main engine and the gearbox are connected
by a VULKARDAN E flexible coupling. Between
F = Kt ⋅ r (1) the gearbox and the shaft line, a flexible torsional
coupling S type is installed.
The centrifugal force is The shaft FE model is established in ANSYS
with the engine and the gearbox modelled by mass
F = M ⋅ ω2 ⋅ (r + e) (2) elements located in their relative Centre of Gravity
(COG). The shaft between gearbox and propeller
Equating forces, we have: is modelled with beam elements, BEAM189. The
linear spring stiffness element COMBIN14 is used
Kt ⋅ r = M ⋅ ω2 ⋅ (r + e) (3) for modelling the engine mounts and the propel-
ler shaft bearings. Two COMBIN 14 elements are
= ω n2 , after few simple
Kt
Considering that M used for each bearing, one connecting the shaft
passages we obtain: to the foundation in vertical and one in lateral
direction.
e The same method is applied for modelling the
r= (4)
flexible coupling between gearbox and shaft. In this
⎡⎛ ω n ⎞ 2 ⎤
⎢⎝ ⎠ − 1⎥ case, the COMBIN14 elements connect the driving
⎢⎣ ω ⎥⎦ part to the driven part of the flexible coupling.
The numerical model of engine, gearbox and
When a rotating structure vibrates at its reso- line shaft are shown respectively in Figures 8–10.
nant frequency, points on the spin axis undergo an The propeller shaft installation is supported by
orbital motion, called whirling. Whirl motion can three oil-lubricated bearings. The stiffness of the
be a Forward Whirl (FW) if it is in the same direc-
tion as the rotational velocity or Backward Whirl
(BW) if it is in the opposite direction (Childs 1993;
Lalanne 1998).
The general equation of a dynamic system is:

[M ]{U } + [C ]{U } + [K ]{U } = {F } (5)

where [M], [C] and [K] are the mass, damping and
stiffness matrices, and {F} is the external force Figure 7. The shaft line.

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 Figure 11. After bracket support.
Figure 8. The numerical model of engine.

Table 1. The calculated bracket stiffness.

Calculated stiffness of bracket

Vertical stiffness 5.22 108 [N/m]

Lateral stiffness 3.45 108 [N/m]

Figure 9. The numerical model of gearbox.

Figure 12. Vibration mode lateral at 4.53 Hz.

excited before with a vertical and after lateral unit

Figure 10. The numerical model of the shaft line.
after bracket support consists in bearing stiffness
and bracket stiffness. The stiffness of the interme-
diate and forward shaft support consists in bearing
stiffness. In the first case, a numerical model of the
after bracket support is created. The structure is
force. In Figure  11, the vertical displacement is
shown.
In Table 1, the stiffness of the after bracket sup-
port is calculated.
As first step, the natural frequencies of the
engine and the gearbox are identified. The follow-
ing Figures 12–17 show the six natural frequencies
of the isolated engine.
In Table 2, the six degree of freedom for engine
and gearbox are shown.
In Table 3, the natural frequencies of the shaft
line shown in Figure 9 are reported. A description
of the vibration mode is explained for each deter-
mined natural frequency.

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 Figure 13. Vibration mode longitudinal at 6.31 Hz.
Figure 17. Vibration mode rolling at 18.2 Hz.

Table 2. Natural frequencies for engine and gearbox.

Natural Natural
frequency frequency Vibration
n° of engine of gearbox mode

1 4.5284 21.660 Lateral

2 6.3087 38.992 Longitudinal
3 7.5573 70.256 Vertical
4 13.492 134.550 Yawing
5 14.484 151.000 Pitching
6 18.201 188.920 Rolling

Figure 14. Vibration mode vertical at 7.56 Hz.

Table 3. Natural frequency of the shaft line.

Natural
frequency
n° [Hz] Vibration mode

1 4.7373 Engine lateral

2 6.3601 Engine longitudinal
3 7.8456 Engine vertical
4 11.247 1st bending mode shaft line
vertical
5 12.725 1st bending mode shaft line
longitudinal
6 13.597 Shaft axial and bending
7 13.847 Engine yawing
Figure 15. Vibration mode yawing at 13.49 Hz. 8 14.960 Engine pitching
9 16.931 Shaft line vertical bending
10 18.036 Engine rolling and shaft
longitudinal bending
11 18.615 Engine rolling and shaft vertical
bending
12 20.049 Gearbox longitudinal + flexible
coupling bending + shaft line
vertical bending
13 28.839 Shaft line vertical bending +
flexible coupling bending
vertical + GB pitching
14 30.027 Shaft line longitudinal bending +
flexible coupling longitudinal
bending

Figure 16. Vibration mode pitching at 14.48 Hz. (Continued )

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 Table 3. (Continued ).

Natural
frequency
n° [Hz] Vibration mode

15 40.430 Shaft line longitudinal bending +

GB longitudinal
16 40.642 Shaft line longitudinal bending +
GB lateral
17 50.040 Shaft line vertical bending +
GB pitching
18 54.178 Shaft line longitudinal bending +
GB yawing
19 58.261 Shaft line vertical bending +
flexible coupling bending
vertical + GB pitching
20 67.116 Shaft line vertical bending + Figure 18. Campbell diagram of the engine.
flexible coupling bending
vertical + GB vertical
Table 4. The firing order for engine.

Firing order for engine

6 CAMPBELL DIAGRAM
0.5th 1st 4th
A Campbell diagram is a very useful tool for under-
standing the interaction between the vibration sources Frequency [Hz] 13.33 26.67 106.67
with the natural modes (Genta 2008). In this case
study, the firing order of the engine are considered.
The firing order is the sequence of power deliv-
ery of each cylinder in a multi-cylinder reciprocat-
ing engine (Okumoto et al. 2008). This is achieved by
sparking of the spark plugs in a gasoline engine in
the correct order, or by the sequence of fuel injection
in a Diesel engine. When the firing order is incorrect
or delayed, the engine does not work correctly. In
this situation, the engine is operating in an improper
way and induces vibrations. For these reasons, for the
engine with 16 cylinders, the 0.5th, 1st, 4th engine fir-
ing order are taken into account as vibration sources.
In the graph shown in Figure  18, the natural
frequency of the engine, reported in Table  2, are
intersected with the engine firing orders calculated
in the following Table 4. The range of operation of
the engine is 600–1600 rpm.
The most dangerous area is near the nominal
engine speed. Special attention zone equal to ±20% Figure 19. Campbell diagram for the shaft line.
of the nominal speed is considered as well (high-
lighted yellow in the Figure  19), as stated in the where the n°rpm correspond to the shaft rotation
Lloyd’s Register Rules (Rulebook 2014). speed.
After that, a subsequent Campbell diagram is The propeller has 5 blades and the rotational
created. In this case the other natural frequencies velocity is 441 rpm, so the blade passing frequency
determined in Table 3 from number 4 are reported. is 36.75 Hz. The gear teeth frequency is calculated
The 0.5th, 1st, 4th engine order, the blade propel- from the formula, i.e. the number of teeth for the
ler and gear teeth are chosen as vibration sources. gear rotation speed:
The firing orders of the engine are defined in the
°
Table 4. The blade propeller frequency is obtained nteeth nr°pm
from the following formula: Freqteeth = (8)
60
°
nrpm The operation range of the shaft line is deduced
Freqblade = (7)
60 from the reduction ratio 4.07; i.e. from 117 to

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 393 rpm. In Figure 19, the Campbell diagram for
the shaft line is shown. Special attention should be
focused on the zone equal to ±20% of the nominal
speed.
7 CONCLUSIONS
The new flexible couplings have been conceived
and designed to be installed on board luxury
yachts, where comfort is an essential requirement.
Thereafter, their application has been extended in
naval and industrial field. In the first part of this
paper, the elastic joint is described from the point
of view of the construction and operating condi-
tions. In the second part the new elastic joint, has
been inserted in a common shaft line and in a
whirling analysis.
The shaft line whirling analysis is based on
steady state (time independent excitation) operating
conditions. Transient (time dependent excitation)
operating parameters, in particular frequent shock/
impact loadings, requires a transient analysis. The
analysis excludes possible interaction between the
considered system and other coupled systems.
In the Figure  18, the resonance Speed Dia-
gram for the six Degree of Freedom (DOF) of the
engine is carried out. It is possible to notice that
the only resonance points are given from the 0.5th
order of the engine. It intersects the natural mode
shapes corresponding to yachting and pitching
engine natural frequencies. The resonance points
are above the full speed of the engine.
Moreover, in Figure  19, the Campbell dia-
gram for the shaft line is performed. The natural
frequencies of the shaft line are intersected with
0.5th, 1st, 4th engine order, the blade propeller and
gear teeth frequencies.
The 1st bending vibration mode of the shaft line
(11.247 Hz) is higher than the shaft nominal speed
by a factor of 1.72.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 120
In the yellow zone, the mode shapes 13 and 14
of Table  3 are intersected by the 4th firing order
of engine and from the blade propeller frequency.
These two points are not in correspondence of the
nominal speed but could be potential resonance
points.
REFERENCES
ANSYS Mechanical APDL Rotordynamic Analysis
Guide. 2014.
Biot, M, Boote, D, Brocco, E, Moro, L, Pais, T, Delle
Piane, S. 2015. Numerical and experimental analy-
sis of the dynamic behavior of main engine founda-
tions”, Proc 25th Int Offshore and Polar Eng Conf,
Hawaii, ISOPE.
Boote, D, Pais, T, Delle Piane, S. 2013. Vibration of
superyacht structures. Proc 4th International Con-
ference on Marine Structures, Espoo, Finland,
MARSTRUCT.
Childs, D, 1993. Turbomachinery dynamics, John Wiley.
Den Hartog, J. P. 2013. Mechanical Vibrations. Read
Books Ltd (eds).
Dunn, D.J. Forced Vibrations. https://www.freestudy.
co.uk/dynamics/forced%20vibrations.pdf
Genta, G. 2008. Vibration Dynamics and Control. Springer
Science & Business Media (eds.), Torino.
Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. 2005. Shaft Engi-
neering. Taylor & Francis e-Library (eds), England.
Lalanne, M, Ferraris, G, Rotordynamics prediction in
engineering, John Willey 2nd edition, 1998.
McGeorge, H. D. 2013. Marine Auxiliary Machinery.
Butterworth—Heinemann Ltd (eds). Oxford.
Okumoto, Y, Takeda, Y, Mano, M, Okada, T. 2009.
Design of Ship Hull Structures: a Practical Guide for
Engineers. Springer Science & Business Media (eds.),
Japan.
Pais, T, Boote, D, Kaeding, P. 2016. Experimental and
numerical analysis of absorber materials for steel
decks. Proc 26th Int Offshore and Polar Eng Conf,
Rodi, ISOPE.
Rulebook, Chapter  8, Shaft vibration and alignment,
Lloyd Register of Shipping, London, 2014.
3/29/2017 9:35:17 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Estimation of damping from wave induced vibrations in ships

G. Storhaug
DNV GL, Oslo, Norway

K. Laanemets, I. Edin & J.W. Ringsberg

Department of Shipping and Marine Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

ABSTRACT: Wave induced vibrations of container ships are high on the agenda in the industry.
Because of the MSC Napoli and MOL Comfort accidents, IACS has issued new unified requirements
specifying functional requirements to include whipping in design of large container ships to reduce the
risk of vessels breaking in two. Leading class societies like BV, DNV GL and LR have also class notations
(WhiSp, WIV and FDA (SPR), respectively) for container ships to account for springing (and whipping)
to reduce risk of fatigue cracks. Numerical analysis can be used, and an essential input parameter affect-
ing the vibration level is damping. Due to the recent increase of container ship sizes, there is little relevant
damping data available. Based on this, a study has been carried out to determine the damping for several
container ships and other ship types. Several damping methods have been applied to reveal which method
is more reliable. Results show significant differences in damping between ship types, but not all methods
are regarded useful.

1 INTRODUCTION vary with an order of magnitude, e.g. varying from

For more than a century, the topic of wave induced
vibrations of ships has been known. When the
ships were small and riveted, wave induced vibra-
tions were mainly considered as noise. First during
the 1960ies, the concern about the effect of wave
induced vibrations increased. This was particu-
larly related to large flexible inland water vessels
and large ocean going ships with high tensile steel
being introduced. In the recent decades, the ship
sizes have increased further, and especially two
major ship accidents, MSC Napoli (MAIB, 2008)
and MOL Comfort (Class NK, 2014), have put
wave induced vibrations high on the agenda in the
industry. The International Association of Classi-
fication Societies (IACS) has responded by issuing
unified requirements for container ships, which
came into force in July 2016 (IACS, 2016). Func-
tional requirements to whipping in design have
been given to Post Panamax container ships with
beam above 32.25  meters. Hydroelastic theories,
software and procedures have also been developed
to perform numerical analysis for design. Numeri-
cal analyses of wave induced vibrations are however
complicated, and many elements contain signifi-
cant uncertainties. One of these main elements is
the damping of the wave induced vibration, which
may significantly affect the extreme response, but
also the fatigue accumulation of the structure.
The damping of the wave induced vibration of
the steel hull girder is generally low, but could still
0.5% of the critical damping to 10% depending
on the ship type and vibration mode (Storhaug &
Kahl, 2015). The research on the topic containing
relevant ship data has been limited, and the litera-
ture references are few. Old data may also not be
applicable, especially related to small and riveted
ships.
Since the numerical tools and model tests need
target damping values for design assessment, a
research project was developed. The first part con-
sisted of testing out several damping methods on
artificial time series where the damping was known
at the outset. Both resonance (springing) and
impact type of vibrations (whipping) were covered.
Secondly, selected damping methods were applied
to recorded hull monitoring data from several
ships. This will be explained in more details in this
paper including results. Further, the paper includes
recommended damping methods, which may be
applied to hull monitoring systems onboard for
continuous recording of damping values. The first
preliminary target damping values for certain ship
types, e.g. container ships, have also been derived.
2 THEORY
2.1 Introduction
The main goal has been to reveal methods which
can reliably estimate damping from time series
of wave induce vibration which is illustrated in

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Figure  1. Illustration of stress decomposition of a
whipping event from port midship strain sensor below
deck in a 4600 TEU container vessel. The wave stress and
high frequency stress superimposed give the total stress.
The stress addition from vibrations is highlighted.
Figure  1. Secondly, the magnitude should be
revealed.
The whipping event occurring in sagging (nega-
tive values) in Figure  1 causes vibrations that
increase the hogging (positive values) after sev-
eral vibration cycles. This increase of hogging is
the main concern for container ships in extreme
loading. The amplitude of hogging is affected by
the decay due to the damping. Let us assume that
the initial whipping response has an amplitude
of 100 N/mm2 (=MPa) and the that there are 3.5
vibration cycles from the impact in sagging until
the vibration peak coincides with the wave hog-
ging peak, giving an extreme total dynamic hog-
ging peak. If the damping is 0.5%, which can be
a reasonable value for an oil tanker, the vibration
peak in hogging is then 89.6 N/mm2. If the damp-
ing is increased to 1.5%, which can be a reasonable
value for a container ship, the vibration peak in
hogging is then 71.9 N/mm2. The damping clearly
affects the whipping contribution. The relation
used is the analytical relation for the decay enve-
lope exp(-ζωt) where ζ is the damping ratio (e.g.
0.005), ω is the natural frequency in rad/s and t is
the time in seconds.
The vibrations from whipping affect the fatigue
damage, and due to the increase of the wave
induced response (Storhaug et al., 2007). The decay
also affects the number of cycles that can occur
before the vibration becomes insignificant. Let
us say that the vibration from whipping is insig-
nificant if it reaches 10% of the initial whipping
response, and the vibration period is 2  seconds.
In case of a 0.5% damping, the significant vibra-
122
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 122
tion lasts for 146  seconds, i.e. more than two
minutes. If the damping is increased to 1.5%, the
significant vibration lasts for 48 seconds. Clearly,
the damping is also important for fatigue damage
induced by whipping response, but how important
is of course dependent on how frequent whipping
occurs and at which amplitudes.
For springing, the relation with damping is very
different. Springing is occurring continuously when
it occurs in stationary conditions. The resonance
level is inversely proportional to the damping ratio
(analytical formulation from single degree of free-
dom system). Hence, the springing process itself
may also be assumed to follow this relation. If the
vibration increases the wave induced response by
10% at a damping of 1.5%, the vibration damage
contribution is dominated by the increase of the
wave induced response. If the inverse slope of the
fatigue strength S-N curve has a parameter m = 3,
the vibration will increase the fatigue damage by
1.13, i.e. by 33.1%. If the damping is reduced to
0.5%, then the vibration level will be about 30% of
the wave induced response, and this will increase
the fatigue damage by 120%. Vibration damage is
clearly dependent on the damping.
Low damping, which is more relevant for blunt
ships, tends to affect both the extreme loading and
fatigue damage more than on slender ships like
container ships with higher damping. However, the
excitation may be very different, and can therefore
change the picture. For container ships whipping
tends to be relative more important than spring-
ing for both extreme loading and fatigue damage
than on blunt ships, where also springing can be
important.
2.2 Damping methods
Damping methods can be divided into time domain
and frequency domain. They can both be applied
to time series, but in the latter case the time series
must first be converted into the frequency domain.
The time domain methods are:
• Logarithmic decrement method.
• Stochastic Subspace Identification (SSI).
• Random decrement technique.
The frequency methods are:
• The spectral method.
• Half-power bandwidth method.
• Enhanced frequency domain decomposition
(EFDD).
The simplest form of logarithmic decrement
method is to consider the value of the peak number
i, and the value of the peak at N cycles later from
the filtered time series where the vibration from the
vertical 2-node vibration model is kept, and then
3/29/2017 9:35:17 AM
 calculate the damping ratio (in case of low damp-
ing) by Equation 1:
1 ⎛ xi ⎞
ζ= ln
2π N ⎜⎝ xi + N ⎟⎠
This method can also be used to check non-
linear damping effects versus amplitude. It needs
whipping type of decays. A more complicated for-
mulation for this method in Equation 2 considers
all peaks (Magalas & Malinowski, 2003):
time the signal is exceeding this limit, a sample
with a certain time lag is recorded. These samples
are then superimposed to one signature signal. If
the number of samples is sufficiently large, then
(1) the importance of the disturbances in the individ-
ual samples is marginalized. The resulting signal is
treated in the same way as the identified whipping
events from the logarithmic decrement method.
The damping ratio corresponds to the slope of the
curve that is obtained by taking the logarithm of
the peak value envelope curve, see Figure 3.
The frequency domain methods are based on
the Power Spectral Density (PSD) function of the

ζ=−
(
1 n ∑ i =1
n
− ∑ i =1 ln xi ∑ i =1 ni
n n
) (2)
stress signal. They analyses the shape and width of
the resonance peak over the natural frequency of
2π
( )
2
the mode of interest.
∑ ∑ i =1 ni
n n
n −
i =1 The spectral method utilizes the PSD function
(psd.m in MatLab), which is a function of fre-
Results from this method are illustrated in quency, ω, that describes the response energy SR(ω)
Figure  2, where damping ratio may be estimated of the system at each frequency. The damping
by fitting a logarithmic decay curve to the results. ratio is calculated for a chosen frequency of inter-
The Stochastic Subspace Identification (SSI) est, which in this study is the natural frequency of
is a more complex mathematical method that can
identify mode shapes, natural frequencies and
damping coefficients. It requires more measure-
ment positions for mode shapes. The details of
the method are explained by Brinker & Andersen
(2006), and the software ARTeMIS modal pro was
used. It should be noted that modal decomposition
has not been the objective of this research and that
the mode of vibration is revealed by the presence
of the natural frequency, which is targeted for the
evaluation of the damping.
The Random Decrement Technique (RDT) is
based on the same theory as the logarithmic dec-
rement method, but eliminates disturbances in the
decaying process. The procedure is explained by
Kölling et al. (2014). First, a threshold is set. Every

Figure  3. Logarithmic decaying curve fitted to the

envelope of the RDT signature curve.

Figure 2. The peak values of the event are plotted in a

log-normal graph at the top. The fitted straight line (in Figure 4. PSD of an 8600 TEU container vessel meas-
the log-normal plot) is plotted in the normal plot below. ured at port side midship sensor for 30 minutes.

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 the system for the vertical 2-node vibration, i.e. a
Single Degree of Freedom (SDOF) system. When
plotting the PSD for a ship typically two peaks
can be identified. The first peak around 0.5 rad/s
corresponds to the time between two encountered
waves, regarded as a quasi-static load. The other
peak (for this ship, loading condition and sea stat)
is around 3.2  rad/s, and confirms that the ship is
vibrating at this natural frequency, due to whip-
ping and/or springing.
The damping and natural frequency of the
SDOF system can be estimated by fitting Equa-
tion 3 to the PSD around the resonance frequency.
The equation originates from the normalization of
the displacement amplitude by the static displace-
ment, as described by Akay & Carcaterra (2014).
((
Sx ,est
est norm ⋅
Anorm D − D, i t
D ) + D D,i t
The curve fitting procedure is done in MatLab
using the function fminsearch.m where the
parameters Anorm, ζ, ωD and n are varied in such
way that the difference between Sx,est and the meas-
ured PSD is minimised. ωD,int is a vector containing
frequencies around the resonance frequency. The
width of the fitted curve is an important param-
eter, especially when other modes with similar
natural frequencies are present, but also because it
is assumed that the excitation is constant over the
frequency range, which is not necessarily the case
for a wide range. An example of a fitted curve is
shown in Figure 5.
Figure  5. Fitted curve to the measured PSD function
around natural frequency of the vertical 2-node vibration
mode, plotted in a log-normal diagram. Note the small
peak at 6 rad/s, which would be the natural frequency for
the 3-node mode.
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 124
The expression of Sx,est does now contain values
that can be extracted and evaluated as:
• ωD = Damped natural frequency.
• ζ = Damping ratio.
• Anorm = Amplitude normalizer.
• n = Curve fitting parameter.
This method considers the entire time series that
is under evaluation, and it is not dependent on find-
ing a specific whipping event to evaluate. Hence, this
method does not consider if the natural frequency is
excited from springing or whipping. The spectrum is
pre-processed using the MatLab toolbox AbraVibe
to smoothen the power spectral density function for
a better estimation of the damping ratio.
A widely-used method to estimate damping is
the half-power bandwidth method (Wang et  al.,
) 2012). The damping ratio ζ is estimated based on
−1
⋅ ω D− n, int the width of the resonance peak of the Response
Amplitude Operator (RAO). The frequency range
(3) corresponding to the half power points on each
side of the peak are identified. Half power points
are in acoustics defined at -3dB below the peak
value, i.e. 1/√2 0.707 of the maximum amplitude.
The damping is estimated by Equation 4:
ω hp,uu ω hhpp l
ζ= (4)
2 ⋅ ωD
RAO’s are not available from the measurements
directly, but the spectral power is. Instead of tak-
ing out the half power points at 0.707 of the peak
value, they are taken out at 0.7072, i.e. 0.5 of the
peak value (response spectrum can be calculated
from multiplying the square of the RAO with the
wave spectrum). An illustration of the method is
shown in Figure 6.
Figure  6. Identification of half-power points on
smoothened curve at the resonance peak of the vertical
2-node mode of an 8600 TEU vessel.
124
3/29/2017 9:35:18 AM
 Table 1. Summary of advantages and weaknesses of the investigated damping evaluation methods.

Method Advantage Weakness

Logarithmic decrement
method
Stochastic subspace
identification*
Random decrement
technique
The spectral method
Half-power bandwidth
method
Enhanced frequency
domain decomposition*
Very accurate estimation if an
undisturbed whipping event
is identified.
Advanced modal identification algorithm.
Can also identify mode shapes if more
sensors are provided. Accurate
estimations.
Does not need a single whipping event
to estimate the decay rate of the system.
Works for all sea states. Can estimate
damping from both springing and
whipping.
Simple. Not dependent on sea state and
excitation source.
Capable of identifying mode shapes if
several sensors are provided. Simple
user interface.
Cannot calculate damping from small
sea states or from springing.
During this study only used in the
ARTeMIS modal pro software.
Low transparency on how the
program processes the data.
Need long time series for a good
averaged decay signature.
Need long time series to get enough
information for an accurate
response spectrum.
The spectrum needs to be pre-processed
for the estimation not to fail.
Low accuracy.
During this study only used in the
ARTeMIS modal pro software.
Low transparency on how the program
processes the data. Fails at high
levels of damping.

* Implemented in the ARTeMIS modal pro software.

The Enhanced Frequency Domain Decomposi-
tion method (EFDD) uses a technique to divide
a multiple degree of freedom system into SDOF
systems (Brincker et  al., 2001). The technique
identifies peaks in the response spectrum of an
output-only measurement data, and isolates the
mode from the rest of the spectrum. The SDOF is
then transformed back to time domain by inversed
Fourier transform. The logarithmic decrement δ
is found by linear regression of the peak values,
and then transformed to damping ratio ζ by divid-
ing by 2π in case of low damping. This method is
implemented in the ARTeMIS modal pro software.
2.3 Summary of methods
The damping estimation methods have their indi-
vidual advantages and weaknesses. Some of them
are stated in Table 1. The accuracy of the methods
is evaluated by testing them out on artificial time
series including sensitivity study on measurement
duration and sampling frequency.
Based on Table  1, neither logarithmic decre-
ment, nor half-power band width, may be regarded
useful for implementation in hull monitoring
systems.
3 ARTIFICIAL SYNTHESIZED DATA
To evaluate the damping methods, artificial time
series with known damping were generated. The
generated time series included both whipping
(impulsive) and springing (resonance) response.
Realistic damping values and natural frequencies
were considered based on time series with realistic
duration and sampling frequency frequently used
on hull monitoring systems.
The whipping time series were generated assum-
ing a response based on a SDOF system excited
by a Pierson-Moskowitz wave spectrum, but then
implementing ten randomly distributed whipping
responses within a 30-minute time series. Already
at this stage, the half power band width method
was rejected for raw and smoothed spectral vibra-
tion peak due to significant uncertainties. For a
damping of 1.5%, results for the other methods for
varying natural frequency are shown in Figure 7.
There are significant uncertainties in the data,
and especially the logarithmic decrement method
appears unreliable. For a constant natural fre-
quency of 3 rad/s, the results as a function of vary-
ing damping ratio are shown in Figure 8.
The mean and standard deviation from the
24  systems (4  in frequency times 6  in damping)
were estimated by the 5 remaining methods as
shown in Table  2. For the impact loads, surpris-
ingly the logarithmic decrement method is not very
reliable. The spectral method seems to overesti-
mate the mean a bit, but the uncertainty is low. The
uncertainties of the other methods are also accept-
able with SSI being best, while EFDD has the best
estimate of the mean value. Both are included in
commercial software ARTeMis.

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 from these cases are shown in Table 3. Again, the
logarithmic decrement method is not very reliable.
For this reason, logarithmic decrement should be
rejected as a method for hull monitoring. SSI pro-
vides the best estimate of the mean and the uncer-
tainty is the lowest. The spectral method has also
low uncertainty, but has a slightly higher estimate
of the mean.
Torsional vibration may occur on large container
ships, and from Storhaug & Kahl (2015) it is known
that the damping is much larger for torsional vibra-
tions than for vertical 2-node vibration. It was then
decided to extend the tests to include higher damp-
ing values. The result for a SDOF system excited
by impact loads and with a natural frequency
of 2  rad/s, a bit lower than the 2-node vertical, is
shown in Figure  9. The EFDD fails to make any
Figure 7. Damping estimations for a system with 1.5%
damping ratio and varying natural frequencies.
estimations of damping values larger than 9%
damping ratio, and is therefore put to zero. The
SSI makes very accurate estimations, but it should
be noted that it is not fully functional at damping
values from 6% and higher. The vertical 2-node
mode is regarded as a “noise mode”, and had to be
extracted manually. The RDT gives very accurate
results especially at higher damping values. This
suggests that EFDD and SSI are less robust and

Table  3. Normalized mean value and standard devia-

tion for damping estimation methods of impact loads.

Standard
Method Mean dev.

Spectral method 1.04 0.07

Logarithmic decrement tec. 0.83 0.52
Random decrement tec. 0.93 0.17
Figure 8. Damping estimations for a system with 3 rad/s EFDD 0.96 0.16
natural frequency and varying damping ratio. SSI 1.01 0.03

Table  2. Normalized mean value and standard devia-

tion for damping estimation methods of impact loads.

Standard
Method Mean dev.

Spectral method 1.13 0.08

Logarithmic decrement tec. 0.96 0.49
Random decrement tec. 0.97 0.11
EFDD 1.00 0.16
SSI 1.02 0.06

A white noise excitation was also used on the

SDOF system. The resonance peak would then be
pronounced compared to the remaining response
as there will always be some frequencies exciting the
responses close to resonance. Similar 24  systems Figure 9. Estimations of damping ratios from 1 to 15%
were used and the mean and standard deviations excited by impact loads.

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 may need more careful programming. The remain-
ing methods are the spectral method and the RDT.
The latter may be regarded easier to implement.
An investigation was also done on the impact
time series with 50  Hz sampling frequency but
varying length of the time series. Results for 2%
damping ratio and 4  rad/s natural frequency are
shown in Figure  10. Convergence is not clear,
but 1800seconds appear to be necessary. Similar
results were obtained with other natural frequen-
cies, although which method is closest to the target
damping varies.
A similar study was done on sampling frequency.
For a damping ratio of 2% and a natural frequency
of 5 rad/s the results are shown in Figure 11. Results
appear to converge fast and 8 Hz appears to be a min-
imum. For 5 rad/s, i.e. 0.80 Hz it is about 10 points
per vibration period, and this can illustrate a sinu-
soidal shape. The uncertainty in amplitude based on
this sampling frequency can however be significant,
and it can be estimated as (1 − cos(2π/10)) * 100%,
i.e. 20% uncertainty. Going to 24  Hz it would be
3.4%, which is more satisfactory; i.e. when accuracy
in amplitude is satisfied, the sampling frequency is
also sufficient for damping estimates.
4 FULL SCALE MEASUREMENTS
4.1 Vessels
Time series from hull monitoring of several ships
were collected with the objective of estimating the
damping. The ships’ main characteristics are listed
in Table 4.
This covers in total 21 ships with measurements
from different suppliers like Miros, Light Structures
AS and DNV GL. Miros has ascii files, Light Struc-
tures AS has binary format and from DNV GL
systems the Famos software is used to investigate
data files. Different formats are cumbersome, and
everything is converted into MatLab data files and
assessed with MatLab scripts, except when ARTe-
Mis is used. Light Structures AS who is a leading
supplier is regarded to have the most convenient data
format with easy overview of data from statistical
files, and time series contain all sensors in parallel.

4.2 Results
Some time series containing significant wave
induced vibrations were selected. Results for
container ships below 10k TEU, above 10k
TEU and other ships are shown in Figure  12 to
Figure 14.

Figure 10. Damping estimation at varying length of the

time series; natural frequency of 4 rad/s. Table 4. Ship characteristics.

Lpp B D T
Vessel [m] [m] [m] [m]

CV, 1700TEU 199 26.7 19.0 11.4

CV, 2800TEU 232 32.2 16.5 10.8
CV, 4200TEU 285 32.2 – 13.5
CV, 4400TEU 281 32.3 18.3 10.8
CV, 4600TEU 282 32.2 21.4 14.1
CV, 8300TEU 339 42.8 – 14.7
CV, 8600TEU 322.6 45.6 24.6 14.5
CV, 14kTEU 349 51.2 29.9 16.0
CV, 15kTEU* 368.5 51 30.4 15.5
CV, 19kTEU* 383 58.6 25.9 16
LNG, 85k dwt** 274 49 26.8 12.3
Ore Carrier, 210k dwt** 300 50 25.3 18.3
Ore Carrier, 220k dwt 294 53 24 18.8
Oil tanker, 18k dwt 153 23.4 – 8
Oil tanker, 268k dwt 320 70 25.6 19.2
Figure  11. Damping estimation at varying sampling
frequency; natural frequency of 5 rad/s. *Three sister ships; **Two sister ships.

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Figure  12. Damping estimated for container ships
below 10k TEU.
Figure  13. Damping estimated for container ships
above 10k TEU.
Figure 14. Damping estimations for other ships.
There is some spreading between each method
on each time series, but the maximum estimate is
typically less than two times the minimum esti-
mate. The scattered values are averaged over all the
methods and ships and presented in Table 5. It is
128
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 128
not a large change between small and large con-
tainer ships. The other ship types, however, show
substantially lower damping. A target damping
can be assumed to be 1.7% for container ships and
0.7% for blunt ships. Strictly, the logarithmic dec-
rement method should have been excluded in this
estimate.
The size effect on damping for container ships
was investigated and the results are shown in
Figure 15. The Pearson correlation coefficient was
estimated to 0.36 suggesting only moderate corre-
lation (between 0.3 and 0.5). A slight reduction of
the damping with size is observed. This contradicts
suggestions by Andersen & Jensen (2014).
Amplitude-dependent damping was estimated
on the 2800 TEU and 4400 TEU ships based on
logarithmic decrement method. No significant non-
linear damping was found, but the Pearson correla-
tion coefficient was poor, so plots are omitted and
the investigation is regarded as a failure. Similarly,
damping was estimated as a function of speed on
the 8600 TEU, and a slight increase due to increas-
ing speed was found, but again the Pearson correla-
tion coefficient was poor, so that the plot is omitted
and the investigation is regarded as a failure.
Table  5. Mean values of damping ratio for
container vessels  <  10kTEU,  >  10kTEU, all
container vessels and blunt ships.
Type Mean
<10kTEU 1.75
>10kTEU 1.53
All Container ships 1.66
Ore/LNG/oil 0.72
Figure 15. Linear correlation between container capac-
ity and damping ratio.
3/29/2017 9:35:21 AM
 4.3 Discussion on damping sources decrement technique should be abandoned. At
high damping, the EFDD and SSI methods failed
From a qualitative perspective, the damping can be
or manual input was needed. These methods are
divided into hydrodynamic, structural and cargo
otherwise acceptable just as the spectral method
damping. The hydrodynamic damping can be lin-
and the RDT.
ear and nonlinear. The linear damping is caused by
Based on the full-scale measurement data,
wave generation of the flexible mode. It is known
container ships have higher damping than other
that this is frequency dependent, but regarded
blunt ships like oil tankers, ore carriers and gas
small and in the order of 0.2–0.4% of the critical
carriers. A target damping of 1.7% for container
damping (Storhaug, 2007). For ships with higher
ships and 0.7% for blunt ships is proposed. For
speed, and in the case of transom stern where
container ships, the damping appeared to reduce
the fluid is leaving the bottom tangentially (Kutta
slightly with vessel size, but with moderate confi-
condition) there may be more substantial hull lift
dence. A slight speed effect and no significant non-
damping as well. This can become important in
linear contribution on vibration level were found,
higher speeds. In low speed potential vortex shed-
but with low confidence, and further studies are
ding can also take place in a submerged transom
regarded necessary.
stern, but this is not regarded significant for these
Hull monitoring time series of 30 minutes and
vessels. On the other hand, viscous and nonlin-
with a sampling frequency being at least ten times
ear damping can occur due to the bilge keels,
the vibration frequency appears to be good enough
especially amidships. This is also vortex shed-
for damping estimates. For practical implementa-
ding. Based on tankers with low damping, this
tion on hull monitoring systems the RDT and
is also expected to be low for the relatively small
the spectral method are regarded robust and suf-
bilge keels on modern container ships. The struc-
ficiently reliable and is recommended required
tural damping of welded steel is regarded to be
for approved hull monitoring systems to HMON
in the order of 0.1–0.2% of the critical damping
notation. The spectral method may overestimate
(Storhaug, 2007). Based on the oil tankers or ore
the damping slightly.
carriers with a total damping ratio of in the order
Future research should use only the best method
of 0.5%, the cargo damping must be small (hydro-
to estimate the target damping and then also more
dynamic 0.3%  + steel 0.15% and bilge maybe
time series for each ship is regarded necessary.
0.1%) (Storhaug, 2007). For container ships, how-
Parameter dependence on damping should also be
ever, the damping is much higher. It is believed
studied in more detail, e.g., for speed dependence,
that the hull lift damping is part of the reason, but
the draught may be necessary input.
secondly that the cargo damping from the moving
container stacks (acting possibly as passive damp-
ers) and from the hatch covers (friction between
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
hatch cover and pads on the hatch coaming) can
be significant. Not much studies have been identi-
This paper is based on the master thesis from the
fied on the different sources of damping on hull
two co-authors (Edin & Laanemets, 2016). The
girder vibrations.
authors would like to thank ship owners, yards,
The hull lift damping would increase with speed.
DNV GL and hull monitoring suppliers for coop-
Not a clear trend was found. The linear hydrody-
eration and sharing time series from ships. The
namic damping tends to increase with reduced fre-
authors would also like to thank CTU and DNV
quency. Figure 15 does not support that (larger ships
GL for support.
are associated with lower frequency). Figure 15 does
also not support that there are more cargo damp-
ing on a ship with larger container capacity. More
detailed studies to reveal the individual importance REFERENCES
of the damping components are relevant.
Akay, A. & Carcaterra, A. (2014). Damping Mecha-
nisms. Active and Passive Damping Control of Struc-
5 CONCLUSIONS tures. Editors; Hagedorn, P., Spelsberg-Korspeter, G.,
pp. 259–299.
Six damping methods, including a couple of vari- Andersen, I.M.V. & Jensen, J.J. (2014). Measurement in
ations, have been tested out. These were tested out a container ship of wave-induced hull girder stresses
in excess of design values. Marine Structures, Vol. 37,
on artificial time series including either spring- pp. 54–85.
ing resonance or whipping response with known Brincker, R., Ventura, C.E., Andersen, P. (2001). Damp-
input damping. Based on differences between the ing Estimation by Frequency Domain Decomposi-
estimated damping and the input damping both tion. 19th International Modal Analysis Conference,
the half-power band width and the logarithmic Kissimmee, Fl, USA, 5–8 February.

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 Brincker, R. & Andersen, P. (2006). Understanding
Stochastic Subspace Identification. Proceedings of
the 24th International Modal Analysis Conference,
St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
ClassNK, (2014). Investigation report on structural safety
of large container ships. The investigative panel on
large container ship safety. September 2014. 123p.
http://www.classnk.or.jp/hp/pdf/news/Investigation_
Report_on_Structural_Safety_of_Large_Container_
Ships_EN_ClassNK.pdf.
Edin, I. & Laanemets, K. (2016). Estimation of damp-
ing from wave induced vibrations in ships. MSc. thesis
2016, X-16/343, Departm of Shipping and Marine
Technology, Chalmers University of Technology.
IACS, 2016. UR S11A Longitudinal strength standard for
container ships. International association of classifica-
tion societies, June 2015. 368p. http://www.iacs.org.
uk/publications/default.aspx.
Kölling, M., Resnik, B. & Sargsyan, A. (2014). Applica-
tion of the random decrement technique for experi-
mental determination of damping parameters of
bearing structures. The Eight International Conference
on Material Technologies and Modelling. Ariel, Israel,
July 28 - August 1, pp. 63–71.
Magalas, L.B., & Malinowski, T. (2003). Measurement
Techniques of the Logarithmic Decrement. Mechani-
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cal Spectroscopy II, Proceedings. Book series: Solid
state phenomena, Vol. 89, pp. 247–258.
MAIB, 2008. Report on the investigation of structural
failure of MSC Napoli, English Channel on 18 Janu-
ary 2007. Marine Accident Investigation Branch,
Report No. 9/2008, April 2008. https://www.gov.uk/
maib-reports
Storhaug, G., Moe, E. & Holtsmark, G. (2007). Meas-
urements of wave induced hull girder vibrations of
an ore carrier in different trades. Journal of Offshore
Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, 129(4), 279–289
(Mar 18, 2007).
Storhaug, G. (2007). Experimental investigation of wave
induced vibrations and their effect on the fatigue
loading of ships. Phd dissertation at Department of
Marine Technology, 2007:133, November 2007.
Storhaug, G. & Kahl, A. (2015). Full scale measurements
of torsional vibrations on Post-Panamax container
ships. 7th International conference on hydroelasticity in
marine technology, 16th to 19th of September 2015,
Split, Croatia, pp. 293–310.
Wang, J.T., Jin, F. & Zhang, C.H. (2012). Estimation
error of the half-power bandwidth method in identi-
fying damping for multi-DOF systems. Soil Dynam-
ics and Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 39, pp. 138–142.
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Optimization of the gun foundation structure of an offshore

patrol vessel using a modern genetic algorithm

A. de Vaucorbeil & K.E. Patron

COTECMAR, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia

ABSTRACT: The gun foundation of any naval vessel is a critical part of its structure. To ensure that
it could safely resist to the loads due to the gun, special care needs to be given to its design. The gun
foundation is one of the heaviest part of a naval ship’s structure. Reducing its weight would reduce running
and maintenance costs, and could improve the overall stability, sea behavior, and maneuverability of
the ship. We have used a genetic algorithm to optimize the design of the gun foundation of an Offshore
Patrol Vessel using a genetic algorithm. The presented approach automatically determines the best design
parameters that would minimize the weight while satisfying the design criteria of classification societies.
Thereby, substantial weight savings were obtained compared to the preliminary design. This example shows
that our proposed methodology could be used to optimize the structural design of any portion of a ship.

1 INTRODUCTION objective is only to reduce weight. To find the mini-

The Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) of the OPV80
series built by COTECMAR for the Colombian
Navy are designed to feature a 76mm gun mounted
on the forecastle deck. The installation of such a
gun requires the addition of a specific structure to
receive it, called gun foundation (section 2). Also,
after the preliminary design phase, it was decided
to reinforce part of the structure around the gun
foundation in order to sustain the loads generated
by the gun use: the recoil force and the gun blast.
The presence of the gun foundation, as well as the
reinforcements added around it make this part of
the ship’s structure one of the heaviest. Due to
the location of the gun high above the waterline,
ensuring that this part of the structure is as light
as it could, while fulfilling all the requirements
to have a safe an perfectly functional structure is
essential to help the overall stability, sea behavior,
and maneuverability of the ship.
This idea presented in this paper is to use a
modern genetic algorithm (section  3) coupled
with finite element analyses (section 2.5) in order
to optimize the thicknesses (design variables: sec-
tion 2.4) of certain structural elements that make
part of the gun foundation and the reinforcements
added around it.
The process of optimizing consists of finding
the minimum of a multi-variable function. Here
the variables are the design variables, and the
multi-variable function to minimize, called objec-
tive function (section  3.2) could be, for example,
the normalized weight of the structure if the
mum of a function, two types of algorithms exist
(Rao S. S., 2009): the gradient-based methods such
as the Newton-Raphson method, and the nongra-
dient-based methods such as the modern genetic
algorithms. The gradient based methods require
not only the value of the function to minimize at
a certain point, but also its first derivative. Here
that would mean knowing the performance of a
given structure, and also knowing how it changes
when each design variable is slightly increased and/
or decreased independently of the other ones. The
nongradient based methods, however, only require
the value of the function at a given point. In addi-
tion, they have less chance to get stuck in local
minima, which means that the real global mini-
mum, or in our case the optimal solution, has a
higher probability to be reached (Rao R. V., 2012).
In this paper, we present how the gun foundation
of the OPV80 series built for the Colombian Navy
(section 2) is optimized using a genetic algorithm
(section 3) implemented in a Scilab script interact-
ing with the finite elements solver ANSYS®.
2 GUN AND ITS FOUNDATION
The Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) of the OPV80
series built by COTECMAR for the Colom-
bian Navy are equipped with a cannon mounted
towards the bow, located 1600 mm above the fore-
castle deck (see Figure 1). To support it, a “dome”
was designed and reinforcements on the forecastle
deck were added during the preliminary design

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 Figure 1. Part of the OPV type 80 considered in this study (highlighted in blue).
phase. The optimization study is here limited to
the gun foundation and the structure of the fore-
castle deck adjacent to it that would be affected
by the gun blast. Therefore, the part of the ship’s
structure considered here is the part that is located
above the main deck between the frames 48 and
59, as showed in Figure 1. In this area are located
a number of non-structural elements such as the
wave deflectors, hatches, air ducts, pipes, etc. as
well as two winches. From all these elements, only
the two winches are taken into account due to their
high weight. The influence of the other elements
is neglected.
2.1 Materials
The part of the ship’s structure considered here will
entirely be made out of ASTM A-131 grade AH-32.
This mild steel has the following properties:
− Young’s modulus: E = 2.0 GPa,
− Poisson’s ration: ν = 0.3,
− Yield stress: ReH = 315 MPa,
− Ultimate stress: Rm = 470 MPa.
2.2 Loads
This portion of the ship structure is affected by the
following loads:
− Forces due to hogging and sagging
− Gun blast pressures
− Gun recoil force
− Dynamic inertial forces due the movement
generated by the waves.
The hull girder stress due to hogging and
sagging for the whole vessel were determined using
the NSR software from Lloyds’ Register. From this
analysis, it was found that:
132
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 132
1. the maximum tensile stresses were of +7  MPa
and −32  MPa, during hogging and sagging,
respectively,
2. the maximum shear stress was of 10 MPa.
The maker of the gun provided the blast curves
from which the maximum pressures exerted on
the deck during firing, the maximum recoil force
of 1.28  ×  104  N, the weight of the gun empty or
filled with all its rounds, with 8300 kg and 9250 kg,
respectively, the position of the center of gravity
of the gun, as well as its moment of inertia when
loaded (see Table 1) can be calculated. Finally each
of the winches installed in front of the gun on the
forecastle deck weigh 2200 kg each. The position
of their center of gravity, not provided by the sup-
plier, was supposed to be at the center of the bases
on which they will be mounted.
The inertial loads will be caused by gravity and
the accelerations due to the ship’s motion in the
waves. The maximum acceleration that the consid-
ered structure will experience is determined using
Lloyds’ Register rules for naval ships (Lloyd’s Reg-
ister, 2015) as this classification society is the one
that certifies the OPVs for the Colombian navy. The
obtained accelerations taken at the center of grav-
ity of the gun (highest point) are: ax = 6.28 m.s−2,
ay = 10.46 m.s−2, az = 20.74 m.s−2 (including gravity),
Table 1. Moments of inertia of the gun with respect to
the ship’s global axes (see Figure 1).
Moment of inertia barrel in Ix = 16000 kg ⋅ m2
the XY plane (elevation = 0) Iy = 9000 kg ⋅ m2
Iz = 11000 kg ⋅ m2
Moment of inertia barrel making Ix = 19000 kg ⋅ m2
a +85° angle with the XY plane Iy = 12500 kg ⋅ m2
Iz = 3000 kg ⋅ m2
3/29/2017 9:35:21 AM
 where x, y, and z are the roll, pitch, and yaw axes,
respectively.
2.3 Design constraints
The ship we are designing needs to be safe dur-
ing its whole lifetime. This will be ensured by the
respect of the three following constraints:
a. The equivalent stress of von Mises at every point
of the structure should always be below the
maximum allowable stress. This ensures that no
plastic deformations will occur. The maximum
allowable stress σmax is determined following
the recommendations of Germanischer Lloyd
for finite elements simulations (Germanischer
Lloyd, 2012) as no recommendations from
Lloyd’s register exist for direct calculations:
σ max = 0.77 f pl ReH = 242 MPa, (1)
where:
Rm
f pl = = 0.995, (2)
1.5ReH
b. The equivalent stress of von Mises should not
exceed the endurance limit of the material in
order to ensure that no fatigue failure will occur.
The endurance limit is taken as 0.5Rm (Budynas,
2008), which equals 235 MPa.
c. The minimum natural frequency of the gun foun-
dation should be at least “4 times the firing rate
or 1.5 times the frequency derived from the recoil
characteristics”, according to Defence Standard
02–154 from the British ministry of defense
(British Ministry of Defence, 2000)(REF). The
firing rate being of 80 rounds/min or 1.3 Hz, this
gives a limit of 5.2  Hz. However, the maker of
the gun foundation has a tougher requirement
with a minimum of 20 Hz which is therefore our
minimum natural frequency criteria.
It is worth noting that constraints linked to con-
struction such as the limitations in the available thick-
nesses of the metal sheets and the dimensions of the
different beams were not taken into account here.
2.4 Objective and design variables
The objective of this design optimization is to
minimize the weight of the structure while ful-
filling all the requirements stated in Section  2.3.
The gun foundation being far above the waterline,
reducing as much as possible it weight is essential
for improving the overall stability, the sea behavior,
and the maneuverability of the ship. It would also
allow to lower the building, running and mainte-
nance costs.
133
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 133
Figure 2. Bottom view of the structure presenting in red
the elements selected to have their thickness optimized.
In order to fulfill this objective, some structural
elements were selected to have their thickness opti-
mized. These elements, shown in Figure  2, were
chosen because they bared high loads, or because
they feature low levels of stress during the finite
elements analysis performed before optimization.
In total the thicknesses of these elements are the
21 independent design variables to be optimized.
2.5 Finite Element Analyses
In order to determine the state of stress and the
natural frequencies of the structure, two types of
finite elements analyses are performed, both using
ANSYS® Workbench:
1. A static structural analysis to determine the
most critical state of stress achieved during the
firing of the gun under the worst sea conditions,
2. A modal analysis to determine the lowest natu-
ral frequency of the structure.
The static structural analysis is performed using
static loads equivalent to the dynamic loads: the load
due to the gun recoil is assumed to be equal to the
maximum recoil force, and the pressure due to the
gun blast is taken as 0.25 times the maximum pres-
sure that would be seen by the forecastle deck during
firing, following the recommendations of the British
Ministry of Defense (British Ministry of Defence,
2000). These two loads depend on the angle of fire
of the gun. Therefore, a parametric analysis was per-
formed in order to determine the direction of fire
that would generate the most critical state of stress
in the structure. It was found that this most critical
state is achieved when the elevation and the azimuth
angles of the gun are −5° and +45° respectively.
3/29/2017 9:35:22 AM
 determine a population of Np individuals which
would perform best according to a given objective.
This objective is evaluated using an objective func-
tion φ to be minimized.
Each individual X is defined by its genome.
The genome is a binary sequence which reflects
here the value of each of the design variables.
The genome is determined as follows. First, each
design variable xi is encoded as a binary number
of Nb bits. Then, the binary representation of
each variable is concatenated to form the individ-
ual’s genome. For example, in this case, we have
21 design variables coded over 5 bits each, thus a
possible genome is:

001111001101001010110011001110110001001100
Figure 3. Boundary conditions: all edges in purple have 111010010011100111001110011101110001110100
their displacements and rotations fixed. 100111010010011101001.

An individual inherits its genome from portions

It is assumed that this remains true whatever the
of both his parents’ genome. The amount of genes
configuration of the structure. Therefore, this is the
that an individual inherits from either parents is
case used for the structural optimization.
determined based on the crossover probability. If
It is considered that, to the exception of the part
it is of 50%, the individual inherited equal parts
of the vessel fore of the bulkhead 59, the rest of the
from either parents.
structure of the vessel is affected by neither the iner-
The parents are individuals from the previous
tial effects of the winches and the gun, nor its fir-
generation that were selected based on their “fit-
ing. As a result, the ship’s structure that is not part
ness”. Only the “fittest” individuals are allowed
of this model and located aft of the frame 48 or at
to have offsprings, i.e. to become parents. The
the height of the main deck and below is infinitely
“fitness” f(X) of an individual X is determined as
stiff. The structure ahead of the bulkhead 59, how-
1/φ(X), where φ(X) is the result of the objective
ever could be affected by the weight of the winches.
function evaluated for X.
In order to not have to include it in the model it is
To ensure that the algorithm will not be stuck
considered that it is infinitely compliant. Therefore,
in a local minimum, an amount of mutations is
the boundary conditions are as shown in Figure 3.
allowed for each offspring. This amount is defined
All the metal sheets and structural elements of the
by the mutation probability.
ship have their thicknesses that are much less than
their other dimensions. Therefore, they are all mod-
eled as shell elements (Quad4 and Tri3). For all the 3.2 Objective function and penalty function
simulations, the coarsest mesh giving mesh-size inde- In this paper, the objective of the optimization is
pendent results is used. It features 211270 nodes, and set to be the minimization of the weight of the
182339 elements for an average size of 1.1 mm. structure, under stress constraints. Therefore the
Since the finite element model does not take into objective function is:
account the stresses related to the hogging and sag-
ging of the whole ship, the total stress matrix is taken m( X )
as a linear superposition of the stresses obtained from g(X ) = (1)
m0
the finite elements analyses, on the one hand, and the
stresses due to hogging and sagging of the whole ves- subjected to the constraints:
sel calculated using NSR, on the other hand.
max(σ (X ))
h1 ( x ) = −1 0 (2)
σ mmax
3 GENETIC ALGORITHM
min( fn X ))
h2 ( x ) = 1 0 (3)
3.1 Principles fn,min
Genetic algorithms are modern algorithms devel-
oped by Holland (Holland, 1992) and based on the where m0 is a reference weight here set to 48000 kg,
concepts of Darwin’s theory of evolution: natural σ(X) is the equivalent von Mises stress field for the
genetics and natural selection. Their objective is to individual X, σmax is the maximum allowable stress,

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 fn(X) the natural frequencies of the individual X,
and fn,min the minimum allowed natural frequency.
Because genetic algorithms can solve only
unconstrained minimization problems (Rao S. S.,
2009), the objective function needs to be altered in
order to penalize the fitness of individuals that do
not respect the constraints. To do so, we chose to
make use of the concept of penalty functions (Rao
S. S., 2009). Therefore, the new problem consists in
minimizing the following function:
φ( )
2
g ( ) r1 h1 ( ) + r2 h2 ( )
2
(4)
where r1 and r2 are penalty parameters that were
both set to 100.
3.3 Discrete variables
The thicknesses of the metallic elements set to be
optimized (design variable) are not continuous
variables. Often the thicknesses available are 1 mm,
2 mm, 3 mm, and so on. Therefore these variables
have been assumed to be discrete and take only
integers for value. In the solution determined after
the preliminary design phase, the value of the big-
gest design variable was 20  mm which requires 5
bits to be encoded in binary. Therefore, to limit
the design space, all design variables are coded
with 5 bits. Thus all design variables are comprised
between 1 and 32  mm (25  =  32). A thickness of
0 mm not being allowed, N mm is encoded as N−1
in a 5 bit binary number. As a result, a thickness
of 1 mm is encoded as 00000, 8 mm as 00111 and
32 mm as 11111.
elements solver (ANSYS®). The interaction is done
using text files and works as follows. First, the
Scilab function modifies the values of the design
variables that are located in a Python script to be
executed by ANSYS®. This script orders the update
of the design variables in ANSYS®, then launches
the simulations, and finally inputs the results in a
CSV file. In the end, the data contained in this last
file is extracted by the Scilab function and the indi-
vidual’s “fitness” computed.
The algorithm follows the workflow presented
in Figure  4. First a new generation of individu-
als is determined. If no previous generation exists,
an initial one is created. Second, the fitness of
each individual constituting the new generation
is evaluated. Due to the presence of the penalty
functions h1 and h2 in φ(X), the fitness of every
individual not fulfilling the stress or frequency
criteria is heavily penalized. Next, the end crite-
rion is checked. Here, due to a limit in computa-
tional resources, the end criterion is the number
of generations. If the criterion is not satisfied, the
individuals who are the fittest are selected to have
offsprings. The parameters r1 and r2 were chosen
such that these selected individuals are limited to
only those fulfilling all the design criteria. A new
generation is then created using theses individuals’
genes and the loop continues. If the end criterion
is satisfied, however, the best individuals are out-
put and the algorithm ends.

3.4 Implementation
The optimization algorithm is implemented in a
Scilab script and is articulated around the built-in
function called optim_ga. This function is the core
of the genetic algorithm and is used in its default
mode but for two exceptions. To fit our needs, we
modified the function that generates the initial
population, and the one that calculates how fit
each individual is.
The function generating the initial population
was modified in order to create an initial popula-
tion composed of random individuals except for
one. The random individuals are individuals whose
design variables are taken as random integers
between 1 and 32, and the non-random individual
corresponds to the working solution determined
after the preliminary design phase.
The function that determines the fitness of each
individual is the part of optim_ga and needs to be
written by the user. This used defined function is
the part of the code that interacts with the finite Figure 4. Algorithm workflow.

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 The algorithm is controlled by a set of five dif-
ferent variables which are set as follows: the size of
the initial population Ninit = 10, the crossover prob-
ability Px = 0.8, the mutation probability Pm = 0.8,
the number of couples Nc = 1.2Ninit, and the num-
ber of total generations Ng = 5. These parameters
were selected empirically to allow the obtention of
results within a reasonable time.

4 RESULTS

The algorithm evaluated the performance of 205

individuals over 5 generations. The finite elements
calculations for each individual lasted around
1700 s (28 min). The algorithm ran for 5 days, and
Figure  6. Evolution of the minimum and maximum
here are the results. weight of the individuals of each generation selected to
Figure 5 presents the evolution of the weight of have offsprings.
the individuals fulfilling all the design constraints
(Equations (2) and (3)). From this plot, it can
be seen that, as a whole, the algorithm generates
individuals that get lighter in average over one
generation.
Figure 6 shows the weight evolution of the light-
est and heaviest individual fulfilling all the design
criteria and selected to have offsprings as a func-
tion of generation. There, one can see that both
the worst (heaviest) and the best (lightest) per-
forming individuals of a given generation selected
to have offspring perform better from generation
to generation. It can also be seen that the weight
difference between these lightest and heaviest indi-
viduals decreases with the generations. This behav-
Figure  7. Evolution of the maximum possible weight
ior attests that, even with a very limited number of
gain with the successive generations compared to the pre-
individuals per generation (∼38), the population is liminary design.

converging towards an optimal solution. This con-

vergence was, however, not achieved as the maxi-
mum number of generations was fixed beforehand
in order to fit into the time constraints we had.
Finally, Figure  7 shows the maximum weight
saving achieved by the best performing individual
fulfilling the design criteria of each generation
compared to the preliminary design. We can see
that substantial weight savings are achieved after
the 2nd generation. In the end, the best perform-
ing individual fulfilling the design criteria found by
the algorithm is 4.5% lighter than the preliminary
design. This represents substantial weight savings
for such a structure.

5 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK

Figure  5. Evolution of the weight of the individuals
generated by the genetic algorithm that fulfill all the We have successfully used a genetic algorithm to
design criteria. The non-complying individuals are not optimize a 76 mm gun foundation structure of an
represented. offshore patrol vessel built by COTECMAR for the

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 Colombian Navy. In order to solve this sizing opti-
mization, we developed a two-way coupling between
a genetic algorithm-based optimizer implemented
in Scilab, and the commercial finite elements solver
ANSYS®. Using this integration in the case of our
design optimization problem, the maximum weight
savings obtained compared to the preliminary
design were of 4.5%. Although, these savings might
have little effect on the overall stability, sea behavior,
and maneuverability of the ship, they could have a
non-negligible effect on the cost of the vessel. Con-
sidering that the cost of materials and construction
are linearly depending on the weight of the ship,
and using the data from the construction projects
in progress in the company, this 4.5% weight loss
could lead to a USD$12,000 saving in material and
welding man hours. Such cost savings are worth-
while for a shipyard like COTECMAR.
These results show that our practical approach
could properly handle the optimization of naval
ship structures with multiple discrete design vari-
ables. In addition, the presented implementation
provides potential to efficiently search for opti-
mum designs.
However, in order to guarantee that the obtained
design would be buildable and be affordable, addi-
tions to the design constraints and changes in the
objective function would have to be made. This
would only require the consideration of multiple
performance-related objective functions in our
Scilab script, as well as taking into account diverse
constraints due to construction limitations and
availability of materials.
137
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 137
We believe that the optimization tool presented
in this paper is robust and could be used to autom-
atize the structural design of any portion of a naval
ship, allowing to obtain near-optimal solutions
with reasonable computational resources. Apply-
ing this tool to the design of the whole OPV could
lead to substantial savings of the order of 0.5 mil-
lion dollars.
REFERENCES
British Ministry of Defence. (2000). Design Standards
For Surface Ships Structures (NES 154). Ministry of
Defence.
Budynas, R. G. et al. (2008). Shigley’s Mechanical
Engineering Design. McGraw-Hill.
Germanischer Lloyd. (2012). Rules for Classification and
Construction: Hull Structures and Ship Equipment
(Surface Ships). Germanischer Lloyd.
Holland, J. H. (1992). Adaption in Natural and Artificial
Systems. MIT Press.
Lloyd’s Register. (2015). Rules and Regulations for the
Classification of Naval Ships. Lloyd’s Register Group
Limited.
Nobukawa, H. et al. (1996). Discrete Optimization of
Ship Structures with Genetic Algorithms. Journal
of the Society of Naval Architects of Japan.
Okada, T. (1992). et al. Utilization of Genetic Algorithm
for Optimizing the Design of Ship Hull Structures.
The Society of Naval Architects of Japan.
Rao, R. V. et al. (2012). Mechanical Design Optimization
Using Advanced Optimization Techniques. Springer.
Rao, S. S. (2009). Engineering Optimization. John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Shape and stress sensing of offshore structures by using inverse finite

element method

A. Kefal & E. Oterkus

Department of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Marine Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

ABSTRACT: Stiffened thin-walled steel cylinders have been used as compression elements in the field
of offshore structures for many years. On-site durability of these structures may suffer from the harsh
marine environment. Therefore, a structural health monitoring system that provides real-time structural
feedback of the structure is mandatory to ensure the safe operations of an offshore structure. Hence, this
study investigates the applicability of a new state-of-the-art methodology, called inverse Finite Element
Method (iFEM), for displacement and stress monitoring of offshore structures for the first time in the
literature. Displacement and stress solutions obtained from iFEM analysis are compared to those of
reference solutions.

1 INTRODUCTION certainly satisfies all necessities of SHM proce-

Stiffened thin-walled steel cylinders have been
used as compression elements in the field of off-
shore structures for many years. A large number of
theoretical and experimental research studies have
been conducted on the design of stiffened cylinder
shells as a fundamental frame of offshore struc-
tures (refer to Ellinas et al., 1984, Das et al., 2003,
Cerik 2015 and references therein). Although there
are many recent advancements in the design guide-
lines of these structures, the reliability, structural
integrity, and on-site durability of them may suffer
from the harsh marine environment. Therefore, a
Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system that
provides real-time structural feedback of the struc-
ture is mandatory to ensure the safe operations of
an offshore structure.
Dynamically tracking three-dimensional dis-
placements and stresses of a structure by using
discrete in situ strain measurements is known as
shape and stress sensing. Solving this inverse prob-
lem is fundamental to perform an accurate and
full-field SHM of the structure. Tessler & Span-
gler (2005) developed a state-of-the-art methodol-
ogy, called inverse Finite Element Method (iFEM),
for the purpose of performing accurate shape and
stress sensing of plate and shell structures. Although
there are also various types of inverse algorithms
exist for the same purpose (e.g., Tikhonov & Ars-
enin 1977, Liu & Lin 1996, Maniatty & Zabaras
1994, Schnur & Zabaras 1990), to the best of
author’s knowledge none of them serves the
same capabilities and advantages of the iFEM
algorithm. In addition, the iFEM technology
dure. Thus, iFEM is a powerful shape—and stress-
sensing framework.
The iFEM algorithm reconstructs the struc-
tural deformations from experimentally measured
strains by minimizing a weighted-least-squares
functional. The domain of the structural model
can be discretized by using beam, frame, or plate
and shell inverse finite elements in order to per-
form SHM based on iFEM algorithm. Many dif-
ferent numerical, theoretical, and experimental
studies of the iFEM algorithm are available in the
literature. For example, Tessler & Spangler (2004)
developed a superior three-node inverse-shell ele-
ment (iMIN3), Kefal et al. (2016) implemented
a robust four-node quadrilateral inverse-shell
element (iQS4), and Gherlone et al. (2012)
introduced an efficient inverse-frame element.
Moreover, Quach et al. (2005) and Vazquez et al.
(2005) conducted laboratory experiments using
the iMIN3 element. Recently, Tessler et al. (2012)
used iMIN3 element for shape-sensing analysis of
shell structures undergoing large displacements.
Furthermore, displacement and stress monitor-
ing of various ship types was performed by using
the iQS4 element (Kefal & Oterkus 2016a, 2016b).
In addition, Gherlone et al. (2014) examined the
capability of their inverse-frame element by per-
forming experimental tests. More recently, the
horizon of the iFEM methodology is broaden to
shape sensing of laminated composited and sand-
wich plates (Cerracchio et al., 2015). Regarding
the application of iFEM analysis on engineer-
ing structures, it has been limited to the SHM
of aerospace vehicles (Tessler et al., 2011, 2012,

141

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 141 3/29/2017 9:35:26 AM

 Kefal & Oterkus 2017) and ship structures (Kefal
et al., 2015, Kefal & Oterkus 2015).
This paper focuses on the applicability of iFEM
framework to displacement and stress monitor-
ing of offshore structures for the first time in the
literature. For this purpose, the computationally
efficient and robust iQS4 element formulation is
adopted. In the remainder of the paper, the math-
ematical concept of the iFEM methodology is
briefly described. Then, a stiffened thin-walled cyl-
inder that represents the compression element of
a typical offshore structure is modelled with iQS4
elements. It is assumed that middle of the cylin-
der was initially damaged. To simulate the experi-
mentally measured strains and establish reference
solutions, direct Finite Element Method (FEM)
analysis of the cylinder is initially performed with
a high-fidelity mesh of the cylinder. Then, the
iFEM analysis of the cylinder is conducted utiliz-
ing a coarse discretization with few strain sensors.
Finally, displacement and stress solutions obtained
from iFEM analysis are compared to those of ref-
erence solutions.
2 INVERSE FINITE ELEMENT
FORMULATION
The iQS4 element formulation is utilized in the
following iFEM analysis of the offshore struc-
ture can be found in the study presented by Kefal
et al. (2016). In order to avoid the repetition of
the formulation part and also for the brevity of
the paper, the general mathematical concept of the
iFEM/iQS4 methodology is summarized herein.
Consider a structural geometry, e.g., an offshore
structure, discretized with iQS4 elements as shown
in Figure  1. The first step is to define an appro-
priate displacement field of the element domain
Ωe by using continuous functions as (Kefal et al.,
2016)
U U ( x ) N( x ) u e
U( (1)
Figure  1. iFEM discretization with four-node quadri-
lateral inverse-shell element (iQS4).
142
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 142
where U is the displacement field of the element,
x is the position vector of material points within
the element domain, ue is the nodal displacement
Degrees-of-Freedom (DOF) vector, N is the contin-
uous shape functions corresponding to these DOF.
After taking relevant derivatives of the dis-
placement field, strain–displacement relations can
establish continuous analytical strain measures in
the element domain Ωe as (Kefal et al., 2016)
∂
ε( ) = U(( ) = B u e (2)
∂x
where ε is the analytical strain measures and the
matrix Bε contains the relevant derivatives of the
shape functions, N.
Discrete in situ strain measures obtained from
the embedded sensors are crucial according to the
iFEM formulation. Conventional strain rosettes
or embedded optical-fiber networks such as Fibre
Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors are promising tech-
nology to collect large amount of on-board strain
data. Utilizing the in situ strain-gauge measure-
ments, the experimental counterparts of the Equa-
tion (2) can be established as
E E( 1, ε 2 ) (3)
where ε1 and ε2 denotes the experimental strain-
gauge measurements, E is the experimental strain
measures that correspond to their analytical coun-
terpart, ε. Please refer to Kefal et al. (2016) for
more details.
The iFEM methodology establishes a weighted-
least-squares functional to match the individual
analytical section strains with their experimental
counterparts as (Tessler & Spangler, 2005)
Φ e ( e ) w ε( e ) − E
2
(4a)
where the squared norms can be written in the
form of the normalized Euclidean norms as
1
∫∫∫ (ε( ) E ) dV
2 2
ε( ) E (4b)
V V
where V denotes the volume of the inverse ele-
ment. The weighting constants w in Equation 4a
is positive valued and stand for individual sec-
tion strains. They control the complete coherence
between theoretical strain components and their
experimentally measured values. The weight-
ing constants are equal to w  =  1 for the squared
norms given in Equation 4b since in situ strains E
are assumed to be determined. On the other hand,
if an element has undetermined in situ strain
3/29/2017 9:35:26 AM
 component of E, the Equation 4b can be restated edge of the cylinder is fully clamped, whereas the
as (Tessler & Spangler, 2005) right-hand-side edge is purely compressed by 5 mm
in axial direction with constraining the other DOF.
1 As shown in Figure  3, the local damage covers a
∫∫∫ (ε( ))
2 2
ε( ) dV with ( ) (5) width of 1 m and depth of 0.1 m. The local damage
V V
is simply created by extruding the curve depicted
in Figure 3 along its normal direction, knitting the
for which the weighting constant should be
resultant surface with the original cylinder surface,
selected as a small positive constant, e.g., α = 10–4.
and trimming the unnecessary part of the cylinder
Accounting for the U deformations of an indi-
surface with supplying the required smoothness of
vidual inverse element, the iFEM formulation
the damaged location.
reconstructs the deformed shape by minimizing
To simulate the strain rosettes and establish ref-
the weighted-least-squares functional, Φe(ue), with
erence solutions, a linear static direct FEM analysis
respect to unknown displacement DOF,  ue, as
of the cylinder is performed by using an in-house
(Tessler & Spangler, 2005)
finite element code (Kefal & Oterkus 2014, Kefal
et al., 2015). The most convergent FEM solutions
∂Φ e ( e )
= 0 ⇒ keue = f e (6) are obtained using a high-fidelity discretization
∂u e consisted of 55764 quadrilateral (mostly rectangle)
shell elements and 335916 DOF (refer to Figure 4).
where ke is element left-hand-side matrix that After the high-fidelity FEM analysis, the cylin-
remains unchanged for a given distribution of der is discretized using uniformly distributed 6196
strain sensors and is independent of the measured iQS4 elements and 37626 DOF for the following
strain values, fe is element right-hand-side vector iFEM analysis. As presented in Figure 5, the iFEM
that is a function of the measured strain values, mesh is therefore much coarser than the FEM
and ue is the nodal displacement vector of element.
Once the element matrix equations are established,
the element contributions to the global linear
equation system of the discretized structure can
be performed. By prescribing problem-specific dis-
placement boundary conditions, the resulting sys-
tem of equations can be solved in order to obtain
the global displacement DOF of all nodes, which
provides the deformed structural shape at any
real-time.

3 NUMERICAL RESULTS

Displacement and stress monitoring of a stiffened

thin-walled cylinder with a local damage is consid-
ered to be performed based on the iFEM meth-
Figure  2. A stiffened thin-walled cylinder with a local
odology. The structural geometry of the cylinder damage.
is aimed to be similar to the column of a floating
offshore structure with damage resulting from col-
lision with supply vessel presented by Cerik (2015).
Therefore, the following iFEM analysis will be use-
ful for practical application of SHM systems onto
offshore structures. The cylinder has a height of
10  m, a radius of 3  m, and a uniform thickness
of 25  mm. As shown in Figure  2, twelve stiffen-
ers having a height of 0.2 m and uniform thickness
of 25  mm are orthogonally stiffened to the inner
surface of the cylinder. Moreover, the cylinder is
transversely supported by additional three stiffen-
ers that has as same dimensions as the orthogo-
nal stiffeners. All the stiffeners and the cylinder
are made of steel having the elastic modulus of
210 GPa and Poisson’s ratio of 0.3. Left-hand-side Figure 3. Form of the local damage.

143

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 143 3/29/2017 9:35:28 AM

 Figure 4. High-fidelity discretization of the cylinder for
FEM analysis.
Figure 5. Low-fidelity discretization of the cylinder for
iFEM analysis.
mesh shown in Figure 4. Since the geometry, mate-
rial properties, and boundary conditions are sym-
metric with respect to the xy-plane of the cylinder,
only one half of the iQS4 model, i.e., depicted in
Figure 5, is instrumented with the strain rosettes.
These strain sensors has to be placed on top and
bottom surface of the iQS4 elements because the
resulting deformations of the cylinder exhibit a
coupled membrane-bending behavior.
The translations along x-, y-, and z-axis are rep-
resented by the symbols U, V, and W, respectively.
To assess the structural response of the cylinder in
a clear fashion, the contours of iFEM and FEM
predictions for each U, V, and W, displacement are
presented in Figures 6–8, respectively. In Figure 6,
the maximum U displacement obtained from
the FEM analysis (reference solution) is 5  mm,
whereas iFEM predicts the same displacement as
144
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 144
Figure 6. The FEM and iFEM contours for U displace-
ment (translation along x-axis).
4.998  mm. Thus, the percent difference between
iFEM and reference solutions for U displacement
is only 0.2%, which clearly demonstrates the supe-
rior accuracy of the iFEM solutions. Moreover, the
maximum V displacement estimated in the iFEM
analysis is 0.862 mm, while the reference solution
for this displacement is observed as 1.026  mm
in Figure  7. As a result, iFEM estimations for
V displacement differs from those of FEM by
about 16%, proving the fair agreement between
iFEM and reference solutions. Furthermore, the
Figure  8 shows that the maximum W displace-
ments obtained from FEM and iFEM analysis are
0.683 and 0.667  mm, respectively. Consequently,
the percent difference between iFEM and FEM
solutions for W displacement is computed as 2.3%,
showing the high accuracy of iFEM solutions.
The U displacement is at least 5 times greater
than the V and W displacements anywhere in the
structure. As a consequence, the U displacement
will contribute to the deformed shape of the cyl-
inder much more than the V and W displacement
will. Since the iFEM analysis already produced a
very accurate solution (only 0.2% difference) for
the U displacement, the deformed shape (total
deformation) of cylinder will be reconstructed by
a similar accuracy level. In addition, Figures  6–8
demonstrates that iFEM contours for U, V, and W
3/29/2017 9:35:29 AM

Figure 7. The FEM and iFEM contours for V displace-
ment (translation along y-axis).
Figure  8. The FEM and iFEM contours for W dis-
placement (translation along z-axis).
145
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 145
displacement are almost identical to those of ref-
erence solutions. Hence, these results clearly prove
that iFEM framework can predict accurate, three-
dimensional, and full-field displacement solutions
for shape-sensing analysis of an offshore structure.
Apart from the translational displacements,
the rotations around the x-, y-, and z-axis will be
important especially when calculating the top- and
bottom-surface displacements of the stiffeners and
cylinder. For conciseness of the paper, only the
magnitude of the total rotations, i.e., θ rotation,
obtained from iFEM and FEM analysis are pre-
sented in Figure 9. The maximum θ rotation is pre-
dicted as 6.016 mrad, while its reference solution
is 7.343 mrad. Therefore, iFEM predictions for
the total rotations differs from those of FEM by
about 18%. Besides, iFEM and FEM contours for
the total rotation are indistinguishable as shown in
Figure 9. These results confirm the fair agreement
between iFEM and FEM solutions. In addition
to the assessment of translational and rotational
displacements, the assessment of the stresses is
necessary to highlight the capability of the iFEM
methodology for stress sensing. For this purpose,
an equivalent stress, i.e., von Mises stress (σ), that
combines all six components of stresses (normal
and shear stress) is computed in both iFEM and
FEM analysis.
Figure 9. The FEM and iFEM contours for θ rotation
(total rotation).
3/29/2017 9:35:30 AM

Figure 10. The FEM and iFEM contours for σ stress
(von Mises stress).
The iFEM contours for σ stress are compared
with those of FEM as depicted in Figure 10. The
maximum von Mises stress is 235.7  MPa, while
iFEM predicts the same stress as 182.6 MPa lead-
ing a percent difference of 22.5% between iFEM
estimation and reference solution. Even though
the variation of the stress results seems slightly
dissimilar for several locations, iFEM and FEM
contours for von Mises stresses are graphically
agreed quite well for most of the locations (refer
to Figure 10). These results confirms the fair preci-
sion of iFEM framework for stress sensing even
if a coarse discretization is used in the analysis.
Overall, the displacement, rotation, and stress
comparison between the iFEM and FEM analysis
demonstrated that the iFEM framework is promis-
ing technology for displacement and stress moni-
toring of offshore structures.
4 CONCLUSIONS
An application of iFEM framework to offshore
structures is presented. The general mathemati-
cal concept of iFEM methodology is summa-
rized. The iQS4 element developed by Kefal et al.
(2016) is utilized to perform numerical simulations.
A stiffened thin-walled cylinder with a local
146
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 146
damaged is modelled with low- and high-fidelity
discretization strategies. The high-fidelity mesh is
used in the direct FEM analysis, whereas a low-
fidelity iQS4 model is utilized in the iFEM analysis.
Once a smooth distribution of strains is ensured
through direct FEM analysis, the discrete strain
measurements are mapped from fine to coarse
discretization. Thus, an accurate simulation of the
experimentally measured strains, i.e., in situ strain
sensors, is achieved. The effect of sensor locations
and the discretization of the geometry on solution
accuracy are discussed. The numerical results have
confirmed that it is still possible to reconstruct suf-
ficiently accurate deformed structural shapes and
stresses, even if a coarse iFEM mesh is used in the
analysis. According to results, it has been agreed
that iFEM methodology is promising technology
for performing an accurate shape and stress sens-
ing of offshore structures.
REFERENCES
Cerik, B. C. 2015. Ultimate strength of locally damaged
steel stiffened cylinders under axial compression.
Thin-Walled Structures, 95, 138–151.
Cerracchio, P., Gherlone, M., Di Sciuva, M., & Tessler,
A. 2015. A novel approach for displacement and
stress monitoring of sandwich structures based on the
inverse finite element method. Composite Structures,
127, 69–76.
Das, P. K., Thavalingam, A., & Bai, Y. 2003. Buckling
and ultimate strength of stiffened shells under com-
bined loading for reliability analysis. Thin-Walled
Structures, 41(1), 69–88.
Ellinas, C. P., Supple, W. J., & Walker, A. C. 1984.
Buckling of Offshore Structures: A State-of-the Art-
Review. Gulf Publishing Company, Houston.
Gherlone, M., Cerracchio, P., Mattone, M., Di Sciuva,
M., & Tessler, A. 2012. Shape sensing of 3D frame
structures using an inverse Finite Element Method.
International Journal of Solids and Structures, 49(22),
3100–3112.
Gherlone, M., Cerracchio, P., Mattone, M., Di Sciuva,
M., & Tessler, A. 2014. An inverse finite element
method for beam shape sensing: theoretical frame-
work and experimental validation. Smart Materials
and Structures, 23(4), 045027.
Kefal, A., & Oterkus, E. 2014. D3.3 (WP3)—Hydrody-
namic and structural analysis. Public Deliverable, The
INCASS Project (FP7/2007–2013 grant agreement no
605200).
Kefal, A., & Oterkus, E. 2015. Structural health moni-
toring of marine structures by using inverse finite ele-
ment method. In C. Guedes Soares and R.A. Shenoi
(Eds.), Analysis and Design of Marine Structures V,
341–349.
Kefal, A., Hizir, O., & Oterkus, E. 2015. A smart system
to determine sensor locations for structural health
monitoring of ship structures. In: Proceedings of 9th
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namics, Glasgow, Scotland.
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 Kefal, A., & Oterkus, E. 2016a. Displacement and stress
monitoring of a chemical tanker based on inverse
finite element method. Ocean Engineering, 112, 33–46.
Kefal, A., & Oterkus, E. 2016b. Displacement and stress
monitoring of a Panamax containership using inverse
finite element method. Ocean Engineering, 119,
16–29.
Kefal, A., Oterkus, E., Tessler, A., & Spangler, J. L. 2016.
A quadrilateral inverse-shell element with drilling
degrees of freedom for shape sensing and structural
health monitoring. Engineering Science and Technol-
ogy, an International Journal, 19, 1299–1313.
Kefal, A., & Oterkus, E. 2017. Shape sensing of aero-
space structures by coupling of isogeometric analysis
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the 58th AIAA/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Struc-
tural Dynamics, and Materials Conference, Grapevine,
Texas.
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Maniatty, A. M., & Zabaras, N. J. 1994. Investigation
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Numerical Methods in Engineering, 37(6), 1039–1052.
Quach, C. C., Vazquez, S. L., Tessler, A., Moore, J. P.,
Cooper, E.G., & Spangler, J.L. 2005. Structural anom-
aly detection using fiber optic sensors and inverse
finite element method. In: Proceedings of AIAA Guid-
ance, Navigation, and Control Conference and Exhibit,
San Francisco, California.
Schnur, D. S., & Zabaras, N. J. 1990. Finite element solu-
tion of two-dimensional inverse elastic problems using
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Tessler, A., & Spangler, J. L. 2003. A variational princi-
pal for reconstruction of elastic deformation of shear
deformable plates and shells, NASA TM-2003-212445.
Tessler, A., & Spangler, J. L. 2004. Inverse FEM for full-
field reconstruction of elastic deformations in shear
deformable plates and shells. In: Proceedings of 2nd
European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring,
Munich, Germany.
Tessler, A., & Spangler, J. L. 2005. A least-squares vari-
ational method for full-field reconstruction of elas-
tic deformations in shear-deformable plates and
shells. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and
Engineering, 194(2), 327–339.
Tessler, A., Spangler, J. L., Gherlone, M., Mattone, M.,
& Di Sciuva, M. 2011. Real-Time characterization of
aerospace structures using onboard strain measure-
ment technologies and inverse finite element method.
In: Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on
Structural Health Monitoring, Stanford, CA.
Tessler, A., Spangler, J. L., Gherlone M., Mattone M.,
& Di Sciuva, M. 2012. Deformed shape and stress
reconstruction in plate and shell structures undergo-
ing large displacements: application of inverse finite
element method using fiber-bragg-grating strains. In:
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Effect of pressure distribution on the capacity of ship structure frames

M. Kõrgesaar, P. Kujala, M. Suominen, G.S. Dastydar, J. Romanoff & H. Remes

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aalto University, Finland

J. Kämäräinen
Finnish Transport Safety Agency, Finland

ABSTRACT: Recently there has been higher demand for ice-strengthened ships built in accordance
with design standards such as Finnish Swedish Ice Class Rules (FSICR). The definition of the ice load
in combination with the corresponding strength criterion is the most important part of the hull rules.
The load level and its distribution defines the structural response, which is basis for evaluation of the design
point. However, current rules do not consider the effect of different load distributions on the capacity of
the frames. Here we show that length of the pressure patch and its distribution affect the capacity of the
frames, and that current FSICR design approach is not the most conservative one. Therefore, we expect
that this investigation becomes a basis for future investigations and possible rule modifications.

1 INTRODUCTION

Shipping in the Baltic Sea is greatly affected by the

seasonal ice cover. To ensure safety of ships oper-
ating in the region, knowledge about the structural
response under the expected loading—local ice
loads from first year ice in this case—is required
for the evaluation of the design point. In this
work, we address the issue of local frame design
for transversely stiffened ship structures and show
the importance of load distribution and length on
the frame response. Figure  1. Sketch of ice contact with ship structure—
In current design practice load is characterized may describe an event that is only centimeters across, or
as a uniform pressure distributed over a rectangu- it may be meters across, Daley (2007).
lar patch. The height of the load patch is ice class
dependent factor and length depends on the dis-
combined effect of localized ice loading and load
tance between respective structural members.
distribution over the longer horizontal area. Fur-
The approach can be regarded as satisfactory
thermore, as implied by the depiction in Figure 1
for codified elastic design, i.e. FSICR. However,
the load length can considerably vary in practice,
the approach does not naturally lend itself for
which should be considered by the rules.
direct design and the finite element method is
To address the effect of load length on the plas-
needed to determine the plastic capacity of fram-
tic capacity of the frame, analyses with transversely
ing members.
stiffened ship side structure are performed with a
Plasticity in the structure implies that some sort
set of pressure patches.
of permanent deformation has taken place and
such occurrence is considered as an ice damage.
Most of the ice damages in the Baltic result from
2 LOAD
the ship being stuck in the compressive ice during
which large loads are applied to the parallel mid-
2.1 Design load according to FSICR
body (Hänninen, 2003; Kujala, 1988; Daley et al.,
1996). Ice load definition is a significant part of the
Rough depiction of the structure-ice contact FSICR. The following description is mainly based
scenario is illustrated in Figure 1. on the work of Riska and Kämäräinen (2011).
Thereby, the weak point of FSICR design For the purpose of structural design, the stand-
pressure patch approach is that it excludes the ard procedure is an assumption that ice load can

149

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 149 3/29/2017 9:35:32 AM

 be described by uniform ice pressure, termed pav,
on a rectangular load patch of height h and length
l. According to Riska and Kämäräinen (2011) this
approach of uniform pressure is taken as the mate-
rial properties of the Baltic ice do not change much
through the winter in different Baltic Sea areas. The
justification for rectangular pressure patch how-
ever, seems to be simplicity as well as paucity of
experimental evidence supporting any other shape.
Therefore, the total force is F  = pav⋅h⋅l. The ice
load definition in the FSICR is such that ice pres-
sure is constant for all classes (nominal ice pressure
p0) and load height h is the class factor (ranging
from 0.35 m for IA Super to 0.22 m for 1C).
The total ice load for each structural member is
taken as the line load q times the load length la that
depends on the distance between respective struc-
tural members (horizontal span or spacing). For
transverse frames the load is, for example, F  = q⋅s,
where s is the frame spacing.
2.2 Load cases
The present FSICR approach assumes that load is
equally distributed between framing members and
in direct analysis with FEM, pressure patch length
equals the webframe spacing; e.g., see Figure  2
case 8 s. To determine the effect of patch length on
capacity of the frames four different loading sce-
narios are considered besides the uniform pressure
patch of FSICR as shown in Figure 2. The length
of the patch is decreased from webframe spacing
(FSICR, denoted as 8 s) to one frame spacing (1 s).
Furthermore, in the last case study a scenario is
proposed where pressure is uniform over a frame
spacing, but decreases exponentially outside this
area as defined with Eq. (1):
⎧8.7 ( − x)
−0 733
iif x < 6.285
⎪
p = ⎨18.8 iff 6.825 ≤ x ≤ 7.175 (1)
⎪
⎩8.77 ( x − 6.825)
−0.733
if x > 7.175
The pressure values shown in Figure  2 were
chosen based on preliminary simulations so that
plastic deformations would take place in the struc-
ture. Since in the simulations pressure is ramped
up from zero to maximum the presented values are
the maximum attained. The advantage of ramping
procedure is that pressure can be treated as a vari-
able when results are analyzed. Details of pressure
application are presented in the next section.
3 FE ANALYSES
3.1 Case study structure
As a case study structure, we selected M/T Uikku
ship bow region. Ship is classified according
to FSICR as ice class IA Super. Ship was built
1976 in Werft Nobiskrug Gmbh. Ship has a diesel
electric propulsion system with four diesel genera-
tors. Details of the design are shown in Table 1.
3.2 FE modelling
Analyses are performed with a large 5-bay grillage
structure shown in Figure 3. The reasoning behind
the large model size was to reduce the effect of
boundary conditions on the response. The bound-
ary conditions on the model edge are defined so
that all translations are fixed. We believe that
this is more conservative than fixing all degrees
of freedom as stiffness is reduced. Moreover, the
uncertainty related with boundary conditions is
somewhat relieved by the large chosen model size.
The pressure patches shown in Figure  2 are
defined on the region with refined mesh of 50 mm

Table  1. Main dimensions and scantling data of

M/T Uikku.

Uikku M/T

Length, LPP 150 m

Breath, mould 22.2 m
Draught, design 9.5 m
Deadweight at design displacement 15748 t
Displacement 22654 t
Speed, service 17 kn
Propulsion power 11.4 MW
Frame spacing (bow) 0.35 m
Web span (bow) 2.8 m
Stringer span (bow) 2.5 m
Figure 2. Pressure patches used in the investigation.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 150 3/29/2017 9:35:33 AM

 Figure  3. Five bay grillage FE model used in the analyses. Design scantlings correspond to Uikku bow designed
according to FSICR IA Super. Plate thickness is 21.5 mm.
between two webframes; rest of the model has
the mesh size of 150  mm. In simulations one
loading-unloading cycle took place. Pressure in
the simulations was ramped up from zero to maxi-
mum value specified in Figure  2. The maximum
pressure was reached at the half-point of the sim-
ulation, after which it linearly decreased back to
zero. Because of unloading, we could determine
the permanent plastic deformation in the structure.
Similar procedure is advocated by the ABS (2014)
guidance notes on ice class.
All FE simulations are performed with FE soft-
ware ABAQUS 6.13-3. Modelled structures are
discretized with reduced integration shell (S4R)
elements with 5 integration points through thick-
ness and stiffness based hourglass control. They
possess six degrees of freedom on each node.
Initially all simulations were set-up using implicit
analysis procedure (ABAQUS/Standard) using
Static step. However, some of the analysis stopped
prematurely because convergence was not reached
during the specified number of increments of 500
and minimum time increment of 1e-12; simulation
time was 2  seconds. To overcome the increasing
number of non-linearities in those cases, simula-
tions were run using explicit analysis procedure
(ABAQUS/Explicit) instead.
In explicit simulations, the analysis time was
set to 5 seconds, which included both the loading
and unloading cycle. The computational time
was reduced by mass-scaling the entire model
in the beginning of the analysis by a factor of
14. Despite this large factor, comparison with
151
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 151
implicit non-mass scaled solution indicates that
changes in the mass and consequent increases in
the inertial forces do not alter the solution accu-
racy compared with implicit solution (Figure 4),
nor does it increase the kinetic energy over the
suggested limit value of 5% of total internal
energy. Furthermore, numerical noise associ-
ated with dynamic effects was damped out using
viscous pressure (2% of ρcd, where cd is the dila-
tational wave speed of the material) applied on
the fine mesh region of the outer shell shown in
Figure 3.
Two different true stress—plastic strain curves
were used in the simulation to determine the effect
of material non-linearity on the analysis results.
The true stress-strain curve is highly non-linear
in the plastic region, but can be approximated as
linear in the practical ranges of structural defor-
mation of interest here. Commonly the curve is
approximated as a bi-linear curve with linear hard-
ening with post yield modulus ranging from 0 to
2000 MPa (Abraham, 2008).
First, a non-linear material relation was
employed determined with 3  mm thick ten-
sile (dog-bone) specimens, see Figure  5. The
material  is a standard structural steel S235  JR
with following minimum values for mechani-
cal properties defined in standard EN 10025-2:
ReH = 235 MPa, Rm = 360…510 MPa and elon-
gation after fracture of 26%. Second, a bi-linear
elastic perfectly plastic material was defined
with the same yield stress as non-linear material,
285 MPa.
3/29/2017 9:35:33 AM

Figure 4. Comparison of implicit and explicit solution
together with curve shifting verification. Results cor-
respond to loading case 3  s performed with non-linear
material. Implicit simulation stopped before unloading
stage started. Total load corresponds to resultant force in
the boundaries. Load on frame is obtained by integrating
the pressure over the single frame spacing.
Figure  5. Material relations used in the simulation.
Non-linear true stress-plastic strain curve determined
with tensile tests and bi-linear elastic perfectly plastic
approximation.
3.3 Load corresponding to displacement
In the analysis, the objective is to compare the capac-
ity of the frames with respect to load that is necessary
to reach permanent displacement equal to 1/12 of the
frame spacing, i.e. serviceability limit state stipulated
by DNV. Naturally the load could not be defined a
priori so that after unloading permanent set is exactly
equal to the reference limit state. That is why the pres-
sure defined in Figure 2 is relatively large.
To determine the load corresponding to certain
displacement we shifted the unloading portion of
the curve so that the permanent set would be exactly
equal to the reference permanent displacement as
shown in Figure 4. The underlying assumption is
that slope of the unloading portion of the curve
remains the same due to the permanent nature of
152
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 152
plastic strains. This assumption of similarity in
unloading slope is verified with simulation where
maximum pressure was decreased (case 3  s, new
max. pressure 5 MPa) in Figure 4 – the two slopes,
calculated and shifted, overlap.
4 RESULTS
Analyses results are shown in Figure  6 where
load on single frame is plotted as a function of
displacement. Load on single frame, which is for
the one frame spacing, was found by integrating
the applied pressure over the corresponding area.
Displacements were measured at the two loca-
tions: 1) where it was highest in the plate field
(Figure 6a), and 2) in the plate field at the frame
location (Figure  6b). The capacity of the frames
is compared with respect to load that is necessary
to reach permanent displacement equal to 1/12
of the frame spacing, i.e. serviceability limit state
stipulated by DNV. The procedure is described in
Section 3.3.
The results in Figure  6(a) demonstrate that
material non-linearity has negligible influence
on the response in the range of structural defor-
mations considered. The reason is that plastic
strains remain small in the range below 5% at the
Figure  6. Load on single frame as a function of dis-
placement. Displacement at (a) middle of the plate field
and (b) on the plate field at the frame location. For each
case load causing the permanent deformation of s/12 is
highlighted.
3/29/2017 9:35:34 AM
 permanent displacement limit used here, for exam- Table 2. Load on single frame to reach the permanent
ple, see Figure 7. Using bi-linear material reduces displacement equal to 1/12 of the frame spacing.
the analysis set-up time, but the range of defor-
mations where this simplification remains valid Load
on frame q2
should be determined. Load [kN] Line [kN/m] (q1 − 
Comparison of Figures 6(a) and (b) shows that length (F_ load q1 Agulhass q2)/q2
slightly stiffer response is obtained when deforma- Case Solver [m] frame) [kN/m] bow [%]
tions are measured at the frame location. But as
the effect is negligible we focus on results presented 1s Implicit 0.35 1870 5343 3385 58%
in Figure 6(a). 2s Implicit 0.7 1158 3309 2331 42%
Results in Figure 6(a) imply that capacity con- 3s Explicit 1.05 857 2449 1874 31%
siderably reduces with increasing load width, 8s Explicit 2.8 690 1971 1106 78%
rendering the current design approach the most NU Implicit 2.8 967 1623 1106 47%
critical (8 s). But the impression is deceiving as the
external loading acting outside the single frame
spacing clearly reduces the structural stiffness of
individual frames.
Therefore, to account for this effect we convert
the determined load, Fframe, into format of line load
and present it as a function of load length. For uni-
form load the calculated line load is

qun F frame /ss (2)

where s is the frame spacing. For non-uniform

load, the line load is found by integrating the pres-
Figure  8. Line load – load length relationship deter-
sure function given by eq. (1) and by normalizing mined from full-scale ship measurements (Suominen and
it to account for the fact that Fframe was reached Kujala, 2015). Return period taken is 10 days.
before maximum applied load was reached in the
simulation
ment data in Figure  8 for two ships. Although
8.4
F the measurement data applies to different
h
p ( x ) dx ⋅
L 5∫.6
qnu =
frame
structures, the comparison shows that trend of
p ( x ) dx
7.175
h ∫ 6.825
d
(3)
obtained results is consistent with measured
8.4
F frame values. Qualitatively, the most critical loading
h
= ∫ p ( x ) dx
d ⋅ scenarios are the ones in which percentage dif-
L 5.6 18.8 ⋅ h s ference with measurements is smallest—cases 2 s
and 3 s; in this comparison, we selected Agulhas
where h  = 0.35 m is the height of the patch, and II ship providing a smaller difference between
L = 2.8 m is the length of the patch. The results measured and calculated values. This percentage
are presented in Table 2. The obtained line load is also given in Table 2.
is also plotted against full-scale ship measure- These results show that both length of the pres-
sure patch and non-uniformity of pressure play an
important role in determining the plastic capacity
of the frames and thus, also the whole structure.

5 CONCLUDING REMARKS

The objective of this work was to study how

Figure 7. Excerpt of the structure under 3 s patch at the
instance when load on frame is 857  kN. Plastic strains
remain under 4%.
length of the pressure patch due to ice loads and
uniformity of the pressure can affect the design
point of frames. Current design point of FSICR
is reaching yield at least once per winter. In con-
trast, IACS (2011) allows some plasticity in the
structure. How allowance of plasticity poten-
tially reduces the scantlings is well exemplified in
Figure  9. This reduction is important in amidst
new energy policies released in 2011 by IMO that

153

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 153 3/29/2017 9:35:35 AM


Figure  9. Present design method variations to obtain
scantlings based on design pressures and design criteria
(ISSC, 2015).
mandate increasingly stringent EEDI score for the
majority of new vessels. According to FTA (Finn-
ish Transport Agency) this will inevitable lead to
lighter merchant vessels complying with plastic
design rather than elastic design point. The notion
of plasticity was also the main motivation for this
study.
Future FSICR rules should aspire to the
patch definition that yields the most conserva-
tive results—largest damage with the least applied
load. Comparison of critical line load values with
the measured values in Figure 8 indicates that cur-
rent FSICR design approach is not the most criti-
cal scenario. Narrower patches, particularly the
case where pressure is applied over the three frame
spacings, are qualitatively more critical. Impor-
tant perspective considering that recent findings
indicate that load has to be in the range of (1–4
frame spacings) in order for the maximum load on
a frame to occur, Suominen et al. (2017).
Furthermore, results indicate that when design
point shifts towards allowance of plastic limit
states the load application influences the structural
response. These results are well in line with the
recent findings of Quinton et al. (2010), Erceg et al.
(2014) and Kõrgesaar and Kujala (2016). In light
of this, we hope that future experimental investi-
gations resolve the issue of most critical loading
scenario. Finally, future studies could extend the
present investigation by considering height of the
pressure patch (Ehlers et al. 2014) and asymmetric
loading with respect to frame.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The financial support of the Lloyd’s Register
Foundation, United Kingdom, is acknowledged
with gratitude. The Lloyd’s Register Foundation
helps to protect life and property by supporting
engineering-related education, public engagement
and the application of research. The support from
Finnish Transport Safety Agency (Trafi) is also
acknowledged.
154
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 154
REFERENCES
Abraham, J. 2008. Plastic response of ship structure sub-
jected to ice loading. Master thesis, Memorial Univer-
sity of Newfoundland.
ABS 2014. Guidance notes on ice class. American Bureau
of Shipping.
Daley, C., Hayward, R. & Riska, K. 1996. Ship-Ice
Interaction Determination of Bow Forces and Hull
Response Due to Head on and Glancing Impact
between a Ship and an Ice Floe. Research report
for SHIP SAFETY NORTHERN TRANSPORT
CANADA.
Daley, C.G. 2007. Reanalysis of ice pressure-area rela-
tionships. Marine Technology 44, 234–244.
Ehlers, S., Erceg, B., Jordaan, I. & Taylor, R. 2014. Struc-
tural analysis under ice loads for ships operating in
arctic waters. MARTECH2013.
Erceg, B., Taylor, R. & Ehlers, S., 2014. A Response
Comparison of a Stiffened Panel Subjected to Rule-
Based and Measured Ice Loads. In: Proceedings of the
ASME 2014 33rd International Conference on Ocean,
Offshore and Arctic Engineering, OMAE2014 June
8–13, 2014, San Francisco, California, USA.
FSICR, 2010. Ice Class Regulations 2010: Finnish-Swed-
ish Ice Class Rules 2010. Finnish Transport Safety
Agency (TRAFI): 48 p.
Hänninen, S. 2004. Incidents and Accidents in Win-
ter Navigation in the Baltic Sea. Winter 2002–2003
(un-published). Winter Navigation Research Board,
Research Report No 54.
IACS, 2011. Unified Requirements for Polar Ships: I2 -
structural requirements for Polar Class ships. Interna-
tional Association of Classification Societies.
ISSC 2015, 19th INTERNATIONAL SHIP AND
OFFSHORE STRUCTURES CONGRESS, Com-
mittee V.6 Arctic Technology, Edited by Soares, C.G. &
Garbatov, Y. CRC Press.
Kõrgesaar, M. & Kujala, P. 2016. Representing ice loads
with pressure patches in the analysis of ship structures.
In: OTC Arctic Technology Conference, St. John’s,
Newfoundland and Labrador, 24–26, 3 October 2016.
Kujala, P. 1991. Damage statistics of ice-strengthened
ships in the Baltic Sea 1984–1987. Winter Navigation
Research Board Report No. 50. 61 p.
Quinton, B.W.T., Daley, C.G., Gagnon, R.E., 2010.
Effect of Moving Ice Loads on the Plastic Capacity
of a Ship’s Structure. In: International Conference and
Exhibition on Performance of Ships and Structures in
Ice (ICETECH 2010), September 20–23, Anchorage,
Alaska.
Riska, K. & Kämäräinen, J. 2011. A review of ice load-
ing and the evolution of the finnish-swedish ice class
rules. Proceedings of the SNAME Annual Meeting.
Suominen, M. & Kujala, P. The measured line load as a
function of the load length in the Antarctic waters.
In: Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on
Port and Ocean Engineering under Arctic Conditions,
June 14–18, 2015, Torndheim, Norway.
Suominen, M., Kujala, P., Romanoff, J. & Remes, H.
2017. Influence of load length on short-term ice load
statistics in full-scale. Marine Structures, 52, 153–172.
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Reduced finite element models for mast analysis

A. Lorenzetti, M. Gaiotti, S. Ghelardi & C.M. Rizzo

DITEN, Polytechnic School, University of Genoa, Polo Navale, Genoa, Italy

ABSTRACT: The complexity of a rigging system is due to loads in compression, bending and torsion
transmitted from stays, shrouds and sails to the mast as well as to its slenderness and nonlinearities.
Buckling is by far the governing limit state, although additional phenomena may occur simultaneously
such as excessive displacement/strain and yielding. In thin walled structures, like mast panels, also local
collapse must be checked and finite element analysis of a 2D shell, rather than 1D beam, modeled mast
panel is necessary to capture local buckling and related phenomena of such type of structures. Aiming at
simplified numerical models, applicable in preliminary design and for optimization purposes, this paper
investigates the possibility to create a 1D-beam model based on moment-curvature relations at different
load conditions able to assess not only global limit states but also local ones.

1 GENERAL FEATURES OF A The buckling response of tubular structure

RIGGING SYSTEM
A sailboat mast holds the sails and it is in turn trans-
versally supported by shrouds and spreaders and
longitudinally supported by stays; all of them com-
press the mast, whose behavior can be summarized
as an axially compressed beam constrained in a
rather complex way. For this reason, mast is mainly
subjected to buckling that can occur globally in the
whole structure or locally at mast tube level. Buck-
ling occurs when axial load increases on the mast
but in those conditions also other phenomena can
affect the structure, locally and globally, like large
displacements/rotations/strains and possibly yield-
ing/material nonlinearities of the building material
may be reached. These geometrical and material
nonlinear phenomena actually causes the collapse
of the mast and, in term of Finite Element Analysis
(FEA), some of them can be accurately simulated
by 2D shell element models rather than 1D beam
element ones (Rizzo & Boote 2010).
The design of the mast to install onboard a spe-
cific yacht can be preliminary related to its overall
length. Furthermore, masts’ shapes are usually
standardized with the aim to minimize the drag
force and to reduce the interference generated by the
mast itself on sails’ aerodynamics and performances
(Rizzo & Ghelardi 2015) and to sustain dynamic
loading such those assessed by Lepidi et al. 2015.
A similar problem, where axial force combines
with bending moment on tubular structure, is
typical of large wind turbines see e.g. Guo et  al.
(2016), who conducted experiments on thin-walled
circular hollow section stub columns under axial
compression.
made of composite materials under combined
loading was deeply analyzed by Al-Hassani et al.
(1997), while the post-elastic response in terms of
energy absorption of tubular aluminum sections
was investigated by Abdul-Latif et al. (2006).
Hiyama et  al. (2000) proposed simplified for-
mulation to predict the post-buckling response of
aluminum tubular members considering the inter-
action of the bending moment with the axial com-
pressive force.
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no specific
studies have been recently devoted to mast buck-
ling behavior, addressing the issue of simplifying
(reduced) numerical models in preliminary design.
1.1 Geometry and boundary conditions
The mast considered as the test case in this
work comes from a Perini Navi sail ship and it
is 63.143  m in length. Its features are shown in
Figure  1; it is made of welded plates and profiles
of aluminum alloy T-6086 whose nominal yielding
stress is σy = 260 MPa. In the FE analysis, the mate-
rial was described by a multilinear hardening mate-
rial model with Young modulus E = 69500 [MPa],
ultimate stress σ0 =  310 [MPa] and ultimate strain
ε0 = 0.01 (maximum elongation); when external load
increases, stress and strain linearly increase accord-
ing to elastic modulus up to yielding. Elastic bending
moment limit is reached when first yielding occurs;
from that value, sections starts becoming plastic and
the bearing capacity of the structure decreases. By
increasing loads, internal stress (and strain) becomes
higher and when the relation σ-ε exceeds ultimate
limits the structure can be defined lost.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 155 3/29/2017 9:35:37 AM

 The mast has five spreaders, dividing it into six Element displacement function can be found in
panels (Rizzo et al. 2009). The panel between the Chapelle and Bathe (2000) and Bathe and Dvorkin
keel and the lower spreader is further subdivided (1985), while the numerical convergence criteria is
into two panels by the deck of the ship, totaling in reported in ADINA (2013). It is worth noting that
this way seven mast panels. offsets due to differences in thickness of abutting
This lower panel, in fact, is stepped in the keel, plates have been duly considered by shifting the
and penetrates the deck. After dock tuning, the mid-plane of the shell elements and rigidly linking
deck hole is sealed by a special hard system con- edge nodes.
stituting, de facto, a constraint of the mast at Boundary conditions have been modeled in
deck level. The boom as well as the spreaders, the points that define the neutral axis of the mast
constraints the displacements and rotations of the panel at both its ends and “rigid links” have been
mast after its dock tuning. Structurally speaking, used as well to transfer the load applied to surfaces
a mast is a continuous beam variously supported and to evaluate the reactions (Figure 3).
and virtually spreaders are transversal constraints In this way, a simple link for comparison pur-
while the boom longitudinally load the mast simi- poses between the 2D shell modeled tube and
larly to stays, shrouds, running rigging and other a simpler 1D-beam structural model has been
sailing equipment (see again Figure 1). obtained.
The mast structural model in this work has been
further simplified, neglecting its rake and assuming
that the shrouds and the spreaders are connected to
the mast beam at the same level, despite a small dif-
ference in height actually exists. Moreover, the beam
section tapering towards mast top has been neglected
as well, considering the final aim of this work.
Essentially, the analysis focuses on the lower part
of the mast, between the keel and the boom (i.e. the
lowest part of the mast, from step up to 8.474 m in
height). A mast tube model of this lower panel has
been created in the ADINA finite element software
(ADINA 2013). The mast cross section has been
extruded and properties (thickness and material)
have been assigned to all surfaces (Figure 2).
Such tridimensional geometry has been discre-
tized with four nodes quadrilateral shell elements,
having five degrees of freedom per node, formu-
lated with the Mindlin-Reissner plate theory,
whose average size was set to 50 mm, which is con-
sidered a relatively refined mesh.
Figure 2. Geometry of “Panel 0” in ADINA.

Figure  3. Particular of “rigid links” at mast panel

Figure 1. Mast analyzed and subdivision of panels. ends.

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 1.2 Loads acting on the rigging system and yielding can occur globally and locally, leading
to the collapse of the tube and consequently of the
As mentioned, a rigging system is a rather complex
whole sail system.
structure also because of the various acting loads
Globally, compression shortens the panel along
transferred from numerous cable components to
the direction of its axis, bending moment bends
the mast, spreaders and boom. Rigging is mainly
it in a plane parallel to its axis, possibly involv-
subjected to two types of loads: those deriving
ing global buckling phenomena mainly depending
from sails and pretension loads after dock tuning.
on mast panel length (i.e. Euler’s buckling of the
As highlighted by Gaiotti & Rizzo (2014), both
beam).
load types interact each other and dynamically
At the same time, considering the relatively thin
stress the mast.
thickness of the panel wall, local bending of shell
External loads originate from the wind acting
plates of the tube may occur in case the acting
on the sails, which causes mainly bending of the
loads are sufficiently large, possibly before global
mast counteracted by shrouds on the wind side.
buckling occurs.
The forces are also transferred to spreaders, shrouds
Furthermore, local deformation of the tube
and stays so that the resultant acting forces are
cross section due to the local bending may occur,
eventually bending but also compressing the mast.
even if local buckling affecting selected areas is not
Shrouds and stays have also the role to support the
reached. Hence, global collapse, i.e. Euler buck-
mast and, in order to avoid slack shrouds and stays
ling, may start because of cross section modifica-
under lateral loading, pretension of rigging cables is
tion in shape and/or its local yielding, impairing
needed. Pretension is usually made either by lifting
the strength of the tube under compressive loading
the mast step causing, in this way, mast compression
as well.
and rigging tension as well as by tensioning directly
The failure modes of a mast panel can be there-
the shrouds and stays using turnbuckles, depending
fore summarized as follows (Figure 4):
on mast’s dimensions. In particular, dock tuning is
obtained lifting the mast step for large masts while – Global failure: the governing limit state is Euler
in smaller yacht turnbuckles are used instead. buckling as long as the complete yielding of any
cross section is not usually reached because of
compressive forces. However, in progressive fail-
2 MOMENT-CURVATURE ure analysis, plasticity may evolve in the beam
BEAM ELEMENT section due to global bending leading to the for-
mation of a plastic hinge;
FEA by means of the 2D shell tube is more accu-
rate than the mono-dimensional analysis using
beam elements because it allows explicitly includ-
ing in the simulation not only the global but also
the local structural behavior that occur on the thin
walled surfaces of the mast panel, i.e. the plating
behavior of the thin walls.
However, through moment-curvature relations
of a beam, it is possible to describe the time history
of the collapse of a mast panel implicitly includ-
ing both the global and the local effects, even after
first yielding or buckling behavior at local level are
developed (Bathe 1996).
A moment-curvature beam element is therefore
proposed and calibrated in this work to this aim.
It is worth noting that, because of its definition, it
accounts for the axial force and bending moments as
well as corresponding displacements and rotations
but it does not explicitly consider the deformation
effects of shear forces (shear stiffness is infinite).

2.1 Global and local failure modes of

a mast panel
Figure  4. Sample of local buckling due compression
When the axial load applied to a mast panel (up); types of buckling (down left to right): global, dis-
increases, buckling, large displacements/strains tortional, local.

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 – Local failure: again, buckling is the governing
limit state but, in this case, local buckling of the
shell plating of the mast tube induces a shape
modification of the cross section as well as its
possible plasticization. In turn, such behavior
may affect the global behavior since structural
stiffness is substantially changed.
Each of the above mentioned phenomena or—
better to say—their combination causes the col-
lapse of a mast panel.
2.2 Relation between failure modes and
moment-curvature
All the above-mentioned failure modes can be
described as a whole by the moment-curvature
relations of a beam, taking advantage of the main
equations of the well-known beam theory.
The curvature of any beam can be in fact
described as follows:
dθ d 2 ε M
χ= = = zz = (1)
ds dz 2 y EI
where χ  =  beam curvature; θ  =  section rotation;
u = axial displacement; εzz = axial strains; y = trans-
versal direction; M = bending moment; E = Young
modulus; I = inertia of the beam cross section.
Figure  5  shows an example of a mast panel
cross section.
Equation  1 has been derived under linearity
assumptions but it is possible to assume a func-
tional dependency between moment and curvature
also in the non-linear field. The final goal of this
work is therefore to use a simpler 1D idealization
Figure  5. Geometrical sketch of the considered
mast cross section (actual features not reported due to
confidentiality).
158
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 158
of a mast panel still accounting for local and 2D
effects in FEA simulation. In this way, a reduced
model is obtained without losing the information
about material non-linearities and local buckling.
2.3 Non-linear beam definition process
The definition of the non-linear beam element,
aimed at simulating mast panels’ behavior, is car-
ried out performing two types of analyses. The
moment-curvature relations obtained in both anal-
yses are used as the input for the definition of the
non-linear beam element.
Having defined representative loading condi-
tions of the mast panel and applied them to its top
end in the center of the cross section, the 2D shell
discretized mast panel tube as shown in Figure 3
is first subjected to a linearized buckling analysis.
Noticeably, the linearized buckling analysis is car-
ried out after load application in order to account
for the deformed configuration of the mast panel.
Often, linearized buckling analysis by commercial
FEA software is carried out in the undeformed
configuration, assuming small displacements and
rotations. However, large displacements should be
taken into account in these kind of problems, oth-
erwise accuracy of results is impaired.
This analysis has mathematically two purposes:
– to find the Eigenvalues of the stiffness matrix of
the deformed configuration of the mast panel
and therefore to obtain an estimate of the criti-
cal buckling load, either global or local, of the
mast panel by means of a linearized analysis,
– to define a collapse mode shape of the mast
panel able to cope the distribution of fabrication
imperfections of the real panel for subsequent
analyses.
Thereafter, a non-linear analysis is carried out
by increasing the loads applied on the mast panel
in several time steps up to its complete collapse.
Hence, the actual behavior of the mast panel tube
is obtained by a progressive collapse analysis.
A  linear elastic-plastic isotropic hardening mate-
rial was conservatively defined having an ultimate
tension strength of 310 MPa. Displacements and
strains were set as large and therefore FEA took
into account both material and geometrical non-
linearities. Moreover, linearized buckling mode
shapes were assigned to the structure as an initial
suitably small imperfection in order that, mean-
while load increases, the panel collapses according
to the assigned mode shape as usually performed
in this kind of analyses.
The outputs of this analysis are the rotation
at the point where load has been applied and the
reaction moments at the opposite end of the tube,
3/29/2017 9:35:38 AM
 i.e. the moment-curvature relationship is obtained
by causing the rotation of the cross section on one
side and evaluating the corresponding bending
moment on the other side of the beam.
The various moment-curvature relations
obtained by several analysis under different combi-
nation of loads are used as the input for the defini-
tion of the non-linear beam element.
In practice, the non-linear beam element derives
from the envelope of several moment-curvature
relations defined by a more complex 2D shell ele-
ment model.
3 APPLICATION CASES: GENERAL
FEATURES
3.1 Definition and combination of load cases
A set of load cases have been defined as follows to
obtain representative behaviors of a mast panel.
Two acting load types were considered:
– Bending moment about X axes or Y axes
(MX, MY) to simulate sail and rigging actions,
– Axial compression force (N) to simulate preten-
sioning and rigging actions.
Above-mentioned bending loads were incre-
mentally applied to the panel. Loads have been
combined through dummy time functions; time
was arbitrarily set into 10 time steps. The load is
applied to the mast panel at each time step so that
in the last time step the load is totally applied to
the structure.
The choice of the time function depends on the
actual load action: pretension load is a constant
load, i.e. it is initially assigned to the rigging during
dock tuning, while wind loads can be arbitrarily
considered as linearly increasing loading bearing
in mind the aim of this study. Defined time func-
tions are shown in Figure  6 and Figure  7. The
maximum value of acting bending moments was
obtained by imposing the first yielding condition
of the cross section of the mast panel:
Figure 6. Time function on bending moments MX or MY.
159
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 159
Figure 7. Time function on axial load N.
MX
σy = *y (2)
JX
MY
σy = *x (3)
JY
where σy = material yielding stress; MX and MY are
bending moments; JX and JY are the cross section
inertias about relevant axis; x, y are the largest dis-
tances from center of gravity of the section. Such
values were considered as limit states for the mast
panel and properly considered to define the maxi-
mum applied bending.
Eventually, yielding bending moments have been
increased by a multiplier factor α ≤ 1.5 in order to
investigate the post-yielding behavior of the struc-
ture. Maximum bending moments obtained for the
captioned test case are MX  =  2.797*109 [N*mm]
and MY = 5.237*109 [N*mm] respectively.
The maximum applicable axial compression
force has been obtained in the same way as it
follows:
N
σy = (4)
A
where A  =  area of the cross section of the mast;
N = maximum compression force.
The pretensioning compressive force for similar
masts ranges between 150 t and 300 t: in order to
evaluate the effects of the different magnitude of
compression, a few cases have been investigated
exemplarily applying a fraction of the maximum
applicable axial load N. Table  1  shows the load
combinations adopted in this work.
3.2 Observations of fabrication defects of real
mast panels
Considering the two purposes of the linearized
buckling analysis mentioned in §2.3, it is worth
investigating the fabrication imperfection on
actual aluminum mast panels.
3/29/2017 9:35:39 AM
 Table 1. Initial load conditions.

Load Moment (M) Compression (N)

Combination N mm t

MX 2.797*109 –
MX + 1/10 N 2.797*109 157.5
MX + 1/5 N 2.797*109 315
MX + 1/2.5 N 2.797*109 629
MY 5.237*109 – Figure 8. Procedure scheme to evaluate imperfections.
MY + 1/10 N 5.237*109 157.5
MY + 1/5 N 5.237*109 315
MY + 1/2.5 N 5.237*109 629

Surveys on two random samples in a work-

shop of a mast manufacturer have revealed that
the surfaces of the panels are rather far from per-
fection. The imperfections have been identified
as large dents of about 2  mm in depth. Surveys
have been arranged as described in Figure 8 using
a reference straight long bar and the distribution
of dents, concave or convex, have been depicted
marking the extension of dented areas along the Figure 9. Distribution of imperfections (highlighted by
panel. The distribution of imperfections is mainly green line) on two random specimens of plate panels.
positioned in the middle of both panels analyzed
(Figure 9).

3.2.1 Simulation of imperfections

Usually, the buckling modes obtained by a lin-
earized buckling analysis, i.e. solving an Eigen-
value problem, are considered both to obtain
the critical buckling load as well as a deformed
configuration inducing the collapse condition in
the progressive collapse analysis (Spirakos 1996,
Bathe 1996).
Hence, linearized buckling analyses have been
carried out considering the load cases as previ-
ously mentioned. The analyses gave unsuccess-
ful results and no suitable mode shapes have
been found (only first mode shape is reported, in
Figures 10 and 11 as an example). In short, local Figure 10. First buckling modes obtained by linearized
modes were obtained because of the relatively thin buckling analysis for two load cases involving transversal
tube shell, which do not represent well the reality bending.
of the real structure and of its fabrication induced
geometrical imperfections. In order to evaluate the effects of applied loads
combined with actual imperfections, defects have
been modeled along the mast panel only on the
3.3 A new imperfect model
sides affected by the applied bending moment,
In order to represent initial imperfections of the i.e. port and starboard sides for transversal bend-
mast panel, a new geometry was created where ing MX and aft and fore for longitudinal bending
dents of 2 mm in depth have been modeled moving MY respectively. Figure  12 highlights the shape
control points of the splines generating the sur- of the dents where concavity and convexity due
faces in the CAD model in the attempt to match to imperfections are shadowed and lighted.
the dent shapes found in the workshop on random Figure  13  shows section differences locally. The
plates (Figure 9). Long wave shapes of dents were procedure to obtain the model to be analyzed
therefore introduced in the plates forming the with linearized buckling analysis and nonlinear
mast tube. analysis is the same previously described.

160

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 160 3/29/2017 9:35:40 AM

 Table  2. Imperfections port and starboard: linearized
buckling.

Buckling moment Load factor (λ)

Type (Case #) N mm –

(#0) MX 9.905*109 35.41

(#2) MX + 1/10 N 3.274*109 11.70
(#3) MX + 1/5 N 1.665*109 5.950
(#4) MX + 1/2.5 N 8.361*108 2.989

Table 3. Imperfections fore and aft: linearized buckling.

Buckling moment Load factor (λ)

Type (Case #) N mm –
Figure 11. First buckling modes obtained by linearized
buckling analysis for two load cases involving longitudi- (#0) MY 7.533*109 14.52
nal bending. (#2) MY + 1/10 N 3.274*109 6.698
(#3) MY + 1/5 N 2.270*109 4.334
(#4) MY + 1/2.5 N 1.327*109 2.533

3.4 Linearized buckling analysis

Two analyses have been carried out separately, one
for each distribution of imperfections and load con-
dition. Having excluded the possibility to find the
proper collapse mode shape by linearized buckling,
the only purpose of linearized buckling analysis is
now to find the Eigenvalues of stiffness matrix, i.e.
the critical load conditions for buckling collapse.
Because of the initial purpose to investigate about
the effects of different values of compression on col-
lapse behavior, only critical buckling moments are
reported. Results are listed in Tables 2 and Table 3.
Comparing results in Tables 2 and 3, it is clear
that a higher value of compression induces the
Figure  12. Modeling of imperfections in CAD panel buckling earlier; in facts the Eigenvalue (load
software. factor) decreases increasing compression.

4 APPLICATION CASES: NON LINEAR

ANALYSES

In order to include buckling effects in nonlinear

Figure  13. Local sections at 25% of the panel length,
port side (up) and fore and aft parts (down); dashed lines
are the perfect geometry while continuous lines are the
imperfect sections.
analysis and to evaluate a realistic collapse behavior,
it was necessary to carry out a nonlinear incremen-
tal collapse analysis up to a bending moment higher
than the ones obtained by linearized buckling anal-
yses but imposing the imperfections experimentally
assessed and described in previous sections.
Several numerical tests were carried out impos-
ing the bending moments shown in Tables 4 and 5
combined with various compressive axial forces.
Indeed, MX moment was applied having defined
an imperfect mast panel at port and starboard
sides while a MY moment was applied in case of
aft and fore fabrication induced imperfections.

161

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 161 3/29/2017 9:35:41 AM

 4.1 Results: moment-curvature and limit states thin shell plate of the panel, which sum up to the
global bending displacements,
Results are analyzed for each load case considering
– local yielding of some parts of one or more
the moment-curvature diagram. If the slope of the
beam cross section. Plastic hinge of the beam is
diagram is constant, i.e. the behavior is linear, then
eventually attained and, when the load increases
the panel can be considered in a safe condition.
further, plasticity spreads throughout the struc-
When the slope, i.e. structural stiffness, changes,
ture progressively. It is noted that yielding can be
the panel starts collapsing in a notional sense. The
locally reached during the global elastic phase of
aim was in fact to find the limit for elastic condition.
the panel (i.e. even if the slope of the curves in
Panel collapses according to moment-curvature
Figures 14 and 15 is constant)
shown in Figures  14 and 15 when imperfections
– In short, global buckling and local buckling
are respectively port/starboard and for/aft and
occur together as the structure shows a global
bending applied correspondingly as MX or MY.
lateral bending as well as local bending of the
According to Table 4 and Table 5, the mast panel
starts its plasticization at a certain time step cor-
responding to the maximum sustainable loading
conditions, i.e. the limit state condition. Maximum
elastic bending moment and maximum curvature
per panel length at this time step are shown as well
as maximum acting Von Mises stress σMax.
Panel of “Case 0” deforms as shown in
Figure 16. This is a global buckling behavior involv-
ing the progressive plasticization of a cross section
of the tube in bending. Such progressive plasticiza-
tion is well described by the discretization of the tube
model built up using shell elements. In particular, for
each load condition, the structure undergoes to: Figure 14. Results of nonlinear analysis with imperfec-
tions port/starboard in terms of MX – curvature.
– large displacements/strains because the rela-
tively large applied load makes the panel glob-
ally bended moving laterally the neutral axis of
the beam as well as causing displacements of the

Table  4. Imperfections port and starboard: values of

applied loads in nonlinear analysis and results at limit
state time step.

Case #0 #2 #3 #4

MX [Nmm] 1 × 10 10
1 × 10 10
1 × 10 10
1 × 1010
N [N] 0 1544658 3089316 6178633
Time Step 2.0 1.8 1.6 1.2 Figure 15. Results of non linear analysis with imperfec-
tions port/starboard in terms of MY – curvature.
χMax 8474[°] 3.51 × 10−2 3.25 × 10−2 2.98 × 10−2 2.39 × 10−2
MX Max 9.63 × 108 9.10 × 108 8.51 × 108 7.14 × 108
[Nmm]
σMax [MPa] 188.1 208.6 243.9 285.1

Table 5. Imperfections fore and aft: values of loads in

nonlinear analysis and results at limit state time step.

Case #0 #2 #3 #4

MX [Nmm] 8 × 109 8 × 109 8 × 109 8 × 109

N [N] 0 1544658 3089316 6178633
Time Step 4.0 4.0 4.0 3.5
χMax 8474 1.531 × 10−2 1.537 × 10−2 1.546 × 10−2 1.37 × 10−2
[°]
MX Max 1.50 × 109 1.51 × 109 1.52 × 109 1.35 × 109
[Nmm]
σMax [MPa] 146.8 162.6 196.0 262.4 Figure  16. “Case 0”: deformation of the panel (light
blue) and undeformed configuration (violet).

162

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 162 3/29/2017 9:35:42 AM

 thin shell plates. Moreover, yielding of local
areas of the thin wall plating is reached.
4.2 Discussion of results
All the cases include global and local nonlineari-
ties. By comparing obtained result it is clear that:
– time step where elastic moment is reached
decreases when increasing the compression load,
as expected,
– stress values also increase proportionally to
compression,
– considering lateral imperfections port and star-
board, collapse bending moment decrease while
increasing compression as well,
– considering fore and aft imperfections, elastic
moment increases with the increment of com-
pression, but for “Case #4” it decreases. This
fact is due to the favorable combination of loads
and inertia (depending on imperfections) of the
section of the mast. As a matter of facts, there
is a limit on the value of compression beyond
whom elastic moment decreases. This value is
between 1/5 and 1/2.5 of maximum applicable
compression N.
5 NON LINEAR BEAM ELEMENT
DEFINITION
Structures are inherently tridimensional but
their structural behavior can be described by a
mono-dimensional structural model when some
conditions are met. A mono-dimensional finite
element (1D beam) is defined in the following,
taking advantage of the results obtained by the
more complex 2D shell elements models. Actu-
ally, a mast can be discretized by 1D nonlinear
beam elements model thus saving computation
costs.
The element shall be constructed using the
following input data (ADINA 2013):
– axial stiffness K = EA
– bending curvature relationship “X” – MX
– bending curvature relationship “Y” – MY
– torsional curvature relationship “Z” – MZ
Curvatures are defined based on the cases pre-
viously analyzed (“Cases #2, #3, #4”). Bending
curvature relationships have been obtained by 2D
shell element FEA. The 1D nonlinear beam ele-
ment is defined such that depending on the acting
axial force, the appropriate bending curvature rela-
tionship is used by interpolating values from those
used as the input.
Torsional curvature is obtained by combining
the Navier-Bresse, Bredt formulas and Von Mises
criterion as the limit state. However, torsion is not
163
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 163
a governing loading mode and it is included in the
definition for the sake of completeness.
In order to verify the correct definition of the
nonlinear beam element, a few numerical tests have
been carried out. Considering the aim of the work,
it is important to compare quantities common to
shell analysis and beam analysis in order to calibrate
the nonlinear beam elements models against the
shell-discretized panel. Quantities of interest are:
− lateral displacements to evaluate the deformed
structure as a whole,
− axial displacement of the node at the top of the
mast panel (i.e. in direction “Z”),
− reaction at the mast panel base, both bending
reaction moments and axial force.
Figure 17 exemplarily reports results of nonlin-
ear beam loaded as in “Case 2” at time step when
yielding moment is reached in shell analysis.
Tables  6 and 7 report for Cases #2, #3, #4
differences between shell model and moment-
curvature beam model.
It is noted that axial reaction is the same in both
models: there is a little discrepancy in reaction
bending moment and vertical displacement.
It was attempted to change some input values
for the moment-curvature beam element in order
to decrease the difference between results obtained
by the two modeling strategies. In general, the
cases involving MX bending conditions are more
accurate in terms of rotations and vertical dis-
placement. However, the gap between reaction
moments becomes larger. Considering MY condi-
tions, only the reaction moment varies being lower
than the ones obtained with shell element models.
Results obtained after the calibration of the
models and after revision of the input data
highlight some gaps especially in rotations and
moments. This could be due to the fact that
moment-curvature beam element does not include
Figure  17. “Case 2”: lateral displacement at critical
time step.
3/29/2017 9:35:43 AM
 Table 6. Imperfections port and starboard: differences
between shell model and beam model.
Case #2 #3 #4
Z displacement 10% 4.3% 0.9%
MX reaction 1.4% 1.1% 7.1%
N reaction 0% 0% 0%
Table 7. Imperfections fore and aft: differences between
shell model and beam model.
Case #2 #3 #4
Z displacement 0.6% 0.8% 1%
MY reaction 8.6% 7.9% 9.6%
N reaction 0.6% 0% 0%
any shear effects that shell elements include
instead. In linear beams, in facts, bending moment
is always associated with shear effects. Indeed, the
shear force carried by the shell model is not only
related to the Mindlin formulation, which apply
to the faceplates of the cross section, but also to
the fact that elements, perpendicular to the bend-
ing axis, carry the most significant fraction of the
shear force, intended as shear in the plane of the
element. In conclusion, adopting the Kirchhoff
theory instead of the Mindlin-Reissner theory
would lead to almost identical results.
Moreover, it is worth noting that, considering the
rotations, torsional buckling effects could occur in
shell elements and these effects have not been taken
into account, considering beams, in FE analysis.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Though the defined moment-curvature beam ele-
ment still needs to be improved aiming at a more
accurate calibration for various mast panel cross
section geometries and lay-outs, it is important to
underline that this work exploited the possibility to
define a moment-curvature beam element suitable
for mast and rigging analysis.
Obtained results are rather promising and call
for an extended and comprehensive study imply-
ing a large number of calculations to calibrate the
input data of the nonlinear beam element dedi-
cated to mast simulation.
It has been indeed verified that a set of moment-
curvature beam elements are able to properly sim-
ulate the mast behaviors. In particular, the lowest
mast panel was used as the test case since it is the
most stressed one, subject to combined varying
loads. Though, other mast panels show geometri-
cally similar cross sections and therefore they can
be simulated by similar nonlinear elements cali-
brated under different boundary conditions.
164
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 164
If the model is well calibrated it will responds
faithfully to service load conditions, reducing sub-
stantially the computation costs in usual design
practice and allowing numerical optimization of
sail systems by running and comparing a large
number of nonlinear FEA of the whole sail system.
REFERENCES
Abdul-Latif A., Baleh R., Aboura Z. 2006. Some
improvements on the energy absorbed in axial plastic
collapse of hollow cylinders. Int. J. Solids and Struc-
tures, 43 (6): 1543–1560.
Al-Hassani S.T.S., Darvizeh M., Haftchenari H. 1997.
An analytical study of buckling of composite tubes
with various boundary conditions. Composite Struc-
tures, 39 (1–2): 157–164.
ADINA R&D Inc. 2013. Theory and Modeling Guide v.
9.0. Watertown. MA. USA.
Bathe K.J. 1996. Finite element procedure. Prentice Hall.
Upper Saddle River NJ. USA
Bathe K.J., Dvorkin E.N. 1985. A four-node plate bend-
ing element based on Mindlin/Reissner plate theory
and a mixed interpolation. Int. J. for Numerical Meth-
ods in Engineering, 21 (2): 367–383.
Chapelle D. and Bathe K.J. 2000. The mathematical
shell  model underlying general shell elements. Int. J.
for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 48 (2): 289–313.
Gaiotti M. and Rizzo C.M. 2014. Dynamic buckling of
masts of large sail ships. Ship & Offshore Structures
10 (3): 290–301.
Guo L., Liu Y., Jiao H., An S. 2016. Behavior of thin-
walled circular hollow section stub columns under axial
compression. Int. J. of Steel Structures, 16 (3): 777–787.
Hiyama Y., Ishikawa K., Kato S., Okubo S. 2000. Experi-
ments and analysis of the post-buckling behaviors of alu-
minum alloy double layer space grids applying ball joints.
Structural Engineering and Mechanics, 9 (3): 289–304.
Lepidi M., Ghelardi S. and Rizzo C.M. 2015. A nonlin-
ear monodimensional beam model for the dynamic
analysis of the mast pumping phenomenon in sailing
boats. AIMETA 2015, XXII Congresso - Associazione
Italiana di Meccanica Teorica e Applicata, Genova,
14–17 Settembre 2015.
Rizzo C.M. and Ghelardi S. 2015. Predicting and con-
trolling the stiffness of masts and sails / Predire e con-
trollare la rigidezza di alberi e vele. (English/Italian),
Nautech, Febbraio 2015.
Rizzo C.M. and Boote D. 2010. Scantling of mast and rig-
ging of sail boats: a few hints from a test case to develop
improved design procedures. Proc.s 11th Int. Symp. on
Practical Design of Ships and other Floating Structures,
20–24 September 2010, Rio de Janeiro, COPPE.
Rizzo C.M., Carrera G. and Paci M. 2009. Structural mon-
itoring of mast and rigging of sail ships. In: Guedes
Soares C. and Das P.K. (Eds), Analysis and Design
of Marine Structures, Proc. 2nd Int. Conf. on Marine
Structures MARSTRUCT 2009. Lisbon, Portugal,
16–18 March 2009, Leiden, CRC Press, pp. 333–343.
Spirakos C. 1996. Finite element modeling in engineer
practice. Algor Inc.
Timoshenko S. 1951. Theory of shell plates. McGraw-
Hill. New York, USA.
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Modeling microstructure of materials by using peridynamics

N. Zhu, D. De Meo, S. Oterkus & E. Oterkus

Department of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Marine Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

ABSTRACT: Polycrystalline materials are commonly used in many different fields including marine
structures. In some cases, microstructure can be very effective, especially in the fracture process. Therefore,
it is important to perform a detailed analysis at microscopic (grain) level to have a better understanding
of the fracture behavior of these materials. As a new continuum mechanics formulation, peridynamics,
can be very useful due to its various advantages with respect to some other traditional techniques includ-
ing linear elastic fracture mechanics, cohesive zone model and extended finite element method. Hence, in
this study, peridynamic analysis of cubic polycrystalline materials is presented under plane strain condi-
tions. Depending on the grain boundary strength, intergranular and/or transgranular fracture modes
are obtained. Moreover, for weak grain boundaries, microcrack shielding phenomenon is successfully
captured.

1 INTRODUCTION various cubic polycrystal systems (Benedetti and

Microstructure can be very effective for the mac-
roscopic behavior of the materials including the
materials used in marine structures. An important
class of materials which are very much influenced
by their microstructure is polycrystalline materials
including all common metals. Polycrystalline mate-
rials consist of randomly oriented grains which
are associated with each other through their grain
boundaries. The size, shape, orientation of grains
and the strength of the grain boundaries are the
major parameters which can influence the behavior
of the polycrystalline materials. Experimental char-
acterization can be used to investigate the micro-
structure of polycrystalline materials. However,
they can be time consuming and expensive. Instead,
computational techniques can be used. In this
regard, several computational techniques have been
utilized to date and many of them are based on the
Cohesive Zone Model (CZM) implemented within
the framework of the Finite Element  Method
(FEM) (Paggi and Wriggers 2012, Zhai et al. 2004,
Espinoza and Zavattieri 2003a, 2003b). On the
other hand, Sukumar et al. (2002) investigated the
intergranular and transgranular fracturing of brit-
tle polycrystalline materials by using the Extended
Finite Element Method (XFEM), whereas the
Boundary Element Method (BEM) coupled with
CZM was used for the modelling of fracture in alu-
mina (Sfantos and Aliabadi 2007a) and SiC (Sfan-
tos and Aliabadi 2007b) and for the polycrystalline
modelling of fcc nickel (Benedetti and Aliabadi
2012), SiC (Benedetti and Aliabadi 2013a) and
Aliabadi 2013b). CZM approaches suffer from
mesh dependency issues whereas XFEM is not suit-
able for the analysis of large number of cracks. On
the other hand, Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics
(LEFM) based approaches are also widely used.
However, these techniques require initial damage
in the structure and include unphysical singular
stresses at the crack tip.
In addition to these traditional approaches,
a  new continuum mechanics formulation, Peri-
dynamics (PD) (Silling 2000), can be a good
alternative. As opposed to the other aforemen-
tioned techniques, peridynamics is based on
integro-differential equations which are valid
regardless of discontinuities such as cracks. More-
over, pre-existing damage in the structure is not
required as in LEFM. An extensive review of PD
studies is given in Madenci and Oterkus (2014).
Askari et al. (2008) performed PD simulations of
granular fracture in a silicon polycrystal (cubic
system); they investigated the effect of the grain
boundary strength on the fracture mechanisms.
Recently, Ghajari et al. (2014) applied PD for
modeling the dynamic fracture response of alu-
mina (hexagonal system).
In this study, peridynamic modelling of micro-
structure of materials is presented. The effect of
grain boundary strength on fracture behaviour
and fracture morphology of materials is inves-
tigated by considering plane strain assumption.
The developed approach can be very beneficial for
engineering communities to design new generation
of fracture-resistant materials.

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 2 PERIDYNAMICS

The equation of motion of peridynamics can be

written as:

ρ ( )u( , ) ∫ ( t( ′ , x′ x, )
H
− t ′(( , x ′ − x, ))dH + b(( , t ) (1)

where ρ(x) represents the density and  u( x,t ) is

the acceleration of the material point x at time t.
Moreover, t( u u, x ′ − x, ) and t′′( u ′ − u, x ′ − x, )
denote the force density vectors of the material
points x and x′, and u ′ − u represents the differ-
ence of displacements of the material points x and
x′ at time t. In Equation (1), H represents the peri-
dynamic horizon that defines the range of inter- Figure 2. Type 1 bonds (green dashed lines) and Type 2
action of a particular material point, as shown in bonds (red solid lines) for the PD cubic crystal model for
Figure 1. In the peridynamic literature, the size of a grain orientation of ϕ = π4 .
the horizon is usually represented by the symbol δ.
There are various types of crystal systems. In
this study, cubic crystal system is investigated. The where
peridynamic model for a cubic crystal can be repre-
δ
δ (bT + bT ) s
sented using two types of interactions (bonds), as
A 4ad
ad θ (3)
x′ − x
T
shown in Figure 2.
These are:
1. Type 1 bonds (green dashed lines)—interac- with
tions along all directions (φ = 0∼2π),
2. Type 2 bonds (red solid lines)—interactions ⎧ 1 Type-2 bonds
along the directions of φ = 14 π , 34 π , 54 π , 74 π , μT 2 = ⎨ (4)
⎩0 otherwise
where φ represents the angle between the orienta-
tion of the bond and the crystal (grain) orienta- and
tion. As an example, bonds within the horizon of a
particular material point for a grain orientation of 1 y′ − y
ϕ = π4 . are shown in Figure 2. t′′ ( − ′ − ′ )=− B . (5)
2 y′ − y
The peridynamic force densities t and t′ can be
expressed for cubic crystal systems as:
where
1 y′ y
t ( u′ − u x′ − x ) = A . (2) δ
2 y′ y B 4ad
ad θ δ (bT + bT ) s. (6)
x′ − x
T

In Equations (2) and (5), y and y′ represent

the  location of material points x and x′ after
deformation, i.e., y  =  x + u and y′  =  x′ + u′ (see
Figure 1). The PD dilatation, θ, for a crystal can
be expressed as:

δ
θ (k ) = d ∫
x′ − x
(y y ) dH (7)
H

and the parameter, Λ, is defined as:

Figure  1. The horizon of the material points located ⎛ y′ − y ⎞ ⎛ x ′ − x ⎞

at x and x′ and the peridynamic forces between them in Λ=⎜ ⎟ ⋅⎜ ⎟ (8)
peridynamics. ⎝ y′ − y ⎠ ⎝ x ′ − x ⎠

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 The stretch parameter s can be expressed as: Finite Element Method (FEM) are fundamen-
tally different, it is possible to implement peridy-
y′ − y − x ′ − x namics in a commercial finite element software.
s= (9) For problems without including discontinui-
x′ − x
ties, peridynamics can be more computationally
expensive with respect to FEM. However, peri-
The PD material parameter a is associated dynamics does not encounter numerical con-
with the deformation involving dilatation, θ(k). The vergency issues for problems requiring fracture
remaining material parameters, bT1 and bT2, are prediction. For post-processing of results, any
associated with deformation of the bonds along the post-processing tool can be utilized for contour
Type 1 and Type 2 bond directions, respectively, as and line plotting.
shown in Figure 2. All PD material constants can
be expressed in terms of material constants of a
cubic crystal, Cij, from classical theory for a plane 3 MODEL DESCRIPTION
strain condition as
A 5 mm × 5 mm square plate made of Molybdenum
⎧ 1
⎪a 2 (C12 − C44 )
(Mo) with randomly oriented grains is considered
(Figure 3), and the particles along horizontal and
⎪ vertical directions are both 150. Therefore, the grid
⎪b = 3(C11 C12 )
⎪ T1 spacing and horizon size are Δx = 0.033 mm and
π hδ 4 δ  =  0.1005  mm, respectively. The material con-
⎪
⎨b = 2 C44 C11 + C12 (10) stants of Mo are specified as C11  =  441.6 GPa,
⎪ T2 ⎛ J n ⎞ C12 = 172.7 GPa and C44 = 121.9 GPa. A horizontal
⎪ δ ⎜ ∑ x ( j ) − x (nk ) V( j ) ⎟ velocity boundary condition of V = 5 m/s is applied
⎪ ⎝ j =1 ⎠
on both left and right edges of the model, and
⎪ 2
⎪d = three layers of virtual particles are placed along
⎩ π hδ 3 left and right edges to impose the condition, as
suggest in Madenci and Oterkus (2014). A no-fail
where h is the plate thickness.
When the stretch, s(k)(j) between material points k
and j exceeds a critical stretch value, sc, the interac-
tion breaks and damage occurs. Hence, there will
no longer be any interaction between these two
particles.
An “interface strength coefficient” is introduced
by Ghajari et  al. (2014) to investigate various
fracture modes of polycrystalline materials and is
defined as:

scGB
β= (11)
scGI Figure 3. Polycrystal model composed of 100 grains.

where scGB and scGI denote the critical stretch of

interactions that cross the grain boundary and
the critical stretch of interactions that are located
within the grain, respectively, i.e., GB represents
the grain boundary and GI represents the grain
interior.
The numerical implementation of peridynam-
ics is straightforward. For the spatial discretiza-
tion, meshless schemes are widely used. For the
time integration, depending on the problem
of interest, explicit or implicit time integra-
tion schemes can be utilized. In order to reduce
the computational time, parallel programming
approaches such as MPI, OpenMP and Cuda can
be used. Moreover, although peridynamics and Figure 4. Square plate with two initial cracks.

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 zone is also imposed on virtual particles and their
neighbour particles, in order to allow the load to
be transferred inside the plate. Two pre-existing
cracks with a length of 0.4 mm are applied at the
centre of the bottom and top edges (Figure 4).

4 NUMERICAL RESULTS

The aim of this analysis is to understand the mor-

phology of intergranular and transgranular fracture
modes when changing the value of β. Three differ-
ent β values (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0) are considered to
investigate the intergranular and transgranular frac-
ture modes of the polycrystal which are presented
in Figures 5–7. When β = 0.5, the grain boundaries
are weaker with respect to the interior of the grains.
In this case, an intergranular fracture pattern is
expected where the cracks are propagating along the
grain boundaries at the microscopic level which can
be seen in the top figures. On the other hand, at the
macroscopic level, branching type fracture pattern Figure  6. Time evolution of damage in a poly-crystal
is observed which may not be intuitive since there with pre-existing cracks in plane strain configuration
are two initial cracks at the top and bottom surfaces when β  =  1.0; time  =  (a) 1.5  μs, (b) 2.0  μs, (c) 2.5  μs,
and a self similar crack growth can be expected at (d) 3.0 μs and (e) 3.5 μs.
the initial instance. Another interesting observa-
tion is the crack pattern at the top and bottom sides
are not symmetric which is again not intuitive. The
reason for this is the random distribution of grains

Figure  7. Time evolution of damage in a poly-crystal

with pre-existing cracks in plane strain configuration
when β  =  2.0; time  =  (a) 1.5  μs, (b) 2.0  μs, (c) 2.5  μs,
(d) 3.0 μs and (e) 3.5 μs.

Figure  5. Time evolution of damage in a poly-crystal and the grain boundaries being close to the crack
with pre-existing cracks in plane strain configuration tip or not. If there is a grain boundary located close
when β  =  0.5; time  =  (a) 1.5  μs, (b) 2.0  μs, (c) 2.5  μs, to the crack tip, initial crack can easily propagate.
(d) 3.0 μs and (e) 3.5 μs. However, if the initial crack is located far from a

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 168 3/29/2017 9:35:49 AM

 grain boundary, microcracks may initiate at other
parts of the structure which may stop or delay the
propagation of the initial crack. This phenomenon
is known as microcrack shielding and it is success-
fully captured by using peridynamics.
When β = 1.0 and 2.0, the grain boundary is as
strong as the grain interior and twice as strong,
respectively. In these cases, a transition from inter-
granular fracture pattern to transgranular fracture
pattern takes place as shown in Figures  6 and 7.
Hence, the cracks can not only propagate along
the grain boundaries, but they can also move inside
the grains.
In such cases, macroscopic and microscopic
fracture behaviours become very similar to each
other. As shown in the bottom figures, a self-similar
fracture pattern is observed between initial cracks
before two initial cracks propagate and approach
to each other. Once they come closer, microscopic
features start becoming more dominant.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this study, peridynamic analysis of cubic polycrys-
talline materials is presented under plane strain con-
ditions. Polycrystalline materials are commonly used
in many different fields including marine structures.
In some cases, microstructure can be very effective,
especially in the fracture process. Hence, it is impor-
tant to perform a detailed analysis at microscopic
(grain) level to have a better understanding of the
fracture behavior of these materials. As a new con-
tinuum mechanics formulation, peridynamics, can be
very useful due to its various advantages with respect
to some other traditional techniques. A square plate
with randomly generated crystals made of Molyb-
denum material is analyzed for demonstration pur-
poses. However, the conclusions can be extended to
other material systems including the common mate-
rials used in marine structures. Currently, it is difficult
to experimentally measure grain boundary strength
values. New experimental techniques are required
for both fracture material property determination
and validation of numerical results. Hence, in this
study, three different grain boundary strength values
are chosen for demonstration purposes. For weaker
grain boundaries, intergranular fracture mode is
observed. Moreover, although two symmetrically
located initial cracks are present, non-symmetric
fracture pattern is obtained. This is mainly due to
the location of grain boundaries with respect to the
crack tips. If grain boundaries are sufficiently close
to the crack tips, initial cracks can easily propa-
gate whereas their propagation may be stopped or
delayed if the grain boundaries are far from the crack
tips. This phenomenon is called microcrack shield-
ing and successfully captured by using peridynamics.
169
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 169
On the other hand, if the grain boundaries are
stronger with respect to grain interiors, transgran-
ular fracture pattern dominates and the effect of
microstructure may become less important.
REFERENCES
Askari, E., Bobaru, F., Lehoucq, R. B., Parks, M. L.,
Silling, S. A. and Weckner, O., 2008. Peridynamics for
multiscale materials modeling. J. Phys. Conf. Ser., 125,
012078.
Benedetti, I. and Aliabadi, M. H., 2012. A Grain Bound-
ary Formulation for the Analysis of Three-Dimen-
sional Polycrystalline Microstructures. Key Eng.
Mater., 525–526, 1–4.
Benedetti, I. and Aliabadi, M. H., 2013a. A three-dimen-
sional grain boundary formulation for microstruc-
tural modeling of polycrystalline materials,” Comput.
Mater. Sci.. 67, 249–260.
Benedetti, I. and Aliabadi, M. H. 2013b. A three-di-
mensional cohesive-frictional grain-boundary micro-
mechanical model for intergranular degradation and
failure in polycrystalline materials. Comput. Methods
Appl. Mech. Eng., 265, 36–62.
Espinosa, H. D. and Zavattieri, P. D., 2003a. A grain level
model for the study of failure initiation and evolution
in polycrystalline brittle materials. Part I: Theory
and numerical implementation. Mech. Mater., 35,
333–364.
Espinosa, H. D. and Zavattieri, P. D., 2003b. A grain level
model for the study of failure initiation and evolution
in polycrystalline brittle materials. Part II: Numerical
examples. Mech. Mater., 35, 365–394.
Ghajari, M., Iannucci, L. and Curtis, P., 2014. A peri-
dynamic material model for the analysis of dynamic
crack propagation in orthotropic media. Comput.
Methods Appl. Mech. Eng., 276, 431–452.
Madenci, E. and Oterkus, E., 2014. Peridynamic theory
and its applications. Springer.
Paggi, M. and Wriggers, P., 2012. Stiffness and strength
of hierarchical polycrystalline materials with imper-
fect interfaces. J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 60(4), 557–572.
Silling, S. A., 2000. Reformulation of elasticity theory for
discontinuities and long-range forces. J. Mech. Phys.
Solids, 48, 175–209.
Sfantos, G. K. and Aliabadi, M. H., 2007a. Multi-scale
boundary element modelling of material degradation
and fracture. Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng., 196,
1310–1329.
Sfantos, G. K. and Aliabadi, M. H., 2007b. A bound-
ary cohesive grain element formulation for model-
ling intergranular microfracture in polycrystalline
brittle materials. Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng., 69,
1590–1626.
Sukumar, N., Srolovitz, D. J., Baker, T. J. and Prévost,
J. H., 2002. Brittle fracture in polycrystalline micro-
structures with the extended finite element method.
Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng., 56, 2015–2037, 2003.
Zhai, J., Tomar, V. and Zhou, M., 2004. Micromechanical
Simulation of Dynamic Fracture Using the Cohesive
Finite Element Method. J. Eng. Mater. Technol., 126,
179.
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 Structural design

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Influence of different topological variants on optimized structural

scantlings of passenger ships

J. Andric, P. Prebeg & K. Piric

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

ABSTRACT: For multi-deck ships with extensive superstructures (such as passenger ships, RoPax, etc.)
the global structural response can be particularly complex. The influence of the superstructure to the
primary strength for those multi-deck ships has to be taken into account from an early design phase.
Main global topological parameters (e.g. size of side openings, stiffness of longitudinal bulkhead, etc.)
have dominant influence on the shape of hull girder stress distributions over the ship height. The Taguchi
concepts and techniques (FFE, orthogonal arrays, ANOVA, etc.) could be used to systematically study
influence of multiple topological parameters on the global structural response obtained by FEM analysis.
It also enables rational identification of the most dominant parameters and provide designer with the
near-optimal level of each topological parameter. It has been demonstrated, using simplified model of
passenger ship as an example, how different topological variants can lead to different optimal structural
scantlings w.r.t chosen design objectives (mass, VCG, etc.).

1 INTRODUCTION space, but mostly for the verification purposes of

the final structural configuration.
1.1 General remarks The research task for the concept design phase
would be to establish simple, fast and flexible
Normally ship geometrical/topological character-
but sufficiently accurate design oriented analysis
istics are defined by its function and it is roughly
model (particularly regarding response) for mode-
specified in very early concept design phase through
ling these complex effects. Andric and Zanic (2010)
the general arrangement plan. When exploring a
proposed so called generic full ship FE model suit-
new ship design concept it is very important to
able for Concept Design Phase (CDP) to overcome
know, as soon as possible, the structural feasibility
those difficulties. The generic model have been
of suggested design (Parmasto et al., 2013).
tested and verified by comparing the global struc-
The majority of ship structural optimization
tural response on several complex examples, see
papers are dealing with scantling optimization of
Andric and Zanic (2010).
fixed topology/geometry of previously defined
It is very important to distinguish the structural
midship section on relative simplified 2D section
topological parameters that are most dominant
model. This approach is reasonable and sufficient
and important to achieve rational and feasible
for several ship types (such as tanker, bulk carrier,
structural design compared to those that are less
etc.), where hull girder stress distribution mainly
important and even insensitive. The generic model
following beam theory. For passenger ships, RoPax,
on the topological level can ensure rapid explora-
ferries and other ship types with extensive super-
tion of different concepts by allowing changes of
structure 3D FEM model is necessary to obtain cor-
previously identified topological parameters such
rect assessment of the global structural response i.e.:
as the size of side openings, the number and length
(a) global deformations, (b) effectiveness of upper
of longitudinal bulkhead, the geometry of super-
decks and distribution of longitudinal stresses, (c)
structure, deckhouse and recess, etc., see Fig. 1. The
transfer of forces between hull and superstructure,
selection of appropriate topological concepts and
(d) shear stress in the intermediate recess, (e) shear
structural scantlings is necessary for the approxi-
lag in the decks levels, etc., ISSC (1997).
mate assessment of the structural weight, the cen-
The main disadvantage of the required detailed
tre of gravity and the achievable clearances (w.r.t
3D full ship FE model is a large amount of work
height of deck beams and girders, etc.). The basic
needed for the model preparation and evaluation
goal is to generate simultaneously the acceptable
of its feasibility. Therefore, it cannot be used effi-
structural layout and feasible structural design.
ciently for the exploration of the concept design

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 be found on this very large research area, see
Taguchi (1986), Phadke (1989), Ross (1988), ect.
Taguchi method provides a systematic and efficient
approach for finding the near-optimum combina-
tion of design parameters. Nice overview of basic
terminology and implementation of Taguchi con-
cepts to marine and offshore safety problems has
been presented in Sii et al. (2001).

2.1 Basic terminology of taguchi concept

Figure  1. Example of generic 3D FE model of cruise
ship for fast modification of structural layout.
Different topological structural concepts lead
to the structural design with different design/qual-
ity attributes, see Zanic et al. (2013) and Andrade
et al. (2016). In parallel they can give a better start-
ing point for the further multi-attribute scantlings
optimization as the next design step, Romanoff
et al. (2013).
The Taguchi concepts and techniques (FFE,
orthogonal arrays-OA, ANOVA, etc.) could be
used to systematically study multiple topological
parameters simultaneously, see Taguchi (1986).
It enables a rational identification of the dominant
parameters on the topological level and provides
the designer with the preliminary value for a near-
optimal level of each topological parameter.
Paper contributes to the effort to extend appli-
cability of Taguchi method for design improve-
ment w.r.t structural topological characteristics of
multi-deck ships.
Brief overview of the design framework for
investigation of the topology parameters in ship
hull-superstructure interaction using Taguchi con-
cepts has been presented. Suggested methodology
has been presented in more detail through exam-
ples of simplified models of passenger ship. It is a
part of the overall decision support methodology
for a rational structural design presented in Zanic
et al. (2013).
Parameter design is investigation conducted to iden-
tify the settings of design parameters that optimize
the performance characteristics (design objectives)
and reduce the sensitivity of engineering designs to
the source of variation (noise), Kackar (1985). To
efficiently performed parameter design with large
number of design parameters is challenging task
due to high amount of design alternatives that need
to be analyzed and evaluated in limited time frame.
Taguchi method provides the designer with
systematic and efficient approach to determine
near-optimum settings of design parameters for
specified design quality. It uses Orthogonal Arrays
(OA) to study parametric space containing large
number of parameters with a small number of
experiments, as presented at Table 1.
In orthogonal array the columns are mutually
orthogonal, i.e. for any pair of columns, all combi-
nations of factor level occurs at an equal number
of times. Using for example an L9 OA means that
nine design variants are carried out in search of
total number of 81 design variants combinations
that give the near-optimal mean and also the near-
minimum variation away from the mean.
To achieve this Taguchi method uses a statistical
measure of performance/quality called the Signal
to Noise (S/N) ratio, borrowed from electrical con-
trol theory. In general, the S/N ratio isolates the
sensitivity system’s function to noise factors ant
converts a set of observations into a single number.
Table 1. Some of the commonly used OA.
Number of Number
Number trials of trials
Number of levels required per in full
Orthogonal of per orthogonal factorial
array factors factors array experiment

L4 (23) 3 2 4 8
2 BASICS OF TAGUCHI METHOD
L8 (27) 7 2 8 128
AND CONCEPTS
L9 (34) 4 3 9 81
L12 (211) 11 2 12 2 048
Taguchi concepts have been developed as an engi-
L16 (215) 15 2 16 32 768
neering method of quality improvement referred as 1 2 18 4 374
L18 (21) × (37)
Quality Engineering or Robust Design. Today it is 8 3
highly used method mainly used for product design L27 (313) 13 3 27 1 594 323
and development. Large number of literature can

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 It is used as objective function to be maximized, 5. Conduct ANOVA: The contribution of each
Phadke (1989). The ratio takes into account the factor is determined through division, i.e. sum
mean and variance of the experimentation results, of squares of each factor is divided by the total
and is per definition to be maximized. The three sum of squares for all factors that enables iden-
possible categories and most widely used S/N tification of significant factors:
ratios that can be implemented to different engi- 6. Find the near-optimal combination of factor lev-
neering problems are: els: Non-linearity graphs of factors main effect
can be used to graphically presentation.
1. Larger is better → used for strength, stiffness, 7. Conduct the confirmation experiment: it is
profit needed if the chosen near-optimal combination
of factors hasn’t been included in the OA.
⎛1 n 1 ⎞
N L = −10 log ⎜ ∑ 2 ⎟
SN (1) 8. Change the resolution of significant factors and
⎝n yi ⎠ conduct the new investigation: New loop can be
performed with the reduced number of param-
2. Nominal is best → used for: tolerances eters. Only those parameters that are identified as
significant together with some significant interac-
tion are to be included. Repeat steps from 3 to 8.
⎛ μ2 ⎞
SN N = 10 log ⎜ 2 ⎟ (2)
⎝σ ⎠
3 OVERALL DESIGN FRAMEWORK
3. Smallest is better → used for: weight, cost, risk FOR OPTIMAL STRUCTURAL
DESIGN SOLUTIONS
⎛1 n ⎞
SN S = −10 log ⎜ ∑ yi 2 ⎟ (3) A design framework to performed investigation
⎝ n i =1 ⎠
of different topological variants of superstructure
on global structural response of multi-deck ship is
where μ and σ2 represents mean value and variance
based on two main steps, as presented in Figure 2:
of the variables, yi is comparison variable in experi-
ment (design variant) i for certain combination of STEP-I. Taguchi concept for the determination of
control factors level and n is the number of experi- optimal topology/geometry variants;
ments performed for that combination. STEP-II. Multi-objective scantling optimization.
Since variation in design quality is similar to
It is expected that the use of the two-step design
quality loss, analysis of variance (ANOVA) is car-
procedure that includes topological variants
ried out to interpret the experimental data and fac-
investigation leads to the different final optimal
tor effects. ANOVA is a statistically based decision
solutions w.r.t the used design objectives (mass,
tool for detecting variation around average perfor-
VCG, cost, etc.). The Design procedure includes
mance of groups of items tested and assigning these
multi-attribute scantlings optimization, of each
to control factors and interactions, Ross (1988).
preferred topology, that generates Pareto designs
The control factors are freely specified by the
that can be joined together in one resulting Pareto
designer and it is his responsibility to determine
frontier that contains the final Pareto optimal
the best value of this parameters. Each control fac-
designs with respect to the topo/geo variables and
tor takes multiple values, called levels.
scantling variables together.
The Taguchi framework consists of following
sub-steps, shortly described in Sii et al. (2001):
1. Problem definition: The first is to describe the
design problem in detail and to define design
objectives.
2. Identify control factors: The main design param-
eters need to be identified and specified. Some-
times a factor screening maybe required to
reduce the number of control factors.
3. Selection of appropriate OA: To select the cor-
rect OA it is necessary to determine the total
degrees of freedom and to determine the design
levels for each selected design parameter.
4. Conduct experiment: For this kind of investiga-
tion the experiments are the FE calculations of
each design variant determined by OA. Figure 2. Overall structural design procedure.

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 The multi-objective scantling optimization
(STEP-II) has been explained in detail in many
previous papers see, Zanic (2013) and Zanic
et al. (2013). The procedure will be demonstrated
in more detail in the next section on the simplified
passenger ship example.
In this work topology variables are changed in
Step-I, while the scantling variables remains fixed.
In Step-II scantling variable are optimized for the
selected preferred topology variants.
4 EXAMPLE: SIMPLIFIED GENERIC
PASSENGER SHIP STRUCTURE
Implementation of the proposed design method-
ology is presented in the example of simplified
generic passenger ship structure - ISSC benchmark
2006 (ISSC, 2006), see Figure 3 and Figure 4. The
basic model of the ISSC benchmark P0 has a pri-
mary stress distribution over the ship height that
closely follows the beam theory.
Figure 3. ISSC benchmark midship section.
Figure 4. ISSC benchmark generic full ship FE model.
176
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 176
Prototype model has been marked as P0 ≡ P(dT0
d S0)  ≡  PS0
T0
, where superscript/subscript represents
as a subset of total design descriptors (parameters)
d, subdivided into subsets: T-topology variables
and S-scantlings variables.
The objective was to investigate sensitivity of a
different primary stress distributions, influenced
by the topological parameters, on the quality of
chosen design attributes.
4.1 Topology optimization
The goal of the topology optimization procedure
is to determine the near optimum levels of topo/
geo parameters that affects the realization of the
desired uniform primary stress distribution over
superstructure height, as explained in detail later in
this section. Topology optimization was preformed
following the procedure defined in Section 2.1.
1. Problem definition: The original variant is char-
acterized with the almost linear primary stress
distribution over the ship height, which is
labeled as the CONCEPT-1 type of the primary
stress distribution, see Figure 5.
CONCEPT-2 represents the desired stress dis-
tribution over superstructure decks (Deck 3
to Deck 7, see Figure  3 and Figure  5) where
all those decks are equally loaded with global
and local stresses. It is assumed that suggested
concept has a potential that can lead to techno-
logical benefit due to fact that all superstructure
decks will have the same scantlings. In addition,
it helps to reduce compressive stresses in upper
superstructure decks in sagging.
2. In that respect, the objective on the topological
level is defined by the following relation:
Figure  5. Structural concepts with different primary
stress distribution over ship height.
3/29/2017 9:35:53 AM
 7 6. Conduct ANOVA: For each of 18 experiments
y1 ∑(
i =3
s ,i a ) / m ; m = 5;
2
(4)
σs,i—average primary stresses on superstructure
deck i,
σa—average primary stresses of all superstruc-
ture decks,
m—total number of decks used in calculation.
3. Identify topological parameters: Topological
parameters/variables were selected based on
previous experience. Value of each variable was
defined for three levels (Table 2.)
4. Selection of appropriate OA: Due to the number
of levels/parameters and the required degrees
of freedom (D.o.f = 7⋅(3-1) = 14), L18 orthogo-
nal array was chosen (Ross, 1988) and eighteen
generic 3D FEM models were generated.
5. Conduct experiment: Eighteen numerical FE
models have been generated and calculations
have been performed using MAESTRO soft-
ware. Attribute y2 was calculated at the three
positions (nsec  =  3) at 0.4L amidships for two
characteristic design load cases (nlc  =  2). Two
loading conditions are taken into account con-
sidering the combinations of the maximum still
water and wave hogging (Md,hogg = 1.04⋅106 kNm)
and minimum still water hogging and maxi-
mum wave sagging (Md,sagg  =  −0.7⋅106  kNm).
First loading condition results in the maximum
longitudinal stresses while second can cause
buckling problems in upper decks where the
scantlings have to be minimize due to the stabil-
ity requirements.
Table 2. Description of topological (xT) variables.
the design attribute y1 were calculated from the
FEM results and signal-to-noise S/NSB ratio (of
‘smaller is better’ type) has been defined, see
Table 3:
⎛ 1 l n se c
nlc ⎞
S / NSB log ⎜
⎝ nlc
l nsec
∑ ∑
e i =1 i j
y1,ij 2 ⎟
⎠
(3)
The final ANOVA table is given in Table 3. Since
variables xE and xF contribute less than 3% in
the overall sum of squares it means that those
parameters have no influence with respect to
chosen design attribute, so they can be pooled
up into the error term. The calculated F0 values
are compared against F values in appropriate F
distribution table (Ross, 1988) provided for 5%
significance.
The contribution of each parameter is deter-
mined through division, i.e. sum of squares of
each factor is divided by the total sum of squares
for all parameters. The main effect of param-
eters xA, xD, was found significant at 99% and
of xB and xG at 95% confidence level. Parameter
G (xG- size of side shell openings in superstruc-
ture) has been identified as the parameter with
the dominant contribution (54.5%) to total sum
of squares, see Table 4.
7. Find the near-optimal combination of factor
levels: For better identification of the optimal
factor level the graphic representations of main
effect of each parameter (topological variables)
is presented on Figure  6. (Note: parameter D
corresponds to topological variable xD).
8. The combination that yields the largest value of
S/N ratio can be identified as follows:

xT Variables Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Parameter: A B C D E F G

Optimal level 2 1 3 2 1 2 1
xA Reces position z =  z =  z = B/2 =
in transverse 3850 mm 6650 mm 9450 mm Ranking table presented in Table  5, were used
direction to identify which level of each parameters is
xB Length of L 0.7L 0.4L
long. BHD
present in the few first project variants with the
xC Height of D3 to D7 D3 to D5 No LBHD, highest SN ratio. For example it can be seen
long. BHD* pillars that factor G on first level (smallest size open-
xD Number of 0 1 3 ing) in combination with factor C on third level
transverse (no longitudinal bulkhead in superstructure,
BHD
only pillars) are present as design solution in
xE Deck No openings D3-D4 D6-D7
openings- first two model variants (P0T11 and P0T3).
position From the ranking table several effects can be
xF Deck 12 m 24 m 36 m identified:
openings-
length • The worst results (the lowest S/NSB ratio)
G
x Size of side (hw/h) = (hw/h) =  (hw/h) =  generated designs with parameter G and C
openings** (sw/s) = 0.6 (sw/s) = 0.7 (sw/s) = 0.9 on level 3 (it means large side openings with
*Level 2–pillars from deck D5 to D7; Level 3-pillars D3 to D7
pillars in superstructure) which results in
**hw-height of opening; h- height between decks; total ineffective superstructure with negligi-
s- spacing between web frames; sw- width of opening. ble participation in hull girder bending and

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 Table 3. Results of calculation of design attribute y1 and S/NSB ratio for 18 conducted experiments.

Topological parameters (variables)

and levels y2 − (LC1) y2 − (LC2)
Designs/ S/NSB
Experiments / xG xA xB xE xC xD xF Fr.112 Fr.80 Fr.64 Fr.112 Fr.80 Fr.64 ratio

PS0T1 / 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 31 25 17 34 29 21 −28.64
PS0T2 / 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 13 18 12 15 21 15 −24.03
PS0T3 / 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 17 8 5 20 9 6 −21.83
PS0T4 / 2 1 1 2 2 3 3 16 14 10 17 16 13 −23.36
PS0T5 / 2 2 2 3 3 1 1 28 7 39 30 19 13 −28.03
PS0T6 / 2 3 3 1 1 2 2 10 7 16 10 8 19 −21.92
PS0T7 / 3 1 2 1 3 2 3 59 56 39 67 65 50 −35.06
PS0T8 / 3 2 3 2 1 3 1 8 16 39 8 20 47 −28.77
PS0T9 / 3 3 1 3 2 1 2 41 33 24 42 40 30 −31.02
PS0T10 / 1 1 3 3 2 2 1 30 10 19 35 12 23 −27.25
PS0T11 / 1 2 1 1 3 3 2 14 10 9 14 12 10 −21.36
PS0T12 / 1 3 2 2 1 1 3 27 20 12 28 24 16 −26.82
PS0T13 / 2 1 2 3 1 3 2 37 18 10 41 21 13 −28.25
PS0T14 / 2 2 3 1 2 1 3 12 6 21 12 8 25 −23.84
PS0T15 / 2 3 1 2 3 2 1 32 14 8 35 16 11 −26.81
PS0T16 / 3 1 3 2 3 1 2 88 49 37 93 60 52 −36.46
PS0T17 / 3 2 1 3 1 2 3 34 22 14 38 26 18 −28.57
PS0T18 / 3 3 2 1 2 3 1 33 31 19 38 35 23 −29.73

Table 4. The final ANOVA table after pooling insignificant parameters into the error.

Sum of Fα,ν1,ν2 Minimum

Variables Sum of squares F-value From the confidence
(parameters) squares (%) D.o.f Variance F0 F Tables level (%)

xG 165.43 54.5 2 82.72 35.27 9.55 >99%

xA 58.10 19.1 2 29.05 12.39 9.55 >99%
xB 16.05 5.3 2 8.02 3.42 4.74 <95%
xE 2.98 1.0 2 1.49 / Pooled in error /
xC 9.09 3.0 2 4.54 1.94 3.26 <90%
xD 38.58 12.7 2 19.29 8.22 4.74 >95%
xF 8.07 2.7 2 4.04 / Pooled in error /
Error 5.37 1.8 3 1.79 / Pooled in error /

• When parameter C is on level 1 (longitudinal

BHD between D3-D7) it results in pretty lin-
ear primary stress distribution irrespective to
other parameter level, even if the G is on level
3 (max size of side openings) as is in design
P0T17 for example, see Figure 7.

The interaction between parameters hasn’t been

Figure  6. Main effect of all parameters on different
levels.
extreme large stresses in hull most upper deck
(D3) and large hull girder vertical deflections.
• Parameter G on level 3 generated the lowest S/
NSB ratio irrespective to other parameter level.
included in this example due to the low resolu-
tion and large number of parameters. However
it is possible to generate diagrams that give us
better understanding of possible interaction
between two parameters.
For example, strong interaction can be iden-
tified between parameter G (size of side open-
ings) and C (height of long. BHD). It is obvious
that if parameter C is on level 3 (pillars without

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 Table 5. Ranking table due to highest S/NSB ratio.

Designs xG xA xB xE xC xD xF S/NSB
P0T11
1 2 1 1 3 3 2 −21.36
P0T3 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 −21.83
P0T6 2 3 3 1 1 2 2 −21.92
P0T4 2 1 1 2 2 3 3 −23.36
P0T14 2 2 3 1 2 1 3 −23.84
P0T2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 −24.03
P0T15 2 3 1 2 3 2 1 −26.81
P0T12 1 3 2 2 1 1 3 −26.82
P0T10 1 1 3 3 2 2 1 −27.25
Figure 8. Interaction between parameters G and C.
P0T5 2 2 2 3 3 1 1 −28.03
P0T13 2 1 2 3 1 3 2 −28.25
Table 6. Topological/Geometrical variable/level combi-
P0T17 3 2 1 3 1 2 3 −28.57
nations.
P0T1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 −28.64
P0T8 3 2 3 2 1 3 1 −28.77 TOPOL. VARIABLES (xT) xA xB xC xD xE xF xG
P0T18 3 3 2 1 2 3 1 −29.73 NEAR-OPTIMAL LEVEL: P0T19 2 1 3 2 1 2 1
P0T9 3 3 1 3 2 1 2 −31.02 BASIC MODEL: P0T1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
P0T7 3 1 2 1 3 2 3 −35.06
P0T16 3 1 3 2 3 1 2 −36.46

Figure  9. Primary stress distributions for different

Figure 7. Primary stress distributions for designs with
large superstructure effectiveness.
bulkhead) that parameter G needs to be on level
1 (min. side opening) to achieve uniformity of
superstructure stresses, see Figure  8. When
parameter C is on level 1 and 2 the best combi-
nation is with G on level 2.
At the end of the design procedure, the
topology model P0T19 was identified as the most
promising one with the topological variable/
level combinations presented in Table 6.
9. Conduct the confirmation experiment: The per-
formed confirmation experiment resulted in
topologies (Ti on the figure correspond to P0Ti).
S/NSB = −21.08. Another loop with the reduced
number of parameters and refined resolution of
parameters level was not performed (sub-step 8
from Ch.2.1). Figure 9 presents primary stress
distributions for the prototype (P0T1) and cho-
sen model (P0T19) model with relative uniform
primary stress in upper decks (D3-D7).
4.2 Scantling optimization
Scantling optimizations were performed for design
variants P0T1 and P0T19, following design methodol-
ogy presented in Figure 2, step c).

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 Modeling: MAESTRO generic FE models pre-
viously developed for topology optimization were
used, see Figure 4.
Loading: Two critical load cases, previously
described i were used. Design pressures on decks
were taken as 10 kN/m2 at the lower hull decks and
4 kN/m2 on the level of superstructure decks (D3-
D7). Vertical acceleration of 3.4  m/s2 was imple-
mented while total pressure on the bottom plating
reaches around 90 kN/m2.
Design Problem Identification:
1. Design attributes and objectives:
min y = min {ai(xS)}
y1 (weight) = WGT(xS);
y2 (cost) = CST(xS)-simplified cost module; Figure 11. Pareto frontier of nondominated designs YN
y3 (local strength safety measure) = −GML(xS). (T19)
.
2. Set of design variables xS  =  {xSS1,..., xSSN}
included scantlings of SSN substructures. Table 7. Design attributes for the extreme points (mini-
Total no. of variables in the design model was mal weight designs) on Pareto frontier i.e. design variants
T1 T19
110. Area of interest was limited to zone 0.4L PS-W and PS-W.
around midship section. T1
3. The set of constraints g(dTi, xS) ≥ 0 included 120 Prototype Min. WGT design (%)|PS-W
−P0|/P0
min-max constraints and 3740 nonlinear struc- T19
Design [|PSW
tural safety constraints (buckling and yielding). attributes P0 T1
PS-W T19
PS-W −P0|/P0]
Vertical Center of Gravity (VCG) was limited to
maximum height of 10500 mm above the baseline. WGT 3.72E+06 3.39E+06 3.02E+06 8.9 [18.8]
(kg)
Solution Strategy: Problem was solved using
CST (€) 5.44E+06 4.95E+06 4.32E+06 9.0 [20.6]
hybrid optimizer with SLP (Sequential Linear Pro-
MUS+ 1.87E+06 1.61E+06 1.86E+06 −13.9 [−0.5]
gramming) and MOGA (Multi-Objective Genetic).
(kNm)
Results: The resulting Pareto designs Y (T1) for
MUH+ 2.44E+06 2.38E+06 1.90E+06 −2.5 [−22.1]
project variant with topology PST1 are shown in (kNm)
Figure 10, and Y(T19) for topology PST19 in Figure 11. GML* 0.948 0.916 0.886 −3.4 [−6.5]
Topology and scantling optimization have gener-
ated a wide spectrum of nondominated designs for Note: benefits marked positive, quality reduction
the final selection. marked negative:
+
Table  7 gives a comparison among selected ) MUH, MUS- hull girder ultimate bending moments
designs for the extreme points with minimal struc- in hogging and sagging case,
tural weight (PS-W) on the Pareto frontier for both *) GML-local safety strength measure, higher is better.
T1 T19
evaluated topology variants PS-W and PS-W .
T19
We can see that variant PS-W gives grater savings
regarding weight WGT and cost CST then variant
T0
PS-W . Also, different trend regarding the ultimate
hull girder bending moment is recognized. For the
T19
variant PS-W , MUH is significantly reduced (22%)
and MUS stays constant compared to the proto-
type (P0). Conversely, for the variant PS-W
T0
, MUS is
reduced (13.9%) while MUH is almost the same as
for the prototype.
The VCG constraint is very important for this
kind of the vessel and can influence the final
structural scantlings in great extent. In an addi-
tional investigation the single objective scantling
optimization, with minimum weight as an objec-
tive has been performed on T1 and T19 vari-
ants, taking PT1 T19
S-W and PS-W as the starting designs.
Figure  10. Pareto frontier of nondominated designs In those optimizations an additional VCG con-
YN(T1). straint has been added. Two variants of VCG

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Figure  12. Change of VCG for (PS-WT19  =  T19 and
PS-WT1 = T1).
constraint has been used: a) VCG < 10500 mm and
b) VCG < 12600 mm, Figure 12.
T19
While the difference in weight between PS-W and
T1
PS-W for VCG < 10500 reach around 10%, see Table 7,
for higher VCG constraint (VCG < 12600 mm) the
difference is much smaller, about 1%. It means that
topology that results in more linear stress distribu-
T1
tion (PS-W ) is more dedicated to the variants with
higher VCG, while for the more restricted VCG the
variants with the uniform stresses in superstructure
T19
(PS-W ) gives more potential for weight reduction in
the examined example.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper extends “standard” scantling optimiza-
tion approach on fixed topology to approach that
investigates the influence of different topology
variants on optimal structural scantlings.
Methodology combines the fast concept explo-
ration of design variants using generic 3D FEM
models and two step decision support procedure
(based on topology and scantling optimization) as
a way for the structural concept design of multi-
deck ships in the early design phase.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 181
The Taguchi techniques are suggested to perform
a systematic study on the influence of topological
parameters on the ship structural design objec-
tives. It enables rational identification of the most
dominant parameters with the limited number of
variants and provide designer with the preliminary
value for near-optimal level of each topological
parameter. Rational topological variants with the
fast generation of Pareto optimal design solutions
offer an opportunity for wider and better overview
in rational selection of the preferred design solution
w.r.t chosen design objectives of specified problem.
REFERENCES
Andrade, S. L., Gaspar, H. M, Ehlers, S. 2016. Parametric
structural analysis for platform supply vessel at con-
ceptual design phase—A sensitivity study via design
of experiments, ICSOS 2016, Hamburg, Germany:
390–404.
Andric, J. and Zanic, V. 2010. The global structural
response model for multi-deck ships in concept design
phase, Ocean Engineering 37 (2010): 688–704.
ISSC. 1997. Technical Committee II.1. Quasi-Static
Response. Proc. of the 13th International Ship and
Offshore Structures Congress Trondheim, Norway.
ISSC. 2006. Technical Committee III.1, Ultimate Strength,
Proc. of the 16th International Ship and Offshore
Structures Congress, Southampton, UK, 2006, Vol 1,
pp. 415–427.
Kackar, R. 1985. Off-line quality control, parameter
design and Taguchi methods. Journal of Quality Tech-
nology, 17 (4):176–1988.
MAESTRO Version 11.2.0., DRS Defense Solutions,
USA.
Parmasto, O., Romanoff, J., Remes, H. 2013. Hull-
Superstructure Interaction Induced Secondary Effects
in Passenger Ships. Proceedings of PRADS 2013
Conference: 490–294, Changwon City, Korea.
Phadke, S.M. 1989. Quality Engineering using robust
design, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Romanoff, J., Remes, H., Varsta, P., Jelovica, J., Klanac,
A., Niemela, A., Bralic, S., Naar, H. 2013. Hull-
superstructure interaction in optimized passenger
ships, Ships and Offshore Structures, Vol. 8:612–620.
Ross, P. J. 1988. Taguchi Techniques for Quality Engineer-
ing, McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Sii, H.S., Ruxton, T., Wang, J. (2001) Taguchi concepts and
their application in marine and offshore safety studies,
Journal of Engineering Design, 12(3): 331–358.
Taguchi, G. (1986). Introduction to Quality Engineering,
Dearborn, MI: Asian Productivity Organization.
Zanic, V., Andric, J., Prebeg, P. 2007. Decision Support
Methodology for Concept Design of Multi-Deck Ship
Structures. Proceedings of PRADS 2007: 468–476,
Huston, USA.
Zanic, V., 2013. Methods and concepts for the multi-cri-
teria synthesis of ship structures, Ships and Offshore
Structures, 8(3–4): 225–244.
Zanic, V., Andric, J., Prebeg, P. 2013. Design Synthesis of
Complex Ship Structures, Ships and Offshore Struc-
tures, 8(3–4): 383–403.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Conceptual ship design framework for designing new commercial ships

T. Damyanliev & P. Georgiev

Technical University of Varna, Varna, Bulgaria

Y. Garbatov
Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: The objective of this work is to employ a conceptual design framework in designing a new
bulk carrier vessel by satisfying all constraints related to the shipyard constructional limitation and service
life exploration factors in minimizing the cost or other design or operational factors. A developed inter-
active intelligent conceptual design framework “Expert”, which can be applied in designing commercial
ships is employed here. To support the conceptual design environment, the framework accommodates the
existing design experience and knowledge into mathematical tools that can be operated by computer sys-
tems. Different mathematical models are used in identifying the main dimensions of ship, ship hull form,
mass and volume distributions, general arrangement, ship hull structures and equipment; propulsion
complex; freeboard requirements; stability; sea-keeping; manoeuvrability etc. These models are operating
in compliment of the requirements of the Classification Societies, including the shipyard construction
and navigation restrictions and cost models for a ship construction and operation during the service life.

1 INTRODUCTION Bole et  al. (2005) discussed an integrated ship

Nowadays, the conceptual ship design is per-
formed by computerized systems that incorporate
intelligent design frameworks. These frameworks
initially proposed to be used in the initial stage of
the design process lately were completed and trans-
formed into a tool that can be employed through
the entire design process.
Based on the current development of compu-
ter aided design methodology, a multi objective
and multi criteria optimization has been explored
in ship design. This is explained by the fact that
the ship design is a compromise between different
designs constraints and limitations in satisfying the
most contradictory characteristics, complexity and
the uniqueness of the ship as a system.
There are many new concepts after the well-
known “design spiral” from the 1959s. The Pugh
controlled convergence approach developed in
1981 (Frey et  al., 2009) promoted that the early
stage design should be an iterative process of
cooling down and adding to a set of concepts
under consideration. There are two goals in this
approach: 1) a “controlled convergence” on a
strong concept that will be competitive in the cur-
rent market; and 2) a common understanding of
the reasons for this choice.
Parsons et al. (1999) proposed a set-based con-
ceptual ship design to analogy with the method
proposed by Alan Ward for the Toyota Company.
design environment that is based on an object-ori-
ented framework. The system includes a creation of
a product model and performs the analysis together.
The core of the system is an Early Stage Design
module, based on the Functional Building Block
methodology (Andrews, 1998). The latter permits
the establishing of the complete design require-
ments for the hull surface and give the opportunity
to integrate parametric hull form generation tech-
niques in the concept design process.
Today, the computer aided design, CAD revo-
lutionised the shipbuilding. It accelerates the
design process and assisted the improvements in
the accuracy at the design stage. Examples of such
integrated computer design systems are AVEVA
Marine (http://www.aveva.com) and Foran (http://
www.marine.sener/), through, which is possible to
design a comprehensive ship system and to be fol-
lowed through the service life operation up to the
end, including dismantling. However, every inte-
grated design computer system starts after explor-
ing a framework for a conceptual ship design.
The objective of this work is to employ a con-
ceptual design framework in designing a new bulk
carrier vessel by satisfying all constraints related to
the shipyard constructional limitation and service
life exploration factors in optimizing the cost or
other design or operational factors using a home-
made conceptual ship design framework “Expert”
(Damynliev, 2001, 2002).

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 2 CONCEPTUAL SHIP DESIGN
METHODOLOGY
Once the owner requirements are defined, includ-
ing ship type, deadweight, speed, distance range,
etc., the first step in the conceptual design is to gen-
erate the basic characteristics of the ship employ-
ing a mathematical model, taking into account all
imposed requirements and constraints.
From mathematical point of view the conceptual
ship design is considered as a solving of a system
of equations that describe the ship performance.
The mathematical model includes more unknowns
than available equations, some of relationships
related to the ship performance are inequalities
and the equations are too complex to be analyti-
cally solved.
The model requires using consistent approxima-
tions as can be seen in Figure 1.
The vector of the design variables X° (x1°, x2°,…,
xn°) is defined based on a statistical data regression
analysis or preliminary calculations. Most fre-
quently, this vector includes the main dimensions,
(or their relations) and hull form coefficients.
The design solution Xc (x1c, x2c,…, xnc) is obtained
by consecutively satisfying a set of design con-
straints and requirements and modifying the con-
trollable variables. The design solution is feasible,
but in the absence of an evaluation criterion this is
just one of the possible solutions.
Figure 1. Concept design methodology.
184
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 184
The logic of the optimization methods is pri-
marily an analysis of the objective function to find
the vector of controllable variables at which they
reach the optimum design solution. Gallin (1973)
suggested that it is possible to implement an algo-
rithm, wherein the automated optimization proce-
dure to find the optimum design solution, taking
into account the constraints. This idea is purely
procedural in nature, since nothing in the math-
ematical model does not change, but makes it pos-
sible to formulate a new methodology for building
up a mathematical model of the ship design,
including all restrictions (see Figure 2).
The scheme of the optimization design method-
ology used in the “Expert” differs from the tradi-
tional one as presented in Fig. 1. The mathematical
model and constraints are divided into two inde-
pendent linear executed blocks. The current value
vector X (x1, x2,…, xn) could not be feasible, but
the optimization procedure automatically will
find the vector X* (x1*, x2*,…, xn*), to achieve an
optimum design solution that meets all the design
constraints.
This approach removes the need of a consecu-
tive check in satisfying the design constraints and
requirements by modifying the controllable vari-
ables, which leads to a substantial simplification
Figure 2. Design optimization methodology.
3/29/2017 9:35:56 AM
 of optimization algorithms. In another case such
check operations shall be developed for each type
of ship or design task separately.
The optimization algorithm is based on the
Sequential Unconstrained Minimization Tech-
niques – SUMT (Fiacco & McCormick, 1972). The
described approach is included in the conceptual ship
design framework “Expert” (Damyanliev, 2002).
3 CONCEPTUAL SHIP DESIGN
FRAMEWORK “EXPERT”
The principal scheme of the Expert system is pre-
sented in Figure 3. The system is composed of two
main functions: system analysis, which covers the
optimization procedure and the identification of
the optimal ship design solution, where the naval
architecture and marine systems are defined.
DB “Modules” (library) is composed of 30 sub-
system modules. Each subsystem is developing a
specific part of the ship and can integrate several
modules. The modules are structured as unified
program units. The system database is generated
by the modules of the mathematical model. The
database is connected to a dictionary of terms.
Depending of the type of the ship to be designed
and the ship design requirements, the active mod-
ules are selected from DB “Modules” defining the
mathematical model of the project object.
Different mathematical models are employed in
identifying the main dimensions of ship, ship hull
form, mass and cargo capacity, general arrange-
Figure 3. Framework “Expert”.
185
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 185
ment, ship hull structures and equipment; pro-
pulsion complex; free-board; initial stability; sea
keeping; manoeuvrability, CAPEX, OPEX etc.
For any mathematical model, a database auto-
matically is generated, including the input and out-
put characteristics and constraints to guarantee
the correctness of the design solution.
The decision variables, constraints and object
function are defined in an interactive manner fol-
lowing the logic of the design problem.
For dry cargo ships and bulk carriers, the deci-
sion variables in the conceptual design are the
length, L, breadth, B, depth, D, draught, d and
block coefficient, Cb.
The boundary conditions are imposed to the
generated ship model to guarantee that the initial
requirements of the project are satisfied and the
ship descriptors met the operational profile of the
ship. However, the boundary conditions related
to the functionality of the ship are defined by
the requirements of the requested DW, minimum
depth in accordance with the Load Line Regula-
tions, cargo capacity, initial stability of the ship,
etc. This can be achieved by imposing lower and
upper bounds of the estimated variables as a part
of the mathematical model as:
The control parameter of DW is defined as:
PDW = DwC/ DwR (1)
where DwC is the defined DW and DwR is the
required one, which is an input variable. In the case
when:
3/29/2017 9:35:57 AM
 1.0 ≤ PDW ≤ 1.00 (2)
then the defined deadweight is satisfying the
required one.
The control parameter of the minimum free-
board is defined as:
PFB = FB/(D-d) (3)
where D and d are the currently defined depth and
draught respectively and FB is the required free-
board. The limitation related to the minimum free-
board is defined as:
1.0 ≤ PFB ≤ AFB (4)
where AFB is the relative abundance of the
freeboard.
The control parameter of the cargo capacity, PW
is defined as:
PW = W/ (Q*SF) (5)
where W is the estimated cargo capacity, Q is the
weight of the estimated cargo and SF is the stow-
age factor (input constant). The limitation related
to the cargo capacity is defined as:
1.0 ≤ PW ≤ AW (6)
where AW is the relative abundant cargo capacity.
The control parameter of the minimum initial
stability, PGM is defined by:
PGM = GM/(0.04*B) (7)
where GM is the transverse metacentric height, B
is the breadth of the ship. The limitations related
to the initial stability are defined as:
1.0 ≤ PGM≤ AGM (8)
where AGM is a factor defining the relative abun-
dant initial stability. The maximum of the initial
stability, PGM is defined by:
PKA = 0.30/Ac (9)
where Ac is the relative rolling acceleration
1.0 ≤ PKA ≤ AKA (10)
where AKA is the relative minimum initial stability.
Additionally, additional limitations are imposed
with respect to the main dimensions of the ship as
L/B ≥  5.2 and L/D ≤ 15. The first relation takes
into account the stability of ship heading and the
second one satisfy the strength of the ship hull as
given by DnV (2010).
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 186
The limitations related to the operational profile,
for passing through the narrow canals and regions
of shallow water result in particular limitation of
the main characteristics of the ship related to the
breadth, draught and length of the ship.
The design solution is also evaluated based on
the defined technical and economic criterion. The
economic criteria may be defined based on the
required freight rate, RRFR as:
RRFR = (S + CRF*K)/Q (11)
where S is the operational cost, K is the capital cost;
Q is the annual transported cargo for one year and
CRF is the Capital Recovery Factor.
The income, related to the transported cargo
may be estimated by introducing the profit, PR
and profitability, RE as:
PR = (D – S)/Q (12)
RE = (D – S)/K (13)
D = Ø*Q (14)
where D is the annual income and Ø – freight.
During the formulation of the design task about
200–400 variables are generated on DB of the pro-
ject. These variables define the ship as a math-
ematical model/object and may be included in the
following groups:
• main dimensions and hull coefficients;
• principal hydrostatic particulars;
• general arrangement and volume of main
compartments;
• resistance and propulsion, propeller and required
power;
• weight of steel, machinery and outfitting;
• deadweight components.
The obtained ship characteristics as cargo
capacity, minimum freeboard, initial stability, see
keeping, manoeuvrability are used to define the
operational constraints for the ship.
Another group of data is related to the eco-
nomic characteristics of the ship, especial
related to capital cost-CAPEX and operating
cost-OPEX related to one specific shipyard
technological profile and one specific maritime
transportation company, including the current
market price of steel, machinery, outfitting,
equipment etc. The results are presented in a
normalized format.
4 IMPACT OF LIMITED DRAUGHT
For ships designed to operate at limited draught,
as the deadweight is increasing their efficiency in
transporting cargo is increasing.
3/29/2017 9:35:58 AM
 This can be seen in Figure 4, where with increas-
ing of the deadweight and the efficiency sharply
increases (decreasing of RRFR) in the interval
between 10 and 50,000  tons and it is stable above
50,000  tons. The results marked as “no limits” are
obtained without limitations of the main dimensions.
In fact, when the ship will have navigational
constraints (passing through canals and nar-
row waters: limits on the maximum draught
and beam, seldom on the length; approaching
harbours: limits mainly on the draft, seldom on
the length) the ship will obey different economic
efficiency. The impact of these restrictions, in the
case of RRFR for draught of 8, 10 and 12.04 m to
the optimal DW is shown in Figure 4 and Table 1.
The optimal DW is estimated at 30,800, 61,500
and 87,900 tons.
Constraining the draught, the economic effi-
ciency increases DW, which is supported by
increasing of the breadth and block coefficient by
reducing the length of the ship. This is also leading
to a minimum value of L/B and maximum value of
B/d. The design solutions with a limited draught
have demonstrated a low efficiency in transporting
cargo with respect to those without any limitation
of the draught. This conclusion may be confirmed
for ships up to 10,000 DWT and for Handy size
(10,000–35,000 DWT) and not that much for
Handymax (35,000–50,000 DWT) and much less
for DWT > 50,000 tons.
If, additionally to the draught limitation, other
limitations are included, such as limitations about
the main characteristics of the ship crossing the
canal of Panama, the design solutions have a
longer length as can be seen from Table 1.

5 DETERMINATION OF STOWAGE
FACTOR

The capacity coefficient is defined as the ratio of

the holds’ volume to the deadweight of the ship
(Papanikolaou, 2014). The capacity coefficient is
an attribute of the ship. The Stowage Factor (SF),
corresponds to the required hold volume per ton
of cargo, and is an attribute of the cargo.
The SF relates to a potential capacity of trans-
porting cargo in short and long-term distances
during the service life of the ship and is defined
during the early stage of the design of the ship.
From the design point of view, for a given DW
this factor relates to two fundamental character-
istics of the ship: cargo capacity (maximum value
of SF – light cargoes) and strength (minimum
value of SF- heavy cargoes), which define the main
dimensions and shape of ship hull. An analysis of
Figure 4. Required Fright Rate (RRFR) as a function of the impact of values greater than 1.20 (semi-heavy
DW. cargoes) is presented here.

Table 1. Optimal design solution for limited draught.

30,800 61,500 87,900 65,600

Dw, t d = 8 m no limits d = 10 m no limits d = 12.04 no limits Panamax

RRFR 0.758 0.664 0.584 0.560 0.558 0.538 0.564

L, m 181.89 166.00 229.94 228.68 234.99 267.92 242.25
B, m 30.86 27.88 38.67 30.62 39.11 36.24 32.31
d, m 8.00 10.48 10.00 12.66 12.00 13.96 12.04
D, m 12.14 14.81 15.33 18.33 17.54 19.67 17.58
Cb 0.859 0.784 0.81 0.807 0.82 0.738 0.81
L/B 5.89 5.95 5.95 7.47 6.01 7.39 7.50
B/d 3.86 2.66 3.87 2.42 3.26 2.60 2.68
D/d 1.52 1.41 1.53 1.45 1.46 1.41 1.46

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 Table 2. Optimal design solution for different values of
SF [m3/t].
SF,m3/t 1.20 1.30 1.40 1.50 1.60
L, m 161.88 167.17 185.74 194.01 214.17
B, m 31.13 32.09 29.46 28.48 27.98
d, m 11.86 11.74 11.73 11.88 11.25
D, m 16.76 16.54 16.70 17.42 17.01
Cb 0.847 0.803 0.786 0.771 0.756
L/B 5.20 5.21 6.30 6.81 7.65
B/d 2.63 2.73 2.51 2.40 2.49
D/d 1.41 1.41 1.42 1.47 1.51
W, m3 48317 52908 57314 61515 65664
W/Dw 1.150 1.260 1.365 1.465 1.563
1 ≤ PDw ≤ 1 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
1 ≤ Pw ≤ 1 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
1 ≤ PFB ≤ 2 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.017 1.029
1 ≤ PGM ≤ 2 2.208 2.512 1.219 1.147 1.157
As can be seen from Table 2, varying SF (input
variable for the system “Expert”) from 1.20 to
1.60  m3/t, conditional to DW  =  42,000  tons, the
cargo capacity of the hull increases, which can be
explained with the variation of the main dimen-
sions and block coefficient of the design solution.
The design solution is defined by the limitations
with respect to PDW, PW, PFB and PGM. The first two
factors influence the DW and cargo capacity and
the third and fourth ones control the lower bound
of the freeboard and initial stability (minimum
metacentric height).
The lower value of SF defines the optimal
design solutions with a minimum freeboard and
ratio L/B. As may be expected, in case of heavier
cargo, the capacity is satisfied by relatively reduced
main dimensions and the requested displace-
ment is achieved by a bigger draught and block
coefficient.
For the given initial requirements and chosen
design criteria the required cargo capacity, in the
case of increasing of SF, is achieved by increasing
of the draught, breadth of the ship and the free-
board stays close to its minimum required value
(PFB = 1). However, the variation of SF may result
in an essential difference in the main dimensions
and shape of the ship hull.
As a rule, the dominant design variable for
so called deadweight carriers (bulk carriers and
tankers) is DW. In the case of tankers, the capac-
ity coefficient is not varying significantly and it
is constant. Using DW as an input variable, the
main dimensions of the tanker may be correctly
defined.
This is not the case for bulk cargoes. As can be
seen from Table  2, for relatively small variation
of SF (about 33%) the capacity coefficient varies
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 188
about 36%, which leads to a large variation in the
main dimensions of the ship. In this case the domi-
nant design variable is the maximum value of SF,
additionally to DW.
6 OPTIMIZATION OF FLEET
COMPOSITION
The optimization of fleet composition or complet-
ing the fleet is conventionally called “external” to
the conceptual ship design task. The results of this
task govern the design project phase and where the
main optimal dimensions of the ship (“internal”
task) are defined.
Analysing the diversity and complexity of the
“external” task, Pashin (1983) resolved the prob-
lem in two stages. In the first stage, after analys-
ing the possible cargo flows, available financial
resources, the number and type of existing ships
and other data determines the amount of ships to
be built in a period of time. In fact, this type of
problems was solved by Gallin (1973) in the opti-
mization of the fleet composition of tankers and
dry cargo ships. At the second stage, the task of
completing the fleet leads to defining the technical
specification for the designed ship.
The conceptual ship design framework “Expert”
allows a joint solution of both tasks; the “external”
and “internal” ones (see Figure 5). The application
of this approach is easier since the framework lets
to apply the same mathematical models and objec-
tive functions in the two phase solution. Otherwise,
the “external” task is understood as the conceptual
design of the ship and the “internal” task is the
optimization of the elements of the ship.
A case study is presented here, where the
“Expert” system provides a joint solution of the
number of ships needed, i.e. the principal charac-
teristic of the technical specification (external task)
and identification of the optimal solution (internal
task).
The problem is defined as follows:
• for a given speed and cargo type (SF) define the
number of ships (NS) with optimal DW, capa-
ble of transporting for one year a defined total
cargo volume (QSUM), conditional of the distance
between two ports;
• for any possible design solution, define the opti-
mal main dimensions of the ship.
A simplified logistic scheme of bulk cargo trans-
port between two ports, including cargo loaded-
ballast transition is considered.
The developed mathematical model, connected
to the “external” task defines: the necessary
time for cargo handling, time for the voyage and
CAPEX and OPEX costs.
3/29/2017 9:35:58 AM
 Table 3. Fleet composition.

R, nm 1,000 3,000 5,000 7,000 9,000

Dw, t 32129 58714 68714 73482 74794

Ns 6.1 6.9 8.3 10.8 13.3
L. m 177.49 214.01 258.57 258.37 258.14
B. m 30.34 31.09 32.31 32.31 32.31
d. m 9.21 12.04 12.04 12.04 12.04
D. m 13.39 18.39 17.68 17.75 17.84
Cb 0.792 0.848 0.82 0.834 0.848
Vs,kn 14.2 14.2 14.2 14.2 14.2
L/B 5.850 6.884 8.003 7.997 7.989
B/d 3.296 2.582 2.683 2.684 2.684
D/d 1.455 1.528 1.468 1.474 1.482

Figure 5. Joint solution of internal and external prob-

lem, “Expert” system.

Following the logic of the design task, the exter-

nal (E) and internal (I) decision variables include:
XE(NS) and XI (L, B, d, D and CB). Additionally to
the boundary conditions PDW, PW, PFB and PGM, the
limitation of the external task related to the trans-
ported annual cargo PQSUM is defined as:
PQSUM = QSUM / (QT. NS.NR) (15)
where QT is the cargo capacity of the design solu-
tion, NR is the number of voyages per year leading
to:
1.00 ≤ PQSUM ≤ 1.00 (16)
representing the fact that the entire planed cargo,
QSUM will be transported.
The criterion for the optimum solution is
assumed RFR. Table  3 and Fig.  6 present the
obtained results for the initial conditions as
follows:
Figure 6. Optimal DW and number of ships, Ns vs. R.
• distance range – from 1,000 to 9,000 nautical
miles;
• cargo – QSUM = 5,000,000 tons;
• stowage factor – SF = 1.40 m3/t;
• limitations of the main dimensions of the ship:
Panama Canal (B ≤ 32.31 m, d ≤ 12.04 m).
With increasing the distance range, the optimal
DW and the number of ships needed is also increas-
ing. The optimal design solutions are bounded by
the limitations related to PQSUM, PW and PFB.
As can be seen from Table 3, with increasing of
DW, the navigational constraints of the breadth
and draught lead to a relatively increase of L/B
(up to the upper bound of L/B ≤ 8.00) and block
coefficient.

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 7 CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF A Table 4. Conceptual design of 42,000 tDW bulk carrier.
BULK CARRIER
Prototype Case 1 Case 2
In the conceptual ship design, the mathematical 3
SF,m /t 1.307 1.307 1.333
model of the ship is traditionally built based on the L, m 177.00 164.48 165.67
statistical analyses, developing regression equations to B, m 30.00 31.63 31.86
describe the ship as a physical object with predefined d, m 11.80 11.96 11.98
properties. The mathematical model has to achieve D, m 16.20 16.82 16.82
a good consistency and correlation between the Cb 0.819 0.812 0.799
obtained design solution and controllable variables L/B 5.900 5.201 5.200
for each subsystem and the ship as a whole. In a sta- B/d 2.543 2.644 2.660
tistical analysis of the data, the prototype conditions D/d 1.373 1.406 1.404
are relatively easily achieved by a rational choice of LW, t 9648 9813 9815
the functional relationship between the available data W, m3 52669 51944 53024
and decision variables and the regression equations. LW/(LBD),t/m3 0.112 0.112 0.111
An important issue is the accuracy of the W/DW,m3/t 1.254 1.237 1.262
model. The rational approach is to reconcile the
results with data from similar prototype. The sys-
tem “Expert” execute, in an interactive mode, an
option “Agreement”. Each output value, W from The mathematical model includes 23 subsystems
the database of the system may be enhanced by: and generates about 200 variables.
The inputs to the system include:
W = N*W + M (17)
• deadweight – 42, 000 t;
• speed – 14.2 kn;
where the factors N and M are 1 and 0 respectively
• sailing distance – 5,000 miles
by default.
• datasets to assess the CAPEX and OPEX of the
If necessary, N or M or both factors can be
vessel;
assigned corrective values determined after an anal-
• other data
ysis of the performance of the prototype, through
a similar adjustment and this enhancement may The decision variables are the length, breadth,
increase the accuracy of the mathematical model. depth, draught and block coefficient.
On the other hand, at N = 0 and M ≠ 0 may be Table  4  shows the main features of the three
introduced a constant value of the parameter or by design solutions. The first is the ship prototype,
N = 0 and M = 0, to “turn off ” the model. the second is with SF  =  1.307  m3/t (Case 1) and
This approach is applied to design a bulk car- SF = 1.33 m3/t (Case 2). For accepted criterion the
rier with deadweight of 42,000 tons in the presence calculated optimal solution is for relatively short
of a close prototype build in a Bulgarian shipyard. ships. The ratio L/B is close to the lower boundary
Here, by appropriately defining the factor values (L/B ≥ 5.2)
of N and M an increase in the mass of the ship hull
(Mmh) due to the ice reinforcement and the correc-
tion of the weight of the cargo loading equipment 8 CONCLUSIONS
(Mle) due to the absence of cranes, compared to the
prototype is taken into account. The conceptual ship design framework “Expert”,
which was explored in this study, is structured as
Mmh’ = N.Mmh + M where N = 1.08; M = 0 (18) an open system allowing the search design solution
for different types of ships for which a suitable
Mle’ = N.Mle + M where N = 1.00; M = −62.0 (19)
mathematical model can be generated.
The conceptual framework is capable of
The new ship type is defined as follows:
accounting for series of constraints. Different
• single deck, single-screw with aft located ER, mathematical models can be employed in identify-
with hatch covers and without deck cranes; ing the main dimensions of ship, ship hull form,
• U- shape bow frames with bulb and with tran- mass and volume distributions, general arrange-
som and aft bulb; ment, ship hull structures and equipment; propul-
• the superstructure is separated from the funnel sion complex; freeboard requirements; stability;
and it is located over ER; sea-keeping; manoeuvrability etc.
• cargo space is formed by a double bottom and The developed interactive intelligent concep-
hopper tanks, single board and topside ballast tual design framework “Expert” can be applied in
tanks. designing different types of commercial ships.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper reports a work developed in the
project ”Ship Lifecycle Software Solutions”,
(SHIPLYS), which was partially financed by the
European Union through the Contract No 690770 -
SHIPLYS - H2020-MG-2014–2015.
REFERENCES
Andrews, D.J. (1998). A comprehensive methodology for
the design of ships (and other complex systems). Pro-
ceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physi-
cal and Engineering Sciences, 454 (1968), 187–211.
Bole, M. Forrest, C. (2005). Early Stage Integrated Para-
metric Ship Design. ICCAS 2005, pp. 447–460.
Damyanliev T.P. (2001). Mathematical modelling at the
valuation of the ship properties. MARIND’2001,
Proc. Volume 3, Varna, 2001.
Damyanliev T.P. (2002). Program environment for
Decision Making Support Systems. MEET/
MARIND’2002, Proc. Volume 5, 23–28, Varna.
191
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 191
Dnv (2010). Rules for classification of ships. Com-
mon structural rules for bulk carriers with length 90
metres and above. Høvik, Norway: DET NORSKE
VERITAS.
Fiacco A.V., McCormick G,P. (1972). Nonlinear Pro-
graming: Sequential Unconstrained Minimization
Techniques, Moskow (in Russian).
Frey, D., P. Herder, Y. Wijnia, E. Subrahmanian, K.,
Clausing, (2009). The Pugh Controlled Convergence
method: model-based evaluation and implications for
design theory. Research in Engineering Design, vol.
20, Mar. 2009, pp. 41–58.
Gallin C. (1973). Which way computer aided prelimi-
nary ship design and optimization. ICCAS – papers,
Tokyo, August 28–30.
Papanikolaou, A. (2014). Ship Design, Methodologies
of Preliminary Design. Springer Science+Business
Media, Dordrecht 2014, ISBN 978-94-017-8751-2.
Parsons, M.G., Singer, D.J., Sauter, J.A. (1999), A Hybrid
Agent Approach for Set-based Conceptual Ship Design.
ICCAS 1999, Cambridge, MA June 7–11, pp. 207–221.
Pashin, V., M. (1983). Ship optimization (system
approach and mathematical models). Sankt Peters-
burg, (in Russian).
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

FEA based optimization for stiffened plate considering buckling

and yield strength

JaeDong Kim & Beom-Seon Jang

RIMSE, Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul,
Republic of Korea

Tae-Yoon Park & SangBae Jeon

Central Research Institute, Offshore Engineering Research, Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., Seoul,
Republic of Korea

ABSTRACT: In this paper, an automatic strength check system and weight optimization procedure for
stiffened plate using the system is presented. The automatic strength check system enables an automatic
buckling and yield strength of semi-submersible floater. Some analytical methods for stress estimation are
also proposed in each iteration of the optimization. In structural optimization problem, one of the most
significant problem is finite element analysis time. The bigger the size of structure, the longer the analysis
time takes. Thus, these analytical methods dramatically reduce analysis time which makes this optimiza-
tion system practical. The plate thickness and stiffener sections are selected as design variables. As an
optimization method, the steepest decent method is used. The results for some simple stiffened panel
models proves the validity of the proposed optimization.

1 INTRODUCTION for stiffened plates of semi-submersible structure

Semi-submersible structure is widely used to drill
and produce oil and gas in the ocean. This structure
is very sensitive to weight increase in terms of pay-
load and stability. The semi-submersible structure
consists of an upper deck with drilling equipment,
a rig floor with a drilling tower, a crane holding
various pipes and risers, two pontoons and several
columns supporting the pontoons. The pontoons
are immersed in water to increase the stability of
the whole structure, and the several columns con-
necting the pontoons and upper deck reduce the
area of water plane and improve the performance
by making the structure less affected by waves and
currents. However, as the structure is complex, the
required structural analysis method is also com-
plicated. Because global direct and local analysis
are performed in different models, it is necessary
to automate the strength assessment process for
weight optimization.
There are two objectives for this study. The first
objective is to develop an automated system for
assessing the strength of semi-submersible struc-
tures. The stress scanning, mapping, and com-
bination processes are required for the strength
assessment, so it is aimed to automate the entire
strength assessment process. The second objec-
tive is to develop a scantling optimization system
based on the developed strength assessment auto-
mation system. The developed system can decrease
the unnecessary weight of the structure to reduce
the cost and prevent the critical situation such as
the change of the substructure design due to the
modification of the topside structure.
2 PREVIOUS RESEARCH
There have been many studies on weight optimiza-
tion of the ships. Nobukawa (1996) has optimized
the material cost and the welding cost by using the
design variables of the ship’s plate thickness, the
stiffener flange, and the web dimension and lon-
gitudinal space through the genetic algorithm. Yu
et al. (2010) performed weight optimization with
ship’s plate thickness and seam layout as design
variables. Ma et al. (2013) performed optimization
of the stiffened plate structure. Optimization of
the weight and the manufacturing cost of stiffened
plate as the objective function was performed and
the simulated annealing was selected as the optimi-
zation algorithm. The reason why such studies are
possible is that the process of assessing the struc-
tural strength of ships is relatively simple. In addi-
tion, there is a difficulty in practical application
of the method of assessing the buckling strength

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 which is generally inapplicable in actual design
phase.
3 AUTOMATIC GLOBAL AND LOCAL
STRENGTH CHECK SYSTEM (AGLOS)
3.1 General strength assessment procedure
of semi-submersible structures
The general analysis procedure for semi-submers-
ible structures is as follows. Global analysis and
local analysis are performed in an independent
model. The global stress is obtained by global
response of structure from global analysis. The
Figure 1. General strength analysis procedure of semi-
submersible structure.
Figure 2. Outline of AGLOS.
194
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 194
local stress is also obtained by local bending due
to local pressure from local analysis. In order to
consider the conservative situation, global stress is
obtained by performing scanning to find the maxi-
mum stress among global responses. Global analy-
sis results and the local analysis results should be
in one single result file to carry out load combina-
tion. Therefore, the scanned global stress must be
transferred to the local model. This is called map-
ping process. After mapping process, global stress
is combined with local stress in a different mesh
to perform the final strength assessment. Since
these tasks are not fully automated at the present,
research has been carried out to automate these
tasks. This procedure is illustrated in Fig. 1.
3.2 Outline of the system
The overall outline of the system is depicted in
Fig.  2. The results of the finite element analysis
of the global and local models are read from the
import module and converted into a database. This
database contains not only geometric information
such as Node, Element, and Material properties of
the finite element model, but also information such
as stress results and pressure of elements. When
the database of the global model is input to the
scanning module, maximum stress scanning is per-
formed for all the phase angles of all design waves.
The result of the scanning process is used to create
a new global model database and map it to the local
3/29/2017 9:35:59 AM
 model. The mapping process is necessary to com-
bine global and local stresses. The process of com-
bining two analysis results in another model into
the result of the same model is a mapping process.
Through the stress combination module, global
and local stresses can be combined and the com-
bined stress results can be used to perform buck-
ling and yield strength assessment. In the strength
assessment module, panels are automatically gen-
erated using the finite element model information,
and stress and pressure information are assigned
to perform buckling and yield strength assessment.
3.3 Global stress scanning
A design wave analysis approach is used for maxi-
mum stress analysis of semi-submersible struc-
tures. Different design waves are used to assess the
strength of different parts of the structure and the
strength of the structure must be satisfied for all
design waves. For this, the stress scanning process is
required. The stress scanning is the process of find-
ing the design waves and phase angles that gives the
greatest stress to each part of the structure among
all design waves. This is required in order to reduce
the number of combinations of global load cases
and local load cases. That is, the scanning plays a
role of merging the global load cases into one load
case even if it would be a conservative approach.
Fig. 4(a) shows the static load case with the max-
imum hogging moment. Fig. 4(b) shows the static
load case with the maximum sagging moment.
Scanning can be used to determine which load case
has the maximum stress value for each position. In
general, the semi-submersible structure is vulner-
able to two static and six hydrodynamic responses
as shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. Thus, when the scan-
ning of the design waves causing this response
Figure 3. Global hydrodynamic responses.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 195
Figure 4. Global static responses.
Figure 5. Verification of scanning module.
is performed, the maximum global stress of the
structure can be confirmed.
DNV-Xtract, a FE post-processor of DNV, is
used to verify the developed module. The Fig.  5
is a comparison of the results of scanning using
AGLOS and DNV-Xtract. It can be seen from the
figure that the two results are exactly the same. The
accuracy of the developed stress scanning module
was verified.
3.4 Global stress mapping to local model
In order to combine the global stress and the local
stress, both loads must be in the same model. To
do this, it is necessary to transfer the stress of the
global model to the stress of the local model. Stress
mapping is a process that applies the scanned
global stress to the local model.
The finite element analysis is a method of divid-
ing the model into many elements and the stress
can be obtained only at the Gaussian point of each
element. Generally, the position of Gaussian points
of global model and local model are not coinci-
dent, because the mesh size of the global model is
larger than that of the local model. Therefore, it is
inevitable for some error to be involved in the stress
mapping process. In this study, a Gaussian point
of the global model closest to the each Gaussian
point of the local model is found, and the stress of
this global Gaussian point is mapped to the cor-
responding local Gaussian point. In this case, since
the stress of the Gaussian point in a completely
different plane can be mapped, the process of dis-
criminating the same plane is also performed by
comparing the normal vectors of the elements.
3/29/2017 9:36:00 AM
 Unlike scanning, mapping is a function that not
supported by DNV-Xtract. Therefore, verifica-
tion with the commercial software of the mapping
module is impossible. However, the accuracy of
the mapping can be confirmed by comparing the
stress contour of the global and local mesh. The
Fig. 7 shows a comparison of the results obtained
by mapping the stress distribution from the coarse
mesh to the fine mesh. As can be seen from the
figure, it can be seen that despite the difference
in mesh size, the two models show almost similar
stress contours. The accuracy of the developed
stress mapping module is verified.
3.5 Stress combination
The strength assessment of semi-submersible
structures is performed by linear superposition of
global stress due to dynamic response of global
model and local stress due to local extreme load
of local model. Semi-submersible structures gen-
erally use the Load and Resistance Factor Design
(LRFD) method. The LRFD is a design method of
the structure that multiplies the load by load factor
to account for the uncertainty of the load and mul-
tiplies the yield stress of the material by the resist-
ance factor to account for the uncertainty of the
material strength. Therefore, when combining the
loads, the load factors are multiplied to perform
the load combination. The load factors required
in DNV-OS-C101 for ULS assessment is shown in
Table 1.
Fig. 8 shows an example of a stress component
combination in the pontoon section. Depending on
the parts of the buckling strength assessment, the
stress components to be combined can vary. Con-
tinuous, longitudinal structural elements may be
evaluated utilizing linear superposition of the indi-
vidual responses as illustrated in Fig. 8. When trans-
verse stress components are taken directly from the
local structural model, the transverse stresses from
the global model may normally be neglected.

Table 1. Load factors for ULS (DNV-OS-C101).

Load categories
Combination of
design loads G Q E D

a) 1.3 1.3 0.7 1.0

b) 1.0 1.0 1.3 1.0
a) Operating Condition
b) Temporary Condition
Load categories are:
G = permanent load
Q = variable functional load
E = environmental load
D = deformation load

Figure 6. Stress mapping method.

Figure  8. Stress combination for buckling strength

Figure 7. Verification of mapping module. check of pontoon.

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 3.6 Strength assessment in actual engineering practice. The yield strength is
assessed by the minimum plate thickness and section
To check the buckling strength, a panel which is the
modulus of the stiffener required by DNV-OS-C101.
minimum unit of assessment is required. The finite
element model is composed of elements and nodes,
and the element type is divided into shell and beam
4 FORMULATION OF OPTIMIZATION
type. Using this information, a panel is formed by
PROBLEM
finding shell elements closed with beam element
or perpendicular shell elements. The panel search
In Chapter 2, a study on the development of auto-
is enabled by a recursive panel search algorithm
mation systems for semi-submersible structures has
which continuously adds a neighboring element on
been introduced. Using this automated system, a
the same plane if there isn’t any beam element or
study on weight optimization of semi-submersible
any perpendicular shell element in-between until
structure has been conducted. This optimization
there is any more elements to be added.
study focuses on practicality. The greatest chal-
Fig. 9 shows the finite element model in element
lenges of structural optimization is the time it takes
unit and the generated panel model generated by
for structural analysis. In this study, the gradient of
the panel auto generation module.
the design variables is obtained through the simple
The scanned and combined stresses are applied
stress estimation equation, and the time required for
to the automatically generated panels to perform
the analysis is minimized. In addition, by making
buckling and yield strength assessments. The other
beam sections used in the actual design as library
panel information for buckling strength check, for
and treating them as discrete variables, design vari-
example, panel size, panel thickness, three mean
ables are reduced and unrealistic solutions are pre-
stress components, stiffener profile, pressure infor-
vented. The steepest descent method is chosen as
mation are also automatically found. The applied
the optimization algorithm. The entire process of
buckling strength assessment method is DNV-RP-
this optimization system is shown in Fig. 11.
C201-Part1 and DNV.PULS which are widely used

4.1 Objective function and constraints

The objective function of this optimization is the
weight of the structure. The weight of the structure
is obtained by adding the weight of the plate and
the weight of the stiffener.
Buckling and yield strength are considered as
constraints. To check the buckling strength, non-
linear ultimate strength check code DNV-PULS
and DNV-RPC201-Part1, which are frequently

Figure 9. Automatic panel generation.

Figure 10. Assignment of panel information. Figure 11. Overall process of optimization.

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 used in practice, are applied. The yield strength
is checked using the minimum plate thickness
and the minimum stiffener section modulus of
DNV-OSC101.
The constraints are added to the objective func-
tion as a penalty function, making it an uncon-
strained optimization problem.
Quadratic exterior penalty function is used as
penalty function. Quadratic penalty functions
always yield slightly infeasible solutions. Since the
optimal solution is always an infeasible solution
when the constraint violation criterion is set to 1.0,
the violation criterion is increased to 0.95 so that
the optimal solution becomes the feasible solution.
The objective function of the modified non-
constrained optimization is as follows:
n m
φ ( ,r
, rk ) f (X) k ∑∑
i =1 j =1
j [g
[ gi ( )]
φ ( , rk ): unconstrained obj bjjective fucntion
f ( ): total weight of structure
rk : penalty pa p rameter
gi ( ) = Strength Usage Factors
G j [ gi ( X )] MAXAX [ gi ( X ) − 0.9955, 0 ]
4.2 Design variables
Design variables are the thickness of the plate and
the section of the stiffener. The section of the stiff-
ener is selected by number from the pre-defined
stiffener library. By making beam sections used in
the actual design as library and treating them as
discrete variables, design variables are reduced and
unrealistic solutions are prevented.
4.3 Stress estimation
In the gradient calculation of the design variables,
the finite element analysis is excluded and the
Figure 12. Plate thickness design variables.
Figure 13. Beam section design variables.
198
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 198
stress change is analytically estimated. In assess-
ment of the buckling strength of semi-submersible
structures, the offset of stiffeners is not applied in
the local model as well as in the global model. In
the buckling check specified in the class rules, the
membrane stress is obtained by the finite element
analysis. The bending stress is calculated by the
beam theory. It is modeled without offset in order
to avoid overlap with this. Therefore, the cross-
sectional shape of all stiffened plates is as shown
in Fig. 14. In addition, the stress of the plate used
in assessing the strength of semi-submersible
structures is the membrane stress. Thus, the stress
change of the plate may be estimated as a value
in inverse proportion to the change of the cross-
sectional area. The nominal stress is calculated by
taking into account the change of the sectional
area of the plate and the sectional area of the stiff-
ener. The normal stress estimation equation is as
follows.
Areaori (t B ) + Aoori
σ est σ ori = σ ori ori
Arearev (trev B ) + Arrev
The shear stress is calculated by considering
the change of the sectional area of the plate
only. The shear stress estimation equation is as
follows.
tori
τ est τ ori
trev
4.4 Discretization of design variables
Plate thickness variables are discretized in
0.5  mm increments, and the stiffener sections
are discretized into library numbers. Since stiff-
ener section design variables are selected in the
library, they are always discretized. However, the
plate thickness variables can be treated as a con-
tinuous variable in some cases. In this study, a
better method was found by attempting to deal
with the plate thickness variables in two differ-
ent ways.
The first method is a method to determine the
step size by discretizing the plate thickness design
Figure 14. Panel sections without beam offset.
3/29/2017 9:36:04 AM
 In this study, the second discretization method
has been applied to all the optimizations per-
formed in the chapter to obtain robust results.

5 ILLUSTRATING EXAMPLE

To verify the two discretization methods, the load

is applied to the in-plane load parallel to the plate
and the pressure in the direction perpendicular to
the panel. A spring boundary condition is attached
to the four corners of the model, which is parallel
and perpendicular to the plate.
The design variables, plate thickness and stiff-
ener section, are set by design variables with the
same values in the initial model. This model is
Figure 15. Discretization method 1. initially designed to have three plate thickness
variables and two stiffener section variables. Using
this model, three different design points are used
as starting points and the convergence test is
performed.
The first and second design point are differ-
ent from each other in the feasible area. The third
design point is the starting point in the infeasible
area.
And the final solution of the three design
points for the two discretization methods was
compared. The buckling strength was assessed by

Figure 16. Discretization method 2.

variables of every search point during the line

search (Fig. 15). Although this method may reduce
the number of calculations, there is a possibility of
stopping without converging near the optimum
point. The plate thickness variable is discretized in Figure 17. Applied loads and boundary conditions.
0.5 mm increments and the stiffener section is dis-
cretized into library numbers.
In the second method, the step size is determined
by continuously treating the plate thickness design
variables values of all search points at the time of
the line search, and the rounding is performed by
discretizing in 0.5  mm interval to determine next
design point (Fig.  16). The stiffener section vari-
ables are discretized in the same way as the first
discretization method. This method can converge
closer to the optimal point, although the number
of calculations can be relatively increased. Figure 18. Design variables of the model.

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 DNV-RPC201-Part1 module. Fig.  19 shows the
optimization result for discretization method 1, and
Fig. 20 shows the results for discretization method 2.
Discretization method 1 discretizes all search
points and can be noticed that the final objective
values are different when starting at different
design points. This can be attributed to the fact
that there are many points that are treated as the
local minimum of the objective function due to the
discretization variables.

Figure  19. Optimization result for discretization Figure  20. Optimization result for discretization
method 1. method 2.

Table 2. Change of design variables of starting point 1

(Method 1). Table  5. Change of design variables of starting point 1
(Method 2).
Design variables Initial point Final point
Design variables Initial point Final point
DV1 15.0 mm 12.0 mm
DV2 10.0 mm 11.5 mm DV1 15.0 mm 12.5 mm
DV2 10.0 mm 12.0 mm
DV3 20.0 mm 12.0 mm
DV3 20.0 mm 12.0 mm
DV4 625 × 150 × 12 × 25 356 × 127 × 33
DV4 625 × 150 × 12 × 25 310 × 100 × 12 × 15
DV5 315 × 100 × 12 × 15 254 × 146 × 43
DV5 315 × 100 × 12 × 15 254 × 140 × 43
Weight (kg) 8927.3 5417.9
Weight (kg) 8927.3 5072.8

Table 3. Change of design variables of starting point 2

(Method 1). Table  6. Change of design variables of starting point 2
(Method 2).
Design
variables Initial point Final point Design variables Initial point Final point

DV1 25.0 mm 12.5 mm DV1 25.0 mm 12.0 mm

DV2 20.0 mm 12.5 mm DV2 20.0 mm 12.5 mm
DV3 19.0 mm 12.0 mm DV3 19.0 mm 12.0 mm
DV4 DV4 625 × 150 × 12 × 25 310 × 100 × 12 × 15
625 × 150 × 12 × 25 358 × 120 × 12 × 21
DV5 DV5 315 × 100 × 12 × 15 254 × 140 × 43
315 × 100 × 12 × 15 290 × 127 × 42
Weight (kg) 10860.3 5072.8
Weight (kg) 10860.3 5834.2

Table 4. Change of design variables of starting point 3 Table 7. Change of design variables of starting point 3
for (Method 1). (Method 2).

Design variables Initial point Final point Design variables Initial point Final point

DV1 8.0 mm 12.5 mm DV1 8.0 mm 12.5

DV2 10.0 mm 12.5 mm DV2 10.0 mm 12.0
DV3 11.0 mm 12.0 mm DV3 11.0 mm 12.0
DV4 510 × 150 × 12 × 25 127 × 76 × 13 DV4 510 × 150 × 12 × 25 310 × 127 × 42
DV5 235 × 102 × 22 220 × 102 × 22 DV5 235 × 102 × 22 220 × 102 × 22
Weight (kg) 5097.7 4970.5 Weight (kg) 5097.7 5171.8

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 On the other hand, the final objective values of
the discretization method 2 converged to almost
the same value. Since the stiffener section variables
are still discretized, the final optimal solutions are
not fully converged but have a tolerance range that
is sufficiently acceptable. Therefore, the discretiza-
tion method 2 was applied to all the optimizations
performed in the chapter.
6 CONCLUSIONS
A study on FEA based weight optimization of
stiffened plate has been carried out. As a prelimi-
nary work of optimization, full automation of the
strength assessment process of semi-submersible
structures has been implemented. Each function
of the automation system was verified by DNV-
Xtract. Using the geometry information of the FE
model, a panel, which is the basic unit of buck-
ling strength assessment, can be automatically
generated. The assessment code based on DNV-
RPC201-Part1 has been developed and the inter-
face with DNV-PULS has been constructed so that
the strength assessment method used in the prac-
tice can be considered. The assessment of buckling
and yield strength was fully automated by applying
strength assessment codes to automatically gener-
ated panels. Optimization using the developed
automated system is performed. The optimization
problem is formulated by focusing on the opti-
mization that can be used in practice. The design
variables are defined as the plate thickness and the
beam section, and the method of treating them
as discrete variables is proposed. Since the weight
and strength of the structure are monotonic, the
201
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 201
steepest descent method is chosen as the optimi-
zation algorithm, assuming that there is no local
optimum. The biggest problem of structural opti-
mization is FEA time. In order to solve this prob-
lem, a simple method of estimating the stress is
used, and it is confirmed that the error is not large
when the scantling change is not large. Optimiza-
tion was performed for a simple stiffened plate.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The present research is a result of the project
“Design support system for Semi-submersible type
floater” supported by Samsung Heavy Industries
Co. Ltd. All support is gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Det Norske Veritas. “Buckling strength of plated struc-
tures.” Recommended practice DNV-RPC201, (2010)
Det Norske Veritas. “Column-Stabilised Units.” No.
DNV-RPC103, (2012).
Ma, Ming, Owen Hughes, and Jeom Kee Paik. “Ultimate
Strength based Stiffened Panel Design using Multi-
Objective Optimization Methods and Its Application
to Ship Structures.” Proceedings of the PRADS2013.
CECO (2013).
Nobukawa, H., and G. Zhou. “Discrete optimization of
ship structures with genetic algorithms.” Journal of
the Society of Naval Architects of Japan 179 (1996):
293–301.
Yu, Yan-Yun, et al. “A Practical Method for Ship Struc-
tural Optimization.” The Twentieth International
Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference. Interna-
tional Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers, 2010.
3/29/2017 9:36:07 AM
MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Ship hull structural scantling optimization

K. Stone & T. McNatt

DRS Technologies, Stevensville, MD, USA

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a method to optimize hull girder cross section scantlings using three
objectives: structural weight, vertical center of gravity and structural safety. Design authority standards,
such as the American Bureau of Shipping’s High Speed Naval Craft Rules are used for the safety limits.
An integrated hydrodynamic and 3D finite element code, MAESTRO, is used for the calculation of the
design loads, the structural response, working stresses, limit state evaluation, hull girder ultimate strength
evaluation and structural optimization. An example of optimizing a cross section of a frigate shows that
the proposed method is very useful for performing ultimate strength based ship structural optimization
with multiple objectives, namely minimization of the structural weight, maximization of structural safety
and lowering vertical center of gravity.

1 INTRODUCTION procedures, including concepts inspired by natu-

Ship structural design involves simultaneous consid-
eration of several objectives such as weight, safety,
Vertical Center of Gravity (VCG), and manufactur-
ing cost. Until recently, it has not been technically
possible to simultaneously model a ship’s primary
loads, and secondary loads, calculate & evaluate
the structural response throughout the ship and
then optimize the scantlings to minimize weight &
cost and reduce the vertical center of gravity while
maintaining or even improving structural safety
and performance. In practice, once the hull enve-
lope and structural arrangements are made to meet
the operational requirements, the structural scant-
lings are initialized by modifying existing designs
and subsequently checked by using local design
criteria. If the structure meets the design criteria,
the scantlings are often left as is while those por-
tions of the structure which have failed to meet the
design criteria are simply scaled up by undertaking
manual design iterations. This piecemeal approach
can lead to a structural design that is sub-optimal
in terms of weight, vertical center of gravity, and
cost to manufacture as well as poor compromise
of design objectives. A programmatic optimiza-
tion approach integrated with a ship-based finite
element code that does not rely on time consum-
ing manual design iterations, and which enables the
naval architects to focus on high level engineering
decisions, is a natural choice to select better struc-
tural scantlings and topology in order to obtain a
more rational and cost-effective ship design.
Optimization algorithms are generally classified as
either the mathematical (deterministic or gradient) or
heuristic/stochastic. The heuristic and evolutionary
ral biological systems such as Genetic Algorithm
(GA) and Simulated Annealing (SA), have recently
been growing in popularity as more and more
researchers discover the benefits of its adaptive
search (Zanic, et  al., 2013, Sekulski, 2014). The
heuristic and evolutionary based optimization
algorithms are very powerful and easy to imple-
ment however one of the drawbacks is that a large
population of candidate points needs to be evalu-
ated frequently. For a large complex system such
as ships and offshore structures a finite element
analysis can be computationally very demanding,
and despite steady advances in computing power,
the expense of repeatedly running analysis codes
remains nontrivial. Therefore, it is imperative to
limit the number of finite element response calcu-
lations in the optimization process.
MAESTRO, a ship-based finite element code,
has proven to be practical and highly efficient means
to rapidly model complete ship structures down to
the stiffener level as well as masses (distributed,
point & tanks), hydrostatics, and most recently
hydrodynamics (i.e. seakeeping loads). First devel-
oped by Owen Hughes (Hughes, 1983), MAESTRO
has been applied by users world-wide to analyze
and design the complete range of ship types, from
small high-speed craft to large ULCCs. It had, from
its beginnings, a limit state based ship structural
optimization capability utilizing Sequential Lin-
ear Programming (SLP) however it was limited to
relatively coarse mesh models using MAESTRO’s
strake based modeling and could realistically only
address weight. A more advanced optimization
capability, using a two-step iterative procedure and
a multi-objective Simulated Annealing method, was

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 first proposed by Ma, Hughes and Paik (Ma, et al., mesh model with each stiffened panel modeled as a
2013). This strategy, which is analogous to Collabo- collection of quad and beam elements rather than
rative Optimization (CO) of the Multidisciplinary using MAESTRO’s traditional coarse mesh strake
Design Optimization (MDO) field, decomposed based panels. MAESTRO’s hybrid stiffened panel
a large computationally expensive problem into elements were originally developed to simplify
a number of sub-problems. With the use of local modeling and to keep the overall model size within
subspace optimizers, each design cluster is given manageable limits for conducting the finite element
control over its own set of local design variables analysis. Today’s world-wide ship design environ-
and is charged with satisfying its own limit state ment involves numerous different 3D product mod-
constraints, while a system-level optimizer provides els that often contain all of the information needed
coordination and ensures each local design is in to build the finite element model; in this case the
agreement with others. model was created directly from an existing NAPA
In both of the previous approaches the optimi- model. In order to properly evaluate the limit states
zation was conducted at the stiffened panel level, of the vessel’s stiffened panels and framing MAES-
or the sub-space level. The hull girder VCG, which TRO now automatically collects these finer meshed
is a global system objective, was not explicitly models’ discrete finite elements into “limit state
included in the optimization process. In this paper, evaluation panels”. An evaluation panel is a collec-
we extend the bi-level decomposed optimization tion of finite elements, and is often flat (or slightly
system to account for design variables at the hull curved), rectangular and supported by bulkheads,
girder global level. The objective is to include a frames and girders. Figure 2 shows a detail of the
global design objective, hull girder Vertical Center larger model with typical evaluation panels shown
of Gravity (VCG), directly into the design optimi- in the varying gray scale.
zation process as an optimization objective. Structural design optimization methodologies
and techniques have been developed and used for
many years. Recently, the heuristic and evolutionary
2 LIMIT STATE BASED STRUCTURAL procedures have been growing in popularity. In this
OPTIMIZATION paper, a Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used for opti-
mization. There have been many examples of using
A limit state is defined as the condition beyond heuristic based optimization methods to optimize
which a structural member or entire structure fails ship structures. Most of them use simple empirical
to perform its designated function. A limit state
based optimization provides a safer and more effi-
cient structural design. Four types of limit states are
usually considered: serviceability, ultimate strength,
fatigue, and accidental. The limit state used in this
paper is the Ultimate Limit State (ULS) for stiff-
ened panels, which are the basic strength members
in ships and offshore structures. ULS represents
the collapse of a structure due to a loss of struc-
tural capacity in terms of stiffness and strength
that typically arises from the buckling and plastic
Figure  1. Finite element model of a naval vessel on a
collapse of structural components. A compre- wave.
hensive review of the ultimate limit states on ship
and offshore structures was given in (ISSC Com-
mittee III.1, 2012). In this study, a limit state set,
the ABS High Speed Naval Craft Rules (ABS) is
used to ensure that structural safety meets military
standards. In the closed-form ULS formulations,
the basic structural member properties (such as
panel length, width, thickness, etc.) and the applied
loads, are used for the assessment. In the case of
a full ship ULS assessment using a finite element
model, the data required for the assessment should
ideally be prepared automatically from the model
so that the limit states can be assessed for many
panels and for multiple load cases. Fig. 1 shows a
finite element model of a naval vessel subject to a
sagging wave. As can be seen it is a relatively fine Figure 2. Evaluation patches.

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 constraints, such as scantling rules and stress limits
specified by class societies, to size the structural scant-
lings (Sekulski, 2014). They usually do not include
a high fidelity calculation of actual stresses, which
in most cases requires a 3D finite element analysis.
To accurately evaluate the limit states of a stiffened
panel, the actual stresses must be used. For a single
panel where the applied load is often to be assumed
constant throughout the design iterations, the normal
heuristic based optimization procedure can be used.
However, to optimize a system of stiffened panels,
e.g. an entire ship, the applied load can no longer be
assumed constant. The loads of each individual panel
are functions of the system’s structural scantlings. As
panel scantlings get updated in each perturbation,
the corresponding panel loads are also changed and
the optimization for a system of panels becomes an
iterative process. While evaluating limit states for each
individual panel is relatively efficient, the panel loads
must be obtained by finite element analysis of the
entire structure. Because a 3D finite element analysis
of a large complex structure may be computationally
expensive, it is imperative to limit the number of FE
analyses in the optimization process.
2.1 Optimization of a single panel
Fig. 3 shows a typical steel stiffened panel structure
for limit state analysis, where the dark gray repre-
sents shell plate, and the lighter gray represents
stiffeners.
At the single panel level, there are two objective
functions, Weight (Wp) and Safety of the structural
panel (ηp), which were given in the previous stud-
ies (Ma, et al., 2013, 2015 and 2016, Hughes, et al.,
2014). The panel safety is defined as the ratio of the
applied loads to the panel ultimate limit states, which
includes yield and instability. The applied loads of a
stiffened panel are the results of hull girder primary,
secondary and tertiary loads from all load cases. The
aggregated fitness function f can be expressed as
1 est panel of the design cluster. At the subsystem
f =
Wp ηp
+ ∑ i =1ci gi
m
λw + λη
Wp 0 η pO
Figure 3. Stiffened panel for the simplified example.
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 205
where fw and fη are the normalized individual fitness
functions of weight (Wp) and safety measure (ηp).
Wp0 and ηp0 are the nominal initial design value of
a stiffened panel weight and safety measure respec-
tively, gi is the constraint penalty function, and ci is
the coefficient of the penalty function. ci is 0 if the
design variables satisfy the constraints, and is 1 if
they violate the constraints. For example, gi can be a
ratio of a stiffener flange width to the stiffener web
height.
2.2 Optimization of system panels
As stated earlier, for a single panel optimization,
the applied load is often to be assumed constant
throughout the optimization iterations but for
a system of panels, the loads of each individual
panel depend on other panels’ scantlings. As panel
scantlings get updated in each perturbation, the
corresponding panel loads are also changed thus
the optimization for a system of panels must be an
iterative process.
To facilitate the manufacture process and to
reduce the design variables, “design clusters” or
manufacture strake groups (Ma, et  al., 2013a,
2015 and 2016, Hughes, et al., 2014) are used to
assist system panel optimization. A “design clus-
ter” is a group of panels or grillages for which it
is desired to have uniform design variables (for
example, same plate thickness). The concept of
a “design cluster” is a natural extension of the
optimization’s design variable linking approach.
In Fig. 4, each uniform shaded area represents a
structure for which the plate thickness, stiffener
dimensions and stiffener spacing are all uniform.
At each design iteration cycle, the weakest panel
in a design cluster is optimized as a single panel
model. The design variables (or genes) for a sin-
gle panel are plate thickness, stiffener web height,
stiffener web thickness, stiffener flange width,
and stiffener flange thickness. The scantlings of
a design cluster are then determined by the weak-
(1)
Figure 4. Structural design clusters.
205
3/29/2017 9:36:07 AM
 level, each design cluster is treated independently, collection of the weights of all design clusters, as
and a Pareto front is generated for each subsystem. shown in Eq. (2)
Figure 5 shows a typical Pareto front for a stiffened
n
panel with 5 variables:
W = ∑WPi (2)
• plating thickness (5–40 mm, 1 mm increments) i =1
• beam web flange thickness (5–25  mm, 1  mm
increments) where WPi (i = 1, 2,…, n) is the weight of ith design
• beam web height (200–800  mm, 5  mm cluster. The aggregated fitness function of the sys-
increments) tem can be expressed as:
• beam flange thickness (5–25  mm, 1  mm
increments) W0 VCG
G0
• beam flange breadth (100–500  mm, 5  mm FS = λw + λVVCG (3)
W VCG
increments)
This creates a design space with over 1.3 × 108 where VCG0 is the nominal initial values of the
possibilities (35 × 20 × 120 × 20 × 80). hull girder vertical center of gravity. λw and λVCG
In the previous studies (Ma, et al., 2013a, and are the weighting coefficients representing the
2015, Hughes, et al., 2014), the structural scant- relative importance of the objective functions:
lings of all design clusters were immediately λw +λVCG = 1.
updated after the subsystem optimization, where  
n
a single design point with the lowest weight was xi xi*
min ∑  (4)
selected from the corresponding Pareto front to i =1 xi*
update the “design cluster”. Since each design
cluster was optimized independently, the bi-level 
where xi (i = 1, 2,…, n) is the ith stiffened panel
approach is unable to change hull girder global
computed solution in the system-level model
properties, such as vertical center of gravity and
directly
 coming from disciplinary or panel analy-
cross sectional moment of inertia. Recently (Ma,
sis. xi* is the subsystem-level optimum solution in
et al., 2016), a global level optimization was added
its disciplinary or panel optimization model lonely.
prior to the system integration. At the global level,
The multi-level collaborative optimization process
the design variables are the solutions of the sub-
employed is illustrated in Fig. 6.
system Pareto front. The objective functions are
Weight of Total Panels (W ) and Vertical Center
of Gravity (VCG ). The total structural weight is a

Figure  6. Three-level collaborative optimization

Figure 5. Stiffened panel pareto front. procedure.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 206 3/29/2017 9:36:08 AM

 3 DESIGN LOADS FOR HULL GIRDER
The design hogging and sagging waves are con-
structed using three different methods. The first
method is the classic static design value specified
for U.S. naval combatants (United States Naval
Academy, 2009)
Hw 1 1 LBP (5)
where Hw is the design wave height (feet), and
LBP is the ship’s length between perpendiculars
(feet). Converting the formula (6) to metric units
it becomes
Hw 0 61 LBP (6)
where now Hw and LBP are in meters. The pro-
file or form of the wave is chosen as “trochoidal”.
Fig.  7  shows the wave pressure distribution of a
nominal frigate subjected to a quasi-static sagging
wave.
The second method is obtained from SPEC-
TRA (Michaelson, 2000). Sikora (1998, 2002)
published significant papers and reports detailing
a reliability-based design method for primary sea-
way loadings on surface ships. Typically, the life-
time operational profile of the ship is considered.
The objective is to form, on a reliability basis,
estimates of the primary hull girder loads. These
include vertical and lateral bending and torsion,
in addition to criteria for lifetime fatigue strength.
Low-frequency wave induced bending and high-
frequency impact-induced whipping are also
included. Sikora et al. (2002) incorporated empir-
ical data and analysis into a computer program
called SPECTRA. SPECTRA computes lifetime
exceedance, histogram, and reliability informa-
tion of hull girder bending moments for a speci-
fied section. One way to apply SPECTRA lifetime
extreme bending moment to a 3D finite element
model is to assume the longitudinal distribu-
tion of the dynamic vertical bending moment as
follows,
mid ⎛
M mid 2π x ⎞
Mx = 1 − cos ⎟ (7)
2 ⎝ L ⎠
where Mmid is the dynamic wave bending moment
value at midship. The distributed hull girder loads
Figure 7. Quasi-static pressure under sagging waves.
207
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 207
can be applied to a 3D finite element model using
a method proposed by Ma et al. (2014). The third
method, now specified by classification societies, is
to derive extreme loads using frequency and time
domain hydrodynamic seakeeping codes.
MAESTRO-Wave is an integrated component
of the software suite MAESTRO (2016). MAES-
TRO-Wave first computes the response of ship
motions, hull girder loads, and panel pressures
for an incident wave of unit amplitude, with fre-
quency ω and direction φ. The response ampli-
tude per unit wave amplitude is often referred
to as the Response Amplitude Operator (RAO).
RAOs are effectively transfer functions which
give the proportion of wave amplitude “trans-
ferred” by the ship system into ship response.
Fig.  8  shows a RAO envelope of longitudinal
bending moment.
The lifetime design load is taken to be the largest
wave load with an exceedance probability of 1/N,
N being the total number of wave load peaks.
N T × 365 × 24 × 3600 × ∑∑npm pk (8)
m k
where T is the design life or return period, pm is
the probability of occurrence from a wave scatter
diagram, pk is the probability of vessel speed and
heading for a given sea state, and n is the average
number of zero-crossing per unit time calculated
using short term statistics of response. The short
term statistics of the response are found by com-
bining the response transfer function with a wave
spectrum to obtain a response spectrum as a func-
tion of the wave frequency. The short term statis-
tics quantities are derived from the moments of the
response spectrum. For a selected wave spectrum,
Sω(ω), the response spectrum, Sx(ω, φ, V), is
Sx ( V ) = H x (ω φ ,V ) Sω (ω )
2
(9)
where Hx is the transfer function.
Figure  8. Hull girder vertical bending moment RAO
envelope.
3/29/2017 9:36:10 AM
 For a given sea state, the distribution of the larg-
est peak response (for example, longitudinal verti-
cal bending moment) in a sequence of n peaks of
a random process can be determined using order
statistics, assuming that the peaks are independ-
ent and identically distributed. The expected value
(average) of the maximum peak in a sequence of
n peaks of a zero mean Gaussian random process
was determined by Longuet-Higgins (1952), and is
approximated by
⎛ ⎞
yn ⎜ 2l
( 1 ε n +
2
) C ⎟ m
⎜
( ) ⎟ 0
4 NUMERICAL EXAMPLE
The naval frigate investigated in Ma, et al. 2016 and
here has a length between perpendiculars L = 135 m,
beam B = 17 m, depth 9.4 m and displacement of
4,000 tons (see Table 2). The finite element model
was provided by NAPA Ltd of a nominal frig-
ate 150 meters long and displacing 4000 tons. The
model was created using NAPA-Steel as a molded
form structural model, as shown in Figure 9(a). The
finite element model has over 61,000 nodes and
125,000 elements, as shown in Figure 9(b).
(10)

⎝ 2l 1− ε 2 n ⎠ 4.1 Midship section optimization

In this example, the three-level optimization proce-
where C = 0.5772 is Euler’s constant, dure, shown in Fig. 5, is used to optimize the struc-
tural scantlings of a midship segment. The segment
m22 includes four frame spacing and is extracted from
ε = 1− (11) the full ship model (Fig. 10).
m0 m4 The isolated midship segment model is loaded
with two load cases using the largest vertical bend-
is the bandwidth parameter of the spectrum, and ing moment listed in Table  1. A hydrostatic load
ε = 0 represents a random process with a narrow- resulting from a draft of 4.07 m is also applied to
band spectrum. the model. Two Rigid Elements (RBE2) are added

1 m2
n= (12)
2π m0 Table 2. Main particulars of the frigate.

Length overall 150 m

is the average number of zero-crossing per unit Length between perpendiculars 135 m
time. Breadth 17 m
Depth 9.4 m
∞
mj ∫ ω jS ( ) dω (13) Draught 4 m
0 Displacement 4000 ton

is the jth moment of the response spectrum. It

should be noted that the most probable extreme
value is given as

yn 2 ln ( n) m0 (14)

The extreme sagging and hogging moments

computed by the 3 methods are listed in Table 1.
For SPECTRA and MAESTRO-Wave, a 20
years design life, the combatant operating pro-
file, Pierson-Moskowitz wave spectrum and Ochi
North Atlantic sea scatter diagram were used to
generate the dynamic hull girder loads.

Table 1. Design bending moments.

Sagging Hogging
(ton*m) (ton*m)

Design Wave 23366 29623

SPECTRA 37216 54875
MAESTRO-Wave 35617 52587
Figure 9(a) – 9(b). Notional frigate.

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 Figure 10. Midship segment model.
Figure  11. Optimization design cluster and control
cluster.
to the ends, as shown in Fig. 10. 18 design clusters,
shown in Fig.  11, are defined in the segment. To
reduce the boundary constraint effect, the struc-
ture of the middle two frames is defined as an
optimal control cluster. During the optimization
iterations, the objective functions are controlled by
the optimal control cluster. For structure outside
of the control cluster (for example, the two end
frames of the segment model), the structural scant-
lings are updated simultaneously with the optimal
control clusters.
The values of upper and lower bound con-
straints for scantlings are:
⎧5 p 50 mm
⎪60 mm ≤ b 400 mm
⎪⎪ fs
⎨ 5 fs 30 mm (15)
⎪20 mm ≤ h 300 mm
⎪ ws
⎪⎩5 mm ≤ tws ≤ 30 mm
where tp = plate thickness, and bfs, tfs, hws and tws are
the stiffener flange’s breadth and thickness, and
stiffener web’s height and thickness, respectively.
The design history and the comparison of struc-
tural weight, minimum adequacy parameter, and
percentage of vertical center of gravity are shown
in Fig. 12. The optimization stops when there is no
weight improvement in the next five design cycles.
A comparison of the hull girder properties, such
as cross section moment of inertia and hull girder
ultimate strength, is listed in Table 3.
209
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 209
Figure  12. History of the midship segment
optimization.
The values in column “Before” are calculated
using the original nominal design scantlings. The
values in column “After” are calculated using the
final “optimal” design scantlings. To further validate
the optimal design, the hull girder ultimate strength
is calculated by progressive hull collapse analysis
using ALPS/HULL and ProColl (MAESTRO,
2016) in both sagging and hogging conditions.
Both ALPS/HULL and ProColl are computer pro-
grams for the special purpose of the progressive
hull girder collapse analysis using the intelligent
super-size finite element method. The accuracy of
the ALPS/HULL (Paik et al., 2008) and ProColl
(Bensen et  al., 2013) computations in progressive
hull girder collapse analysis has previously been
demonstrated by a comparison with nonlinear
finite element method analyses. It is worthwhile to
point out that although the cross sectional moment
of inertia and hull girder ultimate strength were
not the objectives of the optimization, they were
significantly increased as the result of the optimi-
zation of the stiffened panel local ultimate strength
and the structural weight. The example shows that
optimizing panel local strength can also improve
the global hull girder ultimate strength.
4.2 Full ship optimization
The full ship finite element model was solved for
seven load cases:
• Still water
• Trochoidal sagging design wave
• Trochoidal hogging design wave
• SPECTRA extreme sagging moment distribu-
tion and still water
3/29/2017 9:36:13 AM
 Table 3. Comparison of structural weight, minimum adequacy parameter, and percentage of inadequate structure.

Before After Improvement

Section Weight (7.2 m, tons) 108.127 102.174 5.5%

Cross Section Moment of Inertia (m4) 19.3 24.5 27%
Ultimate Hogging 1.26E9 1.65E9 23.6%
Moment (Nm), ALPS/HULL
Ultimate Sagging 1.58E9 1.74E9 10.1%
Moment (Nm), ALPS/HULL
Ultimate Hogging 1.34E9 1.68E9 25.4%
Moment (Nm), ProColl
Ultimate Sagging 1.47E9 1.58E9 7.5%
Moment (Nm), ProColl
Minimum Adequacy Parameter 0.03 0.33
VCG (m) 5.07 4.77 5.9%

• SPECTRA extreme hogging moment distribu-

tion and still water
• MAESTRO-Wave extreme sagging wave and
still water
• MAESTRO-Wave extreme hogging wave and
still water
All panels were evaluated using ABS limit state
criteria. Fig. 13 showed the elements which did not
meet ABS buckling and yielding criteria in the ini-
tial design. To minimize the structural weight while
maximizing the structural safety, a hierarchically
multi-level collaborative optimization procedure is
used. The values of upper and lower bound con-
straints are given as Eq. (15). 175 Design Clusters Figure  13. Structures with negative adequacy param-
were defined, as presented in Fig. 4. eter of all load cases.
As shown in Fig. 13, a full 2.5% or 32.66 tons of
the structure was inadequate based on ABS limit
state criteria. The minimum adequacy parameter
was significantly negative (−0.57), which indicated
some panels were severely under designed for the
given loads. In spite of this relatively weak initial
design, the optimization converged in five design
cycles. The optimization not only corrected all of
the inadequate structure, it was also able to save
5.5% or 71.82  tons of structural weight. In addi-
tion, the structural VCG was lower 4.7% or 0.27 m.
Fig.  14  shows the design history for structural
weight and percentage of VCG for nine design
cycles. The optimization stops when there is no
weight improvement in the next five cycles.
Figure 14. Design history of the full ship.
4.3 Pending improvements to the optimization
Recently the optimization routine has been
improved such that users can choose between opti- along with planned improvements in specifying the
mizing the individual scantlings as described herein costs associated with the purchase, storage, han-
or take a more practical approach and restrict the dling and fabrication of the ship using those plates
choice of plating thickness, stiffener and fram- and beams in the “structural warehouse” will per-
ing scantlings to the “structural warehouse” that mit, for the first time, optimization of costs along
the shipyard normally stocks. This new approach with weight, safety and VCG.

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 5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a hierarchically multi-level collabora-
tive optimization procedure was successfully used
to optimize a large and complex structure on the
basis of weight, safety and vertical center of gravity.
In each design cycle, the finite element method was
used to accurately calculate the stresses throughout
the structure. The examples show that even for an
inadequate initial design, the method can find an
optimal design within a short time and is thus a
valuable and attractive tool for naval vessel struc-
tural optimization.
REFERENCES
ABS, Guide for Building and Classing High Speed Naval
Craft.
Benson, S., Downes, J., Dow, R.S., (2013) “Compartment
Level Progressive Collapse Analysis of Lightweight
Ship Structures”, Marine Structures 31, pp. 44–62.
Hughes O.F., Ship Structural Design: A Rationally-
Based, Computer-Aided, Optimization Approach
1st ed. New York (NY): John Wiley & Sons, 1983.
Hughes, O.F., Ma, M. and Paik, J.K. (2014) “Appli-
cations of Vector Evaluated Genetic Algorithm
(VEGA) in Ultimate Limit State Based Ship Struc-
tural Design”, Proceedings of the ASME 2014 33th
International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and
Arctic Engineering, OMAE2014, June 9–14, 2014,
San Francisco, USA.
ISSC. (2012), 18th International Ship and Offshore
Structures Congress, Committee III.1, Ultimate
Strength.
Longuet-Higgins, M.S. (1952). On the Statistical Distri-
bution of the Heights of Sea Waves, J. Marine Res,
11, 3, 245–66.
211
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 211
Ma, M., and Hughes, O. Paik, J.K. (2013), Ultimate
strength based stiffened panel design using multi-
objective optimization methods and its application to
ship structures, Proceedings of the PRADS2013.
Ma, M., Zhao, C.B. and Hughes, O. (2014), A practical
method to apply hull girder sectional loads to full-ship
3D finite-element models using quadratic program-
ming, Ships and Offshore Structures, 9, 3, 257–265.
Ma, M., Hughes, O., and McNatt, T. (2015). “Ultimate
limit state based ship structural design using multi-
objective discrete particle swarm optimization”, Pro-
ceedings of the OMAE 2015, St. Johns, Canada.
Ma, M., Brown, A., McNatt, T., and Freimuth, J. (2016),
“Naval Ship Structural Scantling Optimization by
Reducing weight, Increasing safety and Lowering
Vertical Center of Gravity”, Marine Technology Con-
ference, The Society of Naval Architects and Marine
Engineers, 2016, Seattle, Washington.
MAESTRO Version 11.3. (2016). Program documenta-
tion, Advanced Marine Technology Center, DRS
Technologies Inc., http://www.maestromarine.com.
Michaelson, R.W. User’s Guide for SPECTRA: Version
8.3, NSWCCD-65-TR-2000/07, March 2000.
Sekulski, Z., (2014), “Ship Hull Structural Multiobjec-
tive Optimization by Evolutionary Algorithm”, Jour-
nal of Ship Research, Vol. 58, No. 2., pp. 45–69.
Sikora, J., (1998). “Cumulative Lifetime Loadings for
Naval Ships” International Mechanical Engineering
Congress & Exposition, Anaheim CA, USA, Nov.
1998.
Sikora, J, Michaelson, R., and Ayyub, B. (2002). Assess-
ment of Cumulative Lifetime Seaway Loads for Ships,
Naval Engineers Journal vol. 114, no. 2, pp. 167–180.
United States Naval Academy, EN358 Ship Structures
Notes for an Undergraduate Course, Naval Architec-
ture Program, Annapolis, Maryland, Spring 2009.
Zanic, V., Andric, J. & Prebeg, P., (2013), “Design syn-
thesis of complex ship structures”, Ships and Offshore
Structures, Vol. 8, pp. 383–403.
3/29/2017 9:36:15 AM
MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

The design and analysis of a heavy transportation and jacket launch

barge

L.D. Cherian
National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC), UAE

T. Mathew
Cochin Shipyard Ltd., (CSL), India

J. Land & J. Evans

Noble Denton Marine Services, DNV GL, UK

ABSTRACT: This paper describes the design development of an offshore barge suitable for the
transportation of heavy modules, loaded by skidding, and the launching of a jacket. The barge was
designed and built by Cochin Shipyard for the National Petroleum Construction Company. The barge
was successfully launched on the 22nd August 2016. To accommodate this range of load applications
the barge can be configured as a basic hull, or with the attachment of sponsons to provide additional
buoyancy. The  practical design process used is described, particularly the structural development to
accommodate the different load cases and structural configurations. The structure of the barge was ana-
lysed using a global Finite Element Model which identified high stress areas. These areas were then sub-
modelled in greater detail and the local structure optimised. An area of interest, is the aft end construction
that is very heavily reinforced to accept the high point load imparted during a jacket launch. The practi-
calities of modelling a complex structure using the Finite Element Method, balanced with the time pres-
sures of meeting the production program are discussed. The difficulties that were experienced and how
these difficulties were overcome are shared.

1 INTRODUCTION 1. Deck Cargo Barge, and

2. Launch Barge
As part of an EPIC contract for large oil field
As a deck cargo barge, the barge is predomi-
development in the Middle East, NPCC are to
nantly used for the load out, transportation and
install five topsides by float over installation.
float over operation of jackets and topsides apart
The weight of these topsides range from 7000  t
from other cargo transports. When installed with
to 30,000  t. While two smaller topsides are to be
sponsons the barge can be used for the transporta-
installed by a barge from NPCC’s existing fleet, the
tion of topsides weighing up to 30,000 tonnes. In
three heavier topsides demanded hiring or building
launch barge mode, the barge is capable to load out,
a new barge.
transport and launch of jackets up to 15,000 tonnes.
There are only very few topsides in the 30,000 t
ultra-heavy weight category, worldwide. As such,
finding barges to cater for this topside installation
was a cumbersome exercise. After an extensive
search in the worldwide market, it was concluded
that hiring a barge to meet the schedules was
not an option and it was decided to build a new
barge ‘B-42’ suiting the float over installation of
the topside(s). The order for design and construc-
tion of ‘B-42’ was awarded to CSL, Cochin, India
based on a global tender process with a stiff time
period of 17 months delivery time.
The Barge is classed under the requirements of
American Bureau of Shipping. The barge has 2
different modes of operation which are: Figure 1. Barge B-42 underway with sponsons on deck.

213

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 213 3/29/2017 9:36:15 AM

 The design of the barge was designed for an
expected useful life of 25–30 years. The stability,
scantling calculations, structural design was done by
CSL, launching analysis and detailed FEA was done
by Noble Denton Marine Services based on NPCC/
CSL inputs of basic design & NPCC inputs on top-
side and jacket weights/COG/Load Factors etc. All
engineering documents were reviewed and approved
by ABS. In addition, operation specific documenta-
tion was reviewed and approved by marine warranty
surveyor (MWS), M/s. Global Maritime.
2 FINALISATION OF MAIN DIMENSIONS
A barge carrying such a heavy topside (30,000
tonne) was always going to be big and will be com-
paratively difficult to handle while transporting,
manoeuvring or mooring at an offshore site. With
its breadth and depth fixed from the start, the only
dimension that could be changed was the length.
Barge width (42.0 m) was fixed because of the float
over jacket leg slot and depth of the barge (11.0 m)
was fixed with due consideration of jacket hori-
zontal brace elevation during float over retrieval
and maximum water depth at fabrication jetty.
Increasing the length has a relatively small effect
on the barge stability but has negative effects on
longitudinal strength. Considering the difficulty
in handling a 180m barge, a big increase in length
to cater for all the requirements was not attractive
and the option of attaching sponsons at the aft end
of the barge to cater the specific project require-
ment imposed by 30,000t modules was decided.
The sponsons will provide additional buoyancy
during loadout as well as tanks for ballasting. The
port and starboard sponsons are designed with
principal dimensions 50  m  ×  15  m  ×  8.45  m and
for a permissible deck loading of 10  tonne/m2.
Sponsons are designed for easy integration with the
main barge structurally and can also be integrated
to the main piping system of the barge for ballast/
deballast operations. Sponsons were designed with
lesser depth to enable installing or removing them
without the need for drydocking.
Fixing the main dimensions meant perform-
ing various calculations to meet marine warranty
(MWS) requirements for stability and strength
for the various phases of installation, float over,
and launch. This required the calculation of the
strength and stability for the load out ballast con-
ditions, transportation ballast conditions, the float
over installation ballast conditions, and jacket
launch ballast condition. After various itera-
tions of these calculations with different dimen-
sions the main particulars of the ‘B-42’ barge
were finalised as 180 m long × 42 m wide × 11 m
deep. Sponson size on each side was fixed at
214
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 214
Table 1. Barge main particulars.
Main particular Value
Length (mld) 180.000 m*
Breadth (mld) 42.000 m**
Depth (mld) 11.000 m
Loadline draught 8.200 m
Scantling draught 10.500 m
Free deck area 6,825 m2
* 140.000 metres in future.
** 72.000 metres with sponsons.
50  m  ×  15  m  ×  8.45  m. A future option of con-
verting the barge to 140 m × 42 m × 11 m later by
removing a 40  m length portion from the parent
barge was also included in the final specification to
CSL. The main particulars are shown in Table 1.
The main focus was given on structural
strength—both local and global strength require-
ments were established based on the installation
calculations. Considering the various operations
the barge was intended for, namely load out,
transportation, float over installation, and launch,
strength requirements varied.
Since the barge required jacket launch capabil-
ity a raked ramp area at the stern was required to
accommodate the rocker arm assembly. However,
since it was also required to have a flush deck at
the stern, removable covers were designed. The
area between the covers and the raked stern was
designed as a buoyant ballast space. The deck
strength for the removable stern cover units is same
as the rest of the barge at 20 t/m2.
3 PUMPS AND MAIN MACHINERY
The tank layout of the barge was finalised con-
sidering ease of operation and to provide control
while ballasting. Barge internal ballast pumping
requirements were worked out based on fast bal-
lasting during float over so that exposure period
while installation can be reduced significantly.
Ballast/de-ballasting requirements during load out
were also studied. Based on studies, total pumping
capacity of 26,000 3/hr was required.
Based on experience, it was identified that pro-
viding two separate pump rooms: one closer to
aft and another closer to the bow would make
the pumping system more efficient than a single
pump room at the bow. The ballast requirements
during operation was carefully studied and accord-
ingly two 7000 m3/hr pumps were provided for the
aft pump room and two 6000  m3/hr pumps were
provided for the fore pump room. For standby
provision, it was also decided to connect the bow
3/29/2017 9:36:16 AM
 and aft pump room manifolds so that any tanks
can be ballasted/de-ballasted from either pump
rooms in case of an emergency.
Pumps in the forward and aft pump rooms are
driven by electric motors powered by a dedicated
2,210  ekW generator set located in the forward
pump room. An additional generator set with
equal capacity is provided as back up. Generator
sets are located inside the forward pump room on
the tween deck. An auxiliary generator with 100%
standby provision was also included for any other
power requirements of the barge.
An air-conditioned and adequately furnished
control room is provided at the main deck in the
forward area and inside the aft pump room to
accommodate a control console/ panel for the cen-
tral tank monitoring and valve control system. In
addition, localized remote control operation of
valves for the stern tanks are provided inside the
forward pump room with the tank monitoring
system mentioned above. The control cabin also
houses the main switchboard.
4 STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS
The main structural requirements for the barge
were as follows:
1. The structural design of the barges is for load
out, transportation and float over installa-
tion of 30,000 tonnes topside and launch of
15,000 tonnes jacket. The topside shall be
supported at eight locations in two rows. The
barge is required to withstand the global bend-
ing moment and shear forces during load out,
transportation and launching.
2. The main deck should have a load bearing
capacity of 20 t/m2 UDL.
3. The aft end of the barge was designed for load-
ing out and launching offshore jackets weigh-
ing 15,000 tonnes with a load factor of 1.2. The
rockers arms can be spaced 24 metres apart
symmetric to the barge centerline and shall can
relocate with a spacing of 16 metres to 36 metres
between them. The scantlings of the barges with
the stern submerged, during jacket launching
was also considered. In order to achieve a flush
deck in the stern rocker area, an easily remov-
able cover was designed and supplied.
4. The transverse strength of the barge in way of
sponson was to be checked.
5. The barge corners designed to withstand a con-
centrated load resulting from a boat impact from
a vessel with a displacement of 3,000 tonnes at
impact speed of 1.0 m/sec.
6. The longitudinal bulkhead at 12 m off centerline
was designed to cater for heavy loads during the
load out of the 30,000 tonne module.
215
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 215
7. The structural design to make provision for a
future modification to the barge reducing the
size to 140 m × 42 m × 11 m by NPCC by remov-
ing a 40 m length portion from the parent barge.
5 HULL CONFIGURATION
The barge is framed longitudinally. It is divided
into four compartments transversely using three
longitudinal bulkheads. This results in two inboard
tanks and two outboard tanks. The inboard tanks
have a width of 12 m each and the outboard tanks
have a width of 9m each, as shown in the GA which
is shown in Figure  9. Two non-watertight bulk-
heads were provided in addition to the watertight
longitudinal bulkheads to cater for the heavy global
bending of the barge while loading out/transport-
ing the heavy 30,000t topside in waves. There are
nine main transverse bulkheads providing eight
sets of tanks and two pump rooms longitudinally.
In total, there are thirty-two ballast tanks.
The Barge has a transom stern and raked bow.
The SWL of the bollards is 70 tonnes. All the com-
ponents of the towing gear are suitable for towing
using a tug with a bollard pull of 200 tonnes.
6 SCANTLING CALCULATIONS
The scantling calculation was conducted to ABS
Steel Barge Rules 2015. NPCC required an addi-
tional 3  mm corrosion allowance for the hull and
bulkhead plates and an additional 20% increase in
section modulus for the stiffeners above the class
requirements for adding to barge global strength.
In general, a longitudinal framing system was used
with a combination of longitudinal stiffeners and
swash bulkheads. To provide transverse strength suf-
ficient transverse web frames and swash bulkheads
between the main watertight bulkheads were used.
7 STRUCTURAL DESIGN
Based on the structural requirements and scant-
ling calculations as explained in sections  2–6 the
structural arrangement/scantling of the barge was
finalized. Refer to the GA shown in Figure  9 to
see transverse and longitudinal watertight/swash
bulkheads, pump rooms, sponson etc.
7.1 Transverse watertight bulkheads
A total of nine watertight transverse bulkheads
given as per ABS rules and NPCC requirements.
The scantling estimations of the bulkheads were
based on class rules plus extra corrosion allowance
3/29/2017 9:36:16 AM
 as per NPCC requirements. Figure 2 below shows
the typical transverse bulkheads. The scantling for
watertight and swash bulkheads in the aft end were
increased to take into account the launching reac-
tion loads.
7.2 Web frames
Web frames at a spacing of 2.5  m are provided
throughout the length of the barge. Additional
swash transverse bulkheads are given at aft end
area. Figure 3 below shows the typical web frames
7.3 Longitudinal bulkheads
There are three watertight longitudinal bulkheads
given—at centerline, 12 m off centerlines port and
starboard. In addition to this longitudinal swash
bulkheads given at 16  m off centerlines port and
starboard.
7.4 Aft pump room construction
The critical design in the whole barge design was
the aft pump room as this area had the highest
shear forces between 8,000 tonnes and 6,500 tonnes
coming in way of the aft pump room during the
loading condition of jacket centre of gravity above
Figure 2. Transverse bulkhead scantlings.
Figure 3. Web frames.
216
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 216
the rocker arms. It is worth noting that the above
shear forces were resulting from a highly conserva-
tive launch analysis assuming no buoyancy contri-
bution from the jacket. The shell plate thickness
in way of aft pump room was increased to 28 mm
AH36 to get a shear capacity of 7,941 tonnes and a
40 mm AH36 local insert was included to take care
of a hot spot stresses in way of sea water suction
pipes of 1 m diameter penetrating the longitudinal
bulkheads in the aft pump room.
7.5 Bollards
The barge has recessed bollards as per NPCC
requirement. During the plan approval ABS pro-
posed an additional 15% safety margin in the
structural capacity of the barge since some of
these recesses were coming in way of midship sec-
tion area. This comment was made assuming large
stress concentrations when the barge operated in
unrestricted conditions. To prove that the bollard
pockets did not warrant such an onerous reduction
a detailed FEA model was required substantiating
this which was submitted to ABS. Based on this
observation from ABS, Noble Denton Marine Ser-
vices performed a detailed fine mesh FEA in way
the worst-case bollards affected by the sagging case
(30,000 tonne module transportation) and hogging
case (15,000 jacket launch) condition of the barge.
Upon detailed FEA analysis it was found that the
recess opening geometry was a contributing fac-
tor for stress concentration and it was decided to
insert plates with elliptical corners in way of the
three bollards port and starboard in the midship
region to remedy this. Figures  4 and 5 show the
modified bollard pockets. Again, it may be noted
that the loads resulting from waves corresponding
to unrestricted sea condition is a highly conserva-
tive approach for a 30,000t transport.
7.6 Sponson
The sponsons with dimensions 50  m  ×  15  m  ×
8.45 m located on each side of the barge would be
Figure 4. Plan view of bollard pocket.
3/29/2017 9:36:16 AM

Figure 5. Side view of bollard pocket.
Figure 6. Sponson web frame.
welded for the load out, transportation and float
over installation of 30,000 t topside. The deck load
bearing capacity of sponson is 10 tonnes/m2. The
sponson main deck is welded flush with the main
deck of the barge. The main deck, side shell, bot-
tom shell of the sponson is longitudinal stiffened
with web frames at every 2.5 m in line with barge
web frames. Typical web frames of sponson is
shown in Figure 6 above.
7.7 Design for construction
The structural design was carried out while con-
sidering the production and future operation of
the barge. The total steel weight came to roughly
14,400 tonnes for the main hull and 1,300 tonnes
for the sponsons giving a total steel mass of 15,700
tonnes. On average CSL fabricated 2,000 tonnes of
steel per month.
In order to have a fast track fabrication taking
into account the yards crane capacity and trans-
portation facilities the barge was divided in to
15 rings with each ring having 6 units. The units
had a weight between 100 tonnes and 187 tonnes.
The rings weighed between 819 tonnes and 2,180
tonnes in the aft end structure.
217
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 217
The aft end in way of the rocker arm is heavily
stiffened and the access during fabrication/
painting was very critical in the whole construction
schedule of the barge. The structure was finalized
after due discussion with Noble Denton & NPCC.
For the structure to be fabricated without much
difficulty, special fabrication setups and welding
sequences were developed. This was also required
to ensure the quality of units and timely comple-
tion of the barge.
Structural key plans were prepared as per normal
class requirements i.e. Midship Section, Profile and
Deck, Shell Expansion, Stern Construction, Fore
End construction, sponsons and welding schedule.
All the above key plans were prepared based on the
structural requirement from NPCC and consider-
ing the class requirements and were provided to
Noble Denton Marine Services to perform a struc-
tural analysis and ABS for plan approval.
8 STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
METHODOLOGY
The analysis of the hull and structural details was
carried out using ANSYS Mechanical. ANSYS is
a general structural modelling system commonly
used in a wide range of industries. There are many
challenges in analysing a large structure such as
the B-42 barge using FEA. The model needs to be
detailed enough to perform a meaningful analysis
while at the same time remaining practical in terms
of complexity and run time. It was decided that
the best way to analyse the barge was to produce
a large global model of the barge which would
be simplified. The global model was used to both
assess the global strength of the barge and to high-
light areas of high stress that would require more
detailed investigation. As the 180 m barge configu-
ration will produce the most significant hull bend-
ing moments, only the 180 m barge was analysed
as it was assumed the 140 m barge configuration
would be less onerous. To complement the global
model smaller more detailed local models were
produced for the areas subject to high loads, for
example the stern of the barge beneath the rocker
arm, and areas where high stresses were identified,
for example the aft pump room, these local models
are discussed in later sections.
9 GLOBAL BARGE MODEL
9.1 Defeaturing
For the global model the level of detail was reduced.
This was achieved by excluding the secondary stiff-
ening from the global model. Due to the compli-
cated geometry beneath the rocker arm and after
3/29/2017 9:36:17 AM
 high stress were identified in the aft pump room,
the secondary stiffening was included in those
areas. Additionally, in some areas the geometry
was simplified e.g. by removing curved edges and
brackets.
As mentioned in section  7.6, two sponsons
can be optionally fitted to the barge to increase
the available buoyancy when transporting 30,000
tonne modules. When the global model was being
developed structural drawings of the pontoons
had not been finalised, instead the net buoyancy
force of the pontoons was applied to the hull of
the global model.
To maintain the global strength of the barge
the effective area of the stiffeners was added to
the  plates by increasing their thickness to ensure
the cross-sectional area was maintained. While this
effectively maintained the global strength of the
barge, it resulted in concerns that the shear stresses
would not be reported correctly. As such each load
case from the global model was run twice with
and without the thickness correction; the latter
being used to provide shear stress plots from the
global model. Obviously replacing the stiffeners
with a corresponding increase in thickness will
have significantly reduced the buckling resistance
of the structure, however as no buckling check of
the global model was required this did not affect
the project. The geometry was also simplified by
removing curved edges and brackets.
Initially it was assumed that as the bollard pock-
ets and manhole covers were appropriately com-
pensated they could be excluded from the model.
Due to the concerns raised by ABS (noted in
section 7.5) these details were ultimately included
in the global model. While including such local
details in the global model was relatively simple
in terms of modifying the geometry each local
feature required significant increases in the local
mesh density to ensure that accurate results were
achieved, where previously an area of the side
shell could be meshed using 400mm elements now
required 40mm elements resulting in a significant
local increase in the number of elements. This
increased the run time. As mentioned in section 7.5
local hotspots were identified in way of the bol-
lards and in developing a solution multiple design
iterations had to be analysed. This increased run
time due to the additional structural complexity on
top of the already long run times.
9.2 Loads
The loads applied to the barge consisted of the
hydrostatic pressure, the self-weight of the barge,
the barge payload and the ballast weight. A hydro-
static pressure was applied to the bottom and side
shell of the barge to model the barge’s buoyancy.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 218
Trim was applied to the pressure by rotating the
coordinate system used to define the pressure, fur-
ther by splitting the pressure into transverse strips,
it was possible to apply a hogging and sagging
wave bending moment to the model. The payload,
either a 30,000-tonne module positioned on the
deck of the barge producing a sagging load case,
or a 15,000-tonne module and rocker arms applied
to the aft end of the barge producing a hogging
case. The jacket launch loads were applied with
effectively a 60/40 split between starboard and port
the effect of which is evident in the deformation
plot shown in Figure 7. Gravity was applied to the
model, as the geometry was simplified and many
non-structural components contribute to the mass
of the barge the density of steel used to model the
barge was increased so that it balanced the hydro-
static pressures applied to model. Ballast loads
were also applied as hydrostatic pressures inside
the ballast tanks.Initially it was intended that the
ballast pressure would also be applied to the sides
of the ballast tanks however as the secondary stiff-
ening was not modelled this resulted in unrealisti-
cally high stresses in the ballast tank bulkheads.
9.3 Constraints
The model was constrained using a “3–2-1” type
constraint system, this consists of three point sup-
ports, this constraint system can be seen in Figure 8
below. Point A is constrained vertically, longitudi-
nally and transversely; point B is constrained ver-
tically and point C is constrained vertically and
transversely. This constraint system allows the
model to freely deform under load however has
the disadvantage that any out of balance loads are
Figure 7. Global deflection.
Figure 8. “3–2-1” constraint system.
3/29/2017 9:36:17 AM
 reacted at the three points and give artificially high
local stresses.
Due to the long run time of the model and sev-
eral changes to the ballast conditions being ana-
lysed during the project it was not practical to
eliminate the out of balance forces, although they
were significantly reduced such that the out of bal-
ance force was a few percent of the total load. As a
result of the out of balance force, localised areas of
high stress occurred at the constraints. Because of
the possibility that these high stressed areas could
mask or exaggerate actual areas of high stress,
care had to be taken where the constraints were
applied. This was particularly evident in the for-
ward pump room as it possessed significant stress
concentrations while at the same time being near
the constraints. A sensitivity study was carried out
to identify the effect of the constraints by trying
several different constraint arrangements. Ulti-
mately as a similar detail existed in the aft-pump
room, which was exhibiting similar higher stresses,
it was determined that the stresses were real and
not modelling errors.
10 LOCAL MODELS
While numerous local models were analysed as
part of this project, the two have been selected for
discussion:
• The analysis of the aft pump room and
• The analysis of the stern, subject to the rocker
arm loads; hereafter referred to as the rocker
arm support structure model.
In both models the main points of interest were
local areas with relatively small areas of high stress.
These could not be assessed in the global model
with any certainty without significantly increasing
the detail and mesh density beyond practical limits.
10.1 Aft pump room model
The purpose of this model was to analyse in more
detail the aft pump room which as mentioned in
7.4 was subject to high loading, furthermore areas
of high stress were identified in the global model
caused by the large openings in the longitudinal
bulkheads to allow for pipework, machinery and
access ways, these can be seen in Figure 9. In using
a local model it was possible to use significantly
more detail and with a much finer mesh than in the
global model. Furthermore due to the reduced run
time due to excluding the rest of the barge from the
model scope it was possible to run more iterations
allowing for multiple solutions to be investigated.
The entire pump room was modelled which con-
sisted of the full width of the vessel, in addition
219
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 219
Figure 9. Stress in pump room openings in longitudinal
bulkheads taken from the global model.
eight frames either side of the pump room bulk-
heads were modelled to limit the impact of edge
effects. The pump room was analysed in the
30,000-tonne module transportation case as the
module would be skidded over the top of the pump
room. To model this, a load of 18,000 tonnes was
applied distributed between 14 pads over the deck.
The model was fixed at one end and the net shear
force and bending moment applied at the other
end, this was taken from NAPA output provided
by Cochin Shipyard. Remedying the over stress
was relatively simple requiring some local thick-
ening of plate. Large compressive stresses were
identified during the analysis necessitating a linear
buckling check. Despite being a local model the
model is still relatively large due to the level detail
of the model. This required significant run time,
as simplifying the geometry would significantly
impact the buckling analysis. There was no alter-
native and due to the irregular nature of the pump
room geometry, direct calculations were viewed as
equally impractical.
10.2 Rocker arm support structure model
The purpose of the rocker arm support structure
model was to verify that the barge structure sup-
porting the rocker arm feet was adequate. The
model consisted of the stern of the barge up until
frame 24 where the model was fixed in place as no
additional shear forces or moments were applied as
the sources of global effects were already included
in the applied loads. The model was symmetrical
requiring only one half of the aft section to be
modelled with symmetry constraints placed on the
centre line.
A load of 97.2 MN was applied to the model,
this is equal to a weight of 8,260 tonnes with a load
factor of 1.2 applied, this corresponds to the maxi-
mum weight applied by the rocker arm during a
jacket launch. While the rocker arm feet can theo-
retically be located at a wide range of locations,
3/29/2017 9:36:17 AM
 Figure 10. Barge GA.
it would be impractical to analyse all of them.
As such, two locations were selected, one where
the rocker arm foot straddled a primary stiffener,
and one where it lands between two stiffeners. As
applying such a large load directly to the deck plate
resulted in unrealistic areas of very high stress, the
bottom plate of the rocker arms was also included
to help distribute the load. A hydrostatic pres-
sure was also applied to the exposed submerged
surfaces. Gravity was applied to include the self-
weight of the barge.
The model highlighted that several locations
beneath the rocker arms exceeded both the allowable
Von-Mises and shear stresses. These were captured
in the design and the structural configuration at
220
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 220
stern was modified. As with the aft pump room
model, the reduced size of the model by excluding
the rest of the barge allowed multiple solutions to
be investigated much faster than if a global model
had been used. This was particularly necessary as
significant back and forth iterations between Noble
Denton and Cochin Shipyard were required to
ensure that the design modifications required could
be practically manufactured in the time frame.
11 CONCLUSIONS
The design of this custom made, heavy transport
barge with multiple capabilities was a challenge
3/29/2017 9:36:18 AM
 for all personnel involved. It helped that adequate
operational engineering studies and research was
done by NPCC in fixing the principal dimensions
and establishing the statement of requirements.
The global bending moment requirement was
established from the start by NPCC, which was a
key element in finalising the barge scantlings and
the internal structural configurations by CSL.
Integrating the twin pump rooms at bow and stern
while meeting with strength requirements was
identified as a challenge for the CSL from the start.
For CSL the tight fabrication schedule demanded
meticulous planning from all departments. Procure-
ment schedules for material, long lead items were
identified and activities were carefully planned so
that schedule was met. As mentioned elsewhere,
block divisions were made considering the CSL
fabrication capabilities and such that smooth trans-
portation of these assemblies to the dry dock was
possible.
221
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 221
The use of local models allowed areas of the
barge to be examined in significantly more detail
than had the model been analysed using the global
model exclusively. However, while the intention was
generally for local models to be smaller (i.e. contain
less elements) and subsequently run faster, it was
generally found that the complexity of the models
increased to the practical limits of the hardware
available. Additionally due to time and other con-
siderations, it was not always possible to produce
local models where detailed structural analysis was
required such as when analysing the bollard pockets.
There are only very few barges in the world
having such efficient, fast ballasting capabilities
and such robust build quality. The global bending
capacity of the barge is impressive, which is a key
element for transportation barges. All potential
design elements were captured and checked by par-
ties involved and barge was completed on time by
the CSL albeit the tight fabrication schedule.
3/29/2017 9:36:18 AM
MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Ultimate strength

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 223 3/29/2017 9:36:19 AM

MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Hull girder ultimate strength of container ships in oblique sea

I. Darie & J. Rörup

DNV GL, Hamburg, Germany

ABSTRACT: The common practice in shipbuilding industry to assess hull girder ultimate strength
consists of using the Smith method, considering only vertical bending response. This paper deals with the
current efforts to address the complexity of calculation of extreme loads associated with non-linear finite
element structural analysis. A hydrodynamic approach based on 3-D Rankine method is used. To identify
the critical wave load scenario, numerous wave situations are analyzed. The generated loads for critical
load case are transferred to a global structural FE model. Finally, using the non-linear finite element
method the hull girder ultimate capacity of container ship is calculated. In analyzed midship area, the
mesh density of structural FE model is fine enough to capture all relevant deformations and to simulate
plastic collapse behaviors in plating, stiffeners and supporting members. Three large container ships are
subject of these numerical investigations. The results and findings are presented and discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION bottom structure and subsequently the hull girder.

A ship is designed such that the hull girder strength
is capable of withstanding the extreme wave load
for operation in a specified seaway within a defined
time frame, e.g., 25 years of operation in North
Atlantic. However, loads acting on the hull girder
are sometimes uncertain due to rough seas or
wrong distribution of cargo masses. In these situ-
ations acting loads on the hull girder may exceed
design loads and the ship is subject of increased
risk of total failure. Furthermore, an aged ship
may suffer structural damage due to corrosion and
fatigue, thereby weakening the ship’s strength and,
finally, the hull girder may collapse even at a lower
level than design loads.
On 18 January 2007, when on passage in the
English Channel, the container ship MSC Napoli
(4,400  TEU (twenty equivalent unit) class) suf-
fered a hull girder ultimate strength failure in way
of engine room. The crew abandoned the ship
and was recovered later. The results of the MAIB
(2008) investigation shown that the strength of
MSC Napoli, in a limited area between the main
engine foundation and the forward engine room
bulkhead, was not sufficient in terms of buckling
strength and ultimate bending capacity.
On 17 June, 2013 the post-panamax container
ship MOL Comfort (8,000  TEU class) suffered a
fracture amidships while transiting the India Ocean
from Singapore to Saudi Arabia. The Investigated
Panel on Large Container Ship Safety ClassNK,
(2014) shown that the loss of plating strength leads
to a reduction in effective breadth of the double bot-
tom girders which leads to collapse of the double
Moreover, it was concluded that de double bottom
structure of the MOL Comfort and sister ships was
relatively weak compared to ships with similar size.
The above examples of catastrophic failure
when the Hull Girder Ultimate Strength (HGULS)
of ship is exceeded are the recent incidents which
clearly demonstrate the need for a proof of hull
girder ultimate capacity in IACS (2015a) Unified
Requirement (UR) S11. IACS established a project
team to review the content of IACS UR S11 and
new rules IACS (2015b) UR S11 A were developed
for container ships.
According to UR S11  A, the HGULS assess-
ment for container ships is performed to ensure
sufficient margin against total ship collapse. The
collapse requirement ensures that the whole ship’s
cross section should not fail but individual pan-
els can fail. To calculate the hull girder ultimate
bending moment capacity an incremental iterative
approach based on Smith (1977) method is used.
Using the Smith method, the moment curvature
response of the hull girder at a given cross sec-
tion may be calculated by integrating load contri-
butions from each individual structural element
(plate-stiffener combination and hard corners) of
the cross section. This approach is also used in
IACS (2015c) “Common Structural Rules for Oil
Tankers and Bulk Carriers”.
The acceptance criteria implemented in UR
S11 A is based on pure or dominant vertical bend-
ing moment and is mandatory for all container
ships with length equal or greater than 150  m.
Container ships operate always with still water
moment in hogging condition. A critical collapse

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 mode for container ships is the hogging condition Table 1. Principal dimensions of 9,000 TEU container
in head or following seas where the ship’s double ship.
bottom structure is typically under compressive
load. Light weights of 40 foot containers and high Length betw. Perpendiculars [m] 285.00
Breadth [m] 45.50
external sea pressure induce large double bottom
Depth [m] 27.00
bending which has influence on ultimate vertical
Scantling draught [m] 15.00
bending capacity. Therefore, the effect of double
Block coefficient 0.66
bottom bending is included as partial safety factor
Max. speed [kn] 25.00
(γDB) equal to 1.15 at amidships for calculation of Max. still water moment [kNm] 6.5E+06
HGULS capacity of container ship in UR S11 A.
For cross sections were the double bottom breadth
of the inner bottom is less than at amidships the Table 2. Principal dimensions of 13,000 TEU container
partial factor γDB can be reduced. ship.
In UR S11  A HGULS assessment, the effect
of other load components, for example torsion Length betw. Perpendiculars [m] 350.00
moment or horizontal bending moment under Breadth [m] 48.00
oblique sea states, are considered less critical Depth [m] 30.00
than the effects of vertical bending moments. Scantling draught [m] 15.50
This assumption is based on the hypothesis that Block coefficient 0.71
by phasing between load components, for exam- Max. speed [kn] 25.00
ple vertical bending moment, horizontal bending Max. still water moment [kNm] 7.5E+06
moment and torsion moment, the resulting load is
considerable low compared with the pure vertical Table 3. Principal dimensions of 14,000 TEU container
bending moment. However, a safety factor of 1.2 ship.
is included for wave bending moment to assess the
hull girder ultimate strength. Length betw. Perpendiculars [m] 350.00
A literature study regarding the influence of Breadth [m] 51.00
interaction between torsion and horizontal bend- Depth [m] 30.00
ing moment in oblique sea states on HGULS for Scantling draught [m] 15.80
large container ships was carried out and not much Block coefficient 0.68
of interest has been found. Therefore, the primary Max. speed [kn] 22.00
aim of this study is to investigate the hull girder Max. still water moment [kNm] 8.0E+06
ultimate strength of container ship in oblique sea
under different wave heading angles.
divided into three 40 foot bays by typical support
bulkheads.
2 SELECTION OF CONTAINER SHIPS
2.3 14,000 TEU container ship
Three large container ships are subject of this
The 14,000  TEU container ship is designed with
numerical investigation.
a length of 350 m, a breadth of 51 m and to carry
up to 14,000  TEU. The principal ship’s dimen-
2.1 9,000 TEU container ship sions are given in Table 3. This ship has ten cargo
holds, each separated by water tight bulkheads and
The 9,000 TEU container ship is designed with a
divided into two 40 foot bays by typical support
length of 285 m, a breadth of 45.5 m and to carry
bulkhead.
up to 9,000 TEU. The principal ship’s dimensions
are given in Table 1. This container ship is a post-
panamax ship with eight cargo holds, each sepa-
3 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
rated by water tight bulkheads and divided into
two 40 foot bays by typical support bulkhead.
3.1 Finite element models
In oblique sea conditions is expected that the
2.2 13,000 TEU container ship
torsional and horizontal loads have a significant
The 13,000  TEU container ship is designed with contribution to the stresses on container ships
a length of 350 m, a breadth of 48 m and to carry structure. A partial FE model, for example a cargo
up to 13,000 TEU. The principal ship’s dimensions hold FE model, cannot simulate correctly the
are given in Table  2. This ship has seven cargo torsional stress distributions because the proper
holds, each separated by water tight bulkheads and boundary conditions depend on the loads as well as

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 on the structural ship’s part outside of the partial
FE model’s area. To simulate accurately the ship’s
torsion and horizontal deformations in oblique sea
the entire FE model of the ship is needed. The cur-
rent study is focusing to investigate the HGULS
capacity of container ship in midship area. To per-
form the progressive collapse analysis, one 40 foot
bay at midship region is modeled using a mesh size
fine enough to capture all relevant structural defor-
mations and all buckling failure modes. Using
Poseidon program all structural components such
shell plating, decks, transverse and longitudinal
bulkheads, floors, girders, web frames, heel stiff-
eners etc. were modeled with a high detail level.
About five or six shell elements between longitu-
dinal stiffeners and about three shell elements for
stiffeners across the web height are used to accu-
rately reflect the large deflection behavior of the
plate and stiffener under compression loading. The
flanges of longitudinal stiffener were represented
by beam elements with proper cross sections. The
critical loading conditions for container ships are
hogging conditions therefore the mesh size density
is reduced in region above neutral axis which is
not subject of buckling failure. The very fine mesh
of the bay model is merged with a coarse global
FE model. In general this coarse global FE model
has a mesh size equal to web frame spacing and is
used to assess the overall hull girder ship response
by global direct strength analysis. The final FE
models, with a very fine mesh region, used for this
investigation to calculate the hull girder ultimate
capacity are shown in Figures 1 to 3.
It should be noted that the preparation of such
FE models and performing progressive collapse
analysis are generally very time consuming and
resource demanding. Each FE model contains
more than 4 million degrees of freedom and needs
Figure  1. Global FE model of 9,000TEU container
ship including very fine mesh.
Figure  2. Global FE model of 13,000TEU container
ship including very fine mesh.
227
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 227
Figure  3. Global FE model of 14,000TEU container
ship including very fine mesh.
more than 60  hours to calculate the ultimate
strength capacity for one sea state.
3.2 Imperfections
The structural behavior of plates exposed to com-
pression depends on imperfections, such as initial
geometrical deflections and welding induced resid-
ual stresses. For buckling and ultimate strength
analysis using a non-linear FE method, the initial
imperfections play an important role. Therefore,
initial geometric imperfections were included in
the FE model in the fine mesh area. In general,
it is required to prescribe an initial geometrical
imperfection shape similar to the critical collapse
mode of the plate, meaning, a shape which needs
minimum internal strain energy to achieve the col-
lapse. The initial deflections used in this investiga-
tion are in the shape of sinusoidal waves as shown
in Figure 4.
The residual stresses caused by welding were
ignored in this investigation.
3.3 Boundary conditions
In order to eliminate rigid body motions, the glo-
bal FE models were supported at four different
positions. One node at intersection between center
line, outer shell and collision bulkhead is fixed in X
(longitudinal), Y (transverse) and Z (vertical) direc-
tion. Second node at intersection between center
line, outer shell and engine room front bulkhead
is fixed in Y direction. The third and fourth nodes
located by intersection between side shell (port and
starboard), main deck and engine room front bulk-
head are fixed in Z direction. As the inertia forces
of ship and cargo in sea conditions are in equi-
librium with buoyancy and hydrodynamic loads,
these boundary nodes are free of reaction forces.
This has been verified during the analysis.
3.4 Material modeling
Ultimate strength analysis involves failure of
materials up and beyond their yield stress there-
fore an appropriate description of the material
behavior is required. For structural components
at midship area (very fine mesh) an elasto-plastic
3/29/2017 9:36:19 AM

Figure  4. Local geometric imperfections on double
bottom structure (Scaled 20 times).
material model was used. The stress strain curve is
approximated as a bi-linear curve with a low plas-
tic tangent module (Et) equal to1000 N/mm2. For
structural components outside of midship area an
elastic material model was used.
3.5 FE solver
Fully non-linear analyses were performed with both
geometrical and material nonlinearities in order to
capture the non-linear response of structural col-
lapse. All analyses are performed using the implicit
solver from LS-DYNA software, LSTC (2014).
4 LOADING CONDITIONS AND
LOAD CASES
For several years now, the dimensioning of com-
plex ship structures has been based on FE analyses
of entire ship (Payer & Fricke, 1994). The methods
used to generate realistic loads experienced by the
ship are also well developed.
4.1 Loading conditions
In general the Loading Manual for a container ship
contains about 25 approved seagoing and harbor
loading conditions. All loading conditions must
fulfil the margin of the permissible still water bend-
ing moments and shear forces for which the ves-
sel was designed. An important issue to assess the
HGULS capacity is, first, to identify the most criti-
cal loading condition for a container ship. The main
characteristics which contribute on set up of critical
loading condition are still water bending moment,
container weights, ballast in double bottom tanks
and ship’s draught. Furthermore, the analyzed crit-
ical loading condition should be closely linked with
the design and operation conditions and should be
reference over the entire ship life.
Several full-scale measurements for container
ships have been performed by DNV GL in the
past, in collaboration with ship’s owner. The recent
228
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 228
full-scale measurement campaigns on few large
container ships show that the still water bending
moment in operation conditions is almost close
to the allowable maximum values given in Load-
ing Manual. This aspect was topic also in MSC
Napoli and MOL Comfort investigation. Further-
more full-scale campaigns show that container
ships often operate with a draught close to maxi-
mum draught (scantling draught). Based on meas-
urements data, the allowable still water bending
moment and ship’s scantling draught are selected
as input to define the critical loading condition.
For post-panamax and ultra large container
ships the ship breadth becomes larger compared to
the ship depth and the stability is improving con-
siderably compared with smaller container ships.
Therefore, by large container ships no ballast water
is needed in double bottom tanks. Absence of bal-
last water in double bottom tanks by a maximum
draught increase the local stresses on double bot-
tom structure. To take into account these effects, no
ballast pressure was considered in double bottom
tanks of evaluated area in presented investigation.
Another aspect in selection of critical load-
ing conditions is container weights. Light cargo
weights of container unit in cargo hold at midship
area lead to an increase of double bottom bend-
ing deformation which can reduce the HGULS
capacity of the ship. Therefore, light cargo weights,
meaning homogeneous distribution of container
weights between 16 and 20  tons per FEU (forty
foot equivalent unit) represents for double bottom
structure the critical loading condition in terms of
yielding and buckling failure.
HGULS criteria must ensure sufficient opera-
tional safety margins against overall ship hull girder
collapse under an extreme load which can appear
during the ship life on time in 25 years. Based on
this criterion and based on the recorder data of
ship routing, the following inputs are selected to
define the most critical loading condition for ship’s
ultimate strength: allowable maximum still water
bending moment, scantling draught, double bot-
tom tanks empty and homogeneous distribution
of 16  tons per FEU in cargo hold. This critical
loading condition complies also to set of loading
conditions used for cargo hold FE analysis speci-
fied in IACS UR S34 (2015d).
4.2 Hydrodynamic calculations
Ship operation areas are characterized by different
environmental conditions. North Atlantic repre-
sents the harshest wave environmental therefore
this environment is used also in IACS requirements
for seagoing ships as design basis. The sea state
of North Atlantic is described by the IACS scat-
ter diagram from Recommendation No 34, IACS
(2000). After having establish the critical wave
3/29/2017 9:36:19 AM
 environment the structure response of the entire
ship need to be determined. The most advance
method applied in ship design today is so called
full spectral analysis and is used for this investiga-
tion on basis of 3-D hydrodynamic analyses with
Rankine code. For a speed of 5  knots and unit
wave amplitude of 7.5 m, the maximum hull girder
loads are predicted using linear spectral analysis
and the long term wave statistics of the North
Atlantic with significant wave heights up 17  m.
The short term wave energy response is discretized
by a Pierson-Moskowitz spectrum. The use of unit
wave amplitude of 7.5  m enables a consideration
of the non-linearity between hogging and sagging
waves and is about matching the amplitudes of the Figure 5. Sectional moments for 9,000 TEU container
finally selected Equivalent Design Waves (EDW). ship determined by full spectral analysis.
By extreme sea state, 5  knots forward speed is
a realistic assumption for a ship. The spectral
method provides the most accurate predictions of
the varying stresses but is very expensive and time
consuming.
The 10–8 long-term values of Vertical wave Bend-
ing Moment (VBM, triangle marker), horizontal
wave bending moment (HBM, square marker)
and torsion moment (circle marker) determined
by spectral method for the investigated container
ships are presented in Figures 5, 6 and 7. The sec-
tional loads are given as envelope curve in hogging
condition and represent the sum between still water
and wave bending moments. Here the abscissa is
marked by ship length measured in meters.
As mention before, for container ships the criti-
cal loading condition is the hogging condition. The Figure 6. Sectional moments for 13,000 TEU container
comparison of the magnitude of the vertical wave ship determined by full spectral analysis.
hogging moment calculated by spectral method,
with the allowable magnitude of the vertical wave
hogging moment given in IACS UR S11 A shows
an increase of the loads for investigated container
ships with about 10 percent.
This increase underlies the fact that the verti-
cal wave hogging moment in UR S11 A includes a
calibration factor, called routing factor, which has
a value of 0.85. This routing factor is an empirical
factor and might be explained that ships take into
account the weather forecast to avoid navigating in
harsh environments. In the presented investigation
the routing factor is set to 1.00, therefore the wave
hogging moments used are higher than the allow-
able bending moments for container ships given in
UR S11 A. Figure 7. Sectional moments for 14,000 TEU container
Spectral method based on 3-D hydrodynamic ship determined by full spectral analysis.
analyses with Rankine code were performed to
predict the maximum hull girder loads for an
operation time of 25 years in the North Atlantic. The critical EDW’s for each container ship
Corresponding Equivalent Design Waves (EDW) were selected by matching vertical wave bending
in regular sea are determined by scanning wave moment (by 180  degrees), horizontal wave bend-
lengths ranged from 0.35 to 1.20 times ship length ing moment as well torsion wave moment (by
and headings ranged from 0 to 180 degrees (deg.) 60  degrees) to values given by spectral method.
at 15 degrees intervals. Typical results of load computations for the 9,000

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 TEU container ship subject to different wave head-
ings are presented in Figures 8 to 10.
Matching targets of HBM and torsion, the wave
amplitude depends on the considered wave length
by following equation:

LW 60°
AEDW 180°
Lpp
AEDW 60° = (1)
LW 180°
Lpp

where: Figure 10. Sectional moments for 9,000 TEU by wave

AEDW60°, AEDW180° =  wave amplitude in relevant encounter angle of 60 deg. (Spectral method vs EDW).
heading angle
LW60°, LW180° =  wave length in relevant heading
angle
Lpp = ship’s length between perpendiculars
This relationship is used for all considered
headings.
The VBM (solid line), HBM (long dash dot dot
line) and torsion moment (dash line) calculated

Figure 11. Sectional moments for 9,000 TEU by wave

encounter angle of 180 deg. (Spectral method vs EDW).

Table 4. Parameters of EDW’s for 9,000 TEU.

Wave Wave Wave length/

encounter Amplitude [m] Ship length

30° 8.81 0.90

45° 7.49 0.65
60° 5.88 0.40
180° 9.29 1.00
Figure  8. Sectional moments for 9,000 TEU by wave
encounter angle of 30 deg. (Spectral method vs EDW).
Table 5. Parameters of EDW’s for 13,000 TEU.

Wave Wave Wave length/

encounter Amplitude [m] Ship length

30° 8.63 0.80

45° 7.78 0.65
60° 6.10 0.40
180° 9.65 1.00

Table 6. Parameters of EDW’s for 14,000 TEU.

Wave Wave Wave length/

encounter Amplitude [m] Ship length

30° 9.15 0.90

45° 7.77 0.65
60° 6.10 0.40
Figure  9. Sectional moments for 9,000 TEU by wave 180° 9.64 1.00
encounter angle of 45 deg. (Spectral method vs EDW).

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 230 3/29/2017 9:36:20 AM

 by EDW approach are illustrated in Figure  8 to
11. Figure  10  shows the sectional loads by wave
encounter angle of 60 degrees were the container
ship is subject to maximum torsion moment.
The maximum values of horizontal bending
moment and torsion moment calculated by EDW
approach are matching with maximum values from
spectral method. Parameters, as wave encoun-
ter angle, wave amplitude and wave length of the
investigated EDW’s are given in Tables 4 to 6.
Figure  11  shows the sectional loads by wave
encounter angle of 180 deg. (head sea condition)
were the container ship is subject to maximum ver-
tical bending moment only. The maximum value of Figure 12. Close-up view of the collapse area in double
VBM determined by EDW approach corresponds bottom region of 13,000 TEU container ship, by wave
to the maximum value of VBM determined by encounter angle of 180  deg. (von mises stress), scale
spectral method. factor 5.

5 NUMERICAL RESULTS

The computed loads of critical EDW’s generated

by ShipLoad (Roerup, 2008) are exported as node
forces to LS Dyna program and progressive col-
lapse analyses are performed using an implicit
solver. The loads were applied incrementally on
entire FE model up to their maximum values
according to calculated EDW. The inertia forces of
ship and cargo in sea conditions are in equilibrium
with buoyancy and hydrodynamic loads by each
increment.
By 180  deg. wave heading, hogging condition,
the excessive bending occurs in double bottom
structure at midship area. With increasing load,
the double bottom bending is amplified and high
stresses on bottom shell plating in the middle of
the cargo hold close to center line exceed the buck-
ling limits. The resulting buckling deflections of
the bottom shell plating leads to a redistribution
of stresses towards longitudinal girders.
With further increasing of the load, plastic
deformations in bottom shell plating extend over
the complete ship breath towards bilge shell region.
At this point, large buckling deformations occur
in inner bottom plates and the hull girder ultimate
capacity of the ship is achieved, see Figure 12.
By 60  deg. wave heading a container ship is
subject to maximum torsion and horizontal bend-
ing moment. The numerical simulation shows by
60  deg. wave heading that the bilge shell plating
is subject to very higher stresses which induce
buckling deformations. With further load increase
buckling deformations are propagating down
through the bottom shell and up through side shell
leading to entire hull girder failure of the ship, see
Figures 13 and 14.
In ship design it is usual to express the interac-
tion between primary and secondary stresses in
Figure  13. Collapse failure of 13,000 TEU container
ship, by wave encounter angle of 60  deg. (von mises
stress), scale factor 20.
terms of interaction curve. As shown above, in
Figures 8 to 11, by different wave heading the mag-
nitude of horizontal and torsion wave moments
depend on the magnitude of vertical wave bend-
ing moment. For sake of simplicity, the results are
presented as interaction between vertical and hori-
zontal bending moment in hogging condition for
each EDW.
The numerical results in terms of magnitudes of
load and ultimate capacity, presented in Figures 15
to 17, were taken at the cross section location
where the hull girder structure fails.
The torsion moment is directly linked to hori-
zontal bending moment. Although the torsion
moment is considered in numerical calculations,
for sake of simplicity it is not included in presented
results given in Figures 15 to 17.
The circle marker curves in Figures 15 to 17 rep-
resent the interaction between vertical and hori-
zontal hull girder bending of critical EDWs. The
hull girder ultimate capacity interaction curves are
given by the square marker curves.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 231 3/29/2017 9:36:21 AM

 Figure 14. Close-up view of the collapse area in bottom
and bilge shell region of 13,000 TEU container ship, by Figure 16. Hull girder loads, ultimate strength capaci-
wave encounter angle of 60 deg. (von mises stress), scale ties of 13,000 TEU for different EDWs.
factor 3.

Figure 17. Hull girder loads, ultimate strength capaci-

ties of 14,000 TEU for different EDWs.
Figure 15. Hull girder loads, ultimate strength capaci-
ties of 9,000 TEU for different EDWs.
Table 7. Usage Factor (UF).

Wave 9,000 13,000 14,000

The usage factors for each investigated con- encounter TEU TEU TEU
tainer ships and for each critical EDW are pre-
sented in Table 7. The usage factor is given as ratio 30° 0.82 0.93 0.95
of the vector magnitudes for applied load and hull 45° 0.89 0.90 0.94
girder ultimate capacity. In nomenclature of hull 60° 0.95 0.98 0.95
girder ultimate strength, the usage factor value is 180° 0.83 1.00 0.99
referred to as the characteristics measure of ulti-
mate capacity.
The usage factors for 9,000 TEU container 6 CONCLUSIONS
ship show that 60  deg. wave encounter load case
is the critical EDW in evaluation of hull girder Investigation on HGULS margins against the direct
ultimate strength (UF  =  0.95). The usage factors calculated load obtained by spectral approach was
for 13,000 TEU and 14,000 TEU container ships carried out for three large container ships. To iden-
show that 180 deg. wave encounter load case (head tify the critical wave load scenarios (EDWs) numer-
sea condition) is the critical EDW. However, the ous wave situations are analyzed by systematically
EDW by 60 deg. can also have effect on HGULS varying wave length, wave crest position and wave
assessment. heading. The calculated loads (EDWs) are higher

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 than allowable loads given by UR S11 A, since the
IACS routing factor is ignored in this investiga-
tion. Special attention is given on ship response in
oblique sea under different wave heading angles.
The generated loads for the critical EDWs, namely
sea pressures, container loads, inertia forces are
transferred to a global structural FE model. For
each critical EDWs a progressive collapse analysis
is performed. The FE results, in terms of capacity
usage factors, show for these three container ships,
that the oblique seas, in particular 60  deg. wave
heading can be important for HGULS assessment.
To obtain a clear picture of oblique sea effects on
HGULS it is necessary to investigate more con-
tainer ships. Nevertheless, the presented effects of
oblique sea on HGULS assessment are covered in
the existing rules, UR S11  A, by a partial safety
factor for the vertical wave bending moment.
REFERENCES
Hayward, R. 2016. Ultimate strength of ship plating,
A proof of capacity under combined in-plane loads,
Dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of
Engineering, Hamburg University of Technology,
2016.
IACS 2000. Recommendations No. 34, Standard Wave
Data, 2000, IACS.
IACS 2015a. IACS Unified Requirements Strength, UR
S11, Longitudinal Strength Standard, Rev. June 2015,
IACS.
233
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 233
IACS 2015b. IACS Unified Requirements Strength, UR
S11 A, Longitudinal Strength Standard for Container
Ships, Re. June 2015, IACS.
IACS 2015c. Common Structural Rules for Oil Tankers
and Bulk Carriers, Rev.01  Jan 2015, International
Association of Classification Societies (IACS).
IACS 2015d. IACS Unified Requirements Strength,
UR S34, Functional Requirements on Load Cases for
Strength Assessment of Container Ships by Finite Ele-
ment Analysis, Rev. May 2015, IACS.
IACS 2015e. Revision History and Technical Background
for UR S11A, Rev. May 2015, IACS.
LSTC 2014. LS-DYNA Keyword User’s Manual, Volume
1&2 Livermore Software Technology Corporation,
2014.
MAIB 2008. Report on the investigation of the structural
failure of MSC Napoli, Report No 9/2008, MAIB,
Department for Transport, Southampton.
Payer, H.G., & Fricke, W. 1994. Rational Dimensioning
and Analysis of Complex Ship Structures. Transac-
tions of SNAME, 102, 395–417.
Roerup, J., Schellin, T.E., Rahtje, H. 2008. Load Genera-
tion for Structural Strength Analysis of Large Contain-
erships, OMAE 2008, Estoril, Portugal.
Smith, C.S. 1977. Influence of local compressive failure
on ultimate longitudinal strength of a ship’s hull,
PRADS, Tokyo, Japan, pp. 73–79.
The Investigated Panel on Large Container Ship Safety,
ClassNK, 2014. Investigation Report on Structural
Safety of Large Container Ships, Tokio, Japan.
3/29/2017 9:36:23 AM
MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Progressive collapse analysis of a container ship under combined

longitudinal bending moment and bottom local loads

M. Fujikubo & A. Tatsumi

Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan

ABSTRACT: In a mid-ship area of container ships, lateral loads due to water pressure are usually larger
than cargo loads, and a double bottom is locally bended with an upward convex deformation between
transverse watertight bulkheads. Such double bottom deformation may significantly reduce hull girder
strength in the hogging condition. Ultimate longitudinal strength of a container ship under combined
hogging moment and bottom local loads is investigated. Nonlinear FE analysis of a 1/2+1+1/2 hold model
is performed to clarify the collapse behavior. On the other hand, the Smith’s method has been widely
applied to the progressive collapse analysis of a hull girder under pure bending, but it cannot consider
effect of the local deformation of double bottom. An extended method is proposed, in which the double
bottom is idealized as a plane grillage extending over a hold length and the rest part of the hold as a
prismatic beam.

1 INTRODUCTION a 1/2+1+1/2 hold model of a container ship under

The 8000TEU class container ship “MOL COM-
FORT” experienced structural failure at the bot-
tom part of her midship, resulting in a total hull
girder collapse. According to the investigation
reports on the accident (Ministry of Land, Infra-
structure, Transport and Tourism 2015, Class NK
2014.), one possible cause of the accident may be
a reduction of the ultimate hull girder strength in
the hogging condition, due to the deformation of
the double bottom under bottom local loads such
as water pressure and container loads. The biaxial
compressive stresses are induced at the outer bot-
tom plating in this case.
The effect of the bottom local loads on the
ultimate hull girder strength has been discussed
in relation to the strength of bulk carriers in the
alternate hold loading condition. Nonlinear FE
analyses were performed in the previous studies.
Østvold et al. (2004) investigated the effect of dou-
ble bottom bending on the hull girder strength of
a panamax bulk carrier. Amlashi & Moan (2008)
analyzed the ultimate hull girder strength of a
cape-size bulk carrier under alternate hold loading
condition and reported a significant reduction of
the ultimate hogging strength due to local bend-
ing of the double bottom. Kippenes et al. (2010)
analyzed the ultimate hogging strength of a cape-
size bulk carrier and discussed the effect of initial
geometrical imperfections of bottom members on
the ultimate strength. As to the container ships,
the authors performed nonlinear FE analysis of
combined hogging moment and bottom lateral
loads and investigated the progressive collapse
behavior including the load-redistribution effects
in the double bottom (Fujikubo & Tatsumi 2016,
Tatsumi & Fujikubo 2016).
Smith (1977) developed a practical method of
progressive collapse analysis of ship hull under
longitudinal bending. The method calculates the
bending moment-curvature relationship consider-
ing the buckling and yielding of longitudinal mem-
bers under the assumption that the cross section
remains plane. Smith’s method has been widely
used including in the CSR-BC&OT (IACS 2015).
However, it cannot be applied to the collapse analy-
sis of a hull girder accompanied by the local bend-
ing of the double bottom, since the linear strain
distribution is assumed over the full cross section.
The objective of this study is twofold. The first
is to clarify the progressive collapse behavior of
a container ship under combined hogging bend-
ing moment and bottom local loads performing
nonlinear FE analyses. A 1/2+1+1/2 hold model
is employed and two kinds of boundary condi-
tion are considered to investigate the effect of
different modes of bottom local deformation on
the initial failure and subsequent progressive col-
lapse behavior of the hull girder. The second is
to develop an extended Smith’s method that can
deal with the bottom local deformation. In this
method, the double bottom is idealized as a plane
grillage extending over a hold length and the rest
part of the hold as a prismatic beam similar to the

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 original Smith’s method. Effectiveness of the pro-
posed method is demonstrated through a compari-
son with FE analyses.
2 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
2.1 Model for analysis
A 8000TEU class container ship is taken as the
subject ship. The 1/2+1+1/2 hold model as shown
in Figure 1 is considered for the analysis. A partial
bulkhead (PBHD) is located in between two water-
tight bulkheads (WBHDs). The region between
the PBHD and the WBHD is called a “bay” herein.
A half breadth model is analyzed imposing sym-
metric boundary conditions along the centerline
section. The buckling of the center girder web is
allowed considering its full thickness. Finer mesh
is generated in one bay of the middle hold, which
is the target bay for the collapse analysis. The typi-
cal scantling of the longitudinals at the double
bottom is shown in Table  1. Floor space is 3600
mm. Young’s modulus is 206.0 GPa and Poisson’s
ration is 0.3. The HT360 steel is used around the
deck parts, and HT320 steel in the remaining parts.
The yield strengths are 355.0 MPa and 313.6 MPa,
respectively. The strain hardening effects are not
taken into account.
The uniformly distributed lateral loads are
applied to the outer bottom plating first, and
then the hogging moment is applied to the whole
hull girder keeping the lateral loads constant.
Two kinds of boundary condition, BS1 and BS2,
shown in Figures  2 and 3 are considered. BS1
assumes that the fore and aft end cross sections
of the model are rigid, i.e. master nodes m and n
are defined in each cross section and all shell nodes
are rigidly linked to the master nodes. The model
is simply supported at the master nodes. The maxi-
mum longitudinal compressive stress is induced at
the outer bottom plating near the PBHD due to
both local and global bending effects.
On the other hand, BS2 assumes that the dou-
ble bottom deforms at the fore and aft end cross
sections under symmetric condition, as shown in
Figure 3. The following multi-point constraints are
imposed on the both ends cross sections:
uix = umx + zi ⋅ θ mmy θ iiyy = θ my
my θ iz = θ mz (1)
where ux, θy and θz are the translation displacement
in x direction, and the rotation angles around y and
z axes, respectively. The subscript m denotes a mas-
ter node and i the shell nodes. zi is vertical distance
between nodes i and the master node m. The model

Figure 2. Boundary condition BS1.

Figure 1. 1/2 + 1 + 1/2 hold model.

Table 1. Scantling of longitudinals at double bottom.

bp * tp + hw * tw + bf * tf

Location Type mm

Outer bottom Angle 840 * 20 + 400 * 10 + 100 * 15

Inner bottom Angle 840 * 15 + 350 * 10 + 100 * 15
Figure 3. Boundary condition BS2.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 236 3/29/2017 9:36:23 AM

 is simply supported at the nodes P1 and P2 at the
intersection of the WBHDs and side shell struc-
ture as shown in Figures 1 and 3. Because of the
constraint on the rotation of the double bottom at
the both ends cross sections, the double bottom in
the center hold deforms in a both ends fixed mode
as illustrated in Figure 3. The maximum compres-
sive stress is induced at the inner bottom plating
near the WBHDs.
In both BS1 and BS2, one master node is
allowed to shift in the axial direction and the other
node fixed. After applying the bottom lateral
loads, the hogging bending moment is applied at
the both ends master nodes by the forced rotations
of the same magnitude in the opposite direction.
Setting the zero axial force at the master nodes, a
pure bending can be applied with consideration of
a shift of the neutral axis of cross section during
the progress collapse process. Uniformly distrib-
uted lateral loads corresponding to the design draft
of 13.0 m is applied. Container loads and ballast
water loads are not taken into account.
The initial deflection of a local plate between
stiffeners and that of stiffened plates between gird-
ers are considered as shown in Figure 4. Denoting
the floor space by a, the longitudinal space by bp, the
girder space by bg, and the plate thickness by tp, the
initial local plate deflection, wl, and the initial global
deflection between girders, wg, are assumed as
5
tp ⎛ mπ x ⎞ ⎛ π y ⎞
wl = ∑ sin ⎜ siin (2)
m =1 50
⎝ a ⎟⎠ ⎜⎝ bp ⎟⎠
Figure 4. Initial deflections.
237
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 237
5
a ⎛ π x⎞ ⎛ π y⎞
wl = ∑ sin ⎜ ⎟ siin ⎜ ⎟ (3)
m =1 1000
⎝ a ⎠ ⎝ bg ⎠
where wl is assumed to be a superposition of
five components of sinusoidal waves so as not to
miss the shape of the elastic buckling mode that
depends on the biaxial stress ratio and the plate
aspect ratio.
2.2 Results and discussions
The analysis is carried out using the nonlinear
implicit FEM code MSC/Marc. The incremen-
tal collapse analysis is performed under the arc
length control. Pure bending collapse analysis is
performed first. Figure  5 shows the distribution
of equivalent plastic strain of outer and inner bot-
tom plates at the ultimate strength. The buckling
of bottom plate takes place in the middle of target
bay, where scallops are located in stiffener web. The
buckling deformation and plastic strain develop
almost simultaneously over the full breadth of the
double bottom.
Figure 6 shows the deformation when the bot-
tom local loads are applied under the bound-
ary condition BS1. The bottom local loads cause
the upward deformation of the double bottom
between the WBHDs. The PBHD has a restrain-
ing effect against the local bending deformation of
the double bottom. Figure  7 shows the distribu-
tion of the equivalent plastic strain at the ultimate
strength when both hogging moment and bottom
local loads are applied.
Figure 5. Equivalent plastic strain (Pure bending).
3/29/2017 9:36:24 AM
 Figure 6. Deformation (Boundary condition: BS1).
Figure  7. Equivalent plastic strain (Boundary condi-
tion: BS1).
Comparing with the pure bending case, the
collapse region shift towards the PBHD where
the longitudinal bending stress of the double bot-
tom due to local loads is large. The transverse
deflection and bending stress are largest near the
center line. The buckling collapse of the outer bot-
tom plate initiates near the center line and then
develops toward the bilge part. The collapse region
of the bottom plate is confined to the central area
of the hold, compared to Figure 5.
Figure 8 shows the deformation when the bot-
tom local loads are applied under the boundary
condition BS2. Figure  9 shows the distribution
of the equivalent plastic strain when both hog-
ging moment and bottom local loads are applied.
The buckling collapse of the inner bottom plate
takes place first near the WBHD as shown in
Figure 9 (a). It is followed by the buckling collapse
238
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 238
Figure 8. Deformation (Boundary condition: BS2).
Figure  9. Equivalent plastic strain (Boundary condi-
tion: BS2).
of outer bottom plate between the PBHD and the
WBHD, and then the ultimate hull girder strength
is attained (Fig. 9 (b)). Therefore, the collapse of
the outer bottom is considered to be a direct trig-
ger to the hull girder collapse even when the initial
failure takes place in the inner bottom.
Considering the real load distribution that is
variable in the longitudinal direction, it is unreal-
istic and over-optimistic to assume that the defor-
mation of the double bottom in the both end fixed
mode, as shown in Figure 8, is repeated in the lon-
gitudinal direction. The boundary condition BS1
that induces larger compression in the outer bot-
tom plate is considered to be more realistic and rel-
evant for the safe-side assessment of the ultimate
hull girder strength.
The bending moment-rotation relationships
obtained by the FE analysis are shown in Figure 10.
3/29/2017 9:36:25 AM

Figure 10. Moment-rotation relationships obtained by
shell FEM.
The ordinate indicates the longitudinal hull girder
bending moment at the collapsed cross section.
The abscissa shows the rotation angle between the
WBHDs. The bending moment and the rotation at
the start point of curve BS1 indicate those exerted
by the bottom pressure. The ultimate bending
strength under BS1 is about 1.4E+13 Nmm, which
is 18.3% smaller than that of the case of pure bend-
ing. It is found that the ultimate bending strength
under BS2 is almost same as the result of BS1.
The bottom local loads cause biaxial thrust in
the outer bottom plating and enhance its buck-
ing. According to the FE results, the longitudinal
thrust due to the longitudinal curvature of the
double bottom has a larger effect on the reduction
of ultimate longitudinal bending strength than the
transverse thrust due to the transverse curvature
of the double bottom. This is because even after a
stiffened panel attained its ultimate strength under
biaxial thrust, the longitudinal load carrying capac-
ity can increase up to the level close to the uniaxial
longitudinal strength when the longitudinal trust
due to hogging moment is increased. It is therefore
more essential to consider the longitudinal curva-
ture of the double bottom (Fujikubo & Tatsumi
2016, Tatsumi & Fujikubo 2016).
Another effect of the bottom local loads on the
ultimate hull girder bending strength is a reduction
of the effectiveness of the inner bottom plating. As
shown in Figure 5, for the case of the pure bend-
ing, the yielding spreads not only in the outer bot-
tom but also in the inner bottom at the ultimate
strength. On the other hand, when the bottom
local loads is applied under BS1, Figure 7, almost
no yielding is observed in the inner bottom at the
ultimate strength. This is because the inner bottom
239
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 239
is on the tension side of the local bending defor-
mation of the double bottom and the longitudi-
nal compressive strain is less increased compared
to the pure bending case. In other word, the con-
tribution of the inner bottom is decreased by the
local bending deformation. It has been confirmed
that the elastic unloading take place in the inner
bottom plating after the outer bottom plating col-
lapses and the load carried by the inner bottom
decreases. In the case of BS2, the same behavior,
i.e. the effectiveness reduction of inner bottom for
hogging bending moment is observed at the inner
bottom near the mid-bay where the outer bottom
collapses as mentioned above (Fig. 9).
3 SIMPLIFIED METHOD OF
PROGRESSIVE COLLAPSE ANALYSIS
Smith’s method for the collapse analysis of a ship
hull girder under pure bending is extended for the
case of combined bending and bottom local loads
by introducing the essential features of the Smith’s
method to the conventional FEM.
3.1 Beam finite element analysis equivalent to
Smith’s method
The essential features of the Smith’s method are
firstly the idealization of the cross section into an
aggregation of the plate and stiffened plate ele-
ments, secondly the concept of the average stress-
average strain relationship used as the material
stress-strain curve of the elements, thirdly the
assumption of a plane cross section, and fourthly
consideration of a shift of the neutral axis during
the progressive collapse behavior. A FEM-based
approach retaining these features, FE/Smith’s
method, has been developed for the progressive
collapse analysis of hull girders in pure bending.
(Fujikubo & Tatsumi 2016). In this method, one
beam element simply supported at both-ends nodes
is used (Fig. 11). The average stress-average strain
relationships of the plate and stiffened plate ele-
ments are converted to the average stress-average
Figure  11. Model for Smith’s method and FE/Smith’s
method.
3/29/2017 9:36:26 AM
 ‘plastic’ strain relationships (Fig. 12), and they are
regarded as strain hardening/softening properties
of the material. The elastoplastic incremental anal-
ysis is performed using nonlinear FEM code with
the standard iteration procedures such as New-
ton-Raphson method. The FE/Smith’s method is
extended to the combined load case next.
3.2 Extended Smith’s method
The Smith’s method developed for pure bend-
ing collapse analysis of a hull girder cross section
cannot deal with the effect of local bending of
the double bottom. Here, one-hold length region
between the WBHDs is considered including the
PBHD (see Fig. 1). To allow for the local deflection
of the double bottom in the transverse direction,
the double bottom is idealized by a group of inde-
pendent beam elements as shown by the Sections 2
to 6 in Figure 13, and the rest part of the cross sec-
tion (Section 1) by one beam element. Each beam
Figure  12. Average stress-average plastic strain
relationship.
Figure  13. Element division for the extended Smith’s
method.
240
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 240
element consists of the plate and stiffened plate
elements as defined in the Smith’s method. For
instance, the beam element of Section  2 consists
of the upper and lower stiffened plate elements
in the inner and outer bottom plates, respectively,
and has two integration points; the beam element
of Section  4 consists of seven plate elements in
the inner and outer bottom plate and the girder
web, and has seven integration points. The average
stress-average plastic strain relationship is consid-
ered at each integration point.
The beam elements of the Sections  1 to 6 are
longitudinally arranged at the interval of the floor
space as shown in Figure 14. The floors are mod-
elled by the elastic beam elements having the inner
and outer bottom plating of one frame-space
length as upper and lower flanges. These longitudi-
nal and transverse beam elements are connected at
Figure  14. Hold model for the extended Smith’s
method.
3/29/2017 9:36:27 AM
 their intersections, forming a plane grillage, ABCD
in Figure 14. On the other hand, the area of cross
section except for the region ABCD corresponding
to the Section  1 in Figure  13 is represented by a
prismatic beam EF. The transvers edges AB and
CD of the plane grillage are rigidly linked to the
beam nodes E and F, respectively, including the
rotation about y axis. At the longitudinal edges
AD, the displacement in the xz plane is rigidly
linked to the beam EF, while the rotation about x
axis is free assuming a simply supported condition
for the local bending deformation of the double
bottom. The effect of the PBHD on the double
bottom deformation is considered by supporting
the double bottom by distributed vertical springs
of the spring constant derived by Matsui et al.
(2016).
3.3 Result and discussion
The progressive collapse analysis of the container
ship of Figure  1 is analyzed by the extended
Smith’s method. The conventional beam ele-
ment implemented in MSC/Marc is used for the
extended Smith’s method. Gordo & Soares (1993)
proposed a simplified expressions of the average
stress-average strain relationships of stiffened
panel elements and plate elements, and they are
used in the extended Smith’s method. Here, the
hard corner elements, in which the buckling effect
is not taken into account, are replaced by the
normal plate elements considering the buckling.
Figure  15 shows the relationships between the
bending moment and the end rotation between the
WBHDs obtained by the extended Smith’s method
and shell FEM (Boundary condition: BS1). The
Figure 15. Moment-rotation relationships obtained by
the extended Smith’s method and shell FEM.
241
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 241
rotation angle obtained by the shell FEM includes
the effect of local 3D-shell deformation while that
obtained by the extended Smith’s method assumed
a rigid cross section at the WBHD. This is a rea-
son for the difference in the rotation angle between
the two methods. However, good agreement can be
observed in the ultimate strength and post-ultimate
behaviors. Figure 16 shows the distribution of col-
lapsed members at the ultimate strength. Due to
the local bending of the double bottom, the ulti-
mate strength is attained when the outer bottom
is failed; i.e. the inner bottom does not effectively
work. This also coincides with what was observed
in the shell FEM.
In order to validate the estimation accuracy of
the extended Smith’s method, a series of ultimate
hull girder strength analyses is performed, in which
the plate thickness of the outer bottom plating tp
is changed as tp of 18, 20, 22, and 24 [mm]. The
ultimate strength obtained from the analyses of
the extended Smith’s method and the shell FEM
is compared in Figure  17. The extended Smith’s
method estimates the ultimate hogging strength of
the hull girder subjected to the bottom local loads
accurately and slightly on the safe side.
Figure  16. Distribution of collapsed members esti-
mated by the extended Smith’s method.
Figure 17. Estimation accuracy of the extended Smith’s
method.
3/29/2017 9:36:27 AM
 The CPU time required for the analysis of the
subject ship was 2–3 days in the shell FEM, while
2–3 minutes in the extended Smith’s method.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Collapse behavior and ultimate longitudinal
strength of a container ship under combined hog-
ging bending moment and bottom local loads has
been investigated by the FE analysis. An extended
Smith’s method in which the double bottom is ide-
alized as a plane grillage is proposed. The follow-
ing conclusions can be drawn:
1. In the hogging condition with the bottom local
load effects, the outer bottom collapse is an
essential cause to the hull girder collapse even
if the buckling and yielding initiates at the
inner bottom plate near the WBHDs. The ulti-
mate strength should be evaluated by using the
boundary condition in which the initial failure
is occurred at the outer bottom plate.
2. The extended Smith’s method can predict the
progressive collapse behavior of a container
ship subjected to combined hogging bend-
ing moment and bottom local loads, both in
terms of the collapse behavior and the ultimate
strength.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI
Grant Number JP16K18321.
REFERENCES
Amlashi, H. and Moan, T. 2008. Ultimate strength anal-
ysis of a bulk carrier hull girder under alternate hold
loading condition, Part1: Nonlinear finite element
modeling and ultimate hull girder capacity. Marine
Structures, Vol. 21, pp. 327–352.
242
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 242
Class NK. 2014. Investigation report on structural safety
of large container ship.
Fujikubo, M. & Tatsumi, A. 2016. Ultimate strength of
ship hull girder under combined longitudinal bending
and local loads. Proc. 2nd Conference on Safety and
Reliability of Ships, Offshore and Subsea Structures,
Glasgow, UK.
Gordo, J.M. & Guedes Soares, C. 1993. Approximate
load shortening curves for stiffened plates under uni-
axial compression. Proc. of 5th International Sym-
posium on Integrity of Offshore Structures, Glasgow,
UK, pp.189–211.
International Association of Classification Societies.
2015. Common structural rules for bulk carriers and
oil tankers.
Kppenes, J., Notaro, G., Amlashi, H. & Steen, E. 2010.
Ultimate strength of cape size bulk carrier under alter-
nate hold loading. Proc. 11th Symposium on Practical
Design of Ships and Other Floating Structures, Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, pp. 1114–1122.
Maritime Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism. 2015. Final report of com-
mittee on large container ship safety.
Matsui, S., Murakami, C., Arima, T. & Fujikubo, M.
2016. Simplified estimation of stress distribution
of double bottom structure of container ship under
local loads. Proc. of 26th International Offshore and
Polar Engineering Conference, Rhodes, Greece,
ISOPE-I-16-601.
Ostvold, T.K., Steen, E. & Holtsmark, G. 2004. Nonlin-
ear strength analyses of a bulk carrier—A case study.
Proc. 9th Symposium on Practical Design of Ships and
Other Floating Structures, Luebeck-Travemuende,
Germany, pp. 252–260.
Smith, C.S. 1977. Influence of local compressive failure
on ultimate longitudinal strength of a ship’s hull. Proc.
1st Symposium on Practical Design of Ships and Other
Floating Structures, Tokyo, Japan, pp. 73–79.
Tanaka, Y., Ogawa, H., Tatsumi, A. & Fujikubo, M.
2015. Analysis method of ultimate hull girder strength
under combined loads. Ships and Offshore Structures,
Vol. 10, No. 5, pp. 587–598.
Tatsumi, A. & Fujikubo, M. 2016. Finite element analy-
sis of longitudinal bending collapse of container ship
considering bottom local loads. Proc. 35th Interna-
tional Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engi-
neering, Busan, Korea, OMAE2016-54747.
3/29/2017 9:36:28 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Optimal design of stiffened plate subjected to combined stochastic loads

Y. Garbatov
Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

P. Georgiev
Technical University of Varna, Varna, Bulgaria

ABSTRACT: The objective of this work is to perform a multi objective nonlinear structural optimi-
zation of a stiffened plate subjected to combined stochastic compressive loads accounting for the ulti-
mate strength and reliability based constraints in the design. The solution of a dual objective structural
response, in minimizing the weight and structural displacement, is considered as a multi-objective optimi-
zation problem. The Pareto frontier solution is used to define the feasible surface of the design variables.
The reliability index, which defines the shortest distance from the origin to the limit-state boundary, is
employed to identify the topology of the stiffened plate as a part of the Pareto frontier solution in reduc-
ing the failure probability for the critical limit states by satisfying the target reliability level and identifying
the existence of risk driven by the design solution.

1 INTRODUCTION Pareto frontier (Komuro et al., 2006) is applied

Steel stiffened plates are predominantly used in
ship structural design. The recent development
in structural reliability methods and optimisation
tools permits a coupled reliability based design
approach to be employed in which the uncertain-
ties related to the design variables can be directly
accounted for.
The reliability analysis explored here is using the
first order reliability methods, FORM that provide
a way of evaluating the reliability efficiently with
a reasonably good accuracy, which is adequate for
practical applications as provided by Rackwitz and
Fiessler (1978) and Ditlevsen (1979).
Predominantly FORM approaches have been
used for structural assessment as shown by Garba-
tov and Guedes Soares (2008, 2011), but may also
be employed for a probabilistic analysis of the sur-
vival index after ship flooding. as demonstrated by
Georgiev and Naydenov (2015).
A genetic algorithm with a termination criteria
is employed here (Deb et  al., 2002, Wong et  al.,
2015) for a non-linear optimization problem in
defining the best design solutions of the stiffened
plate subjected to compressive loads. The genetic
algorithm of (Deb et  al., 2002) accommodates
fast non-dominated sorting procedure, imple-
menting an elitism for the multi-objective search,
using an elitism preserving advanced approach
allowing both continuous and discrete design
variables.
for a simultaneous minimization of the net sec-
tional area and structural displacement.
Employing the Pareto Frontier, an optimal solu-
tion accounting for the existing constraints may be
chosen using a utility function to rank the differ-
ent designs, or by using 2D or 3D scatter diagrams
to identify the more attractive ones. In the present
case study, an additional constraint is introduced
representing the target reliability level to choose
the most appropriate design solution.
A three-step approach for design of stiffened
plate that couples the reliability methods and
structural optimization techniques is presented.
Once the structural topology is defined, the scant-
ling of the structural components of the stiffened
plate is performed and optimized, in which the
design variables, objective functions related to
the minimum net sectional area, which leads to
a minimum weight and minimum displacement
and constraints, including the ultimate compres-
sive strength are defined in a purely deterministic
manner. Then the Pareto frontier is used to define
the most suitable design solutions in minimizing
both objective functions, satisfying all constraints.
The design solutions at the Pareto frontier is then
used as a basis for the reliability-based optimiza-
tion regarding the target reliability level that is
required to guarantee the structural integrity in
which the limit state function is composed by the
selected stochastically described design variables.
This step accommodates the uncertainties related

243

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 243 3/29/2017 9:36:28 AM

 to the design variables and involved computational
models.
The objective here is to perform a multi objec-
tive, nonlinear structural optimization of a stiffened
plate subjected to combined stochastic compressive
loads accounting for the ultimate strength and reli-
ability based constraints in the design. The Pareto
frontier, ultimate limit state and target reliability,
defined as additional constraints are employed to
identify the optimal design solution. Sensitivity of
the design and random parameters are analysed
and the partial safety factor that can be used in an
early stage of design are defined.
2 STRENGTH ASSESSMENT
2.1 Structural description
Longitudinal stiffened plate of an angular pro-
file, which is used to build a bottom structure
of a tanker ship is analysed in the present study
(see Figure  1). The principal dimensions of
the tanker are: the length between the perpen-
diculars, L  =  139.5  m, depth, D  =  12.4, breadth,
B = 21.6 m, draft, d = 10.0 m, DW = 15000 tons,
block coefficient, Cb = 0.75. The still water bending
moment in hogging and sagging are given accord-
ing to IACS (2012), Msw,hCSR  =  407616.4  kNm,
Msw,sCSR  =  −345328.99  kNm and the wave-
induced moments Mw,hCSR  =  522115.4  kNm and
Mw,sCSR = −584402.9 kNm respectively.
The local static and dynamic pressure loads are
given as PswCSR = 88 kPa and PwCSR = 13 kPa. The iner-
tia moment of the midship net section with respect
to the neutral axis is Ina = 83.53 m4 and the midship
section modulus with respect to the bottom line is
Wb = 5.88 m3. The yield strength is σy = 315 MPa
and the Young modulus is E = 210 GPa.
The span of the longitudinal stiffener (stiff-
ened plate) is l = 2.4 m. The distance between the
longitudinal stiffeners is bp  =  0.8  m. The rest of
the parameters as can be seen from Figure  2 are
defined during the optimization process.
Figure 1. Global (up) and local (down) loads.
244
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 244
Figure 2. Stiffened plate.
2.2 Structural load
The studied longitudinal stiffener is subjected to
axial stresses resulting from the vertical still water
and wave-induced bending moments, σglobal = (Msw +
ψMsw)/Wbotom ship, where ψ is a combination factor
between the still water and wave induced loads
ranging from 0.8 to 0.95 depending on the assump-
tions (Guedes Soares, 1992, Wang and Moan,
1996) and it is assumed here to be a determinis-
tic one of 0.9.The stiffener plate is also subjected
to a lateral load, induced by the hydrostatic and
dynamic local pressure, qlocal = (Psw + ψPw)bp.
The stiffened plate is assumed to be a simply sup-
ported beam subjected to a uniformly distributed
lateral load, qlocal and axial tensile force T = A(Msw,s +
ψMw,s)/Wbottom ship in the case of sagging loading and
to an axial compressive force T* = A (Msw,h + ψMw,h)/
Wbottom ship in the case of hogging respectively, where
A is the net sectional area of the stiffened plate. In
the present study, only the compressive load will be
considered in the design of the stiffened plate.
The differential equation of a simply supported
beam subjected to a uniformly distributed lateral
load, qlocal and an axial force, T can be presented as
(Shimansky, 1956, Timoshenko and Gere, 1986):
I IV
EIz Tz ′′ q (x) (1)
where the solution of the differential equation can
be defined as:
z = zgs + z ps (2)
The general solution of the differential equation
with respect to the displacement, zgs is given by:
zgs A1 + A2 kx A3ch ( kx ) + A4 sh ( kx ) (3)
and the particular solution, zps is defined as:
qx 2
z ps = − (4)
2T
The origin of the assumed coordinate system is
located at the middle of the span of the stiffened
3/29/2017 9:36:28 AM
 plate. Since the elastic line of the beam is symmet- where:
rical with respect to the middle of the span of the
stiffened plate A2 = A4 = 0 and kl l T *
u* = = and,
2 2 EI (14)
qx 2 π EI
z (x) = − + A1 A3ch ( kx )
2
(5) T* = 2
2T l
The coefficients A1 and A3 are defined tak-
In the case when u* = π/2 buckling failure occurs
ing into account the boundary conditions at the
since fo*(u*) = φo*(u*) = ∞.
supports:
The maximum stresses at the middle of the

{
beam are calculated as:
l z=0
x=± (6)
2 z ′′ = 0 σ max,x = σ local + σ global (15)

resulting in a system of equations:

where
⎛ kl ⎞ ql 2
mx =0 (u* )
A1 A2ch ⎜ ⎟ =
⎝ 2 ⎠ 8EIk I 2 σ local ( Psw Pw ) = (16)
(7) Wsstiffened plate
⎛ kl ⎞ ql 2
A3 k 2ch ⎜ ⎟ =
⎝ 2 ⎠ EIk I 2 M sw ,s ψ M w ,s
σ global (M sw ,s M w ,s ) = (17)
Wbbottom shipi
that defines the coefficients A1 and A3 as
However, due to the local outside water pressure
q ⎡ k 2l 2 ⎤ load that is subjected to the bottom plate of the
A1 = − 1⎥ and
I 4 ⎢⎣ 8
EIk ⎦ ship, the bottom line of the stiffened plate is sub-
q 1 (8) jected to axial compressive stresses as calculated by
A3 =
I 4 ⎛ kl ⎞
EIk Eqn (16).
ch
⎝ 2⎠
2.3 Structural capacity
Substituting A1 and A3 in the general solution,
The structural integrity of structures can be ana-
and taking that into account:
lysed, in the case of tensile load based on the per-
missible stresses that are as a function of yield
kl l T l σ global A stresses of the material (Figure 3) and on buckling
u= = = (9)
2 2 EI 2 EI or ultimate strength in the case of compressive
loading (Figure 4). In both cases the stress-strain
in the case of a compressive axial force load, material property relationship is fundamental
T* = T < 0, the maximum displacement and bend- (Garbatov et al., 2016a).
ing moment at x = 0 are defined as:

5 ql 4 *
zx (u ) = − fo ( u ) (10)
384 EI
ql 2 *
mx (u ) = φ o (u ) (11)
8

where the magnification functions, fo*(u*) and

φo*(u*) with respect to the displacement, zx  =  0(u*)
and bending moment, m x = 0(u*), in the case T*< 0,
are given as:

24 ⎛ 1 ( u * )2 ⎞
f o* ( u * ) = − − 1⎟ (12)
5(u* )4 ⎜⎝ cos (u* ) 2 ⎠

2 ⎛ 1 ⎞
φ o* ( u * ) = * 2 ⎜
− 1⎟ (13)
(u ) ⎝ cos (u ) ⎠
* Figure 3. Material load-displacement relationship (ten-
sile load).

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 3 STRUCTURAL OPTIMIZATION

A genetic algorithm with a termination criteria

is employed here defined as a non-dominated
sorting generic algorithm, NSGA-II developed
by Deb et  al. (2002) in defining the best design
solutions of the stiffened plate subjected to com-
pressive loading. The objective functions and the
constraints, involving the design variables, are
nonlinear resulting in a non-linear optimization
problem.
Five steps in the genetic algorithm are followed
including, 1 – generation of initial population,
2 – sorting the population based on the Pareto
non-domination criteria, 3 – evaluation of any
individual fitness according to the Pareto rank-
Figure 4. Load-displacement relationship (compressive ing, 4 – parent selection based on the individual
load). fitness, 5 – application of genetic operators to
generate new population, 6 – identifying the best
non-dominated solution and finally, 7 – verifying
For the ultimate strength assessment, an ide- the convergence and found ends the process other-
alized stress-strain or load-displacement relation wise return to step 3.
may be used (see Figure  4). The ultimate limit The genetic algorithm NSGA-II stops when it
state of structures represents the collapse because cannot accommodate into a non-dominated solu-
of the loss of stiffness and strength. It relates to tion set.
the loss of the equilibrium in a party or to the
entire structure from buckling and plastic col-
lapse of plating, stiffened panels and supporting 3.1 Decision variables
members. The decision variables assumed here are x1  =  tp,
The elastic buckling strength in the elasto-plas- x2 = bf, x3 = tf, x4 = hw, x5 = tw, x = {x1, x2, x3, x4, x5}−1
tic relationships is represented by point B and the (see Figure 2) and their range is defined as:
ultimate strength by point C as shown in Figure 4
≤ xi ≤ xi ,max , i ∈[ , ]
(Garbatov et al., 2016a).
xi , (18)
The safety margin of structures can be evalu-
ated by a comparison of the ultimate strength
with the extreme applied (design) loads, line FG as where:
shows in Figure 4. The structural assessment may
be performed to assess the ultimate strength and x1,m t in x1,max tmax (19)
the damage tolerance and survivability. x2.m h x2. max hmax (20)
n
It has to be pointed out that the ultimate
strength reduction is governed by many factors x3, t in x3,max tmax (21)
such as the initial imperfection (Tekgoz et  al.,
2012), boundary conditions and load effect (Gar- x4,m h in x4,max hmax (22)
batov et al., 2011), corrosion plate surface rough- x5, t x5,max tmax (23)
in
ness (Silva et al., 2013), residual stresses (Tekgoz
et  al., 2013a, b, 2014) and material properties
change (Garbatov et al., 2014) due to the corro- where tmin = 0.004 m, tmax = 0.025 m, hmin = 0.1 m
sion degradation and have an adverse effect on and hmax = 0.25 m.
the ultimate strength.
An algorithm, based on the stipulated by IACS 3.2 Objective functions
(2012), a simplified method based on an incre-
mental-iterative approach procedure for esti- The dual objective structural response considered
mating the elasto-plastic failure of the stiffened here is minimizing the weight, which leads to mini-
plate, σu leading to a beam column and web local mizing of the net sectional area and minimizing
buckling of the stiffened plate, is employed here the structural displacement, which defines a multi-
(Garbatov et al., 2016b). The algorithm estimates objective optimization problem:
the stress- strain relationship and ultimate load
capacity, σu. F1 = min {zx = 0(b, x)} (24)

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 F2 = min {A(b, x)} (25) 3.4 Pareto frontier
where zx = 0(b, x) is the displacement at the middle The Pareto frontier (Komuro et  al., 2006) is
of the span and A(b, x) is the net-sectional area of employed here allowing for the optimization of
the stiffened plate, b = { σy, E}−1. the two criterion, as they are defined in the pre-
sent study as the minimum net sectional area and
displacement, verifying all trade-offs among the
3.3 Constraints optimal design solutions of the two criterion.
The dimensions of the flange, web and attached Figure 6 shows the minimization of the two objec-
plate of the stiffened plate have to satisfy the fol- tive functions, F1 (net sectional area) and F2 (dis-
lowing constraints: placement) simultaneously.
The curve in Figure  6  indicates the Pareto
bp σy optimal frontier, whereby any improvement with
G1 x1 − >0 (26) respect to F1 comes at the expense of F2. Each
C 235 design solution, allocated at that frontier, rep-
σy resents unique design solution parameters. The
hw
G2 x3 − >0 (27) Pareto optimal solution collected here 100 optimal
Cw 235 design solutions that are going to be verified with
respect to the target reliability in the next section,
bf σy leading to an additional constraint in the optimiza-
G 3 x5 − >0 (28)
Cf 235 tion process.
The forward finite difference method (Ames,
G4: σu(b, x) – σmax, x = 0(b, x) > 0 (29) 1977) is used to compute the first derivation of the
design variables as defined by the Pareto frontier
G5: π/2 – u (b, x) > 0
*
(30) with respect to the mean of the limit state E[g(b,
x)]  =  E[σu(b, x)] – E[σmax,x  =  0(b, x)] by making a
where bp is the space defined as a distance between small perturbation in the corresponding variables
the longitudinal stiffeners (see Figure  1 and while keeping other design variables constant. In
Figure 2), C = 100, Cw = 75, Cf = 12 (IACS, 2012), this study, a 1% perturbation is assumed in each
σmax,x = 0(b, x) is the mean value of the stresses calcu- of the variables. The sensitivity of the design vari-
lated at the middle of the span, x = 0, of the stiff- ables is calculated by:
ened plate and σu(b, x) is the mean value of the
ultimate strength.
The type of load subjected to stiffened plate 1 ∂ E ⎡⎣ g ( )⎤⎦
α xi = (31)
⎛ E ⎡⎣ g ( ∂ xi
will induce plate buckling since the stiffener is
)⎤⎦ ⎞
2
n
subjected to a tensile load and the attached plate ∑ ⎜
i =1 ⎝ ∂ xi ⎟
⎠
to compressive load. The numerically estimated
stress-strain relationship of the design solution nº
58 is presented in Figure 5. where x = {x1, x2, x3, x4, x5}−1 and b = {σy, E}−1 and
are shown in Figure 7.

Figure 5. Mean value stress-strain relationship, design

solution nº 58. Figure 6. Pareto frontier.

247

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 247 3/29/2017 9:36:34 AM


Figure  7. Design variable sensitivities with respect to
the limit state stresses, design solution nº 58.
As can be seen from Figure  7, the most sensi-
tive parameters in defining the design solutions is
tp followed by tw, tf, hw and bf. However, bp and l are
kept constant and they are not a part of the design
solution here.
4 RELIABILITY-BASED DESIGN
OPTIMIZATION
The reliability analysis is incorporated into the
optimization procedure, which is referred to here
as a reliability-based design optimization, RBDO.
The statistical nature of the constraints and design
problems are defined in the objective function and
probabilistic constraints. The probabilistic con-
straint can specify the required reliability target
level.
The formation of RBDO is similar to the one
of the optimization where the objective limits state
function, g(b, x) is minimized and it is subject to
constraints, where b is the vector of the determin-
istic design variables and x is the vector of the ran-
dom variables.
The limit state function here is defined as:
g ( b,x
x ) = σ u ( b x ) − σ max,x = 0 ( b, x ) (32)
and the safety index is defined as:
βg β target (33)
where βtarget is the required target safety index
and, βg is the safety index of the probabilistic
constraints.
The reliability analysis performed here is using
the FORM techniques that identify a set of basic
random variables, which influence the failure mode
or the limit-state under consideration. The limit-
state function defines a failure surface when equals
to 0, which is in fact an (n-1) dimensional surface in
the space of n basic variables. This surface divides
the basic variable space in a safe region, where
248
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 248
g(b, x) > 0 and an unsafe region where g(b, x) < 0.
The failure probability of a structural component
with respect to a single failure mode can formally
be written as:
Pf P ⎡⎣ g ( ) ≤ 0 ⎤⎦ (34)
where Pf denotes the probability of failure. In prac-
tical applications. The FORM methods provide a
way of evaluating the reliability efficiently with
reasonably good accuracy as proposed by Hasofer
and Lind (1974), Rackwitz and Filessler (1978),
Ditlevsen (1979).
The required safety index is defined here as βtarget.
The Beta index of all feasible design solutions, as
defined by the Pareto frontier, is compared to the
required target safety index, where min{βtarget − βi}
is the best reliability based design solution.
Seven deterministic variables are considered
here as b1 = tp, b2 = bf, b3 = tf, b4 = hw, b5 = tw, b6 = σy,
b7  =  E, and ten random variables x1  =  Mw,BL,hog,
x2 = Pw,BL,h, x3 = Msw,BL,h, x4 = Psw,BL,h, x5 = σu, x6 = Xu,
x7 = Xp,sw, x8 = Xm,sw, x9 = Xp,d, x10 = Xm,d are con-
sidered here, where x  =  {Mw,BL,hog, Pw,BL,h, Msw,BL,h,
Psw,BL,h, σu, Xu, Xp,sw, Xm,sw, Xp,d, Xm,d}−1 and b = {tp,
bf, tf, hw, tw, σy, E}−1.
The lateral local load is defined as qlocal. = (Xp,sw
Psw,BL,h+ψXp,w Pw,BL,h)b and the net-sectional
stresses, resulting from the global bending load, is
σglobal = (Xm,sw Msw,BL,h + ψXm,w Mw,BL,h) /Wb. σu is the
ultimate stress capacity with a model uncertainty
factor Xu, which is assumed to be described by the
Normal probability density function, Nx,u(1.05, 0.1).
The model uncertainty factor Xm,w accounts for
the uncertainties in the wave induced vertical bend-
ing moment calculation, where Xm,wl accounts for
the uncertainties in the linear response calculation
and Xm,nl for the nonlinear effects. The total uncer-
tainty of the random variable Xm,wBL with a mean
value and coefficient of variation determined by:
E(Xm,w) = E(Xm,w,l)E(Xm,w,nl) (35)
Cov(Xm,w) = √[(1 + Cov(Xm,w,l) ) 2
(1 + Cov(Xm,w,nl)2) – 1] (36)
σm,w = Cov(Xm,w) E[Xm,w] (37)
resulting in Xm,w∼Nx,m,w(1, 0.1) and the model
uncertainty factor with respect to the still water
load is Xm,sw∼Nx,m,sw(1, 0.1) and with respect to the
local pressure load are modelled by Xp,sw∼Np,sw(1,
0.1) and Xp,w∼Np,w(0.95, 0.095).
The fraction of time spent in each load con-
dition may be estimated based on the statistical
analysis of the operational profile of the tanker
ship. The assumed operational profile here is: full
load, pFL = 0.4, ballast load, pBL = 0.4, partial load,
3/29/2017 9:36:35 AM
 pPL = 0.1 and harbour load, pHL = 0.1. The vertical
wave-induced bending moment is in sagging in the
full loading condition and in hogging in ballast and
partial loading conditions. The still water bending
moment is in sagging in full loading and in hog-
ging in ballast and partial loading conditions. The
ballast loading case is used in the present analysis
since it transmits a compressive load to the stiff-
ened plate at the bottom of the ship.
The still water bending moment is fitted to a Nor-
mal distribution. The statistical descriptors of the still
water bending moment are defined by the regression
equations as a function of the length of the ship, L
and dead-weight ratio, W = (DWT/Full load) as pro-
posed by Guedes Soares and Moan (1988), Guedes
Soares (1990) and the loads are taken as prescribed
by the Classification Societies Rules (IACS, 2012).
The statistical descriptors of the still water
bending moment in the ballast loading case are
Nm,sw,h,BL (192 MN.m, 73 MN.m) and for the local
pressure load, Np,sw,h,BL (0.044  MPa, 0.017  MPa).
The still water load is in a hogging condition for
the ballast load condition.
The stochastic model of the vertical wave-
induced bending moment, as proposed by Guedes
Soares et al. (1996), is employed here. The distri-
bution of the extreme values of the wave-induced
bending moment at a random point of time, over
a specified time period, is assumed as a Gumbel
distribution, considering that the wave-induced
bending moment can be represented as a station-
ary Gaussian process (short-term analysis), then
the vertical wave-induced bending moment, MwCSR
as given by CSR, may be modelled as a Weibull
distribution with a probability of exceedance
of 10−8.
The Gumbel distribution, G(αm, βm) for the
extreme values of the vertical wave-induced bend-
ing moment, over the reference period Tr, is derived
based on the shape, h and scale, λ factors of the
Weibull distribution function, W(q, h) as proposed
by Guedes Soares et al. (1996), where q is the scale
factor and h is the shape parameter:
λ ( ln ( n))
h
αm
q
(ln (n))( )
−h h
βm =
h
where αm and βm are the parameters of the Gum-
bel distribution, n is the mean number of load
cycles, expected over the reference time period Tr,
for a given mean value wave period Tw. It is also
assumed here that Tr = 1 year and Tw = 8 sec. The
mean number of the load cycles ni is calculated as
ni = piTr/Tw, when the ship is in different seagoing
conditions for i = BL, BL, PL and HL.
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 249
The extreme value of the vertical wave-induced
bending moment in the ballast loading condi-
tion are defined by the Gumbel distribution as
Gm,w,h,BL (607 MN.m, 29 MN.m) and for local
pressure load as Gp,w,h,BL (0.013 MPa, 0.001 MPa)
respectively.
The 5% confidence level value of the ultimate
stresses, σu5% is calculated by an algorithm as stipu-
lated by IACS (2012), which is based on an incre-
mental-iterative approach procedure for estimating
the elasto-plastic failure of the stiffened plate, σu
(Garbatov et al., 2016b). Additionally, it is assumed
that CoV is 0.08 and the estimated value is fitted to
the Log-normal probability density function.
The deterministic variables b1 to b5 are defined
by the Pareto frontier and σy  =  315  MPa and
E = 206 GPa.
The reliability is performed based on FORM
and all random variables are considered as non-
correlated ones. Applying FORM as a decision
tool, the estimated probability of failure needs to
be compared to an accepted target level. The tar-
get levels depend on different factors as reported
by Moan (1998). The target level adapted here is
related to failure cause and mode, which may result
for a redundant structure in Pf = 10−3 (β = 3.09) for
less serious and Pf  =  10−4 (β  =  3.71) for serious
consequences of failure values of the acceptable
annual probability of failure (DnV, 1992).
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The Beta index, as a function of the two objec-
tive functions, is presented in Figure 8. The mini-
mum and maximum values of the Beta index of
all design solutions at the Pareto frontier are 0.8
(38)
(39)
Figure 8. Beta index as a function of the net sectional
area and displacement at the Pareto frontier.
249
3/29/2017 9:36:36 AM
 and 7.9. The design solution nº 58, β = 3.7 fits all
constrains of the two objective functions and the
required safety target level, as defined to be here,
βtarget = 3.7.
Figure  8  shows that the maximum Beta index
is located in the lower right hand side where the
maximum net sectional area and minimum dis-
placement are located and the minimum Beta is
located in the upper left side, where the maximum
displacement and minimum net sectional area are
placed. The size of the bubble represents the value
of the Beta index.
Figure  9  shows the Beta index of the design
solutions as a function of the net sectional area
and displacement. The topology of the stiffened
plate for the design solution nº 14 (β = 2.0), nº 58
(β = 3.7) and nº 43 (β = 5.0) are presented in Table 1.
The design values of the random variables of the
design solution nº 58 are presented in Table 2.
The importance of the contribution of each
random variable to the limit state function g*(b, x)
at the design point can be assessed by the sensitiv-
ity factors, which are determined as:
1 ∂ g* ( )
α xi = (40)
⎛ ∂ g* ( ) ⎞ ∂ xi
2
∞
∑ ⎜⎝ ∂ x
i =1
⎟⎠
i
A positive sensitivity indicates that with an
increase in the variable results in an increase in the
limit state function, which will reduce the probability
of failure and contributes to an increase in reliability.
The most important random variable in the pre-
sent reliability analysis is Xσ,u, followed by Psw, σu
and Xp,sw. The lateral load and axial global stresses
and associated uncertainty modelling factors con-
tribute negatively to the structural capacity and
reliability (see Figure 10).
Partial safety factors can be estimated based
on the characteristic values of σuc, MswCSR, MwCSR,
PswCSR, PwCSR calculated at 5% confidence level of
the original probability density function and as
provided by CSR respectively. The design values of
all parameters involved in the limit state functions
are M*w, P*w, M*sw, P*sw, σ*u, X*σ,u, X*p,sw, X*m,sw,
X*p,w, X*m,w are respecting the Beta reliability index,
which in the case of the design solution nº 58 is
β = 3.7 and the partial safety factors are defined as:

σ uc X m* ,sw *
sw M ssw
γ σ ,u = , γ = ,
X σ* ,uσ u*
m , s w CSR
S
M ssw
(41)
X * M w*
γ m ,w = m ,wCSR
Mw S
X p* sw Pssw* X p* w Pw*
γ p sw CSR
S
γ pw = (42)
P ssw PwCSR
S

The resulting partial safety factors can be used

in the preliminary design by satisfying the follow-
Figure 9. Beta index as a function of the net sectional ing design criterion:
area (left) and displacement (right).
σu
Table 1. Topology of stiffened plate. γ σ ,u
≥ σ max,x ( l
local , σ global ) (43)

nº β tp, m bf, m tf, m hw, m tw, m

14 2.0 0.009 0.038 0.004 0.146 0.004

58 3.7 0.009 0.044 0.006 0.174 0.005
43 5.0 0.009 0.058 0.008 0.201 0.006

Table  2. Design values of random variables, design

solution nº 58, β = 3.7.

M*w,h,BL, P*w,h,BL, M*sw,h,BL, P*sw,h,BL, σ*u,

MNm MPa MNm MPa MPa

619.107 0.013 295.329 0.062 272.043

X*m,w X*p,w X*m,sw X*p,sw *Xu
1.103 0.956 1.054 1.036 0.302 Figure 10. Sensitivity indexes of the random variables,
nº 58, β = 3.7.

250

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 250 3/29/2017 9:36:37 AM

 where: respectively, resulting from the cost values of 384.2,
397.2 and 425.7 USD and probability of failure of
qlocal ( psw PswCSR
S S
)
+ γ ppw PwCSR bp (44) 0.02, 0.0001 and 3E-07.

σ global (γ msw M swsCSR

S
γ mw M wCSR
S
) / Wbbottom shipi
The estimated partial safety factors for the
analysed stiffened plate here are presented in
Figure 11.
If the cost of manufacturing needs to be
accounted for, then the risk of losing the stiffened
plate as an integral part of the ship hull may be
calculated as:
Risk = (Pf)(C)
where Pf  =  1 – R, is the probability of failure,
R  =  Φ−1(–β) is the reliability and C is the conse-
quences measured by the cost of the material and
construction are assumed here as 2500 USD/ton.
The estimated risk as a function of displacement is
shown in Figure 12.
The already discussed design solutions 14, 58
and 43 take risk values of 7.7, 0.04 and 0.00013
(45)
6 CONCLUSIONS
The objective of this work was to perform a multi
objective nonlinear structural optimization of a
stiffened plate subjected to combined stochastic
compressive loads accounting for the ultimate
strength and reliability based constraints in the
design. The solution of a dual objective structural
response, in minimizing the weight and structural
(46) displacement, was considered. The Pareto frontier
solution was used to define the feasible surface
solution of the design variables.
The reliability index, which defines the shortest
distance from the origin to the limit-state bound-
ary, was employed to identify the topology of the
stiffened plate as a part of the Pareto frontier solu-
tion. The sensitivities of the design and random
variables were analysed demonstrating the most
influencing ones. Partial safety factors were derived
that can be used in the conception design, avoiding
a complex structural analysis, which is one of the
objective of the project SHIPLYS.
The presented methodology is flexible and dem-
onstrated a good capacity to be used in structural
design of complex systems.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper reports a work developed in the pro-

ject “Ship Lifecycle Software Solutions”, (SHI-
PLYS), which was partially financed by the
Figure 11. Partial safety factors, nº 58, β = 3.7. European Union through the Contract No 690770
-SHIPLYS-H2020-MG-2014-2015.

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© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Compressive strength of double-bottom under alternate

hold loading condition

J.M. Gordo
Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

ABSTRACT: The alternate bending of the bottom’ structure of a ship as a result of the action of
external pressure due to the sea and the internal loading in alternate holds, causes a bending of secondary
order between the transversal bulkheads which overlaps the primary bending of the hull girder of the ship.
It can be an important source of ultimate strength reduction when the vessel is in hogging. In this hogging
condition, the double bottom is under compressive stresses and may collapse by elastic-plastic instability.
The second-order bending due to loading on alternate holds, substantially increases the compressive stress
in the bottom panels of unloaded holds and on double-bottom panels subjected to internal loading,
usually leading to premature collapse, and consequently, a drastic reduction of the contribution of bottom
and double bottom for the resistance to longitudinal bending of the ship. In this study, it is analysed and
quantified the reduction of compressive strength of the double bottom of a bulk carrier through the
finite element method. It is also introduced a method that account for the effect of such reduction on
strength in estimated ultimate longitudinal strength of the ship under hogging conditions, by quantifying
the negative impact on it.

1 INTRODUCTION bottom of a bulk carrier through the finite element

The structure of various types of ships are subject
to combined action of bending of the hull girder
and the action of alternate lateral pressure in tanks
or holds during part of their service.
This alternate bending the double bottom results
from the action of external sea pressure and alter-
nate loading on consecutive holds, which causes
secondary order bending of the structure between
transversal bulkheads that overlaps the primary
bending of the hull girder due to vertical bend-
ing moment. It can be a source of major strength
reduction specially when the ship is in hogging
(Amlashi & Moan 2008; Shu & Moan 2012) and
(Toh & Yoshikawa 2015). In this situation, the dou-
ble bottom is under compressive stresses and may
collapse by elastic-plastic instability (Amlashi &
Moan 2009). The second-order bending due to
loading on alternate holds, substantially increases
the compressive stress in the bottom panels of
unloaded holds as noted in ISSC 2015 (Yoshikawa,
Bayatfar et al. 2015) and on double-bottom pan-
els subjected to internal loading, usually leading
to premature collapse, and consequently, a drastic
reduction of the contribution of bottom and dou-
ble bottom for the resistance to longitudinal bend-
ing of the ship.
In this study, it is analysed and quantified the
reduction of compressive strength of the double
method.
It is also introduced a method that account for
the effect of such reduction on strength in esti-
mated ultimate longitudinal strength of the ship
under hogging conditions, by quantifying the neg-
ative impact on it.
It is also analysed the importance of the design
of longitudinal structures of the ship hull in con-
trolling this strength degradation, including the
effect of support and restriction given by the bilge
and the longitudinal bulkheads.
2 ALTERNATE HOLD LOADING
MODELLING
Bulk carriers are designed to carry bulk cargo
that can often have a higher density than water.
This means that these ships frequently sail with
maximum draft despite the cargo spaces were not
completely full. As a rule, the option is not to use
partially filled holds to avoid the bulk cargo run
to a board causing large angles of heel. Since the
holds cannot go all full or half-empty is normal in
these ships carry cargo in alternate loading condi-
tion, i.e. alternate full hold empty hold. This type
of loading induces bending moments and high
shear forces in the structures of the ship, since
the structure of the double bottom is subjected to

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 pressure caused by the load weight at the bottom
of the holds and pressure caused by the sea water
at the bottom plating. In Figure 1 one can see the
usual loading scheme of bulk carriers and the lat-
eral pressures that act on the double-bottom struc-
tures on the central holds.
Figure 1. Lateral view of a ship in ALH condition.
Figure 2. Mid-ship section of bulk carrier.
254
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 254
The model built in finite elements to study the
ultimate compressive strength of the double bot-
tom of a bulk carrier was based on the model pre-
sented by (Amlashi & Moan 2008), as shown in
Figure 2.
This model has previously used in a study of
ISSC (Yao, Astrup et al. 2000) for the estimate
of ultimate flexural strength of the ship without
regard to the effect of lateral pressure.
2.1 Finite element model
The model adopted aims to simulate a double
bottom of a bulk carrier which is loaded in alter-
nate holds. To simplify calculations it was decided
3/29/2017 9:36:40 AM
 to reduce the model to the length of two holds, Longitudinal restraints—the transverse displace-
with an empty central hold and two half–holds ments are restricted along the keel and rotations
loaded with cargo. Only half width of the along the longitudinal axis. Vertical displacement
holds were modelled since the other half is sym- on the base of the external lateral girder of the
metrical and is therefore has the same structural model are not allowed. The restrictions allow simu-
response which can be simulated assuming sym- late symmetry in central girder and the supporting
metrical boundary conditions in the centre line effect of the bilge structure.
of the ship. Transverse restraints—vertical displacements
It was used a second model with half the size on frames 5 and 15 were restricted, which are the
of this, covering half of a loaded hold and half of frames where the empty holds initiates and termi-
unloaded hold since it was found that the struc- nates, so that the model does not move vertically
tural response was the same, as expected, and no matter the lateral load of the whole model is
the running and modelling time was appreciably balanced. The reactions in these points should be
reduced. minimal by that reason. In the first and last frame
The transversal structure of the double bottom constraints applied to the longitudinal movement
was also included in the model rather than simu- and vertical and transverse rotations to simulate
lated them with boundary conditions in order to symmetry, so it is allowed the vertical displacement
account for the contribution of these frames to the of them.
global response of the double bottom. In fact the
restraining action of the transverse frames induces
2.4 Mesh
biaxial state of stresses in the stiffened panels sub-
jected longitudinal stress due to longitudinal bend- SHELL281 was the type of elements used in the
ing of the structure (Gordo 2011). analysis by the finite element software Ansys
(2008). The mesh that was employed shows a
refinement in areas that are expected to collapse
2.2 Geometry
the structure, between the first two transverse
The cross section of the tank shown in Figure  2. frames, between the four central frames and the
The characterization of the scantlings is presented last two frames. Figure  4 shows the detail of the
in Figure 3 which shows the geometric characteris- mesh.
tics of the steel of each type and the corresponding The complete model composed of 2 holds has a
yield stress, σy. mesh with 87342 elements and 241129 nodes. The
Longitudinal stiffeners of type 3 are originally half model (2 halves tanks) is composed of 44130
bulb profiles. Due to the difficulty of modelling elements and 121913 nodes.
this type of profile in finite element, it was decided
to turn them into bar profiles with the same cross- Table 1. Steel properties.
sectional area.
The spacing between stiffeners is 880  mm and Type Geometry Dimensions (mm) σy (MPa)
the spacing between frames is 2610  mm. Each
tank is reinforced by 10 transverse frames spac- 1 T 333 × 9/100 × 16 352.8
ing equally, thus the total length of the model is 2 T 283 × 9/100 × 16 352.8
52 200 mm and 21 frames 3 Bar 180 × 12 235.2
4 T 333 × 9/100 × 17 352.8
2.3 Boundary conditions Bottom 18.5
Plate Double-bottom 20.5 313.6
The boundary conditions of the FE model are Frame 12.5
described by:

Figure 3. Cross section of the double-bottom for modelling.

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 2.6 Loading condition
The global model includes a central hold tank
which is empty and two lateral tank with half of
the length of the central one which are loaded
inside with a pressure 2p. Sea water pressure are
applied in the bottom with a pressure p. So only
residual forces are applied in the supports of the
model.
A simplified representation of the loading was
presented in Figure 1.

3 MATERIAL AND EQUIVALENT

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

Figure  4. Mesh size in normal and critical regions, The double bottom has three different kinds of
coarse mesh in transverse frames. steel with the mechanical properties presented in
Table 2.
The equivalent yield stress may be defined by the
2.5 Initial imperfections average of the yield stress of each kind weighted by
Initial imperfections were modelled by chang- the respective cross section, A., according to the
ing the vertical positions of the nodes of the ini- expression (3) that leads to an average value of
tial model in between transversal bulkheads. The 317.2 MPa, as presented in the table.
vertical coordinate z of each node was modified
according to the formula:
σ oe =
∑σ ⋅ A
oi i
(3)
⎛ π ⋅x ⎞ ⎛ π⋅y ⎞
∑A i

Δz1 = 26 ⋅ cos ⎜ ⋅ cos ⎜ (1)

⎝ 20 ⋅ sl ⎟⎠ ⎝ 42 ⋅ sf ⎟⎠
4 STRUCTURAL RESPONSE
wherein x, y, z are the coordinates of each node,
sl the distance between transverse frames and sf The structural response of the double bottom
the distance between the longitudinal stiffeners. depends greatly on the boundary conditions
The formula for the half model was adapted since the applied to the model. These boundary conditions,
model has only 10 frames instead of the 20 for the by their turn, try to reproduce the actual restric-
complete model. This equation simulates a doubly tions imposed by the surrounding structure of the
sinusoidal deformation of the bottom between the vessel and the type of local loading.
transverse bulkheads and the bilge stringers with Three different situations were analysed which
maximum amplitude of 26 mm. The amplitude correspond to different degrees of restriction and
was estimated by 0.001 ⋅ (10 ⋅ sl ), i.e. equal to one therefore different effect from the adjacent struc-
thousandth of the length of the tank. ture, i.e., different rigidity of bilge and longitudinal
The modelling of initial imperfections of the bulkheads:
plate elements of bottom and double bottom was
made in the same way adopting a sinusoidal defor- 1. Double-bottom supported exclusively by trans-
mation with half wave between longitudinal and versal bulkheads
three half waves between transverse frames. The
surface is represented by the following equation:
Table  2. Mechanical properties and sectional area of
⎛ π ⋅ y⎞ each element.
⎛ 3π ⋅ x ⎞
Δz2 = 4 ⋅ sin ⎜ ⋅ cos ⎜ (2)
⎝ sl ⎟⎠ ⎝ sf ⎟⎠ Yield Young’s Cross
stress modulus section area
The maximum amplitude of imperfections is Type (MPa) (GPa) (mm2)
4 mm and the choice of the shape results from the
Plate 313.6 200 987 165
aspect ratio of the plate elements which is approxi- T profile 352.8 200 140 354
mately 3 (∼2610/880), that corresponds to a mode Bulb plate 235.2 200 17 280
of structural instability of 3 half waves in the lon- Total 317.2 200 1 144 799
gitudinal direction for simply supported plates.

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 2. Double-bottom supported vertically by the bilge
and against rotation
3. Double-bottom supported vertically by the bilge
and free to rotate.
4.1 Transversal bulkheads support
This condition is the one that gives less support to
the bottom structure and therefore more flexibility.
The double bottom behaves globally as a continu-
ous beam between transverse supports with alter-
nate loading switched to either side. Considering L
as the length of each hold, b their breadth between
the bilge girders and p the liquid side pressure
applied to the structure, the maximum moment
due to the secondary bending resulting from lateral
pressure, M2, is given by:
L2
pbL
M2 = ± (4)
8 deformation of the double bottom, not detecting
The maximum shear occurs in the supports
(bulkheads) and has the value of:
pbL
q2 = ± (5)
2 shown in Figure 6.
For this situation it was analysed 8 finite ele-
ment models: Three models of reduced dimensions
Figure 5. Normalized average compressive stress average shortening curves with different levels of lateral pressure
(p = 10, 20, 50, 100, 150 e 200 kPa) for Half Model (HM) and full Model (M).
257
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 257
(HM) and 5 with two spans between bulkheads of
total length (M).
Figure 5 shows the response curves to compres-
sive axial load at different levels of lateral pres-
sure on the bottom (p  =  10, 20, 50, 100, 150 and
200 kPa). The applied lateral pressure in the loaded
holds is twice the hydrostatic pressure at the bot-
tom. The normalization of the curves was per-
formed using the equivalent stress and equivalent
strain.
It was found that the models with half size (HM)
had a response equal to that of the complete mod-
els, as expected, and it can be seen for the response
of the models with the same pressure of 200 kPa,
HM200 and M200, as presented in Figure 5.
In the elastic range, i.e. for small compres-
sive loads, the lateral pressure does not affect the
response. The maximum stress is reached gradu-
ally and with the development of large vertical
a sharp point at which the stress decreases. This
means that this is a very stocky structure that fails
mostly by yielding of structural elements.
The maximum compressive strength depends
largely on the level of pressure applied side as
The maximum compressive axial strength on
of the ship’s bottom when subjected to external
lateral pressure p (in kPa) varies by the expression:
3/29/2017 9:36:42 AM
 Figure  6. Ultimate compressive strength of double bottom under lateral loading on alternate holds supported by
transverse bulkheads.
σu
= 1.096 − 0.0033 ⋅ p (6)
σ oe
One should note that the dependence is linear
up to the ultimate stress exceeds the equivalent
yield stress which occurs at very low lateral pres-
sure levels, below 25  kPa. The constant value of
1.096 just confirms that the slenderness of the
structural elements is very low leading to a failure
by yielding.
The collapse of the double bottom occurs by
failure at the mid-span between bulkheads, more
precisely between the two central frames of each
hold. For very low lateral pressure the collapse is
dominated by the failure of plate elements or of
longitudinal stiffeners by generating yield lines
at 45º along the panels in compression, as shown
in Figure  7 where it is presented two halves of
the double bottom of cargo holds supported in
the middle by a transverse frame that is replaced
by the appropriate simply supported boundary
conditions.
As seen in Figure 8, for a very high lateral pres-
sure of 200  kPa, plastic deformations are limited
to the area where the bending moment due to the
lateral pressure is maximum, that is, in the central
area of the hold. It is still possible to identify an
area near the connection to the bulkhead, in the
centre of the half model, where it occurs a strong
plastic deformation due to shear.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 258
4.2 Double-bottom supported vertically
by the bilge and restraint against rotation
The lateral constraining condition is more rigid
and provides great lateral support to the double
bottom, reducing the bending moment by absorb-
ing the lateral part of the lateral pressure. It is quite
representative of a bilge heavily reinforced or of
longitudinal bulkheads of wing tanks supported
by a very sturdy transverse frame structure.
The vertical side constraint condition with free-
dom of rotation is a representative intermediate state
of double bottom supported by little reinforced bilge.
Figure  9 shows the double bottom behaviour
under compression in total lateral constraining
conditions (FHM) and single vertical support
(SSHM) without restraint against rotation com-
pared to the unsupported model response and a
very low level of lateral pressure (p = 10 kPa).
As expected, the increase of the double bottom
lateral restraints increases the compressive strength
and the compressive strength degradation with
lateral pressure decreases. This result is shown in
Figure 10, where it still has the indication of aver-
age axial stress to which the first yield occurs for
each pressure level.
4.3 Comparison with ISSC results
In ISSC 2015 (Yoshikawa, Bayatfar et al. 2015) the
effect of lateral loading on the ultimate bending
3/29/2017 9:36:43 AM
 Figure 7. HM010 model: Vertical deformations (up) and von Mises plastic strain (down) at initial stage of collapse
for a lateral pressure of 10 kPa.

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 Figure 8. HM200 model: Vertical deformations (left) and von Mises plastic strain (right) at initial stage of collapse
for a lateral pressure of 200 kPa.

Figure 9. Normalized average compressive stress average shortening curves with different levels of lateral pressure
(p = 10, 20, 50, 100, 150 e 200 kPa) on Half Model (HM) for fixed boundary conditions (FHM) and with free rotation
(SSHM).

moment was investigated for the same ship. The
reduction on the ultimate bending moment under
hogging was found to be 26.2% which agrees quite
well with the recommendations of IACS of 25%.
The level of lateral load applied was 19.83 m of
water.
In this study and for the same level of lat-
eral load one has a reduction on the compressive
axial strength of the double bottom of 56.4%
(from eq. 6) and 13% for a simply supported
bilge allowing for its rotation as can be seen in
Figure 10.
This means that the model with free boundary
conditions in the bilge region is the most represent-
ative for studying the effect of lateral load on the
double bottom of ship structure.

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 Figure 10. Influence of boundary conditions and lateral pressure on the ultimate compressive axial strength.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The lateral pressure significantly affects the dou-
ble-bottom compressive strength in ships with
holds loaded alternately. The degradation of the
strength is linear and depends on the degree of
support provided by bilge and longitudinal bulk-
head or ship’s side.
The increased stiffness of the surrounding struc-
ture increases the strength of double bottom on
these loading conditions.
The degradation of the resistance of this struc-
ture adversely affects the strength to support lon-
gitudinal bending moment that is applied to the
ship as a girder. When comparing the present
results with the degradation of the ultimate bend-
ing moment of the hull girder due to alternate hold
loading as done by ISSC 2015 one may conclude
that the best model to study the effect of the alter-
nate load condition is the one with free boundary
conditions in the bilge side.
In the present ship the degradation of the axial
strength of the double bottom under compression
may reach 56.4% at the structural draft.
REFERENCES
Amlashi, K. K. H. and T. Moan (2008). Ultimate
strength analysis of a bulk carrier hull girder under
261
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 261
alternate hold loading condition—A case study: Part
1: Nonlinear finite element modelling and ultimate
hull girder capacity. Marine Structures 21: 327–352.
Amlashi, K. K. H. and T. Moan (2009). Ultimate
strength analysis of a bulk carrier hull girder under
alternate hold loading condition—A case study:
part 2: stress distribution in the double bottom
and simplified approaches. Marine Structures 22:
522–544.
Gordo, J. M. (2011). Transversal bending of stiffened
panels induced by compressive longitudinal loading
(Flexão transversal de painéis reforçados induzida
por esforço longitudinal compressivo). CMNE 2011.
Coimbra.
Shu, Z. and T. Moan (2012). Ultimate hull girder
strength of a bulk carrier under combined global and
local loads in the hogging and alternate hold load-
ing condition using nonlinear finite element analy-
sis. Journal of Marine Science and Technology 17(1):
94–113.
Toh, K. and T. Yoshikawa (2015). A study on the effect
of lateral load on the hull girder ultimate strength
of bulk carriers. Analysis and Design of Marine
Structures, C. Guedes Soares & R. A. Shenoi (Ed.)
pp. 425–433.
Yao, T., O. C. Astrup, et al. (2000). Committee VI.2:
ultimate hull girder strength. 14th International Ship
and Offshore Structures Congress, Nagasaki, Japan.
Yoshikawa, T., A. Bayatfar, et al. (2015). Committee
III.1—Ultimate Strength. Proceedings of the 19th
International Ship and Offshore Structures Congress
(ISSC). C. Guedes Soares and Y. Garbatov. Taylor
and Francis. 1: 279–349.
3/29/2017 9:36:45 AM
MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Residual strength estimation and imperfection modelling for plastically

deformed stiffeners

I. Kahraman & G.T. Tayyar

Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey

ABSTRACT: Accurate deflection curve of the plastically damaged deflection curve and residual stress
distribution are essential and play an important role in residual strength calculation. Unfortunately, all
these demands need a lot of modelling and CPU time. This study represents a new type of very simple
methodology that models initial geometric imperfection of damaged stiffeners by employing curvature
values. Thus, it will be possible to predict the reduction in ultimate strength due to the damages of the
structure. The results will be compared with the FEM commercial program, ANSYS.

1 INTRODUCTION

Axis of a real member is not perfectly straight, and

it is very essential to take into account the effect of
imperfection when compression forces are consid-
ered (Schafer & Pekoz 1998). These imperfections
can be classified into two categories: imperfections
generated from manufacturing processes, and
permanent deformations generated from inelas-
tic bending of the structure, caused by accidents,
extreme waves or any type of impact loads. It is
clear that both type of imperfection makes residual
stresses on the structure. Even if the plastic strains
are permanent, the residual stresses after a plastic
deformation will be disappear by time or by heat
treatment. During this normalizing period, resid-
ual strength behaviour of the structure will be dif-
ferent from the stress free condition. Therefore, it
is very necessary to consider the effect of residual
stresses for a reliable strength calculation after
rebound of an inelastic loading. This imperfection
residual strength problem can be studied with or
without residual stresses.
The results of the imperfection model would be Figure  1. Residual stress distribution in plastically
deformed section subjected to moment.
much accurate if the actual measurements were
used, but common approach is to predict the imper-
fection geometry according to buckling modes of residual stresses are composed from subtraction of
the structure (Pastor 2013). It is possible to meas- rebound stresses from inelastic stress distribution
ure the distances electronically with high accuracy. as shown in Fig 1. Unfortunately, it requires the
Thus, reliable and fast curve fitting method, which plastic stress distribution. If this loading history
can be easily adapted to the strength calculation, is is unknown, there are some prediction methods
one of the lack in the literature. for the residual stress distribution depends on the
Residual stress calculations are well studied magnitudes of the imperfections (Schafer & Pekoz
in the literature (Schafer & Pekoz 1998, Pastor 1998), but these methods cannot show a good
2013, Moen et al. 2008, Zhang et al. 2016, Hodge correlation if the deflection pattern is not similar
1959, Konig 1980, William 2005). Fundamentally, with the predicted buckling mode (Pastor 2013,

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 Schafer & Pekoz 1998). Additionally, permanent 2 CONCEPT OF THE MODEL
deformed configuration can be simulated by using
FEM with solid elements, which requires time- 2.1 Main concept of deflection modelling
consuming process (Pastor 2013). Furthermore,
Elastica is the one of the best nonlinear theory for
there are several destructive or non-destructive
the finite strain calculations, where large deflection
measurement methods for the residual stresses of
approach will be ineffective. Elastica gives a for-
the structures. However, those will not be practi-
mulation for the deflection curve using slopes of
cal when measurement time, measurement cost,
the curve in curvilinear coordinate system as fol-
and implementing time of the residual stresses to
lows as shown in Figure 2.
a FEM are considered.
There is also another method to determine the
dx
stresses from displacements, inverse FEM is one = cos θ ( s ) (1)
of the recently studied, firstly introduced in 2003 ds
(Tessler & Spangler 2003, 2005), adopted for ship dy
structures in 2016 (Kefal & Oterkus 2016). This = sin θ ( s ) (2)
ds
method makes real-time simulations of the stress
distribution of the structure, when displacement
If we take the integration of Eq. 1 and Eq. 2,
is entered as an input. However, this method is
following expression for the locations of the deflec-
only available for elastic region and cannot make a
tion curve can be obtained as follows:
response after a plastic deformation.
The motivation of this study is to find a sim- s +Δs
ple and robust method for residual strength cal- y ( s + Δs ) y ( s ) ∫ sin θ ( s ) d s (3)
s
culation of the structures, which have permanent s +Δs
deflections and history of the loading is unknown. x ( s + Δs ) x ( s ) ∫ cos θ ( s ) d s (4)
s
Material properties and the initial imperfection
measurements will be the only known input data Moreover, curvature expression gives us the fol-
for the methodology. lowing relation:
Method is very simple: deflections can be
expressed with curvatures or curvatures can be dθ
obtained from the deflections with a reverse logic. Φ (s) = (5)
Therefore, initial curvature values can be calcu- ds
lated from the initial geometry. Curvature is actu-
ally representing the strain distribution, and it is By taking the integration of the Eq. 5, change
possible to achieve stress values from strain using in the slope values can be calculated in terms of
material model of the structure. If the curvature curvature values in curvilinear system as given in
is known, external forces can be submitted from Eq. 6. with the assumption that curvature is con-
equilibrium equations. This relationship can be stant during Δs.
driven preliminarily as a function or as a diagram.
Therefore, strength calculations become into a very θ( ) θ ( s ) Φ ( s ) Δs (6)
simple form: result of any external force on the sec-
tion will yield the curvature values, and last step is
obtaining the displacements from the curvatures.
Inverse mechanism of the algorithm is also possi-
ble to obtain. Finally, history of loading or residual
strength of the plastically deformed structure can
be performed with the proposed method.
Obviously, it is very difficult to validate the
method without an experiment. Additionally, it is
very difficult to find out the moment or stress dis-
tribution of the structure just by using coordinates
of the imperfection geometry throughout using
FEM. Plastic moment distribution calculated
from the proposed method is implemented into
FEM for a loading and a rebounding process. The
permanent deflections are compared with FEM
results and proposed method. It has been seen that
the proposed method performs a good correlation
with the FEM results. Figure 2. Deflection curve of a 1-D structure.

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 The displacement formulations Eq. 7 and Eq. 8
can be obtained by submitting Eq. 6 into Eq. 3 and
Eq. 4. as follows:

1
Δy ( )= ⎡ cos θ ( ) − θ ( + Δ )⎤⎦ (7)
Φ( )⎣
1
Δx ( )= ⎡sin θ ( + Δ ) − i θ ( )⎤⎦ (8)
Φ( )⎣

It is essential to know the first incline for the start-

ing point of the numerical calculation. Following
steps slope angle can be calculated from Eq. 6 using
current the curvature value of the segment. Finally,
displacements of the segment can be calculated
using Eq. 7 and Eq. 8. The main assumptions for this
iteration: curvature is constant during the segment.
Now, our starting point for imperfection model-
ling is to make this calculation reversely: to find
out the curvature distribution when the locations
of the deflection curve is defined.

Figure 3. Geometry of a segment displacement.

2.2 Imperfection modelling
If a beam element with initial deflection is discre- ⎛ Δyy ( s ) ⎞
2 sin ⎜ tan −1 − θ ( s )⎟
tized into finite number of segments and nodes, it ⎝ Δ x () s ⎠
is assumed that each segment may have a different Φ (s) = (12)
curvature but curvature does not change within the Δc ( s )
segment as seen in Fig 3. Displacements at each
Using the Eq. 12, it is possible to model curve
node are known or can be measured (Tayyar 2012).
from curvatures, which obeys G1 type continuity. It
From the geometric considerations slope angle
essential to know the first segment slope angle to
of the chord can be expressed as follows:
start the calculation. Therefore, slope angle of the
deflection curve should be measured or numeric
Δθ ( s ) Δyy ( s )
ϕ (s) θ (s) + = tan −1 (9) calculation should be start from extremum point
2 Δx ( s ) of the deflection curve.

From Eq. 9, Δθ can be submitted as follows: 2.3 Curvature-External load relationship

Following expressions are limited with elastic per-
⎛ Δy ( ) −θ ⎞ fectly plastic material model and rectangular cross
Δθ ( ) = 2⎜ −1
( )⎟ (10) section structure to achieve closed form equations
⎝ Δx ( ) ⎠ for a plain presentation. Complex material models
and different cross sections can be easily adapted
Physically reciprocal of the curvature is equal to numerically (Tayyar et al. 2014, Tayyar 2016).
the radius of the curvature. The equation of the Elastic stress behaviour expressed as follows
curvature is defined as a function of chord length, according to the curvature value as follows: where
and Δθ from geometric considerations as follows: y and E represents the location of the fibre from
centroid of the cross section and elasticity modu-
lus of the material, respectively.
⎛ Δθ ( s ) ⎞
2 sin ⎜
1 ⎝ 2 ⎟⎠ σ ( y) EΦ y (13)
Φ (s) = = (11)
r Δc ( s )
Critical value of the y where outer fibre starts
yielding due to curvature value can be submitted
By substituting Eq. 10 into Eq. 11, curvature of from Eq. 13, where σ0 represents yielding stress of
the segment can be defined in terms of displace- the material as follows:
ments and starting slope angle of the segment as
y / EΦ (14)
follows. cr 0

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 Equilibrium of external moments with stress Φresidual ( a0 ) Φp ( a0 ) − Φe ( a0 )
distribution or resultant of the internal forces can
2σ ⎛ 2 ⎞ (21)
be calculated as follows: =− 0⎜ − a0 ⎟
Eh ⎝ 6 4 a0 ⎠
M external ( s ) = ∫σ ( s y ) ydA (15)
2.5 Residual strength calculations
Moment-curvature can be obtained by submit-
ting Eq. 13 and Eq. 14 into Eq. 15 Strength calculations where residual stresses are
neglected is very simple and new curvature can be
calculated as the summation of initial curvature
⎧ 2h h
⎪∫− h − E y dA ycr > from Eq. 12 with curvature comes from new load-
2
⎪ 2 ing represented with a1 as follows:
M ( ) = ⎨ yc2 r h (16)
⎪ ycr2 − E y 2 dA + 2 ycr h
⎪⎩∫ 2 ∫2 0
2
−σ y dA
d y ≤
cr
2 ⎧Φ Φe ( a1 ) a1 1
Φnew ( a1 ) = ⎨ initial (22)
⎩Φinitial ΦP ( a1 ) 1 a1 ≤ 1.5
Fully plastic moment: Mp and critical moment:
Mo value where yielding starts for a rectangular It should be noticed that second order effects
bar is given as follows: are very sensitive when compression forces are
considered in Eq. 22. Curvature formulation is still
M0 0 bh2 / 6 (17) Eq. 20 where acr = 1.
Mp 1.5M 0 (18) If residual stress values want to be taken into
account, the moment or a0 value should be deter-
mined from roots of Eq. 20, where initial curvature
Therefore, moment value can be defined in values from Eq. 12 is submitted.
terms of Mo value as follows:
2σ 0 ⎛ 2 ⎞
M ( a ) = aM
M0 (19) Φinitial = − − a0 ⎟ 1 < a0 ≤ 1.5 (23)
Eh ⎜⎝ 6 − 4 a0 ⎠
Critical value of a is unity and curvature val-
Now, critical value yields to a0 value and new cri-
ues can be obtained in terms of Mo value from
teria can be expressed as follows:
Eq. 16 and Eq. 14 as follows: where Φe and Φp
represents elastic and inelastic curvature values,
respectively. ⎧Φ
Φnew ( a1 ) = ⎨ initial
( ) Φe ( a1 ) a1 < a0
(22)
Φ
⎩ initial ( ) ΦP ( a1 ) a0 < a1
a1 ≤ 1.5
⎧ 2σ 0
⎪⎪ Φe = − Eh a a ≤ acr
Φ (a) = ⎨ (20)
⎪Φ = − 2σ 0 2
acr < a < 1.5
⎪⎩ p Eh 6 − 4 a

2.4 Spring-back mechanism

Curvatures after the unloading can be calculated
just by subtracting the elastic curvature values for
the loads from the inelastic curvature values as
seen in Figure 4.
If the a value is smaller than 1, curvature
should be calculated based on elastic deforma-
tion. And, for the greater values of the a than
unity, plastic formulations should be taken.
During a plastic loading process, if the load is
unloaded from the system, there should exist
a plastic strain and plastic curvature. Because
behaviour of the unloading process will be elas-
tic, residual curvature can be calculated with fol- Figure  4. Spring-back mechanism of a member in
lowing formula. terms of curvature- moment relationship.

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 metric relations. Moment calculation formulas from
curvatures of an elastic perfectly plastic rectangular
bar is obtained, and formulations of curvatures for
the given moment values of an elastic perfectly plastic
rectangular bar is submitted from that formulas.
Validity of the proposed method is shown with
FEM comparison. Remaining strength capacity of
the structure is defined for the plastically deformed
structures.
Calculations are separated into two parts; first
is the geometric calculations based on simple usage
of curvature values of the structure, second is the
moment curvature relationship. Moment curvature
relationship is depending on the material model and
equilibrium of internal and external forces over cross-
Figure 5. Comparison of plastic and residual deforma-
section. Therefore, deflection calculation is just a
tion on the span. simple numerical calculation of curvatures achieved
from moment distribution of the system if moment
Table  1. Comparison of FEM results with the pro- curvature relationship is obtained initially. By the way
posed method, plastic deformation. proposed method has the advantage of fast response
and may become an alternative for hull monitoring.
Proposed FEM Proposed FEM It will be possible to find out loading history of an
δplastic/L δplastic/L δresidual/L δresidual/L %Error amax inelastic deformation if the fracture does not occur
and residual stresses are available. Post buckling anal-
0.0453 0.0454 0.002 0.0020 0.4800 1.1758
ysis for residual stress free initial deflected structures
0.0582 0.0583 0.01 0.0100 −0.2105 1.3150
can be obtained just by addition of initial curvature
0.0709 0.0706 0.02 0.0199 −0.2200 1.3796
to actuated curvature due to loading.
0.0925 0.0925 0.04 0.0398 −0.3822 1.4339
0.1543 0.1508 0.1 0.0969 −3.0306 1.4780
REFERENCES

3 VALIDATION Hodge P.G. 1959. Plastic analysis of structures. New

It is very difficult to find out corresponding deflected
curve or loading history from a permanently
deflected curve with FEM. Therefore, moment
(a0) distribution of the rectangular bar for inelastic
bending is going to define via proposed method and
is going to implement to FEM. Results are going to
compared after unloading process with FEM.
A numerical application for a rectangular bar is
examined for validation of the method. Main dimen-
sions of the bar are “10 mm × 10 mm” with a 1000 mm
length and material is elastic perfectly plastic with
200000  N/mm2 Elasticity modulus and 300  N/mm2
yield stress. It is assumed that initial imperfection of
the defection curve is in sine form. Result of plas-
tic and residual deflections of the half length of the
structure for a 0.1 L mid-span deflection are given in
Figure 5, simulated from the proposed method. Sim-
plified simulation is available in appendix.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Curve modelling method from curvatures is expressed
for numerical calculation. Curvature modelling from
deflection curve locations is introduced using geo-
York (NY): McGraw-Hill Series in Engineering Sci-
ences. 1–139.
Kefal, A. & Oterkus, E. 2016. Displacement and stress
monitoring of a Panamax containership using inverse
finite element method, Ocean Engineering. 119: 16–29.
Konig J.A. 1971. A method of shakedown analysis of
frames and arches. Int J Solids Struct. 7(4): 327–344.
Moen C.D., Igusa T. & Schafer B.W. 2008. Prediction of
residual stresses and strains in cold-formed steel mem-
bers. Thin-Walled Structures. 46(11): 1274–1289.
Pastor, M.M., Bonada J., Roure, F. & Casafont, M. 2013.
Residual stresses and initial imperfections in non-
linear analysis, Engineering Structures. 46: 493–507.
Schafer, B.W. & Peköz, T. 1998, Computational modeling
of cold-formed steel: characterizing geometric imper-
fections and residual stresses, Journal of Construc-
tional Steel Research 47(3): 193–210.
Tayyar, G.T., Nam, J. & Choung J. 2014. Prediction of
hull girder moment-carrying capacity using kinematic
displacement theory, Marine Structures 39: 157–173.
Tayyar, G.T. 2012. New Analytical Method with Curvature
Based Kinematic Deflection Curve Theory, International
Journal of Ocean System Engineering 2(3): 195–199.
Tayyar, G.T. 2016. A new approach for elasto-plastic
finite strain analysis of cantilever beams subjected to
uniform bending moment, Sādhanā 41(4): 451–458.
Tessler, A. & Spangler, J.L. 2003. A Variational Principle
for Reconstruction of Elastic Deformation of Shear
Deformable Plates and Shells, NASA TM-2003-212445.

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 Tessler, A. & Spangler, J.L. 2005. A least-squares variational Table  A2. Deflection calculation for the estimated
method for full-field reconstruction of elastic deforma- loadings.
tions in shear-deformable plates and shells. Computa-
tional Methods Appl. Mech. Eng. 194 (2): 327–339. x φ Δθ θ Δy Δx
Williams J.A. 2005. The influence of repeated loading,
residual stresses and shakedown on the behaviour of 0 0
tribological contacts. Tribol Int. 38(9): 786–797. 50 0.00143 0.071 0.071 1.785 49.978
Zhang, X., Paik, J.K. & Jones, N. 2016. A new method 100 0.00140 0.070 0.141 5.324 49.845
for assessing the shakedown limit state associ- 150 0.00134 0.067 0.209 8.770 49.584
ated with the breakage of a ship’s hull girder, Ships 200 0.00125 0.063 0.272 12.062 49.206
and Offshore Structures 11(1): 92–104. 250 0.00115 0.058 0.331 15.143 48.725
300 0.00103 0.053 0.383 17.961 48.160
350 0.00090 0.046 0.430 20.470 47.536
APPENDIX 400 0.00076 0.040 0.470 22.628 46.881
450 0.00062 0.032 0.502 24.399 46.231
Calculation table for a 10  mm midspan residual 500 0.00045 0.02362 0.525 25.736 45.632
deflection of rectangular bar described at chapter 3
for 10 segments is given below.
Sub calculations of x  = 250 is given below:
where the root of the equation is: a = 1.4658.
Following calculation are for the s where x = 250
Therefore, corresponding external moment sub-
Δy = 29.289–19.098 = 10.191 mm
jected to the deflection at x = 250 is
Δx = 50 mm
From Eq. 10
σ 0 bh2
M (a) = Moa = 1.4658 = −73287.5 N mm
⎛ 10.191 ⎞ 6
Δθ(250) = 2 ta 1 − 0.183
⎝ 50 ⎠
= 0.036054 rad
d θ(250) = 0..183
1 + 0.036054 It should be noticed that curve length can be
= 0.2191 rad submitted from Eq. 5 as follows:

From Eq. 11 Δθ
Δs = = 0.036054/ 0.000707 = 51.0308 mm
φrresidual
⎛ 0.0361⎞
2 sin
⎝ 2 ⎠ Table for deflection for the moment distribution
φresidual (250 ) = = 0.000707 above.
50 2 + 10.1912
Curvature for the corresponding moment is cal-
and from Eq. 21. culated from Eq. 20 as follows:

2 ⎛ 2 ⎞ 2 × 300 2
0.000707 = (1< a 1.5) Φp = − = 0.001146
Eh ⎝ 6 − 4 a0
0
⎠ 200000 × 10 6 − 4 × 1.4658

Δθ can be obtained from Eq. 5 as:

Table  A1. Initial curvature and loading history Δθ = 0.001146 × 51.0308 = 0.05849 rad
calculation.
And from the previous iteration, if θ at x = 200
x y θ Δθ φresidual a
is equal to 0.272, θ for the curve where x = 250 will
0 0.000 0.000
be as follows:
50 1.231 0.049 0.0492 0.000984 1.4779
100 4.894 0.097 0.0478 0.000953 1.4769 θ (2 0 ) θ (200 ) + Δθ = 0.272 + 0.05849 = 0.3306 rad
150 10.899 0.142 0.0450 0.000893 1.4748
200 19.098 0.183 0.0410 0.000809 1.4712 Finally Δx and Δy values can be obtained from
250 29.289 0.219 0.0361 0.000707 1.4658 Eq. 7 and Eq. 8, respectively as follows:
300 41.221 0.249 0.0303 0.000590 1.4574
54.601 0.273 0.0241 0.000465 1.4442 1
⎡sin ( ) − sin ( )⎤⎦ = 48.725 mm
350
Δx =
400 69.098 0.291 0.0174 0.000335 1.4224 0.001146 ⎣
450 84.357 0.301 0.0105 0.000202 1.3814 1
Δy = ⎡cos (0.272 ) − cos (0.3306 )⎦⎤ = 15.143 mm
0.001146 ⎣
500 100.000 0.305 0.0035 0.000067 1.2787

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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Rapid, early-stage ultimate limit state structural design for multihulls

J.T. Knight
Navatek Ltd., South Kingstown, Rhode Island, USA

ABSTRACT: Advances in hydrodynamic loads prediction, finite element modeling, optimization

algorithms, and computing power now make it computationally feasible to optimize the structure for
multiple objectives, such as cost, weight, and producibility in the early stages of a ship design. These
advances allow the ship’s structure to be a physics-based variable in performance tradeoffs rather than
an extrapolation of historical standards. There are practical limitations, however, especially for multihull
vessels. This paper outlines a medium-fidelity multihull structural design process which is computationally
efficient to allow for exploration of large design spaces while also directly estimating limit states.

1 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to outline a gen-

The current practice for the early-stage structural
design of multihulls can be categorized into two
broad approaches. One approach uses high-fidel-
ity Finite Element Models (FEM) of the ship
structure from the very beginning, often iterating
from a previous design. While such a high-fidelity
approach to structures can mitigate certain types
of error, it is not conducive to exploration of large
design spaces. Also, early-stage design is character-
ized by large uncertainty in many dimensions not
mitigated by an FEM approach, such as global
and local load estimation. The second approach
uses rules, class society guidelines, and engineer-
ing safety factors to protect against loss of life and
property. Such rules-based approaches are fast
and simple to apply, but may not be well-suited to
innovative design efforts, where there is insufficient
knowledge to calibrate safety factors. Rules-based
approaches have the potential for both costly over-
engineering and dangerous under-engineering.
This paper presents a medium-fidelity approach
in-between these two extremes. The approach is
computationally efficient, requires minimal infor-
mation to setup, and applies physics-based solu-
tions (sometimes called “first-principles”) for
structural strength in a targeted manner where their
benefit for design is the greatest. The approach is
hierarchical, scoping the dimensionality of the glo-
bal structural design problem so it can be handled
by many automated search and optimization algo-
rithms robustly. Large-deflection membrane-stress
calculations are proposed for the direct estimation
of ultimate limit states so as to be conducive to
modern reliability-based perspectives on design
and minimize the need for sweeping safety factors.
eral design process for multihull structures which
is highly automatable by software and also compu-
tationally efficient. While the accurate estimation
of global design loads, slamming, and other hydro-
elastic effects is critical to a rational structural
design, a complete treatment of these is beyond
the scope of this paper. The structural analysis and
design approach should, however, allow for the
coupled effects of simultaneous loading in both
transverse and longitudinal directions which is sig-
nificant in multihulls.
2 DIFFICULTIES IN MULTIHULL
STRUCTURAL DESIGN
Balancing computational and human resources
with the desire for accuracy and safety is difficult
for any “clean sheet” ship structural design but
especially so for multihulls where considerably less
historical data is available. This lack of data forces
designers to use more first-principles, such as finite
element analysis (FEA), which is generally desir-
able except that such methods often require more
time to implement or more details about the ves-
sel to be specified. This may not be a limitation,
in practice, for iterative improvements to an exist-
ing vessel. But novel vessels require more freedom
within the bounds of a rational design process that
mitigates uncertainty.
Faulkner et  al. offered one of the earliest
rational design processes for ship grillages, deriving
iterative analytical expressions for beam-column
and stiffener tripping type collapses, as well as
general grillage instability (Faulkner, Adamchak,
Snyder, & Vetter, 1973). Hughes et  al. later

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 269 3/29/2017 9:36:54 AM

 extended a rational approach to structural design Table 1. Summary of ultimate limit state equations for
for entire ship sections using finite elements in the design.
program SHIPOPT (Hughes, Mistree, & Zanic,
1980). Other FEA codes and applications have Mode Description References
followed such as the progressive collapse of hull 0 Inter-frame collapse (Benson, Downes, &
girders using finite element databases to calibrate of plating and Dow, 2015)
parametric load-shortening curves (Dow, 1997). stiffeners as
While nonlinear finite element models are capa- one unit.
ble of predicting collapse behavior at many scales, 1 Intra-frame collapse (Paik, Thayamballi, &
faster and simpler methods are sometimes desired. of plating and Kim, 2001)
Many efforts have proposed regression equations stiffeners as
for various types of structural failure based on one unit.
empirical or FEA results (Paik & Duran, 2004) 2 Collapse of plating (Paik, Thayamballi, &
(Sielski, 2007), however caution must always be without failure Kim, 2001), (Paik &
of stiffeners. Duran, 2004)
taken to not design outside the bounds of their
3 Beam-column type (Faulkner, Adamchak,
applicability. Other first-principles derivations for collapse of a Snyder, & Vetter, 1973),
approximate ultimate strength of stiffened panels stiffener with its (Hughes & Paik, 2010),
and plating have been shown to give good agree- attached width (Paik & Duran, 2004)
ment to both experiments and nonlinear FEA, e.g. of plating.
Paik, Thayamballi and Kim (2001). These large- 4 Local buckling of (Hughes & Paik, 2010)
deflection derivations provide designers with fast the stiffener web.
and simple physics-based, methods for estimating 5 Flexural-torsional (Hughes & Paik, 2010),
limit states, and they are already finding applica- buckling or (Faulkner, 1987),
tion in tools such as ALPS/ULSAP (2009). tripping of the (Paik & Duran, 2004)
stiffeners.
6 Gross yielding. (Collette, 2011),
(Hughes & Paik, 2010)
3 ULTIMATE LIMIT STATE-BASED
DESIGN

The assessment of structural strength should
be based, wherever possible and practical, on
first-principles. It is the author’s opinion that
this requires transitioning from common allow-
able stress approaches to the direct estimation of
ultimate limit states (ULS). Recent theoretical
advances make it possible to estimate the membrane
stresses in loaded plating under large-deflection (i.e.
nonlinear) conditions either analytically or semi-
analytically. These membrane stresses then allow
for the prediction of structural failure and collapse
by comparison of localized von Mises stresses with
material yield criteria. The membrane stress-based
approach provides a closer approximation to the
true physics than the allowable stress criteria which
are calibrated against historical data and subject
matter expert opinion. A detailed derivation of
all the necessary limit states for multihull design
is beyond the scope of this paper, but key failure
modes are summarized in Table 1, along with refer-
ences for the interested reader to explore in greater
depth. One of the powerful features of these mem-
brane stress-based ULS is that one can analyze
the structural response to a combination of lateral
pressure, biaxial in-plane loads, and edge shears.
This is significant for multihulls, where structural
failure can result from complex loading scenarios.
A grillage in the wetdeck of a catamaran, for exam-
ple, must resist the action of simultaneous hog/sag
and torsion in both the transverse and longitudinal
planes. Aluminum and the heat-affected zone are
straight-forwardly included in these formulations
by an appropriate adjustment to the material yield.
4 A RAPID MEDIUM-FIDELITY
APPROACH
The methodology is an expansion of that put forth
in the “Critical Cuts” method (Ogdon, Collette,
& Singer, 2012). The process begins with a ship
hull, complete with subdivision (decks, watertight
transverse bulkheads, and watertight longitudinal
bulkheads). A superstructure and/or deckhouse
may be included if it is to contribute to the primary
hull strength of the vessel. These are all assumed
to be modeled using non-uniform rational basis
splines (NURBS) surfaces. It is also assumed that
sectional loads are provided by a hydrodynamics
tools at various location both longitudinally and
transverse. An example is the potential flow code
Aegir (Kring, Milewski, & Fine, 2004).
The design of structure is handled in two
rounds. The first round seeks to converge a struc-
tural design that approximately maximizes the
given objective(s), taking into account only longi-
tudinal load information: hogging moment, sag-
ging moment, and torsion about the longitudinal

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 axis. Strength is analyzed at 2D sections called
“critical cuts.” This is directly analogous to tradi-
tional midship section design in naval architecture
practice except that strength is assessed using an
ultimate limit state (ULS) approach rather than
an allowable stress or required section modulus
approach. This is repeated for a sweep of cuts in
both the longitudinal and transverse directions, as
illustrated in Figure  1. We refer to this sweep of
cuts as a 2.5D approach. A hierarchy is imposed
which dictates the sequence of cuts at which design
occurs, ensuring a globally continuous structure,
scoping the complexity of the design process, and
improving computational efficiency.
4.1 Hierarchical design approach
Figure 2, below, shows a schematic of the hierar-
chical approach to local design. In this approach,
design units (grillages, etc.) are grouped into Hull
Modules between transverse bulkheads. Optimiza-
tion is performed in these groups on a zonal basis.
A hierarchy is imposed that governs the sequence
of optimizations of zones, starting with the most
central zone and working outwards. Lower levels
inherit certain constraints from higher levels of the
Figure 1. The design of structure occurs at many cross
sections sweeping in both longitudinal and transverse
directions.
Figure 2. Schematic of the local design hierarchy.
271
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 271
hierarchy to maintain global structural continuity.
For example, the midship Hull Module (top of the
hierarchy) is allowed to vary the spacing of longi-
tudinal stiffeners, as well as the number, size, and
location of deep girders in its optimization. The
two adjacent zones then inherit the stiffener spac-
ing and any deep girder locations from the midship
zone. This guarantees continuity of the stiffening
members. There is flexibility in this method to
allow frame spacing to vary between zones, but all
design units within the same zone must have the
same frame spacing.
4.2 Optimization algorithm
In practice, stiffening members are typically
selected from a catalog of produced sizes and
shapes. This makes stiffener properties discrete
variables, which can hamper an optimizer’s per-
formance. We propose a two-pass optimization
scheme to address this, in which a parametrized
stiffener shape is assumed (e.g. a T-stiffener with
some fixed proportions), based on the height of
the web. In this way, stiffener properties can be
treated as continuous variables in the first pass of
the optimizer, while at least closely approximating
their possible discrete values. This also reduces the
number of design variables because only the web
height is needed to define a stiffener (or frame).
Once the optimizer has converged to a continuous-
value optimum, a second pass tests a hypercube
of the “surrounding” discrete-value designs. A
depiction of this process is shown in Figure 3. The
“best” point from this limited set of discrete-value
designs is chosen as the final design. This two-pass
approach bounds the complexity of the full dis-
crete-variable problem to an instance of an integer
program, which is known to be NP-Hard. As with
Figure  3. The two-phase optimization algorithm first
finds the continuous-variable optimum, and then tests
the grid of discrete-value solutions surrounding it.
3/29/2017 9:36:54 AM
 most NP-Hard problems, the real goal here is to
find a “good” approximation of the true optimum.
For large differences in material properties, such
as a jump from steel to aluminum, different cata-
logs exist and therefore different regression equa-
tions should be used for the parametric stiffener.
4.3 Round 1: Design subject to longitudinal load
information
In the design of the global structure, the ship is first
longitudinally segmented into Hull Module objects
and each Hull Module is assigned a place in the
hierarchy. Designs for the grillages within these Hull
Modules are then chosen by the optimization algo-
rithm to minimize the stated objective (e.g. weight)
subject to many constraints. Constraints fall into
one of three categories: strength, deflection, and
producibility. An example of a producibility con-
straints is the minimum clearance required as lon-
gitudinal stiffeners pass through transverse frames.
4.3.1 Construction of hull module objects
Hull Modules are constructed on-the-fly by speci-
fying a reference surface parallel to the y-z plane,
i.e. a transverse cutting plane. Any grillage in the
Ship class which is intersected by this cutting plane
is added to the vector constituting new Hull Mod-
ules. The cloud of points resulting from the cut-
ting plane intersection is used to construct flat and
curved grillage objects. An example of this process
is shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Hull Modules are created on-the-fly by inter-
secting the Ship class with a cutting plane. The intersected
surfaces are stored as well as the cloud of intersection
points to construct the grillage objects within the Hull
Module.
272
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 272
Hull Modules maintain two geometry models.
The subset of surfaces from the Ship class (the
“original geometry”) intersected by the cutting
plane are stored, primarily for the purpose of
weight estimation. So weight estimation uses the
original geometry. The second geometry model
(the “prismatic geometry”) is formed by extrud-
ing the cross section that resulted from the cut-
ting plane intersection along the specified length
of the Hull Module. The prismatic representation
of the structure is used for strength estimation via
the ULS calculations described Table 1.
4.3.2 Design of the principal hull module
The principal Hull Module is built from the inter-
section of the Ship class with a transverse cutting
plane. All layers in the Ship class are included in
the intersection, except the transverse bulkhead
layer.
Without loss of generality, the search algorithm
attempts to minimize the stated objective(s) sub-
ject to various constraints. In mathematical form,
the design problem may be stated as:
 
Minimize : F ( x )

By varying : x (1)
 
Si ,mm x, σ i
Subject to :ULS
ULS ( j )≤γ 2
i ,m ∀ i j, m
δ i ,nn ( ,σi j ) δ i ,n ∀ i, j n (2)
,i + hclearance
tiff
f
hwf,i hwstiff
tiff
f
i (3)
hw ,i d
h fframe
w ,i +h f
clearance i (4)

where:
  x   =  design (independent) variables;
F ( x )  = objective function to guide search (possi-
bly multi-objective); ULS = ultimate limit state of

a grillage by mode; σ  = vector of stresses result-
ing from a given load scenario; γ  =  partial safety
factor for a given failure mode; δ = deflection by
mode; i, j, m, n = indices that refer to the grillage,
load scenario, failure mode, and deflection mode,
respectively; hw = height of the web of a stiffener,
frame, or girder; and hclearance = minimum clearance
heights needed between the flanges of intersect-
ing stiffeners, frames, and girders which allows for
basic producibility considerations.
A grillage from each layer is randomly selected
to be a “design grillage,” and all other grillages in
the same layer will take values for their design vari-
ables from that design grillage. This means that for
the principal Hull Module, a maximum of nine
design grillages will exist (transverse bulkheads are
not included in Hull Module objects). For many
hull forms, this number will be seven or eight. Each
grillage is defined by its NURBS geometry and five
design variables. Hence, the principal Hull Module
3/29/2017 9:36:55 AM
 has a maximum of 45 independent design variables.
For many hull forms this number will be 35–40.
We assume that, most commonly, the objective
function will be structural weight. However, most
modern search algorithms, such as the NSGA-II
genetic algorithm, are capable of handling multi-
ple objectives.
The design variables for each design grillage
are: plate thickness, longitudinal stiffener spacing,
longitudinal stiffener web height, transverse frame
spacing, and transverse frame web height. So, the
vector of design variables is:

x (t p1 , b hwstiffener
,1 , a1, hwframe
,1 , t p
w ,2 , …
frame
a2 , hw, ) 4.4.1 Application of transverse loads
where: tp  =  plate thickness; b  =  longitudinal stiff-
ener spacing; hw  =  web height of a longitudinal
stiffener or transverse frame; and a  =  transverse
frame spacing.
See Table  1 for the ultimate limit state and
deflection equations.
4.3.3 Design of successive hull modules
Design of successive Hull Modules in Round 1
hierarchy follows the same formulation as for the
principal Hull Module, except that there are fewer
design variables because the stiffener spacings are
inherited from the principal Hull Module on a
layer-by-layer basis. So, the vector of independent
design variables is:

(t p1 , hww,tiff
,1 , a1, hww,f,1 , t p 2 , hww,tiff
,2
where: tp  =  plate thickness; hw  =  web height; and
a = transverse frame spacing.
If computational resources (i.e. time) are very
limited, the independent variables may be further
reduced by using a similar frame spacing as the
principal Hull Module. A frame spacing may be
chosen that evenly divides the length of the Hull
Module while being similar in value to the princi-
pal Hull Module.
4.4 Round 2: Verification subject to longitudinal
and transverse load information
Recall that the first round of structural design is
only subject to information about longitudinal
loads. This is done to simplify the global design
process, but only considering longitudinal loads is
incomplete. Multihulls in particular are subjected
to loads simultaneously in both the longitudi-
nal and transverse directions. For this reason, it
is necessary to verify the first round design when
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 273
subjected to the combined loads, before the global
structural design can be said to be complete.
From round 1, all grillage objects in the Ship
class should have been assigned design parameters
(plate thickness, stiffener spacing and size, frame
spacing and size, girder locations and size). There-
fore, in round 2, structural properties are known
when a new cutting plane intersection is taken.
Likewise, the local stresses due to longitudinal
loads have also been calculated and assigned to
each grillage, so all that remains is to calculate the
local stresses due to the transverse loads and reas-
sess each grillage’s ultimate limit states and deflec-
b2 , hwstiffen
,2
e
er
,
(5)
tions with the combined local stress values.
For the purpose of determining local transverse
stresses within individual grillages due to a set of
global transverse loads, a temporary Hull Module
object is created. This is done in a similar fashion
to the longitudinal direction. Except, cutting planes
are now defined parallel to the x-z plane, as shown
in Figure 5, and only the following surface types are
included in the intersection: upper deck, decks, trans-
verse bulkheads, and wet deck. Other surface types do
not provide sufficient resistance to transverse loads to
be included in the strength estimates, and therefore
are excluded from the temporary Hull Module.
In the transverse direction, the “length” of the
temporary Hull Module object is of no consequence.
Because the purpose of the temporary Hull Module
is solely to calculate local stresses, a unit depth equal
to 1 may be used. Several critical cutting planes will
, a2 , hwframe )
,2 , …
be defined for transverse loads. Therefore, a grillage
(6)
Figure  5. Transverse strength is assessed by intersect-
ing the Ship class with cutting planes parallel to the x-z
plane. The intersected surfaces are stored as well as the
cloud of intersection points to construct the temporary
Hull Module objects that allow local loads to be calcu-
lated and assigned. Points included in the strength cal-
culations are shown in red, while points from excluded
layers are shown in black.
273
3/29/2017 9:36:57 AM
 in the Ship class may be intersected by more than where all variables and subscripts are defined as in
one cutting plane. In that case, the largest resulting Equation 7.
local stress will be assigned to the grillage. Then, a simple algorithm for the iterative local
redesign would be:
4.4.2 Verification of structural strength
Once transverse local stresses have been applied to H E ( failin
WHIL f i ){
g grillages exist
the grillages in the Ship class, ultimate limit states {
U Si , j m − γ i2,m ; ∀ j m
i * argmaxi ULS }
are re-checked for every grillage, load scenario, and
failure mode according to the appropriate interac- ( j , m ) = argmax j ,m
* *
{ − }
tion equation: σ xav ,i* , j* ,m* σ yav ,i* , j* ,m*
IF > AND
N
c1,m σ xu ,m* σ yu ,m*
⎛ σ xav ,i , j m ⎞ ⎛ σ xav ,i , j m ⎞ ⎛ σ yav ,ii j ,m ⎞
⎜ σ ⎟ −κ ⎜ ⎟⎜ ⎟ σ xav ,i* , j* ,m* τ av , i* , j*
⎝ xu ,m ⎠ ⎝ σ xu ,m ⎠ ⎝ σ yu ,m ⎠ {>
c2 ,m c3,,m (7) σ xu ,m* τ u ,m*
⎛ σ yav ,ii j ,m ⎞ ⎛ τ av ,ii j ⎞
+⎜ ⎟ +⎜ ⎟ ≤ γ i2,m ; ∀ i, j , m Try
r increasing stiffener size ffirst,
⎝ σ yu ,m ⎠ ⎝ τ u ,m ⎠ then plating thickness.}

where: σxav = average in-plane stress in the x-direc- σ yav ,ii* σ xav ,i* , j* m*
j * ,m*
tion; σyav  =  average in-plane stress in the y-direc- ELSEI
E L IF >
tion; τ  =  edge shear; σxu  =  ultimate stress in the σ yu ,m* σ xu ,m*
x-direction; σyu = ultimate stress in the y-direction; σ yav ,ii* * * τ av ,i* , j*
>
j ,m
γ = partial safety factor; and i, j, m = indices that AND
N {
reference grillages, load scenarios, and failure σ yu ,m* τ u ,m*
modes, respectively. Values for the parameters c1,m, Try
r increasing fra f me size
i first,
c2,m, and c3.m, and κ are discussed in each of the then plating
p thickness.}
references provided in Table 1.
ELSE
S {
Increase plating thickness.}
4.5 Local redesign
If all grillages still pass Equation 7, then no local rede- RECALCUL U ATATE
sign is necessary and the design process is complete. local stresses iin all grillages.
However, if any grillages do not pass Equation 7,
then their design variables must be altered until the RECALCULATE ULS
Si j ,m ; ∀ i, j m
global design passes. In general, altering the design
variables for a single grillage may change the local The logic for this algorithm is to identify the
stresses in all grillages. This is because the geometry of grillage (i*) that is failing most severely according
individual grillages influences a section’s (collection of to the difference between its ULS interaction equa-
grillages) neutral axis location and moment of iner- tion, Equation  7, and the partial safety factors.
tia, which directly affects the conversion from global Along with the failing grillage, the corresponding
loads to local stresses. Altering the properties of one load scenario (j*) and failure mode (m*) must be
failing may also alleviate exceedances in other gril- identified. Then, that grillage is redesigned accord-
lages. For this reason, an iterative approach is neces- ing to simple guidelines.
sary for the local redesign. Obviously, the final design
will depend on the sequence chosen for redesign. As
mentioned, the goal for early-stage design should be 5 CONCLUSIONS
to find a “good” solution, and not to be overly con-
cerned with finding the “true” global optimum. This paper outlines a general design process for
First, let: multihull structures. The approach is computa-
tionally efficient, requires minimal information
c1,m c2,,m to setup, and applies physics-based solutions for
⎛ σ xxav ,i , j m ⎞ ⎛ σ yyav ,ii j , m ⎞ structural strength in a targeted manner where
ULS
Si =⎜ ⎟ +⎜ ⎟
⎝ σ xxu , m ⎠ ⎝ σ yyu , m ⎠
j ,m
their benefit for design is the greatest. Large-
c3,m deflection membrane-stress calculations are ref-
⎛ σ xxav ,i , j , m ⎞ ⎛ σ yyav ,i , j , m ⎞ ⎛ τ aav ,i , j ⎞ erenced for the direct estimation of ultimate limit
−κ ⎜ ⎟⎜ +
⎟ ⎜ ⎟
⎝ σ xxu , m ⎠ ⎝ σ yyu , m ⎠ ⎝ τ u , m ⎠ states, so as to be conducive to modern reliability-
based perspectives on design and minimize the
(8) need for sweeping safety factors.

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 Future work should investigate ultimate limit
states for use in areas of high curvature as is com-
monly found around the bow and stern. This
paper does not address load estimation for multi-
hulls. Future work will investigate the combined,
simultaneous multi-directional nature of multihull
loading and offer methods for creating ensembles
of combined design load scenarios that meet a
desired probability of non-exceedance.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to gratefully acknowledge
the support from the U.S. Office of Naval Research
under the technical direction of Ms. Kelly Cooper
through contract N00014-15-C-5134.
REFERENCES
ALPS/ULSAP. (2009). Ultimate limit state assessment of
plate panels. Stevensville, MD: DRS C3 Systems (http://
maestromarine.com/maestro-base-module/alps-ulsap/).
Benson, S., Downes, J., & Dow, R.S. (2015). Overall
Buckling of Lightweight Stiffened Panels Using an
Adapted Orthotropic Plate Method. Engineering
Structures, 107–117.
Boeing Computer Services. (1990). Advanced Surface
Ship Evaluation Tool, Monohull Surface Combatant
Program User Manual: Hull Structure Module. ver-
sion 3.0.
Collette, M.D. (2011). Rapid Analysis Techniques for
Ultimate Strength Predictions of Aluminum Struc-
tures. Advances in Marine Structures, (pp. 109–117).
Hamburg, Germany.
Deb, K., Pratap, A., Agarwal, S., & Meyarivan, T. (2002).
A fast and elitist multi-objective genetic algorithm:
NSGA-II. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Com-
putation, 6(2), 182–197.
Dow, R.S. (1997). Structural redundancy and damage
tolerance in relation to ultimate ship hull strength.
Advances in Marine Structures 3.
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Faulkner, D. (1987). Toward a better understanding of
compression induced tripping. In: Steel and Alumi-
num Structures. Applied Science, 159–175.
Faulkner, D., Adamchak, J., Snyder, G., & Vetter, M.
(1973). Synthesis of Welded Grillages to Withstand
Compression and Normal Loads. Computers & Struc-
tures, 221–246.
Hughes, O.F., & Paik, J.K. (2010). Ship Structural Anal-
ysis and Design. Jersey City: The Society of Naval
Architects and Marine Engineers.
Hughes, O.F., Mistree, F., & Zanic, V. (1980). A Practical
Method for the Rational Design of Ship Structures.
Journal of Ship Research, 101–113.
Kring, D.C., Milewski, W.M., & Fine, N.E. (2004).
Validation of a NURBS-Based BEM for Multihull
Ship Seakeeping. 25th Symposium on Naval Hydro-
dynamics. St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador,
Canada.
Ogdon, A.B., Collette, M.D., & Singer, D.J. (2012). Criti-
cal Cuts Method. Ann Arbor, MI: Marine Structures
Design Laboratory.
Paik, J.K., & Duran, A. (2004). Ultimate Strength of
Aluminum Plates and Stiffened Panels for Marine
Applications. Marine Technology, 108–121.
Paik, J.K., Thayamballi, A.K., & Kim, B.J. (2001).
Advanced Ultimate Strength Formulations for Ship
Plating Under Combined Biaxial Compression/
Tension, Edge Shear, and Lateral Pressure Loads.
Marine Technology, 9–25.
Paik, J.K., Thayamballi, A.K., & Kim, B.J. (2001). Large
deflection orthotropic plate approach to develop ulti-
mate strength formulations for stiffened panels under
combined biaxial compression/tension and lateral
pressure. Thin-Walled Structures, 215–246.
Paik, J.K., van der Veen, S., Duran, A., & Collette,
M. (2005). Ultimate compressive strength design
methods of aluminum welded stiffened panel struc-
tures for aerospace, marine and land-based applica-
tions: A benchmark study. Thin-Walled Structures,
1550–1566.
Sielski, R. (2007). Aluminum structure design and fabrica-
tion guide. Washington, DC: Technical Report SSC-
452, Ship Structures Committee.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Accuracy improvement of PCM using simple box girder-based

LSE data

I. Kvan & J. Choung

Inha University, Incheon, Republic of Korea

ABSTRACT: Progressive Collapse Method (PCM) is widely used for hull girder ultimate strength pre-
diction, however verification of accuracy generally has been based on comparative study with experimental
results. Structural behavior of a discretized unit, which is believed to have an independent load-shortening
and Load-Elongation (LSE) resistance, is one of the main parameters for PCM. In this paper LSE datum
of a stiffened panel was extracted by a new procedure using one framed simple box girder. LSE data based
on the new procedure were applied to two benchmark hull sections of 1/3 scale frigate and VLCC Energy
Concentration in order to calculate longitudinal strengths. Nonlinear FEA models for both benchmark
sections were also constructed to compare longitudinal strengths with PCM in combination with the new
procedure. It can be stated that box girder based-PCM results were well coincided with FEA ones.

1 INTRODUCTION Modeling of weld-induced initial distortion has to

Ultimate strength is fundamental assessment of
ship design. Evaluation of global ultimate strength
usually realized in early phase of design and accu-
rate prediction of moment-carrying capacity of
a ship hull girder is very important for guarantee
of safety. And this problem has been widely stud-
ied by many researchers and many methods were
proposed.
In 19th century breaking strength was the main
criteria of ship design but after Bryan (1891) calcu-
lated panel buckling, buckling strength became the
ultimate strength criteria in time. Caldwell (1965)
proposed a simplified formula to predict ultimate
strength of intact hull section and it was first
attempt to evaluate the ultimate strength of ship
structure. Since then there were a lot of researches
with regard to the study of ultimate strength of
hull girder and new formulas have been suggested
(Paik & Mansour 1995, Paik et  al. 2013, Benson
et al. 2013).
The Finite Element Method (FEM) was intro-
duced by Turner (1956) but it was applied to ulti-
mate strength evaluation later when elasto-plastic
large deflection analysis become possible to Per-
form this method. Nowadays nonlinear Finite
Element Analysis (FEA) is one of the most reliable
approaches and many researches based their pub-
lications on it (Qi et al. 2005, Paik et al. 2008, Xu
et al. 2013, Khedmati & Ghavami 2009, Yao et al.
2009, etc.). However, it has to be noted that ulti-
mate strength is affected by many factors and the
most influential of them is initial imperfections.
be very accurate because ultimate strength is very
susceptible to distortion shape and magnitude
changes (Gannon 2012). To avoid time-consuming
finite element modeling with initial imperfections
semi-numerical approaches such as improved
Idealized Structural Unit Method (ISUM) or
Progressive Collapse Method (PCM) can become
alternative to FEA.
PCM is one of the most widely used method to
predict moment-carrying capacity. It was proposed
by Smith (1977). PCM can carry out longitudinal
strength of intact ship section and it has been
broadly applied to predict a moment-carrying
capacity (Gordo & Guedes Soares 1996, Gordo
& Guedes Soares 1997, Gordo et al. 1996, Tayyar
et  al. 2014, IACS 2015). Recently PCM has been
extended to asymmetrically damaged hull sec-
tions by introducing another convergence criterion
which was for determining rotational shift history
of hull girder neutral axis (Choung et  al. 2012),
to consider a larger compartment based section of
the hull girder (Benson et al. 2013) and to calculate
collapse strength and to capture the effects of the
damage on surrounding structures (Underwood
et al. 2016). But most of these studies showed just
comparison of PCM results with those of non-
linear FEA or experiments. Hence, fundamental
study on PCM accuracy improvement in moment-
carrying capacity prediction has not been shown
before and this became the main motivation of this
work.
It is known that results based on PCM are
mainly depend on how LSE curve is predicted.

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 There are two ways of producing load-shortening will prove possibility of application of described
data. The first one is multi-bay FE models. The procedure for extraction of LSE data to real ship
most often employed multi-bay FE models are one sections.
and two half frame space model, three frame model
and four frame model. But this approach has dis-
advantage of separating FE model from the hull 2 MOTIVATION
and substituting it with continuous boundary con-
ditions applied to separated edges. This explains As was mentioned in introduction part, for LSE
uncurtains of load-shortening data and why multi- data evaluation stiffened panel FE models and
bay FE model can’t be thought as much reliable empirical formulas are broadly used but they can’t
method. The alternative to obtain LSE curve is be thought as absolutely reliable approaches. To
empirical formulas but they don’t consider exter- demonstrate result differences according to the
nal or internal pressure effects. Even well-proven approaches, three stiffened panels with Flat Bar
formulas presented in H-CSR (IACS, 2015) are (FB), Angle Bar (AB) and T-Bar (TB) longitudi-
much different not only from experimental results nal stiffeners are selected for comparative study
but also from results calculated from multi-bay FE of load-shortening curves calculated by H-CSR
model (Nam et al. 2014, Tayyar et al. 2014). Com- formulas and nonlinear FEA. Widths of plate
parison of LSE curves for different stiffened panels (bp) and flange (bf), web height (hw), thicknesses of
is done in motivation chapter. It well demonstrates plate (tp), web (tw) and flange (tf) of stiffened pan-
how significantly different results can be, depend- els are presented in Table 1. In order to minimize
ing on selected method and model. One more boundary condition effect, the FE model com-
approach was presented by Tayyar et  al. (2014) posed of eight longitudinal bays is used as shown
named kinematic displacement theory but it also in Figure 1. In transverse direction one span, one
has many mechanical assumptions. All these disad- and two half span and three span models are cre-
vantages of existing approaches became a motiva- ated. Table 2 shows applied boundary conditions.
tion to produce new more reliable method for LSE The transverse frames were replaced by boundary
data evaluation. conditions instead of direct modelling. Also aver-
This work is based on assumption that PCM- age initial distortion and moderate residual stress
based moment-carrying capacity is identical with are considered in stiffened panel models.
the one evaluated from FEA if LSE data was pre- Figure  2 represents comparison of compres-
dicted with high accuracy. For verification of this sive strength calculated from H-CSR formulas
assumptions two steps have to be done.
Firstly, a new procedure for extraction of LSE
data from the box girder is performed. After this Table 1. Dimensions of stiffened panels.
verification of nonlinear FEA parameters is done.
Here box girder, which was taken into account in bp tp hw tw bf tf
series of collapse tests by Nishihara (1984), was
Type mm mm mm mm mm mm
used as an object of study. The proof that FEA
results are well comparable with test results makes FB 1000 25 480 32 0 0
it possible to conclude not only reliability of this AB 925 23.5 847 15 180 32
method but also verification of such parameters as TB 1000 25 797 15 200 33
box girder span, initial imperfections and bound-
ary and load conditions.
As a second step extraction of LSE curves is
done and these curves are used as input data for in-
house code UMADS (Choung et  al. 2014) which
is based on PCM and capable to use externally
imported LSE data for moment-carrying capac-
ity calculations. Coincidence of box girder-based
PCM result with FEA-based one will prove the
accuracy of new procedure and PCM for ultimate
strength evaluation consequently.
In the end validity of new procedure is provided.
For this two types of hull section were selected as
an object of study: 1/3  scale frigate (ISSC 2000)
and VLCC Energy Concentration. Perfect coin-
cidence of moment-carrying capacities evaluated
from box girder-based PCM and nonlinear FEA Figure 1. Three span frame FE model.

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 Table 2. Applied boundary conditions.
Boundary conditions
Unloaded plate edge
Loaded plate edge
Frame-plate intersection line
Frame-web intersection line
Frame-flange intersection line
and three FEAs models. It can be seen that all
considered cases show different results. If to use
Constraints FE model with one frame load-shortening data
result is much different from one and two half span
Tz = Ry = Rz = 0
frame and three span frame cases which have iden-
Tz = Ry = Rz = 0
tical curves for stiffened panel with a flat bar but
Tz = Ry = Rz = 0
for angle bar and T-bar cases significant scatter in
Tz = Ry = Rz = 0
inelastic region is observed.
Tz = Ry = Rz = 0

3 A NEW PROCEDURE TO EXTRACT

LSE DATA

3.1 Read-out of LSE data of a structural units

from a box girder FE model
For extraction of load-shortening curves box
girder collapse simulations have to be done. For
this firstly the discretization of box girder section
to a sufficient number of structural units is done.
In this study 44 structural units are used as shown
in Figure 3a, whereas Figure 3b represents nodes

Figure 2. Comparison of load-shortening curves. Figure 3. Illustration of hull section discretization.

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 in nonlinear FEA. A load-shortening curve of a
structural unit is built from approximately five
finite shell elements.
Axial shortening or elongation force (fx,i) of ith
finite element can be taken from nonlinear FEA
results. In other words, the section force which is
integral of axial stress (σx,i) with respect to thick-
ness (t) can be taken from FEA results. Then multi-
plication of the section force by width of the finite
element in section direction (bi) is a yields axial
force of the finite element as depicted in Equa-
tion 1. Summation of the axial forces of five finite
elements becomes axial force of structural unit
#25, for example.
t web (ηw) are determined using Equations  3 and
2 Equation 4 respectively.
fx ,i bi ∫ σ x ,i dz (1)
−
t
2
For sagging moment-induced symmetry defor-
mation, the load-shortening capacity of the struc-
To avoid the complexity and minimize uncer-
tainties in calculations the simplest specimens
MST-3 and MST-4 of test series are selected for
this study and shown in Figure 4. Four-point bend-
ing apparatus was used for applying pure bending
moment on box girder specimen.
3.3 FE modelling
In this paper initial distortions and weld-induced
yield stress zones were included in FE model.
According to Smith et  al. (1988) three levels
of welding residual stress (σr) can be taken into
account as shown in Equation  2. Weld-induced
yield stress zones for plate base (ηp) and stiffener
⎧0.05σ 0 for slight
⎪
σ r = ⎨0.15σ 0 for moderate (2)
⎪0.30σ for severe
⎩ 0

tural units #23, #24, #25, #26 and #27  should σr b

be same as that of the structural unit #33, #32, ηp = (3)
σ0p + σr 2
#31, #30 and #29 respectively. Therefore, load-
shortening curves of only structural units #23 to σr hw
#28 are extracted from nonlinear FEA, then this ηw = (4)
σ 0w + σ r 2
data is copied to the other element located at the
symmetric side. Due to the same reason structural
The shape of initial distortions assumed to be
units #6, #7, #8, #9, #10 and #11 were used for
sinusoidal. The number of half-waves in longitu-
evaluation of load-elongation data. It has to be
dinal and transverse directions for each stiffened
noted that load-shortening data of structural units
panel are chosen as three and one (m = 3, n = 1)
#23-#27 under sagging moment is assumed to be
respectively. It is assumed that level of initial dis-
the same as load-shortening data of structural
tortion corresponds to level of weld residual stress.
units #6-#11 under hogging moment.
It means that slight, moderate and severe levels of
residual stress are paired with the slight, average
3.2 Simple box girders and severe levels of initial distortion respectively.
In this work slight level of residual stress and initial
Nishihara (1984) carried out a series of box girder
distortion is not taken into account.
collapse tests. In this tests he considered four types
For estimation of out-of-plane shape and mag-
of hull section specimens: MST for single hull
nitude of weld-induced initial distortion in plate
tanker, MSD for double bottom tanker, MSB for
Equation 5 and Equation 6 are used.
double bottom bulker, and MSC for double bot-
tom container ship. Two kinds of material proper-
mπ πy πx
ties were used for specimen fabrication as shown in δ p ( x, y) = C p sin
i sin + Cs sin (5)
Table 3. Here σ0 = yield stress of steel; E  = elastic a b a
modules; and v = Poisson ratio.

Table 3. Mechanical properties of box girder specimens.

t σ0 E
Specimen
label mm MPa MPa v

−3 3.05 287.3 2.07 × 105 0.277

−4 4.35 263.8 2.08 × 105 0.281
Figure 4. Box girder model and test specimen.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 280 3/29/2017 9:37:01 AM

 ⎧ 0.025 β 2 for slight level
Cp ⎪
= ⎨0.1β 2 for average level (6)
tp ⎪
⎩ 0.3β
2
for severe
r level

where δp = magnitude of initial distortion in plate;

Cp = initial distortion coefficient in plate; Cs = ini-
tial distortion coefficient in plate-web intersection
line; a = frame spacing; b = spacing of longitudinal
stiffeners; and β = plate slenderness ratio that can
be determined by Equation 7.

b σ0p
β= (7)
tp E Figure 6. Finite element analysis model.

In case of web, out-of-plane deflections (δw) are Table 4. Applied boundary conditions and load condi-
determined by Equation  8, while in-plane distor- tions on one frame model.
tions are represented by the second term of right
hand side of Equation  5. Magnitude of vertical Boundary conditions Constraints and load
and lateral deflection is assumed to be 0.15% of
Reference nodes Rx = Rz = 0 and prescribed Ry
frame space, as shown in Equation 9. inducing sagging deformation
Nodes on mid-plane Tx = Ry = Rz = 0
πx
δ w ( x ) Cw sin (8)
a
Cs Cw = C f 0 001 a (9) Table 5. Summary of nonlinear FEA cases.

Level of initial Direction of

To see perfect symmetric sagging or hogging imperfection initial distortion
deformation only symmetric concave and convex
about base plate initial distortions were considered Model label Severe Concave Convex
as shown in Figure 5.
It is believed that hull girder collapse can occur MST3-OM-SEV-CV V V
in the middle of two successive frames at mid- MST3-OM-SEV-CX V V
ship. That is why in this paper ultimate strength MST4-OM-SEV-CV V V
using nonlinear FEA was based on one frame span MST4-OM-SEV-CX V V
model as depicted in Figure 6.

Two reference nodes are located at the centroid

of box girder section end planes. In order that
plane end sections remain plane, dependencies
between a reference node and the end plane nodes
are required. A reference node on an end is linked
to plane nodes in the same plane with dependen-
cies of translation in x-direction and rotations in
x-, y-, and z-directions. Boundary conditions at
the references nodes should be decided such that
neutral axis can shift down in z-direction under
sagging moment. Prescribed constraints are
applied to two reference nodes. Symmetry bound-
ary conditions are imposed on the nodes located
at symmetry mid-plane. All boundary condi-
tions for one frame FE model are summarized in
Table 4.
Twelve elements are arranged for a longitudinal
space of plate and five elements for a stiffener web,
including weld-induced yield stress zones. In this
Figure 5. Initial distortion. paper it is thought that the numbers of elements

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 used for plate and stiffener members are sufficient
to simulate any local buckling mode. A commer-
cial finite element code Abaqus/Standard is used
for all simulations. Adequate number of elements
makes it possible to use quadrilateral element with
reduced integration scheme (S4R), which is capa-
ble of large strain simulations. One dimensional
dummy elements (T3D2) with very small section
area (nearly zero) are also modeled to calculate
neutral axis movement. If the neutral axis passes
through this element, then sign of axial stress will
be changed and evaluation of neutral axis location
will be possible.
Analysis cases are listed in Table 5 and catego-
rized according to thicknesses of base plates and
direction of initial distortion. Only severe level of
initial imperfections is taken into account.

3.4 Moment-carrying capacity

of one frame model
In Figure  7a, b comparison of moment-carrying
capacities for four test cases is represented. It can
be observed that one frame box girder model with
sever level of initial distortions gives quite accu-
rate prediction of moment-carrying capacity. In
MST-3 case ultimate strength prediction appears
to be in upper bound compared to the test results. Figure 7. Comparison of moment versus curvature dia-
On the contrary MST-4 case shows slightly pessi- grams from one frame-based nonlinear FEAs and actual
mistic results. tests.

Figure 8. LSE curves extracted from the box girder FE models.

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 3.5 Read-out of LSE data
Figure  8 is collection of the load-shortening
curves for structural units #23-#28 and the load-
elongation curves for structural units #6-#11 after
applying sagging moment to the four cases of one
frame box girder as specified in Table 5.
Figure 9. Scheme of PCM realization in UMADS using
externally generated LSE curves.
Figure 10. Comparison of moment-curvature curves and neutral axis shift-curvature curves.
283
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 283
3.6 Moment-carrying capacities of the box
girders
To realize PCM an in-house code UMADS which
has been developed to predict moment-carrying
capacity of intact and asymmetrically damaged
hull section (Choung et al. 2014) is used. UMADS
is capable of importing LSE curves, which are
externally generated, and calculating moment-
carrying capacity with variations of translational
and rotational shifts of neutral axis. The sequence
of PCM realization in UMADS is presented in
Figure 9.
LSE data listed in Figure  8 are used for input
of UMADS and Figure 10 shows comparison of
moment-carrying capacities obtained from nonlin-
ear FEA and PCM. In Figure 10a, c, d it is certain
that PCM-based moment carrying-capacities are
perfectly coincided with nonlinear FEA-based one
until each curvature reaches end value. If neutral
axis difference is an increasing trend as shown in
Figure  10b unneglectable differences are found
beyond ultimate moment values. This means neu-
tral axis shift history is very important for accu-
rate prediction of moment-carrying capacity.
From Figure 10 it can be concluded that PCM is
3/29/2017 9:37:05 AM
 equivalent to one frame-based nonlinear FEA as etry of box girder stiffened panels with different
long as accurate LSE data are used and shift of plate width (bp  =  100  mm and bp  =  202.6  mm)
neutral axis is well predicted. located on the deck in sagging conditions. The
uniform deformation shapes can be observed for
box girder constructed from stiffened panels with
4 STUDY ON BOX GIRDER PARAMETERS wider plate and non-uniform ones for the case
with narrower plate width. From this it can be
It was proved that accuracy of LSE data is very expected that load-shortening data of stiffened
important for PCM-based moment-carrying panels from SP1 to SP10 in two box girders will
capacity prediction. But it is necessary to analyze behave in the same manner: uniformly and with
the response of these data to variation of box significant scatter of the curves. Because behav-
girder parameters. Hence, the study of load-short- ior of load-shortening curves does not depend
ening curve behavior according to aspect ratio on aspect ratio, only schematic illustrations of
(ratio of the depth D versus breadth B) and stiff-
ened panel plate width has to be done. In this sec-
tion four aspect ratios D = 19 and B = 19 (D/B = 1), Table 6. Stiffened panels parameters.
D = 15 and B = 19 (D/B = 0.8), D = 11 and B = 19
(D/B = 0.6), D = 9 and B = 19 (D/B = 0.5) are con- Stiffener Plate Yield Young
sidered. Here breadth and depth are presented scantlings width stress modulus
by number of stiffeners in horizontal and verti- Stiffener
type mm mm MPa MPa
cal directions respectively. To vary correlation of
D/B breadth was fixed and depth was variated. T-bar 38.1/14 × 1.78/3.3 100 × 3 245 206000
Also two cases of stiffened panel with absolutely T-bar 38.1/14 × 1.78/3.3 202.6 × 3 245 206000
the same material properties and stiffener scant-
lings but different plate width (bp  =  100  mm and
bp  =  202.6  mm) are taken into account as shown
in Table 6.
Because it is believed that after applying sag-
ging moment on box girder only symmetrical
deformation appears, only half of stiffened panels
located on the deck are considered. Numeration
of stiffened panels starts from the middle to the
side. In other words, if box girder with 19  stiff-
ened panels in horizontal direction is studied, then
stiffened panel #1 (SP1) is in the middle of the
deck and stiffened panel #10 (SP10) is near the
board (refer to Figure  11). Figure  11 represents
two cases of post-ultimate deformation geom- Figure 11. Post-ultimate deformation shape.

Figure 12. Schematic illustration of load-shortening curves behavior depended on plate width.

284

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 284 3/29/2017 9:37:06 AM

 load-shortening data from two types of box
girder with different base plate width are pre-
sented in Figure  12. As was expected in case
with narrower stiffener spacing unneglectable
differences after maximum shortening load are
observed. This phenomenon can be explained
by local buckling mode that can appear in stiff-
ened panel with smaller scantlings. At the same
time load-shortening curves of all stiffened pan-
els with plate width 202.6 mm, except SP10, are
perfectly coincide. Different behavior of SP10
occurs because it is located near the hard corner
that can effect load-resistance parameter of stiff-
ened panel.
From this chapter concluded that non-
uniform deformations can appear because of
stiffened panel scantlings and this became uncer-
tainty in LSE data selection, because it is impos-
sible to predict occurrence of local buckling
deformation.
Figure  13b discretized frigate mid-ship section
is represented and it has to be noted that in
discretization some assumptions are done. For
example, assembled stiffener No2 Deck was sub-
stituted by simple T-bar stiffener with equivalent
web thickness. In other words, to simplify model-
ling of box girder cross section area of flat bar
with height 60 mm and thickness 6 mm, located
on the web, was distributed to the web thickness
and after modification No2 Deck became T-bar
stiffener with increased web thickness from 6 mm
to 7.23 mm.
Comparison of moment-carrying capacities and
neutral axis shifts calculated by new procedure-
based PCM and nonlinear FEA depicted in
Figure  14. Results show good coincidence and
error in maximum moment value evaluation is neg-
ligible. But it has to be noted that in inelastic part
divergence of curves is well observed and differ-
ences in moment and neutral axis histories are in
increasing trend.

5 APPLICABILITY OF THE NEW

PROCEDURE TO REAL SHIP SECTIONS

In this chapter the comparison of moment-carrying

capacities of real ship sections determined by box
girder-based PCM and nonlinear FEA is done. As
objects of study 1/3 scale frigate and VLCC Energy
Concentration were chosen.

5.1 1/3 scale frigate section

The main problem for applicability of new pro-
cedure is a big number of box girder models
which has to be created to obtain LSE data of
whole mid-ship section. Also during LSE data
extraction process transverse location of stiff-
ened panel has to be taken into account. This is Figure 13. Frigate mid-ship section.
because of shear lag effect that can be a reason
of difference of LSE curves that were taken from
structural units with absolutely the same mate-
rial properties and geometry parameters but in
different transverse location. Therefore, all box
girder models were created with as close as pos-
sible to the original mid-ship section breadth and
depth values.
For 1/3  scale frigate section, which is seems
to be not so complicated, 20 box girder models
are required for all structural units LSE data
evaluation. Such big number is necessary because
even small changes and differences in stiffener
or attached plate dimensions has to be consid-
ered. For example, stiffened panel #34 has the
same plate width and stiffener parameters as
stiffened panels #36-#42. But thicker plate thick-
ness forces to create additional box girder model Figure 14. Comparison of moment-curvature and neu-
for this structural unit (refer to Figure  13a). In tral axis shift-curvature curves for frigate section.

285

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 285 3/29/2017 9:37:07 AM

 5.2 Energy concentration section
In previous chapter 1/3 scale frigate mid-ship sec-
tion was used as an object of studying and it is
noted that results are good but some inaccuracy in
moment-carrying capacity prediction exists. This
slight inaccuracy can be explained by assump-
tions and equivalent substitutions that were made
in discretized model. But frigate section has not
so many assembled stiffeners and a little number
of assumptions was used in this case. So it can be
expected that error in moment-carrying capacity
prediction will increase with increasing of mid-
ship section complexity.
In this chapter VLCC Energy Concentration
mid-ship section is studied (Figure 15). The num- Figure 16. Comparison of moment-curvature and neu-
ber of required box girder models is 54. This time tral axis shift-curvature curves for energy concentration
not only geometry parameters has to be taken into section.
account but also two types of steel (MS and HTS)
which were used for hull constructions.
As was predicted the difference of moment-
carrying capacity calculated by two approaches is
more significant than in frigate case (Figure  16).
Nonlinear FEA shows more optimistic results in
comparison to box girder-based PCM. But shape
of moment-curvature curves is very similar and it
means that behavior of stiffened panels in sagging/
hogging condition was predicted correctly.

5.3 Simplified energy concentration section

Analysis of applicability study shows that main Figure  17. Energy concentration discretized mid-ship
reason of result inaccuracy is impossibility to use sections.
assembled stiffeners in box girder models. In Energy
Concentration rounded shells became additional
uncertain in mid-ship discretization. To prove the
accuracy of new procedure and possibility to apply
it to real ships additional study is done. Here sim-
plified Energy Concentration mid-ship section is
used where all assembled stiffeners are substituted
to simple bars. For example, vertical keel and two
big stiffeners on the bottom were deleted from the
model and simple stiffeners #1 (for numbering

Figure  18. Comparison of moment-curvature and

neutral axis shift-curvature curves for simplified energy
concentration section.

refer to Figure 15a) are used instead of them. Also

in FE model rounded shells were removed and by
analogy with discretized model flat plates are used.
This simplification makes it possible to avoid all
Figure 15. Energy concentration mid-ship section. inaccuracies and differences between two models.

286

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 286 3/29/2017 9:37:07 AM

 Two discretized sections are shown in Figure  17
where all simplifications can be observed easily.
Perfect coincidence of two moment-curvature
curves in Figure 18 convinces of high accuracy of
box girder-based PCM. However, such problems as
assembled stiffener and rounded shell LSE predic-
tion inaccuracy, has to be solved in future works.
6 CONCLUSIONS
PCM is popularly used method for hull girder
ultimate strength estimation. Its reliability mostly
depend on how LSE data is accurately predicted.
Inasmuch as fundamental study on this problem
wasn’t done the substantial aim of this paper is to
introduce new approach for LSE data evaluation
from nonlinear FEA of box girder models that is
expected to improve PCM results and increase its
reliability.
To avoid uncertainties in numerical simulations
relative to experimental results the simplest box
girder tested by Nishihara (1984) was selected for
verification of nonlinear FEAs-based moment-
carrying capacity with experimental results. It was
proved that FEA is effective approach for ultimate
strength evaluation.
With respect to moment-carrying capacity
predicted by PCM, a special procedure for LSE
datum extraction is introduced in this paper. The
box girder is divided into 44 structural units. LSE
data of each unit are generated from nonlinear
FEA of the box girder. Then these data are used
for input of PCM which has been realized by an in-
house code UMADS. Moment carrying-capacity
obtained from PCM is very well agreed with one
from nonlinear FEA. It is found that how accu-
rately load-shortening data and neutral axis shift
can be predicted is a key factor for obtaining reli-
able moment carrying-capacity. It is proved that
PCM is certainly equivalent method to nonlinear
FEA as far as these two (LSE curves and neutral
axis shift) are successfully applied.
Study on box girder parameters showed that
scantlings of stiffened panel can be a reason of
local buckling mode appearance and significant
scatter in LSE data. If buckling deformation keeps
uniform column mode identical LSE data are gen-
erated. Also it was concluded that stiffened panel
transverse location has to be taken into account
due to shear lag effect. Hence, all box girder mod-
els are created with close breadth and depth values
to the real mid-ship section.
Verification of applicability of proposed method
was realized by determination of moment-carrying
capacity of two types of hull girder. The 1/3 scale
frigate and VLCC Energy Concentration mod-
els are selected as objects of study. To apply new
287
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 287
procedure to real ship section a large number of
nonlinear box girder FEAs is required. This is
because even slight change in base plate thickness or
stiffener parameter implies creating new box girder
model for this case. Because of limitations, assump-
tions and imperfections in discretization of model,
results didn’t coincide with high accuracy as was
expected. For more accurate results and confirma-
tion of applicability of box girder method Energy
Concentration hull girder was simplified. After sim-
plification of mid-ship section, it was proved that
PCM has close result of moment-carrying capacity
prediction to nonlinear FEA-based one.
The future challenge is study on suitable LSE
data selection when post-buckling strengths of
same sized stiffened panels are different. Also
improvement of assembled stiffeners LSE curve
extraction is important, because it was concluded
that inaccuracy in this datum distorts results sig-
nificantly. In addition, applicability of extended
box girder model to minimize boundary effect,
should be studied for future work.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by “Special Education
Program for Offshore Plant” and “Korea-UK
Global Engineer Education Program for Offshore
Plant” by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and
Energy Affairs (MOTIE).
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© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Geometrically nonlinear bending response of a ship-like box girder

using an enhanced single-layer theory

M. Metsälä, B. Reinaldo Gonçalves & J. Romanoff

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aalto University, Finland

J. Jelovica
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

ABSTRACT: The present paper investigates the use of the orthotropic first-order shear deformation
theory to predict the geometrically nonlinear behavior of a ship-like box girder. Single-layer models with
the constant stiffness matrix can, however, only predict global deformation. To capture local buckling, this
study uses an adaptive stiffness matrix method based on pre-computed unit-cell analyses. The method is
validated by comparison with a three-dimensional finite element model where the unit cells are modelled
discretely. Very good agreement is overall observed. The single-layer model is somewhat softer in the post-
buckling regime due to boundary condition incompatibilities at the box beam edges. The method is easy
to implement and use, while it significantly reduces modelling and analysis times.

1 INTRODUCTION is to carry out numerical the microstructural analy-

The size and structural complexity of passenger,
and especially cruise, ships has been increased sig-
nificantly during the last decades. Simultaneously
the pressure to use new materials and structural
topologies have increased due to requirements for
sustainable, energy-efficient and lightweight design.
Due to these trends, the assessment of ultimate limit
state became important even for passenger ships,
which are sturdy beams from viewpoint of main
dimensions, i.e. length-to-height ratio is low. How-
ever, due to openings in the side shell, large atriums
and new materials this ratio is not enough to char-
acterize the hull girder behavior and direct analy-
sis methods are needed for structural assessment.
This means that the Finite Element (FE)-based
techniques are needed in ships with high geometri-
cal complexity (ISSC, 1997) already at early design
stages. For decades, finite element analysis has been
the industry standard. It can handle geometrical
and material nonlinearities for extremely complex
problems such as buckling or localization of frac-
ture in ship collision and grounding. However, for
practical work of these very complex ship geome-
tries, there is still need for improvement on compu-
tational efficiency and accuracy. This is especially
the case in ultimate strength analysis.
Multi-scale modeling of materials can couple the
failure effects at different scales and thereby improve
the accuracy of the analysis. It has obtained signifi-
cant attention over recent years in solid mechanics
and materials science community (see, e.g. Coenen
et al. 2010; Geers et al. 2010). The basic idea there
289
sis for effective, homogenized, stress-strain curves.
These can be used then to assess the nonlinear
macroscopic response of a structure. Once mac-
roscopic responses are known, it is possible to cal-
culate microstructural stresses using localization
techniques. As the problems are nonlinear, natu-
rally iterations are needed inside one length-scale,
but also between two consecutive length-scales.
In cases where these two scales are included into
same model, the computational task is defined by
the smallest scale, which results in extremely high
computational task without large impact in higher
length-scale nonlinear responses. Therefore, direct
coupling is not beneficial for early design stages
where time is limited. One way to reduce the com-
putational requirements is to use Equivalent Single
Layer (ESL) theory where all stiffness properties,
stress resultants and strains and curvatures are
described through single layer by assuming certain
kinematics through the thickness of the shell.
Byklum and Amdahl (2002), Byklum et al. 2004,
Brubak et al. (2007) and Brubak and Hellesand
(2007a, 2007b) have used similar ideas to model
geometrically nonlinear problems in buckling, post-
buckling and vibrations analysis of stiffened pan-
els (Brubak and Hellesand, 2013). However, they
use analytical models which limit the approach by
topology and materials. This also means that the
approach is limited to simple rectangular geome-
tries with simple boundary and loading conditions.
Thus, extension to finite elements is needed. Such
extensions for compression loading have been done
in Reinaldo Goncalves et al. (2016a, 2016b) and for

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 289 3/29/2017 9:37:08 AM

 tensile loading in Körgesaar et al. (2016). However, and the relation between stress resultants and
these investigations consider only plates with ideal- strains
ized boundary conditions.
The aim of this paper is to extend this work to ⎧ (0 ) ⎫
cover more realistic geometry used in ship design ⎧N11 ⎫ ⎡ A11 A12 0 C11 C12 0 ⎤ ⎪ε11 ⎪
and to identify the problems occurring due to this. ⎪N ⎪ ⎢ A A 0 C21 C222 0 ⎥⎥ ⎪ε 22 ⎪
(0 )
⎪ 22 ⎪ ⎢ 21 22
⎪ ⎪
For this purpose, a box-beam with transverse walls ⎪N12 ⎪ ⎢ 0 0 A33 0 0 C333 ⎥ ⎪γ 12(0) ⎪
is considered in 4-point-bending. This way the ⎨ ⎬=⎢ ⎥ ⎨ (1) ⎬
connections between the walls and decks of ships ⎪M11 ⎪ ⎢ B11 B112 0 D11 D112 0 ⎥ ⎪ε11 ⎪
are modelled more realistically without assuming ⎪M 22 ⎪ ⎢ B21 B222 0 D21 D222 0 ⎥ ⎪ε (1) ⎪
predefined boundary conditions. As equivalent ⎪ ⎪ ⎢ ⎥ ⎪ 12 ⎪
⎩M12 ⎭ ⎢⎣ 0 0 B333 0 0 D333 ⎥⎦ ⎪ (1) ⎪
single layer theory is used, some modeling issues ⎩γ 12 ⎭
arise that affect the structural behavior at corner ⎧Q2 ⎫ ⎡ DQ 2 0 ⎤ ⎧γ 223 ⎫ ∂w0
⎨ ⎬=⎢ ⎨ ⎬ , γ i3 φi i = 1, 2
DQ1 ⎥⎦ ⎩γ 113 ⎭
regions of this structure. To highlight this, a box-
beam structure with low complexity is selected. ⎩Q1 ⎭ ⎣ 0 ∂xi
(4)
2 NONLINEAR EQUIVALENT SINGLE
where A,B,C,D and DQ are the in-plane, cou-
LAYER METHOD (NL-ESL)
pling, bending and the transverse shear stiffnesses,
respectively.
2.1 Global kinematics of a sandwich panel
We employ the multiscale method proposed
Consider an orthotropic plate model based on the by Reinaldo Goncalves et  al. (2016a, 2016b) to
first-order shear deformation theory, see e.g. Reddy include local nonlinearity to the ABCD stiffness
2004. The displacement field is defined as matrix of eqn. (4). We define local nonlinearity as
the progressive secondary effects in the members
u ( x1 x2 , x3 t ) u0 ( x1 x2 ,tt ) x3φ1 ( x1 x2 ,t ) that compose the sandwich assembly, for instance,
v ( x1 x2 , x3 t ) v0 ( x1, x2 t ) + x3φ2 ( x1, x2 ,t ) (1) local buckling of the face plates between consecu-
w ( x1 x2 , x3 t ) w0 ( x1 x2 ,t ) tive webs. Nonetheless, this still allows global buck-
ling to occur, as initial stiffnesses can accurately
where the subscript 0 denotes the geometrical mid- describe overall deformation of the panel. In other
plane and φ is the transverse normal rotation angle words, global deformation does not alter stiffnesses
(Jelovica and Romanoff, 2013), but local does.
∂u ∂v
φ1 d φ2 = (2)
∂x3 ∂x3 2.2 Local analysis

The associated von Karman strains can be written Consider a Representative Volume Element (RVE)
of the initially imperfect structure (Figure 1), mod-
⎧ 2
⎫ elled using first-order shell elements. We define the
(1) ⎫ ⎪ ∂u0 + 1 ⎛ ∂w ⎞
0
⎧ (0 ) ⎫ ⎧ ⎪
ε
⎧ ε11 ⎫ ⎪ 11 ⎪ ε ⎜ ⎟ RVE dimensions as the smallest periodic block
⎪ (1) ⎪ ⎪ ∂x1 2 ⎝ ∂x1 ⎠
11
⎪ that composes the structure with imperfections.
⎪ ε ⎪ ⎪ ε (0 ) ⎪ ⎪ ε 22 ⎪ ⎪ ⎪
⎪⎪ 22 ⎪⎪ ⎪ 22 ⎪ ⎪ (1) ⎪ ⎪ ∂v0 1 ⎛ ∂w ⎞ 0
2
⎪ The RVE is subject to progressive uniform
(0 )
⎨γ 23 ⎬ = ⎨γ 23 ⎬ + x3 ⎨γ 23 ⎬ = ⎪ + ⎜ ⎟ ⎪ edge-displacements that are set according to the
⎪γ ⎪ ⎪ ( 0 ) ⎪ ⎪ (1) ⎪ ⎪ ∂x2 2 ⎝ ∂x2 ⎠ ⎪ strain field of (3). A single strain component is
⎪ 13 ⎪ ⎪γ 13 ⎪ ⎪γ 13 ⎪ ⎪ ∂w0 ⎪
⎪⎩γ 12 ⎪⎭ ⎪ (0) ⎪ ⎪ (1) ⎪ ⎨ + φ2 ⎬ simulated at each model, while the other strains
γ
⎩ 12 ⎭ γ
⎩ 12 ⎭ ⎪ ∂x2 ⎪ are zero, see Figure 2. Periodicity is maintained at
⎪ ⎪
⎪ ∂w0 ⎪ opposite edges. Geometrically nonlinear analysis
+ φ1
⎪ ∂x1 ⎪ of the RVE is then conducted. Information from
⎪ ⎪ the local analysis is transferred to the global shell
⎪ ∂u0 + ∂v0 + ∂w0 ∂w0 ⎪
⎪⎩ ∂x2 ∂x1 ∂x1 ∂x2 ⎪⎭
(3)
⎧ ∂φ1 ⎫
⎪ ∂x ⎪
⎪ 1
⎪
⎪ ∂φ 2 ⎪
+ x3 ⎪ ⎪
⎪ ∂x2 ⎪
⎨ ⎬
⎪ 0 ⎪
⎪ 0 ⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎪ ∂φ1 + ∂φ2 ⎪ Figure 1. RVE sub-model. Reproduced from Reinaldo
⎪⎩ ∂x2 ∂x1 ⎪⎭ Goncalves et al. (2016a).

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 290 3/29/2017 9:37:09 AM

 Figure  2. RVE loading. Reproduced from Reinaldo
Goncalves et al. (2016a).
Figure  3. Equivalent nonlinear shell stiffness based
on local analysis. Reproduced from Reinaldo Goncalves
et al. (2016a).
constitutive behavior through a scale transition
algorithm.
2.3 Scale transition (adaptive shell
ABCD-matrix)
Equivalent shell resultant vs. strain relations are
defined based on edge displacements, external
forces and RVE dimensions for every nonlinear
load step. The relations define the changing stiff-
ness of the sandwich assembly due to local non-
linearity as function of strain. Figure 3 shows the
relations that define the stiffness matrix of the
web-core sandwich panel under consideration.
The shell stiffness matrix, eqn. (4), at a given
global step is defined based on the elemental strain
state. The global strain components (3) at current
and next step are used to estimate stiffness changes
from the relations of Figure  3; see Reinaldo
Goncalves et al. (2016b) for an Abaqus UGENS
implementation guide. That way, the shell element
behavior is enhanced with information from the
local scale.
3 CASE STUDY
3.1 Problem definition
Consider a ship-like box girder composed of
web-core sandwich panels. The general structural
arrangements, loading, boundary conditions and
main dimensions are summarized in Figure  4.
Transverse bulkheads are positioned under the
point forces and both ends. The material proper-
ties considered (steel) are E = 206 GPa and ν = 0.3.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 291
Figure  4. Ship-like box girder, dimensions in [m].
(A) Box-girder model, loading and boundary conditions
(B) cross-sectional area (C) web-core sandwich dimensions.
Structural analysis of the box girder is conducted
using the first-order orthotropic plate theory with
adaptive stiffness matrix and the Finite Element
Method (FEM). All stiffness terms are nonlinear,
except for the out-of-plane shear stiffnesses, due
to software limitations. These remain constant
at their initial values, DQx =  68  MN/m and DQy
= 0.419 MN/m. The results are validated by com-
parison with a more complex finite element model,
with the three-dimensional geometry discretized
using first-order shell elements.
Progressive buckling response is studied by car-
rying out a geometrically nonlinear analysis of the
structure. Initial imperfections are present. The
analyses are conducted with the package Abaqus
6.12-3 and a user subroutine UGENS. In the
following sections, we briefly introduce the practi-
calities of the methods employed.
3.2 Modelling considerations and validation
Consider a single-layer shell discretization of
the box girder of Figure  4 at the geometric mid-
plane of the actual topology. The mesh size is
taken as 0.04 ⋅ 0.04  m, leading to approximately
46 000 Abaqus S4R elements overall. A mesh sen-
sitivity study shows that the density is sufficient.
Validation is conducted with a shell-based 3D
model with relatively fine mesh, leading to a ten-
fold increase in element amount. Six S4R elements
between each web plate and four along the web’s
height are used. Figure  5  shows the FE models
used and corresponding mesh densities.
Four-point bending loading is applied in quasi-
static regime at one- and three-fourths of the girder
length. In the single-layer model, loads and bound-
ary conditions are transferred to the geometric
mid-plane, while in the validation model they are
assigned to the sandwich outer skin. Loading
3/29/2017 9:37:10 AM

Figure  5. Box girder discretizations: shell-based 3D
(top) and single-layer (bottom) models.
is  applied in small steps using the modified Riks
method as to track the progressive structural stiff-
ness changes. For simplicity, only geometric effects
are studied, and the material is assumed to behave
linearly throughout the analysis. This assumption
has been removed in Körgesaar et al. (2016), how-
ever, only for the tensile loading and is thus not
considered here.
3.3 Geometric imperfections
Local imperfections are observed on laser-welded
sandwich panels as result of the manufacturing
process (Sandwich project, 2003). In the single-
layer method, the local imperfections are included
in the equivalent stiffness matrix based on RVE
sub-analyses. In the validation model, the local
imperfections are modelled explicitly by chang-
ing the node positions to fit a sinusoidal wave with
half-wavelength of one web-spacing. The local
imperfection amplitude is equal to 10% of the face
plate thickness, i.e. 0.25 mm.
3.4 Corner modelling
To match single-layer and validation models we
need to produce equivalent corners between sand-
wich bulkheads and decks. The reinforced corner
has proportionally higher stiffness than the periodic
sandwich geometry (Figure 4c) overall. The differ-
ence is particularly high when concerned with shear
deformation, as the open span between webs is dra-
matically reduced (by a factor of three). For this
reason, in the single-layer model, in one analysis,
we assign nearly infinite shear stiffness at the corner
area. This is of particular importance as the cor-
ners are a high shear force zone after buckling has
occurred and out-of-plane deformations increase.
3.5 Walls and transverse bulkheads
The ship-like model has end-walls and transverse
bulkheads under the load application points
292
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 292
Figure  6. Discretization of (A) transverse walls and
bulkheads (B) panel stiffeners.
(Figure 6). The transverse panels have thickness of
0.01 m, and are stiffened by a grid of two horizon-
tal and three vertical stiffeners. The stiffeners have
height 0.08 m, thickness 0.01 m (Figure 6b) and are
symmetrical with respect to the plate, i.e. on both
sides of the plate.
4 RESULTS
4.1 Nonlinear analysis of the isolated panel
To understand better the behavior of the box
girder, the nonlinear response of an isolated, sim-
ply-supported, sandwich panel is presented first;
see Figure  7. The panel has the same topology/
properties as the ones comprising the box girder,
thus the stiffness curves shown in Figure  3 are
used. It can be seen that the NL-ESL method accu-
rately predicts the global and local buckling of the
panel. More details on the study can be found in
Reinaldo Goncalves et al. (2016a).
4.2 Box girder primary response
The box girder is subjected to four-point bending,
which means that the central section between two
bulkheads (L/4 to 3 L/4) is under constant bend-
ing moment and no shear force. Increase of load-
ing on the girder causes increase of compressive
stress on the top deck and tension on the bottom.
The top deck (panel) buckles globally at around
5 MN and locally soon after. Figure 8a shows the
3D deformation at 8 MN, that is, after global and
local buckling. Figure  8b shows the correspond-
ing deformation of the NL-ESL model at similar
external load. While local buckling is not visible, it
is accounted for within the reduced stiffness matrix
(see Figure 4).
Figure  9  shows the load vs. total deflection of
the structure at node 2 (x = L/2, y  = b in Figure 8).
In the linear regime, the difference in deflections
is approximately 2%. At 8 MN, after the start of
local buckling, the NL-ESL predicts 5.7% larger
deflection for the same external load.
3/29/2017 9:37:11 AM

Figure  7. Geometric failure of a web-core sandwich
panel due to in-plane compression using ESL models
(Reinaldo Goncalves et al. 2016a).
Figure  8. Deformation of the box girder (one half
showing) at 8 MN loading, with scaling factor of 3 and
outlining the nodes of interest: a) 3D model; b) NL-ESL
model.
Figure 9. Load-deflection curve of the girder in the mid-
dle of the support span, at corner (point 2: x = L/2, y = B).
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 293
4.3 Response of the panel within the girder
The top deck is exposed to primarily uniaxial
compressive stress, with bending at the unloaded
edges. Figure 10a shows the top deck mid-deflec-
tion (node 1: x = L/2, y = b/2) subtracted from the
top-corner deflection (node 2: x = L/2, y = b), thus
focusing on the local panel response only. Positive
deflection is downwards for convenience. We can
see very good agreement between the methods in
linear regime, but not after the global buckling.
The post-buckling slope is much better when the
load is normalized by global buckling load for each
model; see Figure  10b. The load is obtained by
integrating element forces in the panel when local
deflection reaches 10 mm; one for the 3D model is
4.95 MN and for the NL-ESL is 4.60 MN.
4.4 Influence of ESL corner modelling
The width of the top deck in NL-ESL model is
larger than in the 3D, since it includes half of the
vertical wall (sandwich panel) thickness on each
side. Furthermore, the horizontal distance between
consecutive webs is smaller in the corners, consid-
erably increasing its relative stiffness. In particular,
changes in the transverse shear stiffness DQy of the
Figure 10. Girder load vs. transverse panel deflection at
the center of top deck: a) real load vales, b) normalized
load values.
3/29/2017 9:37:12 AM
 corners critically affect the deck response. To assess
the influence of corner modelling, we set the ele-
ments spanning the corner width as transversely-
rigid and compare the responses in Figure 11. The
rigid corner leads to better agreement with the vali-
dation model, although some difference remains in
the far post-buckling. These differences become
more pronounced as local buckling initiates, and
can be linked to incompatibilities between bound-
ary conditions of the local model (see Section  3)
and the unit cell actual deformations. Unit cells
located at the corner region are not allowed to
deform periodically, as the walls restrain vertical
deflections locally.
Figure  12  shows the transverse shear force Qy
distribution predicted by NL-ESL and valida-
tion models at 2  MN and 7  MN loading. Values
are presented for the top deck at the cross-section
x = L/2. Here also the stiffer rigid corner yields bet-
ter agreement between 3D and NL-ESL models.
The influence is most significant on the few unit
cells closest to the corners. The results indicate that
the corner modelling strategy has a non-negligible
influence on the global panel behavior.

4.5 Computational power requirements

The NL-ESL method leads to a reduction of
modelling, analysis and post-processing resource
requirements. Similar analysis parameters, e.g.
the maximum load increment, were used for both
3D and NL-ESL models. The latter ran on a per-
sonal computer with 2.4 GHz AMD Phenom 8750
Triple-Core Processor and 4  GB RAM memory
for approximately 8 hours. The 3D model ran on
a research supercomputer (CSC Taito) with eight
CPUs and 256 GB RAM. Approximately two
days were needed for the analysis to achieve the
local buckling stage. Thereafter, the load steps
Figure 12. Transverse shear force in y-direction (Qy) in
the top sandwich panel: comparison of different models.
were automatically reduced and one more day was
needed to reach the far post-buckling.
Creation of the 3D model required two days,
whereas one hour of work was needed for the NL-
ESL model (the stiffnesses were computed before-
hand). Post-processing of 3D model required
again significant resources, unlike the NL-ESL
approach.

5 DISCUSSION

In the linear regime, excellent correspondence

Figure 11. Influence of the shear stiffness of the corner
on the load-deflection behavior of TSP.
between methods is observed in terms of maxi-
mum global deflection. Slight discrepancies are
seen from the global buckling onset onward, but
the agreement is still very good throughout the
post-buckling regime. In the global box girder level,
the 3D-obtained load vs. displacement behavior is
nearly perfectly represented with the NL-ESL. As
local buckles start to emerge, the global curves set
themselves slightly apart, but continue parallel in
the far post-buckling regime, indicating that the
global stiffness representation is consistent.
In the panel level, the differences are more accen-
tuated, but are greatly mitigated by considering the
corners rigid. The remaining differences observed

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 between NL-ESL and the validation model are
mostly due to plate edge effects (see Nguyen et al.
2011, p.29–30). Infinitely periodic field is assumed
in the local analyses, which is approximately valid
for the unit cells away from the corners, but not
in their immediate vicinity. As the panels are com-
posed of relatively few unit cells, the non-periodic
plate-edge behavior affects the response of the
panel. In fact, the buckling strength of web-core
panels has been observed as particularly sensitive
to variations in stiffness and boundary conditions
(Jelovica et al. 2012, Jelovica and Romanoff 2013,
Jelovica et al. 2014). Other dissimilarities between
NL-ESL and 3D modelling strategies, such as the
slight mismatch in panel widths due to the mid-
plane single-layer representation and corner mod-
elling also contribute for the differences seen. To
investigate the effect of shear deformation in the
corner modelling, the analyses were repeated for
transversely rigid corner, leading to a more con-
sistent response against the validation results. In
fact, comparisons between transverse shear forces
predicted with rigid and non-rigid corners indicate
that the 3D behavior is more closely represented
with a rigid model. Metsälä (2016) showed that
the stress localization from homogenized result-
ants (Romanoff and Varsta, 2007) is also improved
when the corners are taken as rigid as the shear
force distribution is more realistically represented.
The NL-ESL method remarkably reduced the
time required for modelling, performing the analy-
ses and interpreting the results. Unlike most semi-
analytical methods (e.g. Byklum et al. 2004), the
NL-ESL is also flexible, in the sense that dimen-
sions and material properties can be changed in
local level models, while the global mesh of the
ship structure can be maintained.
6 CONCLUSIONS
This study employed an enhanced single-layer
approach (Reinaldo Goncalves et al. 2016a) for
the elastic progressive failure analysis of a box-
like ship. The response was compared with the one
predicted by a fine-mesh 3D FE model, and very
good agreement was overall observed. The method
improves the stiffness description by including
unit-cell nonlinearity in the stiffness matrix for-
mulation. This allows modelling highly localized
effects such as local buckling, beside global. As this
study shows, the local panel response is approxi-
mately described, with differences mainly attrib-
uted to local boundary condition modelling. The
effect of panel edges is not included on the local
models; instead, the unit cells are assumed to be
infinitely periodic. The error made on this assump-
tion is mainly important in very narrow panels
295
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 295
and may be reduced by creating local models with
panel-edge boundary conditions embedded. It
has been also shown that care must be taken to
model non-periodic components, such as the edge
between walls and decks in the case studied.
Overall, the method displayed good potential
for analysis of large, complex structures, in par-
ticular at early design stages. It can reproduce dif-
ferent geometric nonlinear effects, while retaining
relative simplicity and low modelling and compu-
tational costs. Moreover, integration with a com-
mercial finite element package makes it accessible
for use in practical design.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support
of Finland Distinguished Professor (FiDiPro)
project “Non-linear Response of Large, Complex
Thin-Walled Structures” funded by the Finnish
Funding Agency for Innovation (Tekes), Deltama-
rin, Meyer Turku Oy, Napa Ltd, Koneteknolo-
giakeskus Turku and SSAB (Ruukki). CSC—IT
center for science LTD. is thanked for the use of
CSC Taito computer cluster and for providing
Abaqus software licenses.
REFERENCES
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cal buckling strength analysis of plates with arbitrary
stiffener arrangements. Journal of Constructional
Steel Research 63(4): 532–543.
Brubak, L. & Hellesand, J. 2007a. Semi-analytical post-
buckling and strength analysis of arbitrarily stiffened
plates in local and global bending. Thin-Walled Struc-
tures 45(6): 620–633.
Brubak, L. & Hellesand, J. 2007b. Approximate buck-
ling strength analysis of arbitrarily stiffened, stepped
plates. Engineering Structures 29(9): 2321–2333.
Brubak, L. & Hellesand, J. 2013. Ultimate strength pre-
diction by semi-analytical analysis of stiffened plates
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tures 62: 28–36.
Byklum, E. & Amdahl, J. 2002. A simplified method for
elastic large deflection analysis of plates and stiffened
panels due to local buckling. Thin-walled structures
40: 925–953.
Byklum, E., Steen, E. & Amdahl, J. 2004. A semi-analytical
model for global buckling and postbuckling analysis of
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Coenen, E.W.C., Kouznetsova, V.G. & Geers, M.G.D.
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 ISSC. 1997. Ultimate Strength Committee, International
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induced secondary bending on buckling of web-core
sandwich panels. Proc. MARSTRUCT 2015, South-
ampton, UK.
Jelovica, J., Romanoff, J., Ehlers, S. & Varsta, P. 2012.
Influence of weld stiffness on buckling strength of
laser-welded web-core sandwich plates, Journal of
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general corrosion on buckling strength of laser-welded
web-core sandwich plates. Journal of Constructional
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Remes, H. 2016. Non-linear effective properties for
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national Journal of Mechanical Sciences 115–116:
428–437.
Metsälä, M. 2016. Geometrically nonlinear bending
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continuous and discontinuous modelling of hetero-
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A homogenization method for geometric nonlinear
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

IACS common structural rules as an element of IMO goal based

standards for bulk carriers and oil tankers

J. Peschmann & H. von Selle

DNV GL, Germany

J. Jankowski
Polish Register of Shipping, Poland

G. Horn
American Bureau of Shipping, USA

T. Arima
Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK), Japan

ABSTRACT: At MSC 87 in 2010 the IMO Goal Based Standards for Bulk Carriers and Oil Tankers
(GBS Standards) were adopted and implemented in the SOLAS convention. They came into force in 2012.
IACS and its member Classification Societies developed their Common Structural Rules for Bulk Carriers
and Oil Tankers (CSR) as an element of the GBS Standards. The role of CSR in the GBS Standards is to
transpose the required safety level as given via the functional requirements in GBS to individual ships by
defining detailed rule requirements. In 2013/14, these rules were submitted to the IMO for a verification
audit against the GBS Standards. This paper considers the experience gained during the implementation
phase of the GBS Standards from a Classification Society perspective following the initial verification.
The principles of the IMO GBS as well as the link between the GBS Standards and the IACS CSR will be
explained and discussed including some fundamental assumptions and principles that form the basis for
the IACS CSR. In addition, some of the challenges noted during the implementation and verification will
be discussed based on the latest investigations carried out by IACS with respect to safety margins within
the rules and the principles of rule validation and benchmarking.

1 INTRODUCTION Construction Standards for Bulk Carriers and Oil

Back in 2002 a Greek submission (“building robust
ships”) raising the issue of quality and structural
strength initiated discussion of Goal Based Stand-
ards (GBS) applicable to ship design at the Inter-
national Maritime Organisation (IMO). It was
suggested that IMO should play a greater role in
setting new-building construction standards to
which ships are built and, in addition, that IMO
should refrain from having detailed prescriptive
provisions for every design aspect but should state
what has to be achieved (goals).
After years of discussion, resulting in more than
150 IMO documents, two divergent approaches
were developed detailing how such goals should be
defined.
The first was a prescriptive approach and the sec-
ond utilised risk-based methods (The Safety Level
Approach (SLA)). Today the prescriptive approach
is in force under the heading “Goal-Based Ship
Tankers” (hereinafter referred to as GBS Stand-
ards) (IMO 2010a). After an initial verification
process, the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) at
its 96th session in 2016 “confirmed that the infor-
mation provided by the 12 IACS member societies
demonstrated that, in accordance with SOLAS
regulation II-1/3-10.3, their rules conform to the
International goal-based ship construction stand-
ards for bulk carriers and oil tankers (resolution
MSC.287(87)) (GBS Standards); and that ships
contracted under the current Submitters’ (IACS
member societies’) verified rules are deemed to
meet the GBS Standards” (IMO 2016d). This cir-
cular intimates that the IACS Common Structural
Rules for Bulk Carrier and Oil Tankers (CSR) were
confirmed as the first (and currently only) rule set
to conform to the IMO GBS Standards.
This paper focusses on the experience gained
during the implementation phase of GBS Stand-
ards, the audits to comply with the GBS Standards

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 and some related challenges from a Classification
Societies’ perspective.
2 GOAL BASED STANDARDS
2.1 Principle of IMO GBS
The fundamental assumptions and the general
structure of GBS is summarised in the IMO Guide-
lines on developing GBS (IMO 2011). Although
the two GBS approaches (prescriptive and SLA)
differ substantially; both were developed to follow
the same principles i.e. to be:
• Rules for rules (regulations);
• Broad, over-arching safety, environmental and/
or security standards that ships are required to
meet during their life cycle;
• The required level to be achieved by the require-
ments applied by Classification societies and
other recognized organizations, approval
authorities and IMO;
• Clear, demonstrable, verifiable, long-standing,
implemental and achievable, irrespective of ship
design and technology; and
• Specific enough in order not to be open to dif-
fering interpretations.
IMO GBS are structured as shown in Figure 1.
As can be seen, the GBS contain the goals in Tier I,
the functional requirements in Tier II and the
Figure 1. Goal-based standards framework (taken from
IMO 2011).
298
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 298
verification of conformity in Tier III (see below).
It is these tiers of the framework which are devel-
oped, defined and monitored by the regulator
(IMO).
The goals are the high-level objectives that
have to be met, and are developed and written
to address the issue(s) of concern and reflect the
required level of safety (IMO 2011).
Functional requirements are requirements
(including criteria) that have to be satisfied to meet
the associated goal(s).
The Tier III verification of conformity describes
the process of verifying compliance between
the rules and regulations (the detailed require-
ments) which form Tier IV with the functional
requirements and hence goals in Tiers II and I
respectively.
The premise of the GBS is to evaluate the sys-
tem of Tier IV prescriptive regulations, which
represents an unknown and unquantifiable safety
level with a system specifying goals and functional
requirements. As the goals and functional require-
ments are independent of a specific technical solu-
tion, this part of the framework needs only to be
updated, if it is identified that an alteration to the
existing safety level is required, such a decision
would be taken at the regulatory level.
2.2 GBS for Bulk Carriers and Oil Tankers
The GBS Standards were adopted by the Mari-
time Safety Committee (MSC) of IMO in May
2010 by resolution MSC.287(87) (IMO 2010a).
The goals and 15 functional requirements as
defined in the IMO resolution were developed
using a prescriptive approach. The GBS Stand-
ards were made mandatory by introducing them
into the SOLAS requirements (IMO 2015), in
Chapter II-1, Regulation 3–10 “Goal-based ship
construction standards for bulk carriers and oil
tankers” through IMO resolution MSC.290(87)
(IMO 2010b). The goals as well as the related
functional requirements cover aspects related to
structural strength.
In support of the requirement for verification
out line as Tier III guidelines were created to detail
the process of verification of the rules as defined in
resolution MSC.296(87) (IMO 2010c).
In this guideline, an audit process is established,
consisting of a self-assessment (undertaken by the
submitter (Classification Society)) which is to be
audited by an IMO audit team. The self-assess-
ment requires provision of documentation and
information to demonstrate that the evaluation
criteria related to the functional requirements
can be satisfied or fulfilled by the submitter’s
requirements or supporting documentation and
information.
3/29/2017 9:37:14 AM
 3 IACS COMMON STRUCTURAL RULES
3.1 Rule development process
Driven by client request; IACS decided in 2007 to
harmonize the two former separate IACS Com-
mon Structural Rules dedicated to bulk carriers
and oil tankers (CSR-BC and CSR-OT) forming
one common CSR for bulk carriers and oil tankers.
The process took about four years and roughly 70
engineers from IACS Classification Societies were
involved. 10 Project teams were established with
expertise in loadings, structures, materials and
operations aspects.
The rule development process is embedded in
the class cycle (Fig. 2) and is based on in-depth and
expansive research work performed by the indi-
vidual Classification Societies and IACS project
teams. It is further driven by feedback from plan
approval and construction and in-service surveys.
One of the most important process steps dur-
ing rule development is the validation of the newly
developed rule requirements. As it can be difficult
to compare results obtained by the application of
rule requirements with experimental or casualty
database data a two-step approach depending on
the structural element and the considered failure
mode is used with
• Step 1: checking of the engineering model
behind the rule formulation against tests and
physical models
• Step 2: adjusting the proposed changes by thor-
ough impact analysis (consequence assessment)
on existing approved designs
As rule loads and equations for the CSR struc-
tural dimensioning were developed in parallel, sev-
eral iterations of these consequence assessments
were required to cover a wide range of possible
designs to appropriately adjust and finalise the rule
Figure 2. Class cycle.
299
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 299
formulations. The general philosophy followed
during the development of the harmonised IACS
CSR was that the structural safety level should be
at the same or higher level for the ships built to the
former CSR-BC and CSR-OT rules.
3.2 Principles of the IACS CSR
The IACS CSR addresses the hull structural
aspects of classification.
Therefore, it is assumed that a number of
aspects related to design, construction and opera-
tion of the ship have to be adhered to by the parties
involved in the application and implementation of
the rules. This includes but is not limited to; suit-
able materials sourcing and handling, appropri-
ate construction procedures, proper maintenance
of the ship during the service life (as required by
several SOLAS requirements), good seamanship.
As the rules are part of the larger Maritime Safety
Regime it is assumed that the international and
national regulations and requirements outside the
rules, but valid for the particular ship, are consid-
ered and met. This has to be followed in determi-
nation and calibration of safety margins in the rule
requirements for the hull structure.
In addition, the applicability of the CSR is
clearly defined in the “Design Basis”, see IACS
(2015). This stipulates limitations of the CSR with
respect to the shape of the hull, environmental and
operational conditions, the design life of the ship
the construction and inspection of the ship etc.
For ships outside the defined limits, special consid-
eration by the Classification Society may be made.
Overall design principles of the CSR (IACS
2015) are contained in Pt 1, Ch 1, Sec 2. The defini-
tion of the structural rule requirements is based on
the assumption that the safety of the structure can
be assessed by addressing the potential structural
failure modes when the ship is subjected to opera-
tional loads and environmental conditions/loads.
The potential failure modes are related to limit
states, which are defined as states beyond which
the structure no longer satisfies predefined require-
ments (IACS 2014). Four categories of limit states
were considered for the CSR, namely:
• Serviceability Limit State (SLS)
• Ultimate Limit State (ULS)
• Fatigue Limit State (FLS)
• Accidental Limit State (ALS).
Different possible failure modes may be relevant
for various parts of the ship structure and for each
failure mode, one or more limit state may be rel-
evant (Table 1).
Based on the failure mode a capacity model for
a particular structural element can be developed,
describing the limit state. The definition of the
3/29/2017 9:37:14 AM
 Table 1. Failure modes in relation to limit states (taken 3.3 Link to IMO GBS
from IACS 2014).
Another underlying principle applied during the
Possible failure Limit states(1) development of the IACS CSR was to align the
modes to be rule requirements with the GBS Standards require-
considered SLS ULS FLS ALS ments and processes. In view of this, the CSR were
developed with the understanding that they form
Yielding Y Y – Y an element of the GBS Tier IV (see Figure 1). As
Plastic collapse – Y – Y such, upon completion of the CSR they were to be
Buckling Y Y – Y subjected to an IMO GBS audit to determine con-
Rupture – Y – Y
formity to the goals and functional requirements
Fatigue cracking – – Y –
under Tier I and Tier II which is further discussed
Brittle fracture(2) – – – –
in the section 4.
(1)“Y” indicates that the structural assessment is to be
carried out.
(2) Controlled by the material rule requirement of steel 4 VERIFICATION OF IACS CSR AGAINST
grade. THE IMO GBS

4.1 Verification process

Figure  3. Relationship between failure modes, limit
states and acceptance criteria.
necessary safety margin (the acceptance criterion)
can be assigned based on the criticality of that
element (given by the probability of occurrence
of the limit state and the expected consequences
related to the structure), which is in-turn related to
the limit state. If probability distributions for the
capacity and the loads of the considered element
are known, the latter can be assessed by risk based
methods and be used for code calibration. How-
ever, in CSR the acceptance criteria were defined
based on the probability level of the characteristic
combined loads and adjusted by means of impact
analyses (consequence assessments) as described
in section 3.1 above (refer to IACS 2014).
The specific rule requirement checks, if a
structural element exposed to the design load
(the characteristic load with the assigned safety
margin, if any) will fulfil the acceptance crite-
rion (a certain stress level in the working stress
design rule format). This principle is illustrated
in Figure 3.
The verification process is based on a self-assessment
carried out by the submitter followed by an audit
of the self-assessment conducted by an IMO audit
team. The process itself and necessary documenta-
tion and information requirements as well as the
evaluation criteria to facilitate the self-assessment
and the audit are described in detail in IMO (2010c).
In case of the verification of the IACS CSR
there were 12  independent Classification Socie-
ties (submitters) that developed a common rule
set supplemented by individual guidelines, pro-
cedures and instructions. In addition, not all the
GBS functional requirements were covered by the
CSR, but by additional IACS resolutions. There-
fore, to increase efficiency by reducing duplicate
submissions of the necessary documents for the
IMO audit the IACS submission was organised as
follows (Fig. 4):
IACS developed two common packages, which
were submitted to IMO for the verification audit.
The first package containing IACS resolutions e.g.
unified requirements, interpretations and proce-
dures, related to the GBS functional requirements
not covered by the CSR itself. The second package
Figure  4. Submitted documentation for GBS verifica-
tion audit.

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 contained the CSR and the relevant technical back- expressed by the audit teams and the auditees that
ground documentation, covering the more techni- there was room for improvement of the guidelines.
cal functional requirements of the GBS Standards. The areas of possible improvement are identified
In addition, each Classification Society conducted and documented in IMO (2016c) (from auditors
a self-assessment to show the complete and correct point of view) and in IACS (2016b) (from auditees
implementation of the CSR and the related IACS point of view). In addition, there, were several sub-
resolutions in their own framework of rules. missions to MSC97 (Nov 2016) which contained
At the IMO five audit teams were established proposals for amendments of the audit process.
responsible for auditing particular packages e.g. Consequently, IMO decided to establish a work-
Team 5 audited the IACS Common Package 1 and ing group at MSC 97 (and latterly at MSC 98 (Jun
2 with respect to the Functional requirements that 2017)) to discuss and propose possible amend-
are mostly covered by the CSR itself plus one of the ments and provide a revised draft of the guidelines
individual Classification Society packages. After for adoption.
the audit teams (IMO) released the interim reports The areas relevant to this paper will be briefly
IACS and the member Classification Societies had mentioned.
the opportunity to answer open questions and to dis-
• Several items in the list of definitions were dis-
cuss the preliminary findings with the audit teams.
cussed to improve clarity and leave in no doubt
Findings were categorised in non-conformities and
what is expected to be delivered by the submit-
observations. While non-conformity is a finding
ters and how this will be considered in the audit.
where the audit team identified a non-fulfilment of
Key definitions discussed included “benchmark-
a functional requirement, an observation is a state-
ing” and “validation”, which are discussed in
ment or proposal made by the audit team to improve
more detail in section 4.3 of the paper.
the rule requirements or the information or docu-
• Another area of the guidelines highlighted for
mentation delivered, but is not a non-conformity.
potential improvement was to ensure a system
Based on the said reports, IACS developed correc-
of continuous improvement of the rules and an
tive action plans to detail the planned rectification
appropriate system for the maintenance of veri-
actions for the five reported non-conformities and
fication (refer to IMO 2016c). In IACS (2016a)
to address the 29 observations.
IACS made a proposal to cover these aspects
The final audit reports and the corrective action
which, in essence, states that on an annual basis
plans were submitted to MSC 96 (May 2016)
relevant rule changes should be submitted to
(IMO 2016a, b). The audit reports included the
the IMO Secretary-General, while the RO’s will
recommendation to the MSC to conclude that the
notify all Administrations who have author-
submitted rules conform with the IMO GBS, pro-
ised them about these changes. To maintain the
vided that the identified non-conformities would
compliance with the GBS maintenance verifica-
be rectified and the observations will be addressed.
tion audit every three years limited to the rule
As stated in IMO (2016d), having considered
changes and following the principles in the GBS
the verification audit reports and the Corrective
guidelines is suggested.
Action Plans referred to above, the MSC fol-
• In addition, it is proposed to include the pro-
lowed the proposal in the final audit reports and
cess of rectification of non-conformities in
confirmed that the information provided by the
the revised version of the GBS guidelines. The
12  submitters demonstrates that, in accordance
procedure, proposed by IACS, consists of a
with SOLAS regulation II-1/3-10.3, their rules
corrective action plan that will be prepared by
conform to the GBS Standards.
the submitter, reviewed by the auditors and the
Where non-conformities have been identified
plans and the comments received should be
in the verification audit reports, the MSC agreed
forwarded to the IMO Secretariat and subse-
that such non-conformities are to be rectified and
quently to the committee (MSC). In addition,
that the 12  submitters, submit new requests for
an audit to verify the rectification of the non-
a verification audit of the rectification of non-
conformities should be conducted, following as
conformities. Where observations have been iden-
far as practicable the process as already defined
tified in the verification audit reports, the MSC
for the initial and maintenance audits.
requested that IACS 12 member societies address
the identified observations and that IACS 12 mem-
4.3 Action on findings
ber societies submit the updates in the future.
To rectify the non-conformities and address the
observations reported by the IMO GBS audit,
4.2 Lessons learned
IACS established project teams to carry out the
While the IMO verification guidelines, audits, and work as indicated in the corrective action plans
the outcomes were assessed as working well, it was submitted to MSC96 (IMO 2016b).

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 Amongst other issues, several findings addressed
the question of how requirements were bench-
marked and where and to which amount safety mar-
gins are considered and included in the rules.
Benchmarking of the rule requirements is
always difficult as usually there is very little or no
data (e.g. measurements, test results, especially for
new ships) or similar standards available to estab-
lish performance criteria against which the results
obtained by the application of the new developed
requirement can be verified. Therefore, usually
the two-step approach as described in 3.1 above
or adjustment of the results obtained by the new
set of rules against results of the previous rules is
used.
The philosophy behind these methods is gener-
ally that the safety level of existing ships of well-
known and proven design which were based on
previous rules are accepted and sufficient for the
intended purpose. New rules should therefore pro-
vide at least the same level of safety as the exist-
ing rules. By applying the new requirements to the
existing designs the results should deliver the same
or more robust required scantlings.
While comparisons with individual designs
(consequence assessments) shows the impact of
new rule requirements compared to well-known
and approved designs, a more comprehensive view
can be reached by review the performance of exist-
ing ships in the fleet. The idea here is that enhance-
ments made to the rules over time will tend to
improve the safety of the whole fleet.
In case of fatigue, the difficulty of conduct-
ing benchmark studies is increased because data
for the whole service life of the ship is necessary
to compare calculated damages following the rule
approaches with damages found during in-service
inspections and surveys. Therefore also in case of
fatigue, studies can be used to demonstrate the
improvement of the fatigue behaviour due to new
or amended rules. In this case, especially fractures in
way of welds indicate that the fatigue performance
of CSR ships is improved compared to pre-CSR
ships, even noting the aforementioned limitations
of such studies. In addition, consequence assess-
ments were utilised to ascertain the effect of the
rules on the scantlings of well-known and proven
designs. This tool was extensively used during the
development of the CSR as well as checking and
validating the fatigue requirements.
In the following paragraphs the audit non-
conformities directly related to the CSR and how
IACS addressed them is described in more detail.
It should be noted that the initial rules as well as
rule changes due to audit findings are not static.
Future changes are inevitable for example changes
in available wave data or new or improved statisti-
cal operations data will require further iterations
302
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 302
of the CSR. Of course, any future rule changes
would be subject to GBS audits via future main-
tenance audits.
4.3.1 Wave loads
The first Non-Conformity (NC) was related to
ship heading distribution. The audit stated that the
uniform ship heading distribution used to develop
the wave load model did not properly consider the
head sea as the dominant case.
The wave data initially used to develop the wave
loads on ships were based on the only available wave
data, the “Global Wave Statistics” (GWS) wave data.
GWS is rather old with an unknown reliability, because
it is based on visual observations of waves collected
from ships in normal service more than forty years ago.
Further applicability of wave data based on GWS was
questioned by IMO auditors.
This NC as well as some associated observations
should be rectified as a whole starting from the
updating the wave data which, as stated, was the
basis for determining the wave loads model. How-
ever, there are challenges with identification of new
and appropriately reliable wave data, for a number
of reasons including, but not limited to:
• the global wave databases available today do not
include bad weather avoidance, and therefore
give higher values of significant wave height;
• the available wave data is generally limited to
coastal areas;
• the satellite data:
− have a long sampling interval;
− provide only significant wave height and not
wave period;
• the wave hindcast data generated from the wave
spectral models is available today but there are
large discrepancies in predictions offered by dif-
ferent databases, related partly to a resolution of
the wave spectral model.
The above described state of the art wave data
shows that it is a significant challenge and the
whole maritime industry is affected. The proposal
to rectify the NC and associated observations was
developed based on a comprehensive review of all
the assumptions of the method for determining
ship motions and loads in waves and performing a
sensitivity analysis. The ship heading distribution
was developed through consideration of:
• the theory of ship motions in waves (applied to
ships of different sizes under various loading
conditions);
• criteria relating to relative motions of a ship in
waves;
• ship roll response;
• masters’ operational decision making related to
changing course.
3/29/2017 9:37:16 AM
 This approach resulted in a distribution depend-
ent on three random variables: ship heading angle,
significant wave height and zero-crossing wave
period. Additionally, this distribution should be
developed for each ship size. Since there is no com-
plete ship traffic data to verify this developed dis-
tribution, simplification methods were applied to
develop a distribution, dependent only on the ship
heading angle. These simplified distributions, when
applied to a number of test case ship simulations,
did not exceed the ship heading factor fβ = 1.05 and
is slightly conservative compared to the distribution
with three random variables. Therefore, the factor
fβ = 1.05, reflecting the non-uniform ship heading
distribution, was proposed for application in the
Rules.
The consequence assessment performed shows
that the impact of fβ = 1.05 on the ship scantlings
is as follows:
• on hull girder strength (required hull girder
section modulus and required shear capacity)–
around 2%;
• on hull girder ultimate bending strength—
around 2.5%;
• on hull local scantling:
− slight impact only on the bottom plating
adjacent to bilge plating (increase of 0.5 mm
for Capesize BC midship region). No other
impact was identified;
− slight impact on longitudinal stiffeners (bot-
tom, inner bottom, double bottom girder web
stiffener, deck zone longitudinal stiffener);
• direct strength analysis—slight impact on the
scantlings of a limited number of structural ele-
ments has been observed.
4.3.2 Safety
The second NC is a request for additional infor-
mation related to the safety margins in the rules
to satisfy GBS functional requirement 3—Struc-
tural Strength. This NC was addressed by supply-
ing additional technical information and did not
result in a rule change. As there is no simple way
of directly quantifying the combined overall safety
margins within a complete rule set, selected indi-
vidual major rule components were reviewed to
illustrate the margins included in those rule com-
ponents. IACS developed the following six CSR
Technical Background Reports (TB Reports) for
this purpose:
• Service Experience—An overview of the calibra-
tion and consequence assessment are included in
this report to illustrate the process of improving
and enhancing the Rules.
This report details how the new CSR may be
compared with existing or previous rules and
how those existing previous rules are used as a
303
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 303
gauge to measure the new CSR requirements
against the existing fleet. The historical experi-
ence information has been expanded back to
about 1996 or 10 years prior to the introduction
of the CSR to include pre-CSR experience.
• Loads—An overview of the safety margins
built into the rule loads and load component
combinations contained in the CSR rule load
formulations.
• Material yield stress—An overview and statis-
tical study of the material properties of typical
shipbuilding steels with associated safety mar-
gins built into the minimum specified yield stress
in the CSR.
• Net scantlings—An overview of the net scant-
ling representation in the CSR and report on a
recent study of a larger and more complete data-
set of corrosion data used to validate the corro-
sion additions contained in the rules.
• Finite Element Analysis—An overview of the
Ultimate Limit State (ULS) and the associated
safety margins built into the CSR.
• Rule acceptance criteria—An overview of the
structural failure modes and how the rule accept-
ance criteria for yielding and buckling include
built in safety margins.
These reports were placed in the IACS website
together with all the other TB Reports for the CSR.
4.3.3 Fatigue
Two fatigue related non-conformities were
reported associated with; the fraction of time a
vessel spends in a specific loading condition, and
with the fraction of time an area of material is
exposed to a corrosive environment.
The first NC considers the fraction of time
small bulk carriers, of type BC-B and BC-C (ships
designed to carry dry bulk cargoes with cargo
density less than 1.0  t/m3 (BC-C) and with cargo
density of 1.0 t/m3 and above and all cargo holds
loaded (BC-B)), spend in a heavy ballast loading
condition. In the current rule version, the fraction
of time to be considered in heavy ballast as well as
the fraction of time in normal ballast is 15%, i.e.
30% in total in ballast condition.
Although the current numbers are taken from
a former industry questionnaire, IACS repeated
such a questionnaire and asked 10  international
operator’s associations for feedback, knowing that
the number of BC-B and BC-C ship types for that
ship size is very limited. Although the response was
limited a resulting rule change proposal has been
developed increasing the time in heavy ballast to
25% and decreasing the time in normal ballast to
5%, maintaining the total time in ballast at 30%.
To check the impact on existing designs a con-
sequence analysis was performed considering two
3/29/2017 9:37:16 AM
 selected bulk carriers. It was noted that for the end
connections of longitudinal stiffeners the impact is
limited and in general the actual or design fatigue
life in the upper region of the hull section increases
slightly while the opposite happens in the lower.
The impact on the lower stool and bilge hopper
knuckle is greater but again it has to be empha-
sized that this ship type is not very common.
The second NC which considers the fraction of
time an area is exposed to a corrosive environment.
The industry responses to this were inconsistent
and after deliberation, IACS developed a rule
change proposal with double the time in corrosive
environment, e.g. 10 instead of 5 years for oil cargo
tanks and 5 instead of 2 years for void spaces.
Again, a consequence analysis has been per-
formed for 5 bulk carriers and 4 oil tankers. As
the more severe S-N curve for corrosive environ-
ment are now used for a longer time, the actual
or offered design fatigue lives were lowered in all
cases. However, only a few longitudinal end con-
nections fell below the 25-year life margin.
Depending on the degree of fatigue utilization,
where deficient counter measures would typically
be effective in improving the fatigue related per-
formance related to this NC, the fatigue can be
improved by selection of an improved local design
detail with decreased stress concentration factor
SCF, or increasing the hull girder section modulus
to decrease global stress ranges, or by a combina-
tion of both of these measures.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The IMO Goal Based Standards for Bulk Carriers
and Oil Tankers (GBS) were adopted and imple-
mented in the SOLAS convention. IACS developed
the Common Structural Rules for Bulk Carriers
and Oil Tankers (CSR), which included GBS con-
siderations. IACS and the individual member Clas-
sification Societies submitted the CSR to the IMO
for the GBS verification audit and the GBS initial
verification audit confirmed that the CSR com-
plies with the GBS. Therefore, the linkage between
the CSR and the GBS were confirmed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper is a summary of a joint effort of Inter-
national Association of Classification Societies
304
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 304
IACS. The authors would like to thank all IACS
members involved in the GBS process.
REFERENCES
IACS 2014. CSR TB Rep_Pt1_Ch01, Rule General Prin-
ciples and Validation, Rev. 4, June 2014.
IACS 2015. Common Structural Rules for Bulk Carriers
and Oil Tankers. Version 1st Jan 2015.
IACS 2016a. MSC 97/5/2. “Proposed amendments to
part A of the GBS Verification Guidelines (Resolution
MSC.296(87))”, submitted by IACS. International
Maritime Organization (IMO), London.
IACS 2016b. MSC 97/5/4. “Lessons learned from the ini-
tial Goal Based Standards verification audits”. Submit-
ted by IACS. International Maritime Organization
(IMO), London.
IMO 2010a. MSC.287(87). Adoption of the International
Goal-based Ship Construction Standards for Bulk Car-
riers and Oil Tankers. International Maritime Organi-
zation (IMO), London.
IMO 2010b. MSC.290(87). Adoption of Amendments to
the International Convention for the Safety of Life at
Sea, 1974, as amended. International Maritime Organ-
ization (IMO), London.
IMO 2010c. MSC.296(87). Adoption of the Guidelines for
Verification of Conformity with Goal-Based Ship Con-
struction Standards for Bulk Carriers and Oil Tankers.
International Maritime Organization (IMO), London.
IMO 2011. MSC.1/Circ.1394. Generic Guidelines for
Developing IMO Goal-Based Standards. International
Maritime Organization (IMO), London.
IMO 2015. SOLAS. International Convention for the
Safety of Life at Sea 1974 and its protocol of 1988
with all amendments until 1st July 2016. International
Maritime Organization (IMO).
IMO 2016a. MSC 96/5. “GBS verification audit reports
submitted by audit teams”. International Maritime
Organization (IMO), London.
IMO 2016b. MSC 96/5/1 and Addendum 1 and 2. “Cor-
rective Action Plans submitted by IACS and its member
recognized organizations (Part 1, in response to the non-
conformities identified during GBS verification audit)”.
International Maritime Organization (IMO), London.
IMO 2016c. MSC 96/5/2. “Report on the observations of
the GBS audit teams”. Note by the secretariat. Inter-
national Maritime Organization (IMO), London.
IMO 2016d. MSC.1/Circ.1518. Promulgation of rules
for the design and construction of bulk carriers and
oil tankers of an organization, which is recognized by
Administrations in accordance with the provisions of
SOLAS regulation XI-1/1, confirmed by the Maritime
Safety Committee to be in conformity with the goals and
functional requirements of the Goal-based Ship Con-
struction Standards for Bulk Carriers and Oil Tankers.
International Maritime Organization (IMO), London.
3/29/2017 9:37:16 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

FE model calibration and validation of a tested plate with an opening

under compressive load

S. Saad-Eldeen
Centre for Marine Technology and Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal (On leave from the Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
Department, Faculty of Engineering, Port Said University, Port Fouad, Egypt)

Y. Garbatov & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa,
Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: The aim of the present analysis is to investigate numerically a plate with an opening sub-
jected to a compressive load based on a finite element model, which is calibrated and validated based on
a recently performed experimental test. The uniaxial compressive load is applied along the short edges
and the unloaded edges are free to rotate and translate. Different opening sizes were considered during
the experimental test and their effect on the ultimate strength is numerically investigated. For the purpose
of the analysis, a finite element model of a plate with an opening is created and extensive nonlinear finite
element analyses are performed to find out the most appropriate configurations of the model by calibrat-
ing the initial imperfection (shape and amplitude), mesh density and boundary conditions. A comparison
with the experimental results is carried out for different opening sizes, showing a good agreement in terms
of force-displacement relationship.

1 INTRODUCTION the effective cross-section of the cut-out part

The presence of openings with different shapes and
sizes in thin walled structures such marine units is
a vital issue for the inspection, passing pipes or for
reducing the steel weight. Due to the opening, the
global and local responses of the plate structure
changes and this change is a function of the struc-
tural and opening configurations.
Several numerical studies have been performed
in the last years on the strength capacity of plates
with an opening, subjected to different loading
and boundary conditions, slenderness ratios, sizes
and shapes as the ones done by Shanmugam et al.
(1999), Paik (2007), Kumar et al. (2007) and Wang
et  al. (2009). It was found that the opening size
affects significantly the ultimate strength. Also, the
plate with a circular opening has better strength
than the one with a square one. For shear load-
ing, it was found that the plate aspect ratio is not
a sensitive parameter and on the contrary for the
compressive loading.
Harada and Fujikubo (2002) performed a series
of buckling eigenvalue analyses and elastoplastic
large deflection analyses of simply-supported rec-
tangular plates with a cut-out subjected to in-plane
loads. It was concluded that the yield strength at
becomes the upper limit of the ultimate strength of
the rectangular plate with a cut-out when the plate
thickness and the cut-out size are large enough.
Saad-Eldeen et al. (2014) investigated the effect
of the opening ratio and orientation on the ulti-
mate strength of axially loaded plates. It was con-
firmed that the vertical orientation of the opening
(perpendicular to the applied load) has a signifi-
cant effect on reducing the ultimate strength rather
than the horizontal one, and this becomes more
severe as the opening ratio increases. As the open-
ing size increases, the change in the failure mode
occurs at a residual breadth ratio of 0.185.
Experimentally, a series of tests have been car-
ried out by Kim et  al. (2009) for plates and stiff-
ened panels with an opening subjected to an axial
compressive loading. It was concluded that the
reduction in the ultimate strength of the stiffened
panels due to openings, is more moderate than on
plates. Also, the opening location has a small effect
of on the plate buckling and ultimate strength.
Recently, Saad-Eldeen et  al. (2016a, 2016b,
2016c) carried out a series of ultimate strength
tests for in-service unstiffened plates with different
opening shapes (circular and elongated circle) and
sizes, in addition to the presence of several damage

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 scenarios as corrosion and locked cracks. Several
conclusions have been derived, for the plates with
an elongated circular opening, as the residual
breadth decreases, the reduction of the ultimate
load carrying capacity is increasing almost linearly.
By increasing the opening size, the specimen acts
as a column, which leads to the occurrence of a
column-buckling mode, accompanied by twisting.
With the existence of a symmetrically locked
crack, oriented at 45°, it was observed that as the
crack length increases, the resilience of the plate
with a combined action of an elongated circular
opening and cracks is decreasing linearly, on the
other hand the toughness decreases nonlinearly.
For plates with a circular opening, corrosion deg-
radation and locked cracks, the crack dominates
the final collapse mode instead of the initial imper-
fection amplitude. At the crack ends, with decreas-
ing the breadth ratio, the ultimate stress increases
nonlinearly, taking into account the effect of cor-
rosion degradation of the material properties.
The aim of the present analysis is to find out Figure 1. Plate geometry.
the most appropriate FE model of a plate with an
elliptical opening, subjected to compressive load,
based on recently performed experimental tests for Table 1. Description of the analysed specimens, mm.
in-service intact and with an opening plate. Several
Plate Opening
governing parameters are analysed and different dimensions, dimensions,
opening sizes are considered. Specimens a × b a1 × b1

Calibration and Intact plate 300 × 150 0,0

2 PLATE SPECIMEN CONFIGURATIONS validation With opening 300 × 150 160 × 180
Effect of open- With opening 300 × 150 160 × 50
The plate specimens were a part a box girder, ing size With opening 300 × 150 160 × 60
which was initially tested in a corrosive environ- With opening 300 × 150 160 × 70
ment (Domzalick et al., 2011). The as built thick- With opening 300 × 150 160 × 80
ness of the box girder plating’s is 4.5 mm. Firstly, With opening 300 × 150 160 × 90
the box girder has been tested under vertical bend- With opening 300 × 150 160 × 100
ing moment (Saad-Eldeen et  al., 2011) and then
the plates have been cut out from the regions under
tension, in order to ensure that the plates are not
pre-stressed. 3 FINITE ELEMENT MODELING
The laser cutting technique has been used to cut
out the plate specimens and to create the opening, The ultimate load carrying capacity of a plate in
in order to avoid any deformation and residual both intact and with an elliptical opening is stud-
stresses due to the cutting process. ied employing the general non-linear finite element
Because of corrosion, a survey of thickness commercial code—ANSYS (2009). The finite ele-
measurements has been performed to measure the ment analysis utilizes the full Newton–Raphson
remaining thickness of the plates, which reveals equilibrium iteration scheme, the large deforma-
that the average plating thickness is 3.9 mm. tion option is activated to solve the geometric
The plate specimen configurations are shown in and material nonlinearities and pass through the
Figure 1 and Table 1. Two groups of specimens are extreme points. The automatic time stepping fea-
analysed. The first group contains two configura- tures are employed to determine the appropriate
tions: intact and with an opening plate, which is load steps.
used as a reference for calibrating and validating The plate specimen is modelled in the same
the FE model. The second group of configurations way as the real one used during the ultimate com-
is used as a series of FE analyses to investigate the pressive strength test. The shell element, SHELL
effect of different elliptical opening sizes on the 181 is used to generate the entire FE model. It is
ultimate load carrying capacity based on the vali- suitable for analysing thin to moderately-thick
dated FE model. shell structures. It is a four-node element with six

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Figure 2. Test setup and finite element model.
degrees of freedom at each node: translations in
the x, y, and z directions, and rotations about the
x, y, and z-axes. SHELL181 is well-suited for lin-
ear, large rotation, and/or large strain nonlinear
applications.
The plate specimens are cut from a normal mild
steel box girder with a yield stress and Young’s
modulus of 235 MPa and 206 GPa, respectively.
During the experimental test, the plate speci-
mens are subjected to compressive load at the
short edges, and the load is applied using a 250 kN
hydraulic jack and transmitted to the plate through
a horizontal thick plate as shown in Figure 2.
The experimental compressive test setup is
shown in Figure 2, in which the plate specimen has
been mounted between two stiff supporting clips,
see Figure 2 (left). These types of supports impose
conditions of a constrained lateral displacement
and rotation within the depth of the support of
20 mm.
In order to simulate the clips boundary condi-
tions, the translation in the lateral direction Z is
constrained within the depth of the clips, in addi-
tion to the constrained rotation at the loaded edge.
The unloaded long edges are totally free to rotate
and translate.
4 FINITE ELEMENT MODEL
CALIBRATION AND VALIDATION
The aim of the current extensive non-linear anal-
yses is to calibrate and validate the FE model
through varying several governing parameters as
(mesh size, initial imperfection shape, amplitude
and number of half waves) that affect the ultimate
strength and post-collapse behaviour of the plate
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 307
specimen and to find the best finite element model
for the intact plate and then to validate the model
results based on a comparison with a plate speci-
men with an elliptical opening.
4.1 Coarse mesh size
In the FE modelling, a finer mesh may generally
result in an accurate solution. However, refining
to the mesh size, the computation time increases.
Therefore, it is necessary to define the appropri-
ate element size based on the results accuracy and
computational time effort point of view.
Four different element sizes ES, (2, 2.5, 5 and
10  mm) have been selected for the current model
calibration with the experimental results of the
intact plate.
The analyses have been performed accounting
for the initial imperfection amplitude of 1 mm, as
reported by Saad-Eldeen et al. (2016c), with a pre-
selected number of a half wave of three along the
plate length, where the middle half-sine wave is in
the upward direction.
The initial imperfections are based on the Fourier
series, where a is the length of plate (300 mm), x is
the longitudinal axis, m is the mode of the imper-
fections in the x axis (i.e. the number of half-sine
waves within the length of the plate and w0 is the
amplitude of the imperfection:
mπ x
w w0 sin (1)
a
The initial imperfections have been generated
in ANSYS by changing the vertical position of
element nodes without inducing any additional
stresses
The resultant force-vertical displacement for the
FE model, varying the ES sizes, are presented in
Figure 3 and given in Table 2.
It can be observed that the slope of the force-
displacement relationship is far away from the
experimental results of the intact plate for all ele-
ment sizes. Regarding the ultimate force capacity,
it is visible that the element size, ES of 5 mm shows
the closest ultimate force compared to the experi-
mental one with a difference of 4.53%. In order to
have an appropriate way to select the best element
size, the concept of the gradient (Saad-Eldeen
et al., 2012) is applied, in which the gradient of the
ultimate force capacity with respect to the element
size is calculated as:
ΔF ( ES ) Fi Fi +1
Gradient = lim ≅ (2)
ΔES → 0 ΔES Si − ES
ES Si +1
where Fi is the ultimate force capacity at the specified
element size, ESi. By plotting the gradient vs. the ele-
3/29/2017 9:37:16 AM
 Figure 4. Gradient of ultimate force vs. element size.

Figure 3. Force-vertical displacement relationship as a

function of different element sizes.

Table 2. Maximum force as function of element size.

ES, [mm] 2 2.5 5 10

Exp, [kN] 41.92 41.92 41.92 41.92

FE [kN] 46.36 46.46 43.83 48.23
Red., % 13.08 4.35 9.77 9.58 Figure 5. Initial imperfection shapes upward (up) and
Gradient 0.88 −1.05 0.20 downward (down).

ment size (see Figure 4) it can be observed that there

is a minimum point at the element size 5 mm. This
point refers to the change of the curve behaviour,
therefore, for the present finite element analysis the
most appropriate element size seems to be 5 mm.

4.2 Initial imperfection shape

The second parameter is the direction of the initial
imperfection, where two shapes are considered in
the analyses: upward and downward at the middle
of the plate as shown in Figure 5.
The force-vertical displacement relationship for
the two imperfection shapes considering ES of
5 mm are presented in Figure 6. It is clear that for
the current analysis, the imperfection direction has
a negligible effect on both inclination and ultimate
Figure 6. Force-vertical displacement relationship as a
capacity of the intact plate specimen as may be
function of different imperfection directions.
seen from Figure 6 and Table 3.

4.3 Initial imperfection amplitude Table 3. Effect of initial imperfection shape.

The third parameter is the initial imperfection
amplitude, where three initial imperfection ampli- Force, kN
tudes of 1 mm, 1.5 mm and 2 mm are considered in Exp, [kN] 41.92
the current analysis. The force-vertical displacement FM up, [kN] 43.83
relationships for the FE model with different upward FE down, [kN] 43.83
initial imperfection amplitudes and ES of 5 mm are

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 shown in Figure 7. As may be seen from Figure 7,
by increasing the initial imperfection amplitude, the
slope of the force-displacement becomes closer to
the experimental results. On the other hand, with
increasing the imperfection amplitude, the ultimate
load carrying capacity decreases with respect to the
experimental results by 10.39% and 26.34%, respec-
tively, as may be seen from Table 4.
Therefore, the imperfection amplitude of 1 mm
may be considered as the appropriate amplitude
for the current analysis with a load carrying capac-
ity of 43.83  kN, which is higher than the experi-
mental one with 4.55%.

4.4 Initial imperfection mode number

The fourth parameter is the number of half-sine
waves, m along the plate length. Two m numbers
Figure 8. Force-vertical displacement relationship as a
of 1 and 3 are studied. The resultant force-vertical function of different imperfection half waves.
displacement relationships for the FE model of
upward imperfection with amplitude of 1 mm and
ES of 5 mm, varying the number of half-sine waves Table 5. Effect of initial imperfection mode number.
are presented in Figure 8.
It is clear that the model with m = 1 is stiffer than Force, kN
the one of m = 3 from the both slope and ultimate
load carrying capacity, where the last, m = 1 shows Exp, [kN] 41.92
a higher ultimate force of 34.16% than the experi- FM, m = 1, [kN] 56.24
mental one, as tabulated in Table 5. FE, m = 3, [kN] 43.83

It may be noticed that for all analysed parameters,

the slope of the force-displacement relationships is
far from the experimental one regardless the ultimate
capacity. This difference in the slope results from the
boundary conditions, which the clips created dur-
ing the experimental test, which is difficult to model
them perfectly due to the interaction occurs between
the plate and clips within the clips depth.
Therefore, in order to accommodate the addi-
tional effect of the clips on the slope, a displace-
ment coefficient may be used as a master coefficient
for those kinds of supports. The vertical displace-
ment of the FE model will be magnified by a dis-
placement coefficient δcoeff = 2.5, which results in a
modified FE results as shown in Figure  9, which
is closer to the experimental one from slope point
of view. In order to judge the adequacy of the FE
Figure 7. Force-vertical displacement relationship as a results (force-vertical displacement) with respect
function of different imperfection amplitude.
to the experimental results, the r approach will be
used. This approach has been applied to account
Table 4. Effect of imperfection amplitudes on the ulti- the differences in the BS between the stipulated
mate force capacity. by CSR approach for the ultimate strength assess-
ment and the experimental results as presented in
IMP, [mm] 1 1.5 2 (Garbatov et al., 2016).
Figure  10  shows the load carrying capacity of
Exp, [kN] 41.92 41.92 41.92
FM [kN] 43.83 37.56 33.18
the experimental results vs. the FE ones in addi-
Red.,% 10.39 20.85
tion to the adequacy approach, r (Benjamin and
Cornell, 1970). It is visible that the modified FE

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 both cases. This confirms that the FE model is fol-
lowing the experimental test results accurately from
ultimate capacity, inclination and collapse mode.

4.5 Finite element model validation

In order to validate the calibrated FE model, a
comparison with the experimental results of a plate
specimen with an elliptical opening of a length and
width of 160 mm and 80 mm, respectively, as given
in Table 1 and Figure 1, is carried out. The result-
ant force-vertical displacement relationship experi-
mentally and numerically estimated for the plate
specimen with an elliptical opening is presented in
Figure 12.

Figure  9. Force-vertical displacement relationship vs

FE models.

Figure  11. Post-collapse mode Exp. (up) and FE

(down).
Figure 10. Load carrying capacity, experimental vs. FE
model results.

model, which takes into account the displacement

coefficient δcoeff, shows better r of 1.1881 than
the one of the original FE model of 2.8951 with
respect to the experimental results. Therefore, the
most appropriate characteristics of the finite ele-
ment model constructed for the present analysis
respecting the ultimate force capacity are ES of
5 mm, upward initial imperfection with amplitude
of 1 mm and imperfection mode of 3 with a dis-
placement coefficient of 2.5.
The post-collapse modes for the tested and FE
intact plates (lateral displacement) are presented in
Figure 11. At the supporting clips, both tested and
FE model shows zero lateral displacement within
the clips depth defined by A1A2-A3A4 and the lateral
displacement increase gradually until reaching its Figure 12. Comparison between Exp and FE results for
maximum at the mid-length, O1O2 of the plate for plate with 160 × 80 elliptical opening.

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 same plate configurations, a series of FE analyses
has been performed for different elliptical opening
sizes, as defined in Table 1. The resultant force-ver-
tical displacement relationships compared with the
calibrated /validated intact FE model are presented
in Figure  14. It is visible that by increasing the

Figure 14. Comparison with different elliptical opening

sizes.

Table 6. Ultimate force for plate with different ellipsoi-

dal opening sizes.

Figure 13. Von Mises (up) and shear (down) stresses for Case Force, kN Reduction, %
plate with 160 × 80 elliptical opening.
FE Intact 43.83  
FE, (160 × 50) 30.96 29.36
It is clear that the FE model shows a better pre- FE, (160 × 60) 28.75 34.40
diction of both slope and ultimate load carrying FE, (160 × 700) 26.54 39.44
capacity with respect to the experimental one. The FE, (160 × 80) 23.61 46.12
FE model registered 10.52% load carrying capac- FE, (160 × 90) 21.67 50.57
ity, higher than the experimental one. FE, (160 × 100) 19.11 56.41
Both von Mises and shear stresses for the plate
with an elliptical opening are shown in Figure 13.
For von Mises stresses Figure  13 (up), it is clear
that the central part of the plate is highly stressed,
in addition to the areas with high stresses, which are
located in the 45 degrees direction of the corner. At
the supporting clips, there are some locations with
high stresses, which results from the imposed lateral
displacement constrained by the clips.
For the shear stress distribution, see Figure 13
(down), it is clear that the locations at 45 degrees
as for the von Mises stresses are stressed, where the
whole plate is with less stresses.
Therefore, it may be concluded that the calibrated
FE model shows a good prediction of both experi-
mentally tested intact and with opening plates.
As may be seen from Figure 12 and Figure 13,
the presence of the opening reduces the ultimate
load carrying capacity of the plate, in addition to a Figure 15. Relationship between breadth ratio and the
change in the stress distribution. Therefore, for the reduction of the ultimate load carrying capacity.

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 opening size perpendicular to the applied load, the
ultimate load carrying capacity decreases, i.e. for
the opening size of (160 × 90 mm), which is 60%
of the plate width, the ultimate capacity decreases
by 50.57% and may be seen in Table 6. This proves
that the relationship between the opening size and
the ultimate load carrying capacity is nonlinear.
Therefore, the relationship between the breadth
ratio b1/b and the reduction percentage of the ulti-
mate load carrying capacity is plotted in Figure 15.
As may be seen by increasing the breadth ration,
the reduction of the ultimate carrying capacity
increases and the relationship may be fitted with a
nonlinear function with R = 0.9995.
5 CONCLUSIONS
A series of non-linear FE analyses for intact and
with an elliptical opening plates have been car-
ried out using the commercial software ANSYS in
order to calibrate and validate a FE model based
on the experimental test results. The main objective
was to define the most appropriate FE model by
defining the initial imperfections (shape, amplitude
and number of half-sine waves) and the mesh size,
which is the most important governing parameters
that affect the ultimate strength and post-collapse
behaviour. The results achieved by the calibrated
FE model demonstrate a good agreement with
the experimental results of the intact plate. The
calibrated model has been validated based on the
experimental results on a plate with an elliptical
opening, showing a good agreement.
Finally, a series of FE analyses has been per-
formed considering the effect of different elliptical
opening sizes of the ultimate load carrying capac-
ity for the validated model. It was concluded that
the relationship between the breadth ratio and the
reduction of the ultimate capacity may be fitted
nonlinearly with R = 0.9995.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The first author has been funded by the Portu-
guese Foundation for Science and Technology
(Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia—FCT)
under contract SFRH/BPD/84823/2012.
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Domzalick, P., Skalski, I., Guedes Soares, C. and Gar-
batov, Y. 2009. Large scale corrosion tests. Guedes
Soares, C & Das P.K., (Eds). Analysis and Design of
Marine Structures. London, UK: Taylor & Francis
Group; pp. 193–198.
Garbatov, Y., Tekgoz, M. & Guedes Soares, C. 2016.
Experimental and numerical strength assessment of stiff-
ened plates subjected to severe non-uniform corrosion
degradation and compressive load. Ships and Offshore
Structures, DOI 10.1080/17445302.2016.1173807.
Harada, M. & Fujikubo, M. 2002. Estimation of Buck-
ling and Ultimate Strength of Rectangular Plate with
Cutout. Proceedings of the 12th International Society
of Offshore and Polar Engineers. Kita-Kyushu, Japan.
Kim, U.N., Choe, I.H. & Paik, J.K. 2009. Buckling and
Ultimate Strength of Perforated Plate Panels subject
to Axial Compression: Experimental and Numerical
Investigations with Design Formulations. Ships and
Offshore Structures, 4, 337–361.
Kumar, M.S., Alagusundaramoorthy, P. & Sundara-
vadivelu, R. 2007. Ultimate Strength of Square Plate
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Paik, J.K. 2007. Ultimate Strength of Steel Plates with a
single Circular Hole under Axial Compressive Load-
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2, 355–360.
Saad-Eldeen, S., Garbatov, Y. and Guedes Soares, C.
2011. Experimental Assessment of the Ultimate
Strength of a Box Girder Subjected to Severe Corro-
sion. Marine Structures. 24(4):338–357.
Saad-Eldeen, S., Garbatov, Y. & Guedes Soares, C. 2012.
FE Parameters Estimation and Analysis of Ultimate
Strength of Box Girder. In: Guedes Soares, C., Gar-
batov, Y., Sutulo, S. & Santos, T. (eds.) Maritime
Technology and Engineering. Taylor & Francis Group,
London, UK, 331–338.
Saad-Eldeen, S., Garbatov, Y. & Guedes Soares, C. 2014.
Ultimate strength assessment of steel plates with a
large opening. In: Guedes Soares, C. & Pena, L. (eds.)
Developments in Maritime Transportation and Exploi-
tation of Sea Resources. London, UK: Taylor & Fran-
cis Group, 373–380.
Saad-Eldeen, S., Garbatov, Y. & Guedes Soares, C. 2016a.
Experimental investigation on the residual strength of
thin steel plates with a central elliptic opening and
locked cracks. Ocean Engineering, 115, 19–29.
Saad-Eldeen, S., Garbatov, Y. & Guedes Soares, C.
2016b. Experimental strength analysis of steel plates
with a large circular opening accounting for corrosion
degradation and cracks subjected to compressive load
along the short edges. Marine Structures, 48, 52–67.
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2016c. Experimental strength assessment of thin steel
plates with a central elongated circular opening. Jour-
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Ultimate strength of the hull girder of large container ships

S. Zhang, R. Villavicencio & Nigel White

Global Technology Centre, Lloyd’s Register EMEA, Southampton, UK

L. Jiang
Applied Technology Group, Lloyd’s Register EMEA, Halifax, Canada

ABSTRACT: The longitudinal strength of a ship is perhaps one of the most important aspects to con-
sider during the ship’s design stage. The ultimate strength of the hull girder of container ships has also
become a design assessment parameter to be carefully assessed before the construction of the ships. The
paper presents a brief review of the design assessment methods currently investigated by Lloyd’s Register,
and comparisons with damage experience from service and non-linear finite element analysis results. In
addition, various large container ships of capacity from 8,000 to 22,000 TEU are assessed by the different
methods to evaluate their robustness and accuracy.

1 INTRODUCTION which are composed of closely spaced longitudinal

The longitudinal strength of a hull girder is per-
haps one of the most important issues for consid-
eration in ship design. The collapse of a hull girder
can have drastic and significant consequences for
human life and the environment. Therefore, it is
probably one of the most important research top-
ics and should receive continuous attention.
The ultimate strength of a structure or system
is defined as the point beyond which an additional
increment of applied loading cannot be carried
and supported. As illustrated in Figure  1, at the
ultimate point, the hull girder is collapsing.
The midship region of a ship can be considered
as a rectangular box enveloped by stiffened panels,
stiffeners and relatively widely spaced transverse
frames. A review of the structural designs of con-
temporary container ships with capacity 7,000 to
22,000 TEU showed that the typical aspect ratio of
plating between transverse frames and longitudi-
nal stiffeners (a/b) is between 2 to 5 in the midship
regions. The ultimate strength of such hull girders
in bending is crucial for the safety of the ship, par-
ticularly in the case of bottoms of container ships
under compression as these ships normally have a
very large still water hogging bending condition.
The paper presents a brief review of the investi-
gations carried out by Lloyd’s Register on design
assessment methods, and comparisons with dam-
age experience and finite element analyses, and
assessment of various large container ships to
evaluate the accuracy of the methods.

2 ULTIMATE STRENGTH
OF HULL GIRDERS

The vertical hull girder ultimate bending capacity

is to satisfy the following criteria, as required by
Lloyd’s Register procedures (Lloyd’s Register 2016):

MU
≥ ( yS M S + yW MW ) (1)
γ DBγ U

where MS is the design still water bending moment,

MW is the vertical wave bending moment, γS, γW, γU
Figure 1. Illustration of load-shortening curve. are the partial safety factors, and γDB is the double

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 bottom effect for hogging bending (γDB = 1.15 for
container ships for a general use).
A ship hull girder can be considered as a long
beam. The ratio between the length and depth of
a ship is typically in the order of ten. Under verti-
cal bending moment, the hull girder will undergo
bending deformation. In the hogging condition,
for example, the bottom will be in compression
and the deck will be in tension. When the compres-
sive stress at the bottom reaches the bottom ulti-
mate strength, the stiffened panels start to collapse.
However, the ultimate capacity of the hull girder
may not be reached since other structural members
can withstand further bending moments and also
the neutral axial is moving towards the deck. With
a further increase of the bending moment, the bot-
tom, and probably also the inner bottom and parts
of the side structures, will collapse, and thus the
ultimate capacity of hull girder is finally reached.
One of the tasks for hull girder ultimate strength
assessment is to determine the ultimate bending
capacity of the hull girder, MU. The following sec-
tions will discuss the assessment approaches.
2.1 Simplified method
In the simplified approaches for assessing the
ultimate strength of hull girders, an appropriate
distribution of longitudinal stresses in the ship’s
hull cross-section at the state of overall hull girder
collapse is firstly assumed. The ultimate moment
capacity is then determined by integrating the first
moment of the longitudinal stress on all structural
elements with respect to the neutral axis.
There are a number of proposals on the assump-
tion of the longitudinal stress distribution over the
ship’s hull cross section at the ultimate limit state.
For example, Caldwell (1965) was probably the
first to present this method and he assumed that
all structures in compression have reached ultimate
strength, while all other structures in tension have
sustained full yielding.
It has been understood that the hull girder
reaches the ultimate state even before the mate-
rial in tension yields fully or that in compression
collapses entirely. Therefore, Caldwell’s pioneer-
ing method may overestimate the actual ultimate
bending capacity of a hull girder.
A more refined method was proposed by Paik
et  al. (1997) by assuming, for example in sag-
ging condition, that in the compressed part the
deck and top part of side shell reached their ulti-
mate strength. In the tensioned part, the bottom
reached yield. The side shell structures near the
neutral axis are in elastic. The whole cross section
can be divided into four parts: collapsed compres-
sion, elastic compression, elastic tension and yield
tension.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 314
In 2006, a simple single step method was intro-
duced in the Common Structural Rules for Dou-
ble Hull Oil Tankers. The method is for assessing
the ultimate strength of double hull tankers in the
sagging condition (deck in compression). The hull
girder ultimate bending moment capacity is deter-
mined from:
Mu Zred σ y (2)
where Zred  =  Ired/zdk is reduced section modulus at
deck (to the mean deck height), Ired is reduced hull
girder moment of inertia with effective area after
buckling of each stiffened panel of the deck, zdk is
vertical distance to the neutral axis of the reduced
section measured from the mean deck, Aeff  =  (σu/
σy)A is effective area after buckling of the stiffened
deck panel and A is the cross-sectional area of a
stiffener including associated full width plating.
While this method was specifically developed
for sagging collapse analyses of double hull oil
tankers, it is considered that it may not be suitable
for hogging collapse analyses of container ships.
2.2 Non-Linear Finite Element Analysis (NLFEA)
Some investigations have been carried out for hull
girder collapse using non-linear finite element
analysis, but it is a time consuming task. Experi-
ence also shows that problems on numerical con-
verging are often encountered. However, this is a
method which is believed to give better assessment
of hull girder ultimate strength if it is performed
properly. It can also provide data to verify simpli-
fied methods.
Therefore, Lloyd’s Register has made efforts
in recent years in developing this technique. One
cargo hold and three-cargo hold models in intact
and damaged conditions (due to collisions and
grounding) have been performed using ABAQUS
software. Useful results and experience have been
obtained. Figure  2 presents an example of such
Figure  2. Non-linear finite element analysis on hull
girder collapse.
3/29/2017 9:37:23 AM

Figure 3. Sagging bending moment curve for the dou-
ble hull tanker in intact condition.
analyses for an oil tanker using a one cargo hold
model. The bending moment-curvature curve in
the sagging condition for this oil tanker is pre-
sented in Figure 3.
2.3 Experimental test
Full-scale tests on ultimate capacity of hull gird-
ers are rare because of both the technical difficulty
and economic costs. However, some incidents of
hull girder collapse and model tests provide valu-
able data and information for validating analysis
methods: for example, the work carried out by
Rutherford & Caldwell (1990), Dow (1991) and
Gordo & Guedes Soares (2009). Hopefully, more
full-scale tests on hull girder collapse can be car-
ried out under worldwide co-operations.
2.4 Progressive collapse (Smith’s method)
The progressive collapse method, which is often
called Smith’s method, was proposed by Smith
(1977). In this method, the cross section of the hull
girder is subdivided into elements (stiffener with
attached plating) which are assumed to act inde-
pendently and the plane section of the hull girder
remains plane in bending. The strain at each ele-
ment of the cross section can be determined using
the simple beam theory at an applied curvature.
The bending moment can then be calculated from:
N
M ∑( i Ai yi ) (3)
i =1
where σi is the element stress, Ai is the element area,
yi is the distance of the element to the neutral axis
and N is the total number of elements.
By performing this process for each applied
curvature, the bending moment and curvature
relationship of the hull girder can be obtained
incorporating the non-linear response of
315
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 315
individual elements. During the incremental
process, the neutral axis position is adjusted to
maintain overall equilibrium. From the curve of
moment and curvature, the maximum bending
moment or ultimate bending capability of the hull
girder can be found.
One of the key issues of this method is that the
load-shortening curve for each element should be
given. Three methods are investigated here: 1) LR
20202, 2) LR 20202 (SAF) and 3) CSR.
1. LR 20202 method
The Lloyd’s Register LRPASS Program No. 20202
has been implemented in the Lloyd’s Register soft-
ware RulesCalc. The ultimate strength of stiffened
panels is assessed using a beam-column approach
in which the panel behaviour is typified by that of
a single stiffener together with the attached plat-
ing. The overall axial strength is obtained from a
strut formulation in which the individual plate and
stiffener strengths provide the limiting extreme
fiber stress.
Two predictions of ultimate strength of stiffened
plate elements are evaluated, one relating to plate-
induced failure and the other to stiffener-induced
failure. The lower of these two predictions defines
the ultimate condition and identifies the mode to
be used in selecting a load-shortening response.
Additional details of this method can be found in
Rutherford & Caldwell (1990).
2. LR 20202 (SAF) method
Lloyd’s Register has in recent years carried out
a comprehensive study of ultimate strength of
stiffened panels. Different stiffened panels, repre-
senting decks and the bottom of ships, have been
investigated. Through analysis, and with the aid of
non-linear finite element simulations, the following
expression is proposed for the ultimate strength
assessment of stiffened panels under axial com-
pression (Zhang & Khan 2009):
σu 1 1
= (4)
σ y β 0.28 1 + λ 3.2
The two physical parameters plate slenderness
ratio, β, and stiffener slenderness ratio, λ, are
defined as:
β ( ) σy /E (5)
λ ( π ) σy /E (6)
where σy is the yield stress, E is the Young’s modu-
lus, t is the plate thickness, r = √(I/A) is the radius
of gyration of the stiffener including associated
full width plating, I is the moment of inertia and A
is the cross-sectional area of the stiffener including
3/29/2017 9:37:24 AM

Figure  4. Ratio between FE results and Eq. (6) (for
110 stiffened panels).
associated full width plating. The post collapse
mode follows that of LR 20202 method by scaling.
The method has been further validated against a
large number of non-linear finite element analysis
and model test results. Good agreement has been
achieved and a comparison example between the
formula results and non-linear FE analysis results
for 110 stiffened panels are presented in Figure 4
(Zhang 2015).
3. CSR method
CSR method refers to the ‘incremental-iterative
method’, as defined in IACS (2015), to assess
the hull girder ultimate bending capacity. In the
method only the vertical bending moment is con-
sidered and all relevant failure modes for individ-
ual structural elements are considered to identify
the weakest inter-frame failure mode. For example,
for shortened of stiffener elements (stiffener with
attached plate), the failure modes involving beam
column buckling, torsional buckling, web local
buckling of flanged profiles, and web local buck-
ling of flat bars, are considered. A detailed descrip-
tion of the method can be found in IACS (2015).
3 VALIDATIONS
In this section, the three progressive collapse meth-
ods are compared against a service failure in the
longitudinal bending, finite element results and
each other for various container ships, respectively.
3.1 Benchmark with service history
In July 1980, at the Mobil Terminal at Rotterdam,
the single hull Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC)
Energy Concentration (Figure  5) ‘broke its back’,
with the fore and aft sections trimming forward
and aft respectively about a ‘hinge’ in the deck
plating near amidships (see Figure 6).
The overall cause of this major failure (bottom
collapse) is not in doubt: the eventual distribution
of weight and buoyancy induced a hogging bend-
ing moment which exceeded the ultimate longitu-
316
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 316
Figure  5. The Energy Concentration (LBP  =  313  m)
(Rutherford & Caldwell 1990).
Figure 6. The back of the Energy Concentration broke
because of poorly executed cargo oil unloading.
dinal strength of the ship, as a consequence of the
sequence of discharging the tanks at Rotterdam.
Since the conditions at which failure occurred
are known rather precisely, the incident provides a
rare opportunity to compare this ‘measured’ ulti-
mate strength with that predicted using theoretical
methods. The actual (measured) ultimate hogging
bending moment was 17.94 E+6 kNm.
The ultimate strength of the hull girder collapse
has been analyzed using the three methods imple-
mented in the Lloyd’s Register software RulesCalc
and the results are presented in Table 1. It is seen
from the comparison that three methods give a
reasonable estimation of the hull girder capacity
for this example.
3.2 Comparison with finite element analysis
The NLFEA results of an 8,500  TEU container
ship are selected for the present comparison with
the three methods. The comparison is presented in
Table 2. It should be noted that since the NLFEA
analysis includes the double bottom deformation
effect, but the three methods do not, the double
bottom factor (γDB  =  1.15) for container ships is
taken into account for the hogging bending.
3.3 Hull girder ultimate strength of large
container ships
Four large container ships, capacity from 8,000 to
22,000 TEU, are selected for the comparison of the
three progressive collapse methods. The estimated
3/29/2017 9:37:25 AM
 Table 1. Hull girder failure of the Energy Concentration. Table 4. Hull girder ultimate strength: 14,000 TEU.

Hogging Ratio to  Method Ratio to LR 20202

Method [106 kNm] Actual
LR 20202 1.00
Actual (10 years old) 17.94 1.00 LR 20202 (SAF) 1.02
LR 20202 17.77 0.99 CSR 1.14
LR 20202 (SAF) 19.29 1.07
CSR 19.00 1.06
Table 5. Hull girder ultimate strength: 20,000 TEU.

Table  2. Comparison with NLFEA: 8,500  TEU con- Method Ratio to LR 20202
tainer ship.
LR 20202 1.00
Method Ratio to NLFEA LR 20202 (SAF) 0.99
CSR 1.13
NLFEA 1.00
LR 20202 1.01
LR 20202 (SAF) 0.97 Table 6. Hull girder ultimate strength: 22,000 TEU.
CSR 1.13
Method Ratio to LR 20202

LR 20202 1.00
Table 3. Hull girder ultimate strength: 8,000 TEU. LR 20202 (SAF) 1.07
CSR 1.10
Method Ratio to LR 20202

LR 20202 1.00
LR 20202 (SAF) 0.97
CSR 1.12

ultimate hogging bending moments are presented

in Tables 3 to 6 where results are normalized to the
LR20202 result for the comparative study.

3.4 Discussion
Good agreement between the method LR 20202
and the measured ultimate strength of the single
hull tanker (VLCC), Energy Concentration in
Table 1, has been achieved. This was also demon-
strated by Rutherford & Caldwell (1990) with vari-
ous sensitivity studies to justify the reliability of
the approach. The other two methods, LR 20202
(SAF) and CSR, overestimate by a similar, rela-
tively small, amount the hull girder failure of the
Energy Concentration, but it still can be consid- Figure  7. Failing elements under hogging bending
ered as good and acceptable. moment (20,000 TEU): CSR method (above), LR 20202
While the three methods predict the ultimate (bellow). The horizontal green line represents the instan-
strength of the single hull VLCC with sufficient taneous neutral axis.
accuracy, the deviations increase when double hulls
are evaluated, as illustrated in the comparison with
the NLFEA (Table 2). Here, the agreement of LR where the CSR prediction was higher by around
20202 and LR 20202 (SAF) is satisfactory how- 15% respect to the finite element simulation result.
ever the same agreement is not achieved by CSR The ultimate strength of the hull girder of the
approach. The fact that CSR method gives higher four container ships (Tables  3 to 6) show a simi-
ultimate strength estimation to some extent for lar tendency, i.e. the predictions of CSR approach
hogging moments has been also discussed by Paik are larger by 10% to 15% respect to those of LR
et al. (2008) for an Aframax double hull oil tanker, 20202. Certainly, the difference raises from the

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 theory used to generate the load-shortening curves
of the stiffener elements, as the progressive collapse
approach is essentially the same for the three meth-
ods. For example, the ultimate strength prediction
of CSR is also about 10% to 15% larger than that
of LR 20202 for the bottom longitudinals of the
20,000 TEU.
Figure  7 presents the structural elements that
failed at the ultimate hogging moment for both
CSR and LR20202 methods. It is seen that at the
ultimate load, both the outer bottom and the inner
bottom elements failed, but more structures have
collapsed in the CSR method. This also transmits
that LR 20202 requires less incremental steps to
reach the ultimate moment, and consequently a
smaller displacement of the neutral axis as illus-
trated in Figure 7.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The paper has presented an overview of recent
investigations on the ultimate strength of hull
girders and the attention has been particularly
paid on large container ships hogging bending.
Overall the method LR 20202  gives good agree-
ment with the failure in service example and the
non-linear FE analysis. The method seems capa-
ble to predict the ultimate strength of container
ships very well. The newly developed method LR
20202 (SAF) also gives similar accuracy. These
simplified methods are easy and fast to use, and
consequently can speed up the design assessment
process significantly.
Through the limited number of analyses on
larger container ships, it is seen that the CSR
method gives 10% to 15% higher than FE results
and the LR 20202 method for hull girders’ ultimate
capacity in hogging bending.
For hull girder collapse analysis of large con-
tainer ships in hogging conditions, a double bot-
tom factor of 1.15 is a first good approximation.
However, initial analysis using simplified analytical
methods show that the double bottom factor is in
the range of 1.1 to 1.2 for container ships between
3600 TEU to 22 000 TEU.
However, more non-linear FE analyses for dif-
ferent designs and sizes are required to further con-
firm and verify the simplified methods which are
easy and quick to use during design assessments.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank Dr Sai Wong and col-
leagues at Lloyd’s Register for their comments and
support. The views expressed in this paper are
those of the authors and are not necessarily those
of Lloyd’s Register.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 318
Lloyd’s Register and variants of it are trading
names of Lloyd’s Register Group Limited, its sub-
sidiaries and affiliates. Lloyd’s Register EMEA
(Reg. no. 29592R) is an Industrial and Provident
Society registered in England and Wales. Registered
office: 71 Fenchurch Street, London, EC3M 4BS,
UK. A member of the Lloyd’s Register group.
Lloyd’s Register Group Limited, its affiliates
and subsidiaries and their respective officers,
employees or agents are, individually and col-
lectively, referred to in this clause as the ‘Lloyd’s
Register’. Lloyd’s Register assumes no responsi-
bility and shall not be liable to any person for any
loss, damage or expense caused by reliance on the
information or advice in this document or how-
soever provided, unless that person has signed a
contract with the relevant Lloyd’s Register entity
for the provision of this information or advice and
in that case any responsibility or liability is exclu-
sively on the terms and conditions set out in that
contract.
REFERENCES
Caldwell JB. 1965. Ultimate Longitudinal Strength,
RINA Transactions, Vol. 107, pp. 411–430.
Dow RS. 1991. Testing analysis of a 1/3-scale welded
steel frigate model. Proc. of International Conference
on Advances in Marine Structures, Vol. 2, Scotland.
Gordo JM, Guedes Soares C. 2009. Tests on ultimate
strength of hull box girders made of high tensile steel.
Marine Structures; 22 (4): 770–790.
IACS. 2015. Common structural rules for double hull oil
tankers and bulk carriers, IACS Limited, Permanent
Secretariat, 6th Floor, 36 Broadway, London UK.
Lloyd’s Register. 2016. ShipRight Structural Design
Assessment (SDA) Global Design Loads Prone to
Whipping and Springing, London, UK.
Paik JK, Thayamballi AK. 1997. An empirical formula-
tion for predicting the ultimate strength of stiffened
panels. Proceedings of 7th Int. offshore and polar
engineering conf. Honolulu, USA.
Paik JK, Kim BJ, Seo JK. 2008. Methods for ultimate
limit state assessment of ships and ship-shaped off-
shore structures: Part III hull girders. Ocean Engi-
neering; 35: 281–286.
Rutherford SE, Caldwell JB. 1990. Ultimate Longitudi-
nal Strength of Ships: A Case Study. Trans. SNAME,
Vol. 98, pp. 441–471.
Smith CS. 1977. Influence of local compressive failure
on ultimate longitudinal strength of a ship’s hull. Pro-
ceedings of the International Symposium PRADS’ 77,
Tokyo, pp. 73–79.
Zhang S. 2015. A Review and Study on Ultimate Strength
of Steel Plates and Stiffened Panels in Axial Compres-
sion. Journal of Ship and Offshore Structures. DOI:1
0.1080/17445302.2014.992610.
Zhang S, Khan I. 2009. Buckling and ultimate strength
of plates and stiffened panels. Marine Structures,
Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 791–808.
3/29/2017 9:37:26 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Experimental study on cumulative buckling deformation of stiffened

panel subjected to cyclic loading

Y. Tanaka, T. Ando & Y. Hashizume

National Maritime Research Institute (NMRI), Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan

A. Tatsumi & M. Fujikubo

Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan

ABSTRACT: In this study, the cumulative process of buckling deformation is examined for stiffened
panel under cyclic loading in the macroscopically elastic range. Experimental results are discussed in rela-
tion to the analysis by Finite Element Method (FEM). It was confirmed that the initial deflection of stiff-
ened panel was amplified by uniaxial cyclic loading test and that the formation of permanent deflection
could be simulated by FEM analysis. In addition, it was revealed that such amplified deflection slightly
affected on the ultimate strength of stiffened panel.

1 INTRODUCTION

The increase in size and capacity of container ships

has been more pronounced due to the global trend
of transport cost reduction. Most recently, 20,000
TEU-class Ultra-Large Container Ships (ULCSs)
with a length of 400  m have been designed and
constructed. In such ULCSs, the frequency of two-
node vertical bending vibration approaches that of
wave encounter. As a result, it becomes important
to consider the influence of whipping induced by
slamming on the ultimate hull girder strength.
In such situation, the Post-Panamax container
ship (8,000TEU class) was broken in two at mid-
ship and sank in the Indian Ocean in June 2013 Figure 1. Example of buckling deformations observed
(Committee on Large Container Ship Safety (2015). in the bottom shell plates (by Mitsui O. S. K. Lines, Ltd.).
The direct trigger of this accident was estimated to
be the progressive collapse of outer shell plates in
the double bottom part. This was because the buck- numerically. The growth of buckling deformation
ling deformations of up to a maximum of 20  mm was confirmed by uniaxial cyclic loading test for
in height were observed near the center line of the stiffened plate specimen. In addition, it can be
transverse section of the shell plates of the sister simulated by dynamic explicit FEM analysis using
ships as reported by the committee (see Figure 1). It LS-DYNA.
can be assumed that the concave and convex buck- By the way, as for the buckling strength and/
ling deformation of the stiffened panels was formed or ultimate strength of plates and stiffened plates
according to the following hypothesis. That is, the subjected to monotonically increasing loading,
buckling mode component of the weld-induced ini- a huge number of research works has been per-
tial deformation was amplified by cyclic compres- formed. There have been a lot of experimental
sive loads caused by wave-induced vertical bending studies on the ultimate strength of stiffened plate
moment including whipping. It was presumed that in such researches. Smith (1975) performed a series
such deformation of outer bottom shell significantly of tests on full scale welded steel grillages under
reduced the ultimate hull girder strength of the ship. compressive load combined in some cases with
Based on the hypothesis above mentioned, lateral pressure. Endo and Tanaka (1988) con-
in this study, the cumulative process of buckling ducted the buckling tests for various dimensions
deformation was examined experimentally and of stiffened plate specimens to investigate the

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 scale effect on the ultimate strength. On the other
hand, Yao and Nikolov (1990) performed a series
of FEM analyses for plates subjected to cyclic in-
plane load. These were not macroscopically elastic
analyses but elasto-plastic large deflection analy-
ses. However, the elasto-plastic behaviour of plates
and stiffened plates under cyclic loading in the
macroscopic elastic range are not yet investigated.
Another purpose of the present paper is to
examine whether the cumulative deflection of stiff-
ened panels affects the ultimate strength. From
an engineering viewpoint, it could be shown that
there was slight influence of amplified deforma-
tion on the ultimate strength of adopted stiffened
panel specimen. The future study will make clear
the influence of biaxial compression and lateral
pressure which are more general in the outer bot-
tom shell of container ships.
container ships. In addition, the ratio of panel breadth
and thickness, b/tp was about 63 because of using a
mild steel plate with a nominal thickness of 3.2 mm.
Based on the above preliminary design, two
stiffened plate specimens (UA1 and UA2) were
fabricated for the investigation into the cumulative
buckling deformation under cyclic loading. They
were composed of three spans and three bays as
shown in Figure  2 and the nominal dimensions
are shown in Figures 3 and 4. Mild steel plate of
4.5 mm thickness was used for the panel of both end
spans to avoid local collapse. The material of L-bar
stiffener was the same as the 3.2 mm plate and the
cross-sectional geometry was 80 mm × 20 mm. All
stiffeners and transverse frames were continuously

2 DETAILS OF SPECIMENS AND TEST

RIG

2.1 Design and fabrication of specimens

The parameter most strongly influencing compres-
sive strength of stiffened plates are the panel slen-
derness ratio, β,
Figure 2. Overview of stiffened plate specimen.
b σY
β= (1)
tp E

where, b  =  stiffener space, tp  =  plate thickness,

σY = material yield strength and E = Young’s modu-
lus. Since the transverse frame spacing is limited
by test rig, the space, a was set to 1000 mm and the
panel aspect ratio, a/b was set to 5.0 by referring Figure  3. Central cross-section of stiffened plate
to the bottom structural configurations of general specimen.

Figure 4. Top view of stiffened plate specimen.

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 welded to the plate by TIG-welding so as to reduce loading fixtures perpendicular to both ends of the
initial imperfections. specimens.

2.2 Material properties

3 TEST PROCEDURE
The chemical components of the steel plate used for
the central span as weight percentage are presented 3.1 Measurement of initial deformation
in Table 1 and the mechanical properties obtained Before testing, the initial deformations in the cen-
from standard tensile tests are summarized in tral portion of plate for each specimen were meas-
Table 2. However, both compressive tests and cyclic ured by measuring device shown in Figure 6. The
tests were not carried out for the materials. measured deflections of each local panel were
decomposed into 1 through 5 half-wave compo-
2.3 Test rig and experimental setup nents according to the so-called hungry-horse
mode initial deflection, w0p indicated by the follow-
Tests were carried out in the Multi Axis Loading ing equation.
System at NMRI. As shown in Figure  5, speci-
mens were supported horizontally on supporting 5
iπ x πy
fixtures to avoid overall beam-column buckling. w0 p ∑A i =1
0i sin
i
a
sin
i
b
(2)
Cyclic and monotonically loading tests were car-
ried out under uniaxial compression in the direc- where, A0i  =  components of initial deformation
tion of stiffeners. Therefore, the both ends of the listed in Table 3. However, no initial deformation
specimen (cylindrical bars) were simply supported is measured for stiffeners.
by concave supporter.
Longitudinal compression was provided by two
hydraulic jack heads (capacity of 1 MN) through 3.2 Measurement of weld-induced residual stress
Weld-induced residual stresses of stiffened panels
Table 1. Chemical composition of steel. were obtained by the changes of strain gage data (so-
called stress-release method) which were attached
Concentration, wt%
to similarly fabricated specimens (RS-1 and RS-2).
Element 3.2 mm plate 4.5 mm plate The measured membrane stress (mean value of the
front and the back) are presented by the marks in
C 0.05 0.09 Figure  7. The solid line expressing the idealized
Si 0.02 0.01
Mn 0.23 0.82
P 0.015 0.020
S 0.007 0.006
Fe Remainder Remainder

Table 2. Material properties.

3.2 mm plate 4.5 mm plate

E, GPa 200 203

σY, MPa 218 327
σu, ΜΠα 343 448
teqv, mm 3.19 4.38
Figure  6. Measuring device for panel initial
deformation.

Table 3. Initial deformations (in mm).

Specimen UA1 Specimen UA2

Compo-
nents Panel-1 Panel-2 Panel-3 Panel-1 Panel-2 Panel-3

A01 0.90 0.83 0.32 0.70 0.65 0.45

A02 0.01 −0.03 0.05 0.14 −0.08 −0.05
A03 0.25 0.06 0.08 0.23 0.13 0.16
A04 0.02 −0.08 0.06 0.16 0.07 0.01
Figure  5. Test arrangement of stiffened plate A05 0.08 0.04 −0.01 0.10 0.22 0.06
specimen.

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Figure  7. Overview of specimen for the measurement
of residual stress, and the distribution measured in the
panel.
distribution of residual stress is estimated by
considering the equilibrium between compres-
sive (σrc  =  −45  MPa) and tensile residual stress
(σrt  =  105  MPa). Though there is a shift in the
stress distribution between the center panel and
the side ones, it is presumed that the influence of
the constraint appeared when the specimens were
fabricated.
3.3 Loading method
Specimen UA2 was tested to collapse under mono-
tonically increasing load but specimen UA1 was
provided for collapse test after being subjected to
cyclic loading. During collapse tests, longitudinal
compressive displacements were applied incremen-
tally and the jack loads were applied at positions
corresponding to the initial neutral axis of each
plate-stiffener cross-section of central span.
On the other hand, cyclic loading was config-
ured within compressive range. This is because the
still bending moment of container ships is always
in the hogging condition, it can be considered that
it will not become the sagging condition, even if
the wave bending moment acts.
3.4 Data acquisition
Dynamic and static measurements of strain in
panels and stiffener were carried out during tests.
Biaxial gages were attached to the panel surfaces as
back-to-back pairs along the centerline of the pan-
els. Uniaxial gages were attached to the flange of
stiffeners and to the plates just under the stiffeners.
These pairs of gages were used to evaluate bending
stresses when buckling was attained. On the other
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 322
hand, panel deflections were locally measured by
non-contact displacement sensors. These data were
recorded to check the stress distributions for over-
all uniformity and the cumulative bending stress in
the stiffened panels.
4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
4.1 Elastic behavior of specimens under uniaxial
compression
Before commencement of the tests, each specimen
was subjected to certain compressive load within
the elastic range to confirm the uniformity of
strain distribution in the plate panel. The strain
distributions at the compressive load of −100 kN
in each specimen are plotted in Figure  8. Since
the mean stress calculated from the applied load is
−30.7 MPa (cross-sectional area = 3.25 × 103 mm2),
the measured stress shows good agreement with
the calculated one.
4.2 Results of cyclic loading test
4.2.1 Applied load in cyclic loading test
In the cyclic loading test, the strokes of the hydrau-
lic jacks were controlled in sine waves, and a total
of eleven sets of tests were carried out. The number
of cycles in each set was 1 × 104. Figure 9 shows the
range of mean stress in each set.
4.2.2 Cumulative bending strain in panels
The change in residual bending strain generated
on the centerline of each panel is shown in the
Figure 10. At first, during the eighth cyclic loading,
significant residual strain was generated at the por-
tion of X = 200 mm in the Panel-2. Since the maxi-
mum values of compressive load and mean stress in
Figure 8. Elastic stress distribution in the midship sec-
tion at the compressive load of −100 kN.
3/29/2017 9:37:30 AM
 Figure 9. Range of mean stress in cyclic loading test.
Figure  10. Change in residual bending strain in each
panel (Specimen UA1).
this cycle were −414 kN and −0.583σY, respectively,
it was conceived that macroscopically the specimen
was within the elastic range. However, as shown
in Figure 11(c), the residual strain just under Stiff-
ener-1 located X  =  500  mm was increasing rapidly
after 2  ×  104 cycles. Therefore, compressive strains
had been gradually accumulated from the vicin-
ity of the transverse frame of X = 500 mm of each
panel, and it is presumed that the bending strain was
firstly observed by the gages attached at X = 200 mm
position as shown in Figure  10. Only in the posi-
tion where the strain gauges were attached, it was
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 323
Figure 11. Change in residual strain just under stiffen-
ers at cross-sections X  =  −500, X  =  0 and X  =  500  mm
(Specimen UA1).
confirmed that the bending strain at the position
of X = 200 mm was larger than the other positions
in each panel, and the bending deformation was
localized at this position (see Figure  12). It can be
conceived that such localized accumulation of panel
deflection is affected to the shape of initial deflec-
tion, the scatter of welding residual stress and the
non-uniformity and eccentricity of the specimen.
4.3 Results of monotonic loading tests
Specimens UA1 and UA2 were tested to collapse
after the cyclic loading test for UA1 and after elastic
loading test for UA2. The relationship between mean
load and total stroke of hydraulic jacks are presented
in Figure 13. The values of ultimate strength in both
specimens were −587 kN and −595 kN, respectively.
The influence of residual deflection of panels was
very slight (1.4%) for the present tests. It can be con-
sidered this is because the collapse modes of both
specimens were very similar as shown in Figure 14.
Though it can be also considered that the failure of
both specimens was preceded by buckling of plate
panels accompanied by a substantial loss of plate
3/29/2017 9:37:31 AM

Figure  12. Localization of bending deformation of
Panel-1 at the position of X = 200 mm (Specimen UA1).
Figure  13. Relationship between hydraulic jack stroke
and load.
Figure 14. Collapse modes of specimens UA1 and UA2
(after the ultimate strength).
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 324
stiffness, the influence of cumulative deflection will
be discussed in detail in the Chapter 5.
5 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS AND
DISCUSSION
5.1 Finite element modeling of specimens
An isotropic shell element (Belytschko-Tsay)
with four nodal points is used for the finite
element modelling of the specimens shown in
Figure 2. The commercial dynamic explicit FEM
code “LS-DYNA” is used for the elasto-plastic
large deflection analysis for the stiffened plates
under cyclic or monotonic loading. The primary
element size is determined by 10 mm × 10 mm so
as to be able to apply the welding residual stress
to panels and to simulate the buckling mode of
stiffened panels with a sufficient accuracy (see
Figure 15). The number of integration points of the
element in the direction of thickness is set to five.
5.2 Boundary conditions and loading conditions
The longitudinal edges of the model are not con-
strained. On the other hand, fixed boundary condi-
tions are imposed to the base plates connected to
the four transverse frames. The load acting as the
reaction force of the hydraulic jack is applied to the
both transverse ends of the model as nodal forces
distributed on a straight line. The height of this lin-
ear loading points from the panel surface is coin-
cided with the height of neutral axis of the central
cross-section.
5.3 Material properties
The material is assumed to follow the isotropic
hardening law and the stress vs. strain relationship
is defined by piecewise linear approximation as
shown in Figure 16 in accordance with the tensile
test result.
5.4 Initial deformation
The local initial deflections of each panel in
the central span are applied in accordance with
Equation (2) and Table  3. However, the initial
Figure  15. Finite element model of stiffened panel
specimen.
3/29/2017 9:37:32 AM
 Figure  17. The distribution of equivalent plastic
membrane strain obtained by the first cyclic loading for
Figure 16. Stress vs. strain relationship of the material.
Case A.
Table 4. Application of weld-induced residual stress to
panels.

Compressive stress Tensile stress

Mean value Width Mean value Width

Case MPa mm MPa mm
1 −45 140 105 30
2 −30 140 70 30
3 0 0

Table 5. Cyclic loading conditions.

Case (P/Pu)lower (P/Pu)upper Number of cycles

A 0 0.943 100
B 0 0.920 100
C 0 0.894 100

deformation of stiffeners and the overall non-uniform-

ity and eccentricity of the model are not considered.

5.5 Weld-induced residual stress

The distribution of weld-induced residual stress as
shown in Figure 7 is applied only to the panels by
initial stress option of LS-DYNA. Analysis condi-
tions with regard to residual stress for the speci-
men UA2 (monotonic loading) are all three cases
as listed in Table 4 and the only Case 1 is adopted
for the specimen UA1 (cyclic loading). Figure 18. Initial deflection and residual deflection cal-
culated by FEM in Specimen UA1 (Case A).

5.6 Results of cyclic loading analysis

In FEM analysis, it is impractical to apply several
ten thousand of cyclic load to the stiffened plate as
in the experiment. Therefore, in this study, focus-
ing on the simulation of the cumulative deflec-
tion of stiffened panel, FEM analysis is executed
in accordance with Table  5. Even in the Case A,
the apparent maximum value of mean compres-
sive stress is 0.77σY. However, excluding the range
of tensile welding residual stress (considering
the effective width) of the panel, the substantial
mean compressive stress exceeds the yield stress.
Figure  17  shows the distribution of equivalent
plastic strain obtained by the first cyclic loading
for the Case A. Due to the effect of residual stress,
plastic strain is seen around the buckling deforma-
tion in the panels. In FEM analysis for the cyclic
loading, the Case 1  in Table  4 is adopted as the
residual stress in the stiffened panels.
The results of FEM analysis obtained for Case
A shown in Table 5 are plotted in Figure 18. The
shape of residual deflection shown in the figure
(a), which is obtained at the moment of unloading,
is very simi lar to the shape obtained by the cyclic
loading test (see Figure  12). On the other hand,
in the Cases B and C, the cumulative deflection
of panels is not formed in the calculation about
100 cycles of loading.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 325 3/29/2017 9:37:34 AM


Figure 19. Relationships between mean load and total
displacement in Specimen UA2.
Figure 20. Relationships between mean load and total
displacement in the collapse analysis of Specimen UA1
after being subjected to cyclic loading.
Figure 21. Difference between with and without cumu-
lative deflection in the shape of panel deflection at the
moment of ultimate strength (Panel-2 of Specimen UA1).
5.7 Results of monotonic loading analysis
The results of monotonic loading analysis, which
is performed in accordance with the residual
stress conditions shown in Table  4, are plotted in
Figure 19. Since the experimental value of the ulti-
mate strength lies between Case 1 (−588  kN) and
Case 2 (−607 kN) obtained from the FEM analysis,
it can be found that the residual stress was appropri-
ately estimated.
On the other hand, Figure 20 shows the relation-
ships between mean load and total displacement in
the collapse analysis of Specimen UA1 after being
subjected to cyclic loading. The ultimate strength
in this case is −560  kN, which is 2.8% decrease
from the ultimate strength (−576  kN) obtained
by FEM analysis under monotonic loading only.
Figure  21  shows the deflection shapes of Panel-2
326
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 326
at the moment of ultimate strength, which are
obtained by monotonically loading analysis with
and without the cumulative panel deformation. It
is found that the shape of panel deflection accumu-
lated by cyclic loading is the halfway shape of the
collapse mode of stiffened panel under compres-
sion. Therefore, the cumulative deformation of the
specimen has little effect on its ultimate strength.
6 CONCLUSIONS
In this study, the cumulative process of buckling
deformation was examined experimentally and
numerically. The obtained findings are shown below.
1. The growth of buckling deformation was con-
firmed by the cyclic loading test for stiffened
panel specimen, even though it was subjected
to macroscopically elastic loading. In addition,
it can be simulated by dynamic explicit FEM
analysis using LS-DYNA.
2. From the results of the collapse test for speci-
mens UA1 and UA2, it could be shown that
there was slight influence of amplified deforma-
tion on the ultimate strength of stiffened panels.
As a future work of this study, the influence of
bi-axial compression and lateral pressure, which
are more general in the outer bottom shell of con-
tainer ships, will be examined experimentally and
numerically. In addition, it is necessary to examine
the influence of kinematic hardening for the FEM
analysis of a stiffened plates under cyclic loading.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI
Grant Number 15H02328. Authors would like to
express special gratitude to T. Takami, C. Ma, M.
Sakuma and other colleagues of NMRI, Osaka
University, Hiroshima University and Ehime Uni-
versity for conducting the experiment and some
valuable advice.
REFERENCES
Committee on Large Container Ship Safety. 2015. Final
Report of Committee on Large Container Ship Safety.
Endo, H. and Tanaka, Y. 1988. Strength of stiffened pan-
els under compression. The proceedings of the interna-
tional symposium on scale modeling. 227–234.
LS-DYNA Version 971 User’s Manual Volume II.
Smith, C.S. 1975. Compressive strength of welded steel
ship grillages. Trans. RINA Vol. 117: 325–359.
Yao, T. and Nikolov, P.I. 1990. Buckling/Plastic collapse
of plates under cyclic loading. Journal of The Society
of Naval Architects of Japan. Vol.168: 449–462.
3/29/2017 9:37:36 AM
 Fatigue and Fracture

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 327 3/29/2017 9:37:36 AM

MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Numerical analysis of mixed-mode fracture toughness of glass/

vinylester composite laminates

F. Alizadeh & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: By numerical modelling of a test procedure, this paper investigates the delamination
phenomenon in Glass/Vinylester composite laminated. An Arcan apparatus and specimen is modeled by
finite elements for different loading conditions. The finite element results indicate that for loading angles
close to pure mode-II loading, a high ratio of mode-II to mode-I fracture is dominant and there is an
opposite trend for loading angles close to pure mode-I loading. It confirms that by varying the loading
angle of Arcan specimen pure mode-I, pure mode-II and a wide range of mixed-mode loading conditions
can be created and tested. Also, numerical results confirm that the increase of the mode-II loading con-
tribution leads to an increase of fracture resistance in the Glass/Vinylester composite i.e., a reduction in
the total strain energy release rate.

1 INTRODUCTION method for investigation of crack propagation in

Composite materials have many advantages over
more ‘conventional’ materials (e.g. steel, wood,
aluminum), including the forming complex shapes,
good environmental resistance and high specific
material properties. However, composite materi-
als have superior properties only in the fibre direc-
tion and delamination between laminates is the
main reason of failure in composites. Hence, the
determination of resistance to delamination is very
important. Resistance to delamination is known as
the interlaminar fracture toughness or interlami-
nar fracture resistance. Therefore, to determine the
fracture of composite materials, their interlaminar
fracture toughness should be characterized.
Prediction of fracture is done by using the
critical strain energy release rate, GC, which is the
energy released due to extension of a crack. Many
test methods have been proposed to determine
interlaminar fracture toughness for three modes of
loading (I–III) and under mixed-mode conditions.
Some of these methods include the Double Can-
tilever Beam (DCB) and the End Notched Flexure
(ENF) specimens have been employed for mode-I
and mode II tests, respectively (Davidson et  al.
2012, Shokrieh and Heidari 2011, Zacharopoulos
2004). The Mixed-Mode Bending (MMB) test has
been proposed by combining the schemes used for
DCB and ENF tests, which can produce a wide
range of the ratios of mode-I and mode-II com-
ponents by varying the lever arm of the specimen.
Ben Salem et al. (2014) recently used the MMB test
adhesively bonded joints. Dharmawan et al. (2006)
evaluated the fracture toughness of composite
materials by using DCB, ENF and MMB speci-
mens. However, for all these test methods there are
problems in that a wide range of mixed-mode ratios
cannot be tested which limits their usefulness. It is
therefore necessary to develop other test methods
to evaluate the interlaminar fracture parameters
of materials under all in-plane loading conditions
starting from pure mode-I to pure mode-II.
In recent years, many researchers have used dif-
ferent loading devices for evaluation of the frac-
ture toughness of materials like Ban et  al. (2015),
Choupani et al. (2014), Nunes and Reis (2014), Silva
et al. (2016). A modified version of Arcan specimen
has been made for the mixed mode fracture test of
adhesively bonded joints, which allows pure mode-I,
pure mode-II, and almost any combination of mode-
I and mode-II loading to be tested using the same test
specimen configuration by Arcan et al. (1978). Also
several studies have been done using Arcan speci-
men like Oskui et al. (2014 and 2016), Ayatollahi and
Sedighiani (2012), Cognard et  al. (2008), Nikbakht
and Choupani (2009), Heydari et al. (2011).
The present investigation seeks to extend the
understanding of the interlaminar fracture behav-
iour of Glass/Vinylester composite laminates
under mixed-mode loading conditions through
numerical method. The main objective of this
study is to determine the stress intensity factor KI
and KII for the composite under consideration for
a wide range of mixed-mode loading conditions.

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 2 AN OVERVIEW OF INTERLAMINAR
⎛ ε x ⎞ ⎛ b11 b12 b16 ⎞ ⎛ σ x ⎞
FRACTURE MECHANICS
⎜ ε ⎟ = ⎜b b22 b26 ⎟ ⎜ σ y ⎟ (5)
⎜ y ⎟ ⎜ 12 ⎟⎜ ⎟
As mentioned in the above section the determina- ⎜⎝ γ ⎟⎠ ⎝ b b66 ⎠ ⎜⎝ τ xy ⎟
xy 16 b26 x ⎠
tion of resistance to delamination is very impor-
tant. However, the main problem of predicting the
failure of composite materials is to characterize it where σx, σy, τxy and εx, εy, γxy are in-plane stresses
in terms of interlaminar fracture toughness under and strains and the terms of the constants bij are
mixed-mode loading conditions. For this purpose, defined in terms of the following nonzero entries
the MMB tests are used to measure the mixed-mode aij of the orthotropic compliance matrix:
interlaminar fracture quantities (Warrior 2003).
Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) ai a j 3
bij aij − …(i, j = 1, 2, 4, 5, 6) (6)
is a useful tool for investigation of interlaminar a33
cracks in composite materials. It is assumed that
the specimens are made of an orthotropic linear For the case in which the xy-system coincides
elastic material with deformability defined by the with the principal material axes:
generalized Hooke’s law (Ju and Rowlands 2003,
Choupani 2008): a16 a26 = a36 a45 = 0, b16 b26 0,
a11a333− a132 a a −a a
⎛ ε x ⎞ ⎛ a11 a12 a13 a14 a15 a16 ⎞ ⎛ σ x ⎞ b11 = , b12 = 12 33 12 33 ,
a33 a33 (7)
⎜ ε ⎟ ⎜a a22 a23 a24 a25 a26 ⎟ ⎜ σ y ⎟ a22 a33 − a232 a66 a333− a36 2
⎜ y ⎟ ⎜ 21 ⎟⎜ ⎟ b22 = , b66 =
⎜ ε z ⎟ ⎜ a31 a32 a33 a34 a35 a36 ⎟ ⎜ σ z ⎟ a33 a33
⎜γ ⎟ = ⎜ ⎜ ⎟
a46 ⎟ ⎜ τ yyz ⎟
(1)
⎜ yz ⎟ ⎜ a41 a42 a43 a44 a45
⎟
⎜ γ xz ⎟ ⎜ a51 a52 a53 a54 a55 a56 ⎟ ⎜ τ xxz ⎟ The energy release rates for orthotropic material
⎜ ⎟ ⎜ ⎟⎜ ⎟ with the crack line parallel to the principal ortho-
⎝ γ xy ⎠ ⎝ a61 a62 a63 a64 a65 a66 ⎠ ⎝ τ xy ⎠ tropic direction which coincides with the fibre
orientation, can be calculated from the following
where the terms of the nonzero entries aij of the relationships:
orthotropic compliance matrix are defined in terms
of the following engineering elastic constants: K I2 K2
GI = ,GII = II ,GT GI + GII (8)
EI EII
1 1 1 1
a11 = , a22 = , a33 = , a66 = ,
Ex Ey Ez Gxy where EI and EII are effective moduli, and KI and
1 ϑ yyx KII are mode-I and mode-II stress intensity fac-
a44 = ,aa12 a21 = − − ,
G yz Ey tors, respectively. It is assumed that the specimens
(2) are orthotropic linear elastic material and effective
ϑx ϑ 1
a13 a31 = − xz = − zzxx ,aa55 = , moduli EI and EII are defined as
Ex Ez Gxz
ϑ yz ϑ zzy
a23 a32 = − =−
y
2 1
Ey Ez EI = .
b11b22 b22 2b12 b66
+
b11 2b11
For thick plates, conditions of plane strain are
commonly assumed by taking: √2 1
E II = (9)
b11 b22 2b12 b66
εz γ yz = γ xz = 0 (3) +
b11 2b11
1

This assumption in combination with Hooke’s

generalized law leads to The stress intensity factors ahead of the crack
tip for a modified version of Arcan specimen were

σz =
(
− a σx + σ y + a τ xy ) (4)
calculated by using using the following equations:

a33 P πa P πa
KI = f (a ) K II = f2 ( a ) (10)
wtt wtt
Consequently, σz is not an independent quantity
and may be removed from Hooke’s generalized law where P is an applied load, α is loading angle, w
(together with τyz and τxz) to yield: is specimen length, t is specimen thickness and

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 a is crack length. This material property is used
to characterize the resistance to fracture in the
design of structural members. In turn KI and KII
are obtained using geometrical factors f1(a/ω) and
f2(a/ω), respectively, which are obtained through
finite element analysis of Arcan test specimen.
Linear elastic fracture mechanics and plan strain
conditions are the primary requirements.
3 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
Numerical analyses were carried out using the
Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT). Figure 1
shows an example of the mesh pattern of the
specimen, which were performed with ANSYS
under a constant load of 1000  N. The bouan-
dary condition and subsequently the applied
load direction is depends on the modes (Mode I,
Mode II and Mixed mode), Figure  2  shows the
Figure  1. Three-dimensional finite element model of
modified Arcan loading device.
Figure 2. Mode I boundary condition.
331
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 331
boundary condition for Mode I loading angle.
In most cases, ANSYS recommends using linear
elements including PLANE182 and SOLID185.
The accuracy of the VCCT calculation depends
on the meshes. To ensure the greatest accuracy,
equal element sizes ahead of and behind the
crack-tip node should be used. Therefore a 3-D
model of the composite laminate is generated
using SOLID185 elements. It contains 103, 226
elements and the mesh size is equal to 2 mm but
it changes to 1 mm near the crack line. Also the
diameter of Arcan fixture and the crack length
in the butterfly specimen (Figure 3) were 180 mm
(Figure 2) and 15 mm respectively. This finite ele-
ment is an 8 node element that can be used to
model layered structures.
An E-glass/vinylester composite laminate is
analysed here. The material properties are summa-
rized in Table 1, where E1 is the Young’s modulus
in x direction, E2 is Young’s modulus in y direc-
tion, E3 is Young’s modulus in z direction, G12
is shear modulus associated with x-y plane, G13
is young modulus associated with x-z plane, G23 is
shear modulus in y-z plane, ϑ12 etc. are Poisson’s
ratio values in the z directionfor axial load in the y
direction. For this material, 1 is the direction par-
allel to the crack and 2 and 3 are the directions
normal to the crack, while the direction of the
crack coincides with the fiber direction.
Figure  3. Configuration of test specimen and Arcan
fixture used in this research.
3/29/2017 9:37:39 AM
 Table  1. Mechanical properties of E-Glass/Vinylester 3.2 2D 4-node element
Δw12.
In a two-dimensional plane stress or plane strain
E-Glass/Vinylester model (Figure 4), the Mode I and II components
of SERR, GI and GII, are calculated by (Krueger
E1 26400 MPa 2002):
E2 25220 MPa
E3 3000 MPa
G12 2200 MPa GI = −
1
2 Δa
(
Zi wl − wl * ) (11)
G13 1200 MPa
G23
v12
1200 MPa
0.24
GII = −
1
2 Δa
(
X i ul − ul * ) (12)
v13 0.50
where, Δa is the length of the elements immediately
v32 0.06
in front of the crack along the crack growth direc-
tion. Xi and Zi are the forces at the crack tip (node
point i) and ul and wl are the nodal displacements
3.1 The Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT) behind the crack tip of the upper crack face, and
The Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT) ul* and wl* are the nodal displacements behind the
implemented in finite element analyses predicts crack tip of the lower crack face (Figure 5). GIII = 0
crack propagation by comparing the local Strain for two-dimensional cases. The crack is repre-
Energy Release Rate (SERR) to the critical one, sented as a one-dimensional discontinuity by a line
and gives results of SERR from node to node in of nodes on the top and bottom fracture surfaces.
a FEM. VCCT is available as an add-on capabil- Nodes on bottom and top fracture surfaces ini-
ity of ANSYS 15 to efficiently simulate delami- tially have identical coordinates before loading. As
nation behavior for composite materials. Using loading proceeds, the bonded nodes are released
VCCT, one can simulate the crack propagation along the crack sequentially.
process and estimate the residual strength of a
composite structure after damage. A VCCT-based 3.3 3D solid 8-noded element
crack-growth simulation involves the following
assumptions: The Mode I, Mode II and Mode III components
of SERR, GI, GII and GIII, for an eight node ele-
• Crack growth occurs along a predefined crack
path.
• The path is defined via interface elements.
• The analysis is quasi-static and does not account
for transient effects.
• The material is linear elastic and can be iso-
tropic, orthotropic or anisotropic.
Using VCCT, the crack propagation is mod-
eled with a contact interaction defined between a
pair of crack surfaces. Therefore, the crack path
is predefined using VCCT. Crack onset or growth
prediction is achieved by comparing the calculated
SERR (G) with the interlaminar fracture tough-
ness property (Gc) of the material. VCCT is based
on the assumption that the energy released when
the crack is extended from a to a+Δa is identical
to the energy required to close the crack and the
crack tip field/deformation at the crack tip/front
location is similar to when the crack extends by a
small amount. (Krueger 2002).
The VCCT method assumes that a crack exten-
sion of Δa from a+Δa (node i) to a+2Δa (node k)
does not significantly alter the state at the crack
tip. Therefore, the displacements behind the
crack tip at node i, are approximately equal to
the displacements behind the original crack tip at
node l. Figure 4. Crack closure for VCCT.

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 Figure 5. VCCT for four-node 2D element (plane strain
or plane stress).
Figure 7. VCCT for eight-node solid element (top view)
(Kruegar 2004).

Figure  8. Non-dimensional stress intensity factors vs.

loading angle.

Figure 6. VCCT for eight solid element (3D view).

or non-dimensional stress intensity factors fI(a/ω)
and fII(a/ω) for pure mode-I and pure mode-II and
all mixed-mode loadings were determined. From
ment are calculated by Eq. (13), Eq. (14) and Eq. Figure 8 it can be seen that as increase of loading
(15), respectively. angle, the mode-I stress intensity factor decreases
and the mode-II stress intensity factor increases.
It is also seen that for loading angles α < 67° the
GI = −
1
2 ΔA
ZY (
YLi wLi wLi* ) (13) mode-I fracture becomes dominant and for α > 67°
the mode-II fracture becomes dominant.
( )
1 Figure  9  shows the variation of GI, GII, and
GII = − X Li uLi − uLi* (14) GT versus loading angle. As the loading angle, α,
2 ΔA
increases from 0° to 90° the strain energy release
GIII = −
1
2 ΔA
(
ZLi vLi − vLi* ) (15) rate for mode-I (GI) decreases, but in opposite
side, the strain energy release rate for mode-II (GII)
increases, and the total strain energy release rate
where, ΔA  =  Δa . b as shown in Figure  5. Other (GT) has the similar variation as the GI. There-
notations are defined in Figures 6 and 7. fore, the increase of the mode-II loading contribu-
tion leads to a reduction in the total strain energy
release rate. It is seen that for loading angles α ≤ 75°
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION the mode-I strain energy release rate is dominant.
Energy release rates are found to be 938 J/m2 and
In order to assess stress intensity factors at frac- 47 J/m2 under mode-I and mode-II loading condi-
ture, KI and KII, using Eq. 10, geometrical factors tions, respectively. The energy required for crack

333

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 333 3/29/2017 9:37:41 AM

 Figure  9. Strain energy release rate of mode-I (GI),
mode-II (GII) and total strain energy (GT) vs. loading
angle.
Figure  10. The ratio of mode-I to mode-II, GII/GI, in
logarithmic scale vs. loading angle.
growth in the mode-II loading condition is 19.95
times that for the mode I. The total energy release
rate under mixed-mode deformations is greater
than that in the mode-I loading condition and dif-
ference increases with the ratio of the mode-II to
mode-I component.
Figure  10  shows the relationship between the
mixed-mode ratios of strain energy release rates and
the loading angles. For loading angles close to pure
mode-I loading, very high ratios of mode-I to mode-
II are dominant. The ratios of strain energy release
rates close to pure mode-II loading exhibit the
opposite trend. As expected, it is confirmed that by
varying the loading angle of Arcan specimen, pure
mode-I, pure mode-II and a wide range of mixed-
mode loading conditions can be created and tested.
Variation of GI and GII versus mixed ratio
(GII/ GT) is presented in Figure11. It is seen that
for ratio less than GII/GT = 50% the strain energy
release rate for mode-I is dominant, and after that
there is an opposite trend.
334
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 334
Figure  11. Variation of GI and GII vs. mixed mode
ratio.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The mixed-mode interlaminar fracture behavior
of carbon-polyester laminated woven composite
specimens was investigated modelling the Arcan
fixture and specimen in ANSYS in order to deter-
mine the non-dimensional stress intensity factors
under constant load of 1000  N and plane strain
condition.
The results indicated that the interlaminar
cracked specimen is tougher in shear loading con-
ditions and weaker in tensile loading condition.
Numerical results indicated that for the ratio less
than GII/GT  =  50% the strain energy release rate
for mode-I is dominant, and after that there is an
opposite trend. It is seen that for loading angles
α ≤ 60°, the mode-I contribution is greater than
mode-II and the opening-mode fracture becomes
dominant. For loading angles α ≥ 75° there is an
opposite trend and the shearing mode fracture
becomes dominant.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was performed within the Strategic
Research Plan of the Centre for Marine Technol-
ogy and Ocean Engineering, which is financed by
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technol-
ogy (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia-FCT).
REFERENCES
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to Produce Uniform Plane-stress States with Appli-
cations to Fiber-reinforced Materials, Experimental
Mechanics 18: 141–146.
Ayatollahi, M.R., Sedighiani, K. (2012). A T-stress con-
trolled specimen for mixed mode fracture experiments
on brittle materials, European Journal of Mechanics—
A/Solids 36: 83–93.
3/29/2017 9:37:42 AM
 Ban, H., Im, S., Kim, Y. (2015). Mixed-mode fracture
characterization of fine aggregate mixtures using
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101: 721–729.
Ben Salem, N., Jumel, J., Budzik, M.K., Shanahan,
M.E.R., Lavelle, F. (2014). Analytical and experimen-
tal investigations of crack propagation in adhesively
bonded joints with the Mixed Mode Bending (MMB)
test Part I: Macroscopic analysis & Digital Image Cor-
relation measurements, Theoretical and Applied Frac-
ture Mechanics 74: 209–221.
Choupani, M., Ayatollahi, M.R., Mallakzadeh, M.
(2014). Investigation of Fracture in an Interface
Crack Between Bone Cement and Stainless Steel,
Latin American Journal of Solids and Structures 12:
446–460.
Choupani, N. (2008). Experimental and numerical inves-
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laminated specimens, Materials Science and Engineer-
ing, 478: 229–242.
Cognard, J.Y., Créac’hcadec, R.C., Sohier, L., Davies, P.
(2008). Analysis of the nonlinear behavior of adhe-
sives in bonded assemblies—Comparison of TAST
and Arcan tests, International Journal of Adhesion and
Adhesives 28: 393–404.
Davidson, P., Waas, A.M., Yerramalli, C.S. (2012).
Experimental determination of validated, critical
interfacial modes I and II energy release rates in a
composite sandwich panel, Composite Structures 94:
477–483.
Dharmawan, F., Simpson, G., Herszberg, I., John, S.
(2006). Mixed mode fracture toughness of GFRP
composites, Composite Structures 75: 328–338.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Fatigue strength assessment of an annealed butt welded joint

accounting for material inhomogeneity

Y. Dong, Y. Garbatov & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: This work evaluates the effect of material inhomogeneity on fatigue strength of an
annealed butt welded joint using the finite element method. Material properties of different zones are pre-
dicted using empirical equations based on hardness. The effects of the stress state, weld geometry and mis-
alignment on the fatigue crack initiation life are evaluated. The influence of material model is determined
by comparing the notch stresses and strains and crack initiation lives obtained from the inhomogeneous
and homogeneous models under different loading conditions. Using the homogeneous model with the
heat affected zone or base metal material can either slightly overestimate or considerably underestimate
the crack initiation life. The inhomogeneous models with various mismatch ratios are employed to evalu-
ate their effect on the crack initiation life. According to the numerical analyses, increasing the mismatch
ratio to improve the crack initiation life of butt welded joints under axial loading may be effective, when
the mismatch ratio is below a certain level.

1 INTRODUCTION deformation, local damage and crack initiation is

Welded joints are characterized by material inho-
mogeneity. A welded joint consists of Weld Metal
(WM), Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) and Base Metal
(BM). The HAZ can be further divided into four
sub-zones (Easterling, 2013): grain-coarsened,
grain-refined, partially transformed and tempered
zone from WM to BM and shows different micro-
structures according for the experienced thermal
cycles. These zones are characterized by different
grain sizes and hardness values resulting in locally
different mechanical properties, crack initiation
strength and crack propagation resistance (Radaj
et al., 2006). The influence of the material inhomo-
geneity due to the strong variation in the material
properties between different zones on the fatigue
strength of welded joints is of interest in the pre-
sent study.
The fatigue life of welded joints consists of a
fatigue crack initiation phase and the propaga-
tion life (Radaj et al., 2006). For discontinuity-free
welded joints, which contain almost no defects,
such as crack-like flaws, the initiation period can
be a major part of the total life. The TIG and MIG,
for instance, are the welding processes in which the
weld perfection may approach that of a disconti-
nuity-free welded joints (Lawrence et  al., 1996).
The notch strain approach, which assumes that
the mechanical behaviour of the material at the
notch root with respect to the local elastic-plastic
comparable to the behaviour of a miniaturized,
axially loaded, unnotched or mildly notched speci-
men with respect to the overall deformation, dam-
age and complete fracture (Radaj et al., 2006) and
it is most often used to evaluate the crack initia-
tion life. The notch stress and strain history can be
determined either by an estimation method, such
as the Neuber’s rule (Neuber, 1961) and Equiva-
lent Strain Energy Density approach (Molski &
Glinka, 1981), or by the finite element method on
the basis of the stress-strain curve, which may be
in the form of the Ramberg-Osgood equation. The
crack initiation life can be then evaluated by the
combination of the strain-life curve obtained from
strain controlled fatigue tests on the specimens and
the notch stress-strain history. As for the crack
propagation life, fracture mechanics is applied to
estimate the propagation of the existing crack to
the final rupture.
The fatigue crack is usually initiated and propa-
gated in the places where various materials exist.
The most common places for the fatigue crack
initiation in welded joints are the weld toe and
weld root. In the first case, the crack usually initi-
ates in the grain coarsened zone of the HAZ and
propagates through the HAZ and BM. In the latter
case, the crack initiates and propagates in the WM
(Higashida et al., 1978).
It seems inappropriate to assess the fatigue
strength of welded joints using homogeneous

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 material model instead of considering the mate-
rial inhomogeneous nature of the welded joints.
However, in order to simplify the analysis and
because of the unavailability of material proper-
ties of all the zones, the homogeneous material
assumption is most often applied. Radaj et  al.
(1998) investigated the applicability of the notch
strain approach to evaluate the fatigue strength of a
K-shaped tubular joint. The notch strain approach
results in unacceptably large differences in the
predicted fatigue life under similarly acceptable
assumptions with respect to the material state, local
hardness and residual stresses. The material proper-
ties of BM and HAZ were assigned in that study.
Burk and Lawrence (1978) studied the influ-
ence of residual stress and stress ratio on the total
fatigue life of butt joints. Actual material proper-
ties of HAZ or WM were considered in the crack
initiation life estimation. The agreement between
the analytical predictions and experimental results
were quite good in most cases. Though the usage
of material properties of HAZ is more reasonable
for many cases, according to the crack initiation
sites, the material properties of BM were also used
(Jakubczak & Glinka, 1986; Pan & Sheppard,
2002), as the material properties of HAZ are gen-
erally not available and the material properties of
BM may result in a conservative crack initiation
life estimation (Pan & Sheppard, 2002; Radaj
et al., 1998).
The material properties for different zones were
investigated in many studies. Several researchers
(James, 1977; Lee et al., 2000; Masuda et al., 1987)
indicated that no significant variations exist in the
fatigue crack propagation of these zones, while
the differences in the cyclic stress-strain curves
and strain life curves of these zones are evident
(Higashida et al., 1978). Gripenberg (2003) meas-
ured the monotonic and cyclic stress, and the strain
curve of HAZ of SAW joints, using a 1 mm long
strain gauge to measure the strain. It turns out that
the HAZ material is slightly stronger than that of
the BM. Since the width of the HAZ is usually too
small to permit direct measurements of strain con-
trol fatigue properties as done for BM and WM,
specimens subject to simulated thermal cycles can
be used (Higashida et al., 1978).
Furthermore, the probably more precise experi-
mental method, using empirical relations to
determine material properties of HAZ is also of
interest. Hardness is one of the parameters used in
these relations because its measurement is simple
and cheap. One early attempt is reported by Tes-
tin et  al. (1987) and applied by Tricoteaux et  al.
(1995). Goo and Yang (2006) applied the relations
developed by Roessle and Fatemi (2000), which
can estimate the strain-life curve using hardness
and modulus of elasticity, to predict the fatigue life
338
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 338
of four different welded joints. Wang and Shang
(2009) proposed a method to determine the cyclic
material constants of different zones in accordance
to the hardness distribution as well as base mate-
rial parameters. Their approach is mainly based on
the work of Eleiche et al. (1996), in which low cycle
fatigue tests on four different material states were
carried out.
The availability of material properties of differ-
ent zones makes it possible to model the welded
joints with various zones in the finite element
analysis. Several studies focused on comparing the
notch stress and strain results of the homogeneous
materials models with the ones of the inhomoge-
neous material models. Pan and Sheppard (2002)
modelled a spot weld using BM and inhomogene-
ous material respectively, and found that the maxi-
mum principal strain of the BM model is larger
and the strain contours and the locations of the
maximum principal strain are almost identical for
the two material models.
Instead of using the BM material in the homo-
geneous model, Remes et  al. (2012) considered
the HAZ material and compared with the results
from the inhomogeneous model of a laser welded
joint. He concluded that inhomogeneity is of minor
importance in the initial and cyclic loading with
applied stress levels below the yield limit of the BM.
A similar conclusion with respect to the cyclic load-
ing has been reported for fillet arc welded joints by
Heo et al. (2004). The usage of an inhomogeneous
material model and notch strain approach results in
a better fatigue life prediction of the spot and fric-
tion stir spot welded joints according to Wang and
Shang (2009) and Ahmadi et al. (2012).
Welding causes a mismatch in strength between
the BM and WM. Overmatch joints in which the
yield strength of the WM is higher than that of
the BM is required to shield the WM from plas-
tic deformation (Tregoning, 1995). According
to the low and high cycle fatigue tests performed
on the load carrying cruciform joints with vari-
ous strength matching conditions, the effect of
strength mismatching is obvious in a low cycle
fatigue region, as the specimens with a lower mis-
match ratio show lower fatigue strength (Saipra-
sertkit et al., 2012). Ravi et al. (2006) proposed a
unified method to predict the crack initiation and
propagation life by incorporating the influence of
strength mismatch ratio, post welded heat treat-
ment and notch location based on experimental
measurements. Remes (2013) proposed a strain-
based approach for the fatigue strength modelling
of overmatched welded joints on the basis of the
material properties of WM and BM and hardness
distribution. Apparently, the material mismatch-
ing effect cannot be captured by the homogeneous
material assumption.
3/29/2017 9:37:43 AM
 In the present study, the effect of material
inhomogeneity due to strong variation in mate-
rial properties between different zones on the
fatigue strength of butt welded joints is analysed
employing the finite element method. The effects
of the stress state, weld geometry and misalign-
ment on the fatigue crack initiation life are evalu-
ated. The notch stress and strain results from the
homogenous material model and inhomogeneous
material model, in which the material properties
are determined based on hardness measurements,
are compared for various load ratios and nominal
stress amplitudes. Various mismatch ratios are also
considered in the inhomogeneous material model
to evaluate its effect on the fatigue strength.
2 EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
A series of annealed butt welded joint specimens,
which were investigated by Park et al. (2004) and
Goo et al. (2004), are analysed. The base material,
BM is SM490  A with yield strength of 350  MPa
and tensile strength of 520  MPa. Two plates of
300 × 100 ×10 mm were welded through 3 passes
by gas metal arc welding, GMAW. The condi-
tions of GMAW are I  =  150 to 190  Ampere and
V  =  105 Volts. AWS ER70S-G welding wire with
a diameter of 1.2 mm was used. The tested speci-
mens are made by mechanical machining from the
butt-welded plate. To relieve the welding residual
stresses, a post-weld heat treatment for three hours
at 590  ±  20ºC was carried out. The geometry of
the butt-welded specimen close to the weld line is
shown in Figure 1.
The weld geometry has a major impact on the
fatigue strength due to the stress concentration fac-
tor of the weld toe of the butt welded joints (Law-
rence et al., 1981), where the weld toe radius, ρ and
flank angle, θ are the most significant parameters.
According to the stress concentration factor study
of Park et al. (2004), the combination of a small ρ,
large θ and h will lead to a high stress concentration
factor. The variation of these parameters may be
one of the reasons to explain the scatter of the
S-N data. In order to include their effect on the
fatigue life, three cases, as shown in Table 1, rep-
resenting the worst, mean and best geometry with
respect to the fatigue strength based on the ranges,
are analysed. If the sample size of the geometrical
parameter is big enough, which is not the case for
the present study, the geometries at probability lev-
els of 5%, 50% and 95% can be used to evaluate the
effect as proposed by Remes (2013).
The Vickers Hardness values along the lines
under the specimen surface 1 mm and 3 mm, close
to the weld bead as can be seen in Figure 1, with
an interval of 0.5 mm were measured using a micro
hardness tester under the load of 5 kgf (Goo et al.,
2004). The measurements are shown in Figure  2,
where three material zones can be identified. The
average hardness values for the welded material,
WM and BM are approximately 190 and 150. The
hardness value decreases in the HAZ zone starting
from WM finishing to BM, which is approximately
3.5 mm wide. The measurement results cannot be
directly used due to the large variation of nearby
measurement. Stepwise linear distribution is used
to fit the measurement data, see Figure  2. The
hardness values of WM and BM are the averages
of the measured data in the corresponding zones.
Table 1. Geometrical parameters.
Geometrical
parameters Range Worst Mean Best
Weld toe radius, [0.16, 1.67] 0.16 0.55 1.67
ρ (mm)
Flank angle, [37.77, 59.89] 60 45 38
θ (°)
Weld height, [1.5, 2.78] 2.78 1.94 1.5
h (mm)

Figure 1. Geometry of the specimen close to the weld

line. Figure 2. Hardness distribution.

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 The fatigue tests were carried out at a stress ratio
of R = 0.1. The nominal stress amplitude is from
90 to 190 MPa and all crack initiation points are
located at the weld toes of the specimen edges.

3 FATIGUE CRACK INITIATION LIFE

The finite element method is used to estimate the

notch stress and strain history. Instead of apply-
ing three-dimensional models, which need a large
number of elements to achieve reliable results, Figure 3. Coordinate system and mesh condition at the
two-dimensional models are employed here. The weld toe of FEM.
stress state, which should be assumed at the begin-
ning of the analysis, has a significant effect on the
fatigue life estimation. However, different assump-
tions were adopted in the past. For example, Da
Cruz et al. (2000) analysed the crack initiation life
of the weld toes of lap joints, assuming a plane
strain state. Remes (2013) adopted a mixed stress
state assumption to model the plane strain behav-
iour at notch tip and plane stress behaviour of the
rest of the butt welded joint. In the present study,
constraint analyses are carried out to evaluate the
stress state. Both plane strain and plane stress
assumptions are adopted to evaluate its influence.
The estimated fatigue crack initiation lives of the
studied butt welded joints are compared with the
experimental results.
Figure 4. Distribution of constraint along the specimen
width.
3.1 Constraint analysis
A useful measure of constraint is the value of
the ratio between principal strains, α  =  ε2/ε1, see
Figure  3, as proposed by Sharpe et  al. (1992).
Plane stress implies α is equal to the negative Pois-
son’s ratio, whereas α  =  0 implies plane strain.
The value of α of −0.2 is a useful divider between
nearly plane stress and nearly plane strain.
Finite element models using the element type
SOLID185 are generated in the commercial software
ANSYS (2012). One eighth of the model is simulated
due to the symmetry of the geometry. The Young’s
modulus of E = 2.06 × 105 MPa and Poisson´s ratio
of ν = 0.3 are considered for the material model. The
boundary conditions are similar to those of plane
models, see Figure  5, except that displacement of Figure  5. Material zones, mesh condition at the weld
the surface of z = 0 in z direction is constrained. The toe and boundary condition of FEM.
minimum element size at the weld toe is approxi-
mately 0.01 mm, as shown in Figure 3. sharp notch, the plane strain state is not achieved.
The three cases with different geometrical Therefore, it still difficult to decide which stress
parameters are analysed. The value of α is calcu- state should be applied in the plane models.
lated at different z locations from 0 to W/2. The
results are shown in Figure 4.
3.2 Elastic-plastic finite element analysis
The results indicate that in a large range of the
width of the specimen, the notch tip is in nearly According to the hardness distribution that has
plane strain state, whereas plane stress state been shown in Figure 2, the butt-welded joints can
appears at the edge of the specimen. Even for the be divided into WM, heat affected zone, HAZ and

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 Table 2. Estimations of material properties on the basis
of hardness.

Material parameters Estimation formula

Fatigue strength coefficient, σf′ 4.25HB+225

Fatigue strength exponent, b −0.09
Fatigue ductility coefficient, εf′ (0.32HB2–487HB +
191000)/E
Fatigue ductility exponent, c −0.56
Strain hardening coefficient, K′ σf′(εf′)-n′
Strain hardening exponent, n′ b/c

BM zones, see Figure 5. In the finite element model,

HAZ can be further divided into six zones, HAZ1
to HAZ6, whose widths are 0.75, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5
and 0.75 mm and the respective hardness values are
184.29, 178.57, 172.86, 167.14, 161.43 and 155.71
(HV). The circumference of the weld toe overlaps
the boundary between the WM and HAZ1. In order
to create uniform elements along the weld toe, it
assumes that the boundary passes through the cen-
tre of the weld toe. For the purpose of simplifica-
tion, the FEM near the centre of thickness does not
strictly follow the original weld shape. The material
properties of each zone are calculated based on the
hardness as proposed by Roessle and Fatemi (2000).
Table 2 lists the equations to calculate the material
properties as a function of the Brinell hardness, HB
and modulus of elasticity, E. The transformation Figure  6. Cyclic stress-strain (up) and strain-life rela-
from the Vickers to the Brinell hardness is expressed tionship (down).
by (Remes et al., 2012):

HB=0.9801⋅ HV 0.9941 (1)

The cyclic stress-strain and strain-life relation-
ship can be written as:
1 tic model with an isotropic hardening rule and the
σ ⎛ σ ⎞ n′
εa = a +⎜ a ⎟
E ⎝ K′⎠
σ ′f
εa = ( )b + ε ′f ( )c
E
where εa and σa are the amplitudes of strain and
stress and N is the fatigue crack initiation life.
These curves, for various zones, are shown in
Figure 6.
Finite element models using the plane element
type PLANE182 are generated in the commer-
cial software ANSYS (2012). The plane stress
and plane strain states are used respectively. One
fourth of the model is simulated due to the sym-
metry of the geometry. The Young’s modulus of
E = 2.06 × 105 MPa and Poisson´s ratio of ν = 0.3
are considered for the elastic material behaviour.
The minimum element size at the weld toe is
approximately 0.01 mm, as shown in Figure 5.
There are various elastic-plastic material models
provided by ANSYS. The multi-linear elastic-plas-
von Mises plasticity is chosen. In the model, multi-
(2)
ple straight lines controlled by endpoints are used
to fit the cyclic stress-strain curve of the material.
(3) During the analysis, the large displacement static
option is activated. The boundary conditions of
the model are shown in Figure  5, where UX  =  0
and UY = 0 mean that the displacements in x and
y direction are constrained. Three-time-steps anal-
ysis in which the nominal stresses at time 1, 2 and 3
are σn, max, σn, min and σn, max is carried out to obtain
the notch stress and strain history.
3.3 Misalignment effect
Misalignments cannot be avoided in welded joints,
resulting in stress and strain magnifications at
notch tips. However, in the finite element analysis,
the misalignment is usually ignored because of the

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 unavailability of misalignment data and difficulty
in modelling. In order to account for the misalign-
ment effect, a correction of the notch stress and
strain calculated by the elastic-plastic FEM using
an ideal model without misalignments is proposed.
According to the Neuber’s rule, which implies
the equality of the total strain energy density, the
notch stress and strain for the ideal welded joints
can be estimated by:
The increment of the notch strain can be thus
calculated by Eq. (9). For specimens made in shop
in a flat position, a typical Km of 1.15 is applied
(Hobbacher, 2014). The σi and εi calculated by the
elastic-plastic FEM using an ideal model without
misalignments can be substituted into the above
two equations to estimate the increments.
3.4 Plane stress and plane strain

( K tσ n ) For the plane stress case, the weld toe is under uni-
2

Wi t = =ε i σ i (4) axial loading condition. The stress along the weld

E line as well as the stress normal to the weld toes
vanishes due to the free surface of the local notch.
For the welded joints with misalignments, the This condition is also achieved by the strain con-
stress concentration factor is multiplied by a stress trolled fatigue tests on smooth specimens, which
magnification factor, Km. Therefore, the notch result in the strain life curve (the Manson-Coffin
stress and strain for the joints with misalignments curve, Eq. (3)). Because the nominal stress ratio
can be estimated by: is 0.1, the local mean stress effect should be taken
into account by the application of the Morrow’s
( K m K tσ n )
2
equation (Morrow, 1965):
Wmt = =ε mσ m (5)
E
σ ′f σm
The above two equations lead to:
εa = (2N )b + ε ′f (2N )c (11)
E
ΔW t where εa is the maximum amplitude of the prin-
=K m2 − 1 (6)
Wi t cipal strain along the circumference of the weld
toe, which can be determined through the finite
where element analyses and σm is the mean stress of the
corresponding stress-strain hysteresis loop.
ΔW Wmt − Wi t (7) For the plane strain case, a biaxial stress state
exists at the weld toe. The stress normal to the weld
toe is zero because there is no constraint for the
The difference in the total strain energy density
deformation in this direction. The strain-life curve
can also be calculated by:
obtained under the uniaxial loading condition can-
not be directly used. The strain life curve, which
ΔW Δεσ i +ε i Δσ ΔεΔσ (8)
also takes the mean stress effect into account in
terms of the first principal strain amplitude, ε1a, is
where the strain increment, Δε is equal to εm−εi and given by (Dowling, 2006):
the stress increment, Δσ is equal to σm-σi.
The relationship between the notch strain σ ′f
increment and the notch stress increment is − σ 1m
1 − μ + μ2 1 0.5 μ
approximately: ε 1a = (2N ) b
+ ε ′f (2 ) c
(12)
E 1 − μ + μ2
⎛ 1− n ′
⎞ 1 − νμ
1 1 ⎛ σi ⎞ n′
Δε ⎜ ⎟ Δσ (9)
⎜⎝ E n′K ′ ⎝ K ′ ⎠ ⎟⎠ where σ1 m is the mean first principal stress, ν is the
Poisson´s ratio and μ is the generalized Poisson´s
ratio. Based on the deformation plasticity theory
Ignoring the second order term in Eq. (8) and and the stress-strain relationship that fits the Ram-
combining Eq. (4), (6), (8) and (9), the increment berg-Osgood form, the following equation may be
of notch stress is: applied (Dowling, 2006):

(K m2 − 1)σ iε i σ1 (1 ′ ) (2n′ )
Δσ = (10) ε1a (1 νμ
ν ) (1 0 5 μ ) (1 μ + μ 2 )
⎛ 1− n ′
⎞ E
1 1 ⎛ σi ⎞ n′ 1
εi + σ i ⎜ + ⎟ ⎛ σ 1a ⎞ n′
⎜⎝ E n′K ′ ⎝ K ′ ⎠ ⎟⎠ ⎜⎝
K′ ⎠
⎟ (13)

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 The generalized Poisson’s ratio can be obtained
by solving the above equation in which the ampli-
tudes of the first principal stress and strain are
determined by finite element analyses. Conse-
quently, the fatigue crack initiation life can be esti-
mated by Eq. (12).
It should be noted that the specimens are welded
using GMAW process, which is also known as metal
inert gas, MIG welding. As mentioned previously,
this welding process may result in a discontinuity-
free specimen. The portion of the life spent in a
crack initiation depends on the notch shape and
stress level. Experimental and numerical studies
indicate that the crack initiation is dominant in the
smooth notched specimens (Dowling, 1979; Remes,
2013). The portion of life spent in crack propaga-
tion decreases with decreasing the stress level (Socie
et al., 1979). Therefore, the fatigue crack initiation
life may at least partly represent the total fatigue
life in this case. The experimental total fatigue life is
comparable to the estimated fatigue crack initiation
life. The comparison is shown in Figure 7.
It can be seen that the agreement between the
experimental results and the estimations using the
mean geometry with the plane stress assumption is
good. The plane strain assumption overestimates the
fatigue lives in comparison to the experimental results.
According to the experimental observation, the
fatigue crack initiated from the weld toe of the speci-
men edge where the plane stress state prevails instead
of the weld toe close to the middle of the width of
the specimen where the plane strain state dominates.
This may be the reason for the good estimations made
by the plane stress assumption. As a result, the plane
stress assumption is adopted for the specimens with a
limited width in the following analyses.
The results from the worst and best geom-
etries are illustrated in Figure 7. The large differ-
ence between these two results indicates that the
geometry parameters have a major impact on
the fatigue strength. The misalignment effect on
Figure  7. Experimental and estimated stress-life rela-
tionship, plane-stress and plane-strain assumptions.
343
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 343
the fatigue crack initiation life for the case of the
mean geometry with a plane stress assumption
is shown in Figure  7. The results taking the mis-
alignment effect into account seem to be the lower
bound of the experimental results.
4 COMPARISON BETWEEN
HOMOGENEOUS AND
INHOMOGENEOUS MODELS
The finite element model, including different mate-
rial zones, is considered here as an inhomogeneous
model, see Figure 5. The influence of the material
model on the notch stress and strain is studied by
comparing the results between inhomogeneous
and homogeneous models. The mean geometry is
adopted. Since HAZ1 is the zone where the crack
initiated, the material of HAZ1 is considered as
the material of the homogeneous model. Various
nominal stress ratios and nominal stress ampli-
tudes are considered on the two models to evaluate
their impact. The amplitudes of the notch strain,
εa and means of the notch stress, σm, see Figure 8,
which are closely related to the crack initiation life,
of the two models are illustrated in Figure 9.
For the nominal stress ratios, R = 0 and R = 0.1,
the notch strain amplitudes obtained from both
models are almost the same (see Figure 9 up), while
the difference of the mean of the notch stresses is
more and more evident as the nominal stress ampli-
tude increases (see Figure 9 down). The homogene-
ous model underestimates the mean of the notch
stress. For a stress ratio of R  =  −1, both models
result in a zero mean of the notch stress. The homo-
geneous model underestimates the notch strain
amplitude and the underestimation becomes sig-
nificant at high levels of nominal stress amplitude.
For a stress ratio of R = −0.5, the homogenous
model underestimates both the notch strain ampli-
tude and the mean of notch stress at the higher
levels of the nominal stress amplitude. The notch
stress and strain histories of the two material mod-
els for a loading case, where the nominal stress
ratio is 0.1 and the nominal stress amplitude is
Figure 8. Notch stress and strain history.
3/29/2017 9:37:48 AM
 Figure  10. Notch stress and strain histories (nomi-
nal stress ratio, R  =  0.1, nominal stress amplitude,
σn,a = 202.5 MPa).

Figure  9. Notch strain amplitude (up) and mean

of notch stress (down) as a function of nominal stress
amplitude for various nominal stress ratios.

Figure  11. Crack initiation lives obtained from inho-

202.5 MPa, are shown in Figure 10. The means of mogeneous vs. homogeneous models.
the notch stress are quite different.
From the above notch stress and strain results, the
fatigue crack initiation lives in different conditions
can be determined. The comparison of the crack
initiation lives obtained from the inhomogeneous
and homogeneous models is shown in Figure 11.
It can be seen from Figure 11 that the homogene-
ous model can overestimate the fatigue crack initia-
tion life and the degree of the overestimation may
depend on the loading condition. For the higher
nominal stress ratios, the homogeneous and inho-
mogeneous models result in an almost identical
crack initiation life. While, the overestimation may
be slightly larger for lower nominal stress ratios.
Since the material properties of BM are usually
available, BM is considered as the material of the Figure  12. Crack initiation life estimations based on
homogeneous model as well. The crack initiation inhomogeneous model and homogeneous model with
life estimations are compared with those evaluated BM and HAZ1 material.
from the inhomogeneous model and the homo-
geneous model with HAZ1 material, as shown in Figure  12  reveals that the estimations made
Figure 12. The loading condition is same as that of by the homogeneous model with HAZ1  material
the fatigue tests in which the nominal stress ratio and inhomogeneous model are very close and the
is 0.1. former results in higher fatigue life estimations.

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 The homogeneous model with BM, on the other stress ratio is 0.1 and the nominal stress amplitudes
hand, can considerably underestimate the crack vary from 90 MPa to 202.5 MPa with an interval
initiation life. of 11.25 MPa. The finite element models and crack
initiation life predictions are similar to those intro-
duced in section 3. The crack initiation life results
5 EFFECT OF STRENGTH are shown in Figure 14.
MISMATCHING

The material inhomogeneity of welded joints can

be represented by a mismatch ratio, m, that is
defined as:

σ ys ,WM
m= (14)
σ ys , BM

where σys,WM and σys,BM are the yield strengths of

the WM and BM. The overmatch joints mean that
their mismatch ratio is larger than 1, which is gen-
erally required by the design specifications.
The choice of filler material in the welding
process may affect the mismatch ratio. For high
strength steels, the overmatching is difficult to
achieve because there are problems associated with Figure 13. Hardness distributions along the line 1 mm
the filler materials with high strength (Tregoning, under the specimen surface for various mismatch ratios.
1995). Even though the filler material and BM
satisfied the specifications, the joints may exhibit
unexpected matching conditions because the
mechanical properties of the WM depend heav-
ily on the welding conditions (Saiprasertkit et al.,
2012). In the present study, various mismatch ratios
are assumed to evaluate the strength mismatching
effect on the fatigue crack initiation life.
An empirical relationship between the hardness
and yield strength was provided by Pavlina and
Van Tyne (2008) on the basis of hardness and yield
strength values of over 150  steels having a wide
range of compositions and a variety of micro-
structures, which is:

σ ys = 90.7 + 2.876 HV (15)

where the yield strength has units of MPa and HV

is the Vickers hardness. According to this relation-
ship and the hardness values, shown in Figure  2,
the annealed butt welded joints have a mismatch
ratio of approximately 1.34. It assumes that the
hardness values of BM and HAZ are the same as
those in the above inhomogeneous models. A series
of mismatch ratios from 1 to 1.5 for the joints is
adopted in the present analysis. The correspond-
ing hardness distributions along the line of 1 mm
under the specimen surface for various mismatch
ratios are shown in Figure 13.
The material properties of WM can be calcu-
lated according to the empirical equations based
on the hardness, in Table  2, and are assigned in Figure  14. Crack initiation life as a function of mis-
the inhomogeneous models. The applied nominal match ratio (up) and nominal stress amplitude (down).

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 It is visible that the stress mismatch ratio has a
major impact on the crack initiation life. With the
increase of the mismatch ratio from 1 to 1.2, the
crack initiation life is significantly extended. How-
ever, a further increase of the mismatch ratio has a
small effect on the life extension. It seems that the
mismatch ratio of 1.2 is enough to achieve a good
fatigue life.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The material inhomogeneity effect on fatigue
strength of an annealed butt welded joint was ana-
lysed using the finite element method. The mate-
rial properties of different zones were estimated
using empirical equations based on the hardness.
The effects of the stress state, weld geometry and
misalignment on the fatigue crack initiation life
are evaluated. The influence of the material model
on the notch stress and strain and crack initiation
life was studied by comparing inhomogeneous and
homogeneous models under different loading con-
ditions. The effect of the strength mismatching on
the crack initiation life was evaluated by assuming
various material properties of WM.
Weld geometry and misalignment have a major
impact on the fatigue crack initiation life. In
comparison to the results from plane strain state,
plane stress assumption results in conservative
estimations.
The homogeneous models with HAZ1 material
result in either higher notch strain amplitudes or
higher mean of notch stresses than the inhomo-
geneous models. It seems that replacing the inho-
mogeneous model with the simpler homogeneous
model with HAZ1 material can result in a good but
non conservative life estimation. Using the homo-
geneous model with BM to predict the fatigue life
may be too conservative.
According to numerical analyses, with the
increase of the mismatch ratio, the crack initia-
tion life is extended until it approaches a certain
level above which the strength mismatching effect
is negligible.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work of the first author has been supported
in part by the scholarship from China Scholarship
Council (CSC) under the Grant No. 201406950034.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Uncertainty analyses of local strain and fatigue crack initiation life of

welded joints under plane strain condition

Y. Dong & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de
Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: The objective of this work is to evaluate the uncertainty of local strain and fatigue crack
initiation life of welded joints subjected to axial loading under plane strain condition. An approach based
on Monte Carlo simulation is used to evaluate the uncertainty due to the randomness of geometrical and
material parameters and the model uncertainty of five simplified estimation methods. The elastic-plastic
finite element method is employed in the uncertainty analysis and treated as the reference method in the
model uncertainty analysis. It turns out that the uncertainty in the local strain amplitude and fatigue
crack initiation life is significant. The high cycle fatigue resistant curve recommended by rules may be not
conservative in the low cycle region, if the fatigue crack initiation life dominates. The model error varies
with the nominal stress amplitude. The methods based on the Equivalent Strain Energy Density may be
good at low level of the nominal stress amplitude and the generalized Neuber’s rule seems to be useful
considering its conservatism and small bias in comparison with other estimation methods.

1 INTRODUCTION and should be treated as random variables. Many

The fatigue life of welded joints consists of a fatigue
crack initiation phase and a fatigue crack propaga-
tion phase (Radaj et al., 2006). For discontinuity-
free welded joints, which contain almost no defects,
such as crack-like flaws, the initiation period can
be a major part of the total life (Lawrence et al.,
1996). The local strain approach, which assumes
that the mechanical behaviour of the material at
the notch root with respect to the local elastic-
plastic deformation, local damage and crack initia-
tion is comparable to the behaviour of a miniatur-
ized, axially loaded, unnotched or mildly notched
specimen with respect to the overall deformation,
damage and complete fracture (Radaj et al., 2006)
and it is most often used to evaluate the fatigue
crack initiation life.
The local stress-strain history used to evalu-
ate the fatigue damage can be determined either
by the an estimation method, such as the widely
used Neuber’s rule (Neuber, 1961) and Equivalent
Strain Energy Density (ESED) method (Molski &
Glinka, 1981), or by the finite element method on
the basis of the cyclic stress-strain curve, which
may be in the form of the Ramberg-Osgood equa-
tion. The crack initiation life can be then evalu-
ated by the combination of the strain-life curve
obtained from strain controlled fatigue tests on the
specimens and the local stress-strain history.
Uncertainty analysis implies that the physical var-
iables considered are subjected to natural variability
investigations on the uncertainty of crack initiation
life have been carried out. Wirsching et  al. (1991)
used an advanced mean value approach to propa-
gate the uncertainty based on local strain analysis.
Three basic equations: the strain-life curve, cyclic
stress-strain curve and Neuber’s rule, were applied.
Three random variables were employed, which are
the nominal stress, S, fatigue strength coefficient,
σf’ and fatigue ductility coefficient, εf’. Zhao et al.
(2008) presented a framework for strain-based
fatigue reliability considering the randomness of
cyclic stress strain curves (Zhao et al., 2000a; Zhao
et al., 2000b) and treated all material constants of
the strain-life curve as random variables (Zhao
et  al., 2001). Ma et  al. (2011) developed a fatigue
reliability method for strain-based fatigue under
random loading. The probability-based cyclic
stress-strain curve and the probabilistic model of
the strain-life curve were established. The uncer-
tainty originated from the weld geometry and
fatigue and cyclic material properties are involved
in the present study. The effect related to the ran-
domness of the loading is not account for.
In addition to the uncertainty due to the ran-
domness of the physical variables, it is also neces-
sary to deal with the model uncertainty involved
in the mathematic models used in the analysis. For
any engineering problem, there are several methods
available of different degrees of sophistication and
accuracy. Although the physical problem is the same,
the predictions made with different methods will be

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 different. This is an additional source of uncertainty, approach based on a Monte Carlo simulation is
called model uncertainty (Guedes Soares, 1997). used to evaluate the uncertainty due to the ran-
The analysis of model uncertainty was initiated domness of physical variables and the model
by Ang and Cornell (1974), who represent it by uncertainty. The variability of the input data from
a random variable B which is combined with the experiments is presented at first. The finite ele-
model prediction Xp to yield an improved estima- ment method and estimation methods employed
tion of the variable X: X = BXp. The variable B is are introduced. The statistical distributions of the
the model error and its mean value and standard calculated local strain and fatigue crack initiation
deviation represent the bias and the uncertainty of life and the model error are determined.
the model (Guedes Soares, 1997). Ditlevsen (1982)
generalized the concept of the model uncertainty
to make it compatible with the first order reliability 2 GEOMETRICAL AND MATERIAL
formulation proposed by Hasofer and Lind (1974). PARAMETERS
The generalized model uncertainty is represented
by X’ = cXp’ + b, where the prime indicates reduced The fatigue strength of welded joints is mainly
random variables which are independent and nor- governed by the geometrical parameters of the
mal, c is a constant and b is a normally distributed welded joints and the material properties, if the
random variable. The assessment of model uncer- applied fatigue load is constant. Two experimental
tainty is made with procedures that are developed data sets analysed by Jakubczak et al. (2007) and
on a case by case basis. Extensive model uncertainty Lorén and Svensson (2015) have been used in the
analyses related to marine structures were carried present study. One set is the observations of the
out by Guedes Soares, such as model uncertainty local geometry of a series of welded joints (see
in spectral formulations (Guedes Soares, 1990), Figure 1). The base plate thickness of the analysed
transfer functions (Guedes Soares, 1991) and com- joints is t = 10 mm. Two geometrical parameters:
pressive plate strength (Guedes Soares, 1988). the weld toe radius, ρ and the weld toe angle, θ,
There are various models to determine the which are significant for fatigue strength according
local strain. Among these models, the finite ele- to the stress concentration expressions proposed
ment method is believed to be the most reliable by Lawrence et al. (1981), were measured. The set
one because it takes the actual shape and load- of observed parameters are shown in Figure 2.
ing condition into account (Radaj et  al., 1998).
This conclusion is verified by Sharpe et al. (1992)
who compared the finite element predictions with
the laser-based Interferometric Strain/Displace-
ment Gage (ISDG) measurements. The agreement
between computations and measurements is excel-
lent for the cases where the assumptions of con-
tinuum of the studied material are fully met. Zeng
and Fatemi (2001) also compared the finite element
predictions and experimental results of strains at
the notch root for notched plate specimens under Figure 1. Geometry of the welded joint.
monotonic loading. The difference is very small
equal to 6 percent at the notch strain of 0.01.
Although good predictions are made by means
of the finite element method, it has evident disad-
vantages of time consuming and the need of sub-
stantial computational cost. Therefore local strain
estimation methods are most often required at the
design stage because of their simplified nature.
In order to assess the model uncertainty of the
estimation methods, it is necessary to compare the
results of the methods with the predictions of a
more sophisticated one or with experimental results
(Guedes Soares, 1997). For the present case that con-
cerns the welded joints, model uncertainty analysis
are based on the results from finite element method
because the experimental results are not available.
The uncertainties of local strain and fatigue Figure 2. Data set of weld toe radius and weld toe angle
crack initiation life are studied in this paper. An (Jakubczak et al., 2007).

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 The scatter of the geometrical parameters is typi-
cal for welded joints, as shown in Figure 2. Accord-
ing to previous analysis of the data (Jakubczak et al.,
2007), weak correlation exists between the weld toe
radius and angle and log-normal distributions can
be used to fit the data. Their median and Coeffi-
cient Of Variation (COV) are listed in Table 1.
Another set is from strain control fatigue tests
on the base material. The cyclic and fatigue mate-
rial parameters in the cyclic stress-strain curve,
which is in the form of the Ramberg-Osgood
relation:

σa ⎛ σa ⎞
εa = +⎜ ⎟ (1)
E ⎝ K′
K ⎠

and the strain-life curve, which is in the form of the

Manson-Coffin relation:

σ ′f
εa = ( N)
b
ε ′f ( N)
c
(2)
E

can be determined from the fatigue data (see Fig-

ure 3) by the least square method.
It usually assumes that the cyclic strain harden-
ing coefficient, K’, fatigue strength coefficient, σf’
and fatigue ductility coefficient, σf’ can be treated
as random variables following log-normal distribu-
tions, while the exponents, n’, b and c and Young’s Figure  3. Plastic stress-strain data (up) and strain life
modulus, E are treated as deterministic constants. curve (down) (Jakubczak et al., 2007).
The statistical descriptors are listed in Table 1.
It should be noted that, for welded joints, the properties are different from those of the base metal
fatigue crack usually originated from the weld due to the change of microstructures induced by
toe located at the heat affect zone whose material thermal cycles. Residual stresses are also introduced
by welding at the weld toe and have a major impact
Table 1. Random variables and deterministic constants. on the fatigue strength of the welded joints. Uncer-
tainties originated from these effects are ignored in
Random variables Distribution Median COV
the present study because lack of available data.
Weld toe radius, ρ Log-normal 1.181 1.248
Weld toe angle, θ Log-normal 59.088 0.171
Strain hardening Log-normal 967.71 0.032 3 METHODOLOGY
coefficient, K’
Fatigue strength Log-normal 942.816 0.027 The approach adopted in the present study is based
coefficient, σf’ on the Monte Carlo simulation method which relies
Fatigue ductility Log-normal 0.791 0.132 on repeated random sampling to obtain numerical
coefficient, εf’ results, as shown in Figure  4. The elastic-plastic
finite element method, as the most reliable assess-
Deterministic Value
ment method, is employed to propagate the uncer-
constants
tainty of the local strain amplitude. Combining the
Young’s modulus, E 206000 MPa local strain amplitude and the strain-life curve, the
Strain hardening 0.133 uncertainty of the fatigue crack initiation life can be
exponent, n’ predicted, according to the local strain approach. A
Fatigue strength −0.079 parallel analysis is carried out, in which five local
exponent, b
strain estimation methods based on elastic finite
Fatigue ductility −0.592
exponent, c
element results are used to assess the local strain
Poisson’s ratio, v 0.3
amplitude. The uncertainty caused by employing
mathematical models which have different degrees

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Figure 4. Uncertainty analysis scheme.
of sophistication and accuracy can be thus evalu-
ated by comparing with the results calculated by the
elastic-plastic finite element method.
The sample of material and geometrical param-
eters are generated based on their statistical descrip-
tors listed in Table 1 by using the inverse-transform
method. The finite element method, local strain
estimation methods and fatigue crack initiation life
prediction method employed in the present study
are introduced with details in the following sections.
In each simulation, for each input data set, one can
obtain six local strain amplitudes and fatigue crack
initiation lives, in which one is based on the elastic-
plastic FEM and the others are based on the estima-
tion methods. Comparing the results pairwise from
the two different approaches, the model error for each
estimation method can be obtained. After a large
number of simulations, samples of the local strain
amplitude, fatigue crack initiation life and model
error can be obtained and analysed statistically.
3.1 Finite element method
Finite element models using the plane element
type PLANE182 are generated in the commercial
software ANSYS (2012). For welded joints, plane
352
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 352
strain is commonly assumed in the analysis. Dowl-
ing (1979) pointed out that if the plate thickness
is larger than the notch radius, the plane strain
condition prevails. According to the measured
weld toe radius shown in Figure 2, which is mainly
located in the range from 0 to 4.5 mm, the plane
strain assumption may be reasonable.
The Young’s modulus of E  =  2.06  ×  105  MPa
and Poisson’s ratio of ν = 0.3 are considered for the
elastic material behaviour. There are various elastic-
plastic material models provided by ANSYS. The
multi-linear elastic-plastic model with an isotropic
hardening rule and the von Mises plasticity is cho-
sen. In the elastic-plastic analysis, multiple straight
lines controlled by endpoints are used to fit the cyclic
stress-strain curve of the material. During the analy-
sis, the large displacement static option is activated.
One half of the model is simulated due to the
symmetry of the geometry. The minimum element
size at the weld toe is approximately 0.01  mm,
as shown in Figure  5. The boundary conditions
of the model are also shown in Figure  5, where
UX = 0 and UY = 0 mean that the displacements
in x and y direction are constrained. Three-time-
steps analysis in which the nominal stresses at time
1, 2 and 3 are σn, max, σn, min and σn, max is carried out
to obtain the local stress and strain amplitude.
The same mesh and boundary conditions are
employed in the elastic finite element analysis, except
that only elastic material behaviour is assigned in the
model.
In order to execute the analysis for a large num-
ber of data set, a macro file is developed, making
the analysis proceed automatically after inputting
all the data sets generated based on their statistical
descriptors.
3.2 Local strain estimation methods
Continuous efforts on the improvement and evalua-
tion of widely used local strain estimation methods
Figure 5. Mesh condition at the weld toe and boundary
condition of the finite element model.
3/29/2017 9:37:51 AM
 are made. The original Neuber’s rule and ESED
method was proposed to estimate the local stresses
and strains in plane stress state. Glinka (1985b)
extended the original ESED method to deal with
plane strain state by altering the uniaxial cyclic
stress-strain curve. The modified cyclic stress-strain
curve is the relation between the first principal
stress and strain. In order to satisfy equilibrium
conditions, stress redistribution occurs in the neigh-
bourhood of the notch tip, resulting in an increase
of the plastic zone size. Glinka (1985a) proposed a
factor Cp in the calculation of the strain energy den-
sity to account for the increase in plastic zone size.
In practice, there are many geometries and load-
ings with stress strain states that are intermediate.
In order to deal with these conditions, Sharpe et al.
(1992) proposed two approaches based on the
ESED method. They assume that either the ratio
of stresses or the ratio of strains remains constant
throughout the elastic-plastic response. Another
Five methods which are capable of dealing
with plane strain problem are adopted. They
are: the Neuber’s rule and ESED method based
on plane strain cyclic stress-strain curve, gener-
alised Neuber’s rule and two modifications of
the ESED method made by Sharpe et al. (1992).
Sharpe et al. The last three methods can deal with
the general multiaxial stress state. The coordinate
system of Figure 6 is used at the notch root. X1 is
in the direction of largest principal stress, X2 lies
on the surface and X3 is into the specimen. Con-
sidering only principal stresses and strains, the
stress normal to the weld toe, σ3 is zero because
there is no constraint for the deformation in this
direction.
Hencky’s equation can be given in the form of:
⎧ 1 εe ⎛ 1 ⎞
⎪ε1 = ε1 + ε1 E (σ 1 − σ 2 ) + σ ⎝ σ 1 − 2 σ 2 ⎟⎠
e p
⎪ e

⎪ = ε e (σ σ 2)
method considering general multiaxial stress state
was proposed by Moftakhar et al. (1994), in which ⎪ σe
1

⎪ ε
⎪ε 2 ε 2e + ε 2p = ( − v ) + e ⎛ σ 2 − σ 1 ⎞⎟
two approximate formulas are derived based on 1 1
the analysis of strain energy density in the notch ⎪ E σe ⎝ 2 ⎠
tip region. The corresponding results represent the ⎨ ε (3)
lower and upper limits of the band within which ⎪ = e
( − )
⎪ σe
the actual strains can be found. Hoffmann and ⎪ v ε ep
⎪ε 3 = ε 3e + ε 3 = − ( + ) − ( + )
p
Seeger (1985) proposed a local strain estimation
approach under multiaxial stress state, which is ⎪ E 2σ e
⎪ εe
⎪ = −u σ ( + )
also called the generalized Neuber’s rule. The effec-
tive quantities instead of uniaxial quantities are ⎩ e
applied in the Neuber’s formula and a constant
stain ratio is assumed throughout the elastic-plas- where the superscripts e and p represent elastic
tic response. and plastic, the subscript e stands for the effective
Sharpe et  al. (1992) evaluated the abilities of quantities, u is the generalized Poisson’s ratio:
six estimation methods by comparing them with
experimental results over a range of constraints v E ε ep 2σ e 1 ⎛ 1 ⎞ σ e
varying from plane stress to plane strain with sev- u= = − ⎜ − v⎟ (4)
eral intermediate cases. The Neuber’s rule is best for 1 + E ε ep σ e 2 ⎝ 2 ⎠ Eεe
plane stress and ESED plane strain method is best
for very large constraint. General multiaxial stress The effective stress, σe can be written as a func-
state are predicted better by one of the other mod- tion of the principal stresses:
els. Estimation methods were employed by Zeng
and Fatemi (2001) to calculate the local stresses σ e = σ 12 +σ 1σ 2 +σ 22 (5)
and strains of notch specimens nearly plane stress
and plane strain conditions. The results were com-
pared with those calculated by a more reliable finite
element method. The results from the ESED based
methods are closest to the results from the finite
element analyses in all the cases. The influence of
strain estimation methods on life predictions using
the local strain approach was studied by Visvana-
tha et  al. (2000). The comparisons between pre-
dicted lives and results of fatigue tests showed that
the strain estimation techniques has little influence
on the prediction accuracy compared with the
experimental data scatter. The specimens used are
nearly under plane stress condition. Figure 6. Coordinate system.

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 The effective total strain εe is the sum of elastic the plane strain cyclic stress-strain curve, the local
part, σe/E and plastic parts: quantities can be obtained.
The generalised Neuber’s rule operates on the
ε ep f ( σ e ) (6) effective stress and strains:

The above equation is the relation between

σ eeε ee = σ eGNε eGN
(13)
the plastic strain and the applied uniaxial stress
in a tensile test. If the Ramberg-Osgood rela- where the effective quantities with superscript GN
tion is applied, the effective strain can be writ- stands for the estimations made by the generalized
ten as: Neuber’s rule. Together with Equation 7, the elas-
tic-plastic behaviour of the material at the notch
1 tip region can be estimated.
σ ⎛ σ ⎞ n′′
In order to calculate the principal quantities, it
ε e =ε +ε = e + ⎜ e ⎟
e p
(7)
E ⎝ K′K ⎠ assumes that the ratio of strains, α  = ε2/ε1 remains con-
e e

stant throughout the elastic-plastic response. Accord-

The effective total strain can be expressed ing to the Hencky’s equation and expressions of
directly in terms of total strain components: effective quantities, the set of equations can be solved:

1 σ2 α + u
( ε1 ε 2 ) +( ε 2 -ε 3 ) +( ε 3 -ε1 ) β= =
2 2 2
εe (8)
2 ( 1+u ) σ 1 1+ uα
(14)
σe
If plane strain condition is assumed, the ε2 σ1 = (15)
1− β β 2
equals to 0. According to Hencky’s equation, equa-
tions: σ2/σ1 = u and ε3/ε1 = −u/(1−u) can be derived.
ε1 =
( 1− β ) εe
(16)
After algebraic manipulation, the first principal
1− β β2
stress and strain can be expressed by:
ε3 1+ β
σe = −u
⎧ ε1 1− uβ
⎪⎪σ 1 = 1 − u + u 2 (17)
⎨
⎪ ε1 = e (
ε 1− 2) (9)
It can be seen that if the plane strain state is
⎪⎩ 1 − u + u2 assumed, the ratio of strains, α, equals to 0. For
general multiaxial stress state, the value of α can
Dowling et  al. (1977) suggested a transforma- be determined by elastic analysis.
tion of original cyclic stress strain curve (εe∼σe) The two modifications made by Sharpe et  al.
based on the above equations. The transformation (1992) are on the basis of the ESED approach,
yields: which corresponds to constant stress ratio assump-
tion (β  =  constant) and constant strain ratio
1 (α = constant) assumption respectively. The elastic
σ ⎛ σ ⎞ n1 strain energy density is:
ε1 = 1 + ⎜ 1 ⎟ (10)
E1 ⎝ K1 ⎠
( σ 1e ) 2
SED = ( 1− 2vβ β2) (18)
where E1 equals to E/(1−v2), the parameters K1 2E
and n1 can be determined, with the correspond-
ing ε1 and σ1 values known. The Neuber’s rule and For the constant stress ratio assumption, the
ESED method under plane strain condition can be plastic strain energy density is
expressed by:
ε1e ε1p
SEDp =∫ σ 1d 1e + dε1p
σ 1e ε1e = σ 1N ε1N (11) 0 0
1
ε 2e ε 2p
ε1E +∫ σ 2 d 2e + dε 2p
σ ε
e e 0 0
2

2
=
1 1
∫σ
0
E
1 ε E
1 (12) (19)

Completing the algebra and equating the elastic

where the principal quantities with superscripts N strain energy density yields:
and E represent estimations made by Neuber’s rule
( σ 1e ) 2 = σ 1 + ⎛
β +β 2 ⎞ σ1 df
and ESED method. Combining the models relat-
ing elastic quantities to the local quantities with 2E 2E ⎝ 1 2vβ β 2 ⎟⎠
⎜ ∫ 0 dσ e
σ 1dσ 1 (20)

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 For the constant strain ratio assumption, the
plastic strain energy density is calculated in an iter-
ative way with continuous increment of load until
it approximately equals to the elastic strain energy
density. The incremental form of Hencky’s equa-
tion is given by:
the generalised Poisson’s ratio cannot be directly
determined during the analysis as done for estima-
tion methods. Based on the deformation plasticity
theory and the stress-strain relationship that fits
the Ramberg-Osgood relation, the following equa-
tion may be applied (Dowling, 2006):

⎧ Δε σ1
( Δσ1 − Δσ 2 ) + e ⎛⎝ σ1 − σ 2 ⎞⎟⎠
1 1 (1 ′) ( 2n
2 n′ )
⎪⎪ Δε1 ε1a (1 νu) (1 0 55u ) ( 1− u+u 2 )
E σe 2 E
⎨ Δε p (21) 1

( Δσ 2 − Δσ1 ) + e ⎛⎜⎝ σ 2 σ1 ⎞⎟⎠

⎪ Δε 2 1 1 ⎛ σ 1a ⎞ n′
⎪⎩ E σe 2 ⎜⎝ ⎟ (26)
K′ ⎠

The increment in effective plastic strain is: The generalized Poisson’s ratio can be obtained
by solving the above equation in which the ampli-
df ⎡ ⎛ σ 1 2 σ 2 ⎞ ⎛ σ 1 2σ1 ⎞ ⎤ tudes of the first principal stress and strain are
Δε e ⎢ Δσ 1+ ⎜ 2 ⎟ Δσ 2 ⎥ (22) determined by the finite element analysis. Conse-
dσ e ⎣ ⎝ σe ⎠ ⎝ σ e ⎠ ⎦ quently, the fatigue crack initiation life can be esti-
mated by Equation 25.
The ratio of stress changes with the increment
of load. The stress ratio for the kth increment is:
4 RESULTS
Δσ k
μ = 2k
k
(23)
Δσ 1 The uncertainty analyses are carried out based
on the approach introduced in Figure  4. Because
Using the above equations, the stress ratio for a the difference between the elastic-plastic response
given increment is given by: and elastic response increases with the load level,
it is evident that the accuracy of the estimation
(α + )σ e2 + E ddf methods based on the elastic responses varies
dσ e ⎡α (σ σ ) − (σ
2
σ ) (σ σ )⎤
with the load level. This suggests that the model
μ= ⎣ ⎦ error should be treated as a function of load level.
( + α )σ e2 − E ddf (24) Therefore, in the present study, four nominal stress
dσ e ⎡( 1 − 1 2 2 ) − α ( 1 − 1 2 2 ) ( 2 − 1 2 1 )⎤
2
⎣ ⎦ amplitudes varying from 100  MPa to 400  MPa
with an interval of 100 MPa are assumed. For each
The iteration starts with the elastic stress ratio nominal stress amplitude, a sample size of 100 is
calculated from elastic finite element analysis. At applied. The sample size is limited because con-
the kth step, one has σ 1k σ 2k and μ k along with siderable computational effort is needed for the
the value SEDp. Then σ 1 is incremented by a fixed elastic-plastic finite element analysis.
amount Δσ 1, and σ 2k +1 is computed as σ 2k μ k Δσ 1.
This enables the computation of σ ek +1, ε epkk +1, μ k +1 4.1 Uncertainty due to random variables
and a new value of SEDp. The first principal strain amplitude and fatigue
crack initiation life determined by the elastic-plastic
3.3 Fatigue crack initiation life finite element analysis follow the log-normal distri-
bution for each nominal stress amplitude accord-
A biaxial stress state exists at the weld toe, if ing to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (Ahmadi
plane strain state is assumed. The strain-life curve et  al., 2011). The Cumulative Distribution Func-
obtained under the uniaxial loading condition can- tion (CDF) of the first principal strain amplitude
not be directly used. The strain life curve in terms for the nominal stress amplitude of 400 MPa are
of the first principal strain amplitude, ε1a, is given illustrated with the fitted log-normal distribution
by (Dowling, 2006): in Figure 7 as an example.
The first principal strain amplitudes and crack
σ ′f
initiation lives at probability level, P of 2.3%, 50%
ε1a = 1 − u + u (2N ) + ε ′f
2 1 0.5u
b
(2N )c (25) and 97.7% for different nominal strain amplitudes
E 1 − u + u2 are illustrated in Figure 8 and Figure 9, which can
1 − νu provide a direct view of the scatter of the values.
The scatter of the first principal strain amplitude
where, ν is the Poisson’s ratio and u is the gener- and fatigue crack initiation life is significant. The
alized Poisson’s ratio. For finite element method, large scatter normally observed in the experimental

355

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 Figure  7. CDF of the first principal strain amplitude
for the nominal stress amplitude of 400 MPa.
Figure 9. Scatter of the fatigue crack initiation life as a
function of the nominal stress amplitude (elastic-plastic
finite element analysis).

Figure 8. Scatter of the local strain amplitude as a func-

tion of the nominal stress amplitude (elastic-plastic finite
element analysis).

fatigue data of welded joints may be explained. In

this case, the uncertainty of weld geometry and
material property contributes to the uncertainty of
the fatigue strength control parameter and thus the
fatigue crack initiation life.
The scatter of the first principal strain ampli-
tude increases with the nominal stress amplitude,
while an opposite trend is found for the scatter of
the fatigue crack initiation life. It seems that the in
the high cycle fatigue region, the fatigue life may lie
in a large range due to the uncertainty of the weld
geometry and material properties, even though the
randomness of the first principal strain amplitude
is not significant in comparison to that of other Figure 10. First principal strain amplitude and fatigue
regions. crack initiation life calculated by different methods.
For the type of the welded joints in this study, an
S-N curve (FAT 80) recommended by the IIW (Hob- level of 2.3%, is lower than the S-N curve employed
bacher, 2014) is also shown in Figure 9. According in IIW for the particular type of welded joint in the
to the IIW recommendations, the S-N curve usually low cycle region. It indicates that using high cycle
represent a survival probability of at least 95%. It fatigue resistant curve in the low cycle region may
shows that the lower bound of fatigue crack initia- be not conservative. It should be noted that in the
tion life estimated based on the elastic-plastic finite present study, only the fatigue crack initiation life is
element method, which represents a probability predicted. However, the S-N curve includes both the

356

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 crack initiation and propagation lives. If the fatigue
crack propagation dominates the total fatigue life,
the conclusion may be changed.
The first principal strain amplitudes and crack
initiation lives at probability level of 2.3%, 50% and
97.7% calculated based on the estimation methods
are also shown with those from the elastic-plastic
finite element analysis in Figure 10. Among the five
methods, two methods which lead to the most con-
servative and optimistic estimations are illustrated.
It has been shown that the estimations deviate from
those calculated by the elastic-plastic finite element
analysis in different levels and vary with the nomi-
nal stress amplitude. Evaluations of the estimation
methods are carried out in the following section.
4.2 Model uncertainty
Five local strain estimation methods are evaluated
with respect to the model uncertainty and they can
be classified into two groups. One is based on the
Neuber’s rule. It includes the Neuber (plane strain)
Figure  11. Bias and uncertainty of estimation models
with respect to the first principal strain amplitude as a
function of the nominal stress amplitude.
357
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 357
method and the generalized Neuber method. The
others are based on the ESED method.
The bias and uncertainty of the estimation
models, which represent the mean and standard
deviation of the model error with respect to first
principal strain amplitude and fatigue crack ini-
tiation life, see Figure  4, are illustrated in Fig-
ure  11 and Figure  12. The group of methods
based on Neuber’s rule overestimates the local
strain amplitude and makes conservative fatigue
crack initiation life predictions, while the ESED
group underestimates the local strain amplitude
and overestimates the fatigue crack initiation
life.
The bias of the fatigue crack initiation life is
larger than that of the local strain amplitude. A
Small bias of the local strain amplitude may be
amplified for the fatigue crack initiation life.
The bias of each method is a function of the
nominal stress amplitude. It implies that some
methods may be good only at a certain range of the
nominal stress amplitude. The ESED group makes
good estimations in the range from 100 to 200 MPa
Figure  12. Bias and uncertainty of estimation models
with respect to the fatigue crack initiation life as a func-
tion of the nominal stress amplitude.
3/29/2017 9:37:59 AM
 and the bias increasingly diverges with the increase
of the nominal stress amplitudes. The generalized
Neuber method seems to be useful among the five
methods in the whole studied range.
If estimations of the local strain amplitude
and fatigue crack initiation life were carried out
based on deterministic geometrical and material
parameters, which is usually the case in practice,
the expected differences caused by employing
various models can be evaluated from the ratio of
biases. For fatigue crack initiation life at nominal
stress amplitude of 300  MPa, the biases of the
Neuber (plane strain) model and constant strain
ratio model, which are the most conservative and
optimistic models, are 1.36 and 0.67 respectively.
The ratio of biases, which is approximately 2,
means that the estimation made by the constant
strain ratio model is almost two times longer than
that made by the Neuber (plane strain) model.
It indicates that the selection of an appropriate
model is essential in fatigue crack initiation life
estimation, since its influence is significant.
The uncertainty of the estimation models with
respect to the first principal strain amplitude
increases with the nominal stress amplitude. This
trend is observed for all the estimation models,
while, for the fatigue crack initiation life, the trend
with the nominal stress amplitude is not clear.
In comparison with the ESED group, the group
based on Neuber’s rule shows larger uncertainty.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The present study investigates the uncertainty
of local strain and fatigue crack initiation life of
welded joints subjected to axial loading under
plane strain condition. The uncertainty due to the
randomness of physical variables and the model
uncertainty are evaluated. The following conclu-
sion may be established.
Based on the elastic-plastic finite element analy-
sis, the uncertainty in the local strain amplitude
and fatigue crack initiation life due to the random-
ness of the geometrical and material parameters,
whose statistical descriptors are determined from
experiments, is significant.
The fatigue crack initiation lives at probability
level of 2.3%, 50% and 97.7% at different nominal
stress amplitudes are compared with the high cycle
fatigue resistant curve. It indicates that the high
cycle fatigue resistant curve may be not conserva-
tive in low cycle region, if the fatigue crack initia-
tion life dominates.
The model error varies with the nominal stress
amplitude. The ESED based methods may be
good at low level of the nominal stress amplitude
and the generalized Neuber’s rule seems to be
358
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 358
useful considering its conservatism and small bias
in comparison with other estimation methods.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work of the first author has been supported
in part by the scholarship from China Scholarship
Council (CSC) under the Grant No. 201406950034.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Reliability based inspection planning using fracture mechanics based

formulations for ship structures

K.M. Doshi, Y. Parihar & T. Roy

Indian Register of Shipping, Mumbai, India

ABSTRACT: Surveys of ship structures are periodically carried out to ascertain the structural integrity
of the hull. With increasing ship size, number of such details would be quite large calling for extensive
efforts to survey the hull. Reliability based inspection is a rational way for ensuring the effectiveness of the
surveys. Using fracture mechanics based formulations; preparation of reliability based inspection plans
has been demonstrated for Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) structural details. The uncertainties in vari-
ous parameters related to the loads, materials as well as the parameters of fatigue crack growth have been
taken into account. Scheme for updating of reliability of a given ship structural detail considering various
survey outcomes has been presented which employs a Bayesian approach. Effect of utilization of various
inspection techniques has been demonstrated. The paper demonstrates that reliability based inspections
are a feasible technique for integrity management of ship structural details.

1 INTRODUCTION Since fracture mechanics evaluations provide

Ship structures are designed considering vari-
ous limit states pertaining to the failure modes
expected during their service lifetime. Fatigue limit
state is one of the failure modes which need to be
considered during the design. Ship structures are
subject to wave loads which are an influencing fac-
tor for the fatigue deterioration of the hull leading
to cracks.
Typically the areas of stress concentration such
as the longitudinal stiffener connections with the
web-frames, hopper knuckle connections etc. are
susceptible to such cracking. It is imperative to
perform periodical surveys of the hull for timely
detection of such cracks and enforcement of effec-
tive repairs. Such surveys are performed at fixed
intervals throughout the life of the ship.
For large ships such as Very Large Crude Car-
riers (VLCCs), Post Panamax Containerships,
LNG carriers; extensive survey efforts are required
in order to ensure the integrity of the ship’s hull.
Though the conventional methods of survey
have been proven and tested over time, reliability
based inspection planning offers a more rational
scope for optimizing the surveys and inspections.
The results of surveys or inspections (in terms
of whether crack is detected/not detected at a
structural detail) are utilized to update the prob-
abilities of fatigue failure of the structural details.
Such inspection planning thus also accounts for
the uncertainties in fatigue life evaluation (due to
loads, material parameter uncertainties etc.).
an avenue for tracking the growth of a fatigue
crack; its use becomes inevitable for preparing
reliability based inspection plans especially when
updating is to be performed considering results of
inspections.
The present work describes a framework for
reliability based inspection planning for ship struc-
tures demonstrating the same for a VLCC.
2 THEORY AND BACKGROUND
2.1 Previous studies
Reliability based approaches have been well dis-
cussed for inspection planning of offshore struc-
tures (see for example Bea & Smith 1987, Wirsching
& Chen 1988, Skjong & Torhaug 1991, Jiao &
Moan 1992, Baker & Descamps 1999, Onoufriou
1999, Goyet & Faber 2000, Goyet et al. 2013). For
floating installations, risk based inspections for-
mulations for the hulls have also been presented
(see for example Ku et al. 2004, Ku et al. 2005, Ku
et al. 2012, Lanquetin et al. 2007, Li et al. 2004,
Lotsberg et al. 2000).
Reliability updating was discussed by Madsen et
al. (1987) for offshore structure welded joints using
the Bayesian approach. Risk based inspection for-
mulations were elaborately discussed by using sta-
tistical decision theories (Faber et al. 1996, Faber
2000, Sorenson & Faber 2000). Further applica-
tions of RBI to offshore structures are discussed

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 within works by Faber & Straub (2001), Faber
et al. (2003, 2005, 2012).
Lassen et al. (2002a,b) discussed application of
probabilistic damage tolerance to welded joints in
the marine context. Lotsberg et al. (2016) discussed
probabilistic methods of planning inspections for
offshore structures.
For ship structures, results for reliability based
inspection planning assessments have been provided
(see for example Garbatov & Guedes Soares 1998,
2001, 2002, 2009). Results were also reported by
Guedes Soares & Garbatov (1997, 1998) in relation
to reliability assessments for ship hulls. Probabilis-
tic fracture mechanics considerations for ship struc-
tures have been discussed by Doshi & Vhanmane
(2013). With relation to ship structures, Chen &
Wang (2010) and Chen et al. (2011) described the
application of reliability based inspection planning Figure 1. Schematic of the structural detail.
using fracture mechanics based approaches.
From the literature survey; the following points da
= C( K )
m
are concluded (1)
dN
a. Reliability based inspection planning has been
ΔK Sexp f ( a c b t ) π a (2)
less utilized for ship structures as compared to
offshore structures. Fracture mechanics based af
da
approaches have also been less utilized for ship N= ∫ (3)
( f ( a c b t) )
m
structures as compared to offshore structures. a0 CS
S m
exp πa
b. A practical case study demonstrating results
af
considering different cases (e.g crack detection, da
non-crack detection) would be very useful to CSexmp =
NCS ∫ (4)
( f ( a,c, b,t ) )
m
observe the utility of such inspection planning a0 πa
methods.
The present work attempts to demonstrate the Here a and c are crack depth and surface half
reliability based inspection planning of ship struc- length respectively. b and t indicate the half breadth
tures considering the above points. and thickness of the plate within which the crack
propagates. Sexp is the expected value of the stress
range distribution and N signifies the number of
2.2 Theory—Fracture mechanics based fatigue cycles to failure. C and m denote the Paris crack
life computations growth parameters. Once the integration described
Fracture mechanics based fatigue life is evaluated in Equation 4 is performed, the propagation life
considering an initial semi-elliptical crack at the of the crack is obtained. However the integration
structural detail to be investigated for fatigue. In operation is a computationally expensive exercise
the present paper, the structural detail being inves- noting that the crack aspect ratio also changes as
tigated is the longitudinal stiffener connection to the crack grows. It is observed that the right hand
the transverse web-frame. The structural detail is side of the equation is a function of the initial and
shown in Figure 1 which also indicates the location final crack sizes and structural detail geometry.
of the semi-elliptical crack in the structural detail. Considering different ranges of initial crack
For the evaluation of the fatigue life, the first sizes and structural detail geometries practically
step is to calculate the stress intensity factors (sur- possible, Equation 4 was evaluated and the fatigue
face and depth) for the semi-elliptical surface crack. life was recorded. Using mathematical regression,
For this purpose, the British Standard BS 7910 (BS an equation was obtained to readily compute the
7910, 2005) is referred which provides expressions fatigue life given the initial size of the semi-elliptical
for assessment of stress intensity factors of semi crack. The expression is shown in Equation 5.
elliptical surface cracks at welded details.
Once the stress intensity factors (K) are com- N C × Sexp β1 ( β2 e p( β 3a β )) (5)
puted, the crack growth life is obtained using the
Paris crack growth model as shown in Equations For developing the expression as shown in Equa-
1–4. tion 5, the critical crack depth (af) was selected to

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 be 0.6t. This is justified considering that the crack The limit state considered within the present
spends majority of its propagation life when it is work is described in Equation 7. Where T denotes
small in size compared to the thickness. The differ- the service life of the structural detail
ence in fatigue lives obtained considering critical
crack depth 0.6t and t is commonly between 4% – F (tL ) = tL T (7)
6%. Thus the choice of critical crack size 0.6t is not
overly conservative. For the event that a crack is not detected; it is
In Equation 5, the βi are the regression fit coef- implied that a < ad, where ad is the detectable crack
ficients. These are further expressed as product of size. This is demonstrated in Equation 8
closed form polynomial functions of the crack size,
local detail geometry etc. as shown in equation 6. P(F ≤ 0 ∩ )
P( F ≤ d ) = d
(8)
P( d)
βi β i 0 fi 1 ( a )
⎛ a ⎞
fi 2 ⎜ 0 ⎟ fi 3 ( t ) fi 4 ( b ) fi 5 ( m ) ; i = 1, 2, 3, 4 (6) This can be generalized as shown in Equation
⎝ c0 ⎠ 9 for several inspections if crack is not detected in
any of the inspections.
The performance of Equation 5 is shown in
Figure  2 for a sample crack size with the life P( F ≤ d ∩ d ∩ i d)
obtained by actual integration of Equation 4. P ( F ≤ 0 ∩ a1<a d ∩ < d ... ∩ a i <a d ) (9)
=
<a d ∩ a 2 <a
P (a1<a <a d ... ∩ a i <a d )
2.3 Reliability updating
For the event where a crack is first detected at
At an inspection, there could be the following pos- the ith inspection; the equation can be summarized
sible outcomes: as follows following which the reliability can be
1. Crack not detected. updated as shown in Equation 10.
2. Crack detected but not measured in size and not
repaired. P( F ≤ d ∩ d ∩ i ≥ d)
3. Crack detected but not measured in size and P ( F ≤ 0 ∩ a1<a d ∩ < d ... ∩ a i ≥ a d ) (10)
repaired. =
<a d ∩ a 2 <a
P (a1<a <a d ... ∩ a i ≥ a d )
4. Crack detected, size of crack measured and not
repaired.
The reliability index β is calculated as shown
5. Crack detected, size of crack measured and
in Equation 11. The reliability index is calculated
repaired.
from the probability of failure from equation (14):
The present study discusses the first two possi-
ble outcomes. For these, reliability updating is per-
formed. The present study does not consider the
(
β = Φ − PfT = T ( i ) ) (11)
probabilities of false indications.
2.4 Calibration
Fracture mechanics based fatigue crack evaluation
does not consider the crack initiation life as com-
pared to SN curve which considers the total life of
the structural detail. As a result, the fatigue lives
obtained using fracture mechanics (TFM) are dif-
ferent from those obtained using SN curves (TSN).
Thus arises the need for calibration of the fatigue
life obtained using fracture mechanics with the
corresponding life from SN curves.
In the present work, the calibration is performed
considering a multiplicative factor η as shown in
Equation 12.

TSN η TFM (12)

Figure 2. Comparison of the fatigue life obtained using Here, η is a random variable. For the present
Equations 4 and 5. work, η considered is shown in Table 1. The utility

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 Table 1. Probabilistic input parameters. 5. Randomness of different parameters is consid-
ered as described in section 3.2.
Std or 6. Inspections are planned such that reliability at
Parameter Distribution Mean COV (%) any time is maintained above a target reliability
Crack depth (mm) Lognormal 0.125 0.368 level.
Crack aspect ratio Normal 0.62 0.40 7. Monte Carlo Simulation technique is utilized
Paris multiplication Lognormal 1.28E-13 0.224 for evaluating the reliability indices. In the pre-
constant (N, mm) sent work, Number of simulations N = 5 × 106 is
Paris exponent Deterministic 3.1 − selected for all computations.
Load Bias Factor Lognormal 1.0 10%
B1 3.2 Probabilistic inputs
Load Bias Factor Lognormal 1.0 10%
B2 The magnitudes of the different parameters
Load Bias Factor Lognormal 1.0 3.7% considered in the present work are shown in
B3 Table 1. Crack depth is referred from Engesvik
Damage Index Lognormal 1.0 30% & Moan (1983). Crack aspect ratio has been
(SN Curve) referred from Shetty & Baker (1992). The crack
F2 Curve SN Lognormal 1.231E12 56% growth parameter has been referred from Lassen
parameter et al. (2002b). The Load bias factors, damage
Calibration Factor Lognormal 1.09 45%
index and F2 SN curve parameter are inferred
η (F2 Class)
from Mansour et al. (1997). The VLCC is envis-
Calibration Factor Lognormal 0.78 42%
η (F Class) aged to encounter 0.67  ×  108 wave cycles in 25
years. This is consistent with IACS (2012) which
stipulates between 0.6  ×  108 to 0.8  ×  108 cycles
in 25 years. The load bias factors are multipli-
of this calibration factor is demonstrated through cative factors which account for the uncertain-
the validation performed in Section 4. ties in wave height measurements, wave theories
and computational errors respectively (Mansour
et al. 1997).
3 FRAMEWORK
3.3 VLCC details
3.1 Assumptions
The VLCC particulars are shown in Table  2 and
The following assumptions are used in the present the midship section is described in Figure  3. The
work. stiffener locations marked in the midship section
1. The present work only considers the fatigue are considered for analysis. The pertinent data
limit state for the inspection planning. used for the analysis are listed in Table 3.
2. A VLCC is considered for the analysis. The
reliability based inspection planning is demon- 3.4 Probability of detection
strated considering a longitudinal stiffener con-
nection with transverse web-frame as shown in In the present work, two inspection techniques
Figure 1. have been considered. NDT technique with prob-
3. Loads on the VLCC are evaluated using IACS ability of detection as provided in Tammer &
Common Structural Rules for Oil Tankers Kaminski (2013) has been considered (correspond-
(IACS, 2012). The long term stress range is ing to the EC inspection technique). The POD
assumed to follow a Weibull distribution as curve is described in Equation 14.
shown in Equation 13 (λ and ξ are the scale and
shape parameters respectively). The inspection
Table 2. Principal particulars of VLCC.
plans are prepared considering sample stiffener
details as described in Section 3.3. Particulars Value

⎛ ⎡ S⎤ ξ⎞ Length between perpendiculars (m) 318

F ( S ) = 1 − exp ⎜ − ⎢ ⎥ ⎟ (13) Moulded Breadth (m) 58
⎝ ⎣ λ⎦ ⎠ Moulded Depth (m) 31
Deadweight (tonnes) 318000
Scantling draft (m) 21
4. Linear elastic fracture mechanics theory is Frame Spacing at midships (m) 5.4
applied for the semi-elliptical surface crack.

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 Figure 4. Comparison of results obtained from present
work with Chen et al. (2011).

et al. (2011). It may also be noted that the results

Figure  3. VLCC midship section with stiffener loca- are provided considering the example ship in
tions investigated in present study. Chen et al. (2011) and not considering the VLCC
described in Section 3.3.

Table 3. Stiffener details.

5 RESULTS
SN
Stiffener bf tf hw tw λ ξ curve 5.1 Case 1: no detection of crack
4 200 20 580 12 9.42 0.84 F2 Inspection plans are shown for the considered
39 180 20 630 12 10.2 1.02 F2 stiffeners within Tables  4–5. The results are pre-
8 150 18 400 12 13.4 0.98 F sented considering target reliabilities of 2.0 and
3.0 respectively for NDT and Visual Inspection
techniques.
From Tables 4–5, it is observed that the inspec-
For ship structures, visual survey techniques are tions that the inspection intervals through the life
most commonly used. These are represented con- of the fatigue detail. For NDT based inspections,
sidering a normal distribution with mean detect- the intervals are larger than those obtained from
able crack depth of 8.75 mm and COV of 0.1. The visual inspections. Also for maintaining higher tar-
mean crack depth 8.75 mm would typically repre- get reliability, the inspections are more frequently
sent a flaw with surface length of 20–30 mm which required for both NDT and Visual techniques.
would be detectable at close length by a surveyor.

1 5.2 Case 2: detection of crack

P ( ad ) = 1 −
⎛ ad ⎞
1.01
1+
⎝ 0.161 ⎠
4 VALIDATION
The theory and methodology developed in the
preceding sections was compared with Chen et al.
(2011). The comparison is shown in Figure 4 for a
structural detail in the Longitudinal bulkhead. The
results depict the reliabilities of a fatigue detail in
the bottom of the ship without any inspections.
It is observed from Figure  4, that the results
compare very well with those provided by Chen
(14)
It would be prudent to initiate discussion for crack
detection with an estimate of the probability of
crack detection at the inspection times in Tables 4
& 5. This would enable a judgment if the assump-
tions of no detection of crack in Section  5.1 are
realistic and justified. Table  6 presents the crack
detection probabilities for the corresponding times.
From Table  6, it is observed that the crack
detection probabilities are significant for NDT.
Comparatively, the possibility of visual tech-
niques detecting cracks at the inspection times in
Tables 4–5 are quite low. These assume more sig-
nificance towards the end of the service life of the
structural details.

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 Table 4. Inspection Plan for β = 3.0.

Inspection times (years)

Inspection
Stiffener technique 1st 2nd 3rd 4th

4 NDT 5.7 9.7 12.4 14.6

Visual 5.7 6.9 7.8 8.6
39 NDT 10.5 17.7 22.6 29.7
Visual 10.5 12.6 14.3 15.8
8 NDT 6 10.1 12.9 14.9
Visual 6 7.7 8.5 9.4

Table 5. Inspection Plan for β = 2.0.

Figure  5. Reliability updating for stiffener no 4 con-
Inspection times (years) sidering the different cases (NDT technique & Target
Inspection reliability = 2.0).
Stiffener technique 1st 2nd 3rd 4th

4 NDT 11.8 22 >30 >30

Visual 11.8 15.2 17.9 20.4
39 NDT 21.7 >30 >30 >30
Visual 21.7 27.8 >30 >30
8 NDT 12.3 22.3 >30 >30
Visual 12.3 15.7 18.2 20.7

Table 6. Crack detection probabilities.

Crack detection
probabilities at
inspections (%)
Target Inspection
Reliability Stiffener technique 1st 2nd 3rd 4th

β=3 4 NDT 61.7 70.9 75.3 78.4 Figure 6. Reliability updating for stiffener no 4 consid-
Visual 0.16 0.36 0.59 0.86 ering the different cases (visual inspection technique &
39 NDT 61.8 70.9 75.3 78.1 Target reliability = 2.0).
Visual 0.16 0.36 0.58 0.85
8 NDT 61.8 70.4 75.4 77.6
Visual 0.15 0.44 0.66 0.97 tion at 11.8 years, reliability is updated such that
β=2 4 NDT 74.4 85.2 >86 >86 the next inspection is scheduled at 14 years. How-
Visual 2.60 5.48 8.73 12.2 ever if the crack is not detected, then the inspec-
39 NDT 74.5 >75 >75 >75 tion is scheduled at 22 years.
Visual 2.65 5.52 >6 >6 Considering crack detection using visual tech-
8 NDT 74.1 84.6 >85 >85 niques, the results are presented in Figure  6 for
Visual 2.45 5.34 8.13 11.2 stiffener 4.
From Figure 6, it is observed that using visual
techniques, if a crack is detected during the inspec-
Hence the discussion is more relevant on the tion, the reliability update is quite insignificant. It
case where a crack is detected during NDT. The would be actually prudent to repair the crack as
crack may not be repaired in such case or it may early as possible. This is also the common practice
be repaired. The consideration of such cases is adopted.
presented in Figure  5. The results are shown for
Stiffener 4 considering a target reliability of 2.0
and NDT methods. 6 CONCLUSIONS
The difference between the cases of crack detec-
tion and no crack detection is well visible from Reliability based inspection planning for ship
figure 5. In case of crack detection during inspec- structures was discussed within the present paper.

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 Formulation and framework of the inspection
plans based upon reliability techniques were
described. Consideration of updating of the reli-
ability upon events such as crack detection/non-
detection was discussed with NDT and Visual
Inspection techniques.
It is observed that a greater number of inspec-
tions would be required during the service life if
the visual inspection techniques as compared to
NDT were to be utilized for maintaining the target
reliability level. Further, for both types of inspec-
tion techniques considered, the inspection inter-
vals decrease through the service life in the case
that crack is not detected at any inspection.
The chances of crack detections at the intervals
obtained considering the case of no-crack detec-
tion were computed. It was observed that the
probabilities of crack detection using NDT were
significant as compared to the visual techniques of
inspections.
It was further evaluated that detection of a
crack using NDT would lead to further decrease
in the inspection intervals as compared to the case
where cracks were not detected. Furthermore
it was observed that for cracks detected during
inspection using visual survey techniques, the reli-
ability update was not significant. Hence repair of
such crack would be a prudent option.
The present work thus helps demonstrate the
inspection planning of ship structures using reli-
ability based techniques.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors express their sincere thanks and grati-
tude to the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) for
supporting the work. The views and opinions
expressed in this paper are of the authors and do
not necessarily represent those of IRS.
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© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Study on fatigue life prediction of details with a surface crack under

spectrum loading

X.P. Huang
Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Ship and Deep-sea Exploration, Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
Shanghai, China

ABSTRACT: It is difficulty to calculate the fatigue life of details with crack in marine structures due to
the fatigue loads are mainly induced by the waves with different amplitudes, wave encounter angles and
frequencies. Stress Intensity Factors (SIF) of surface cracks with different sizes in the detail under dif-
ferent loading conditions should be calculated accurately. FEA sub-model procedures for calculating the
SIFs and a spectral analysis based fatigue loading generation procedure are described. The unique crack
growth rate curve model has been used to predict the fatigue crack growth life. In fatigue crack growth
calculation, the SIF range is transferred to equivalent SIFR which concerning the loading interaction and
the mean stress effect when the fatigue loading amplitudes are variable or there is nonzero mean stress or
residual stress. Demonstrations of fatigue crack growth prediction of surface cracks in details of marine
structures under different load conditions have been demonstrated.

1 INTRODUCTION over the years, some problems remain when the

Fatigue strength assessment is an important cri-
terion in ship and marine structural design. For
high tensile strength steels with yield stress over
400  MPa, there is not sufficient data to support
the S-N curve method. In assessment of the fatigue
strength of details with crack like defect or details
made of high tensile steels, fracture mechanics-
based fatigue evaluation procedure, which has the
capability to take initial crack size, load sequence,
mean stress, residual stress, etc. into consideration,
should be employed. The crack growth rate model,
the stress intensity factor calculation method, the
fatigue loading generation and crack growth cal-
culation are the key procedures in fatigue strength
assessment of details of marine structures based
on fracture mechanics. In marine structures, crack
like defects, mostly in the form of surface cracks
can be traced in the weld toes of the main load
carrying components. It is still difficult to calcu-
late the stress intensity factors of surface cracks in
complex components under variable loading direc-
tions and also the fatigue crack growth calculation
under random fatigue loading conditions. Much
effort has been spent over the past several decades
to develop fatigue crack propagation calculation
procedure and put it into practice (Fricke et  al.
2003, Okawa 2008, Doerk & Rörup, 2009, Cui
et  al. 2010, Sumi & Inoue 2011, Doshi & Vhan-
mane 2013). Although there are many studies on
fracture mechanics-based fatigue life prediction
procedure applied to assess the fatigue strength
of marine structural details for they undergo
nearly one hundred million cycles fatigue loading
induced by random wave during their service lives.
A unique crack growth rate model for fatigue crack
growth calculation under random fatigue loading
is employed. Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) is one of
the important parameters in evaluating the cracked
component failure. To calculate the SIFs of surface
cracks in details under real loading conditions is
one important issue in the paper. How to generate
the fatigue load, which consists of the stresses cor-
responding to each of the defined loading condi-
tions, is another important issue. At present, cracks
in ship structural details are commonly assumed
as semi-elliptical surface cracks. Newman-Raju’s
formulas for calculating SIFs of surface cracks in
a plate under tensile and bending loads have been
widely recognized (Newman & Raju 1981). On the
basis of the formulas, Bowness & Lee (Bowness &
Lee 2000) put forward formulas for calculating the
toe magnification factors for cracks in the weld toe
of T-butt joints and they were adopted by BS7910
(British Standards Institution 2005). However, the
above formulas for calculating the SIFs are only
suitable for relatively simple structures under the
simple load conditions. It is clearly not appropri-
ate to apply them to joints in the actual ships and
marine structures. This is because the actual struc-
tures are subjected to wave loads and the stress dis-
tribution in most typical fatigue assessment details

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 is very complicated. Some papers have been tried
on this issue (Mao 2015, Yan 2016).
In this paper, two SIF calculation procedures
were described and applied to calculate the SIFs
of surface cracks in details of marine structures.
Fatigue load generation method is described. SIFs
of surface cracks with different sizes in details of
marine structures under external wave induced
pressure were calculated. In obtained fatigue load-
ing, the ship hydrodynamic response and hot spot
stress response were performed by using the finite
element software WALCS and PATRAN respec-
tively. Fatigue load spectrums were generated by
using a method based on spectrum analysis. Com-
bined with the unique curve model, fatigue crack
propagation of surface cracks in details of marine
structures were calculated. In fatigue crack growth
calculation, the Stress Intensity Factor Range
(SIFR) is transferred to equivalent SIFR which
concerning the loading interaction and the mean
stress effect when the fatigue loading amplitudes
are variable or there is nonzero mean stress or
residual stress. The effect of loading sequence and
effect of initial crack size were demonstrated.
2 UNIQUE CRACK GROWTH RATE
CURVE MODEL
Crack growth rate model is the core of fatigue
crack growth prediction. Nowadays, investiga-
tions on fatigue crack growth prediction of ship
and marine structures are based primarily on
Paris law. The Paris law (Paris et al 1961) has been
widely studied and used due to its simplicity, and
the material constants C and m in Paris law have
been accumulated for many different materials.
But the Paris law only describes the middle part
of the crack growth rate curve (linear relationship)
and the material constants C and m are generally
tested at a stress ratio (R) around zero. For vari-
able amplitude fatigue load, the mean stresses cor-
responding to each cycle is different. Crack growth
rate curves under different stress ratios are shown
in Figure  1. It can be seen that the crack growth
rate curves under different mean stresses are dif-
ferent. It means that lots of material constants C
and m corresponding to different mean stresses
are needed in fatigue crack growth calculation of
a component under variable fatigue load. Also the
Paris law cannot account for the effect of the load-
ing sequence. Since the Paris formula ignores the
effects of stress ratio and load sequence, in many
subsequent studies the original formula was modi-
fied and new ones proposed. The loading interac-
tions, which are highly dependent upon the loading
sequence, make the prediction of fatigue life under
variable amplitude loading more complex than
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 370
Figure  1. Crack growth rate curves under different
mean stresses.
under constant amplitude loading. Many models
have been developed to predict the fatigue life of
components subjected to variable load amplitude
(Willenborg 1971, Wheeler 1972, Elber 1972, Paris
1999, Newman 2001). The earliest of these are
based on calculations of the yield zone size ahead
of the crack tip and are still widely used. The
Wheeler model and Willenborg model, for exam-
ple, both fall into this category. Another category
models based on the crack closure approach, which
considers plastic deformation and crack face inter-
action in the wake of the crack, was subsequently
proposed (Elber 1972, Paris 1999, Newman 2001),
have been used to model crack growth rates under
variable amplitude loads.
There are also some other models were not men-
tioned here. However, most of the new formulas
added more parameters, or changed the original
parameters of Paris law, with the result that the
large cumulative experimental C and m data can-
not be directly used. To remedy this, Huang et al.
(2008, 2009) proposed a unique crack growth rate
curve model, which takes advantage of using the
existing C and m database of materials directly and
at the same time takes the mean stress and loading
sequence into account. This model consists of the
crack growth rate curve model and the correspond-
ing equivalent stress intensity factor range. The
model indicates that the crack growth rate curve
at R = 0 and the corresponding material constants
in Paris law can be directly used in crack growth
prediction under random loading conditions. Also
the effects of mean stress and the interaction of
loading sequence are expressed explicitly in the
model. The crack growth rate data da/dN varies
with ΔK at different R are shown in Figure 2 and
da/dN varies with ΔK at different R are shown in
Figure 3.
3/29/2017 9:38:05 AM
 stress intensity factor range at R = 0, MPa m ; ( )
C, m = the material constant in the Paris equation;
MR  =  the correction factor for loading ratio; MP
is the correction factor for loading sequence inter-
action; β, β1  =  shape exponents.Kmin, Kmax  =  the
minimum SIF and the maximum SIF caused by
applied load respectively; Km = the SIF caused by
mean stress and residual stress; If MR = MP = 1, the
influences of stress ratio and load sequence are not
considered and the unique curve model reverts to
the Paris law, which reflects the universality of the
unique curve model.
When loading sequence interaction is consid-
ered, the MP can be calculated by the following
equations.

⎧⎛ ry ⎞
n

Figure  2. Crack growth rate da/dN varies with ΔK at ⎪⎜ a + ry < aOL + rOL − rΔ
different R. M P = ⎨⎝ aOL + rOL − a rΔ ⎟⎠
⎪
⎩1 a + ry ≥ aOL + rOL − rΔ
(5)
2 2 2
⎛K ⎞ ⎛ K OL ⎞ ⎛ ΔK ⎞
ry = α ⎜ max ⎟ , rOL = α ⎜ max ⎟ , rΔ = α ⎜ − u ⎟ (6)
⎝ σy ⎠ ⎝ σy ⎠ ⎝ σy ⎠
0.29
α = 0.35 − (7)
( σ )⎤⎦
2.15
1 + ⎡⎣1.08K ma
2
x

ΔK
Ku K mii-11iin − K mi
i
n (8)

where, ΔKu  =  the stress intensity factor range

Figure 3. Crack growth rate da/dN vs ΔKE at different R.
It can be seen that the unique curve model just
use one set of c and m in fatigue calculation under
different stress ratios. The basic equations of the
unique curve model are as follows:
caused by y underload follows an overload cycle,
( )
MPa m ; K mmini i-1
and K mi n   =  the minimum stress
intensity factors in the current cycle and prior cycle
( )
respectively, MPa m ; a is half crack length or
crack depth; aOL is half crack length/or crack depth
when the overload occurs; ry is the plastic zone size
ahead of the crack tip; rOL the plastic zone size
ahead of the crack tip when the overload occurs;

da
(
= C ⎡ K eeqo ) −( K ttho ) ⎤
m m
(1)
dN ⎣ ⎦
Δ eqo R P Δ
ΔK (2)

⎧ ( − R)
− β1
(R < )
⎪⎪
MR = ⎨ ( − R)
−β
( ≤R< ) (3)
⎪
⎪⎩( ) (0.5 ≤ R < 1)
−β
− R+ R

K min K m
R= (4)
K max K m

where, ΔKeqo = the equivalent

q stress intensity factor Figure 4. Sketch showing the variables and zones asso-
( )
range at R = 0, MPa m ; ΔKtho = the threshold of ciated with the model.

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 rΔ is the increment in the plastic zone size ahead
of the crack tip caused by underload towards an
overload; α is the plastic zone size factor; n is shap-
ing exponent of plastic zone effect. Some of these
variables are shown in Figure  4. More details of
the parameters can be found in reference (Huang
et al. 2008, 2009).

3 NUMERICAL CALCULATING THE

SIF OF A CRACK IN COMPLEX
STRESS FIELD

3.1 Submodel procedure for calculating the SIF

of a surface crack in a detail Figure 6. Solid model around the hotspot.
Numerical analysis of marine structure strength is
generally conducted by using shell element, beam
element and bar element to model the structures,
but solid element is always avoided being used in
the global model. A surface crack in a structure
must be modeled using a solid element. The need
for different types elements makes the problem dif-
ficult, because the node of shell element has three
translational degrees and three rotational degrees,
but the node of the solid element only has three
translational degrees.
Aiming to solve this problem, two submodel
procedures have been developed.

3.1.1 Solid submodel procedure

Yan and Huang (Yan and Huang, 2016) has pro-
Figure 7. Submodel boundary of the detail.
posed a SIF calculation method for cracks in ship
structures under wave loads. Here a detail in a semi-
submersible platform shown in Figure 5 is taken as
an example to demonstrate this procedure. In the
procedure, the stress hotspot areas are required to be
modeled using a solid element in global FE model in
the boxed area shown in Figure 6, and the cut sub-
model boundary of the detail is shown in Figure 7.
Then a FE submodel with a surface crack at the hot
spot (weld toe end) is modeled as Figure 8.

Figure 8. FE submodel with a surface crack at the toe

end with transform boundary displacement (crack size
a = 3 mm, c = 4 mm).

It is easy to transfer the displacements on the

boundaries in the global model to the submodel
boundaries because of the elements around the
boundary in the global model and in the submodel
are solid elements. It avoids the problem in shell to
solid node displacement transfer. A FE submodel
with a surface crack at the toe end under the trans-
ferred boundary displacement is shown in Figure 8.
Figure 5. A detail in a semi-submersible platform. But it is extremely complex to model the area with

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 a solid element in the whole huge structural model
especially in the multiple plates intersecting joint area
and also time consuming in global model analysis.
Due to these shortcomings of presolid model pro-
cedure, a new procedure which needs not to model
solid elements in the global model is proposed.
3.1.2 Shell-to-solid submodel procedure
A special submodel technology called shell-to-soild
submodel is provided in ANSYS software, which can
transfer the loads (displacement) from shell element
to its joint solid element seamlessly. It does mean
that the coarse model is modeled use a shell element
and the fine model is solid model. A solid submodel
superimposed on coarse shell model is shown in Fig-
ure 9. A refine meshed model of an angular joint in
the midship bottom of a container shown in Fig-
ure 10 is selected as an example to demonstrate this
procedure. The shell-to-solid submodel is modelled
use a solid element in the center which has a semi-
elliptical surface crack and shell elements around
the solid elements are shown in Figure  11. Node
displacements on the cut-boundary in global model
can be directly transferred to submodel boundary,
Figure 9. Solid submodel superimposed on coarse shell
model.
Figure  10. Fine meshed model of an angular joint in
global model.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 373
Figure 11. Shell-to-solid submodel with a surface crack
superimposed on shell element.
because of the node displacements transfer on cut
boundary is shell element to shell element with same
node freedoms. Therefore, it needs not to use a solid
element in a global model in calculating the SIF of a
surface crack in a complex detail.
3.2 Equivalent stress intensity factor
In calculating the hotspot stress response ampli-
tude of marine structure, the method of real part
and imaginary part was used. The stress responses
σreal and σimge corresponding to phase angle 0° and
90° respectively are calculated and the equivalent
response stress can be got by using the following
equation.
σ = σ real
2
+ σ im
2
age (9)
where σreal = the dynamic response stress caused by
unit-height wave at the axial angle 0°, σimge  =  the
dynamic response stress caused by unit-height
wave at the axial angle 90°.
When a crack in complex stress field, there are
SIFs on three different types KI,  KII,  KIII can be
coexist. The equivalent SIF can be calculated by
using equation (10).
2 2
K III, K III,
K I,2real + K I2,image K II,2 real + K II2 ,image +
real i age
im
K
1− μ (10)
where KI,real, KI,image, KII,real, KII,image, KIII,real,
KIII,image  =  the real part and the image part of
SIFs  in three types respectively under wave load;
μ = the Poisson ratio.
4 FATIGUE LOAD GENERATION BASED
ON SPECTRAL ANALYSIS
To predict the fatigue life of a structure compo-
nent accurately, the fatigue load spectrum should
3/29/2017 9:38:10 AM
 simulating the loading conditions as real as pos-
sible. The alternating stresses in details of ship and
marine structures are wave-induced. A method for
generating fatigue load spectrums based on spectral
analysis was used to generate the fatigue loading
for the cracked detail in fatigue crack growth life
prediction. More details can be found in reference
(Yan et  al 2016). The method is briefly decribed
here. Double parameters P-M wave spectrum rec-
ommended by ISSC is used, the P-M spectrum
expression is as follow.
4
⎛ 1 ⎛ 2π ⎞ 4 ⎞
H s2 ⎛ 2π ⎞ −5
Gηη (ω ) = ⎜ ⎟ ω exp
e p ⎜ − ⎜ ⎟ ω −4 ⎟ (11)
4π ⎝ Tz ⎠ ⎝ ⎝ Tz ⎠ ⎠ to the surface of the hull structure model, and the
where Hs  =  the wave height and Tz  =  the average
cross zero period.
Spectral analysis method is based on the theory
of linear system. The wave is stationary Gauss-
ian random process, and the response alternating
stress of the structure is also a stationary Gauss-
ian random process. So the alternating stress of the
structure can be expressed as:
GXX ( ) [H ( )]2 Gηη ( ) (12)
where H(ω)  =  the transfer function of linear
dynamic system.
In evaluation of the ship response under exter-
nal wave loading, the effect of wave diffraction and
radiation are taken into account.
The long-term sea state of ocean waves is com-
posed of many short-term sequence sea conditions.
Each sea condition is characterized by wave char-
acteristic parameters and the frequency of sea con-
ditions. In practical applications, alternating stress
process is considered as a narrow band stationary
stochastic process in a certain sea state and wave
direction. According to the theory of stochastic
process, the peak stress obeys Rayleigh distribu-
tion, and the probability density function is
Δσ ⎛ Δσ 2 ⎞
fσ (σ ) = p⎜ −
exp (13)
4 m0 ⎝ 8m0 ⎟⎠
5 FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH
PREDICTION EXAMPLES
5.1 Fatigue crack growth in a ship angular joint
5.1.1 Hydrodynamic response analysis
Hydrodynamic software WALCS developed by
CCS (China Classification Society) is used to fore-
cast the wave load of a large container. The wet
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 374
surface model of the target ship in WALCS is
shown in Figure 12 and the hydrodynamic analysis
parameters are shown in Table 1.
5.1.2 Hot spot stress response
The finite element model of the whole ship is estab-
lished in PATRAN shown in Figure 12, including
the hull structure, cargo tank and ship bow etc.
On the basis of the whole ship structure model,
the lightweight and deadweight are automatically
adjust to the corresponding node of the structure
model, making sure that the quality model is cor-
responding to the actual weight location in actual
ship. The calculated wave pressures are transferred
inertial release technology is used to make the hull
structure in a state of dynamic balance.
An angular joint in the bottom around the
midship of the container is indicated by a circle
in Figure 13 and its details is shown in Figure 10.
The stress transfer function of the angular joint is
shown in Figure 14.
5.1.3 Fatigue load generation
The Global wave scatter diagram is used in fatigue
load generation. The probability density of the
generated fatigue load spectrum is shown in Fig-
ure  15 and a pieces of the fatigue load spectrum
sequence is shown in Figure 16.
5.1.4 Fatigue crack growth calculation
In fatigue crack growth calculation of a sur-
face crack at the angular joint, the material
Figure 12. Wet surface model of a ship.
Table 1. Hydrodynamic analysis parameters.
Item Value
Wave frequency 0.1∼1.8 rad/s, step 0.1 rad/s
Wave angle 0, 30, 90, 120, 150, 180
Loading condition Full load condition
Wave amplitude 1
No. of hydrodynamic 252
conditions
Figure 13. whole ship structure FE model.
3/29/2017 9:38:12 AM

Figure 14. Transfer function of bottom tank angular.
Figure  15. Probability density of the fatigue load
spectrum.
Figure 16. Random load sequence diagram (fragment).
constants required in fatigue crack growth rate
model are listed in Table 2. A initial surface crack
(a  =  0.2  mm, 2c  =  2  mm) is used in fatigue cal-
culation. The critical crack depth is supposed as
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 375
Table 2. Basic material properties of hull steel.
Basic parameters Value
σY / MPa 460
σ u / MPa 570
162
KC / MPa ⋅ m
4.0
Δ th0 / a⋅ m
C 1.58 × 10–11
m 3.0
β 0.1
β1 0.5
n 0.155
Figure 17. Crack growth curve of the crack.
equal to the thickness of the plate in the crack
location. SIFs for different crack sizes were calcu-
lated by using the proposed procedure, the fatigue
spectrum shown in Figure  15 and cycle-by-cycle
method were used to calculate the fatigue crack
growth of the surface crack. The calculated crack
growth curves are shown in Figure  17. It can be
seen from the figure that the fatigue life of the joint
is about 7 years which is not satisfied the require-
ment of fatigue strength.
5.2 Crack propagation under different fatigue
load spectrum
5.2.1 Different fatigue load spectrum
To study the effects of loading sequence, different
fatigue load spectrum should be generated and
applied in the fatigue crack growth prediction.
Six block loadings were used to generate five load
spectrums which combined these blocks in differ-
ent sequence. Each of the generated five spectrums
is shown in Figure 18 to Figure 22 respectively
(Huang et al 2016).
3/29/2017 9:38:13 AM
 Figure 18. Spectrum load case 1.
Figure 19. Spectrum load case 2.
Figure 20. Spectrum load case 3.
5.2.2 Crack growth calculation under the five load
spectrums
An initial surface crack (a = 5 mm and c = 10 mm)
in a T joint is used to demonstrate the load effect.
The crack growths of the surface crack under the
above five load spectrums have been calculated.
The calculated crack growth curves expressed
in depth vs the cycles (a-N curves) are shown in
Figure 23. It can be seen that the effect of loading
sequence on crack growth is significant when the
initial crack is large enough. The shortest fatigue
life was got under load case 1 which arranges the
load blocks in descending order and the longest
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 376
Figure 21. Spectrum load case 4.
Figure 22. Spectrum load case 5.
Figure 23. Crack depth varying with loading cycles.
fatigue life was achieved under load case 2 which
arranges the load blocks in ascending order. The
fatigue lives under load cases 3 to 5 which arrange
the load blocks in arbitrary order are between load
case 1 and load case 2.
It is difficult to generate a load spectrum which
can simulate the real encountered loading history
equivalently. The proposed fatigue load spectrum
generating method serves as a trial and should be
3/29/2017 9:38:15 AM

Figure 24. Fatigue lives for different initial crack sizes.
verified by the test data of the actual vessel in ser-
vice wave environment in future study.
5.2 Effect of initial crack sizes on fatigue
The initial crack size of the surface crack is very
important to the fatigue life. The ABS (American
Bureau of Shipping) recommends the initial crack
size a0 = 0.1 mm∼0.25 mm, a0/c0 = 0.2, and DNV
(Det Norske Veritas) recommends a0 = 0.5 mm, a0/
c0  =  0.4, if no test data is available. So the effect
of initial crack size on fatigue crack growth life is
discussed here. The calculated fatigue results for
different initial crack sizes expressed in curves of
fatigue life vs crack initial crack depth at differ-
ent crack aspect ratio were plotted in Figure 24. It
can be seen from the figure, the larger of the initial
crack is, the shorter of the crack propagation life
is. The initial crack size has significant effects on
fatigue life when the initial crack size is small. Rea-
sonable determination of the initial crack size is a
critical step in the analysis of crack propagation.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Fatigue crack growths of surface cracks at different
joints of marine structures under different fatigue
loading have been calculated by using the proposed
procedure. The procedure includes a unique crack
growth rate curve model, SIF calculation method
and the fatigue load spectrum generation method.
Fatigue crack growth of a surface crack in an
angular joint has been calculated based on spectral
analysis. The effects of initial crack size and fatigue
loading sequences are discussed. Based on these
analyses, the following conclusions can be drawn.
A numerical SIF calculation method for surface
cracks in details of ship and marine structures
under wave loads has been proposed.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 377
The fatigue load spectrums, generated in dif-
ferent combination of the loading cases, have sig-
nificant influence on fatigue life. The fatigue load
spectrum generating method should be verified by
the test data of the actual structures in service wave
environment.
The initial crack size has significant effects on
fatigue life. Reasonable determination of the initial
crack size is a critical step in the analysis of crack
propagation. It needs further studying.
The presented procedure serves as a reference
for fatigue assessment of other ship details.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was financially supported by State Key
Program of National Natural Science of China
(Grant No. 51439004) and Project “Study on the
fatigue strength of Thick High Tensile Steel plate”
financially supported by China classification
society.
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Willenborg, JD. Engle, JrRM. Wood, HA. 1971. A crack
growth retardation model using effective stress con-
cept. AFDL-TM-71-1-FBR. January 1971.
3/29/2017 9:38:17 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Prediction of crack growth of an aged coast guard patrol ship based

on various approaches

C.S. Kim, C.B. Li & J. Choung

Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Inha University, Incheon, Republic of Korea

Y.H. Kim
Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean System Engineering, Kyungnam University, Changwon,
Republic of Korea

ABSTRACT: Newman-Raju formula is known to be less accurate for complicated weld details and
J-integral based on Finite Element Analyses (FEAs) need concentrated efforts to construct FEA models.
Recently, an Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) has been thought to reduce those modeling efforts
with reliable accuracy. Assuming prescribed cracks on the front of two bracket toes attached to longitudi-
nal stiffeners in way of deck and bottom for a 25 year-aged coast guard patrol ship, Stress Intensity Factors
(SIFs) were derived based on the Newman-Raju formula and the XFEM. To obtain axial tension loads
acting on the longitudinal stiffeners, long term hull girder bending stresses were assumed to obey Weibull
distribution from a reference (DNV, 2014). Weld-induced residual SIFs and Paris law constants were taken
from a reference (BS, 2015). For the complicated weld details and loading patterns, it was concluded that
the XFEM could cost-effectively and accurately estimate crack growth rates and residual lives.

1 INTRODUCTION The XFEM was developed by Belytschko and

Fatigue fracture is frequently found in massive
transportations such as a ship, an aircraft, and a
train. The typical case was an oil tanker ship of
16,000 tones named ‘Schenectady’ at a port which
was located in the Portland, Oregon, USA in 1943.
Since the ship in way of mid-ship was divided into
two pieces because fatigue cracks of welded struc-
tures of the ship caused the catastrophic fracture,
a research of fatigue fracture has been initiated
in earnest. Discontinuity of welded structures
increases a probability of fatigue cracks by an
effect of stress concentration. Once fatigue cracks
are detected, it is important to estimate residual life
of the cracks in order to prevent further probable
catastrophic accidents of ship wreck and sinking,
and human casualties.
Generally, studies on fatigue fracture of welded
structures dealt with crack growth rates and resid-
ual lives using the Newman-Raju formula and the
J-integral (Jeon, 2001; Sumi, 2004; Kim, 2008; Yan,
2016), but it was difficult to model meshes of crack
tips along crack growth. The XFEM includes an
extended displacement field with Finite Element
Method (FEM) to express crack tips of displace-
ment discontinuity. Thus, the XFEM is useful to
construct models without modeling each crack tip
along the crack propagation.
Black (Belytschko, 1999) and used to solve a prob-
lem of displacement discontinuity (Belytschko,
2001). A crack propagation analysis for a three-
dimensional case based on the XFEM was first
proposed (Gravouil, 2002). Belytschko redefined
crack tips of crack growth, boundary of mesh
and phase (Belytschko, 2009, 2010). Recently, the
XFEM has been cited in various fields like com-
posite materials (Afshar, 2015), incompressible
solids (Shen, 2014), magneto electro elastic solids
(Bui, 2013), ductile cracks (Pourmodheji, 2012),
and fatigue crack growth (Singh, 2012). Moreover,
the XFEM has been used to model various shapes
such as a specimen of tensile test (Lee, 2014) and
fillet weld details (Pang, 2016), but it has been
focused on only simple shapes.
First of all, to see reliability of the XFEM in
terms of accuracy of SIFs, three approaches of
the Newman-Raju formula, the J-integral, and the
XFEM were used to obtain SIFs for an infinitely
long plate with an initial elliptic crack.
Then, a bracket attached to an angle bar sec-
tioned longitudinal stiffener of deck and bottom of
a 25 year-aged coast guard patrol was considered.
Assuming long term hull girder bending stress fol-
lows Weibull distribution, axial tension loads acting
on the weld details of the bracket were determined
from the reference (DNV, 2014). Paris law constants

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 and weld-induced residual SIFs were considered 1.65
⎛ a⎞
based on the reference (BS, 2015). Residual lives for Q = 1 + 1.464 ⎜ ⎟ (2)
assumed crack depth to thickness of the longitudi- ⎝ c⎠
nal stiffener from 0.1 to 0.9 by 0.1 increment were
⎡ ⎛ a⎞
2
⎛ a⎞ ⎤
4
predicted for the two weld details. F ⎢M1 + M 2 ⎝ ⎠ + M3 ⎝ ⎠ ⎥ fθ g fw (3)
⎣ t t ⎦
⎛a⎞
2 COMPARISON OF APPROACHES M1 = 1.13 0.09 ⎜ ⎟ (4)
⎝c⎠
In this study, three approaches of the Newman- 0.89
Raju formula, the J-integral, and the XFEM were M 2 = −0.54 + (5)
taken into consideration. 0.2 + a / c
224
1 ⎛ a⎞
M3 = 0.5 − + 14 1 − ⎟ (6)
2.1 Sample structure 0.65 + a / c ⎝ c⎠
SIFs from the approaches were compared for an 2
⎛ a⎞
infinitely long plate with an initial elliptic crack fθ = [ ⎜ ⎟ cos 2 θ in2 θ ]1/ 4 (7)
shown in Figure 1. Initial crack depth to thickness ⎝ c⎠
of the plate was assumed to be 0.1 and increased to ⎡ ⎛ a⎞ ⎤
2

0.9 by 0.1 increment. In Figure 1, length (L), width
(2b), and thickness (t) were assumed to be 100 mm,
50 mm, and 6 mm, respectively. Tensile load (Δσm)
of 1 Mpa was also assumed.
2.2 Newman-Raju formula approach
The Newman-Raju formula shown in Equation
(1) was used to calculate SIFs (Mpa.mm0.5) of the
cracked plate under pure tensile load. (Newman,
1981) ΔKIp is a range of SIFs corresponding to
fracture mode I, but the maximum SIF (KImax) was
same as ΔKIp because load ratio was zero.
Let a, 2c, and θ be elliptic crack depth, length,
and tip angle, then it is assumed that some ratios
have following ranges: 0 < a/c ≤ 1.0, 0 < a/t ≤ 1.0,
a/b  <  0.5 and 0  ≤  θ  ≤  π. geometrical correction
factor (Q), boundary correction factor (F) were
decided using Equations (2) and (3). Geometric
unknowns of M1, M2, M3, fθ, g, and fw were also
calculated using Equation (4) to (9).
πa ⎛ a a a ⎞
Δ = Δσ m F ⎜ , , ,θ ⎟
Q ⎝t c b ⎠
lp
g = 1 + ⎢0.1 + 0.35 ⎜ ⎟ ⎥ (1 − sin θ )2 (8)
⎢⎣ ⎝ t ⎠ ⎥⎦
1/ 2
⎡ ⎛ πc a ⎞ ⎤
fw ⎢ sec ⎜ ⎟⎥ (9)
⎢⎣ ⎝ 2b t ⎠ ⎥⎦
2.3 J-integral approach
J-integral method has been widely used to deter-
mine SIFs from FEAs. Rice described the J-integral
as a strain energy release rate around crack tips in
a nonlinear elastic body. (Rice, 1968) For isotropic,
perfectly brittle, and linear elastic materials, Equa-
tion (10) is a basic relationship between SIF and
J-integral energy (J) where E is elastic modulus of
a material.
The J-integral is same as an energy around an
arbitrarily closed circle including crack tips shown
in Figure 2 where Γ is curvilinear contour path.
The sample structure is symmetric about x-axis,
so quarter symmetric model was constructed as
shown in
(1) Figure  3 (a). Symmetric boundary conditions
about z-axis were applied to symmetric section.

Figure 1. An infinitely long plate with an elliptic crack. Figure 2. Contour integral for J-integral calculation.

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⎛ 1 − v2 ⎞
J K I2 ⎜ (10)
⎝ E ⎟⎠
Eight node solid elements (C3D8) with full inte-
gration scheme were used to model J-integral part
shown in
Figure 3 (b) where wedge elements (C3D6) were
arranged along centerline. Element lengths for
J-integral part were kept to be less than 0.1 mm to
present crack tip details.
Other part was modeled using ten node tetra-
hedral elements (C3D10) with second order shape
function. Element lengths were increased as they
were away from the integral part (see Figure 3 (a)).
Element lengths were around 0.5 mm near the inte-
gral part and maximum sizes were 1.0 mm.
in Equation (11). I, J, and K are node set contain-
ing all nodes on a domain, jump enriched nodes,
and tip enriched nodes. Let x be coordinate along
a crack path shown in Figure 4, then green and red
enriched nodes are belong to node set J and K.
Ni(x) and ui are shape function and nodal dis-
placement in first term of Equation (11). Jump
enrichment function H(x) of second is shown in
Equation (12) where ai in second term is the cor-
responding degrees of freedom. Fl expresses crack
tip displacement using Equation (13). bil is also
the corresponding degrees of freedom. As deline-
ated in Figure  4, a crack tip can be bounded by
four node, so superscript l should be 1 to 4. ri and
θi are radial distance from crack tip to a tip enrich-
ment node.

2.4 XFEM approach ∑N (x ) u + ∑a N (x ) H (x )

i I
i i
i J
i i

⎛ 4
⎞
J-integral usually requires to use many FE models + ∑Ni ( x ) ⎜ ∑bil Fi l ( x )⎟ (11)
to obtain SIFs along increased crack sizes. Most i K ⎝ l =1 ⎠
critical disadvantage of J-integral approach based
fo x > 0
1 for
on FEAs lies that repetitive modeling works for H (x) = (12)
integral parts are necessary. −1 for
fo x ≤ 0
XFEM uses an extended displacement function.
⎛ φi ⎞ ⎛φ ⎞
The displacement function shown in Equation (11) Fi l ( x ) = { ri sin , ri cos ⎜ i ⎟ ,
is composed of usual continuous displacement ⎝ 2⎠ ⎝ 2⎠
(13)
⎛ φi ⎞ ⎛φ ⎞
term, discontinuous jump enrichment term where ri sin ( i ) sin ⎜ ⎟ , i sin ( ) cos ⎜ i ⎟ }
each corresponds to first, second, and third terms ⎝ 2⎠ ⎝ 2⎠

XFEM uses only one FE model because it can

simulate crack propagation by defining different
sizes of displacement functions in a simulation.
A symmetric FE model about z-axis was created
as shown in Figure  5 where symmetric boundary
conditions were applied to symmetric plane. A flat
box part including pre-assigned displacement
functions were modeled using 8 node hexahedron
elements (C3D8) (see Figure 5). The other part was
filled with 10 node tetrahedron elements (C3D10).
Two parts were combined using a tie constraint
condition. Maximum element lengths were 0.1 mm

Figure 3. FE model for J-integral approach. Figure 4. XFEM enrichment strategy.

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 Table 1. Principal dimensions of the patrol ship.

Principal dimension m

Length O. A (LOA) 53.70

Length B. P 50.30
Breadth (MLD. MAX.) 7.40
Depth (MLD. AT MIDSHIP) 4.20
Draft (MLD. D.L.W.L) 2.45

Figure 5. FE model for XFEM approach.

Figure 6. Comparison with Newman-Raju, J-integral &

XFEM.

and 1.0 mm for flat box part (Crack tips part) and
the other part.

2.5 Comparison of results

Values of ΔKlp from three approaches were depicted
in Figure  6. Results from J-integral and XFEM
are much coincided with Newman-Raju solution.
The maximum difference of XFEM was only 4.5%
compared with Newman-Raju result. Accuracy of
XFEM approach can be sufficiently verified, so
hereafter XFEM will be applied to predict crack
propagation life of an aged patrol ship.
3 CRACK RESIDUAL LIFE EVALUATION
OF PATROL SHIP
3.1 Target ship
There were some needs to evaluate residual life of
a 25 years aged patrol ship used by Korean coast
guard. Principal dimensions of the patrol ship
were listed in Table 1.
Figure 7. Detailed drawing of midship section.
Non-destructive tests revealed that some cracks
were detected in way of brackets attached to longi-
tudinal stiffeners in deck and bottom areas in mid-
ship as shown in Figure 7.
3.2 Load decision
Hull girder bending moment usually induces com-
pressive and tension stresses in deck area for sag-
ging and hogging conditions, respectively. Hull
girder bending-induced inplane stress has slight
gradient through thickness, but the gradient is very
small compared with the inplane stress.
To see axial tension loads acting on the bracket
weld details, we assumed that long term hull
girder bending stress range (Δσ) followed Weibull

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 distribution in Equation (14). Shape parameter Function (PDF) between a stress range segment.
(h) for deck and bottom can be determined using Representative stress range value (Δσm) will be used
Equation (15) (DNV, 2014). Let Δσ0 be reference for representative axial tension load range value.
stress range value at the local detail exceeded once Figure 8 shows the Weibull distribution at bottom.
out of n0 cycles, then scale parameter (q) can be
determined using Equation (16) (DNV, 2014).
3.3 FE models
h −1 ⎛ Δσ ⎞
h
Two FE models were constructed for the brack-
h ⎛ Δσ ⎞ −⎜
f ( Δσ ) = ⎜ e ⎝ q ⎟⎠
(14) ets attached to the deck and bottom longitudi-
q ⎝ q ⎟⎠ nals. Overall shape is shown in Figure 9 (a) where
h . . og LOA (15) dimensions are given in Table  3 for two bracket
details.
Δσ 0 Transversal web frame firmly supports the
q= (16)
( ) bracket, thus fully fixed boundary conditions were
1/ h
n
applied to the bracket end shown in Figure 9 (a).
Fully fixed condition was also applied to intersec-
This study divided a Weibull distribution tion plane between longitudinal and deck plating
into five segments of 0–10  MPa, 10–20  MPa, or bottom plating. The tension stresses delineated
20–30  MPa, 30–40  MPa, and 40–50  MPa. Maxi-
mum stress range of 50 MPa well covers most of
stress ranges since cumulative probabilities in last
segment are approximately 98% shown in Table 2.
A representative stress range value means cen-
troid of area under a Weibull Probability Density

Table 2. Axial stress(force) ranges.

Load Range of Δσm Prob.

Hotspot case Δσ (MPa) (MPa) occurrence

FB1 0–10 5.70 0.46

Btm. FB2 10–20 14.30 0.31
h = 1.26 FB3 20–30 24.09 0.14
q = 14.03 FB4 30–40 33.96 0.05
FB5 40–50 43.87 0.02
FD1 0–10 5.72 0.46
Dk. FD2 10–20 14.30 0.31
q = 14.12 FD3 20–30 24.09 0.14
h = 1.28 FD4 30–40 33.95 0.05
FD5 40–50 43.86 0.02

Figure  8. Weibull distribution and probability for

bottom. Figure 9. FE model for XFEM analyses.

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 Table 3. Dimensions of bracket and longitudinal.

Item Bottom Deck

L1 (mm) 75 65
L2 (mm) 175 85
L3 (mm) 12 12
L4 (mm) 100 100
t (mm) 6 6

in Table 2 were applied to free plane of the longitu-

dinal opposite to the bracket.
Linear order hexahedron elements (C3D8) and
second order tetrahedron elements were used to Figure  10. Crack propagation rate in Newman-Raju
model crack tip part and the other part, respec- and XFEM.
tively. Two parts were combined by tie constraint
function.
Maximum element size was 0.1 mm for crack tip
part, while minimum and maximum element sizes
were is 0.5 mm for region close to the crack tip part
and 2.0 for farthest region away from the crack tip
part (see Figure 9 (b)).
Ratios crack depth to thickness of the longitu-
dinal stiffener (a/c) were ranged from 0.1 to 0.9 by
0.1  increment. SIFs were calculated for a/c from
0.1 to 0.9 by 0.1 increment (see Figure 9 (c)).

3.4 Residual lives

Paris law was used to calculate crack propagation
rate (da/dN) for each crack depth level. Equation Figure  11. Crack propagation life in Newman-Raju
(17) means Paris law where A  =  5.21.10–13 (mm/ and XFEM.
cycle.Mpa.mm0.5) and m  =  3.0 were taken from a
reference (BS, 2015).
As depicted in equation (18), ΔKI includes two where Xi is shown in Equation (21). Figure  11
terms: weld geometry-induced SIF (ΔKIwg) and depicts Nfi for each ai/c from 0.1 to 1.0.
weld residual stress-induced SIF (ΔKIwr). XFEM
approach uses FE model including weld bid ele- da
= A( KI )
m
(17)
ments, so it produces ΔKIwg directly. Meanwhile dN
Newman-Raju approach assumes infinite plate
Δ ΔK IIwg
wg + ΔK Iwr (18)
with a elliptic crack, so stress intensity magnifica- I

tion factor (Mk) has to be multiplied to ΔKIp. This Δ Iwg k ΔK

K Ip (19)
study determines Mk from the reference (BS, 2015).
Crack propagation rates for load case FB1 and 2 ⎡ 1 1 ⎤
FD1 are shown in Figure 10 using two approaches. N fi = ⎢ − )/2 ⎥
(20)
Significant differences in the crack propagation
(m ) AX
X im ⎣ ai( m − ) / 2 ai(+m1− ⎦
rates were found for two approaches. Newman- ( K I )i
Raju approach is based on an infinitely long plate Xi = (21)
with an elliptic crack, thus the approach may not ai
well explain relatively complicated weld details. In
addition, the weld geometry may redistribute axial This study assumes that a wave period induces
stress applied externally. For the reasons, Newman- a stress cycle for the patrol ship. Let Nf be Σ ii ==19 N ffi ,
Raju approach produces less accurate SIFs which then a residual life means how long Nf is, com-
lead to different crack propagation rates. pared to the number of expected load cycles.
Crack propagation life (Nji) at ith increment of Provided that a mean zero-crossing period (T0) is
ai/c from initial crack depth of ai to terminal crack known using Equation (22), the number of total
depth of ai+1 can be calculated using Equation (20) expected load cycles during design life (Nd) should

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 Table 4. Residual lives comparison at Bottom. prediction ability of SIFs was verified by compari-
son with three approaches of the Newman-Raju,
Nf the J-integral and the XFEM for an infinitely long
Load Year
plate with an initial elliptic crack. And then, a tar-
case frac. Nd Newman-Raju XFEM
get ship which is a 25 year-aged coast guard patrol
FB1 11.50 2.62E+7 2.77E+8 3.08E+8 ship was considered by using the Newman-Raju
FB2 7.75 1.77E+7 1.72E+7 1.91E+7 and the XFEM approach to calculate the residual
FB3 3.50 7.98E+6 3.61E+6 4.03E+6 lives. In detail, an initial crack being a/c to be 0.1
FB4 1.25 2.85E+6 1.29E+6 1.44E+6 was assumed in the front of the weld details of the
FB5 0.50 1.14E+6 6.01E+5 6.70E+5 bracket in the midship section of the bottom and
Sum n/a 5.58E+7 2.99E+8 3.33E+8 deck. Acting the axial tension loads of the patrol
ship were expressed by the Weibull distribution
from the reference (DNV, 2014). In addition, the
Table 5. Residual lives comparison at Deck. Paris law constants and the weld-induced residual
SIFs were calculated by using the reference (BS,
Nf
Load Year
2015) to calculate the crack residual lives. Thus,
case frac. Nd Newman-Raju XFEM SIFs which are based on the Newman-Raju and
the XFEM approach were used to predict the
FD1 11.50 2.62E+7 2.76E+8 3.99E+8 crack residual lives for a/c from 0.1 to 1.0.
FD2 7.75 1.77E+7 1.71E+7 2.47E+7 The Nf is the sum of propagation lives meaning
FD3 3.50 7.98E+6 3.60E+6 5.21E+6 the residual life of a/c from 0.1 to 1.0. Thus, if the
FD4 1.25 2.85E+6 1.29E+6 1.86E+6 Nf is larger than the Nd, then the patrol ship is safe.
FD5 0.50 1.14E+6 6.00E+5 8.67E+5 For example, it was considered that load case FB1
Sum n/a 5.58E+7 2.98E+8 4.31E+8 and FD1 are safe, also the XFEM approaches of
load case FB2 and FD2 are safe.
Overall, the Nf decreased rapidly due to increas-
be presented by Equation (23) where p1c, po, and Td ing the loads. The Nf of the XFEM approach were
are design life fraction in a load condition, opera- larger than the Newman-Raju approach because
tion fraction per day, and design life of the ship in the FE models of the XFEM approach could
seconds (DNV, 2014). If Nf is larger than Nd, then take account of effects between the longitudinal
the patrol ship is safe. stiffener and the bracket, but the Newman-Raju
approach could not consider for the effects due
T0 4 log LOA (22)
to assuming the weld details as infinitely long plat
plc po ⋅ Td plate. In case of the Newman-Raju approach, the
Nd = (23) Nf of the bottom and deck had a little difference
T0
because the Newman-Raju approach considered
This study considers only one loading condi- only the flange widths (L1) of the longitudinal
tion, so plc should be unity. po was assumed to be stiffener. Also, Mk considered for only the length
0.5. Considering the ship is 25 years old, then Td (L3) of the bracket toe and the thickness (t) of the
becomes approximately 7.9  ×  108  s. When initial flange, so the ΔKIwg including Mk could not con-
crack size is a/c  =  0.1, Table  4 and Table  5 com- sider exactly both the longitudinal stiffener and
pare Nd for load cases with Nf by Newman-Raju the bracket. In contrast, the Nf of the XFEM
and XFEM. Predictions by two approaches are approach had much difference between the deck
larger than the lives, so the patrol ship may be safe and bottom. The Nf of the deck were larger than
in terms of crack propagation with assumed initial the bottom because the axial tension loads of the
crack size of a/c = 0.1. Further investigation will deck influenced crack growth less than the bottom
be done after exact crack detection report is taken. because of small dimensions of the longitudinal
The predicted crack propagation lives by Newman- stiffener and the bracket of the deck. Thus, in case
Raju approach are more conservative than ones by of more complex structures, the FE models of
XFEM. Newman-Raju formula assumes infinitely the XFEM approach verified both suitability and
long plat plate with an elliptic crack, thus compli- accuracy of crack analyses rather than the New-
cated weld details would induce the differences. man-Raju approach.
Nevertheless, this study needs further research.
to calculate accurately Nf of complex structures,
4 CONCLUSIONS analyses of a heat transference and a heat stress
based on simulations are necessary without consid-
In this study, for applying to more complex hull ering the reference (BS, 2015). Therefore, the analy-
structures, a reliability of the XFEM being ses are expecting more the accurately residual lives.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by the Future Indus-
try’s Leading Technology Development Program
of MOTIE/KEIT. (10042430, Development of
500 MPa URF & SIL 3 Manifold and Subsea Sys-
tem Engineering for Deepsea Field)
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2011. Extended Finite Element Method for Crack
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and Cracks. Journal of Applied Mechanics. Vol 35. pp
379–386
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convergent discontinuous-Galerkin-based extended
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tational prediction  of fatigue crack paths  in ship
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3/29/2017 9:38:27 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Benchmark study on considering welding-induced distortion in

structural stress analysis of thin-plate structures

I. Lillemäe-Avi & H. Remes

Marine Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aalto University, Finland

Y. Dong & Y. Garbatov

Centre for Marine Technology and Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa,
Portugal

Y. Quéméner
CR Classification Society, Taiwan

L. Eggert
Lürssen Werft, Bremen-Vegesack, Germany

Q. Sheng & J. Yue

School of Transportation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China

ABSTRACT: One of the key challenges for fatigue design of large welded thin structures is the consid-
eration of initial distortions in the response analysis. The objective of this benchmark is to map the limita-
tions of the current rules and to support the development of fatigue assessment guidelines for thin welded
structures. The case study is a 4-mm thick full-scale stiffened panel, which is a part of a cruise ship deck
structure and subjected to uniaxial uniformly distributed tensile load.  The welding induced distortion
related to butt-welded structure is included with different level of simplification and both shell and solid
elements have been utilized in the finite element analysis. The estimated normal strain is compared with
the experimentally measured one at a distance of approximately 8 mm away from the weld toe and root
notches. The influence of modelling approach on the estimated structural hot spot stress and the fatigue
critical location along the butt weld is compared and discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION level (Lillemäe et al 2012, 2013, 2016b). Traditional

Wider utilization of thin plates (t < 5 mm) in marine
structures is still very limited because of the uncer-
tainties related to production, fatigue, buckling,
and vibration issues. One of the main challenges
for fatigue design is the welding-induced initial dis-
tortion and its consideration in the response analy-
sis (Remes et al 2016).
Due to lower bending stiffness of thin plates, the
welding-induced distortion is not only larger but
also with different shape compared to thicker plates
(Lillemäe et al 2012, Eggert et al 2012). Even if the
magnitude of the distortion is reduced by applying
low heat input production methods such as laser-
hybrid welding, the structural stress is still very sen-
sitive to the local curved shape that varies along the
weld (Lillemäe et al 2012, 2016b, 2017). In addition,
the distortion may decrease under the axial tensile
loading, making the structural stress nonlinearly
dependent on the shape of the plate, the constraint
from the surrounding structure and the applied load
387
rule-based fatigue assessment methods developed
for thicker plates, see e.g. DNV (2014) & Hobbacher
(2009), do not consider the effect of curved shape
and geometrical nonlinearity and therefore, cannot
describe the fatigue strength of thin-plate structures
properly. Careful consideration of the structure’s
initial shape is needed in order to, firstly, determine
the required accuracy of the geometry modeling,
and secondly, to establish the appropriate limits for
the shape and magnitude of the distortion, corre-
sponding to a certain fatigue capacity.
The objective of this benchmark is to map the
limitations of the current rules and to support the
development of fatigue assessment guidelines for
thin welded structures. As a straightforward com-
parison with full-scale experiments (Lillemäe et al
2016b, 2017) is available, this study increases the
understanding in fatigue behavior of thin welded
structures, a topic that has so far been studied
using mostly small-scale specimens (Lillemäe
et al 2012, Fricke & Feltz 2013, Fricke et al 2015).

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 387 3/29/2017 9:38:27 AM

 An accurate geometry model of a 4-mm thick full-
scale panel specimen is provided to all participants,
who introduce different levels of simplification to
it. The estimated normal strain is compared with
the experimentally measured one close to fatigue
critical butt joint. The influence of modeling
approach on the structural hot spot stress as well
as on the fatigue critical location along the weld
is compared and discussed. Finally, suggestions
for the further development of fatigue assessment
guideline for thin welded structures are given.
the fatigue critical laser-hybrid welded butt joint,
located half way between the web frames, was
measured from both sides. Benchmark partici-
pants were provided with the point cloud of the
overall panel shape (Lillemäe et al 2017), Figure 3,
as well as with the mean weld geometry of the butt
joint, defined from the analysis of the small-scale
specimens cut from the same panel, see Table  1.
Contour plot of initial distortion is shown in
Figure 4 and one longitudinal and 3 transverse sec-
tions cut from it are presented in Figure 5.

2.2 Test setup

2 BENCHMARK DESCRIPTION
2.1 Structure
A 4-mm thick cruise ship deck panel used in this
benchmark study is presented in Figure 1. It is made
of normal structural steel with the yield strength of
320 MPa for the deck plating. The welding sequence
was first the butt joint, then stiffeners and finally the
web frames, see Figure 2. The full-scale test speci-
men cut from this panel was 3360 mm long and 540
mm wide, see Figure  3 and Figure  6. The spacing
of stiffeners (HP80 × 5) and web frames (T440 × 7/
150 × 10) was 404 and 2560 mm, respectively. These
structural dimensions would be reasonable for
cruise ship superstructure decks, considering also
the restrictions from buckling and production cost.
The geometry measurements of the panel were
carried out using optical system with two cam-
eras and the minimum accuracy in lateral direc-
tion of 0.02 mm. The overall shape was measured
only from the stiffeners side of the plate, whereas
The test specimen was attached to the test frame
as shown in Figure 6. The test was force-controlled
with the load ratio of R = 0.1. The minimum and
maximum applied load was 62 and 620 kN, respec-
tively, resulting in nominal stress range of 171
MPa. Force and strains at selected locations were
recorded during the test. Special clamping system
was used to apply force to the neutral axis of the
panel and to proportionally transfer the load to
deck plate and stiffeners. These boundary condi-
tions represent realistic loading on the deck panel
in cruise ship superstructure as shown in Lillemäe
(2014). In the analysis, simplified boundary con-
ditions may be applied to the location where the
clamping plates ended, i.e. approximately 100 mm

Figure  3. Geometry model visualized in Gom Inspect

Figure 1. 4-mm thick cruise ship deck panel. Free software.

Table  1. Mean weld geometry based on small-scale

specimen analysis (Lillemäe et al 2016a).

Toe Root

Left Right Left Right

Weld width, mm 5.4 4.3

Weld height, mm 1.1 0.9
Flank angle, deg 13 18 26 28
Radius, mm 1.26 1.05 0.79 0.62
Undercut, mm 0.047 0.027 0.011 0.013
Figure 2. Welding of the stiffeners.

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 where e = axial misalignment; and t = plate thick-
ness. The stress magnification factor due to angular
misalignment assuming fixed boundary conditions
can be determined as (Hobbacher, 2009):

3 ⋅ α ⋅ l ⎡ tanh ( / )⎤
Figure 4. Initial distortion contour. km _ angular = 1 + ⋅⎢ ⎥ (2)
2 ⋅t ⎣ β / 2 ⎦

where α = angular misalignment in radians; l = sup-

port length; and

2⋅l 3⋅σ
β= ⋅ max (3)
t E
Figure 5. Initial distortion shape in longitudinal direc- where σmax = maximum applied nominal stress; and
tion in the middle of the panel (x = 270 mm) and in trans- E = Young’s modulus.
verse direction at y = −100, 10 and 100 mm.
When pinned boundary conditions are assumed,
eq. (2) becomes:

3 ⋅ α ⋅ l ⎡ tanh ( )⎤
km _ angular = 1 + ⋅⎢ ⎥ (4)
t ⎣ β ⎦

The part in square brackets in eq.-s 2 and 4 con-

sider geometrical nonlinearity, i.e. the straighten-
ing effect, and according to Hobbacher (2009) it
can be disregarded if conservative design approach
is applied.
Figure 6. Full-scale specimen in the test setup. The total stress magnification factor is:

km ( km _ axial − 1) + ( km _ angular − 1) (5)

outside web frames. It can be assumed that one end
of the panel was clamped and on the other end the
force was applied with constant displacement.
2.3 Methods
Each benchmark participant was free to choose the
approach for structural analysis, including the way
of handling the geometry data. The participants
were expected to report the fatigue critical loca-
tion along the butt weld and the structural hot spot
stress range in that location under the given applied
load level. To validate the analysis, the normal
strain at the strain gauge locations approximately
8 mm from each weld notch as well as the total dis-
placement at the end of the panel was also required.
For structural hot spot stress analysis, two
options were possible. First was the rule based nom-
inal stress approach, where the provided geometry
data is utilized to evaluate the most fatigue criti-
cal location and to extract the misalignments. The
stress magnification factor due to axial misalign-
ment can be determined as (Hobbacher, 2009):
3⋅ e
km _ axial = 1 +
t ratio ν = 0.3.
i l
Structural hot spot stress can then be calculated
by multiplying the km factor with the nominal
stress, defined as the force divided by the cross-
sectional area.
The second option is to utilize the Finite Ele-
ment (FE) analysis and the linear extrapolation
of maximum principal stress according to IIW
(Hobbacher, 2009), DNV (DNV, 2014) or other
existing rule or guideline. This is a common struc-
tural stress approach.
2.4 Participants
The approaches chosen by each participant are
described in sections  2.4.1 to 2.4.5. Summary of
geometry handling is given in Table  2 and FE-
modeling approaches and used software in Table 3.
In all cases, the web frames and stiffeners were
assumed to be straight and the plate thickness con-
stant t = 4 mm. Fillet welds of stiffeners and web
frames were not considered. Material behavior in
FE analysis was assumed to be linear elastic with
Young’s modulus of E = 206–211 GPa and Poisson
(1)

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 Table 2. Summary of geometry handling.

Participant Approach

#1 Points at every 10 mm extracted from

original data and used as nodes
#2 6th order polynomial fit
#3 6th order polynomial fit (3rd order
outside web-frames)
#4 Buckling shape using 6 points from
original data + 4 points close to butt
weld, simplified shape in transverse
direction
#5 Quartic fit close to butt weld + quadratic
elsewhere Figure 7. FE-model and analysis procedure of partici-
pant #1.

Table  3. Summary of FE modeling and analysis

approaches.

Participant Approach

#1 4-node shell + 2D plane stress sub-model;

Abaqus
#2 8-node solid (Solid185 with enhanced
strain), Ansys
#3 4-node shell; Abaqus and NX Nastran
#4 4-node shell; Abaqus
#5 8-node solid; Ansys
2.4.1 Participant #1
Points at every 10 mm were extracted from the
original geometry data and applied as nodal dis-
placements on the straight panel FE model. After
solving the model, the deformations were made
permanent and stresses were zeroed. In order to
guarantee high accuracy especially around the
fatigue critical butt joint area, the resulting distor-
tions were compared with the original data and
manually corrected where necessary. The distorted
stress-free structure was then used as an initial
geometry for the axial tensile loading from the
test setup. The model was created using four-node
shell elements and the mesh size was 5 mm close
to fatigue critical butt weld and 10 mm elsewhere.
The weld profile was not modeled, but one row of
elements coinciding with the butt weld had larger
plate thickness to consider higher stiffness.
For calculating the hot spot stress the 2D plane
stress sub-models with the mesh size varying from
0.1 mm in the notch to 0.8 mm at the boundaries
were created at the fatigue critical area along the
butt weld. The displacements from the geometri-
cally nonlinear panel model were applied on the
boundaries of the local linear models. The hot spot
stress was defined using linear extrapolation of
maximum principal stress according to IIW (Hob-
bacher, 2009), i.e. using points 0.4t and 1.0t from
the fatigue critical notch. For both panel and local
models Femap 11.0 was used for pre- and post-
Figure 8. FE-model of participant #2.
processing and Abaqus 6.13 for analysis. The FE-
models and the analysis procedure are presented in
Figure 7.
2.4.2 Participant #2
The geometry of the panel was described with
the 6th order polynomial regression equations fit-
ted through the data in transverse direction with
5-mm steps in longitudinal direction. The least-
square method was employed. The nodal locations
of an ideally straight model were then shifted to
correspond to the distorted shape. The FE-model
was created using 8-node solid elements with lin-
ear shape functions and enhanced strain capabili-
ties. The overall mesh size was 25 × 5 × t. Close to
fatigue critical butt weld the size decreased to ena-
ble hot spot stress extrapolation using nodes at 0.4t
and 1.0t (Hobbacher, 2009) and at 0.5t and 1.5t
from the weld notch (DNV, 2014). The weld pro-
file was modeled using uneven thickness defined
using 3 points as shown in Figure 8. The analysis
was carried out with Ansys FE-software consider-
ing geometrical nonlinearity. In addition, axial and
angular misalignments and the stress magnifica-
tion factors according to IIW (Hobbacher, 2009)
were determined along the butt weld.
2.4.3 Participant #3
The panel was divided into 6 parts in stiffener direc-
tion and polynomial regression equations were
fitted on the 5-mm bandwidth of plating distor-
tion data (x-direction), employing the least-square

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 method. The polynomials were of 6th order, except
for the panel ends outside web frames, where the
3rd order was used. The overall plate distor-
tion was described using in total 636 polynomial
equations. FE-model was created with four-node
shell elements, see Figure 9. Overall mesh size was
20 mm and decreased close to butt weld to enable
hot spot stress extrapolation according to IIW
(0.4t and 1.0t; Hobbacher, 2009) and DNV (0.5t
and 1.5t; DNV, 2014). The weld profile was not
modeled, but the axial misalignment was included
using rigid links that kinematically coupled the two Figure 10. Simplified shape in the middle of the plate
field between stiffeners.
parts of the panel. Analyses were carried out con-
sidering geometrical nonlinearity and using both
Abaqus and NX Nastran FE-software.
In addition, the rule-based method was applied,
where first a finer examination of plate distortions
was conducted in the vicinity of fatigue critical
butt joint to determine axial and angular misalign-
ment. The stress magnification factors were defined
according to IIW (Hobbacher, 2009) equations with
and without considering the straightening effect.
Sensitivity of a chosen support length l (eq.-s 2–4)
on the final result was also studied and discussed.

2.4.4 Participant #4
The overall geometry of the plate field was defined
with buckling shape using 6 equally spaced points
in the longitudinal direction, taken from between
the stiffener spacing. Additional 4 points (at 5 and
15 mm from both sides of the weld notch) were
needed to define axial and angular misalignment
and these were added to the model according to
geometry idealization developed for 1200  ×  400
mm plate fields presented by Eggert (2015), see
Figure 10. Before picking the points, the original data
had to be shifted and turned so that the web frame
locations would be at a z  =  0 level. In transverse
direction a simplified half buckling wave shape was
assumed, again so that the stiffener-plate intersection
line would be at a z = 0 coordinate. As the points for
defining the shape were taken from the middle of the
plate between stiffeners, i.e. no variation in transverse
direction was considered, then also the most fatigue
critical location was at the middle of the plate.
The FE model was created using shell elements.
The overall mesh size was 10 mm, but smaller close
to butt weld to enable hot spot stress extrapolation
Figure 11. FE-model of participant #5.
according to IIW (Hobbacher, 2009), i.e. using
points at 0.4t and 1.0t from the fatigue critical
notch. The analysis was carried out geometrically
linearly as well as nonlinearly.
2.4.5 Participant #5
Initial distortion shape was described using quad-
ratic polynomial functions fitted through the data
in transverse direction. Close to butt weld addi-
tional quartic fitting was performed. The mini-
mum distance between the fitting points was 1
mm close to butt weld and 25 mm farther from
it. FE-model was created using 8-node solid ele-
ments with the size of 10 × 0.25t × t close to butt
weld and 10 × 25 × t elsewhere, see Figure 11. The
analysis was carried out with Ansys FE-software
considering geometrical nonlinearity. The hot spot
stress range was defined using linear extrapolation
according to DNV (2014).

3 RESULTS

The fatigue critical locations and corresponding

hot spot stress ranges are presented in Table 4. The
estimated fatigue critical location varied between
x = 300 and 320 mm for participants #1–3 and 5 and
was exactly in the middle of the panel at x = 270 mm
Figure 9. FE-model of participant #3. for participant #4 because of the simplified shape

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 Table 4. Hot spot stress range (ΔσHS) and stress magnification factor (km) at fatigue critical location defined using different
approaches.

Structural stress approach

Lin ext IIW Lin ext DNV Nominal stress approach

Fat crit. loc. ΔσHS kma ΔσHS kma km (eq. 1–5) ΔσHSb

#1 y- /z- /x = 320 319 1.87

#2 y- /z- /x = 305 313 1.83 306 1.79 2.69c (1.72d) 460c (294d)
#3 y- /z- /x = 300 326 1.91 314 1.84 2.40c 410c
#4 y- /z- /x = 270 304 (356e) 1.78
#5 y- /z- /x = 304.5 288 1.68
exp. y- /z- /x =325

a
km = ΔσHS/ ΔσNOM, ΔσNOM defined as (Fmax-Fmin)/A, where A = 3260 mm2.
b
ΔσHS = km (eq. 1–5)*ΔσNOM.
c
Support length in eq. 2 assumed to be l = 60 mm. Straightening effect not included.
d
l = 60 mm and straightening considered with eq. 4 (assuming pinned ends).
e
Geometrically linear FE analysis.

in transverse direction. The observed primary crack

initiation location was at x = 325 mm, but many sec-
ondary initiations were present in the area between
x = 290…330 mm, see Figure 12.
The hot spot stress range varied between 304 and
326 MPa, defined using geometrically nonlinear FE
analysis and linear extrapolation according to IIW
(Hobbacher, 2009) at the most fatigue critical loca- Figure 12. Fracture surface.
tion. Linear extrapolation according to DNV (2014)
with larger extrapolation distances gave slightly
lower values, i.e. from 288 to 314 MPa. Geometri-
cally linear FE analysis resulted in higher hot spot
stress range, i.e. 356 MPa instead of 304 MPa for
participant #4. Differences between two FE soft-
ware employed by participant #3 were insignificant.
When hot spot stress range is defined using
nominal stress range and equations 1–5 without
considering the straightening effect, the values
are significantly overestimated. When straighten-
ing is considered, the values are closer to the ones
obtained using geometrically nonlinear FE analy-
sis and linear extrapolation. However, it must be Figure  13. Normal strain distribution at the most
noted that both the stress magnification factor due fatigue critical side of the weld (y- & z-).
to angular misalignment as well as the straighten-
ing depend on the chosen support length l. For 4 DISCUSSION
large structures it is difficult to define the support
length because of the curved shape. The level of geometry simplification was the high-
The normal strain distribution at the fatigue est for participant #4 who only used 6 + 4 points in
critical side of the weld approximately 8 mm from longitudinal direction from the middle of the stiff-
the notch, where the strain gauges were located, is ener spacing to define the entire initially distorted
plotted in Figure 13. For participants #1–3 and 5 panel shape. The second simplest was participant
the strain distribution agrees well with the experi- #5 who used quadratic equations to fit the original
ments, when geometrically nonlinear FE analysis data. Close to butt weld additional quartic fit was
is applied. Geometrically linear analysis overes- applied to have a better match. Rest of the partici-
timates the strains. The result of participant #4 pants had more accurate models, where sorted raw
agrees well with the experiments only in the mid- data or the 6th order polynomial fitting was used.
dle of the specimen, where the geometry was most When geometrically nonlinear FE-analysis is
accurately modeled. Simplified shape in transverse used, the results of all participants agree very well
direction causes inaccuracy. with the experiments. All results stayed within

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 10%, but most of them even within 5% from the
experiments. Also the fatigue critical location
along the butt weld was predicted with sufficient
accuracy, considering the almost constant strain
distribution in the area of approximately x = 300…
330 mm (Figure 13) and multiple crack initiation
locations indicated in the fracture surface (Fig-
ure 12). The simplified shape of participant #4 was
able to catch the correct strain in the middle of the
panel and close to one stiffener, but was inaccurate
elsewhere. Considering that the level of geometry
simplification applied by participant #4 was much Figure 14. Influence of straightening on the structural
higher compared to others, the result is promising, stress compared to geometrically nonlinear FE-solution,
but the approach should be further developed to l = 60 mm, pinned boundary conditions, x = 300 mm.
account for varying shape in transverse direction
by e.g. including few extra points. This is impor-
tant in order to capture the correct fatigue critical
location along the weld. Another interesting obser-
vation is that the strains predicted by participant
#5 agree very well with the experiments and other
results, but the hot spot stress defined in the fatigue
critical location is lower than those of others. Figure  15. Sensitivity of angular misalignment on the
When geometrically linear FE-analysis applied, chosen support length l.
the strains are noticeably overestimated. This is
similar as explained in Lillemäe et al (2016b). When
the rule-based stress magnification factor is used to
calculate the structural stress, the result is even more
severely overestimated. This is both due to the curved
shape of thin welded plates as well as the geometri-
cally nonlinear behavior, which was explained in
case of small-scale specimens in Lillemäe et al (2012)
and Fricke et al (2015). IIW (Hobbacher, 2009)
guideline for fatigue assessment of welded joints
and components includes the geometrically nonlin-
ear straightening effect in their equation (see eq. 2
and 4), but they assume that the angular misalign- Figure  16. Sensitivity of structural stress (straighten-
ment is formed between straight plates. As shown ing included) on the chosen support length l in case of
in Lillemäe et al (2012), the curved shape influences pinned boundary conditions; at x = 300 mm.
the straightening behavior significantly. Figure  14
illustrates how for a chosen support length of l  = 
60 mm the IIW (Hobbacher, 2009) analytical solu-
tion with straightening under- and without straight-
ening overestimates the structural stress.
In addition, there is a problem of choosing the
support length l in case of large structure with
curved shape. The length l is used for determining
the angular misalignment as well as for calculat-
ing the stress magnification caused by angular
misalignment. It is also used in β equation, which
defines the straightening. The sensitivity of the
chosen support length l on the angular misalign- Figure 17. Sensitivity of structural stress (straightening
ment is presented in Figure 15. The angular mis- included) on the chosen support length l in case of fixed
boundary conditions; at x = 300 mm.
alignment in case of l = 20 mm is 1.85º and in case
of l = 60 mm it is 1.64º. The effect of the chosen
support length on the structural hot spot stress, the best agreement with the geometrically non-
when the straightening effect is included with eq.-s linear FE-solution, while l = 20 mm over- and l = 
2 and 4, can be seen in Figure 16 and Figure 17. 60 mm underestimated the stress. For fixed bound-
As a coincidence, the pinned boundary condi- ary conditions all support lengths underestimated
tions and the support length of l  =  40 mm gave the stress. However, this depends on the exact local

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 curved shape and cannot be generalized without
analyzing more panels with different shapes. In
addition, one should notice that the support length
of 20–60 mm is significantly smaller than the real
physical support length, i.e. the web frame spacing
(2650 mm) commonly applied for thick plates.
5 CONCLUSIONS
From the benchmark study on considering the
welding-induced initial distortions in the structural
stress analysis of thin-plate structures, following
conclusions can be drawn:
• The structural stress is strongly influenced by the
local curved shape and the geometrical nonlin-
earity. All participants who included the shape
in both directions and used geometrically non-
linear analysis ended up with good agreement
compared to experiments. Even the highest level
of simplification where the distortion shape was
only included in longitudinal direction gave very
good results in the middle of the panel. If the
transverse shape could be considered by adding
few extra points, the approach might be enough
to capture the structural stress accurately in the
whole panel.
• Angular misalignment is sensitive to the location
where it is defined because of the curved shape.
• Rule-based equation for stress magnification
leads to significant overestimation of the struc-
tural stress when straightening effect is not
included. If it is included, it can lead to over- or
underestimated results as it is very sensitive to
the chosen support length.
This study gave an insight to the required mod-
eling accuracy, but for fatigue design of thin welded
structures, a more comprehensive sensitivity analy-
sis is needed to determine the limits for the distor-
tion shape and magnitude to correspond to a certain
fatigue capacity. Also, the IIW (Hobbacher, 2009)
stress magnification and straightening equation
could be studied further to see if it can be adjusted
for curved shapes of large structures. Especially the
definition of the support length for analytical equa-
tions requires additional considerations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper is a result of a joint effort of Inter-
national Ship and Offshore Structures Congress
(ISSC) 2018 Fatigue & Fracture III.2 committee.
The full-scale experiments used as validation in this
work were carried out in Aalto University within
the Future Digital Manufacturing Technologies
394
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 394
project (MANU) of Finnish Metals and Engineer-
ing Competence Center (FIMECC). The full-scale
structures were manufactured in cooperation with
Meyer Turku shipyard and Winnova Oy.
REFERENCES
Det Norske Veritas. 2014. Fatigue Assessment of Ship
Structures, Classification Notes 30.7.
Eggert, L., Fricke, W., Paetzhold, H. 2012. Fatigue
strength of thin-plated block joints with typical ship-
building imperfections. Welding in the World 56 (11-
12): 119–128.
Eggert, L. 2015. Betriebsfestigkeit von Dünnblech-
Montagestößen mit werftüblichen Imperfektionen im
Schiffbau. Doctoral Dissertation. Hamburg Univer-
sity of Technology, Hamburg, Germany.
Fricke, W., Feltz, O. 2013. Consideration of influence
factors between small-scale specimens and large com-
ponents on the fatigue strength of thin-plated block
joints in shipbuilding. Fatigue & Fracture of Engineer-
ing Materials & Structures 36 (12): 1223–1231.
Fricke, W., Remes, H., Feltz, O., Lillemäe, I., Tchu-
indjang, D., Reinert, T., Nevierov, A., Sichermann,
W., Brinkmann, M., Kontkanen, T., Bohlmann, B.,
Molter, L. 2015. Fatigue strength of laser-welded thin-
plate ship structures based on nominal and structural
hot-spot stress approach. Ships and Offshore Struc-
tures 10 (1): 39–44.
Hobbacher, A. 2009. Recommendations for Fatigue
Design of Welded Joints and Components, IIW doc.
1823-07, Welding Research Council Bulletin 520, New
York.
Lillemäe, I., Lammi, H., Molter, L., Remes, H. 2012.
Fatigue strength of welded butt joints in thin and
slender specimens. International Journal of Fatigue 44:
98–106.
Lillemäe, I., Liinalampi, S., Remes, H., Avi, E.,
Romanoff, J. 2016b. Influence of welding distortion
on the structural stress in thin deck panels. PRADS
2016, 4–8 September 2016, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Lillemäe, I., Liinalampi, S., Remes, H., Itävuo, A., Nie-
melä, A. 2017. Fatigue strength of thin laser-hybrid
welded full-scale deck structure. International Journal
of Fatigue 95: 282–292.
Lillemäe, I., Remes, H., Liinalampi, S., Itävuo, A. 2016a.
Influence of weld quality on the fatigue strength of
thin normal and high strength steel butt joints. Weld-
ing in the World 60 (4): 731–740.
Lillemäe, I., Remes, H., Romanoff, J. 2013. Influence of
initial distortion on the structural stress in 3 mm thick
stiffened panels. Thin-Walled Structures 72: 121–127.
Lillemäe, I., Remes, H., Romanoff, J. 2014. Influence of
initial distortion of 3 mm thin superstructure decks
on hull girder response for fatigue assessment. Marine
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ampi, S; Lehto, P; Varsta P. Factors affecting the
fatigue strength of thin-plates in large structures.
International Journal of Fatigue, Available online 15
November 2016.
3/29/2017 9:38:35 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Palmgren–miner’s rule and fracture mechanics based fatigue analysis

of deepwater mooring lines

Xutian Xue & Nian-Zhong Chen

School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University, UK

ABSTRACT: Both Palmgren–Miner’s rule and fracture mechanics based fatigue analyses are conducted
for homogeneous-material mooring lines of a semi-submersible operating at Offshore West Africa (OWA).
The frequency-domain analysis is performed to calculate low frequency and wave frequency tensions for
different locations of mooring lines. Narrow-banded spectrum method is applied to combine low fre-
quency and wave frequency mooring line loadings. Fatigue damage of each mooring line is estimated by
Palmgren–Miner’s rule and fracture mechanics based approaches, respectively. The comparison of fatigue
lives of mooring lines predicted by Palmgren–Miner’s rule and fracture mechanics based approaches
shows that results calculated by these two types of methods are generally comparable. It also shows that
the top end of mooring line laying on the sea floor is the most critical point prone to fatigue failure in a
taut mooring system. In addition, fatigue lives of mooring lines estimated by S-N curves offered by DNV
codes are longer than those estimated by T-N curves from API codes.

1 INTRODUCTION which are widely used in offshore mooring chain

The semi-submersible (Column stabilized unit) is
a common type of floating structures used in off-
shore oil and gas drilling and production and it
is suited for deep (400  m-1500  m) and ultra-deep
(deeper than 1500 m) water. The design of mooring
system becomes more challenging due to the com-
plex and uncertainty of deep water environment
conditions. The failure of station keeping of an off-
shore structure may cause equipment damage and
hydrocarbon release, which would lead to both eco-
nomic and life loss. Unfortunately, mooring acci-
dents occurred at a high rate during last decades.
There is thus a need to conduct rational structural
analysis for deep water mooring system.
Fatigue failure is one of critical failure modes
of mooring systems. At present, most of moor-
ing line systems are designed according to indus-
try standards, such as API RP 2SK (2008) and
DNVGL OS E301 (2015). In these standards,
fatigue assessments of mooring lines are recom-
mended to be conducted with Palmgren–Miner’s
rule coupled with S-N curves or T-N curves. Com-
pared to Palmgren–Miner’s rule based approaches
(Chen et  al., 2011; Chen, 2016), the industry
standard to guide mooring line fatigue analysis
based on fracture mechanics is relatively limited.
Several researchers (Lassen et  al., 2005, Palin-
Luc et al., 2010 and Pérez-Mora et al., 2015) con-
ducted a series of experiments to study the crack
propagation behaviors of high strength steels,
manufacture. Mathisen and Larsen (2004), Lassen
et  al. (2005) and Lardier et  al. (2008) applied the
linear elastic fracture mechanics to estimate fatigue
lives of mooring chains by assuming an initial sur-
face to propagate at the surface of a chain link.
This paper is to conduct both Palmgren–Miner’s
rule and fracture mechanics based fatigue analyses
for mooring lines of a semi-submersible installed in
Offshore West Africa (OWA). The environmental
forces induced by wave, wind and swell are taken
into account. The frequency-domain analysis is
then performed for mooring line tension range
calculation induced by Wave Frequency (WF)
and Low Frequency (LF) motions. The narrow-
banded spectral method is performed for estimat-
ing the combined mooring line tension ranges and
the fatigue damage of mooring lines is predicted
by Palmgren-Miner’s rule and fracture mechanics
based approaches.
2 ENVIRONMENTAL LOADING
The environmental forces induced by wave, wind
and swell are considered. The frequency domain
analysis is performed to estimate the mooring
line tension ranges and the corresponding tension
cycles for both LF and WF motions. As recom-
mended by API RP 2SK (2008) and DNVGL OS
E301 (2015), the combined spectrum method is
applied to combine LF and WF loading processes.

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 Table 1. Environmental conditions at OWA.

Swell Wind wave

Wind speed Direction
Bin Hs (m) Tp (s) Hs (m) Tp (s) (m/s) (de-gree) Probability

1 1.75 14 0.3 2.7 8 0 30.4

2 1.75 22 0.7 3.8 14 0 7.6
3 2.75 14 0.3 2.7 8 0 9.2
4 2.75 22 0.7 3.8 14 0 2.3
5 3.75 14 0.3 2.7 8 0 0.4
6 3.75 22 0.7 3.8 14 0 0.1
7 1.75 14 0.3 2.7 8 45 30.4
8 1.75 22 0.7 3.8 14 45 7.6
9 2.75 14 0.3 2.7 8 45 9.2
10 2.75 22 0.7 3.8 14 45 2.3
11 3.75 14 0.3 2.7 8 45 0.4
12 3.75 22 0.7 3.8 14 45 0.1

2.1 Environmental condition 2.3 Wind loadings

The semi-submersible is installed and operated The wind load Fw cting on the surface of floating
at Offshore West Africa (OWA). OWA environ- structures is given by the equation:
ment is characterized by long period swells and its
periods are beyond 20  seconds. In this paper, the 1
wave, wind and swell effects are taken into account FW C D ρAVW2
AV (2)
2
to examine the fatigue lives of mooring lines. The
environmental conditions applied in this paper where
(Wang et al., 2002) are presented with occurrence CD - drag coefficient
probability in Table 1. ρ - density of air(kg/m3)
A - project area of the surface perpendicular to
2.2 Wave and swell loadings wind(m2)
The wave and swell induced forces acting on float- Vw - wind speed(m/s)
ing structures are calculated by RAOs (Response The wind speed is considered as a statistical
amplitude operators), wave and swell conditions. value and the wind speed spectrum, Harris spec-
Ochi-Hubble spectrum (Ochi and Hubble, 1976) trum (Deaves and Harris, 1978; Marintek, 2012), is
is used herein for the simulation of the vessel
motion induced by wave and swell, that is, 4 kLU
U10
SW ( f ) = 5 (3)
⎡ ⎛ Lf ⎞ 2 ⎤ 6
SOH (ω ) SOH (ω ) + SOH (ω )
(1) (2 )
(1) ⎢2 + ⎜ ⎟ ⎥
λi ⎢⎣ ⎝ U10 ⎠ ⎥⎦
HSi2 ⎛ 1⎞
(i )
SOH ( )= ⎜ λi + ⎟⎠
4Γ ( i ) ω PPi ⎝ 4
−( i + ) where
⎛ ω ⎞ ⎡ ⎛ 1⎞ ⎛ ω ⎞ ⎤
−4

×⎜ exp ⎢ − λ + ⎥ , i = 1, 2 (2) SW - power density of wind speed (m2/Hz)

⎟
⎝ ω PPi ⎟⎠ ⎢⎣ ⎝ 4 ⎠ ⎜⎝ ω Pi ⎟⎠ ⎥
i
f - wind frequency (Hz)
⎦
U10 - mean wind speed at 10 m above sea level
(m/s)
where
k - surface roughness coefficient
ωPi - peak frequency of part i (rad/s)
L - length scale (m)
HSi - significant wave height of part i(m)
λi - peakedness parameter of part i
Γ() - gamma function 2.4 Mooring line tension
The Ochi-Hubble spectrum is a model for simu- Two components of characteristic line tension
lating waves and swells in combination. The Ochi- should be considered, mean line tension TM and
Hubble spectrum can be specified for the two part dynamic line tension TD, where TM is the combina-
spectra which part 1 is used for waves and part 2 tion of LF and WF motions induced by wave, swell
for swells. and wind dynamics.

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 As recommended by DNVGL OS E301 (2015) tension ranges by the nominal cross-sectional area
and API RP 2SK (2008), the combined spectrum 1 1
of the component; i.e. π d 2 for chain and π d 2
method is applied to combine LF and WF load- 2 4
ing processes. In the combined spectrum approach, for ropes, where d is nominal diameter of mooring
the load process of dynamic responses of mooring component.
lines X(t) is assumed to be a narrow banded Reference values of m and aD provided by
Gaussian process and the probability density func- DNVGL OS E301 (2015) for mooring components
tion and the cumulative distribution function of used in this paper are given in Table 2.
stress amplitude R can be given by: For T-N curves, S is the ratio of tension-tension
range to Reference Breaking Strength (RBS).
r ⎛ r2 ⎞ Reference values of m and aD provided by API RP
fR ( r ) = exp ⎜ 2 ⎟ (4)
σ 2 ⎝ 2σ ⎠ 2SK (2008) for mooring components are listed in
Table 3.
⎛ −r 2 ⎞ The properties for mooring chains given in
FR (r ) = 1 − exp ⎜ 2 ⎟ (5)
⎝ 2σ ⎠ Tables  2 and 3 have considered the corrosion,
while properties for the ropes are protected from
where σ2 is variance of loading process. the corrosive effect of sea water.
When G(ω), the spectrum destiny function of Coupling with the probability density function,
X(t) is known, the spectrum moments of X(t) can Eq. 9 can be reformed as:
be defined as:
n
( ) ⎛ m⎞
m
∞ D= S ⎜⎝1 + ⎟⎠ (10)
mn ∫ ω G( ) dω (6) aD 2
0

Then the variance of X(t) can be presented as where Sσ is the standard deviation of S in Eq. 9.
When the fatigue damage D = 1.0, the fatigue
σ 2 = m0 (7) life is given by:

The zero up-crossing rate v0 (Hz) is relating to aD

mn and it can be presented as: Nf = (11)
( ) ⎛ m⎞
m
S 1+
⎝ 2⎠
1 m2
v0 = (8)
2π m0 3.2 Fracture mechanics based fatigue analysis
In fracture mechanics analysis performed herein,
the chain link is treated as a round bar and an
3 MOORING LINE FATIGUE ANALYSIS

Palmgren-Miner’s rule and fracture mechanics Table 2. Parameters of m and aD for mooring compo-
based approaches are used for prediction of the nents for S-N curves.
fatigue lives of mooring lines.
Mooring components m aD

3.1 Palmgren-Miner’s rule based analysis Studless link 3.0 6.0 × 1010

Stud chain 3.0 12 × 1011
The accumulated fatigue damage in mooring lines Stranded rope 4.0 3.4 × 1014
could be predicted by Palmgren–Miner’s rule. Spiral rope 4.8 1.7 × 1017
According to the Palmgren–Miner’s rule coupled
with S-N curves or T-N curves, the fatigue damage
in a mooring line can be given by the form: Table 3. Parameters of m and aD for mooring compo-
nents for T-N curves.
n
D= E (S m ) (9)
aD Mooring components m aD

Studless link 3.0 316

where n is the number of load cycles. m is the Stud chain 3.0 1000
slope of the designed curve and aD is the intercept Spiral strand wire rope 5.05 10(3.25–3.43 Lm)
parameter.
For S-N curves, S means stress ranges (MPa). * Lm is the ratio of mean load to the reference breaking
The stress ranges are computed by dividing the strength for wire rope.

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 Table 4. Fatigue crack growth constant. Table 5. The principal dimensions of semi-submersible.

Material constant Value Nomenclature Value

M 3.0 Overall length (m) 96

C 2.3 × 10−12 Column cross section (m × m) 22 × 22
Pontoon cross section (m × m) 22 × 10
Depth (m) 53
initial semi-elliptical surface crack is assumed to be
located at the surface of the weld section of chain
link to propagate.
The crack growth is predicted based on the
Paris-Erdogan equation (Paris and Erdogan, 1963)
and the and crack depth a and length c are then
calculated by

da
= C ( K a ) = C Ya s ( )
M M
a
dn (12)
dc
= C ( K c ) = C Yc s ( a)
M M

dn

where C and M are material constants and the

values are listed in Table 4 (BS7910, 2013).
ΔKa and ΔKc are the stress intensity factor
ranges in a stress cycle and Ya and Yc are the stress
intensity correction factors. Ya and Yc in this paper
are calculated according to British Standard 7910
(BS7910, 2013). s is the equivalent fatigue stress
range acting on the mooring chain section.
The fatigue life Nf based on fracture mechan-
ics approach can be estimated by an integration
procedure:
ac da
Nf = ∫
C( K)
a0 M
where a0 is initial crack depth and ac is critical
crack depth. The critical crack size ac could be
considered as 12% mooring chain diameter in weld
section (Mathisen and Larsen, 2004).
4 CASE STUDY
In the deep water operating condition, taut homo-
geneous-material mooring systems are normally
used for station keeping. A sample semi-submers-
ible is utilized for this case study. The principal
dimensions of the semi-submersible are listed in
Table 5 and the hull model for simulation is shown
in Fig. 1.
Two operating water depths, 6000  ft (ultra-
deep water) and 3000  ft (deep water), have been
considered. The taut mooring system in Case 1 is
designed for 6000 ft water depth and the system in
Case 2 is for 3000 ft water depth. In both cases, the
semi-submersible is spread moored with sixteen
Figure 1. Meshed semi-submersible model.
Table 6. The length of mooring line.
Case 1 Case 2
Operating water depth 1829 m 914 m
(6000 ft) (3000 ft)
Line length Bottom chain 210 m 210 m
Polyester rope 2600 m 1120 m
Top chain 150 m 150 m
(13)
mooring lines in four groups. These four groups
are symmetric about longitudinal and transverse
axis of vessel hull. Mooring lines are numbered
counter-clockwise and the Line 1 is laying along
37.5 degree northeast. Each adjacent mooring line
in the same cluster is in 5 degree separation.
Each mooring line in both two cases consists an
152 mm (6 inch) bottom chain, a 267 mm polyester
rope and an 152 mm (6 inch) top line. The pretension
of each line is set as 3152 kN. Mooring chain lengths
for mooring components are listed in Table 6.
The calculated results are shown in Figs.  2–3.
The fatigue lives of mooring chains at the fair-
leads, at the bottom ends of top lines, at top ends
of bottom lines and at anchor points predicted by
different methods and parameters setting for Cases
A and B are presented in Figs 2–3 (a), (b), (c) and
(d), respectively.
It can be seen from Figs 2–3 that the fatigue lives
of mooring chains predicted by both Palmgren–
Miner’s rule and fracture mechanics based analy-
sis would be comparable when variable initial
crack sizes are selected. Fatigue lives calculated

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 Figure 2. Fatigue lives of mooring chains for Case A. (a) S-N curves based analysis; (b) fracture mechanics based
analysis with initial crack size (0.12 mm, 0.12 mm); (c) T-N curves based analysis; (d) fracture mechanics based analysis
with initial crack size (0.5 mm, 0.5 mm).

by the fracture mechanics based approach with
initial crack sizes (0.12  mm, 0.12  mm) are about
6% longer than those calculated by the S-N curves
based approach and results estimated by frac-
ture mechanics with initial crack sizes (0.5  mm,
0.5  mm) are approximate 6% longer than those
based on T-N curves.
Either Fig. 2 or Fig. 3 also shows that 1) fatigue
lives of mooring lines predicted by S-N curves
are 130% longer than those calculated according
to T-N curves. 2) Mooring line 9 suffers from the
most fatigue damage and the top end of mooring
line laying on the seabed is the most critical point
prone to fatigue failure in taut mooring system.

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 Figure 3. Fatigue lives of mooring chains for Case B. (a) S-N curves based analysis; (b) fracture mechanics based
analysis with initial crack size (0.12 mm, 0.12 mm); (c) T-N curves based analysis; (d) fracture mechanics based analysis
with initial crack size (0.5 mm, 0.5 mm).

The comparison between results presented in 5 CONCLUSIONS

Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 also shows that the fatigue lives of
mooring lines in Case A (6000 ft) are 200% longer A case study to predict mooring line fatigue lives
than those in Case B (3000 ft). of a semi-submersible operating at Offshore West

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 Africa (OWA) induced by the low frequency and
wave frequency motions is performed in this paper.
The frequency-domain analysis is performed to
calculate WF and LF mooring line tension ranges.
The WF and LF mooring line loadings are com-
bined with a narrow-banded spectrum method and
fatigue damage of mooring lines is estimated by
both Palmgren–Miner’s rule and fracture mechan-
ics based approaches, respectively.
The results of the case study show:
• The predicted fatigue lives of the mooring lines
based on Palmgren–Miner’s rule and fracture
mechanics are comparable generally.
• The top end of bottom line are the most critical
point prone to fatigue failure in the taut moor-
ing system.
• The fatigue lives of mooring lines predicted by
S-N curves from DNV codes are longer than
those estimated by T-N curves from API codes.
REFERENCES
API RP 2SK. 2008. Design and analysis of stationkeeping
systems for floating structures. American Petroleum
Institute.
BS 7910. 2013. Guide on methods for assessing the accept-
ability of flaws in fusion welded structures. British
Standard Institute.
Chen, N.Z. 2016. A stop-hole method for marine and
offshore structures. International Journal of Fatigue
88: 49–57.
Chen, N.Z., Wang, G. and Guedes Soares, C. 2011.
Palmgren-Miner’s rule and fracture mechanics based
inspection planning. Engineering Fracture Mechanics
78(18): 3166–3182.
Deaves, D.M. and Harris, R.I. 1978. A mathematical model
of the structure of strong wind, CIRIA Report no.76.
401
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 401
DNVGL. 2015. Offshore standard DNVGL-OS-E301:
Position mooring. Det Norske Veritas.
Lardier, J., Moan, T. and Gao, Z. 2008. Fatigue reliabil-
ity of catenary mooring lines under corrosion effect.
In: Proceedings of the ASME 27th International Con-
ference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering.
OMAE. Estoril, Portugal.
Lassen, T., Arana, J.L., Henriksen, J. and Holthe, N.K.
2005. Crack growth in high strength chain steel sub-
jected to fatigue loading in a corrosive environment.
In: Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on
Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering.OMAE.
Halkidiki, Greece.
Marintek. 2012. Mimosa User’s Documentation,
Version 6.3.
Mathisen, J. and Larsen, K. 2004. Risk-based inspec-
tion planning for mooring chain. Journal of Offshore
Mechanics and Arctic Engineering 126: 250–257.
Ochi, M.K. and Hubble, E.N. 1976. Six-Parameter Wave
Spectra. In: Proceedings of the 5th Coastal Engineer-
ing Conference, Honolulu.
Palin-Luc, T., Pérez-Mora, R., Bathias, C., Domínguez, G.,
Paris, P.C. and Arana, J.L. 2010. Fatigue crack initiation
and growth on a steel in the very high cycle regime with
sea water corrosion. Engineering Fracture Mechanics 77:
1953–1962.
Paris, P.C. and Erdogan, F. 1963. A critical analysis of
crack propagation laws. J Basic Eng 85(4): 528–534.
Pérez-Mora, R., Palin-Luc, T., Bathias, C. and Paris, P.C.
2015. Very high cycle fatigue of a high strength steel
under sea water corrosion: A strong corrosion and
mechanical damage coupling. International Journal of
Fatigue 74: 156–165.
Wang, J., Luo, Y.H. and Lu, R. 2002. Truss Spar
structural design for west Africa environment. In:
Proceedings of the ASME 21st International Confer-
ence on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering.
OMAE. Oslo, Norway.
3/29/2017 9:38:41 AM
MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

A simplified method to assess the damage of an immersed cylinder

subjected to underwater explosion

K. Brochard & H. Le Sourne

GeM Institute, ICAM Nantes Campus, France

G. Barras
Direction Générale de l’Armement—Techniques Navales, Toulon, France

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a simplified method for assessing the damage of an immersed cylin-
der subjected to the primary shock wave produced by an underwater explosion. The interaction between
the water and the cylinder is divided into two phases for simplicity. In the first phase, a kinetic energy
transmitted to the cylinder by the shock wave is calculated. In the second phase, the cylinder deforms and
the related shell displacements create an additional pressure loading. A simplified mechanical model of
the shell is proposed. Closed-form expressions for evaluating the final deflection profile of the shell are
presented and compared to finite element results. The presented method is in quite good agreement with
numerical results. Further developments are needed for improving the modelling of the cylindrical shell
mechanical behavior.

1 INTRODUCTION so-called plastic string-on-foundation method,

The design of a submarine’s hull is crucial for its
operability and crew’s safety, but also complex.
Indeed, engineers need to balance lightness, acous-
tic discretion and resistance to both immersion
pressure and environmental attacks. Submarine
explosions represent a first-rate threat for the
integrity of the hull, whose behavior needs to be
properly analyzed. In the design process of subma-
rines, numerous calculations must be performed
to minimize the amount of damage produced by
underwater explosions, with various characteris-
tics of shell, material and scenarios of explosion.
Experimental analysis are extremely expensive,
time-consuming, as shown by Brett (2008) and are
not to be used for design analysis, even though, they
provide precious understanding of the physics of
the problem. In recent decades, numerical methods
have been developed for simulating the dynamic
response of a submerged structures to an under-
water explosion, and have been applied to cylindri-
cal shell and ring-stiffened cylinder by Hung (2009)
and Li (2012). However, numerical simulation are
also time-consuming and not well-suited at design
stage. Hence, present research aims at developing
a simplified method that allows to perform quick
resolution of the problem of an immersed cylinder
subjected to an underwater explosion.
The presented work relies on a methodology
developed by Wierzbicki & Hoo Fatt (1993), the
which enables to obtain closed-form solutions for
the deformation and velocity profiles of a cylin-
drical shell when subjected to impact or explosive
loading. However, this method is inappropriate
when shell is immersed, because fluid-structures
interactions are not considered. The work pre-
sented here focuses on coupling this method with
an approximate formulation of the fluid-structure
interaction. In order to obtain closed-form expres-
sion of an immersed cylinder’s final deflection
when it is impacted by an underwater explosion
primary shock wave.
2 EXPLOSIVE LOADING
2.1 Theoretical foundations
Consider a cylindrical shell of length L, radius R
and thickness h, clamped at both ends. It is filled
with air and fully immersed in water. An explosive
charge of mass C detonates at a distance D0 from
the stand-off point S0, located at the intersection
of cylinder’s planes of symmetry, as shown in
Figure 1.
On a current point S of the shell, shock wave’s
amplitude may be calculated with the following
expressions proposed by Cole (1965):
pI (S | t ) PS e −t /TS (1)

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 where n is unit normal at the fluid-structure inter-
face and ρf is the fluid density. An exact expres-
sion of the fluid-structure interaction can be found
by using the Retarded Potential Formula (RPF).
With some additional hypotheses, RPF leads to an
expression of the velocity potential ϕ and, by using
Bernoulli equation, an “exact” expression of the
pressure which applies on an immersed solid can
be determined (Felippa, 1980), (Geers, 1994). This
expression can be calculated numerically but such
Figure 1. Initial configuration of an immersed cylinder approach is very time consuming. This led to the
subjected to an underwater explosion. development of approximate numerical methods,
such as the Doubly Asymptotic Approximations
With, proposed by Geers (1978), allowing to correctly
simulate fluid-structure interactions. In the case
AP AT of a simple structure, such as a cylindrical shell,
⎛ 1 ⎞ 1 ⎛ C 13 ⎞
PS KP C 3 D TS KTC 3 (2) Retarded Potential Formula may be simplified so
⎝ ⎠ ⎝ D⎠
that the expression of the pressure field on a cur-
rent point S of the undeformed shell becomes:
Here, D is the distance between S and the charge’s
location and KP, KT, AP and AT are characteristic p (S | t ) 2 pI (S t )
parameters of the explosive. In the following devel- ρf 1 ∂w  
opments, the fluid is supposed to be infinite, invis-
cid and incompressible so that a potential flow can
− ∫  
2π S SQ ∂t
(Q | t − SQ / c f dS
d Q (6)

be assumed. In a point far enough from the charge,

pressure field in the fluid also verifies Bernoulli
linear equation. When the shockwave generated by
the underwater explosion impacts the shell, fluid-
structure interactions lead to a pressure field in the
fluid of the following form:
p (P | t) pI ( P t ) pS ( P | t )
where pS is the so-called scattered pressure, i.e. the
sum of the reflected wave on the cylinder fixed and
rigid and of the radiated wave from shell’s defor-
matin. It constitutes the unknown of the problem.
2.2 Retarded Potential Formula applied
to a cylinder
For a structure immersed in an infinite fluid
medium, pressure field and its components must
satisfy the Helmholtz equation, which is expressed
from the velocity potential ϕ:
1 ∂ϕ 2
Δϕ − =0
c f 2 ∂t 2
where cf is the speed of sound in the fluid. At the
fluid-cylinder interface, in the case where cylinder’s
speed is normal to the interface, pressure field and
transversal displacement w of the shell are related
through the relation of continuity:
The first term of the right hand side of Equa-
tion 6 corresponds to the doubling of pressure in
the case where the cylinder is perfectly rigid. The
second term is associated to the radiated pressure
created when a point Q on the shell is put into
motion. SQ / c f is the time for a radiated acoustic
(3) wave to travel from point Q to point S at speed cf,
and tr t − SQ / c frepresents the moment at which
the radiated wave appears at point Q. Integration
on the whole shell enables to sum the elementary
contribution of each  cylinder element moving at
a speed w along − n to the radiated pressure. The
initial phase of motion is usually bounded by the
so-called “diffraction time” θ d = L / c f , which is
the time required for a shock wave to propagate
from the cylinder extremity to its center. It can be
shown that considering a spherical shock wave,
Equation 6 simplifies to:
ρ f c f dW
p (S | t ) pI (S t ) (S | t ) (7)
cosα dt
(4)
where α is the angle of incidence between the shock
wave direction of propagation and the normal to
the shell surface at point S. This approximation
is the so-called “short time approximation”. For
latter time, i.e. when t > θd, the time of propaga-
tion is neglected when calculating the acceleration
throughout the shell and Equation 6 becomes:

∂p ∂ 2w d 2W
= −ρ f 2 (5) p (S | t ) pI (S t ) ma (S | t ) (8)
∂n ∂t dt 2

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 The second term of the right hand side of
Equation  8 corresponds to inertial effects due to
the water added mass ma at point S. This approxi-
mation is called “long time approximation”. Both
approximations will be used to determine a simpli-
fied loading of the shell by the shock wave.
2.3 Simplified explosive loading
The pressure loading acting on the shell is broken
down into two phases. During the first phase, the
shell is supposed to remain rigid and by using “short
timeapproximation”, a kinetic energy transmitted to
the cylinder by the shock wave is calculated. In the
⎛ lnβ f ⎞
tc TS ⎜ ⎟ (13)
⎝ β f − 1⎠
By substituting Equation  13  in Equation  12,
it is shown that p(tc) = 0, meaning that tc cor-
responds to the end of the first phase of explo-
sive loading and the time of apparition of bulk
cavitation at the fluid-structure interface. The
impulse applied by the shock wave on each point
S may be determined with help of the following
expression:
I (S ) = ∫ p (S t ) dt
tc

second phase, the cylinder deforms and, according (14)

0
to the “long-time approximation”, the related shell
displacements create an additional pressure loading. This expression will be further used to deter-
mine the cylinder shell velocity to be used as initial
2.3.1 First phase of loading condition of the second phase of loading.
During this very short phase, the cylindrical shell is
supposed to remain undeformed so that only iner- 2.3.2 Second phase of loading
tia forces are considered. Conservation of momen- During this phase, mechanical deformation of the
tum expressed at a point S of the shell gives: shell takes place and, according to Equation  8,
produces a pressure loading proportional to shell
∂w ρ f cf 2P acceleration. Moreover, since t TS , the incident
+ w ( ) = S e −t /TS (9)
∂t mcosα m pressure field related to the shock wave has van-
ished, i.e. pI (S |t ) ≈ 0. The water added mass of
where w (t ) is the radial shell speed of point S and water may be derived from Equation  6, by postu-
m is mass per unit area of the shell. PS and TS are lating an approximate displacement field for the
calculated for each point S with help of Equation 2. motion of the shell:
Let us introduce a dimensionless parameter:
⎧ 0, t < 0
w (S | t ) = ⎨ (15)
⎩W (t ) f ( x ) g ( ) t > 0
ρ cT
βf = f f S (10)
mcosα
where f and g are shape functions respectively
βf describes the ratio of the mass of water dis- along longitudinal and circumferential directions,
placed by the shock wave in the direction normal chosen from underwater explosion tests or numeri-
to the shell surface to the mass of the shell at point cal analyses. At stand-off point S0, considering the
S, per unit area. Equation 9 is a simple first order “long time” approximation, Equation 6 becomes:
linear differential equation whose solution is:
 (t ) 2 ρ f
ξ π −α 0 Rf ( x ) g ( ) dxdθ
osα TS p (S0 |t ) W ∫∫   (16)
2 P ccos
w (t ) = S ( e − β f t /TS
e − t /TS
) (11) π 0 0
S0Q
m 1− β f ( )
For large angle of incidence α ≥ π / , i.e. when
cos α ≤ 0, it is supposed that point S is not impacted
directly by the shock wave, so that w (t ) = 0 . By
substituting expression of w (t ) into Equation  7,
the pressure field may be calculated as:

2 PS cosα
p (t ) = (
− β f e − β f t /TS + e −t /TS ) (12)
(1− β f )
At each point S, there is a time tc for which
velocity is maximal. It can be determined by set- Figure  2. Notations for added mass of water
ting dw (t ) / dt
d = , which gives: calculation.

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 where ξ and α0 are parameters characterizing the where σij and εij are the components of stress and
extent of shell plastic deformation, as shown in strain rate tensors. Left hand side term of Equa-
Fig. 2. By identification with Equation 8, the water tion 18 corresponds to the rate of external work and
added mass per unit area at stand-off point S0 the right hand side term is the rate of energy dissi-
writes: pated by plastic deformation of the shell. Assuming
a plane stress state and the Love-Kirchhoff hypoth-
2ρ f ξ π −α 0 Rf ( x ) g ( ) dxdθ esis for the shell deformation, Equation 18 becomes:
ma =
π ∫∫
0 0
 
S0Q
(17)

∫ S0
ppwdS
dS
S0 ∫ ( mw) w ddSS
S0
0
(19)
= ∫ (N )
The added mass of water ma is integrated
numericallu and is supposed, for simplification, to αβ αβ Mαβκαβ dS
S0
S0
remain constant during the shell deformation.
where εαβ and καβ are the generalized strain and
curvature rate tensors, and Nαβ and Mαβ are the
3 CYLINDRICAL SHELL MECHANICAL corresponding tensors of the membrane force and
BEHAVIOUR bending moment. Rate of energy dissipated in the
deforming region of the shell, described by the right
3.1 Problem formulation hand side term of Equation 19, is given explicitly by:
Let us now consider the previous cylindrical sub-
jected to an inward radial pressure pulse p(x, θ, t) W int
ξ
2 ∫ 2R
only on the upper half of the cylinder, as shown π
0

in Fig.  3. The presented approach is general and ∫ (M

0
xx
 xx + M θθ  θθ + 2 M xθ  xθ N xx εxx + Nθθ θθ 2 N xθ εxθ )
could be applied to any kind of pressure pulse, dθ ddx (20)
such as a side-on underwater explosion.
The loading due to the underwater explosion
shock wave is supposed to be severe enough so that
where 2ξ is the longitudinal extent of the shell
the shell deforms plastically. As a result, the shell
region deformed plastically, as shown in Fig.  3.
undergoes radial deflection w(x, θ, t), where x, θ
For relatively thin shells, i.e. when 20 < R/h < 150,
denotes the axial and circumferential coordinates
undergoing moderately large deflection, i.e. when
respectively and t denotes time.
W/R < 0.2, assumptions and simplifications are
In the range of moderately large deflection,
made in order to derive analytically the rate of
elastic deformations are negligible compared with
internal energy dissipation. Those simplifications
plastic deformations. Therefore, the material is
are listed below:
assumed to be isotropic, time-independent, and
rigid-perfectly plastic, described by a flow stress σ0. 1. The shell is assumed to be inextensible in the
For an actual work-hardening material, the flow circumferential direction, so εθθ = 0 (no rate
stress is understood as a constant, elevated stress of energy associated with hoop compression or
corresponding to an average strain ∈av during tension).
deformation, σ 0 σ (∈ ). The overall equilibrium 2. When the shell deflections are several times
is expressed via the principle of virtual velocities in larger than its thickness, axial bending forces
shell coordinates for which dS S0 = dxRdθ : Mxx becomes negligible (membrane state), so
that M xxκ xx ≈ 0 in Equation 19.
∫ S0
S0 − ∫
pwdS
dS
S0
( mw ) w d S0 h∫ σ iij ∈
S0
 ij dS
S0 (18) 3. Moussoros et  al. (1992) showed that the shear
work rate components, 2M M xθκ xθ and 2N
N xθ εxθ ,
are insignificant as long as W /R .2.
4. A simplified yield condition is used, where the
circumferential bending moment Mθθ is assumed
to be independent of the axial force Nxx:

Mθθ M pll N xx N pl (21)

where M pl σ 0 h 2 / 4 is the fully plastic bending

moment per unit length and N pl σ 0 h is the
fully plastic axial force per unit length.
Figure 3. Geometry of and loading on the cylindrical 5. Shell is supposed to be clamped at both ends
shell. and axial deformations may be neglected.

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 Following moderately large deflection theory,
(− )w | +∫ ( ) w dx = 0
ξ
ξ
axial strain rate is given by εxx = w ′w ′ where 0 − + − (28)
0
prime denotes differentiation with respect to x.
Following the standard procedure of variational
3.2 Rigid-plastic string-on-foundation model calculus, Equation 28 can be reduced to the follow-
ing partial differential equation:
Using all the presented simplifications, Equa-
tion 19 reduces to:
 − ( Nw )′ + q − p = 0,
mw ffoor 0 < x < ξ (29)
π
∫ p (x,θ ,t ) w (x,,θ ,t ) dθ ddx
L
2R ∫0 0
Associated to the boundary conditions:
= 2R ∫ ∫ ⎡⎣ M plκθθ ( x,,θ ,t ) + N pl w ′w ( x,θ ,t )
ξ π

0 0

  ( x
+ mww t ) ⎤⎦ dθ ddx w′′ = 0 at x = 0 & x = ξ (30)
(22) And to the initial conditions:
Following Hoo Fatt and Wierzbicki (1991), inte-
gration along the circumferential direction can be w ( x ) = 0 & w ( x ) = 0 at t = 0 (31)
performed provided that a mechanism of deforma-
tion of the cylinder cross section is defined. By doing Equations  29–31 represent an initial-boundary
so, several equivalent functions are introduced: value problem for an inhomogeneous wave equa-
tion with boundary conditions. The cylindrical
1. An equivalent line pressure loading: shell under large plastic deformation can therefore
π be modeled as a rigid-plastic string resting on a
p ( x,tt ) w ( x, ,t ) = 2R ∫ p ( x,
x ,t ,t ) w ( x,
x ,t x, ,t ) dθ (23) rigid-plastic foundation.
0

2. An equivalent bending resistance per unit 3.3 Problem resolution

length:
The string-on foundation model is used to solve
π the problem of an immersed cylindrical shell sub-
q ( x,tt ) w ( x, ,t ) = 2R ∫ M plκθθ ( x,
x ,t x, ,t ) dθ (24) mitted to an underwater explosion. Using “short
0
time” and “long time” approximations, defined in
3. An equivalent tensile force: Section 1, Equation 29 becomes:

N )′ + q = 0,
(m + ma ) w (Nw
π
w (x
Nw ′w t) N pl ∫ w ′w ′ ( x
RN t ) dθ (25) 0< x <ξ (32)
0

4. An equivalent mass per unit length: With boundary conditions defined by Equa-
tion 30 and with the following initials conditions:
π
  ( x, 0,
mww 0,t ) 2R   ( x, ,t ) dθ
Rm ∫ ww (26) w ( x ) = 0 & w ( x ) = Vf ( x ) at t = 0 (33)
0

The above parameters can be interpreted as inte- where ma 2RmaΘ 2 is the equivalent added mass
grated average values of the respective quantities of water per unit length, V is the velocity ampli-
with the associated velocity as a weighting function. tude and f(x) is a dimensionless shape function.
Detailed derivations of these parameters are avail- Initial velocity imparted to the shell is derived by
able in Hoo Fatt (1992). It is shown that these func- equating the shock wave pressure impulse to the
tions are roughly constant in magnitudes in the range initial momentum of the shell:
of ring deflections 0 W 0 4R and may be con-
sidered as equivalent parameters whose values are: Itot
V= ξ (34)
q 8M pll / R, p = 2Rp0Θ 0 , m ∫ f ( x ) dx
d
0
(27)
N 2R
RNN pl Θ1 & m = 2RmΘ 2
where Itot is the total impulse transmitted to shell
where Θ1 Θ 2 = 0.25 and Θ 0 is a parameter given by:
whose value depends on the amplitude of the shock
wave. Substituting Equations  23–26  into Equa-
∫ I ( x ) ddx ∫ ∫ p ( x t ) dxdt
L tc L

tion 22, and integrating by parts the term N yields: Itot (35)

0 0 0

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 An approximated solution of the problem The material which constitutes the shell is sup-
may be obtained by defining a modal solution posed to be rigid-plastic so the cylinder is sup-
w ( x,t ) W (t ) f ( x ) (solution based on fixed posed to deform without any elastic restoring
shapes, but variable amplitudes), see Jones (1990). movement. The permanent deflection amplitude
For relatively large values of impulse, numerical ( )
is then defined by W f W t t f where tf is the
simulations analysis helped the authors to choose time at which the central velocity becomes zero. By
an appropriate shape function:
a relation is found for deriving tf:
( )
differentiating Equation 39 and setting W t f = 0,
2
⎡ ⎛ x⎞2 ⎤
f ( x ) = ⎢1 − ⎜ ⎟ ⎥ (36) ⎛ a ⎞ V
⎢⎣ ⎝ ξ ⎠ ⎥⎦ tan ⎜ 2 t f ⎟ = a3a2 (40)
⎝ a3 ⎠ a1
As noted by Wierzbicki & Hoo Fatt (1993), the local
The time evolutions of the normalized central
equilibrium expressed by Equation 32 may be violated
displacement W (t ) / W f and the central the veloc-
by the separable displacement field so the determina-
ity W (t ) / V are presented in Fig. 4.
tion of W(t) is based on a weaker, global equilibrium
statement. The chosen solution automatically satis-
fies the boundary conditions defined by Equation 30.
Introducing the shape function into Equation 32 and 4 COMPARISONS WITH FINITE
using a global equilibrium statement, a second order ELEMENTS RESULTS
linear ordinary differential equation is obtained:
4.1 Numerical simulations
 + a W
W a1 = 0 (37)
3 2
In order to validate the model presented in previ-
ous section, obtained results are compared with
where the coefficients a1, a2 and a3 are defined as: numerical results considered as a reference. For
that purpose, numerical simulations of the problem
8ξ q 128N 128ξ ( m + ma ) depicted in Fig. 1 have been carried out using the
a1 = ; a2 = ; a3 = (38)
15 105ξ 315 Underwater Shock Analysis (USA) code coupled
with nonlinear finite element solver LS-DYNA,
The initial velocity is calculated from Equation which enable to simulate the dynamic response
(34) and is found as V 15Itot / ( m ) . The solu- of immerged structures submitted to underwater
tion of Equation 37 writes: explosions. Further details about USA code and
its applicability are available in DeRuntz (1989).
In the scope of this work, only primary shock
a1 ⎛ ⎛ a2 ⎞ ⎞ a ⎛ a ⎞
W (t ) = ⎜ cos ⎜ t 1⎟ V 3 sin ⎜ 2 t⎟ (39) wave effects on the cylinder are simulated. In other
a2 ⎝ ⎝ a3 ⎠ ⎠ a2 ⎝ a3 ⎠ words, the pressure loading due to explosive gas
bubble oscillations is disregarded. The response of
the cylinder submitted to underwater explosion is
simulated up to 50 ms. An elastic-plastic behavior
law with strain hardening is considered to simulate
the behavior of the stainless steel which constitutes
the cylinder. Table 1 sums up shell characteristics
as well as material properties.
Eleven explosion scenarios have been analyzed,
considering a fixed shooting distance D0 = 0.42 m
and different masses of explosive C. Explosive
parameters will not be given in the scope of this arti-
cle. For each scenarios, shock factor K C /D0 ,
peak pressure PS and time constant TS, both evalu-
ated at stand-off point, are summarized in Table 2.
All scenarios are severe enough so that the shell
deforms in the plastic range. Resulting plastic
deformations are shown in Fig.  5 for case 8. For
each case, maximum radial displacement, kinetic &
Figure  4. Dimensionless central deflection (a) and internal energies, longitudinal and circumferential
dimensionless central velocity (b) versus dimensionless extents of plastically deforming region of the shell
time. are post processed.

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 Table 1. Characteristics of cylinder and material.

Cylinder Material

Length L (m) 2.8 Young Modulus (Pa) 2E11

Radius R (m) 0.7 Density (kg.m−3) 7800
Thickness h (m) 0.015 Yield Stress (MPa) 355
Tangent Modulus (MPa) 415

Table 2. Details of numerically simulated scenarios.

C PS TS

Case number (kg) K (MPa) (ms)

1 0,4 1,51 132,03 0,056

2 0,5 1,68 144,03 0,059 Figure 6. Comparison of shape function—Equation 36 –
along longitudinal axis with actual shell axial deforma-
3 0,7 1,99 164,23 0,064
tion profile—case 8.
4 0,9 2,26 181,14 0,068
5 0,95 2,32 185,00 0,069
6 1 2,38 188,74 0,070
7 1,05 2,44 192,36 0,070
8 1,1 2,50 195,88 0,071
9 1,3 2,71 209,07 0,074
10 1,5 2,92 221,07 0,077
11 1,7 3,10 232,13 0,079

Figure 7. Energy balance sheet in the shell—case 8.

this figure, it appears that short-time/long-time is

Figure  5. Effective plastic strains of the shell after
underwater explosion—case 8.
Fig. 6 shows that the considered shape function
f approximates quite well the final deflection profile
of the shell, only slight differences at the edges of
the deformed region. When explosive loading is less
severe, i.e. when K < 2, e.g. cases 1 and 2, it appears
that the chosen shape function does not fit as well
with the actual dent shape. Circumferential shape
function g was determined from numerical simu-
lations and a polynomial function of order 6 was
adopted to approximate cylinder deformed section.
4.2 Validation of explosive loading
Fig. 7 depicts shell energy balance sheet resulting
from numerical simulation of case 8. Analyzing
an appropriate way to simulate explosive loading.
In fact, most of kinetic energy produced by the
explosion is transmitted to the shell, before it starts
to dissipate it internally. Furthermore, Fig. 8 shows
that the transmitted kinetic energy calculated by
the model is in agreement with the one numerically
calculated (less than 10% for most cases), discrep-
ancy are due to the fact that Equation 9 becomes
incorrect when α > 70°, Cole (1965).
Fig.  9 highlights the necessity of taking into
account the added mass of water in the calcula-
tion, otherwise the final deflection of the shell may
be severely under-predicted. It concurs with the
fact that the total energy dissipated plastically by
the shell is almost twice its maximal kinetic energy,
as shown by Fig. 7.
This additional energy stems from the kinetic
energy of the surrounding fluid which is put into
motion by the shell mechanical deformation.

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Figure 8. Comparison of kinetic energy transmitted to
the shell.
i.e. minimizing shell resistant force. Simulations of
scenarios described in Table 1 have been conducted
using the simplified model with two different yield
criteria:
1. One inscribing the actual one: σ inscr. 0 63σ 0
2. One circumscribing it: σ circum σ 0
Resulting values of ξ are plotted in Fig. 10 for
different shock factors and using α0 values taken
from Fig. 11. For both criteria, longitudinal extent
of deflection profile is underestimated in com-
parison with numerical simulations. This can be
explained by the fact that the deformed area is con-
sidered as rectangular when calculating the water
added mass—Equation  17 – and the equivalent
functions—Equations  23 to 26, while the actual
shape of the plastified region is elliptic, as shown
by Fig. 5. So, for identical values of ξ and α0, the
simplified model supposes a larger deformed area.
Final deflections Wf obtained from numerical
simulations and simplified model are compared
in Fig. 12, for all cases described in Table  1. As
expected, for small shock factors leading to small
deflections (about 2 times the shell thickness), the
simplified model overestimates the final deflection.
This is due to the neglect of longitudinal bend-
ing and the use of an inadequate shape function.

Figure  9. Shell final deflection calculated using

Equation 39.

4.3 Validation of simplified model

In order to calculate the shell final deflection by
use of Equation  39, parameters ξ and α0, which
characterize the shell deformed area, need to be
known.
Post-processed from numerical simulations, evo-
lutions of ξ and α0 with respect to shock factor K
are shown in Figs.  10 and 11. As expected, shell
deformed area increases with shock level. Variation Figure 10. Evolution of ξ with respect to shock factor
of ξ and α0 are approximatively linear with respect K from numerical simulations and simplified model.
to shock factor, except when 2.3 < K < 2.8, where
  is higher.
ξ stays almost constant and α0 decrease
Further numerical simulations, with different shell
geometries (higher L/R ratios) and different load-
ing levels, should be performed to understand this
behavior. As a result, empirical relations could
be derived to estimate axial and circumferential
extents of the deformed regions, knowing shell
characteristics and shock factor. However, deriving
such relations would require quite a large number
of simulations as several parameters influence shell
response. In order for the model to be used for any
shell geometries and loading cases, a method for
estimating ξ is proposed. For a given α0, ξ can be Figure 11. Evolution of α0 with respect to shock factor
determined by maximizing the shell final deflection, K, obtained from numerical simulations.

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Figure  12. Shell final deflection value calculated with
numerical simulations and simplified model.
Otherwise, agreement between “analytical” and
numerical results is quite good. Fig. 12 also shows
that the actual response of the shell lays between
solutions obtained with inscribing and circum-
scribing yield criteria, with an error inferior to 20%.
However, for large shock factors (deflections), shell
rigidity is larger than the actual one, due to an over-
estimation of shell resistant forces when using rigid-
plastic string-on-foundation simplification.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In the present paper, a simplified method for
assessing the damage of an immersed cylinder sub-
jected to underwater shock wave is described for
application to pre-design analysis.
The method is based on a simplified mechanism
of shell deformation, the so-called plastic string-on-
foundation mechanism, together with an approxi-
mation of the primary shock wave loading from
the underwater explosion. Fluid-structure interac-
tion is divided into two phases. In the first phase,
a kinetic energy transmitted to the cylinder by the
shock wave is calculated. In the second phase, the
cylinder deforms and the related shell displace-
ments create an additional pressure loading.
Closed-form expressions for evaluating the final
deflection profile of the shell are presented. It is shown
that taking into account the added mass of water put
into motion by the shell deformation is crucial to cor-
rectly estimate the residual deflection of the shell.
In order to validate these theoretical develop-
ments, shell deflection values for several scenarios
of explosion are computed and compare well with
results obtained from numerical simulations. How-
ever, further comparisons are needed to fully vali-
date the simplified method and some equivalent
parameters need to be calculated with a correct
shape of the shell plastified region.
In the future, the presented method will be
extended to take into account hydrostatic pressure
413
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 413
when the shell is deeply immersed, which would
greatly affect shell survivability against shock load-
ing, as shown by Gupta (2016). It will also be inter-
esting to study the influence of the strain rate on
the dynamic behavior of the steel material. Finally,
mechanical behavior of ring-stiffened shell will be
incorporated in the presented simplified method.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank “DGA Naval
Systems” for its financial support and technical
participation in defining the scope of this work.
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Jones, N. 1990. Structural Impact. Cambridge Univ. Press,
U.K.
Li L. & Rong J.L. 2012. Experimental and numerical
investigation of the dynamic response of structures
subjected to underwater explosion. European Journal
of Mechanics—B/Fluids 32: 59–69.
Moussouros, M. & Hoo Fatt M.S. 1995. Effect of shear
on plastic denting of cylinders. International Journal
of Mechanical Sciences 37(4): 355–371.
Wierzbicki T. & Hoo Fatt M.S. 1993. Damage assessment
of cylinders due to impact and explosive loading. Inter-
national Journal of Impact Engineering 13(2): 999–1016.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Plate tearing mechanics of high-speed vessels’ aluminium plates during

grounding incidents

B.C. Cerik
Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

R. Villavicencio
Global Technology Centre, Lloyd’s Register EMEA, Southampton, UK

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a numerical study on the plate tearing behaviour of aluminium alloy
plates cut by a rigid wedge. This topic is relevant to the bottom damage of aluminium high-speed vessels
due to grounding. While various empirical and analytical formulae for predicting the plate tearing resist-
ance have been proposed, most of them were derived and/or validated using test data of mild steel plates.
Therefore, the aim of the present study is to evaluate marine grade aluminium alloy 5083-H116 plates, in
particular its different ductility fracture behaviour. A stress-state dependent fracture model is adapted in
the nonlinear finite element analysis, where the numerical parameters are calibrated using material test
data available in the literature, and the validation of the fracture modelling is performed using the results
of a relatively large-scale plate-tearing test. An extensive parametric study is then conducted on a plate cut
by a rigid wedge, varying the plate thickness, wedge angle and friction coefficient, so that to assess their
effect on the dissipated energy.

1 INTRODUCTION empirically. A brief review of these expressions is

With growing concern about marine pollution and
vessel loss due to grounding, much research has
focused on developing theoretical models for rapid
estimation of structural damage and energy dissi-
pated through large inelastic deformation of ship
bottom structural elements.
Along with denting and crushing, plate tear-
ing is one of the major energy dissipation modes
observed in grounding of ships. Plate tearing occurs
when a ship with forward speed runs aground on
a sharp object in the seabed, such as a rock. It is
also observed in collision of two ships, whereby the
striking ship’s bow may penetrate into the deck plat-
ing of the struck ship. In both cases, the problem
can be idealised as a wedge cutting through a plate.
The existing body of research on plate tearing prob-
lem is mainly focused on conventional merchant
vessels, while there are only few studies on the abil-
ity of lightweight vessels to withstand such acciden-
tal loadings (McGee et al. 1999, Amdahl & Stornes
2004). The aim of the current study is to assess the
plate tearing behaviour of aluminium alloy plates
cut by a rigid wedge, a topic particularly relevant to
grounding of lightweight, high-speed vessels.
As reported by Zhang (2002), there are many
simple expressions on cutting of bare plates by a
wedge, which were derived either theoretically or
provided in Section 2. The experimental observa-
tions and theoretical models identified the para-
meters of influence in plate tearing behaviour,
namely plate thickness, wedge angle, yield stress
and friction coefficient, which were incorporated
in some of the existing formulae.
While the rupture response of ductile metals is
essentially similar, some differences can be attrib-
uted to the material properties. For the aluminium
plates, an important aspect to be considered is that
the rupture strain is quite lower compared to that
of steels, i.e. the aluminium is less ductile.
Since most existing formulae were derived and/
or validated using test data of mild steel plates,
the present numerical study aims at evaluating the
plate tearing behaviour of marine grade alumin-
ium alloy 5083-H116 plates cut by a rigid wedge. In
the analysis, the fracture criterion is first validated
with a relatively large-scale plate-tearing test and
the outcomes of a parametric study are discussed
and compared with existing simplified methods.
2 REVIEW OF EXISTING METHODS
Prior to introduce the details of the present numer-
ical simulations, the existing formulae from the
literature are briefly reviewed in this section.

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 The cutting of a plate by a wedge is depicted in
Figure  1, where t is the plate thickness, 2θ is the
wedge angle, F is the cutting force and l is the cut
length. The work involved in the cutting process is
denoted as W, which can be obtained by integrat-
ing the resulting force-displacement response.
The initial treatment of this problem was done
through experimental tests, thus deriving empiri-
cal expressions. Among others, Akita et al. (1972),
Vaughan (1980), Woisin (1987) and Jones & Jouri
(1987) conducted drop hammer tests and curve fit-
ted their results to derive simplified expressions,
which, unfortunately, were dimensionally incon-
sistent. To overcome this issue, Lu & Calladine
(1990) provided a dimensionally consistent for-
mula by using the Buckingham-Pi theorem:
F 1 3C1.3 σ 0t1 7l 0.3 (1)
where σ0 is the material flow stress and C1.3 is an
empirical constant, which embeds the experimen-
tal conditions (wedge angle, friction coefficient)
into a single constant. For mild steel, C1.3 can be
taken as 2.3.
Similarly, Paik (1994) derived an empirical
expression with the same format by means of quasi-
static tests on longitudinally stiffened steel plates:
F 1 C1.5 σ 0t1 5l 0.5 (2)
In Paik’s formula, the constant C1.5 is a function
of the wedge angle, θ (in rad):
760θ 2 − 1.1560
C1.5 = 3.760 1 60θ + 1.112 (3)
Note that in both expressions the friction coef-
ficient, μ, is not considered explicitly.
Wierzbicki & Thomas (1993) constructed a rigor-
ous analytical model based on rigid-plastic methods
and fracture mechanics concepts. The proposed for-
mula for the cutting force reads as follows:
Figure 1. A schematic of the problem of plate cut by a
rigid wedge.
416
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 416
1
F . σ 0l 0.4t1.6δ t0.2
( )2
⎡ μ ⎤
⎢( )0.4 + ⎥ (4)
⎢⎣ ( ) 0.6
⎥⎦
where δ t is the Crack Opening Parameter (COD)
that can be taken as 1.0. Wierzbicki & Thomas
(1993) showed that the cutting force is weakly
dependent on the wedge angle, hence, a further
simplification of Eq. (4) yields to:
F . 8σ 0l 0.4t1.6 μ 0.4δ t0.2 (5)
The key assumption made by Wierzbicki &
Thomas (1994) is that the near-tip region is crack-
like, and thus the crack extends in front of the
wedge tip. This point was criticised by Ohtsubo
& Wang (1995), who proposed a slightly differ-
ent formulation assuming that the rupture occurs
ahead of the wedge tip due to the ductile failure of
the material:
μ ⎞
)0 5 ⎛⎜⎝1 +
F . σ 0l 0 5t1 5 ( ⎟ (6)
tanθ ⎠
Lastly, Zhang (2002) derived a semi-analytical
expression, which includes the critical rupture
strain (engineering) to membrane stretching, εf:
μ ⎞
F . σ 0l 0 5t1 5ε 0f 25 ( )0.5 ⎛⎜⎝1 + ⎟ (7)
tanθ ⎠
Note that in Eq. (7) the cutting force is weakly
dependent on the critical rupture strain as the coef-
ficient of εf is relatively small.
As explained in detail by Paik & Wierzbicki
(1997) and Simonsen & Wierzbicki (1997), two
phases are present in the plate cutting process:
initiation and steady-state phases. The aforemen-
tioned formulae are associated with the initiation
phase, which is also the focus of attention in the
present study. In the steady-state phase, which is
observed in major grounding accidents, the cut-
ting force gets a constant value and the formu-
lae derived by Zheng & Wierzbicki (1996) and
Simonsen & Wierzbicki (1997) can be used. Paik
& Wierzbicki (1997) also mentioned that, in ship
grounding accidents the transition from initial
to steady-state phase may occur when the wedge
travels more than 2.5 times the length of the wedge
from top of the shoulder. This would likely occur
in very high energy grounding accidents. The tran-
sition condition, however, was not studied in a rig-
orous manner in any of the papers reviewed and
requires further investigation.
3/29/2017 9:39:00 AM
 Figure 2. Force-displacement and energy-displacement curves using existing formulae.
Table  1. Mechanical properties of AA5083-H116
(taken from Simonsen & Törnqvist 2004).
σY (MPa) σu (MPa) εf K (MPa) n ε0
245 334 0.19 550 0.2 0.015
A comparison between the reviewed formulae is
presented in Figure 2 for an aluminium alloy grade
5083-H116 plate (see Table 1); the plate thickness
is 14 mm, the half-wedge angle is 30 degrees, and
the friction coefficient is assumed as 0.3. The flow
stress, σ0, is taken as the average of the yield stress,
σY, and the ultimate tensile stress, σu.
Overall, the discrepancies in force (and energy)
predictions are obvious. In particular, Paik’s for-
mula estimates significantly larger force and energy
respect to the other expressions. The formula by
Lu & Calladine also gives higher estimations of
force and energy at the early stages of the cutting
process (l ∼ 125 mm). On the other hand, Zhang’s
formula yields much lower magnitudes, partially
due to the effect of the critical rupture strain. It
is interesting to mention that, although not shown
here, when εf increases to 0.32 (a typical critical
rupture strain value for steel), the predictions of
Zhang and Ohtsubo & Wang overlap.
It should be mentioned that the experiments
used to derive these formulae were performed with
small-scale models of especially very small thick-
nesses. However, the plate-cutting phenomenon
does not follow the scaling law as discussed by
Jones & Jouri (1987) and Shen et al. (1998). Hence,
the applicability of an empirical formula, when
extrapolating it outside the range of the test data
may be questionable.
The correlation between the existing theoretical
predictions and Nonlinear Finite Element Analy-
sis (NLFEA) results is worth to check, as the latter
has the advantage of providing detailed informa-
tion of the energy partition, among other benefits.
417
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 417
However, a full validation of the method has not
been performed yet as the outcomes of it relies on
the modelling techniques adopted by the analysts.
The review of literature suggests that such com-
parison has not been considered in the past.
3 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
Parametric studies are performed for an alumin-
ium plate with a fixed length a  =  500  mm and
width b = 500 mm. The plate breadth is chosen by
considering typical longitudinal stiffener’s spac-
ing of aluminium high-speed vessels. The plate is
sufficiently long to capture the initiation phase of
the cutting process and avoid folding of the plate.
The plate thickness ranges from 5.0 to 15 mm, with
increments of 2.0 mm. It should be noted that the
small thicknesses 5.0 and 7.0 mm yield a very high
‘unrealistic’ plate slenderness ratio for ship struc-
tures. However, they are considered to give a good
overview of their effect on the cutting response.
Four friction coefficients are considered as the
effect on relatively small wedge angles is significant
for steel plates (Zhang 2002); the selected coeffi-
cients are: 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4. The wedge angle,
2θ, varies from 20 to 70 degrees, with increments of
10 degrees. This selection aligns with tests reported
in the literature (e.g., Lu & Calladine 1990, Paik
1994). In total, 144 cases are calculated, which con-
figuration summary is given in Table 2.
The commercial FEA software package Abaqus
(version 6.14) and its explicit solver are used for the
analysis. The finite element model has two compo-
nents: the plate and the wedge (see Figure  3). The
plate is meshed with the 4-node shell element S4R
with reduced integration and default hour-glassing
control. The wedge indenter is modelled as a surface
and meshed with 4-node rigid elements R3D4. To
allow “stable or clean curling” of the plate, the wedge
is not round-nosed. The boundary conditions of the
3/29/2017 9:39:02 AM
 Table 2. Configuration of the finite element simulations. The strength coefficient, K, strain hardening expo-
nent, n, and yield strain, ε0, can be seen in Table 1.
Plate Plate Wedge Friction

( )
dimensions thickness angle coefficient n
a  ×  b (mm) t (mm) 2θ (degree) μ σ K ε +ε (8)

500 × 500 5 20
7 30 0.1 For the aluminium A5083-H116, it is consid-
9 40 0.2 ered: Young’s modulus, E = 70 GPa, mass density,
11 50 0.3 ρ = 2660 kg/m3, and Poisson’s ratio, ν = 0.33. The
13 60 0.4 strain-rate sensitivity and temperature dependence
15 70 are omitted.
To simulate the tensile tearing due to membrane
stretching in front of wedge tip, the ductile frac-
ture model proposed by Johnson & Cook (1985) is
adapted by retaining only the terms related to the
stress triaxiality ratio (σ*):

ε
f
D
1
D
2 (
p Dσ ) (9)

The calibration of this model was performed

Figure 3. Finite element model.
plate follow a typical experimental setup (e.g. Jones &
Jouri 1987, Paik 1994), i.e. the edges I-II, II-III and
III-IV are fully clamped and the edge I-IV is free (see
Figure 1 for the edges’ naming).
The wedge is enforced to cut quasi-statically the
plate until 250  mm by using a displacement-con-
trolled procedure. All elements of the wedge are
tied to a reference node that assigns the enforced
displacement in the cutting direction. To achieve
the quasi-static condition, the time of the simula-
tion is set at 0.05 s, which is much longer than the
period associated with the lowest natural frequency
of the plate. In addition, the mass of the wedge
(10  tonnes) is considered much larger than the
mass of the plate. The general contact algorithm
between the wedge and the plate is defined. The
vertical distance from the shoulder of the wedge to
the wedge tip (wedge length) is also 250 mm.
For the plate-cutting phenomenon, the initial
imperfections, welding induced residual stresses
and heat affected zone softening at the plate
boundaries are of secondary importance, and thus
they are not included in the finite element model.
by Grytten et al. (2009), where the coefficients are
D1  =  0.0261, D2  =  0.263 D3  =  −0.349. Since Bao
& Wierzbicki (2005) proved that fracture cannot
occur for stress triaxialities smaller than −1/3, here,
the failure strain at σ* = −1/3 is set to 1.0, which
is large enough to prevent fracture in the com-
pressive parts of the plate. In fact, in the present
simulations, negative stress triaxialities occur only
in the curled parts of the torn plate, and thus, the
assumption is not very influential on the cutting
response. Figure  4  shows the fracture strain as
function of the stress triaxiality.
In Abaqus, failure occurs when the damage var-
iable, D, is equal to the unity (damage initiation):
ε
p dε
p
D= ∫ =1 (10)
0 εf
where εp is the plastic strain.
Under such condition, the stiffness of the ele-
ment is set to zero and the element is suddenly

4 MATERIAL MODEL

The material characterisation follows the con-

ventional J2 plasticity constitutive relation with
isotropic hardening. True stress–strain (σ–ε) data
are generated using a power law expression (Eq. 8). Figure 4. Fracture strain versus stress triaxiality.

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 Figure 5. Experimental setup and photos of tested a) AA5083-H116 and b) normal strength steel plate, c.f. Simonsen &
Törnqvist (2004).

eroded. This fracture model has been success-

fully applied in Cerik (2016) and Cerik (2017). To
prevent sudden removal of the elements, Abaqus
offers damage evolution (softening), whereby the
stiffness of the element is gradually reduced. In this
study, the linear damage evolution law is adopted,
which depends on the so-called plastic displace-
ment, upl. Eq. (10) initiates the failure and when upl
is equal to a critical value, the element is assumed
fully degraded, and consequently removed. In
between, the stiffness is simply degraded linearly.
To validate the ductile fracture model and
the mesh size, the plate tearing test reported by
Simonsen & Törnqvist (2004) is selected. Simonsen Figure  6. Mesh configuration and final state of the
& Törnqvist performed large scale plate tearing tests plate.
of aluminium and steel plates, with a large notch at
the centre, subjected to in-plane stretching by two
cross-heads bolted to the side edges of the plate.
Figure 5 shows the experimental setup and the pho-
tos of an A5083-H116 and a normal strength steel
specimen at the end of the test. The apparent differ-
ence in the failure mode of these two specimens is
due to the less ductile behaviour of the aluminium.
The test results of the aluminium specimen is rel-
evant for the present validation of the fracture mod-
elling, because the stress state in front of the notch
is similar to that in front of the wedge tip during the
plate cutting process. Conveniently, the specimen size
is relatively large (806 × 500 × 10 mm) so that to avoid
Figure 7. Experimental and numerical responses.
the scaling issues reported by Jones & Jouri (1987). In
addition, the selected aluminium alloy grade is widely
used for the construction of high-speed vessels. is 5 mm around the notch and the centreline of the
The quasi-static finite element simulation of plate. Note that the initial notch of length 100 mm
this test uses numerical definitions similar to those was machined into the plate with a 5 mm diameter
described in Section  3. Here, the side edges of the hole at the initial tip. The final state of the plate is
plate are tied to reference nodes at the tips, which also shown in Figure 6. To overcome oscillations in
are forced to induce the action of the displacement the force-displacement curve, the critical plastic dis-
of the crossheads, while the other edges are kept placement is calibrated at 3.0 mm. Figure 7 presents
unrestrained. the comparison of the experimental and numerical
After several attempts, the mesh configuration response; good agreement is achieved. Considering
illustrated in Figure  6 is used for the simulation. this point, the same mesh size and configuration is
The global mesh size is 10 mm, while the mesh size adopted in plate cutting simulations (see Figure 3).

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 5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In almost all simulations, the stable mode (or clean
curling cut mode) is observed, where the plate tears
in front of the wedge (not exactly at the tip) and
the torn parts fold and roll in the same direction.
This mode is depicted in Figure 8a, which matches
well that observed in experiments (Lu & Calladine
1990, Wierzbicki & Thomas 1993). In some cases,
the plates fold back and forth, as shown in Fig-
ure 8b. This mode is called braided cut (Simonsen &
Wierzbicki 1997), which correlation with the geomet-
rical parameters and friction is inconclusive as there
is no clear trend when this mode occurs. It should
be mentioned that the braided cut is mostly observed
for the smaller wedge angles (20 and 30 degrees).
The finite element results also reveal that despite
the sharp tip of the wedge, the plate is torn trans-
versely due to excessive membrane stretching near the
tip zone while it is not sheared longitudinally, i.e. it
does not experience “pure cutting”. This is somehow
expected as the adopted ductile fracture model works
by removing the failed elements in the near-tip zone.
Representative force-displacement curves of the
stable cut mode are shown in Figure  9. The first
peak is due to the initial resistance of the plate
when the cutting process commences. The curves
of a braided cut mode display several other peaks
(after the first peak), because of the change of the
direction of the folding.
The characteristic first peak observed in
Figure 9 is not considered in the theoretical mod-
els, apparently, because of the complexity of the
problem. However, as demonstrated in Figure  7,
the energy dissipated prior to the initiation phase
is quite significant and it becomes even larger when
the plate thickness increases. Note that the experi-
mental force-displacement curves presented by Lu
& Calladine (1990) and Paik (1994) also demon-
strate these features. It can be concluded that the
theoretical energy-displacement curves do not cor-
relate well with the numerical results.
On the other hand, thinner plates tend to reach
the steady-state phase earlier, suggesting that the
transition point between the cutting phases may
Figure 8. Deformation modes of the analysed plates: a) clean curling and b) braided cut.
420
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 420
not solely depend on the wedge and plate length.
Further analyses with longer plates and cutting
length may provide better insights on this point.
A comparison between the theoretical methods
and the finite element results is shown in Figure 10
for two cases. The methods of Paik and Lu &
Calladine are not included as the highly overes-
timate the response of the other approximations
(see Figure  2). While the finite element predic-
tions yield larger cutting force at the early stages
of the process, after the initial peak, the numeri-
cal curves show a similar trend with the theoretical
ones. The transition from initiation to steady-state
phase is clearly shown in the second graph and it
is again evident that the theoretical curves follow
the numerical predictions only until the transition.
The numerical results get closer to the theo-
retical predictions when both the thickness and
the friction coefficient decrease. Although not
shown here, in some cases (especially for the thin-
ner plates) the numerical predictions are smaller
than the simplified expressions. While the empiri-
cal formulations are not compared here with the
numerical results, it should be mentioned that for
the larger thicknesses and friction coefficients,
the agreement is surprisingly good with Lu &
Calladine’s formula. Paik’s formula, on the other
hand, always yields very large forces.
The effect of the wedge angle is demonstrated
in Figure 11. It can be inferred that the dissipated
energy increases with the wedge angle, which is
Figure 9. Typical numerical force-displacement curves.
3/29/2017 9:39:05 AM
 Figure 10. Comparison of numerical and theoretical force-displacement responses.

Figure 11. Energy-displacement curves showing the effect of wedge angle.

Figure 12. Energy-displacement curves showing the effect of friction coefficient.

only marginal in the initiation phase, confirming

the conclusion of Wierzbicki & Thomas.
The effect of the friction coefficient is illustrated
with the energy-displacement curves (Figure  12)
and the percentage of the frictional energy respect
to the total external work for different thicknesses
(Figure 13). The energy curves diverge after the initial
penetration of the wedge into the plate. The sensitiv-
ity of total work to the friction coefficient is apparent,
but in all cases considered in this study, the increase
in the dissipated energy is not linearly proportional
to the friction coefficient. In particular, the frictional
energy gets smaller when the thickness increases.
As a final note, it should be stated that there is no
consensus on the appropriate value of the friction
coefficient. In some studies, this coefficient has been Figure  13. Percentage of frictional energy for various
used as a tuning parameter for theoretical predictions. plate thicknesses.

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 It is the authors’ opinion that more research work is
required for proper treatment of friction in the prob-
lem of cutting of a plate with a wedge.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Finite element analysis results of wedge cutting of
aluminium plates were presented. It was concluded
that the numerical analysis model, which adapts a
ductile fracture criterion that leads plate tearing
due to membrane stretching, yield results that fol-
low the experimental observations on steel plates. A
comparison with the simplified expressions showed
significant differences in force and energy curves.
The effects of several parameters, namely, wedge
angle and friction coefficient were discussed. The
latter was found to be very influential in energy dis-
sipation of plate cut by rigid wedge.
As always, it is highly desirable to validate the
finite element predictions with reliable test data.
Further finite element modelling approaches, such
as cohesive zone modelling of plate tearing, can be
also considered before claiming that finite element
analysis is fully convincing in modelling the prob-
lem considered in this study.
DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in this paper are those of the
authors and are not necessarily those of Lloyd’s
Register. Lloyd’s Register and variants of it are
trading names of Lloyd’s Register Group Lim-
ited, its subsidiaries and affiliates. Lloyd’s Regis-
ter EMEA (Reg. no. 29592R) is an Industrial and
Provident Society registered in England and Wales.
Registered office: 71 Fenchurch Street, London,
EC3M 4BS, UK. A member of the Lloyd’s Register
group. Lloyd’s Register Group Limited, its affili-
ates and subsidiaries and their respective officers,
employees or agents are, individually and collec-
tively, referred to in this clause as the ‘Lloyd’s Reg-
ister’. Lloyd’s Register assumes no responsibility
and shall not be liable to any person for any loss,
damage or expense caused by reliance on the infor-
mation or advice in this document or howsoever
provided, unless that person has signed a contract
with the relevant Lloyd’s Register entity for the pro-
vision of this information or advice and in that case
any responsibility or liability is exclusively on the
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grounding. Marine Structures 15(2): 101–117.
Zheng, Z. & Wierzbicki, T. 1996. A theoretical study of
a steady-state wedge cutting through metal plates. Int
Journal of Fracture 78(1): 45–66.
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Numerical investigation on a side-shell structure subjected to collision

impact load

B.Q. Chen & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de
Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: Non-linear, large deformation and three-dimensional finite element analyses of a ship
bulb impact with a ship side-shell structure in a ship collision scenario is conducted to analyse the energy
absorbed by a specimen during a laboratory experiment. The results obtained by the finite element method
are compared with available test results. The element size, material properties, loading speed, coefficient of
friction, failure criteria, and boundary condition in the finite element analysis are discussed. The energy
absorption of each component of the side-shell structure is estimated and discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION the absorbed energy and the damaged material

Throughout the world, ships are continuously
being declared as total losses, and a significant part
of these accidents is the collisions between ships
(Hogström & Ringsberg 2012). The occurrence of
ship collisions can result in significant economic
losses and potential environmental pollutions
particularly referring to the oil tankers. In a col-
lision event, the double hull structure, which has
been widely applied in the design of ship sides and
bottoms, of the collided ship can experience large
plastic deformation and fracture (Liu and Guedes
Soares 2016). Therefore, it is of great importance to
be able to evaluate accurately the impact resistance
of the double hull structures in collision events.
Minorksy (1959) tested 26 ship to ship col-
lisions in his pioneer research and divided the
investigation of the collision problems into two
classes: external dynamics and internal mechanics.
The external dynamics evaluates the global rigid
motion of ship collisions by taking into account
the surrounding water effects, while the internal
mechanics deal with force-indentation response for
the struck ship. The present study is focused on the
internal mechanics.
Recently there has been growing interest in
the internal mechanics of structures impacted by
a bulbous bow structure. Yu & Amdahl (2016)
proposed a new coupled approach for simultane-
ously calculating structural damage and the planar
3DOF ship motions in ship collisions, consider-
ing a modern supply vessel with a bulbous bow
as the striking ship. Zhang & Pedersen (2016) re-
examined the simplified method proposed by Ped-
ersen and Zhang (2000) for the relation between
volume, and revealed that the damaged spaces in
heavy collisions can be assumed to be the same
as the contour of the penetrated rigid bow of the
striking vessel and the rupture strain of the materi-
als can be taken from the standard coupon tensile
tests.
Over the past several years, numerical analysis
such as Finite Element Analysis (FEA) has been
widely used to investigate the structural perfor-
mance of ships and offshore structures (i.e. Paik
2007, Ehlers et al. 2012, Chen et al. 2012, Chen &
Guedes Soares 2015, 2016), due to the development
of high performance computers. However, the defi-
nitions of some parameters in the FEA strongly
influence the calculated structural load capacity.
Kõrgesaar et al. (2014) presented ship collision
simulations in ABAQUS using different fracture
criteria and mesh size. Liu et al. (2015) developed
a proper numerical simulation method through the
use of LS-DYNA to simulate the structure impact
problems that consider the effect of strain rate.
The objective of this work is to contribute
to further understanding of the effects of many
debated factors in collision analysis by an extensive
systematic parameter study. The Finite Element
(FE) size, material properties, loading speed in
FEA, coefficient of friction, failure criteria, and
boundary condition in FEA are discussed. The
FE results are compared with a reference test—the
experimental analyses of the bulb impact with a
ship-like structure by Karlsson et al. (2009). The
energy dissipated by each component of the side-
shell structure and its contribution to the total
energy during the entire deformation process are
estimated and discussed.

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 2 FINITE ELEMENT MODEL create clamped boundary conditions to ensure
well-controlled failure modes of the structure. The
2.1 Geometric model FE model of the structure with a reinforcing frame
is shown in Figure 4. The indenter will have con-
Figure 1 shows a ship collision scenario in which
tact with the outer panel but not the frame.
a rigid bulbous bow of the striking ship impacts
the struck ship with a double hull at a right angle.
Figure 2 shows a scaled model of a double hull 2.2 Element type and material properties
side-shell structure impacted by a half sphere
The material of the side-shell structure is ‘Mat.024—
indenter used in Karlsson et al. (2009). It resem-
Piecewise linear plasticity’ from the library of
bles a typical double hull side-shell structure of a
LS-DYNA. The four-noded shell elements with
ship, but scaled to one third of the size of a similar
five through-the-thickness integration points are
large-scale ship structure.
defined by the Belytschko-Lin-Tsai shell element
The double-hull structure consists of one outer
formulation based on a combined co-rotational
panel, one inner panel, and two vertical plates. The
and velocity-strain formulation (Belytschko et  al.
length of the structure is 1500 mm, and the width
1984). The indenter is a rigid half sphere with
is 1090  mm. The outer panel is 5  mm thick and
radius 135  mm and is assumed rigid. The rigid
its stiffeners are 60*5 + 30*5 mm L-profiles along
material ‘Mat.020-Rigid’is defined to ensure no
X-axis. The same L profiles are used in the 5 mm
deformation in the indenter. For all the materials,
thick lower panel but along Y-axis. The vertical
Young’s modulus, E, is 206 GPa, Poisson’s ratio is
plates are of 300 mm height and 3 mm thickness.
0.3, and the density is 7850 kg/m3.
The dimension of the T-beam attached in the mid-
Figure  5 shows the true stress-strain curves of
dle of the upper plate is 100*3 + 60*5 mm.
two types of materials of the side–shell structure as
The Finite Element (FE) simulations of the ana-
well as the reinforcing frame used as an input for
lysed structure is performed in ANSYS 13.0. The
the calculations. The K240-Z mild steel has a mini-
explicit FE package LS-DYNA version 971 was
mum yield strength of 235  MPa and a minimum
used for the post-processing and results extrac-
tensile strength of 340 MPa (Karlsson et al. 2009).
tions. Figure 3 displays the FE model of the side-
The NVA mild steel (Ringsberg 2010) is with a
shell structure as well as the bulbous bow. The bulb
yield stress of 310 MPa.
of the striking ship is represented by a rigid half
A general 20  mm mesh size is used in the
sphere with radius 135 mm.
FE simulation with the reinforcing frame (see
A reinforcing frame was designed and welded
around the structure along its edges in the
experimental setup in Karlsson et al. (2009) to

Figure 3. Finite element model of the side-shell struc-

ture and the bulb in ANSYS.
Figure 1. Scenarios of ship collision.

Figure 2. The side-shell structure used in Karlsson et al. Figure  4. Geometry model in LS-DYNA of the side-
(2009), in mm. shell structure and indenter with a reinforcing frame.

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 Figure 4). The choice of element size is determined
based on an element sensitivity analysis presented
later in Section  4.1. There are 28204 nodes and
29572 elements in the whole structure. The model
of side shell structure has 13672 elements, while
the indenter has 343 elements.
2.3 Boundary conditions and critical failure
criterion
In the FE simulations in LS-DYNA, the indenter
is subjected to a constant velocity of 2.0 m/s in the
vertical direction. Note that it was suggested to
use a velocity of 10m/s or less in the FE simula-
tions to obtain adequate accuracy by Karlsson et
al. (2009). A kinetic friction coefficient of 0.23 and
a failure strain of 45% (Karlsson et al. 2009) are
considered. The strain-rate effect is not considered
in the present calculations.
The lower part of the reinforcing frame was
welded to a rigid fixture in the experiment, and is
considered to be clamped in the FE simulation. As
shown in Figure 6, the arrows in the bottom of the
reinforcing frame show where the boundary condi-
tions are applied in the FE model.
Figure  5. Geometry model in LS-DYNA of the side-
shell structure and indenter with a reinforcing frame.
Figure 6. Boundary condition in the FE model in LS-
DYNA of the side-shell structure and indenter with a
reinforcing frame.
425
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 425
3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Figure  7 plots the force-indenter displacement
curve from the FE simulation. The numerical
result is compared with the published result of the
K240-Z ship steel in the bulb-structure tests by
Karlsson et al. (2009).
In the initial portion of the curve, large defor-
mations and membrane forces are developed in
the upper plate until an indenter displacement of
0.17 m. Then rapid decreases of the resultant forces
are observed, indicating the initial rupture of the
upper plate. The resultant forces start to increase
at a displacement of about 0.30 m after the contact
between the indenter and the inner plate, and then
decreases after the second peak value (the rupture
of the inner plate). The setting of boundary condi-
tion can be explained as a reason of the deviation
between the two results displayed.
The numerical deformations of each group of
elements in the final step of the calculation are
shown in Figure  8. The stiffeners suffer tripping
and folding associated with large plastic deforma-
tions (see Figure 8b, d). The vertical plates experi-
ence the plastic buckling (see Figure 8c).
Figure  9 plots the contributions of different
structural components to the entire energy dissipa-
tion. In the initial stage, most of the energy is dissi-
pated by the upper plate and the reinforcing frame.
The T-beam and the upper stiffeners also absorb
energies in a relatively lower level. It is attributed
to the fact that the energy absorbed by the plate
membrane tension increases rapidly during the
later deformation process. There is less energy dis-
sipation by the stiffeners since they experience the
tripping instead of the global bending during the
later stage (see Figure 8b).
The energy absorbed by the lower stiffener
started to increase gradually at an indenter dis-
placement of 0.27  m when the contact between
the bulbous bow and the lower structures occurs.
Figure 7. Force-indenter displacement curve.
3/29/2017 9:39:08 AM

Figure  8. Numerical deformation of the side-shell
structure. (a) upper plate, (b) upper L profiles and T
beam, (c) vertical plates, (d) lower L profiles, (e) lower
plate, (f) reinforcing frame.
Starting from the displacement of 0.30  m, the
energy absorbed by the inner plate increases rap-
idly with similar tendency of the upper plate.
Compared with the upper and inner plates,
the vertical plates dissipate much less energy due
to their different plastic deformation modes (see
Figure 8c).
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 426
Figure  9. Numerical energy dissipation of the struc-
tural components.
4 SENSITIVITY STUDIES
4.1 Effect of mesh size
In FEA, the determination of the element size
plays an important role in obtaining accurate
results. Figure 10 presents the result of a sensitiv-
ity analysis on the effect of the mesh size of the FE
model. A kinetic friction coefficient of 0.23 and
a failure strain of 45% (Karlsson et al. 2009) are
used in the simulations. General mesh size 15, 20,
25 and 30 mm are considered in the calculations.
Table  1 lists a summary of the number of ele-
ments and computational time of each model. It is
noted that the case of fine mesh with 15 mm ele-
ment size is much more time consuming. As seen
in Figure  10, all curves have similar trends while
slightly larger resultant force is observed in the
model with smaller element size.
4.2 Effect of material properties
To analyse the influence of the material property
on the behaviour of the structure, the 240 steel
(Karlsson et al. 2009) is considered in another sim-
ulation. The result is plotted in Figure 11, together
with the previous FE and the experimental results.
4.3 Effect of loading speed
Figure  12 plots the force-indenter displacement
curves considering various loading speed. Two
mesh sizes (20 and 30 mm) and three loading speed
(1, 2 and 5 m/s) are considered. Since the velocity
is relatively small, the strain rate sensitivity of the
material is omitted in this case of minor collision.
It can be concluded that the loading speed has very
limited influence on the FE results.
3/29/2017 9:39:09 AM
 Figure 12. Force-indenter displacement curves consid-
Figure 10. Effect of the mesh size on the FE results. ering various loading speed.

Table 1. Summary of the FE calculations with various Table  2. Summary of the FE calculations of various
mesh sizes. loading speeds.

Mesh No. of Computational Mesh Loading Computational

size elements time size speed time

15 mm 50896 39.0 hours 20 mm 2 m/s 7.1 hours

20 mm 29572 7.1 hours 20 mm 5 m/s 4.6 hours
25 mm 21652 3.2 hours 30 mm 1 m/s 4.3 hours
30 mm 13632 2.5 hours 30 mm 2 m/s 2.5 hours
30 mm 5 m/s 0.9 hour

Figure 11. Force-indenter displacement curves consid- Figure 13. Force-indenter displacement curves consid-
ering various materials. ering various friction coefficient.

Table  2 lists a summary of the computational
time of the models considering different loading
speeds. Less computational effort is demanded in
the model with higher loading speed due to fewer
calculating cycles.
4.4 Effect of the coefficient of friction
To understand the effect of the coefficient of fric-
tion on the behaviour of the structure, two different
values of the parameter are defined in the simula-
tion. The force-indenter displacement curves in
two cases are plotted in Figure  13. As shown in
the figure, the friction coefficient has no significant
effect on the FE result.
4.5 Effect of failure strain
Figure  14 plots the force-indenter displacement
curves considering various friction coefficients.
Besides the value 39% and 45% suggested by
Karlsson et al. (2009), two more values of 30% and
35% are used in simulations. The value of failure
strain has no effect on the inclination of the first

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Figure 14. Force-indenter displacement curves consid-
ering various friction coefficients.
Figure 15. Force-indenter displacement curves consid-
ering various FE models.
portion of the force-indenter displacement curve.
However, lower failure strain will result in less
maximum force in earlier time (smaller indenter
displacement).
4.6 Effect of the reinforcing frame and boundary
conditions
In the previous calculations, the geometric model is
the side-shell structure together with the reinforc-
ing frame (see Figure 4). In this section, only the
side-shell structure (see Figure 3) is modelled and
calculated. The structure modelling with 20  mm
element size is fully clamped at four edges.
In the case of the structure without the reinforc-
ing frame, it is observed in Figure 15 that the incli-
nation of the initial portion of the curve has better
agreement with the experimental result.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This work presented a finite element modelling
procedure for minor ship collision simulations.
428
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 428
Based on the results obtained in the present work,
several conclusions can be drawn.
The sensitivity analysis on the mesh size is
always recommended. The material properties of
the structure influence the outcome of the finite
element analysis. So does the boundary condition
applied in the structure.
The loading speed has very limited influence on
the FE results, in terms of low speed minor colli-
sions. Also the friction coefficient has no signifi-
cant effect on the FE result.
The choice of the failure strain has no effect on
the inclination of the first portion of the force-
indenter displacement curve but it significantly
affects the capacity of the force-displacement curve.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was performed within the Strategic
Research Plan of the Centre for Marine Technol-
ogy and Ocean Engineering, which is financed
by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Tech-
nology (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia-
FCT). This study is a contribution to a benchmark
study promoted by MARSTRUCT VIRTUAL
INSTITUTE and lead by Prof Jonas Ringberg.
The authors would like to thank Professor Jonas
Ringsberg at Chalmers University of Technology
for sharing the geometry of the model.
REFERENCES
Belytschko, T., Lin J.I. & Tsay, C.S. 1984. Explicit algo-
rithms for the nonlinear dynamics of shells. Computer
Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering 42(2):
225–251.
Chen, B.Q., Garbatov, Y. & Guedes Soares, C. 2012.
Mechanical properties assessment of specimens sub-
jected to random non-uniform general corrosion and ten-
sile load. In Guedes Soares, C. Garbatov Y. Sutulo S. &
Santos T. A., (Eds.)., Maritime Technology and Engineer-
ing: London: Taylor & Francis Group. 293–299.
Chen, B.Q. & Guedes Soares, C. 2015. Study on ultimate
strength of ship plates with calculated weld-induced
residual stress. In C. Guedes Soares & T.A.  Santos
(eds), Maritime Technology and Engineering 3: London:
Taylor & Francis Group. 513–522.
Chen, B.Q. & Guedes Soares, C. 2016. Effects of plate
configurations on the weld induced deformations and
strength of fillet-welded plates. Marine Structures 50:
243–259.
Ehlers, S., Tabri, K., Romanoff, J. & Varsta, P. 2012.
Numerical and experimental investigation on the col-
lision resistance of the X-core structure. Ships and
Offshore Structures 7:1, 21–29.
Hogström, P. & Ringsberg, J.W. 2012. An extensive study
of a ship’s survivability after collision—A parameter
study of material characteristics, non-linear FEA and
damage stability analyses. Marine Structures 27: 1–28.
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 Karlsson, U.B., Ringsberg, J.W., Johnson, E., Hoseini, M. &
Ulfvarson, A. 2009. Experimental and numerical inves-
tigation of bulb impact with a ship side-shell structure.
Marine Technology 46: 16–26.
Kõrgesaar, M., Tabri, K., Naar, H. & Reinhold, E.
2014. Ship collision simulations using different frac-
ture criteria and mesh size. Proceedings of the 33rd
International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and
Arctic Engineering, San Francisco, 8–13June 2014:
OMAE2014-23576.
Liu, B. & Guedes Soares, C. 2016. Assessment of the
strength of double-hull tanker side structures in minor
ship collisions. Engineering Structures 120: 1–12.
Liu, K., Wang, Z., Tang, W. Zhang, Y. & Wang, G.
2015. Experimental and numerical analysis of later-
ally impacted stiffened plates considering the effect of
strain rate. Ocean Engineering 99:44–54.
Minorsky, V.U. 1959. An analysis of ship collisions
with reference to protection of nuclear power plants.
Journal of Ship Research 3: 1–4.
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Paik, J.K. 2007. Practical techniques for finite element
modelling to simulate structural crashworthiness in
ship collisions and grounding (Part II: Verification),
Ships and Offshore Structures 2(1): 81–85.
Pedersen, P.T. & Zhang, S. 2000. Absorbed energy in ship
collisions and grounding—revising Minorsky’s empir-
ical method. Journal of Ship Research 44(2): 140–154.
Ringsberg, J.W. 2010. Characteristics of material, ship
side structure response and ship survivability in ship
collisions. Ships and Offshore Structures 5(1): 51–66.
Yu, Z. & Amdahl, J. 2016. Full six degrees of freedom
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Plastic and fracture damages of double hull structures under

lateral collisions

S.-R. Cho, S.-U. Song, S.-H. Park & H.K. Shin

University of Ulsan, Ulsan, Korea

ABSTRACT: Three lateral collision tests were conducted on steel double hull side structure models
using a rigid striker having a hemispherical nose. The models were approximately one-seventh the size of a
VLCC, and the small longitudinal stiffeners of the VLCC were smeared into the shell plates. The collision
tests were conducted using a car crash testing facility. A commercial FEA package was used to conduct
the numerical collision analyses for all the models. In the numerical analyses the properties of strain and
strain-rate hardening were considered. The extent of damage that was numerically predicted was com-
pared with the extent of damage measured in the experiments.

1 INTRODUCTION
To achieve more rational ship structural designs,
not only the ultimate and fatigue limit states but
also the accidental limit state should be studied
properly. Even though collision is a major cause
of marine accidents, accidental collision loadings
have not been considered in ship structural designs.
However, recently, IACS included the residual lon-
gitudinal strength requirements in the harmonized
common structural rules (H-CSR: IACS, 2014). In
the H-CSR, the extent of damage due to collision
and grounding accidents are provided. The extent
of damage due to a collision accident is defined
by ‘h’ and ‘d’ as shown in Figure 1. The values of
‘h’ and ‘d’ can be obtained from the breadth (B)
and depth (D) of the damaged ship, respectively, as
shown in Table 1.
The extent of the damage due to collision varies
depending on the collision resistance of the dam-
aged ship. However, according to the H-CSR, the
extent of damage are the functions of the geometry,
i.e. the breadth (B) and depth (D), of the damaged
ship regardless of the collision resistance of the ship.
To improve the present H-CSR regarding the
structural design against the effects of collision,
it is necessary to provide the design collision sce-
nario and perform the collision analysis using the
scenario to obtain the extent of damage. Moreo-
ver, a more rational approach to the structural
design against collision is to employ a probabilistic
method. SOLAS regulations (IMO, 2009), however,
already mandate to employ a probabilistic method
for damaged stability analysis. Collision accidents
are rare events, and the colliding velocity, the mass
of the striking vessels, the colliding angle and the
location of the collision are probabilistic quantities.
Therefore, a probabilistic approach is desirable for
the ship structural design against the effects of colli-
sion. Many scenarios should be studied to employ a
probabilistic approach in the actual ship structural
designs against the effects of collisions. Further-
more, the uncertainties in predicting the occurrence
probability of each scenario seem to be very high.
Many researchers have put more emphasis on
performing numerical calculations for the pre-
diction of the extent of damage. However, for a
probabilistic collision analysis non-linear dynamic
analyses using commercial packages are not

Table 1. Extent of damage for collision (IACS, 2014).

Side shell arrangement

Damage
penetration Single side Double side

Height, h 0.75 D 0.60 D

Figure  1. Collision accident considered in H-CSR Depth, d B/16 B/16
(IACS, 2013).

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 adequate due to their lengthy calculation time.
Some researchers have tried to develop analytical
methods. Among others, Cho & Lee (2009) sug-
gested an analytical procedure for stiffened plates
subjected to lateral collision.
Hong & Amdahl (2008) proposed an equation
to obtain the crushing resistance of a web girder
under lateral collision. Haris & Amdahl (2011)
developed an analytical model to assess a ship side
structure under collision. Sajdak (2004) performed
a simplified analytical calculation for ship systems.
In this study, three new lateral collision tests
were conducted on models that were approxi-
mately one-seventh the scale of a double hull side
structure. The details of the experimental inves-
tigation results have been reported in this paper.
Numerical computations were also performed and
their results are compared with those obtained
from the experiments.
2 COLLISION TESTS
material properties of the models are summarized
in Table 2.
The nominal thickness was 3.0  mm except
the lower plate that had a nominal thickness of
6.0 mm. As shown in Table 2, some variations in
the thicknesses of the models can be found, and
the material properties, especially the yield strength
also show significant variations.
2.2 Collison testing facilities and test conditions
Three models were tested using the car crash testing
facilities at the Automotive Parts Institute Center
of the Ulsan Techno-park. There was a solid hemi-
spherical header of 300  mm diameter in front of
the striker. The details of the striker header are
shown in Figure 3. The striker was rigid enough to
not absorb any plastic deformation energy during
the collision tests. The same was confirmed after
the tests by a naked-eye inspection.
The mass of the striker was 1694  kg. The col-
lision velocities were 3  m/s, 5  m/s, and 9  m/s for

2.1 Test models Table 2. Thicknesses and material properties of models.

Three double hull side structure models (models
t σY σT E
DH-5, DH-6 and DH-7), which were approxi- Model Location (mm) (MPa) (MPa) (GPa)
mately one-seventh the scale of a VLCC, were
fabricated. The overall height and width of the DH-5 front plate 2.81 316.2 472.5 213.6
models were 1,950 mm and 1,830 mm, respectively. rear plate 5.69 315.1 476.1 206.7
The dimensions of the models are shown in Fig- girder (h)* 2.85 311.6 466.8 192.3
ure 2. The dimensions are nominally identical with girder (v)* 2.84 311.4 470.9 195.6
models DH-3 and DH-4, as reported by Cho et al. side wall (h) 2.80 314.3 474.0 197.9
(2016). However, those are one and half times big- side wall (v) 2.83 315.7 471.1 221.7
ger than the models DH-1 and DH-2 (Cho et al.,
DH-6 front plate 2.96 319.4 404.7 215.7
2011). The longitudinal stiffeners of the VLCC rear plate 5.81 381.2 496.7 231.5
were smeared into the shells. The material used for girder (h) 2.98 318.8 403.6 208.7
the models was mild steel, and the thicknesses and girder (v) 2.97 319.5 404.2 224.7
side wall (h) 2.92 327.75 413.2 226.4
side wall (v) 2.95 320.0 407.7 247.0
DH-7 front plate 2.95 321.0 405.5 213.7
rear plate 5.82 378.5 495.7 216.4
girder (h) 2.98 318.8 403.6 208.7
girder (v) 2.97 319.5 404.2 224.7
side wall (h) 2.92 327.75 413.2 226.4
side wall (v) 2.95 320.0 407.7 247.0

Note: (h) and (v) denote horizontal and vertical,

respectively.

Figure  2. Dimensions of double hull side structure

models: DH-5, DH-6 and DH-7. Figure 3. Dimensions of striker header.

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 models DH-5, DH-6, and DH-7, respectively.
The overall view of the car crash testing facili-
ties is shown in Figure 4 together with a model in
position.
2.3 Test results
During the tests, the acceleration of the striker
and the strain value at six points in each model
were recorded. Five high-speed video cameras
were operated at 1,000 frames per second. Mod-
els DH-5 and DH-6 were plastically deformed but
model DH-7 was fractured. Permanent depths of
the dent and the fracture sizes were measured after
the test.
ured diagonal length of the fracture in the front
plate and the dent depth of the rear plate are pro-
vided in Table 4.
Figure 5 shows the front and oblique views of
the damaged models. As mentioned already in the
paper, for models DH-5 and DH-6 only plastic
deformations occurred, but a diamond-shape frac-
ture shown in the photographs of model DH-7.
The denting of the rear plate cannot be observed
for model DH-7 from these photographs.
2.3.2 Accelerations
During the collision tests the accelerations of the
striker were recorded. The accelerations at four
points of the striker were obtained, which were

2.3.1 Extent of damage and damaged models

For models DH-5 and DH-6, the collision test con-
ditions and the measured depths of the dent are
shown in Table  3. The test conditions, the meas-

Figure  4. Overall view of car crash testing facilities

together with a model in position.

Table 3. Collision test conditions and extent of damage

to models DH-5 and DH-6.

Striker Collision Dent depth of

Model mass (kg) velocity (m/s) front plate (mm)

DH-5 1694 3.0 68

DH-6 1694 5.0 112

Table 4. Collision test conditions and extent of damage

to models DH-7.

Fracture
Striker Collision diagonal length Dent depth
mass velocity of front plate of rear plate
Model (kg) (m/s) (mm) (mm)

DH-7 1694 9.0 353 32

Figure 5. Front and oblique views of damaged models.

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 quite similar to each other. One acceleration
recording for each model is shown in Figure  6.
Figures 6(a) and 6(b) show that there is one peak
for models DH-5 and DH-6. Their peak values are
approximately −12.5 G and −21.6 G for models
DH-5 and DH-6, respectively.
However, for model DH-7, there are two peaks.
The first peak occurred when the striker’s nose
touched the front plate, and its value is approxi-

Figure 7. Strain gauge arrangement.

Figure 6. History of striker acceleration. Figure 8. Strain measurement results.

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 mately −26.6 G. The second peak appeared when hardening property of the material. The yield
the nose touched the rear plate, and its value is strength (σY), yield strain (εY), hardening start
approximately −28.4 G. strain (εHS), ultimate tensile strength (σT) and
ultimate tensile strain (εT) were obtained from
2.3.3 Strain histories the tensile test of the material. All of these values
Strain values were measured at six points in each are of static and engineering. The correspond-
model. The locations are shown in Figure 7. Two ing true values can be obtained using eqns. (1)
components of the strain values were obtained and (2)
for each point, where ‘x’ and ‘z’ correspond to the
horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. ε tr l( + ε) (1)
The strain histories of models DH-5, DH-6 and
DH-7 are shown in Figure  8. The strain history σ tr = σ ( + ε) (2)
recordings together with the acceleration his-
tories would be very useful while substantiating where εtr and σtr represent the true strain and true
the dynamic behaviours predicted by numerical stress, respectively.
analyses. Having obtained σY,tr, εY,tr, εHS,tr, σT,tr and εT,tr the
constitutive relationship can be constructed using
eqns. (3)–(7) by considering the yield plateau and
3 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF strain hardening.
TEST MODELS
σ tr = E ε tr 0 < ε tr < εY ,tr (3)
3.1 Modelling
σ tr x (ε tr ) εY ,tr < ε tr < ε HS ,tr
σY exp (4)
Numerical analyses were performed using the
σ tr = σY ,trttrr + K (ε trtr ε HHSS ,tr )
Abaqus/ Explicit software. A four-node shell ele- n
ε HS ,tr < ε tr (5)
ment was employed for the damaged model, and
the striker was assumed to be rigid.
where
3.1.1 Convergence test
σ T ,tr
A convergence test was conducted to find the
optimum mesh size before performing the analy-
n= (ε − ε )
σ T ,tr − σY ,tr T ,tr HHS ,tr
(6)
ses. The test was conducted on the model DH-6,
which was not fractured. The convergence test σ T ,tr − σY ,tr
K= (7)
results are shown in Figure  9. The figure shows
(ε )
n
T ,tr − ε HHS ,tr
that when the mesh size is two and half times of
the shell thickness, the permanent deflection is
converged. For the main numerical calculations Strain-rate hardening was studied by using the
the mesh size was fixed at two and half times of equations obtained based on the dynamic tensile
the shell thickness. test results of various kinds of steel (Cho et  al.,
2015). The dynamic values of yield strength (σYD),
3.1.2 Material properties definitions ultimate tensile strength (σTD), ultimate tensile
In this study, the properties of strain and strain- strain (εTD) and hardening start strain (εHSD) can
rate hardening of the material were studied. be predicted by using eqns. (8), (9), (10) and (11),
Tensile test results were used to define the strain respectively.

⎪⎧ ⎪⎫
0.5
σYD ⎛ E ⎞
⎬ × (ε )
1/ 4
= 1 + ⎨0.3 × ⎜ (8)
σY ⎪⎩ ⎝ 1000 × σY ⎟⎠ ⎪⎭

σ TD ⎧⎪ ⎛σ ⎞
3.325
⎫⎪
⎬ × (ε )
0.023
= 1 + ⎨0.16 × ⎜ T ⎟ (9)
σT ⎪⎩ ⎝ σYD ⎠ ⎪⎭

εTD ⎧⎪ ⎛ E ⎞
2.352
⎛σ ⎞
0.588
⎫⎪
= 1 − ⎨0.117 × ⎜ ×⎜ T⎟ ⎬
εT
⎩⎪ ⎝ 1000 × σ T ⎟⎠ ⎝ σY ⎠ ⎭⎪
×( )
1/ 5

Figure 9. Convergence test results od model DH-6. (10)

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 actual dent depth, the differences are only +2.9%
⎪⎧ ⎪⎫
1.73
ε HSSD ⎛ E ⎞ for model DH-5 and +1.9% for model DH-6. These
⎬ × (ε )
1/ 3
= 1 + ⎨0.1 × ⎜ ⎟ (11)
ε HS ⎪⎩ ⎝ 1000 × σ Y ⎠ ⎪⎭ results may suggest that the assumptions adopted
while developing the models for the analyses were
substantially acceptable.
By substituting σYD, σTD, εTD and εHSD into eqns
The analysis results of the model DH-7 are
(1) and (2) their corresponding true values can be
shown in Table 6. The predicted fracture diagonal
obtained and a further substitution of the true
length and actual fracture diagonal length of the
values into eqns. (3)–(5) will provide the dynamic
front plate and the dent depth of the rear plate
constitutive relationships for the given strain-
are compared in the table. The difference between
rate ( ).
of the fracture diagonal lengths is +1.0% and that
between the dent depths is +4.7%. The agreement
3.1.3 Fracture strain
between the experiment results and numerical pre-
Selection of the fracture criterion and the deter-
diction is excellent. However, it may be argued
mination of the related critical value are the most
that the shear strain criterion is obtained from the
important tasks for the fracture analysis of the
equation that was derived based on the parametric
impacted structures. In this study the shear frac-
study of the test model.
ture criterion was adopted to monitor the occur-
The numerically predicted shapes of the plasti-
rence of the fracture. The fracture shear strain was
cally deformed model DH-5 and fractured model
obtained from the parametric study results.
DH-7 are shown in Figures 11 and 12, respectively.
The model mesh sizes were changed to perform
the numerical analyses, and a suitable shear strain
value was obtained for each mesh size. The para- Table  5. Numerical analysis results of models DH-5
and DH-6.
metric study results are represented by eqn (12).
The numerically obtained shear strain criteria and Dent depth of front plate (mm)
the values predicted by the equation are shown in
Figure 10. As shown in the figure, the shear strain Model Experiment Numerical
criterion is strongly dependent on the mesh size
used in the analysis. DH-5 68 70.0 (+2.9%)
DH-6 112 114.0 (+1.9%)
−0.36
⎛l⎞
ε F = 0.42 ⎜ ⎟ (12)
⎝ t⎠ Table 6. Numerical analysis results of models DH-7.

where εF is the shear strain criterion, l is the mesh Fracture diagonal Dent depth of rear
size and t is the element thickness. length (mm) plate (mm)
Shear
Model Exp. Num. criteria Exp. Num.
3.2 Numerical analysis results
DH-7 353 356 (+1.0%) 0.30 32 33.5 (+4.7%)
The results of the numerical analysis are sum-
marized in Tables  5 and 6 for models DH-5 and
DH-6, and DH-7, respectively. When the predicted
dent depth of the front plate is compared with the

Figure  10. Dependence of shear strain criterion on Figure  11. Numerically predicted deformed shape of
mesh size. model DH-5.

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Figure  12. Numerically predicted shape of fractured
model DH-5.
4 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
4.1 Discussion
4.1.1 Collision tests
Lateral collision tests were conducted on three
models that were approximately one-seventh the
scale of a VLCC (models DH-5, DH-6 and DH-7)
using a striker having a hemispherical nose. The
mass of the striker was 1,694 kg and the collision
velocities were 3.0  m/s, 5.0  m/s, and 9.0  m/s for
models DH-5, DH-6, and DH-7, respectively.
Two models (models DH-4 and DH-5) were only
plastically dented, and one model (model DH-7)
was fractured. The dent depths of the front plate
were 68  mm and 112  mm for models DH-5 and
DH-6, respectively. For model DH-7, the diagonal
length of the fractured front plate was 353 mm and
the dent depth of the rear plate was 32 mm.
The histories of the strains and accelerations
were recorded during the collision tests. Two strain
components of six points on the front plate were
successfully stored. The accelerations at the four
points of the striker were also recorded, which can
be very useful while predicting the collision forces
during impact. The minimum accelerations of
models DH-5 and DH-6 were −12.5 G and −21.6
G, respectively. The durations of the peaks were
approximately 63 ms and 54 ms for models DH-5
and DH-6, respectively. It can be concluded that
when the same striker mass was retained and the
collision velocity was increased a higher collision
force was obtained, but the collision force duration
was decreased.
These experiment results can be very useful to
substantiate any numerical analysis methods or
analytical procedures to predict the extent of dam-
age of the double hull side structures subjected to
lateral collision.
437
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 437
4.1.2 Numerical analysis
Numerical analyses were also performed using the
Abaqus/Explicit software package. While develop-
ing the model, the optimum mesh size was deter-
mined based on the convergence test results. The
mesh size that was determined was two- and- a half
times of the shell thickness.
The properties of strain and strain-rate harden-
ing were considered using the newly proposed con-
stitutive equations, eqns (3)–(11) (Cho et al., 2015).
The strain-hardening model that was employed
was a modified version of Ludwik’s constitutive
equation (1909). The strain-rate hardening consti-
tutive equation used in this study was derived by
using the dynamic tensile tests of various kinds of
steel.
The shear fracture criterion was determined
using a new equation, eqn (12), derived in this
study. Mesh sizes were changed and the adequate
criterion was chosen, which provided the closest
diagonal length of the fracture part of the front
plate. Equation (12) was obtained by the curve fit-
ting of the parametric calculations.
The accuracy of the numerical predictions of
the extent of damage is in the range of +1.0% to
+5.0%. It seems quite accurate for the structural
impact problems of the relatively large-scale mod-
els, where various uncertainties could exist.
4.2 Conclusions
Lateral collision tests were successfully conducted
on three models which were approximately one-
seventh the scale of a VLCC, using a striker having
a hemispherical nose.
Two models were plastically dented and one
model was fractured. These experimental results
can be very useful for substantiating any numeri-
cal analysis method or the analytical procedures to
predict the extent of damage to double hull side
structures subjected to lateral collision.
Numerical analyses were also performed consid-
ering the properties of strain and strain-rate hard-
ening of the material by using the newly proposed
constitutive equations.
The accuracy of the numerical predictions of
the extent of damage is in the range of +1.0% to
+5.0%. The predictions seem sufficiently accurate
for the structural impact problems of large-scale
models.
A new equation has been derived in this study
to determine the shear strain criterion for fracture
analyses.
To predict the fracture of laterally impacted
double hull side structures with acceptable accu-
racy, more experimental investigations are neces-
sary using which reliable fracture criteria can be
developed.
3/29/2017 9:39:20 AM
 Simple but reasonably accurate analytical meth-
ods need to be developed for probabilistic struc-
tural design against the effects of collision.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by the Korea Institute
of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning
(KETEP) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry &
Energy (MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea (No.
2015030200970) and ClassNK japan.
REFERENCES
Cho, S.-R. & Lee, H.-S. 2009. Experimental and analyti-
cal investigations on the response of stiffened plates
subjected to lateral collisions. Marine Structures, 22,
pp 84–95.
Cho, S.-R., Kim, J.-M. & Kim, Y.-H. 2011. Effect of
design parameters of double hull side structures on
their collision resistance. Proc. of the 25th Asian-Pacific
Technical Exchange and Advisory Meeting on Marine
Structures, TEAM2011, Incheon, Korea, pp 352–360.
Cho, S.-R., Choi, S.-I. & Son, S.-K. 2015. Dynamic mate-
rial properties of marine steels under impact load-
438
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 438
ings. Proc. of the 2015 World Congress on Advances
in Structural Engineering and Mechanics, ASEM15,
Incheon, Korea.
Cho, S.-R., Kim, K.-R., Song, S.-U., Park, S.-H., Lee,
J.S. & Lee, J.T. 2016. Prediction of the damage extents
of ship’s double hull side structures subjected to lat-
eral collisions. Proc. of the 35th Intern. Conf. on Ocean,
Offshore and Arctic Engineering, OMAE2016–54605,
Busan, Korea.
Hong, L. and Amdahl, J. 2008. Crushing resistance of
web girder in ship collision and grounding. Marine
Structures, 21, pp 374–401.
IACS, 2014. Common structural rules for bulk carriers
and oil tankers Part 1, Chapter 5 Hull girder strength,
section  3 Hull girder residual strength. International
Association of Classification Societies.
IMO, 2009. SOLAS: Consolidated text of the annex to
the International Convention for the Safety of Life at
Sea, 1974 and the 1988 Protocol relating thereto – Part
1, Chapter II-1 Construction – Structure, subdivision
and stability, machinery and electrical installations.
International Maritime Organization, London.
Ludwik, P. 1909. Elemente der technologischen mechanik.
Springer, Berlin.
Sajdak, J.A.W. 2004. Analysis of ship collisions: Deter-
mination of longitudinal extent of damage and pen-
etration. Ph.D. Thesis, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg.
3/29/2017 9:39:20 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Double-hull breaching energy in ship-tanker collision

M. Heinvee & K. Tabri

Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Mechanics of Fluids and Structures Research Group,
Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia

ABSTRACT: The density of maritime transportation is growing and thus also the risk for collision acci-
dents. Various safety measures are developed through risk analysis studies where structural consequences
are evaluated for large number of accidental collision scenarios. It is desirable to determine whether the
double side structure of the struck ship ruptures and flooding or, in the case of tanker, oil spill occurs.
As detailed information about the ships is not typically available, the consequences should be determined
based on very limited number of input parameters such as ship length, displacement, velocity, draught
etc. This paper aims to develop a criterion which takes the parameters describing the sizes of the colliding
ships and their relative position and determines whether the inner shell of a double hull tanker ruptures.
For that the available deformation energy obtained from external dynamics analysis is compared to the
critical deformation energy required to breach the inner shell. The critical energy is defined from a series
of finite element simulations.

1 INTRODUCTION number of input parameters. Compared to other

Ships’ behavior in accidental situations such as
collision and grounding has received attention
for several decades. Increasing density of mari-
time traffic and perhaps disastrous consequences
of possible accidents have been the main motiva-
tors. In order to develop safety control measures,
large number of possible accidental scenarios
are to be simulated in order to study the existing
safety levels and to test the possible measures, see
for example Ståhlberg et  al. (2013). Such analy-
ses often use AIS data in order to construct pos-
sible accidental scenarios, which numbers could
be hundreds or even thousands. It is obvious that
the data available about the ships is very scarce—
often limited to identification number, ship type,
speed and length. Combining this information
with some databases, e.g. with those from clas-
sification societies, would help to increase the
number of known parameters, but the precise
description of structural characteristics of large
number of ships is still not possible. This means,
that such analysis could only be conducted using
simplified models that require only limited num-
ber of input information.
This paper presents first developments of the
approach, where the structural consequences of ship
collision accident can be estimated based on limited
simplified approaches, such as Pedersen & Zhang
(2000), Zhang & Pedersen (2016), for example,
the proposed approach requires significantly less
input parameters. Core element of the approach
is the criteria for the inner hull breaching, that
is presented in a form of failure probability. The
criterion is developed through large number of
numerical collision simulations with different
ships and different longitudinal and vertical
impact locations. Approach is based on defining
the relationship between the deformation energy
and the damaged steel volume, similar to the
approaches of Minorsky (1959) and Paik et  al.
(1999). The damage steel volume in a collision
accident is, in turn, defined based on the volume
of penetrating bow and the structural configura-
tion of the struck ship. Principle of the approach
is presented in Figure  1 and discussed in detail
in Chapter  4. Approach shares the similarities
of grounding model of Heinvee & Tabri (2015),
where the grounding damaged of a double hull
tanker can be assessed with limited number of
input parameters.
First, the numerical simulations are overviewed
and their outcomes are discussed. This is followed
by the description of the simplified approach, its
validation with numerical simulations and example
calculations.

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 Figure 1. Flowchart of calculation procedure to determine failure of inner hull of the struck ship.
2 FE SIMULATIONS
Numerical simulations form the basis for the devel-
opment of the simplified approach. The simulations
were conducted in a manner that the critical defor-
mation energy, the penetration and the volume of
the deformed elements was obtained for a very wide
range of collision scenarios. The simulations included
both the contact with the bow flare and the bulb.
440
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 440
2.1 FE models
Three double hull tankers with different dimen-
sions are modelled. The cross-sections with the
main structural dimensions are given in Figure  2
and in Table 1. Ship-building steel with yield stress
of 285 [MPa] is used in the analysis, see Figure 3
for material curve. The structure is modelled using
quadrilateral Belytschko-Lin-Tsay shell elements
3/29/2017 9:39:20 AM
 Figure 3. True stress-strain curve.

Figure 4. FE model of the tanker.

with 5  integration points through their thickness.

The prevailing element-length in the impact area
of the double hull structure was around 100–200
and 300–400 [mm] elsewhere. The nodes at the for-
ward and aft end of the models are fixed. Standard
LS-DYNA hourglass control and automatic single
Figure  2. Tankers cross-sections (dimensions not in
scale).
surface contact (friction coefficient of 0.3) is used
for the collision simulations.
Table  1. Main dimensions and parameters of the The striking ship was modelled only with bulbous
tankers. bow. The bow models for ships T150, T190 and T260
were modelled as rigid bodies. In all the simulations
Parameter T150 T190 T260 the striking ship impacts the struck ship with angle
equal to 90 degrees. The striking ship impacted the
Length [m] 150 190 260 struck ship with constant velocity of 10  m/s. The
Breadth [m] 20 28 32 finite element model is presented in Figure 4.
Draught [m] 8 12 18 Material failure was modelled with the fracture
Depth [m] 10 14 23 criterion developed by Kõrgesaar (2015). Accord-
Design speed [kn] 15.4 15.4 15.4
ing to the criterion the fracture strain for shell ele-
Deadweight [tdw] 11 499 28 884 89 971
ment is calculated as a function of stress state and
Double-bot. height [m] 1.4 1.6 1.6
element size.
Breath of double hull [m] 1.2 1.8 1.8
Outer plating thick. [mm] 14–15 15–18 17–21
Tank-top thick. [mm] 15 16 18 2.2 Collision scenarios
Girder spacing [m] 2.2 3.25 3.9
Floor spacing [m] 3.5 3.5 3.5
The collision scenarios were numerically simulated
Classification rules HCSR-OT by combining three struck ships, three striking ships.
Comparison of the sizes of the ships is shown in

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 Figure 5. Five vertical and two longitudinal impact
locations were used, see Figure 6. For each longitu-
dinal position 45 simulations were conducted.
2.3 Results/outcomes
Each collision simulation provided deformation
energy, volume of deformed material as a func-
tion of penetration depth. At the moment of inner
Figure 5. Sizes of ships used in the analysis.
Figure 6. Vertical and longitudinal impact locations.
442
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 442
hull failure the penetration depth, the deformation
energy and the volume of deformed material was
determined. Hereinafter, we refer to these as critical
values. These critical values for the 90 (45+45) colli-
sion scenarios formed the basis for further analy-
sis. The outcomes of the numerical simulations are
analysed in more detail in the next chapter.
3 DEFORMATION ENERGY AND THE
VOLUME OF DEFORMED MATERIAL
The relationship between the deformation energy
and the volume of damaged material was first pre-
sented by Minorsky (1959). Similar approach is
applied here.
3.1 Relationship between the deformation energy
and the volume of deformed material
For each collision simulation the volume of
deformed material Vdef: was calculated for equiva-
lent plastic strains: εp  >  0.01 (see Heinvee et  al.
2016) for the discussion of appropriate plastic
strain value) and are plotted against the dissi-
pated energy in Figure 7 for the two longitudinal
positions.
Edeef 1 80 Vbow + 11[MJ ]. (1)
Figure  7  shows linear correlation between the
deformation energy and the volume of deformed
material that is similar to that of Minorsky (1959)
and Paik et al. (1999).
Comparison of the Figure  7a and Figure  7b
reveals that in case of impact location L2 (impact
on web-frame) less energy is required to breach
the inner hull compared to the impact between
the web-frames. Therefore, to be conservation, the
regression line from Figure 7b is to be used. How-
ever, it is not straightforward to calculate the vol-
ume of the deformed material, while it is relatively
simple to evaluate the volume of the penetrating
bow and correlate this to the deformation energy.
This relationship is studied in the next section.
3.2 Relationship between the deformation energy
and the volume of penetrating bow
While Minorsky (1959), and also Figure 7, reveals
that there is a linear relationship between the defor-
mation energy and the volume of the deformed
material, Paik et al. (1999) showed that linear cor-
relation is also between the deformation energy
and the bow volume within the breadth of the dou-
ble hull. In order to study this relationship in the
numerical simulations, a procedure was developed
3/29/2017 9:39:21 AM
 Figure  8. Bow volume Vbow within the double hull
(hatched).

Figure 7. Deformation energy E vs volume of deformed

material Vdef: (a) longit. pos. L1, (b) longit. pos. L2, (c) L1
and L2 combined.

for the calculation of the bow volume Vbow, see

Figure  8. The procedure requires for inputs the
ships’ lengths LA, LB, their corresponding draughts
TA, TB and the penetration depth δ. Hereinafter,
subscripts A and B correspond to striking and
struck ship, respectively.
The obtained bow volumes for all the colli-
sion scenarios are presented against their corre-
sponding deformation energies in Figure 9. More
detailed description of the calculation procedure
for Vbow is given in Appendix A. Figure  9. Deformation energy E vs bow volume Vbow:
Again, for a conservative prediction of defor- (a) longit. pos. L1, (b) longit. pos. L2, (c) L1 and L2
mation energy, location L2 (impact on webframe) combined.

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 is to be considered, see Figure  9b & c. Thus, the 4.2 Bow volume
conservative approach for the deformation energy
As a next step (step 2) the bow volume Vbow
can be obtained from
required to achieve the Edef, eq. (3), is calculated
using eq.(1).
4 FAILURE PREDICTION FOR THE
INNER HULL OF A STRUCK TANKER 4.3 Penetration depth
In step 3 the penetration depth δf corresponding
The approach for the rapid assessment of colli-
to the bow volume Vbow is evaluated. For that we
sion consequences is developed combining (i) the
solve the following equation for the penetration
linear correlation between the deformation energy
depth δ:
and the bow volume, (ii) the procedure for the cal-
culation of bow volume and (iii) cumulative prob-
ability distribution of the ratio between the critical vbow (δ ,L TA TB , hdw ) = Vbow
LA LB ,T (5)
penetration depth and the double bottom breadth.
Using only very limited amount of input parame- where vbow (δ ,L TA TB , hdw ) is a function
LA LB ,T
ters to describe the accidental scenario the ultimate describing the volume of the penetrating bow and
aim here is to evaluate the penetration depth for a is given by eq. (A8) in appendix A, parameters LA,
certain scenario and the corresponding probability LB, TA, TB are known from the scenario definition
for the inner hull failure. The flow chart of the pro- and hdw is the breadth of the double hull.
cedure is given in Figure  1 and discussed here in
detail.

4.1 External dynamics

Step 1 of the failure prediction procedure calcu-
lates the amount of deformation energy Edef to be
absorbed by the side structure of struck ship. Con-
sidering only right angle collisions at the amidships
and using the conservation of momentum princi-
ple, the deformation energy can be calculated as
follows:

E defe ΔE kin
MA ( d A ) vA2 ⎛
dm MB ⎞ (2)
= ⎜⎝ M ( ,
+ dmA ) ⎟⎠
Figure  10. Critical penetration depths as a function
2 B
mB ) M A (
ddm of draught difference (only longitudinal position L2 is
shown for clarity).
where, MA and MB are the masses of striking and
struck ships, vA is the striking ship velocity, dmB =
0.4 is the non-dimensional sway added mass for
struck ship and dmA = 0.5 is non-dimensional surge
added mass for the striking ship. By using notation
Δ for displacement we can present the eq. (2) as
follows

1.05Δ AvA2 ⎛ 1.4 Δ B ⎞

Edeef = ⎜⎝ 1.4 Δ + 1 05 ⎟. (3)
2 B 0 Δ A⎠

Displacement is calculated as

Δ = L ⋅ B ⋅ T ⋅ ρw ⋅ C B , (4)

where L is the ship length, B is the ship breath, T is

the ship draught, ρw is sea water density in ton/m3 Figure 11. Probability density and cumulative distribu-
(here taken as 1.025 ton/m3) and CB is ship’s pris- ton functions for scenarios L1 (thin curves) and L2 (thick
matic coefficient (here taken as 0.85). curves).

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 4.4 Failure probability for inner hull use the penetration depth at which the inner hull
was breached in numerical simulation. In such
For each numerical simulation, the critical penetra-
approach, we validate the eqs. (A1-A8) and the
tion depth at which the inner hull breached was
relationship given by eq. (1) and Figure  9b. The
evaluated. However, in order not to be limited by
results are shown in Table B1. It can be concluded
the exact configuration of numerical simulations,
that the mean difference for scenarios at location
the probability distribution is constructed for the
L1 is 18% and for scenarios at location L2 it is 14%.
inner hull failure.
For that we first calculate the relative penetra-
tion depth δf/hdw for each scenario by dividing the
6 CASE STUDY
critical penetration depth δf with the breadth of
the double hull hdw. The ratios are presented in
To present the approach depicted in Figure 1, we
Figure  10. Clearly, the inner hull failure occurs
arbitrarily select some of the numerically simu-
more often in the range of δf/hdw from 1.1 to 1.4.
lated scenarios (noted with superscript number in
The distribution of the ratios δf/hdw is approxi-
Table B2), assign the striking ship a certain veloc-
mated via normal distribution in Figure  11. The
ity vA and calculate the deformation energy, relative
corresponding cumulative probability distribution
penetration depth δf/hdw and corresponding failure
is as follows
probability P. The results are presented in Table 2.
Position L2 is considered.
x⎛
(x− )2 ⎞
1 − For the comparison the deformation energy
P(x ) = ∫ ⎜ e 2
⎟ ddx,
0 σ 2π and the relative penetration depth δf/hdw at which
⎝ ⎠
(6) the inner hull failure occurred in the numerical
δf ⎛ δf ⎞ simulations is also shown in the table (denoted
x= ;μ = ⎜
h dw ⎝ h ⎟⎠ dw
by FEM). The striking ship velocity is taken as
vA = 2.5 m/s.
In all the selected scenarios the striking ship
where the mean μ = 1.373 and standard deviation penetrated to the struck ship beyond the breadth
σ = 0.217 for L2 (μ = 1.506 and σ = 0.246 for L1). of the inner hull, i.e. the relative penetration
In step 4, eq. (5) can be used to calculate the depth δf/hdw > 1. The results reveal that at the
probability of inner hull failure for a certain col- same velocity the inner hull failure tends to be
lision scenario. less probable if the striking ship mass is smaller
than struck ship mass. Furthermore, comparing
scenarios (1&2, 3&4 to 9&10) it can be noticed
5 VALIDATION that different draught combinations could result
significant differences in resulting penetration
In order to validate the approach, we evaluate the depths. For comparison, similar observation can
deformation energies for all the scenarios used be made for penetration depths obtained from
for numerical simulations. In comparison, we numerical simulations.

Table 2. Results (striking ship velocity vA = 2.5 m/s).

Scenario Coef.of FEM New approach

energy
←VA LB LA TB TA hdw ΔB ΔA absorbtion. Edef δf/hdw Edef δf/hdw P
Ship B

Ship A [m] [m] [m] [m] [m] [ton] [ton] [−] [MJ] [−] [MJ] [−] [-]
(1)
150–150 150 150 8 9.5 1.2 20 910 24 867 0.53 53 1.75 43 1.48 0.69
(2)
150–150 150 150 8 5.7 1.2 20 910 14 898 0.65 20 1.17 32 1.95 1.00
(3)
150–190 150 190 8 11.9 1.2 20 910 55 009 0.34 33 1.58 61 2.17 1.00
(4)
150–190 150 190 8 14.2 1.2 20 910 65 730 0.30 56 1.83 64 1.78 0.97
(5)
190–150 190 150 12 10.4 1.8 55 621 27 186 0.73 69 1.11 65 1.21 0.23
(6)
190–150 190 150 12 6.9 1.8 55 621 17 907 0.81 57 1.33 47 1.18 0.18
(7)
260–150 260 150 18 6.9 1.8 130 478 18 037 0.91 64 1.17 54 1.06 0.07
(8)
260–150 260 150 18 12.5 1.8 130 478 32 703 0.84 84 1.33 90 1.57 0.81
(9)
260–260 260 260 18 18.8 1.8 130 478 136 140 0.56 142 1.33 251 1.87 0.99
(10)
260–260 260 260 18 14.0 1.8 130 478 101 418 0.63 86 1.39 210 2.48 1.00

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 7 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper a simplified approach for the predic-
tion of inner hull failure in ship-ship collision was
presented. The approach was based on a large num-
ber of numerical collision simulations. Each numer-
ical simulation provided the deformation energy,
the penetration depth and volume of deformed
material corresponding to the inner hull failure.
These results formed the basis for the development
of the procedure and inner hull failure criterion.
Numerical simulations revealed the linear rela-
tionship between the deformation energy and the
volume of the deformed material. Moreover, simi-
lar relationship existed between the deformation
energy and the volume of the intruding bow. While
the estimation of the volume of the deformed mate-
rial is not trivial, the volume of the intruding bow
can be calculated is the bow geometry is known.
Thus, the relationship between the deformation
energy and the bow volume is the central element
of the four step approach. The approach uses as
inputs the ships’ lengths LA, LB, their corresponding
draughts TA, TB, striking ship velocity vA and calcu-
lates the available deformation energy, penetration
depth and the probability of inner hull failure.
The developed approach was validated by evalu-
ating the deformation energies for all the scenarios
used for numerical simulations. Comparison to the
numerical values showed that the mean difference
for the scenarios at location L1 is 18% and 14% for
the scenarios at location L2. To demonstrate the pro-
cedure a case study was conducted, where for several
scenarios the failure probability was evaluated.
As the developed procedure is time efficient and
requires only limited amount of input parameters,
it is a practical tool for risk analyses studies, where
consequences for a large number of accidental col-
lision scenarios are to be analysed. The developed
procedure can determine whether the inner hull is
breached or not.
The limitation of the procedure is that it can’t
determine whether the rupture occurs due to the flare
or bulb. Furthermore, the size of the opening cannot
be defined. This data is however necessary for oil spill
prediction models, such as Sergejeva et al. (2013) for
example. The issues are left for future studies. Moreo-
ver, more elaborate validation and comparison to
other simplified models such as Pedersen and Zhang
(2000), Zhang and Pedersen (2016), Buldgen et  al.
(2012), Ehlers and Tabri (2016) is to be conducted.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research work has been financially supported
by the BONUS STORMWINDS (Strategic and
446
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 446
Operational Risk Management for Wintertime
Maritime Transportation System) project, by
the research grant IUT1917 from Estonian Sci-
ence Foundation and by Tallinn University of
Technology project B18 (Tool for direct dam-
age calculations for ship collision and grounding
accidents). This help is here kindly appreciated.
REFERENCES
Buldgen, L. et al. 2012. Extension of the super-elements
method to the analysis of oblique collision between
two ships. Marine Structures, 29(1), pp. 22–57.
Ehlers, S., Tabri, K. 2012. A combined numerical and
semi-analytical collision damage assessment proce-
dure. Marine Structures, 28 (1), pp. 101–119
Heinvee, M. and Tabri, K. 2015. A simplified method to
predict grounding damage of double bottom tankers.
Marine Structures, 43, pp. 22–43.
Heinvee, M. et  al. 2016. Influence of longitudinal and
transverse bulkheads on ship grounding resistance
and damage size. Proceedings of International Confer-
ence on Collision and Grounding of Ships and Offshore
Structures, 15–18.06.2016, South Korea.
Kõrgesaar, M. 2015. Modeling ductile fracture in ship struc-
tures with shell elements. Doctoral thesis. Aalto University.
Minorsky, V.U. 1959. An Analysis of Ship Collisions
with Reference to Protection of Nuclear Power Plants.
Journal of Ship Research, pp.1–4.
Paik, J.K. et al. 1999. On the Rational Design of Double
Hull Tanker Structures Against Collision. HHI Engi-
neering Review, 25(3), pp. 41–51.
Pedersen, P and Zhang, S. 2000. Absorbed Energy in
Ship Collisions and Grounding—Revising Minorsky’s
Empirical Method, Journal of Ship Research, 44(2),
pp.140–154.
Sergejeva, M., Laanearu, J. and Tabri, K. 2013. Hydrau-
lic modelling of submerged oil spill including tanker
hydrostatic overpressure. 4th International Confer-
ence on Marine Structures. 25–27.03.2013, Espoo.
Ståhlberg, K. et  al. 2013. Impact scenario models for
probabilistic risk-based design for ship-ship collision.
Marine Structures, 33, pp. 238–264.
Zhang, S. and Pedersen, P.T. 2016. A method for ship
collision damage and energy absorption analysis and
its validation. Ships and Offshore Structures, 5302
(December), pp. 1–10.
APPENDIX A
In order to calculate the bow volume Vbow the bow
was divided into three parts—two flare parts and
bulb, see Figure 12. Each part is approximated by
surface polynomial. The volume of the bow was
obtained by integrating the polynomials over a pen-
etration depthδ. To calculate the volume for wide
range of ship sizes the coefficients of the polyno-
mials are given as a function of ship length. The
3/29/2017 9:39:25 AM
 Flare volume v (1) was found as
y (δ ) δ
v( ) δ ∫
− y( ) 0 ∫ f ( x ) dxd
d dy (A5)

and flare volume v (2) as

δ
v ( ) (δ ) hc ⋅ ∫ y ( x ) dx. (A6)
0

Equations for the calculation of the bulb vol-

ume are as follows

Iff ΔT ≤ − a then v ( ) = 0
If − a < ΔT < 0 and x ≤ L1
⎛ x3 x2 ⎞
v ( ) = ab u1 2 + u2
⎝ 3L1 2 L1 ⎟⎠

Figure 12. Input parameters for the calculation of bow

(v1 T v2 T v3 T v4 )
3 2

volume. If − a ΔT < 0 and x > L1

⎛uL u L ⎞
v ( ) = ab 1 1 + 2 1
⎝ 3 2 ⎠
relative vertical position of the ships was taken into
account with the draughts of the ships—TA and TB. ( 1 3 + 2 2 + 3 + 4)
Note, that uppercase V denotes the single vol- ⎡ ⎛ ⎛ x⎞
2
⎛ x ⎞⎞ ⎤
+ ⎢a ⋅ b ⋅ ( − ) ⎜ −1.12 ⋅ + 1.97 ⋅ ⎜ ⎟ ⎟ ⎥
ume value while the lowercase v denotes the func- ⎢⎣
1
⎝ ⎝ L1 ⎠ ⎝ L1 ⎠ ⎠ ⎥⎦
tion to calculate the volume.
If ΔT ≥ 0
Surface polynomial for flare
⎡ ⎛ ⎛ x⎞
2
⎛ x ⎞⎞ ⎤
v ( ) = ⎢ a ⋅ b ( x − L ) ⎜ −1.12 ⋅ ⎜ ⎟ + 1.97 ⋅ ⎜ ⎟ ⎟ ⎥
f ( x ) = c1 + c2 y( x ) + c3 x + c4 y( x ) + c5 x
2 2
⎢⎣ ⎝ ⎝ L1 ⎠ ⎝ L1 ⎠ ⎠ ⎥⎦
(A1)
+ c6 y( x )3 + c7 x 3 + c8 y( x )4 + c9 x
(A7)
where, The total bow volume of a striking ship was
found as
y ( x ) = a1x 3 + a2 x 2 + a3 x + a4 . (A2)
vbow (δ ,L
LB LA ,TTB TA , hdw )
By using coefficients cT260 (corresponding to the (A8)
= v( ) + v( ) + v( ) .
largest ship observed in this paper) and cshipA the
coefficients c1 to c9 were calculated as follows

c1 c1 _ T 260 ⋅ cshipA
p ; c2 = c2 _ T 60 ; c3 = c3 _ T 260 ;
APPENDIX B
c4 c4 _ T 260 cshipA ; c5 = c5 _ T 260 cshipA ; E −E ( FEM
E )
(A3) In the tables B1 and B2 Diff = deeEf deef d(efFEM is
c6 = c6 _ T 260 cs2hipA
p ; c7 = c7 _ T 260 cshipA ;
2
. F )
the difference (in percentage) of the deforma-
c8 = c8 _ T 260 cshipA
3
shipA ; 9 9 _ T 260
3
shipA , tion energy Edef obtained with eqs. (A8 &1)
from that obtained from numerical simulations
where the coefficient cshipA was approximated Edef(FEM).
with the length of a striking ship LA as:

cshipA cshipA ( LA )
⎧ 0.0055LA 0 385 f LA ≤ 190 [ ]
=⎨
90 [ m ].
⎩0.0049LA − 0.263, for LA ≥ 190
(A4)

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 Table  B1. Comparison of the deformation energies Table  B2. Comparison of the deformation energies
obtained with eqs. (A8 & 1) and from FEM simulations. obtained with eqs. (A8 & 1) and from FEM simulations.
Scenarios L1.(Chapter validation). Scenarios L2.(Chapter validation).

Edef Edef Edef Edef

TB TA (FEM) (eqs. A8 &1) Diff. TB TA (FEM) (eqs.A8 &1) Diff.

Scenario [m] [m] [MJ] [MJ] [%] Scenario [m] [m] [MJ] [MJ] [%]

150–150 8.0 7.2 33.4 33.8 1% 150–150 8.0 7.2 39.1 31.4 −20%
150–150 8.0 9.5 62.1 63.2 2% (1)
150–150 8.0 9.5 53.0 52.3 −1%
150–150 8.0 8.4 70.6 63.2 11% 150–150 8.0 8.4 33.8 33.9 0%
150–150 8.0 5.7 23.4 24.7 5% (2)
150–150 8.0 5.7 20.2 17.6 −13%
150–150 8.0 4.6 11.6 20.1 73% 150–150 8.0 4.6 15.6 17.0 9%
(3)
150–190 8.0 11.9 26.0 30.2 16% 150–190 8.0 11.9 32.5 36.6 12%
(4)
150–190 8.0 14.2 48.9 61.5 26% 150–190 8.0 14.2 55.6 66.0 19%
150–190 8.0 13.1 34.7 54.2 56% 150–190 8.0 13.1 41.9 58.6 40%
150–190 8.0 6.3 28.4 27.4 3% 150–190 8.0 6.3 21.7 21.6 0%
150–190 8.0 5.1 29.9 27.4 8% 150–190 8.0 5.1 24.2 23.4 −3%
150–260 8.0 19.1 60.1 67.8 13% 150–260 8.0 19.1 27.4 28.8 5%
150–260 8.0 21.4 60.2 85.0 41% 150–260 8.0 21.4 54.9 76.9 40%
150–260 8.0 20.3 59.9 81.8 36%
150–260 8.0 20.3 54.3 80.0 47%
150–260 8.0 7.1 43.8 39.4 −10%
150–260 8.0 7.1 51.4 44.7 13%
150–260 8.0 6.0 40.8 38.0 −7%
150–260 8.0 6.0 62.5 45.6 27%
190–150 12.0 7.2 59.1 59.4 1%
190–150 12.0 7.2 57.5 62.3 8% (5)
190–150 12.0 10.4 68.8 57.5 −16%
190–150 12.0 10.4 86.2 80.3 7%
190–150 12.0 8.9 67.4 61.6 −9%
190–150 12.0 8.9 91.6 91.7 0%
190–150 12.0 8.4 66.6 65.5 −2%
190–150 12.0 8.4 77.6 84.1 8% (6)
190–150 12.0 6.9 56.9 57.2 1%
190–150 12.0 6.9 50.7 60.1 18%
190–190 12.0 11.9 80.6 73.7 −9%
190–190 12.0 11.9 56.7 60.0 6%
190–190 12.0 15.1 75.4 96.3 28%
190–190 12.0 15.1 72.2 92.9 29% 190–190 12.0 13.6 71.8 89.1 24%
190–190 12.0 13.6 78.9 105.5 34% 190–190 12.0 9.0 40.2 37.2 −8%
190–190 12.0 9.0 59.0 49.2 17% 190–190 12.0 7.4 28.2 31.1 10%
190–190 12.0 7.4 42.1 34.9 17% 190–260 12.0 19.1 52.5 61.5 17%
190–260 12.0 19.1 53.7 64.4 20% 190–260 12.0 22.3 57.3 83.2 45%
190–260 12.0 22.3 66.3 93.3 41% 190–260 12.0 20.8 61.9 111.0 79%
190–260 12.0 20.8 105.1 161.0 53% 190–260 12.0 9.8 46.7 52.5 12%
190–260 12.0 9.8 64.9 61.1 6% 190–260 12.0 8.1 48.8 54.1 11%
190–260 12.0 8.1 67.2 61.1 9% 260–150 18.0 4.2 65.8 59.7 −9%
260–150 18.0 4.2 67.1 66.3 1% 260–150 18.0 9.2 80.7 69.4 −14%
260–150 18.0 9.2 104.7 84.1 20% (7)
260–150 18.0 6.9 64.0 61.6 −4%
260–150 18.0 6.9 121.4 99.1 18% 260–150 18.0 14.1 102.5 80.9 −21%
260–150 18.0 14.1 128.7 99.1 23% (8)
260–150 18.0 12.5 84.2 73.3 −13%
260–150 18.0 12.5 129.3 102.7 21% 260–190 18.0 8.9 79.6 74.0 −7%
260–190 18.0 8.9 109.7 99.4 9% 260–190 18.0 13.9 135.9 108.6 −20%
260–190 18.0 13.9 127.1 93.6 26% 260–190 18.0 11.6 109.7 102.5 −7%
260–190 18.0 11.6 157.9 142.2 10% 260–190 18.0 14.7 124.0 114.6 −8%
260–190 18.0 14.7 152.7 136.3 11% 260–190 18.0 13.1 121.1 126.4 4%
260–190 18.0 13.1 103.2 106.1 3% 260–260 18.0 16.1 141.7 136.7 −4%
260–260 18.0 16.1 148.3 140.8 5% 260–260 18.0 21.1 135.4 128.6 −5%
(9)
260–260 18.0 21.1 112.0 101.3 10% 260–260 18.0 18.8 141.7 155.2 10%
260–260 18.0 18.8 177.8 198.6 12% 260–260 18.0 15.6 129.9 119.8 −8%
260–260 18.0 15.6 207.1 179.1 14% (10)
260–260 18.0 14.0 86.2 72.7 −16%
260–260 18.0 14.0 150.6 118.9 21%
*notation: A—striking ship and B—struck ship
*notation: A—striking ship and B—struck ship

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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Full thickness material tests for impact analysis verification

M. Hoogeland & A.W. Vredeveldt

TNO, Delft, The Netherlands

ABSTRACT: Traditionally, a failure strain criterion is used in crash simulations in the maritime and
offshore industry. More sophisticated methods for multi-axial stress states are based on the Forming
Limit Diagram and the Fracture Forming Limit Diagram (FFLD). The diagrams are derived for the steel
sheet forming industry, such as car parts. Few tests are performed on specimens with plate thickness repre-
sentative for maritime application. Full thickness effects can not be neglected. In this paper, full thickness
material failure tests are described. S355 and S690 samples have been subjected to lateral impact. Round
specimens, fully clamped, simulate an equi-biaxial strain state. Apple core shaped specimens simulate
the plane strain conditions. Tests results are analyzed by Digital Image Correlation techniques, acceler-
ometers and ultrasonic thickness measurements. The failure of the specimens are depicted in the FLD
diagrams, showing the relevance of these tests for updating failure criteria for maritime and offshore
impact analysis.

1 INTRODUCTION on board. Hence, a way to take multi-axial stress

Since the end of last century, analysis of grounding
and impact by collisions has become customary in
the design stage of ships and offshore structures.
Originally, material failure models for steel struc-
tures use a failure strain criterion, corrected for ele-
ment size, applied on the equivalent plastic strain
as calculated. The equivalent plastic strain is com-
pared with the criterion and once exceeded, the ele-
ment is supposed to have ruptured, see (Scharrer,
2002). The critical failure strain is based on the
uniaxial material tests and corrected for plane
strain condition. This criterion proved very use-
ful for the collision impact analysis of structures
where the plane strain conditions holds. Common
examples are a tug hitting a column of a semi-sub
or the crashworthiness analysis for inland water-
way ships. However, when the stress state becomes
multiaxial, such as in curved structures as the end-
caps of LNG fuel tanks, underestimation of the
crashworthiness is evident (Atli-Veltin, 2016).
In curved structures and/or where stresses
resulting from different load directions exist, the
stress state is no longer uniaxial. It is commonly
known that in case of hydrostatic pressure, the
load carrying capacity of steel is much larger than
the uniax P. Hogströmial stress-strain curve would
indicate, alternatively said: the von Mises stress
sustained by the steel can be much greater than
the ultimate tensile strength. In collision analysis,
one may want to check full capacity of the ship
structure to withstand an impact without endan-
gering the cargo holding capacity and/or people
state into account is needed in the plastic deforma-
tion region, as is pointed out by Atli-Veltin et al.
2016, Dragt et al. 2015 & Walters 2013. While the
theory has been described clearly in many papers,
experimental validation is scarce. Tabri (2007) dis-
cussed small size, full thickness tests showing that
the actual experiments were hard to reproduce by
FE analysis. It is noted that these tests are per-
formed under quasi-static conditions and with a
rather sharp indenter. The current paper provides
more experimental results in dynamic conditions
and with a blunt indenter, ensuring bi-axial stress
and strain over a larger portion of the specimen.
Theoretical background using Forming Limit
Diagram (FLD) theory has been provided in an
earlier paper on this subject by Autar et al. 2016.
This paper discussed the background and how full
thickness tests on a 8 mm circular plate fit in the
framework of FLD. Zhu (1998) already pointed
out the usefulness of this approach. It was noted
that the Fracture Forming Limit Diagram (FFLD)
will help to incorporate the failure behavior of
material if necking does not occur. FLD normally
is limited to necking criteria only.
Hogström (2009), has described small scale
punch tests and tensile tests, verified by FE and
using the FFLD approach. The specimens were
4  mm thick and the tests were performed quasi-
static. It was pointed out that using the data from
the small scale, small thickness tests need transla-
tion to the large scale situation of actual ship col-
lision analyses. Larger thickens, larger specimens
will help with this translation.

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 The current paper, as follow-up of Autar (2016),
presents the results of the so-called apple core spec-
imens, exhibiting plane strain behavior. The results
from the circular samples (presented by Autar 2016)
are repeated to facilitate comparison of the results
for plane strain and equi-biaxial strain state. With
these experimental results, large size, full thickness
specimens are subjected to dynamic impact loads.
By using dynamic conditions, representative load
rates are obtained. The loads associated with the
forming of the specimens under consideration are
larger than any currently available hydraulic actua-
tor in TNOs laboratory. Therefore, TNO’s drop
tower has been modified for testing a circular and
apple core shaped plate subjected to impact load-
ing by a mass of 9 tonne. Both S690 and S355 have
been tested. Instrumentation is applied to record
accelerations, displacement and deformations.
2 FLD THEORY RECAP
Forming Limit Diagrams are frequently used in
the sheet metal forming industries, such as car
parts and drinking cans. Such a diagram is able
to represent several strain states. Figure 1 shows a
typical FLD with the major and minor strain on
the axes (ε1 and ε2). The Forming Limit Curve is
the acceptance criterion in this graph. Above this
criterion is not acceptable, below is. The figure
shows several strain states. Three conditions are
especially mentioned.
Uniaxial tension represents the standard mate-
rial test. The ultimate strain is measured on a
specimen where the width and thickness reduction
are not restraint. The major principal strain ε1 is
positive, while ε2 and ε3 are negative. Stress is only
observed in the major principal direction, others
are zero.
Figure 1. Forming limit diagram (Kinsey 2011).
450
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 450
Plane strain represents the situation often
encountered in ship structures. When collided, the
structure deforms inward, “pulling” material for-
ward and aft of the collision location. Deck and
bottom structures restrain the side shell to deform
in vertical direction. Hence the minor strain is low.
The major principal strain ε1 is positive, while ε2
is near zero and ε3 is the opposite value of ε1. The
stress has largest value in the major direction, in
the minor direction the value is lower with the
same sign.
The biaxial strain condition can be found in end
caps of LNG tanks. In this case, the surrounding
structure gives similar restraint in both directions,
hence the minor and major strain (ε2 and ε1 respec-
tively) are similar, as are the major and minor
stress.
The forming Limit Curve is normally based
on a necking criterion, e.g. Hill-Swift (Hill 1952,
Swift 1952). This means that local necking is used
as criterion for failure. As pointed out in sev-
eral papers and summarized by Atli-Veltin 2016,
there are more accurate FLD representations, e.g.
Marciniak-Kuczynski (Marciniak et al. 1973.) than
Swift-Hill. The main issue is related to the assump-
tion of necking. Although very important in the
FLD approach, in the actual crash situation, neck-
ing may not occur.
The Swift-Hill can be drawn with simple param-
eters, hence this is used as reference throughout
this paper. It is the intention of this paper to dis-
cuss test results, more than the embedding them in
adequate failure mechanism descriptions. What is
essential in the FLD framework, is that multiaxial
stress and strain conditions influence the load car-
rying capacity of material.
3 TEST DESCRIPTION
The material strength for impact under multiaxial
stress conditions is verified using an experimental
test set-up where a full thickness circular plate is
subjected to impact loading by a hemispherical
punch. TNO’s 9 tonnes drop tower is modified and
used for this purpose, see Figure 2.
The dimensions of the test setup for the die,
holder, steel plate, and punch, respectively, are
given in Figure 3.
To measure the acceleration of the punch, two
200  g accelerometers are attached to the impac-
tor. The drop distance is measured using a wire.
The thickness of the steel plate has been gauged
by ultrasonic thickness measurement. The speci-
mens have a speckle pattern applied on both
sides. The final 3-D deformation of the speci-
men relative to the initial configuration is meas-
ured using Digital Image Correlation (DIC) in
3/29/2017 9:39:28 AM
 Table  1. Material properties specimens, taken from
material certificates.

σy [MPa] σu [MPa] εu [%] t [mm]

S355 431 562 25.7 8

S690 775 806 16 8

Table 2. Experiment schedule.

Drop height Epot Drops

Specimen Material [m] [kJ] [#]

Figure 2. Test set-up. Circ 1 S355 4.6 406 6

Circ 2 S690 3.4 300 3
Circ 3 S690 3.3 291 4
Circ 4 S355 4.6 406 7
Apc 1 S355 1.9 168 6
Apc 2 S355 1.8 159 3
Apc 3 S690 0.6 53 1
Apc 4 S690 0.4 35 2

The specimens subjected to impact loading are

listed in Table 2. This table also gives an overview
of the drop heights and associated potential energy,
Epot.. Most specimens only failed after several
drops. For the circular specimens the maximum
drop height was insufficient to break the specimen
at once. Another reason was the intention to break
the specimen with just enough energy, thus with-
out a large overshoot.
The first observations one can make from the
table are that the apple core specimens require far
less energy to break. Also S690 has a lesser capac-
ity to withstand impact. In the discussion section,
Figure 3. Dimension (a) die, (b) punch.
we will further elaborate.

3D with an accuracy of 100 μm/m. Results are 4 TEST RESULTS

used to determine the major and minor strains
of the test specimen. This technique was used to
compare the pre- and post-impact pictures of the
specimen. Dots are applied on the top and bot-
tom surfaces of the specimen and pictures are
taken before and after the testing. With special
data processing software, the strains in major and
minor directions are determined.
Two types of specimens have been subjected to
impact testing: a circular specimen with a diameter
of 1100  mm and a apple core shaped specimen,
also diameter 1100  mm, where two circular sec-
tions with a radius of 250 mm have been removed.
All specimens have a thickness of 8 mm. Half the
specimens are made of S355 and the other half
of S690. Table 1 shows the material properties as
taken from the material certificate. It is noted that
the S355 exceeds the requirements substantially.
One typical example of the circular specimens and
one typical example of the apple core specimens
are described below. First the analysis of the strains
is performed. The through thickness strain, (ε3) is
based on ultrasonic thickness measurements, while
the major and minor strain are derived from DIC.
The forces and energies are described as well in
more detail.
4.1 Strain and thickness circular specimen
For the circular specimens, circ3 has been taken as
reference, see Figure 4 for the end result.
The reduced thickness of the specimen is meas-
ured, using an ultrasonic thickness gauge, at 4
different locations: near the holder/die, halfway
between the die and punch and directly below

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 the punch. Figure 5, shows the reduced thickness
after failure of the specimen. The through thick-
ness strain ε3 is derived by dividing the thickness
reduction by the original thickness. The results are
shown in Table 3.
The high strength steel S690 has lower strain at
failure compared to S355 steel, which is according
the material properties (Table 1). While specimens
circ 1 and circ 2 have failure strains equal to the
material certificate values, specimens circ 3 and
circ 4 showed higher rupture strains. The fixing
of the specimen was improved after the first two
tests, which may account for better load distribu-
tion. A larger part of the plate will exhibit high
strains and a more uniform distribution, hence the
total absorbed energy is higher and rupture can be
delayed.
By applying conservation of volume and con-
sidering equi-biaxial loading (ε1  =  ε2), the major
and minor strains are determined by:
1 a larger area.
ε1 = −1
1+ ε 3
For specimen circ 3, ε3 is 41%, therefore, with
ε1 = ε2, the minor and major strain are 30%.
Figure 7 shows the major strains of the top of
specimen circ 3. This is a typical example. The
minor strain plots are also available and for both
sides.
By studying the results, maximum major and
minor strains of respectively 22.6% and 18.8%,
for the top surface, and 24.7% and 17.4% for the
bottom surface are obtained. The strains at the
bottom surface are higher due to bending effects,
hence introducing more tension at the bottom with
respect to the top surface, especially in the bending
region.
These values need to be compared with the value
of 21%, as derived from the thickness measure-
ment. The average result of the DIC readings is
21%. It is noted that no measurements are avail-
able close to the rupture, see Figure 7.
Figure 6 shows the rupture surface of specimen
circ 1. From this picture, a few observations can
be made:
• In the centre, a different appearance is visible.
This would suggest that either he material is
inhomogeneous or rupture initiated from the
surface and the last bit sustained more ductile
behaviour.
• From this picture, and also from the thickness
measurements (Figure 5), no localized necking is
confirmed: the thickness reduction appears over
(1)
The rupture surface is more or less perpendic-
ular to the plate surface. This indicates rupture
before necking. Normally crack surfaces are under
an angle of 450.
4.2 Strain and thickness apple core specimens
This section presents the results obtained from
the experiments on the apple core shaped plates.
Table 3. Results major and minor strain from thickness
measurements.

Thickness
Specimen Material reduction [mm] ε3 ε1 = ε2

Circ 1 S355 4.4 0.45 0.35

Circ 2 S690 5.4 0.33 0.22
Circ 3 S690 4.7 0.41 0.30
Circ 4 S355 3.4 0.58 0.53

Figure 4. Specimen circ 3, ruptured.

Figure 5. Thickness reduction (specimen circ 3). Figure 6. Close up of rupture surface (specimen circ 1).

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 Figure 7. Major strain DIC, top surface specimen 3.

Specimen apc 4 has been taken as reference, see

Figure  8 for the end result. The specimen failed
after two drops and the failure was only in the cen-
tre of the specimen.
Similar to the circular specimen, Figure 5 shows
the reduced thickness after failure of the specimen.
The through thickness strain ε3 results are shown
in Table 4.
The high strength steel S690 has lower failure
strain at failure compared to S355 steel, which is
according the material properties (Table 1). While
specimens apc 1 and apc 2 (S355) have failure
strains exceeding the material certificates by large,
specimen apc 3 and apc 4 (S690) have failures
strains of a similar value to those mentioned on Figure 8. Specimen 4, ruptured.
the material certificate. The strain is more localized
than at the circular specimens.
Figure  10 shows the major strains of the top
By applying conservation of volume and con-
of specimen apc 4. This is a typical example. The
sidering plane strain loading (ε2 = 0), the major and
minor strain plots are also available and for both
major strain is determined by:
sides.
By studying the results, maximum major and
1
ε1 = −1 (2) minor strains of respectively 14.2% and −0.4%,
1+ ε 3 for the top surface, and 16.2% and 5.1% for the
bottom surface are obtained. The strains at the
For specimen 4, ε3 is 16%, therefore, the major bottom surface are higher due to bending effects,
strain is 19%. hence introducing more tension at the bottom with

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 respect to the top surface, especially in the bending
region around the punch. It even results in a minor
strain being positive.
These values need to be compared with the value
of 19%, as derived from the thickness measure-
ment. The average result of the DIC readings is
15%. It is noted that the measurement read-outs
are available slightly away from the rupture, see
Figure 10.
From the thickness measurements (Figure  9),
and also the DIC plot (Figure  10), no localized
necking is confirmed: the thickness reduction
appears to be distributed over a larger area.

Table 4. Results major and minor strain from thickness 4.3 Force and energy
measurements. The measured acceleration is post processed to
obtain forces, displacements and energies. Typi-
Thickness
cal results of the experiments for circular speci-
Specimen Material reduction [mm] ε3 ε1
men 3 (drop 2, 1200 mm drop height) are shown in
Apc 1 S355 5.4 −0.33 0.48 Figure 11. Here, the blue (a1) and red (a2) lines are
Apc 2 S355 5.6 −0.30 0.43 the output of the accelerometers on both sides of
Apc 3 S690 7.0 −0.13 0.14 the drop weight. The first peak is associated with
Apc 4 S690 6.7 −0.16 0.19 the main impact. The drop weight bounced back a
few times, as can be seen by the subsequent peaks.
The green (distance) line shows the drop height
(on the secondary Y-axis). The purple (s) line is the
calculated drop distance based on the output of
the accelerometers following this formulae:

vi 0 5 (ti − ti ) ( ai + ai ) + vi −1 (3)

Figure 9. Thickness reduction (specimen apc 4). si 0 5 (ti − ti ) (vi + vi ) + si −1 (4)

Figure 10. Major strain DIC, top surface specimen apc 4.

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 Figure 11. Results drop 2, specimen circ 3. Figure 12. Force displacement curve, specimen circ 3.

where a = acceleration, v = speed and s is displace-

ment at the respective time steps i and i-1. A good
approximation is obtained by integration of the
acceleration signal output.
By applying equation (5) and arranging all test
results in a subsequent order, Figure 12 is obtained.
This figure shows the force versus displacement
curves of the 4 drops. Here, it can be seen that
the force shows a linearly increasing behaviour
once plastic deformation occurs. The consecutive
drops have a steep rise up to the load where the
specimen continues to yield at a lower rate. This
is similar to the hardening one would observe in Figure 13. Force displacement curve specimen apc 2.
a material test. In case a samples is loaded beyond
the yield strength and then unloaded, the new
yield strength is at the point where the unloading
started. The combination of curves shows that
consecutive drops result in similar behavior as
one would expect from a single drop. This is bet-
ter shown in Figure 13 and Figure 14, showing the
force displacement curve for apc2 and apc3 respec-
tively. The latter failed in one drop, the first one in
3 consecutive drops. It is noted that the material is
different for these two tests.
When looking at the force-displacement plot
of drop 4 in Figure  12 and drop 3 in Figure  13,
an irregular behaviour is observed at a distance of
0.16m which indicated failure of the specimen. The Figure 14. Force displacement curve specimen apc 3.
maximum impact force is 3.3 MN.
The total absorbed energy is equal to the area
below the force-displacement curve. By integrating
the signal using equation (6), the total absorbed
energy is obtained. The total absorbed energy is
239  kJ. Figure  15 shows the dissipated energy of
all drops aligned for specimen 3. Table 5 shows the
results for the other specimens as well, combined
with the input energy.
Unfortunately, the acceleration signals of circu-
lar specimens 1 and 2 and apple core shaped speci-
mens 1 and 4 were corrupt and had to be discarded.
The loss of energy can be attributed to kinetic
energy still present at the time the specimen failed. Figure  15. Energy displacement curve, experimental
This energy was absorbed by dampers. results biaxial case (specimen circ 3).

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 5 ASSESSMENT AND DISCUSSION solid squares (circ 1, circ 4, apc 1 and apc 2) rep-
resent the S355 specimens. The solid dots (circ 2,
In this chapter, the results from the experiment circ 3, apc 3 and apc 4) are the S690 specimens. For
(section  4) are compared with the FLD formulas the circular specimens, equi-biaxial are assumed.
(section  2) and, where applicable, discrepancies For the apple core shaped specimens plane strain
explained. conditions are assumed; see Table  3 and Table  4
When plotting the major and minor strain for the circular and apple core shaped specimens
obtained from the experiment by DIC and results respectively. The red crosses and (open) red
thickness measurements in the reference FLD, squares are results from the DIC measurements on
Figure  16 is obtained for the circular specimens specimen circ 3and apc 4, both made of S690.
and Figure 17 for the apple core shaped specimens. Below the graphs, the observations made are
The results based on the thickness measurements described.
are plotted in the graphs as squares and dots. The
5.1 Strain bi-axiality
Table 5. Potential and dissipated energy. The DIC readings at the circular specimen indicate
biaxial strain conditions, but not equi-biaxial. Top
Specimen E *pot [kJ] Ediss [kJ] δE [kJ] F [MN] and bottom generate similar results with respect to
the bi-axiality ratio. It is noted that the readings
Circ 1 406 – – –
are taken at some distance from the rupture, where
Circ 2 300 – – 3.0
the condition is not expected to be equi-biaxial.
Circ 3 291 239 0.82 3.3
The tangential strain will reduce away from the
Circ 4 406 358 0.88 3.1
centre, while the radial may stay more or less the
Apc 1 168 1.8
Apc 2 159 130 0.82 1.9
same value.
Apc 3 53 45 0.85 1.2
The DIC readings at the apple core shaped
Apc 4 35 1.0 specimen clearly show plane strain conditions for
the top, however for the bottom bi-axiality is more

Figure 16. Major and minor strain, DIC (S690) and thickness measurement for circular specimens.

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 Figure 17. Major and minor strain, DIC (S690) and thickness measurement for apple core shaped specimens.
present. It is noted that the shape of the indentor
is visible in the specimen, hence, locally bi-axial
strains will be present.
5.2 Rupture mechanism
Both specimens analysed with DIC are made of
S690. There are four readings exceeding the FLD
curve using Swift-Hill criteria for the circular spec-
imen and 1 for the apple core shaped specimen.
This may indicate that a Marciniak-Kuczynski
model (Marciniak et al. 1973), with a steeper slope
going out from the plane strain condition, is more
representative. This would be in agreement with
Atli-Veltin (Atli-Veltin et al. 2016).
None of the readings are at the rupture edge,
hence the markings in the graphs relate to the no-
ruptured condition. The limit curve is expected to
be above the markers.
From the thickness measurements, only the
apple core shaped specimen 3 is below the Swift-
Hill criterion curve, all others are above. Especially
the S355 specimens can endure much higher strains
at rupture than would have been expected.
As already pointed out, the tests indicate that
the specimens fail before necking occurs. The
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 457
thickness reduction is not local and the rupture
surface does not show the typical 450 angles. So,
one would expect that the thickness measurements
and DIC readings are below the Swift-Hill crite-
rion line, as this criterion assumes local necking. In
contrast, the specimens exhibits more strain prior
to rupture.
6 CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
Experiments are required to verify failure mecha-
nisms and failure criteria. Theory is essential to
model the physics and understand the phenomena.
It is also useful in interpolating information from
a limited set of tests to an arbitrary condition, as
is often required in analysis. However, theory only
gets real value when results from experiments are
available in support. The current results show that
the Swift-Hill theory may have implicit conserva-
tism. More sophisticated theories, especially when
supported by multi-axial testing, may bring added
value.
The effect of the multi-axiality needs to be
addressed in the failure criterion. It is shown that
3/29/2017 9:39:35 AM
 the minor and major plastic strains which occurred
in the specimen are larger than the ultimate strain
based on tensile tests. This is mainly due to the
“support” provided by the surrounding material.
In the equi-biaxial tests, this is most clearly visible.
It is noted that only a few experiments are per-
formed. Therefore, to provide a statistically more
sound picture as well as more states of strain, the
number of experiments should be increased.
REFERENCES
Atli-Veltin, B et al. 2016, Wrinkling, Fracture, and Neck-
ing: The Various Failure Modes in Maritime Crash,
OMAE 2016: 35th International Conference on Ocean,
Offshore and Arctic Engineering, June 19–24, 2016,
Busan, Korea.
Autar, N et al. 2016, Next Generation Material Failure
Model For Impact Analysis, SAROSS Safety & Relia-
bility of Ships, Offshore and Subsea Structures, August
15–17, 2016, Glasgow Asranet.
Dragt, RC et al. 2015, Calculation of shell element failure
based on the state of stress inside of a neck, OMAE
2015: 34th International Conference on Ocean, Off-
shore and Arctic Engineering, May 31–June 5, 2015,
St. John’s, Canada.
Hill, R 1952, On the discontinuous plastic states, with
special reference to localized necking in thin sheets,
Journal of the mechanics and physics of solids, 1952,
vol. 1, pp. 19–30.
458
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 458
Hogström, P et al. 2009, An experimental and numerical
study of the effects of length scale and strain state on
the necking and fracture behaviours in sheet metals,
International Journal of Impact Engineering, 36
(2009): 1194–1203.
Kinsey, B.L. et al. 2011, Effects of element types on the
failure prediction using a stress-based forming limit
curve, Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineer-
ing, vol. 133.
Marciniak, Z et al. 1973, Influence of the plastic prop-
erties of a material on the forming limit diagram
for sheet metal in tension, Int. J. Mech. Sci., vol. 15,
pp. 789–805, 1973.
Scharrer, M et al. 2002, Collision calculations in naval
design systems, Report, Final Rep. MTK0614 Nr.
ESS2002.183, Version 1/2002-11-22, Hamburg:
Germanischer Lloyd.
Swift, H.W. 1952, Plastic instability under plane stress,
Journal of the mechanics and physics of solids, 1952,
vol.1, pp. 1–80.
Tabri, K et al. 2007, A benchmark study on ductile fail-
ure criteria for shell elements in multiaxial stress state,
Advancements in Marine Structures. 2007: 401–409.
Walters, C.L. 2013, Framework for Adjusting for both
Stress Triaxiality and Mesh Size Effect for Failure of
Metals in Shell Structures, International Journal of
Crashworthiness, vol. 19 (1), pp. 1–12, 2013.
Zhu, L, Atkins, A.G. 1998, Failure Criteria For Ship Col-
lision And Grounding, PRADS ’98, 7th International
Symposium on Practical Design of Ships and Mobile
Units.
3/29/2017 9:39:35 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Material relationship identification for finite element analysis at

intermediate strain rates using optical measurements

J.M. Kubiczek, Kim S. Burchard & S. Ehlers

Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany

M. Schöttelndreyer
Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems GmbH, Hamburg, Germany

ABSTRACT: Accidental events, the interaction with ice as well as, in case of navy, detonations can
lead to plastic deformations including fracture of ship structures. For the finite element analysis of such
events, a suitable description for the material relationship is required. Therefore, this paper presents a
procedure to obtain the effective stress-strain material relationship at intermediate strain rates. The corre-
sponding uniaxial tensile tests are carried out at different speeds in order to investigate strain-rate effects.
Since mechanical extensometers are not suitable for high speed tensile testing a high speed optical strain
measurement system and a corresponding evaluation routine in MATLAB are developed. Two measuring
marks are applied on the specimen and optically traced by a high speed camera. Based on the result of
these measurements, a novel approach to determine effective stress-strain relations for the implementation
into finite element models is proposed and compared with current approaches.

1 INTRODUCTION The engineering stress R is defined as the ratio

of the force F and the initial cross-sectional area S0:
The determination of the plastic behaviour of
steel up to the collapse is of high interest for the F
investigation of accidents such as ship collisions R= (2)
S0
and groundings. But it can already be important
for the construction of ships that are operating
Furthermore, material data like the Young’s
under harsh conditions like winter navigation or
modulus, the yield strength or the tensile strength
the design of navy vessels, as their survivability in
can be determined.
the case of e.g. detonations must be guaranteed.
All these tasks are usually examined with the
Finite Element Method (FEM), where the material 1.2 True stress-strain-curve
relationship identification is indispensable for the
For the consideration of large plastic deformations
description of the plastic material behaviour. The
after necking initiates and until failure of the speci-
plastic material behaviour is commonly described
men the assumption of a constant cross-sectional
on the basis of engineering stress-strain curves,
area is not valid anymore. The acting stress is
also serving as a basis for material parameters,
underestimated with increasing strain. This condi-
such as Young’s modulus or yield strength.
tion is leading to the introduction of the concept
of the true stress-strain curve.
1.1 Engineering stress-strain-curve In uniaxial stress state, the true strain ε can be
described according Equation (3).
The engineering stress-strain curve is the result of
the uniaxial tensile test. It describes the load on the
dL ⎛ L⎞ ⎛ ΔL ⎞
= ln ( + )
L
specimen as a function of the elongation in terms ε =∫ = ln ⎜ ⎟ = ln 1 + (3)
of the undeformed specimen geometry. The engi- L0 L ⎝ L0 ⎠ ⎝ L0 ⎟⎠
neering strain e is defined as the ratio of the elon-
gation L – L0 and the initial length L0: For the true stress σ generally applies:
L L0 ΔL F
e= = (1) σ= (4)
L0 L0 S

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 The problem of measuring the actual cross
3 dev dev
sectional area S can be achieved according to ε eff, pl ε ij ε ij
Reckling (1967) by assuming the volume as 2
1
(ε ) ( ) ( )
2 2 2
constant: = ⋅ ε pl,2 + ε pll, ε pll,,3 + ε pl,l2 − ε ppl,l3
pll,
2
L0 1
S0 L0 = S L bzw S = S0 ⋅ = S0 ⋅ (5) (8)
L 1+ e σi
with ε pl ,i ε i − , i = 1, 2, 3 mE

Using Equation (5) the Equation (4) is now The conversion of the principal strains into plas-
solvable: tic principal strains is basically done by subtracting
the elastic strain determined by the Hooks law. The
F F ⋅( + ) = R⋅ stress and strain connecting Young’s modulus mE
σ= = ( + ) (6) can therefore obtained directly from the uniaxial
S S0
tensile test. In metallic materials an isotropic mate-
rial behaviour can be assumed, so the Young’s
However, the determined true stress is only modulus is equal in all three principal strain direc-
applicable until the tensile strength is reached tions. With i = 1 it yields for the obtained data from
respectively the specimen starts to neck. The the tensile test for metallic materials approximately
assumption of a constant volume has no more according to LSTC (2002) to:
validity.
Figure 1 summarizes the applicability of the var- σ1 Rp 0 , 2
ious presented different stress and strain concepts. ε pl ,1 ε1 − ≈ ε1 − (9)
mE mE

1.3 Material-curve for nonlinear FEA
FE programs like LS-DYNA, which is used for
this investigation, usually require the true effective
stress in terms of the true effective plastic strain
as an input material-curve to describe the plas-
tic material behaviour for metallic materials, see
LSTC (2014). This material-curve is defined by n
predefined reference points, which should cover
the occurring strain range.
The necessary effective values of the reference
points can be calculated e.g. according to von
Mises from the principal stresses and strains:
3 dev dev
σ efff σ ij σ ij
2 Equation (12) on test data proposed by Hollomon
1
(σ 1 σ 2 ) + (σ 1 σ 3 ) + (σ 2 σ 3 )
2 2
= ⋅
2 in order to make a statement about the material
For the true effective stress and true effective
plastic strain calculation until the tensile strength
σ2 and σ3 or εpl,2 and εpl,3 are assumed to be negligi-
bly small compared to σ1 or εpl,1. Thus, for the true
effective values applies approximately to:
ε efff pl
pl ε plpl ,1 (10)
σ efff σ =R ( e) (11)
Taking the limitations of the assumption of vol-
ume consistency into account this analytical calcu-
lation for the material-curve is only applicable until
the tensile strength is reached.
Finally the use of a power law fit shown in
2
(7) (1945) is a common and widespread approach
behaviour after necking initiates.

σ efff K ε eff n (12)

It successfully applied on ship structures simu-

lations e.g. by Peschmann (2001) or Ehlers et al.
(2008) to determine the material curves.

2 TENSILE TESTS

2.1 Tensile specimen

The dog-bone specimens, designed according to
DIN EN ISO 6892-1 (2014), are made of a 6-mm-
Figure 1. Use and limitations of various equations for thick D-36 steel plate. All specimens are wire cut
stresses and strains from a tensile test. Dowling (2013). with their longitudinal direction parallel to the

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 rolling direction of the same plate. Details of the
specimen geometry are shown in Figure 2.
2.2 Experimental setup
Eighteen tensile specimens in four test series were
tested at speeds from 0.1 mm/s up to 100 mm/s.
Table 1 shows the name of each test series and the
number of tests as well as the predetermined speed
(vel_set), the average measured speed (vel_act) and
the associated strain rates during the tests.
The loading was displacement controlled by a
hydraulic cylinder. The experimental setup is sche-
matically shown in Figure 3. The displacement of
the hydraulic cylinder was predetermined (disp_set
signal) and compared with the current displace-
ment (disp_actual signal).
Figure 2. Geometry of dog-bone specimen with mark-
ers for optical measurement.
The force on the specimen was measured by
a load cell, which was mounted in line with the
hydraulic cylinder. Both, force signal and displace-
ment signal were forwarded by the hydraulic con-
trol to the measuring amplifier.
Due to the high test speed no mechanical exten-
someter can be used to measure the deformation.
Instead of extensometers two measuring marks
were applied on the specimen and optically tracked
with a high speed camera. For the strain evalua-
tion, it is important that there is a high contrast
between the marker and specimen. In the case
of the presented test series, the specimens were
sprayed with white paint and the markers were
applied as a black circular dot with a diameter of
approximately 2.5 mm. The position of the dots is
based on DIN EN ISO 6892-1 (2014), see Figure 2.
The high speed camera and the measuring
amplifier started recording at the same time by an
external trigger signal when the hydraulic cylinder
started moving. Furthermore the measuring fre-
quency of the amplifier was synchronized with the
frame rate of the high-speed camera. The frame
rate itself depends on the test velocity and video
resolution and is in the range between 50 Hz and
4000 Hz.

3 DETERMINATION
Table 1. Test matrix. OF MATERIAL CURVES
vel_set vel_act Strain rate
3.1 Optical measurements
Name Amount mm/s mm/s 1/s A MATLAB routine, which is based on the “Digi-
tal Image Correlation and Tracking” method by
V01 3 0.100 0.100 0.002
Eberl (2010), is used to determine the deforma-
V1 5 1.000 0.996 0.016
tion from the video data determined by the high-
V10 5 10.000 10.079 0.163
speed camera. This method can determine the
V100 5 100.000 97.062 1.566
change in the length of the specimen based on the
applied measurement markers using digital image
correlation.
As input, the measured force is imported and
the video is converted into a series of individual
images. In the next step, these images are trimmed
to the relevant image area in order to save space
and computational time, see Figure 4 (left).
The contrast of the images is then increased, the
colours inverted and stored in binary format with
a consecutive numbering. As a result, the markers
in the image area shown in Figure 4 (middle and
right) are white and the specimen is black.
The initial marker positions are determined
from the first image of the series. The method used
for this purpose recognizes the center points of
white surfaces in the binary image files and visual-
izes them as green crosses, see Figure  4 (middle).
Figure  3. Tensile test setup with optical deformation Starting from the initial marker positions, the
detection. entire image series is then analysed. The current

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 Figure 4. (left) Determination of the evaluation range,
(middle) identification and (right) Tracing of the initial
measuring marks. Figure  5. Engineering stress-strain-curve results for
obtained tests for 0.1 mm/s and 1 mm/s (top-down).

marker position is determined and visualized with

a red cross, as shown in Figure 4 (right).
The identified control points, in this case the
marker positions, are tracked by cross-correlation.
With the determined marker positions for each
image of the series, the change in the length of
the specimen is determined and converted into the
corresponding strain for each time step using
the initial length. Since the recording of video and
the measuring of the force takes place synchro-
nously, a force respectively stress value is present
for each strain value so that the engineering stress-
strain curve can be determined.

3.2 Experimental results

The results of the test series are shown in Figure 5,
Figure 6 and Figure 7. The influence of the strain
rate on the material behaviour is clearly visible.
With increasing strain rate the material solidifies
and the yield strength increases by a maximum of
11% and the tensile strength increases by maxi-
mum of 7%. The measured engineering stress-
strain-curves and the resulting material constants
are only valid for the tested plate. The material Figure  6. Engineering stress-strain-curve results for
constants may vary for other batches of D-36 steel. obtained tests for 10 mm/s and 100 mm/s (top-down).

3.3 Determination of the material curve

the Equations (3) to (11). In the next step, the power
First of all, the material curve for the test series V01 law fit proposed by Hollomon (1945) is applied to
is determined by means of the average engineering the data set. A great advantage of this method is
stress-strain curve up to the tensile strength using the applicability to any given stress-strain curve

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 tion (4) also a direct calculation of the true stress
until fracture. With a sufficient fine resolution of
the applied pattern of 2.64 mm or less, this method
enables a direct use the obtained stress and strain
information as a material curve. The simulation
results obtained with data obtained by Aramis show
very good accordance with experiments. However,
the application to standardized tests, i.e. based on
the extensometer strain, is not possible.
Therefore it would be desirable to have a method
which, like the power law fit function, can easily be
applied to any standardized tensile test and at the
same time offers the same quality of results as the
Figure 7. Comparison of the mean curves. method based on Aramis measurements.

4 OPTIMISATION WITH RESPONSE

SURFACE METHOD (RSM)

The program LS-OPT offered by LSTC is used to

generate a material curve by means of optimisa-
tion with the RSM. The material curve which is
determined by the relationships of Equation (3) to
Equation (11) on the basis of the average engineer-
ing stress-strain-curve of the experimental results
and represented by 10 reference points serves as
the basis for the optimisation. The last point of
the curve is determined by the tensile strength Rm.
and the uniform elongation Ag. Further n points
Figure 8. Comparison of test results and simulation. with predefined strains ε1 to εn describe the material
curve from the beginning of necking. To determine
the associated stresses σ1 to σn the characteristic
and also to force-displacement curves if the speci- curve profile is used. Both the material curves based
men geometry is known. The hardening exponent on the power law fit proposed by Hollomon (1945)
n is obtained to 0.125 and the strength coefficient and the material curves determined experimentally
K to 864.800. by Ehlers & Varsta (2009) show monotonously
A material curve based on these coefficients decreasing curve slopes m0 to mn with increasing
leads however to an underestimation of the experi- strain. This relationship is clarified in Figure 9.
mental results, as shown in Figure 8. The slope m0 results directly from the last two
Similar results for other steel grades and sample reference points of the test results. The further
geometries assuming a power law fit to describe slopes m1 to mn are defined as parameters for the
the material curve were also observed by Kubiczek
(2013). The assumption that the use of a power law
fit always leads to a conservative result is however
rejected by Ehlers & Varsta (2009). They show that
there may also be an overestimation of the experi-
mental results.
Ehlers & Varsta (2009) present therefore an
alternative concept based on the optical meas-
urement system Aramis to describe the material
behaviour. A stochastic grayscale pattern is applied
onto the specimen’s surface and traced by two
cameras during the test. Depending on the reso-
lution of the applied pattern, this system allows
very precise statements about the 3D deformation
state of the specimen and an approximation of the
true strain until fracture. The approximation of the
actual cross sectional area S allows acc. to Equa- Figure 9. Characteristic curve.

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 optimisation. The difference between two con-
secutive slopes should not exceed zero is selected
as the boundary condition according to the
Equation (13).
The design space is spanned between zero and
the slope m0 for each parameter. This ensures on
the one hand a seamless transition between the pre-
determined curve section up to the tensile strength
Rm and the curve section to be determined by the Figure 10. Adaptation of sub-region in SRSM: (a) pure
optimisation. On the other hand, it is ensured that panning, (b) pure zooming and (c) a combination of pan-
the material curve decreases monotonously. ning and zooming, LSTC (2013).

Rm − σ 0 σ − σ n −1
m0 = > m1 > .. > n mn (13)
Ag − ε 0 ε n − ε n −1

For the optimisation, several parameter com-

binations, so-called designs, are examined in each
iteration. The linear Koshal method LSTC (2013)
is used to select the designs within the specified
design space. The number of the tested designs
b according to Equation (14) for each iteration
results directly from the parameter number a.

b a +1 (14)

After the designs are defined by the program,
the required stresses σ1 to σn can be successively
obtained according to Equation (15) from the
defined slopes m1 to mn and predefined strains ε1
to εn.
σ1 1 (ε 1 − )+R m ation. Progress is made by moving the sub-region
σ2 2 (ε 2 − ε 1 ) + σ 1
....
(15)
σn n (ε −ε 1 ) + σn 1
With the resultant material curve, the experi-
ment is simulated using the double precision
explicit time integration solver LS-DYNA version
R7.1.1. The choice of the explicit solver is due to
the fact that the obtained material curve should be
e.g. applicable for ship collision analysis, see Mar-
tens (2014) or Schöttelndreyer (2015). The speci-
men is modelled using four nodded quadrilateral
Belytschko–Lin–Tsay shell elements with an ele-
ment length of 1 mm.
The resultant stress-strain curve is determined
for each design. Based on the curve matching met-
ric proposed by Witowksi et al. (2011) the results
are compared with the corresponding experimen-
tal data and the design with the best match is
determined.
The Sequential Response Surface Method
(SRSM) is used as an optimisation strategy for
Figure 11. Result of material curve optimization (V01).
the obtained results to determine an approximate
optimum. It defines a new sub-region of the design
space centred on each successive optimum per iter-
as well as reducing its size, as shown in Figure 10.
The optimisation ends with the achievement of
a predefined maximum iteration number or if a
predetermined tolerance for the deviation between
simulation result and experimental data is reached.
Figure 11 shows the result of the material curve
optimization for the test series V01.
In contrast to Figure 8 no significant difference
between the experimental data and the simulation
result can be recognized.
5 STRAIN RATE EFFECTS
The material properties of steel changes with
increasing load speed respectively increasing strain
rate, as the test results in Figure  7 show. These
strain rate effects are often taken into consid-
eration by using the so called Cowper–Symonds
method that is widely used in the naval architecture
and offshore engineering fields, like presented by
Paik (2007a, 2007b), Kim et al. (2016). The rela-
tionship between the quasi static and the dynamic

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 material behaviour is thereby expressed in terms Table 2. Sample coefficients for Cowper-Symonds con-
of the dynamic yield stress σYd and the static yield stitutive stress equation [2].
stress σY by the following equation:
C q
σYd
= f (ε ) g (ε ) (16) Material 1/s – Reference
σY
Mild steel 40.4 5 Cowper & Symonds
The function f ( ) corresponds to the strain (1957)
rate sensitivity and g( ) is a material hardening High tensile steel 3200 5 Paik & Thayamballi
function. If the effect of the material hardening is (2003)
neglected, i.e. g( ) = 1, the following equation for High tensile steel 2255 3.33 Kubiczek et al.
the strain rate sensitivity by Cowper & Symonds
(1957) is obtained:

⎛ ε ⎞
1/ q
σYd
= 1.0 + ⎜ ⎟ (17)
σY ⎝C⎠

To obtain the coefficients in Equation (17) for

the conducted tests, the test series V01 is defined
to be the quasi static reference and the static yield
stress σY is determined. Subsequently, the ratio σYd/
σY with the yield stresses σYd of the other test series
is calculated and plotted over the corresponding
strain rate in the Figure 12.
The coefficients are determined with a fit of the
function in Equation (17). For the examined strain
rate range, a good agreement with the results for
high tensile steel of Paik & Thayamballi (2003) is
shown. The results of Cowper & Symonds (1957)
for mild steel show however even for low strain
rates a much higher influence of the strain rate on
the material behaviour.
The corresponding coefficients of the different
curves are compared to each other in Table 2. While
the exponent q is of the same order of magnitude,
Figure 12. Ratio of dynamic to static yield stress over
the strain rate for various steels.
Figure 13. Strain-rate depending material curves form
a material surface LSTC (2014).
the coefficient C appears to depend strongly on the
type of steel being examined.
Another possibility of taking strain rate effects
into account is the definition of several material
curves for different strain rates. Thus, a material
surface is spanned in dependence of the strain
rate rather than a material curve, like shown in
Figure  13. Each material curve itself for the dif-
ferent strain rates is obtained in this case by the
proposed optimisation method and between each
curve a linear interpolation is performed.
Figure  14 shows the comparison between the
results obtained with the Cowper & Symonds
method and the results based on the material sur-
face obtained by direct simulation. The change in
the yield strength and the onset of plastic range
due to the increasing strain rate are well repro-
duced by the Cowper & Symonds method.
After reaching the yield stress it comes however
to an increasing overestimation of the deforma-
tion capacity of the material with increasing strain
rate. In contrast to this, the results obtained using

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Figure 14. Finite element analysis results for optimized
material curves and Cowper & Symonds relationship for
V1, V10 and V100 (top down).
the material surface method show very good agree-
ment over the entire curve with the test results.
6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
A procedure to obtain engineering stress-strain
curves until fracture using an optical measurement
system is presented. The engineering strain is in
this process identified on the basis of the displace-
ment of two measurement markers. The results
show that the optical strain measurement using
a high speed camera and the evaluation with the
presented MATLAB routine provides a good way
to evaluate tensile tests at intermediate strain rates.
The developed and presented routine includes
all the necessary functions to determine the cor-
responding engineering strains from the recorded
video data of a tensile test and to put in relation
466
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 466
to the acting engineering stress. The engineering
stress is in this case classically determined in terms
of the relationship of the acting force to the small-
est initial cross-sectional area of the specimen.
In addition, a method for determining a mate-
rial curve for finite element simulations on the
basis of the test results is presented. The method is
based on optimising the slope of the material curve
until a predetermined correspondence with a com-
parison curve can be established. The comparative
finite element simulation show very good agree-
ment with the measured engineering stress-strain
curve. A great advantage is the applicability of
this method to any given engineering stress-strain
curve and also force-displacement curves, as long
as the experimental geometry is known.
Furthermore, two methods for considering the
strain rate effects in simulations are presented. In
the method according to Cower and Symonds, the
quasi static material curve is scaled as a function of
the yield stress at different strain rates in relation-
ship to the quasi static yield stress. Alternatively,
the method based on material surface is presented,
which is defined by several material curves at dif-
ferent strain rates. The proposed procedure pre-
dicts the engineering stress-strain relationship with
a good agreement for all investigated strain rates,
whereas the presented Cowper & Symonds method
shows an increasing overestimation of the defor-
mation capacity of the material with increasing
strain rate.
The further work will focus on the influence of
the element size on the material curve and the fail-
ure and the determination of the numerical failure
strain.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TUHH acknowledges the financial support of
the Lloyd’s Register Foundation. Lloyd’s Register
Foundation supports the advancement of engi-
neering-related education, and funds research and
development that enhances safety of life at sea, on
land and in the air.
REFERENCES
Cowper, G.R. & Symonds, P.S. 1957. Strain-hardening
and strain-rate effects in the impact loading of cantile-
ver beams. Defense Engineering Information Center,
Ft. Belvoir.
DIN EN ISO 6892-1. 2014. Metallic materials—tensile
testing: Part 1: Method of test at room temperature.
German Standard. Beuth, Berlin.
Dowling, N.E. 2013. Mechanical behaviour of materi-
als: Engineering methods for deformation, fracture, and
fatigue, 4th ed. Pearson, Boston.
3/29/2017 9:39:43 AM
 Eberl, C. 19. Nov. 2010. Digital Image Correlation and
Tracking. Website https://de.mathworks.com/matlab-
central/fileexchange/12413-digital-image-correlation-
and-tracking. [accessed 22 November 2016].
Ehlers, S., Broekhuijsen, J., Alsos, H.S., Biehl, F. & Tabri,
K. 2008. Simulating the collision response of ship side
structures: A failure criteria benchmark study. Inter-
national Shipbuilding Progress vol. 55: 127–144.
Ehlers, S. & Varsta, P. 2009. Strain and stress relation
for non-linear finite element simulations. Thin-Walled
Structures vol. 47: 1203–1217.
Hollomon, J.H. 1945. Tensile deformation. Transactions
of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and
Petroleum Engineers vol. 162: 268–290.
Kim, K.J., Lee, J.H., Park, D.K., Jung, B.G., Han, X. &
Paik, J.K. 2016. An experimental and numerical study
on nonlinear impact responses of steel-plated struc-
tures in an Arctic environment. International Journal
of Impact Engineering: 99–115.
Kubiczek, J.M. 2013. Determination of true flow curves
for shell elements in explicit FE calculations. Project-
Thesis, Technical University of Hamburg, Hamburg.
LS-DYNA keyword user’s manual Vol. II. 2014, 2014th
ed. Livermore Software Technology Corp, Livermore,
Calif.
LS-OPT User’s Manual: A Design Optimization and
Probabilistic Analysis Tool for the Engineering Ana-
lyst. 2013, 2013rd ed. Livermore Software Technology
Corp, Livermore, Calif.
LSTC. 2002. From engineering to true strain, true
stress. Website http://www.dynasupport.com/howtos/
material/from-engineering-to-true-strain-true-stress.
[accessed 15 November 2016].
Martens, I. 2014. Constructive aspects in the design of
bulbous bows to improve energy absorption capacity
467
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 467
in ship collisions (translated from German language).
Schriftenreihe Schiffbau, vol. 679. Techn. Univ. Ham-
burg-Harburg, Univ.-Bibl, Hamburg.
Paik, J.K. 2007a. Practical techniques for finite element
modeling to simulate structural crashworthiness in
ship collisions and grounding (Part I: Theory). Ships
and Offshore Structures vol. 2: 69–80.
Paik, J.K. 2007b. Practical techniques for finite element
modelling to simulate structural crashworthiness in
ship collisions and grounding (Part II: Verification).
Ships and Offshore Structures vol. 2: 81–85.
Paik, J.K. & Thayamballi, A.K. 2003. Ultimate limit
state design of steel plated structures. J. Wiley, Chich-
ster, England, Hoboken, NJ.
Peschmann, J. 2001. Energy absorption computations
of ship steel structures under collision and ground-
ing (translated from German language). Schriften-
reihe Schiffbau/TU Hamburg-Harburg, vol. 613,
Hamburg-Harburg.
Reckling, K.-A. 1967. Theory of plasticity and their
application to strength problems (translated from
German language). Ingenieurwissenschaftliche Bib-
liothek. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Schöttelndreyer, M. 2015. Fillers in the construction: A
concept for the reinforcement of ship-side structures
(translated from German language). Schriftenreihe
Schiffbau, vol. 685. Techn. Univ. Hamburg-Harburg,
Univ.-Bibl, Hamburg.
Witowksi, K., Feucht, M. & Stander, N. 2011. An Effec-
tive Curve Matching Metric for Parameter Identifica-
tion using Partial Mapping, 8th European LS-DYNA
Users Conference, Straßburg.
3/29/2017 9:39:44 AM
MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Numerical assessment of the resistance of ship double-hull structures

in stranding

Bin Liu & Ling Zhu

Key Laboratory of High Performance Ship Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Transportation,
Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China

Lin Chen
China Ship Development and Design Center, Wuhan, China

ABSTRACT: The paper presents finite element simulations of full-scale ship stranding in order to
examine their energy absorbing mechanisms and fracture. The shape of the seabed is simplified as a large
indenter with a hemispherical nose. The grounding simulations of double bottom structures, performed
by the LS-DYNA, analyse the influence of collision locations on the structural crashworthiness of ships.
It is of considerable practical importance to estimate the extent of structural deformation during ground-
ing accidents. Moreover, three constant-strain failure criteria, i.e. PES and GL criteria and a criterion
proposed by Liu et al. (in press), are evaluated, and some comments on these three criteria are provided.

1 INTRODUCTION structures during grounding events. The finite ele-

Double hulls are common structures of ship bot-
tom. In ship grounding, the penetration of ship
bottom can result in severe economic loss and
potential environmental damage. The grounding
accidents can be divided into vertical penetration
often referred to as “stranding” and horizontal
slide often referred to as “raking” (see Figure 1). In
stranding, the ship is struck on the ground caused
by pitch and heave with wave movement and the
bottom structures will be laterally penetrated.
Ship design against accidents should be devel-
oped to predict accurately the resistance of ship
Figure  1. Ship grounding scenario. (a): Vertical
penetration. (b): Horizontal slide.
ment method is the verification tool for predicting
the damage extent in the marine structures. Com-
plex finite element models of ship structures have
been used to calculate the energy absorbed during
collision and the extent of damage due to large in-
plane and out-of-plane loadings in the hull struc-
tures (Naar et al. 2002; Ehlers et al. 2008). The ship
groundings have been evaluated experimentally
and numerically by many analysts, for example
Paik et al. (1999), Wang et al. (2000) and Sormu-
nen et al. (2016a, 2016b).
In the analysis of ship structures subjected to
impact loadings, most of the definitions of input
parameters have become standard inputs in the
numerical codes, such as the formulation of the
shell elements and the contact-impact algorithm
(Paik 2007; Villavicencio et al. 2014).
In the numerical modelling, some aspects of
the material nonlinearities are poorly understood,
which need to be further investigated. For the
low-velocity impacts, plastic strain hardening and
fracture strain are the most important material
parameters for predicting the extent of damage in
structures.
Commonly, the true stress-strain curve is
obtained from the recorded engineering stress-
strain data in a simple (Dieter 2000) or ‘modified’
(Alsos et al. 2008; Ehlers 2010) power law relation.
In order to improve the accuracy of those power
law based materials, before necking, Villavicencio
and Guedes Soares (2012) proposed a combined

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 material model in which the strain hardening is stranding. It is assumed that the ship settles on a
defined by the exact true stress-strain relationship rigid hemispherical seabed due to receding tides
until the maximum load and is then replaced by and wave loads. No sway and surge motions take
a power law relation. In preliminary design, the place. The numerical simulations represent the ship
material properties of structural steels obtained stranding scenario shown in Figure 1.
from standards only includes yield stress, ulti-
mate tensile strength and engineering fracture
2.1 Description of the numerical model
strain (ASTM 2004). Therefore, Liu et  al. (In
press) proposed simple formulae to determine the The finite element model is made of two compo-
true material curve with the yield stress and the nents: grounded structure and seabed (Figure  2).
ultimate tensile strength, representing a valuable A 4200 TEU (Twenty Equivalent Unit) container
design tool. ship is selected as the investigated object. The
The failure due to material rupture is still not well main dimensions of the grounded ship are indi-
resolved numerically. The failure strain is highly cated in Table  1. One container hold is modelled
dependent on the size of the finite elements. In col- of length of 28.6 m without the transverse water-
lision simulations of marine structures, some semi- tight bulkheads. This impact event is evaluated in
analytical equations have been proposed to obtain the numerical simulations, where the length of the
the practical failure strain for shell elements deter- double-hull structure is limited by the two water-
mined by element size and plate thickness, such as tight bulkheads of the central hold. The mesh size
PES criterion according to Peshmann (2001), GL is chosen as 215 mm that is four elements between
criterion presented by Zhang et  al. (2004) and a longitudinals.
criterion proposed by Liu et  al. (In press). These The seabed obstacle is classified by the hard
three criteria can estimate rapidly the critical failure grounding. The design of ship double-hull struc-
strain related to the mesh. ture against collision is conservative, thus the
Considering the material strain-state sensitiv- seabed is considered as rigid so that the double-
ity, some advanced failure criteria are proposed, hull structure is designed to absorb all impact
such as RTCL criterion proposed by Tornqvist energy. The rock characteristics are summarised in
(2003), BWH criterion proposed by Alsos et  al.
(2008) and modified BWH criterion proposed by
Storheim et  al. (2015a). However, these criteria
need too much information of material charac-
teristics as input in the finite element codes, and
this information is not handled by most structural
analysts. Moreover, these advanced criteria cannot
represent the complex collision process at the end
of the impact event better than the simple criteria
(Storheim et al. 2015b).
In this paper, finite element simulations of
full-scale ship stranding are presented in order to
examine their energy absorbing mechanisms and
fracture. The shape of the seabed is simplified as
a large indenter with a hemispherical nose (Wang
et al. 2002). The grounding simulations of double
bottom structures analyse the influence of the col-
lision locations on the structural crashworthiness
of ships. It is of considerable practical importance Figure 2. Ship double-hull structures in stranding.
to estimate the extent of structural deformation
during grounding accidents. Moreover, three con-
stant-strain failure criteria are evaluated: PES and Table 1. Main particulars of the container ship.
GL criteria and a criterion proposed by Liu et al.
(In press), and some comments on these criteria Main particulars Units Value
are provided.
Overall length m 261.2
Length between perpendiculars m 248.0
Moulded breadth m 32.2
2 FINITE ELEMENT MODEL Depth m 19.2
Design draught m 11.0
Ship grounding simulations are performed to eval- Displacement ton 70000
uate the strength of a container ship subjected to

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 Table 2. Mechanical properties of the material (DNV,
2014).

Property* Units Grade: HT36

Yield stress MPa 355

Ultimate tensile strength MPa 490 to 630**
Minimum fracture strain – 0.21

* The mass density is 7850 kg/m3, the Young’s modulus is

206 MPa and the Poisson’s ratio is 0.3.
** The mean value of 560  MPa is used in the material
definition (Equations 1 and 2).

Figure 3. Fully clamped finite element model.

Table  2  in Sormunen et  al. (2016b), giving a rea-
sonable radius of rock tips of 3 m. Therefore, this
radius is selected in the numerical model.

2.2 Boundary conditions and contact definitions

The grounding simulations are performed in a
displacement controlled manner focusing on the
inner mechanics. The grounded structure is fully
clamped at the watertight bulkheads. The rigid
seabed is modelled by shell elements defining ade-
quately the offset of the projected contact surface.
The seabed moves to a pre-defined penetration
depth of 3 m in the vertical direction at a constant
velocity of 2.0 m/s.
The contact between the impacted structure and
the striker is defined as ‘automatic single surface’ Figure  4. True material stress-strain curve for
HT36 steels.
(Hallquist 2006). The static coefficient of friction
is defined at 0.3.
The strain rate sensitivity of the material is omit-
2.3 Material definitions ted since the strain rate effect is relatively low in the
low-velocity impact (Liu et al. 2013; Liu et al. 2014;
The material used in the struck structure is Storheim et al. 2015b).
HT36 steels (DNV 2014). In practice, the full engi- Liu et al. (In press) proposed a new expression
neering stress-strain curve is not on hands during to predict the effective critical failure strain (εf)
the design of the ship. Therefore, simple analytical based on the coarse meshed plates punched by a
expressions for defining the flow curve are practi- spherical indenter:
cal and accurate tools.
Liu et  al. (In press) proposed simple expres- le
sions to determine the true material stress-strain ε f = 0.50 − 0.01 (3)
t
curve with the yield stress and the ultimate ten-
sile strength. The strength coefficient (K) and the
where le is the length of the finite elements and t is
strain hardening exponent (n) can be determined
the plate thickness.
by Equations (1) and (2) when the yield stress (σy)
Here, the criterion proposed by Liu et  al. (In
and the ultimate tensile strength (σuts) are known:
press) is denoted by LIU criterion. In order to com-
(1) pare with other failure criteria, PES (Equation 4)
σ y = K ⋅ 0.006 n
and GL (Equation 5) criterion are used to evalu-
ate the response of struck structures. Peschmann
K [ ln( n )]
n
σ uts ( n) l ( (2) (2001) evaluates the effective critical failure strain
by the following expression:
Here, mechanical properties of HT36 steels are
summarised in Table  2, and the defined material t
εf = εg + α ⋅ (4)
true stress-strain curve is shown in Figure 4. le

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 Table 3. Failure strain defined in material models.
Criterion Strain type
Equation (3) Effective plastic strain
PES Effective plastic strain
GL Thinning strain
Figure 5. Energy-displacement curves for a scaled dou-
ble-hull structure. Comparison of Equations (3), (4) and
(5) using a mesh size of 9t. Cf. Liu et al. (In press).
where εg = 0.1 and α = 0.8 for t ≤ 12 mm; εg = 0.08
and α = 0.65 for t > 12 mm.
Zhang et al. (2004) evaluate the thinning critical
failure strain by the following expression:
t
ε f = 0.056 + 0.54
le
The failure strain defined in the material model
is given in Table 3, taking an example of mesh size
of 215 mm and plate thickness of 14 mm.
Liu et  al. (In press) compares the energy-dis-
placement curve between the criteria presented
by Equations (3), (4) and (5). Here, an example
of an experimental result of a scaled double-hull
structure is taken as shown in Figure 5. Equation
(3) aims to estimate the failure strain of coarse
meshed ship structures struck by an indenter with
hemispherical shape where the ship bottom sus-
tains local penetration during a stranding.
Equation (3) gives a more reasonable prediction
when a smooth and large indenter is used, but in
contrast PES and GL should estimate better the
response of structures penetrated by sharp indent-
ers (Liu et al. In press).
2.4 Grounding locations
The response of the grounded structures should
be influenced by the impact location of the seabed.
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 472
Value
0.346
0.122
0.091
Figure  6. Impact locations of the grounded structure.
(1): Centre of outer plating; (2): Mid-span of longitudinal
girder; (3): Mid-span of transverse floor; (4): Cruciform.
Thereby, a new set of simulations is used to evalu-
ate the effect of the impact locations on the crash-
worthiness of the grounded structure. It is assumed
that the impact point is located at the centre of
outer plating, the mid-span of longitudinal girder,
the mid-span of transverse floor and the cruciform
(see Figure 6).
3 FINITE ELEMENT RESULTS
3.1 Comparison of various criteria
The resulting numerical force-displacement res-
ponses and absorbed energy-displacement curves
of the grounded structure using three failure cri-
teria are presented in Figure 7, taking the case of
outer plating as an example. The impact location is
(5) at the centre of outer plating. The energy-displace-
ment curve is obtained as the integration of the
corresponding force-displacement response. Lack-
ing of experimental tests to validate the numerical
results, ship collision simulations are performed
only to compare various failure criteria.
The main characteristics of the recorded force-
displacement responses are summarised next. Ini-
tially, the reaction force is similar for the three cases
before a penetration of 1.3 m (see Figure 7a), since
the grounded structure only experiences plastic
deformation. Afterwards, the initial force decreases
for the cases evaluated by the PES and GL criteria
due to the crack initiation. The initial peak force
indicates the onset of rupture of the outer panel of
structures. The criterion of Equation (3) predicts
larger reaction force since this criterion predicts a
much larger failure strain, compared with PES and
GL criteria (see Table 3).
The absorbed energy is the most important
parameter to assess the crashworthiness of
ship structures during the preliminary stages of
the design. The criterion of Equation (3) pre-
dicts the largest energy absorption of the three
cases (Figure 7b). The difference among them is
472
3/29/2017 9:39:46 AM
 Figure  7. Comparison of various failure criteria, tak-
ing Case 1 in Figure 6. (a): Force-displacement responses.
(b): Absorbed energy-displacement curves.

mainly attributed to the divergence in the force-

displacement responses, and the difference found
at the large penetration can reach a magnitude
of about 36%.
The grounded structures experience large plas-
tic deformation and finally rupture underneath the
seabed, see Figure 8. The deformation process can
be described as follows. As the penetration of the
double-hull structure progresses, large deforma-
tions and membrane forces develop in the outer
panels, in particular underneath the seabed. The Figure  8. Deformation shapes at the penetration of
rigid seabed penetrates the outer panel with ductile 3 m. (1): PES; (2): GL; (3): Liu et al. (In press).
enlargement to elongate the material in a plastic
flow field below the seabed, provoking the initial
crack of the outer plate. Here, the LIU criterion is used as an example. It
It is observed that only a small crack is predicted is observed that the process of energy dissipation
by the criterion proposed by Liu et al. (In press), is almost the same for the grounding at different
while larger cracks are predicted by PES and GL locations. This similarity is mainly due to the fact
criteria. Although it is difficult to judge the accu- that the structures do not suffer global bending
racy of these criteria, it provides the preliminary and that the fracture is mainly concentrated below
study on the comparison of damage extent. the local penetration.
In order to check the similarity of various
grounding locations, the PES and GL criteria are
3.2 Influence of grounding locations
also used to analyse the numerical models. Also,
The numerical results of various grounding loca- the similar results are achieved (see Figure  10).
tions presented in Figure 5, are given in Figure 9. Thus, it can be concluded that the influence of

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 473 3/29/2017 9:39:47 AM


Figure 9. Numerical results of various grounding loca-
tions. (a): Force-penetration curve. (b): Energy-penetra-
tion curve.
Figure 10. Energy-penetration curve of various ground-
ing locations using (a) PES and (b) GL criteria.
474
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 474
impact location is not significant for the current
double-bottom structures.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Detailed analysis of the crashworthiness of double-
bottom structures during stranding is performed
through nonlinear explicit dynamic simulations.
This analysis evaluates the structural resistance
of grounded structures, i.e. the energy absorbing
mechanisms, giving an example to analyse the
internal mechanics of ship stranding.
The true stress-strain curve (Equations 1 and 2)
helps to define rapidly the material nonlinearities
for coarse meshed ship models. Three failure cri-
teria are compared, and the significant differences
show the difficulties to evaluate accurately the
crashworthiness of ship structures.
The influence of the grounding locations can be
negligible. It is indicated that the simplified analyt-
ical method, proposed based on one of the loading
conditions, can evaluate properly the other three
loading conditions. It helps to simplify the works
in the analytical method for defining the deforma-
tion modes of structural components.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work is supported by “the Open Fund Projects
of Key Laboratory of High Performance Ship
Technology of Ministry of Education, Wuhan
University of Technology (No. 2016 gxnc02)” and
“the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central
Universities (WUT: 2017IVA007)”.
REFERENCES
Alsos, H.S., Hopperstad, O.S., Tornqvist, R. & Amdahl,
J. 2008. Analytical and numerical analysis of sheet
metal instability using a stress based criterion. Interna-
tional Journal of Solids and Structures 45: 2042–2055.
Amdahl, J., Kavlie, D. & Johansen, A. 1995. Tanker
grounding resistance. In Proc. 6th International Sym-
posium on Practical Design of Ships and Mobile Unit
(PRADS 1995): Seoul, Korea; vol. 2: p: 1072–1083.
ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials).
2004. Standard test methods of tension testing of
metallic materials, E 8.
DNV (Det Norske Veritas). 2014. Rules for Classifica-
tion of Ships: High speed, light craft and naval surface
craft, Part 2, Chapter 2: New buildings materials and
welding − Metallic Materials.
Dieter, G.E. 2000. Mechanical behavior under tensile and
compressive loads. ASM Handbook 8: 237–415.
Ehlers, S. 2010. The influence of the material relation on
the accuracy of collision simulations. Marine Struc-
tures 23: 462–474.
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 Ehlers, S., Broekhuijsen, J., Alsos, H.S., Biehl, F. & Tabri,
K. 2008. Simulating the collision response of ship
structures: A failure criteria benchmark study. Inter-
national Shipbuilding Progress 55: 127–144.
Hallquist, J.O. 2006. LS-DYNA theory manual. California,
USA: Livermore Software Technology Corporation.
Liu, B., Villavicencio, R. & Guedes Soares, C. 2013.
Experimental and numerical plastic response and fail-
ure of laterally impacted rectangular plates. Journal
of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering 135(4):
041602.
Liu, B., Villavicencio, R. & Guedes Soares, C. 2014. On
the failure criterion of aluminium and steel plates sub-
jected to low-velocity impact by a spherical indenter.
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 80: 1–15.
Liu, B., Villavicencio, R., Zhang, S. & Guedes Soares, C. In
press. A simple criterion to evaluate the rupture of mate-
rials in ship collision simulations. Marine Structures.
Naar, H., Kujala, P., Simonsen, B.C. & Ludolphy, H.
2002. Comparison of the crashworthiness of vari-
ous bottom and side structures. Marine Structures
15(4–5): 443–460.
Paik, J.K. 2007. Practical techniques for finite element
modeling to simulate structural crashworthiness in
ship collisions and grounding (Part I: Theory). Ships
and Offshore Structures 2(1): 69–80.
Paik, J.K., Chung, J.Y., Choe, I.H., Thayamballi, A.K.,
Pedersen, P.T. & Wang, G. 1999. On rational design of
double hull tanker structures against collision. Trans-
actions of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine
Engineers 107: 323–363.
Peschmann, J. 2001. Energy absorption computations
of ship steel structures under collision and grounding
(translated from German language), PhD thesis, Tech-
nical University of Hamburg.
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Sormunen, O.V.E., Castren, A., Romanoff, J. & Kujala P.
2016a. Estimating sea bottom shapes for grounding
damage calculations. Marine Structures 45: 86–109.
Sormunen, O.V.E., Korgesaar M, Tabri K, Heinvee M,
Urbel A & Kujala P. 2016b. Comparing rock shape
models in grounding damage modelling. Marine
Structures 50: 205–223.
Storheim, M., Alsos, H., Hopperstad, O.S. & Amdahl, J.
2015a. A damage-based failure model for coarsely
meshed shell structures. International Journal of
Impact Engineering 83: 59–75.
Storheim, M., Amdahl, J. & Martens, I. 2015b. On the
accuracy of fracture estimation in collision analysis
of ship and offshore structures. Marine Structures 44:
254–287.
Tornqvist, R. 2003. Design of crashworthy ship struc-
tures, Ph.D. thesis, Technical University of Denmark.
Villavicencio, R. & Guedes Soares, C. 2012. Numerical
plastic response and failure of a pre-notched trans-
versely impacted beam. Ships and Offshore Structures
7(4): 417–429.
Villavicencio, R., Liu, B. & Guedes Soares, C. 2014.
Experimental and numerical analysis of a tanker
side panel laterally punched by a knife edge indenter.
Marine Structures 37: 173–202.
Wang, G., Spencer, J. & Chen, Y. 2002. Assessment of
a ship’s performance in accidents. Marine Structures
15(4–5): 313–333.
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hull in a variety of stranding or collision scenarios.
Marine Structures 13(3): 147–187.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Correlation analysis of IMO collision damage parameters

J. Parunov, M. Ćorak & S. Rudan

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

ABSTRACT: The aim of the present paper is to investigate a correlation between collision damage
parameters, which could improve Monte Carlo simulation of random collision damages and facilitate
its implementation into the risk assessment of maritime transportation. The proposed approach is based
on the explicit LS-Dyna simulation of the collision between a ferry and an Aframax tanker, as striking
and struck ship respectively. Numerical simulations are then approximated by the surrogate model ena-
bling evaluation of damage for different random collision scenarios characterized by striking ship speed,
collision angle, collision location and displacement mass. Monte Carlo simulation of random collision
scenarios is then employed to obtain histograms of damage parameters that can be compared to IMO
probabilistic models. Such approach enables not only comparison of damage size histograms between
IMO and numerical simulations but also establishing mutual correlation among damage length, breadth
and height. Finally, the established correlation is employed into the IMO probabilistic model of random
damage parameters and consequences on probabilistic models of residual ultimate strength and still water
bending moments are discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION ship respectively (Parunov et al. 2016). Numerical

Probabilistic models of damage size and location
are crucial in the post-accidental safety analysis of
a ship damaged by collision or grounding (Faisala
et  al. 2015). Such random damage parameters
can be either calculated by numerical collision/
grounding simulation or assumed according to the
probabilistic models proposed by IMO Resolu-
tion MEPC 2003 (Youssef et al. 2014, IMO 2003).
Former is more realistic, as damage depends on a
number of parameters, but is rather time consum-
ing, while the latter assumes damage regardless of
the cause of the damage, but it is computation-
ally efficient. IMO model proposes the exten-
sion and location of damage in the hull through
a ‘damage box’, i.e. a rectangular parallelepiped
with given dimensions in the three directions of
space: length, height, breadth and a location of
the box in addition. These variables are assumed
as mutually independent, which is not satisfactory
assumption, as it could result in strange and phys-
ically unrealistic damages (Prestileo et  al. 2013).
The aim of the present study is to investigate cor-
relation between collision damage parameters that
could improve Monte Carlo (MC) simulation of
random collision damages and facilitate its imple-
mentation in the risk assessment of maritime
transportation.
The proposed approach is based on the explicit
LS-Dyna simulation of the collision between a
ferry and an Aframax tanker, as striking and struck
simulations are then approximated by surrogate
model enabling fast computation of damages for
different collision scenarios characterized by strik-
ing ship speed, collision angle, collision location
and displacement mass. MC simulation of random
collision scenarios is then employed with surrogate
model to obtain histograms of damage parameters
that can be compared to IMO probabilistic models.
Such approach enables comparison of histograms
of damage size between IMO and numerical simu-
lations as well as establishing a mutual correlation
between damage length, breadth and height.
Correlation is then employed to the IMO proba-
bilistic model of random damage parameters and
differences on probability density functions are
observed. Consequences of the correlation on the
two main pertinent random variables influencing
hull girder safety of damaged ship—residual ulti-
mate strength and still water bending moment, are
studied. Conclusions about practical importance
of correlation among random damage parameters
are finally drawn.
2 LS-DYNA SIMULATION OF COLLISION
In the present analysis, the Aframax class tanker
is considered as the struck ship and a ferry as the
striking ship (Parunov et al. 2016). The main par-
ticulars for both the struck and the striking ship
are listed in Table 1.

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 Table 1. Main struck and striking ship particulars.

Struck ship (tanker) Striking ship (ferry)

Lpp (m) 236 120

B (m) 42 19.6
D (m) 21 12.2
T (m) 15.1 5.3
Δ (t) 133000 6889

Figure 2. Reference model at the end of simulation.

mately at the middle of the struck ship length; it is

Figure 1. Reference model collision set-up.
Because a very fine mesh is required in the colli-
sion zone, only a portion of the struck ship is mod-
elled, consisting of the half of three cargo holds.
The striking ship bow is modelled in detail and
the rest of the ship, i.e. the ferry hull, is modelled
appropriately by beam finite elements. It should be
clarified that the bow of the striking ship is mod-
elled as an elasto-plastic structure. Reference colli-
sion scenario set-up is presented on Figure 1 and
described by the following list of parameters:
• Ferry is located in front of the middle cargo hold
of a tanker,
• Collision is orthogonal,
• Speed of the tanker is 0 m/s,
• Speed of the ferry is 8 m/s,
• Draft of the tanker is 15.1 m,
• Draft of the ferry is 5.3 m
A number of FEM analyses were performed
and the following main parameters varied
(Galletta 2015):
• Ferry collision speed: 2 m/s, 4 m/s, 6 m/s, 8 m/s
(reference model), 10 m/s and 12 m/s.
• Impact location x = 87 m (aft cargo hold colli-
sion), x = 118 m (reference model), x = 148.5 m
(bow cargo hold collision).
• Impact angle: –45°, –30°, –15°, 0° (reference
model), 15°, 30° and 45°.
• Scaled striking ship length/mass: 4251 t, 6889 t
(reference model), 13226 t, 23329 t and 41149 t.
Considering that collision is orthogonal, i.e.
impact angle is 90  degrees, and occurs approxi-
assumed that the only external dynamic effect to be
taken into account is the sway motion of the struck
ship. In particular, 40% of the mass is added to the
struck ship displacement mass to take into account
the sway resistance, as proposed by e.g. Minorksy
(1959) and Motora (1971) (for a short duration
collision).
Particular attention was paid to the definition of
the fracture strain since it is used as a failure crite-
rion during the analysis. Fracture strain is a func-
tion of the finite element size and thickness and
Peschmann criterion is applied to take both of these
parameters into account. Finite element thickness
in the collision zone varies from 10 to 28.5  mm
while the finite element size in that area is exactly
or as close as possible equal to 100  ×  100  mm.
Consequently, failure strain is reduced from the
ultimate failure strain obtained from a true stress-
strain curve, being equal to 0.27, to effective failure
strain ranging from 0.145 to 0.265.
True stress-strain curve for common structural
Grade A steel with yield strength of 235  MPa is
obtained from the standard tensile strength experi-
ment performed in-house. True-stress strain curve
is introduced into piecewise-linear elastic-plastic
material model, i.e. MAT124 in LS-Dyna, used for
the performed non-linear FE analyses.
An automatic surface to surface contact algo-
rithm was used to model contact between the ships
in collision (Livermore Software Technology Cor-
poration, 2014).
Situation at the end of reference model colli-
sion simulation is presented on Figure  2. Due to
the variation of the main parameters, hull breach
will not be present in every collision scenario and
the damage will vary too. Destruction of the struc-
ture and the plastic strain in the damaged area for
the reference model is presented on Figure 3. On
the same figure the method of the damage volume
measurement is indicated.

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 Figure  3. Destruction of the structure and the plastic
strain.

Struck ship structural damage consists of

bulb induced rupture and fore peak induced
damage. Structural damage is three-dimensional
and consists of material that completely failed
(eroded elements in FE calculation), material
that is subjected to plastic deformation and
material that is subjected to elastic deformation.
This defines the volume of structural damage
and the quantification of that volume is not
straightforward. It is assumed that total width
b, height a and depth c of the plastic deforma-
tion zone define the “damage box” of the struc-
ture. Within the “damage box” there are areas
subjected to plastic damage, but also areas sub-
jected to significant amount of elastic deforma-
tion. Consequently, internal mechanics part of
collision energy is spread throughout the nearly
entire “damage box”.
To determine directly the damage size for a
large number of random collision parameters,
time consuming and expensive numerical simula-
tions are required. To overcome that difficulty,
dimensions a, b and c of the damage box are pre-
sented as a regression curves depending on the col-
lision scenario parameters. Curves are presented
in Figure 4.
It is assumed that the consequences of the colli-
sion are the same irrespective of the location along
the cargo hold. This is obviously not true, as the
damage size would not be the same if collision
occurred at the bulkhead or in the middle of the
cargo hold, for the same combination of collision
parameters.
Also, the dependence of the damage size on the Figure  4. Dependence of a damage size on collision
vertical location of the damage is not considered speed (i), impact angle (ii); striking ship displacement
in the present paper. That would be of importance (iii); impact location along ship hull (iv).

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Figure  5. Results of MC simulation of damage size,
damage height a (i); damage length b (ii); damage depth
c (iii).
if, for example, different drafts of the struck ship
were concerned. However, for the tanker in full
load condition, the vertical location of the colli-
sion remains nearly the same.
480
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 480
3 MONTE CARLO SIMULATION OF
RANDOM COLLISION SCENARIOS
Probability distribution of the striking vessel
speed is assumed normal with a mean value equal
to 13.3 kn and a standard deviation of 5.1 kn.
These data are obtained by AIS in the Adriatic
Sea (Zec et al. 2009). Collision speed of the strik-
ing vessel is conditioned by the service speed and is
uniformly distributed between the zero speed and
75% of the service speed, after which it linearly
decreases to zero at service speed (Klanac et  al.
2013). On the other hand, the speed of the struck
tanker is assumed to be equal to zero. Collision
angle is assumed to be normally distributed, with
the mean value of 3° and a standard deviation of
42°, whereas the distribution of collision location
is uniform. Collision angle and location along the
struck vessel are assumed on the basis of previous
worldwide collision accidents data (Klanac et  al.
2013). Probability density function of the displace-
ment of the striking ship is assumed to have expo-
nential distribution with the expected value equal
to 6700 t, based on the traffic data in the Adriatic
Sea (Zec et al. 2009).
Monte Carlo simulation is performed based on
described probabilistic collision scenario and dam-
age size parameters a, b and c are determined from
Figure 4. Results of 1000 MC simulations are pre-
sented in Figure  5, together with the probability
density functions from IMO Resolution MEPC
(IMO 2003).
By comparing the results of MC simulation with
IMO model, it appears that the outcome of MC
simulations results in the much higher probabilities
of small damages. However, the trends between
both methods seems to be the same, especially for
damage height a and damage depth c. The bow of
the striking ferry used in the simulation is relatively
short and narrow and it is consequently expected
that IMO distributions have higher probabilities of
large damages.
4 CORRELATION ANALYSIS
Mutual dependency between the three parameters
of the damage box used in the analysis is presented
in Figure 6.
A very strong positive correlation between dam-
age size parameter may be observed, as the coeffi-
cient of determination R2 is in all three cases higher
than 0.8. In order to further quantify strength of
the correlation between variables, Pearson and
Spearman correlation coefficients are calculated
and presented in the Table 2.
Values in Table  2  indicate strong correlation
in all cases and the conclusion is that correlation
3/29/2017 9:39:51 AM
 Figure  6. Mutual dependency between damage size
parameters, damage height a vs damage length b (i);
damage height a vs damage depth c (ii); damage width b
vs damage depth c (iii).
Figure 7. Mean values and standard deviations of dam-
age length b vs damage height a (i); damage depth c vs
damage height a (ii).

Table 2. Correlation coefficients.

of parameters. Damage height a is grouped into
Coefficient a-b a-c b-c
bins with 0.5 m width, and then mean values and
Pearson 0.92 0.91 0.90 standard deviation of damage length b and width
Spearman 0.97 0.96 0.90 c are determined for each bin. Therefore, if dam-
age height a is known, then graphs presented in
Figures  7 enable computation of expected values
should not be neglected when performing MC sim- and standard deviations of damage length b and
ulation according to the IMO probabilistic model. damage depth c.
In order to facilitate numerical simulation of the As an example of the calculation of the mean
correlation between damage parameters, data from values and standard deviations, 2078 simulations
Figure 6 are rearranged in terms of their mean val- resulted in damage height a between 0 and 0.5 m.
ues and standard deviation and are presented in For those simulations, mean and standard devia-
Figure 7. tions are calculated for damage length b and dam-
In total, 10000 simulations are used to obtain age width c associated with each a. That mean value
diagrams in Figure  7. Number of simulations and standard deviation is plotted in Figure  7 for
is increased, when compared to the analysis pre- first bin (a = 0–0.5 m). Such procedure is repeated
sented in previous section, in order to obtain sat- for other bins until highest one, a  =  17.5–18  m,
isfactory number of outcomes in the whole range where only 3 simulations are recorded.

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Figure  8. Results of MC simulation of damage size
including correlation between damage parameters, dam-
age height a (i); damage length b (ii); damage depth c (iii).
IACS (2014b) assumed deterministic relation-
ship between a damage height and a penetration
depth based on the results of HARDER project.
Such approach is equivalent to the full correla-
482
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 482
tion assumption. The present approach represent
an advancement as the relationship between dam-
age parameters is obviously not deterministic and
the correlation is not perfect, as it may be clearly
seen by the existence of the standard deviations in
Figure 7.
It is interesting to compare a relationship
between a damage height and a damage pen-
etration depth between IACS (2014b) and pre-
sent study. Thus, for a damage height of 0.75D
(15.75  m), IACS (2004b) proposes damage pen-
etration depth of 0.122B (5.124 m). In the present
study, for the same damage height, damage depth
calculated from linear regression equation on Fig-
ure  6 (ii) reads 4.88  m. Thus, results obtained in
the present study seem to be credible. However,
expected value from Figure  7 (ii), would result
in a larger penetration depth. The reason is that
expected penetration depth actually follows the
non-linear trend as a function of damage height
that is not considered in IACS (2014b).
5 IMO MODEL WITH CORRELATION
The assumption inherent in the IMO model of
ship collision is that damage parameters a, b and c
are mutually independent and hence uncorrelated
random variables. As shown in the preceding sec-
tion, this is obviously not justified assumption. In
order to study possible implications of such incor-
rect assumption, MC simulations are performed
based on the results obtained in Section 4.
Firstly, damage height a is simulated based on
IMO recommended probabilistic model. Then,
damage length b and transverse penetration depth
c are simulated using mean values and standard
deviations from Figure 7. Results of such MC sim-
ulation are presented in Figure 8.
As may be seen from Figure 8, there are some
differences between simulated damage length and
depth with respect to the IMO probability density
functions. However, it is very interesting to notice
that the damage penetration depth c is quite simi-
lar to IMO model. As expected, damage height a is
the same as IMO model, as a is simulated directly
from IMO pdf.
6 CONSEQUENCES OF THE
CORRELATION
Collisions can have severe consequences, including
in some cases the total loss of a ship. After the event
of collision, struck ship may capsize rapidly due to
a lack of stability, sink gradually or stay afloat. If
the ship stays afloat after collision, hull-girder col-
lapse may occur when the hull’s maximum residual
3/29/2017 9:39:52 AM
 load-carrying capacity (the ultimate hull girder
strength, the bending moment capacity) is insuffi-
cient to sustain the corresponding hull girder loads
applied. The collapse of hull girder may lead to a
massive oil spill which eventually causes environ-
mental pollution (Jia and Moan 2008).
The most obvious consequence of collision
damage is the reduction of the ultimate bending
moment capacity. The Progressive Collapse Analy-
sis (PCA) method initially proposed by Smith rep-
resents nowadays the most frequently used method
for ultimate strength assessment (Hughes and Paik
2013). The crucial part of the Smith’s method is
a stress–strain relationship for beam columns, of
which stiffened panels forming the ship hull are
composed. Stress–strain relationships most fre-
quently used nowadays are those proposed by
IACS CSR-H (IACS, 2014a). The ultimate bend-
ing moment is then calculated by an incrementally
iterative procedure. If PCA method is applied to
the damaged ship, it is assumed that damaged ele-
ments are completely removed from the section.
This so-called ‘damaged element removal method’
has been used in several related studies (Youssef
et al. 2014) and is also used here to model the hull
damage by PCA.
Based on the PCA results, design curves are
developed showing dependency of the residual
ultimate strength in sagging on the damage extent,
Figure 9. It is conservatively assumed that collision
damage always starts from the main deck. Upper
curve in Figure  9 is used for the case when only
outer shell is damaged, while the lower curve is
used when both outer and inner shell are breached.
The latter curve includes also the influence of the
rotation of neutral axis on the ultimate strength
of damaged ship in sagging (Bužančić Primorac,
2016).
Probabilistic reduction of ultimate residual
strength is calculated in a way that for each out-
come of MC simulation, reduction of the ultimate
Figure  9. Reduction of ultimate longitudinal strength
of damaged Aframax oil tanker (Bužančić Primorac,
2016).
483
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 483
strength is calculated using curves from Figure 9.
Thus, two histograms are obtained—one for origi-
nal IMO model and another one using IMO model
only for damage height, while correlation model
for damage transverse penetration depth. It is to be
noted that the damage length is not important for
the strength reduction if “damage element removal
method” is used. Results of the analysis for two
MC simulation are shown in Figure 10.
Average loss of the ultimate strength reads 6.2%
and 7.8% for the cases without and with the cor-
relation respectively. Number of the cases with
the inner hull damage reads 25.7% and 27% for
the case of original distribution and when corre-
lation is accounted for, respectively. Although the
influence of correlation is not very large regard-
ing the mean value of the ultimate strength loss or
a number of cases with inner hull damage, there
is an obvious difference in Figure 10 between the
two calculation models. Model with correlation
estimates a much larger number of severe ultimate
strength reductions (between 12 and 22%) and also
a larger number of very low strength reductions
(less than 5%).
Probabilistic models of the residual strength
index of oil tankers of different sizes are studied by
Faisal et al. (2015). Lower strength reductions of a
struck ship are obtained in that studies compared
to the present one, probably as a consequence of
the more realistic assumptions regarding damage
location. In the present study, namely, conserva-
tive assumptions that the damage starts from the
main deck and that it has regular box shape, are
adopted.
Still water loads can be evaluated from the
proper consideration of the mass and buoyancy
distribution over the ship length. In a damaged
condition, effects of flooding of different types
Figure  10. Histogram of loss of ultimate strength for
sagging condition.
3/29/2017 9:39:52 AM
 of ship compartments and the corresponding oil
outflow are to be taken into account. After dam-
age, the Still-Water Bending Moment (SWBM)
can change considerably due to the increase of the
weight (Hussein and Guedes Soares 2009).
Hydrostatic analysis of a damaged ship is per-
formed herein using VeriSTAR Stability software
(Bureau Veritas 2009). Only full load condition
on the scantling draught is considered in the pre-
sent analysis. One example of calculated SWBM
distribution of a damaged ship is shown in
Figure 11. Increase of SWBM in damaged condi-
tion, not only with respect to SWBM of intact ship
but also beyond permissible seagoing SWBM, may
be noticed in Figure 11.
For many damage scenarios, static equilibrium
position distribution of SWBM along the ship
were found. In total, 54 different damage cases are
analysed to cover all possible collision damage sce-
narios. For SWBM of damaged ship, damage loca-
tion, length and penetration depth are important
while damage height has not been used.
Probabilistic change of SWBM is calculated in a
way that for the outcome of each MC simulation, a
change in maximum SWBM is obtained using one
of 54 collision damage cases, depending on dam-
aged compartments. Thus, histograms shown in
Figure 12 are obtained, where abscissa represents
the ratio of maximum SWBM in damaged condi-
tion to maximum SWBM of the intact ship. Two
histograms are presented in Figure  12 – one for
simulation with original IMO probabilistic model
and one for simulation with correlation model.
The mean value for IMO model reads 92%
of the intact SWBM, while standard deviation
reads 0.43. The mean and standard deviation for
Figure 11. Comparison of SWBM diagrams for intact
ship and collision damage of WBT 4&5(S) (Bužančić Pri-
morac, 2016).
484
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 484
Figure 12. Histogram of the ratio of maximum SWBM
in damaged to the maximum SWBM in intact condition.
the model with correlation read 92% and 0.36
respectively.
It may be seen that two models result in the same
mean value but standard deviation of the corre-
lated model is lower. This is probably related to the
fact that the correlation reduces damage length, a
parameter having decisive factor on damaged ship
SWBM. It may be seen from Figure 12 that, for the
correlated model, in most of damage cases SWBM
is similar to the intact ship, while the number of
damage cases with large increase of SWBM is
reduced compared to the original IMO model.
7 CONCLUSIONS
The aim of the paper is to investigate the existence
of a correlation between collision damage param-
eters and to analyze implications that such correla-
tion might have on the main variables influencing
the safety of a damaged ship.
The correlation study is based on the explicit
LS-Dyna simulation of a collision between a ferry
and an Aframax tanker, as striking and struck ship
respectively. MC simulation of random collision
scenarios is employed to obtain mutual correla-
tion among damage length, breadth and height.
It is clearly demonstrated that there is a strong
correlation between mentioned collision damage
parameters.
Correlation is than employed to IMO proba-
bilistic model, enabling comparison of the IMO
model for the case with and without correlation.
Consequences of the correlation on the probabilis-
tic models of the random residual ultimate strength
and random change of the still-water bending
moments are studied by MC simulation. It is shown
that correlation leads to more severe reduction of
3/29/2017 9:39:53 AM
 the residual strength compared to the IMO proba-
bilistic model without correlation. Mean value of
the change of maximum SWBM is almost the same
for IMO and correlated models, while standard
deviation is slightly reduced in the latter case.
The simulations performed in the present study
correspond to one specific collision scenario where
striking ship is a ferry. The results obtained reflect
the damages due to a particular bow shape and
size and a particular vertical impact location, as
these two aspects have not been considered in the
MC simulation. Other collision scenarios should
be studied to quantify the correlation between the
damage parameters with more confidence.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work has been fully supported by Croatian
Science Foundation under the project 8658.
REFERENCES
Bureau Veritas, VeriSTAR Stability Quick Start Manual,
Bureau Veritas, 2009.
Bužančić Primorac, B. 2016., Structural reliability of
damaged oil tanker, PhD thesis, University of Zagreb
(in Croatian), supervisor: Joško Parunov.
Faisala, M., Noh S.H., Kawsar R.U., Youssef S., Seoa,
J.K., Ha Y.C., Paik, J.K., 2016. Rapid hull collapse
strength calculations of double hull oil tankers after
collisions, Ships and Offshore Structures, DOI:10.1080/
17445302.2016.1192747
Galletta M., 2015. Parametric analysis of collision
between a tanker and a ferry, University of Genova,
Master Thesis, course: Naval Architecture, supervi-
sors: Cesare Mario Rizzo and Smiljko Rudan.
Hughes O.F. and Paik J.K., 2013. Ship structural analy-
sis and design, The Society of Naval Architects and
Marine Engineers, Alexander, USA.
Hussein, A.W. and Guedes Soares, C. 2009. Reliabil-
ity and Residual Strength of Double Hull Tankers
Designed According to the new IACS Common Struc-
tural Rules, Ocean Engineering 36, pp.1446–1459.
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IACS. 2014a. Common Structural rules for Bulk Carriers
and Oil Tankers. International Association of Classi-
fication Societies.
IACS, 2014b. Common Structural Rules for Bulk Car-
riers and Oil Tankers. International Association of
Classification Societies, TB report no. Pt 1 – Residual
strength, Ch 5, Sec 3.
IMO, 2003. Revised Interim Guidelines for the approval
of alternative methods of design and construction
of oil tankers under regulation 13F(5) of Annex I of
MARPOL 73/78, Resolution MEPC.110(49), Interna-
tional Maritime Organization.
Jia, H. and Moan, T. 2008. Reliability Analysis of
Oil Tankers with Collision Damage, 27th Inter-
national Conference on Offshore Mechanics and
Arctic Engineering, Estoril, Portugal. Paper num-
ber; 57102.
Klanac, A., Duletić, T., Erceg, S., Ehlers, S., Goerlandt,
F., Frank, D., 2013, Environmental risk of collision of
enclosed seas: Gulf of Finland, Adriatic and implica-
tions to ship design, 5th International Conference on
Collision and Grounding of Ships, Espoo, Finland,
pp. 55–65.
Livermore Software Technology Corporation, 2014. LS-
DYNA Keyword User’s Manual R7.1 (revision: 5471).
Minorsky, 1959, An analysis of ship collision with refer-
ence to protection of nuclear power ships, J. Ship Res.;
3(2):1–4.
Motora S., 1971, Equivalent added mass of ships in col-
lisions, Selected Papers from J Soci Nav Arch Japan.
Parunov J., Rudan S., Ćorak M., 2016, Ultimate hull-girder-
strength-based reliability of a double-hull oil tanker
after collision in the Adriatic Sea, Ships and Offshore
Structures, DOI: 10.1080/17445302.2016.1254521
Prestileo, A., Rizzuto, E., Teixeira, A.P. and Guedes
Soares, C. 2013. Bottom damage scenarios of the hull
girder structural assessment, Marine Structures 33,
pp. 33–55.
Youssef, S.A., Faisal, M., Seo, J.K., Kim, B.J., Ha, Y.C.,
Kim, D.K., Paik, J.K., Cheng, F. and Kim, M.S.,
2014, Assessing the risk of ship hull collapse due
to collision, Ships and Offshore Structures, DOI:
10.1080/17445302.2014.993110
Zec, D., Maglić, L., Šimić Hlača, M., 2009, Maritime
Transport and Possible Accidents in the Adriatic Sea,
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ment and Sustainable Development Advisory Coun-
cils EEAC, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Probability of failure of composite beams under high velocity impact

S.D. Patel & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: Progressive damage modeling on fiber reinforced composite plates is studied taking
material properties and initial velocity as random parameters. S2 Glass composite plates are susceptible
to damage due to impact by foreign objects and in plane loading. In order to assess the safe load carry-
ing capacity and the probability of failure under impact, stochastic dynamic analysis of composite plate
subjected to high velocity impact is carried out. During impact, the in-plane damage modes such as
matrix cracking, fiber failure and shear cracking are modeled using a failure criterion. The out of plane
delamination is modeled using cohesive surfaces. Random parameters represent various characteristics
appearing in the limit state function. The probabilistic analysis and reliability prediction of the system is
carried out using Gaussian response surface method and the validity of the method for the present prob-
lem is establish using Monte Carlo simulation procedure. Sensitivity analysis of the probability of failure
with respect to random parameters considered is an important study for design optimization. The safety
level quantification is achieved in terms of reliability level targeted.

1 INTRODUCTION (τ13). The same fiber failure initiation criterion was

Composite materials have found extensive applica-
tions in the construction of mechanical, aerospace,
marine and offshore structures, due to their high
specific strength and stiffness, good corrosion, and
fatigue resistance. A prediction of the failure under
impact loads is an important topic of research for
reliability assurance of composites. The literature
on effect of these uncertainties on impact response
of composites is very limited although impact
behavior of composites has been widely investi-
gated. Abrate (1994) provided a review that focused
specifically on composite targets. The review out-
lined the literature related to impact response of
composites, damage mechanisms in composites
during impact and their effect on response and the
residual properties of the composite after impact.
The damage mechanisms included matrix crack-
ing, debonding, delamination and fiber breakage.
Sutherland and GuedesSoares (2006) have studied
extensively the low velocity impact in composites.
Numerical analysis of progressive damage fail-
ure model of the laminated composite plate was
developed by Yen (2012). In this model, failure
initiation and propagation laws were introduced
to account for the fiber and matrix failure modes.
It also included the effects of material strain rate
on composite damage. The fiber failure initiation
was modeled using modified form of Hashin cri-
terion and included the effects of normal stress in
direction of fiber (σ11) and transverse shear stress
adopted by Sevkat et  al. (2009) who combined
experimental and 3D dynamic nonlinear Finite
Element (FE) approach to study the damage in
composite beams subjected to ballistic impact.
These authors also used the same equation for
damage evolution as developed by Matzenmiller
et al. (1995). Bandaru et al. (2016) used the finite
element method to study ballistic impact of thin
laminated composite plates of Kevlar. The numeri-
cal model provided an estimate for limit perforation
velocity and simulated failure modes and damage.
The above mentionedpapers did not include the
uncertainties of material properties and loading
condition while considering the failure of material
due to the damage initiation and propagation. For
reliability assessment of the composite simulations
for prediction of the failure under impact, need to
incorporate these uncertainties.
The uncertainties in composites arise due to the
uncertainties in quantities such as volume frac-
tions of matrix and fiber, excess amount of resins
in the plies or laminates, curing methods, volume
of voids and porosity in the matrix, alignment of
fibers, bonding between fibers and matrix, and
temperature effects. Guedes Soares (1997) and
Sriramula et  al. (2009) reviewed the uncertain-
ties in Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) composites
and summarized different stochastic modeling
approaches. An approach to assess the system reli-
ability of laminates was critically analyzed by con-
sidering failures of different lamina in series and

487

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 parallel to total failure. Reliability of laminated
composites subjected to uncertainties in static load
and material properties have been studied earlier
(e.g. Matthies et al. 1997, Jeong and Shenoi 1998,
Chen and Guedes Soares 2008).
Different reliability methods such as First Order
Reliability Method (FORM), Second Order Reli-
ability Method (SORM) and Response Surface
Method (RSM) have been discussed by the above
authors to predict the probability of failure (Pf) for
laminated composite plates. However, these meth-
ods fail to estimate the Pf accurately in problems
with highly nonlinear limit state functions and in
problems with low Pf (Rajashekhar and Ellingwood
1993) as higher order terms are neglected. Monte
Carlo Simulation (MCS) requires a large number
of FE executions for structural analysis making it
computationally expensive especially for large and
complex structures with high reliability (Patel et al.
2013 & 2014). Gaussian Process Response Surface
Method (GPRSM) is able to overcome these limi-
tations and leads to a more efficient estimation of
Pf (Patel et al. 2016 &2017).
The reliability of composite beams subjected
to impact by projectile has applications in marine
design. However, no noticeable work has been per-
formed to investigate its progressive probabilistic
behavior under impact load considering random
scatter in load and material properties.
In the present study, two important studies
are carried out. The first one is deterministic and
another one is probabilistic. The deterministic
analysis is mainly used for validation purpose. A
progressive damage model is developed and imple-
mented in the FE code ABAQUS. A user-defined
subroutine (VUMAT) simulates the post impact
progressive damage of the composite target.
Numerical results are validated and found to be in
good agreement with experimental findings avail-
able in the literature.
Progressive probabilistic study is carried out
considering the variability of material properties
(elastic modulus, Poissons’ ratio, shear modulus
and strength properties) and initial velocity. Discre-
tization of material properties of random nature is
modeled using Karhunen Loeve (KL) expansion
series method. The random variation in material
properties and initial velocities are used to deter-
mine the statistics of critical stresses in the lamina
under impact.
On substitution of these critical values and the
random strength parameters in terms of their
statistical characteristics and distribution in the
limit state function a joint probability distribu-
tion is obtained. This multi dimensional domain
due to joint probability distribution is a measure
of probability of failure for each ply. The GPRSM
is used to calculate the probability of failure. This
488
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 488
is a computationally efficient method adopted to
investigate the Pf for composite beams with differ-
ent ply arrangements. Comparative study of Pf is
carried out using different fiber damage initiation
and propagation criteria. Optimum ply arrange-
ment is investigated for fiber initiation and propa-
gation of composite beam for simply supported
boundary condition.
2 CONSTITUTIVE DAMAGE MODEL
Damage plays an important role in the analysis
of fiber reinforced composite materials. The high
velocity impact of composites has been widely
studied as leads to damage in the composite in
the form of matrix cracking, fiber breaking and
delamination. The effect of damage can be taken
into account by reducing values of stiffness coeffi-
cients as originally presented by Kachanov (1999).
The stresses are related to these strains in con-
junction with stress-strain relationship
[σ ] [ ] [ε] (1)
where [C0] is the stiffness matrix, [σ] is the vector
of matrix of without degraded stresses and [ε] is
matrix of strains vector. Each ply of the laminate
is assumed to be transversely isotropic. The stress-
strain relation between normal stress and normal
strain is assumed linear elastic.
The relation between the Cauchy stress {σ} in
the undamaged continuum and effective stress
{ σ } in the equivalent damaged continuum can be
expressed, as follows
{σ } [ Ω ]{ σ } (2)
Here, [Ω] is the effective damage tensor. The
non-zero elements of the effective damage tensor
are given as
ϖ1 ( 1 11 ) ϖ 2 (1− 1 D222 ),ϖ 3
= (1 33 ), ϖ 4 (1−
1 D444 )
ϖ 5 (1 D5555 ) d ϖ 6 = ( − 66 ) (3)
A set of damage variables, ϖi with i = 1…..6,
are introduced to correlate the damage growth
to stiffness reduction in the material as given
by Yen (2012). For the fiber tensile and com-
pressive damage modes 1 (ϖ1) and 3 (ϖ3) and
matrix cracking tensile and compressive dam-
age modes are denoted by 2 (ϖ2) to 4 (ϖ4), and
fiber crushing and in-plane matrix shear failure
are denoted by modes 5 (ϖ5) and 6 (ϖ6) respec-
tively. In the present study matrix in-plane shear
failure and fiber failure in tension, compression
3/29/2017 9:39:54 AM
 and crushing are considered for under the high 2
velocity impact. The damage variable ϖi varies ⎛ E3ε 33 ⎞
⎜⎝ S ⎟⎠ − r5 = 0
2
(6)
from 0 to 1. 33

2.1 Damage initiation criteria
Failure criteria for composite materials are signifi-
cantly more complex than yield criteria for metals
because composite materials can be strongly ani-
sotropic. Composite shows failures in a number
of different modes depending on their loading
state and the mechanical properties of the mate-
rial. For high velocity impact simulations the set
of criteria used in based on work of Yen (2012).
Its criteria are based on quadratic interaction
between strains.
For the fiber failure modes the tensile and com-
pressive fiber damage are given by the quadratic
interaction between the axial and through the
thickness shear strains:
2
⎛ E1 ε11 ⎞ ⎛ G13γ 113 ⎞
2 velocity impact
⎟⎠ + ⎜⎝ S ⎟⎠ − r1 = 0, ε11 > 0
2
⎜⎝ S
11t 13
2
⎛ E1 ε11c ⎞
⎟ − r3 = 0, ε11 0, ε111c = −ε11 ε 333
2
⎜ S
⎝ 11c ⎠
where are Maculay brackets, S11t and S11c are
fiber strengths in the tension and compression, ε11
and ε33 are normal in strains 1 and 3 directions, and
S13 and γ13 are shear strength and shear strain in
1–3 directions. In equations 4 and 5, r1 and r3 are
the damage thresholds which are equal to 1 with-
out damage.
For the fiber crush failuremode the crush dam-
age due to the high through thickness compressive
pressure occurs and is modeled as
where S33 is the fiber crush strength and r5 is the
associated damage thresholds.
A composite laminate can be damaged under
in-plane shear stress without occurrence of fiber
damage. The in-plane matrix damage mode is
given as
2
⎛ G12γ 112 ⎞
⎜⎝ S ⎟⎠ − r6 = 0
2
(7)
12
where, S12 and γ12 are the in-plane shear strength
and strain 1–2 directions, and r6 is the damage
threshold.
2.2 Progressive finite element modeling of high
(4)
Damage plays an important role in the analy-
sis of fiber reinforced composite materials. The
E3 user defined subroutine (VUMAT) based on
(5) the Yen (2012) failure criteria has been devel-
E1 oped and implemented. The continuum damage
mechanism approach given by Matzenmiller
et al. (1995) has been incorporated in VUMAT.
The user defined subroutine can simulate pro-
gressive damage of composite laminates by con-
trolling strain softening after failure during high
velocity impact. The continuum damage formu-
lation is taken into consideration of post failure
mechanisms in a composite plate as character-
ized by a reduction in material stiffness. The
compliance matrix [C], relates to the damage
variables as

⎡ 1 ν 21 ν 331 ⎤
⎢ ( − )E − − 0 0 0 ⎥
E2 E3
⎢ 1 ⎥
⎢ ν112 1 ν 332 ⎥
⎢ − − 0 0 0 ⎥
⎢ E1 ( ) E2 E3 ⎥
⎢ ν113 ν 23 1 ⎥
⎢ − − 0 0 0 ⎥
⎢ E1 E2 ( − ) E3 ⎥
[ ] ⎢
C =
1
⎥ (8)
⎢ 0 0 0 0 0 ⎥
⎢ ( − ) G12 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 0 0 0 0
1
0 ⎥
⎢
⎢
( − ) G23 ⎥
⎥
⎢ 1 ⎥
⎢ 0 0 0 0 0
⎣ ( 1 − ϖ 6 ) G113 ⎥⎦

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 [σ] = [S][ε] (9)
In equation 9, [S] = [C]−1 is the stiffness matrix.
[σ] is the matrix of degraded stresses and [ε] is
matrix of strains. Here, direction 1 corresponds
to the fiber direction, 2 corresponds to the trans-
verse direction and 3 corresponds to the out-of-
plane direction. A set of damage variables, ϖi
with i  =  1…..6, are introduced to correlate the
damage growth to stiffness reduction in the mate-
rial as given by Yen (2012). A damage variable ϖi
for an individual failure mode j is suggested by
Matzenmiller et al. (1995) as
ϖi { iij φj j = } (10)
1
(1− rj mi )
φi = 1 − e m r≥1 (11)
Here, rj is damage threshold, ϖi is damage vari-
ables to measure and assess the extent of damage,
qij is damage coupling functions and m is strain
softening parameter. For the fiber tensile and
compressive damage modes 1 and 3 and matrix
cracking tensile and compressive damage modes
are denoted by 2 to 4, and fiber crushing and in-
plane matrix shear failure are denoted by modes
5 and 6 respectively. The damage variable ϖi var-
ies from 0 to 1. The calibration of strain softening
parameters for S2-glass epoxy composite laminate
was conducted by Xiao et  al. (2007). In the pre-
sent study the same strain softening parameters
and damage coupling functions qij defined by Xiao
et al. (2007) are used.
3 PROBABILISTIC FAILURE OF
COMPOSITE BEAMS
Probabilistic response assessment is strongly rec-
ommended by various international codes espe-
cially to achieve challenging design targets for
satisfactory service and survival. It is because, the
deterministic approach does not account for the
natural scatter in the input data. The probabilistic
approach explicitly quantifies the extent of safety
or probability of failure. Many design standards
recommend a threshold of target reliability for sat-
isfactory design. The probabilistic approach is, all
the more, significant to assess the safety of com-
posite armors.
The material properties of composites inher-
ently exhibit a scatter or uncertainty due to their
inhomogeneity, anisotropic characteristics, and
brittleness of the matrix and fiber and manu-
facturing defects. In the conventional approach,
deterministic input data is assumed to participate
and associated uncertainties are accounted for by
490
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 490
using adeterministic factor of safety. This factor
of safety is too uncertain up to a greater extent.
Hence, there is a need to quantify its performance
in a realistic fashion by taking in to account the
actual statistics data.
A probabilistic study is carried out here con-
sidering the uncertainties of material properties
(elastic modulus, Poisson’s ratio, shear modulus,
strength properties and fracture energy) and initial
velocity. In order to take this stochastic variation
into consideration a dynamic analysis is performed
using the stochastic finite element method. The
required discretization of material properties
of random nature is done using KL expansion
method, which is employed here due to its relative
merits. The progressive damage model is developed
and implemented in the SFE code as a user-defined
subroutine (VUMAT). The randomly generated
sets of properties are used in the stochastic FE
analysis to provide the statistics of critical stresses
at strategic locations.
These stresses and random strength properties
are used for the comparative failure assessment
using different failure criteria. On substitution
of these critical stresses and respective random
strength values, in terms of their statistical char-
acteristics and distributions in the limit state
function, a joint Pf of each ply is obtained. This
is numerically evaluated using the GPRSM. Multi
dimensional integral for determining Pf is calcu-
lated by using GPRSM.
The stochastic finite element method involves a
discretization of random fields that are to be rep-
resented by a set of random variables (E1, E2, E3,
ν12, ν23, ν13, G12, G23, G13, S22, S12 and S13 and impac-
tor velocity U)). The random field’s procedure is
presented for solving the KL eigenvalue problem
using the finite element method (Patel et al. 2016).
3.1 The limit state functions
The limit state of the composite beam under impact
is derived from Yen (2012) failure model. This is
an interacting failure criterion, where more than
one stress components have been used to evaluate
the different failure modes. Failure indices for this
model are related to fiber breakage, matrix crack-
ing compressive failure and involve three failure
modes. This model is extended to problems such as
out of plane fiber breakage failure.
In order to carry out a comparative study of
probability of failure, maximum stress, Hashin
and Yen failure models are used. The limit state
functions are adopted for a comparative study of
the composite beam under impact.
When the damage initiation criteria are met,
the material properties are gradually degraded,
by using the following damage variable where, the
3/29/2017 9:39:56 AM
 fiber and matrix tensile failure is expressed as in
equation 10. A progressive probabilistic damage
analysis of modified equation 12 is used for limit
state function to estimate the Pf. The material
assumed, is completely damaged when the damage
variable reaches 0.98. The modified form of equa-
tion is given as
⎛ ( rj mi )
1
⎞ Gaussian Process with zero mean that describes
gi ( x ) = 0.98 − ⎜1 − e m r ≥1 (12)
⎝ ⎠ j
The limit state function (g) is the mathematical
model of the physical performance of the system
which is defined as safe (g(x)>0), unsafe (g(x) <0)
and (g(x) = 0) for the limiting value. The probabil-
ity of failure (Pf) is an integral, estimated by the
joint probability distribution of random variables
in f(x1, x2. .. xN) and the integration is performed
over the failure region x where g(x)≤ 0.
The vector x consists of material properties
(E1, E2, E3, ν12, ν23, ν13, G12, G23 and G13), strength
properties (S11, S12, S22, S23 etc.) and initial veloc-
ity (U). Experimental values and respective statis-
tical properties such as standard deviations and
distributions of glass epoxy have been adopted as
reported in the literature (Jeong and Shenoi 1998,
Sevkat et al. 2009). The stresses (σ11, σ13, σ23 etc.)
and strains (ε11, ε33, γ12, γ23, γ13 etc.) are linked with
material and strength properties using reliability
code as per
(σ11, τ13, τ23, ε11, ε33, γ12, γ23, γ13)
= FE (E1, E2, E3, ν12, ν23, ν13, G12, G23,
G13, S12, S11, U) (13)
The multi-dimensional integral is presently
computed by the standard Monte Carlo procedure
(Jeong and Shenoi 1998). Although, the method
is inherently simple, the large numbers of output
sets are generated to build an accurate cumulative
distribution function of the output variables. It
makes it computationally expensive. Furthermore,
the need for a large nonlinear finite element analy-
sis makes the computation prohibitive.
For the present problem, GPRSM is also used
to obtain the probability of failure. The efficiency
of this method is compared with that of the Monte
Carlo method.
3.2 Gaussian process response surface method
A probabilistic investigation of Gaussian Pro-
cess (GP) model is dissimilar from other sub-
stitute models because they provide not just a
predicted value at an un-sampled point, but a
generalized linear regression model with a mean
value and a predicted variance as described
491
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 491
by Chen et  al. (2007). The Gaussian response
function, g(x), is modeled as given by Patel et al.
(2014) as follows
g ( x ) = H ( x )T β + E ( x ) (14)
Here, H () is the trend of the model, β is the vec-
tor of trend coefficients, and E() is a stationary
the departure of the model from its underlying
trend. Any function could be assumed by the trend
of the model, but taking it to be a constant value
is generally sufficient (Patel et  al. 2014). Reliabil-
ity code employs a constant trend function and β
is determined through a generalized least squares
estimate (see Eq. 14). The covariance between out-
puts of the Gaussian process E( ) at points c and d
is defined as:
2
Cov [ E (c ), E (d )] E R(c, d ) (15)
Here, σ E2 is the process variance and R() is the cor-
relation function. There are several options for the
correlation function, but the squared-exponential
function is common, and is used here for R()
l
R ( c, d ) e p [∑ i (ci − di )2 ] (16)
i=1
where, l represents the dimensionality of the prob-
lem, and θi is a scale parameter that governs the
degree of correlation between the points in terms
of dimension i. A large θi is representative of a
short correlation length. The mean value μg() and
variance σ g2 () of the Gaussian process model pre-
diction at point x are:
μg β R( x )T R −1 ( g Fβ) (17)
σ 2
g ( x)
−1
⎡ 0 FT ⎤ ⎡ h( x ) ⎤
= σ E2 − [ H ( x )T R( x )T ] ⎢ (18)
⎣F R1 ⎥⎦ ⎢ R( x ) ⎥
⎣ ⎦
where R(x) is a vector containing the correla-
tions between x and each of the n training points
(defined by Eq. 17), R1 is an n x n matrix contain-
ing the correlation between each pair of training
points, g is the vector of response outputs at each
of the training points, and F is an n x q matrix with
rows H(xi)T (the trend basis function at training
point i containing q terms; for a constant trend
q = 1). This form of the variance accounts for the
uncertainty in the trend coefficients β, but assumes
that the parameters governing the covariance func-
tion ( σ E2 d θ ) have known values. The parame-
ters σ E2 and θ are determined through maximum
3/29/2017 9:39:56 AM
 likelihood estimation. This involves taking the log
of the probability of observing the response values
g given the covariance parameters, which is given
by Sacks et al. (1989) as
1 The composite beam and impactor are meshed
log[ p( g / R1)] = − log | R1 | log( *2
E )
n
where, |R1| indicates the determinant of R1, and
σ E*2 is the optimal value of the variance given an
estimate of θ and is defined by:
1 model for ductile materials. Cohesive surfaces
σ E*2 = (g
( g F ( B )T R 1
(g F
FB )
n to simulate and predict the extent of damage due
where, B is the generalized least squares estimate
of β from:
B [F T R 1
F ] 1 F T R1−1 g
Maximizing Eq. 16  gives the maximum likeli-
hood estimate of θ, which in term defined as σ E2 .
In the present study stresses in an individual
lamina are fundamental to control the failure
initiation and propagation in the laminate. The
strength of each individual lamina is assessed sepa-
rately by considering the stresses acting on it along
material axes. The initial failure of a lamina (last
ply failure) is governed by exceeding the maximum
limit prescribed by a failure criterion adopted and
given below.
4 COMPOSITES BEAM UNDER HIGH
VELOCITY IMPACT
Impact on a composite beam of size 254  mm x
25.4 mm x 6.35 mm made of 24 layers of S2 glass-
epoxy is simulated using Finite Element (FE).
Four different ply layups are studied namely,
(a) Symmetric cross ply, (b) Symmetric angle ply,
(c) Anti-Symmetric cross ply, (d) Anti-Symmetric
angle ply. Simply Supported (SS) boundary con-
dition is imposed on the beam and probability of
failure of different laminate is determined. An
optimum lay-up amongst these arrangements will
be decided using the probability of failure. Each
ply of the laminate is assumed to be transversely
isotropic. The stress-strain relation between nor-
mal stress and normal strain is assumed linear
elastic. However, for shear behavior an empirical
non-linear shear stress-strain relation suggested by
Shi et  al. (2012) is used. The failure initiation in
the plies due to failure modes such as tensile and
compressive fiber failure, compressive fiber failure
through thickness and matrix failure are modeled
using strain based criterion given by Yen (2012).
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 492
Once failure has initiated in a ply the modulus is
degraded by using a separate damage variable for
individual mode Yen (2012). The above ideas are
implemented in ABAQUS using a user subroutine
VUMAT.
(19) with 8 node brick elements. Full integration is
used to avoid inaccuracies due to hour glassing.
The impactor was made of Cu and its dimensions
are taken from the literature (Sevkat et al. 2009).
The material behavior of impactor is assumed to
be governed by Johnson-Cook plastic hardening
(20) based on traction and separation law are employed
to delamination. Elastic stiffness, strength and
fracture energy in tension and shear are needed
to define theses surfaces. Damage is assumed to
initiate at the interface between the plies when the
(21)
maximum contact stress reaches a limiting value.
The isotropic damage variable evolves exponen-
tially and reaches a value of one (complete failure)
when sum of energies dissipated in various modes
reaches a critical value Gc. The contact constraint
is used to prevent interpenetration between the
impactor and the beam. The coefficient of fric-
tion between the impactor and composite beam is
taken as 0.3.
4.1 Validation study
The results used for validation study are pro-
duced by Sevkat et  al. (2009) who performed
experiments and Finite Element (FE) analysis for
an impact test using a projectiles acting at veloci-
ties ranging 120 to 320  m/s. The on S2  glass–
toughened composite epoxy beams are used. The
finite element analysis results, obtained presently
are validated by comparing the number of dam-
aged layers with those of Sevkat et  al. (2009).
Figure 1 shows the number of damaged plies for
cross ply arrangement in a fixed composite beam
obtained presently.
It is observed that there is a linear relation
between impactor velocities (120  m/s to 300  m/s)
and number of damaged layers. Using this linear
relationship, the impact velocity to damage all 24
laminas is calculated at 327  m/s. FE simulations
ranging from 120 m/s to 326 m/s velocities showed
that the projectile partially penetrated at lower
velocities fully penetrated at 327 m/s. The number
of damaged plies obtained by the present simula-
tions shows nearly the same trend and values of
experimental results produced by Sevkat et  al.
(2009). The difference in the above results could
arise because of the selection of element by Sevkat
et al. (2009). FE simulation used C3D8R element
(with reduced integration).
492
3/29/2017 9:39:58 AM
 Figure 2. Comparison of probability of fiber failure by
Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS), and Gaussian Response
Surface Method (GRSM).
Figure 1. FE predicted number of damaged laminae at
various velocities.

4.2 Computational efficiency of reliability

methods
An impact at a velocity of 300  m/s showed the
progressive probability of fiber failure for the bot-
tom most ply of the composite beam. Cumulative
density function plot (Fig. 3) shows the estimation
of cumulative probability of failure against vari-
ation of response (Z) using Monte Carlo Simula-
tion (MCS) and Gaussian process response surface
method (GPRSM). The comparison shows that the
Pf obtained from MCS and GPRSM are very close.
However, MCS method required 10,000  cycles to
determine Pf and to reach a constant value. It is
computationally 10 times more expensive in com-
parison to GPRSM. The GPRSM is able to reduce
the time consumed and computationally efficient Figure  3. Comparative study of Pf for simply sup-
while maintaining the acceptable accuracy. ported composite beams.

4.3 Probability of fiber failure for composite

beams using different failure criteria
The deterministic damage response of composite
ply at most severe location (element) gives a single
value of damage variable which varies from 0 to 1.
The probabilistic study provides the sets of dam-
age variable (probability of occurrence of damage
variable) in terms of Pf or reliability (is acceptable
or unacceptable). The Pf calculation procedure is
discussed in section 3. The target reliability and the
respective Pf, recommended for the structural and
mechanical engineering applications, lies between
10–3 to 10–5 (Patel et al. 2016). If the probability of
failure ranges from 10–5 to 10–7 the system is con-
sidered to be conservatively designed, while for
Pf below 10–7 it is considered to be over designed.
The systems design is unacceptable for Pf larger
than 10–3.
For a composite beam under impact, Pf (Yen
Criteria) is determined for each ply for two differ-
ent boundary conditions and different ply lay-ups.
The laminate has 24 plies. For first 22 plies, Pf is
greater than an acceptable value of 10–3. It is found
that for simply supported composite beams the Pf
for 22nd ply in anti-symmetric cross ply laminate is
minimum compared to the Pf in 22nd ply of other
ply-up arrangements, (namely, symmetric cross
ply, symmetric angle ply and anti-symmetric angle
ply). The stochastic finite element analysis is car-
ried out to estimate the Pf of 23rd and 24th plies.
It is observed that the Pf for the maximum stress
criterion is not significantly influence for the last

493

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 493 3/29/2017 9:39:59 AM

 Table 1. Pf for different criteria and ply arrangements for simply supported composite beam.
Cases Ply lay-ups arrangements Hashin failure (Pf)
I Sym. Cross Ply 0.0815
II Anti-Sym. Cross Ply 0.0090
III Sym. Angle Ply 0.0803
IV Anti-Sym. Angle Ply 0.0341
ply all arrangements. It is mainly because the stress
σ11 in fiber is far less than the permissible value of
composite strength due to fiber failure S11t. The
failure of composite in fiber mode occurs mainly
due to the in-plane shear stresses (τ12) and (τ13).
Probabilistic failure assessment based on Yen
and Hashin failure criterion for simply supported
boundary condition is discussed in below.
4.3.1 Comparative influence of damage
propagation model on Pf for SS boundary
condition
The probability of fiber failure of the bottom most
ply of the symmetric and anti-symmetric cross ply
arrangements (Cases-I &II) based on Yen criterion
have 55.9% & 50.7%, less than that for Hashin
criterion respectively. Similarly, the probability
of fiber failure of symmetric and anti-symmetric
angle ply arrangements (Cases-III & IV) using Yen
criterion have 18.3% &76.7%, less than that for
Hashin criterion respectively. However, the Pf due
to fiber failure for anti-symmetric cross ply lay-ups
(case-II) is minimum in comparison to Pf for other
ply lay-ups namely, symmetric cross ply (Case-I),
symmetric angle ply (Case-III) and anti-symmetric
angle ply (Case-IV). It is also observed that the
Hashin fiber failure for anti-symmetric cross ply
lay-ups (Case-II) shows 97.01%, 88.16%, and
77.70% lesser Pf than symmetric cross ply (Case-I),
symmetric angle ply (Case-III) and anti-symmetric
angle ply (Case-IV).
The optimum design based on Yen criterion of
Simply Supported (SS) boundary condition plays
an important role as discussed below.
4.3.2 Optimum design of composite beams for
Yen damage propagation model
Table-1 shows that Pf due to Yen damage propaga-
tion in the bottom most ply for symmetric cross
ply arrangement (Case-I) is 53.2% and 96.7%,
more than that for symmetric angle ply (Case-III)
and anti-symmetric cross ply (Case-II) arrange-
ments respectively. Similarly, the Pf for an anti-
symmetric cross ply (Case-II) and symmetric
angle ply (Case-III) arrangements are 95.3% and
84.9% less than that, for an anti-symmetric angle
494
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 494
Yen failure (Pf) Maximum stress failure (Pf)
0.04790 0.00
0.00004 0.00
0.0046 0.00
0.0019 0.00
ply (Case-IV) and symmetric angle ply (Case-III)
respectively. Because of the symmetric cross and
angle ply arrangements fiber fracture energy is
more than (or delamination energy is lesser than)
that of the anti symmetric cross and angle ply
arrangements.
Fig.  3  shows that for Yen failure criterion, the
Pf of anti-symmetric cross ply (Case-II) arrange-
ment is 96.7%, 92.9% and 52.6% less than that, for
the ply arrangements due to, symmetric cross ply
(Case-I), symmetric angle ply (Case-III) and anti-
symmetric angle ply (Case-IV) respectively.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Fiber damage propagation is considered to be
the safety criteria for the S2-glass epoxy com-
posite beam under ballistic impact. The progres-
sive damage model is implemented in commercial
software ABAQUS with a user defined subroutine
(VUMAT) to carry out the finite element analysis.
Linear relation exists between impactor velocities
(120 m/s to 300 m/s) and number of damaged lay-
ers. This behavior validates the currents finding
with respect to the published results.
MCS is computationally very expensive in
comparison to GPRSM for the equal accuracy.
MCS takes almost 10 times more computational
time than GPRSM. Comparative study of differ-
ent fiber failure propagation criteria showed the
maximum stress criterion is more conservative as
compared to Yen and Hashin failure criteria. The
progressive probability of fiber failure of anti-
symmetric cross ply arrangement for simply sup-
ported composite beams is least as compared to
other lay-ups studied.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was performed within the Strategic
Research Plan of the Centre for Marine Technology
and Ocean Engineering, which is financed by the
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technol-
ogy (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia-FCT).
3/29/2017 9:40:00 AM
 REFERENCES
Abrate S. (1994). Impact on laminated composites:
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Bandaru AK, Chavan VV, Ahmad S, Alagirusami R,
Bhatnagar N. (2016). Ballistic impact response of
Kevlar reinforced thermoplastic composite armors.
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1–13.
Chen NZ, Guedes Soares C. (2008). Spectral stochastic
finite element analysis for laminated composite plates.
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4830–4839.
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tem Safety, 55: 171–177.
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1–13.
Kachanov, L. (1999). Rupture time under creep condi-
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Patel SD, Ahmad S, Mahajan P. (2016). Probabilistic
finite element analysis of S2  glass epoxy composite
beams for damage initiation due to high veloc-
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044504-044504-3.
Patel SD, Ahmad S. (2017). Probabilistic failure of graph-
ite epoxy composite plates due to low velocity impact,
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Patel SD. Ahmad S, Mahajan P. (2013). Probabilistic
failure analysis of composite beams under ballistic
impact. In: George Deodatis, Bruce R. Ellingwood
and Dan M. Frangopol, Safety, Reliability, Risk and
Life-Cycle Performance of Structures and Infrastruc-
tures. London: Taylor and Francis. 4389–4395.
Rajashekhar MR and Ellingwood BR. (1993). A new
look at the response surface approach for reliability
analysis. Structural Safety, 12, 205–220.
Sacks J, Schiller SB, Welch WJ. (1989). Design for com-
puter experiments. Technometrics; 31(1): 41–47.
Sevkat E, Liaw B, Delale F, Raju BB. (2009). A combined
experimental and numerical approach to study ballis-
tic impact response of S2 glass fiber/toughened epoxy
composite beams. Composites Science and Technol-
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Shi Y, Swait T, Soutis C. (2012). Modeling damage evolu-
tion in composite laminates subjected to low velocity
impact. Composite Structure; 94: 2902–2913.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Validation of a simplified method for the crashworthiness of offshore

wind turbine jackets using finite elements simulations

T. Pire, S. Echeverry & P. Rigo

University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

L. Buldgen
HELMo Gramme, Liège, Belgium

H. Le Sourne
ICAM, Nantes, France

ABSTRACT: The work presented in this paper focuses on crashworthiness of jacket foundations used
to support offshore wind turbines in moderately deep waters. In a previous research work, the authors
have developed a solver based on analytical formulations, derived from limit plastic analysis, to assess
the damage of such foundations when impacted by a ship. The present paper describes the methodology
followed to perform numerical validations of the theoretical developments, including a description of
the finite element models, the computation hypotheses and the simulations performed using LS-DYNA
code. Many parameters describing the collision scenario are investigated, namely the type, the mass, the
initial velocity and the trajectory of the striking ship. Some comparisons between analytical and numerical
results are finally shown.

1 INTRODUCTION jacket are considered. Following this approach,

Nowadays, production of renewable energies is a
major issue. Amongst them, offshore wind energy
is expanding fast, due to high velocity and con-
stant winds that can be found. In the near future,
many wind farms will built and those wind farms
will be located closer and closer to traffic lanes.
In addition, the use of Offshore Supply Vessels
within the farms is required to perform a regular
maintenance. Therefore, the probability of a col-
lision occurring between a ship and on offshore
structure cannot be neglected. The consequences
of such an impact could be also severe, as it could
lead to loss of human lives or to ecological or eco-
nomic damage. This explains why it is required to
perform a collision risk analysis for every new off-
shore project.
Some design offices currently use finite ele-
ments simulations to assess the resistance of off-
shore structures submitted to ship impacts, which
provides accurate results but is time-demanding.
To overcome this issue, several authors developed
semi-analytical methods based on the decomposi-
tion of the structure into large structural elements,
as done by Soreide et al. (1993) for offshore tubu-
lar structures. In this method, both local deforma-
tions at impact point and global bending of the
the authors of the present work developed a solver
based analytical formulation, derived from plastic
limit analysis, to compute the resistance of an off-
shore jacket impacted by a ship and the energy dis-
sipated during the collision.
In the present paper, the analytical solver is
briefly presented and the methodology followed to
validate the theoretical developments is described.
Then, “analytical” and finite element solvers are
used to simulate many ship-jacket collision sce-
narios. The hypotheses considered for these calcu-
lations are presented and resulting resistant forces
and deformation energies are compared.
1.1 Analytical method
Before deriving analytical expressions to assess
the resistant force of the jacket, many numerical
simulations were carried out in order to better
understand its global behavior and to identify the
involved deformation modes: global motion of the
whole structure, crushing of the impacted cylinder,
punching of legs by compressed braces and defor-
mation at the base of the jacket.
The use of plastic limit analysis requires to
assume a displacement field for each deforma-
tion mode. The corresponding dissipated energy

497

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 497 3/29/2017 9:40:00 AM

 rate is then derived and the analytical expression
of the resistant force is deducted by application of
the upper bound theorem as described by (Jones,
1997). This method was successfully applied by
(Buldgen et al., 2014) to derive the crushing resist-
ance of an oblique cylinder impacted by a bow or
a bulb, by (Hsieh, 2015) to investigate the energy
dissipated by plastic deformation of the legs which
are punched by a compressed brace and by (Pire
et  al. in prep.) to study the multiple deformation
modes occurring at the base of the jacket.
Analytical formulations were recently combined
into a global algorithm (Le Sourne et al., 2016), in
which all the deformation modes are independently
triggered by comparing the resistant forces. The
total resistance and internal energy of the jacket
as well as striking ship penetration can finally be
post-processed.
1.2 Numerical method
Many authors performed numerical simulations of
a ship colliding an offshore wind turbine jacket to
highlight the effect of several parameters.
Most researches considered Offshore Supply
Vessels as colliding ship, with a mass comprised
between 2500 and 5250 tons (added mass included)
and an initial velocity range of 2 to 6 m/s.
It was found out by Vredeveldt et al. (2013) and
Le Sourne et al. (2015) that the dynamics of the wind
turbine tower with the nacelle can be ignored when
computing the structure resistance for the considered
initial velocity range. Le Sourne et al. (2015) also dem-
onstrated that the effect of gravity can be neglected.
The effect of relative stiffness of the striking ship
and the collided structure was also investigated by
authors, such as Travanca & Hao (2014a, b) or Le
Sourne et  al. (2015). The structural behavior is
drastically different according to the type of ship,
as an OSV is much more flexible than a bulk car-
rier, for instance.
Soil structure interaction effect was studied by
Le Sourne et  al. (2015). The boundaries of the
jacket into the seabed were considered either per-
fectly clamped or flexible and then modelled using
spring elements associated with in-situ measure-
ments values. The comparison of resulting crush-
ing forces showed that a perfectly clamped model
provides results with very negligible differences
with a more realistic model.
All the previously cited authors neglected the
effect of wind, waves, current, hydrostatic damp-
ing… as the corresponding forces are small with
regard to the collision forces.
Finally, Amdahl & Holmas (2011) studied high
energy impacts, larger than 500 MJ. It was demon-
strated that the collided structure would collapse in
any case. As wind turbine should preferably not fall
498
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 498
on the ship, it was shown that the water depth and
the jacket layout are the determinant parameters.
Similar simulations were performed for ship
collisions on offshore wind turbine monopiles,
amongst others Bela et  al. (2015). It was shown
that many parameters that can be neglected for
jackets are determinant in case of ship collisions
on monopiles. For example, the dynamics of the
tower, including the mass of the nacelle, gravity…,
plays a large role in the deformation of the struc-
ture. The initial kinetic energy of the colliding ship
and the orientation of wind are also important
parameters on the collapse process. Finally, the
soil-structure interaction influences also the defor-
mation at the bottom of the monopile, and there-
fore on the motion of the whole structure.
Some standards related to ship-offshore struc-
tures collisions were implemented. We can men-
tion the NORSOK N-004 Standard (2004) based
on the works of Amdahl & Johansen (2001) or
the recommended practice “Design for accidental
loads” by DNV (2010).
2 COLLISION ANALYSIS
2.1 Finite elements model
All finite elements models are built with PATRAN-
NASTRAN (MSC) and the finite elements simu-
lations are carried out using LS-DYNA (LSTC)
explicit solver.
The particulars of the jacket are given in
Table 1, while a view of the finite elements model
is proposed in Fig. 1.
On top of a real jacket is a platform and the tran-
sition piece used to connect the structure with the
tower. This piece can be considered as rigid, and it
is modelled with a rigid plate on top of the jacket
finite elements model to connect the four legs.
Assuming that the soil is rigid, clamped bound-
ary conditions are imposed to the legs feet at
seabed level. The tower is not explicitly modelled
but rather represented by a lumped mass. Gravity
loads are not considered as it was demonstrated
that their influence on the final result is negligi-
ble. Rupture is not considered in a first step of the
research, but will be investigated later on.
The jacket is modelled with Reduced Integrated
Belytchko-Tasy shell elements (Hallquist 2013).
The material is considered as elastic—perfectly
plastic with a flow stress σ0 of 255 MPa, as shown
in Fig. 2.
As shown among others by (Le Sourne, 2015),
the type of colliding ship has a major influence
on the repartition of dissipated energy between
the ship and the structure. In both analytical and
numerical simulations, we consider only rigid
3/29/2017 9:40:00 AM
 striking ships, which leads of course to conserva-
tive results regarding the offshore structure. Those
will be a non-bulbous and a bulbous Offshore Sup-
ply Vessels, each with a typical mass of 6000 tons
(added mass included). Their finite elements model
are depicted respectively in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4.
The contact between the ship hull and the jacket
is modelled using the AUTOMATIC-SURFACE-
TO-SURFACE card of LS-DYNA.
A surge initial velocity is imposed to the striking
ship and its vertical and transversal displacements

Table 1. Jacket particulars.

Height (m) 56 Legs ext. diam. (m) 1.3

Bottom width (m) 25 Legs thick. (m) 0.05 Figure 3. Non-bulbous bow finite elements model.
Top width (m) 6.4 Braces ext. diam. (m) 0.65
Braces thick. (m) 0.05

Figure 4. Bulbous bow finite elements model.

as well as all rotations are restrained, which means

that the ship direction remains constant during the
whole crushing process.
For all the simulations, an initial ship velocity of
5 m/s is chosen in order to produce representative
final damage on the jacket. The OSV impacts thus
the jacket with an initial kinetic energy of 75 MJ
that has to be dissipated by the offshore structure.
Figure 1. Jacket finite element model.

2.2 Size of elements

A mesh sensitivity analysis is performed in order
to optimize the jacket mesh shell element size. The
collision scenario depicted in Fig.  5 is simulated
using mesh sizes within a range of 8 to 20  cm.
A fine mesh provides more accurate results but is
of course more time-demanding.
The jacket mesh particulars and resulting com-
puting time for all considered element sizes are
given in Table 2.
The computation time increases very fast with
the refinement of the mesh, because of both the
Courant-Friedrich-Levy condition and the use
of the contact card. Indeed, contact is consid-
Figure 2. Jacket material behaviour law. ered to occur when the distance between a node

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 It also appears that the impact force does not
change significantly when element size becomes
lower than 10  cm. The next simulations are thus
performed using this mesh size, which is accord-
ing to the authors the best compromise between
accuracy and time.

2.3 Non-bulbous bow simulations

In order to validate the analytical solver, many
numerical simulations were performed for differ-
ent ship-jacket collision scenarios. In all cases, the
ship strikes one jacket leg, either between two con-
nections of braces (see Fig. 5) or directly on a con-
nection (see Fig.  7). Collisions against braces are
not considered here as it was demonstrated by Le
Figure 5. Collision scenario between two connections. Sourne (2015) that leg impacts are more harmful
than brace impacts.
The validation process aims to verify that the
Table 2. Jacket mesh properties and computation time. analytical solver is able to provide accurate results
Element Computing for any collision scenario possible. Impact loca-
size (cm) Nb. of elts Nb. of nodes time tions and striking ship trajectories are chosen to
simulate the most representative collision scenar-
20 66,683 65,888 1 h 13′ ios and therefore to guarantee the validity of the
16 105,497 104,646 2 h 33′ model for any collisions.
14 132,212 131,249 4 h 31′ The selected collision angles α are 0°, 30° and
12 179,535 178,462 6 h 16′ 45° (see Fig. 8).
10 263,464 262,215 11 h 23′ The contact forces resulting from an impact
8 395,358 394,005 16 h 36′ located between two connections and on a connec-
tion are given respectively in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10 for
the different values of α. In addition, the influence
of the impact location on the jacket resistant force
is highlighted in Fig. 11, where the collision angle
α = 0 in both cases.
It can be concluded from Fig.  9 and Fig.  10
that the jacket resist more for a larger value of the
collision angle α. Indeed, for α  =  0, mainly one
plane of the jacket withstands the impact load,
while for other values of α, a second plane is

Figure 6. Maximum displacement for each mesh size.

of the colliding ship and a shell element of the

jacket becomes zero. At each iteration the distance
between the nodes of the ship and the selected
shell elements of the jacket is computed. With an
increasing number of nodes, the number of dis-
tances that have to be computed increases also.
For each mesh size, the maximum displacement
of the ship, plotted in Fig.  6, allows to conclude
that the convergence tends to a value of 3.47  m. Figure 7. Collision scenario on a connection.

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Figure 8. Angle of collision.
Figure  9. Crushing force for a collision between two
connections for several values of α.
Figure 10. Crushing force for a collision on a connec-
tion for several values of α.
activated, which gives more rigidity. From Fig. 11,
it appears also clearly that the local stiffness on
a connection is larger than the one between two
connections.
501
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 501
Figure 11. Crushing force for α = 0 depending on the
collision point.
2.4 Bulbous bow simulations
The same simulations are performed with the
bulbous bow presented in Fig. 4. As for the non-
bulbous bow, the jacket resistance increases with
the collision angle α for a given ship and a given
impact location.
However, when a bulbous bows strikes the
jacket, the number of collisions configurations is
much larger than for non-bulbous one. Indeed,
depending on the geometry of both the ship and
the jacket, impacts may occur at different places.
Both the stem and the bulb may impact either
between two connections or on a connection.
The jacket structural behavior depends of course
greatly on these conditions.
2.5 Effect of rupture
Up to now, simulations were performed without
considering rupture. To determine if it is neces-
sary to take this phenomenon into account when
developing an the analytical solver, the elas-
toplastic law used to model the jacket material
behavior is associated to an erosive shear strain
criteria.
Corresponding failure strain threshold value is
determined according to Lehmann & Peschmann
(2002).
t
ε f = εg + εe (1)
le
where εf is the failure strain, εg is the uniform strain,
εe is the necking strain and t/le is the thickness/
element size ratio.
Previous formula is valid as far as the struc-
ture deforms mainly in membrane tension. The
elastoplastic erosive law is thus only applied to
areas which are submitted to tension, such as the
3/29/2017 9:40:02 AM
 impacted leg or areas located between connections
with braces (see Fig. 5).
As the deformation of impacted cylinders
involves mainly local bending and shearing, rup-
ture is intentionally not considered in those areas.
Similarly, parts where braces connect to legs are
also excluded due to the occurrence of complex
internal efforts distribution. Rupture of stretched
braces is also disregarded as their elongation
remain small. As the rear legs are concerned, they
are submitted mainly to compression forces and
are thus supposed to deform without failure.
Collision scenarios described previously are
simulated again but a failure strain criteria calcu-
lated by Eq. (1) is now considered in areas where
tension failure may occur. Considering 75 MJ of
impact energy, it appears that failure never occurs
on the jacket, whatever is the collision scenario.
However, it is obvious that some components of
the jacket may actually fail in reality, more particu-
larly the impacted cylinders or the legs which are
severely punched by braces. Nevertheless, the lack
of suitable failure criterion available in the com-
mercialized version of LS-DYNA prevented us
from modeling such damage properly.
3 ANALYTICAL MODEL
Several steps were followed to develop the analyti-
cal solver. First, the main deformation modes were
Figure 12. Jacket overall deformation mode.
Figure 13. Impacted cylinder local crushing mode.
502
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 502
investigated from some numerical simulations. For
each identified deformation mode, a kinematic
admissible displacement field was postulated
and deformation energy rate Eint was analytically
derived from plastic limit analysis. The corre-
sponding resistant force P was then obtained from
the upper-bound theorem:
P E int / δ (2)
where δ is the ship surge velocity.
All the deformation modes were finally com-
bined into a global algorithm in order to compute
the time evolution of the jacket total resistance
(Le Sourne et al. 2016).
3.1 Deformation modes
The numerical simulations highlighted four main
deformation modes, namely
• Overall motion of the structure (Fig. 12)
• Local crushing of the impacted cylinders (Fig. 13)
• Punching of legs by compressed braces (Fig. 14)
• Deformation at the base of the jacket (Fig. 15)
Figure 14. Punching mode.
Figure 15. Base deformation mode.
3/29/2017 9:40:04 AM
 3.2 General algorithm
The general algorithm presented in Fig.  16 com-
bines all analytical developments and allows to
compute the total resistance of the jacket.
At each time step, the resistant force in all de
deformation modes are computed, considering the
effect of one deformation mode on each other. For
example, the reduction of section of a leg due to
punching reduces the stiffness of the cylinder in
the overall motion mode.
All these resistance forces are then compared
and only the deformation mode with the mini-
mum resistant force is considered. From the total
resistant force, the acceleration of the ship can be
updated.
This procedure is followed until the velocity of
the striking ship becomes zero.

4 COMPARISON OF BOTH MODELS

Resistant forces and deformation energies obtained

analytically are compared in Figs. 17 to 20 with the
one obtained from numerical simulations, keeping

Figure 16. General algorithm.

The resistance of the jacket in the overall

motion mode is computed following an approach
similar to nonlinear finite elements method. Each
cylinder is considered as one single element and
its stiffness is computed as for a beam element
with semi-rigid connections (varying between
perfect hinge and perfect clamping), taking into
account possible plastic hinges at the extremities
and at the middle of the elements. The global stiff-
ness matrix is then built by assembling elementary
matrices, as done in finite element approach. The
plastic surface is defined following Eurocode
rules (2005). Figure 17. Crushing force comparison for case A0.
The crushing of the impacted cylinder was
studied by Buldgen et  al. (2014) from results
obtained by Hoo Fatt et  al. (1991), Wierzbicki
et  al. (1988) and Zeinoddini et  al. (1998). The
impacted cylinder is considered as rings that can
slide without shearing along generators. Those
rings dissipate energy both by rotation of mov-
ing plastic hinges and by change of curvature of
the sections located between the hinges. Regard-
ing the generators, the dissipation is due to their
elongations.
Buldgen’s work was then extended by Hsieh
(2015) who derived similarly the internal energy
rate and the resistant force of legs which are
punched by compressed braces. The deformation
pattern at the base of the jacket was studied by Pire
et al. (2017). Figure 18. Dissipated energy comparison for case A0.

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 been compared for different collision scenarios,
the results obtained from the analytical solver are
rather in good accordance with the numerical ones,
the discrepancy not exceeding 9%. It appears also
that the analytical approach is conservative in the
majority of the cases.

5 CONCLUSIONS

In this paper, the authors described the proc-

ess used to validate an analytical solver based on
plastic limit analysis able to assess the crashwor-
thiness of an offshore wind turbine jacket when it
Figure 19. Crushing force comparison for case B45. is impacted by a ship bow. Numerous numerical
simulations were performed for different collision
scenarios and the energy dissipated by the jacket
as well as its resistant force were compared to the
ones obtained with the analytical solver.
First, the numerical simulations were described. As
was demonstrated in some previous papers, the influ-
ence of the tower and the gravity effects can be dis-
regarded. The jacket legs are considered as clamped
as the soil-stiffness interaction can be also neglected.
6000  tons non-bulbous and bulbous colliding
Offshore Supply Vessels were both considered in the
simulations. They are supposed to strike the jacket
at an initial velocity of 5 m/s, which corresponds to
a kinetic energy of 75 MJ. In this paper, the striking
ship is considered as rigid, which leads to conserva-
tive results with regard to the jacket as the whole
Figure 20. Dissipated energy comparison for case B45. energy is dissipated by deformation of the jacket.
The simulations performed involved impacts
Table 3. Maximum displacements and error. on a leg, either between two connections with
braces or on one of these connections, and differ-
Max. ship Max. ship ent angles of collision. The results showed that the
Simul. disp. (anal) disp. (num) Disc (%)
resistance of the jacket increases when the impact
A0 3 m 78 3 m 59 5 occurs on a brace-leg connection or when the angle
A30 3 m 55 3 m 32 7 between the ship direction and the main planes of
A45 3 m 53 3 m 33 6 the jacket increases.
B0 3 m 52 3 m 36 5 In order to simulate possible failure, an elasto-
B30 2 m 72 2 m 98 9 plastic behavior law including a shear stress failure
B45 2 m 65 2 m 90 9 criteria was considered for the parts mainly sub-
mitted to tensile internal forces. For the considered
impact energy, numerical simulations show that
of course the collision scenarios identical (impact rupture does not occur in any part of the jacket.
point, trajectory…). For all of them, a 6000  tons However, such results are questionable because
rigid ship (added mass included) impacts the jacket the stress state of some severely deformed parts is
at an initial velocity of 5 m/s, which corresponds to bi-axial or tri-axial and involves bending and
an initial kinetic energy of 75 MJ. shearing deformation modes, which are not cor-
Only some results for non-bulbous ship collision rectly modelled by the classical erosive law avail-
are presented in this paper. In Figs. 17 to 20 and in able in the commercialized version of LS-DYNA.
table 3 below, collisions between two connections Anyway, by comparing the energy dissipated
are denoted A (Fig. 5) while collisions on a connec- plastically by the jacket as well as its resistant force
tion are denoted B (Fig. 7). The following number both calculated by the developed analytical solver
denotes the collision angle α (Fig. 8). and by LS-DYNA, it can be concluded that the
As shown by previous figures and by Table  3 analytical solver can be used with confidence for
below where the striking ship penetrations have rigid ship-deformable jacket collision simulations.

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 Further developments will aim to include in the
analytical model the deformability of the striking
ship. Indeed, as was shown by Le Sourne (2015),
depending on the type of colliding ship, a signifi-
cant part of energy may be dissipated by deforma-
tion of the striking ship (up to 80% in case of an
OSV bow collision but only 20% in case of an ice-
class bulk carrier side impact).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the FRIA and
Region “Pays de la Loire” for their financial sup-
port, STX and Bureau Veritas for their participa-
tion in defining the scope of the work and MSC
(NASTRAN) and LSTC (LS-DYNA) for their
technical support.
REFERENCES
Amdahl J. and Holmas T. 2011. High energy ship col-
lisions with jacket supported offshore wind turbines.
Proceedings of the international conference on com-
putational methods in marine engineering, Barcelona,
Spain.
Bela A., Le Sourne H., Buldgen L. and Rigo P. 2015.
Numerical crashworthiness of an offshore wind tur-
bine monopile impacted by a ship. Proceedings of the
MARSTRUCT 2015 5th International Conference on
Marine Structure. Taylor & Francis Group.
Buldgen L., Le Sourne H. and Pire T. 2014. Extension of
the super-elements method to the analysis of a jacket
impacted by a ship. Marine Structures, 38.
European committee for standardization. 2005. Euroc-
ode 3: Design of steel structures EN1993.
Hallquist J.O. 2006. LS-DYNA theoretical manual, Liv-
ermore Software Technology Corporation.
Hoo Fatt MS and Wierzbicki T. 1991. Damage of plastic
cylinders under localized pressure loading. Interna-
tional Journal of Mechanical Sciences, 33: 999–1016.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 505
Hsieh J.R. 2015. Analytical formulations for ship-off-
shore wind turbine collisions. Master Thesis, Nantes:
ICAM, in the framework of EMSHIP Erasmus Mun-
dus Master Course in Integrated Advanced Ship
Design.
Jones N. 1997. Structural impact. Cambridge university
press.
Lehmann E. and Peschmann J. 2002. Energy absorption
by the steel structure of ships in the event of collisions.
Marine Structures, 15(4–5): 429–441.
Le Sourne H., Barrera, A. and Maliakel J.B. 2015.
Numerical crashworthiness analysis of an offshore
wind turbine jacket impacted by a ship. Journal of
Marine Science and Technology, 23(5).
Le Sourne H., Pire T., Hsieh J.R. and Rigo P. 2016.
New analytical developments to study local and glo-
bal deformations of an offshore wind turbine jacket
impacted by a ship. Proceedings of International Con-
ference on Collision and Grounding of Ships, Ulsan,
Korea.
Pire T., Le Sourne H., Echeverry S., Rigo P. 2017. Ana-
lytical formulations to assess the energy dissipated at
the base of an offshore wind turbine jacket impacted
by a ship. To be submitted to Marine Structures.
Soreide T., Amdahl J., Eberg E., Homas T. and Hellan.
1993. O. USFOS: A computer program for progres-
sive collapse analysis of steel offshore structures.
SINTEF.
Travanca J., Hao H. 2014. Numerical analysis of steel
tubular member response to ship bow impacts. Inter-
national Journal of Impact Engineering, 64: 101–121.
Travanca J., Hao H. 2014. Dynamics of steel off-
shore platforms under ship impact. Applied Ocean
Research, 47: 352–372.
Vredeveldt A.W., Schipperen J.H.A., Nassar Q.H.A.,
Spaans C.A. 2013. Safe jacket configurations to resist
boat impact. Leira J, editor. Collision and grounding
of ships and offshore structures.
Wierzbicki T., Suh M.S. 1988. Indentation of tubes under
combined loading. International Journal Mechanical
Sciences, 30(3/4): 229–248.
Zeinoddini M., Harding J.E., Parke G.A.R. 1998. Effect
of impact damage on the capacity of tubular steel
members of offshore structures. Marine Structures,
11: 141–157.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Structural response and energy absorption of the simplified ship side

under the impact of rigid indenters with different shapes

Xiaoming Qiu
Green Ship and Marine Engineering Equipment Technology Research Centre, School of Transportation,
Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China

Ling Zhu & Mengjiao Yan

Departments of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Structural Engineering, School of Transportation,
Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China

Bin Liu
Key Laboratory of High Performance Ship Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Transportation,
Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China

ABSTRACT: Ship side is frequently subjected to collision, which is a dangerous condition during the
ship operation. In this paper, ship side is simplified as two different models: unstiffened plate and stiffened
plate. Small scale impact experiment is conducted, so as to analyze the structural response and energy
absorption of the two simplified models under the impact of rigid wedge and spherical indenters. The
acceleration-time curve of indenter and the final deformation of the plate are obtained. Meanwhile, non-
linear finite element method is used to analyze the small scale impact experiment. For the two simplified
collision models, experimental and numerical results are analyzed and compared, to find the difference
of structural response and energy absorption between the two simplification approaches. Moreover, the
comparison between cases with different shapes of impact indenters (rigid wedge and sphere) is carried
out. Based on the numerical and experimental study, some advices on the impact crashworthiness design
of ship side are proposed.

1 INTRODUCTION used to analyze the resistance to penetration of

During the operating period of ships, collision
between ships is quite common. Because of the
huge mass of ship and the high strength of ship
bow, ship collision is always regarded as a kind
of low velocity impact between a rigid body with
large kinetic energy and a ship side. Under the
huge impact loading, the impacted structure would
exhibit complex nonlinear dynamic response.
Large impact energy can be dissipated in a very
short time, causing serious structural damage and
deformation to the side structure. Many studies
have focused on the quasi-statical analysis of the
ship collision or grounding problem. Liu & Guedes
(2015a, b; 2016a, b) studied the crushing behav-
iour of the scaled ship bottom experimentally and
numerically. Villavicencio et  al. (2014) presented
finite element simulations of a small-scale stiff-
ened plate specimen quasi-statically punched at
the mid-span by a rigid indenter, in order to exam-
ine its energy absorbing mechanisms and fracture.
Besides, numerical and experimental methods were
stiffened plates. Alsos et al. (2008a, b) carried out a
series of indentation tests quasi-statically on vari-
ous configurations of stiffened panels. The results
of the scaled down tests are reported and numeri-
cal analyses with focus on fracture prediction was
carried out.
Considering the complexity of the collision
problem, two aspects are selected to simplify ship
collision problem: geometric model and physi-
cal assumption. Areas of side structure which is
always damaged during the collision process can
be simplified as stiffened plate & unstiffened plate
with the aspect ratio of length and width similar
to the practical. In general, striking objects with
high strength can be simplified as rigid wedge
blocks or sphere, etc. From the view of the internal
mechanics of ship collision, velocity, mass, shape
of the striking objects play significant roles in
the ship collision process. Setup of these param-
eters should be considered strictly in the study.
Based on a simplified ship-structure collision
model, Zhu & Faulkner (1994) carried out small

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 Table 1. Impact cases.

Case Indenter Structure Remarks

1 Wedge Unstiffened Plate Exp/Simulation

2 Sphere Unstiffened Plate Exp/Simulation
Figure 1. Collision scenario of ships. 3 Wedge Stiffened Plate Simulation
4 Sphere Stiffened Plate Simulation

scaled ship impact experiments, from which some

dynamic response data were obtained. In addi-
tion, stress and strain analyses of plates subjected
to transverse wedge impact were performed and
the results between numerical and experimental
studies were compared (Zhu, 1996). This simplifi-
cation approach further expanded to ship-ice col-
lision study. Based on this simplified model, Zhu
et al. (2015) investigated the dynamic responses of
plates under repeated ice loads and proposed the
structural design formulae for ice-classed ships.
As shown in Figure 1, during ship collision pro-
Figure 2. Schematics of the structure subjected to the
cess, two parts of the bow impact the side struc- impact.
ture: the upper bow with a wedge shape and lower
bow with a sphere shape. Therefore, two kinds of
indenters with the wedge shape and sphere are
used to simulate the ship bow. Differences between
impacts of two kinds of indenters are studied
experimentally and numerically. In engineering
application, the length-width aspect ratio of hull
plate is about 3:1. Therefore, small scale side struc-
ture that is always damaged is simplified as plate
with the aspect ratio of 3:1. Dynamic responses of
the indenters and energy absorption of structures
subjected to impact are discussed. The influence of
stiffener to plate strength is analyzed.
Figure 3. Schematics of the indenters.

2 DESCRIPTION OF THE IMPACT CASES

Table 2. Key parameters.
2.1 Impact cases
Parameters Setup
In this paper, four impact cases were implemented
by the use of experimental and numerical method; V0 (m/s) 3
Table 1 shows details of the cases. msphere (kg) 100
mwedge (kg) 96
2.2 Details of numerical simulations Mesh Size (mm × mm) 10 × 10
Mesh Type of Plate Shell
Figures  2 & 3  shows the schematics of indenters Mesh Type of Indenter Solid
and the structure subjected to the impact. Length Contact Type ASTS
of the plate (B) is 1200  mm and width (D) is Boundary Conditions Clamped
400 mm. Height of the stiffener (T) is 40 mm. The
plate thickness (H) is 2  mm. Stiffened plate and
unstiffened plate are under the impact of indenters
with a 3  m/s velocity. Height (d) of the indenter Nonlinear finite element software LS-DYNA is
with wedge shape is 200  mm and width (b) of it used to analyze the impact process. Element type
is 60 mm. Moreover, radius of spherical indenter of indenter is set as Solid. Shell is selected to mode
(R) is 80  mm. Without any stiffener, geometrical the unstiffened plate and stiffened plate. Contact
parameters of the cases of unstiffened are same to algorithm is set as the type of Automatic Surface
the stiffened series. to Surface (ASTS).

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 In the model of Finite Element Method (FEM),
all nodes on the boundary of the plate and stiffener
are fixed.
Meanwhile, indenters are regarded as rigid, and
no deformation occurs. Constitutive relation of
elastic-linear strain-hardening is used to simulate
the mechanics of the unstiffened plate & stiffened
plate, as shown in Figure 4.
The material parameters are listed in Table 3.

Figure 6. Experimental indenters with different shapes.

2.3 Experimental setup
In addition to the numerical method, self-designed
Release the striker and let it free drop to get the
impact facility is used to carry out the trans-
initial velocity. With the initial velocity, the striker
verse impact test, in order to study the dynamic
impacts to the clamped plate and the dynamic
responses of the indenter and the deformation of
responses data are recorded. At first, preliminary
the plate. The edge of plate is fixed by bolts, so as
tests are implemented, to find a suitable position
to meet the clamped boundary conditions. Figure 5
at which the striker can get an initial velocity of
express the schematic of the transverse impact
3 m/s. By the use of optoelectronic switch device,
test. The striker is positioned at a certain height.
initial velocity and rebound velocity are meas-
ured. In addition, with the sampling frequency of
51200 Hz, an acceleration sensor is placed on the
indenter, so as to record the acceleration-time data
during the impact process.
Indenters used in the impact tests are manufac-
tured to adapt the requirements of using for a long
time. Sizes of the experimental indenters are shown
in Figure 6. The deformation is difficult to occur.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Comparison of unstiffened plate cases under

the impact of indenters with different shapes
Figure 4. Constitutive relation in numerical simulation.
(Experimental & numerical)
Table 3. Material defined in numerical model. The results of plate’s final deformation from the
transverse impact test and FEM are compared, as
Material Steel shown in Figures 7 and 8.
It can be seen from the Figures that:
Density ρ (kg/m3) 7800
Yield Stress σy (MPa) 235 1. The shape of plastic deformation area of the
Elasticity Modulus (MPa) 2.06 × 105 numerical results is very similar to the experi-
Poisson’s Ratio ν 0.3 mental one.
Tangent Modulus (MPa) 246 2. The plastic deformation area caused by indent-
ers with wedge shape and sphere are different.
For the wedge case, the most serious deforma-
tion occurs on the edges of the contact area.
However, for the sphere case, the center of the
plate has the largest deflection.
Table  3  summarizes the results of unstiffened
plate cases, for the impact of the indenters with
different shapes. Where V0 is the initial velocity of
indenter, Vf is the rebound velocity after the impact
process, Wc is the deflection of the plate center,
Wc/H is a dimensionless parameter that reflects the
size of the deformation, Eplate is deformation energy
Figure 5. Schematic of the transverse impact test. of plate, ∑E is the total energy in the impact process.

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 Table  4. Results comparison of the unstiffened plate
cases under the impact of sphere and wedge. (FEM refers
to Finite Element Method and EXP refers to the Experi-
mental method).

Sphere-Plate Wedge-Plate

Setting FEM EXP FEM EXP

Wc/H 13.88 13.00 7.76 6.75

V0 3.00 2.99 3.00 2.96
Vf 1.00 1.14 1.02 1.15
V/V0 33.27% 38.21% 34.14% 39.02%
Eplate/∑E 88.93% 85.40% 88.34% 84.77%

Eplate/∑E reflects the energy absorption of plate

Figure  7. Final deformation of the plate under the
impact of wedge indenter. (a) is the equivalent plastic
strain nephogram from numerical result and (b) is the
final deformation of experimental result.
during the impact process.
Comparison of results between FEM and EXP
shows that:
1. For the plate deformation and energy absorp-
tion, numerical results is a little larger than the
experimental results, which suggests that plate
of the FEM is easy to deform. This phenom-
enon may result from the using of shell ele-
ment, which is a type of element with reduced
integration.
2. In the cases of the two different indenters,
Eplate/∑E from experimental test or numerical
simulation is almost the same. However, the
Wc/H is obviously different, illustrating that
the energy absorption is consistent between the
cases of  two indenters, but due to the shape
influence, local deformation around the center
of the plate is obvious.
On contrast, the local deformation of plate
always occurs on the edges of the contact area in
wedge case.

3.2 Comparison of stiffened plate cases under

the impact of indenters with different shapes
Figure  8. Final deformation of the plate under the (Numerical)
impact of spherical indenter. (a) is the equivalent plas-
tic strain nephogram from numerical result and (b) is the From Figure  9, it is intuitively to see that: under
final deformation of experimental result. the impact of indenter with wedge shape, deforma-
tion area of the stiffened plate is large. Except to
Assume that all the energy of indenter transforms the deformation occurs on the stiffener, the plate
to the deformation energy of the plate after the also has a wide range of plastic area. However,
impact, therefore: under the impact of the spherical indenter, the
main deformation area is still concentrated around
1 the center of the plate, but the stiffener deforms
∑ = mvo 2 (1)
2 obviously, contributing a significant part to the
1 2 1 2 strength of whole structure.
E plate mvo mv f (2) Table  5  summarizes the key data  of the stiff-
2 2 ened plate and the unstiffened plate cases in the
2
⎛ vf ⎞ numerical simulation. In the case of stiffened plate,
E plate / ∑ E = 1 − ⎜ ⎟ (3) spherical indenter causes larger deflection to the
⎝ v0 ⎠ center of plate than that caused by the wedge one.

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 Figure 10. Force-deflection curve of the different cases
in numerical simulation.

1. Both for wedge case and sphere case, the stiffener

Figure 9. Final deformation of the stiffened plate under
the impact of different indenters. (a) & (b) are the effec-
tive plastic strain nephogram from an isometric view and
2. Curve of wedge-stiffened and sphere-stiffened
(c) & (d) are from a overlook view.
Table 5. Results comparison of the stiffened plate cases
and the plate cases. (Numerical).
Stiffened Plate
reduces the final deflection of the plate center,
especially for the sphere case, the improvement
of structure strength is very obvious.
are found some fluctuations in the initial stage,
suggesting that the stiffened plate shows strong
resistance at the initial impact. When the plastic
deformation of the stiffener occurs, the curve
starts to rise with fluctuations.

Setting Wedge Sphere Wedge Sphere

4 CONCLUDING REMARKS
Wc/H 6.99 7.85 7.76 13.88
V0 3.00 3.00 3.00 3.00 In this paper, structural response and energy
Vf 1.09 1.12 1.02 1.00 absorption of the two simplified models under the
V/V0 36.36% 37.41% 34.14% 33.27% impact of indenters with wedge shape and sphere
Eplate/∑E 86.78% 86.00% 88.34% 88.93% shape were analyzed, by numerical and experimen-
tal methods.
The results from four cases of numerical simula-
tion and two cases of experiment are summarized:
But energy dissipation of the both indenters is
relatively close. This phenomenon implies that 1. Stiffened plate and stiffened plate under the
the change of indenter shape has a little effect on impact of two kinds of indenters show a close
energy absorption of stiffened plate. performance on energy absorption, which sug-
gests that stiffener makes small effect on the
energy absorption of plate. However, for the
3.3 Comparison between unstiffened plate and
final deformation of the plate subjected to
stiffened cases (Numerical)
the sphere impact, stiffener optimizes the
By the analysis of the results from numerical simu- deformation of the plate. Stiffener undertakes
lations, acceleration-time and the deflection time the main deformation during the process. This
history of plate center are obtained. According result indicates that areas frequently to be
to the acceleration data, contact force between impacted by ship bows need additional rein-
indenter and impacted plate are calculated. With forcement to resist damage.
the set of dimensionless parameter Wc/H as trans- 2. Figure  10  shows the stiffener plays a signifi-
verse axis and the impact force as vertical axis, cant role for low collision load. In engineering,
Force-Deflection curves are plotted in Figure 10. ships are frequently subjected to the collision
As shown in Figure 10: load with high frequency and small amplitude

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 (such as collision load from ice floes). Addition
of the stiffener is essential to enhance the ship
side resistance to impact, which can reduce the
plastic deformation effectively.
3. In wedge cases, the main deformation of plate
occurs on the edges of the contact area. The
addition of stiffener makes small difference to
the plate deformation. As a result, for areas that
are frequently subjected to impact with the shape
of blunt wedge, increasing of plate thickness is
suggested as a solution to resist deformation.
REFERENCES
Alsos, H. S., & Amdahl, J. 2009. On the resistance to
penetration of stiffened plates, part I: experiments.
International Journal of Impact Engineering,  36(6),
799–807.
Alsos, H. S., Amdahl, J. & Hopperstad, O. S. 2009. On
the resistance to penetration of stiffened plates, part
II: numerical analysis.  Int. Journal Impact Engineer-
ing, 36(7), 875–887.
Liu, B., & Guedes Soares, C. 2016. Experimental and
numerical analysis of the crushing behaviour of
512
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 512
stiffened web girders. Int. Journal of Impact Engineer-
ing, 88(6), 22–38.
Liu, B., & Guedes Soares, C. 2016. Analytical method to
determine the crushing behaviour of girders with stiff-
ened web. Int. Journal of Impact Engineering, 93, 49–61.
Liu, B., & Guedes Soares, C. 2015. Plastic response and
failure of rectangular cross-section tubes subjected
to transverse quasi-static and low-velocity impact
loads.  International Journal of Mechanical Sciences,
90(4), 213–227.
Liu, B., & Guedes Soares, C. 2015. Simplified analytical
method for evaluating web girder crushing during ship
collision andgrounding. Marine Structures, 42, 71–94.
Villavicencio, R., Liu, B., & Guedes Soares, C. 2014.
Experimental and numerical analysis of a tanker
side panel laterally punched by a knife edge
indenter. Marine Structures, 37(4), 173–202.
Zhu, L., Faulkner, D. 1994. Dynamic inelastic behav-
iour of plates in minor ship collisions. Int. Journal of
Impact Engineering, 15(2): 165–178.
Zhu, L. 1996. Stress and strain analysis of plates sub-
jected to transverse wedge impact. The Journal of
Strain Analysis for Engineering Design, 31(1): 1–7.
Zhu, L., Shi, S. Y. & Yu, T. X. 2015. A New Ice Load-
Response Model for Structure Design of Ice Classed
Ships. International Offshore and Polar Engineering
Conference, ISOPE 1, 1792–1797.
3/29/2017 9:40:11 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Experimental investigation of accidental sliding loads on the response

of hull plating

B.W.T. Quinton, C.G. Daley & D. Bruce Colbourne

Department of Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland,
St. John’s, NL, Canada

R.E. Gagnon
Ocean, Coastal and River Engineering, National Research Council of Canada, St. John’s, NL, Canada

ABSTRACT: This paper presents selected results from a series of moving (sliding) load laboratory
experiments on steel plates and frames, conducted using a novel moving load apparatus employing a
smooth, rigid, frictionless indenter. In particular, the results of slow speed (quasi-static) moving (sliding)
loads causing plastic damage to 6.35  mm (1/4″) and 12.7  mm (1/2″) thick steel plates at an ambient
temperature of −10°C, are presented and discussed. As predicted by Quinton (2008), and separately Alsos
(2008), the normal direction structural reaction of a steel plate subject to a moving (sliding) object that
incites a plastic plate response (without causing hull fracture) is considerably weaker than that exerted on
a stationary object applying the same normal direction load. The results of these experiments employing
a smooth, rigid, frictionless indenter are a first step towards understanding the effects of moving (sliding)
ice loads on ice-strengthened hull structures, as ice loads in this case rarely puncture the hull, have a low
coefficient of friction, and have a relatively smooth indenting surface. Further, these results are highly
relevant when assessing the capability of non-ice-classed hulls in marginal ice zones.

1 INTRODUCTION indenter was used to apply quasi-static moving

Actual, in service ship hull-ice impact events
typically consist of an initial impact with the ice
feature, followed by tangential sliding of the ice
along the hull. Typically, in engineering design,
this sliding motion is ignored. A notable example
of this is the International Association of Classi-
fication Societies’ (IACS) Requirements concern-
ing POLAR CLASS (2007); where the design ice
load is defined as a glancing impact on the bow
shoulder that is simplified to a statically applied,
stationary load patch. For the path-independent
case of elastic hull response, sliding motion may be
safely ignored; however, for path-dependent plastic
hull response, ignoring this sliding motion is often
inappropriate and unconservative.
Quinton (2008) and separately Alsos (2008), pre-
dicted numerically that the sliding motion of hull
loads inciting plastic hull damage incites a signifi-
cantly different hull response than stationary loads
of similar magnitude. Specifically, the damage on
the trailing side of a sliding load can significantly
impair the hull’s structural capacity—compared
with stationary loads—depending on the severity
of the trailing plastic damage.
This paper discusses the results of laboratory
experiments where a smooth, rigid, frictionless
(sliding) loads to plates at an ambient temperature
of −10°C. The results of these experiments confirm
Quinton’s and Alsos’ numerical predictions that
sliding loads causing plastic damage (without hull
fracture) incite a significantly weakened structural
capacity compared with similar stationary loads.
These results are expected to be comparable with
moving ice loads on ice-strengthened hull plating,
because ice loads rarely puncture ice-strengthened
hulls, have a low friction coefficient, and have a
relatively smooth indenting surface.
The experiments presented here are a subset of
a larger experimental program where the influence
of sliding load velocity (normal and tangential), as
well as ambient temperature, were examined for
both plates and frames (Quinton 2015).
2 BACKGROUND
A reduced structural capacity to moving loads that
cause plastic damage (without hull fracture) was
predicted in Quinton (2008), where a numerical
model calibrated against laboratory experiments
on a full-scale IACS PC6 classed steel grillage (see
Figure  1) under stationary loading (Daley and
Hermanski 2008a; 2008b) was extrapolated to

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Figure 1. IACS PC6 grillage model from Quinton (2008).
investigate moving (i.e. sliding) loads. Separately,
Alsos (2008) predicted a similar capacity loss for
plates for the case of ships grounding on soft
bottoms.
Moving loads are loads that act not only normal
to the hull, but at the same time translate tangen-
tially along the hull’s surface.
A review of the publicly available literature on
the subject of moving loads on ship hulls reveals
that related research has concentrated on the punc-
ture and tearing response of hull plating in colli-
sion and grounding scenarios. There is very little
treatment of the scenario where a moving load
causes plastic damage that does not result in punc-
ture and subsequent tearing of the hull steel. Nota-
ble amongst the relevant work is the numerical and
analytical work of Hong and his co-authors (Hong
and Amdahl 2012). They numerically investigated
the response of a ship hull’s double-bottom to slid-
ing loads during grounding on a shoal (which they
define as a large seabed surface) and developed a
simplified semi-empirical method for predicting
the structural response.
The scenario of moving loads causing plastic
damage without hull tearing is important for ships
and offshore structures operating in ice, as these ves-
sels are generally designed to withstand a certain level
of ice load, and rarely (even under accidental over-
load) experience hull fracture, puncture or tearing of
the hull plating; although such vessels are regularly
dented. The moving (sliding) load scenario is also
important for non-ice-strengthened ships that may
encounter ice, as these ships are much more likely to
experience plastic damage during ice impacts.
The investigation of moving loads causing plas-
tic damage is particularly relevant at this point
given two recent developments: 1. the recent shift in
design practice of Arctic going ships and offshore
structures towards ultimate limit states design, and
2. the recent global interest in the Arctic.
Despite the move to recognize the onset of
plasticity as a design point, the design load for
all present-day standards (classification society
514
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 514
rules1, government regulations2, and international
guidelines3) is a stationary load, and therefore
does not consider any possible effects of the lat-
eral movement of the load on the hull structure. As
the nonlinear response of hull structures is path-
dependent, it may be necessary to consider a load’s
sliding motion in the design of ice-strengthened
hulls, depending on the magnitude of the allowable
plasticity. It is especially important to include load
tangential motion when assessing the capabilities
of non-ice-classed ships in ice infested waters.
3 MOVING LOAD APPARATUS
In order to validate Quinton’s (2008) numerical
predictions, and to explore the effects of moving
loads on hull structures, a novel Moving Load
Apparatus (MLA) was devised (Quinton 2015) and
used to apply moving loads from rigid and ice-cone
indenters on plates and frames, under varying load
levels, load velocities, and ambient temperatures.
Figure  2  shows the MLA and highlights its
main parts. Note: not shown in the figure is the
horizontal hydraulic ram that actuates the carriage
(red) along the linear roller-rails. With reference to
this figure, a high level description of the appara-
tus and operational procedure is as follows: a test
sample (plate or frame (i.e. plate with attached
stiffener)) is bolted to the bottom of the carriage,
which provides fixed boundary conditions for the
sample; an indenter (rigid or ice) is mounted on
the swing-arm; the vertical ram (which is part of
a MTS® tensile test machine) pushes with up to
500  kN on a bearing attached to the swing arm
underneath the indenter; this causes the swing arm
to rotate slightly as the vertical displacement of
the indenter increases (note the maximum angle
of rotation of the swing arm for these experiments
was 3.4°; starting at −1.7° and sweeping through
0° (horizontal) to +1.7°); the swing arm and bear-
ing are necessary to release the vertical ram from
any horizontal load generated during the test; the
indenter makes contact with the test specimen
and continues to apply load to the test specimen
either through force- or displacement-control;
subsequent to the vertical motion (or simultane-
ous with it, depending on the nature of the test)
the horizontal ram (not shown in Figure 2) pushes
the carriage forward, with up to 168 kN of force
1
For example: American Bureau of Shipping: Steel
Vessel Rules 2015 – Part 6, and others.
2
For example: the Canadian Arctic Shipping Pollution
Prevention Regulations (ASPPR).
3
For example: the International Association of
Classification Societies (IACS): e.g. Requirements
Concerning Polar Class; and International Organization
for Standardization (ISO): e.g. ISO 19906.
3/29/2017 9:40:12 AM
 Figure 3. Moving load apparatus housed in a cold room.

Figure  2. Render of the moving load apparatus high-

lighting the carriage, roller rail system, swing arm, indenter,
vertical ram, MTS test frame and support structure.

and 1.2 m of travel, along the linear roller-rail sys-

tem, using displacement-control; the carriage (and
with it the test specimen) move horizontally along
the rails, causing the indenter to impart a lateral
load on the test specimen; the test is over when the
motions of the vertical and horizontal rams cease.
Figure 3 shows the MLA housed in a cold room.
It should be noted that while the MLA was com-
missioned expressly for these experiments, it was
desired to make the apparatus as general as possi-
ble in its functionality so as to accommodate many
different types of future experiments that involve
loads on structures in two orthogonal directions4.
To this end the load capacity of the MLA matches
that of the MTS test frame and the various compo-
nents of the MLA have been designed to be modu-
lar. Specifically, the indenter may be replaced with
anything that geometrically fits on the apparatus;
and the carriage may also be replaced with anything
that geometrically fits; or may be adapted to suit
another purpose (as with the work of Tijsen et al
(2015) where a concrete slab was placed in the car-
riage and subject to abrasion from sliding ice loads).
Figure  4. Rigid frictionless sphere section indenter
(top) mounted on pillow-block bearings (blue) (bottom).
3.1 Indenter
Hull impacts with ice generally involve deforma- deform. This was accomplished by subjecting plates
tion of both the ice and the hull structure. As the and frames to a smooth, frictionless, and “rigid”
objective of these experiments was to study moving load using an indenter that does not appreciably
ice loads at a fundamental level, it was necessary to deform during its interaction with the structure.
begin the investigation with a simple “ice-like” mov- The smooth, rigid indenter used in the experi-
ing load scenario, where only the structure could ments discussed here was created from QT100 steel
in the shape of a 10.16  cm thick segment of a
4
This apparatus was used soon after these moving load 25.4  cm diameter sphere cut about the sphere’s
experiments by other researchers to study the effects of centreline. It was made frictionless by mounting it
ice collision and adhesion on concrete surfaces (Tijsen, on a shaft supported by two pillow-block bearings
Bruneau, and Colbourne 2015). (shown in Figure 4).

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 4 PLATE TEST SPECIMENS
The MLA was designed to maximize the scale of
the plates and frames tested, by mobilizing the full
load capacity of the MTS test frame. This allowed
the plate thicknesses to range up to 12.7  mm
(and possibly higher for future experiments). The
results of experiments on two plate thicknesses,
12.7 mm (1/2 in.) and 6.35 mm (1/4 in.), are pre-
sented here. The width and length dimensions of
each plate were 550 mm and 1650 mm, respectively.
Figure 5 shows a render of a plate test specimen.
Evident in the figure are bolt holes and keyways.
An exploded view of the carriage, test specimen,
sandwich ring, keystock, and lug nuts/studs is pre-
sented in Figure 6. Note: the “Framed Specimen”
shown in the figure was replaced by the “Plate
Specimen” shown in Figure 5 for the experiments
discussed in this paper.
The boundary conditions for each plate were
“clamped”, with translational and rotational fix-
ity provided by the bottom of the carriage and the
sandwich ring, in combination with the physical
restraint provided by the encapsulated keystock, as
well as the friction generated by the clamping pres-
sure from the seventy (70) lug nuts/studs securing
the whole arrangement. The lug nuts were torqued
Figure  5. Plate test specimen showing bolt holes and
keyways.
Figure 6. Exploded view of how frame test specimens
are installed on the test carriage.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 516
to 325  Nm, which was chosen such that the fric-
tional force between the test specimen plating and
the bottom of the carriage would be sufficient to
resist any lateral slippage of the test specimen plat-
ing when loaded. The keystock was pre-emptively
added in case the friction force proved insufficient
to prevent slippage. A specific torqueing pattern
was used to ensure that the plate was free to pro-
gressively flatten out as the lug nuts were tightened,
and it also insured that all lug nuts were torqued to
specification at least twice.
Removing the area of plate overlapped by the
sandwich ring, the deformable plate dimensions
were 400  mm  ×  1500  mm; providing a length to
width ratio of 3.75.
5 EXPERIMENTS
The experiments presented below were all con-
ducted on steel plates composed of 50  W grade
steel (nominal yield strength 344 MPa) at an ambi-
ent temperature of −10°C. The target test parame-
ters for each experiment are given in the test matrix
shown in Table 1. Note: the “+” in the “Horizontal
Travel” column indicates that this value must be
exceeded in order to obtain the correct “moving
load” response at this point.
5.1 Data acquisition
Sensor, visual, and spatial data were acquired dur-
ing each experiment.
Sensor data was recorded at 2048  Hz via the
MTS test frame’s internal data acquisition system,
and include vertical ram force (pancake load cell)
and displacement (Linear Variable Differential
Transformer (LVDT)); and the horizontal force
(sum of two pancake load cells attaching the
swingarm to the supporting structure) and
displacement (linear potentiometer).
Video data were recorded with one conventional
digital video camera, three GoPro® video cameras
located inside the carriage, and two digital thermal
imaging cameras (one inside the carriage and one
outside).
A Microscribe®, model G2 LX, 3D spatial digi-
tizer was used to record the location of specific
points on the surface of the test specimen’s plating.
The geometric location of centre-punched points
at predefined locations on each specimen were
recorded before and after each experiment.
5.2 Indenter load path
In real ship-icebreaking scenarios, the path through
space of a moving load varies greatly with respect
to contact with a ship’s hull. It is complex due to
3/29/2017 9:40:14 AM
 Table 1. Test matrix.

Vertical
Sample Starting indentation Vertical Horizontal Horizontal
type location or load speed travel speed

6.35 mm Centre 4 cm 1 mm/s 55+ cm 10 mm/s

6.35 mm 20 cm from end 4 cm 1 mm/s 110+ cm 10 mm/s
6.35 mm Centre 2 cm 1 mm/s 55+ cm 10 mm/s
6.35 mm 20 cm from end 2 cm 1 mm/s 110+ cm 10 mm/s
6.35 mm 20 cm from end 125 kN 10 kN/s 110+ cm 10 mm/s
12.7 mm Centre 3 cm 1 mm/s 55+ cm 10 mm/s
12.7 mm 20 cm from end 3 cm 1 mm/s To end 10 mm/s
12.7 mm 20 cm from end 250 kN 10 kN/s 110+ cm 10 mm/s

the local and global response of both the ship and
ice feature.
For these experiments, a simple, decoupled-
motion load path was chosen, which is broken
into three phases: the normal loading phase, the
lateral motion phase, and the unloading phase.
The normal loading phase consists of motion
only in the direction normal to the plate specimen,
without any sliding motion of the indenter along
the plate. The lateral motion phase consists of
holding the normal load (phase one) steady, and
moving the indenter laterally along the plating of
the test specimen. Once the lateral motion from
the second phase ceased, the unloading phase was
initiated, consisting of removing the phase one
normal load.
5.3 Displacement- and force-control
The majority of the experiments were performed
using displacement-control; that is, the position of
the base of the indenter in space was prescribed
at all times, and the reaction force was variable.
Force-control was also employed; that is, the nor-
mal force applied by the indenter on the test speci-
men was controlled at all times, and the resulting
normal displacement was variable.
5.4 Normal indentation depth
The depth of the indentation into the plating (nor-
mal direction) impacts the response of the test
specimen. Small indentations induce an elastic
response while larger indentations induce a plastic
response. Plastic response may be a combination
of several types of plastic behaviours (e.g. plas-
tic bending response only, or plastic bending and
plastic membrane responses).
For the experiments involving the steel wheel
indenter, the highest level of plastic damage that
was practical to achieve was generally applied to the
test specimens. The “practicality” was a function
of how difficult the damaged test specimen was
to remove from the test apparatus after the test
was completed, and whether the edges of the steel
wheel indenter scored the plate or not. Too much
plastic damage meant that the test specimens had
to be cut and pried off the carriage, which risked
damaging some of the more sensitive equipment
housed inside the test carriage. Additionally, it was
not desirable to have the edges of the steel wheel
indenter score the plating, as this introduced struc-
tural effects that were beyond the scope of this
study. Despite these limitations, it was generally
practical to indent the plating 4 cm for the 6.35 mm
plates (or 10% of the plate width) and 3 cm for the
12.7 mm plates (or 7.5% of the plate width).
Additional experiments were conducted on
6.35  mm plates, using the steel wheel indenter,
where the indentation in the normal direction was
reduced to 2 cm (or 5% of the plate width) in order
to examine the plate behaviour at lower levels of
plastic damage.
5.5 Indentation rate
For the force-controlled experiments, the load-
ing rate in the direction normal to the plate was
somewhat arbitrarily chosen to be 10 kN/s (1 long-
ton/s). The choice of 10 kN/s allowed the tests to
be conducted in a reasonable timeframe (up to
3 minutes for the 6.35 mm plate specimens), with-
out inducing undue inertial or strain-rate effects.
For the displacement-controlled experiments
presented in this paper, the normal direction
indentation rate was 1 mm/s.
For all experiments presented in this paper, the
lateral indentation rate (i.e. the sliding speed) was
10 mm/s.
5.6 Lateral starting location
Lateral indenter starting location is the position
of the initial point of contact of the indenter with

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 respect to the length of the test specimen’s plating. 5.9 General experiment procedure
As the response of plates vary with position rela-
The general experimental procedure was: activate
tive to their extents, lateral starting location was
the carriage’s internal cameras and LED lights;
varied. It was desired to examine their behaviour
install the plate test specimen; record the initial
when the load was initially applied at the centre
plate test specimen’s external geometry using the
of the plating, and when it was applied near one
Microscribe® spatial digitizer; move the horizontal
longitudinal end. The “Centre” position implies
and vertical hydraulic rams to their starting posi-
that the tip of the indenter was initially placed at
tions; program the horizontal and vertical ram
a point half-way along the length and width of the
load vs. time profiles; activate video cameras exter-
plate. The “End” position implies that the tip was
nal to the carriage; activate computer control of
initially placed 20  cm from the end of the plate
the hydraulic rams; take post-test (i.e. unloaded/
along the longitudinal centreline. The “End” posi-
deformed state) plate geometry using the Micro-
tion was chosen to allow the steel wheel to indent
scribe® spatial digitizer; take post-test photographs;
the plate without interfering with the sandwich
and finally remove the test specimen.
plate or carriage.

5.7 Lateral travel length
Lateral travel length is less of a variable and more
of a consequence of the lateral starting position,
however, it is necessary to account for the travel
distance explicitly when examining moving load
effects. There were two levels of lateral travel
length: a low level of approximately 550 mm, and
a high level of approximately 1100  mm. The low
level corresponds to the distance between the cen-
tre starting position and the “End” position. The
high level corresponds to the distance between
the “End” lateral starting position and the posi-
tion symmetrically opposite to it. It is important
to distinguish lateral end position as symmetrically
opposite to the start position because it allows
direct comparison of the “stationary load capac-
ity” of the test specimen with the “moving load
capacity” at the same position (due to symmetry).
5.8 Friction
Sliding friction was eliminated for the rigid wheel
indenter by placing it on a thick shaft supported
by two large pillow block bearings (shown in
Figure 4).
6 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The actual (as recorded) experiment test param-
eters are given in Table 2.
6.1 Results of moving 2 cm indentation
experiments on 6.35 mm plates
Two experiments were performed on 6.35 mm thick
plate test specimens at −10°C using the steel wheel
indenter at an indentation of 2.0  cm in the normal
direction. One experiment had the indenter starting at
the “Centre” position of the plate (i.e. half-way along
the plate in the longitudinal direction) and the other
had the starting position 20 cm from one end; this lat-
ter position is referred to as the “End” position. For
both experiments, the lateral travel of the indenter
passes the opposite “End” mark on the far side of the
plate. This allows for direct comparison of the “sta-
tionary capacity” and “moving load capacity” of the
“End” position. Figure 7 shows the resultant, normal
and horizontal reaction force-time histories for the
“Centre” 2 cm moving indentation experiment.
Figure 8 shows a similar plot for the “End” 2 cm
moving indentation experiment. In both figures, the
period from 0–20 seconds shows the plate’s reaction

Table  2. Actual experiment parameters for −10°C displacement- and force-controlled tests on steel plates using a
smooth, frictionless, spherical steel wheel indenter.

Vertical
Sample Starting indentation Vertical Horizontal Horizontal
type location or load speed travel speed

6.35 mm 0 mm 40.0 mm 1.00 mm/s 562.3 mm 10.32 mm/s

6.35 mm −550 mm 40.0 mm 1.00 mm/s 1107.4 mm 10.25 mm/s
6.35 mm 0 mm 20.0 mm 1.00 mm/s 567.3 mm 11.27 mm/s
6.35 mm −550 mm 20.0 mm 1.00 mm/s 1106.4 mm 11.09 mm/s
6.35 mm −550 mm 125 kN 10.356 kN/s 1111.4 mm 9.33 mm/s
12.7 mm 0 mm 30.0 mm 1.00 mm/s 558.7 mm 9.05 mm/s
12.7 mm −550 mm 30.0 mm 1.00 mm/s 1106.6 mm 9.14 mm/s
12.7 mm −550 mm 250 kN 10.029 kN/s 1117.3 mm 8.78 mm/s

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 Figure 7. Force-time history for 2 cm “Centre” moving
indentation on a 6.35 mm thick plate.
Figure  8. Force-time history for 2  cm “End” moving
indentation on a 6.35 mm thick plate.
force for the normal (i.e. vertical ram) indentation
phase (i.e. without any horizontal motion). At
approximately 20 seconds, the lateral motion (from
the horizontal ram) begins while the 2  cm normal
indentation is held constant. This horizontal motion
continues until approximately 70  seconds for the
“Centre” case, and approximately 120  seconds for
the “End” case. Note the immediate and sharp drop
in the resultant and vertical (i.e. normal) force traces
upon commencement of the horizontal motion of
the smooth, frictionless, rigid indenter.
The resultant force angle for the moving inden-
tation phase remained nearly constant for the both
the “Centre” and “End” cases, and is approxi-
mately 78° (where a purely normal load is 90°).
This is exactly the behaviour numerically predicted
by Quinton (2008).
Figure  9  shows the resultant reaction force vs.
horizontal displacement for both 2 cm indentation
experiments. Note that “0 mm” on the “Horizon-
tal Displacement” axis is the geometric centre of
the test specimen, and is the start location for all
“Centre” experiments. The “-550 mm” position is
the start location for all “End” experiments. From
the “End” trace (dashed line) in Figure 9, the peak
force, 97.8 kN, at −550 mm on the “Horizontal Dis-
placement” axis is the “stationary load capacity”
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 519
Figure  9. Resultant force versus horizontal displace-
ment for the “Centre” and “End” 2 cm moving indenta-
tion cases on 6.35 mm thick plates.
Table 3. 6.35 mm plate resultant force capacity results
for a 2 cm moving indentation.
End End Centre Centre
“Stationary “Moving “Stationary “Moving
Starting Capacity” Capacity” Capacity” Capacity”
location kN kN kN kN
Centre N/A 67 88 N/A
End 98 64 N/A 55
for this case (i.e. a 2 cm indentation at 20 cm from
the end of this 6.35 mm plate). The “moving load
capacity” is the resultant force at the same loca-
tion subject to a quasi-static moving indentation
of 2  cm. Since the plate is symmetric, the “mov-
ing load capacity” of the “End” position may be
determined from the resultant force at +550  mm;
which is 64.0 kN, or 65% of the “stationary load
capacity”. The “stationary load capacity” for the
“Centre” case (also from Figure  9) is the peak
force, 87.7 kN, at 0 mm horizontal displacement.
The “moving load capacity” for the “Centre” case
cannot be determined from the “Centre” curve,
because there is no symmetrically opposite point
through which the indenter traverses. Instead, the
“moving load capacity” is taken from the reac-
tion force at 0  mm for the “End” case; which is
54.5 kN, or 62% of the “stationary load capacity”
at the “Centre” location. This is assumed to be a
valid comparison because, with the exception of
indenter starting location, the plates and experi-
mental test parameters are otherwise identical.
Table 3 lists the key results from these experiments.
6.2 Results of moving 4 cm indentation
experiments on 6.35 mm plates
Two experiments were performed on 6.35  mm
plate test specimens at −10°C using the steel wheel
indenter at a normal direction indentation of
4.0 cm. As above, one experiment had the indenter
3/29/2017 9:40:15 AM
 starting at the “Centre” position, and the other at
the “End” position.
Figure  10  shows the resultant, normal, and
horizontal reaction force vs. time traces for the
4  cm “Centre” moving indentation experiment.
Figure 11 shows a similar plot for the “End” 4 cm
moving indentation experiment. In both figures, the
stationary 4  cm indentation occurs from 0–40  sec-
onds, and the moving 4 cm indentation occurs until
approximately 100  seconds for the “Centre” case,
and 150 seconds for the “End” case. The sharp drop
in resultant force at commencement of the horizon-
tal motion noticed above for the 2 cm moving inden-
tations is even more prevalent for these 4 cm cases.
The resultant force angle for the moving indenta-
tion phase remained nearly constant for the both the
“Centre” and “End” cases, and is approximately 83°.
Figure  12  shows the resultant reaction force vs.
horizontal displacement for both 4  cm indenta-
tion cases. The “stationary load capacity” for the
“End” trace is 236  kN at −550  mm. The “moving
load capacity” is 153.1 kN at +550 mm, or 65% of
the “stationary load capacity” at the symmetrically
opposite location. The “stationary load capacity” for
the “Centre” case is 208 kN at 0 mm, and the “mov-
ing load capacity” from the “End” trace at 0 mm is
Figure 10. Force time history for 2 cm “Centre” moving
indentation on a 6.35 mm thick plate.
Figure 11. Force time history for 2 cm “End” moving
indentation on a 6.35 mm thick plate.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 520
Figure  12. Resultant force versus horizontal displace-
ment for the “Centre” and “End” 4 cm moving indenta-
tion cases on 6.35 mm thick plates.
Table 4. 6.35 mm plate resultant force capacity results
for a 4 cm moving indentation.
End End Centre Centre
“Stationary “Moving “Stationary “Moving
Starting Capacity” Capacity” Capacity” Capacity”
location kN kN kN kN
Centre N/A 159 208 N/A
End 236 153 N/A 128
128.3 kN; or 62% of the “stationary load capacity”.
Table 4 lists the key results from these experiments.
6.3 Results of moving 3 cm indentation
experiments on 12.7 mm plates
Similar to the above experiments, two 3 cm moving
indentations were performed on 12.7 mm plate test
specimens at −10°C using the steel wheel indenter.
As above, one experiment had the indenter start-
ing at the “Centre” position, and the other at the
“End” position.
Figure 13 shows the resultant, normal, and hori-
zontal reaction forces vs. time for the 3 cm “Centre”
moving indentation experiment. Figure 14 shows a
similar plot for the “End” 3  cm moving indenta-
tion experiment. In both figures, the stationary
3  cm indentation occurs from 0–30  seconds, and
the moving 3 cm indentation occurs until approxi-
mately 100  seconds for the “Centre” case, and
160 seconds for the “End” case. The sharp drop in
resultant force at commencement of the horizontal
motion noticed, as above.
Figure  15  shows the resultant reaction force vs.
horizontal displacement for both 3 cm indentation
cases. The “stationary load capacity” for the “End”
trace is 376  kN at −550  mm. The “moving load
capacity” is 277 kN at +550 mm, or 74% of the “sta-
tionary load capacity” at the symmetrically oppo-
site location. The “stationary load capacity” for the
“Centre” case is 356 kN at 0 mm, and the “moving
3/29/2017 9:40:16 AM
 load capacity” from the “End” trace at 0  mm is
248 kN; or 70% of the “stationary load capacity”.
Table 5 lists the key results from these experiments.
The resultant force angle for the moving inden-
tation phase remained nearly constant for the both
the “Centre” and “End” cases, and is approxi-
mately 79°.

6.4 Results of moving force-controlled

Figure 13. Force time history for 3 cm “Centre” moving
indentation on a 12.7 mm thick plate.
Figure 14. Force time history for 3 cm “End” moving
indentation on a 12.7 mm thick plate.
Figure  15. Resultant force versus horizontal displace-
ment for the “Centre” and “End” 3 cm moving indenta-
tion cases on 12.7 mm thick plates.
indentation experiments on 6.35 mm
and 12.7 mm plates
Force-controlled experiments, similar to the above
displacement-controlled experiments were also
performed. The hypothesis for these experiments
was: that if the normal force drops upon com-
mencement of lateral load displacement for nor-
mal displacement-controlled experiments, then
under normal force-control, the normal displace-
ment should increase.
Both experiments had the starting location of
the indenter (i.e. the stationary load location) at
the “End” position. One experiment was carried
out on a 6.35 mm plate with a prescribed constant
normal direction (i.e. vertical) force of 125  kN
(ramped from zero load at 10 kN/s), and another
on a 12.7 mm plate with a prescribed constant nor-
mal force of 250 kN (also ramped from zero load
at 10 kN/s). Both experiments were carried out at
an ambient temperature of −10°C, and used the
steel wheel indenter. As force-control of the hori-
zontal ram is presently not possible with the MLA,
its motion was prescribed as above (displacement-
control at 10 mm/s), and commenced after the ver-
tical ram reached the prescribed force.
Figure 16 shows the normal (i.e. vertical) indenter
displacement time histories for both the moving
125 kN load on the 6.35 mm plate (solid trace), and the
moving 250 kN load on 12.7 mm plate (dashed trace)
experiments. The stationary 125 kN force-controlled
load occurred from 0–12.5 seconds, and the 250 kN
force-controlled load occurred from 0–25  seconds.
The displacement-controlled horizontal ram motion

Table 5. 12.7 mm plate resultant force capacity results

for a 3 cm moving indentation.

End End Centre Centre

“Stationary “Moving “Stationary “Moving
Starting Capacity” Capacity” Capacity” Capacity”
location kN kN kN kN

Centre N/A 279 356 N/A

End 376 277 N/A 248 Figure 16. Force time history for 3 cm “Centre” moving
indentation on a 12.7 mm thick plate.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 521 3/29/2017 9:40:17 AM

 Table 6. Percentage capacity loss for the displacement-
controlled experiments of moving loads causing plastic
damage to plates.
2 cm moving 4 cm moving 3 cm moving
indentation indentation indentation
Starting on 6.35 mm on 6.35 mm on 12.7 mm
location plates plates plates
Centre 38% 38% 30%
End 35% 35% 26%
commenced after the vertical force had achieved a
steady state. Notice that for each experiment, the
vertical reaction displacement increases significantly
upon commencement of load horizontal motion. For
the 125  kN/6.35  mm case, the normal indentation
(i.e. vertical displacement) increased from 24.6 mm to
34.5 mm. For the 250 kN/12.7 mm case, the normal
indentation increased from 20.2 mm to 30.5 mm. As
no “Centre” experiments were conducted, it is impos-
sible to determine how much of the increase in normal
indentation is due load motion, and how much is due
to local plate stiffness differences between the station-
ary load location and the point of maximum indenta-
tion. The overall behaviour for these force-controlled
experiments, however, is as would be expected based on
the results of the displacement-controlled experiments
presented above. That is, under displacement-control,
the reaction force decreased upon commencement of
load motion; while under force-control, the indenta-
tion displacement increased.
6.5 Summary of results and discussion
These moving load experiments show definitively
that a significant structural capacity loss exists for
plates subject to moving loads causing plastic dam-
age, versus similar stationary loads. Table  6  sum-
marizes this percentage capacity loss for the
displacement controlled moving load experiments
presented above. The moving load capacity losses
are significant, ranging from 26% to 38%, depend-
ing on the scenario.
In addition to verification that moving load
effects exist for displacement-controlled scenar-
ios, these experiments confirmed their existence
for force-controlled scenarios too. As would be
expected by comparison with their displacement-
controlled counterparts, when a force causing
plastic damage is held constant and lateral motion
begins, the indentation made by the initial station-
ary load increases dramatically.
7 CONCLUSIONS
Large structural capacity losses were shown to
exist during moving-load experiments for both
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 522
controlled normal displacements and controlled
normal forces that cause plastic damage in plates.
This implies that moving load effects have very
real consequences for hull structures, and that
the design and analyses of the hulls of ships and
offshore structures operating in conditions where
they could be damaged plastically should explicitly
account for moving load effects.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was supported by funding through
the STePS2 project at Memorial University of
Newfoundland, and its government and industry
partners. Specifically: the Atlantic Canada Oppor-
tunities Agency (ACOA) through its Atlantic
Innovation Fund (AIF), Research & Development
Corporation (RDC) through its Collaborative
R&D program, the American Bureau of Ship-
ping, BMT Fleet Technology Ltd., Husky Energy,
Rolls-Royce, Samsung Heavy Industries, National
Research Council of Canada—Ocean, Coastal,
River Engineering (formerly the Institute for
Ocean Technology), MITACS through their
Accelerate program, and through Memorial Uni-
versity of Newfoundland’s Offshore Technology
Research—an NSERC CREATE program.
REFERENCES
Alsos, Hagbart S. 2008. “Ship Grounding—Analysis of
Ductile Fracture, Bottom Damage and Hull Girder
Response.” PhD, Norwegian University of Science and
Technology (NTNU).
Daley, C.G. and G. Hermanski. 2008a. Ship Frame Research
Program—an Experimental Study of Ship Frames and
Grillages Subjected to Patch Loads, Volume 1 - Data
Report: Ship Structure Committee.
Daley, C.G. and G. Hermanski. 2008b. Ship Frame Research
Program—an Experimental Study of Ship Frames and
Grillages Subjected to Patch Loads, Volume 2 - Theory
and Analysis Reports: Ship Structure Committee.
Hong, L. and J. Amdahl. 2012. “Rapid Assessment of Ship
Grounding Over Large Contact Surfaces.” Ships and
Offshore Structures 7 (1): 5–19.
IACS. 2007. Requirements Concerning Polar Class. London:
International Association of Classification Societies.
Quinton, B.W.T. 2008. “Progressive Damage to a Ship’s
Structure due to Ice Loading.” Master of Engineering,
Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Quinton, B.W.T. 2015. “Experimental and Numerical Inves-
tigation of Moving Loads on Hull Structures.” PhD,
Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Tijsen, J., S. Bruneau, and B. Colbourne. 2015. “Labora-
tory Examination of Ice Loads and Effects on Concrete
Surfaces from Bi-Axial Collision and Adhesion Events.”
Trondheim, Norway.
3/29/2017 9:40:19 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Performance assessment of the crashworthiness of corroded ship hulls

J.W. Ringsberg & Z. Li

Department of Shipping and Marine Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

E. Johnson
Department of Safety—Mechanics Research, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Borås, Sweden

ABSTRACT: The effects of ship-ship collision damage and progressive deterioration due to corrosion
of a struck ship’s hull are studied numerically in a crashworthiness assessment. The performance of a
struck ship’s hull is quantified in terms of the shape and size of the damage opening in the side-shell
structure, and the division of energy absorption between the striking and struck ships. Results from finite
element analyses are presented where several factors are varied in a parametric study: ship speed, collision
angle, bow stiffness, material strain rate effect, friction characteristics of the outer side-shell of the struck
ship, and influence from corrosion. The results show that the combined effects of a sudden collision load
and corrosion lead to a damage opening size of the struck ship which is around 25% larger compared to
the reference case with full corrosion margin and with non-corroded friction characteristics of the ballast
water tank surface areas.

1 INTRODUCTION the buckling ultimate strength that support this

Safety of maritime operations is one among several
prioritized research areas in the maritime industry.
Crashworthiness assessments of ship and offshore
structures is a field with high research activity due to
increasing worldwide ship traffic, larger ship sizes,
and the increased number and different types of
marine structures offshore (wind/wave/tidal energy
farms, structures for oil and gas extraction, etc.)
which enhance the risk for collision accidents.
An ultimate strength analysis of a damaged ship
from a collision accident needs a description of
the collision location, shape, size and extent of the
ship structure’s damages in order to make a reliable
estimation of the ship’s reserve strength. The ship’s
physical condition due to e.g. corrosion is also
important to consider in this regard. Faisal et  al.
(2016) studied the hull collapse strength of double
hull oil tankers after collisions using a statistical
approach. Several parameters were considered such
as impact location, extent of damage (represented
by penetration depth in the struck ship), and the
collision scenario. Simplified shapes of the struc-
tural damages were used in the study. Campanile
et al. (2015) present a study on the same topic and
type of damage but for bulk carriers including
the effect from corrosion using a corrosion model
proposed by Paik et  al. (2003). The results show
how the influence from corrosion of the mate-
rial leads to a significant decrease in the residual
strength index. There are several investigations on
finding for intact structures that suffer from either
minor or major corrosion wastage; see e.g. Paik
et al. (2009) and Saad-Eldeen et al. (2016).
Ultimate strength investigations that include
a structural damage from a collision accident in
the analysis often simplify the extent of damage
by making assumptions of its shape and size. In
contrast, investigations that address the accidental
limit state design due to, here, collision events are
detailed when it comes to the set-up of the simula-
tion models. It is necessary in order to as realisti-
cally as possible calculate either the energy absorbed
by the striking and struck objects (ship or offshore
structures), or, the shape and size of the damage
together with the penetration depth in the struck
object. Several studies present in-depth investiga-
tions of internal mechanics analyses where explicit
Finite Element (FE) solvers are used to calculate
the shape and size of the damage together with the
penetration depth in the struck object. Examples
of such investigations where the representation of
the material and its characteristics in the FE model
are made by a constitutive material model including
models for damage initiation and evolution leading
to fracture can be found in AbuBakr & Dow (2016),
Ehlers & Østby (2012), Hogström & Ringsberg
(2012), Hogström et  al. (2009), Marinatos et  al.
(2015) and Samuelides (2015).
Few studies in the literature present systemati-
cally the negative consequences of corrosion on
the collision resistance of ship side-shell structures.

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 It serves as the motivation and the objective of
this investigation which is to study the combined
effects of sudden damage (ship-ship collision) and
progressive deterioration due to corrosion in terms
of the performance of the struck ship’s hull. The
performance of the struck ship’s hull is quantified
in terms of the shape and size of the damage open-
ing in the side-shell structure, and the division of
energy absorption between the striking and struck
ships.
Section  2 presents a motivation to the RoPax
ship used as the struck case study vessel. A descrip-
tion of its FE model, other model details, and a
parametric study are presented in Section  3. The
results from the numerical analyses and parametric
study are presented in Section  4 followed by the Figure 1. (Left) The projected shape and size of damage
openings, and (right) capsize times from dynamic damage
conclusions of the study in Section 5.
stability analyses presented in Hogström & Ringsberg
(2012).

2 DAMAGE STABILITY AND SHIP

SURVIVABILITY AFTER COLLISION
2.1 Shape and size of damage opening
Tavakoli et al. (2011, 2012) presented a model for
the simulation and analysis of oil spill from oil
tankers involved in collision and grounding acci-
dents. The approach was validated in model scale
for some simplified (circular, rectangular, triangu-
lar) damage openings. Kim et al. (2015) carried out
a consequence analysis in terms of cost from an oil
spill accident. Full ship FE models were used to
calculate “realistic” shapes and sizes of the damage
opening, and a simplified methodology was used
to estimate the outflow of oil from the damaged
compartments. It was found that one of the largest
uncertainties in the study is how realistic the calcu-
lated damage opening is with regard to shape and
size.
Following the review paper by Bačkalov et  al.
(2016), damage stability is an important area of
research and development to both ensure and
enhance maritime safety for all types of vessel.
From a maritime safety perspective, being able to
calculate the damage extent is crucial for the devel-
opment of both useful and trustworthy aids and
tools that can simulate e.g. survivability conditions
such as capsize, sinking and evacuation of passen-
ger ships in flooding accidents (see Lee et al. 2016,
Schreuder et al. 2011 and Spanos et al. 2014).
2.2 Corrosion of ship hulls
Figure  1  shows an example of results from
Hogström & Ringsberg (2012) where the left figure
shows the shape and size of the damage opening,
and the right figure shows the time to capsize for
these damage openings, respectively, from dynamic
capsize simulations. A comparison was made
between rigid and deformable bows, dispersion in
material properties (mean value, μ, and standard
deviation, σ), and model uncertainty in damage
initiation (shear, one out of three models that were
used) and damage evolution (DE, with or without
this option) models.
The results from the deformable bow section in
Figure  1 were found to be more “realistic” than
the rigid bow section results since ship bows are
not perfectly rigid. Even though the deformable
bow did not deform significantly, the effect had an
influence on the damage opening’s shape and size.
Also, in addition to the previously investigated
uncertainties related to the dispersion in the mate-
rial’s properties, model uncertainty, etc., the influ-
ence from corrosion on the shape and size of the
damage opening is important to quantify because
of the reasons discussed in the previous sections.
The influence from corrosion in ship-ship colli-
sions using the FE method was considered in the
current study as follows:
• a reduction of the dimensions (thicknesses) in
the FE model of the structural members and
sheets which have corroded in the ballast tank
of the struck ship (i.e. vary the corrosion margin
in the model), and
• a change of contact conditions (i.e. the friction
coefficient) for non-corroded and corroded sur-
faces in contact.
A change of the constitutive material and dam-
age models according to the properties for the cor-
roded material(s) could not be included because of
lack of experimental data to describe the corroded
material’s properties for the steel grade in the case
study vessel; see examples of such studies presented

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 in Garbatov et al. (2014a, b) and Saad-Eldeen et al.
(2015).
3 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSES
This section presents the parametric study of a
ship-ship collision using the FE software Abaqus/
Explicit (Abaqus 2016). The striking ship is repre-
sented by a coastal tanker and the struck ship is a
RoPax ship which is a ship type known for its sen-
sitivity to damage stability if flooding through the
damage opening becomes too large. A thorough
presentation of the FE models, description of the
material characteristics and representation in the
FE models can be found in previous work by the
authors; hence, see Hogström & Ringsberg (2012,
2013) for detailed descriptions.
3.1 Description of FE models and analyses
The collision event studied here is the collision
between two similar-sized vessels; one RoPax ship
being struck amidships by a small coastal tanker
(see Figure  2; the darker (blue) colour shows the
areas below the waterline).
Figure 3 presents the geometry of the inner struc-
ture of the bulbous bow section of the tanker, and
the geometry of the RoPax ship which has a stiff-
ened side-shell structure with an outer weather deck,
an interior vehicle deck and a double hull. Below the
vehicle deck, there is a double hull side-shell and
above the vehicle deck, the side-shell is single skin.
Figure 2. Example of setup for the collision event stud-
ied in the FE analyses.
Figure  3. (Left) The geometry inner structure of  the
bulbous bow section (i.e. the tanker ship). (Right)
The geometry of the inner structure of the outer shell of
the side-shell structure (i.e. the RoPax ship).
525
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 525
The bow section of the tanker is restricted to
only move in its initial (prescribed) direction. The
striking tanker has a total weight of 10,800  tons
and is given an initial forward velocity of five or
seven knots, while the side-shell structure of the
RoPax vessel is held fixed in its circumference
(i.e. zero speed). The velocity of the striking bow
decreases gradually during the collision event as
energy is dissipated through deformations and
fracture in the structures. The FE analysis is inter-
rupted when the striking ship had slowed down to
zero knots.
The FE meshes of the two ships is made of
four-node shell elements with reduced integration
(S4R in Abaqus/Explicit) and five section points
through the thickness; however, some triangular
elements (S3R in Abaqus/Explicit) are also used.
A convergence analysis for explicit FE analysis has
been carried out, which resulted in an element size
of 60 mm. The element length/thickness ratio was
5  in the part of the model with the highest sheet
thickness.
Time integration was accomplished utilizing the
explicit time stepping scheme combined with an
automatic choice of time step. The general contact
condition criterion in Abaqus/Explicit was used in
conjunction with a friction coefficient of 0.1, 0.3
or 0.5 to model the contacts between surfaces that
occur in the collision.
The material used in both of the ships in the
analyses is the NVA shipbuilding mild steel; see
Table  1 for a presentation of all material param-
eters for this material. It is represented by a non-
linear elastic-plastic constitutive material model
where the isotropic hardening of the inelastic
stress-strain relation follows the well-known power
law in Equation  1 relating true stress σtrue to true
strain εtrue. The influence from strain rate effects
is considered using the Cowper-Symonds rela-
tionship in Equation 2, where σy, d is the dynamic
yield stress, σy, s is the static yield stress, ε is the
Table 1. Material parameters used in the models.
Parameter NVA steel
Young’s modulus, E (MPa) 210 000
Poisson’s ratio, υ 0.3
(Static) Yield stress, σy, s (MPa) 310
Hardening coefficient, K (MPa) 616
Hardening exponent, n 0.23
Necking strain, εn (%) 23
Fracture strain, εf (%) 35
Cowper-Symonds constant, C (−) 40.4
Cowper-Symonds constant, P (−) 5
DE parameters, bilinear model; (0, 0), (0.02, 0.00458),
see Abaqus (2016) for details. (1, 0.01832)
3/29/2017 9:40:19 AM
 material strain rate, and C and P are constants of
the Cowper-Symonds relation.
σtrue = K(εtrue)n (1)
σy d σ y ,s ( (ε C)
P
) (2)
Two models are combined to represent the
material characteristics for failure and degradation
leading to fracture: a model for onset of failure
(damage initiation, DI) and a model for damage
degradation (damage evolution, DE). The shear
criterion in Abaqus/Explicit is used to model DI.
It is a phenomenological representation of the ini-
tiation of damage due to shear band localization
and it uses the equivalent plastic strain accord-
ing to von Mises at the onset of necking, εn. In
the post-necking region, the element size of the
mesh has a significant influence on the numerical
solution, i.e. length dependency between element
size and fracture strain. Consequently, this has to
be accounted for when the DE law is defined. In
Hogström et al. (2009), it is shown that Barba’s law
is applicable in relating the element size to the frac-
ture strain and it has been used in the current study.
Thus, in the current analysis, the shear criterion is
used to initiate damage (DI) at the point of neck-
ing and it is followed by a bilinear law for DE up
to the point of fracture, εf, in accordance with the
recommendations made in Hogström et al. (2009).
3.2 Parametric study
The parametric study was designed to enable
systematic analysis of several factors and their
influence on the shape and size of the damage
opening of the struck vessel; see Table  2 for the
analysis matrix. The ship speed (velocity) was
varied between 5 and 7  knots, the collision angle

Table 2. FE analysis matrix in the parametric study.

Friction coefficient
Velocity Collision Bow stiffness Cowper-Symonds Corrosion margin (i = inner surfaces,
ID (Knots) (Degrees) (Deformable/Rigid) (Yes/No) (100%; 50%; 0%) o = outer surfaces)

1-A 5 90 Rigid Yes 100% i = 0.3

o = 0.3
1-B 7 90 Rigid Yes 100% i = 0.3
o = 0.3
2-A 5 90 Deformable Yes 100% i = 0.3
o = 0.3
2-B 7 90 Deformable Yes 100% i = 0.3
o = 0.3
3-A 5 90 Deformable No 100% i = 0.3
o = 0.3
3-B 7 90 Deformable NO 100 i = 0.3
o = 0.3
4-A 5 45 Deformable Yes 100% i = 0.3
o = 0.3
4-B 7 45 Deformable Yes 100 i = 0.3
o = 0.3
5-A 7 90 Deformable Yes 50% i = 0.3
o = 0.3
5-B 7 90 Deformable Yes 0% i = 0.3
o = 0.3
6-A 7 90 Deformable Yes 50 i = 0.5
o = 0.3
6-B 7 90 Deformable Yes 0% i = 0.5
o = 0.3
7-A 7 90 Deformable Yes 50% i = 0.5
o = 0.1
7-B 7 90 Deformable Yes 0% i = 0.5
o = 0.1
8-A 7 45 Deformable Yes 50% i = 0.5
o = 0.1
8-B 7 45 Deformable Yes 0% i = 0.5
o = 0.1

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 was varied between 90 and 45  degrees, and the
stiffness of the striking bow was considered
deformable for all of the cases but two where it
was modelled as rigid. The influence from mate-
rial strain rate effects using the Cowper-Symonds
relation was included in all analyses except for two.
The influence from corrosion was considered
according to Section 2.2 but only in the FE model
of the RoPax ship. FE analyses which refer to a cor-
rosion margin of 100% were carried out with full
corrosion margin of the side-shell structure, while
50% refer to a reduction to half of the corrosion
margin and 0% means that there is no corrosion
margin left. For example, the corrosion margin was
taken here as 20% of the original plate thickness.
This means that, for a 7-mm thick plate where the
thickness for full corrosion margin is included, its Figure  4. Size of damage openings (m2) from the FE
actual corrosion margin is 1.4 mm. analyses presented in Table 2.
The friction coefficient was also varied between
the analyses. A commonly used “reference” value
of the friction coefficient was set to 0.3 for non- stiffness in order to not, either overestimate the
corroded surfaces; this is a value which is often size of the damage opening, or, underestimate it.
used in the literature for similar ship-ship colli- Hence, a deformable striking bow structure is rec-
sion simulations. An assumed value of 0.5 was ommended and used in the FE analyses IDs 2 to 8.
used to represent a severely corroded surface, and
• ID 2 and 3: Strain rate effects, ship speed
an assumed value of 0.1 was used for a smooth
The influence from material strain rate effects
surface which may be considered “lubricated” by
on the energy absorption, ductility and fracture
water and biofouling that can reduce the friction
of the struck side-shell structure can be modelled
coefficient. The value of the friction coefficient
using the Cowper-Symonds relation. Many inves-
was defined for the inner surfaces of the ballast
tigations on ship collision and grounding have
tanks, and the external surfaces of the hull outside
disregarded material strain rate effects in the anal-
the ballast tanks. This division of the friction con-
yses and justified it with low velocities during the
ditions was made to enable modelling of increased
impact. However, if it is assumed that the materi-
friction in the ballast tanks due to corrosion, and
al’s characteristics can be modelled correctly from
reduced friction on the outer hull from water and
a material mechanics point of view, a comparison
biofouling.
between FE analyses with and without the Cow-
per-Symonds relation can show if the strain rate
effect should be accounted for or not. In the cur-
4 RESULTS
rent study and collision scenario, the comparison
in damage opening areas between the analysis IDs
4.1 Shape and size of the damage opening
2 and 3 shows that the strain rate should be consid-
Figure 4 presents the size of the damage openings ered in the material’s characteristics and included
from the FE analyses in Table 2. In the following, in the analyses; otherwise, the damage openings
the results from analysis ID 1 to 4 are discussed will be too overestimated. At 5 knots, the damage
with regard to bow stiffness, ship speed, material opening is 40% larger if the Cowper-Symonds rela-
strain rate effects and collision angle. The influ- tion is deactivated, and at 7 knots it is 67% larger.
ence from corrosion is analyzed based on analyses Consequently, the material strain rate effect should
of IDs 5 to 8 using 2-B and 4 as the reference simu- be considered and is included in all FE analyses
lations for the collision angles 90 and 45 degrees, except for in ID 3.
respectively.
• ID 2 and 4: Collision angle, ship speed
• ID 1 and 2: Bow stiffness, ship speed A 90-degree collision angle between the striking
The rigid bow results in a significantly larger and struck ships is often used since it results in the
damage opening for the both ship speeds. This is most structural damages of, especially, the struck
a well-known observation and is in agreement with ship. Since collision accidents also occur at oblique
previous studies by e.g. Hogström & Ringsberg collision angles, a 45-degree collision angle was
(2012, 2013). It highlights the importance of studied in FE analysis ID 4. The results show that
thorough modelling of the striking vessel’s bow a 90-degree collision angle results in larger damage

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 opening areas corresponding to 29% and 58% for case. With ID 2-B as the reference, the damage
the ship speeds 5 and 7 knots, respectively. It was opening area is increased with 17% if the corro-
of interest to investigate if the same finding holds sion margin is reduced to 50%, and with 24% if
also when corrosion is considered in the models, the corrosion margin is removed completely. The
and hence, the 45-degree collision angle was also damage opening areas for ID 7 are larger than
included in FE analysis ID 8 for both ID 5 and 6. The variation of the friction
coefficients with regard to corrosion and “lubrica-
• ID 2-B and 5: Corrosion margin, 90-degree
tion” by water and biofouling demonstrate that
collision angle
friction conditions should be better motivated and
The FE analysis ID 2-B is the reference in all
understood, rather than just assuming a friction
studied cases of the influence from corrosion.
coefficient of 0.3 which is often the case in most
In ID 5, we study specifically how the corrosion
publications.
margin affects the size of the damage opening
area. The results in Figure 4 show that the damage • ID 4-B and 8: Reduced friction coefficient on
opening area is increased with 8% if the corrosion external hull surfaces, increased friction in bal-
margin is reduced to 50%, and with 12% if the last tanks, reduced corrosion margin, 45-degree
corrosion margin is removed completely (i.e. 0% collision angle
corrosion margin is accounted for the model). The The FE analysis with ID 4-B is the reference
results show that there is an effect of including the case in the comparison with ID 8. The results
influence from corrosion on plate thickness in ship show that the damage opening area is increased
collision analyses which should be accounted for with 41% if the corrosion margin is reduced to
and the consequences thereof. 50%, and with 94% if the corrosion margin is
removed completely. It is noteworthy that the
• ID 2-B and 6: Friction conditions in the bal-
damage opening area is 23% larger for ID 8-B
last tanks (including reduced corrosion margin,
compared to ID 2-B (the overall “reference case”).
90-degree collision angle)
The overall finding is that oblique collision angles
Corroded surfaces have higher friction coef-
should not be dismissed beforehand in numerical
ficients in comparison with non-corroded. The
simulations where material corrosion is of con-
difference between the FE analysis IDs 5 and 6 is
cern of the study.
that the latter has a higher friction coefficient on
Figure  1 presents an example of the projected
the corroded ballast tank surfaces. With the FE
shape and size of damage openings from Hogström
analysis ID 2-B as the reference in the analysis of
& Ringsberg (2012); this study did not consider
ID 6, the combined effects of reducing the corro-
material strain rate effects or the influence from
sion margin and changing the contact conditions
corrosion. The corresponding results from the FE
in the ballast tank, show that the damage open-
analyses in Table 2 are presented in Figure 5. The
ing area is decreased with 29% if the corrosion
shape of the damage openings is in agreement with
margin is reduced to 50%, and with 26% if the
Hogström & Ringsberg (2012). Regarding the size,
corrosion margin is removed completely. Note that
it is found that: (i) the Cowper-Symonds relation
in both of the cases, the size of the damage open-
results in smaller damage openings compared to
ing areas have decreased compared to FE analy-
the results in Hogström & Ringsberg (2012), and
sis ID 5. A comparison of the energy of the FE
analyses shows that the larger friction coefficient
in the ballast tanks of ID 6 results in larger friction
energy, and thus, less internal energy is dissipated
(which corresponds to structural deformation and
damage; see Section 4.2). Consequently, the influ-
ence from corrosion inside ballast tanks in an FE
analysis should be accounted for by both reducing
the corrosion margin and by using an appropriate
value of the friction coefficient for corroded sur-
face materials.
• ID 2-B and 7: Reduced friction coefficient on
external hull surfaces (including increased fric-
tion in ballast tanks, reduced corrosion margin,
90-degree collision angle) Figure  5. The projected shape and size of damage
In FE analysis ID 7, the friction coefficient openings of the inner side-shell structure. The solid line
on the external hull surfaces is reduced from 0.3 shows where the water line is and the dashed line where
to 0.1; see Section  3.2 for a motivation for this the vehicle deck is positioned.

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 (ii) the way corrosion is considered in the current
study results in a relative increase of the size of
the damage openings (note the explanation to the
exception between IDs 2-B and ID 6).
4.2 Energy analysis
The energy dissipation (internal energy) is com-
prised of energy from elastic and plastic defor-
mations as well as damage. Figure  6 presents the
friction energy (F) and the total internal energies of
the tanker (IET) and RoPax (IER) ships at the end
of each analysis. The sum of these energies corre-
sponds to the total kinetic energy of the tanker at
the outset of an analysis: 35.7 MJ in IDs 1-A, 2-A,
3-A and 4-A, and 70.0 MJ in all other FE analyses.
The FE analysis IDs 4 and 8 with the 45-degree
collision angle have a larger percentage of friction
energy, and a lesser percentage of internal energy
of the tanker (ID 1 is excluded in this reasoning),
compared to the IDs with the 90-degree collision
angle. A comparison of the IDs 2 and 3 shows that
modelling of the strain rate effect by the Cowper-
Symonds relationship in ID 2 results in a higher
internal energy of the RoPax ship. Further, the
energy analysis results for the IDs 5 to 7, together
with their damage openings in Figure 5, show the
complexity in FE-based crashworthiness analy-
ses. Minor changes in friction conditions and
corrosion margins lead to redistributions of the
energy components F, IER, and IET which may
not be obvious at the outset of an analysis. Thus,
performance assessment of the crashworthiness
of corroded ship hulls requires a combination of
damage opening and energy analyses.
Figure 6. Percent of total energy at the end of each FE
analysis divided into friction energy (F), total internal
energies of the tanker (IET) and RoPax (IER).
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 529
4.3 Discussion: conditions for ship survivability
The influence from the shape and size of the
damage opening on the time to capsize was studied
and discussed in detail in the study by Hogström &
Ringsberg (2012). Since the shapes and sizes of
damage openings in the current study are not
very different, the overall analyses and findings
from their study are also judged to be applicable
to the current study. The critical part of the dam-
age opening is the vertical extent of the upper part
of the damage opening leading into the vehicle
deck of the struck ship. In this case the flooded
water cannot flow out of the opening, making
water accumulate faster, which reduces the time to
capsize.
The internal energies of the tanker and RoPax
ships are presented in Figure  6 together with the
total friction energy at the end of each FE anal-
ysis. Figure  7 presents the transformation of the
tanker’s kinetic energy to internal (IE) and fric-
tion energies during the simulation time of the FE
analyses 2-B, 4-B, 5-B, 7-B and 8-B. The markers
on the curves indicate when the first element on
the inner side-shell structure of the RoPax ship
fulfilled the fracture criterion of material rupture.
For the 90-degree collision angle, there are only
minor differences between the curves even if the
corrosion margin is reduced from 100% (ID 2-B)
to 0% (ID 7-B). For ID 7-B, a somewhat earlier
material rupture of the inner side-shell is observed.
For the 45-degree collision angle, the difference
between the curves is larger. A lot of more energy
is accumulated as internal energy in the  ship
structures when the corrosion margins of the
struck vessel is removed (ID 8-B), and the friction
Figure 7. Transformation of the tanker’s kinetic energy
to internal (IE) and friction energies during the simula-
tion time of the FE analyses 2-B, 4-B, 5-B, 7-B and 8-B.
3/29/2017 9:40:21 AM
 conditions are changed to represent corroded
surfaces. Material rupture of the inner side-shell
structure occurs earlier than in the reference FE
analysis ID 4-B.
From an energy analysis point of view, the
results suggest that the 90-degree collision case is
less sensitive to reduction of the corrosion margin
and changed friction conditions, as compared with
the 45-degree collision case. In the latter case, even
though the friction on the outer side-shell was
reduced to 0.1, the reduction in corrosion margin
is more important for the fracture behavior. An
analysis of the deformation characteristics from
the ID 4-B and 8-B FE analyses showed the follow-
ing. The reduction in the corrosion margin (8-B)
causes the side-shell structure to deform more eas-
ily compared to its reference (4-B) for this collision
angle. At the impact load, the striking bow struc-
ture obtains a larger contact area to attach and
stick to which eventually leads to rupture of the
material of the struck ship.
The damage opening shapes and sizes in
Figure  4 and 5 are presented for the inner side-
shell structure of the RoPax ship. Figure 8 and 9
present examples of damage openings of the outer
side-shell of the RoPax ship for the FE analysis
IDs presented in Figure  7, i.e. 2-B, 4-B, 5-B, 7-B
and 8-B. Figure 8 shows that the shape and sizes
of the damage openings are similar. The beginning
of a second hole can be noted for ID 5-B which
has the least corrosion margin 0%. A comparison
of the contour plots of the von Mises equivalent
plastic strain (PEEQ in Abaqus) for the deformed
side-shell structure shows that the deformation
Figure  8. Outer side-shell damage openings of the
RoPax ship when the tanker ship has stopped (90-degree
collision angle): FE analysis (left) ID 2-B, (middle) ID
5-B and (right) 7-B.
Figure  9. Outer side-shell damage openings of the
RoPax ship when the tanker ship has stopped (45-degree
collision angle): FE analysis (left) ID 4-B and (right)
ID 8-B.
530
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 530
increases as the corrosion margin decreases. The
same trend is shown in Figure  7 where the IE
increases as the corrosion margin decreases.
The results in Figure 9 confirm the observation
and analysis in Figure 8 but for the collision angle
45 degrees. Note that the damage opening for the
case with no corrosion margin left (i.e. ID 8-B) is
the largest and that is has extended to an opening
above the vehicle deck.
The ship survivability analyses in Hogström &
Ringsberg (2012) were carried out using the shape
and size of the damage opening of the inner side-
shell structure. In the work by Tavakoli et al. (2011,
2012), it was shown that the size and shape of the
damage openings of both the inner and outer side-
shell structures are important for the oil spill leak-
age and rate. This is of course important also for
the progressive flooding and survivability of dam-
aged RoPax ships.
5 CONCLUSIONS
A parametric study was presented using nonlinear
explicit FE analyses to investigate the influence
on the shape and size of the damage opening in
the struck ship from ship speed, collision angle,
bow stiffness of the striking vessel, modelling of
the material strain rate effect, friction characteris-
tics of the outer side-shell of the struck ship, and
influence from corrosion. The parametric study
quantified the influence of using a deformable
bow structure in ship-ship collision studies, and
the modelling of the material strain rate effect, on
the size and shape of the damage opening.
The results showed that the combined effects
of a sudden collision load, lowered value of the
friction coefficient of the external hull surfaces,
and modelling of corrosion, lead to a damage
opening size of the struck ship which was around
24% larger compared to the reference case for a
90-degree collision angle; the reference case had
full corrosion margin and a friction coefficient on
all surfaces that correspond to a non-corroded and
dry metal surface.
An oblique collision angle of 45  degrees was
incorporated in the study. The results showed, with
reference to a reference FE analysis with this col-
lision angle where corrosion was not considered,
that the damage opening area was increased with
41% if the corrosion margin was reduced to 50%,
and with 95% if the corrosion margin was removed
completely. It was also found that the size of these
damage openings was close to, and also larger,
than the size of the damage opening for the ref-
erence FE analysis with 90-degree collision angle,
full corrosion margin and a friction coefficient on
all surfaces that correspond to a non-corroded and
3/29/2017 9:40:22 AM
 dry metal surface. Hence, oblique collision angles
should not be dismissed beforehand if material
corrosion is of concern of the study.
REFERENCES
Abaqus. 2016. Dassault Systemes Simulia, Abaqus
version 6.13–3. [Available online: http://www.3ds.com/
products-services/simulia/products/abaqus/; November
2016].
AbuBakar, A. & Dow, R.S. 2016. The impact analysis
characteristics of a ship’s bow during collisions. In:
Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on
Collision and Grounding of Ships and Offshore Struc-
tures (ICCGS 2016); Ulsan, Korea, 15–18 June 2016.
pp. 229–237.
Bačkalov, I., Bulian, G., Cichowicz, J., Eliopoulou, E.,
Konovessis, D., Leguen, J-F., Rosén, A. & Themelis,
N. 2016. Ship stability, dynamics and safety: Status
and perspectives from a review of recent STAB con-
ferences and ISSW events. Ocean Engineering 116(1):
312–349.
Campanile, A., Piscopo, V. & Scamardella, A. 2015.
Statistical properties of bulk carrier residual strength.
Ocean Engineering 106(1): 47–67.
Ehlers, S. & Østby, E. 2012. Increased crashworthiness
due to arctic conditions—The influence of sub-zero
temperature. Marine Structures 28(1): 86–100.
Faisal, M., Noh, S.H., Kawsar, M.R.U., Youssef, S.A.M.,
Seo, J.K. Ha, Y.C. & Paik, J.K. 2016. Rapid hull col-
lapse strength calculations of double hull oil tankers
after collisions. Ships and Offshore Structures. http://
dx.doi.org/10.1080/17445302.2016.1192747
Garbatov, Y., Guedes Soares, C., Parunov, J. & Kodvanj, J.
2014a. Tensile strength assessment of corroded small
scale specimens. Corrosion Science 85(1): 296–303.
Garbatov, Y., Guedes Soares, C. & Parunov, J. 2014b.
Fatigue strength experiments of corroded small scale
steel specimens. International Journal of Fatigue 59(1):
137–144.
Hogström, P., Ringsberg, J.W. & Johnson, E. 2009. An
experimental and numerical study of the effects of
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ture behaviours in sheet metals. International Journal
of Impact Engineering 36(10–11): 1194–1203.
Hogström, P. & Ringsberg, J.W. 2012. An extensive study
of a ship’s survivability after collision—A parameter
study of material characteristics, non-linear FEA and
damage stability analyses. Marine Structures 27(1):
1–28.
Hogström, P. & Ringsberg, J.W. 2013. Assessment of
the crashworthiness of a selection of innovative ship
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Kim, Y.S., Youssef, S., Ince, S., Kim, S.J., Seo, J.K.,
Kim,  B.J., Ha, Y.C. & Paik, J.K. 2015. Environmen-
tal consequences associated with collisions involving
double hull oil tanker. Ships and Offshore Structures
10(5): 479–487.
Lee, S-G., Lee, J-S., Lee, H-S. & Park, J-H. 2016. Full-
scale ship collision, capsize, flooding & sinking
simulation using FSI analysis technique. In: Proceedings
of the Seventh International Conference on Collision
and Grounding of Ships and Offshore Structures
(ICCGS2016); Ulsan, Korea, 15–18 June 2016.
pp. 191–197.
Marinatos, J.N. & Samuelides, M.S. 2015. Towards a
unified methodology for the simulation of rupture in
collision and grounding of ships. Marine Structures
42(1): 1–32.
Paik, J.K., Lee, J.M., Park, Y.I., Hwang, J.S. & Kim, C.W.
2003. Time-variant ultimate longitudinal strength
of corroded bulk carriers. Marine Structures 16(8):
567–600.
Paik, J.K., Kim, D.K. & Kim, M-S. 2009. Ultimate
strength performance of Suezmax tanker structures:
Pre-CSR versus CSR designs. The International
Journal of Maritime Engineering 151(A2): 39–58.
Saad-Eldeen, S., Garbatov, Y. & Guedes Soares, C. 2015.
Residual strength of a severely damaged box-girder
with non-uniform and inter-crystalline corrosion.
(Editors C. Guedes Soares and R.A. Ajit) In: Analysis
and Design of Marine Structures. Taylor and Francis,
pp. 521–531.
Saad-Eldeen, S., Garbatov, Y. & Guedes Soares, C. 2016.
Ultimate strength analysis of highly damaged plates.
Marine Structures 45(1): 63–85.
Samuelides, M.S. 2015. Recent advances and future
trends in structural crashworthiness of ship structures
subjected to impact loads. Ships and Offshore Struc-
tures 10(5): 488–497.
Schreuder, M., Hogström, P., Ringsberg, J.W., Johnson, E. &
Janson, C-E. 2011. A method for assessment of the
survival time of a ship damaged by collision. SNAME
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Spanos, D. & Papanikolaou, A. 2014. On the time for the
abandonment of flooded passenger ships due to colli-
sion damages. Journal of Marine Science and Technol-
ogy 19(3): 327–337.
Tavakoli, M., Amdahl, J. & Leira, B. 2011. Experimen-
tal investigation of oil leakage from damaged ships
due to collision and grounding. Ocean Engineering
38(17–18): 1894–1907.
Tavakoli, M., Taghi, M., Amdahl, J. & Leira, B. 2012.
Analytical and numerical modelling of oil spill from
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Impact of sea bottom shapes on grounding damage: Suitability of

modelling with Gaussian processes

O-V.E. Sormunen
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aalto University School of Engineering, Espoo, Finland

ABSTRACT: The shape of the sea bottom plays a major role in ship damage in grounding accidents.
Several models been proposed in the literature such as cones, polynomials and a binormal function. How-
ever, these models do not correspond well to actual bathymetric data—and even when these model fit well
the real sea bottom data, the energy difference in grounding simulations can still differ by a large margin.
Even values of R2 > 0.9 were not sufficient to evaluate how well the sea bottom models correspond with
actual sea bottom shapes. In order to obtain similar ship structural damage in simulations, other factors
such as the rock surface area should be considered as well. Aiming to close this gap, this paper presents a
new model for sea bottom shapes based on Gaussian processes that allow for more complex shapes to be
modelled than the currently used smooth-surfaced rock models.

1 INTRODUCTION 1.2 Terrain modelling

1.1 Groundings and sea bottom shapes
Groundings are among the most common and
dangerous maritime accidents. One of the major
variables affecting the grounding damage extent is
the sea bottom shape as pointed out by e.g. Pedersen
(2010), Hong & Amdahl (2008), Alsos & Amdahl
(2007), and Wang et al. (2000). The challenge is that
the correspondence between model rocks and real
sea bottom shapes has been so far only studied to a
limited degree, see Sormunen et al. (2016a, b). The
current assumptions for modelling rocks in ground-
ing damage analysis are cones and polynomial
functions, which are quite simplified. This means
that utilizing model rocks for designing safe ship
structures has a high uncertainty associated with it
(Sormunen, 2016a). The challenge with rocks in par-
ticular is that even though they are often somewhat
conical, they show large irregularities and often have
a rough surface, thus indicating that other models
might be better in modelling them than a simple,
smooth-surfaced cone, polynomial or the like.
In Sormunen et al. (2016a) it was shown that in
particular a binormal function can achieve rela-
tively good statistical fits to real sea bottom data. In
Sormunen et al. (2016b), however, it was shown that
even R2 values as high as 0.8–0.9 out of a maximum
of 1 is not enough to draw conclusions about the
similarity of grounding damage results: The rela-
tionship between R2 and similar energy in ground-
ing between real sea bottom data and the sea bottom
model was found to be inconsistent and a need to
develop more detailed models was highlighted.
In the literature several methods exist for mod-
elling shapes of natural objects: The geometry
of mountainous landscapes is analyzed in e.g.
Moskalik et  al. (2014), Prasicek et  al. (2014)
and Cruden (2003). Rocks are analyzed in e.g.
Robin and Charles (2015), Zhang et  al. (2014),
Młynarczuk (2010) and Smith (2004). While the
aforementioned do not provide a detailed enough
approach for exactly modelling and replicating rock
shapes, Gaussian processes do, see Vasudevan et al.
(2009) for an application in mining and Muinonen
(1998) for an application in asteroid modelling.
A systematic approach to analyzing larger
sea bottom areas in-depth was introduced by
Sormunen et al. (2016a), which can be divided into
4 steps:
Step 1. Define relevant sea area and find bottom
data
Step 2. Identify individual peaks from the larger
bottom formations
Step 3. Define the cut-off method for the indi-
vidual peaks
Step 4. Fit mathematical models to the data and
evaluate the models
For an example of the application of steps 1–3
for 2 Finnish fairways see Sormunen et al. (2016a),
where 199 individual sea bottom formations were
identified and analyzed.
In Sormunen et al. (2016a) in Step 4 the models
used for describing the sea bottom shapes included
commonly used models from the literature (a cone
and 2 polynomial models) as well as a scaled and

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 533 3/29/2017 9:40:22 AM

 shifted binormal function. The equations for the
models are:
1. Cone equation

b0 + b1 ( x − x ) b2 ( y − y )
2 2
z (1)

where h is the height of the fitted cone and r the

radius of the cone at h  =  0. This is a pure cone
without a blunted apex, where the origo is poten-
tially shifted by x0 and y0 as the origo in the data
presented in Sormunen et  al. (2016a) is only
approximate. All units that have a physical inter-
pretation are in meters.
2. Scaled and shifted binormal function

1
z b0
2πσ x y− ) ( 2
Figure  1. Example of rock models (surface) fitted to
xyz sea bottom data (dots) along with the R2 of the mod-
⎛
( )
2
⎛
( )
2
1 ⎜ x − μx y− y els. All units on the axis are in meters.
exp ⎜ − +
⎝ (
⎜ 2 1 − ρ 2 ⎜ σ x2
⎜
⎝
) σ y2

⎞⎞
(
2 ρ − μx − )( ⎟⎟ )
− ⎟ ⎟ − b1
(2)
σ xσ y
⎟⎠ ⎟
⎠

where b0 is the scaling multiplier, b1 a constant that

counters out that all observed z are negative, σ the
standard deviation, μ the mean and ρ the correla-
tion between x and y.
3. 2nd order polynomial equation

Figure 2. Example of a GP fit with too small value of

z b0 + b1x + b2 y + b3 x 2 + b4 xy
x b5 y 2 (3)
σ (0.1) resulting in a flat bulge.

4. Heinvee et al. (2013) model extended in the

x-axis direction
b0 + b1 ( x − x ) b2 ( y − y )
2 2
z (4)
with an added origo shift by x0 and y0.
To obtain the rock-specific parameters for all
four equations above, non-linear least square fit-
ting of the models was done to the xyz-raw data.
The statistical goodness of the fit of the models
to the data was evaluated using the coefficient
of determination R2, which has a maximum of 1
(Sormunen et al. 2016b).
Running Step 4 for the 199 individual sea bot-
tom shapes in Sormunen et al. (2016a) gave initially
promising results in particular for the binormal
function, which for over 50% of the cases had an R2
≥ 0.8. However, closer examination in Sormunen
et al. (2016b) showed that the grounding damage
results in a FEM simulation were inconsistent
between the real rocks and the model rocks even for
models with R2 ≥ 0.8: The energy used to deform
a FEM model tanker’s bottoms structures during
1  second deviated between 6–54% when compar-
ing the real rock and the model rocks. It was found
that the current smooth, symmetrical rock models
are too inflexible to properly model the coarser,
irregular surface of a typical sea bottom shape in
the data. For this reason, a more complex method
is investigated in this paper as per suggestions for
future research in Sormunen et al. (2016a).
1.3 Gaussian processes
This paper focuses on Step 4 by fitting a Bayesian
process regression to the data from Sormunen
et al. (2016b). Gaussian Processes (GPs) are gener-
ally seen as non-parametric models (Rasmussen &

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Figure 3. Example of GP with too small value of l (0.1)
resulting in spiking.
Williams, 2006) in comparison to e.g. polynomial
models, c.f. eq. (1, 3–4), where one aims to find
optimal fit for the coefficients (parameters) b0, b1,
…, bn. Instead GP models the data points f(X) as
random variables with joint Gaussian distribu-
tion with mean m(X) and covariance k(X, X’). In
GP, the model fitting is replaced with specifying
the priori mean m(X) and covariance k(X, X’)
functions, where the latter specifies how strongly
should the values of f correlate at X and X’. GP
can be used for interpolation, extrapolation and
de-noising, which is relevant as the measurements
used here have some uncertainty associated with
them, see Sormunen et al. (2016a).
In our case the random variables represent
the sea bottom height or z values, at coordinates
z   =  (x, y) and the mean m(X) represents the sea
bottom base level.
In this paper the popular Squared Exponential
(SE) covariance function is used, see Rasmussen &
Williams (2006). Defining X as a matrix of the x
and y data points 1…N as vectors
⎡ x1 y1 ⎤
⎢x y ⎥
⎢ 2 2 ⎥
X =⎢ … ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ xN yN ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎣ ⎦
Then the squared exponential covariance matrix
with the hyperparameters σ and l is
⎛ −1
K A, B ( i , j ) exp ⎜ 2 (X A (i ) − X B ( j, ))
2
2
⎝ 2l
(
+ X A (i ) − X B ( j,j )2 )⎞⎠
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 535
where A and B are different datasets of xy; data-
sets (data)—ie. the bathymetric data of Sormunen
et al. (2016a)—and/or evaluation (eval) points (i.e.
for which values of xy we want to evaluate z). For
calculating the mean surface m for z
( ) (z
−1
m = z0 + K eval ,data K data,data + ε 2 I data −z ) (6)
where I is an identity matrix, z0 is the artificial min-
imum sea bottom level (as it is pointless to evaluate
z for values that are too deep for ships to ground)
and zdata the training dataset vector (i.e. the data
from Sormunen et al. 2016a) and ε the noise level
of the measurements.
The GP regression hyperparameters are l and
σ. Loosely speaking, l determines how far do you
need to move along a particular axis for the obser-
vations to become uncorrelated; In this case how
much spatial autocorrelation exist between x and y.
σ, on the other hand, describes the process stand-
ard deviation, which controls the vertical scaling.
2 SEA BOTTOM DATA ANALYSIS
2.1 Overview
The bottom topography data set used in this paper
are from hydrographic survey database of Finn-
ish Transport Agency (Liikennevirasto). The data
has been collected in controlled hydrographic
surveys which fulfill at least Order 1a of IHO’s
survey standard S-44, see IHO (2008). Data col-
lection was done from 1999 to 2012 by Multibeam
(MBES) and Multi Transducer Echo Sounder
(MTES) systems as fairway surveys. The data con-
sists of discrete xyz—data points of sonar read-
ings, each point corresponding to one sonar signal
echo from a bottom shape or object in the water
column (Sormunen, et al. 2016a).
The resolution of the data varies from square
centimeter to square meter level depending on the
water depth and the survey vessel’s equipment.
2.2 Rock modelling
Out of the data 4 rocks were selected for compara-
tive tanker grounding damage analysis using FEM
in Sormunen et al. (2016b). For these four rocks dif-
ferent sea bottom shape models were fitted and the
differences between the real and model rocks were
compared. This was done both in terms of ground-
ing energy and ship structural damage. The results
were shown to be inconsistent with the current sea
bottom shape models. For these four rocks the
(5) Gaussian process is fitted, see Figures 4–8 with the
hyperparameters l and σ as well as the noise level
535
3/29/2017 9:40:24 AM
 of the data ε, which is typically less than 0.3 meters
(Sormunen et al. 2016a), thus ε = 0.3 * 0.5 .
In the figures the blue “*” are the survey data
points, the curved surface is the GP fit and the ver-
tical plane is the cut-off plane that was used in the
calculations of Sormunen et al. (2016b). All units
are in meters.

Figure 7. Rock Sa with GP fit.

Figure 4. Rock 4e with GP fit.

Figure 8. YZ area for rock Sa.

As can be seen in the figures the GP does mimic

the real data quite well visually. Calculating the
goodness of the fit R2 in Table  1 confirms this
as the R2 is by the nature of the GP fit very high
(>0.95), much higher than for the other models
1–4. Theoretically an R2 ∼1 should also mean simi-
lar grounding energy between a model and a real
rock, given that the shape is otherwise similar.
The YZ area is a two-dimensional area as seen
Figure 5. Rock 10a with GP fit. here: The rock as seen from the bow of a ship with
an angle of attack along the x-axis which is above
the z-axis cutoff plane (dotted).
The YZ area was shown to be an important sur-
rogate variable for grounding damage in Sormunen
et al. (2016b): It explained 98% of the variation in
damaged ship bottom element volume in the 1 sec-
ond FEM simulation with a linear relationship of

V 2 262 1 031 AYZ (7)

The relationship between the damaged element

volume and energy was also found to be linear in
Sormunen et al. (2016b) with R2 = 0.927 for

Figure 6. Rock 11f with GP fit. V 3 254 0 616 E (MJ ) (8)

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 Table  1. Results of the GP fitting compared to other The advantage in GP over the parametric mod-
sea bottom shape models. els in eq. 1–4 is the flexibility of the model while
the drawback is the complexity and lack of clear
R2 YZ YZ parameters: While the hyperparameters l and
Rock Model (full rock) area difference
σ have a “real” interpretation, in this case it was
4e “Real”   10.04 0% shown that the rock modelling cases were quite
  Eq1 = cone 0.783 5.14 −49% insensitive to changes in values of the parameters
  Eq2 = binormal 0.873 10.48 4% as shown in Figure  9. Thus knowledge of these
  Eq3 = polynomial 0.787 12.98 29% parameters does provide as much information as
  Eq4 = Heinvee 0.778 13.53 35% knowledge of the parameters in eq. 1–4.
  GP 0.984 11.64 16% In the figure it is shown that R2 (z-axis) is quite
10a “Real”   3.66 0% insensitive to both l and σ: The R2 remains at >0.9
  Eq1 = cone 0.621 5.63 54% for almost any value of the hyperparameters from 0
  Eq2 = binormal 0.836 2.43 −34% to 50 except for too small values of σ (<5.6), below
  Eq3 = polynomial 0.532 9.51 160% which the R2 becomes appalling. Note, however, that
  Eq4 = Heinvee 0.531 9.5 160% visual inspection reveals that for too small values of
  GP 0.960 4.28 17% l the rock model is no longer a smooth surface but
11f “Real”   4.12 0% spikes protruding from the sea bottom, see Figure 3.
  Eq1 = cone 0.877 1.67 −59% On the other hand, it can be argued that the
  Eq2 = binormal 0.910 3.32 −19% GP is unfair to compare to parametric models and
  Eq3 = polynomial 0.884 3.93 −5% should be compared to the non-parametric N × M
  Eq4 = Heinvee 0.879 3.94 −4%
polynomial spline of various orders of 2–10 in Sor-
  GP 0.9992 3.660 −11%
munen et al. (2016b), which was made in Siemens
 Sa “Real”   29.12 0%
NX using the “Fit Surface” function. It gives the
  Eq1 = cone 0.80 19.42 −33%
mean and maximum errors of the fit compared to
  Eq2 = binormal 0.877 30.85 6% the z data points. One of the challenges is that the
  0.811 38.76 33%
interpolation method is not explicitly described
Eq3 = polynomial
  0.769 37.6 29%
in Siemens NX documentation, thus could not
Eq4 = Heinvee
be independently reproduced for a more in-depth
  GP 0.954 26.643 −9%
comparison for this article.
The GP model is shown to outperform the
Thus a similar YZ area and a similar shape should Sormunen et  al. (2016b) interpolation method in
lead to similar grounding damage in a FEM simula- both maximum and mean error for rock 10a as well
tion such as the one in Sormunen et al. (2016b). The as for maximum error for rock 4e. Thus at least for
values for the YZ difference between the real rock rock 10a the GP seems to be a better estimate for the
and the model rock are quite good but not as good real rock. If the maximum error values are deemed
as expected based on the really high R2 values. more important than the mean errors, then for 4e the
GP would also be better. Furthermore, the R2 val-
ues are not fully optimized: the GP hyperparameters
2.3 Discussion
were selected according to how well the GP fitted the
The GP model clearly outperforms the other mod-
els in terms of R2 but surprisingly not in all cases
with respect to the YZ area: for all other rocks
except 10a a better YZ area match was available
with another model. This should be investigated
more in-depth as the real rocks are point clouds
and the values for the YZ area for the real rock is
obtained using a N by M patch polynomial spline
of various degrees, see Appendix 1 of Sormunen
et al. (2016b). The YZ area for GP was calculated
with a 100 x 100 patch Riemann integral, thus when
it comes to the real rock’s YZ versus that of the GP
there is some uncertainty as to what the actual real
rock area is as this is not directly derivable from the
bathymetric data as it is an xyz point cloud with
a resolution ranging from tens of centimeters to
several meters, see Sormunen et al. (2016a, b) and Figure  9. R2 (z-axis) versus l (x-axis) and σ for rock
Appendix 1, where the “real” rocks are illustrated. 10a.

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 Table  2. Comparison of “real” rock as per Sormunen
et al. (2016b) and GP fit results in terms of absolute error
values in mm.
Mean Max Mean Max
Rock (real) (real) (GP) (GP)
4e 54.03 1406.77 102.009 698.31
10a 127.0 1851.25 97.37 688.98
11f 2.56 15.0 13.61 73.14
Sa 27.71 237.74 144.38 699.59
data visually—but on the other hand Figure 9 shows
that the effect of hyperparameters on R2 within a cer-
tain area is marginal. Note that the “real” rock spline
method’s error of Sormunen et al. (2016b) can also
be improved with certain parameter choices but this
does not necessarily lead to a visually more realistic
rock. The GP can be argued to be more flexible as it
is not bound by the polynomial shape required by the
spline in Sormunen et al. (2016b).
The testing of other covariance functions in GP
is a suggestion for future research. Theoretically the
GP offers advantages over splines and polynomial
functions as it takes measurement noise into account
and does provide a distribution for each estimated
point, see Rasmussen and Williams (2006).
In practice often more simplified methods than
FEM are utilized for grounding damage analysis.
The commonly used more simplified (analytical)
models are also dependent on the rock shape to
some extent, often by modelling the damage width
(Sormunen, 2016b). Thus a realistic rock model esti-
mate is also required for these models as factors such
as the vertical penetration and/or damage width
need to be estimated. Statistical models can omit
having information on the sea bottom shape but on
the other hand lose accuracy, see Sormunen (2016a).
3 CONCLUSIONS
3.1 Conclusions of the analysis and suggestions
for future research
The results show that the GP can be used to achieve
high R2 and a relatively good YZ match with the
“real” rock as defined in Sormunen et al. (2016b).
As such, it is expected that the model can accurately
model the sea bottom shapes better than the para-
metrical models 1–4. The damaged element volume
is to expected to be similar due to quite good YZ
fit. The near-perfect R2 (much better than what
was the best case in Sormunen et al. (2016a)) com-
bined with a visual inspection indicate that the rock
shape and surface roughness should be modelled
accurately. This, however is dependent on having
accurate enough bathymetric xyz-data of the sea
bottom.
538
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 538
Note that as the YZ areas deviate between
−9 and 17% of the real rock area, there is expected
to be discrepancies when utilizing the model rock
in grounding damage modelling. This highlights
the subjectivity raised in Sormunen (2016) of what
is actually the real rock when having access only to
limited resolution xyz observations, especially when
they are subject to noise. In order to determine the
true best real rock shape model, xyz bathymetric data
should be used from a rock that has been accurately
measured using another measuring method. Then
the models would be fitted to both datasets and com-
pared to see which the superior one is. Furthermore,
the effect of resolution on the accuracy of the mod-
elling should be tested e.g. by taking high-resolution
rock data and experimenting with removing xyz-data
points and then comparing how well different mod-
els fit to the data compared to a fit obtained with all
data points. This could also potentially serve as an
alternative validation method in the absence of the
above mentioned twice measured object. The prob-
lem with the current rocks is that that many of them
are far from being gridded in a regular fashion in
the xy directions nor are many of high resolution,
thus the exact shape of the rock is very sensitive to
removal of certain individual points (peaks, edges)
while removing other points (that have similar neigh-
bors) has practically no impact. Different covariance
functions could also be tested to see if a better suited
one could be found, however often these do not have
a similar “physical” interpretation as l and σ. The
measurement noise and its potential bias as a func-
tion of water depth and sounding equipment should
be investigated more in-depth. The sample size in
this paper is quite limited due to the small number of
rocks analyzed with FEM in Sormunen et al. (2016b),
a larger sample should be analyzed in the future.
Furthermore, the rock modelling procedure pre-
sented here and in Sormunen et al. (2016a) should
be done for all rocks in a larger sea area. This
should then be combined with an estimate for the
grounding attack of angle for ships sailing in the
area in order to obtain probabilistic distributions
for the grounding damage rock profiles as well as
their depth. This information should then be com-
bined with a grounding damage estimate in order
to obtain more realistic estimates for ship ground-
ing damage. In the best case scenario, this should
be extended to a global level for a more realistic
grounding damage risk analysis.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the reviewers as
well as Johannes Haataja, Jaripekka Juhala, Jani
Romanoff, Pentti Kujala and Jaakko Luttinen
for feedback and Annika Urbel for redoing the
3/29/2017 9:40:29 AM
 figures from Sormunen et  al. (2016b). This article
has received funding from Kotka Maritime Research
Centre Merikotka and Merenkulun säätiö.

APPENDIX: “REAL ROCKS”

The “real” rock (Sormunen et  al. 2016b) surface

interpolation results for the different rocks are
illustrated in the following figures. The angle is
roughly the same as in the aforementioned. The
figures do not have the same scale.
Figure 13. “Real” rock Sa.

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© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

A new simplified method to investigate the side-by-side collision

of two ships

Q. Yuan, Y. Zhang & X.B. Li

Departments of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Structural Engineering, School of Transportation,
Wuhan University of Technology, P.R. China

ABSTRACT: Considering the great computation cost of fluid-structure coupling method and signifi-
cant differences of the added mass method, a new simplified method for investigating the parallel side-
by-side collision of two ships is proposed in this paper, in which both the fluid inertia force and the fluid
damping force are considered. The fluid inertia force is modeled by a fixed added mass. While the fluid
damping force is modelled by the time-variation distribution force acting on the wet surface of the ships.
Because the fluid damping force depends on the ship velocity, based on the fluid damping force-ship
velocity curve obtained by FLUENT and the velocity-time curve of the collided ships without water
obtained by MSC/DYTRAN, the fluid damping force-time curve of the collided ships are fitted. It is
found that the present results obtained from the present simplified method are close to those calculated
by the fluid-structure coupling method.

1 INTRODUCTION form of the added mass density. The added mass

The global shipping and transportation is devel-
oping rapidly with economic globalization. Ship
collision accidents often occur in either inland
waterway or sea transport. These accidents intro-
duce not only the loss of property and environmen-
tal pollution, but also the loss of human life. There
are many forms of ship collision, for example, side
collision and parallel side-by-side collision. This
paper focus on the parallel side-by-side collision,
which is prone to take place when replenishment
or aid between two ships is carrying out. Ship col-
lision is a complicated fluid-structure coupling
response process. In order to simulate the process
accurately, it is necessary to estimate the influence
of the surrounding fluid on the collision ship.
There are two simulation methods studying
the hydrodynamic effects in ship collision, i.e.,
the fluid-structure coupling model and the added
mass model. The added mass can be obtained by
the empirical formula method and numerical cal-
culation method. Minorsky (1959) proposed the
added mass value as 0.4 of a drifted ship. However,
Motora (1971), according to the results of model
tests, found that the added mass value of the drift-
ing ship is not constant but varies with the collision
course. Wang (2002) discussed the application of
the added mass model to simplify the influence of
the fluid around the ship. The added mass value
is selected according to the empirical formula and
then added to the wet surface of the hull in the
model was also used for the analysis of submarine
collision by Ye et al. (2013). Two different added
mass models were established, i.e. increasing the
submarine’s mass density and using the point mass
elements. Jia and Moan (2010) analyzed the hydro-
dynamic effects for the struck ship in side colli-
sion. It was found that the equivalent added mass
for the sway motion is related with the collision
position, while that for the yaw motion could be
assumed to be independent of the collision posi-
tion. Yu (2016a) proposed approach that coupled
the external dynamics and the internal mechan-
ics, which were performed with the hydrodynamic
force and collision force. The hydrodynamic force
is discussed in the view of equivalent added mass.
This method is applied to the calculations of an
offshore supply vessel, which motions in the hori-
zontal plane, colliding with a rigid plate and a sub-
mersible platform. Later, Yu (2016b) extend the
method to consider the full 6 DOF ship motion.
Song (2016) listed some researches for the added
mass in ship collision, and then compared the
result of the fluid-structure interaction method
and the constant added mass method for ice-struc-
ture collisions. It was realized that the constant
added mass predicted a higher peak contact force
and more dissipated energy in the ice mass than in
the FSI method.
From the above studies, the empirical formula
method is limited though it is simple to use. Con-
sider the parallel side-by-side ship collision problem

541

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 in this paper, the use of the empirical formula
leads to significant differences with that of fluid-
structure coupling method. On the other hand,
although the fluid-structure coupling model is
accurate, the computation demand is heavy. More-
over, the added mass model proposed in these
reference is based on the fluid inertia force, and
the effect of fluid damping was neglected. In this
paper, the influence of fluid damping is larger and
can not be neglected in the parallel side-by-side
ship collision, so a simplified model is proposed to
calculate the added mass of ships in the parallel
side-by-side ship collision process. In this model,
both the fluid inertia force and fluid damping force
are considered.
2 THEORETICAL MODEL AND
VERIFICATION
The ideal fluid is assumed in this paper. The gen-
eral equation of motion in the process of ship col-
lision is:
[ ]{a} + [C ]{v} + [ K ]{d } = {F ext } (1)
From the equation of motion, it can be found
that in the process of ship collision the external
force Fext can be divided into three parts, i.e., the
inertia force, the damping force and the restoring
force. Because the viscosity is ignored, the first two
force components represent the influence of fluid
on the ship.
In the side collision process, the collision force
curves of the added mass method and the fluid-
structure coupling method are shown in Fig-
ure  1. Good agreement between the two models
are found in the peak and the overall trend of the
collision force. It is therefore the collision force cal-
culated by using the added mass method is accu-
rate enough to satisfy engineering requirements.
While for the parallel side-by-side ship collision
process, the error of the collision force calculated
by the added mass method is larger (Figure  2).
The peak value of the collision force calculated by
the added mass method is about two times that of the
fluid-structure coupling method. According to
the analysis, when the collision happened between
the parallel side-by-side ships, the two ship both
move in transverse direction, and the direction of
ship velocity is sway. The contact collision may
occur in the whole side of ships. Thus, the fluid
between hulls shall make great difference in the
collision process of the two ships. The damping
effect cannot be ignored with this large collision
area. Therefore, it is necessary to modify the exist-
ing added mass model of the ship collision in order
to accurately simulate the parallel side-by-side col-
lision process. In this paper, the two fluid forces
(damping and the added mass) are both consid-
ered during the simulation.
In this paper, the striking ship and the struck
ship used in the simulation are of the same type.
Table  1 shows the main parameters of the ship.

Figure 2. Collision force curves of the two methods in

side-by-side ship collision.

Table 1. The parameters of the collision ship.

Parameters Symbol Value Unit

Length of overall LOA 80.52 m

Length of waterline LWL 77.30 m
Length between perpendiculars LPP 75.8 m
Breadth B 18.00 m
Depth D 5.20 m
Design draft d 4.00 m
Figure  1. Collision force curves of the added mass Block coefficient Cb 0.7994
method and the fluid-structure method in bow-side ship Breadth depth ratio B/D 3.462
collision.

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 It is a 80-meters deck barge. For the convenience
of recording, the striking ship and the struck ship
are called ship A and ship B respectively.
2.1 Theoretical model
Based on the velocity result of the added mass
method of a single ship, the flow field will become
instable when a ship begins to accelerate from a
static state. This instability will result in signifi-
cant errors. In order to reduce the error in simula-
tion and obtain the converged results, the uniform
motion of the flow field is simulated before accel-
erating the hull. With this technique, the flow field
will become relatively stable and therefore lead to
more accurate results. The calculation principle
of the added mass can be described as the follow
equation:
Finstablel Fstablel
ma = − m (2)
a the flow as follows
where Finstable, Fstable are resistance of a ship in the
instable and stable motion states, respectively. ma,
m are the added mass and original mass of the
ship, respectively. a is the acceleration of the ship.
The simulation of ship collision motion in Flu-
ent is very complex. For simplification, the influ-
ence of the relative velocity of the two ships in
collision is not considered when calculating the
added mass and fluid damping force of the two
ships. Only the relative position of the two ships
is considered in the simulation. In other words, the
two ships of very small spacing are set with zero
initial velocity. The steady and unsteady conditions
are simulated by imposing a uniform velocity and
acceleration of fluid. In this way, the flow velocity is
constant in the initial stage and the damping force
is the only resistance acting on the two ships. After
the initial stage, a uniform acceleration is then pre-
scribed to the flow field. Thereafter, the two ships
will also be affected by the inertia resistance apart
from the damping force. After obtaining the fluid
damping force and the inertia force by using Flu-
ent, the added mass can be computed by Eq. (2).
2.2 Verification
In order to verify the accuracy of the simulation
result in this paper, compared kinetic energy loss
in the collision process with Minorsky’ method,
the result is shown in Table 2. From the compari-
son result, the numerical results of this paper are
very close to the results of the Minorsky’ method,
which proves the accuracy of the parallel side-by-
side collision process calculated by the simplified
model.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 543
Table 2. Kinetic energy loss.
Method Value of loss (MJ)
Method in this paper 26.7843
Minorsky’ method 26.0805
Error 2.7%
3 CALCULATION OF FLUID DAMPING
FORCE AND THE ADDED MASS
In this simulation, the computation domain in
FLUENT model is 1.5 L × 4 B × 4 D (Yu, 2012),
where L, B, D are the length, breadth, and draft of
the collision ship, respectively. The inlet boundary
condition is expressed by the velocity as follows
UX 0 UY = V0 , U Z = 0 (3)
The outlet boundary condition is expressed by
QOUT QIN (4)
where UX, UY, UZ are the velocity along the x, y,
and z axes, respectively. QIN, QOUT are the flow of
the inlet and outlet boundary, respectively.
3.1 The calculation of fluid damping force
In an ideal fluid, the resistance of the ship only
comprises fluid inertia force and fluid damping
force. When the ship is subjected to the uniform
flow, the resistance of the hull includes fluid damp-
ing force only. As seen from variation curves of the
total resistance of the ship varying with different
velocities, the total resistance of the hull becomes
gradually stabilized when the flow velocity is con-
stant. Based on the above assumptions, it can be
concluded that the fluid damping force of the hull
with a constant velocity is constant, This is also
consistent with the results calculated by using the
motion equation of collision.
The collision velocity of parallel side-by-side
ship is generally small, so the maximum velocity
of flow is chosen for 4 m/s in this study. Accord-
ing to the law of conservation of momentum, the
velocity of the ships in collision process is less than
4 m/s. So it is enough to simulate four scenarios of
flow velocity, i.e. V = 1, 2, 3, 4 m/s. Then a velocity-
damping curve can be obtained for flow velocity
less than 4 m/s. The resistance curves with different
flow velocities of the striking ship and the struck
ship are shown in Figs. 3 and 5, respectively. It can
be seen that the drifting resistance of the two ships
tends stable after t = 0.5 s. In addition, the resist-
ance becomes larger with greater velocity. The fluid
3/29/2017 9:40:31 AM

Figure 3. Resistance curves of the striking ship at dif-
ferent velocities.
Figure 4. Resistance curves of the striking ship at dif-
ferent velocities.
Figure 5. Resistance curves of the struck ship at differ-
ent velocities.
damping forces of the two ships are summarized in
Table 3. By using the stable values of the resistance,
the curves of velocity and the fluid damping force
are fitted, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6, respectively.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 544
Table  3. Fluid resistance of the two ship at different
velocities.
Velocity (m/s) 1 2 3 4
striking ship (MN) 0.205 0.543 1.09 1.82
struck ship (MN) −2.28 × 10−3 −0.186 −0.476 −1.01
Figure 6. Resistance curves of the struck ship at differ-
ent velocities.
According to the characteristics of the wave-
making resistance, the resistance is proportional
to the fourth power of the Froude number. Since
the fluid damping force is part of the wave-making
resistance, it is feasible to fit the damping-velocity
curves of the two ships with a function of 4 power
velocity polynomials. The equation can be fitted as:
For the striking ship:
Fdamping 4799 V 4 + 42009 V 3 26197 V 2 + 194155 V
(5)
For the struck ship:
Fdamping 8971 4 V 4 + 66306 V 3 226789 2
167172 V
(6)
The fluid resistance is a velocity-dependent
quantity, but the fluid damping force calculated
by the above equations cannot be directly used.
It is necessary to first obtain the velocity-time
curves of the two ships in collision process, and
then the damping-time curves of the parallel side-
by-side ships can be obtained according to the two
damping-velocity curve and velocity-time curve.
In order to obtain the velocity history in the
process of collision between two ships, MSC/
DYTRAN was used to calculate the collision pro-
cess of two ships. First, the influence of the water
on the velocity of two parallel side-by-side ships in
3/29/2017 9:40:32 AM

Figure 7. Velocity history curve of the striking ship in
model without water.
Figure  8. Velocity history curve of the struck ship in
model without water.
Figure 9. Damping history curve of the striking ship.
collision is discussed. According to velocity results
of the two collision models with and without
water (Figs. 7 and 8), it is found that the velocity
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 545
Figure 10. Damping history curve of the struck ship.
Figure 11. The total resistance history curve of the two
ships.
calculated by the two models are not different from
each other. Therefore, in order to simplify the col-
lision model and save the computation time, the
collision model without water is used to calculate
the velocity response of the two ships in this paper.
Based on the above- mentioned damping-velocity
equations, the damping force of the two ships is
obtained. The damping force results of strike ship
and struck ship are shown in Figs. 9 and 10 respec-
tively. Because the damping force is part of fluid
force, therefore it is loaded onto the wet surface of
the ship in the form of field functions.
3.2 The calculation of the added mass
The value of the added mass is related to the hull
structure, fluid properties, motion direction and
so on. For the horizontal drift, although the range
of experience value was given by Motora (1971),
the added mass value of the model used in this
paper cannot be determined. So Fluent is used to
3/29/2017 9:40:33 AM
 Table 4. The resistance variation and the added mass coefficient of the two ships.

Uniform Resistance after Resistance The added The added mass

Ship resistance (N) accelerating (N) difference (N) mass (t) coefficient

A 1.73 × 106 9.02 × 105 –8.29 × 105 3.80 × 103 0.846

B −1.02 × 107 −1.83 × 106 −8.10 × 105 3.61 × 103 0.805

calculate the added mass value of the parallel side-

by-side collision ships.
In order to simulate the accelerated condition of
the striking ship, an additional reverse acceleration
of 0.1 m/s2 is given to the fluid with uniform veloc-
ity is 4  m/s. As a result, the motions of the two
ships in collision would be unsteady. Their added
mass values are obtained according to Eq. (2). The
total resistance curves of the two ships in the whole
process are shown in Fig. 11. The resistance differ-
ences and the added mass coefficients are summa-
rized in Table 4.
Since the added mass is independent of the val-
ues of velocity and acceleration, the additional
mass obtained above can be loaded directly onto
Figure 12. The fluid-structure coupling model.
the wet surface of hull in the form of the mass
density.

4 COMPARISON OF THE TWO METHODS

Since the fluid-structure coupling method can cal-

culate both the structural deformation and the flow
field of the broadside and its dynamic effect, it is
regarded as the best physical approximation and
the closest to the real collision. In this paper, the
fluid-structure model of the parallel side-by-side
collision ships is simulated by MSC-DYTRAN.
The calculated collision force is used as benchmark
of the proposed simplified model.
The constitutive equation of strain rate sensitiv-
ity and the contact definition of the fluid-structure
coupling model are selected according to Wang
(2000). The maximum plastic strain is selected as Figure 13. Collision force curves.
the failure criterion of the material. Considering
the scale of the hull and the grid size of the model,
0.17 is chosen as the material failure strain value
4.1 Collision force
(Glykas, 2001; Liu, 2007; Zhu, 2008). The fluid-
structure coupling model of the parallel side-by- The collision force curves obtained by using the
side collision ships is shown in Fig.  12. The fluid simplified model are compared with those of fluid-
field is divided into grids by Euler element. The size structure coupling model in Fig. 13. Good agree-
limit and the outflow boundary are set for the fluid ment between the two models are found in the peak
region of the collision spacing. The fluid field is set and the overall trend of the collision force. Because
as follows: 1.5 L × 4 B × 2 D. The whole structure the collision force reflects the damage deformation
of the collision ships is simulated by the plate unit. process of the structure in collision spacing. It is
Only the structure in the collision position is con- reasonable that the present simplified model is
sistent with the original hull structure. The refined able to replace the fluid-structure coupling method
mesh is used on the collision surface. Other parts of in the simulation of the parallel side-by-side ship
the ship are simplified in the mesh generation. collision.

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Figure 14. Velocity curve of the striking ship.
4.2 Collision velocity
Comparison between the two methods on the
velocity history curve of the striking ship is shown
in Figure 14. It can be seen that though the fluc-
tuation of the velocity in fluid-structure coupling
model is greater than the present simplified model,
the variation trend of the velocity of the two meth-
ods is same.
5 CONCLUSIONS
A simplified model based on the added mass and
the fluid damping force is proposed to replace the
fluid-structure coupling model in the simulation of
the parallel side-by-side collision. The new method
not only greatly reduces computation time, but
also gives similar results to those obtained by using
traditional fluid-structure coupling model.
547
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 547
REFERENCES
Glykas A. & Das P.K. 2001. Energy conservation during
a tanker collision, Ocean Engineering 28, 361–374.
Jia, H., & Moan, T. 2010. Global responses of struck
ships in collision with emphasis on hydrodynamic
effects, Journal of Offshore Mechanics & Arctic Engi-
neering 137(4), 1984–1988.
Liu, F. 2007. Research on new types of ship structures
based on crashworthiness, PhD thesis, Shanghai Jiao
Tong University.
Minorsky, V.U. 1959. An analysis of ship collision to pro-
tection of nuclear powered plant, Ship Research 3(2),
1–4.
Motora, S. 1971. Equivalent added mass of ships in col-
lisions, Soc Nav Archit Jpn 7, 138–148.
Song, M., Kim, E., Amdahl, J., Ma, J., & Huang, Y. 2016.
A comparative analysis of the fluid-structure interac-
tion method and the constant added mass method for
ice-structure collisions, Marine Structures 49, 58–75.
Wang, Z.L., Jiang, Z.Y., & Gu, Y.N. 2002. Added water
mass model for numerical simulation of ship/ship col-
lisions, Explosion & Shock Waves 22(4), 321–326.
Wang, Z.L. 2000. Study on damage mechanism in ship
collisions and structural crashworthiness, PhD thesis,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Ye, J. P., Liu, J. J., & Wan, Z.Q. 2013. Added mass model
for numerical simulation of submarine collision,
Journal of Ship Mechanics 5, 513–521.
Yu, G., Liu, J.M., & Cai, Z.X. 2012. Numerical simu-
lation of viscous flow around hull with free surface,
JIANGSU SHIP 29(2), 5–8.
Yu, Z., & Amdahl, J. 2016b. Full six degrees of freedom
coupled dynamic simulation of ship collision and
grounding accidents, Marine Structures 47, 1–22.
Yu, Z., Amdahl, J. & Storheim, M. 2016a. A new
approach for coupling external dynamics and internal
mechanics in ship collisions,  Marine Structures 45,
110–132.
Zhu, X.Y. & Wu, F. 2008. On energy absorption of stiff-
ened plate subjected to transverse impact, Journal of
Naval University of Engineering 20(3), 25–30.
3/29/2017 9:40:36 AM
MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Experimental and numerical analysis of tanker double-hull structures

punched by a wedge indenter

M. Zhang & J.X. Liu

School of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
Wuhan, China
Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Ship and Deep-Sea Exploration (CISSE), Shanghai, China
State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science
and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China

Z.Q. Hu
School of Marine Science & Technology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

ABSTRACT: This paper addresses experiment and finite element simulation studies on a small-scale
double hull ship structures quasi-statically punched at the mid-span by a wedge indenter, which is intended
to examine their fracture and energy absorbing mechanism. The specimen, one-sixth scaled from a tanker
side panel, is account one span of the stringers in length and two spans of the web frames in width.
The experiment results can provide practical information to assess the structural resistance of the ship
side and bottom under collision and grounding scenarios when they suffer severe damage. In addition,
numerical simulations are also carried out for the corresponding scenarios by the explicit LS-DYNA finite
element solver. The experimentally recorded resistance-displacement curves and the deformation process
show a good agreement with those of numerical simulations. In particular, the importance of specifying
the precise jointing details and boundary conditions are also discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION continuous records of the damage process, obtain-

The crashworthiness of oil tankers equipped
with double hull has brought increased attention.
Although collision avoidance systems and naviga-
tion tools have advanced a lot, collision or ground-
ing still inevitably occur for human factors. The
rupture of the inner hull can be treated as the most
serious case that will threaten the life, health, envi-
ronment and property. Therefore, investigations on
the response of double hull structures subjected to
severe collisions are indispensable.
The commonly used approaches to assess ship
collisions are: empirical formulae, experiments,
non-linear finite element simulations and simpli-
fied analytical methods. Among them, experiments
can usually provide the most reliable and realistic
predictions. Previous trials are focused on the full-
scale collision and grounding experiments with
the expectancy to simulate the real conditions.
However, those experiments are extremely expen-
sive and hard to conduct. Hence, model tests are
usually applied to evaluate the crashworthiness of
ship structures. Low velocity impact tests might
represent the case of ship collision better, while a
quasi-static indentation test ignoring the strain-
rate effect of the materials has the advantage of
ing comprehensive information of the specimens.
Moreover, both the static and dynamic tests show
similar energy absorbing and fracture mechanisms,
providing the same structural arrangement. The
difference is that the dynamic test may absorb more
energy corresponding to the static test due to strain
rate hardening of the materials. Therefore, a host
of quasi-static indentation tests were performed to
assess the deformation patterns and occurrence of
fracture of plates, stiffened plates, web girders etc.
As for double hull structure punching experiments,
a spherical or a conical indenter is usually selected
to represent the bulbous bow in side collision or the
seabed obstacles in grounding scenario (Amdahl
et al. 1995). Wang et al. (2000) conducted series tests
to shed light on the different behaviors of a double
hull in a broader spectrum of collision or strand-
ing. It revealed that both the indenter size and the
penetration location show significant influence on
the reaction force. Paik and Seo (2007) utilized the
double hull punching experiment to validate an
efficient method for progressive structural crash-
worthiness analysis. Karlsson et  al. (2009) devel-
oped four types of experiments including the bulb
impact double hull structures to establish a reliable
and robust FE modeling procedure for ship-ship

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 collision simulations. Tautz et  al. (2013) reported
collision experiments with rigid and deformable
bulbous bows driven against double hull side struc-
tures. The results showed that the absorbed energy
with deformable bulbous bow increased one time
compared to the rigid one. According to Wang
et  al. (2002), the accident scenarios have direct
influence on assessing the strength of ship hulls
and a wedge is a good assumption for conventional
ramming bow. However, none of the above is about
double hull ship structures punched by a wedge.
Nowadays, the non-linear finite element method
has the ability to predict the large deformation, col-
lapse modes and reaction force of structures sub-
jected to collisions rationally provided with proper
modeling parameters. Therefore, it is widely used
to simulate marine structures in many fields of
industrial engineering such as safety calculations,
security studies, hazard assessments and structural
optimization. Moreover, numerical simulations can
be treated as virtual experiments and are extensively
used to validate simplified analytical methods in
many collision and grounding scenarios (Hu et al.
2011; Haris & Amdahl 2013; Yu et  al. 2015; Sun
et  al. 2015; Liu & Soares 2016) lately. Compared
to the model tests, they are low cost and repeatable
with the help of powerful computers. Furthermore,
they can provide detailed information of each struc-
tural component, which will give insight into crash-
worthiness analysis. However, the failure prediction
of numerical simulation has not improved much
because the commonly used failure stain is highly
dependent on the element length-thickness ratio
and the criteria for dealing with sheet metal duc-
tile fracture beyond local necking is not well estab-
lished. Thus, material failure should be validated
against the experimental tests before performing
structural analyses.
In the present study, the deformation patterns
and fracture of one-sixth scaled double hull struc-
tures statically punched at the mid-span by a wedge
indenter are investigated by experiments and finite-
element analysis. One specimen is designed based on
the collision scenarios. The resistance force-indenta-
tion responses as well as the collapse models from the
numerical solutions are thoroughly compared with
experimental results. The numerical analysis includes
aspects of particular relevance to the behavior of
ship structures subjected to accidental loads, which
will result in large plastic strain, such as material non-
linearities and failure, the importance of specifying
the precise jointing details and boundary conditions.
2 EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
2.1 Specimen
The structural response during a ship collision and
grounding depends on the accident scenarios that
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 550
are determined by the structural arrangement of the
collide ship, the strength of the striking objects, the
impact locations and so on. According to the typical
scenario presented by Villavicencio & Soares (2014),
as shown in Figure 1, a 16500 DWT oil tanker suf-
fers a head-on collision on its side or grounding on
a rock. The researched double hull include one span
of the stringers in width and two spans of the web
frames in length, the respective span lengths are
3.6 m and 2.4 m. And the distance between the dou-
ble side is 1.08  m. One one-sixth scaled specimen
is designed, where the impact location is between
the two stringers. The geometry is also sketched
in Figure 1. The thickness of all the plates is 2 mm
and the stiffeners are 36 × 2 mm flat bar profiles. It
should be noted that the stiffeners on the stringers
and the web frames are smeared out by increasing
the thickness of the attached plates in the small-
scale specimens. With this scaled dimensions, the
section modulus of the small-scale specimen is 10%
smaller than the full-scale one. For reference, the
main dimensions of the full prototype are provided
in Table 1 and the scantlings of the structures are
indicated in Table 2. In the present work, the strik-
ing ship and the rock are idealized as a rigid wedge,
which implies that the purpose of this experiment is
Figure 1. Impact scenario and the scaled specimens.
Table 1. Principle particulars of the oil tanker.
Overall Length between Moulded Design
length perpendiculars breadth Depth draught
145.5 m 136.2 m 23 m 12.5 m 8.8 m
Table 2. Scantlings of the double hull prototype.
Structural component Plate Stiffeners
Outer plate 12.0 mm HP.220 × 11
Inner plate 12.0 mm HP.220 × 11
Stringers 10.0 mm FB.160 × 10
Web frames 10.0 mm FB.150 × 12
3/29/2017 9:40:37 AM
 to assess the maximum energy to be absorbed by the
double hull structure indented by a wedge.
The material used for the plate and stiffen-
ers is normal structural hot-rolled steel. In order
to obtain the mechanical properties of the steel,
quasi-static tensile tests are conducted using
standard tensile specimens and procedures. The
dimensions of the machined tension test pieces
are shown in Figure 2. Three tensile tests are per-
formed at a rate of 1 mm/min until fracture occurs.
Based on the displacement-controlled tensile tests
carried out on the machine Zwick/Roll Z010, the
engineering stress-strain behavior of the material
can be obtained. Moreover, the true stress-strain
curve can be acquired by the combined material
relation (Villavicencio & Soares 2012; Villavicencio
et al. 2014). The mechanical properties of the plate
material are summarized in Table 3 and the tensile
stress-strain curves are presented in Figure 3.
The double hull is fixed by ring frames which
are welded together by 18b channel steel with its
material properties summarized in Table  4 and
section profile plotted in Figure 4 also provide the
cross section simplification of the channel steel so
that it can be modeled in numerical simulation in
future work. The top and bottom surface of the
frames are polished to guarantee the flatness. Spe-
cific locations on them are welded with stiffeners
10  mm in thickness designed by numerical simu-
lation to ensure enough strength. Moreover, there
is an 40 mm diameter circle hole on each side of
the frame in order to capture the deformation
details of the inner components in the test process.
Figure 5 depicts the welding process of the speci-
mens as well as the dimensions of the ring frames.
In Figure 5(a), TIG welding (Tungsten Inert Gas
Welding) is applied to connect the ring frame and
the inner components of the double hull including
the web frames and the stiffeners as well as them-
selves. The selected electrode is GB: E-4303 with
2.5 mm diameter. In Figure 5(b), two face panels
are connected with the inner members and the ring
frame around specially by laser welding, as marked
by red lines. The welding parameters, including
laser power, welding speed, shielding gas pressure
and focus point position are listed in Table 5.

2.2 Set-up
The experiments are conducted in the rig pre-
sented in Figure  6. The specimens are clamped
Figure  2. Standard dimensions of the tested pieces between a bottom flange and an upper flange
(ASTM, E8). which are made of No.45  steel with 20  mm in
thickness. They are fixed together by M20 bolts.
Table 3. Mechanical properties of material. In particular, four T-shaped screws with 40  mm

Property Units Specimens

Table 4. Mechanical properties of the channel steel.
Young’s modulus Mpa 206
Poisson’s ration – 0.3 Property Units Channel steel GB:18b
Mass Density kg/m3 7850
Yield stress MPa 280 Yield strength Mpa 345
Ultimate tensile strength MPa 396.4 Tensile strength Mpa 510–600
Fractures strain – 0.326 Elongation – 0.22

Figure 3. Stress-strain curves. Figure 4. Section profile of channel steel.

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Figure  5. Illustration of fabrication process of the
scaled double hull specimens. (a): Inner components and
surrounded frame are welded by TIG welding. (b): Pan-
els and inner components together with the frame are
welded by laser welding.
in diameter are applied to adjust the levelness of
the specimen. The deformation of the double hull
structure is enforced by a hydraulic cylinder on
the middle span at a rate of 10  mm/min. A flat
edge ended wedge indenter with the head heat
treated is used, as the sketch shown in Figure  7.
A load cell (100 ton) fixed between the hydraulic
cylinder and the wedge indenter and two displace-
ment sensors jointed on the indenter are utilized
to obtain the force-time and displacement-time
curves, respectively. The experimental process is
recorded by a standard video camera. Moreover,
a digital microscope is adopted to monitor local
deformation of the inner components from the
observation holes. In order to visualize the defor-
mations, 50 × 50 mm grids are drawn on the front
and rear sides. During the indentation process, an
extension bar is used as the maximum indenta-
tion of the hydraulic cylinder is 150 mm. After the
resistance force on the inner hull descends rapidly,
the test stops when the specimen is punched for
another ∼15 mm.

Table 5. Laser welding parameters.

weld seam with

Weld condition 1.8 mm in width

Laser power (KW) 3.2

Welding speed (m/min) 3
Shield gas pressure (Mpa) 0.4
Focal point posi-tion (mm) 0
Figure 7. Dimensions of the indenter.

Figure 6. Experimental setup.

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 3 FINITE ELEMENT SIMULATION
The computations are implemented in the explicit
finite element package LS-DYNA. Figure 8 shows
the schematic diagram of the finite element model,
which consists of the specimen, bottom flange,
upper flange and the indenter. All the components
are modeled with four-node shell elements with five
integration points through thickness except that
the indenter is meshed with solid elements. For the
double-hull structures in the specimen, the mesh is
uniform with an edge size of 4 mm (le/t = 2) which
could obtain detailed information of crack propa-
gation in the area of indentation. Approximate
8 mm and 15 mm element size are used in the model
of channel steel and frame support, upper flange
respectively aiming at decreasing computation time.
The fracture prediction is of utmost impor-
tance for the numerical simulation of ship collision
events. Based on the study by Calle et  al. (2017),
reasonably force-displacement responses could be
reproduced if the element thickness ratio is less
than 4 by applying four commonly used failure
criteria including the EPS (Effective Plastic Strain)
criteria. In order to obtain the ‘critical failure
strain’ of the material, which is intended to predict
the fracture of the double hull, numerical simula-
tions of the uniaxial tensile test are conducted. The
simulated engineering stress-strain curve is also
plotted in Figure 3. Thus, the critical failure strain
for the double hull (side plate, stiffeners and web
frame) is 0.48. The corresponding material selected
from the library of LS-DYNA is ‘Mat.024-Piece-
wise linear plasticity’. Moreover, the material used
for the channel steel frame is ‘Mat.003_Plastic_
Figure 8. Details of finite element model.
Figure  9. Laser welding treatment in numerical
simulation.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 553
Kinematic’ considering the potential deformation.
A rigid material (‘Mat.020_Rigid’ in LS-DYNA) is
defined to simulate the upper flange, lower flange
and the indenter to ensure no deformation, assign-
ing mild steel mechanical properties.
The contact between the indenter and the speci-
men and the contact that occurs between struc-
tural components during the indentation process
are defined as ‘Automatic Single-surface’ contact
in LS-DYNA. Force-transducer penalty is used
to obtain the contact force. Moreover, as shown
in Figure  5, the TIG welding that represent-
ing the connections between the inner compo-
nents and the surrounded frame is simulated by
‘Tied_Nodes_to_Surface’ contact. While the laser
welding is modeled by ‘Constrained_Spotweld’.
Figure 9 depicts the treatment of laser welding in
LS-DYNA referencing the method proposed by
Ehlers et al.(2012), which illustrates that two adja-
cent nodes are connected by spot welding and the
gap between the connected members is 0.1  mm.
The normal force to predict spotweld failure is
4800 N for 4 mm element size referencing the ten-
sile strength deduced from microscale Vikers hard-
ness values (Zhang et al. 2015). Furthermore, the
contact between the side plate of the double hull
and the channel steel frame is defined as ‘Auto-
matic_Surface_to_Surface’ as well as the contact
between the side plate and the upper or the lower
flange. The static coefficient of friction is set as 0.3
and the dynamic coefficient of friction is omitted
for all the defined contacts.
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The experimental and numerical resistance-indenta-
tion responses are presented in Figure 10. The defor-
Figure  10. Experimental and numerical resistance-
displacement response.
3/29/2017 9:40:40 AM
 mation form are given in Figure 11 and Figure 12.
The outer side plate experiences large deformation
induced by combined membrane tension and shear
in the indentation process especially at the end
Figure  11. Shape of deformation. (a): Front face.
(b): Back face. The numerical plot illustrates the Von
Mises stress.
Figure 12. Deformation of the stiffeners. (a): Attached
to the outer plate. (b): Attached to the inner plate.
554
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 554
corners of the indenter. Initial cracks are observed
at step (1), and before which the resistance-indenta-
tion curves correspond well while after this step the
tendencies of the curves change slightly. Buckling of
the web frame and the adjacent stiffeners attached
to the outer plate on one side of the double hull is
found at this step as shown in Figure 13, which could
provoke the descending of the structure resistance.
However, only slight deformation is observed in
the numerical simulation at this part. The deviation
may be owning to the practical welding condition.
Moreover, from step (1) to step (2), deformation
model of the stiffeners attach to the outer side plate
are different as shown in Figure 12(a). These defor-
mation patterns are similar to the observations
in reference (Villavicencio et al. 2014). At step (2),
the outer stiffened plate is torn wide open and the
resistance force drop rapidly. Before contacting the
inner stiffeners, tearing dominate the indentation
process. From step (3) to step (4), the local folding
of the stiffeners (Figure  12(b)) attached to inner
plate plays an important role. At step (4), the stiff-
eners are collapsed, which means the local bend-
ing of them terminated accompany with the drop
of the load. It should be noted that debonding of
laser welding is found during the tripping and fold-
ing process of the stiffeners because the width of
the laser welding seam is narrower than the thick-
ness of the stiffeners. Once the stiffeners are con-
tact with the inner plate with the indentation of the
Figure 13. Buckling of the web frame and stiffeners.
3/29/2017 9:40:42 AM
 wedge, the inner side plate being the main load car-
rying member will give rise to another peak force
and load decrease in the resistance-displacement
curves as shown in Figure 10.
Furthermore, the boundary conditions and the
jointing method utilized in the numerical model
(case 1) are assessed by comparing with two other
cases: substituting the frame support with fully
constraint of the double hull (case 2); not consid-
ering the effect of welding based on the former
case (case 3). The resulting resistance force-inden-
tation curves are shown in Figure  14. Slight dis-
crepancy is found between case1 and case 2, which
illustrates that the experimental supported condi-
tion is very close to an ideal fully clamped con-
straint. In addition, distinction is found between
case3 and the other two at the first moment of the
resistance decline (point A). Figure 15 depicts the
Figure  14. Resistance force-indentation curves for
idealized and actual jointing details and boundary
conditions.
Figure 15. Deformed shape of models obtained numer-
ically. (a): case1. (b): case3. The numerical plot illustrates
the lateral displacement of the web frame.
555
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 555
deformation patterns of the outer stiffened plate
and the web frame at this moment. In case3, large
deformation is found in the web frame provoked
by the adjacent stiffened plate while only slight
buckling can be found in the case1. Therefore, it
can be found that the failure of spot-welding at the
intersections with stress concentration may reduce
the strength of the structure. Thus the excessive
buckling of the web frame could not form.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Experimental and numerical investigation on the
response of double hull structure lateral punched
by a wedge indenter quasi-statically has been pre-
sented in this paper. Based on the observations and
comparison results, the following conclusions can
be achieved.
The numerical procedure that depends on the
material relation, the critical failure strain, joint-
ing details and precise boundary conditions can
predict the experiments well except at the peak
force because the plastic failure strain could
not predict well in simulating the complicated
structures.
The deformation patterns of the stiffeners
attached to the outer and inner plate are distin-
guished. The former suffers combined bending and
tension while the latter mainly suffers local folding
and global tension.
The boundary conditions utilized in the experi-
ments are proved to be close to the ideal fully
clamped constraints. In addition, the failure of
the laser welding may influence the deformation
extent of the web frame in this numerical mode.
Hence, further experiments should avoid its exces-
sive buckling by changing other conditions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The present work is supported by National Nat-
ural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.
51579110) and the Fund project Independent Inno-
vation Research Fund of Huazhong University of
Science and Technology (Grant No. 2015TS004).
REFERENCES
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grounding resistance. In H. Kim & J.W. Lee (eds),
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Calle, M.A.G., Verleysen, P., Alves, M. 2017. Benchmark
study of failure criteria for ship collision modeling
using purpose-designed tensile specimen geometries.
Marine structures 53:68–85.
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 Ehlers S., Tabri K., Romanoff J., Varsta P. 2012. Numeri-
cal and experimental investigation on the collision
resistance of the X-core structure. Ships and Offshore
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Haris, S. & Amdahl, J. 2013. Analysis of ship-ship colli-
sion damage accounting for bow and side deformation
interaction. Marine Structures 32:18–48.
Hu, Z.Q., Amdahl, J., Hong, L. 2011. Verification of a
simplified analytical method for predictions of ship
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of double-hull tanker side structures in minor ship
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2013. Collision tests with rigid and deformable bul-
bous bows driven against double hull side structures.
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and Grounding of Ships and Offshore Structures.
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modelling of laterally impacted plates reinforced by
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imental and numerical analysis of a tanker side panel
laterally punched by a knife edge indenter. Marine
Structures 37:173–202.
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hull in a variety of stranding or collision scenarios.
Marine Structures 13(3):147–187.
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a ship’s performance in accidents. Marine Structures
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Yu, Z.L., Hu, Z.Q., Wang, G. 2015. Plastic mechanism
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Study on residual velocity of high-speed projectile after penetrating

back-water plates

P.D. Zhao & L. Zhang

Navy Academy of Armament, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: A theoretical model was established to predict the residual velocity of fragment after
penetrating the fluid cabin bulkhead. Considering the adiabatic shear effect, a formula for the residual
velocity of the column-shaped projectile after the water-backed target penetration was derived based on
conservation of energy. The present analytical results are compared with the numerical ones by using the
non-linear dynamics analysis software AUTODYN and good match was found between them. Through
the analytical study, it was found that the existing of water can reduce the ballistic limit of the water-
backed target plate compared with its air-backed counterpart.

1 INTRODUCTION of residual velocity of high-speed projectile after

The vital function of warship guarding fluid cabin
is defending exploded fragments. In guarding fluid
cabin, water-backed plate is the main structure
to bear the impact load. Therefore, it is crucial to
study the energy dissipation of high-speed projec-
tile penetrating the water-backed plates.
There are many studies on the problem of bal-
listic penetration resistance of water-backed steel
plate (Wang, 2010). Most o f them are experimen-
tal studies. For instance, Brog (2007) et al. Lecysyn
(2007) et al. and Varas (2009) et al. carried out dif-
ferent kind of experimental studies on high-speed
projectile impacting a liquid-filled container. In
these studies, both ballistic characteristics of the
projectile and the attenuation characteristics of
pressure in water were concerned. In addition,
Nishida (2006) et al. studied the velocity attenu-
ation characteristics of projectiles penetrating
liquid-filled aluminum container by experiments.
Apart from experimental studies, Kong (2013) et al.
numerically investigated the speed attenuation of
projectile and pressure attenuation in water. Ana-
lytical methods were also applied to study the problem
of high-speed projectile penetrating the water-backed
plates. Xu (2010) et al. deduced the residual velo-
city of fragments after penetrating the front bulk
of guarding fluid cabin, however, this analytical
study neglected the adiabatic shear effect. This will
underestimate the ballistic limit of water-backed
steel plate.
In this paper, by considering the adiabatic
shear effect, of a theoretical model is established
to analyze the process of projectile penetrating
water-backed plates. A simple calculation method
penetrating water-backed plates was derived with
considering adiabatic shear effect of plate and
energy absorption of water. The calculated results
were compared to simulation results to verify the
reliability of the method.
2 MATHEMATICAL FORMULATIONS
The impactor is considered to be a flat-nosed cylin-
drical projectile. The projectile is assumed to have
length L and mass mp with cross sectional diameter d.
High-speed penetration leads to adiabatic shear-
ing. Therefore, the adiabatic shearing phenomenon
should be considered. The process of projectile
penetrating water-backed plates can be divided
into three stages: simple compression stage, com-
pression-shear stage and adiabatic-shear stage. The
descriptions of these stages are as follows:
1. Simple compression stage. In this stage, the pro-
jectile impacts the target plate with high-speed.
Consequently, the sinking of the impacted area of
target plate leads to the plastic flow of the mate-
rial. Axial deformation of the projectile takes place
because of the compression of the target. The
water remains still, therefore the plastic deforma-
tion of target plate caused by extrusion is mainly
considered in this stage (shown in Fig. 1(a)).
2. Compression-shear stage. As shown in Fig. 1(b),
the shear block appears as the result of extru-
sion between the projectile and the target plate.
The failure mode is transformed into compres-
sion shear failure. Water begins to move in this
stage. The projectile is assumed to have com-
mon speed with the shear block.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 557 3/29/2017 9:40:45 AM

 3. Adiabatic shear stage. As shown in Fig.  1(c),
projectile and sheared parts of the target plate
form a closed region where most of the plastic
work is converted into heat instead of losing
instantly into the surrounding area. The tem-
perature of the closed region increases rapidly.
α. Simple shear stage (b) Compression-shear
stage (c) Adiabatic shear stage.
The overall process of projectile penetrating
water-backed plate is relatively complicated. In
order to simplify the derivation process, the follow-
ing assumptions are made:
1. The energy loss of projectile includes simple
compression energy absorption, compression
shear energy absorption, adiabatic shear energy
absorption and vibration energy absorption of
the water;
2. The mass loss of projectile is neglected and
the target plate is considered to be completely
eroded;
3. The shearing strength of the water is neglected;
4. The water has the same speed with shear block
after the adiabatic shear stage.
Based on the above assumptions, the energy loss
of projectile mainly transforms into simple com-
pression energy absorption (Ec), compression shear
energy absorption (Es), adiabatic shear energy
absorption (Eas) and vibration energy absorption
of the water (Ew). According to the law of conser-
vation of energy, there is
mf, the mass of the moving water mw = ρwcwt, then
the residual energy can be expressed as
Er
1
2
( )
m p + m f + ρw cwt vr2 (2)
where ρw is the density of water and cw is the veloc-
ity of sound in water. Then, the solving of residual
velocity of projectile is turned to solve the energy
absorption of projectile during penetration.
2.1 Simple compression stage
According to the above assumptions, simple
compression stage is a transient process. In this
stage, water remains still. Hence, the energy
absorption of water is neglected and only extru-
sion plastic energy is considered. Denoting the
residual velocity after simple compression stage
as v1, according to the law of conservation of
energy, it gives
1
E Ec + mv12 (3)
2
During the extrusion process, the upsetting
effect occurs to the projectile. Therefore, there is a
following relationship (Mei, 2005):
Cd d′ / d . b − 0.053d + 1.67 (4)

E Ec + E s Eas + Ew Er (1) where d and d are the diameter of projectile before

and after upsetting.
When shear block compresses the rest part
where E is the initial kinetic energy of projectile
of the target plate, the resistance of shear block
and Er is the residual kinetic energy of combined
mainly is plastic compressive stress (σct) of target
projectile.
plate. The total resistance equals to σctAp, where
Denoting the residual velocity of projectile as vr,
Ap is the instantaneous contact area between shear
the mass of projectile mp, the mass of shear block
block and target plate. According to the law of
conservation of momentum, the total momentum
after impacting is

(
m pv0 = m p )
ρt Ap x v (5)

where v0 is the initial velocity of projectile, v is the

velocity of projectile during compression, x is the
distance of projectile motion. The motion equa-
tions of projectile is

dv 1
mp = − ρt Apv 2 − σ ct Ap (6)
dt 2

where Ap is the cross-sectional area of projectile,

Ap d′ 2 / 4 ρt is the density of target plate.
d′
Figure  1. The process of projectile penetrating water- Considering the influence of strengthening
backed target. effect of strain rate and using Johnson-Cook

558

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 model (Johnson, 1983) the plastic compressive where mf is the mass of shear block and it can be
stress of target plate is written as

σ ct (A B( ε p )
n
)( +C ε )( ( T )m ) (7) mf t π d′ 2 hr (14)

where A, B, n, c and m are material parameters, According to Eq. (13), the collision energy
εp the equivalent plastic strain, ε∗ dimensionless absorption of projectile and target system can be
strain rate, ε * ε p / ε 0 , the reference strain rate, expressed as
T * (T − Tr ) / (Tm Tr ) , dimensionless tempera-
ture, Tr reference room temperature (293 K), and 1 m p m f v12
E′s =
E′ (15)
Tm melting temperature (1793 K). (
2 mp + m f )
According to the initial conditions (x  =  0,
v = v0), the residual velocity after simple compres- The contact pressure of projectile and target
sion stage is during collision can be expressed as (Meyers, 2012)

p = z p ztv1 / ( z p + zt )
3
⎛ 2σ ct ⎞ ⎛ mp ⎞ 2σ ct (16)
v12 v02 + ⎜ ⎟ − (8)
⎝ 3ρt ⎟⎠ ⎝ m p t p ⎠
A x 3ρt
where z p and zt are wave impedance of projectile
The invasion volume of the projectile can be and target plate, respectively, z p ρ pc p zt ρt ct .
written as (Mei, 2005) Substituting Eq. (16) into Eq. (15) one can get

( )
2
1 m p m f p z p + zt
2
1
Vt Cd2 d 2 ( Cs ) h (9) E′s =
E′ (17)
4 2 2
(
2 z p zt m p + m f )
where h is the target plate thickness, and Cs is the The normal stress and circumferential shear
thickness ratio of target plate. stress between projectile and target have the fol-
Then the penetration depth of the projectile is lowing relationship (Tan, 2009)

hc =
4Vt
(10) p′ = d′ hs d /( ′ ) = 4hs d / d′′ (18)
π ( d′
d )
2

where τd is the dynamic shear resistance of the tar-

After the simple compression stage, the energy get plate, hs is the depth of the compression-shear
loss of the projectile can be expressed as stage.
Consider the resultant force of normal stress
1 1 and contact pressure to be the equivalent stress.
Ec m pv02 m pv12 (11) Integrating Eq. (16) and Eq. (18), one can get the
2 2
equivalent stress on the target plate

2.2 Compression-shear stage pe = p + p′ =

(
v1 z p + zt ) + 4h / d′ (19)
s d
z p zt
After the simple compression stage, the projectile
as well as shear block continue to compress the rest
Integrating Eq. (17) and Eq. (19), the energy absorp-
part of target plate. The relative movement of the
tion in compression-shear stage can be written as
shear block and the rest part of target plate leads
to the existence of shear stress. The thickness of
( )
2
⎡ ⎤
the rest of the target plate after simple compres- 1 m p m f ⎣ v1 + hsτ d p + zt / z p zt d ⎦
E′s′ =
E (20)
sion stage is
2 mp + m f ( )
hr h − hc (12)
Then, according to the law of conservation of
According to the law of conservation of energy, the residual velocity of combined projectile
momentum: after the compression-shear stage is

m pv1 = ( m p + m f ) v2 (13) v2 (m v p
2
2Es ) ( m p + m f ) (21)

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 2.3 Adiabatic shear stage
With the deepening of the penetration, the temper-
ature as well as the shear strain of shear zone rises
gradually. The material adiabatic instability occurs
when the shear strain reaches its critical value (γi).
Denoting the penetration depth of the projectile in
adiabatic shear stage as ha, the energy loss of the
adiabatic shear stage can be written as
Pm
Eas π d′ ha ∫ τ ddP (22)
0

where Pm is the maximum penetration depth of adi-

abatic shear. Based on Bai-Johnson thermoplastic
constitutive relation, τ can be expressed as Figure 2. Thermoplastic constitutive relation.

⎛ γ ⎞
n
⎧⎪ n ⎡ ⎛ γ ⎞
n+ 1
⎤ ⎫⎪
τ τ M ⎜ ⎟ exp⎨ ⎢ 1− ⎜ ⎟ ⎥ ⎬ The invasion depth of adiabatic shear is usually
⎝ γi⎠ ⎝ γi⎠ (23)
⎪⎩ 1+ n ⎢⎣ ⎥⎦ ⎪⎭ taken as 0.5 ∼ 0.8 H (Teng, 2005), where H is plate
thickness. Considering the influence of the target
plate erosion, using H  =  hr, then Eq. (27) can be
Bai-Johnson thermoplastic constitutive relation rewritten as
is shown in Figure 2. τM is the critical shear buck-
ling stress, γi is the corresponding shear strain to 1+ n 1.2 hr
critical shear stress, and n is strain rate improved γf = (28)
n d′
index.
The ultimate shear stress can be expressed as
Integrating Eq. (22), Eq. (25) and Eq. (28), one
(Langseth, 1992)
can get the energy of dissipation adiabatic shear
stage
τ u =σ u ⎡⎣ 0.41( a / d′ ) + 0.42 ⎤⎦ (24)
π 2
where τu is ultimate shear stress, σu is ultimate Eas d′ haτ u
2
tensile stress, ha is the invasion depth of adiaba- n
⎧⎪ n ⎡ n+ 1
⎤ ⎫⎪
γf ⎛ γ ⎞ ⎛ γ ⎞
tic shear stage, Usually taking as ha = 0.1 h. Using
τu = τM as the first-order estimate of limiting shear
∫0 ⎜⎝ γ i ⎟⎠ exp⎨ 1+ n ⎢⎢ 1− ⎜⎝ γ i ⎟⎠ ⎥
⎥⎦
⎬ dγ (29)
⎪⎩ ⎣ ⎪⎭
stress, considering the upsetting, according to Eq.
(23) and Eq. (24) one can get
The residual velocity of projectile after adiabatic
shear stage is
τ σ u ⎡⎣ 0.41( / d′ ) 0.42 ⎤⎦
a

⎛ γ ⎞
n
⎧
⎪ n ⎡ ⎛ γ ⎞
n+ 1
⎤ ⎫⎪ m pv02 − 2 ( Ec E s + Eas )
⎜⎝ γ ⎟⎠ exp⎨ 1+ n ⎢ 1− ⎜⎝ γ ⎟⎠ ⎥ ⎬ (25) v3 = (30)
i ⎪⎩ ⎢⎣ i ⎥⎦ ⎪⎭ mp + m f

The depth of the adiabatic shearing can be

expressed as (Bai, 2013) 2.4 Energy absorption of water
Water begins to move after simple compression
P nγ a d / ( n) (26) stage, the movement time of the water can be
expressed as
where γa is the shear strain of the contact area of
the projectile and the front steel skin. Using γa = γf, b hc
γf is the maximum shear strain of adiabatic shear t= (31)
v3
band. Then the maximum penetration depth the
adiabatic shearing (Pm) when the adiabatic shear
failure occurs can be written as Then, the mass of the moving water is

1
Pm nγ f d / ( n) (27) mw ( d′ ) 2 πρwcwt (32)
4

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 According to the assumptions, the water has the disturbance range of the water is clearly increased
same speed (vr) with shear block after adiabatic shear during adiabatic shear stage.
stage, using law of conservation of energy one can get The residual velocity of the projectile pen-
etrating air-backed plate is calculated by existing
1
2
( mp + m f )v32 1
2
( mp + m f mw ) vr2 (33)
method (Mei, 2005). By using the method proposed
in this paper, the residual velocity of the projectile
in different initial velocity (600 m/s ∼ 2400 m/s) and
Then the energy absorption of the combined different target plate (4 mm ∼ 10 mm) were calcu-
projectile is lated, and the results were compared with simula-
tion results. The compared results of the residual
1 velocity of projectile after penetrating 4 mm thick
Ew mwvr2 (34) water-backed and air-backed plate in different
2 initial velocity is shown in Fig.  5. Figure  6 gives
the compared results of the residual velocity of
The residual velocity of projectile after penetrat- projectile with an initial velocity of 1200 m/s after
ing water-backed plate is penetrating water-backed and air-backed plate of
different thick. It is observed that the theoretical
vr =
(m p + m f ) v32
(35)
values are in good agreement with those of numer-
ical simulation. The residual velocity of the projec-
m p + m f + mw
tile penetrating water-backed plate is bigger than
penetrating air-backed plate. It is shown that the
existing of water reduced the ballistic limit of the
target plate. The deformation of water back plate
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS is smaller than air back plate because of the incom-
pressible of water, therefore the perforation energy
Numerical studies were conducted to verify the absorption of air-backed plate is smaller. As a
reliability of the analytical method derived in this result, the ballistic limit of water-backed plate is
paper. A quarter of the simulation model was set up smaller than air-backed plate. With the increasing
with nonlinear finite element software AUTODYN of initial velocity of the projectile, this effect has a
(shown in Fig. 3). A cylindrical projectile with diam- decrease trend.
eter of 10 mm and 24 mm long is used in simulation
analysis. The mass of the projectile is 14.7  g. The
target was built by Lagrange element with a area
of 100 mm2. The water was set up by Euler element
with a dimension of 100 mm × 100 mm × 50 mm.
The projectile consisted of 3025 elements which
was meshed automatically. The impacted area of
the plate and the water was refined with the small-
est element size is 0.5  mm2. The element number
of plate and water are 16000 and 225000, respec-
tively. Considering the strengthening effect of strain
Figure 3. Simulation model.
rate of the material, using J-C constitutive model
(Cook, 1983) to describe the material proper-
ties, the material parameters are: ρ  =  7800  kg/m3,
E = 200 GPa, μ = 0.3, A = 507 MPa, B = 320 MPa,
n = 0.28, C = 0.064, m = 1.06.
The temperature change of the projectile and
target system is shown in Fig.  4(a). The pres-
sure changes in water during the penetration are
observed in Fig.  4(b). It is shown that the pene-
trating process of projectile is consistent with the
hypothesis in this paper. Firstly, the target plate is
squeezed by projectile. With the deepening of the
penetration, the shear block and the target plate
begin to interact with each other. Finally with the
deepening of shear, the adiabatic shear phenome-
non happens in the target plate. After small distur- Figure  4. The process of penetration: (a) changing of
bance in the initial simple compression stage, the thermal (b) changing of pressure in water.

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Figure 5. Residual velocity of projectile in different ini-
tial velocity.
Figure 6. Residual velocity of projectile in different tar-
get thickness.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a three staged theoretical model is
established to analyze the process of projectile pen-
etrating water-backed plates. The residual velocity
of cylindrical projectile is derived with considering
the effect of adiabatic shear and the disturbance of
water. The main conclusions are listed as follows:
1. Adiabatic shear effect occurs to the target plate
under the condition of high-speed projectile
impact. The three staged theoretical model
established in this paper shows a good descrip-
tion of the process of projectile penetrating
water-backed plate.
2. The penetrating residual velocity of cylindri-
cal projectile is derived based on conservation
of energy. The theoretical values are in good
agreement with those of numerical simulation.
This calculation method has certain engineering
application value.
562
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 562
3. The existing of water can reduce the ballistic
limit of the target plate. With the increasing of
initial velocity of the projectile, this effect has a
decrease trend.
REFERENCES
Bai, Y. L., & Johnson, W. 2013. Plugging: physical under-
standing and energy absorption, Materials Science &
Technology 9(1), 182–190.
Borg, J. P. & Cogar, J. R. 2007. Comparison of average
radial expansion velocity from impacted liquid filled
cylinders, International Journal of Impact Engineering
34(6):1020–1035.
Cook, W. H. 1983. A constitutive model and data for
metals subjected to large strains, high strain rates and
high temperatures.
Johnson, G. R. & Cook, W. H. 1983. A constitutive
model and data for metals subjected to large strains,
high strain rates and high temperature//Proceedings
of the Seventh International symposium on Ballistics,
Netherland. 1983.
Kong, X. S., Wu, W. G. & Li, J. 2013. Effects of explosion
fragments penetrating defensive liquid-filled cabins,
Explosion and shock waves 33(5):471–478.
Langseth, M. & Larsen, P. K. 1992. The behaviour of
square steel plates subjected to a circular blunt ended
load, International Journal of Impact Engineering
12(4), 617–638.
Mei, Z. Y., Zhu, X. & Zhang, L. J. 2005. The residual char-
acteristic of high-velocity fragments after perforation
of ship hull, Engineering Mechanics 22(4):235–240.
Meyers, M. A. 2012. Dynamic Behavior of Materials,
Experimental Mechanics 52(2):117–118.
Nicolas, L., Frederic, H., Aurelia, D., Pierre, S., Gilles,
D., & Laurent, M. 2007. Experimental Investigation
of a Catastrophic Tank Failure with a High Speed
Video Recorder. Image Processing and Hydrody-
namic Characterization of the Liquid Jet. IChemE
Symposium.
Nishida, M. & Tanaka, K. 2006. Experimental study of
perforation and cracking of water-filled aluminum
tubes impacted by steel spheres, International Journal
of Impact Engineering 32(12):2000–2016.
Tan, M. L. & Gan L. F. 2009. Equilibrium equations
for nonlinear buckling analysis of drill-strings in 3D
curved well-bores, Science China Technological Sci-
ences 52(3):590–595.
Teng, X. & Wierzbicki T. 2005. Dynamic shear plugging
of beams and plates with an advancing crack, Inter-
national Journal of Impact Engineering 31(6):667–698.
Varas, D., López-Puente, J. & Zaera, R. 2009. Experi-
mental analysis of fluid-filled aluminium tubes sub-
jected to high-velocity impact, International Journal of
Impact Engineering 36(1):81–91.
Wang, X. Q. 2010. Review on Ballistic Impact Resistance
of Ship Building Steel, Shipbuilding of China, 51(1):
227–236.
Xu, S. X., Wu, W. G. & Li, X. B. 2010. Protective effect
of guarding fluid cabin bulkhead under attacking
by explosion fragments. Explosion and shock waves
30(4):395–400.
3/29/2017 9:40:54 AM
 Plate dynamics

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 563 3/29/2017 9:40:55 AM

MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Effects of HAZ on the response of impulsively loaded aluminium plates

B.C. Cerik
Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

ABSTRACT: The effect of HAZ on the response of impulsively loaded aluminium plates is numerically
examined. The problem considered in this study is relevant to damage assessment of high-speed vessels
and aluminium alloy offshore topsides under explosive loads or air blasts. The tearing threshold and
permanent set of the plates are taken as the basis for comparison of the response of the plates. By varying
plate thickness, aspect ratio and applied impulse magnitudes, a series of nonlinear finite elements analysis
is performed. It is revealed that the trends of the permanent sets as a function of a non-dimensional
impulse parameter are consistent with those observed in steel plates. However, there is a significant
increase in the permanent set of the welded plates compared to the plates without HAZ effects. More
importantly, for the plates with the HAZ, the tearing threshold is almost twice less than that of the plates
without HAZ.

1 INTRODUCTION deformation, Mode II—tensile tearing at support,

The act of welding on aluminium plates results in
an important phenomenon known as Heat Affected
Zone (HAZ). The heat causes the area adjacent to
the weld to be slightly annealed resulting in a con-
siderable loss in strength. The temperature that
aluminium reaches during the welding process is
dependent on the distance from the weld. The closer
it is to the weld, the greater the strength loss in the
material. The adverse effects of the HAZ load car-
rying capacity of aluminium alloy plates have been
demonstrated in many studies, particularly for the
case of axial compressive loads (Paik & Duran,
2004, Benson et al. 2013). On the other hand, the
number of studies on fusion-welded aluminium
alloy structures under static lateral loads is limited
(Moen et al. 1999, Abilgaard et al. 2001, Siwowski
2009, Sensharma et al. 2010). From those papers,
it can be inferred that there is a concern about the
detrimental effect of the HAZ on the load-carrying
capacity, as well as final failure of the structures,
in particular, tensile tearing at the supports. The
effect of the welded boundaries on the blast impact
response of mild steel plates has been assessed in
Bonorchis & Nurick (2007), but for marine grade
aluminium alloy plates, there exists virtually no
studies for the case impulsive pressure loads.
The current study examines this problem by per-
forming a series of nonlinear finite element analysis
of rectangular AA5083-H116 plates with differ-
ent HAZ locations. The failure modes observed
by Menkes & Opat (1973) in blast loaded clamped
AA6061-T6 beams and theoretically derived by
Jones (1976), namely, Mode I—large inelastic
and Mode III—transverse shear failure at sup-
port, are also relevant to impulsively loaded plates.
The tearing threshold (transition from Mode I to
Mode II) and permanent set of the plates (Mode I
deformation) are taken as the basis for comparison
of the response of the plates. It is also shown that
simple expressions could be derived for estimation
of Mode I—large inelastic deformation of plates
with different geometries using a non-dimensional
impulse parameter. Recently, Chung Kim Yuen
et al. (2016) provided similar expressions using the
experimental data of mild steel plates, for which,
as opposed to aluminium alloy plates, strain-rate
sensitivity is highly pronounced. The newly derived
equations in this study take into account both the
material behaviour and the effect of HAZ softening.
2 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
2.1 Model dimensions and FEA setup
Rigorous parametric studies were carried out
for unstiffened rectangular plates. A fixed plate
breadth, b, of 500 mm was used for all plates hav-
ing length, a, and plate thickness, tp, of 1000, 1500,
2000, 2500 and 3000 mm and 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and
18  mm, respectively. 30 unstiffened plates models
were analysed with the impulse values ranging
from 0.5–9 kN-s, which are large enough to result
in plastic deformation and in some cases even fail-
ure by tearing at the plate boundaries. In total, 120
cases were analysed. The plate slenderness ratio, β,
ranges from 1.45 to 3.27.

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b σ0
β= (1)
tp E
Here, E is Young’s modulus and σ0 is the yield
strength. Thus, a good coverage of both stocky
and slender rectangular plates in high-speed ves-
sels in practice is achieved.
The commercial FEA software package Abaqus
(version 6.14) was utilised in the finite element
modelling and analysis. The plates were meshed
with S4R element from ABAQUS library, which
is a 4-noded shell element with reduced integra-
tion and default hour-glassing control. All plates
were meshed uniformly with elements having an
edge length of 8  mm. The mesh size was deter-
mined after performing a mesh convergence study
on 500  ×  1000  mm plate subjected to an impulse
per unit area, Ip, equal to 3 kPa-s. The mesh size
was varied from 15 mm to 5 mm with 1 mm dec-
rements. It was noted the difference between the
maximum permanent sets of the plate for a mesh
size of 8 mm and 5 mm was very marginal. For the
models in which the HAZ is considered, the HAZ
was meshed with three elements per HAZ width.
bp. It is assumed that this mesh size sufficiently
fine to capture the details of the collapse and large
deflection process of the plates with the HAZ.
The boundary conditions of the plates were
assumed fully clamped. For ship platings under
lateral pressure loads, it is obvious that due to the
deformation of adjacent plates, the rotations of a
plate between longitudinal stiffeners and transverse
frames will be fully restrained at the stiffeners, if
the support members do not fail prior to plating. In
particular, for naval vessels, which has heavy stiffen-
ers and thin plating, this assumption is valid.
The simulations were performed using the
dynamic explicit solver of Abaqus. The maximum
lateral displacement occurs at the plate centre that
typically varies with time as shown in Figure 1. The
Figure 1. Typical displacement time history at the cen-
tre of the plate subjected to impulsive pressure load.
566
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 566
permanent set can be taken as the average of the
oscillations that occur after the elastic spring-back.
The duration of the simulations was set as
0.02 s, which is long enough to capture the vibrat-
ing residual. Note structural damping (Rayleigh
damping) was not included in the simulations
because it was found to have only minor influence
on the permanent set.
2.2 Material model
The structural response involving large inelastic
deformations is highly dependent on plastic behav-
iour defined by strain hardening models. Each
aluminium alloy grade has a different set of prop-
erties, and can find application in a wide range of
engineering structures. In shipbuilding, platings of
high-speed vessels are usually made of 5000 series
alloys, whereas 6000 series alloys are used for fabri-
cation of stiffeners by extrusion. AA5083-H116 is
the most commonly used alloy in practice, hence,
was considered in this study. AA5083 is a high-
strength aluminium–magnesium alloy well suited
for rolling, and plates can be easily fabricated.
AA5083 plates are widely used in ship hulls, as
well as offshore topsides due to its excellent corro-
sion resistance. Further, to avoid stress corrosion,
which may occur in corrosive media, the special
temper H116 was developed.
Compared to other aluminium alloy grades,
AA503-H116 has a pronounced strain hardening
after yielding. Clausen et al. (2004) investigated
the mechanical behaviour of AA5083-H116 under
impact-generated loading conditions by consid-
ering the flow and fracture characteristics of the
alloy as function of strain rate, temperature and
stress triaxiality. The reported tensile tests in that
source reveal similar strain hardening behaviour as
to the one reported by Gao et al. (2004). They pro-
vide the following power law to establish the rela-
tionship between true stress, σ and plastic strain,
εp, which was derived by curve fitting to the plastic
portion of the experimentally obtained true stress–
strain curve:
1/ N
σ0 ⎛ σ ⎞
εp = (2)
E ⎜⎝ σ 0 ⎟⎠
Here, E  =  70,000  MPa, σ0  =  192  MPa and
N = 0.17.
It is well known that aluminium alloys are
rather insensitive to strain rate effects that arise
due to high velocity impacts (Jones, 2012). How-
ever, Clausen et al. (2004) report that AA5083-
H116 exhibits dynamic strain aging, that is, the
flow stress is reduced with increasing strain rate.
This negative strain rate sensitivity is due to the
3/29/2017 9:40:55 AM
 alloy’s high magnesium content and exhibited only
for intermediate strain rates (10−4 to 1 s−1). On the
other hand, the analysis of ship structures sub-
jected to impulsive pressure loads involves strain
rates of 102 to 103 s−1 or even higher. Therefore, no
particular consideration was given on the model-
ling of the rate-dependent material behaviour of
5083 aluminium alloy. In addition, the tests reveal
some anisotropy but its effect was considered small
and not included in the modelling.
The material description follows the conven-
tional J2 plasticity constitutive relation with iso-
tropic hardening. True stress–plastic strain data
were generated using Eq. (2). The mass density,
ρ, and Poisson’s ratio, ν, of AA5083-H116 was
taken as 2660  kg/m3 and 0.33, respectively. The
strain-rate sensitivity and temperature depend-
ence were not accounted for. To simulate the
tensile tearing or transverse shear failure at
the boundaries, the ductile fracture model pro-
posed by Johnson & Cook (1986) was adapted
by retaining the terms related to stress triaxiality
ratio, σ* only:
εf D1 + D2 p (D σ ) (3)
The calibration of this model was performed
by Grytten et al. (2009), who determined the coef-
ficients as D1  =  0.0261, D2  =  0.263, D3  =  −0.349,
for the plate rolling direction. The fracture can-
not occur for stress triaxialities smaller than −1/3,
here, the failure strain at σ*  =  −1/3 is set to 1.0,
which is large enough to prevent fracture in the
compressive parts of the plate. In Abaqus, failure
occurs when the damage variable, D, is equal to
the unity:
εp
dε p
D= ∫
0
εf
=1 (4)
where εp is the plastic strain.
As the anisotropy was neglected, this fracture
model was applied in all directions. In addition, as
for strain hardening characteristics, the HAZ was
assumed to follow the same ductile fracture char-
acteristics as the base material. With reference to
Amdahl & Stornes (2004), it is believed that this
assumption will not lead to unrealistic results.
2.3 HAZ modelling
For design purposes, the strength loss is usually
assumed uniform in the HAZ and the yield strength
in the HAZ can be approximated by a knock down
factor. Following Benson et al. (2013), in the pre-
sent study, a commonly used strength knockdown
factor of 0.67 was applied for AA5083-H116.
567
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 567
The knockdown factor was not only applied to the
yield strength but also the entire true stress–plastic
strain curve of AA5083-H116. It is assumed that
the strain hardening characteristics of AA5083-
H116 are maintained in the HAZ. Considering
the stress–strain curves given in Amdahl & Stornes
(2004) for AA5083-H321 base and HAZ mate-
rial, this assumption should not lead to unrealistic
results.
The true stress–plastic strain curve for the HAZ
is shown in Figure  2 and compared with the one
without the HAZ effects. It should be noted that
in this study no explicit consideration was given
on modelling of the weld material, which normally
has much reduced properties (yield strength, ulti-
mate tensile strength and ductility) compared to
the based material and HAZ (soft zone).
The width of the HAZ, bp, was taken to be
25  mm for this study following results from the
experiments conducted by Zha & Moan (2001)
and Paik & Duran (2004), regardless of the plate
dimensions. As described by Benson et al. (2013)
in detail, depending on the fabrication technique,
the location of the HAZ differs. The conventional
method is to use large sheets of rolled plate, with
stiffeners fillet welded at appropriate intervals. This
results in so-called edge HAZ pattern, as shown
in Figure 3a. The other technique is the extrusion
method where the plate-stiffener combination is
extruded and panels are then butt welded together,
usually at mid plate width. The resulting HAZ pat-
tern, centre HAZ is shown in Figure  3b. Finally,
equivalent HAZ distributions in longitudinal direc-
tion only are shown in Figure 3c and 3d. These four
different HAZ patterns were applied to all plates.
2.4 Load characteristics
As indicated by Jones (2014), when the dynamic
pressure is much larger than the corresponding
Figure 2. True stress–plastic strain curves for AA5083-
H116 base material and HAZ.
3/29/2017 9:40:56 AM
 Figure 3. HAZ location in unstiffened plates.

static collapse pressure of the plate, and the dura-

tion of the loading is extremely short, such as the
case of air blast and explosive loadings, the load can
be idealised as impulsive pressure loading. Accord-
ing to DNV (2010), if the duration of the loading
is less than 0.3 times the period associated with the
lowest natural frequency of the target structure, T,
then the response is governed by impulse:
τ
I ∫ F (t )dt
0
(5)

The considered time history of impulsive pressure

loading, as depicted in Figure 4, is a rectangular pulse,
which can be easily defined with two parameters,
namely, the peak pressure, po, and the duration of the
loading, τ. Hence, the pressure can be calculated to
equate with the corresponding impulse as follows
I of plates under impulsive pressure loading. As
po = (6)
τA
where A is the surface area of the target structure.
In all simulations, the load was assumed uniformly
distributed over the entire surface of the plate.
The duration of the pressure loading, τ, is taken
as 15 μs, which is equivalent to the approximate
burn time of an explosion (Nurick & Martin 1989)
and much shorter compared to the period associ-
ated with the lowest natural frequency of the tar-
get structures. For convenience, for all structures
considered in this study, impulse per unit area, Ip,
values of 1 to 6 kPa-s were considered.
Figure 4. Idealised load profile.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The displacement time histories shown in Figure 5
reveal the characteristic features of the response
expected, the elastic spring-back and the following
oscillations vanish with increasing impulse. For the
plates considered in this study, it can be inferred
that for Ip greater than 2  kPa-s, the elastic strain
energy is negligible. This is a useful information
when rigid-plastic methods are employed for the
analysis of plates under impulsive pressure load-
ing. Typical permanently deformed profile of the
plates is shown in Figure 6. In this figure, the yield
lines are shown with dotted black lines. It is inher-
ent that the permanently deformed profile is iden-
tical to those obtained in the experiments for plates
made of different metals (Jones, 2012).

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Figure  5. Displacement time histories for different
impulses.
Figure  6. Displacement time histories for different
impulses.
Prior to present the permanent set versus
impulse graphs, at this junction, it is necessary to
introduce the non-dimensional impulse expression
proposed by Nurick & Martin (1989):
I
φq = (7)
2t (abρσ )
1/ 2
2
p σ
In Figure 7a, the permanent set-thickness ratios
obtained from the numerical analysis of the plates
without the HAZ are plotted versus φq. It is evident
that a linear relation does not exists between wp/tp
and φq. On the other hand, a linear fit using φq as
the non-dimensional impulse parameter is possible
for the plates with same aspect ratio. This issue has
been also noted by Park & Cho (2006), who pro-
posed a different non-dimensional impulse param-
eter eliminating the aspect ratio as follows:
I Plates without the HAZ:
φp = (8)
2at ( ρσ )
1/ 2
2
p σ
Using this parameter, the permanent set-thick-
ness ratios are plotted in Figure 7b, which appar-
ently shows the desired, single linear relation.
To examine the effects of the HAZ, the graphs
showing permanent set versus impulse (both in non-
dimensional form) in Figure 8. The most striking
569
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 569
result is that when the HAZ is included, the ductile
fracture of plates occurs at much smaller values
of impulse. The critical non-dimensional impulse
value φp, at which the transition from Mode I (large
inelastic deformation) to Mode II (tensile tearing
at plate boundaries) takes place, is less than 12.
For the plates without the HAZ effects, this critical
value is about 30. Hence, it can be stated that the
presence of the HAZ causes premature failure of
the plates. For edge HAZ and longitudinal HAZ
the tearing initiates along the longer edge and for
centre HAZ and longitudinal centre HAZ the plate
ruptures along the centre line. Figure 9 shows these
two failure modes.
On the other hand, the permanent set is also
influenced by the presence of the HAZ. From
Figure  9, it can be concluded that the general
trends observed in the plates with the HAZ are
apparent in the plates with the HAZ, i.e. the lin-
ear relation exists also in the latter case. In Fig. 8,
the ratio of the permanent set of the plates with
the HAZ to the one of the plates without the HAZ
is plotted versus non-dimensional impulse. It can
be inferred that it is not easy to find a correla-
tion between these two quantities because of the
large scattering. However, the average increase in
the permanent set for all four cases of the HAZ
location is about the same, which is approximately
10%. Note that the increase in permanent set is
slightly higher at lower impulses.
Thus, based solely on the numerical results
obtained in this study, it can be concluded that the
HAZ is influential both in permanent set and ten-
sile tearing at the supports or plate centre, depend-
ing on the HAZ location. These observations are
not surprising because one would notice that the
HAZ locations overlap with the yield lines shown
in Figure  6 and therefore accelerate the collapse
mechanism of the plates.
Having obtained substantial amount of data
through numerical analysis and identified the
response characteristics based on non-dimen-
sional quantities, the final task is to derive simple
expressions giving the relation between the non-
dimensional parameters. A regression analysis was
performed to obtain the best-fit linear equation to
the analysis results for each case. These equations
are as follows:
wp
7225φ p − 0.3016
= 0.7225 (9)
tp
Edge HAZ:
wp
7999φ p − 0.3971
= 0.7999 (10)
tp
3/29/2017 9:40:58 AM
 Figure 7. Graph of permanent displacement-thickness ratio versus non-dimensional impulse proposed by a) Nurick &
Martin (1989) and b) Park & Cho (2006).

Figure 8. Graphs of permanent displacement-thickness ratio versus non-dimensional impulse for plates with different
HAZ locations.

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 Figure 9. Failure modes of plates with a) edge/longitudinal edge HAZ and b) centre/longitudinal centre HAZ.

Centre HAZ: the range of parameters considered in this study

wp
7931φ p − 0.372
= 0.7931 (11)
tp
Longitudinal edge HAZ:
wp
7931φ p − 0.372
= 0.7931 (12)
tp
Longitudinal centre HAZ:
wp
7888φ p − 0.3187
= 0.7888 (13)
tp
For all equations, the correlation parameter, R2,
is very close to the unity. Thus, it can be concluded
that the derived equations are very accurate.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this study, the response of marine grade alu-
minium alloy rectangular plates due to impulsive
pressure loads was numerically studied. The mate-
rial characteristics and the HAZ were taken into
account. The latter was found to be very influential
on the ductility of the aluminium alloy structures
when subjected to sudden lateral pressure loads. It
was also concluded that the HAZ affects the per-
manent set of the plates considerably. By perform-
ing a non-dimensional analysis of the numerical
results, it was revealed that the plate aspect ratio
is not a parameter of influence in the permanent
set of the rectangular plates. A new set of equa-
tions were derived through linear regression for
aluminium alloy plates in marine specific use. The
new equations are simple yet accurate. It should be
noted that the derived equations are valid only for
and impulsive pressure loading. The plate slender-
ness ratio is in the range of 1.45 to 3.27 and the
strength knockdown factor for HAZ is assumed
0.67. For dynamic pressure loading of marine
grade aluminium alloy plates, the equations pre-
sented in Cerik (2016) are applicable. Additionally,
the assumption that under impulsive pressure load-
ing the longitudinals and transverse frames on the
boundaries of the plates do not fail prior to plating
is only relevant to thin plating supported by heavy
stiffeners. The conclusions of the present work may
not be applicable for relatively thick plating.
It is highly desirable to have experimental test
results to validate the equations derived in this
study. Particularly, it is necessary to perform
impact tests with fusion welded marine grade alu-
minium alloy plates on the boundaries to verify
the insights developed in this study for the effects
of the HAZ. In addition, more testing is required
to obtain mechanical properties of the HAZ
affected material and its effect on the quasi-static
and dynamic impact response of aluminium plat-
ings, including ductile fracture behaviour. Finally,
a more elaborated finite element modelling of the
welded boundaries, perhaps with solid elements,
can bring new insights to the problem considered
in this paper.
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Marine Technology 41(3) 108–121.
Park, B.-W. & Cho, S.-R. 2006. Simple design formulae
for predicting the residual damage of unstiffened and
stiffened plates under explosion loadings. International
Journal of Impact Engineering 32(10): 1721–1736.
Sensharma, P., Collette, M. & Harrington, J. 2010.
Effect of welded properties on aluminum structures.
SR-1460, Ship Structure Committee.
Siwowski, T.W. 2009. Structural behaviour of aluminium
bridge deck panels. Engineering Structures 31(7):
1349–1353.
Zha, Y. & Moan, T. 2001. Ultimate strength of stiffened
aluminium panels with predominantly torsional fail-
ure modes. Thin-Walled Structures 39(8): 631–648.
3/29/2017 9:41:01 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Comparison of different modeling approaches for dynamic analysis of

corroded plates

A. Eslami-Majd & A. Rahbar-Ranji

Department of Ocean Engineering, AmirKabir University of Technology, Iran

ABSTRACT: Corrosion is one of the main reasons for loss of old steel structures. To estimate the
remaining strength of corroded structures, their behavior should be fully understood. The present study
is focused on assessing the effects of localized pitting corrosion on free vibration and dynamic strength
of plates subjected to blast loading. Over 170 nonlinear finite element analyses, using ABAQUS code,
with different pitting corrosion patterns at one side of plates have been carried out. Different approaches
for modeling of corroded plates including, shape of pits and shell/solid finite elements are used to model
corroded plates. To study the effect of corrosion a new parameter called volume of lost is introduced. The
results for the case of triangular pulse pressure on un-corroded plates are validated against literature-
based data and then, detailed parametric studies are carried-out.

1 INTRODUCTION Different approaches, including geometry, shape

Local corrosion and general corrosion are two
types of corrosion which frequently occur in old
structures. Either general or local corrosion would
reduce the strength of aging structures. It is advan-
tageous to have quick and still accurate methods
for strength evaluation of aged structures in serv-
ice, since the expense of maintenance, replacement
and time out of service is costly. Some research
works are devoted on residual strength evaluation
of corroded plates. Rahbar-Ranji (2012a, 2012b,
2013) has used Finite Element Method (FEM) to
study ultimate strength, plastic collapse load and
buckling strength of corroded plates.
Blast pressure is one of the main types of load-
ing in many structures. Structural response of
plates to blast loads has been the subject of many
researches. Nurick & Martin (1989), Rudrapatna
(2000), Byung-Wook & Sang-Rai (2006) and
Chan-Yung & Yuh-Shiou (2010) have studied
dynamic response of plates/stiffened plate sub-
jected to different types of blast loads either exper-
imentally or numerically using non-linear FEM.
Eslami-Majd & Rahbar-Ranji (2014a, 2014b) have
investigated the dynamic strength and deformation
behavior of one and both-sided pitted corroded
plates under blast loading.
There are many research papers devoted on
modal analysis of plates/stiffened plate. The pres-
ence of corrosion in a structure reduces natural
frequencies and changes mode shapes. Eslami-
Majd & Rahbar-Ranji (2014c) have studied free
vibration of pitted corroded plates.
and size of element can be used to model corroded
plates. As FEM is widely used approaches in many
engineering problems, to do a bench mark study
in order to determine the accuracy and applicabil-
ity of different modeling technique is necessary. It
is the main aim of the present work to impellent
different FEM approaches to analyze free vibra-
tion and dynamic response of one-sided pitting
corroded plates. Pits are model as conical, cylindri-
cal and spherical holes and are meshed using both
shell and solid elements.
2 FINITE ELEMENTS ANALYSIS
Most studies on dynamic behavior of structures
are using numerical methods to solve dynamic
nonlinear structural problems such as the blast
response of plates (Eslami-majd & Rahbar-Ranji,
2014b). In this study FEA are performed using a
dynamic-nonlinear analysis. The material is mod-
eled as elasto-plastic with strain hardening. The
finite element program, ABAQUS/Explicit 6.10
package (2010) is used.
To check the accuracy of FE models some pre-
liminary un-corroded plates subjected to dynamic
loading are analyzed and compared with avail-
able results (Louca et al., 1998). Dynamic load is
assumed as symmetrical triangular pulse load with
a total duration of 50 ms, which rises from zero to a
peak load of 3 bar and is uniformly distributed on
the plate. The plate slenderness ratio, b/t, is 60 and
the aspect ratio of plate, a/b, is varied between 0.5

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 and 4 while the width of plate, b, is kept constant
as 1 m. Simply supported boundary conditions are
imposed at four edges of the plate. To prevent slip-
ping of the plate and activate membrane effects, in-
plane movement of all edges is restrained. Because
of axial symmetry, only one-fourth of the plate is
modeled. Steel plate with E = 206 GPa, v = 0.3 and
ρ = 7800 kg/m3 is considered (Louca et al., 1998).
Models with shell elements are constructed using
S4R element. This element has three translational
and three rotational degrees of freedom per node.
In order to determine the proper size of meshes,
several trial models are examined and results
are compared with Louca (1998). The size of
6.25  ×  6.25  mm for shell elements are found to
yield good results with less computational time.
Figure 1 shows maximum deflection at the center
of a plate under blast load as a function of plate
aspect ratio. Very good agreements are observed
between the present FEM with analytical solution
(energy method) and available FE solution (Louca
et al., 1998). Figure 1 also reveals that for plate with
aspect ratio higher than two, maximum deflection
of plate under blast load is almost constant and is
independent of plate aspect ratio.
The produced explosion energy is a function
of the charge weight and the stand-off distance.
Figure 2 shows pressure–time history model which
Figure 1. Maximum deflection at the center of a steel
plate under blast load.
Figure 2. Pressure-time history considered in this work
(Louca et al., 1998).
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 574
is expressed as a decaying exponential function
based on experimental data (Louca et al., 1998).
This time-history loading is applied to modeled
corroded plates in this work.
3 SHELL ELEMENTS WITH OFFSET
VALUE TECHNIQUE (SPECIFYING
HEIGHT OF NEUTRAL AXIS)
Using shell elements for analyzing and modeling
plates under nonlinear phenomena is common
practice in FEM, since this approach is fast and has
quite correct response in the most cases. Focusing
on corrosion, this modeling method has disadvan-
tages including having error in defining position
of neutral axis in plate. Using solid elements over-
come this shortcoming and have better agreement
with real structure. However, using this approach
increase both time of modeling and computation.
Therefore, the must be a balance between accuracy
and time.
In this regard, the best way is using shell ele-
ments with specified height of neutral axis in dif-
ferent places such as corroded area which must be
parted to finer areas.
This modeling approach has the merits for
appropriate modeling. The most important advan-
tages are the correct position of neutral axis in
modeled corroded plate by shell elements.
In present study, modeling of shell elements with
offset value technique have used for the corroded
geometry of steel plate. This technique changes
the height of neutral axis in local area. The plate
is parted to some circular areas in the location of
pitting corrosion. In each parted area, the thick-
ness of plate has decreased by step levels for cre-
ating geometry of pit. As, any part has particular
Figure 3. Geometry of one-sided corroded plates with
different shapes of pit.
3/29/2017 9:41:01 AM
 defined thickness and also has the determined
height of neutral axis. These values are computed
according to the shape and size of pits and number
of circular parted area by interpolation method.
Figure  3 shows geometry of one-sided corroded
plates with different shape pits which have mod-
eled by this approach.

4 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS AND

DISCUSSION

Steel plate with thickness 10 mm, breadth 600 mm

Figure  4. Comparison of center deflection results
and 1200 mm are considered. The plate aspect ratio of 0.6  ×  0.6  m conical pitted plate (34% corroded
is assumed as 1, 2 and 3 for plates with breadth surface) under blast load, between solid ele-
equal to 600 mm. Initial geometric imperfection of ments and shell elements modeled by present offset
the plate and welding-induced residual stresses are technique.
not considered. The mechanical parameters and
material properties used in the numerical simula-
tions are shown in Table 1 (Nakai et al., 2006).
The one-side conical pitted plate modeled by
shell offset technique is validated by comparison
with result from solid elements. The mid-span
deflection of plate (0.6 × 0.6 m) under blast load
for both shell and solid elements of Figure  2, is
depicted in Figure  4. As it can be realized, trend
of deflection in both approach is very similar and
it is clear that shell elements are also suitable for
modeling corroded surfaces.
One-sided corroded steel plates are simulated
using shell elements. Figure 5 shows the geometry
and FE models of one-sided corroded plate with
regular corrosion patterns in a square plate. As
can be seen, in order to properly simulation of the
geometry of pit, very fine mesh sizes are used in
side the pit.

4.1 Blast loading response

Eslami-Majd & Rahbar-Ranji (2014a) have shown
that the deformation behavior of corroded plates
has same trend in different cases such as different
aspect ratio, degree of pit and different pattern of
conical corrosion.

Table 1. Mechanical parameters of material (Nakai et

al., 2006).

Parameter Symbol Unit Value

Young’s modulus E GPa 205.8

Yield stress σy MPa 313.6
Work hardening H = E/75 GPa 2.744
modulus Figure  5. Geometry and FE models of the corroded
Poisson’s ratio ν − 0.3 square plates (0.6 × 0.6 m) with regular corrosion pattern
Density ρ kg/m3 7800 meshed by shell elements (only one quarter of plates are
shown).

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 Figure 6 shows the deflection of corroded plates
as a function of time for different shape of cor-
rosion. As can be seen, there is compares between
two radiuses and two aspect ratios of corroded
plate with conical shapes of pit. Also, Figure  6
depicts compressions between the three shapes and
two sizes of corrosion pits. It can be concluded
that, all different parameter such as shape and size
of corrosion pits have the same effect on the trend
of deflection of pitted plate. In other word, it can
be stated that, these parameters only have influ-
ence on maximum deflection of plate and scales
the deflection response. Figure 7. Variation of the parameter Ru, as a function
Maximum deflection of pitted plates is calcu- of DOP in square plate with different shape of pit corro-
sion and radius equal to 40 mm.
lated and compared with maximum deflection of
intact plates. For each case a parameter showing
amount of percentage increase of deflection is
defined as follows:

uCorr uUnCorr
Ru = × 100 (1)
uUnCorr

where uCorr is maximum deflection of pitted plate,

and uUnCorr is maximum deflection of intact plate.
Figures 7 to 8 show the variation of the param-
eter Ru in square plates with different shape of pit
corrosion and radius equal to 40  mm, as a func-
tion of DOP and DOV respectively. As can be
seen, regardless of the shape of pit corrosion, by
Figure 8. Variation of the parameter Ru, as a function
increasing either DOP or DOV, maximum deflec- of DOV in square plate with different shape of pit corro-
tion of plate increases. Also, it is obvious that, sion and radius equal to 40 mm.
the shape of pits has more effect than ratio of

corroded surface on decreasing dynamic strength.

Figure 6. The deflection of corroded plates as a func-
tion of time for different shape of pit corrosion.
Where, in same corroded surface ratio (DOP) the
decreasing dynamic strength for various shapes is
different. Therefore, it is clear that the lost volume
of plate (DOV) is better criteria for comparing
effect of different shape of pit corrosion on plate.
As evident in Figure 8, the rate of variation of the
parameter Ru, for spherical pit corrosion is higher
than other shapes. Maybe, it is caused by the effect
of decreasing the moment inertia of plate which is
more decreased in spherical shape corrosion.
Eslami-Majd & Rahbar-Ranji (2014b) have
studied the variation of the parameter Ru, in plates
with conical shape pit corrosion and radius equal
to 40 mm for different aspect ratio of plate. They
have in the same rate of corrosion; maximum loss
of dynamic strength occurs in square plate and
minimum reduction of dynamic strength occurs in
rectangular plates. Also, in the plates with aspect
ratio higher than two, the decrease of dynamic
load carrying capacity is the same.
Figures 9 to 11 show the variation of the para-
meter Ru, as a function of DOV in a square pitted
plate for different size and shape of pit corrosion,

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Figure 9. Variation of the parameter Ru, as a function
of DOV in square plate with conical cone shape pit cor-
rosion and different radius of pit.
Figure 10. Variation of the parameter Ru, as a function
of DOV in square plate with cylindrical shape pit corro-
sion and different radius of pit.
Figure 11. Variation of the parameter Ru, as a function
of DOV in square plate with spherical shape pit corro-
sion and different radius of pit.
including conical, cylindrical and spherical
respectively. These Figures state the reduction of
dynamic strength of corroded plates, for different
radius of pit (24, 32 and 40 mm). As can be seen,
the rate of variation of the parameter Ru, in each
577
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 577
shape of pit corrosion case is constant and it is
independent of radius of pit. Whereas, the shape
and the percentage of corroded volume (DOV) are
only important.
As stated earlier, maximum increase of deflec-
tion (reduction of dynamic load carrying capa-
city) occurs in pitted plates with radius of pit equal
40 mm.
4.2 Free ibration analysis
To express negative effect of corrosion on reduc-
tion of natural frequency, a non-dimensional
parameter showing amount of percentage decrease
of natural frequency is defined as follows:
ωCorr ωUUnCorr
Rω = × 100 (2)
ωUUnCorr
where, ωCorr is natural frequency of corroded plate,
and ωUnCorr is natural frequency of un-corroded
plate.
Figures 12 to 14 show variation of the parame-
ter Rw, as a function of DOV for the first six vibra-
tion modes of corroded plate with conical shape
pit corrosion and their different aspect ratio. In
these cases, the radius of conical pits is 40 mm. It
can be concluded that, corrosion has influence on
reduction of natural frequency. Where, by increas-
ing the rate of corrosion lost volume (DOV), the
natural frequency would be decreased linearly. As
can be seen, for mode one, the rate of reduction of
natural frequency is constant for every aspect ratio
and corrosion lost volume (DOV). But, in higher
modes with high percentage of DOV, the rate of
reduction of natural frequency would be increased.
The changes of the rate and value of reduction
of natural frequency would be better seen in cor-
roded plate with cylindrical shape pit which has
Figure  12. Variation of the parameter Rw for the six
first vibration modes, as a function of DOV in square
plate with conical shape pit corrosion and radius of pit
equal to 40 mm.
3/29/2017 9:41:04 AM
 higher percentage of DOV. Figures 15 to 17 show
the reduction of natural frequencies of corroded
plate with cylindrical shape pit corrosion and
radius of pit equal to 40  mm for different aspect
ratio. It can be obviously seen, the rate of reduc-
tion of natural frequency increases by the number
of mode in high level corrosion cases. Also, by
increasing aspect ratio of plate, the distribution
of this rate has more uniformly changes. Where, in
square plate with lowest aspect ratio (Equal to 1),
the reduction rate jumps from mode 1 to mode 2
and would be constant in higher modes. Generally,
in high level corrosions, the rate of reduction of
natural frequencies of higher modes depends on
the aspect ratio of plate and the number of mode.
Figure 15. Variation of the parameter Rw, as a function
Figures 18 to 20 show the decreasing natural fre- of DOV in square corroded plate with cylindrical shape
quency of mode one for different aspect ratio and pit corrosion and radius equal to 40 mm.
radius of pit equal to 40  mm in corroded plates

Figure  13. Variation of the parameter Rw for the six Figure  16. Variation of the parameter Rw, as a func-
first vibration modes, as a function of DOV in rectangu- tion of DOV in corroded plate with the aspect ratio of
lar plate with aspect ratio equal to two and conical shape plate equal to two and cylindrical shape pit corrosion and
pit corrosion and radius of pit equal to 40 mm. radius equal to 40 mm.

Figure  14. Variation of the parameter Rw for the six Figure  17. Variation of the parameter Rw, as a func-
first vibration modes, as a function of DOV in rectan- tion of DOV in corroded plate with the aspect ratio of
gular plate with aspect ratio equal to three and conical plate equal to three and cylindrical shape pit corrosion
shape pit corrosion and radius of pit equal to 40 mm. and radius equal to 40 mm.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 578 3/29/2017 9:41:05 AM


Figure 18. Variation of the parameter Rw, as a function
of DOV for the mode one in corroded plates with conical
shape pit corrosion and radius equal to 40 mm and dif-
ferent aspect ratio.
Figure 19. Variation of the parameter Rw, as a function
of DOV for the mode one in corroded plates with spheri-
cal shape pit corrosion and radius equal to 40 mm and
different aspect ratio.
Figure 20. Variation of the parameter Rw, as a function
of DOV for the mode one in corroded plates with cylin-
drical shape pit corrosion and radius equal to 40 mm and
different aspect ratio.
579
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 579
with conical, spherical and cylindrical shape pit
respectively. As evident in these figures, for mode
one, the reduction of natural frequency of plate is
stable for different aspect ratio in every shape of
pits corrosion.
Figures 21 to 23 show the variation of natural
frequencies of mode one for corroded square plate
with different radius and conical, spherical and
cylindrical shape pit corrosion respectively. As can
be seen, the rate of reduction of natural frequency
is independent of size of pits and it has same
increasing trend in all radiuses of pits. Of course,
the rate of reduction of natural frequency of plate
is sensitive to the shape of pit corrosion.
Figure 24 shows the effect of shape of pit cor-
rosion on square corroded plate with different
shape of pit corrosion and radius of pit equal to
40 mm for the mode one. This figure depicts, the
spherical shape pit corrosion is more influenced to
changes of corrosion level (DOV) than other shape
of corrosions. Also, the rate of variation of natural
Figure  21. Variation of the parameter Rw for mode
one, as a function of DOV in corroded square plate with
conical shape pit corrosion and different radius of pit.
Figure  22. Variation of the parameter Rw for mode
one, as a function of DOV in corroded square plate with
spherical shape pit corrosion and different radius of pit.
3/29/2017 9:41:06 AM

Figure  23. Variation of the parameter Rw for mode
one, as a function of DOV in corroded square plate with
cylindrical shape pit corrosion and different radius of
pit.
Figure 24. Effect of shape of pit corrosion on rate of
reduction of corroded square plate for mode one.
frequency in corroded plate with spherical shape
pit corrosion is more than conical and cylindrical
shape cases. This trend would be seen regularly in
all vibration modes of corroded plate with differ-
ent aspect ratios and each radius of pit.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper has presented the results from the
dynamic response of pitted steel plates with coni-
cal, cylindrical and spherical shape pits by FEM.
The computer code, ABAQUS 6.10 software is
used for analysis and the influential parameters
including, plate aspect ratio, corrosion degree,
shape and radius of pit corrosion are investigated.
Percentage increase of maximum deflection of cor-
roded plate (Ru) and percentage decrease of natu-
580
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 580
ral frequencies of plate (Rw) are used as a measure
of reduction of dynamic load carrying capacity.
The results of this investigation depict that:
The rate of variation of the parameter Ru, in
each shape of pit corrosion case is constant and it
is independent of radius of pit. Where, the shape
and the percentage of corroded volume (DOV) are
only important.
The lost volume of plate (DOV) is better crite-
ria for comparing effect of different shape of pit
corrosion on plate than the lost surface of plate
(DOP).
The rate of variation of the parameter Ru, for
spherical pit corrosion is higher than other shapes.
Also, the cylindrical shape has the lowest rate in
presented shapes of pits.
For mode one, the rate of reduction of natu-
ral frequency is constant for every aspect ratio
and corrosion lost volume (DOV). But, in higher
modes with high percentage of DOV, the rate of
reduction of natural frequency would be increased.
However, by increasing aspect ratio of plate, the
distribution of this rate has more uniformly
changes. Also, the reduction of natural frequency
of plate is stable for different aspect ratio in every
shape of pits corrosion.
1. The rate of variation of the parameter Ru, in
each shape of pit corrosion case is constant and
it is independent of radius of pit. Where, the
shape and the percentage of corroded volume
(DOV) are only important.
2. The lost volume of plate (DOV) is better crite-
ria for comparing effect of different shape of pit
corrosion on plate than the lost surface of plate
(DOP).
3. The rate of variation of the parameter Ru, for
spherical pit corrosion is higher than other
shapes. Also, the cylindrical shape has the low-
est rate in presented shapes of pits.
4. For mode one, the rate of reduction of natural
frequency is constant for every aspect ratio and
corrosion lost volume (DOV). But, in higher
modes with high percentage of DOV, the rate
of reduction of natural frequency would be
increased. However, by increasing aspect ratio
of plate, the distribution of this rate has more
uniformly changes. Also, the reduction of nat-
ural frequency of plate is stable for different
aspect ratio in every shape of pits corrosion.
5. The rate of reduction of natural frequency
is independent of size of pits and it has same
increasing trend in all radiuses of pits.
6. The rate of variation of natural frequency in
corroded plate with spherical shape pit corro-
sion is more than conical and cylindrical shape
cases.
3/29/2017 9:41:07 AM
 REFERENCES
ABAQUS/explicit user’s manual, vol. 1 v6.10. Cheshire,
UK; Hibbit, Karlsson and Sorenson (UK) Ltd; 2010.
Byung-Wook P, Sang-Rai C. Simple design formulae for
predicting the residual damage of unstiffened and
stiffened plates under explosion loadings. Int J Impact
Eng., 2006; 32:1721–1736.
Chan-Yung J, Yuh-Shiou T. Deformation behavior of a
stiffened panel subjected to underwater shock loading
using the non-linear finite element method. Materials
and Design 2010; 31:325–335.
Eslami-majd, A., Rahbar-Ranji, A. Deformation behav-
iour of corroded plates subjected to blast loading,
Ships and Offshore Structures, 2014a; 10:79–93.
Eslami-majd, A., Rahbar-Ranji, A. Blast response of
corroded steel plates. Journal of Mechanical Science
and Technology, 2014b; 28(5):1–8.
Eslami-majd, A., Rahbar-Ranji, A. Free vibration anal-
ysis of corroded steel plates. Journal of Mechanical
Science and Technology, 2014c; 28(6):2081–2088.
Louca LA, Pan YG, Harding JE. Response of stiffened
and unstiffened plates subjected to blast loading. Eng
Struct., 1998; 20:1079–1086.
581
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 581
Nakai T, Matsushita H, Yamamoto N. Effect of pitting
corrosion on the ultimate strength of steel plates sub-
jected to in-plane compression and bending. J Mar Sci
Technol., 2006; 11:52–64.
Nurick GN, Martin JB. Deformation of thin plates sub-
jected to impulsive loading-a review: Part I theoretical
considerations. Int J Impact Eng., 1989; 8(2):159–70.
Rahbar-Ranji, A. Plastic collapse load of corroded steel
plates. Sadhana-Academy Proceed. Eng. Sci., 2012a;
37(3):341–349.
Rahbar-Ranji A. Ultimate strength of corroded steel
plates with irregular surfaces under in-plane compres-
sion. Ocean Engineering, 2012b; 54:261–269.
Rahbar-Ranji A. Elastic buckling strength of corroded
steel plates. Sadhana-Academy Proceed. Eng. Sci.,
2013; 38(1):89–99.
Rudrapatna NS, Vaziri R, Olson MD. Deformation and
failure of blast-loaded stiffened plates. Int J Impact
Eng., 2000; 24:457–74.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Research progress on saturated impulse for ship plates under

dynamic loading

Ling Zhu & Xueyu Bai

Departments of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Structural Engineering, School of Transportation,
Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, P.R. China

T.X. Yu
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology,
Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong

ABSTRACT: As an important special feature in the dynamic plastic response of structures, saturation
phenomenon is of great theoretical and engineering significances. However, there are insufficient work on the
saturated phenomenon over the past decades. The present paper firstly illustrates the concept and research
method for saturated impulse whilst a square plate under rectangular pressure pulse is taken as a typical
example. The secondary effects of material include scale effect, aspect ratio, and strain rate effect on satura-
tion phenomenon are depicted intensively. The saturated impulse of the fully clamped square plate under
linearly decaying pressure pulse is presented to discuss the influence of impulse shape on the dynamic plastic
response of plates. Based on that, a method is proposed to predict the deflection of fully clamped square
plates, which replaces the linearly decaying pressure pulse with an equivalent rectangular pressure pulse.

1 INTRODUCTION deflection of beams and plates. Then, Zhu & Yu

The saturation phenomenon is a special feature in
the dynamic plastic response of structures. When a
beam or a plate is subjected to intense transverse
dynamic loading, it usually undergoes a large deflec-
tion. The load-carrying capacity of the beam/plate
is greatly enhanced by the membrane forces induced
by large deflection. If the beam/plate is subjected to
a rectangular pressure pulse with a sufficiently long
duration, only the early part of the pulse contrib-
utes to the deflection of the beam/plate. Beyond a
critical value, i.e., saturated impulse, the deflection
of the beam/plate under the pulse loading will no
longer increase with further applied load.
Although the saturation phenomenon is of great
significance to engineering design of beams and
plates, insufficient works have been done on it so
far. Zhao et  al. (1994) first illustrated the saturated
impulse of a structure undergoing large deflection
under a moderate rectangular pressure pulse, and
made a convincing explanation to the saturation
phenomenon. Non-dimensional saturated impulse
of simply supported (or clamped) beam was demon-
strated. In a different study, Zhao et al. (1995) further
extended this concept to circular plates, square plates
and cylindrical shells under the similar pulse load-
ing. Since the rigid-plastic idealization was adopted
in their modeling, the above-mentioned studies of
saturated impulse were only referred to the maximum
(1997) further developed the concept of the saturated
impulse with respect to the maximum deformation as
well as the final deformation based on elastic-plastic
analysis. A clamped square plate was taken as a typi-
cal example. The existence of the saturated impulse
for elastic-plastic plates was examined; a “saturated
duration” for rectangular loading pulse (i.e., the
critical pulse length) was proposed; and a transverse
displacement curve was provided based on the elas-
tic-plastic numerical calculations. Xi & Yang (2000)
discussed the saturated impulse phenomenon during
the response of hinged circular plate under concen-
trated pulse loading based on detailed analysis of
displacement response. Xi & Zhang (2012) pointed
out that the saturated impulse of a steel beam always
exists when the beam undergoes plastic deformation
under pulse loading. More recently, Zhu et al. (2016a)
subsequently explored the effect of aspect ratio for
saturation phenomenon, thereby this feature was
extended to rectangular plates. Zhu et al. (2016b) dis-
cussed the scale effect on the saturation phenomenon
using a fully clamped square plate under rectangular
pressure pulse as the typical example. The effect of
impulse shaped was discussed with respect to linearly
decaying pressure pulse, and an equivalent method
was proposed accordingly (Zhu et al., 2016c).
Some serious damages, especially large deflec-
tions, may occur when ship or offshore structures
are subjected to intense transverse dynamic loading,

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 such as impact of a projectile or a shock wave pro- The dynamic response of plates under rectan-
duced by explosion. In general, the intensive dynamic gular pulse loading with the duration t0 could be
loading (such as explosive loading) imposed on the divided into two phases, i.e. 0 ≤ t ≤ t0 and t0 ≤ t ≤
ship plates is represented only by the maximum load T (T is the response duration and T ≥ t0). How-
and total impulse of the loading pulse. However, the ever, the present analysis only focuses on the first
research on saturated impulse shows that the total phase, because the response ceases during the first
impulse design based on the loading pulse is inaccu-
rate. Only the part of the impulse which is no more
than the value of saturated impulse has an influence
on the permanent deformation. Hence, the predic-
tion of the large deformation of ship plates is more
reasonable and accurate when taking account of the
effect of the saturated impulse. The purpose of this
paper is to introduce and summarize the research
progress on saturated impulse for ship plates under
dynamic loading, and promote the development of
this issue consequently.

2 RESEARCH METHODS

Theoretical analysis and numerical simulation are

two research methods for the saturation phenom-
enon. They are used to analyse rigid-plastic model
and elastic-plastic model respectively. A square
plate under uniformly rectangular pressure pulse
Figure 1. Yield curves.
is taken as a typical example to illustrate research
methods specifically in this section.

2.1 Rigid plastic theoretical analysis

An approximate method based on energy bal-
ance was developed by Jones (1971) for arbitrar-
ily shaped flat plates subjected to transverse loads
which produce finite displacements. This theoreti-
cal method is used in the present paper. Both bend-
ing moment and membrane force are taken into
account. To simplify the analysis, some assump-
tions are set as the following.
i. A static plastic collapse mechanism for a plate, Figure 2. A fully clamped square plate subjected to uni-
which undergoes infinitesimal displacements formly distributed pressure pulse.
based on the upper bound theorem of plastic-
ity, is adopted.
ii. It is further assumed that this collapse mecha-
nism for infinitesimal displacements remains
unchanged during finite displacements.
iii. The circumscribing square yield condition
(Fig. 1) is employed in the analysis.
Consider a fully clamped, rigid-perfectly plas-
tic square plate of side length 2L and thickness
H (Fig.  2). The plate is subjected to a rectangu-
lar pressure pulse, as sketched in Figure  3 and
expressed as

⎧ p0 0 ≤ t ≤ t0
p(t ) = ⎨ (1)
⎩0, t ≥ t0 Figure 3. Rectangular pulse loading.

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 phase owing to the occurrence of the saturation whilst the dimensionless saturated impulse is
phenomenon.
For the dynamic response of a fully clamped πη
rigid-perfectly plastic square plate under rectan- I sat = (8)
6
gular pressure pulse, which undergoes moderate
finite transverse displacements and induces mem- where I = I/(pyB(ρσY)1/2) = I/(3μHpy)1/2.
brane forces, the governing equation can be writ- However, the application of Equation  6 has
ten in the form of to be restricted in the range of tsat/t0 ≤ 1, so the
minimum decaying duration t0– could be obtained

W 0 ω 2W0 =
2
μ
(
p (t ) − py ) (2) accordingly. The dimensionless minimum decaying
duration is

π
in the first phase with t0 − = (9)
6
py 6 σy
ω= 2 = (3) It should be noted that the above derivations are
μH L ρ all based on the circumscribing square yield con-
ditions. By referring to Figure  1, if an inscribing
where ω, termed the characteristic frequency in square yield curve is adopted, upper bound values
this paper with the unite S−1; W0 is the transverse of Equations 6–9 can be easily obtained by using
deflection at the plate center; py = 12M0/L2 denotes 0.618σY to replace σY.
the static collapse pressure of the fully clamped
square plate; μ is the mass per unit area of the
2.2 Elastic-plastic numerical simulation
plate; ρ is the density of material; σY is the yield
stress of material; M0 is the fully plastic bending Along with the development of computer technol-
moment per unit length. The over dot represents ogy and numerical analysis theory, the elastic-plastic
differentiation with respect to time t. model which is closer to real material was generated
Equation 2 is a linear ordinary differential equa- more concerns. Zhu (1990) developed a numerical
tion and it results in the transverse displacement program to analyses the elastic-plastic response of
as clamped rectangular plates. The tool using the Vari-
ational Finite Difference Method (VFDM) whilst
⎛ the effects of elasticity, finite transverse deforma-
W0 6σ y H ⎞
= (η − 1) 1 − cos t ⎟ (4) tion and material strain hardening are included.
H ⎝ μB 2 ⎠ Later, this tool was employed to investigated the
dynamic inelastic response of rectangular plates
with the initial conditions W0  =  W 0   =  0 at t  =  0 under rigid wedge impact (see Reference (Zhu &
being satisfied. Faulkner, 1991, Zhu, 1996a)) with particular ref-
It is obvious that the deflection reaches its max- erence to minor ship collision (see Reference (Zhu
imum when t(6σYH/μB2)1/2 = π, implying that the et al. 1994, Zhu, 1996b)) investigated, both experi-
saturated duration is mentally and numerically, the transient deformation
modes of square plates under explosive loading.
By using the same program, Zhu & Yu (1997) also
π ρ investigated the saturated impulse for elastoplastic
t L (5)
6 σY square plate under rectangular pressure pulse. The
geometrical and material parameters employed in
the paper are list in Table 1.
which may be recast in a dimensionless form, The following amplitudes of the applied pres-
sure were examined in the analysis
π
t sat
= (6)
6 η = p0 py = 1.33, 2, 2.67, 4, 6.67

where t = t/(B(ρ/σY)1/2). Consequently, the satu- For each amplitude, a series of loading durations
rated deflection at the plate center is (t0) were selected. The maximum central deflection
(W0)m and final central deflection (W0)f under a
sat given pressure pulse (p0, t0) were then calculated. The
⎛ W0 ⎞
⎜⎝ ⎟⎠ = 2( 1) (7) first peak in the curve of the transverse deflection
H which varies with time pertains to the maximum

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 Table 1. Geometrical and material parameters.
Designation Value
Side length of plates 2L 150 mm
Thickness of plates H 1.5 mm
Density ρ 7800 kg/m3
Young’s modulus E 207 Gpa
Tangent modulus Eτ E/1000
Yield stress σY 210 Mpa
Figure  4. Dimensionless saturated impulse and pres-
sure amplitude relation for fully clamped square plate.
deflection, while the final deflection is determined
as an average of fluctuated deflections, which reflect
structural vibration after the maximum deflection.
Correspondingly, there are two saturated impulses
refer to saturated maximum deflection and satu-
rated final deflection respectively. In addition, the
elastic-plastic analysis also indicates that a certain
amount of impulse (i.e. a threshold impulse) is
required to produce plastic deformation.
After the numerical simulation data process-
ing, relationships between the variables could be
obtained. The linear relation between the dimen-
sionless saturated impulse and pressure amplitude
were discovered (see Figure  4), which could cap-
ture the saturated duration for rectangular loading
pulse accordingly; and a transverse displacement
curve was provided based on the elastic-plastic
numerical calculations (see Figure 5).
Recently, Zhu compared the results obtained
from the above numerical program with commer-
cial softwares ABAQUS (Zhu et  al., 2016a) and
LS/DYNA (Zhu et  al., 2016b). The results show
good agreement with each other. To work out
the problem rapidly, commercial softwares were
586
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 586
Figure  5. Dimensionless saturated final deflection and
pressure amplitude relation for fully clamped square plate.
employed in the later investigation of the satura-
tion phenomenon.
3 THE SECONDARY EFFECTS
OF MATERIAL
3.1 Scale effect
The square plates with geometrical parameters (2L
× 2L × H) 150 × 150 × 1.5 mm, 450 × 450 × 4.5 mm,
and 900 × 900 × 9 mm were selected to investigated
the scale effect on the saturated impulse of the fully
clamped square plate using commercial software
LS/DYNA. The relations between the dimension-
less transverse final deflection and dimensionless
impulse are shown in Fig. 6 with various pressure
amplitude. It is obvious that differences among
these three square plates are teeny enough to
neglect. However, it does not mean the saturation
phenomenon is insensitive with the side length and
thickness of the plate, because the pressure ampli-
tude η is related to the geometrical parameters 2L
and H. In other words, the scale effect on the satu-
ration phenomenon might be considered assisted
by pressure amplitude η. This conclusion was also
demonstrated in rigid-plastic theoretical prediction.
3.2 Aspect ratio effect
The saturated impulse of rectangular plates with
various aspect ratios were investigated via both
rigid plastic analysis and elastic-plastic analysis.
The theoretical predication for rigid plastic
model could be captured using analysis procedure
presented in Section 2.1. The dimensionless satu-
rated deflection, saturated duration and saturated
impulse are written as following in succession.
3/29/2017 9:41:12 AM
 Figure 7. Dimensionless saturated impulse varies with
Figure  6. Dimensionless transverse deflection and aspect ratio for fully clamped rectangular plates under
impulse relation for various pressure amplitude. various dimensionless applied pressure.

⎛ W0 ⎞
sat

=
(3 ) ( 1) (10)
⎜⎝ ⎟⎠
H ξ 2 − 3ξ 3
π − β tan φ
t sat = ⋅ (11)
3 2−β φ+β φ
2−β φ
I sat = πη (12)
3( − + )
where tanφ = –β + (β 2 + 3)1/2, ξ = βtanφ, and β = B/L
is aspect ratio of the rectangular plate.
The saturated phenomenon of elastoplastic rec-
tangular plates under rectangular pulse loading
was investigated by using the commercial software Figure  8. Dimensionless saturated deflection varies
ABAQUS, whilst both the width and thickness with the pressure ratio for various aspect ratios.
of the plates remained constant (2B  =  900  mm,
H = 9 mm). Similar to the elastic-plastic square plate, empir-
The numerical results show that the relation ical equations for dimensionless saturated dura-
between the dimensionless saturated impulse and tion, saturated impulse and saturated deflection
pressure amplitude is almost linear and uncorrela- for rectangular plates under rectangular pressure
tion with the aspect ratio. Besides, It is shown that pulse were proposed as following.
the growth rate of the saturated impulse changes
slowly with the increase of the aspect ratio of plates
B ρ
(see Figure 7). If consider economy, it implies that t sat = 3.381 ⋅ (13)
the longer rectangular plate may not always be a ω σY
good choice.
η
The relations between the dimensionless satu- I fsat = 3.381 (14)
rated deflection and pressure amplitude for rectan- ω
gular plates with different aspect ratios are plotted sat 0.921
⎛ W0 ⎞ ⎛ 2⎞
in Figure 8. The dimensionless saturated deflection ⎜⎝ ⎟⎠ = 2.319 ⎝ η − ⎟⎠ β 0.318 (15)
increase with the pressure amplitude, as well as the H f 3
aspect ratio of the rectangular plate. Besides, It
is seen that ( 0 ) f ( 0 )sat
m under medium load, where ω is defined by Eq. (3).
and the difference between them reduces gradually It should be noted that, different from the
with the increase of applied pressure. It dues to conclusion in reference (Zhu and Yu, 1997) and
the remaining impulse influences the deformation relevant to the neglect of material’s elasticity,
after the maximum deflection reached saturated. the analysis for rectangular plates suggests that

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 η ≥ 2/3, instead of η ≥ 1, is required to define the pulse is identical to the process presented in
valid regime of the rigid-plastic analysis. Section  2.1, except for the form of pulse (see
Figure 9) which might be written as
3.3 Strain rate effect ⎧⎛ t⎞
⎪ 1− p0 0 ≤ t ≤ t0
The yield criteria, which govern the plastic flow in p(t ) = ⎨⎜⎝ t0 ⎟⎠ (20)
these structural problems, was assumed to be inde- ⎪ 0, 0,t ≥ t0
pendent of the rate of strain ( ). However, the plas- ⎩
tic flow of some materials is sensitive to strain rate,
which is known as material strain rate sensitivity, or The derivative dimensionless saturated dura-
viscoplasticity. The dynamic response of the fully tion, saturated impulse and saturated deflection
clamped rigid-perfectly plastic square plate under are
rectangular pulse loading was investigated follow ⎡ ⎛ 1⎞⎤
the theoretical procedure presented in Section  2.1 ωt sat 2 1
⎢ωt0 1 − ⎟ ⎥ (21)
with assistant of the Coper-Symonds constitutive ⎣ ⎝ η⎠⎦
equation, which may be expressed in the form
⎛ 1 t sat ⎞
I sat = ⎜1 − λωt sat (22)
1
1
⎝ 2 t0 ⎟⎠
⎛ ε ⎞ ⎛3 6
n1 = 1 + e = 1 + ⎜
q py ( − 1) H ⎞
2 q

⎝ D⎠ ⎟ (17)
⎝ 8 ρ DLL2 ⎠ and

⎛ ⎛ 1⎞⎞
sat
for this typical model, where D and q are Cowper- ⎛ W0 ⎞ 2
⎜⎝ ⎟⎠ = ⎜1 − tan −1 ωt0 ⎜1 − ⎟ ⎟ η − 1
Symons coefficients, εe is the equivalent strain H ⎝ ωt0 ⎝ η⎠⎠
rate. Thus, the dimensionless saturated impulse ⎡ ⎛ 1⎞⎤
and saturated deflection are 1 η ) cos ⎢2 tan
+ (1− n −1 ωt0 ⎜1 − ⎟ ⎥
⎣ ⎝ η⎠⎦ (23)
π η ⎡ ⎛ 1⎞⎤
I sat = η (18) + an −1 ωt0 1 − ⎟ ⎥
sin ⎢2 ttan
6 n1 ωt0 ⎣ ⎝ η⎠⎦

and respectively. Although it is difficult to acquire

the explicit expression of the minimum decaying
⎛η ⎞
sat
⎛ W0 ⎞ duration for square plate under linearly decaying
⎜⎝ ⎟⎠ =2 1 (19)
H ⎝ n1 ⎟⎠ pressure pulse, the dimensionless initial peak load
could be written in the form
respectively. 1
Apart from rigid plastic analysis, the relevant η= (24)
1 ωt
elastic-plastic model was simulated by commercial 1− tan 0
software ABAQUS. The results predict that the ωt0 2
saturated final displacement excluding strain rate
sensitivity is 1.1 times of the saturated final dis- when the saturated duration tsat equals to the
placement with strain rate sensitivity. Meanwhile, decaying duration t0. In fact, the decaying dura-
the relationship between the ratio of the saturated tion t0 in Eq. (24) is exactly the minimum decaying
impulse for maximum displacement which takes duration t0–.
strain rate sensitivity into account and that exclud-
ing the strain rate sensitivity is (n1)1/2.

4 IMPULSE SHAPE EFFECT

Although assumed rectangular pulse could lead to

analytical solutions for structures under dynamic
loading, complex-shaped pulses are often encoun-
tered in practice. Hence, the influence of the
pulse shape on the structural response should be
investigated.
The theoretical analysis procedure for fully clam-
ped square plate under linear decaying pressure Figure 9. Linearly decaying pressure pulse.

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 Figure 10 shows a map in a parametric plane for
linearly decaying pressure pulse, where the x-axis
and y-axis is dimensionless decaying duration and
dimensionless initial peak pressure, respectively.
Equation (24) is plotted as the solid curve in the
map. Along with a horizontal line η = 1 which indi-
cates the minimum amplitude of the loading pulse
to produce plastic deformation, the parametric
plane is divided into three regimes. The upper-left
one is the plastic deformation regime without satu-
ration, the shadow region is the plastic deforma-
tion regime with saturation, and the area below the
horizontal line of η = 1 is the elastic deformation
regime. It should be noted that the scope of the
x-axis of the solid curve in Figure 10 is from zero
to the first solution of tan(ωt0 /2)/ωt0 = 1. The solu-
tions have no significance if ωt0 exceed the scope.
The saturated impulse, as well as the saturated
deflection, is both increase with the initial pressure
amplitude and the decaying duration. However,
the growth rate corresponding to initial pressure
amplitude is linear, while it decreases with the
increase of the decaying duration corresponding
to decaying duration. They are not interpreted in
figures in the present paper for the limit space.
Youngdahl (1970, 1971) proposed two correla-
tion parameters to eliminate pulse shape effects.
In his study, the dynamic response of a structure
under a general loading pulse can be approximated
by using a rectangular pulse impulse Ie with an
effective load pe and pulse duration 2tmean. In addi-
tion, an empirical estimation of the structural
response duration was suggested as the form
⎛ 1⎞
tf 2t0 1 − ⎟ (25)
⎝ η⎠
Obviously, the effective pulse proposed by
Youngdahl and the saturated impulse display a
Figure 10. Response map for the fully clamped square
plate subjected to linearly decaying pressure pulse.
589
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 589
similar effect for the deflection of plates under
pressure pulses, although the judgments on the
end time of the plastic deformation are different.
It is interesting that Equation 25 is indeed the first
order Taylor expansion of Equation 17.
Authors of this paper examined three scenarios
using theoretical analysis to compare equivalent
methods, including widely used in engineering,
proposed by Youngdahl, and suggested based on
saturated impulse, i.e. (a) no cut-off at the pulse
end; (b) cut off the pulse end by using Eq. (17),
i.e., tf = tsat; and (c) cut off the pulse end by using
Eq. (25).
As discussed above, both non-saturation regime
and saturation regime should be considered with
regard to the deflection of the plate under linearly
decaying pulse. Results show that, in the non-sat-
uration regime, all three scenarios the equivalent
rectangular pulses exhibit excellent agreement
with the deflection obtained from the applied
linearly decaying pulse. In saturation regime (see
Figure  11), the results are in satisfactory agree-
ment with the actual value produced by linearly
decaying pulse with small ωt0. With the increase
of dimensionless decaying duration, the equiva-
lent method based on the saturation phenomenon,
gives excellent agreement with the value pro-
duced by linearly decaying pulse, while the other
two equivalent scenarios do not provide proper
approximation.
The equivalent results indicate that not all, but
only the early part of the pulse contributes to the
deflection of the plate, and the effective length is
exactly the saturated duration. If the saturated
impulse or saturated duration is known, the deflec-
tion of plates under pulse with arbitrary shape
might be calculated using formulae for same plates
under equivalent rectangular pulse.
Figure  11. Saturated deflection versus dimensionless
decaying duration for various equivalent scenarios.
3/29/2017 9:41:16 AM
 5 CONCLUDING REMARKS
The study on the saturated impulse for ship plates
is of great theoretical and engineering significance.
The present paper reviews the research progress on
saturated impulse for ship plates under dynamic
loading including research methods and some
important research achievements.
Researches on saturated impulse indicate that
only a part of impulse instead of total impulse con-
tributes to the permanent deformation of plates.
The total impulse design based on the loading pulse
which is widely used in engineering is inaccurate. A
new design philosophy based on saturated impulse
theory is more effective. The design formulae this
project produced, for fully clamped rectangular
plates under rectangular pressure pulse or linearly
decaying pressure pulse, have a solid theoretic base
verified by simulation results. Various secondary
effects of material are taken into account such as
scale effect, aspect ratio effect, and strain rate effect.
The formulae are easy to use for designers and engi-
neers having wide engineering application area.
The shape (or the time history) of a pressure pulse
has a profound influence on the dynamic plastic
response of structures. Symonds (1953) found that
the prediction for the deflection of the fully clamped
beam depending only on the total impulse and peak
load of the pulse has a great discrepancy comparing
to the actual value. Youngdahl (1970) suggested only
a part of impulse influenced the permanent deflec-
tion of the structures. Two correlation parameters,
as well as an empirical estimation of the structural
response duration, were proposed to eliminate load-
ing shape effects. In the past decades, the appli-
cability of Youngdahl’s approximation to various
structures under pulse loading was investigated and
tested by many researches, while the theoretical basis
of this equivalent method has not been given. The
present research on the saturation phenomenon
suggested a more accurate and meaningful estima-
tion of the structural response duration, i.e. satu-
rated duration. The equivalent method is based on
saturated impulse, which was verified using a fully
clamped square plate subjected to linearly decaying
pressure pulse in the present paper.
The result of the project can be applied to the
design and dynamic response assessment for plates
on many engineering structures, such as ships,
ocean platforms, and nuclear power plants, etc.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the support of
the general project of the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No.51579199) and the
China Academy of Engineering Physics key disci-
pline project of “computational solid mechanics”.
590
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 590
REFERENCES
Jones, N. (1971). “A theoretical study of the dynamic
plastic behavior of beams and plates with finite-
deflections.” International Journal of Solids & Struc-
tures 7 (8): 1007–1029.
Symonds, P.S. (1953). “Dynamic load characteristics in
plastic bending of beams.” J. Applied Mechanics, 20,
pp. 475–481.
Xi, F. & Yang, J.L. (2000). “Dynamic Response Analysis
of Elastic-plastic Thin Circular Plates under Impulse
Loading with Consideration of Large Deflection.”
Explosion & Shock Waves.
Xi, F. & Zhang, Y. (2012). “The effects of strain rate
on the dynamic response and abnormal behavior of
steel beams under pulse loading.” Explosion & Shock
Waves.
Youngdahl, C.K. (1970). “Correlation Parameters for
Eliminating the Effect of Pulse Shape on Dynamic
Plastic Deformation.” Journal of Applied Mechanics
37 (3).
Youngdahl, C.K. (1971). “Influence of pulse shape on
the final plastic deformation of a circular plate .”
International Journal of Solids & Structures 7 (9):
1127–1142.
Zhao, Y.P. & Yu, T.X. et al. (1994). “Large dynamic plas-
tic deflection of a simply supported beam subjected
to rectangular pressure pulse.” Archive of Applied
Mechanics 64 (3): 223–232.
Zhao, Y.P. & Yu, T.X., et al. (1995). “Saturation impulses
for dynamically loaded structures with finite-deflec-
tions.” Structural Engineering & Mechanics 3 (6):
583–592.
Zhu, L. & Faulkner, D. (1991). “Numerical Modeling of
Dynamic Inelastic Response of Clamped Rectangular
Plates Impacted by a Knife-Edge Indentor.” Journal
of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering 113
(4): 312–319.
Zhu, L. & Faulkner, D. et al. (1994). “The impact of rec-
tangular plates made from strain-rate sensitive mate-
rials.” International Journal of Impact Engineering,
15 (3): 245–255.
Zhu, L. & Yu, T.X. (1997). “Saturated impulse for pulse-
loaded elastic-plastic square plates.” International
Journal of Solids & Structures 34 (14): 1709–1718.
Zhu, L. (1990). “Dynamic inelastic behaviour of ship
plates in collision.” University of Glasgow.
Zhu, L. (1996a). “Stress and strain analysis of plates sub-
jected to transverse wedge impact.” Journal of Strain
Analysis for Engineering Design 31 (1): 1–7.
Zhu, L. (1996b). “Transient deformation modes of square
plates subjected to explosive loadings.” International
Journal of Solids and Structures 33 (3): 301–314.
Zhu, L., Bai, X.Y. & Yu, T.X. (2016a). Saturated Impulse
for Pulse-loaded Elastic-plastic Rectangular Plates.
international Conference on Impact Loading of
Structures and Materials. Turin.
Zhu, L., Bai, X.Y., & Yu, T.X. (2016c). “The Saturated
Impulse for Fully Clamped Square Plates Subjected
to Linear-Decay Pressure Pulse.” Key Engineering
Materials 725.
Zhu, L., He, X. & Yu, T.X. (2016b). Scaling effect on
saturated impulse for square plates under rectangular
pulse loading. OMAE proceeding. Busan.
3/29/2017 9:41:17 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Review of work on ship structures subjected to repeated

impact loadings

Ling Zhu
Key Laboratory of High Performance Ship Technology of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of
Technology, P.R. China

Shiyun Shi & Wei Cai

Departments of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Structural Engineering, School of Transportation, Wuhan
University of Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, P.R. China

ABSTRACT: This paper aims at summarising the experimental, numerical and theoretical work that
has been carried out on the structural dynamic behaviour of structures subjected to repeated mass impact
loads. The investigated components include beams, plates and steel grillages. Two different experimental
methods are summarised in the investigations of the repeated dynamic effect on the structural behaviour.
Numerical simulations together with experimental results give more detailed information on the mecha-
nism during the repeated impact process. Simple design formulae based on rigid, perfectly plastic analysis
are reviewed to provide useful information for the preliminary design of marine structures. Examples of
application are also given. In particular, comments are offered on the material elasticity, which plays an
important role in the pseudo-shakedown analysis. This information is useful in the design of marine and
ocean structures subjected to repeated mass impacts resulting from for instance, supply vessels and ice floes.

1 INTRODUCTION Zhu and Faulkner (1996) first proposed a sim-

There are many realistic cases for naval architec-
ture and ocean engineering structures subjected
to repeated impacts caused by slamming, colli-
sions, grounding and ice contact. The structural
behaviour under repeated dynamic loadings has
attracted the attention of many naval architects
and ship designers.
Recently, the mechanism of pseudo-shakedown
phenomenon, for dynamic pressure pulses, has
been reviewed for the mass impact loads of plat-
ing by Jones (2014b). The phenomenon of pseudo-
shakedown was introduced by Jones (1973) for a
rigid, perfectly plastic rectangular plate subjected
to repeated identical slamming pressure. It was
observed that, under certain circumstances that the
displacement of a rigid, perfectly plastic structure
would not then grow for further repetitions of the
same dynamic pressure pulse, i.e., when no energy
can be absorbed by the structure under repeated
identical pressure pulses. This behaviour is termed
pseudo-shakedown. A conjecture for the pseudo-
shakedown phenomenon of rigid, perfectly plastic
beams and plates, which are subjected to repeated
rectangular-shaped pressure pulses, has been illus-
trated by Shen & Jones (1992).
plified impact model in which a fully clamped
plate is subjected to repeated lateral impacts by a
travelling mass. This model was used to study the
deformation damage of plating on a column of a
semi-submersible platform subjected to repeated
impacts from a drifting supply vessel. However,
due to the fact that different ranges of the dimen-
sionless kinetic energy have been investigated in the
open literature, no firm conclusions on the pseu-
do-shakedown phenomenon for the repeated mass
impacts can be obtained until now. The repeated
loading effects on the structural response have not
yet been explicitly taken into account in relevant
classification societies’ rules.
This paper surveys the experimental, numerical
and theoretical investigations that have been per-
formed on the structural design against repeated
impacts. In the literature, the investigated compo-
nents include beams (Cho et al., 2014), plates (Zhu
1990, Zhu & Faulkner 1996, Huang et  al., 2000,
Zhu 2014, Jones 2014b, Zhu et al., 2015) and steel
grillages (Truong et  al., 2016). The experimental
details can provide much useful and reliable infor-
mation for the mechanism of repeated impacts,
and also be used to validate the numerical and
theoretical analyses.

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 This survey on a combination of the three meth-
ods can provide a overall picture of the repeated
impact process and be useful to the preliminary
design of structural components subjected to
repeated impacts resulting from for instance, sup-
ply vessels and ice floes. Moreover, the material
properties are highlighted in this research on the
structural response under repeated impacts.

2 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

Experiments have been conducted to study the

structural behaviour under repeated impacts,
which can be classified into two main types: (1) the
horizontal impact test and (2) the drop test. Experi- Figure  1. The sketch of the horizontal experimental
mental details can be found in the cited references. setup at Wuhan University of Technology.

2.1 Horizontal impact test

Back in the early 90 s, Zhu (1990) conducted exper-
iments on fully clamped rectangular aluminium
and steel plates subjected to lateral wedge impacts
repeatedly. In the experiments, a rigid wedge travel-
ling along horizontal rails hits the tested plate at its
centre. Thus, the influence of the gravity and a sec-
ond impact could be avoided. When rebounding
after impact the striker was hold onto by the string
to avoid an immediate, successive second impact
with a lower velocity.
The mass range of the striker can be varied from
15 kg to 60 kg. Experimental work was carried out
on the steel plate subjected to identical repeated
impacts up to 17 times until obvious rupture was
observed at the two ends of the denting line. Some
experimental results and discussions were reported Figure 2. Experiments of the repeated impact loadings
by Zhu & Faulkner (1996). It was noticed from on the Drop Hammer Rig (Huang et al., 2000).
the experiments that the amplitude acceleration
increased with the increase of impact numbers,
but the overall response time became shorter and The plate impact tests were carried out on the
shorter. Moreover, it has been found that despite Drop Hammer Rig, as shown in Figure  2. For
smaller and smaller increments of the permanent each plate specimen, the striker with a mass of
deflection with increase of impact numbers, the 9.14  Kg hit the plate centre repeatedly form the
pseudo-shakedown phenomenon didn't occur until same drop height along vertical slide guides. A
the plate failed by rupture. series of tests have been conducted with different
Recently, a similar experimental setup (Fig.  1) initial velocities ranging between 3.13 and 7.0 m/s.
has been designed and built at Wuhan Univer- However, the information about how to catch the
sity of Technology to study the dynamic response striker after the previous impact in the experi-
of unstiffened and stiffened plate with different ments was not mentioned in the paper. It was
aspect ratios under repeated impacts from a rigid observed for most test cases, no pseudo-shake-
mass or a crushable ice. down had happened in a plate, as reported by Zhu
& Faulkner (1996) except in some special cases at
low impact velocities. Comparative parallel quasi-
2.2 Drop test
static cyclic loading tests were conducted as well.
Huang et  al. (2000) performed the experiments on It was found that the elastic energy increases with
fully clamped circular made from the aluminium alloy the increase of the transverse deflections for the
and square plates made from mild steel subjected to tested plates under repeated impacts. Huang et al.
repeated impact from a hemispherical-header striker. (2000) pointed out that the value of the maximum

592

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 592 3/29/2017 9:41:18 AM

 elastic energy can be defined as a threshold value to
investigate the pseudo-shakedown phenomenon.
Cho et al. (2014) and Truong et al. (2016) per-
formed experimental investigations on the effect of
repeated impacts on the response of steel beams
and steel grillages at room and sub-zero tempera-
tures, using the drop testing machine. It was found
that the permanent deflections at low temperature
are smaller than those at room temperature. No
pseudo-shakedown phenomenon was observed for
the structures in the experimental investigations.
3 NUMERICAL METHOD
Nowadays, the numerical method is an important
design tool to predict the structural behaviour for
the analysis of structural crashworthiness in many
practical engineering fields.
Based on a numerical approach developed by
Zhu & Faulkner (1991) using the Variational Finite
Difference Method (VFDM), Zhu (2014) applied
this approach to the structural dynamic response
under repeated impact. It stressed the importance
of the membrane effects and elastic rebound. It was
pointed out that the accumulated elastic rebound
energy in each impact, if neglected, can lead to
significant over-prediction of structural deforma-
tion in the occasions of the repeated impacts. The
physics of the repeated impact problem was dis-
cussed and found the mechanism of the stiffness
change in each of the repeated impacts, as shown
in Figure  3, in which F is the impact force and
Wc /H is the dimensionless central deflection. It has
been observed that at the beginning of the second
impact the F vs Wc /H curve rises along the unload-
ing curve of the first impact. With the increase of
impact number, the slope of the unloading curve at
second impact K23 is steeper than the correspond-
ing one in the first impact K12. This may be due
to the accumulation of plastic deformation (Zhu
Figure  3. The mechanism of the stiffness change for
repeated impact (Zhu 2014).
593
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 593
2014) and the increase of membrane forces (Zhu &
Faulkner 1996; Huang et al., 2000).
The FE analysis has also been performed for
the repeated impact process using the commer-
cial package LS-DYNA (Seifried et al., 2005) and
ABAQUS (Cho et al., 2014, Truong et al., 2016),
which are appropriate for the analysis of structures
subjected to repeated impacts.
It is well-known that there are uncertainties in
the actual experiments, and appropriate param-
eters must be carefully set up in order to provide
good predictions of structural response when
using the numerical method. Taken as an example,
the modelling of an actual boundary condition has
been extensively studied by Villavicencio & Guedes
Soares (2011) due to its great influence on the
accuracy of numerical results. Certainly, there are
some key points required particularly for a reliable
estimation of structural behaviour under repeated
impacts. In this paper, two parameters - damping
effect and material properties are highlighted for
the repeated impacts problem.
3.1 Damping effect
In almost all the ideal results of non-linear dynam-
ics analysis programs, the structural deflections
oscillate with the same magnitude after the elastic
rebound, which makes it difficult to select the per-
manent state. What’s more, the elastic vibration
has an great influence on the structural behaviour
subjected to the subsequent impact, which is par-
ticularly significant in the research of pseudo-
shakedown phenomenon, as pointed out by Shen
& Jones (1992). In the actual conditions, with the
lapse of time, the magnitude of the elastic vibration
becomes smaller and smaller due to damping effects,
and finally, a stable residual state can be achieved. In
the numerical analysis, in order to speed up this pro-
cess to approach a static equilibrium state, the arti-
ficial damping should been adopted, as performed
by Zhu & Faulkner (1996) and Truong et al. (2016).
3.2 Strain-rate sensitivity
The strain rate sensitivity behaviour of the material
has a significant effect on the structural dynamic
behaviour for the strain rate sensitive materials. In
order to predict the dynamic flow stresses σd, which
is a function of the strain rate, the Cowper-Symonds
constitutive equations was introduced, which is
1
σd ⎛ ε ⎞ q
α= = 1+ ⎜ ⎟ (1)
σs ⎝ D⎠
where σs is the associated static flow stresses; ε is
the strain rate; and D and q are material constants.
3/29/2017 9:41:19 AM
 It is evident from Equation 1 that three param-
eters including the two material constants D and
q, and the strain rate are required to obtain the
dynamic yield stress. It is important to obtain the
Cowper-Symonds constants for the specific mate-
rial in any particular structural design, since the
coefficients in the constitutive equations may have
a restricted range of validity (Jones 2014a). The two
coefficients q and D are dependent on material types,
and different values have been found to describe the
influence of material strain rate sensitivity for mild
and high-tensile steels in experimental programmes
(Jones 2014b, Paik, 2007). The two coefficients
adopted in the published literature for mild or high-
tensile steels are summarised by Paik (2007).
Based on the membrane solution, Jones (2014b)
proposed some theoretical formulae to estimate
the average strain rate of plating subjected to large
dynamic loadings.
Moreover, the large plastic strains cause a
reduction in the material strain rate effect (Jones
2012). Thus, as the strain increases for subsequent
impacts, the value of D should increase together
with a decreasing value of q. It is evident that these
adjustments for each impact would complicate
the numerical analysis. Hence, the sensitivity of
the two material constants should be analysed to
determine their values in a particular study.
4 THEORETICAL METHOD
4.1 Rigid, perfectly plastic method
Based on the rigid, perfectly plastic analysis, Zhu
& Faulkner (1996) proposed some formulae to
predict the response of fully clamped rectangular
plates subjected to repeated impacts at the plate
centre. It provides information on the transverse
permanent deflection, impact duration, veloc-
ity and acceleration as well as the interaction
force. For example, for the ith identical repeated
impacts, the total maximum permanent deflection
is expressed as:
d2 i V0 2 − d
ihV
Wip = (2)
h (2014) investigated another possible practical
where
8M ( L − Btg
tg B t )
Bctg
h= (3)
⎡ 2 ⎤
HB ⎢ m0 μ B ( L − Btg
B )⎥
⎣ 3 ⎦ remains at the plate centre. Explicit analytical solu-
4M ( L + Bctg
g )
d =− (4)
⎡ 2 ⎤
B m0 + μ B ( L − Btg
Bt ) ⎥
⎣ 3 ⎦ by Huang et al. (2000).
594
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 594
The strain-rate sensitivity is included for the
mild steel material by adopting the strain-rate sen-
sitivity factor through the Cowper-Symonds equa-
tions (Zhu et  al., 1994). It should be mentioned
that the strain-hardening effect and rebound effect
are neglected in the theoretical analysis. Thus, the
theoretical solutions will overestimate the maxi-
mum permanent deflection with the increase of
the impact numbers. The theoretical solutions sup-
port the experimental observations that no pseudo-
shakedown phenomenon occurs for repeated
impacted plates, since some energy will always be
absorbed by the plates for each impact in the exper-
imental cases reported by Zhu & Faulkner (1996).
Based on this theoretical work, according to
two different design requirements, design curves
and design formulae were both given to design the
plate thickness of ice-classed ships under repeated
impacts from drifting ice (Zhu et  al., 2015). An
illustrative example was given for the application
in the plate design of ice-classed ships. The design
curve is shown in Figure 4 together with the design
formulae Equation (5) for the first design require-
ment of W2f /H = 1.50, where W2f /H is the dimen-
sionless final deflection at the centre of plating
under two identical impacts. It has been shown that
the explicit design formulae are straightforward
and easy to use in ice Rules, which can provide use-
ful information to structural strength design for
repeated impact problem.
⎧ q p3 q 2 3 q p3 q 2
⎪3 − + + + − − + Δ>0
⎪ 2 27 4 2 27 4
⎪ 3q
H =⎨ Δ=0
⎪p
⎪ ⎛θ ⎞ ⎛ ⎛θ ⎞⎞
⎪ − p / 3 cos ⎜⎝ 3 ⎟⎠ ⎜⎝1 + 3 ta Δ<0
t n⎜ ⎟⎟
⎩ ⎝ 3⎠⎠
(5)
where the complete expressions of parameters in
Equation (5) can be found in the reference (Zhu
et al., 2015).
In addition to the cases where the rigid mass
is removed from plating after each impact, Jones
loading scenario when a rigid mass remains on
the bottom plate for each impact with two extreme
idealization cases: (1) rigid mass remains at the
plate centre for each impact and (2) all the impact
masses are spread out uniformly over a plate,
except for the current mass which impacts and
tions were given for both scenarios, which turn out
smaller predictions for the maximum permanent
deflection than those experimental results reported
3/29/2017 9:41:19 AM

Figure  4. Design curve for plate thickness under two
identical repeated impacts (Zhu et al., 2015).
4.2 Elastic-plastic theoretical analysis
Concerning the particular cases of low-speed
repeated impacts from a heavy striker, Huang
et  al. (2000) proposed an elastic-plastic theoreti-
cal method to analyse the permanent deflections
of repeatedly impacted plates, however, without
explicit formulae. In this approach, the energy—
deformation curves were obtained from the paral-
lel quasi-static cyclic loading experiments. Good
agreement with experimental results has been
reached for plate specimens made from aluminum
alloy under repeated impacts. However, the theoret-
ical predictions of permanent deflections are larger
than the experimental results for the steel plates,
probably since the strain-rate sensitivity effects was
not accounted for in the quasi-static experiments.
It was found from the elastic-plastic theoreti-
cal analysis that the pseudo-shakedown phenom-
enon can be achieved if the kinetic energy is less
than the maximum elastic energy absorbed by the
structures.
By removing the elastic energy obtained from
the quasi-static tests reported by Huang et  al.
(2000), Jones (2014) improved the theoretical pro-
cedure based on rigid, perfectly plastic method.
5 PSEUDO-SHAKEDOWN PHENOMENON
It could be found from the open literature that in
the experimental cases studied by Zhu & Faulkner
(1996), the striker has rather large dimensionless
impact energies, λ  =  m0V02/2σ0H3, approximately
ranging from 40 to 130, which might have exceeded
the maximum elastic strain energy absorption of
the plate specimens. Thus, no pseudo-shakedown
phenomenon was observed in the experiments.
By contrast, for the repeated impact loading on
595
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 595
the square steel plates with smaller λ less than 14
corresponding to lower drop heights in experi-
ments reported by Huang et al. (2000), the pseudo-
shakedown state was achieved. It is evident that the
maximum elastic energy plays a significant role in
the investigation on the pseudo-shakedown phe-
nomenon and the preliminary design of plating of
marine structures subjected to transverse repeated
impacts. Nevertheless, Jones (2014) concluded
that for many practical cases, the external impact
energy would be larger than the maximum elastic
energy, thus a pseudo-shakedown condition would
not be achieved.
By comparing these experimental cases of repeated
impacts, it can be concluded that the material elastic-
ity has a significant effect on whether the pseudo-
shakedown state can be reached for a structure under
transverse or longitudinal repeated impacts.
6 CONCLUDING REMARKS
In this paper, the experimental, numerical and
theoretical work has been reviewed to explore the
mechanism of the pseudo-shakedown phenom-
enon for identical repeated mass impact load-
ings. Two different experimental methods are
summarised, along with some useful information
observed in the experiments. More detailed infor-
mation on the mechanism of stiffness change and
stress and strain distributions during the repeated
impact process can be provided with the aid of the
numerical tools.
Simplified formulae which are the most rapid
tool for the preliminary design of plating of marine
structures under repeated impacts, are compared
with the numerical and experimental results. The
influences of the material properties, such as the
strain rate sensitivity and material elasticity on
the accuracy of the theoretical analysis have been
assessed.
All of the work on numerical modelling, experi-
mental investigation and theoretical analysis enable
one to gain a better understanding of the pseudo-
shakedown phenomenon. The material elasticity
which plays an important role in the structural
response under repeated impacts is highlighted.
This investigation would lead to the improve-
ment of design for marine structures which are
prone to damage under repeated mass impacts, for
instance, from the ice floes and/or other vessels.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by the Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51579199) and
the Wuhan University of Technology start up
3/29/2017 9:41:20 AM
 fund for Distinguished Professors (Grant No.
471-40120163).
REFERENCES
Cho, S.R., Truong, D.D & Shin, H.K. 2014. Repeated
lateral impacts on steel beams at room and sub-zero
temperatures. International Journal of Impact Engi-
neering 72: 75–84.
Huang, Z.Q, Chen, Q.S & Zhang, W.T. 2000. Pseudo-
shakedown in the collision mechanics of ships. Inter-
national Journal of Impact Engineering 24(1): 19–31.
Jones, N. 1973. Slamming damage. Journal of Ship
Research 17(2): 80–6.
Jones, N. 2012. Impact loading of ductile rectangular
plates. Thin-Walled Structures 50: 68–75.
Jones, N. 2014a. Pseudo-shakedown phenomenon for the
mass impact loading of plating. International Journal
of Impact Engineering 65: 33–39.
Jones, N. 2014b. Dynamic inelastic response of strain rate
sensitivity ductile plates due to large impact, dynamic
pressure and explosive loadings. International Journal
of Impact Engineering 74: 3–15.
Paik, J.K. 2007. Practical techniques for finite element
modeling to simulate structural crashworthiness in
ship collisions and grounding (part 1: theory). Ship
and Offshore Structures 2(1): 69–80.
Seifried, R., Schiehlen, W. & Eberhard, P. 2005. Numeri-
cal and experimental evaluation of the coefficient of
restitution for repeated impacts. International Journal
of Impact Engineering 23: 508–524.
Shen, W.Q. & Jones, N. 1992. The pseudo-shakedown of
beams and plates when subjected to repeated dynamic
loads. Journal of Applied Mechanics 59(1): 168–75.
Truong, D.D., Kumar, R., Kim, D.J., Shin, H.K. & Cho,
S.R. 2016. Plastic response of steel grillages subjected
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 596
to repeated mass impacts. Proceedings of the 7th Inter-
national Conference on Collision and Grounding of
Ships and Structures, ICCGS, Ulsan, Korea, 173–182.
Truong, D.D., Shin, H.K. & Cho, S.R. 2016. Dynamic
response of steel grillages under repeated mass impacts
at low temperatures. Proceedings of PRADS, 4th-8th,
September, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Villavicencio, R., Guedes Soares, C. 2011. Numeri-
cal modelling of the boundary conditions on beams
struck transversely by a mass. International Journal of
Impact Engineering 38(5): 384–396.
Zhu, L. 1990. Dynamic inelastic behaviour of ship
plates in collision. Ph. D thesis, Department of Naval
Architecture and Ocean Engineering, University of
Glasgow.
Zhu, L. & Faulkner, D. 1991. Numerical modelling of
dynamic inelastic response of clamped rectangular
plates impacted by a knife edge indentor. Journal of
Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering (ASME)
113: 312–319.
Zhu, L. & Faulkner, D. 1996. Damage estimate for plat-
ing of ships and platforms under repeated impacts.
Marine Structure 9(7): 697–720.
Zhu, L., Faulkner, D. & Atkins, A.G. 1994. The impact
of rectangular plates made from strain-rate sensitive
materials. International Journal of Impact Engineering
15(3): 243–55.
Zhu, L. 2014. Modeling of repeated impacts on ships
and offshore platforms. Proceedings of International
Conference on Safety & Reliability of Ship, Offshore
& Subsea Structures, Glasgow, UK.
Zhu, L., Shi. S.Y. & Yu, T.X. 2015. A new ice load-
response model for structural design of ice classed
ships. Proceedings of the 25th International Ocean and
Polar Engineering Conference, Hawaii, USA.
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 Welded structures

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Determination of the double-ellipsoid heat source parameters

for the numerical simulation of a welding process

J.H. Chujutalli & S.F. Estefen

Ocean Engineering Department—COPPE-Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

ABSTRACT: In numerical simulations of the welding process, the transient temperature distribution
in the space is strongly influenced by the size of the double-ellipsoid heat source, defined by Goldak’s
parameters, which is often obtained by trial and error until get required size. This work proposes a method
to estimate the heat source parameters, which combines analytical formulation, experimental data, and
numerical simulations. Facchinotti analytical formulation is employed to determine isotherms in the
space, where peak temperature values and weld bead size are obtained for an isotherm associated with the
melting temperature of the base material. Experimental data of the welding process and the bead weld size
are input data in the algorithm. A numerical model has been developed for the calibration and validation
of the model. The parameters obtained by the proposed method are validated by correlating numerical
and experimental results from tests of a single weld bead, showing good agreement.

1 INTRODUCTION Nguyen et  al. (1999) developed an analytically

Welding process with high deposition rate, such as
FCAW, GMAW and SAW, are gaining space on
shipbuilding and offshore construction due to the
potential for automation, among other benefits
(Hang et al. 2009). Many authors have studied these
welding processes to predict the phenomena and
optimize the process parameters for the minimiza-
tion of residual stresses and distortions (Aloraier &
Joshi 2012). Analytical equations, experimental
test, and numerical models are the tools most com-
monly used in these studies, in which modeling by
finite element method is considered the most effec-
tive tool (Mackerle 1996). The numerical simula-
tion of a welding process consists coupling of the
thermal and the mechanical models (Feng 2005).
When the effect of the mechanical model of the
thermal analysis is negligible, the analysis can be
performed separately (Cheng et al. 2011). Due the
stresses and deformations are a consequence of the
thermal history, the analyses are executed sequen-
tially, first the thermal analysis and subsequently
the mechanical analysis.
In the thermal model, the arc welding is simu-
lated by a heat source in motion, which generates
a transient temperature distribution in the space.
Double-ellipsoid three-dimensional heat source in
the movement to calculate the temperature field
was introduced first by Goldak et al. (1984). Due
to its versatility, it is commonly used in the simula-
tion of the heat source for welding processes such
as FCAW, GMAW, and SAW.
closed form for this type of heat source, showing
that the model can be used for the prediction of
weld bead geometry and the calculation of residual
stresses (Nguyen et al. 2004). A more precise solu-
tion was obtained by Facchinotti et al. (2011).
The Goldak’s parameters are characteristics of
the welding process parameters. Thermal gradients
and temperature distribution can be obtained by
adjusting these parameters. An accurate simula-
tion will present the difficulty in adjusting some
parameters to obtain a suitable temperature dis-
tribution. A trial and error calibration is often
applied (Song et  al. 2003). For example, in (Bate
et  al. 2009) the Gaussian parameters that appro-
priately described the heat source are adjusted
iteratively to produce a cross section of the weld
bead similar to the one obtained by micrography.
Jia et al. (2014) related the heat source parameters
and welding pool characteristics (width and depth
of the weld bead and peak temperature) through
of the multiple regression analysis and the partial
least-squares regression analysis, but it is a welding
process specific. Fu et al. (2014) have developed a
neural network program based on the Levenberg-
Marquardt algorithm for the prediction of Goldak
double-ellipsoid model parameters. The algorithm
was calibrated based on published numerical and
experimental results, and satisfactory results were
obtained.
In this study, the parameters of the double-
ellipsoid heat source are determined from the iso-
therms. These isotherms are obtained by solving

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 the analytical equations proposed by Facchinotti,
determining the relationship between the geomet-
ric features of the weld bead (maximum width and
depth), the peak temperature, and its relationship
with the heat source parameters for a GMAW
welding process. The results will be discussed for
numerical models in 2D and 3D.
2 HEAT SOURCE
Q is the arc heat input (Q  =  ηIV ), where η is
the arc efficiency and V, and I are the voltage and
current of the arc, respectively. v is the speed of
welding and t is the travel time of the welding. ff
and fr are proportionality coefficients in the front
and back of the ellipsoid, respectively. Lundback
(2003) proposes to assume ff = (2af)/(af + ar) and fr =
(2ar)/(af + ar) to guarantee a continuous volume of
the heat source.

Hashemzadeh et  al. (2014) studied the effect of 3 TRANSIENT TEMPERATURE FIELD
three of heat input on the behavior of finite element
model of three dimensional elastic-plastic analysis The heat conduction in a homogeneous solid is
of welded plates, confirming that double-ellipsoid governed by the following linear partial differential
heat source had good agreement in the results. equation:
Double-ellipsoid heat source model proposed
by Goldak et  al. (1984) can be used to simulate ⎛ ∂ 2T ∂ 2T ∂ 2T ⎞ ∂T
welding processes such as FCAW, GMAW, and k ⎜ 2 + 2 + 2 ⎟ + q = ρc (3)
SAW. The distribution of the heat density in the ⎝ ∂x ∂y ∂z ⎠ ∂t
front of and rear or half-ellipsoid in W/m3 at a
point in space (x, y, z) at time t, are described by where T = T (x, y, z, t) is the temperature at point
Equation 1 and 2, respectively. (x, y, z) and time t, q is the heat source, ρ is the
density, c is the heat capacity, k is the thermal
6 3 ffQ conductivity.
q f ( x, y z , t ) = Nguyen et  al. (1999) developed a closed form
a f bcπ π solution of the three-dimensional thermal conduc-
(1)
⎛ ⎛ ( z vt z )
2
⎛ y2 ⎞ ⎛ x 2 ⎞ ⎞ ⎞
tion problem for a simple Goldak ellipsoid heat
x ⎜ −3 ⎜
exp + ⎜ 2 ⎟ + ⎜ 2 ⎟⎟⎟ source. Subsequently, he presented an extension of
⎜⎝ ⎝ a 2f ⎝ b ⎠ ⎝ c ⎠ ⎠ ⎟⎠ the solution to the double-ellipsoid model (Nguyen
et al., 2004). The solution was obtained by integra-
6 3 fr Q tion of the ellipsoid heat source through volume at
qr ( x, y z,t ) =
ar b c π π an instant of time. Fachinotti et al. (2011) proposed
⎛ ⎛ ( z vt z (2) a more precise solution for the latter, as follows:
) ⎛ y2 ⎞ ⎛ x 2 ⎞ ⎞ ⎞
2

x ⎜ −3 ⎜
exp + ⎜ 2 ⎟ + ⎜ 2 ⎟⎟⎟
⎜⎝ ⎝ ar2 ⎝ b ⎠ ⎝ c ⎠ ⎠ ⎟⎠
3 3 Q
T ( x, y z,t ) T0 +
π π ρc
where af, ar, b, and c are the four variables that
⎛ 3x 2 3 y2 ⎞
define the heat source through of the semi-axes of x ⎜−
exp −
the ellipsoid. The coordinate system considered for t ⎝ 12 k ( )
t − t b 2
12 k ( −t
t ) c 2 ⎟⎠
the heat source is shown in Figure 1, where the Z ∫0
12 k ( − )+ 2
k( − ) + c2
(4)
axis is in the direction of welding progress, Y axis
is in the depth direction and X axis in the width ⎡ fr Ar
⎣ ( − r ) + ff f ( )
1 − B f ⎤⎦
direction.
where:

⎛ 3 ( z vt′ ) ⎞
x ⎜−
exp ⎟
⎝ 12 k (t − t ) ai 2 ⎠
Ai =
12 k (t − t ) ai 2

⎛a z − vt ′ ⎞
Bi = erf ⎜ i ⎟
⎝2 k (t − t ) k (t t ) + ai ⎠
2

Figure  1. Coordinate system considered for the heat the index i may be replaced by f or r in the front
source. and rear, respectively.

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 3.1 Analytical model
In this study, a code in MATLAB (2009) was pre-
pared to define the isotherms for a temperature to
a certain time in different planes and axes using
Equation  4. Considering the coordinate system in
the Figure 1, for certain time instant, the distribu-
tion of temperature in planes XY, XZ and YZ can
be obtained. The maximum size of the weld bead
is defined by calculating the isotherms associated
to melting temperature of the base material (Tf =
1450°C). The peak temperature (Tp) is obtained
through temperature profile in the Z-axis and when
X = Y = 0. For the calculation of the half width (Wm)
of the weld bead, it is considered the Tf isothermal
Figure  3. Isotherms of temperature Tf and A1 in the
in the plane XZ (Y = 0) and calculate the maximum
YZ plane.
distance in the X-axes. Similarly, Tf isothermal in
the plane YZ (X = 0), defines the maximum depth
of the weld (Pm). Figures 2–3 show the isotherms for
A1 (phase transformation temperature) and Tf, used
to determine the width and depth of the weld bead
and the HAZ, respectively.
In the analytical model the physical properties were
considered to be independent of the temperature,
such as density ρ = 7820 kg/m3, specific heat c = 600 J/
kg°C and thermal conductivity k  =  29  W/m°C.
The initial temperature (room temperature) was
assumed to be the same obtained experimentally.
In order to reduce the number of variables that
define the heat source (af, ar, b and c) to af and b,
the size of the rear ellipsoid heat source is assumed
four times the front part (ar = 4 af) and that the
transversal size of the ellipsoid is equal to the size
of the front part (af = c). A range of possible values
of Goldak’s parameters set for the analyses limiting
af to the range of 2 to 6 mm and b to the range of Figure 4. Maximum depth (Pm) versus b curves for dif-
10 to 35 mm. ferent af values.
Curves of the maximum depth (Pm), maximum
width (Wm) a peak temperature (Tp) can be con-
be concluded that, for a given Pm there are several
structed for different values of af and b parame-
possible sets of values of af and b that satisfy the
ters. An example is shown in Figure 4, where can
equations.
In the thermal analysis, a widely used method
is to compare the geometry of the simulated weld
pool with macrographs of the weld bead section
but it is not enough to ensure the correct thermal
distribution. Chujutalli et  al. (2016) proposed a
method that give closed results when comparing
width and depth of the weld bead size, and add-
ing a parameter such as a peak temperature (Tp) of
the weld pool. The later parameter is very difficult
to determinate experimentally. In this study not
only the geometry is compared, but Tp of a known
point was considered as a factor in determining the
heat source parameters. The goal is to determine
the values of these heat source parameters, which
results in Tp, Wm, and Pm close to the experiments
Figure 2. Isotherms of temperature Tf and A1 in the XZ resulting in a similar distribution of transient tem-
plane. perature in space.

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 4 EXPERIMENTAL TEST 4.2 Weld bead size
A summary of the geometric characteristics of the
The experimental test consists in the deposition of
weld bead obtained are presented in Table 2, and
the single weld bead on naval steel plate (ASTM-
shown in Figure 6.
A131-AH36), with the goal to get weld bead size
and thermal cycles at some points for the studied
cases. The dimension of the test specimen was 4.3 Temperature measurement
180 × 120 × 19 mm, as shown in Figure 5, and the
Temperature measurements were performed using
weld bead length was not less to 100 mm.
thermocouples type K welded on the plate surface.
The thermocouples were welded at different dis-
4.1 Welding processes tances from centerline of weld bead corresponding
to 15, 17 and 22 mm. They were connected to an
The welding process is the GMAW with shielding
acquisition system to register the transient temper-
gas composition of 100% CO2. Process parameters
atures during the welding process.
employed in this case study are summarized in
Table 1.
5 NUMERICAL SIMULATION

In order to check the relationship of the geomet-

ric parameters of the weld bead with the heat
source parameters FE models are proposed for
the numerical simulations in 2D and 3D analyses,
using the commercial software ABAQUS (2013).
The FE model consisted of single weld bead being
deposited in the center of parent material with
the distance from welding start to stop of 40 mm
approximately from each end of the substrate plate.
The model has a length of 180 mm, the half width
Figure 5. Test specimens dimension (in mm). is 60 mm and thickness of 19 mm.
For the 2D analysis the elements DC2D8 type
Table 1. Welding parameters used in the experiment.
were used, a quadratic heat transfer quadrilateral
element with eight nodes. For the 3D analysis the ele-
Current Voltage Welding speed ments DC3D8 type were used, a linear heat transfer
Case (A) (V) (mm/s) brick element with eight nodes. Both analyses were
modeled for only half of the plate, applying symme-
TS-1 234.5 22.5 3.75 try in order to reduce the computational time.
Both model meshes were developed with smaller
elements (1  mm size) located close to the weld
Table 2. Geometric characteristics of the weld bead. bead, in order to capture the high temperature
gradients. The size of the elements was ampli-
Width Depth Bead height
fied as the distance from the centerline increases.
Case (mm) (mm) (mm)
The bead height for both models was modeled.
TS-1 13.36 2.01 4.00 Figure 7 shows the mesh used for the models in the

Figure 7. Mesh used for the model in 2D analysis and

Figure 6. Weld bead size in mm of the TS-01. boundary conditions.

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 2D analysis with boundary conditions assumed,
similarly for the model 3D, which has a special
mesh as shown in the Figure 8.
The thermal properties dependent on the tem-
perature were provided to the numerical models as
shown in Figure 9. The base material and the weld
were assumed to have the same physical and ther-
mal properties. The material density is the same for
both numerical and analytical models.
In this study, the latent heat is assumed to be
270  kJ/kg, and the solid and liquid temperatures
1450 and 1500°C, respectively.
The coefficients for the boundary conditions
applied on the board of the free surface were 20
W/m2 K for the convection and 0.8 the emissivity
for the radiation and the Stefan-Boltzmann con-
stant 5.6710−8 W/m2 K4. The ambient tempera-
ture for the numerical and analytical analyses was
assumed 31.2°C, the same values gotten from the
experimental tests.
To simulate the arc moving at a specified speed,
the density of volumetric heat flux applied to a
certain area is implemented by ABAQUS (2013)
by the subroutine DFLUX, inserting the Goldak’s
parameters. The efficiency of the process η was
considered 0.9.
Figure 8. Mesh used for the model in 3D analysis.
Figure 9. Thermal properties (Camilleri et al. 2013).
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6 METHODOLOGY
The methodology developed for the prediction
of the double ellipsoid heat source parameters is
divided into two stages. The initial stage is used
for the model calibration, and the final stage is to
check final results.
6.1 Initial stage: Model calibration
Initially, the isotherms and temperature profile are
calculated to determine the geometric characteristics
and peak temperatures by solving the equation pro-
posed by Fachinotti (Equation 4). The input data are
the parameters of the welding process (welding speed
and arc heat input) and material properties (ρ, c and
k), being considered as independent of temperature.
In this study, Pm is defined as the maximum dis-
tance on the isotherm at the Tf in the ZY plane and
X = 0. Similarly, Wm is defined when X equals to
the half width of the weld bead and when the peak
of the temperature profile at this point is Tf. The
calculated distance and interpolations were made
through a code developed in MATLAB, for a set
of values of af and b.
The experimental width and depth of the weld
bead are inserted in the curve to obtain the set of
all possible values of af and b that provide the same
value. The curves of the half width and depth of
the weld bead, both as a function of the param-
eters af and b are plotted together, as shown in
Figure  10, and the intersection of these curves
define the first trial parameters of the heat source.
A diagram of the initial stage of the procedure is
shown in Figure 11.
6.2 Final stage: Check the final results
In the Finite Element Model (FEM) are entered the
boundary conditions and the physical properties,
which here are considered temperature dependent.
Figure 10. Intersection of curves Wm and Pm as a func-
tion of af and b.
3/29/2017 9:41:25 AM
 First trial parameters af, ar, b, and c are entered
in the FEM through the subroutine DFLUX, for
the simulation of the heat source.
The error is calculated by comparing the
numerical experimental values for Wm and Pm. It
is considered to be derived from the calibration
of the analytical and numerical models due to
the simplifications adopted in both models. For
example, the physical and mechanical properties
are independent of temperature in the analytical
model. Another consideration is the heat losses
by radiation and convection, which differentiates
the analytical model. These are taken into account
in the numerical model. Finally, the physical and
mechanical properties are the same as the base
material and the support material.
The corrected parameters (Wm, Pm) are entered
again in the analytical model, repeating the pre-
vious steps to obtain the final parameters of the
heat source. The temperature (Tp) gotten at a point
by the thermocouple should be compared with
the result from the numerical model. In case the
Figure 11. Initial stage of the methodology.
error tolerance has not been achieved the param-
eters should be corrected again and the procedure
repeated until the error tolerance is reached. Usu-
ally, only two iterations are enough to reach the
minimum error. The layout of the final stage is
presented in Figure 12.
7 RESULTS
The results of thermal analysis such as transient
temperature distribution and thermal gradients
are sensitive to the dimensions of the heat source
and its speed. To ensure that the thermal analysis
in the numerical model is appropriate, the size of
the weld pool and the peak temperature at a point
during the welding process must be close to the
experimental values.
Tables  3 and 4  summarize the results for the
case study using the proposed methodology for 2D
and 3D analyses, respectively. In first column the
parameters of the welding process to be compared
(Pm and Wm) are indicated. The second column
shows the values obtained from the experiments
used as reference and the third column the results
from the numerical model obtained in the initial
stage. The error when the numerical results are
compared with the experiments is in the fourth col-
umn. Then, the adjusted experimental values and
the last two columns show the numerical results for
the final stage with respective errors.
Geometric characteristics of the fusion pools
from the 2D and 3D numerical models are shown in
Figures 13 and 14, respectively. In Figure 14 maxi-
mum depth and width are not in the same plane.
The melting zone is characterized by the gray zone,
which indicates temperature over Tf .
In addition to determine the appropriate weld
bead size, the Tp at a known point should be verified

Table 3. Results for 2D analysis (values in mm).

Initial Error Exp. Final Error

Exp. Stage (%) Adjusted Stage (%)

Pm 2.01 2.68 −33.33 1.34 1.90 5.47

Wm 6.68 7.00 −4.79 6.36 6.40 4.19

Table 4. Results for 3D analysis (values in mm).

Exp. Initial Error Exp. Final Error

(mm) Stage (%) Adjusted Stage (%)

Pm 2.01 2.37 −17.91 1.65 2.17 −7.96

Wm 6.68 6.74 −0.90 6.62 7.00 −4.79
Figure 12. Final stage of the methodology.

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 Figure 15. af versus ΔY for 2D and 3D analysis.

Figure  13. Weld bead in the final stage for the 2D

analysis.

Figure 16. b versus ΔY for 2D and 3D analysis.

Figure  14. Weld bead in the final stage for the 3D

analysis.

in relation to the temperature distribution. In this

case, the Tp at 15  mm from the centerline for the
experimental test was 338.53ºC, compared with
545ºC for the numerical simulation. Based on
many observations it can be assumed that when
the origin position of the heat source is displaced
out of the surface, to keep the weld bead size, the
peak temperature in the fusion pool and the tem-
perature gradient increase. Considering the coordi- Figure  17. Results of Pm versus ΔY for 2D and 3D
nate system in Figure 1, this displacement is in the analysis.
direction Y, which is denominated ΔY. Figures 15
and 16 show the variation of af and b parameters,
respectively, in function of the displacement ΔY,
for both 2D and 3D analyses. It can be observed
that with increment of ΔY, af and b parameters
are reduced to create a greater heat density, conse-
quently higher peak temperature in the fusion zone
and thermal gradients.
Figures  17 and 18  show the results of Pm and
Wm, respectively, versus ΔY for 2D and 3D anal-
yses, comparing with the parameters from the
experimental test. It is noted that for ΔY = 0 mm
the results of Pm and Wm are relatively close to the
experimental vales and they improve in accuracy Figure  18. Results of Wm versus ΔY for 2D and 3D
when ΔY is increased. analysis.

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Figure 19. Tp at 15 mm of the centerline versus ΔY.
Figure  20. Tp versus distance from centerline in X
direction.
Tp at a known point should be to verify in relation
to the temperature distribution. The point is located
on plate surface at 15 mm from the centerline, per-
pendicular to welding direction. Figure  19  shows
the Tp in this point versus ΔY for 2D and 3D analy-
ses. It can be observed that increasing ΔY the peak
temperature is closer to the experimental value.
Tp obtained numerically and experimentally for
different distances from the centerline in X direc-
tion are showed in Figure 20. In general, the agree-
ment is very good.
8 CONCLUSIONS
A method for determining the double-ellipsoid
heat source parameters in the deposition of one
weld bead for GMAW was presented. A correct
thermal distribution was obtained, which is impor-
tant for further simulations involving metallurgical
and mechanical modelling.
The method was able to predict a suitable ther-
mal distribution suitable in the space based on the
correlation between experimental and numerical
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 606
results of the weld bead size and a peak temper-
ature at a known point. Data from experimental
tests showed that the geometric characteristics of
the weld bead and peak temperature can be related
to the heat source parameters through the com-
bination of Fachinotti analytical equation and
numerical models.
In the first stage of the proposed methodology,
numerical models have proven to be a useful tool
for the adjustment of the experimental parameters
(Pm and Wm), and in the second stage, the numeri-
cal models were used to check the final results
with the experimental results and then provide the
Goldak’s parameters for the numerical modeling.
When compared to experimental tests, the pro-
posed methodology showed close results for the
case study. The time consumed to determine the
heat source parameters is reduced when compared
with the parameters determination by trial and
error. In addition, it has been demonstrated that
the heat source parameters for 2D and 3D analyses
are different, being an advantage for the 2D analy-
sis when computer time is compared.
Knowing the peak temperatures at three differ-
ent points were enough to ensure a suitable heat
distribution. The 3D model based on the geometric
characteristics of the weld, defined by the fusion
temperature isotherms, showed that the maximum
depth and width are not in the same plane.
A displacement of the heat source in the vertical
direction, out of the plate surface, was necessary to
get temperature distribution suitable in the space.
This displacement has been estimated as 1 mm for
both 2D and 3D analyses.
REFERENCES
ABAQUS. 2013. Finite element software. User’s Manual.
Karlsson & Sore Inc. (eds).
Aloraier, A.S. & Joshi, S. 2012. Residual stresses in flux
cored arc welding process in bead-on-plate specimens.
Materials Science and Engineering, A(534):13–21.
Bate, K.R. & Charles, R. & Warren, A. 2009. Finite
element analysis of a single bead-on-plate specimen
using SYSWELD. International Journal of Pressure
Vessels and Piping 86:73–78.
Camilleri, D. & McPherson, N. & Gray, T. 2013. The
applicability of using low transformation temperature
welding wire to minimize unwanted residual stresses
and distortions. Int. J. Press. Vessel Piping. 110:2–8.
Chen, B.Q. & Adak, M. & Guedes Soares, C. 2011. Effect
of weld parameters on the temperature-time history
in steel plates. Maritime Technology and Engineering.
London, UK: Taylor and Francis Group.
Chujutalli J.H. & Lourenço M.I. & Estefen S.F. 2016.
Methodology for the determination of heat source
parameters for a FCAW process. Proc. of 13th Inter.
Symposium on PRADS2016. 4th -8th September, 2016,
Copenhagen, Denmark. ISBN: 978-87-7475-473-2.
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 Diniz, C, & Modenesi, P. & Donizete, T. 2011. Caracteri-
zação do cordão na soldagem FCAW com um arame
tubular “Metal cored” (in Portuguese). Soldag. insp.
São Paulo, Vol. 16. No. 3, p. 285–300, July–September.
Fachinotti, V.D. & Anca, A.A. & Cardona, A. 2011.
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moving double-ellipsoidal and double-elliptical heat
sources in a semi-infinite body. International Jour-
nal for Numerical in Biomedical Engineering, Vol
27:595–607.
Feng, Z. 2005. Processes and Mechanisms of Welding
Residual Stress and Distortion. Woodhead Publishing
in Materials. Cambridge England.
Fu, G. & Gu, J. & Lourenço, M.I. & Duan, M. & Este-
fen S.F. 2014. Parameter determination of double-
ellipsoidal heat source model and its application in the
multipass welding process. Ships and Offshore Struc-
tures. 10:204–217.
Goldak, J. & Chakravarti, A. & Bibby, M. 1984. A finite
element model for welding heat sources. Metallurgical
and Materials Transactions B, 15B:299–305.
Han, I.H. & Park, Y.H. & An, G.B. & An, Y.H. 2009.
Development Trends of Steel Plates for Ship Building
and O_-shore Construction and its Weldability. Jour-
nal of KWJS, 27:25–33.
Hashemzadeh, M., Chen, B.C. & Guedes Soares C. 2014.
Comparison between different heat source types in
thin-plate welding simulation. Developments in Mari-
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Guedes Soares & López Peña (Eds), Tatlor & Francis
Group, London, pp. 329–336.
Jia, X. & Liu, Z. & Huang, S. & Fan, Y. & Sun, Z. 2014.
A new method to estimate heat source parameters in
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neering and Design, 89:40–48.
Lundback, A. 2003. Finite element modeling and simula-
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nents. Master’s Thesis, Lulea University Technology,
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Maeda, Y. 1999. Analytical solutions for transient
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moving heat sources”. Welding Research, 265–274.
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Finite element study on the ultimate strength of aluminum plates

joined by friction stir welding

V. Farajkhah & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: Effects of Friction Stir Welding (FSW) on the welding induced initial imperfections and
buckling behavior of aluminum plates are investigated. A 3D, two-step, non-linear, thermo-mechanical
analysis using the finite element code ANSYS was implemented to simulate the FSW butt welding process
in aluminum plates. In the first step of the analysis, the thermal loads due to FSW were simulated and
applied to the models and a transient thermal analysis was performed to calculate the temperature field
history. In the second step, temperature distribution history calculated in the first step as well as the
plunging force due to the FSW tool were applied to the structural model in a series of loads, where
each load step represents an increment in the position of the welding tool. The structural analysis of the
models result in welding induced residual stress, distortion and Heat Affected Zone (HAZ). Following the
simulation of FSW process, compressive loading was applied to the aluminum plates to obtain the load
vs. shortening curves, buckling and post buckling behavior. A parametric study was then carried out to
investigate the effects of FSW induced residual stress, distortion and HAZ on the buckling behavior and
ultimate strength of the aluminum plates under compressive loading.

1 INTRODUCTION

Aluminum has been widely used in ship building

and marine structures since the middle of the 20th
century with an increasing application in high-
speed vessel in the last 20 years. The most important
characteristics of aluminum alloys is their lighter
weight in comparison with steel and other metals.
The lighter weight of the aluminum helps to reduce
the power requirement and increases the achievable
speed and cargo capacity. Furthermore, aluminum
has an excellent corrosion resistance and hence it
requires low maintenance. Meanwhile aluminum
high speed vessels can suffer from fatigue cracking
problems as well as poor structural performance in
the case of fire. Ship hull girders are typically made
of from steel or aluminum plates or stiffened plates
that are mainly designed to resist axial compressive
loading (Aalberg et al. 2001). Analytical and experi-
mental research showed that welding induced resid-
ual stress, distortion and the strength reduction in
the Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) have substantial
effects on the behavior and integrity of welded
structures (Farajkhah & Liu 2016a, Gordo &
Guedes Soares 1993), hence the consideration of
these factors is necessary in design.
In recent years, Friction Stir Welding (FSW) has
gained popularity in the fabrication of structures,
especially for materials sensitive to welding such
Figure 1. FSW process.
as aluminum. FSW is a solid-state joining process
developed by The Welding Institute (TWI). The
process is illustrated in Figure 1. In a typical FSW
process, the workpieces are clamped to a back-
ing plate to prevent the lateral movement during
the welding process, then a cylindrical tool with a
pin extruded from its shoulder and rotating with
a speed of several hundred rpm, is plunged into
the conjunction of the workpieces. The friction
between the surface of the rotating tool including
the pin and shoulder, and the workpieces generates
heat and softens the material into the plasticized
state without reaching the melting point. As the
welding tool progresses along the workpiece the
softened material is stirred and forged to the mate-
rials in the vicinity resulting in a solid-state joint
between the two workpieces. As the material do

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 not reach the melting temperature during the weld-
ing, FSW yields fine microstructure, absence of
cracking and solidification defect, and no loss of
alloying elements (Zhu & Chao 2004), and hence
results in a high quality joint with potentially bet-
ter structural and fatigue performance. The FSW
also results in lower welding induced residual
stress, distortions and HAZ in comparison with
traditional Metal Inert Gas welding (MIG).
A finite element comparison study by Farajkhah
et  al. (2016) revealed that FSW results in
significantly lower welding induced residual stress,
distortion and HAZ in comparison with MIG
welding in aluminum plates. Also, Farajkhah &
Liu (2016b) using finite element simulation showed
that the extruded aluminum stiffened plates joined
by FSW attained 9% higher ultimate strength in
comparison with those joined by MIG welding.
Meanwhile, the literature review yielded very
limited technical information on the effects of
FSW process on the structural performance of
aluminum structures under compressive loading.
Even between the limited number of studies there
are conflicting and inconclusive information. This
is mainly because these studies used idealizations
and assumptions in the modeling instead of actual
simulation of the FSW.
Murphy et  al. (2007) used finite element mod-
eling to study the FSW induced residual stress and
HAZ effects on the buckling performance of alu-
minum stiffened plates typical to aircraft wings.
Shell elements were used in the modeling, the
welding process was not simulated, and the effects
of FSW were considered just by assuming values
for welding induced residual stress, distortion and
HAZ. The results revealed that the initial buckling
was affected by the presence of the residual stress
and HAZ while the ultimate collapse strength was
less sensitive to residual stress and HAZ.
Yoon et al. (2009) also used finite element mod-
eling to study the effects of FSW on the structural
performance of the stiffened plates typical to air-
craft structures. In the finite element modeling
the welding was not simulated and the presence
of welding was assumed by considering a 30 mm
HAZ width in the weld line while no distortions
or residual stress were assumed. The result indi-
cated that the presence of FSW induced HAZ can
reduce the ultimate strength of aircraft stiffened
plates by 10%.
Paulo et al. (2014) also used finite element mod-
eling to study the effect of FSW on the structural
performance of aluminum plates. The residual
stress was measured from an experimental test using
counter method and was mapped in the finite ele-
ment model. However, the measured residual stress
was not reasonable as compressive residual stress
close to material yield stress was reported around
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 610
the weld line. Furthermore, a width for HAZ was
assumed and three different values for the distor-
tion were assumed. Their results indicated that the
structural behavior of the plate was significantly
affected by the FSW induced residual stress and
distortion.
The only study that used actual simulation of
FSW to study the effects of FSW on structures
was carried out by Farajkhah & Liu (2016b). They
modeled the FSW of two extruded aluminum stiff-
ened plates in a 3D thermo-mechanical simulation
and implemented the obtained residual stress, dis-
tortion and HAZ in structural analysis. The results
indicated that extruded aluminum stiffened plates
joined by FSW attained 9% higher buckling load in
comparison with those welded by traditional MIG
welding. Furthermore, they used obtained load-
shortening curves to study the effect of FSW on the
ultimate strength of a hull girder using a method
developed by Gordo & Guedes Soares (1996). The
analysis revealed that the hull girder fabricated by
FSW obtained 10% higher ultimate moment capac-
ity in comparison with the hull girder fabricated by
traditional fusion welding. However, the effect of
FSW induced residual stress, distortion and HAZ
on the structural performance of the structure was
not investigated in this study.
In light of the growing popularity of FSW and
a general lack of technical information, this study
was motivated to investigate the effect of FSW
induced imperfections on the structural behavior
and ultimate strength of aluminum plates under
compressive loading. In this study a two-step, 3D
thermo-mechanical finite element simulation was
implemented to simulate the FSW joining proc-
ess of aluminum 6061-T6 plates using ANSYS
software. The developed model for the FSW was
subsequently validated by the experimental data
available in the literature. Following the simulation
of the welding compressive loads were applied to
the model and the effects of the welding induced
residual stress, distortion and HAZ on the ulti-
mate strength and structural performance of the
joined plates were investigated. To the best knowl-
edge of the authors, this is the first time that the
FSW process is directly simulated and the welding
induced residual stress, distortion and HAZ were
directly implemented in the structural analysis of
the structures fabricated by this method.
2 NUMERICAL SIMULATION
The joining process of two 6061-T6 aluminum plates
using FSW is simulated using finite element code
ANSYS. The plates are 250 wide and 500 mm long
with a thickness of 6 mm. The welding tool details
were adopted from the experimental works of Guo
3/29/2017 9:41:29 AM
 et  al. (2014) where 6  mm thick aluminum alloys
were joined together by FSW. The welding tool
has a shoulder diameter of 15 mm and a pin diam-
eter of 5 mm. The welding rotational and traveling
speed were 1200 rpm and 5 mm/s respectively, with
a plunging force of 6 kN. The plates were assumed
to be clamped down to a backing plate along their
length. The clamping was extended until 50  mm
away from the weld line in each side based on the
studies of Farajkhah and Liu (2016c). The finite ele-
ment modeling of the FSW process was carried out
in a two-step thermo-mechanical analysis where in
the first step of the thermal loads due to the FSW
process was calculated and applied to the model and
the temperature field history was obtained.
In the second step, the temperature field history
obtained in the first step along with the plunging
force were applied to the model in a series of loads,
where each load-step represents an increment in
the position of the welding tool. The mechanical
analysis of the model provides the welding induced
residual stress, distortion and HAZ. The meshing
pattern for both thermal and structural analysis
were same but with different elements. For thermal
and structural analysis SOLID70 and SOLID185
were used respectively. The meshing pattern of the
developed model is shown in Figure  2. The high-
lighted area represents the location of the clamping.
For accurately simulating the welding process, tem-
perature-dependent material properties were used. Figure 3. Temperature-dependent thermal and mechan-
The temperature-dependent thermal and mechan- ical material properties.
ical material properties were adopted from (Riahi &
Nazari 2011) and the heat transfer coefficient was
adopted from Moritas and Labeas (2008) and are Based on the data provided by The Ship Struc-
shown in Figure  3. A non-linear stress-strain rela- ture Committee (2011), the exponent, n, in the
tionship based on Ramberg-Osgood relation was Ramberg-Osgood relation for aluminum alloy
used for aluminum alloy 6061-T6 as shown in 6061-T6 was taken as 39.3.
The weld zone in FSW is considered as the
n
σ ⎛ σ ⎞ interface of the workpiece and the weld tool. It is
ε= + 0.002 ⎜ (1)
⎝ σ 0.2 ⎟⎠
assumed that the heat generated during the weld-
E
ing is considered of three components. These are
heat generated at the interface of the tool shoulder
and workpiece, Qshoulder, the heat generated from the
side surface of the pin, Qpin,side, and on the tip of
the pin, Qpin,tip. The expressions for each term was
given by Schmidt et al. (2004) as:
2π Rshoulder
Qshoulder ∫ ∫ 0 R piin
contact r 2 drdθ (2)
2π hpiin
Qpiin, side
d ∫ ∫ 0 0
contact Rpin 2 dzdθ (3)
2π rpiin
Qpiin,tip ∫ ∫
0 0
contact r 2 drdθ (4)

where ω is the angular velocity, r is the radius

of shoulder, τcontact is the shear stress in the sur-
Figure 2. Finite element meshing and clamping. face, and α is the shoulder cone angle. The

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 generated heat input was applied to the work-
pieces as heat fluxes with a linear distribution
from the weld centerline to the tool shoulder
based on the works of Chao et al. (2003). Heat
loss due to the combined effects of convection
and radiation was considered in the simulation
by applying temperature-dependent heat trans-
fer coefficient, given in Figure 3, to all free sur-
faces of the model. For bottom surface of the
plate, where the plate is in direct contact with the
backing plate, a higher convection coefficient
(350 W/m2K) was assumed.
The development of HAZ during the welding
was simulated in the models based on the maxi- Figure 4. Comparison of temperature history profile at
mum temperature the elements experience during 10 mm away from the weld line.
the welding. Similar to the approach by Chao &
Qi (1998), three zones with different material
strength were defined, i.e., HAZ, semi-HAZ, and
base material zone. As the welding progresses
a user-defined subroutine was implemented to
inquire the average temperature of each element
and the material properties of the elements were
changed corresponding to the maximum average
temperature according to Table  1. This method
is also consistent with the findings of Sato et  al.
(1999) and Terasaki and Akiyama (2003) on
6000series of aluminum where it was shown that
aluminum reaches minimum hardness in the
areas that experiences a temperature higher than
300°C–325°C, and the areas that experience a tem-
perature between 200°C to 300°C obtain a hard-
ness in between the minimum hardness and the Figure  5. Comparison of temperature distribution
hardness of base material. along the transverse direction.
In mechanical analysis, two types of the load-
ing were considered. One is the temperature field
history obtained from the thermal analysis and the perature history in 10  mm away from the weld
other is the pressure due to the tool plunging force. line. As can be seen, there is a good agreement
The plunging force applied from the tool shoulder between the experimental and finite element
to the workpiece was simulated as uniform pres- results obtained from the developed model. The
sure moving forward with the speed of welding. finite element model was also validated by com-
The developed models for thermal analysis paring with the experimental results of Zhu &
was verified by the experimental test results of Chao (2004) where 3.18  mm thick steel 304  L
Guo et  al. (2014) where a 6  mm thick aluminum plates were joined by FSW.
plate of 6061-T6 was welded to an aluminum Figure  5 compares the finite elements results
plate of 7075 plate using FSW. The welding and experimental results for temperature along the
parameters necessary for the modeling were pre- transverse direction of the workpiece.
sented in their paper. Figure  4  shows the tem- The structural part of the finite element mode-
ling was verified by the comparison of the residual
stress with experimental results of Zhu & Chao
Table 1. Material strength with respect to temperature. (2004). The FSW induced residual stress before and
after the release of the clamps in the mid-length
Temperature % of yield stress cross-section is shown in Figure 6 and is compared
T of base metal to the experimental results as well as the finite ele-
ment models developed by Zhu & Chao (2004). It
HAZ T ≥ 300oC 60
can be seen that the finite element model is able to
Semi-HAZ 200oC ≤ T < 300oC 80
predict the welding induced residual stresses with a
Base metal T < 200oC 100
zone high accuracy. Also, the results show that clamp-
ing has a significant influence on welding induced

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 Figure  6. Longitudinal residual stress along the cross-
section.

Figure 7. Welding induced residual stress in mid-length

cross-section.
residual stress and the residual stress reduces
noticeably by the release of the clamps.

3 WELDING INDUCED RESIDUAL

STRESS, HAZ AND DISTORTIONS

The welding induced residual stresses were reported

after the clamps were released and the model cooled
down to the room temperature. The obtained resid-
ual stress at the mid-thickness of the mid-length
cross section is shown in Figure 7. As can be seen,
tensile residual stresses were developed near the weld
line in a double-peak “M” shape. The developed ten-
sile residual stress was balanced by the compressive
residual stresses away from the weld line. The maxi-
mum tensile residual stress was 114  MPa and was
located 7.5 mm away from the weld line. Meanwhile
in the middle of the weld line the magnitude of the
tensile residual stress was 97 MPa. It should be noted
that the maximum tensile residual stresses were
located almost at the shoulder to the welding tool
shoulder. The double-peak “M” shape of the ten-
sile residual stress zone as well as the location of the
peaks are consistent with the results of other studies
(Buffa et al. 2008, Bastier et al. 2008, Lombard et al.
2009). The maximum compressive residual stress
developed in the model was 10 MPa located 20 mm
away from the weld line and was decreased to 2 MPa
at the edges of the plate. The results also revealed
HAZ was formed in a width of 18 mm.
Figure 8 shows the vertical deflection of the plates
welded by FSW in the mid-length cross-section after
the release of the clamps. The maximum deflection
occurred in the model was 0.12 mm. The relatively
low deflections caused by FSW process can be
attributed to the low level of maximum temperature
material experienced during the welding and also
to the fixtures used to clamp the workpieces to the
backing plate during the welding process.
Figure 8. Welding induced distortion in the mid-length
cross-section.
4 BEHAVIOUR UNDER COMPRESSIVE
LOADING
Following the simulation of the welding process
compressive loads were applied to the model and
the load shortening-curves were obtained. This
was done in a displacement controlled analysis,
where displacements were applied to one end of
the plate and the reaction forces were measured on
the other end. To obtain the effect of HAZ and
residual stress on the ultimate strength, the model
was analyzed for the second time by including the
distortions and residual stress but without HAZ,
and the third time by including the distortions and
HAZ but without welding induced residual stress.
Figure  9  shows the obtained load vs. short-
ening curves in terms of normalized ultimate
strength (σ/σy) vs. normalized strain (ε/εy). The
figure indicates that the presence of welding
induced residual stress and HAZ did not have any
significant influence on the initial stiffness and

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 Figure 10. Lateral deformation of the plate (mm) after
the buckling at a normalized strain of 0.75.

Figure 9. Load vs. shortening curves for the model.

pre-buckling behavior of  the model. The results

show that the presence of the HAZ did not have
any significant effect on the buckling strength of
the model and when the HAZ was ignored the
buckling strength of the model was increased by
just 0.5%. This is mainly because the HAZ built
up less than 4% of the whole cross-section of the
model. Hence, in the models with different geom-
etries the result might be different. However, the
HAZ had slightly more influence on the post
buckling areas.
On the other hand, the results showed that the
presence of the residual stress had a significant
effect on the buckling strength and the post- Figure 11. Lateral deformation of the plate (mm) after
buckling behavior of the model and when the the buckling at a normalized strain of 1.28.
residual stress was removed the buckling strength
decreased by 7.8%. This is mainly due to the fact
that as the compressive loading increased the 5 CONCLUSIONS
buckling triggered by the continuously increas-
ing lateral deflections that were maximum in A two-step, 3D, thermo-mechanical finite element
the middle of the plate. Hence, the presence of simulation was used to simulate the FSW of 6061-
the tensile residual stresses in the middle of the T6 aluminum plates. The developed model was
plate reduced the lateral deflection of the plate verified with experimental results and then was
and postponed the buckling which resulted in an used to examine the FSW induced residual stress,
increase in the buckling strength. Meanwhile, the distortion and HAZ. Following the simulation of
FSW induced compressive residual stresses were the welding, compressive loads were applied to
negligible and hence had no significant effect on the model and the load-shortening curves were
the buckling strength of the plate. This finding is obtained, and the effect of FSW induced residual
consistent with the results of Rigo et  al. (2003), stress and HAZ on the structural behavior of the
where using finite element models, they showed joined aluminum plates were investigated.
that fusion welding induced tensile residual stress The results indicated that “M” shaped tensile
in the middle of the plate field can increase the residual stress zone was developed around the
ultimate strength of the stiffened plates. The weld line. The maximum tensile residual stress was
deformation of the model with residual stress and about 40% of the base material yield strength and
HAZ, before the buckling at a normalized strain was located close the shoulder edge. The results
of 0.75 and after the buckling at a normalized also showed that the HAZ was developed in a
strain of 1.28 are shown in Figures 10 and 11, width of 18 mm around the weld line and the weld-
respectively. ing induced distortions were negligible.

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 Applying the compressive loads to the model,
the finite element results revealed that while weld-
ing induced HAZ reduced the buckling strength of
the plate by 0.5%, the presence of the tensile resid-
ual stress in the middle of the plate field increased
the buckling strength of the model by 7.8%. It is
believed that these results can be different for mod-
els with different geometries. Hence, further stud-
ies are necessary to determine the effect of welding
induced initial imperfections on the ultimate
strength of aluminum plates joined by FSW.
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aluminium panels subjected to axial compression.
Thin-Walled Structures. 39: 861–885.
Bastier, A. Maitournam, M.H. Roger, F. Van, K.D. 2008.
Modelling of the residual state of friction stir welded
plates. J Mater Process Technol 200:25–37.
Buffa, G. Fratini, L. Pasta, S. Shivpuri, R. 2008. On the
thermomechanical loads and the resultant residual
stresses in friction stir processing operations. Manuf
Technol 57:287–290 b.
Chao, Y.J. Qi, X. Tang, W. 2003. Heat transfer in friction
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ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engi-
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Chao, Y.J. & Qi, X. 1998. Thermal and thermo-mechan-
ical modeling of friction stir welding of aluminum
alloy 6061-T6. Journal of Materials Processing &
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Farajkhah, V. & Liu Y. 2016a. Effect of metal inert gas
welding on the behaviour and strength of aluminum
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ods on the ultimate strength of aluminum hull girders.
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Farajkhah, V., Liu, Y., 2016c. Effect of clamping
area and welding speed on the friction stir weld-
ing induced residual stresses. International Journal
of Advanced Manufacturing Technology. 10.1007/
s00170-016-9393-7.
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5302.2015.1123865.
Gordo, J.M. & Guedes Soares C. 1993. Approximate
load shortening curves for stiffened plates under uni-
axial compression. Integrity Offshore Structures. 5:
189–211.
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Marine Struct.9, 449–470.
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Guo, J.F. Chen, H.C. Sun, C.N. Bi, G. Sun, Z. Wei, J.
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between AA6061 and AA7075  Al alloys effects of
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2009. Effect of process parameters on the residual
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Eng A Struct 501:119–124
Moraitis, G.A. Labeas, G.N. 2008. Residual stress and
distortion calculation of laser beam welding for alu-
minum lap joints. Journal of Materials Processing
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Murphy, A. McCune, W. Quinn, D. Price, M. 2007. The
characterisation of friction stir welding process effects
on stiffened panel buckling performance. Thin-Walled
Structures. 45:339–51.
Paulo, R.M.F., Carlone, P., Valente, R.A.F., Teixeira-
Dias F, Palazzo GS. (2014). Influence of friction stir
welding residual stresses on the compressive strength
of aluminium alloy plates. Thin-Walled Structures.
74:184–190.
Riahi, M., Nazari, H. 2011. Analysis of transient tem-
perature and residual thermal stresses in friction stir
welding of aluminum alloy 6061-T6 via numerical
simulation. The International Journal of Advanced
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S.C., Pasqualino, I., Simonsen, B.C., Wan, Z., Yao,
T. 2003. Sensitivity analysis on ultimate strength of
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437–468.
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Microstructural Evolution of 6063  Aluminum dur-
ing Friction Stir Welding. Metallurgical and Materials
Transactions A. 30: 2429–2437.
Schmidt, H., Hattel, J., Wert, J. 2004. An analytical model
for the heat generation in friction stir Welding. Model-
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ing. 12(1): 143–157.
SSC 460. 2011. Effect of welded properties on aluminum
structures. Ship Structure Committee,
Terasaki, T., & Akiyama, T. 2003. Mechanical behaviour
of joints in FSW: residual stress, inherent strain and
heat input generated by friction stir welding. Welding
in World. 47: 24–31.
Yoon, J.W., Bray, G.H., Valente, R.A.F., Childs, T.E.R.
2009. Buckling analysis for an integrally stiffened
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Investigations on thermo-mechanical tensioning as an active buckling

mitigation tool

A. Gadagi, N.R. Mandal & S. Kumar

Department of Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture, IIT Kharagpur, India

ABSTRACT: In view of increasing speed and reducing fuel consumption, thin plates are being increas-
ingly used in shipbuilding. While addressing the issue of reducing structural weight, it has led to the prob-
lem of weld induced buckling distortions. Extensive numerical and experimental investigation led to the
development of Thermo-Mechanical Tensioning (TMT) as one such in-process distortion control tool,
which would reduce the weld induced distortions. The developed TMT tool for buckling distortion miti-
gation was found to be quite encouraging and suitable for implementation in actual shipyard shop floor
conditions. The TMT was applied to a case of bead-on-plate welding. Good correlation was obtained
between numerical and experimental observations. The critical buckling stress of the stiffened panels also
depends on the stiffener spacing. The effect of TMT on varying stiffener spacing and also the effect of dif-
ferent TMT pull on mitigation of buckling were investigated in this work through numerical simulation.

1 INTRODUCTION of Thermo-Mechanical Tensioning (TMT) as one

In view of increasing speed and reducing fuel con-
sumption as well as environmental pollution, thin
plates are being increasingly used in shipbuilding.
While addressing the issue of reducing structural
weight, it has led to the problem of weld induced
buckling distortions. The post welding fairing tech-
niques, which are used to rectify the weld induced
distortions, are time consuming and also adds to
the production cost. So there is a need for develop-
ing an active distortion control tool to reduce both
time and cost of production. Various works are
reported in the reduction of weld induced buck-
ling distortions through the reduction in longitu-
dinal compressive residual stress. Altenkirch et al.
(2008), Price et  al. (2007), Richards et  al. (2008)
applied a technique of Mechanical tensioning,
which involved welding in the preset tensile stress
field and aimed at reducing the buckling distortion
by reducing the longitudinal compressive residual
stress. Yang et al. (2011) implemented a combina-
tion of Mechanical tensioning and trailing heat
sink to reduce the buckling distortions. Deo et al.
(2003) and Michelaris et  al. (1997) applied Ther-
mal tensioning techinques to mitigate the buck-
ling distortions. Camilleri et al. (2008) and Holder
et al. (2011) applied trailing heat sink methods to
reduce the extent of buckling distortions. Podder
et al. (2016) conducted a numerical study to study
the reduction in longitudinal residual compres-
sive stress through TMT. Extensive numerical and
experimental investigation led to the development
such in-process distortion control tool, which
would reduce the weld induced distortions.
Tensile residual stress is generated in the weld-
ing zone and the corresponding self-balancing
compressive residual stress gets induced in the far-
field zone. This compressive residual stress may
cause buckling of the stiffened panel. To prevent
the structure from buckling, it is necessary to keep
the magnitude of this compressive residual stress
below the critical buckling stress of the structure.
With conventional fabrication practice, buckling of
thin stiffened panels is almost unavoidable. In the
present work an in-process buckling control tech-
nique was developed to combat such distortions in
fabrication of thin stiffened panels. The technique
is referred to as Thermo-Mechanical Tensioning
(TMT), which aims at reducing the compressive
residual stress by reducing the intensity of the ten-
sile residual stress of the weld zone. In TMT, the
plate panel was subjected to pre-tension by using
tensioning and restraining lugs attached to the
panel. The restraining lugs were first welded to
the base plate at one end of the plate panel, thus
completely restraining its movement. Then the
tensioning lugs were first heated and then welded
to the base plate on the other end of the panel.
The heated tensioning lugs, as they cool down,
shrink and thus exert tension in the panel. Thus
putting the entire plate panel under tension, the
longitudinal and transverse stiffeners were welded
subsequently. On completion of this welding and
after the stiffened panel completely cooled down

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 to room temperature, both the tensioning and
restraining lugs were removed thus releasing the
stiffened panel from TMT. When the tensioning
lugs were cut, the initially stretched panel shrunk
back reducing the tensile residual stress in the weld
zone, which in turn reduced the corresponding bal-
ancing compressive residual stress. In this way the
longitudinal compressive residual stress, which was
the main cause of buckling, was kept below the
critical buckling stress. Thus buckling was avoided
through TMT. In the present study, the experi-
mental validation of FEA for the models with and
without TMT was done for the bead on plate weld-
ing. Further the effect of stiffener spacing on the
TMT pull and the effect of TMT pulls on the weld-
ing distortions were also studied through FEA.
cooled down to room temperature, as expected, it
buckled as can be observed in Fig. 2. The deforma-
tions along the edges 1 and 2 as shown in Fig. 1
were measured.
Thermo-mechanical analysis of bead-on-plate
welding without TMT for the plate shown in
Fig. 1 was carried out using finite element soft-
ware ANSYS. For finite element discretization
SOLID70 element and SOLID185 element were
used for thermal and structural analysis respec-
tively. The heat source modeling in thermal anal-
ysis of welding was done using goldak’s double
ellipsoidal model, whose details are as shown in
Fig. 3 and Table 2.
The heat source distribution of Goldak’s double
ellipsoidal model [11] is as given by equation 1.

6 3 ff rQ
2 EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION OF Qf ( x, y z ) =
abc f rπ 3/ 2
r
FEA MODELS OF BEAD ON PLATE
WELDING FOR THE CASES WITH AND ⎛ 3 ⎡ x + v ( − t )⎤2 3 y 2 3 z 2 ⎞
WITHOUT TMT exp ⎜ − ⎣ ⎦ − − 2 ⎟ (1)
⎜⎝ c 2f r b2 a ⎟⎠
Stiffened plate panels are extensively used in ship
structures. The welding of stiffeners on thin section
plates lead to buckling of the panels. The effect of
heat input due to welding on thin section plates
was investigated in this work. Instead of welding
stiffeners, bead-on-plate welding was chosen to
facilitate faster numerical analysis of the same. It
was carried out for two conditions, one without
TMT and the other with TMT. Figure  2. Bead-on-plate welding on 4  mm thick steel
plate without TMT.

2.1 Without TMT

Bead-on-plate welding was carried out on a 4 mm
thick steel plate of size 400  mm  ×  270  mm as
shown in Fig. 1. Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW)
was carried out with flux cored wire of diameter
1.2  mm with CO2 as shielding gas. The welding
parameters used are given in Table 1. As the plate

Figure  3. Goldak’s double ellipsoidal heat source

model.

Table  2. Parameters of Goldak’s double

ellipsoidal heat source model.

Figure 1. Bead-on-plate welding on 4 mm thick plate of Heat source parameters Values (mm)
400 mm × 270 mm.
a 5
Table 1. Welding parameters. b 4
cf 5
Current (A) Voltage (V) Welding speed (mm/s) cr 15
ff 0.4
150 26 5 fr 1.6

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 where, v, τ, and t are the welding speed, a lag factor Table  3. Comparison of numerical and measured
and time, respectively. deformation without TMT along edge 1.
The factors ff and fr are the fraction of heat
distributed in the front and the rear quadrants, Position along Numerical Measured
edge 1 (mm) deformation (mm) deformation (mm)
respectively and they are related to each other by
the equation 2. 0 7.14 6.0
50 9.6 8.0
ff fr = 2 (2) 100 13.1 12.0
150 15.5 15.0
The intensity of heat during welding is given as 200 16.1 15.5
follows 250 15.2 15.0
300 10.3 12.0
Q VI (3) 350 9.1 10.0
400 7.15 8.0
where, η, V, and I are arc efficiency, arc voltage in
Volt, and welding current in Ampere, respectively.
Table 4. Comparison of numerical and measured defor-
The heat lost to the surroundings through
mation without TMT along edge 2.
convection and radiation was accounted for by
combined mode of heat transfer. In the present Position along Numerical Measured
numerical study a combined heat loss coefficient edge 1 (mm) deformation (mm) deformation (mm)
(hc) was considered, as given by Equation 4.
50 3.0 1.0
hc . 4
εT 1.61 (4) 100 0.05 0.0
150 0.05 0.0
where ε is the emissivity of the surface of the body, 200 0.05 0.0
and T is the temperature at any instant during the 250 0.05 0.0
welding process. A value of 0.9 [12] was assumed
for ε, as recommended for hot rolled steels.
The vertical deformations as obtained from
numerical simulations and experimentally meas-
ured results along the edges 1 and 2  in case of
bead-on-plate welding without TMT are given in
Table  3 and 4. The numerically simulated results
compared well with the experimentally measured
deformation at the two plate edges.

Figure 4. Bead-on-plate welding with TMT.

2.2 With TMT
In another case, Thermo-Mechanical Tensioning
(TMT) was applied to the plate undergoing same
bead-on-plate welding as shown in Fig. 4. The
plate was first subjected to TMT. The restraining
lug was welded to the base plate and the tensioning
lug was heated to a temperature of around 600oC
and when cooled down to 500oC, it was welded to
the base plate as shown in Fig. 4. The lug pull of Figure 5. The welded plate after releasing TMT.
0.35 mm was recorded by LVDT. Following this a
weld bead was deposited using GMAW with weld- and release of TMT. The deformation results
ing parameters as specified in Table 1. As the plate are shown in Tables  5 and 6. A good agreement
cooled down to room temperature, it was released between the simulated and measured results was
from TMT by cutting the lugs from the base plate obtained, thus validating the finite element simula-
and the resulting deformations were measured. The tion model. Here one can very clearly see the effect
welded plate after releasing from TMT is shown in of TMT. Application of TMT led to substantial
Fig. 5. One can observe substantial reduction in reduction of buckling deformation.
buckling distortion. The contour plots of plate deformations with-
Thermo-mechanical analysis of bead-on-plate out and with TMT are shown in Figs. 6 and 7
welding was carried out simulating the application respectively.

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 Table  5. Comparison of numerical and measured
deformation with TMT along edge 1.

Position Numerical Measured

along edge deformation deformation
1 (mm) (mm) (mm)

0 2.43 4.0
50 1.5 3.0
100 0.0 –2.0
150 0.0 –3.0
250 –1.0 5.0
300 0.0 –4.0
350 0.0 –0.5

Table  6. Comparison of numerical and measured

deformation with TMT along edge 2.
Figure 8. Vertical displacement contour plot with stiff-
Position along Numerical Measured ener spacing of 400 mm without TMT.
edge 1 (mm) deformation (mm) deformation (mm)

50 3.0 1.0
100 0.05 0.0
150 0.05 0.0
200 0.05 0.0
250 0.05 0.0

Figure  9. Vertical displacement contour plot for stiff-

ener spacing of 600 mm with a TMT pull of 0.3 mm.
Figure  6. Contour plot of vertical displacement for
bead-on-plate welding without TMT.

Figure  7. Contour plot of vertical displacement for

bead-on-plate welding with TMT pull of 0.35 mm.

3 EFFECT OF TMT ON STIFFENER

SPACING

Numerical simulation using ANSYS was carried

out to study the effect of TMT on varying stiff- Figure 10. Vertical displacement contour plot for stiff-
ener spacing of 400 mm and 600 mm respectively. ener spacing of 600 mm with a TMT pull of 0.9 mm.

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 Three sample plots from the numerical simulation are
shown in Figs. 8, 9 and 10. The vertical displacement
contour plot is shown for 400 mm stiffener spacing
without TMT in Fig. 8. The same for 600 mm spac-
ing with TMT pull of 0.3 mm is shown in Fig. 9.
The effect of increase in TMT pull from 0.3 mm
to 0.9 mm pull keeping stiffener spacing same, i.e.
600 mm, is shown in Fig. 10.
4 RESULTS
Several simulations were carried out with vary-
ing stiffener spacing and with and without TMT.
Results of three sample simulations are shown in
Figs. 8, 9 and 10. It was observed that, for stiffener
spacing of 400 mm, the maximum vertical displace-
ment decreased from 4.456 mm to 3.109 mm with the
application of a TMT pull of 0.3 mm. The percentage
reduction in the distortion in this case was 30.22%.
Whereas, for a stiffened plate with a stiffener spacing
of 600 mm it was found that the maximum vertical
displacement decreased from 7.62  mm to 5.96  mm
with application of 0.3 mm pull through TMT. In this
case the percentage reduction in the distortion was
21.78%. It indicated that the effectiveness of TMT
decreases as the stiffener spacing increases. However,
comparing the results shown in Figs. 9 and 10, it is
evident that the distortion level decreases substantially
with increase in TMT pull for same stiffener spacing.
The TMT pull was increased from 0.3 mm to 0.9 mm
which resulted in decrease of vertical deformation
from 5.965 mm to 1.971 mm achieving a percentage
reduction of 74.1%. Hence to enhance the effective-
ness of TMT, a higher pull needs to be given.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Extensive experimental and numerical simulation
study was carried out to investigate the TMT method
as an active distortion mitigation tool. The following
can be concluded from the current investigation:
• A finite element simulation model was devel-
oped successfully to incorporate and assess the
effect of varying pull applied through TMT.
• TMT can be used effectively and gainfully as an
active method of controlling buckling distortion
during fabrication of thin stiffened ship struc-
tural panels.
• With increasing stiffener spacing and keep-
ing same TMT pull, the effectiveness of TMT
reduces.
• To enhance the effectiveness of a TMT in case
of higher stiffener spacing, a higher pull through
TMT is required.
621
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 621
• It was observed through numerical simulation
that with an increase of TMT pull from 0.3 mm
to 0.9 mm, the percentage reduction in the out-
of-plane deformation increased from 21.78% to
74.1%.
REFERENCES
Altenkirch, J., Steuwer, A., Peel, M.J., Withers, P.J.
Williams, S.W. & Poad, M. 2008. Mechanical Tension-
ing of High-Strength Aluminum Alloy Friction Stir
Welds. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions, A
3246, Volume 39a, pp. 3246–3259.
Camilleri, D., Gray, T.G.F. & Nash, D.H. 2008. Mitiga-
tion of welding distortion and residual stresses via
cryogenic CO2 cooling—a numerical investigation.
17th International Conference on Computer Tech-
nology in Welding and Manufacturing, Proceedings
of Conference, Cranfield University, TWI Ltd. ISBN
9781903761076.
Deo, M.V. & Michaleris, P. 2003. Mitigation of welding
induced buckling distortion using transient thermal
tensioning. Science and Technology of Welding and
Joining, 8(1), 49–54.
Goldak. J., Chakravarti, A., Bibby, M. 1984. A new finite
element model for welding heat sources. Metallurgical
Transactions, B, 15B, pp. 299–305.
Holder, R., Larkin, N., Li, H., Kuzmikova, L., Pan, Z. &
Norrish, J. 2011. Development of a DC-LSND weld-
ing process for GMAW on DH-36 Steel. 56th WTIA
annual conference, pp. 1–13.
Masubuchi, K. 1953. Buckling Type Deformation of
Thin Plate Due to Welding. Proceedings of the 3rd
Japan National Congress for Applied Mechanics,
Japan, pp. 107–111.
Michaleris, P. & Sun, X. 1997. Finite Element Analysis
of Thermal Tensioning Technique Mitigating Weld
Buckling Distortion. Welding Journal, pp. 451–457-s.
Podder, Debabrata., Gadagi, Amith., Mandal, Nisith
Ranjan., Kumar, Sharat., Singh, Lavepreet., Das,
Sreekanta. Numerical Investigation on the effect
of Thermomechanical Tensioning on the Residual
stresses in Thin Stiffened panels”, Journal of Ship
Production and Design, SSN  2158–2866 (Print);
ISSN: 2158–2874 (Online).
Price, D.A., Williams, S.W., Wescott, A., Harrison, C.J.C.,
Rezai, A., Steuwer, A., Peel, M., Staron, P. & Kocak,
M. 2007. Distortion control in welding by mechanical
tensioning. Science and Technology of Welding and
Joining, Vol. 12, No. 7, pp. 620–633.
Richards, D.G., Prangnell, P.B., Williams, S.W. & With-
ers, P.J. 2008. Global mechanical tensioning for the
management of residual stresses in welds. Materials
Science and Engineering A 489, pp. 351–362.
Rykalin. R.R. Energy sources for welding. Houdrement
Lecture, International Institute of Welding, London,
pp. 1–23.
Yang, Y. & Dong, P. 2011. Buckling Distortions and
Mitigating Techniques for Thin-Section Structures.
Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance,
April, pp. 1–8.
3/29/2017 9:41:37 AM
MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Distortions and residual stress analysis of thin butt welded plates

accounting for manufacturing imperfections

M. Hashemzadeh, Y. Garbatov & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de
Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: The objective of this work is to analyse the effects of manufacturing imperfections on
the welding induced temperature, distortions and residual stresses. In the present study, the impact of
different levels of a filler metal penetration or lack of fusion and initial linear misalignments and angular
distortion of the welded plates on the residual stresses is investigated. A two-step non-linear finite ele-
ment analysis is employed to simulate the welding process and consequently to estimate the temperature
distribution, the post-welding distortions and residual stresses. The importance of parameters related to
the welding process and imperfections is analysed and several conclusions are derived.

1 INTRODUCTION

Most of the nowadays metal structures are welded

during the manufacturing process. To perform a
good quality of welding, several conditions need
to be satisfied, including the environmental tem-
perature, speed of welding, leading to different
heating and cooling processes, voltage and amper-
age, welding position, etc. The optimal conditions
of welding are difficult to be satisfied, especially
during the repairing, and as a result different mis-
alignment/imperfections are induced.
When the welding process is analysed, in the case
of idealized yard conditions, by means of the finite
element theory, the model, boundary conditions
and temperature flux are symmetric and because
of that, the results of thermo-mechanical analysis
temperature distribution, welding induced distor-
tion and residual stresses are also symmetric and
in some researches, only half of the welded struc-
ture was generated (Gery et al., 2005). In fact, in a
real yard condition and especially during the repair
operation, it is very hard to perform a high qual-
ity welding without inducing any imperfection. By
means of non-destructive testing and the accept- Figure 1. Initial imperfections (Mandal, 2017).
ance criteria following the welding guidelines it is
possible to estimate the quality of welding and if it
needed to introduce repairing of the weld.
The weld defects may be categorized based on The nature of the welding causes the creation of
the defects due to material and defects due to con- welding-induced distortions and residual stresses.
struction (see Figure  1, Mandal (2017)). Defects Several studies were performed to analyse the
due to material, normally refers to the microstruc- welding induced distortions and residual stress
tures and the disruption of the metal crystalliza- analytically by Ghosh and Chattopadhyaya
tion in the recrystallization process of material (2010), numerically by Chen et  al. (2014) and
by the heating and a subsequent cooling process. experimentally by Deng et  al. (2013). Also, some

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 investigations were performed to remove or reduce Table  1. Temperature-dependent material properties,
the distortions and residual stress by Hashemza- ASTM A36 carbon steel.
deh et  al. (2015) and Hashemzadeh et  al. (2016).
The induced distortions and residual stress also C K Α σy E
T °C J/Kg°C W/m°C μm/m°C MPa GPa
have impact on the strength of welded structures.
Lillemäe et al. (2013) and Chaithanya et al. (2010) 20 450 51 11.2 380 210
investigated the effect of welding distortions on 100 475 50 11.8 340 195
buckling and fatigue strength respectively and 210 530 49 12.4 320 195
Tekgoz et  al. (2015) and Withers (2007) inves- 330 560 46 13.1 262 185
tigated the residual stress effects on strength of 420 630 41 13.6 190 168
welded structures. 540 720 38 14.1 145 118
In case of possible imperfections due to manu- 660 830 34 14.6 75 52
facturing processes, as for an example, the initial 780 910 28 14.6 40 12
misalignment has a negative impact on fatigue 985 1055 25 14.6 38 11.8
and buckling strength. The incomplete penetra- 1320 2000 32 14.6 28 10.4
tion reduces the strength by decreasing the contact 1420 2100 42 14.6 25 10.2
net sectional area. Gurney (1979) discussed in a 1500 2150 42 14.6 20 10
detail the effect of each weld defect on the fatigue
strength.
In the present work, firstly, the butt welded steel
plates, considering perfect welding, are analysed 3 FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING
numerically and the temperature distribution,
weld-induced distortions and residual stresses are The finite element analysis is performed using a
estimated. Then, to investigate the effects of weld transient thermo-mechanical analysis, which esti-
defects, initial misalignment and incomplete pen- mates the temperature distribution around the
etrations finite element models are employed to simulated weld, employing the mechanical proper-
analyse the temperature distribution, weld induced ties that vary as a function of the applied tempera-
distortion and residual stresses. Finally, the results ture. The thermal analyses have been reported by
of each type of imperfections are compared to the Hashemzadeh et al. (2014b) in detail and here, the
idealized perfect one and discussed. temperature distribution resulting from the ther-
mal analysis is presented for two points.
Assuming that the mechanical response of
2 HEAT SOURCE MODEL AND the welded structural components has negligible
MATERIAL PROPERTIES effects on the thermal analysis, indirect, decoupled,
thermo-mechanical analysis is performed, where
In the present study, a three dimensional finite the thermal and mechanical analysis are done sep-
element model is employed to analyse the heat arately. Figure 3 illustrates the decoupled thermo-
transfer and the distortion in a butt arc welding. mechanical analysis. Finite element analysis
The Goldak et al. (1984) three-dimensional model employs the commercial software ANSYS (2009).
is used to perform the heat flow analysis and the The finite element model is generated by eight-
resulting distortion distribution over the entire node three-dimensional brick thermal elements,
welded plates is estimated. The thermo mechanical Solid 70, which is changed to Solid 185 for the
analysis, considering the Goldak double ellipsoid mechanical part of the finite element calculations.
model, has been discussed in detail by Hashemza- The welding process is characterized by the
deh et al. (2014a). welding current of 120 A, voltage of 28 V and weld-
To generate the arc welding processes, the mov- ing speed of 6 mm/s. The convection and radiation
ing heat source, which is identified as a transient coefficients of the external areas are considered as
process is applied. During the movement of the hf = 15 Wm−2 and ε = 0.9 (Gery et al., 2005) and the
heat source, the heat energy is kept constant, but environmental temperature is 25ºC.
the centre of the heat source is changed as a func- In this study, a butt welded plates (Figure  2),
tion of time. The surface of the butt-welded plates is analysed and weld defects as several case stud-
is subjected to heat convection, while the weld path ies are analysed to identify their impact on the
is in a contact with the heat source and it is sub- weld induced distortions and residual stresses.
jected to heat flux instead. The dimensions of the analysed plates are
The temperature-dependent material properties 210*160*4 mm.
of the A36 ASTM steel, used in the transient heat The boundary conditions for thermal analysis
transfer analysis are given in Table 1 (Chang and considered to be conduction, convection and radi-
Teng, 2004). ation and in case of mechanical analysis the free

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 Figure 2. Model of butt welded plates.

Figure 4. Imperfect weld case studies.

Figure 5. Case study No. 1, Perfect alignment.

Figure 6. Case study No. 2, partial penetration (80%).

Figure 7. Case study No. 3, angular misalignment (Arc

tan (1/80)).

Figure 3. Flow chart for transient de-coupled thermo-

mechanical analysis.
Figure 8. Case study No. 4, angular misalignment (Arc
tan (-1/80)).
boundary conditions are applied and just two ends
of the weld are fixed to restrain the structures.
The initial imperfections, which are considered
in the present study, are categorized into three
principal groups, which can normally be observed
in shipyards, covering the partial penetration, mis-
alignment of plates and cavity.
The misalignment also considers the angular Figure 9. Case study No. 5, linear misalignment (1 mm).
and linear misalignment (Figure 4). In the case of
angular misalignment, positive and negative angles
are modelled. The FE models of the present study
are presented in Figure  5 to Figure  10. It can be
noted that case No. 1 is classified as a perfect one
and it is used as a reference case. Case No. 2 has
a partial penetration of 80% with respect to the
thickness. Figure 10. Case study No. 6, cavity.

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 Cases 3 and 4 represent the angular misalign-
ment, where the plate edges are moved 1  mm up
and down respectively. Case 5 represents a linear
misalignment of 1 mm of shifting the plate surface.
In addition the weld cavity is studied in case 6.
4 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
The transient thermo-mechanical analysis is
performed to simulate the arc welding in the
butt welded plates. Several initial imperfections
(Figures  5 to 10) are modelled to investigate the
temperature distribution of the welding induced
thermal stresses and distortions.
4.1 Temperature distribution
The result of the thermal analysis, as a tempera-
ture distribution history, which is recorded for
points D and D´ (Figure 11) at the midsection of
the butt-welded plates can be seen from Figure 12
(temperature distribution of point D) where the
temperature distribution in all cases has the same
maximum value.
Figure 13, demonstrates that the linear misalign-
ment introduces a higher temperature maximum.
If Figure 9 is considered, it may be explained that
the upper surface is near to the centre of the ther-
Figure 11. Reference points for temperature history.
Figure  12. Temperature distribution of point D (see
Figure 11).
626
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 626
mal load and this point absorbs more heat flux.
Figure 13 also shows that the cooling rate for both
angular misalignments is higher. For angular mis-
alignment it can be explained with the fact that
there is a separation on bottom surface where dur-
ing the first step of welding, the convection heat
transformation acts from the bottom and the cool-
ing process is faster.
4.2 Weld-induced residual stress and distortion
The results of structural analyses are presented
in Figure 14 to 29 with respect to the midsection
AA´ as given in Figure  2 (midsection). There are
3 groups of results related to each type of imper-
fection. The results of all cases for the section BB´,
as given in Figure 2 (though the weld), are shown in
different figures for distortion, transverse and lon-
gitudinal residual stresses respectively as follows.
Figure  13. Temperature distribution of point D´ (see
Figure 11).
Figure 14. Distortion distribution, CS.1 and CS.2– Sec-
tion AA´ (Figure 2).
3/29/2017 9:41:40 AM
 Considering Case CS.1 as can be seen in
Figure  14, it seems that the partial penetration
causes rotation in the plate around the centre.
Figure  15 and 16  show the transverse residual
stresses (SX) and the longitudinal residual stress
(SZ) for cases CS.1 and CS.2. Although the results
do not appear as symmetric, it seems that, the par-
tial penetration does not have a significant effect
on the welding-induced residual stress distribution.
Figure  17, 19 and 20 illustrate the vertical dis-
tortion, transverse and longitudinal residual stress
respectively for CS.1, CS.3 and CS.4 considering
an angular initial deformation.
It seems that, the angular misalignment has
a significant effect on the structural response.
In both cases of positive and negative angle, the
Figure 17. Distortion distribution, CS.1, CS.3 and CS.4
– Section AA´ (Figure 2).

Figure 15. Transverse residual stress distribution, CS.1

and CS.2– Section AA´ (Figure 2). Figure 18. Transverse residual stress distribution, CS.1,
CS.3 and CS.4 – Section AA´ (Figure 2).

Figure  16. Longitudinal residual stress distribution, Figure  19. Longitudinal residual stress distribution,
CS.1, CS.2– Section AA´ (Figure 2). CS.1, CS.3 and CS.4 – Section AA´ (Figure 2).

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 Figure 20. Distortion distribution, CS.1 and CS.5.
Figure 21. Transverse residual stress distribution, CS.1
and 5.
centre moves 5 times more compared to the refer-
ence model. Also, it seems that with the same angle
of misalignment by changing the sign the results
also will be inverse and the result of the perfect
model acts as symmetry line.
It is observed from Figure 18 and 19 that there
is a reduction in the level of the residual stresses
in both transverse and longitudinal stress com-
ponents in the positive angle in angular mis-
alignment. However, there are increases for both
transverse and longitudinal residual stress for the
negative angle of angular misalignment.
Figure 20 shows the effect of the linear misalign-
ment on the distortion distribution in the case of
CS.5. It seems that in the case of a linear misalign-
ment there is not a significant change in the dis-
tortion by increasing the level of plate bases. Also,
there is a rotation around 0.36 degrees around the
weld line. In the case of residual stresses, it can be
seen from Figure  21 that the transverse residual Figure  22. Longitudinal residual stress distribution,
stress has a pick on the upper surface. This can CS.1 and CS.5.
be explained by the higher temperature, which is
absorbed by the upper side (see Figure 13).
Figure  22  shows that the longitudinal residual the centre of the welding. It may be explained by
stress is not symmetrical (considering CS.1) and Figure 13, which presents that the cooling rates in
the upper plate is over stressed and in the lower this case study is too fast and it could impress the
plate is under stressed with respect to the plates structural response of the welding.
welded in perfect conditions (CS.1). Figure  26  shows the distortion distribution in
From the results presented in Figure 21 and 22, the section BB´ (Figure  2), through the weld. It
it can be concluded that, in the case of a linear mis- seems that the linear misalignment has no effect on
alignment, the transverse residual stresses are more the vertical distortion. In the case of partial pen-
sensitive to the linear misalignment and changes etration, by decreasing of the level of penetration,
significantly. the distortion increases. For the angular misalign-
Considering the cavity, which is investigated ment, it seems that there is a significant increase in
in CS.6, it can be seen that the distortion and the distortion.
transverse component of residual stresses are not Figure 27 shows that the transverse component
affected by the cavity too much, but the maxi- of the residual stresses in the centre of the weld
mum of the longitudinal residual stresses rise in line is not affected by the imperfections. But,

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 Figure 26. Distortion distribution, all cases.
Figure 23. Distortion distribution, CS.1 and CS.6.

Figure 24. Transverse residual stress distribution, CS.1 Figure 27. Transverse residual stress distribution, all cases.
and CS.6.

Figure  25. Longitudinal residual stress distribution, Figure  28. Longitudinal residual stress distribution, all
CS.1 and CS.6. cases.

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 considering Figure 28, it seems that the cavity and
linear misalignment have some impact on the lon-
gitudinal residual stresses in the section BB´.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This work analysed the effects of the manufacturing
imperfections on the welding induced temperature,
distortion and residual stresses.
From temperature distribution analysis, it can
be concluded that, the linear misalignment pro-
duces a higher maximum, which may be explained
by the fact that the upper surface is near to the
centre of the thermal load and this point absorbs
more heat flux. Also, the cooling rate for the angu-
lar misalignment is higher. This can be explained
with the separation of the bottom surface during
the first step of the welding where the convection
heat transformation acts from the bottom and the
cooling process is faster.
It was concluded that all studied initial imper-
fections cases have an impact on the weld induced
distortions. The transverse component of the
residual stresses is affected more in the case of a
linear misalignment, although it changes more in
other cases. The longitudinal component of the
residual stresses is not changing too much, but it
could be noted that in the case of an angular mis-
alignment it is somehow considerable.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The first author has been funded by the Portu-
guese Foundation for Science and Technology
(Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia—FCT)
under contract SFRH/BD/97682/2014.
REFERENCES
ANSYS 2009. Online Manuals, Release 11.
Chaithanya, P. P., Das, P. K., Crow, A. & Hunt, S. 2010.
The effect of distortion on the buckling strength of
stiffened panels. Ships and Offshore Structures, 5,
141–153.
Chang, P. H. & Teng, T. L. 2004. Numerical and experi-
mental investigations on the residual stresses of the
butt-welded joints. Computational Materials Science,
29, 511–522.
Chen, B.-Q., Hashemzadeh, M. & Guedes Soares,
C. 2014. Numerical and experimental studies on
630
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 630
temperature and distortion patterns in butt-welded
plates. The International Journal of Advanced Manu-
facturing Technology, 72, 1121–1131.
Deng, D., Zhou, Y., Bi, T. & Liu, X. 2013. Experimen-
tal and numerical investigations of welding distortion
induced by CO2 gas arc welding in thin-plate bead-on
joints. Materials & Design, 52, 720–729.
Gery, D., Long, H. & Maropoulos, P. 2005. Effects of
welding speed, energy input and heat source distri-
bution on temperature variations in butt joint weld-
ing. Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 167,
393–401.
Ghosh, A. & Chattopadhyaya, S., 10–12 Sept. 2010.
Analytical solution for transient temperature distribu-
tion of semi-infinite body subjected to 3-D moving
heat source of submerged Arc Welding process. 2010
International Conference on Mechanical and Electrical
Technology. 733–737.
Goldak, J., Chakravarti, A. & Bibby, M. 1984. A New
Finite Element Model for Welding Heat Source.
Metall Transaction B, 15B, 299–305.
Gurney, T. 1979. Fatigue of Welded Structures,
Cambridge University Press, 2nd Ed.
Hashemzadeh, M., Chen, B. Q. & Guedes Soares, C.
2014a. Comparison between Different Heat Sources
Types in Thin-plate Welding Simulation. In: Guedes
Soares, C. & Pena, F. (eds.) Developments in Maritime
Transportation and Exploitation of Sea Resources.
UK: Francis & Taylor Group London 329–335.
Hashemzadeh, M., Garbatov, Y. & Guedes Soares, C.
2014b. Numerical Investigation of the Thermal Fields
due to the Welding Sequences of Butt-welds. submit-
ted for publication.
Hashemzadeh, M., Garbatov, Y. & Guedes Soares, C.
2015. Reduction in welding induced distortions of
but welded plates subjected to preventive measures
In: Guedes Soares, C. & Shenoi, A. (eds.) Analysis and
Design of Marine Structures. London, UK: Taylor &
Francis Group. 581–588.
Hashemzadeh, M., Garbatov, Y. & Soares, C. 2016.
Reduction in welding induced residual stresses and
distortions of butt welded plates subjected to heat
treatments. Maritime Technology and Engineering III.
CRC Press. 481–488.
Lillemäe, I., Remes, H. & Romanoff, J. 2013. Influence of
initial distortion on the structural stress in 3 mm thick
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Mandal, N. R. 2017. Welding Defects. Ship Construc-
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283–292.
Tekgoz, M., Garbatov, Y. & Guedes Soares, C. 2015.
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3/29/2017 9:41:46 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

The influence of heavy weight loading method on the local welding

deformation and residual stress of a deck grillage

Yuheng He & Zhen Chen

Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China

Jiameng Wu
Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China
Marine Design and Research Institute of China (MARIC), Shanghai, China

ABSTRACT: This study investigates the welding residual stress and distortion in a deck grillage welds.
Some heavy weights loadings are placed on the panels between two adjacent stiffeners of the grillage dur-
ing welding process and removed after the structure cooling down to ambient temperature. An improved
thermal elastic-plastic FE approach in which various welding key parameters can be considered was
employed to enhance modeling and calculation efficiency. The results showed that the surface stress and
local distortion of the plates depended on the mechanical restraints of heavy weights, and the influence of
heavy weight loading on the mid-surface residual stress was not significant. Applying heavy weight load-
ings on panels is an effective way to reduce welding-induced imperfection.

1 INTRODUCTION welding process. Fanous (2003) studied the effect of

Welding as an efficient means of connection is widely
used throughout the construction process of ship
hull. However, construction engineers frequently
encounter the puzzles of controlling and mitigating
the welding deformations of structure components.
It is helpful to investigate the characteristics of the
welding deformation and residual stress of the struc-
ture and then take reasonable measures to improve
welding quality during practical fabrication.
Thermal elasto-plastic Finite Element Method
(FEM) is an effective way to predict the welding
deformation of ship structure. Gannon et al. (2010)
studied the influence of welding sequences on the
welding distortion and residual stresses of a tee-
joint. The technique of elements birth and death was
used in simulation. The results of numerical simu-
lation agreed well with those of model experiments.
Deng & Murakawa (2008) used the thermo-elastic–
plastic FEM to predict welding distortion and resid-
ual stress in a thin plate butt-welded joint, and the
accuracy of the predictions was verified by compari-
son with experimental results. Sun et al. (2014) stud-
ied the welding deformations of a thin-plate joint
induced by Laser Beam Welding (LBW) and CO2
gas arc welding in both numerical simulation and
experimental method. The out-of-plane deformation
and residual stresses can be significantly reduced if
CO2 gas arc welding is replaced by LBW.
In order to minimize welding distortion,
mechanical restraints are often implemented during
boundary condition on residual stresses. The results
indicated that an unconstrained plate is more apt
to deform after being welded than the plate which
is a part of a larger structure. Adak (2013) stud-
ied the effects of three different plate boundary
constraints on the residual stresses and welding
deformation. By comparing the results, it came to a
conclusion that different boundary conditions had
a significant impact on transverse residual stresses.
Fu et  al. (2014) investigated the welding residual
stress and distortion in T-joint welds under six
different mechanical boundary conditions. It was
found that transverse residual stress, out-of-plane
displacement, angular distortion and transverse
shrinkage were sensitive to mechanical boundary
conditions. Kohandeghan (2011) proposed a tran-
sient thermo-mechanical model to assess the influ-
ence of edge fixtures on distributions and values of
residual stresses during the butt-joint Gas Tungsten
Arc Welding (GTAW). The prediction of residual
stresses field which was simulated by the numerical
model matched the experimental evaluations well.
All study objects mentioned above are small-scale
structures such as fillet joints and butt joints. How-
ever, in the practical fabrication, there are more
cases in which the prediction of welding distortion
and residual stress of large-scale grillage is required.
In the practical fabrication, ship blocks are usu-
ally placed on a support platform or pin jig when
they are welded. Some mechanical measures, such
as fixation of free edges of panels, supporting pin

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 jig and putting heavy weight loadings on the welded details about the validation can be found in Chen’s
panels, are taken to improve the welding deforma- study (Chen et al. 2015). The numerical method was
tions effectively. This paper focuses on the influence also validated by Shen (Shen et al. 2014), via com-
of heavy weight loading method on the local weld- paring simulation results with the experimental data
ing distortion and residual stress of a deck grillage. published by Deng (Deng et al. 2007).
Two representative fabrication procedures were car-
ried out. The welding-induced deformations were
calculated and compared. The residual stresses in 3 ANALYSIS MODEL
the structure and the effects of the dimension and
position of heavy weights on welding distortions 3.1 Study object
were discussed based on the results.
In this paper, a deck grillage is selected as a study
object. The geometry dimension of the grillage is
2400  mm  ×  2464  mm. The thickness of the base
2 NUMERICAL APPROACH
plate is 6 mm. There are three girders along the x
axis. The spacing between girders is 992 mm. As for
2.1 Shell/solid model
the girders, the height and thickness are 180  mm
Sequentially coupled thermal elasto-plastic FEM is and 8 mm respectively, while the width and thick-
employed in this study. In order to improve comput- ness of the flanges are 120 mm and 8 mm respec-
ing efficiency of thermal and mechanical analysis, tively. There are five stiffeners along the y axis. The
shell elements with section integration are adopted spacing between stiffeners is 480  mm. As for the
to represent the plates of structure. Solid elements stiffeners, the height of the webs and the width
are used to model the weld bead so that the details of the flanges are both 80 mm, and all the thick-
of welding lines region are described precisely. The ness is 8 mm. The detail of the grillage is shown in
Degrees of Freedom (DOFs) of shell and solid ele- Figure  2. The structure is made of HT36  steel
ments are related by liner constraint equations at (specified minimum yield stress of 355  N/mm2)
the contact surface of them (Shen et al. 2014). and the temperature-dependent material proper-
ties are shown in Figure 3.
2.2 Verification of the numerical approach
In order to verify the validity of the numerical
approach used in this paper, a numerical simulation
of a tee-joint welding was conducted and the simu-
lation results were compared with the experimental
data (Perić et al. 2014). The length of the T-joint is
500 mm, the width of the flange and the height of
the web are both 300 mm with a thickness of 10 mm.
The plates are made of structural steel S355 JR. The
welding parameters were as follows: I = 270 A, arc
voltage U = 29 V, and welding speed v = 400 mm/min.
Figure 1 illustrates that the predicted welding distor-
tions of three transverse sections. The numerical
results match well with the experimental data. More Figure 2. Deck grillage geometry.

Figure 1. Comparison with experimental results. Figure 3. Material properties.

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 All girders and stiffeners are tack-welded to
the plate initially to provide an overall rigidity of
the structure before welding. CO2 gas metal arc
welding is conducted during the fabrication of the
structure. The details of welding parameters are
shown in Table  1. The connection welds between
girders and stiffeners are not taken into account.
Five stiffeners and three girders are double-sides
welded symmetrically. The welding directions are
shown with the direction of the arrows and weld-
ing sequence is numbered from No.1 to No.8, as
illustrated in Figure 2.
elements by linear constraint equations which can
be accessed directly in ABAQUS. Fine mesh is used
in the regions near welding line and the dimensions
of elements are 2 mm × 4 mm. In thermal analysis
model, shell element type is DS4, and solid element
type is DC3D8. Same mesh is employed in thermal
and mechanical model. The structure with a free
boundary condition is shown in Figure 7.

3.2 Welding Cases

Four welding cases with different heavy weight
loading configures are studied in this paper. Panels
of the grillage are sorted into four types: Panel_A,
Panel_B, Panel_C and Panel_D, as is shown in
Figure 3.
In Case 1, the structure is free to distort without
any constrains.
In Case 2, there is one heavy weight placed on Figure 4. Welding Case 4.
the center region of each panel.
In Case 3, there are two heavy weights placed
on the plate of every Panel_A and Panel_B sym-
metrically, while the heavy weights in Panel_C and
Panel_D remain the same with Case 2.
In Case 4, there are three heavy weights placed
on the plate of every Panel_A and Panel_B sym-
metrically, while the heavy weights in Panel_C and
Panel_D remain the same with Case 2.
From Case 2 to Case 4, the total area of heavy
weights increases. All heavy weights are removed
after the structure cools down to ambient tempera-
ture. The spring-back deflections occur and the
structure is in a free-distortion status in the end.
The weights are assumed to be heavy enough to
restrain the vertical movement of the plate beneath
them. The details of Case 2, Case 3 and Case 4 are
shown in Figures 4–6. Figure 5. Welding Case 3.

3.3 FE Model
The welding process simulation of the deck gril-
lage is carried out in ABAQUS/standard software.
The plate, girders and stiffeners of the structure
are modeled on the mid surface of plates with
shell element. In order to simulate the heat fluxes
precisely, solid elements are used to describe
the triangle fillet and connected with the shell

Table 1. Welding conditions.

Arc
Current Voltage Speed radius Heat
(A) (V) (mm/min) (mm) efficiency

270 26 480 9 0.75

Figure 6. Welding Case 4.

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 Figure 8. The final overall deformation in Case 1.
Figure 7. FE model.

In the thermal analysis, static substructure tech-

nique is used to decrease calculation time. The
whole structure is divided into five static substruc-
tures in transverse direction and three substruc-
tures in longitudinal direction. Each substructure
has enough large regions to ensure little tempera-
ture changes at the border. The typical substruc-
tures in transverse and longitudinal directions are
shown in Figure  7. The temperature field results
are exerted on the mechanical analysis model
according to welding sequence.
A combined heat source model is used in ther- Figure 9. The final overall deformation in Case 2.
mal analysis to simulate the heat input distribution
of welding torch. The total energy is divided into
two portions. One is the volumetric heat source
with uniform density in triangular fillet, and the
other is the surface heat flux with Gaussian power
distribution on the surface of the base plate (Chen
et  al., 2015). The volumetric heat input counts
60% of total heat input, while the surface heat flux
occupies the rest 40% heat input. Segmented mov-
ing heat source (Shen et al. 2014) is developed to
decrease the time of thermal analysis.
The mechanical analysis model contains full
structure of the deck grillage. Rotational DOFs
of the shell element are also considered in the
Figure 10. Five lines of the deck grillage.
mechanical analysis. In Case 1, a three-point fix-
ture boundary condition is set on the model to
exhibit a primary deformation feature of the struc-
restrain the rigid body motion. In Case 2, Case
ture. Local deformation occurs between two adja-
3 and Case 4, the nodes beneath heavy weights
cent stiffeners.
are restrained in vertical direction to simulate the
The global bending behavior of the stiffened
effect of heavy weights on the panel. In the spring-
structure can be observed from the distortions of
back analysis step, the boundary condition is set as
stiffeners. The deformation of the plate is a com-
the three-point fixture boundary condition.
bination of global and local bending behaviors.
Figures  11–14 illustrate the vertical deformation
of plates at L1 and T1 and stiffeners at L2 and
4 RESULTS
T2 when different mechanical boundary condi-
tions are applied. In order to exhibit the deforma-
4.1 Welding distortion
tion more specifically, five lines of the deck grillage
The final welding deformations of the grillage in are selected, which are shown in Figure  10. The
Case 1 and Case 2 are shown in Figures  8–9. It difference in the magnitude of vertical deforma-
is obvious that both global and local distortions tion between Case 1 and other cases is significant.

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 Figure  13. Comparison of the vertical deformation
Figure  11. Comparison of the vertical deformation at L2.
at L1.

Figure  14. Comparison of the vertical deformation

Figure  12. Comparison of the vertical deformation at T2.
at T1.

Although the spring-back effect occurs after heavy

weights removed, the vertical deformation decreases
substantially owing to the reduction of gross plas-
tic deformation. The vertical deformation of plates
and stiffener can be reduced dramatically by placing
heavy weights on panels. However, the magnitudes
of the vertical deformation in Case 2, Case 3 and
Case 4 are quite similar. Therefore, increasing the
area of heavy weights can barely further decrease
the deformation.

4.2 Residual stress

Figure  15 illustrates the distribution of the lon-
gitudinal mid-surface stresses in the deck grillage
under Case 1. The tensile residual stresses occur in
the narrow band region along welding lines. The
maximum magnitude of the tensile stresses exceeds
the yield strength of material. The compressive
residual stress occurs in the middle parts of panels.
Figure  15. The distribution of longitudinal residual
stress in Case 1.(S22).
Figures 16–17 depict the distribution of the lon-
gitudinal mid-surface residual stress at T1 and the
distribution of transverse residual stress at L3  in
four cases respectively. The high tensile residual

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 Figure 16. Longitudinal mid-surface stress at T1.
Figure 17. transversal mid-surface stress at L3.
stresses subsequently change to compressive
residual stresses as the distance from fusion zone
increases. By comparing Figure 16 and Figure 17,
it is found that the magnitude of longitudinal
compressive residual stresses between stiffeners is
larger than that of transverse compressive residual
between girders. This is because that the longitu-
dinal welding lines are more than transverse ones.
There are little differences in the distributions and
the magnitudes of mid-surface residual stresses
in different cases. Therefore, the impact of heavy
weight loadings on mid-surface residual stresses is
little.
Figures  18–19 illustrate the distributions of
the transverse stress on the top surface along T1
and the distribution of longitudinal stress on the
top surface along L3  in four cases. The stress on
the top surface of the plate between stiffeners is a
superposition of the tensile stress induced by local
bending and the compressive shrinkage stress. The
transverse stress on the top surface of the plate
between stiffeners remains tensile at T1, because
the magnitude of tensile stress induced by bend-
ing behavior is larger than that of the transverse
compressive shrinkage stress. The situation at L3
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 636
Figure 18. Transverse residual stress in the top surface
at T1.
Figure  19. Longitudinal residual stress in the top sur-
face at L3.
is opposite. As the vertical deformation decreases,
the tensile stress induced by bending on the top
surface diminishes. Therefore, in Case 2, Case 3
and Case 4, the magnitudes of longitudinal stress
on the top surface at L3 become a little higher,
while the magnitudes of transverse stress at T1
turn lower. The restrains of heavy weights result
in some changes on surface residual stresses of the
plates.
5 CONCLUSIONS
By utilizing a thermal elasto-plastic method based
on shell/solid model, the welding deformation
and residual stress of a deck grillage under differ-
ent mechanical restrains are studied in this paper.
Some conclusions can be drawn.
a. Heavy weight loadings on the panels between
two adjacent stiffeners can reduce local welding
distortion effectively.
3/29/2017 9:41:51 AM
 b. Increasing the area of heavy weights can barely
decrease the magnitude of local welding distor-
tion further.
c. Heavy weight loadings have some influences on
the surface residual stress of the plate. However,
the influence is slight for the mid-surface resid-
ual stress in the plate.
REFERENCES
Adak, M. & Soares, C.G. 2014. Effects of different
restraints on the weld-induced residual deformations
and stresses in a seel plate. International Journal of
Advanced Manufacturing Technology 71: 699–710.
Chen, Z., Chen, Z. & Shenoi, R.A. 2015. Influence of
welding sequence on welding deformation and resid-
ual stress of a stiffened plate structure. Ocean Engi-
neering 106: 271–280.
Deng, D. & Murakawa, H. 2008. FEM prediction of
buckling distortion induced by welding in thin plate
panel structures. Computational Materials Science
43(4): 591–607.
Deng, D., Liang, W. & Murakawa, H. 2007. Determina-
tion of welding deformation in fillet-welded joint by
means of numerical simulation and comparison with
experimental maeasurements, Journal of Materials
Processing Technology 183: 219–225.
Fanous, F.Z., Younan, Y.A. & Wifi, S. 2003. 3D finite ele-
ment modeling of the welding process using element
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birth and element movement techniques. American
Society of Mechanical Engineers 125(5):144–150.
Fu, G., Lourenco, M.I., Duan, M. & Estefen, S.F. 2014.
Effect of boundary conditions on residual stress and
distortion in T-joint welds. Journal of Constructional
Steel Research 102:121–135.
Gannon, L., Liu, Y., Pegg, N. & Smith, M. 2010. Effect
of welding sequence on residual stress and distor-
tion in flat-bar stiffened plates. Marin Structures 23:
385–404.
Kohandehghan, A.R. & Serajzadeh, S. 2011. Arc weld-
ing induced residual stress in butt-joints of thin plates
under constraints. Journal of Manufacturing Processes
13(2): 96–103.
Perić, M., Tonković, Z., Rodić, A., Surjak, M., Garašić,
I., Boras, I. & Švaić, S. 2014. Numerical analysis and
experimental investigation of welding residual stresses
and distortions in a T-joint fillet weld. Materials &
Design 53: 1052–1063.
Shen, J. & Chen, Z. 2014. Welding simulation of fillet-
welded joint using shell elements with section integra-
tion. Journal of Materials Processing Technology 214:
2529–2536.
Shen, J., Chen, Z. & Luo, Y. 2014. Welding simulation
of T-shape joint in hull by segmented moving heat
source. Shipbuilding of China 211: 66–72.
Sun, J., Liu, X., Tong, Y. & Deng, D. 2014. A compara-
tive study on welding temperature fields, residual
stress distributions and deformations induced by laser
web welding and CO2 gas arc welding. Materials and
Design 63: 519–530.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Fast computation on evaluation of critical welding buckling condition

in fabrication of lightweight marine structure

Jiangchao Wang
School of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
Wuhan, China

Hong Zhou
School of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology,
Zhenjiang, China

Hongquan Zhao
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, China

ABSTRACT: Comparing with predicting the distribution and magnitude of welding buckling, deter-
mination of critical welding buckling condition is preferred. When critical welding buckling condition is
obtained, lots of practical techniques can be performed to make sure that the applied load is less than
critical welding buckling condition for welding buckling prevention. The target of this study is to clar-
ify the generation mechanism of welding induced buckling, and evaluate the critical buckling condition
under welding. The concept of inherent deformation and eigenvalue analysis to examine T welded joint
and ship panels with fillet welding, are presented; and the computed results can tell us the critical buckling
condition of inherent deformation and corresponding buckling mode. Meanwhile, it can be confirmed
that in-plane inherent deformation is the dominant reason of welding induced buckling, and inherent
bending moment and initial deflection are considered as the disturbance to trigger buckling when critical
buckling condition is reached.

1 INTRODUCTION of welding distortion, which combines thermal elas-

Welding, as a common joining method due to its
lots of advantages, is widely employed in the fab-
rication of ship and offshore structures. However,
welding distortion with in-plane and out-of-plane
types is an essential engineering problem, which
cannot be completely avoided and always influence
the final fabrication quality. When the relatively
thin plates are used to fabricate the lightweight
structure for improving fuel economy and enhanc-
ing the carrying capacity, not only the conventional
welding distortion but also welding induced buck-
ling will be produced during the assembly process.
Welding induced buckling will generate loss of
dimensional control, structural integrity, and may
delay the fabrication schedule and increase fabri-
cation cost when mitigation is carried out (Wang
et al., 2015). Moreover, it is difficult to correct the
welding induced buckling due to its instability. It is
better to avoid producing welding induced buck-
ling whenever it is possible.
With the development of high performance com-
puter and numerical analysis technology, Deng &
Murakawa (2008) developed a prediction method
tic plastic FE method and large deformation elastic
FE method which is based on inherent deforma-
tion theory and the interface element. The inherent
deformations of two typical welded joints used in a
large thin plate structure were evaluated using ther-
mal elastic plastic FE method. Then, an elastic anal-
ysis using these inherent deformations is employed
to investigate the influence of heat input, welding
procedure, welding sequence, plate thickness and
spacing between the stiffeners on buckling propen-
sity of this structure. Wang et al. (2011, 2013, 2015,
2016) investigated welding induced buckling with
an elastic analysis based on the inherent deforma-
tion. They considered a thin plate welded structure,
where the inherent deformation was evaluated from
a typical welded joint by means of three dimensional
TEP FE analysis. Straightening using line heating,
which was applied on the opposite side of stiffener,
was also investigated to reduce buckling distortion
utilizing the same computational approach. Wang
et al. (2012, 2013) systemically investigated the weld-
ing induced buckling of thin plate welded structures
with inherent deformation method, and also its mech-
anism is clearly clarified with inherent deformation.

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 Good agreements between measured and computed
out-of-plane distortion were obtained. Meanwhile,
in order to consider the buckling sensitivity, eigen-
value analysis was employed to evaluate the critical
buckling condition and predict possible buckling
mode. They finally concluded that in-plane inher-
ent deformation is the domain reason of welding
induced buckling and it determines the buckling
mode, and initial deflection and inherent bending
are considered as disturbance to trigger buckling
(Wang et al., 2014).
Huang et al. (2004) carried out a comprehensive
assessment of fabrication technology of lightweight
structures produced using relatively thin plates. An
optical measurement system and advanced com-
putational tools were employed to understand the
underling mechanism of buckling distortion and
critical process parameters for ship panels. They
noted that dimensional accuracy due to thermal
cutting can have a significant impact on buckling
distortion. They also pointed out that effective
mitigation techniques for minimizing buckling dis-
tortion should either reduce the buckling driving
force and/or increase the buckling resistant (panel
geometric parameters). Michaleris (1996) showed
that the compressive residual stress parallel to
welding line contributes a loading that eventually
results in buckling if the stress exceeds the critical
buckling stress of the welded structure. He called
this stress the Applied Weld Load (AWL), which is
determined by performing local 3D thermal elastic
plastic FE analysis of the welding process. A 2D
shell model depicting the actual ship panel using
a relatively coarse mesh is then used to perform
an eigenvalue analysis that determines the various
buckling modes caused by welding residual stress.
The minimum eigenvalue obtained from the anal-
ysis was used to evaluate the resistance to buck-
ling. This resistance to buckling has been called
the Critical Buckling Load (CBL). A comparison
of the AWL and the CBL indicates whether the
welded structure is expected to buckle and what
mode of buckling is likely to occur.
From the above mentioned literatures, they all
concentrated on the prediction, clarification, even
mitigation of welding induced buckling during the
fabrication of large ship structures with thin plates.
In this study, with the understanding of welding
buckling mechanism, inherent deformations are
considered as input parameters to calculate the
critical welding buckling condition with eigenvalue
analysis. Not only the typical welded joints, but
also a ship panel was examined to fast evaluate
the values of inherent deformations when welding
induced buckling occurs. Also a practice to avoid
welding buckling was performed by comparing its
inherent deformations to critical values, and the
predicted welding distortion shows there are no
features of buckling behavior.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 640
2 THEORY AND APPROACH
2.1 Inherent strain and inherent deformation
Based on TEP FE analysis and experimental obser-
vations, Ueda (2007) concluded that welding resid-
ual stress and welding distortion are produced by
the inherent strain ε*. The inherent strain mostly
depends on the joint parameters, such as type of
welded joint, material properties, plate thickness
and heat input. For a specific welded joint, the
inherent strain at each location is determined by the
maximum temperature reached at this location dur-
ing the welding process, and the constraint provided
by the surrounding material. The total strain εtotal
during the heating and cooling cycle of the welding
process can be divided into the strain components
given by Eq. (1), namely, elastic strain ε elastic, plas-
tic strain ε plastic, thermal strain ε thermal, creep strain
ε creep and that produced through phase transforma-
tion ε phase, respectively. Meanwhile, total strain can
be rearranged as a summation of the elastic strain
and the inherent strain ε inherent which includes all
the strain components except the elastic strain. In
other words, the inherent strain ε inherent is defined as
a summation of plastic strain, thermal strain, creep
strain and that caused by the phase transformation
as given by Eq. (2), in which plastic strain is the
dominant component of inherent strain.
ε total ε eelastic
lastic
+ ε thermal ε pplastic
lastic
+ ε phase ε creep (1)
ε ε elastic
=ε thermal
+ε plastic
+ε phase
+ε creep
(2)
= ε inherent ε *
Due to the concentration characteristic of
inherent strain and requirement of fine enough FE
mesh near the welding line to apply inherent strain,
the elastic FE analysis with employing inherent
strain directly to predict residual stress and weld-
ing distortion is not accepted, and the requirement
of a fine enough FE mesh is not desirable from
practical viewpoint. Therefore, inherent deforma-
tion is later proposed, which bases on the assump-
tion that a welded joint in plate structure has an
inherent amount of deformation on every cross
section normal to the welding line.
It can be achieved to replace the distribution
of inherent strain on each cross section with one
value of inherent deformation for elastic FE analy-
sis. Since the displacement or deformation is the
integration of strain, inherent deformation which
is an integration of the inherent strain, can be used
to predict welding distortion without a significant
loss of accuracy. Similar to the inherent strain, the
inherent deformation mostly depends on the joint
parameters such as configuration, material prop-
erties, plate thickness and welding heat input. The
influence of the length and the width of a welded
joint on magnitude of inherent deformation, is small
3/29/2017 9:41:52 AM
 if the size of the plate is large enough (Vega et al.,
2007). When the end effect is ignored, the magni-
tudes of inherent deformation can be approximated
as constant values along the welding line. These
constant values are introduced into the elastic shell
elements model as loads (forces, displacements and
moments) to predict welding distortion. Computed
results are in good agreement with experimental
measurements (Wang et al., 2011).
The inherent deformation can be evaluated
as the integration of the longitudinal inher-
ent strain ε x* in the welding direction and the
transverse inherent strain ε *y in the transverse
direction distributed on the cross section normal
to the welding line according to the following
equations.
1 12 ⎛ h⎞ *
h ∫∫ h3 ∫∫ ⎝
δ x* ε x* ddydz
d θ x* ε x dydz
2⎠
1 12 ⎛ h⎞ (3)
h ∫∫
δ y* ε *y dydz θ y* = 3 ∫∫ z − ⎟ ε *y dydz
h ⎝ 2⎠
where, δ *x and δ *y are the inherent deformation in
the longitudinal and the transverse directions, θ *x
and θ y* are the inherent bending deformation in
the longitudinal and the transverse directions; h is
the thickness of the welded joint, and x, y, z are the
welding direction, transverse direction and thick-
ness direction, respectively.
2.2 Large deformation and eigenvalue analysis
Occurrence of welding induced buckling is a kind
of non-linear response, which is also considered as
a stability problem. This phenomenon can be stud-
ied and represented using the large deformation
theory.
The equation relating the strain and displace-
ment is an essential equation to describe this
nonlinear response. If the small deformation is
assumed, the strains are given as a linear func-
∂u ∂v ⎧⎛ ∂u ⎞ ⎛ ∂u ⎞ ⎛ ∂v ⎞ ⎛ ∂v ⎞
γ xy = + + ⎨⎜ ⎟ +⎜ ⎟
∂y ∂x ⎩⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎜⎝ ∂y ⎟⎠ ⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎜⎝ ∂y ⎟⎠
⎛ ∂w ⎞ ⎛ ∂w ⎞ ⎫ (4)
+⎜ ⎟ ⎜ ⎟⎬
⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎝ ∂y ⎠ ⎭
where, εx and εy are Green-Lagrange strain in x and
y directions; γxy is the shear strain on the x-y plane.
u, v and w are the displacement in x, y and z direc-
tions, respectively.
It is well known that eigenvalue analysis is usu-
ally employed to predict the buckling force of a
structure, which is assumed as an ideal linear elastic
body. In the classical eigenvalue analysis, eigenval-
ues are computed with regard to the applied com-
pressive force and constraints of a given system.
For a basic structural configuration, each applied
combination of forces has a minimum critical
buckling value at which the structure buckles, and a
corresponding buckling mode. Eigenvalue analysis
also gives other higher order buckling modes and
the associated critical buckling value. Theoretically,
there are values and modes equaling to the number
of degrees of freedom in the considered system.
The basic variables, such as the displacement ut + Δt,
the strain εt + Δt, and the stress σt + Δt at time t + Δt
can be decomposed into the sum of their values at
time t and their increments, i.e.
ut t = ut + Δu
ε t Δt = ε t + Δ = t + Δ1ε + Δ 2ε
σ t Δt = D t t σ t DΔ = t + DΔ1ε 2
ε (5)
where, D is the elastic matrix (stress-strain matrix),
Δ1ε and Δ2ε are the first order (linear) and the sec-
ond order (non-linear) terms of strain increment.
When Eq. (4) is used, and taking εx for an exam-
ple, it is shown that
2 2
∂ut 1 ⎛ ∂ut
⎞ 1 ⎛ ∂vt Δt ⎞
ε x (t t) = Δtt
+ + Δt

∂x 2 ∂x ⎠
⎝ 2 ⎝ ∂x ⎠
tion of displacements. In case of the large defor- 2
1 ⎛ ∂wt Δt ⎞
mation theory, the nonlinear relation between + = ε x (t ) + Δ1ε x + Δ 2ε x (6)
strain and displacement will be considered, and 2 ⎝ ∂x ⎠
Green–Lagrange strain which is the second order
function of the displacements should be used as To derive the governing equation for eigenvalue
given by Eq. (4). From the expressions of these analysis, the minimum potential energy theorem is
strains, the first order term represents the linear employed. The total energy of the system at times t
response, and the second order term is essential and t + Δt are given by Eq. (7) and (8), respectively.
to the non-linear phenomenon under the large 1
deformation. π( t ) ∫ 2 ε Tt Dε t dv − ∫ ft ut ds (7)

1
π( t+ ) ∫ 2 (ε t + ε + ε ) D ( ε t ε ) ddv
T
∂u 1 ⎧⎛ ∂u ⎞ ⎛ ∂v ⎞ ⎛ ∂w ⎞ ⎫
2 2 2
ε
εx = + ⎨⎜ ⎟ + ⎜ ⎟ + ⎜ ⎟ ⎬
∂x 2 ⎩⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎭
− ∫ ( ft f ) (ut + u ) ds
∂v 1 ⎪⎧⎛ ∂u ⎞ ⎛ ∂v ⎞ ⎛ ∂w ⎞ ⎪⎫
2 2 2

εy = + ⎨⎜ ⎟ + ⎜ ⎟ + ⎜ ⎟ ⎬ = π ( t ) + Δπ ( )0 (8)
∂y 2 ⎩⎪⎝ ∂y ⎠ ⎝ ∂y ⎠ ⎝ ∂y ⎠ ⎪
⎭

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 Since the potential energy at time t is already 3 BUCKLING OF TYPICAL
known and fixed, the condition for the potential WELDED JOINT
energy π(ut  +  Δt) to be a minimum is equivalent
to that condition for its increment Δπ(Δu), given As the simple welded joints, butt and fillet welding
by Eq. (9) in which the higher order terms are are usually selected to initially examine and investi-
neglected. Eq. (9) can be rewritten in matrix form gate behavior and mechanism of welding induced
as shown in Eq. (10). buckling. A butt and fillet welded joint were stud-
ied with experimental and numerical analyses,
Δπ ( Δ ) (ut + Δt ) π (ut )
π (u which were assembled with 4 mm thin plates. Dur-
1 ing the welding, CO2 arc welding was practiced,
=∫ { Δε T Δε Dε t Δ ε εt Δ ε } where the welding current, voltage and velocity
2 are 190 A, 16,1V and 5 mm/sec, respectively. The
dv − ∫ ( ft f t )ds buckling distortion was obviously observed and
1 measured. Meanwhile, this phenomenon was also
= ∫ {( )T D(( ) t } dv
2 represented by TEP and elastic FE analyses, and
− ∫ Δfu d ∫ t Δ ε dv ∫ ft Δuds
Δfffut ds 1 (9) the mechanism of welding buckling was clarified
with inherent deformation (Wang et al., 2013). To
continually and closely examine welding buckling
Δπ ( Δu )
1
2
{Δu T
⎣ t ⎦ ( ) 1
Δ } ⎡ 1 u ⎤ {Δu} + {Δu
2
Δ }
T behavior, eigenvalue analysis with inherent defor-
mation and shell elements model was employed.
( )
⎡ K σ ⎤ {Δu} {Δf }T
⎣ 2 t ⎦
Using the current welding condition, the lower
buckling modes and corresponding critical weld-
T
{Δu} + { }T { } − { } { } (10) ing buckling conditions were calculated as shown
in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2.

From the condition for the minimum value of

Δπ(Δu), the following equation is derived.

∂Δπ ( ) = ⎡K
∂Δu ⎣ 1 ( )⎤⎦ { } + ⎡⎣ K ( )⎤⎦ { } + { }
−{ }−{ }=0 (11)

Due to the equilibrium of the system at time t

{F } { ft } = 0 (12)

Because of the fact that the buckling occurs

without increase of external forces, Eq. (13) is
satisfied.

{Δf
Δ }=0 (13)

If the system buckles under an internal force

λ{σt}, Eq. (11) is reduced to an eigenvalue problem
given by Eq. (14).

[ K ( u ) ] { u}
1 t ⎣K2 (
λ ⎡⎡K t )⎤⎦ { u} = 0 (14)

From Eq. (14), it is clear that buckling is an

eigenvalue problem. In case of welding, the stress
σt is the stress produced by the inherent deforma-
tion associated with the welding and the param-
eter λ is the eigenvalue to be determined. When the
stress becomes equal to λσt, the structure buckles.
This means that the structure has already buckled Figure  1. Buckling modes and corresponding critical
when λ is less than 1.0. condition of thin plate butt welds.

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Figure  2. Buckling modes and corresponding critical
condition of thin plate fillet welds.
4 APPLICATION FOR A SHIP PANEL
In this section, a ship panel with 6 mm thin plates
was examined. (1) A fillet welded joint in the consid-
ered ship panel was investigated first, where the cur-
rent welding condition in fabrication is employed
to evaluate its associated inherent deformation.
Then, (2) the welding distortion of ship panel was
predicted with an elastic FE computation. The
computed result with large deformation shows that
welding induced buckling occurs after welding. (3)
Eigenvalue analysis was employed to calculate the
critical buckling condition, which is more essential
for fabrication. (4) In order to avoid the occurrence
of welding induced buckling, intermittent zigzag
welding was practiced, which can generate less
magnitude of inherent deformation, and the weld-
ing buckling can be corrected very well.
4.1 Experimental procedure and evaluation of
inherent deformation
A typical fillet welded joint shown in Fig.  3
was conducted first to validate the FE analysis,
which result will be employed to evaluate inher-
ent deformation produced by welding. This fillet
welded joint is assembled by two components:
flange with 300  mm  ×  300  mm  ×  6  mm and web
with 300 mm × 100 mm × 6 mm, respectively. For
this experiment, the CO2 arc welding process was
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 643
Figure 3. Frontview of experimental fillet welded joint.
Table 1. Welding conditions of fillet welded joint.
Current Voltage Velocity efficiency
170–190 20–30 4.0–5.0 0.7–0.8
Figure  4. Comparison of undeformed and deformed
fillet welded joint (Scale: 10).
carried out and two welding passes were sequen-
tial performed. Its welding conditions are shown
in Table  1. After welding, the angular distortion
of one edge is measured while the other edge was
fixed to back original position.
Based on the geometry profile of experimental
fillet welded joint, the FE analysis model was cre-
ated with 3D solid elements. Welding direction is
parallel to the positive direction of X axis as shown
in Fig.  4. Boundary conditions to fix rigid body
motion are also presented in Fig.  4. Temperature
dependent material properties of specimen are used
for thermal elastic plastic FE analysis of the exam-
ined fillet welded joint. Similar to the experiment,
two welding passes were performed sequentially.
A TEP FE computation was conducted to pre-
dict welding induced distortion and inherent strain.
Figure  4  shows the deformed shape after welding
and the initial undeformed shape of experimental fil-
let welded joint. The positions of measured points
are also indicated in Fig. 4. Comparison between the
experimental result and computed result of weld-
ing angular distortion has a good agreement at the
3/29/2017 9:41:58 AM
 Figure  5. Comparison of measured and computed
angular distortion. Figure  6. Comparison of tendon force after 1st and
2nd welding pass with sequential welding.
measured points as shown in Fig. 5. Due to the tem-
perature gradient through the plate thickness by
welding heat input, angular distortion is produced.
Figure 5 also illustrates that the welding angular dis-
tortion roughly increases along the welding direction.
According to the definition of inherent defor-
mation, integrating the inherent strain (mostly
plastic strain) was applied to evaluate its magni-
tude. These inherent strains can be obtained from
computed results of previous TEP FE analysis,
which was already validated with experiments.
In particular for fillet welded joint, the longi-
tudinal inherent shrinkage is converted to tendon
force because of un-uniform shrinkage and strong
self-constraint in longitudinal direction. Mean-
Figure 7. Transverse shrinkage and angular distortion.
while, due to the weak self-constraint, the trans-
verse inherent shrinkage and inherent bending can
be evaluated using the computed displacement verse shrinkage on each cross section in the case
directly without precision loss. The longitudinal of sequential welding, and inherent transverse
bending is too small to be considered in the elastic bending is illustrated in Fig.  7. Also, ignoring
FE analysis. These evaluation procedures are pre- the end effect, the constant magnitude of inher-
sented as follows: ent transverse shrinkage and inherent bending are
Since tendon force can be precisely evaluated by 0.54829 mm and 0.018 rad, respectively.
integrating the inherent strain as given in Eq. (15)
for any welded joint. 4.2 Welding buckling behavior in ship panel
As an application of predicting welding distortion
Ftendon E × ∫∫ ε inherent
longitudinal dxdy (15)
in fabrication of thin plate by elastic FE analysis, a
unit ship panel with 6 mm thickness plate was taken
Tendon force (longitudinal inherent shrinkage) to be examined. This examined unit ship panel is
can be evaluated based on the computed plastic assembled by a skin plate with 13,120 mm in length
strain of proposed TEP FE analysis for sequential and 3,205  mm in width, 3 longitudinal stiffeners
experimental welding. For each cross section of the with 100 mm in height as a L section (angle bar),
considered fillet welded joint, tendon force can be and 4 transverse stiffeners with 394 mm in height
obtained and is shown in Fig. 6. Due to the almost as a T section (fillet bar).
uniform distribution in the center region as shown The FE mesh model with shell elements for con-
in Fig. 6 and ignoring the end effect, the magnitudes sidered unit ship panel was shown in Fig. 8, in which
of tendon force with employing the proposed inte- different parts to be welded together are marked
gration approach after first and second welding line with different color. Between the different parts,
are −215.877 KN and -259.055 KN, respectively. interface element will be created automatically,
For transverse inherent shrinkage and inher- where the evaluated inherent deformation before-
ent bending, Figure  7  shows the inherent trans- hand will be applied to represent the mechanical

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 Figure 9. Out-of-plane welding distortion of elastic FE
Figure 8. Shell elements model of a unit ship panel and analysis only employing in-plane inherent shrinkage.
computational boundary condition (line 1 and line 2).

behavior. The boundary condition shown in Fig. 8

was employed to fix the rigid body motion. Also,
line 1 and line 2 in Fig. 8 were selected to compare
the out-of-plane welding distortion for different
elastic FE analyses.
The magnitudes of inherent deformation were
applied into the shell elements model, and large
deformation theory was considered to investigate
the probably buckling behavior due to the welding
in production of examined unit ship panel.
Since longitudinal inherent shrinkage is consid-
ered to be the dominant reason of welding induced
buckling and transverse inherent shrinkage can
generate in-plane stress in plates, they will both
influence the occurrence of welding induced buck-
ling in the fabrication of ship plate structure. For
other components of inherent deformation, as well
as initial deflection, they are together considered
as the disturbance to trigger the buckling behavior
during welding. They may not determine buckling
mode, but influence the magnitude of out-of-plane
welding distortion, and the relatively large bending
deformation produced by inherent bending may
obscure the occurrence of welding induced buck-
ling (Wang et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2013). There-
fore, a computational investigation applying only
Figure  10. Out-of-plane welding distortions of points
in-plane inherent shrinkages for elastic FE analysis on selected lines.
is desired, and was carried out in the following.
When only in-plane inherent shrinkages were
4.3 Critical welding buckling condition
considered, Figure 9 clearly shows significant fea-
tures of buckling from not only the magnitude Although buckling behavior is represented with
but also the deformed mode of welding distor- elastic FE analysis, it is necessary to know the criti-
tion. And it can be concluded that the inherent cal condition for welding induced buckling mitiga-
deformations generated by current welding con- tion. Using the above created shell elements model,
dition can make the examined ship panel buckle. eigenvalue analysis is employed to calculate the
The computed out-of-plane welding distortions of critical value of inherent deformation. As shown
points on line 1 and line 2 as shown in Fig. 10 by in Fig. 11, the lower buckling modes of considered
applying in-plane inherent shrinkages evaluated in ship panel and associated critical values of inher-
previous section, where the large deformation the- ent deformation were obtained. From the theory
ory was employed in elastic FE analysis. As may be of eigenvalue analysis as introduced in previous
seen, buckling distortion with half-wave deformed section, the buckling behavior will occur when the
mode occurs. value of eigenvalue is less than 1.0.

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Figure 11. Buckling modes and corresponding critical
condition of considered ship panel.
Taking the lowest buckling mode as example,
the associated eigenvalue is 0.58165, and the criti-
cal value of inherent deformation can be calculated
as follows:
4.4 Welding buckling mitigation
In actual welding during the fabrication of ship
panel, zigzag welding and intermittent welding
were employed to replace the parallel continuous
welding for reducing welding buckling distor-
tion. Figure 12 illustrates the image of intermit-
tent zigzag welding to fabricate the examined
ship panel.
With computational analysis as shown in
Fig.  13, the magnitudes of inherent deformation
generated by intermittent zigzag welding were eval-
uated in advance. These inherent deformations will
be compared with previous evaluated critical buck-
ling condition as summarized in Table 2, and then
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 646
Figure 12. Image of intermittent zigzag welding.
Figure  13. Longitudinal plastic strain generated by
intermittent zigzag welding.
Table  2. Magnitudes of in-plane inherent shrinkages
generated by intermittent zigzag welding.
Tendon force Transverse inherent shrinkage
−124.655 (KN) 0.10779 (mm)
applied for elastic FE analysis to predict out-of-
plane welding distortion of examined ship panel.
The mitigation effect of intermittent zigzag
welding to reduce out-of-plane welding distortion
is illustrated in Fig. 14, in which not only the mag-
nitude but also deformed mode was significantly
changed. Out-of-plane welding distortions of
points on line 1 and line 2 as shown in Fig. 8 were
plotted; they were also compared with each other
produced by normal sequential welding procedure.
It is obviously shown that intermittent zigzag weld-
ing can produce negligible out-of-plane welding
distortion in the middle region of examined ship
panel, and acceptable out-of-plane welding distor-
tion in the edge region due to that edge region is
usually corrected after welding to be assembled with
other components or blocks in actual fabrication.
Fcritical ( ) eigenvalue( ) Fapplied
{
=
0. ( −259. ) = 150.6793 KN
0.58165 × (0.54829) = 0.3189 mm
(16)
3/29/2017 9:42:01 AM

Figure 14. Comparison of out-of-plane welding distor-
tion with different welding procedure patterns.
5 CONCLUSIONS
With the above investigation, the theory and appli-
cation of evaluation of critical welding buckling
condition by means of eigenvalue analysis with
shell elements model and inherent deformation
were demonstrated to consider typical welded
joints and ship panel. The following conclusions
also can be drawn:
1. Shell elements model with inherent deformation
is an ideal and practical approach to investigate
welding buckling in thin plate fabrication.
2. Elastic FE analysis with inherent deformation
and large deformation theory was employed to
predict magnitude and deformed mode of out-
of-plane welding distortion.
3. Eigenvalue analysis is an ideal and practical
approach to rapidly evaluate critical buckling
condition.
4. Intermittent zigzag welding can reduce the in-
plane inherent shrinkages significantly due to
the less heat input per unit welding length, and
mitigate efficiently welding induced buckling.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 647
REFERENCES
Deng D. and Murakawa H. (2008). FEM prediction of
buckling distortion induced by welding in thin plate
panel structures. Computational Materials Science, 43,
591–607.
Huang T.D, Dong P, Decan L, et  al. (2004). Fabrication
and engineering technology for lightweight ship struc-
tures, part 1: distortions and residual stresses in panel
fabrication. Journal of Ship Production, 20(1), pp:
43–59.
Michaleris P. and Debiccari A. (1996). A predictive tech-
nique for buckling analysis of thin section panels due to
welding. Journal of Ship Production, 12(4), pp: 269–275.
Ueda Y., Murakawa H. and Ma N. (2007). Computa-
tional approach to welding deformation and residual
stress. Sanpo Publication, Japan Tokyo, 2007.
Vega A., Rashed S., Serizawa S. and Murakawa H.
(2007). Influential factors affecting inherent deforma-
tion during plate forming by line heating (report 1):
the effect of plate size and edge effect. Transactions of
JWRI, 36(2), pp: 57–64.
Wang J.C., Ma N., Murakawa H., et al. (2011). Prediction
and measurement of welding distortion of a spherical
structure assembled form multi thin plates. Materials
and Design, 32(10), pp: 4728–4737.
Wang J.C., Ma N. and Murakawa H. (2015). An efficient
FE computation for predicting welding induced buck-
ling in production of ship panel structure. Marine
Structure, Vol. 41, April 2015, pp: 20–52.
Wang J.C., Rashed S., Murakawa H. and Luo Y. (2013).
Numerical prediction and mitigation of out-of-plane
welding distortion in ship panel structure by elastic
FE analysis. Marine Structures, Vol.34, December
2013, pp: 135–155.
Wang J.C., Rashed S., Murakawa H. and Shibahara M.
(2011). Investigation of Buckling Deformation of
Thin Plate Welded Structures. Proceedings of Int.
Society of Ocean and Polar Engineering, Maui U.S.A,
pp: 125–131.
Wang J.C., Rashed S. and Murakawa H. (2014). Mecha-
nism investigation of welding induced buckling using
inherent deformation method. Thin-Walled Struc-
tures, Vol. 80, July 2014, pp: 103–119.
Wang J.C., Shibahara M., Zhang X. and Murakawa H.
(2012). Investigation on twisting distortion of thin
plate stiffened structure under welding. Journal of
Materials Processing Technology, Vol. 212, No. 8,
pp: 1705–1715.
Wang J.C., Yin X. and Murakawa H. (2013). Experi-
mental and computational analysis of residual buck-
ling distortion of bead-on-plate welded joint. Journal
of Materials Processing Technology, Vol. 213, No. 8,
pp: 1447–1458.
Wang J.C., Yuan H., Ma N. and Murakawa H. (2016).
Recent Research on Welding Distortion Prediction
in Thin Plate Fabrication by Means of Elastic FE
Computation. Marine Structures, 2016 Volume 47,
pp: 42–59.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Experimental testing of under matched aluminum welds in tension

C. Wincott, R. Wiwel, K. Zhang, J. McCormick & M. Collette

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

ABSTRACT: The tensile response of undermatched welds in aluminum marine structures has not been
subjected to extensive exploration. In this work, the in-plane response of a common shell-to-frame fillet
weld connection is studied experimentally. The test program featured 5086 and 6061 alloys. Extensive
material characterization was first carried out, including tensile tests at 0, 45, and 90 degrees to the rolling
or extruding direction of the alloy, cross-weld hardness profiles and Heat-Affected Zone (HAZ) charac-
terization. 18 specimens were tested varying weld size and alloy, with three replicates of each connection.
The results indicate that the weld type and size has a significant impact on the strength of the connection,
and that welds in the 6000-series alloys are severely impacted. Implications of these findings on hull-girder
level ultimate strength calculations and finite element models are also discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION tests and FEA modeling of load-carrying fillet

Aluminum’s use as a structural material in the
marine world continues to expand. In addition to
commercial ferries, recent U.S. Navy applications
have included the use of aluminum as the primary
hull-girder material in the LCS-2 class vessels, as
well as the EPF (formally JHSV) support vessels.
Both the LCS-2 and EPF vessels are over 100  m
in length and operate worldwide. In such appli-
cations, primary hull girder strength becomes
a driving limit state. In turn, the in-plane stress
limit states on grillage components become criti-
cal to the overall vessel’s strength. For aluminum
vessels, the role of the weaker Heat-Affected Zone
(HAZ) around welds under tensile loading compli-
cates this response. This work presents the result
of an experimental program focused on the tensile
response of frame-to-shell fillet welds loaded in the
plane of the shell, perpendicular to the weld.
Primary hull girder loads are typically resisted
by counteracting moments developed by in-plane
stresses in decks, side shell, and bottom plating
of the vessel. For high-speed multihulls, these
moments may occur in several different planes—
vertical bending, horizontal bending, prying, pitch
connecting etc. When the vessel is constructed
of aluminum, material-specific limit state for-
mulations for the in-plane response are required.
While much work on the compressive strength of
aluminum plates and panels has been reported
recently (e.g. Benson et al. (2015)), there has been
comparatively little work on tensile response.
Such response is expected to be dominated by
the HAZ near the fusion welds in the structure.
Wang et  al. (2007; 2006) performed experimental
welds in 6000-series alloys. Further work on finite
element analysis was reported by Dørum (2010),
while Nahshon et al. (2015) experimentally studied
ductile fracture in aluminum welds. The authors
have presented semi-analytical formulations for
simple marine details (Collette 2007; Collette
2011). However, no marine-specific experimental
tests or systematic finite element models have been
reported in the open literature.
When subjected to high temperatures through
fusion welding, higher strength aluminum alloys
often loose 30%–40% of their proof strength in the
HAZ. The HAZ impacts a small region, typically
less than 25  mm on each side of the weld. Thus,
the final structure has many lines of locally under-
matched material. When the structure is subjected
to external loading, plasticity first appears in these
under-matched regions. Such plastic strains can
localize almost exclusively in these regions, and the
final structural failure can occur as tearing through
the HAZ. Such tearing can occur at relatively low
global strains on the overall structure (which is
largely still elastic), even if the failure in the HAZ
occurs at high local strains. The degree of strain
localization in the HAZ depends on the alloy type
and temper. In marine use, the work-hardened
5000-series alloys display higher resistance to
strain localization, while the precipitate-hardened
6000-series alloys are especially vulnerable. This is
a result of the 5000-series retaining some ability
to re-work-harden during in-service loading such
that the material ultimate strength reduction in the
HAZ is less than the proof strength reduction.
When considering the collapse of a large alu-
minum marine structure, modeling the tensile

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 response of the HAZ is a challenge. For simpli-
fied collapse methods, such as the Smith approach
(Smith 1977), a load-elongation curve must be esti-
mated for tensile elements often with several HAZ
regions. For finite element calculations, typically
the mesh required to capture the structure’s overall
collapse modes is too coarse to resolve HAZ fail-
ures. Additionally, tearing in the HAZ requires a
detailed material failure model which is atypical of
traditional intact collapse finite element simulation.
Increasing the mesh density is often not an option
owing to the already extensive run-time of these Figure 1. Dogbone specimen with attachment.
large models. Thus, cohesive zone approaches are
often used (Woelke, Shields, and Hutchinson 2015).
However, both the simplified Smith approach and Table 1. Parameters of experimental study.
the cohesive zone approach require a model of
the HAZ failure for the HAZ configuration under Specimen
consideration. For many marine details, such data number
has been lacking.
This work investigated the HAZ failure of com- Alloy Fillet weld size 1 2 3
mon frame-to-shell fillet weld joints. The loading
5086 4.8 mm (3/16″) continuous A1 A2 A3
was perpendicular to the HAZ, meaning the fillet
5086 4.8 mm (3/16″) broken B1 B2 B3
weld was an attachment, not load carrying. Both
5086 7.9 mm (5/16″) continuous C1 C2 C3
5000 and 6000 series alloys were investigated. The
remainder of this paper is divided into five addi- 6061 4.8 mm (3/16″) continuous D1 D2 D3
tional sections. Specimen design and fabrication 6061 4.8 mm (3/16″) broken E1 E2 E3
are presented next. Then the results of the base 6061 7.9 mm (5/16″) continuous F1 F2 F3
metal material characterization are demonstrated,
followed by the characterization of the HAZ. The
load-extension behavior of the specimens is then To explore the impact of alloy and weld char-
presented before conclusions are given. acterization, a small parametric study was carried
out. This involved two common marine alloys,
three different weld sizes, and three replicates of
2 SPECIMEN DESIGN AND each configuration for a total of 18 specimens. The
FABRICATION parameters of the specimens, and the specimen
identification code are shown in Table 1.
The experimental program was designed to capture The parametric specimens were fabricated at
the tensile response of a fillet-weld HAZ loaded Metal Shark Marine, a commercial aluminum
perpendicular to the weld direction. Such config- shipyard. Six plates specimens were used, each
urations are common on marine structures, such plate specimen carried three identical replicate
as the welding of a transverse web frame to the specimens. The frame-shell joint was simulated by
shell plate. In these situations, the primary stress welding 76 mm  × 7.9 mm flat bars with the fillet
field does not need to be transmitted through the weld sizes shown above. The plates were 1.22 m on
weld. However, the HAZ and weld notch repre- a side and 7.9 mm thick. The 7.9 mm fillet welds
sent a weak region in the flow of in-plane stress. were welded at 21.8 volts, 157 amps and a 16 IPM
To represent this in a testable scale, a non-load travel speed. The 4.8 mm fillet welds were welded
carrying attachment was added to a conventional at 21.0 volts, 145 amps and a 15 IPM travel speed.
dog-bone specimen, Figure  1. In this design, the The flat bar was offset so that three parametric
overall length of the dogbone was 508 mm (20″), specimens could be cut from each sheet, along with
with a width in the reduced test region of 152 mm cross-weld profiles, material coupons, and simu-
(6″) and a width at the grips of 292  mm. After lated HAZ coupons. Figure 2 shows the layout of
the transition radius, the straight section of the the specimens cut from each square shipyard speci-
test specimen was 178  mm (7″) long. The overall men. All specimens were water-jet cut in Michigan
length of the specimen was restricted by one of after receipt from the shipyard. Additionally, par-
the machines used for specimen fabrication. While allel TIG weld passes were made at different spac-
the specimen proved adequate, a longer specimen ings to generate a block of material representative
with deeper grips and a gentler transition would be of different HAZ locations. These are shown as
recommended. specimen type “F” in Figure 2. This approach was

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 Figure  3. Tensile tests of 5086  material coupons cut
at 0°.

Figure 2. Layout of specimens from each square plate.

A: Large tensile specimens with fillet weld, B,C,D: Mate-
rial coupons at 0, 45, 90 degrees to rolling respectively. E:
Cross-HAZ hardness profiles, F: Simulated HAZ mate-
rial tensile specimens and hardness coupons.

inspired by simulated HAZ on plates as reported

by Mofflin (1983).

3 MATERIAL CHARACTERIZATION

To develop a baseline of material properties for the

specimens tested, five material coupons were cut
from each square plate at three orientations to the
extrusion direction of the alloy: three at a 0°, one Figure  4. Tensile tests of 5086  material coupons cut
at 45° and one at 90°. These coupons were tested at 45°.
in uniaxial tension. A 98  kN load cell was used
to measure the tensile force, and a 25  mm gauge
length was used to record strain. The results of the
tests are given in Figure 3 through Figure 8.
The test results of each orientation were fitted
with a Ramberg-Osgood curve. The properties of
the material coupons are summarized in Table  2.
The material shows some anisotropic response
to either the rolling or extruding direction. Such
behavior is expected in aluminum alloys, though
the shape of the stress-strain curve for 5086 alloy
plates at 45° and 90° is notably softer, with a more
pronounced curve in the response near the materi-
al’s proof stress. Variability specimen-to-specimen
was low, indicating highly consistent properties in
the plates of the same material. It is important to
note that this material was from a single lot, and
such low variability should not be assumed for lot-
to-lot variability or variability between materials Figure  5. Tensile tests of 5086  material coupons cut
from different suppliers. at 90°.

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Figure 6. Tensile tests of 6061 material coupons cut at 0°.
Figure 7. Tensile tests of 6061 material coupons cut at 45°.
Figure 8. Tensile tests of 6061 material coupons cut at 90°.
652
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 652
Table  2. Material properties of 5086 and 6061 alloy
coupons.
Extrusion Proof stress UTS
Alloy orientation (MPa) (MPa)
5086 0° 230 336
5086 45° 195 311
5086 90° 211 336
6061 0° 294 328
6061 45° 282 318
6061 90° 280 319
4 HAZ CHARACTERIZATION
Cross-HAZ hardness profiles were conducted on
small specimens cut from each plate (labeled “E”
in Figure 2). Specimens were first ground by 400,
600, and 1200 grit sandpaper followed by 9, 6, 3,
and 1 micron polishing solutions. Vickers hardness
values were determined via a Van Vlack Micro-
hardness tester, using a 300 g load and a 10-second
indentation time. Figure 9 through Figure 14 show
the results of these hardness profiles. The horizon-
tal distance axis in the figures gives distance from
the center of the attached flat bar. In these figures,
the heavy dashed lines are the average of all four
specimen hardness values, and the hardness value
for the individual specimens are shown in lighter,
solid lines. There is some noise in the hardness
plot for a single specimen, even after the polish-
ing regime. However, the overall trend from four
specimens is clear.
These hardness profiles graphically show the
loss of hardness in the HAZ region. For 6061
alloy coupons, a characteristic “W” shape HAZ
emerges. This is believed to be a result of the mate-
rial closest to the weld becoming hot enough that
the Magnesium Silicide precipitates in the metal
went back into solution, and the material then
re-hardens via natural aging. However, there is a
significant loss of hardness in the rest of the HAZ
where the precipitates are believed to have over-
aged, though at the time of writing microstructure
characterizations have not yet been carried out on
this material. This is less evident in the 5086 alloy,
although some loss in hardness is still present. The
largest welds, 5/16”, had the greatest effect on the
hardness profiles for both 5086 and 6061 alloys.
Especially for the lighter welds, the common
assumption that the HAZ is 25  mm in breadth
appears conservative—the reduced strength zone
is often less than 20 mm.
The simulated HAZ specimens were manufac-
tured at Michigan (specimen type F in Figure 2).
These specimens used dummy welding passes
made in parallel lines to simulate different regions
3/29/2017 9:42:03 AM
 Figure 9. Cross-weld hardness profile of 5086 specimen
Figure  12. Cross-weld hardness profile of 6061 speci-
with 5/16 weld. Heavy dashed line is average of all four
men with 5/16 weld. Heavy dashed line is average of all
specimens. Center of flat bar is at 0 mm distance.
four specimens. Center of flat bar is at 0 mm distance.

Figure  10. Cross-weld hardness profile of 5086 speci-

men with 3/16 weld. Heavy dashed line is average of all Figure  13. Cross-weld hardness profile of 6061 speci-
four specimens. Center of flat bar is at 0 mm distance. men with 3/16 weld. Heavy dashed line is average of all
four specimens. Center of flat bar is at 0 mm distance.

Figure  11. Cross-weld hardness profile of 5086 speci- Figure  14. Cross-weld hardness profile of 6061 speci-
men with chain weld. Heavy dashed line is average of all men with chain weld. Heavy dashed line is average of all
four specimens. Center of flat bar is at 0 mm distance. four specimens. Center of flat bar is at 0 mm distance.

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 of the HAZ. Five sets of two parallel weld passes, Table 3. Ultimate tensile strength and hardness values
approximately 400  mm long were made on one for HAZ specimens.
plate of each alloy. Then, a hardness coupon and
tensile material specimen were machined with their Weld Proof stress UTS
Alloy spacing Hardness (MPa) (MPa)
centerlines parallel to the weld passes and in the
middle of the two passes. This is shown in Figure 2. 5086 25 mm 89.4 209 334
In this way, consistent thermally-impacted mate- 5086 38 mm 90.5 224 338
rial was generated at different levels of heat expo- 5086 51 mm 92.4 230 340
sure. The weld spacing was 25 mm, 38 mm, 51 mm, 5086 76 mm 93.6 227 338
76 mm, and 102 mm. 5086 102 mm 93.8 232 341
The tensile material properties for these tests are 6061 25 mm 99.2 272 305
shown in Figure  15 and Figure  16. For the 5086 6061 38 mm 108.7 296 331
alloy, the HAZ impact is most significant for the 6061 51 mm 111.0 298 333
25 mm spacing, as expected. As the weld spacing 6061 76 mm 109.9 296 332
increases, the strength slowly recovers, though the 6061 102 mm 114.0 298 333
51 mm and 76 mm curves fall in the opposite order
than was expected. For the 6061 alloy, the recov-
ery appears much faster, with only the 25 mm weld and the heat input in the simulated HAZ approach
spacing showing significant deviation from the was difficult, and it is also possible that the heat
other curves. This could be a result of the over- input was more varied for the 6061 material. Hard-
aged zone in the 6061 HAZ being narrow enough ness tests were conducted using a similar proce-
that the tensile specimen always included strong dure to the cross-HAZ specimens. A complete
material on each side of it. Controlling the welding table of the corresponding average hardness values
and ultimate strengths are given in Table 3.

5 PARAMETRIC TEST RESULTS

The 18 parametric specimens were tested in uni-

axial tension in a 1100  kN hydraulic test frame.
The specimens were mounted into bolted fixture
grips, where the bolts were used to transmit the
load from the test frame to the specimen via shear.
Force was recorded by a load cell on the test frame.
The motion of the grips was recorded, and the
displacement of six further points were tracked
on each side of the weld by an NDI Optotrak
Certus system. On each side of the weld, points
were arranged in two lines of three, approximately
25 mm and 50 mm off the weld line. These motion
Figure 15. HAZ tensile coupons of 5086 plate.
tracking points were located on the opposite side
of the specimen from the fillet weld. The fillet
weld side of the specimen was painted a black and
a white speckle pattern was applied for tracking
displacement field via digital image correlation.
A view of one of the specimens on the test rig is
shown in Figure 17.
The specimens are non-symmetric about the
mid-plane of the plate as the fillet welds and flat
bar are only on one side. The shrinkage force from
the welds causes a slight bowing of the specimen
towards the flat bar side. This was on the order
of a few degrees for most of the specimens and is
further reduced as the tensile load is applied. How-
ever, it does introduce secondary bending through-
out the plating, with the DIC side of the specimen
in tension, and the Optotrack side in compression.
Figure 16. HAZ tensile coupons of the 6061 plate. Additionally, there was some slippage in the bolted

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 Table 4. Breaking loads from the parametric study, kN.

Specimen number
Specimen
letter 1 2 3

A 402 406 389*

B 400 399 391*
C 391 388 390
D 355 359 357
E 370 372 372
F 303 302 288

*Indicate a specimen that broke in the grips instead of

the test section.

Figure 17. Specimen mounted on test rig.

load transfer, particularly early in the loading

process.
The breaking load of each specimen is given in
Table  4. Several interesting trends emerge in this
table. First, the ultimate strength is remarkably
constant for each welding parameter. The maxi-
mum variation from the strongest to the weakest
of each group of three was less than 5% of the
mean value. The final failure of each specimen was
similar, a 45 degree ductile rupture in the HAZ at
the toe of the fillet weld. This fracture would run
from the toe out into the base plate, or back under-
neath the flat bar. A sample fracture is shown in
Figure 18, showing the rough fracture surface run-
ning through the HAZ.
The welding parameters made a large impact on
the strength of the connection. Such dependence
on fabrication parameters is not captured in cur- Figure  18. Image of final fracture surface on 5086
specimen.
rent design codes. Such codes treat HAZ from com-
mon weld sizes in aluminum as possessing identical
strength. However, it is clear from Table  4 that This finding is not surprising given the greater
increasing the amount of weld heat input decreases reduction in the ultimate strength of the 6000-series
the ultimate strength of the joint. The 7.9 mm fil- aluminum compared to the 5000-series aluminum.
let welds (cases C and F) in the table formed the This was reflected in the reduced strength seen in
lower bound of each alloy strength. The impact, the simulated HAZ coupons in this study. In the
however, varies significantly by alloy. For the 5086 context of the tension flange of a large vessel, such
alloys (A–C), the impact of the 4.8 mm continuous a strength reduction would be significant.
or broken fillet weld was not large (A–B), and the
larger fillet weld (C) only reduced the strength of
the joint by about 10  kN. However, for the 6061 6 CONCLUSIONS
alloys (D–F), there is a clear impact between the
continuous and broken 4.8  mm fillet weld. The Aluminum frame-to-shell fillet weld connections
broken weld is 10–15  kN stronger than the con- were tested under in-plane loading, to represent
tinuous weld (D–E), while the large 7.9 mm fillet global stress fields in large aluminum vessels. This
is 50–60  kN weaker than the 4.8  mm continuous frame connection was simulated by a simplified
weld, a strength reduction of roughly 15%. In the detail design consisting of a flat bar welded to a
context of the tension flange of a large vessel, such plate. Eighteen specimens were tested covering two
a strength reduction would be significant. alloys types and three different welding sequences

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 with three replicates of each combination. Care-
ful material characterization showed consistency
between repeated material samples but some degree
of anisotropy in the behavior as expected. Cross-
weld hardness profiles revealed a HAZ breadth
less than the commonly-assumed 25 mm, and one
dependent on welding process. Simulated HAZ
specimens related specific hardness measurements
to material stress-strain curves. The 18 parametric
tests again showed high consistency between speci-
mens manufactured with the same process. Failure
was by a ductile rupture in the HAZ, originating
from the toe of the fillet weld. The strength of the
6061specimens showed more sensitivity to the weld-
ing process parameters than the 5086 specimens.
Overall, the test results largely confirm the con-
cerns around the role of the HAZ in aluminum
vessels. In-plane strains in aluminum stiffened
shell structures are prone to localize in the HAZ
around frame-to-shell connections. This localiza-
tion can reduce the strength and ductility of these
connections. However, the degree of the localiza-
tion and impact on the overall response of the
panel appears to be dependent on both the alloy
used and the welding process parameters. Larger
weld sizes were correlated with reduced strength,
and the 6061 specimens were impacted much more
significantly than the 5086 specimens. For 6061
specimens, strength variations on the order of 15%
were shown between the welding processes exam-
ined. Investigations of the global strength of large
aluminum vessels needs to consider carefully how
to model the HAZ impact on tensile limit states.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of
Dr. Paul Hess, Office of Naval Research Code 331
for supporting this work, the helpful comments
of the Ship Structure Committee PTC, especially
David Kihl, Ken Nahshon, and Bob Sielski. The
authors are grateful to Matthew Unger and Metal
Shark Marine for donating material and labor to
fabricate the test panels.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 656
REFERENCES
Benson, S., J. Downes, and R.S. Dow. 2015. “Over-
all Buckling of Lightweight Stiffened Panels Using
an Adapted Orthotropic Plate Method.” Engineer-
ing Structures 85 (February): 107–17. doi:10.1016/j.
engstruct.2014.12.017.
Collette, M. 2007. “The Impact of Fusion Welds on the
Ultimate Strength of Aluminum Structures.” In 10th
International Symposium on Practical Design of Ships
and Other Floating Structures (PRADS 2007), 2:944–
52. Houston, Texas.
Collette, M., 2011. “Rapid Analysis Techniques for Ulti-
mate Strength Predictions of Aluminum Structures.”
In Advances in Marine Structures, 109–17. Hamburg,
Germany: CRC Press.
Dørum, C., O.-G. Lademo, O.R. Myhr, T. Berstad, and
O.S. Hopperstad. 2010. “Finite Element Analysis of
Plastic Failure in Heat-Affected Zone of Welded Alu-
minium Connections.” Computers and Structures 88
(9–10): 519–28.
Mofflin, D. 1983. “Plate Buckling in Aluminium and
Steel.” Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge,
Trinity College.
Nahshon, K., W.A. Hoffman, and C.B. Ullagaddi. 2015.
“Characterization of Structural Scale Ductile Frac-
ture of Aluminum Panels Using Digital Image Cor-
relation.” In Fracture, Fatigue, Failure, and Damage
Evolution, Volume 5, 81–87. Springer International
Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-06977-7_11.
Smith, C. 1977. “Influence of Local Compressive Failure
on Ultimate Longitudinal Strength of a Ship’s Hull.”
In PRADS, 73–77.
Wang, T., O.S. Hopperstad, O.-G. Lademo, and P.K.
Larsen. 2007. “Finite Element Modelling of Welded
Aluminium Members Subjected to Four-Point Bend-
ing.” Thin-Walled Structures 45 (3): 307–20.
Wang, Ting. 2006. “Modelling of Welded Thin-Walled
Aluminium Structures.” PhD Thesis, Trondheim:
Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
http://ntnu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf ?search
Id=1&pid=diva2:122367.
Woelke, P.B., M.D. Shields, and J.W. Hutchinson. 2015.
“Cohesive Zone Modeling and Calibration for Mode
I Tearing of Large Ductile Plates.” Engineering Frac-
ture Mechanics 147 (October): 293–305. doi:10.1016/
j.engfracmech.2015.03.015.
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 Corrosion

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

A modified method assessing the integrity of carbon steel structures

subjected to corrosion fatigue

Ankang Cheng & Nian-Zhong Chen

School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

ABSTRACT: A modified method for the structural integrity assessment of components subjected
to Corrosion Fatigue (CF) is proposed. The criterion parameter assessing CF within current industrial
standards for integrity assessment is calculated invoking the model established by authors. Based on the
correlation of the Environment-Affected Zone (EAZ) and the plastic zone, the model correlates the cor-
rosion and crack processes. In this model, the critical point where transition in the CF crack growth curve
happens can be predicted, and the length of the Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) over which the plateau of
the crack growth rate lasts in the curve can also be approximated. Accordingly, a new criterion parameter
KFAD is defined for judging the severity of the structural integrity damage of pipeline carbon steels, such
as X65, due to CF. Potential influence of temperature and loading frequency on KFAD is analyzed and
discussed. It is found that KFAD increases with the decrease of the loading frequency, and KFAD increases
as the environmental temperature increases within the limited range.

1 INTRODUCTION However, when structures are exposed to corrosive

Structural Integrity Management (SIM) (Chen et al.,
2011; Chen, 2016a) has been widely adopted by
engineers in the offshore oil and gas industry as
a strategy to ensure the safe operation of critical
structures such as subsea pipelines (Chen, 2016b)
as well as maximize their earning capabilities. The
fundamental procedure in the SIM is the struc-
tural integrity assessment, which can be used at
the design stage, to estimate the maximum flaw
size that will not grow to an intolerable size during
the life of the component, or to assess defects that
have grown after time in service. To implement such
an assessment over a structure, information about
defect tolerance is required, and then some calcu-
lations will be performed on a fracture mechanics
basis. Engineering Critical Assessment (ECA) or
Fitness-For-Service (FFS) assessment is the name
normally given to such fracture mechanics-based
structural integrity assessment. Obviously, the
defect tolerance itself relies on the availability of
representative and reliable experimental data on
which to base any defect assessment calculations.
For structures operating in inert environments,
such experimental data for example, the tensile
properties, fracture toughness and Fatigue Crack
Growth Rate (FCGR), are widely available for
common structural steels. And many modern
industrial specifications such as BS 7910, API RP
579, ASME BG31 and DNV-RP-F101 can serve
as directions on conducting such assessments.
environments, complex damage mechanisms need
to be considered, such as the Environment-Assisted
Cracking (EAC). Yet none of the established indus-
trial standards contain comprehensive structural
integrity assessment procedures for EAC. Methods
for evaluating EAC within current integrity assess-
ment standards are usually based on avoiding the
phenomena by limiting the stress, for crack free
components, or limiting the Stress Intensity Factor
(SIF), where a flaw already exists (Holtam, 2010).
In either case, the value of EAC critical stress/SIF,
under which the stress/SIF must be controlled, has
to be determined. If it is decided from such assess-
ment that the possibility of EAC is high, remedial
action should be taken immediately to prevent fur-
ther crack extension, such as modification of the
environment, elimination of the flaw via compo-
nent replacement, weld repair, or Post Weld Heat
Treatment (PWHT). For subsea structures, such
remedial action could be pretty costly. To eliminate
the possibility of adopting unnecessary remedial
action, the assessment should be as accurate as
possible. It means the value of EAC critical stress/
SIF used in the assessment should be close to the
real value. The closer the required data, the more
accurate the assessment can be made regarding
the severity of the structural integrity damage. Usu-
ally the data is obtained through tests conducted
under conditions identical with the encountered
engineering case, which brings about operational
difficulty and high costs.

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 In this paper, a modified structural integrity
assessment method for components experiencing
corrosion fatigue is proposed. In the work, the pro-
posed critical parameter is calculated invoking the
model established by the authors in a previously
published article. Based on the correlation of the
Environment-Affected Zone (EAZ) and the plastic
zone, the model correlates the corrosion and crack
processes and makes it possible to predict the point
where transition in the Corrosion Fatigue (CF)
crack growth curve happens and to approximate
the length of the SIF over which the plateau of the
crack growth rate lasts in the curve. A new crite-
rion parameter KFAD is defined for assessing CF
cracks that have grown after time in service. Poten-
tial influence from the temperature and the loading
frequency is analyzed and discussed.
2 ENVIRONMENT-ASSISTED CRACKING
Environment-Assisted Cracking (EAC) is the name
given to the phenomenon where the cracking pro-
cess of metals such as carbon steels is severely aggra-
vated by the presence of aggressive environment.
Depending on the loading profile, EAC is sorted
into two major categories, i.e. the Stress Corrosion
Cracking (SCC) and the Corrosion Fatigue (CF).
2.1 Mechanisms
SCC is defined as the cracking of metal under the
combined action of corrosion and a static tensile
stress. Considerable theoretic and experimental
studies (Parkins, 2000) have been conducted on
SCC. Based on the difference in crack morphology
and environment conditions, it has been pointed
out that there are two basic SCC modes, namely
the high-pH mode and the near-neutral pH mode.
The latter shares a similar morphology sometimes
as well as the environmental conditions with those
of CF, which is defined as the cracking under the
combined action of the corrosive environment
and a cyclic stress. On the other hand, engineer-
ing structures are normally exposed to complex
operations with varying working stresses that are
usually a mixture of static and cyclic components
(Schütz, 1993). Thus it was suspected that in prac-
tice both two phenomena undergo identical EAC
mechanisms. Some researchers even claimed that
SCC is a special case of CF with the stress ratio
equal to unity (Shipilov, 2002). Further studies
indicated that both the two phenomena are mix-
tures of two types of crack-tip damage, i.e. the
stress-assisted corrosion/Stress Corrosion (SC)
and Hydrogen-Assisted Cracking (HAC) (Woodtli
and Kieselbach, 2000; Beavers and Harle, 2001).
In the case of SC, the primary driving force for
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 660
crack growth comes from the localized chemical
corrosion processes occurring at the crack tip,
which is usually explained by the theory of anodic
slip dissolution (Logan, 1952; Parkins, 1979). Vari-
ous models for estimating the crack growth rate
were proposed based on either theoretical formu-
lae such as Faraday’s law or experimental tests
or both (Endo, et al., 1981). As for HAC, crack
growth is associated with absorbed hydrogen in the
material. Those hydrogen may come from corro-
sion in aqueous solutions, cathodic protection, or
high-pressure hydrogen gas, and then diffuse to a
pre-existing flaw in the atomic state with stresses
applied. Consequently, enhanced crack growth
occurs and fracture happens at a lower stress level
compared to that of the same material measured
in air or inert gas. This phenomenon is called
the Hydrogen Embrittlement (HE). Numerous
mechanisms have been raised to account for the
degradation of mechanical properties observed
in experiments. At present, three of them have been
widely accepted: Hydrogen Enhanced De-cohesion
(HEDE), Hydrogen Enhanced Localized Plastic-
ity (HELP), and Adsorption Induced Dislocation
Emission (AIDE). Arguments supporting each are
not definitive, even not exclusive. A critical review
has been provided by Lynch in 2011. But a consen-
sus is emerging that HEDE is likely to be the domi-
nant mechanism (Gangloff, 2006). It is generally
agreed that HE normally prevail for subsea metal
structures with Cathodic Protection (CP) as well
as those exposed to gaseous hydrogen (Barnoush,
2011). Although there is still controversy centering
on the extent to which HAC explains subcritical
crack growth in metals stressed in environments
that support concurrent crack tip dissolution, pas-
sive film formation, and atomic hydrogen produc-
tion, lots of experimental data indicate that instead
of the anodic dissolution, the HE process decides
the unique behavior of the crack growth curve
such as transition. The authors, Cheng and Chen
(2017) proposed a crack-corrosion correlation
model (termed as Cheng-Chen model hereinafter)
to predict the fatigue crack growth behavior based
on HEDE and fracture mechanics, and applied it
to those API grade pipeline carbon steels of avail-
able test data. It is proved that the model works
pretty well. The characteristics of the fatigue crack
growth behavior under HE influence can be prop-
erly captured.
2.2 Assessment methods
As previously mentioned, methods suggested by
current industrial standards for evaluating EAC
defects are usually based on avoiding the phenom-
ena by limiting the stress σ  <  σSCC, for crack free
components, or limiting the SIF K < KISCC, where a
3/29/2017 9:42:08 AM
 flaw already exists. σSCC and KISCC both indicate the
point when stress corrosion cracking happens. This
is based on the classical view that CF is a super-
imposed process of the enhanced fatigue cracking
and the SCC (Liu, 2005). Under fatigue loading,
the corresponding characterizing parameters are
the applied stress range (Δσ) or SIF range (ΔK).
More specifically, BS 7910 (2013), which is
widely adopted in the offshore oil and gas industry
as the guideline on structural integrity assessment,
describes a flaw acceptance criterion as follows
K ISCC
KI < (1)
F
where KI is the applied stress intensity and F is a
factor of safety, to be agreed between the parties
involved in the structural integrity assessment. In
this paper, such a relational expression for accept-
ance criterion will be kept, but the criterion param-
eter KISCC will be predictable and even may be
changed. While F is assumed to be unity for the
demonstration purpose.
3 MODIFIED ASSESSMENT METHOD
For normal fatigue cracking (i.e. fatigue cracking
in an inert environment), in principle, crack propa-
gation starts from the “stage I” (the “initiation”
phase), mainly being “short crack”, and continues
with the “propagation” phase of stage II and stage
III (fast crack propagation), being “long crack”
toward final failure with the maximum SIF Kmax
in each load cycle approaching the fracture tough-
ness KIC (Pugno, 2006), as shown in Figure  1.
However, the process will be different in the pres-
ence of corrosion. According to McEvily and Wei
(1972), the CF crack growth of metals may be
broadly characterized in terms of three general
patterns of behavior as illustrated schematically in
Figure 1. Normal fatigue crack evolution.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 661
Figure 2. The Type A behavior pattern is typical as
that of the aluminum-water system, and is char-
acterized by a reduction in the apparent thresh-
old for crack growth and increases in the rate of
crack growth at given K levels. As K approaches
KIC, the environmental influences diminishes. The
Type B behavior is typical for the steel-hydrogen
systems. A substantial enhanced crack growth sim-
ilar to that of components undergoing SCC. The
environmental effects are quite strong above some
apparent threshold for “stress-corrosion crack-
ing” (KISCC) and are negligible below this level.
A broad range of material-environment systems
such as seawater-steel systems exhibit behavior
that falls in the Type C, with Type A behavior at
K levels below the apparent threshold and Type B
behavior above. The CF behavior of X65 pipeline
carbon steel tested in salt water without cathodic
protection is somewhat close to Type C.
3.1 Process description
Determining the critical value of SIF for EAC is
challenging due to the number of variables that
can significantly affect the material property and
its behaviour. Therefore properly characterising
the service conditions and sufficient understanding
on the CF process will definitely help achieving the
aforementioned goal.
A typical CF crack growth curve for pipeline car-
bon steels with constant amplitude loading is plot-
ted in Fig.3, together with the illustrative diagram
for the corrosion-crack relation. Here the concept
of Environment-Affected Zone (EAZ) needs to
be claimed first. EAZ is defined as the damaged
zone where the damaged material exhibits a prop-
erty different from that of the bulk material due to
the penetration of chemical agents into a localized
crack-tip region (Liu, 2005). For example in CF,
the property damage manifests itself as a reduction
of resistance to the crack advancement. The evo-
lution process is consisted of three stages. In the
beginning, the crack grows normally but with an
enhanced rate compared with that in the inert envi-
ronment. As the crack evolves, the plastic zone size rp
Figure 2. Corrosion fatigue behavior patterns: (a) Type A;
(b) Type B; (c) Type C. (Note: Diagrams are plotted in
log-scale).
3/29/2017 9:42:08 AM

Figure 3. Corrosion fatigue crack evolution.
increases as well. This growth period is call stage 1.
When rp becomes equal to rEAZ, stage 1 comes to
an end and stage 2 starts. As the enhanced fatigue
crack growth results from the hydrogen delivered
at the crack tip through diffusion, when the front-
line of the plastic zone goes beyond the farthest
distance that the diffusing hydrogen can reach
within a loading cycle, the crack just propagates
into the bulk material of larger resistance. So the
growth acceleration decreases, thus the transition
appears in the curve. An equilibrium between the
crack growth and hydrogen delivery is achieved
later. Due to the continuity of hydrogen charging
and crack growth, the cracking rate will not drop.
Instead a plateau, where the crack growth rate
keeps constant at the equilibrium rate, appears in
the crack growth curve and lasts over some range
along the abscissa of Kmax. Stage 3 starts when the
curve merges into the sigmoid oriented by the equi-
librium fracture toughness KIE. API RP 579 (2009)
describes a similar process in brief.
3.2 Fracture mechanics based model
Cheng-Chen model is a fracture mechanics based
model and can be utilized to predict the critical
value of SIF for pipeline carbon steels.
The model is developed primarily from the
corrosion-crack correlation, alternatively the cor-
relation of EAZ and plastic zone. Invoking frac-
ture mechanics, the critical frequency and the
“transition” SIF are derived from the stress-driven
hydrogen diffusion assumption and Hydrogen-
Enhanced De-cohesion (HEDE) hypothesis.
A formula involving the threshold SIF range and
the stress ratio is established to approximate the
duration of the crack growth plateau along the
abscissa of Kmax.
At present, Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics
(LEFM) analysis has been widely applied to
662
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 662
Engineering Critical Assessment (ECA) for steel
structures. The SIF range ΔK is calculated as
ΔK = FΔS πa (2)
F is the geometry function, and ΔS is the stress
range (Smax − Smin). ΔK has the following relation-
ship with Kmax,
ΔK
K max = (3)
( − R)
SIF is related to the plastic zone size by
1 K2
r= (4)
2π σ ys2
It is generally agreed that LEFM can provide
reasonable fatigue life estimates for long cracks
(Stephens, 2000) and Paris’ Law works well for
predicting the fatigue crack growth rate in stage II.
For more complicated fatigue crack growth curves
that are not straight lines in log-log plots, multi-
segment lines are usually constructed in order to
model the real curve. As discussed, degradation of
fracture toughness of pipeline carbon steels will
normally happen due to HE. However, there is
no link between crack growth behavior and frac-
ture toughness variation in Paris’ Law, which is
the main manifestation of material degradation
in hydrogen gas. In order to correlate the crack
growth behavior and HE effect, Cheng-Chen
model was constructed as a two-stage Forman
equation as shown in Figure 4. Forman equation,
proposed by Forman (1967), has an expression as
da BΔK m
= (5)
dN ⎡⎣( − R ) K IC − ΔK ⎤⎦
where KIC stands for the fracture toughness in a
general sense. The equation covers both stage II
and III considering the fracture toughness vari-
ation. Therefore, Forman equation is adopted
herein as the basic formulation for establishing the
fatigue crack growth model of pipeline steels tested
in high-pressure hydrogen gas. The model to be
constructed is basically a two-stage Forman equa-
tion model, as shown in Fig. 4 in comparison with
the HE influenced fatigue crack growth curve and
the fatigue crack growth curve in a non-aggressive
environment. As seen from the Fig.  4, to sche-
matically describe the HE influenced fatigue crack
growth process, four key points should be seized,
i.e. the threshold SIF range ΔKth, the Transition
SIF Ktran, plateau stress intensity range Kp, and the
equilibrium fracture toughness KIE.
3/29/2017 9:42:09 AM
 The transition SIF Kt, where the environment
affected zone (EAZ) is passed by the plastic zone
at the front of crack tip and the plateau section of
the crack propagation curve starts, can be calcu-
lated as
range of pipeline carbon steels in the inert envi-
ronment (Cheng and Chen, 2017). And the final
fracture toughness, alternatively the equilibrium
fracture toughness, KIE, displayed under fatigue
loading condition is proposed to be

⎧⎪ ⎧ ΔK 0 ⎫ ⎫⎪ ⎧ ⎡ ⎛ 2π (ωσ )2 VHσ yys ⎞

DV
λ
⎤
Kt min ⎨max ⎨K tran ⎬ K IH ⎬ (6) ⎪⎪ ⎢1 − ⎜ ys
⎟ ⎥ K IN , f > fC
⎪⎩ ⎩ ( − R) ⎭ ⎪⎭ K IE = ⎨ ⎢ ⎝ K 2IN k BTf ⎠ ⎥
⎪⎣ ⎦
where ⎪⎩K IH , f ≤ fC

1
(10)
K ⎛ 4π 2 DV
VHσ ys ⎞ 4
K tran = ωσ ys IH ⎜ ⎟⎠
(7) Application of Cheng-Chen model to a wide
K IN ⎝ k BTf range of pipeline carbon steels is proved to be
successful. Here the application result on X65 is
ω is a magnification factor of value 3 ∼ 5 account- shown in Figure 5 as an example. Good agreement
ing for the material’s working hardening effect. can be found between the model and the test data
VH is the partial volume of hydrogen. kB is the acquired by Ronevich et al. (2016).
Boltzmann constant. T is the temperature in Considering the definition of parameters in
Kelvins. f is the loading frequency. KIN is the inher- Cheng-Chen’s model, the starting point of EAC in
ent fracture toughness, and KIH is determined by terms of SIF for CF can be calculated as
the fracture toughness degradation model pro-
posed by Wang et al. (2013) K ISCC Kt (11)

K IH ⎡ ⎛ βC H 0 ⎞ ⎡ V σ 2( + v ) K IH ⎤ ⎤ However, this value may be still too conserva-

= ⎢ 1− ⎜ ⎟ exp ⎢ H ys ⋅ ⋅ ⎥⎥ tive, especially for the types of CF where a rela-
K IC ⎢⎣ ⎝ ωσ ys ⎠ ⎣ k BT 3 K IC ⎦ ⎥⎦
tively large plateau occurs in the fatigue crack
(8) growth curve. In such a situation, it is proposed to
use KFAD instead of Kt as the criterion parameter,
The stress intensity range over which the crack and KFAD is defined as the following
propagation rate plateau phenomenon occurs is
approximated by K FAD Kt + Kp (12)

ΔK tH As shown in the above figure, KFAD is the point

Kp = (9)
( − R) where the CF crack finishes the “plateau” growth
and starts the rapid crack growth.
where ΔKtH is the threshold SIF range for pipeline
carbon steels in a CF case. ΔKtH is usually small
and doesn’t change much from the threshold SIF

Figure 4. Cheng-Chen model for CF. Figure 5. Model application on X65.

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 4 FACTOR INFLUENCE
Both environmental and mechanical factors are
known to influence the CF crack growth behavior
of pipeline carbon steels. In this work, influence
from the environmental temperature and the load-
ing frequency on Kt or equivalently KFAD (assum-
ing that ΔKtH changes little) is analyzed according
to Equation 7, together with some discussion.
4.1 Loading frequency
The range of loading frequency in practice is large,
typically in the range from 10−1 to 10−6  Hz. For
most of the commonly used alloys, the frequency
effect of constant-amplitude load on crack growth
rate is negligible in dry-air environments. However,
because of the presence of hydrogen, the frequency
effect on fatigue crack growth behavior appears. It
is generally believed that the fatigue crack growth
rate increases with lowering frequency, because
lower cyclic loading frequency extends the expo-
sure time of the material to the aggressive envi-
ronment, which allows more hydrogen atoms to
diffuse to a longer distance in front of the crack
tip within each loading cycle. To study the influ-
ence from the loading frequency on the transition
SIF, Kr of API X65 pipeline steels is calculated
for loading frequencies 0.01 Hz, 0.1 Hz and 1 Hz.
The results are plotted in Figure 6 with the experi-
mental data from tests conducted by Vosikovsky
(1975) as comparison. The fact that the hydrogen
diffusion of a CF process without CP (i.e. free cor-
rosion in seawater) is also mainly stress-driven vali-
dates the comparison.
As the saturated fracture toughness is hard
to be decided for a component in the free corro-
sion seawater environment, it is assumed 80% of
the inherent fracture toughness is left providing a
Figure 6. Loading frequency effect on Kt.
664
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 664
saturated diffusion condition. Then the predicted
transitional fracture toughness were calculated
according to Equation (6). Good agreement
between model prediction and experimental data
can be observed in Figure  6. It is found that the
calculated Kt increases as the loading frequency
decreases. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean
that the severity of EAC for the material under
low loading frequency is less than that under high
loading frequency. Because Kt or KFAD is only used
to assess the immediate structural integrity state,
and can hardly give any information on the whole
EAC process, and it is very likely that the cracking
rate over the whole process is higher under lower
loading frequencies due to the reason mentioned
previously. The experimental data from Vosikovsky
(1975) for X65 pipeline steel exactly show such a
fatigue crack behavior. And a higher cracking rate
often means a shorter defect tolerance time. In an
ECA, it means shorter inspection interval. From
such a perspective, EAC is of course severer with
lowering loading frequency.
4.2 Environmental temperature
The environmental temperature can impact the
structural integrity in several aspects. On one hand,
it may affect the hydrogen diffusion process and
furtherly impose a influence on Kt. On the other
hand, the temperature variation itself may cause
a stress/strain variation in the components (i.e. the
so-called thermal load). What’s more, the tempera-
ture variation in the environment may lead to the
material’s property change. For example, the well-
known Ductile-Brittle Transition (DBT) phenom-
ena exhibited by steels at low temperature. In such
a case, severe mechanical degradation occurs and
is manifested in a decrease of fracture resistance.
More specifically, the resultant brittleness causes
cleavage during crack growth, heavily exacerbating
the growth rate. Here it is focused on the influence
from environmental temperature on Kt.
As mentioned, the temperature gives an impact
on Kt through affecting the hydrogen diffusion
process, which is consistent with the deduction
of Equation 7 in Cheng-Chen model. According
to the research conducted by Moura et al. (2009),
DBT is unlikely to be a problem for low carbon
steels (carbon content ≤0.2%) with a temperature
higher than 20 °C. Since the creep temperature for
carbon steels is usually suggested to be more than
400°C, the analysis range of temperature influ-
ence is decided to be 20 °C–300 °C. The variation
trend of Kt in such a temperature range is plotted
in Figure 7.
As can be seen from Figure  7, the transition
SIF Kt increases as the environmental tempera-
ture increases. However, the increment is not
3/29/2017 9:42:11 AM

Figure 7. Environmental temperature effect on Kt.
very obvious since when the environment tem-
perature increases from 20 °C to 300 °C, Kt only
increases from 19 MPa m to a value less than 28
28 MPa m. However, the increase of Kt doesn’t
necessarily mean that the severity of EAC for the
material under low temperature is less than that
under high temperature. First, the environment
temperature in this analysis only varies in a lim-
ited range where DBT and creep problems are
unlikely to happen. Second, Kt or KFAD is only used
to assess the immediate structural integrity state,
and can hardly give any information on the whole
EAC process, especially when higher cracking
rate appears. Lasebikan et al. (2013) concluded
from a series of experiments conducted over a
range of temperature that elevated temperature
can reduce the strain hardening index of steels.
Note that the strain hardening index has a nega-
tive correlation with the crack growth rate in an
elastic-plastic way (J-integral). So it is very likely
that the higher crack growth rate occur at elevated
environmental temperature. Thus from a perspec-
tive of EAC, the EAC at elevated temperature can
be severer, but this may not be due to corrosion.
5 CONCLUSIONS
A modified method for structural integrity assess-
ment of carbon steel structures subjected to CF
is proposed. The criterion parameter of the pro-
posed method is calculated using the model devel-
oped by the authors before. The model correlates
the corrosion and the crack processes by analyz-
ing the relation between the EAZ and the plastic
zone, and it has proved to work well for a range of
pipeline carbon steels. The purpose of using this
model is to predict the value of the critical SIF Kt
where the transition in a CF crack growth curve
665
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 665
occurs, and to approximate the length of the SIF
Kp over which the plateau in the curve lasts. Kt or
the summation of Kt and Kp (when the plateau
lasts long) is defined as the new criterion param-
eter KFAD for assessing the severity of the structural
integrity damage in the CF case. Many factors in
both environmental and mechanical aspects can
impose an impact on the CF process and thus give
an influence on the structural integrity assessment.
The environmental temperature and the loading
frequency are considered here. For the pipeline
carbon steels, the study shows:
• Κt increases with the decrease of the loading
frequency.
• In a limited temperature range where DBT
and creep problems are unlikely to happen, Kt
increases as the increase of the environmental
temperature.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The first author has been financed by the full
Scholarship from Newcastle University, United
Kingdom. The financial support is gratefully
acknowledged.
REFERENCES
API RP 579. 2009. API 579-2/ASME FFS-2. American
Petroleum Institute, Houston.
Barnoush, A. 2011. Hydrogen embrittlement. Saarland
University.
Beavers, J.A. and Harle B.A. 2001. Mechanisms of high-
pH and near-neutral pH SCC of underground pipe-
lines. J. Offshore Mech. Arct. Eng 123(3): 147–151.
BS 7910. 2013. Guidance on Methods for assessing the
acceptability of flaws in fusion welded structures,
London, British Standards Institution (BSI).
Chen, N.Z., Wang, G. and Guedes Soares, C. 2011.
Palmgren-Miner’s rule and fracture mechanics based
inspection planning. Engineering Fracture Mechanics
78(18): 3166–3182.
Chen, N.Z. 2016a. A stop-hole method for marine and
offshore structures. International Journal of Fatigue
88: 49–57.
Chen, N.Z. 2016b. Hull girder reliability assessment for
FPSOs. Engineering Structures 114: 135–147.
Cheng, A. and Chen, N.Z. 2017. Fatigue crack growth
modelling for pipeline carbon steels under gaseous
hydrogen conditions. International Journal of Fatigue
96: 152–161.
Endo, K., Komai, K. and Matsuda, Y. 1981. Mechani-
cal effects of corrosion products in corrosion fatigue
crack growth of a steel. Bulletin of JSME 24(194):
1319–1325.
Forman, R.G., Kearney, V.E. and Engle, R.M. 1967.
Numerical analysis of crack propagation in cyclic-
loaded structures. Journal of basic Engineering 89(3):
459–463.
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 Gangloff, R.P. 2006. Critical issues in hydrogen assisted
cracking of structural alloys. Virginia University
Charlottesville Department of Materials Science and
Engineering.
Holtam, C. 2010. Structural integrity assessment of C-Mn
pipeline steels exposed to sour environments.
Lasebikan, B.A., Akisanya, A.R. and Deans, W.F. 2013.
The mechanical behavior of a 25Cr super duplex stain-
less steel at elevated temperature. Journal of materials
engineering and performance 22(2): 598–606.
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an introduction. ASM International, 2005.
Logan, H.L. 1952. Film-rupture mechanism of stress
corrosion. Journal of Research of the National Bureau
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Lynch, S.P. 2011. Hydrogen embrittlement (HE) phe-
nomena and mechanisms. Stress Corrosion Cracking,
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McEvily, A.J. and Wei, R.P. 1972. Fracture mechanics and
corrosion fatigue. Connecticut Univ Storrs Dept Of
Metallurgy.
Moura, C.M., Vilela, J.J., Rabello, E.G., Martins, D.G.P.
and Carneiro, J.R.G. 2009. Evaluation of the ductile-
to-brittle transition temperature in steel low carbon.
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Parkins R.N. 1979. Environment sensitive fracture and
its prevention. Brit Corr J 14(1), 5–14.
Parkins, R.N. 2000. A review of stress corrosion crack-
ing of high pressure gas pipelines. Corrosion, Paper
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Pugno, N., Ciavarella, M., Cornetti, P. and Carpinteri, A.
2006. A generalized Paris’ law for fatigue crack
growth. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids
54(7): 1333–1349.
Ronevich, J.A., Somerday, B.P. and San Marchi, C.W.
2016. Effects of microstructure banding on hydrogen
assisted fatigue crack growth in X65 pipeline steels.
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Schütz, W. 1993. Fatigue life prediction—a review of the
state of the art, Structural Failure, Product Liability
and Technical Insurance, 4.
Shipilov, S.A. 2002. Mechanisms for corrosion fatigue
crack propagation, Fatigue & fracture of engineering
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H.O. 2000. Metal fatigue in engineering. John Wiley &
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Vosikovsky, O. 1975. Fatigue-crack growth in an X-65
line-pipe steel at low cyclic frequencies in aqueous
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description on fracture toughness of steels in hydro-
gen gas. International journal of hydrogen energy
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Study on under-film corrosion simulation of free edges in water ballast

tanks

N. Osawa, S. Takeno, S. Katayama, T. Oda & A.B.A. Halim

Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

K. Shiotani
JFE Steel Corporation, Okayama, Japan

A. Takada
National Maritime Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan

ABSTRACT: A simulation method to examine under-film corrosion of epoxy coated free edges in ship’s
Water Ballast Tanks (WBT) has been developed, and the corrosion behavior on longitudinal member’s
free edges made of conventional steel and Corrosion Resistant Steel (CRS) in VLOC’s WBTs, which was
measured by Shiotani and Tachibana (2016), are simulated. The simulations are performed by using the
two-dimensional cellular automaton developed in the previous report (Osawa et al., 2016a). In order to
emulate the point coating defect’s corrosion incubation on edges, a ’spattering’ model is developed. The
determination techniques of automaton parameters for thin film regions (edge) and point coating defects
are developed. The effectiveness of the proposed spattering model and the parameter determination tech-
nique are examined by comparing simulated and measured stochastic characteristics of corroded spot
length. Based upon these simulation results, CRS’s resistance improvement mechanisms are discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION Osawa et  al. (2016a) developed a coating

It is well known that sea Water Ballast Tanks (WBT)
are highly corrosive areas, and the corrosion wast-
age in those tanks deteriorates the asset integrity.
Shiotani et  al. (2012, 2015) developed CRS for
WBT recently. They showed that CRS inhibited
coating degradation and under-film corrosion. In
order to utilize CRS as a material for WBT for
practical use, there is a need to develop a quanti-
tative evaluation method for CRS’s capability of
coating life extension and corrosion weight reduc-
tion. This requires the development of a simula-
tion method, which can elucidate the difference in
under-film corrosion behaviors of conventional
steel and CRS.
There are few reports on the simulation tech-
nique for under-film corrosion. Yamamoto and
Nakai (2006) proposed a probabilistic corrosion
model for bulk carriers’ coated inner bottom plates.
In their model, it is difficult to examine the influ-
ence of steel type on under-film corrosion behavior
because the interaction between coating degrada-
tion and metal corrosion is not considered. There
is a need to realize coating degradation-metal cor-
rosion coupling analysis in order to clarify the
CRS’s improved resistance mechanisms.
degradation-metal corrosion coupling simulation
method for epoxy coated steel panels in ship’s WBT.
The incubation and extension of coating failure
was simulated by using two-dimensional cellular
automaton. The effectiveness of the developed
simulation method was demonstrated by compar-
ing simulated and measured coating deterioration
(blister) area and the corroded surface profile of
scribed coated steel panels exposed in Very Large
Ore Carrier (VLOC)’s WBT for 4.8 years, which
was examined by Shiotani et al. (2012, 2015).
WBTs coating degradation starts from thin film
thickness regions (e.g. free edges and weld beads).
Osawa et  al. (2016b) developed a ‘spattering
model’ that can emulate sporadic coating failure
during corrosion incubation, and they proposed
a probabilistic model for coating life of spatter
(point coating defect). Simulations of free edge
corrosion behaviors of VLOC’s epoxy coated deck
longitudinal members, which were measured by
Shiotani and Tachibana (2016), were conducted,
and the effectiveness of the proposed model was
demonstrated. They also found that CRS’s edge
corrosion resistance improving effect is assumed
to be provided by the delay in spatter’s corrosion
incubation. However, they failed to establish a

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 quantitatively assessment method for the differ-
ence in spatter’s corrosion incuvation lives between
steel types because CRS’s spatter coating life was
given by uniformly shifting of that for the conven-
tional steel, and spatter’s automaton parameters
were determined in the manner of trial-and error
without rational consideration.
In this paper, a rational determination tech-
niques of automaton parameters for thin film
regions (edge) and point coating defects are devel-
oped. The effectiveness of the proposed parameter
determination technique is examined by compar-
ing simulated and measured stochastic character-
istics of corroded spot length. Based upon these
simulation results, CRS’s resistance improvement
mechanisms are discussed.
2 ONBOARD MEASUREMENT OF FREE
EDGE CORROSION IN WBT
2.1 Measurement conditions
Shiotani and Tachibana (2016) measured the coat-
ing degradation behavior in WBTs of a VLOC.
CRS were adopted to the upper deck longitudinal
members in No. 5  WBT, while conventional steel
were adopted in No. 3  WBT as shown in Fig.  1.
The coating specification for both WBTs was tar
epoxy 150 μm × 2 coats. The mechanical properties
of CRS plates are shown in Table  1. The tensile
and Charpy impact properties of the plates and
welds satisfied the KE36 specification of Class NK
(Shiotani et  al., 2012). Osawa et  al. (2016a) per-
formed Cyclic Corrosion Test (CCT) of uncoated
CRS panels. The test was carried out following
ISO111997-1 (artificial sea water was used instead
of 5% NaCl) for 112 days. They reported that the
averaged diminution of CRS panel was about 75%
of that of the conventional steel.
Let ‘corroded spot’ denote a continuous coating
deterioration spot on the free edges of deck longi-
tudinal members. Let t be the ship’s age, lS the cor-
roded spot length (longitudinal dimension), ΣlS(x)
the cumulative sum of lS up to x (sum of length
of corroded spots with lS ≤ x), and Ltotal the total
lengths of the evaluated edges in each WBT. ΣlS(∞)
is the total sum of lS. At t = 4.8 and 7.3 years, free
edges of longitudinal members in No. 3 and No. 5
WBTs were photographed continuously, and lS
data (discretized every 5  mm) was recorded. The
Ltotal for both No. 3 and No. 5 WBTs is 172 m.
Onboard exposure tests of scribed coated steel
panels (conventional steel and CRS) were also
performed in No. 3 and No. 5  WBTs, and it was
reported that the volume loss in CRS was about
60% of that in the conventional steel (Shiotani
et al., 2012, 2015). In the previous report (Osawa
et al., 2016a), the under-film corrosion simulation
parameters were determined so that the simulated
coating deterioration (blister) area and corroded
surface profile of those panels agreed with those
measured.
2.2 Measurement results
Let flS(x) denote the relative frequency of discre-
tized (every 5 mm) lS; flS ( x ) = P [ x lS < x + ].
Figs. 2 and 3 show changes of flS(x) and ΣlS(x) on
lS. Followings are shown in these figures:
a. ΣlS of CRS edg is about 60∼70% of that of
conventional steel edge for both t = 4.8 and 7.3
years;

Figure 1. Locations of WBTs that contained CRS and

conventional steel panels.

Table 1. Mechanical properties of CRS plate.

Charpy
impact

Steel Tensile property Proberty

YS TS EI Energy (J)
Grade (MPa) (MPa) (%) (–40 °C)

CRS 464 541 25 340 Figure    2. Relative frequencies of corroded spot

KE36 Spec. 355 490∼620 20 34 length measured at t  =  4.8 and 7.3 years (Shiotani and
Tachibana, 2016).

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 1 × 1600 cells is located at the center of the analysis
area.

3.2 Spattering parameters for conventional steel

edges
Parameter determination procedures for the con-
ventional steel are labeled C-xx, and those for CRS
are labeled R-xx. In this study, continuous non-
corroded (State I, see Appendix A1) cell segments
shorter than 10 mm between continuous corroded
(State IIa or later, see Appendix A1) cells are left out
of account in lS determination because such small
vestiges of coating film were most often neglected
in the onboard measurement. In followings, State I
Figure  3. Cumulative sum of corroded spot length cell which has adjoining corroded cells is called
measured at t = 4.8 and 7.3 years (Shiotani and Tachibana, ‘outer edge cell’, and it is located in the interior of
2016). an intact coating film called ‘normal cell’.
Osawa et  al. (2016a) showed that coating deg-
b. For conventional steel, flS(x) decreases with lS radation process can be simulated by adjusting
monotonically at t = 4.8 years, while flS(x) shows the acceleration factor A0 (see Appendix A1) in
its maximum at lS = 20 mm for t = 7.3 years. accordance with fictitious coating life T0 (see
c. For CRS, flS(x) decreases with lS monotoni- Appendix A1). Coating degradation of thin film
cally for both t  =  4.8 and 7.3 years, and flS(x) region progresses faster than that of normal film
for lS = 10 mm (the shortest lS) at t = 7.3 years is region. Therefore, (T0, A0) of thin film region are
about 65% of that at t = 4.8 years. chosen so that T0 remains unchanged and A0 is
larger than that of normal film region.
An outer edge cell is adjacent to three corroded
3 CELLULAR AUTOMATON cells if it is linearly arranged in scribe panel simula-
SIMULATION OF FREE EDGE tions, while it is adjacent to only one corroded cell
CORROSION OF LONGITUDINAL
MEMBERS IN WBT Table  2. Cellular automaton parameters for intact
coated cells.
The definitions and meanings of cellular auto-
Conventional CRS
maton parameters used in the following discus-
sions are presented in Appendix. T0 (year) mean 28.646 ←
stdev 2.872 ←
3.1 Analysis target and simulation procedure Ts (year) mean 8.004 ←
stdev 3.334 ←
The onboard exposure tests of the scribed coated A0 mean 1.956 ←
steel panels examined in the previous report stdev 0.185 ←
(Osawa et al., 2016a) were performed in the WBTs As mean 0.312 ←
in which Shiotani and Tachibana (2016) meas- stdev 0.096 ←
ured the edge corrosion, and the test panel’s coat- a (mm/year) mean 0.929 0.726
ing specification is the same as that of the WBT’s stdev 0.376 0.302
longitudinal members. Therefore, the same cellular θ (rad./p) mean 0.8031 ←
automaton parameters (lcell = 2.5 mm, coating life/ stdev 0.0595 ←
coating degradation/rust shielding/metallic shield- Ppit 0.0036 ←
ing parameters, see Appendix A1) as those used m 0.01 ←
in the scribed panel simulations in the previous
fs,0 0.0 ←
report (Osawa et al., 2016a), listed in Table 2, are
Th 0.2 ←
adopted for normal (other than edge) cells.
b 0.4240 0.3986
Free edge corrosion is simulated by using the
R0 (mm) 12.5 10.0
spattering model developed in the previous report
fbare 23.0 10.0
(Osawa et al., 2016b, see Appendix A2). The analy- p0 1.0 0.9
sis area consists of 39 column (97.5 mm in x-dir.) × Rs (mm) 4.5 3.6
1600 rows (model length Lmodel  =  4,000  mm in ps 1.0 1.0
y-dir.). A linear free edge along y-axis composed of

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 in edge simulations. In our cellular automation,
the coating degradation speed is approximately
proportional to the number of adjoining corroded
cells (see Eq. (A2) in Appendix A1.2). It is well
known that the coating degradation propagation
speed on free edges is larger than that in intact
coated panels (e.g., JSTRA, 2011). Due to these,
the lognormal population parameters for A0, (μA0,
σA0) (see Appendix A1.2), of thin film region are
chosen so that thin film region’s A0 is about three
times of that for the normal film region, which are
listed in Table 2. For simplicity, it is assumed that
the coating degradation parameters other than A0
(see Appendix A1.2) and rust shielding parameters
(see Appendix A1.4) of thin film region are the
same as those of normal film region, and there is
no covariance structures for all parameters.
The VLOC investigated in the onboard measure-
ment (Chapter 2) was built prior to the establish-
ment of IMO/PSPC. JSTRA (2011) reported that
fully developed edge corrosions were frequently
observed when t < 10 years for this ship category.
This leads us to an assumption that the major-
ity of spatters are activated before t  =  7.3 years.
If psprt (see Appendix A2) is large enough, most
spatters in a spattering region have coalesced at
t = 7.3 years. In this case, it can be considered that
Θ (see Appendix A2), which is the upper bound of
98.17% reliable section for spattering region length
L, can be approximated by lSmax at t = 7.3 years for
the conventional steel (≅400 mm). The lognormal
population parameters for psptr (μsptr, σsptr) are cho-
sen so that the mean value of psptr is large enough
(>0.9).
In followings, subscript ‘t4.8 (7.3)’ indicates that
the quantity is calculated or measured at t  =  4.8
(7.3) years. Let FT0,err(t) be nonexceeding prob-
ability of spatter’s corrosion incubation life T0,err
(see Appendix A2) at t (in years), and ΔΣls(∝) be
ΣlS(∝)’s increment between t  =  4.8 and 7.3 years.
Based on the above assumption, FT0,err(7.3)’s tem-
porary value is chosen so that it is large enough
(>0.8). FT0,err(4.8) is determined so that it satisfy the
following equation:
ΔΣlS (∞)
FT 0,err (7 3) FT 0,err
err ( 4.8) ≅ (1)
ΣlS (∞)t 7.3
The lognormal population parameters for T0,err
(μ0,err, σ0,err) can be determined from these condi-
tions. For simplicity, the coating degradation and
rust shielding parameters of spatter cells are the
same as those of normal film cells, and there is no
covariance structures for T0,err.
Let lˆS be lS at which flS(lS) shows its maximum,
and rΣlS be the ratio of the calculated and measured
ΣlS(∝). From above discussions, edge corrosion
670
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 670
simulations can be performed when a temporary
value of the probability that the cell becomes a
center of a spattering region, Perr (see Appendix A2),
is given. The calculated stochastic characteristics
of corroded spot length are in general different
from those measured. This discrepancy can be
eliminated by adjusting parameters following pro-
cedures C-1 to C-4 listed below:
C-1: Set initial value of Perr, and perform edge cor-
rosion simulation. Evaluate rΣlS,t7.3.
C-2: If rΣlS,t7.3≅1, then evaluate lˆSS,, 7.3 and proceed to
C-3. Otherwise, update Perr by (1/rΣlS,t7.3) Perr
and perform simulation again. Repeat this
adjustment until rΣΣlS,t7.3≅1.
C-3: If the calculated lˆSS,, 7.3 nearly equals the meas-
ured one (30  mm for the conventional steel,
see Fig.  2), then evaluate ΣlS(∝),t4.8 and pro-
ceed to C-4. Otherwise, increase (decrease)
FT0,err(4.8) when the calculated lˆSS, is smaller
(larger) than the measured one. Then update
(μ0,err, σ0,err) and perform simulation again.
Repeat this adjustment until the calculated
lˆSS,, 7.3 almost agrees with the measured one.
C-4: If the calculated ΣlS(∝),t4.8 almost agrees the
measured one, then proceed to C-5. Other-
wise, decrease (increase) FT0,err(4.8) when the
calculated ΣlS(∝),t4.8 is larger (smaller) than the
measured one. Then update (μ0,err, σ0,err) and
perform simulation again. Repeat this adjust-
ment until the calculated ΣlS(∝),t4.8 almost
agrees the measured one.
C-5: Determine the conventional steel edge’s
parameters if the calculated lS’s stochastic
characteristics other than lS,max,t4.8 almost agree
with those measured. Otherwise, change (Θ,
μsptr, σsptr, FT0,err,t7.3, μA0, σA0) and repeat adjust-
ments of C-2∼4.
In followings, labels ‘CS’ (Covariance Struc-
ture) and ‘SI’ (Spatial Independent) indicate
that simulations are performed with and without
consideration of T0,err’s covariance structure. In
CS cases, the probability of corroded spot’s coa-
lescence becomes higher than that for SI cases.
This makes lS,max for CS cases tends to be larger
than that for SI cases when activated spatters are
sparsely distributed in spattering regions. This
difference becomes smaller when the activated
spatter’s density becomes larger (i.e., the spacing
between corroded spot becomes smaller). This
means that edge corrosion simulations for SI cases
(the model adopted in this study) may underesti-
mate lS,max in early stages of edge corrosion, while
this estimation error is reduced with the progress
of edge corrosion. The estimation error in lS,max
does not affect the accuracy of ΣlS(∝) because the
number of spatters generated in CS and SI cases
are the same.
3/29/2017 9:42:13 AM
 In ship’s asset integrity management, ΣlS(∝) is a are the same as those of the WBT in which the
critical control characteristic, while it is not impor- conventional steel was adopted. Therefore, Θ,
tant to estimate the spatial distribution of a very μp,sptr, σp,sptr and Perr determined in the previous
few corroded spots in premature ages. Therefore, section (Table 3) are adopted for CRS edge simu-
the agreement in lS,max,t4.8 is not required in proce- lations. Other parameters are determined by pro-
dure C-5. The determined conventional steel edge’s cedures R-1 to R-4 listed below:
parameters are listed in Table 3. R-1: Set initial value of (μ0,err, σ0,err) and (μA0, σA0)
for thin film region to those of conventional
3.3 Spattering parameters for CRS edges steel edges. This leads to overestimation of
ΣlS(∝),t7.3 and lS,max,t7.3.
The corrosive environment and coating specifi- R-2: Modify FT0,err(7.3) and FT0,err(4.8). Then
cations of the WBT in which CRS was adopted update (μ0,err, σ0,err) and perform simulation
again. Repeat this adjustment until the calcu-
Table 3. Spattering and edge corrosion parameters for
conventional and corrosion resistant steel edges.
lated ΣlS(∝),t7.3 and lS,max,t7.3 almost agree with
the measured ones.
Conventional CRS R-3: Modify FT0,err(4.8). Then update (μ0,err, σ0,err)
and perform simulation again. Repeat this
T0,err(year) μ0,err, σ0,err 1.574, 0.258 1.687, 0.357 adjustment until the calculated ΣlS(∝),t4.8
mean, stdv 4.989, 1.309 5.760, 2.126 almost agrees with the measured one.
μA0, σA0 2.1, 0.38 1.750, 0.380 R-4: Determine the CRS edge’s parameters if the
mean, stdv 8.778, 3460 6.185, 2.438 calculated lS’s stochastic characteristics other
Perr 0.002 ← than lS,max,t4.8 almost agree with those meas-
Θ (mm) 50 ← ured. Otherwise, change (FT0,err(7.3), μA0, σA0)
psptr μPsptr, σPsptr −0.10, 0.38 ← and repeat adjustments of R-2∼3.
mean, stdv 0.973, 0.383 ←

Figure  4. Comparison of measured and calculated Figure  5. Comparison of measured and calculated
probabilistic distributions of the corroded spot length probabilistic distributions of the corroded spot length
(t = 4.8 years, conventional steel). (t = 7.3 years, conventional steel).

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 4 NUMERICAL RESULTS AND
DISCUSSIONS
4.1 Stochastic characteristics of corroded spot
length
Free edge corrosion behaviors of the conventional
steel and CRS edges are simulated by using the cel-
lular automaton explained in Appendix A2 and the
parameters listed in Tables 2 and 3. Simulations are
repeated Ltotal/Lmodel = 172 m/4,000 mm = 43 times.
Let i be a set of calculated corroded spot length
in the i-th simulation. Let be the union set of
i (i = 1,...,43). Hereafter, this union set is called a
‘trial’. ’s stochastic characteristics, flS and ΣlS, of
a single trial correspond to those of onboard meas-
urements. In this study, 10 trials are performed for
each the conventional steel and CRS.
The determined CRS edge’s parameters are
listed in Table 3.
The comparisons of calculated and measured
stochastic characteristics are shown in Figs.  4∼7.
Figs. 4 and 5 are data of the conventional steel for
t  =  4.8 and 7.3 years, and Fig.  6 and 7 are those
for CRS. The measured data (label: ‘exp’) are pre-
sented by open marks, and the calculated data
Figure  6. Comparison of measured and calculated
probabilistic distributions of the corroded spot length
(t = 4.8 years, corrosion resistant steel).
672
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 672
(label: cal_xx) are plotted by lines. In graphs of ΣlS
(Figs. 4∼7 (b)), the data curve’s size in the vertical
direction gives ΣlS(∝), and that in the horizontal
direction gives lS,max.
These figures show followings:
a. The measured flS and ΣlS are within the varia-
tion range of calculated results except ΣlS for
CRS at t = 4.8 years (Fig. 6 (b)).
b. Calculated and measured flS show their maxi-
mum at almost the same lS in all cases.
c. The mean values of calculated ΣlS(∝) are about
the same as that measured in all cases.
d. The mean values of calculated lS,max are about
the same as that measured in all cases except for
CRS’s t = 4.8 years, in which the calculated lS,max
is much smaller than that measured.
The comparison of measured and calculated
ΣlS(∝) are also shown in Fig.  8. The calculated
value is the mean value of 10 trials. It is shown that
the calculated ΣlS(∝)’s mean value agrees well with
the measured ΣlS(∝) in all cases.
These results demonstrate that the change in
edge corrosion’s stochastic characteristics (other
than the maximum corroded spot length in pre-
mature ages) for the conventional steel and CRS
Figure  7. Comparison of measured and calculated
probabilistic distributions of the corroded spot length
(t = 7.3 years, corrosion resistant steel).
3/29/2017 9:42:15 AM
 Figure  8. Comparison of measured and calculated Figure  9. Presumed deterioration mechanisms of epoxy
cumulative corroded length ΣlS(∝) for conventional steel coated steel in WBT (Sakashita et al., 2015).
and CRS edges.

edges can be estimated quantitatively by applying

the developed spattering model and the cellular
automaton parameters determination technique.
Sakashita et  al. (2015) performed onboard
investigations of under film corrosion behavior
of epoxy coated steel panels exposed in the un-
immersed part of WBTs. They reported that the
steel corrosion was progressed by repetition of the
dry and wet due to a temperature change of day
and night through full load condition, and coat-
ing delamination was progressed by alkaline solu-
tion generated in cathodic reaction (see Fig.  9).
Sakashita et al. (2015) also reported that features
of WBT’s coating deterioration were found to be
independent on ship type.
The analysis target of this study is WBT’s un-
immersed part, and its coating deterioration fea-
tures reported in Shiotani et al. (2012, 2015) were
the same as those presented in Fig.  9. The appli-
cability of the developed cellular automaton to
the analysis target has been demonstrated. There-
fore, it is expected that the developed simulation
method is applicable to WBT’s un-immersed parts
in a wide range of ship types.

4.2 Edge corrosion resistance improvement

mechanisms of CRS
Fig.  10  shows the probability distributions (p.d.f.
and cumulative probability distribution (c.d.f.)) of
T0,err (coating defect’s corrosion incubation life) for
the conventional steel and CRS edges, which are
calculated from the population parameters listed
in Table  3. These figures show that CRS’s c.d.f.
is smaller than that of the conventional steel (the
ratio of CRS to the conventional steel is 81.3% at
t = 4.8 years and 89.9% at t = 7.3 years), and T0,err’s
long-life side foot part for CRS is wider than that
for the conventional steel. This means that the cor-
rosion incubation of coating defects on CRS edge
delays compare with the conventional steel edge.
Figure 10. Comparison of probability distributions of
coating defect’s corrosion incubation life for conventional
and corrosion resistant steels.
Table 3 also shows that the mean value of A0 (the
coating degradation acceleration factor) of thin
film region on CRS is about 17% smaller than that
for the conventional steel. This means that the cor-
roded spot’s expansion due to Neighboring Corro-
sion Induced Coating Degradation (NCICD, see
Appendix A1.2) on CRS is inhibited compare with
the conventional steel.

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 It is considered that CRS’s edge corrosion
resistance improvement observed in Figs. 2 and 3
is achieved by the delay in corrosion incubation at
coating defects and the inhibitory effect against the
coating film degradation due to adjacent corroded
region.
5 CONCLUSIONS
acknowledge Dr. Norio Yamamoto (MIJAC),
Dr. Kazuyuki Kashima (Nippon Steel & Sumitomo
Metal Co.), Dr. Shinji Sakashita (Kobe Steel Ltd.)
and Dr. Kenji Katoh (Lloyd’s Register Group
Ltd.) for their valuable advice and discussions.
The authors are also grateful for Mr. Kristov Ivan
William (Osaka University) for his contribution in
numerical simulations.

A simulation method to examine under-film corro- NOMENCLATURE

sion of epoxy coated free edges in ship’s WBT has
been developed, and the corrosion behavior on the α Inverse of mean phase I to II transition
longitudinal member’s free edges made of conven- time.
tional steel and Corrosion Resistant Steel (CRS) in (a, b) Coefficient and exponent of d’s power
VLOC’s WBTs, which was measured by Shiotani law.
and Tachibana (2016), are simulated. The simula- A0 Coating’s degradation acceleration factor.
tions are performed by using the two-dimensional AS Acceleration factor of rust shield effect’s
cellular automaton developed in the previous decline.
report (Osawa et  al., 2016a). In order to emulate dj Depth of the j-th corrosion pit.
the point coating defect’s corrosion incubation ΔΣls(∝) ΣlS(∝)’s increment between t = 4.8 and 7.3
on edges, a ‘spattering’ model is developed. The years.
intact coating film’s cellular automaton parame- Δt Time increment.
ters determined in the previous report are adopted Φ Linear point defect cluster region.
for intact coated cells. The rational determination F0 Coating’s barrier capacity.
procedures for cellular automaton parameters of Fbare Magnification factor for bare metal
thin film regions (edge) and point coating defects substrate.
are developed. Those parameters are determined FlS(x) Relative frequency of lS.
from the measured stochastic characteristics of FS Rust shield capacity.
corroded spot length on free edges. The effective- FS Decreasing rate of pit activation prob-
ness of the proposed spattering model and param- ability and corrosion growth.
eter determination procedures are examined by FS,0 fS’s initial value (<1.0).
comparing simulated and measured stochastic FT0,err Nonexceeding probability of T0,err.
characteristics of corroded spot length. As results, L Φ’s half length.
followings are found: Lcell Cell’s edge length.
i Set of calculated corroded spot length in
1. The change in edge corrosion’s stochastic char- the i-th simulation.
acteristics (other than the maximum corroded Lmodel Model length of edge cellular automaton.
spot length in premature ages) for the conven- lS Corroded spot length.
tional steel and CRS edges in the target ship lˆS lS at which flS(lS) shows its maximum.
can be estimated quantitatively by applying LS,max The maximum lS in each WBT.
the developed spattering model and the cel- Ltotal Total lengths of the evaluated edges in
lular automaton parameters determination each WBT.
technique. m Exponent of F0’s developing equation.
2. It is considered that CRS’s edge corrosion (μ0, σ0) Lognormal population pameters for T0.
resistance improvement observed in Shiotani (μ0,err, σ0,err) Lognormal population pameters for
and Tachibana (2016) is achieved by the delay T0,err.
in corrosion incubation at coating defects and (μa, σa) Lognormal population parameters for a.
the inhibitory effect against the coating film (μS, σS) Lognormal population parameters for TS.
degradation due to adjacent corroded region. (μp,sptr, σp,sptr) Lognormal population parameters
for psptr.
ncell Number of cells in Φ.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS nsptr Number of spatters in Φ.
p0 Exponent which controls the distance
This research was partially supported by the Minis- attenuation of corroded cell’s acceleration
try of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of effect.
Japan, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), perr Probability that the cell becomes a center
2013–2015, 25289318. The authors would like to of a spattering region.

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 ppit Cell’s probability of pit activation occur-
ring in the time increment Δt.
pS Exponent which controls the distance
attenuation for rust shield effect’s decline.
psptr Spatter’s occurrence probability in Φ.
Θ Population parameter of L’s exponential
distribution.
θj Bevel angle of the j-th corrosion pit.
R0 Radius of influence range of corroded
cells in the neighborhood.
ri Normalized distance between the outer
edge and i-th corroded cell.
rΣlS Ratio of the calculated and measured
ΣlS(∝).
ΣlS(x) Cumulative sum of lS up to x.
ΣlS(∞) Total sum of lS.
t Ship’s age.
T0 Cell’s coating life.
T0,err Spatter’s corrosion incubation life.
TS Cell’s lifetime of rust shielding.
Th Normalized half-life of rust shield effect.
Tr Phase I to II transition time.
Union set of i.
REFERENCES
International Association of Classification Societies
(IACS) (2013) Technical Background Report for
CSR-H, Part 1, Chapter 3, Section 3.
Japan Ship Technology Research Association (JSTRA)
(2011) Report of Preliminary Research Committee on
Water Ballast Tank’s Corrosion (in Japanese).
Kawamura, Y., Kanou, Y., Osawa, N., Yamamoto, N.,
Shiotani, K., Kashima, K., Sakashita, S., Katoh, K.,
Takano, S. (2015) “Characterization and Numeri-
cal Simulation of Corroded Surface of Coated Steel
Plates in Water Ballast Tank”, Proc. 25th Int. Ocean
and Polar Engineering Conference (ISOPE2015),
pp. 514–520.
Osawa, N., Kanou Y., Kawamura, Y., Takada, A.,
Shiotani, K., Takeno, S., Katayama, S., Kristov, I.W.
(2016a) “Development of Under-Film Corrosion
Simulation Method based on Cellular Automaton”,
Proc. OMAE2016, paper OMAE2016-54508.
Osawa, N., Kanou Y., Kawamura, Y., Takada, A.,
Shiotani, K., Takeno, S., Katayama, S. (2016b)
“Fundamental study on under-film corrosion simu-
lation method based on cellular automaton”, Proc.
PRADS2016, paper ID140.
Sakashita, S., Shiotani, K., Kashima, K., Murakoshi, S.,
Fukunaga, K., Baba, T., Takai, A., Takada, A.,
Osawa, N. (2015) “Onboard Study on Deteriora-
tion of Coated Steel in Water Ballast Tank”, Proc.
25th Int. Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference
(ISOPE2015) pp. 521–527.
Shiotani, K., Samusawa, I., Tachibana, S., Komori, T.
(2012) “Development of Corrosion Resistant Steel
for Ballast Tank”, Proc. Int. Conf. on Develop-
ments in Ship Design & Construction (ICSOT),
pp. 27–33.
675
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 675
Shiotani, K., Nakamura, M. (2015) “Coating Deteriora-
tion and Corrosion Behavior of Ship Using Corrosion
Resistant Steel for Ballast Tank JFE-SIPTM-BT”, JFE
Technical Report, 20, pp. 40–46.
Shiotani, K., Tachibana, S. (2016) “Coating Deteriora-
tion Behavior of Ship Using Corrosion Resistant
Steel for Ballast Tank”, Journal of Japan Society of
Naval Architects and Ocean Engineers, 24, in press (in
Japanese).
Yamamoto, N., Nakai, T. (2006) “Investigation on Pit-
ting Corroded Condition and the Simulation of
Corrosion Surface Condition”, Journal of Japan
Society of Naval Architects and Ocean Engineers, 4,
pp. 287–294 (in Japanese).
APPENDIX
A1 COATING DEGRADATION-
METAL CORROSION COUPLING
SIMULATION METHOD (OSAWA
ET AL., 2016A)
A1.1 Cellular automaton for coating degradation
A coated surface is divided into a regular grid
of cells. IACS CSR-H’s 3-phases model (IACS,
2013) is adopted to each cell. Let ‘stat’ be the
cell’s state variable which shows its phase, and is
one of COATED (phase I), STANDBY (phase II)
or ACTIVATED (phase III). ‘Rust shield capa-
city’, which decrease the occurrence probability of
Phase II to III transition and the diminution rate
in Phase III, are both considered. Let ‘shield’ be
the state variable, which shows the existence of
rust shield effect, and is either TRUE or FALSE.
Consequently, the cell’s corrosion conditions are
grouped into following five states:
State I: cell is in phase I; the coating film’s bar-
rier capacity has not been lost; stat=COATED.
State IIa: cell is in phase II and the rust shield
capacity has not vanished; under-film corrosion
occurs; the substrate is under a blister; a corro-
sion pit has not been activated; stat=STANDBY,
shield=TRUE.
State IIb: cell is in phase II and the rust shield
capacity is lost; small amount of under-film corro-
sion occurs; a corrosion pit has not been activated;
stat=STANDBY, shield=FALSE.
State IIIa: cell is in phase III and the rust
shield capacity has not vanished; a pit is activated
and grows slowly; stat=ACTIVATED, shield=
TRUE.
State IIIb: cell is in phase III and the rust shield
capacity is lost; a pit is activated and grows rapidly;
stat=ACTIVATED, shield=FALSE.
rapidly; stat=ACTIVATED, shield=FALSE.
3/29/2017 9:42:16 AM
 A1.2 Coating degradation process
Let Δt be the time increment. Let r be the distance
between centers of outer edge cell and nearby cor-
roded cells.
A coating life T0 of a cell is set by lognormal
random number. Let τ0 be a normalized remain-
ing coating life. Coating degradation (Phase I to II
transition) is modeled by considering the ‘coating’s
barrier capacity’ F0. F0 = 1.0 at t = 0 and F0 = 1.0 at
t = T0 (τ0 = 0). The decrease of F0, ΔF0n, is given by
the formula below:
ΔF0 n m 0 Δτ 0
1
(A1)
where, Δτ0 is the decrease of the normalized
remaining coating life, and m is a constant.
The coating film adjoining corroded part (blis-
ter or corroded bare metal substrate) deteriorates
much faster than the interior part of an intact film.
This is called Neighboring Corrosion Induced
Coating Degradation (NCICD). Let R0 be the
radius of influence range of corroded cells in the
neighborhood. The following quantity is added to
ΔF0n for outer edge cells:
F0 i = A0 Δ fi ( 1 ri ) 0 ;
∑
n0 p
Δ 0i ;Δ
ΔF
i=1
⎧ 1.0 ( ), (A2)
fi = ⎨
f
⎩ baree ( State IIb/IIIb )
where, n0 is the number of corroded (phase II/III)
cells in the influence range, i the index of corroded
cells, A0 the degradation acceleration factor, fbare
the magnification factor for bare metal substrate,
and p0 the exponent which controls the distance
attenuation of corroded cell’s acceleration effect.
ri is defined by ri ri l0 , where, l0 is the reference
cell size (edge length), and ri the distance between
cells. When F0 becomes zero, ‘stat’ changes from
COATED to STANBY, and State IIa begins.
The duration of State I, TI, is given as t at this
transition.
A1.3 Pitting activation and corrosion
pit Growth
The phase I to II transition time Tr is given by
exponential distribution, and the cell’s probability
of activation occurring in the time increment Δt,
ppit, is given by αΔt, where, α is the inverse of mean
transition time. In State II (t > TI), a roulette selec-
tion with ppit is performed at each time step in order
to decide the pit activated time Tp.
After the cell transfers into phase III (State IIIa/
IIIb), the pit depth d increases with t following the
power law. The increment of d in Δt is given by the
equation below:
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 676
τ + Δt
Δd ∫ η= τ
ab η b 1dη ; τ = t Tp , Tp TI + TII , (A3)
where a and b are the coefficient and exponent of
the power law.
A1.4 Rust’s shielding effect
Let FS be State IIa/IIIa cell’s ‘rust shield capa-
city’, and TS be the cell’s lifetime of rust shielding.
FS  =  1.0 when t  =  TI, and ‘shield’ changes from
TRUE to FALSE when FS becomes zero.
Let fS be the decreasing rate of pit activation
probability and corrosion growth. In this study, it
is assumed that fS is a function of FS, and is given
by the formula below:
{− ( ) (Th )}
fS ( FS ) = fS , ( fS , 0 )( − FS ) , (A4)
where, fS,0 is the fS’s initial value (<1.0) and Th the
normalized half-life of rust’s shield effect. fS is
small (=  fS,0) at the beginning of State IIa/IIIa, it
then increases with the decline of FS, reaching to
1.0 when FS = 0. Let τS be the normalized remaining
shield life. τS = 1.0 at t = TI, decreasing by Δt TS in
Δt. The decrease of FS is given by Δ Sn Δτ S when
there is no bare metal substrate in the vicinity.
It is assumed that the decrement of FS is acceler-
ated when there are bare metal (State IIb/IIIb) cells
in the vicinity. Let RS be the radius of influence
range of bare metal cells in the neighborhood. The
following quantity is added to ΔFSn:
∑ ( ri )
nS pS
i =1
Δ Si ;Δ
ΔF
FS i = AS Δ S , (A5)
where, nS is the number of bare metal cells within
the influence range, i is the index of bare metal
cells, AS is the acceleration factor of shield effect’s
decline, pS is the exponent which controls the dis-
tance attenuation. When FS becomes zero, ‘shield’
changes from TRUE to FALSE, and State IIb/IIIb
begins.
A1.5 Corrosion pit
In the same manner as Kawamura et  al. (2015),
corrosion pits are assumed to be cone shaped.
Let (xpj, ypj) be the xy coordinates of j-th pit cell
center, dj the pit depth, θj the bevel angle. Giving θj
by a random number, pit information (xpj,ypj,dj,θj)
(j = 1,…,M) is calculated at each time step, where
M is the number of pits. A corroded surface is
approximated by an envelope of all pit cones.
Parameters T0, TS, A0, AS, a are given as random
numbers which follow lognormal distribution. Let
(μ0, σ0), (μS, σS), (μA0, σA0), (μAS, σAS), (μa, σa) be
population parameters of T0, TS, A0, AS, a.
3/29/2017 9:42:17 AM
 In following discussions, (μ0, σ0) are called ‘coat-
ing life parameters’, (R0, m, A0, p0, fbare) ‘coating
degradation parameters’, (μS, σS, RS, AS, pS, fS,0,
Th) ‘rust shielding parameters’, and (μa, σa, b, α, θι)
‘metallic corrosion parameters.’
A2 SPATTERING MODEL FOR
CORROSION STARTED FROM
SPORADIC COATING DEFECTS
(OSAWA ET AL., 2016B)
It is assumed that coating failures start from clus-
tered sporadic point coating defects, and these
failures grow and combined to form edge degrada-
tions. In order to simulate this phenomena, ‘spat-
tering model’ was developed.
Let ‘spatter’ denote a point defect cell, and ’spat-
tering region’ Φ a point defect cluster region, Perr is
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 677
the probability that the cell becomes a center of a
spattering region. A linear region is considered for
one-dimensional clusters (such as free edges). Let
L be Φ’s half length.
A roulette selection with Perr decides whether
the cell becomes a spattering region’s center. It
is assumed that L follows an exponential dis-
tribution with population parameter Θ, where
Pr[L < 4Θ] = 98.17%
For the spattering region Φ, let psptr be the spat-
ter’s occurrence probability, nsptr the number of
spatters, and ncell the number of cells in Φ. It is
assumed that psptr follows a lognormal distribution
with population parameters (μp,sptr, σp,sptr). Spatters
are arranged at random in Φ, and the corrosion
incubation life T0,err is given by a lognormal dis-
tribution with population parameters (μ0,err, σ0,err).
(Perr, Θ, μp,sptr, σp,sptr, μ0,err, σ0,err) are called ‘spatter-
ing parameters’.
3/29/2017 9:42:18 AM
MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Concept design of an autonomous mechatronic unit

for inspection of holds

E. Ravina
DITEN, Polytechnic School, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

ABSTRACT: The paper describes the design of an original self-moving unit able to inspect holds and
tanks in cargo ships. The activity is part of a wider theoretical and experimental research, still in progress
at DREAMS Lab of the University of Genoa (Italy), specifically oriented to identification and prototyp-
ing of low-cost self-moving units for inspection tasks of marine and offshore structures and plants.
The main goal is supporting surveyors during the inspections of wide holds or tanks, difficult or danger-
ous to reach and requiring a large number of measurements. The proposed mechatronic unit moves itself
using two parallel tracks. The anchorage to the walls is obtained by means of electro-magnets arrays
arranged inside the tracks. The embedded sensors are moved by a three-dimensional manipulation unit.
The different design phases are described in the paper, showing the feasibility of the proposal.

1 INTRODUCTION

Tankers are equipped with sophisticated prevention

systems accidents related to the leakage of crude oil
at sea and need of periodic inspections in order to
check the presence of structural corrosion and/or
crack fatigue phenomena. MARPOL73-78  stand-
ard is specifically oriented to the prevention of vari-
ous types of marine pollution caused by ships; this
legislation imposes a ban on navigation to tankers
without double hulls. The operating conditions
inside double and single hull tankers are very differ-
ent. In particular, the problems related to corrosion
may be more critical in double hull tanks. In the
single-hull tankers the oil is separated from the sea
only by the sheet-steel of the hull, while in double
hull configurations the air gap generates thermal
changes causing condensation on the walls, with
consequent increasing of the corrosion phenome-
non. In any case is fundamental to perform periodic
inspections to monitor the thickness of the hull, of
welding and of metallic walls in general.
The present study is oriented to inspection of
the interior walls of vessels, in particular tanks and
holds. The corrosion inspection in marine envi-
ronment is usually performed through ultrasonic
systems, allowing quick and reliable thickness
measurements without requiring access to both
sides of a wall and with high precision. The meas-
ure is still often performed manually, with prob-
lems of accessibility, safety and intervention times
related to the presence of human surveyors.
Other industrial environments characterized
by storage containers of polluting fluids show the
Figure 1. Walls of holds.
same type of problems: several proposals of auton-
omous systems monitoring walls are suggested
(Shen et  al., 2005, Kalra et  al., 2006). However,
ship environments have peculiarities requiring cus-
tomized inspection units. Among the most critical
issues must be mentioned those related to anchor-
ing of the autonomous unit and to the geometry of
the walls to be inspected. (Shen et  al., 2006, Eich
et al., 2011). Hereafter is proposed a low-cost solu-
tion is proposed, oriented to not specialist users,
and able to inspect bulkheads of tanks and holds
also of considerable extension. The geometry of the
environment to be inspected is one of the primary
variables to consider. A tank is usually structured
into two parts: the bottom, generally smooth, and
the side wall, usually corrugated (Fig. 1). The trap-
ezoidal section of the wall is characterized by stand-
ardized geometrical parameters (α, H, B, s and t).
2 SELF-PROPELLED UNIT
REQUIREMENTS
The fundamental requirements identifying the
autonomous inspection unit are:

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 • possibility of inspection of metallic walls under
different surface conditions (dirty, greasy, oiled,
rough, with oxide deposits);
• motion both on horizontal and vertical walls;
• wide operational autonomy;
• easy construction;
• reasonable weight and dimensions;
• low cost;
• good handling of the inspection sensors;
• assembling based on components available on
the market.

The choice of the actuating methodology com-

pares electric, pneumatic or electro-mechanical
solutions. The proposal here described concerns an
electro-mechanical unit, designed in different con-
Figure 2. Bi-dimensional gantry.
figurations, to be adaptable to diversified working
environment.
After several comparative assessments the gen-
eral configuration providing a good number of
positive findings is a crawler system equipped with
electro-magnets for anchoring. Two tracks are
arranged in parallel, with independent motoriza-
tion. The supporting structure is connected to the
pair of tracks and houses all the components and
devices necessary to the inspection tasks, batteries,
control modules and sensors.
Among the possible geometries of manipula-
tion, the most appropriate to the inspection task
seems to be the Cartesian. The end effector carries
the ultrasonic sensor for automatic detection of
the wall thickness.
Taking into account the standard geometries
adopted for walls the preliminary overall dimen-
sions assumed for the autonomous unit are Figure 3. Three-dimensional gantry.
600 × 600 × 200 mm.
Two reference configurations, bi and three-dimen-
sional, are studied. Bi-dimensional solution refers
to a 2D Cartesian gantry, extending its working to
the outside of the track movement area (Fig. 2). The
translation along the longitudinal axis (X) is obtained
using directly the tracks motion. One of the electro-
mechanical actuators must necessarily operate canti-
levered because its stroke in the Y direction extends
outside the perimeter defined by the tracks.
This configuration allows the positioning of the Figure 4. Gantry and its components.
end effector thanks to translations along the Z and
Y axes, realized by two linear electromechanical
actuators.
Three-dimensional solution is designed using Hereafter 3D configuration is in particular
a 3D gantry: its working area is included within detailed, because of its operational flexibility. The
the perimeter defined by the tracks (Fig. 3). In this handling axes chosen in the design are (Fig. 4):
case the loads distribution is more homogeneous • electrical toothed belt axis for the direction of X
and symmetrical with respect to the previous con- motion (stroke 300 mm);
figuration, allowing a more accurate control of the • electrical toothed belt axis with for the direction
end effector positioning. A careful market research of Y motion (stroke 300 mm);
has verified that both geometries proposed are • electrical mini-slide for the direction of Z motion
achievable with standard components. (stroke 100 mm).

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 Figure 6. Parts of the support plate.

Figure 7. Displacement analysis.

Figure 5. Two support structure layout.

3 SUPPORTING STRUCTURE ANALYSIS

Figure 8. Deformed displacement analysis (10%).
The structural parts of the unit are analyzed
designing two different geometries, as summarized
hereafter.
First hypothesis of design places all the compo-
nents necessary to the operations of the climbing
robot over the 3D gantry (Fig.  5a). The compo-
nents can be positioned entirely in the upper
part of the housing or, alternatively, at least in
part above the tracks. In a second configuration
(Fig. 5b) all the components necessary to the oper-
ation of the climbing robot are assembled on the
plates positioned above the tracks. This solution
significantly reduces the heeling torque. The global
center of mass is nearer to the wall, but the space Figure 9. Von Mises analysis.
occupied increases.
The support plate is analyzed from the structural
point of view with finite elements techniques: it is
composed of two parts (Fig. 6) which are mutually
connected in the assembling phase of the robot.
The material to be used has been subject of
comparative analyzes, in particular between avi-
onal and carbon fiber: results concerning carbon
fiber plates are synthetically reported in Figures 7,
8, 9 and 10.
The yield strength of the carbon fiber is assumed
to 200  MPa and the operative condition is fully
verified (σmax < σyielding → 20 MPa < 200 MPa). Figure 10. Von Mises deformed displacement analysis (10%).

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 4 CHOOSING THE CRAWLER SYSTEM
The choice of the tracks is based on several factors
such as:
• tracks material (metallic or rubber);
• shape and dimensions of the track;
• motors housed internally or externally;
• type of anchoring.
Metallic track is characterized by long life and
in the event of breakage it is possible to replace
or repair it. Problems related to the use of metal
tracks arise from the creation of magnetic fields,
from a poor adhesion metal on metal, from the
absence of the shield and from possible interfer-
ence on already existing magnetic fields.
Rubber tracks are characterized by acceptable
life, low weight and good adherence rubber/metal.
For the present concept design it seemed more
appropriate to refer to rubber tracks. The motors
are assembled inside the tracks, avoiding risks
shocks and limiting the unit dimensions.
The most suitable driving appears based on
stepping motor because:
• it allows making precision drives without using
position or speed sensors;
• the rotation angles can be small in both
directions;
• the motor can be locked at a given position;
• the speed of rotation can also be low without the
use of a gear unit.
Figure 11. Different track configurations.
Figure 12. Track selected geometry.
682
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 682
The track geometry is chosen taking into
account the solutions available on the market (Fig-
ure  11), able to fit the design requirements and
allowing the introduction of the necessary struc-
tural modifications. The track height is 90  mm,
suitable to the project. Three different constructive
solutions are compared (Fig. 11).
The adopted solution is inspired to the model
no. 3, with constructive variations related to
the positioning of the anchoring elements. The
selected track (Fig.  12) shows 22  steps of which,
however, only 8 at the same time in direct contact
with the wall.
5 ANCHORING TYPE
As described above, the worst working condition
shows the robot on vertical walls. Given the mor-
phology of the robot under study, an anchoring
system to suction cups would be too complex and
heavy and therefore is, at the moment, discarded.
Anyway comparative experimental tests between
electrical and pneumatic anchoring devices are
under development. Other operative possibilities
are:
• permanent magnets;
• electromagnets;
• magnetic stripes;
• adhesive materials with considerable appeal
(polydimethylsiloxane).
Solution with electromagnets is consid-
ered, inserting them in the grooves of the tracks
(Fig.  13). The electric connections are realized
by sliding contacts, solving also the problem of
separation from wall of the robot at the end of
inspection.
Sliding contacts are external to the track, real-
ized with two bars, positive and negative. When
electromagnet is adjacent to these bars it is acti-
vated. Problems related to twinkles in the contact
are overcome adopting snubber or schottky diodes.
Figure 13. Detail of electromagnets arrangement.
3/29/2017 9:42:22 AM
 6 CHOICE OF ELECTROMAGNETS Before making the choice and dimensioning of the
AND BATTERIES batteries is necessary to define the total consumption
of the components that need electrical power supply.
In this design phase it is necessary to estimate the To reduce consumption is assumed that when
total weight of the robot. During the planning it is the tracks motors work, those of the gantry are
obviously necessary to proceed by successive itera- inactive. The tracks consumption is assumed 4 Ah,
tions, assuming first attempt data and verifying and that of the manipulation axes 9.5 Ah.
cyclically the necessary variations. The approach Solutions with rechargeable lithium polymer
converges to this masses distribution: batteries 3.7 V, 10 Ah are considered. A pack of 13
batteries connected in series to obtain a voltage of
• gantry: 6 kg
48.1 V is requested. To guarantee the autonomy of
• tracks: 12 kg
two hours, equivalent to 19 A, two batteries packs
• plates of carbon fiber: 4 kg
in parallel must be considered. The total mass of
• control unit: 5 kg
the battery bank is compatible with the assump-
• battery pack: 5 kg
tion previously made (5 kg).
• transmitter: 0.50 kg
• electromechanical dispenser: 0.5 kg
• additional sensors (cameras): 2 kg 7 ANCHORING CHECKS
• accessories: 10 kg
The total mass is assumed 45 kg. Starting from Following the previous evaluations and choices it
the estimated total mass of the robot and from the is necessary to verify the correct adherence of the
track length, the force required to make the robot unit to the wall.
adherent to the wall can be evaluated. The next step The basic checks for the feasibility of the proto-
is the number of anchors required to move safely. type are the capsizing and the sliding, in the most
The total attraction force to be distributed on critical operating conditions.
solenoids in socket inserted in eight grooves of the In Figure 13 the acting forces are shown.
tracks must be greater than 450 N. The most critical condition for capsizing shows
The electromagnet choice is made considering: the robot on a vertical wall with horizontal motion.
In this case the weight of the robot rests on the
• track pitch (about 20 mm); point B, while at point A, the robot will tend to
• magnet shape (circular or rectangular); detach from the wall. In this position the whole
• energy consumption; weight of the robot rests only on one track.
• anchoring force;
• cost.
At least two electromagnets into each groove
can be arranged. Electromagnets with 24 V supply
are considered. Several commercial electromagnets
satisfy the requirements. For example, data sheets
of products made available by two different manu-
facturing companies (generically labeled F1 and
F2) are reported in Tabel 1.
The choice of batteries is made evaluating sev-
eral factors such as size, weight, autonomy and
cost. The hypothesized autonomy is comprised
between one and two hours.

Table  1. Data sheets of electro-magnets compatible

with the unit under study.

Diameter Height Max. Power Mass

Firm [mm] [mm] Force [N] [W] [kg]

F1 15 12 45 1.4 0.01
20 15 112 2.2 0.03
18 11 45 1.4 0.02
F2 15 20 20 1.5 0.03
30 20 80 5.0 0.07
Figure 13. Forces in the contact track-wall.

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 The capsizing condition occurs if the electro-
magnets are not able to maintain the contact. To
avoid it must be Fn a > m g h.
Slipping check verifies the condition 2 Ft > m g,
where Ft is the tangent force, m the mass of the
unit and g the acceleration of gravity. Taking into
account the estimation of the motion, the accelera-
tions of the unit are considered negligible.
The limit condition is Ft = f Fn, where F is the
normal force exerted by all the electromagnets and
f is the friction factor in the contact. The normal
force is approximately evaluated, under static con-
ditions, as Fn = m g h/(a/2). The friction coefficient
f is assumed equal to 0.43 in presence of cleaned
walls and equal to 0.11 in presence of greased or
oiled walls.
The results obtained for the unit under study are
satisfactory, verifying these conditions in presence
of cleaned oiled or greased walls.
8 AXES OF MOTION AND HANDLING
UNIT
The main checks concerning the selection of the
handling unit are both static and dynamic. In par-
ticular for the toothed belt axes verifications based
on the factor fv are performed:
ⱍ Fy ⱍ ⱍ Fz ⱍ ⱍ M x ⱍ ⱍ M y ⱍ ⱍ M z ⱍ
fv = + + + +
Fymax Fzmax M xmax M ymax M zmax
When an ultrasonic probe must be positioned
on a surface to be tested, it is good rule to inter-
pose between it and the surface a substance,
liquid or gelatinous, called “half coupler” The
coupler provides the suitable passage of the ultra-
sonic waves to material, avoiding that the ultra-
sonic waves can be reflected for presence of air
immediately in contact with the transducer. The
unit under design is equipped with an electrome-
chanical dispenser.
10 MOTION OF THE AUTONOMOUS
UNIT
It is expected that the module can move
along a corrugated wall, shown in Fig.  1. The
final dimensions of the autonomous unit are
900  ×  850  ×  350  mm. Considering the stand-
ard dimensions of corrugated walls (α  =  63°,
H  =  1010  mm, B  =  860  mm, s  =  1135  mm and
t  =  14  mm) and assuming a length of the wall
of 30000  mm, the step of the crawler system is
assumed equal to 408 mm.
The motion layout is shown in Figure  14. The
autonomous unit is programmed to carry the
inspection from the bottom to the top and then
to reverse the direction of motion, returning to
the initial position. Anyway different sequences
of motion can be easily programmed also by not
specialist users.

where Fi are the forces acting along the i direction, Mi

the torque acting around the i axis, Fi max and Mi max
the corresponding maximum admissible values.
The choice of the stepper motors is based on the
force applied to the belt as function of the payload.
The unit under study has all the features of an
automatic machine. Therefore, it is characterized
not only by a power unit, but also by a control part
that is managed by a Master Controller (MC) and
by five slave modules that communicate between
them via field bus architecture. The communica-
tion system used is Profibus DP type. The bus
management is implemented in accordance with
the Profibus protocol mater/slave logics, while as
regards the access to the bus between slaves a token
passing-based procedure is used.

9 THICKNESS SENSOR

Reference is made to components available on

the market, modifying the electrical commands in
order to allow the interfacing with the controller.
The measurement is performed automatically, all
the times that the sensor, through the movement of
the gantry, is carried into a new position. Figure 14. Motion layout.

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Figure 15. Complete self moving unit.
11 THE COMPLETE MODULE
The result of the design is the self-unit shown in
Figure 15, respectively in lateral, frontal and plant
views. Experimental tests oriented, in particular,
on the performances of electromagnets in contact
with metallic walls in different operating condi-
tions are presently under development.
Comparative evaluations with other experi-
ments applying pneumatic suction cups are also
implemented: on these experimental phases will be
presented details in a further paper.
12 CONCLUSIONS
A concept design of a self-moving unit for inspec-
tion of holds and tanks of cargo ships is pro-
posed: feasibility and applicability are shown.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 685
The system is not designed for a complete replace-
ment of skilled technicians, but as support of
inspections in spaces dangerous or difficult to
reach. Interventions by specialized users can be
minimized, essentially concerning the initial posi-
tioning of the unit, the gauge data processing and
the removal of the unit at the end of inspection.
The study has defined a climbing robot char-
acterized by good autonomy, using components
available on the market with reasonable costs.
The unit can be equipped with a series of con-
trols and alarms, to the user’s discretion, to be
inserted in the programming phase. Mainly it is
designed to handle ultrasonic thickness gauges to
measure the wall thickness but, at the same time, it
can move other devices such as, for example, video
or thermo cameras and other sensors and trans-
ducers (moisture meters, surface hardness, and so
on).
The climbing unit is able to inspect a section
of wall of 30 × 1 meters in less than 20 minutes.
At the end of the wall inspection the operator dis-
charges the data related to the measuring sensor
and restart to inspection on a next section of wall.
Having two hours of autonomy the robot would
be able to inspect walls of 6 × 30 m in two hours.
Taking into account that the unit is able to inspect
three section walls of 30 each, another possibil-
ity is to make available three groups of batteries,
mounting on board only one group and changing
the group at the end of each cycle of inspection.
In this way the payload should be reduced of
2.6 kg, maximizing the operating condition of the
designed unit.
REFERENCES
Eich M. and Vogele T. 2011. Design and Control of a
Lightweight Magnetic Climbing Robot for Vessel
Inspection, 19th Mediterranean Conference on Control
and Automation. Aquis Corfu Holiday Palace, Corfu,
Greece, June 20–23, 2011, 1200–1205.
Love P., Kalra L.P., Gu J. and Meng M. 2006. A Wall
Climbing Robot for Oil Tank Inspection, Proceedings
of the 2006 IEEE International Conference on Robot-
ics and Biomimetics December 17–20, 2006, Kunming,
China, 1523–1628.
Shen W., Gu J. and Shen Y. 2005. Proposed Wall Climb-
ing Robot with Permanent Magnetic Tracks for
Inspecting Oil Tanks, Proceedings of the IEEE Inter-
national Conference on Mechatronics & Automation
Niagara Falls, Canada, July 2005, 2072–2077.
Shen, W., Gu J. and Shen Y. 2006. Permanent magnetic
system design for the wall-climbing robot, ABBI 2006,
vol. 3, No. 3, 151–159.
Yan W., Shuliang L., Dianguo X., Yanzheng Z., Hao S.
and Xueshan G. 1999. Development & Application of
Wall-Climbing Robots, Proceedings of the 1999 IEEE
International Conference on Robotics & Automation,
Detroit, Michigan May 1999, 1207–1212.
3/29/2017 9:42:24 AM
MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

A study on corrosion condition assessment considering

maintenance and repair

N. Yamamoto
Maritime Innovation Japan Corporation, Tokyo, Japan

ABSTRACT: It is commonly understood that corrosion is the most dominant aging deterioration fac-
tor for ships. Recently, a performance of corrosion protective coating has been improved by the Perform-
ance Standard for Protective Coatings of IMO, and the net thickness approach with corrosion additions
are introduced in Common Structural Rules of IACS as the effective measures for corrosion matter. On
the other hand, since the deterioration of coating performance, and the initiation and progress of cor-
rosion are the aging factors, an effective Inspection-Maintenance-Repair is important to maintain struc-
tural integrity and asset value of the ship throughout the ship’s life. In this study, the prediction of the
probabilistic corrosion condition was investigated according to the Monte Carlo Simulation method. The
coating maintenance, the coating repair and the renewing of worn member were considered. The range
of inspection, the practice criteria for coating maintenance and repair, and the execution of renewing of
worn member were the factors in the evaluation.

1 INTRODUCTION general. Therefore the procedure to predict the

Corrosion is one of the most dominant factors
which affect the performance of ships and offshore
structures. Conventionally, an anti-corrosion paint
coating and a corrosion margin, which compen-
sate an expected amount of corrosion wastage,
have been introduced for the primary considera-
tion to cope with corrosion matter. Recently, the
application of the advanced Performance Stand-
ard for Protective Coatings (PSPC) (IMO 2006) is
mandated to the coatings in the water ballast tank.
And the guidance for maintenance and repair of
coatings is proposed (IMO 2009). Regarding the
corrosion wastage, the corrosion additions and the
renewal criteria are closely related to the structural
strength criteria by the net thickness approach
(IACS 2015). A worn member whose wastage
exceeds the renewal criteria is recommended to be
renewed.
In order to plan and perform maintenance and
repair work, understanding the current corrosion
condition and predicting the future condition are
important. To understand the current corrosion
condition, coating inspection and thickness meas-
urements are carried out. In order to predict the
corrosion condition, coating degradation model
(Yamamoto & Ikegami 1998, Paladino et al. 2011)
as well as a corrosion progress model (Yamamoto
& Ikegami 1998, Guedes Soares & Garbartov
1999, Wang et al. 2008) is necessary. On the one
hand, degraded coating would be maintained and
repaired, and worn member would be renewed in
coating condition and the corrosion wastage con-
dition taking maintenance and repair into consid-
eration should be necessary.
In this study, the simulation procedure taking
maintenance and repair into consideration was
developed based on the full probabilistic corrosion
model (Yamamoto & Ikegami 1998). An effective-
ness of maintenance and repair were evaluated
according to the procedure.
2 MAINTENANCE & REPAIR WORK
2.1 Coating maintenance and repair
According to the IMO’s guidelines (IMO 2009),
‘maintenance’ is defined as the minor coating
restoration work regularly performed by a ship’s
crew using normal shipboard means and tools to
maintain ‘Good’ or ‘Fair’ coating condition. And,
‘repair’ is defined as the coating restoration work
of a longer term nature, usually performed dur-
ing ship’s dry-docking or scheduled repair period
to restore the ‘Fair’ of ‘Poor’ coating condition to
‘Good’ coating condition. Rating of coating con-
dition is based on the ratio of the deteriorated area
as shown in Table 1.
For the preparation of the steel surface, St3
defined in ISO8501 (ISO 2011) is required in
maintenance, and St3 or Sa2.5 is required in repair.
Maintenance of coating system is usually accord-
ance with the manufacture’s standards. Repair of
coating system is recommended to be complied

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 Table 1. Rating of coating conditions (IMO 2009).
Good (3) Fair
Breakdown of coating <3% 3–20%
or area rusted (1)
Area of hard rust – 10%
scale (1)
Local breakdown of <20% 20–50%
coating or rust on
edges or weld line (2)
(1) calculated on basis of the area under consideration
or of the critical structural area.
(2) calculated on basis of edges or weld lines in the area
under consideration or of the critical structural area.
(3) spot rusting, i.e. rusting in spot without visible fail-
ure of coating.
with the PSPC (IMO 2006). It is considered that
the life of maintained coating and repaired coating
is less than that of the original coating.
2.2 Renewing repair
Thickness of a structural member is determined
based on a required thickness, which is determined
by the strength criteria, and a corrosion addition in
general. The required thickness is to be maintained
throughout the ship’s life to keep the structural
integrity. Therefore, in the case of local corro-
sion, when the measured thickness is less than
the renewal thickness, which corresponds to the
required thickness, steel renewal of the structural
member is required (IACS 2015).
Thickness measurements of structural members
are usually carried out at the docking survey of
every 5 years. In general, to restore to the original
structure is the basis of renewing repair. Simulta-
neously, coating around the renewing member is
repaired.
2.3 Maintenance scheme
In general, the ship is required to be docking survey
at every 5 years. This survey is called as a Special
Survey. At the intermediate time between special
surveys, an Intermediate Survey is required. And
an Annual Survey is required every year except the
time of special survey.
A maintenance scheme to cope with corrosion
matter at each survey is illustrated in Figure  1.
Details performed in each survey are as follows.
Annual survey or irregular maintenance
Coating condition of the accessible area in the
subject area is inspected. Hereinafter, the ratio
of inspecting area is defined as ξ. When the ratio
of coating breakdown area in the inspected area
exceeds the criteria, rA, touch-up coating mainte-
nance is carried out.
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 688
Poor
>20%
≥10%
>50%
Figure 1. Maintenance scheme to cope with the corro-
sion matter.
Intermediate survey
Coating condition of the subject area is inspected.
When the ratio of coating breakdown area exceeds
the criteria, rI, partial coating repair is carried out.
In the partial coating repair, it is assumed that ζ
times larger area than the coating breakdown area
is repaired regardless whether the coating remains
intact.
When the ratio of coating breakdown area is
better than the criteria, rI, but worse than the cri-
teria, rA, touch-up coating maintenance is carried
out.
In general, the thickness measurements are not
carried out at the intermediate survey.
Special survey
Coating condition of the subject area is inspected.
When the ratio of coating breakdown area exceeds
the criteria, rS, full coating repair is carried out. In
the full coating repair, all areas is repaired, regard-
less whether the coating remains intact.
When the ratio of coating breakdown area is bet-
ter than the criteria, rS, but worse than the criteria,
rI, partial coating repair is carried out. And in the
case that the ratio of coating breakdown area is bet-
ter than the criteria, rI, but worse than the criteria,
rA, touch-up coating maintenance is carried out.
Simultaneously, thickness measurements are
carried out at the special survey. If the measured
corrosion wastage exceeds the renewal criteria, zcr,
such worn member is renewed.
3 CORROSION MODEL
3.1 Basic model
The corrosion model proposed by the author
(Yamamoto & Ikegami 1998) is the basis of
corrosion model in this study. This model consists
of 3 sequential stochastic processes, (i) initiation of
active pitting point which corresponds to coating
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3/29/2017 9:42:25 AM
 life, (ii) transition to the progressive pitting point factor for coating life, the probability distribution
and (iii) progress of pitting point. of maintained or repaired coating life is expressed
Corrosion progress after corrosion initiation is as below.
expressed as the following equation.
1 ⎧⎪ ( t − − )
2
⎪⎫
⎪⎧ 0 ; t t0 fTc (t ) = x ⎨−
exp c
⎬ (7)
z (t | t0 ) = ⎨ (1) 2π σ ct ⎪⎩ 2σ c
2
⎪⎭
⎩⎪a (t − t0 )
b
; t0 ≤ t
where v is the correction factor for coating life. It
where t0 is time of corrosion initiation which is the is tentatively assumed that v  =  0.9 for the repair
sum of coating life and transition time; a and b are at ‘Fair’ condition, v = 0.8 for the repair at ‘Poor’
the coefficients which characterize the corrosion condition, v = 0.7 for the maintenance.
progress. Coefficient a is assumed to be the random Let assume that the coating maintenance or
variable which follows a log-normal distribution. repair is done at time ti, and the probability dis-
The probability distribution of corrosion tributions of coating life before and after mainte-
wastage at time t is expressed as the following nance or repair are fb(t) and fa(t) respectively.
equation. Then, the probability distribution after full coat-
t ∞
ing repair is;
pZ ( z | t ) ∫ pZ ( z | t,t ) wT (t ) dt
0
( ) ∫wT (t ) dt0
t
0
fa (t ) = fTc (t − ti ) t ≥ ti (8)
(2)
The probability distribution after partial coat-
where δ (0) is Dirac’s delta function, pZ ( z | t,t0 ) ing repair is;
and wT0 (t ) are the conditional probability distri-
bution of corrosion wastage at time t given t0 and fa (t ) = ς Fb (ti ) fTc (t − ti )
the probability distribution of corrosion initiation
time given below. f ()
+ {− ( )} 1 − Fb , t ≥ ti (9)
b( )
1
pZ ( z | t,t0 ) = (3)
2π σ a z where ζ is the ratio of the area of extra coating
repair including the area of coating breakdown.
⎡ { ( )− } ⎤
2
− − ζFb(ti) should be less than 1.0.
x ⎢−
× exp ⎥ , t0 < t
⎢ 2σ 2
⎥ The probability distribution after coating main-
⎣ a
⎦ tenance is;
t
fa (t ) = ( − ) fT (t )
wT0 (t ) = ∫ fTc ( ) gT (t
R
) dτ (4)
c
(10)
0
+ξ ⎡⎣ Fb ( ) fT ′ (
c
− ) + fb ( )⎤⎦ t ≥ ti
where fTc (t ) and gTR (t ) are the probability dis- where ξ is the ratio of maintaining area to the sub-
tributions of coating life and transition time given ject area.
below.
3.3 Corrosion progress after coating
1 ⎧⎪ ( t − )
2
⎫⎪
fTc (t ) = x ⎨−
exp c
⎬ (5)
maintenance or repair
2π σ ct 2σ c2
⎩⎪ ⎭⎪ Progress of corrosion pit is described by the equa-
tion (1), but the progress will stop when the coat-
ing is maintained or repaired. After the maintained
gTR (t ) = α ⋅ exp
xp { t} (6) or repaired coating degrades, the corrosion pit will
progress again. It is considered that the re-progress
of corrosion pit is the progress of the new corro-
3.2 Coating life after maintenance or repair sion pit which is initiated in the stopped corrosion
Coating performance depends on the surface pit. Since the corrosion progress follows the power
preparation and the circumstance environment at law with b < 1, the progress of corrosion pit seems
coating. Therefore, a life of maintained or repaired to be accelerated. However, till the newly initiated
coating is considered to be shorter than that of the corrosion pit exceeds the maximum depth of the
original coating. When considering the correction stopped corrosion pit, the progress of corrosion

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 pit is pretended to be stopped. The probability of
initiation of the new corrosion pit near the maxi-
mum depth point is quite smaller than that of ini-
tiation near the edge of stopped corrosion pit. It
is expected that the effect of acceleration is not so
large.
Let assume that a corrosion pit is initiated at (x0,
y0) and progressed during the period of τ1 and the
shape of the pit is circular cone. At this time, the
maximum corrosion depth is z0(τ1). The maximum
depth of corrosion pit, when a corrosion pit is
newly generated at (x1, y1) in the stopped corrosion Figure  3. Simplified corrosion progress considering a
pit, is obtained as follows. stop due to coating maintenance or repair.

⎪⎧ aτ 1b τ1 τ τ 1 dτ 1
zmax (τ ) = ⎨ The general formulation of corrosion progress
⎩⎪ z1 (τ ) + a (τ − τ )
b
τ 1 + dτ 1 < τ considering the repeated coating repair or mainte-
(11) nance is described as below.

where τ and τ1 are the total time period of pro- ⎧⎪ z (ti ) ; t − ti ≤ tci
gress of corrosion pit and the time period that z (t ) = ⎨ (12)
⎪⎩ai (t − i )
b
the stopped pit progressed, z1(τ1) is the depth ; tci t − ti
at the point that a new corrosion pit is initiated in
the stopped pit, dτ1 is the time period till a new where, ti is the time when coating maintenance or
corrosion pit exceeds the maximum depth of the repair is done except t0  =  0. tci is the coating life
stopped corrosion pit. which is done at ti. It is assumed that tci = ti+1 − ti in
Figure  2 shows the calculated maximum cor- case ti+1 − ti ≤ tci.
rosion depth. In this example, a  =  1, b  =  1/3 and
τ1 = 10 are assumed. “s” is the ratio of the distance i

between (x1, y1) and (x0, y0) to the surface radius of ϕi ∑ (t

k =0
ck Δτ k ) ϕ i 1 (tci + Δτ i )
the stopped corrosion pit.
Corrosion progress considering a stop due to ; t − ti − ≤ tci −1
⎧⎪ 0
coating maintenance or repair can be simplified as
illustrated in Figure 3. In this figure, it is assumed
that the coating repair or maintenance is carried
Δτ i = ⎨
(
⎪⎩ − )( − ) tci −1 < t − ti −1

out at time ti. But the coating life and the transi-
tion time are ignored. The progress ratio is assumed ⎧ ai t − ti −1 ≤ tci −1
ai = ⎨
to be γ times faster. In order to keep consistency, ⎩γ ⋅ ai tcici < t ti −1
delayed period of Δτ is introduced for descriptive
purpose. where γ is the acceleration factor for corrosion
progress. It is assumed that Δτ0 = 0 and a0 = a.

4 NUMERICAL EXAMINATION

4.1 Basic corrosion model

Figure  2. Progress of newly initiated corrosion pit
depending on the initiated point.
In order to examine the effect of coating mainte-
nance and repair, and renewing repair, values of
parameter shown in Table 2 are used in the proba-
bilistic corrosion model.
According to this corrosion model, the coating
performance and the corrosion wastage condi-
tion along the time passage are shown in Figures 4
and 5. In Figure 5, the amount of corrosion wast-
age which correspond to 0.5, 0.8, 0.9 and 0.95 of
cumulative probabilities and the mean corrosion
wastage are indicated.

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 Table 2. Values of parameter in basic probabilistic cor-
rosion model.

Coating life μc 2.411

[Equation (5)] σc 0.5545
E[Tc] 13
cov[Tc] 0.6
Transition time α 0.5
[Equation (6)] E[TR] 2

Corrosion progress μa −0.7582

[Equation (1), (3)] σa 0.7033
E[a] 0.6 Figure  6. Probability that the wastage exceeds the
cov[a] 0.8 renewing criteria without maintenance or repair.
b 1/3

Table  3. Parameters relating to the maintenance and

repair.

Criteria of coating Touch-up; rA 0.03

breakdown for Partial; rI 0.10
coating maintenance Full; rs 0.20
or repair
Ratio of inspecting area for coating 1.0 or
maintenance; ξ 0.4
Ratio of the area of extra coating 3.0
repair including the area of coating
breakdown; ζ
Correction factor Initial 1.0
Figure  4. Coating performance in basic corrosion for coating life Touch-up 0.7
model without maintenance or repair. Partial 0.8
Full 0.9
Acceleration factor for corrosion progress rate 1.12
after coating repair or maintenance; γ
Renewing criteria; zcr 2 mm

coating maintenance is carried out when the coat-

Figure 5. Corrosion wastage condition in basic corro-
sion model without maintenance or repair.
The probability that the corrosion wastage
exceeds the renewing criteria, zcr = 2.0 is evaluated as
shown in Figure 6. It is estimated that 16.2% of the
structural member is required to be renewed at the
age of 25 years if there is no maintenance or repair.
In order to examine the effect of coating mainte-
nance, coating repair and renewing repair, values of
relating parameter are assumed as shown in Table 3.
4.2 Touch-up coating maintenance
In order to understand the effect of coating main-
tenance, it is assumed that only the touch-up
ing breakdown area exceeds 3% of the subject area.
It is also assumed that only the breakdown area is
maintained. Two cases are examined that the ratio
of inspecting area is ξ = 1.0 or ξ = 0.4. The changes
in the coating performance and the probability of
renewing are estimated as shown in Figures 7 and 8.
Table 4 summarizes the effect of touch-up coat-
ing maintenance. In this table, “0%” means “No
Maintenance”. “Ratio of total coating area”
means the ratio of total coated area which had
been carried out before the age of 25 years to the
subjected area.
In the case of ξ  =  1.0, the coating condition
in the whole area is maintained according to the
stringent criteria (rA = 0.03) to keep “Good” coat-
ing condition throughout the life. The corrosion
progress is restricted by the periodic coating main-
tenance. The corrosion wastage is expected to be
almost 1/3 of those of no maintenance as shown
in Figure 9. However, it seems difficult to maintain
whole area due to the accessibility for inspection or
working from the practical viewpoint.

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 Figure  7. Effect of touch-up coating maintenance on Figure 9. Corrosion wastage condition when touch-up
the coating performance. coating maintenance for the whole area is carried out to
keep “Good” coating condition.

Figure  8. Effect of touch-up coating maintenance on Figure 10. Effect of partial coating repair and full coat-
the probability of renewing. ing repair on the coating performance.

Table 4. Summary of touch-up coating maintenance.

Ratio of Total Prob. of

Maintenance Number total coating renewed renew at
area of times area ratio 25 years

100% 45 1.50 0 0.007

40% 45 0.60 0 0.100
0% 0 0 0 0.162

If the inspected area is ξ  =  0.4, since mainte- Figure 11. Effect of partial coating repair and full coat-
nance is carried out only for such area and the ing repair on the probability of renewing.
other area is not maintained, the effect of coating
Table  5. Summary of partial coating repair and full
maintenance is limited as shown in Figures 7 and 8. coating repair, and the combination with touch-up coat-
ing maintenance.
4.3 Coating repair
Ratio of Total Prob. of
In order to understand the effect of coating repair, Number total coating renewed renew at
renewing repair is not considered. Criteria for of times area ratio 25 years
coating repair are rI = 0.1 for partial coating repair
and rS = 0.2 for full coating repair. If the coating Partial 7 2.25 0 0.026
condition at the timing of the survey is better than Partial +  3 + 42 1.78 0 0.032
Touch-up
the criteria, coating repair is not carried out. In the
Full 2 2.00 0 0.034
case of partial coating repair, ζ = 3.0 is assumed.
Full + Touch-up 1 + 30 1.39 0 0.046
Namely, 3 times larger area than the breakdown
area is to be repaired.
The changes in the coating performance and the combination with the touch-up coating maintenance
probability of renewing are estimated as shown in with ξ = 0.4 are also indicated. In Table 5, “ratio of
Figures  10 and 11. Table  5 summarizes the effect total coating area” does not include the coating repair
of coating repair. In this table, the results for the which would be carried out at the age of 25 years.

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 Figure 12. Corrosion wastage condition when the com-
bination of partial coating repair and touch-up coating
maintenance is carried out.
Figure  13. Corrosion wastage condition when the
combination of full coating repair and touch-up coating
maintenance is carried out.
According to the results shown in Figure 11 and
Table 5, the partial coating repair is more effective
than the full coating repair. By the combination
with touch-up coating maintenance, the times of
coating repair could be reduced. Figure 12 shows
the corrosion wastage condition when the com-
bination of partial coating repair and touch-up
coating maintenance is carried out. The corrosion
wastage is expected to be almost 1/2 of those of no
maintenance.
Figure  13 shows the corrosion wastage condi-
tion when the combination of full coating repair
and touch-up coating maintenance is carried out.
In this case, one full coating repair is carried out at
the age of 15 years. It can be seen that the effect of
full coating repair on the restriction of corrosion
progress is quite large.
4.4 Renewing repair
It is assumed that the thickness measurements is
carried out at the special survey at every 5 years,
and that the member whose corrosion wastage
exceeds the renewing criteria, zcr  =  2.0  mm, would
be renewed.
Figure 14 shows the comparison of probabilities of
renewing for no maintenance, partial coating repair,
combination with renewing, and combination with
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 693
Figure 14. Effect of renewing repair on the probability
of renewing of partial coating repair.
Figure 15. Corrosion wastage condition when the com-
bination of partial coating repair, renewing repair and
touch-up coating maintenance is carried out.
renewing and touch-up coating maintenance. By
the combination with renewing repair, the prob-
ability of renewing can be restricted to the lower
probability. By the combination with touch-up
coating maintenance, the number of times of par-
tial coating repair can be reduced. But the prob-
abilities of renewing in both cases are almost same.
The partial coating repair which carried out once
in 2.5 year period has the almost same effect to the
frequent touch-up coating maintenance. The fairly
good corrosion condition can be maintained effec-
tively as shown in Figure 15.
Figure 16 shows the comparison of probabilities
of renewing for no maintenance, full coating repair,
combination with renewing and combination with
renewing and touch-up coating maintenance. By the
combination with renewing repair, the probability of
renewing can be restricted to the lower probability.
However, in the case of the combination with
touch-up coating maintenance, only one full coating
repair is required in the life of 25 years because the
coating breakdown ratio at 10 years is better than
the criteria rs  =  2.0. Therefore, the probability of
renewing increases until the next full coating repair
at the age of 15 years. After the renewing repair and
the full coating repair, corrosion wastage condition
is improved largely as shown in Figure 17.
Table 6 summarizes the effect of renewing repair.
3/29/2017 9:42:32 AM

Figure 16. Effect of renewing repair on the probability
of renewing of full coating repair.
Figure  17. Corrosion wastage condition when the
combination of full coating repair, renewing repair and
touch-up coating maintenance is carried out.
Table  6. Summary of renewing repair with partial or
full coating repair.
and full coating repair and renewing repair were
examined. The following remarks are obtained.
1. Touch-up coating maintenance is quite effective
if the coating condition in the whole subject
area is inspected and maintained. However, the
coating maintenance of the whole subject area
is expected to be difficult due to the accessibility.
2. Periodic partial or full coating repair is also
effective to keep the corrosion condition in the
certain safety level.
3. The combined application of coating mainte-
nance to the coating repair is effective to reduce
the number of times of coating repair.
4. The more frequent partial coating repair is
more effective than the full coating repair.
5. By carrying out renewing repair, the probabil-
ity of renewing can be maintained to the lower
probability level.
6. The combination including full coating repair is
not selected because the “Fair” coating condition
can be maintained by the partial coating repair.
The effect of maintenance and repair on the
corrosion condition much depends on the condi-
tions of maintenance and repair which are affected
by many factors as shown in Table 3. In order to
investigate the most effective maintenance and
repair scheme, the maintenance and repair con-
dition should be optimized. The results discussed
in this examination are the basis to develop risk
based maintenance and repair.

Ratio of Total Prob. of REFERENCES

Number total coating renewed renew at
of times area ratio 25 years
Guedes Soares, C. and Garbartov, Y. 1999, Reliability of
Maintained, Corrosion Protected Plates subjected to
Partial (Renewing) 7 (3) 2.26 0.019 0.007
Non-Linear Corrosion and Compressive Loads, Marine
Partial (Renewing)  3 (3) + 42 1.77 0.015 0.009
+ Touch-up Structures, Vol. 12, pp.425–445.
Full (Renewing) 2 (2) 2.00 0.033 0.001 International Association of Classification Societies 2015,
Full (Renewing)  1 (1) + 30 1.39 0.034 0.013 Common Structural Rules for Bulk Carriers and Oil
+ Touch-up Tankers, January 2015.
International Maritime Organization 2006, Guidelines for
Performance Standard for Protective Coatings, IMO
Resolution, MSC. 215.
5 CONCLUSIONS International Maritime Organization 2009, Guidelines
for Maintenance and Repair for Protective Coatings,
MSC.1, Circ.1330.
Corrosion is of great concern for the structural safety International Organization for Standardization 2011,
of ships. To cope with the corrosion problem, the high Corrosion Protection of Steel Structures by Painting,
performance of corrosion protective coating and the STANDARD ISO 8501.
net thickness procedure with corrosion additions are Paladino, L., Ellor, J. and Koch, M. 2011, Predicting coating
introduced. In order to maintain structural integrity life cycles for ground vehicles, DOD Corrosion Confer-
throughout the ship’s life, an appropriate coating ence, Paper 20368.
maintenance and repair, and necessary renewing Wang, G., Lee, A. K., Ivanov, L., Lynch, T. J., Serratella,
repair would be required. In this study, the procedure C. and Basu, R. 2008, A statistical investigation of time-
of predicting the corrosion wastage condition consid- variant hull girder strength of aging ships and coating
life, Marine Structures, Vol. 21, pp.240–256.
ering the effect of maintenance and repair based on Yamamoto, N., and Ikegami, K. 1998, A Study on the
the Monte Carlo Simulation was developed. Degradation of Coating and Corrosion of Ship’s Hull
According to the developed procedure, the based on the Probabilistic Approach, Journal of Offshore
effects of touch-up coating maintenance, partial Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, Vol. 120, pp.121–128.

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 Ice conditions

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 695 3/29/2017 9:42:33 AM

MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Experimental investigation of an accidental ice impact on an aluminium

high speed craft

H. Herrnring, J.M. Kubiczek & S. Ehlers

Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany

N.O. Niclasen & M. Burmann

KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

ABSTRACT: High speed vessels are constructed according to the high speed craft codes. These codes
enable very light ship structures, which are necessary for effective operation of fast vessels without tak-
ing ice loads into account. In the given case a conventional aluminium structure of a high speed ferry
designed according to the DNV-GL HSLC code for an operation in Stockholm is investigated. For the
determination of the consequences of an impact between a high speed craft and a single ice floe an ana-
lytical impact model and a series of drop tests with conical ice specimens against full-scale aluminium
panels of the given vessel are presented. Plastic deformations are only observed at the stiffeners and the
outer shell. The structural integrity is still given after the tests. The influence of the structural stiffness as
well as the limited change in the maximum force at different energy levels during the impact is discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION winter that the non-ice-strengthened high speed

vessel impacts an undetected free floating ice floe.
There is only scarce knowledge about ice impacts A continuous operation in ice is not planned. The
on high speed crafts. High speed crafts are main dimensions of the investigated vessel are
designed according to the high speed craft code shown in Table 1.
(HSLC code). This code enables light construc- The investigated test case is a single impact
tions which are necessary for an efficient operation of an ice floe against this high speed craft build
of high speed crafts. The HSLC code considers according to the HSLC code in Stockholm waters.
mainly hydrodynamic loads such as slamming. Ice During the investigation, the consequences and
impacts are not included. the necessity of a replacement of the affected panel
For a first year ice environment the Finn- should be clarified.
ish Swedish Ice Class Rules (FSICR) (Transport Therefore an analytical impact model is devel-
safety agency (2010); Riska & Kämäräinen (2011)) oped and a series of drop tests are carried out by
rules are an industrial standard. But the FSICR impacting full scale aluminium hull panels with a
rules are developed mainly for conventional steel conical ice specimen. Loads and damage levels are
structures—high speed applications and alumin- evaluated on the basis of the impact model and all
ium structures are not considered. test results.
Popov et al. (1967) developed an energy
approach which is based on a collision of two Table 1. Main dimensions of the high speed craft.
bodies for the estimation of ice forces on conven-
tional ship structures. Daley & Liu (2010) use this Main dimensions
approach and concluded that the methodology is
Length LOA 22.41 m
not only suitable for Polar Class 7  ships but also
Length LWL 20.68 m
for other ship classes.
Moulded breath B 6.92 m
The chosen scenario is based on a high speed Moulded depth D 3.20 m
ferry intended to operate as a part of the public Design draft T 1.00 m
transportation network in the Stockholm area. In Displacement Δ 48 t
Stockholm waters sea ice might pose a risk that has Installed engine power (MCR) P 1,400 kW
to be considered in the construction of the vessel. Passenger capacity 90 Passengers
The scenario investigates a possibility during the

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 2 TEST PANELS 3 DEFINITION OF THE CHOSEN
IMPACT SCENARIO
The test panel is designed according to DNV-GL
HSLC code (DNV GL AS (2015)). The given The impact scenario is characterized by the impact
design loads, defined in the HSLC code, are meant energy of the ice floe. The impact energy determines
to describe the hydrostatic pressure and slamming the maximum energy entry on the ship structure.
loads, using an equivalent uniformly distributed A solution of the three following physical models
design pressure. The design pressures can be found is necessary to compute the impact energy:
in Table  2. The resulting aluminium test panel is
1. An ice floe model for the determination of the
presented in Figure 1.
ice floe size,
Table 3 compares the result of the HSLC code
2. a hydrodynamic model for the approximation
to a corresponding structure which fulfils the
of the impact point and direction,
FSICR 1C rules. The FSICR rules are adapted to
3. a mechanical model for the determination of
the aluminium structure by adjusting the critical
the impact energy.
stresses. As a result, the plate thickness, following
the FSICR, is three times larger and the required
3.1 The ice floe model
frame section modulus is almost thirteen times
larger compared to the HSLC code. Hence a real To develop the ice loading scenario, the ice con-
ice class implies a higher ship mass which would ditions in the Stockholm area are defined using
reduce the efficiency of the vessel significantly. an ice growth model, because temperature meas-
urements are available for the area while reliable
Table 2. Table over the design loads according to HSLC ice charts are not. The used ice growth model is
code. given by Leppäranta (1993). To determine the
maximum ice thickness in the area of opera-
Design Loading Total design tion, data from “Stockholm’s temperature series
Structural pressure area load (p × A) 1756–2013” is used. This dataset provides daily
member [kPa] [m2] [kN] mean air temperatures for the Stockholm area. A
Plate 48.1 0.167 8.02
generalized extreme value distribution is fitted to
Stiffener 48.1 0.167 8.02 the maximum ice thicknesses for each winter, cal-
Webframe 34.6 0.500 17.3 culated using the ice growth model. The tempera-
Girder 22.8 2.000 45.68 ture data has a cold bias when used for prediction
of current and future temperatures due to a rise
in average temperatures during the last centuries.
This cold bias can be handled by using the newer
data, but the accuracy of the extreme value pre-
dictions decreases with the number of data points.
The time period 1962–2013 is chosen, as it is the
shortest time interval that provides a good fit
for the extreme value distribution, resulting in a
total of 50 winters. The most likely maximum ice
thickness for one winter in the Stockholm area is
found through the mode of the fitted Generalized
Extreme Value distribution. This results in a pre-
dicted maximum ice thickness H in the Stockholm
Figure  1. Tested aluminium panel according to the area of 0.206 m. The ice growth model is expected
HSLC-code. to provide conservative results according to
Leppäranta (1993).
Table  3. Exemplary comparison of structures accord- The loading scenario is defined as the collision
ing to HSLC code and FSICR. between the vessel in operating condition and a
floating ice floe in calm water. The ice floe is ideal-
HSLC code FSICR ized as a circular disk. The ice thickness is defined
as the predicted ice thickness and the diameter is
Design Design defined based on the expected breaking length.
pres. Dim. pres. Dim. The breaking length is defined according to
[MPa] [mm] [MPa] [mm]
Lindquist (1989). This approach provides reason-
Plate 0.048 5 1.332 15.5 able results in an ice resistance model and the floe
Frame 0.048 FL45 × 5 1.305 FL150 × 11 size is therefore likely to be representative for ice
floes in a broken channel. The resulting breaking

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 length LB of the ice floe is 1.79 m, calculated as one 3.3 Impact modelling
third of the characteristic length Lc according to
Popov et al. (1967) describes the impact of a ship and
Equation 1. Input values are the elasticity modulus
an ice floe as a 3D event, which can be reduced to an
of ice E, the ice thickness H, the Poisson number
equivalent 1D problem. Based on the Popov approach
μ of ice, the density of water ρw and the standard
Daley & Liu (2010) shows a formulation for comput-
gravity g.
ing the impact energy IE. The impact energy depends
on the effective mass of the ice floe ME,ice and the ship
1 1 EH 3 ME,ship as well as the impact velocity V:
LB Lc = 4 (1)
3 3 12 ( − ) ρW g
−1
1⎛ 1 1 ⎞
The shape of the impacting ice floe is defined as IE = ⎜ + ⎟ V
2
(2)
2 ⎝ M E,ship M E,ice ⎠
a circular disk with height 0.206  m and diameter
1.79 m according to the breaking length.
The effective masses ME are determined by solv-
ing the six equations of motion for each body of
3.2 Approximation of the impact point the rigid body collision.
An impact model is created by calculating the
floating condition of the vessel, the floating equi- Fn M Eζn (3)
librium of the ice floe, and thereby defining the
impact velocity, location, and angle. The plan- The effective mass is computed by the following
ning condition of the vessel in flat water is cal- equation:
culated using Savitsky’s method (Savitsky (1964);
Savitsky & Brown (1976)) and the floating condi- −1
tion of the ice floe is defined by the hydrostatic ⎛ l2 m2 n2 λ 2 μ 2 ν 2 ⎞
ME = ⎜ + + + + + ⎟ (4)
equilibrium. The impact location is determined ⎝ x
M M y M z Ix I y Iz ⎠
as the foremost point of the hull, at the height of
the upper corner of the ice floe, see Figure 2. The
l, m and n are direction cosines of the impact point
dead rise angle is not considered and the model
and λ, μ and ν are the level arms to the principle
thereby becomes two dimensional, as the keel line
axis. The principle axes are fixed in the centre of
is used to define the impact location and the panel
gravity of each body. Hydrodynamic effects are con-
normal. This simplification is conservative since
sidered by added masses for the masses M and mass
the inclusion of the dead rise angle will increase
moments I. For details compare Daley & Liu (2010).
the angle between the direction of travel and the
The added mass of the high speed vessel is
panel normal.
approximated by a solution of a wedge. The used
The impact velocity vector is determined from
solution can be found in Faltinsen (2005).
the vessel velocity, normal to the impacted panel,
The added mass of the ice floe in heave is mod-
at the impact location.
elled as a half-submerged circular disk according
to Pedersen et al. (2010).
3
1 4⎛L ⎞
M zh = ρW ⋅ 0 64π ⎜ B ⎟ (5)
2 3⎝ 2 ⎠

The added mass in surge is modelled as a long

slender cylinder, by considering 2 dimensional
flows around a cylindrical cross section over the
submerged height of the ice floe h (Pedersen et al.
(2010)). This assumption is considered conserva-
tive, as the added mass should decrease when tak-
ing three dimensional effects into account.
2
⎛L ⎞
M xh hρW π ⎜ B ⎟ (6)
⎝ 2⎠

The added inertia in pitch is modelled using

strip theory. The pitch added inertia of a strip is
Figure 2. Illustration of the impact scenario. modelled by the heave added mass of the strip and

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 energies from the impact model. The test program
contains three test series against a rigid structure
and two series against the aluminium test panels.

4.1 Test setup

Figure 3. Impact energy results according to the impact
model.
the heave acceleration due to the pitch acceleration
of the strip.
The result is an expression for the added moment
of inertia, depending on the density of the water
and the diameter of the ice floe.
ρ π
Ih LB (7)
240
Figure 3 shows the result of the impact model
according to Equation  2 for the given scenario.
The result mainly follows the change of the impact
velocity, which is determined by the trim and
the normal to the impacted panel. A decrease of
the impact velocity bases on the change of the
trim and the given form of the bow. The velocity
dependence on the effective mass of the vessel is
significant in a range of 40% to 80% of the ship
mass but not relevant because of the huge differ-
ence between the effective mass of the ship and the
ice floe. However is the effective mass of the ice
floe, which is nearly velocity independent, impor-
tant for the impact energy. The effective mass of
the ice floe amounts to approximately 0.75% of
the ship mass. At a ship speed of 18 kn the impact
energy raises the peak value of 660 J.
The equipment in the laboratory, used in this test
series, includes a drop tower, a cold room, a band
saw, and a coning machine. The drop tower is
sketched in Figure 4.
The testing is carried out by placing the test
panel on a set of load cells under a drop weight.
The drop weight is running on a set of vertical rails
to increase repeatability. The drop height deter-
mines impact velocity. The impact mass is adjust-
able from 220 kg to 600 kg, using steel ballast.
Ice specimens are frozen into a mount, which
is bolted onto the drop weight. A release hook
for a life raft is used to release the drop weight.
Height stops, consisting of two wooden beams and
mounted on stiff rubber blocks, are installed to
protect the test rig. The height stops also ensure
that the test panels will be impacted by the ice
specimen only, and not by the drop weight, in case
the ice specimen is completely crushed.
The following measurement equipment is used
during testing. Each value is recorded with a sam-
pling frequency of 1 kHz:
• A load cell in the crane for accurate measure-
ment of the impact mass
• An accelerometer and a draw-wire displacement
sensor for measurement of accelerations and
velocities

4 PRESENTATION OF TESTS

The realized tests are a series of drop tests based

on the presented impact scenario. All drop tests
are performed at TUHH in the mechanical labo-
ratory of the Institute for Ship Structural Design
and Analysis. The drop tests are carried out using
full scale hull panels and a drop weight on rails. To
approximate the real life impact between an ice floe
and a high speed craft, the hammer is equipped
with an ice cylinder. Impact mass and impact veloc-
ity are determined, using the calculated impact Figure 4. Illustration of the experimental setup.

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 • Four load cells under the plate panel for meas-
urement of the total impact load
• A displacement sensor under the panel for meas-
uring the dynamic deformation at the centre of
the plate panel
• Pressure mapping foil sensors for measuring the
pressure distribution during testing
• Strain gauges on one of the aluminium panels
for measuring stresses and structural response
The pressure mapping foil is part of the Tek-
Scan system. TekScan is a grid based piezo resis-
tive tactile pressure measurement foil (Paikowsky
& Hajduk (1997)). Four 5101 load sensors, with a
nominal pressure of 3000  PSI, are used to meas-
ure the total load. The sensors are covered on both
sides with KAPTON® HN500 foil. The edges of
the foil are glued together by tape. The foil protects Figure 5. Ice specimen preparation.
the sensor against mechanical loads like cuts and
shear stresses, water as well as minimizes noise in
the measurements. The test frequency for the Tek- Table 4. Test series.
Scan measurement is 730  Hz which is the maxi- PM, AM PV, AV
mum test frequency of this sensor.
Test series/ Mass Vel. Mass Vel.
4.2 Ice specimens Test number [kg] [m/s] [kg] [m/s]
Ice specimens are cylindrical with a diameter of 0 224* 1.5* 224* 1.5*
203.4 mm and a conically shaped tip. The angle of 1 300 1.5 224 1.77
the cone is 30°. The total length of the specimen is 2 400 1.5 224 2.05
350 mm. The ice specimens are frozen using com- 3 500 1.5 224 2.29
mercially available crushed ice and distilled water. 4 600 1.5 224 2.51
The added water is cooled down to 5°C before use
to prevent excessive melting of the crushed ice. *Used for the repeatability test series, PR.
The ice specimens are frozen in PVC-U pipes
at –25°C in the cold room. To avoid cracks in the investigated through a test program with a total
ice specimens they are frozen from the bottom up. of 22 drop tests. In order to evaluate the loads
This is done by adding a thin metal plate to the and the repeatability of the tests, a series of pre-
bottom, creating a direct connection between the tests are conducted using a rigid plate. The initial
metal plate and the metal floor in the cold room. test series is composed of three pertest series: PR
This provides an excellent heat flux while the top of (Repeatability tests), PM (Increasing mass) and
the specimens are covered with insulating material. PV (Increasing velocity). Two test series are con-
After freezing, the mould is removed under ducted using aluminium test panels: AM (Increas-
ambient conditions in the laboratory. Immediately ing mass) and AV (Increasing velocity). The energy
after removal, the ice specimens are stored in the level is determined by the presented impact model.
cold room. Each specimen is frozen to the mount, During each test series the kinetic energy at impact
coned, and moved back into the cold room before increases. The last test (number 4) reaches 675  J.
testing. This process ensures consistency in the The used impact mass varies in steps of 100  kg
shape and material properties of the specimens. which is constrained by the available steel ballast.
The coning is conducted by using a make-shift The kinetic energies at impact of the mass and
coning machine. The ice fitting with the ice speci- velocity test series are comparable. The resulting
men is bolted onto a turntable and a blade is used masses and velocities are presented in Table 4.
to shape the rotating ice specimen. The process is
similar to a milling operation. The cone shaping
process takes around 2  minutes at 300  rpm. 5 TEST RESULTS
The coning process can be seen in Figure 5.
Test results include general observations on the
behaviour of the system, along with measurements
4.3 Test program of forces, energies and deformations, and reflec-
The influence of increasing mass, velocity, tion upon the effect of the results on the high speed
impact energy, and the ice-structure interaction is craft scenario.

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 5.1 Forces and energies
The impact force is measured by the load cells
under the impacted panel. The kinetic energy at
impact EImp is determined by the drop mass and
the velocity, measured by the draw-wire sensor at
first contact between ice and aluminium panel.
1
EImp mV 2
2
At first contact, the tip of the ice behaves in a
ductile manner and builds up pressure until crush-
ing and cracking of the ice specimen is initiated.
The peak load seems to occur just before initiation
of large cracks in the ice specimen. Afterwards, the
force drops dramatically and a fluctuating load is
caused by spalling. This behaviour can be seen in
Figure  6, where the area is taken from TekScan
measurement. The presented pressure is the aver-
age contact pressure.
For the pre-test series with a rigid plate the peak
loads occurs in a range from 13 mm to 20 mm dis-
placement, after first contact. This value changes
between 22 mm and 35 mm for the flexible struc-
tures, due to the elastic and plastic deformation
of the panel. The two initial tests on the alumin-
ium plate panels, AM0 and AV0, show a differ-
ent behaviour than all of the other tests. The ice
specimens are bouncing on the panel and no big
Figure 6. Test results of test AM2.
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 702
(8)
Figure  7. Compression of tests PR0 (left) and AV0
(right).
spalls break off the specimens. A maximum con-
tact pressure of 25 MPa is calculated for test AV0.
This phenomenon is attributed to the flexibility of
the aluminium panels and can be seen in Figure 7.
The maximum forces of all tests are shown in
Figure 8. The tests are plotted against the kinetic
energy at impact. The maximum forces are only
evaluated in the first 150  mm displacement after
first contact. This is done to prevent the mount
having an effect on the results, as it could increase
the load from the ice due to the ice being confined
(change in boundary conditions). The maximum
forces for the tests are between 12.94  kN and
34.96 kN. The maximum force for most tests with
a kinetic energy of 352  J is between 20  kN and
25 kN. Only one outlier with a maximum force of
32.66  kN is observed. The behaviour indicates a
sufficient reproducibility for all test series.
There is no clear trend between the maximum
forces and the kinetic energy at impact. For the
test series against a rigid plate (PM and PV), the
maximum force decreases slightly with increasing
kinetic energy, but this trend is not seen in the test
against the aluminium panels (AM and AV). The
variation of the maximum force of the test series
AM and AV is significantly higher than for tests
against a rigid plate. It is concluded that the stiff-
ness of the impacted structure has a significant
influence on the magnitude of the load, but no
clear trends in the influence of velocity and mass
are found.
ECol ∫F ds (9)
In Figure 9 is the collision energy as a function
of kinetic energy at impact presented. The collision
energy ECol is calculated by the force from the load
cells under the panel, integrated over the displace-
ment, measured by the draw wire sensor during
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3/29/2017 9:42:37 AM
 Figure  8. Maximum forces of all tests until 150  mm
displacement.
Figure 9. Collision energy of all tests.
the impact. The collision energy is higher than the
kinetic energy because of the potential energy left
in the crushing length after the first contact.
The collision energy is generally increasing with
the kinetic energy in the impact. All test series
achieve higher collision energies than 660 J, which
is the maximum impact energy of the impact
model for the given scenario.
5.2 Measured deformations
Deformations are measured with a laser measure-
ment system along each of the smaller stiffeners
(position a and c) and parallel to the stiffeners
at the centre-line of the plate panel (position b).
Figure  10  shows the deformation of the panel
before the tests (AMb) and after each test (AM0-
AM4). The missing data points in Figure 10 a) and
c) at x ≈ −300 mm and x ≈ 300 mm are caused by
installed strain gauges making the laser displace-
ment measurements invalid.
After the first impact (AM0), the panel is
indented by 7 mm at the centre and approximately
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 703
Figure  10. Deformation states of test series AM at
positions a), b) and c).
1 mm at the middle of the stiffeners. The deforma-
tion behaviour can be described as rather local.
In the following tests, the deformation shifts from
a primarily local to a primarily global behaviour.
This is illustrated using the displacement increase
at the middle of the stiffeners and the displacement
increase at the plate centre as a reference.
The second test causes a deformation increase
of around 3 mm at plate centre and 1.7 mm at the
stiffeners. This represents a ratio of 1.76  in con-
trast to 7 from the first test. There is no additional
deformation observable in the third test, which
can be explained by the slightly lower maximum
load (see Figure  8). A slight additional deforma-
tion increase, approximately 1  mm, is seen after
test four, with an absolute deformation of 12.3 mm
at the plate centre and 4 mm at the middle of the
stiffeners. The ratio for the displacement increase
is 1. The maximum load of the final impact is sig-
nificantly lower, for which reason no further defor-
mations are observed. The maximum deformation
after all tests is 12.3 mm in the centre of the panel.
5.3 Damage levels and consequences for the vessel
The design loads for the plate panel according to
HSLC code is a uniformly distributed design pres-
sure, while the applied load is highly localized. The
presented loads in Table 5 are therefore not directly
comparable, but the total load can be compared.
3/29/2017 9:42:38 AM
 Table 5. Load comparison.
Structural Total design Maximum test Maximum test
member load loading AV loading AM
Plate 8.02 kN 32.55 kN 34.94 kN
Stiffener 8.02 kN 16.27 kN 17.47 kN
Webframe 17.31 kN 16.27 kN 17.47 kN
Girder 45.68 kN 16.27 kN 17.47 kN
The total design load for each structural member
is calculated as the uniformly distributed pressure
times the design area for the structural member.
The maximum test loading for the plate field is
defined as the measured maximum load during
testing. There is one stiffener on each side of the
loaded area. Therefore the total load for one stiff-
ener is taken as half of the measured maximum
load.
No measurable deformations were observed on
the webframes and the girders, where the load is in
the order of or smaller than the total design load.
Taking safety factors into account there is a small
deformation of the stiffeners which corresponds
well to the maximum load being roughly twice the
total design load. There is a significant, but not
critical, deformation of 13 mm at the centre of the
plate field, which corresponds well to the maxi-
mum load being more than four times higher than
the total design load.
The structural integrity of the aluminium test
panel is intact after testing. The damage is limited
to local deformations in smaller structural mem-
bers and plating. Dents up to three times plate
thickness are acceptable for operation by a com-
mon maritime practice. Thus a 13 mm deep dent
is noncritical for a 5  mm thick plate. This shows
that a HSLC vessel, which is not designed for ice
impact, seems to be able to tolerate an individual
accidental impact with a free floating ice floe with-
out requiring immediate repairs.
6 CONCLUSIONS
A scenario based model for investigating the
impact between an ice floe and a high speed craft
is presented. The impact of an ice floe on a high
speed craft in operation was defined, taking added
mass and impact geometry into account.
A series of drop tests have been carried out, using
input from the impact model and full size plate
panels designed according to the HSLC code on
the basis of the vessel in the defined scenario. These
drop tests have provided insight into the behaviour
of the load. All drop test series achieve higher col-
lision energies than 660  J which is the maximum
impact energy of the analytical impact model for
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 704
the presented scenario of an individual accidental
impact between a free floating ice floe and a high
speed craft. Nevertheless, the structural integrity of
the test panels is still given after the test series.
The investigation of the ice loading demon-
strated that the load is highly influenced by the
stiffness of the impacted structure. The amount of
energy that can be transferred in a collision with an
unconstrained piece of ice is found to be limited by
the failure mechanisms of the ice. No clear relation
between the kinetic impact energy and the maxi-
mum force was observed. It is concluded that the
maximum force is more dependent on other fac-
tors, for example the material properties of the ice
and the stiffness of the impacted structure.
Based on the findings in this article it is con-
cluded that single ice impacts on a high speed craft
under light ice conditions would result in slight but
non-critical damages.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TUHH acknowledges the financial support of the
German Research Foundation and Lloyd’s Register
Foundation. Lloyd’s Register Foundation supports
the advancement of engineering-related education,
and funds research and development that enhances
safety of life at sea, on land and in the air.
REFERENCES
Daley, C. & Liu, J. 2010. Assessment of Ship Ice Loads in
Pack Ice. ICETECH.
Faltinsen, O.M. 2005. Hydrodynamics of high-speed
marine vehicles. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.
High speed and light craft code. 2015, DNV GL AS.
Leppäranta, M. 1993. A Review of Analytical Models of
Sea-Ice Growth, University of Helsinki, Helsinki.
Lindquist, G. 1989. A Straightforward Method for Cal-
culation of Ice Resistance of Ships. POAC: 722–735.
Paikowsky, S.G. & Hajduk, E.L. 1997. Calibration and
Use of Grid-Based Tactile Pressure Sensors in Gran-
ular Material. Geotechnical Testing Journal vol. 2:
218–241.
Pedersen, P.T., Andersen, P. & Aage, C. 2010. Grundla-
gende skibs-og offshoreteknik, Technical university of
Denmark.
Popov, Faddeyev, Kheysin & Yakovlev. 1967.
STRENGTH OF SHIPS SAILING IN ICE: TECH-
NICAL TRANSLATION, Leningrad.
Riska, K. & Kämäräinen, J. 2011. A review of ice load-
ing and the evolution of the Finnish-Swedish ice class
rules. SNAME.
Savitsky, D. & Brown, W. 1976. Procedures for hydrody-
namic Evaluation of planning Hulls in smooth and
rough water. Marine Technology vol. 13: 381–400.
Savitsky, D. 1964. Hydrodynamic Design of planning
Hulls. Marine Technology vol. 1: 71–95.
Transport safety agency. 2010. Finnish-Swedish ice class
rules.
3/29/2017 9:42:39 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

On a shifting pressure-area relationship for the accidental limit state

analysis of abnormal ice actions

E. Kim & J. Amdahl

Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems (AMOS), Centre for Sustainable Arctic Marine and
Coastal Technology (SAMCoT), Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

M. Song
School of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China

ABSTRACT: The relationship between pressure and area is often used to describe various ice-structure
interaction processes. Although debated, it is generally accepted that for Ultimate Limit States (ULS)
design, average pressure decreases with increasing contact area. However, this decreasing trend may not
be valid for the situations in which the structure can undergo substantial deformations, i.e. Accidental
Limit States (ALS). In this paper, by means of nonlinear finite element analysis, it is shown that for ALS
design, it may not be necessary for the structure to resist loads corresponding to the conventional ice
pressure-area relationship. The pressure is limited either by the ice strength or by the structural resistance.
In situations where the structure resistance limits the pressure, the shape of the ice matters. Attention
must always be paid to selecting the appropriate ice pressure-area relationship for ALS design.

1 INTRODUCTION Characteristic p-A curves are used in the design

Ice structure interactions can be described via a
relation between ice pressure and area. The most
common way to present a relation between pres-
sure and area is via a pressure-area (p-A) curve.
Upon reviewing the scientific literature, design
practices and recommendations for ships and
offshore structures, we find that the p-A curves
fall into three categories: process curves, spatial-
distribution curves and characteristic curves. The lat-
ter category of curves is often viewed in the context
of local or global ice loads and in the context of
probabilistic or deterministic approaches to design.
A process p-A curve (termed by Frederking
1998) describes the process of a structure penetrat-
ing into an ice feature or of an ice feature hitting
a structure. It is a continuous plot of average pres-
sure versus total contact area variation during
an ice-structure interaction process; see the p-A
curves in Joensuu & Riska (1989) – one of the old-
est examples of a process p-A relationship.
A spatial-distribution p-A curve (termed by
Frederking 1999) characterizes the spatial distribu-
tion of pressure. It describes the average pressure
on sub-areas of various sizes within a larger area
at an instant in time. To establish such a curve,
knowledge of the true contact area and pres-
sure distribution at a particular instant in time is
required; for example, see the curves presented in
Daley et al. (1985).
of offshore structures in Arctic and cold regions
and of ice-going ships, see e.g. ISO19906 (2010).
Often, such curves correspond to a curve of best
fit to the data representing the mean peak pres-
sure plus three standard deviations (deterministic
approach). Otherwise, a characteristic p-A curve
can be established using ship-ram data accounting
for exposure of the structure to ice (probabilistic
approach; for details see Jordaan et al. 2010).
Although recently debated (Daley 2007,
Gagnon 2014), the data obtained from medium-
scale impact tests, ship ramming tests and measure-
ments on the hulls of offshore structures indicate
that the average pressure decreases as the total load
area increases. This trend of decreasing average
pressure with increasing contact area now appears
to have been accepted by the international engi-
neering community (see Table 1 in Kim & Schulson
2015). The most common way of expressing a p-A
relationship is by the power-law expression:
p C ⋅ Aex , (1)
where C and ex are constants and the exponent ex
typically is a negative number between 0 and –1.
This paper focuses on characteristic p-A curves.
The relationship between the pressure and area is
discussed in the context of local ice loads on steel
structures, i.e. the loads determining the design of
steel plate thicknesses.

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 1.1 Design considerations In the strength design domain, the structure is
strong enough to resist ice pressures with minor
Ice loads are an important issue for designers. In
damage (limited to negligible plastic deforma-
modern vessel design, the assessment of load effects
tions), and the ice feature will dissipate the major
should always be performed under the principle of
part of the collision energy (Figure 1).
the Ultimate Limit States (ULS) and further veri-
In the ductile design domain, the structure
fied according to the requirements for the Acciden-
undergoes considerable plastic deformations and
tal Limit States (ALS). The ULS control ensures
dissipates the major part of the collision energy.
that ice loads (corresponding to load effects with an
In the shared-energy design domain, both the ice
annual probability of exceedance typically less than
and the structure dissipate energy through inelastic
10−2) can be resisted with an adequate margin. The
deformations. At any instant, the weaker structure
ALS control ensures that the structure can resist
(or ice) will deform (Figure 1, right-most image).
accidental ice loads (annual frequency of occur-
Although several ship collisions with floating
rence on the order of 10−4) while maintaining its
ice in which the ship sustains damage (Hill 2005,
floatability, stability, global structural integrity and
Varsta & Riska 1982) are in the shared-energy
performance. Damage to the structure is allowed if
regime—both the ice and the ship dissipate energy
there is sufficient residual strength to prevent pro-
through inelastic deformations, the physics of
gressive collapse, and the safety of the crew and
these events is rarely studied. A literature review
environment can be maintained.
(Kim & Amdahl 2013) indicates that collisions in
Regardless of the limit state, as a first step, the
which both the ice and the structure deform ine-
designer must determine the maximum load that a
lastically are insufficiently understood. Because
particular plate or panel will encounter during its
of this knowledge gap, the designer must always
operating lifetime. This is not an easy task because
pay extra attention to accidental ice loads to
parameters such as the loading rate, aspect ratio,
avoid overly conservative or “not-fit-for-purpose”
ice failure mode and ice properties also influence
designs.
the design pressure over small areas.
The ice loads are often treated in the form of
A commonly adopted approach to the design is
a p-A relationship (see, e.g. Section A.8.2.5.3 of
to classify the ice-structure interaction scenarios,
ISO19906 2010). The characteristic values of ice
for instance, ice movement against a vertical struc-
pressure (and thus the characteristic p-A relation-
ture or a glancing impact on the bow with an ice
ship) are based on the return period and exposure
floe of infinite mass (ISO19906 2010, IACS 2010).
and will be higher under ALS conditions than
For a collision between a structure and an ice fea-
under the ULS. In other words, “the longer you
ture, three design domains may be distinguished
fish, the bigger the fish you will catch”– (Jordaan
(analogous to a ship-platform collision, DNV-RP-
et  al. 2010). The p-A relationships for different
C204 2010), namely, the strength domain, the duc-
probability levels are illustrated in Figure 2.
tile domain and the shared-energy domain.

Figure 1. Differences between the strength design domain and the shared-energy design domain.

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Figure 2. Design considerations: pressure-area relation-
ships for different annual exceedance probability levels.
1.2 Some design challenges
A vessel or an offshore structure that will operate
in ice-infested waters will have to be designed for
ULS-pressures with small permanent deforma-
tions (ISO19906 2010), i.e. the “strength domain
for the ultimate ice loads” in Figure  2. If the
strength domain is also selected for the ALS-
pressures (Fig.  2), the structure must be substan-
tially stronger than the design according to the
ULS pressures, although some of the difference
in the demand for resistance will be eliminated
through smaller partial safety factors (which are
normally equal to unity) for ALS.
In the ULS, conventional p-A curves (Eq. 1) are
used to determine the required scantlings for plates,
stiffeners, stringers and frames using relevant areas
and associated pressures. Resistance models may
be based either on the elastic theory or plastic
methods of analysis. The latter approach gives
generally better insight into the collapse pattern;
which method is most conservative depends on the
partial safety factors used for the resistance.
For the ALS design, the situation is different,
especially if the ice action is limited by kinetic
energy. It is not required that the structure resist
the ice pressure elastically. Considerable plastic
(inelastic) behavior may be fully acceptable if the
indentation level complies with the acceptance
criteria, for example, no rupture of the outer shell
that could cause flooding of the buoyancy com-
partments. The conventional p-A curve (Eq. 1)
obtained for convex or flat contact surfaces does
not correlate with the design conditions and geom-
etries the designer is looking for (i.e. concave con-
tact surfaces). It may occur that the structural
resistance limits the contact pressures, while the
ice deformations are minimal. It is therefore not
so obvious how Equation 1 shall be handled unless
strength design is opted for.
For some structures (e.g. shuttle tankers servic-
ing offshore installations operating some distance
from the ice edge or in areas with good surveillance
707
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 707
and ice management, or the offshore installations
themselves), a collision with ice may be so unlikely
that it can be disregarded in the ULS but must be
considered in the ALS. Such structures have not
been designed to resist ice pressures, but the ALS
p-A curve must be considered.
One of today’s design challenges is a nearly
complete lack of guidelines for analysis of the
damage due to abnormal ice actions, specifically
what value of the ice pressure to choose for the ice
action effects.
Another concern is that a major part of the
laboratory and full-scale data is obtained from
impacts with ice floes in a specific location and is
concerned with multiyear ice. As a consequence,
the p-A curve is applicable to this location and
locations with similar ice types.
Available p-A curves are established via a con-
servative approach by taking either the envelope or
a curve close to it (three standard deviations in ISO
19906) and let it represent the ultimate strength of
the ice in practical situations of confined com-
pression (i.e. for the strength design domain in
Figure 2). Pressure-area curves for a shared-energy
design domain are non-existent.
Motivated by the lack of guidelines for struc-
tural analysis of the ALS for abnormal ice actions,
this paper addresses the following question:
Is it reasonable to use the conventional p-A curve
(Eq. 1) for ice-structure impacts in the shared-
energy design domain?
To address this question, we take a designer’s per-
spective on local plate design. In this paper, it is
shown by means of nonlinear finite element analy-
sis that for ALS design it may not be necessary for
the structure to resist loads corresponding to the
conventional ice pressure-area relationship.
2 SHARED-ENERGY ICE-STRUCTURE
IMPACTS: A NUMERICAL APPROACH
We have conducted numerical simulations of a
collision between an ice floe and a tank section
of a ship shaped Floating Production Storage and
Offloading (FPSO) unit. The numerical simula-
tions have been performed with the LS-DYNA
software program, and the simulation results serve
as a basis for discussion, which is later supported
by available experimental evidence.
The collision model is shown in Figure 3. Both
the ice material and the structure were explicitly
modeled and were presumed to undergo crush-
ing. The analysis was limited to the elements in
the impact zone, located on the ice edge and the
impacted side.
3/29/2017 9:42:40 AM

Figure 3. Ice-structure collision model; total extent of
the structure is 22.4 m longitudinal and 11.82 m vertical;
ice hits at a right angle; impact location—between two
stiffeners (d_total—distance traveled by the rigid body on
the back side of the striking ice floe, d_ice—ice indenta-
tion, d_str–side indentation, d_total = d_ice + d_str).
The tank section was not designed for ice loads.
The total extent of the tank section model is 22.4 m
longitudinal and 11.82 m vertical, reduced from the
full tank length to save computational time. The
model extent is sufficient to minimize the effect of
boundary conditions.
At the impact location, the vessel has an outer
plate thickness of 12  mm, a stiffener spacing of
657 mm and stiffeners L 280 × 60 × 11 × 19.5. The
web frames are spaced at 3200 mm and consist of
10 mm plates. The boundary conditions were sim-
plified such that the panel was fixed for translation
and rotation in all directions for all nodes located
at either side on the panel.
The mesh size of the structure is approximately
100 mm. The ratio of element length to thickness
is approximately eight, which is within the limit
of 5–10 suggested by Alsos & Amdahl (2007) and
Tornqvist (2003) to achieve a consistent internal
energy assessment by capturing the local stress
and strain fields accurately. The element type is a
4-node Belyscho-Tsay shell elements with 5  inte-
gration points over the thickness. For the ice part,
constant stress solid elements were used. The mesh
size of the ice floe is 15 mm.
The results of numerical simulations (Fig. 2 in
Kim et al. 2016b) show that the mesh size of the
plate has little effect on the simulated force versus
crushing depth history.
The contact-eroding-surface-to-surface algorithm
with the soft = 2 option was used between the struc-
ture and the ice floe (LSTC, 2015). The contact-
eroding-single-surface method was used to create
the self-contact for the ice floe due to ice crushing.
Prior to impact, the ice floe has a thickness
of 0.65  m and a kinetic energy of 0.8 MJ. The
in-plane radius of the ice floe is equal to 5.0  m.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 708
It was assumed that the weight of the ice floe capa-
ble of damaging the side of the FPSO was small
compared to the weight of the ship itself and that
the ship can be considered to remain stationary
during the collision process.
We consider that the impact of the ice floe will
cause structural damage to the side of the ship. The
floe does not split in the direction of motion, con-
tact forces will cause the ice floe to crush, and the
maximum impact force cannot exceed the crushing
strength of the floe. We also consider the possibil-
ity that the ice floe can mold itself to the shape of
the deforming side.
To reduce the computation time, the ice floe
model was divided into two parts (Fig. 3), one rep-
resenting the deformable ice and the other repre-
senting a rigid part that ensures the correct kinetic
energy of the ice floe. For the side structure, the
steel model implemented and verified by Alsos
et al. (2009) was used, which incorporates plateau
strain, power law hardening and the Rice-Tracey
and Cockcroft-Latham damage criteria. The ice
behavior was modelled using the elliptic yield crite-
rion and the strain-based pressure dependent fail-
ure criterion as proposed earlier by Liu et al. (2011)
and later used in the analysis of collisions between
icebergs and ships (Storheim et  al., 2012; Ferrari
et al., 2015; Gao et al., 2015).
To model the onset of the inelastic behavior,
the ice material data were selected as described
in Kim et al. (2016b) and are in accordance with
the empirical values of ice strength in Timco and
Weeks (2010). The failure criterion were calibrated
to Equation (1), with C  =  1.5h0.95 and ex  =  –0.7
(where h is the ice thickness and pressure is in MPa)
considered to be representative for the considered
ice-structure interaction scenario. The perfor-
mance of the ice model was checked with respect
to the representation of local ice pressures and the
energy absorption capacity of ice. There was good
agreement between the predicted trends for the
energy absorption capacity and those observed in
the physical data-sets. The ice model can capture a
relatively small region experiencing high pressure
(a hard zone) and the surrounding contact mate-
rial exerting a somewhat lower pressure—an estab-
lished fact from various experimental studies. The
calculated pressure values and the values measured
in the test (Määttänen et al. 2011) were of the same
order of magnitude, and the pressure distribution
pattern were similar to that in Jordaan et al. (2016),
Figure 11.
Figures 4 and 5 present the results of the simula-
tion. The results are presented for the impact loca-
tion between two stiffeners. The variation of the
contact pressure together with the enlargement of
the load area is given in Figure 4a, which presents
the results of the following numerical simulations:
3/29/2017 9:42:41 AM
 1. The curve entitled “Deformable ice & struc-
ture” corresponds to the simulations in which
both the behavior of the ice and the structure
were explicitly modeled (shared-energy design
domain);
2. The “Rigid ice” curves correspond to the case
in which the ice was modelled as a rigid body
(ductile design domain); and
3. The “Rigid structure” curve assumes the struc-
ture to be rigid (strength design domain).
For the shared-energy stage, the simplified
deformations of the side panel (d_str) and ice (d_
ice) are plotted in Figure 4b. Figure 4c presents the
energy dissipated by a deformed FPSO side and by
the ice. The pressure in Figure  4 is calculated by
dividing the contact force by the nominal contact
area. The contact area is derived from the ice edge
geometry by using d_total.
In general, the collision process is categorized
into three main stages according to the distribution
of damage and the energy absorbed. The stages are
denoted as the ductile, shared-energy and strength
Figure  4. Simulation results; pressure values corre-
sponding to the initiation of contact are not shown.
709
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 709
Figure 5. Simulation results, ice edge crushing; deleted
elements are highlighted in red.
stages, not to be confused with the design domains
in Section 1.1.
The first ductile stage is dominated by deforma-
tion of the FPSO side; the ice is stronger than the
side in this stage. The pressure-area curve is limited
by the structural capacity (virtually rigid ice) and
resembles a curve obtained for the case of the rigid
ice penetrating the side (“rigid ice” curves, Fig. 4a).
In the second stage, both the ice and the struc-
ture undergo deformations. However the FPSO
side is stronger than the ice, and the deformation
of ice increases faster than that of the struck side
(Fig. 4c, “Shared energy stage”). The pressure val-
ues are limited to the ice resistance and decrease
with increasing area.
In the last stage, there is a continuous crushing
of the ice due to the increasing resistance of the
structure to further deformation. The relation-
ship between the pressure and area is governed by
the ice behavior (a virtually rigid structure). If the
structure should undergo “sudden” collapse of a
main frame, the deformation could switch to a new
ductile stage and so on.
The collision process obtained in the numeri-
cal simulations is in the shared-energy regime
because both the ice and the structure dissipate
energy. In the presented case, the damage process
switches between the ice and the struck structure.
An important observation is that if the structure
is relatively weaker than ice, the pressure-area rela-
tionship does not follow a conventional ice p-A
curve (Eq. 1).
3 DISCUSSION
This paper considers a collision between an ice floe
and a tank section of a ship-shaped FPSO in which
both the ice and the structure deform and dissipate
energy. The collision loads are treated in the form
of a p-A relationship. This relationship is viewed
in the context of local design of stiffened panels.
We use numerical simulation results as a reference
to address the following question: Is it reasonable
to use the convnetional p-A curve for ice-structure
impacts in the shared-energy design domain? By
means of nonlinear finite element analysis for
impact location between two stiffeners, it has
been demonstrated that for ALS design, it may
3/29/2017 9:42:41 AM
 not be necessary for the structure to resist loads
corresponding to the conventional ice pressure-
area relationship (Eq. 1).
The numerical simulations have shown that the
damage and energy dissipation can switch between
the ice and the structure during shared-energy
stages. This is similar to the switch in energy dis-
sipation between a struck ship and a striking ship
in ship–ship collisions; see Haris & Amdahl (2013).
The results of the numerical simulations do not
show a significant difference between ice pressures
obtained on a flat rigid surface and on a concave
surface (Fig.  4a, curves “Rigid structure” and
“Deformable ice & structure”). One may think
that this contradicts recent experimental evidence
reported in Kim et al. (2015) where loads and pres-
sures increase for better confined ice (Fig. 6).
It is well known that confining stresses tend
to suppress cracking of ice and increase ductility
which can lead to an increase in strength (Schul-
son & Duval 2009). Recent experimental work by
Storheim et al. (2015) and Kim et al. (2016a) has
Figure  6. Effects of ice confinement on ice loads and
on the process p-A relationship (re-plotted from experi-
mental data in Kim et al. (2015) – ice cone with a base of
25 cm in diameter, indented at a speed of 100 mm/s).
710
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 710
shown that the changing steel geometry during
large deformations may increase the crushing
strength of the ice due to the resulting confinement.
The experimental data in Storheim et al. (2015)
indicate the importance of the coupled behavior
of the ice and structure in terms of a pressure-
area relationship. The results from the laboratory
experiments of ice crushing on concave surfaces by
Kim et al. (2015) show a noticeable difference in the
response for confined ice (Fig. 6, the test with the
10°-cone) and poorly confined ice (the test with
the 10°-wedge). Figure  6  shows that the ductility
of the better-confined ice is higher than that of the
poorly confined-ice. Here, the ductility is charac-
terized by smooth rather than a saw-tooth pattern.
The loads and pressures are also higher for the case
with the better confined ice.
Why do we not see a similar difference in the
numerical results, apart from the fact that the mag-
nitude of the oscillations is considerably smaller
during crushing against the deformable structure?
One of the possible reasons is that the ice model is
non-phenomenological cannot exhibit all phenom-
ena of ice crushing. Being an engineering-based
model, it has limitations with respect to spatial
pressure distribution. With increasing simulation
time, the results do not support a line-like contact
pressure distribution through the ice thickness
(see Figure  5, right-most image). Another reason
may be due to an aspect ratio effect (i.e. the ratio
between the contact width and height).
The aspect ratio plays an important role in mod-
ifying the magnitude of the ice pressure (Sodhi
2000, Masterson & Spencer 2000). For the same
contact area, the higher the aspect ratio is, the
lower the pressure (Blanchet & DeFranco 2001).
This means that as the structure deforms, the cre-
ated confinement will tend to rise pressure values,
while the increasing aspect ratio will tend to lower
these pressures. The latter effect explains why we
do not see an increase in the magnitude of pressure
for the given ice-structure interaction scenario.
To summarize, despite the model limitations, the
results of the numerical simulations are reasonable
and in agreement with the current understanding
of the ice-structure interaction process in terms of
the process—and characteristics of the pressure-
area curves. Thus, what does it mean with respect
to ALS design considerations?
If the ductile domain is selected for design under
ALS conditions, the structure will limit the contact
pressures, which, for a well-balanced design, will lie
in the lower range of the domain between the ULS
and ALS p-A curves (if the ULS p-A curve exists);
see Figure 7. Design in the shared-energy domain
will require higher structural resistance, as illus-
trated in Figure 7. If the resistance exceeds the ALS
p-A curve, strength design is in principle achieved.
3/29/2017 9:42:42 AM

Figure  7. Pressure-area relationships for different
annual exceedance probability levels; shared-energy and
ductile design domains are indicated for ALS pressures.
Presented results are limited to impact location
be-tween two stiffeners. Ongoing work includes
extending the analysis to larger plastic deforma-
tion and to other impact locations. For other
impact locations, preliminary results indicate simi-
lar trends to those discussed in this paper.
4 CONCLUDING REMARKS
This paper has examined the shared-energy situa-
tion in which an ice floe hits a ship-shaped FPSO
and both the ice and the structure can dissipate
energy through inelastic deformations. The fol-
lowing question has been investigated: Is it rea-
sonable to use the conventional p-A curve for
ice-structure impacts in the shared-energy design
domain? To answer the question, the results of
a nonlinear finite element analysis and empirical
data have been used as a reference. The analysis of
the numerical results with the engineering-based
model of ice indicates that it may not be necessary
for the structure to resist loads corresponding to
the conventional ice pressure-area relationship.
The pressure is limited either by the ice strength or
by the structural resistance. Attention must always
be given to selecting the appropriate ice pressure-
area relationship for ALS design.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is a part of investigations conducted
within the Centre for Autonomous Marine Opera-
tions and Systems (AMOS) and the Centre for
Sustainable Arctic Marine and Coastal Technol-
ogy (SAMCoT) at the Norwegian University of
711
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 711
Science and Technology. We would like to acknowl-
edge the support from the Re-search Council of
Norway through the SAMCoT CRI (Project no.
203471) and through the AMOS CoE (Project no.
223254) and the support from all SAMCoT and
AMOS partners.
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Dynamic response of ship side structure to the collision with ice sheets

X.H. Shi & P.X. Wang

School of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang,
Jiangsu Province, P.R. China

C. Guedes Soares
Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de
Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: The dynamic collision response of ship side structure to the collision with floating ice
sheets is studied numerically. The collision of ice with a ship is studied for a ship without icebreaking
design, sailing in the Arctic, in ice channel opened by an icebreaking ship with sharp ice floes and ice
packs. The ice material model is verified by the ISO curve. The results of collision force, damage and ship
residual collision velocity are obtained. Different ice thickness and ship navigation speed are investigated
to find their effect on the collision response of ship and ice. It is found that the effect of the ice collision
may be dangerous to a ship even it has been strengthened by the Rules.

1 INTRODUCTION for ice-going ship, guidance for Arctic structure,

The offshore oil and gas activity and the shipping
may be possible to see a large increase in the Arctic
region because of the warming of the climate.
Compared with the other regions, the potential of
oil, gas and other minerals are rich in the Arctic and
if the Artic routes can be opened, the cost of some
shipping routes will decrease significantly. However,
ships may be vulnerable to interactions with the ice
and to other effects of low temperatures, which can
lead to damage to the ship structure. It is crucial to
predict the response to the interaction between the
ship and ice, using a reasonable ice model and steel
constitutive relations for low temperatures.
The ship or offshore structure subjected to the
ice is a focused issue. Some classification socie-
ties and national administrations give design
rule or guidance for ship structure subjected ice.
The Finnish-Swedish Ice Class Rules for ship in
Baltic Sea was given firstly by Finnish Maritime
Administration (FMA, 2002). It gives the formulas
to calculate the ice loads for different ice levels and
for different ship sections, such as the ice belt mid-
ship, the aft region, and the forward region. Then
ABS published the ice rule or Guidance Notes on
Ice Class (ABS, 2005) and more recently IACS
published the Requirements Concerning POLAR
CLASS (IACS, 2011). The International Ship and
Offshore Structures Congress (ISSC) has a special
committee to address the general development of
the ship and ice interaction. In their reports, some
key issues are introduced including the ice rules
calculation of ice load and the ice-induced ship
response (Ehlers et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2012).
These general problems were also promoted by
SSC, the Ship Structures Committee (Kendrick  &
Daley, 2011). Most challenges were presented
including the ice impact, bad climate, low tempera-
ture, corrosion and so on. Many researchers focused
on the ice load and ship response of the ship. The
global ice loads on ships were predicted for an ice-
breaking ship using a numerical method, in which,
the ice crushing load was obtained by considering
the ice bending failure for level ice (Su et al., 2011a,
2011b). The structure in the bow is specially strength-
ened for ice-breaking ships. The ice-breaking load is
very large compared with the load in a ship sailing in
a sea area with floating ice or icebergs. Some studies
like ship-iceberg collision were performed (Ehlers &
Østby, 2012; Gao et al., 2015).
In this paper, the ice load will be studied for a
commercial ship that will sail in the Arctic region
and the interaction of the ship with floating or
fixed ice sheet will be considered. The results of
ice load and the damage of ice, ship will be given.
The results can provide technical support for ship
structure design, especially in the case of shipping
in ice-covered regions.
2 SCENARIO DESCRIPTION
Ship-ice interaction is a transient process as in
ship collision. Actually, some measures are taken

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 713 3/29/2017 9:42:43 AM

 to keep a route for ship sailing. Ice-breaking may
be used mostly to open up one route or to clear
the route if the ice is melted. However, sometimes
the width of the route may be not large enough
considering the transverse motions and the turning
of a ship and there may also be many floating ice
or ice sheet filled in the route, as shown in Fig. 1.
Therefore, in the course of a voyage, the ship can-
not avoid contact with sea ice.
In this case, the ice sheet will impact with the
ship when the ship is going ahead, as shown in
Fig. 2, where Vsi is the relative velocity of ship and
ice sheet in the transverse direction, and Vg is the
velocity of ship sailing ahead. That is called colli-
sion of ship and ice in this paper. There are two
phenomena:
1. The floating ice will impact the ship when the
ship is sailing in the route;
2. The ship will impact the fixed ice sheet when
sailing off the route. Figure  2. Ship side and ice sheet collision (a) ship
Assume that ships are sailing in an Arctic water- extrude collides with ice sailing in the route; (b) ship col-
way at a certain forward speed in the process of lides with ice off route.
navigation and ice contact collision, or during the
voyage the ship off the course, the ice collision pres-
3 CONSTITUTIVE MODELS OF ICE AND
sure will originate different effects on the ship. It may
STEEL
cause damage or distortions to ship hull. It is impor-
tant to study the collision of the ship with the sea
3.1 Ice parameters
ice during the voyage. In this paper the two kinds of
ship and ice collision situations will be investigated. The constitutive relation of the ice is very com-
Compared with the forward and aft parts of plicated. Many researchers introduced different
a ship, the side structure may be relatively fragile models to describe this special material. For the
and the sea ice collision may induce more damage. prediction of the dynamic response of ice, two-
Ship side collision is studied here by a numerical dimensional continuum linear viscous, elasto-
method. plastic and visco-plastic and viscous-plastic models
were established (Derradji-Aouat, 2000; Mróz,
1967; Prevost, 1978). The visco-plastic constitu-
tive model introduced by Lepparanta and Hibler
(1985) is widely used to simulate the perennial sea
ice in the Arctic or periglacial region by numeri-
cal method. By using this model, the elastic defor-
mation of sea ice has been neglected, and only
the sea ice deformation is a function of the strain
rate (Zhang & Hibler, 1997). Hunke & Dukowicz
(1997) established the elasto-visco-plastic constitu-
tive model of sea ice to improve the accuracy of
the calculation of sea ice force in the numerical
simulation for one-year sea ice. Considering the
viscous elastic deformation behaviour of the ice,
the visco-plastic constitutive model of Hibler was
improved to including the formation mechanism
of the ice plug (Shen et al., 2000). A crushed foam
model was introduced by Gagnon (2011) to simu-
late of the characteristics of ice. This model can
be used to study the impact of the ice to the ship.
An elasto-plastic model for sea ice is also used to
simulate the collision of an iceberg and ship (Gao
Figure 1. Interaction of ship and ice. et al., 2015).

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 The ice material is very complex. It may be
impossible to develop a material model for ice that
can cover all the properties of the ice, but a material
model may be used in this paper that can include
the properties during the collision process of ship
and ice. The visco-plastic constitutive model pro-
posed by Lepparanta and Hibler (1985) is adopted.
The ice parameters are shown in Table 1.
Table  1 the failure criteria are both strain and
stress failure (Liu et al., 2011). This model is vali-
dated by the ISO curve (ISO, 2010) through a
simulation of impact of a spherical ice with a rigid
wall.
The strain-rate-dependant plastic model is used
to simulate the ice, where the visco-plastic option
is active.
In this model, a load curve is used to describe
the yield strength σ0 as a function of effective
strain rate ε where
1
⎛ 2 ′ ′⎞ 2
ε ε ε
⎝ 3 ij ij ⎟⎠

The yield stress is defined as:

σy ()
σ 0 ε + E pε p

where ε p is the effective plastic strain and Ep is

given in terms of Young’s modulus and the tangent
modulus by E p ( EE E t ) ( E − Et ) .
Fig. 3 gives the stress and damage of the ice during
the impact process in different time. The ice pres-
sure can be calculated by the impact force divided
by the contact area. Simulation results are consist-
ent with the ISO curve, as shown in Fig. 4.

3.2 Steel parameter

The steel strength under low temperature has been
investigated experimentally (Park et al., 2015b).
From these results, it can be seen that the yielding
stress is increasing as the temperature is decreas-
ing. This model can also be used to study dynamic
response of the impact of ship to ship for the low
temperature about −60º (Park et al., 2015a). The
collision of ship with ice is in water and water is
in positive temperature. The plastic kinematic

Table 1. Ice parameters.

Figure 3. Stress distribution of ice in different time.
Maximum
Elastic Plastic failure force Bending
Density modulus Poisson failure (compression) strength model is used in this paper and the properties of
(kg/m3) (GPa) ratio strain (MPa) (MPa) steel under the common temperature are used.
890 8.3 0.3 0.01 10 2.5 This model includes isotropic, kinematic and the
strain rate. The material failure can be considered

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 by strain failure with the value 0.3 and all the steel
parameters are illustrated in Table 2.
3.3 Finite element model
An oil tanker with double hull and bottom that has
been strengthened according ICE-1A was used to
study the dynamic collision response. The side of
ship is strengthened by increasing the longitudinals.
The main dimensions are as follows: length 249.55 m,
breadth 44.00  m, depth 21.20  m and design draft
13.50 m. The ice will collide with the ship hull at the
position of the design draft. This is shown as Fig. 5.
The size and shape of ice sheet is shown in
Fig. 4. The collision model of ship and ice is shown
in Fig. 5, in which the mesh of the ice tip is fined to
improve the simulation. For the ship structure, the
shell element is used, and the solid element for ice.
The “Contact_Eroding_surface_to_surface” con-
tact condition is used for the ice and ship collision.

4 CALCULATION RESULTS AND

ANALYSIS

As the ship is sailing in the Arctic sea, the ship side

structure will be off the route and collided with the
ice sheet of the ice route. The dynamic collision
response is studied for a fixed ice sheet. A series
of numerical analysis are performed to investigate
the influence of different collision velocity, differ-
Figure  4. Comparison between simulation results and ent ice thickness and different navigation speed. It
ISO data. aims to explore the damage to ship.
During the collision process of the ship side
Table 2. Steel material parameters. structure and ice, the ice will crush gradually as the
strain and stress reach the failure value and strain
Elastic Yield Tensile rate effect of ice is considered, as shown in Fig. 8.
Steel Density modulus Poisson Failure strength strength The dynamic friction coefficient of ship and ice is
type (kg/m3) (GPa) ratio strain (MPa) (MPa) included in this simulation due to the navigation
Q235 7850 2.1 0.3 0.30 235 400 speed, which is taken as 0.1. Some plastic strains
DH32 7850 2.1 0.3 0.30 315 440 and deformations will happen in the hull structure
shown in Fig. 9.

Figure 5. Ship model diagram.

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 Figure 6. Ice model.

Figure 7. Finite element model diagram.

4.1 Load cases

To investigate the influence of collision speed, the
navigation speed is taken as 10 m/s. According the
navigation manual in Arctic region, the naviga-
tion speed needs to be below 18 kn. The collision
speed will be taken as 2  m/s, 2.5  m/s, 3  m/s. The
ship is navigating ahead, and the collision speed is
towards the direction of the ship structure.
According to ice classification of sea going steel
ships, part 4, 2012, by China Classification Society
(CCS), for design the hull of the ship sailing in the
ice region, the ice thickness is no more than 1 m.
The influence of an ice thickness of 0.2 m, 0.6 m
and 0.9 m will be analyzed to study the damage of
different ice thickness.
The navigation speed is no more than 18 kn. So
the different speed of 10 m/s, 8 m/s and 6 m/s are
studied to explore the resulting damage.

4.2 Dynamic collision of ship and ice sheet

Fig.  10 shows the collision pressure in the ship
hull and the residual velocity changed with time
during the collision process for different collision Figure 8. Crush of ice sheet in different time.

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Figure  9. Deformation and plastic strain in ship side
structure.
Figure 10. Comparisons of collision pressure force and
residual velocity under different collision speeds.
speed. It can be seen that with the increase of the
collision speed, the pressure of the ship is signifi-
cantly increased, while the collision speed reduced
more for the high collision speed case at the end
of collision,. It is shown that it will absorb more
energy for the high collision case.
Table 3 shows the ship hull damage for different
collision speed. When the collision speed is 3 m/s,
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 718
Table 3. Maximum plastic strain of ship hull for different
collision speed.
Collision speed 2 m/s 2.5 m/s 3 m/s
Max. plastic strain 2.466e−2 2.878e−2 1.384e−1
Figure 11. Damage of ice thickness 0.2 m ice to ship.
the plastic strain of ship hull has reached 1.384e−1.
Therefore, the damage of the ship increases rapidly
with the increase of the collision speed.
Fig.  11 and Fig.  12 give the stress distribution
and damage of the ice sheet and ship hull for dif-
ferent ice thickness. It may have great influence on
the damage. The results show the collision response
of different ice thickness on the ship. For the 0.2 m
ice sheet, the ice damage is relatively large, and
the ship is almost without much damage. With
the ice thickness 0.9 m, the ship damage increased
significantly.
At the same speed, due to the increase of
ice thickness, the collision of ice and ship may
become  more intense. The collision pressure will
increase suddenly, and the residual speed of the
ship is decreased, as shown in Fig.  13. Table  4
shows the maximum plastic strain of ship hull for
different ice thickness.
The influence of different navigation speed on
the ship is relatively small, as shown in Fig. 14. At
different speeds, the damage of the ship is gradually
3/29/2017 9:42:48 AM
 Figure 12. The damage of ice thickness 0.9 m ice to ship.

Figure  14. Comparison of squeeze pressure force and

velocity at different speeds.

Table  4. Maximum plastic strain for different ice

thickness.

Ice thickness 0.2 m 0.6 m 0.9 m

Max. plastic strain 2.369e−3 2.466e−2 3.796e−2

Table 5. Maximum plastic strain for different speeds.

Speed 6 m/s 8 m/s 10 m/s

Max. plastic strain 2.332e−2 2.3987e−2 2.466e−2

increasing with the increase of the speed, but the

increase of damage is very small, as shown in Table 5.
Compared with the increase of collision speed and
ice thickness, the damage to the ship is much smaller.

5 CONCLUSIONS

The dynamic collision response of a tank, strength-

Figure  13. The pressure force and residual collision ened according to ICE-1A, coupled with the ice
speed under different ice thickness. interaction is studied in this paper. The effect of

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 different ice thickness, different navigation speed
and collision velocity were compared. The conclu-
sions are as follows:
1. Different ice thickness may have great influ-
ence on the collision response. The ice thickness
increases, will result in large collision pressure
and damage on the ship.
2. If the navigation speed is increasing, the dura-
tion of ice collision will be shortened, and the
damage to the ship may be smaller. It will have
little influence on the collision damage.
3. As the collision speed increases, the ship ice
contact area increases, will result in the more
serious damage on the ship hull.
4. In this paper, the ice sheet may fail in crush as
the failure of strain and stress, including com-
pression stress and bending stress are defined.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The first author has been funded by National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.
5150090333), the Natural Science Foundation
of the Higher Education Institutions of Jiangsu
Province, China (16KJA580003).
REFERENCES
ABS. (2005). Guidance notes on Ice Class. American
Bureau of Shipping.
Derradji-Aouat, A. (2000). A unified failure envelope for
isotropic fresh water ice and iceberg ice. Paper pre-
sented at the ETCE/OMAE 2000 Joint Conference,
February 14–17, New Orleans, Louisiana. Paper No.
OMAE2000/P&A-1002.
Ehlers, S., Cheng, F., Jordaan, I., Kujala, P., Luo, Y.,
Riska, K., Sirkar, J., Oh, Y. T., Terai, K., & Valkonen, J.
(2015). Report of Committee V.6 Artic Technology. In
C. Guedes Soares & Y. Garbatov (Eds.), Proceedings
of the 19th International Ship and Offshore Struc-
tures Congress (ISSC 2015). UK: London: Taylor &
Francis Group, 769–806.
Ehlers, S., & Østby, E. (2012). Increased crashworthiness
due to Arctic conditions—The influence of sub-zero
temperature. Marine Structures, 28(1), 86–100.
FMA. (2002). Finnish-Swedish Ice Class Rules. Finnish
Maritime Administration.
Gagnon, R. E. (2011). A numerical model of ice crush-
ing using a foam analogue. Cold Regions Science and
Technology, 65(3), 335–350.
Gao, Y., Hu, Z., Ringsberg, J. W., & Wang, J. (2015).
An elastic–plastic ice material model for ship-iceberg
collision simulations. Ocean Engineering, 102, 27–39.
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Hunke, E. C., & Dukowicz, J. K. (1997). An elastic-
viscous-plastic model for sea ice dynamics. Journal of
Physical Oceanography, 27(9), 1849–1867.
IACS. (2011). Requirements concerning—POLAR
CLASS. International Association of Classification
Societies.
ISO. (2010). Iso-19906: petroleum and natural gas
industries—arctic offshore structures. International
Organization for Standardization.
Kendrick, A., & Daley, C. (2011). Structural Challenges
Faced by Arctic Ships Report SSC 461. Ship Struc-
tures Committee, US Coast Guard.
Lepparanta, M., & Hibler, W. D. (1985). The role of plas-
tic ice interaction in marginal ice zone dynamic. Jour-
nal of Geophysical Research, 90(C6), 11899–11909.
Liu, Z., Amdahl, J., & Løset, S. (2011). Plasticity based
material modelling of ice and its application to ship–
iceberg impacts. Cold Regions Science and Technology,
65(3), 326–334.
Mróz, Z. (1967). On the description of anisotropic
workhardening. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics
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Park, D. K., Kim, D. K., Seo, J. K., Kim, B. J., Ha, Y. C., &
Paik, J. K. (2015a). Operability of non-ice class aged
ships in the Arctic Ocean-part II: Accidental limit state
approach. Ocean Engineering, 102, 206–215.
Park, D. K., Kim, D. K., Seo, J. K., Kim, B. J., Ha, Y. C., &
Paik, J. K. (2015b). Operability of non-ice class aged
ships in the Arctic Ocean—Part I: Ultimate limit state
approach. Ocean Engineering, 102, 197–205.
Prevost. (1978). Plasticity theory of soil stress-strain
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Shen, H. T., Su, J., & Liu, L. (2000). SPH Simulation of
River Ice Dynamics. Journal of Computational Physics,
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lation of local ice loads in uniform and randomly
varying ice conditions. Cold Regions Science and Tech-
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Su, B., Riska, K., & Moan, T. (2011b). Numerical study
of ice-induced loads on ship hulls. Marine Structures,
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Wang, G., Bereznitski, A., de Boom, W. C., Daley,  C.,
DeBord, F. W., Ji, S., Kang, J. K., Lindstrom, P. R. M.,
Moslet, P. O., Tuhkuri, J., Usami, A., & Yoo,  I.  S.
(2012). V.6 Artic Technology. In W. Fricke &
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Structural damage and residual ultimate strength of ship colliding

with ice

Ming Cai Xu & Jun Song

Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
Wuhan, China

Si Xuan Chen
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Zhao Jin Pan

School of Transportation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China

ABSTRACT: The purpose of the present paper is to study the parameters that affect the collision
process and the residual ultimate longitudinal strength of ship structures. The Finite Element (FE)
method was applied first to simulate the collision process between Suezmax tanker and iceberg with semi-
sphere geometry, in which the effects of collision position, velocity and angle on the damage range of hull
girder are analyzed. Using progressive collapse analysis method, the influences of collision damage on
the residual ultimate longitudinal strength of the ship structure are also investigated. It is shown that the
longitudinal strength loss caused by the collision is slightly due to the damage range is in small range for
the circumstance under considerations.

1 INTRODUCTION foam material model for ship-bergy bit collision

The opening of the arctic route is impending due
to global warming, which will result in more fre-
quent marine transportation and resource exploi-
tation in this area. However, ships are vulnerable to
ice collision in arctic region, requiring more atten-
tion on the research of ship-iceberg collision and
the residual ultimate strength of the damaged ship
structure.
Though ice class rules can be used to predict ice
loads, they are limited to certain ship types and
regions. Numerical simulation is a feasible alter-
native approach to analyze ship-iceberg collision,
but a valid ice material model is the premise for
which to come up with reasonable results. Jebaraj
et al. (1992) used elastic ice material with ‘Tsai-Wu’
failure criterion and discussed the relationship
between the impact velocity and ice failure modes.
Liu et al. (2011a, b) established a plastic ice mate-
rial model that using ‘Tsai-Wu’ yield function and
empirical failure criterion and successfully applied
the model to ship-iceberg collision simulations.
Based on Liu’s work, Gao (2015) presented an
isotropic elastic-plastic material model which also
utilizing ‘Tsai-Wu’ yield function and the failure
criterion proposed by Liu. Besides elastic or plas-
tic models, Gagnon (2006) introduced a crushable
simulation to incorporate with the rapid melt-
ing behavior on relatively intact ice regions and
the spalling behavior identified in experiments
(Gagnon, 1994a, b). Despite numerous previous
works, a generally accepted ice material model is
still unavailable due to the complexity of ice char-
acteristics. In additional to the ice material model,
different iceberg geometry shapes will also lead to
different ship-iceberg collision results. Gao (2014)
selected five iceberg shapes to estimate the effect
of iceberg geometry on the collision damage and
found that the local shape of the iceberg does
affect the collision outcome, while the significance
of the influence depends on the ice material.
Ship-iceberg collision will result in structural
damage and the numerical simulation is an effi-
cient way to look into it. Kwak et al. (2006) com-
pared the result of ship-ice collision simulation
with the value defined in IACS Polar Rule in order
to iteratively modify the properties of the ice mate-
rial model and improve its effectiveness. Wang
et al. (2008) also determined the ice loads and load-
ing areas based on the energy theory, then the ice
load was applied statically on several critical loca-
tions to evaluate the strength of the cargo contain-
ment system of LNG carriers. Rui (2012) proposed
several ice material models based on Gagnon and

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 Liu’s works and utilized the user define approach damaged scenarios. It turned out that the residual
in DYNA to take the fluid effect into account. A stress caused by the impact has a significant influ-
ship-ice contact model was developed to simulate ence on the residual strength of the ruptured box
the structural response and the global motions of girder.
the ship and ice efficiently. This paper applied a 3-spans model of the mid-
Meanwhile, the collision will also has impact on dle cross-section of the Suezmax oil tanker that
its ultimate longitudinal strength, which identifies used by Xu (2016) and a semi-sphere iceberg with
the maximum load carrying capacity of hull girder crushable foam material in LS-DYNA to simulate
to withstand pure longitudinal bending moment. the ship-iceberg collision and analyzed the effects
Thus, an assessment of residual ultimate strength of the collision position, velocity and angle. The
is necessary for evaluating the ship performance in residual strength of the damaged girder was then
a damaged condition. calculated using the progressive collapse method in
The results obtained from physical experiments which the load-end shortening curve for the intact
provide an invaluable resource for validating theo- panels is based on the Harmonised Common
retical modelling approaches and demonstrating Structural Rules (2014).
how a structure behaves under closely controlled
loading conditions, but the test scale and the fre-
quency are usually limited by size and cost con- 2 MATERIAL PROPERTIES
straints. The non-linear finite element method
allows detailed modelling of the structure and the 2.1 Material model for steel and ice
collision scenario while opening many new prob-
The material properties defined for steel and ice
lems. The complexities of the solution method
should both be accurate enough to ensure reliable
choice and the rigorous requirements on material
outcomes of the ship-iceberg collision simulation
and geometric properties definition result in trou-
and the sequencing residual strength calculation.
blesome model setup and relatively expensive com-
Therefore some searches have been conducted to
putation time. The Simplified Method (SM), such
better represent the nonlinear response for the
as the Smith progressive collapse method (Smith,
materials. Normal (S235) and high-strength (S315)
1977), is more time efficient and able to pro-
steel were adopted in this paper for the plates and
vide results with acceptable accuracy. The Smith
stiffeners of the Suezmax tanker, respectively. But
method approach can not only evaluate the ulti-
according to Xu (2015), their corresponding mean
mate strength of an intact structure, but also pre-
yield stress were 269 and 348 MPa. Material strain
dict the residual ultimate strength of a hull girder,
failure is selected as the failure mode, whose value
but neglecting damaged structures according to
is related to material property, element length, and
method assumptions is not always acceptable.
plate thickness. For the S235 with specific shell ele-
When the damage is insignificant, the damaged
ment length and plate thickness used in the model,
stiffened panel can still provide a noticing contri-
the failure strain is typically 0.2, and the S315 has a
bution to the total strength.
similar failure strain value. Elastic plastic material
Due to the field and cost constraints, research-
model with kinematic hardening (MAT PLASTIC
ers usually are only able to conduct the ultimate
KINEMATIC) was used for FE modelling. The
strength test on small-scale stiffened panels instead
material details are listed in Table 1.
of full-scale ones according to geometrical scaling
Crushable foam ice model was initially proposed
laws. Xu et al. (2013) carried out FE analysis on
by Gagnon (2006) for collision simulation, but it
the ultimate strength of a tanker hull based on the
turned out that the material behavior of the origi-
stress-strain relationships obtained from the beam
nal model wasn’t idea (Rui, 2012). Later Gagnon
tension test and the compressive test of the small-
(2011) defined two overlapping ice facets with
scale stiffened panel, then the result was compared
modified crushable foam material models with
with the one achieved by the Smith method and the
reasons for the differences were investigated. Liu et
al. (2012) used a combination of elastic and plastic
Table 1. Material properties of steel.
analysis to derive the force-end shortening curve
for damaged stiffeners rather than remove the Density [kg/m3] 7890
damaged components, and the residual strength
Young’s modulus 2.1
of a double bottom structure model determined by
Poisson’s ratio 0.3
the analytical approach agreed well with the FEM
Yield stress [MPa] 269(S269)/348(S348)
analysis outcome. Benson et al. (2013) provided Failure strain 0.2(S269)/0.15(S348)
a comparative assessment of the static and the Strain rate parameter P 5
dynamic FEM solvers and the Smith method for Strain rate parameter C 40.4(S269)/3200(S348)
the analysis of box girder structures in intact and

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 different stress-strain relationships to indicate ice
characteristics. However, utilizing the high-yield
stress foam material alone was proved to be ade-
quate to simulate iceberg behavior in ship-iceberg
collisions (Gao, 2014).
The crushable foam material (MAT CRUSH-
ABLE FOAM) was established with properties
identical to the ones used by Gao (2014). The
Young’s modulus is 9.5  GPa and the Poisson’s
ratio is equal to zero. Stress-strain curve of the Figure 2. Rigid plate-iceberg collision scenario.
material is depicted in Fig.  1. The yield stress is
25 MPa when the volume strain is 0.015, and the
yield stress will remain 50  MPa after the volume
strain surpasses 0.5. For the reason that the hour-
glass energy would easily beyond allowable range
for this crushable foam material, the type 10 hour-
glass control method provided by LS-DYNA was
adopted in the collision simulation.

2.2 Validity of ice material model

In order to verify the validity of the ice model, a
numerical simulation of rigid plate-iceberg col-
lision was performed. The iceberg’s radius was
1.5 m and the rigid plate impacts the semispheri- Figure 3. Pressure-area curve comparison.
cal ice block with a constant speed of 1 m/s. The
semi-spherical ice was rigidly fixed at the opposite
rapid change of the contact area in the initial stage
surface of the collision side (Fig. 2). The computa-
resulted in significant change of contact pressure.
tion time was set to 0.5 s.
Later, the pressure stabilizes as the contact area
The standard curve and simulation result are
remains stable. Moreover, the calculated pressure-
compared in Fig.  3, in which the actual contact
area curve fluctuates during the whole collision
area is replaced by nominal contact area. Moreo-
process due to the erosion of iceberg elements. In
ver, the result is very close to the valid pressure-
conclusion, though part of the pressure-area curve
area curve derived by Gao (2015). According to
doesn’t match with the ISO rule, which requires
the comparison, the high pressure over a small
further improvements in later days, the crushable
contact area is captured in the simulation. Addi-
foam ice model is valid for ship-ice collision.
tionally, the pressure tended to decrease with
increasing area, and the pressure-area relationship
obtained from the simulation agrees with the ISO
3 NUMERICAL SUMILATION OF SHIP-
curve for contact areas exceeding 1.3 m2. The cal-
ICE COLLISION
culated pressure-area curve is lower than the ISO
curve when the contact area is less than 1 m2. The
3.1 Modeling of the geometry
To perform the collision simulation and the ulti-
mate strength analysis, it is not necessary to model
the whole ship. Only a portion of it is sufficient to
provide accurate results and to reduce the compu-
tational effort. The modelled spans in this paper
were identical to the ship hull girder utilized by Xu
(2016). Spacing between transverse frames located
at the midship is considered, extending over one
spacing in both directions to minimize the effect
of the boundary conditions. Furthermore, only the
port side is modelled in the collision simulation in
order to further reduce the computation time.
The origin of the coordinate system was posi-
tioned at the intersection between the base line and
Figure 1. Strain-stress curve. the mid-section of the model. The x-axis coincides

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 with the longitudinal direction of the ship, the 3.2 Mesh size
y-axis is positive toward the deck, and the z-axis is
After determining the geometric ranges of the
along the transverse direction.
FE model, another critical issue is to choose the
The midship section of the tanker is shown in
appropriate element types and mesh size. The shell
Fig.  4, and the main particulars are summarized
163, with reduced integration four-node quadrilat-
in Table  2. The dimensions of the longitudinal
eral element for both the plates and the stiffener’s
distributed stiffeners are detailed in Ref. (Xu,
web and flange are adopted in the FE model of the
2016). The plate thicknesses range from 11 mm to
ship girder. Meanwhile, the iceberg model applies
21.5 mm, side stringer spacing is between 0.55 m
element type solid 164 to carry out the dynamic
and 0.86 m, and transverse frame spacing in dou-
analysis.
ble bottoms and longitudinal bulkhead is 2.205 m.
According to benchmark studies on modelling
In order to keep the modelled cross section as
techniques of stiffened panels in 18th ISSC (2012),
a plane during the loading process, two reference
a proper mesh size which is applied by DNV will
points have been created at the points of intersec-
be adopted in the FE analysis. There are nine ele-
tion on the edge of the transverse planes, longitu-
ments in the transverse direction of the plate, five
dinal bulkhead and the horizontal neutral axis of
elements in the stiffeners web, and two elements in
each cross section. Nodes on the longitudinal com-
the stiffeners flange. This set of mesh size is nearly
ponents at both ends of transverse section are to
optimum since it is consistent with the outcome of
be rigidly linked with reference points on the cor-
the mesh size sensitivity study on a Suezmax tanker
responding side.
of similar size carried out by Segen et al. (2016).
As for the iceberg geometry, McKenna (2005)
As for the mesh size of the iceberg, Liu (2011c)
proposed that the average shape of an iceberg can
also carried out a mesh size sensitivity study. He
be presented by a sphere. In this paper, a sphere
considered mesh sizes of 100 mm, 80 mm, 50 mm,
shaped iceberg, which is recommended by DNV
25 mm and found that the collision result from the
(2006), with a radius of 1.5  m is modeled. There
last two mesh sizes are very close. So a mesh size
is a rigid plate pushing the semi-sphere with a
of 50 mm will provide a balance between computa-
constant speed to simulate the force delivered by
tion time and accuracy.
the remainder of the iceberg. In avoid of the ini-
tial stress brought by the acceleration, the iceberg
should also obtain the same initial speed with the 3.3 Boundary conditions
rigid plate (Bøhlerengen, 2013). The boundary conditions are divided in to three
groups, the fore end of the model, the aft end of
the model, and both ends of the middle span. The
six degree constraints for all three groups are also
listed in Table 3. The fore and aft ends are rigidly
fixed while nodes on both ends of the middle span
are free about all six directions.

3.4 Results analysis

The contact between the ship side and the iceberg
is obtained by means of the “CONTACT EROD-
ING SURFACE TO SURFACE” algorithm with
soft option 2 in LS-DYNA, which can generate
more accurate result when the stiffness and mesh
size of two colliding materials vary greatly (John,
1991). “CONTACT ERODING SINGLE SUR-
FACE” is also utilized to simulate the internal con-
tact of ice. The static friction coefficient is set to
Figure 4. Midship section of Suezmax tanker. 0.15 for both contact algorithms and other contact
parameters remain default (Bøhlerengen, 2013).
Table 2. Main particulars of the Suezmax oil tanker. The collision velocity is set in the range of 1 m/s
to 4 m/s. Two collision positions which are 11.5 m
Length between perpendiculars (m), Lpp 270.0
and 14.3 m above the ship bottom are selected, and
Moulded breadth (m), B 48.2
Moulded depth (m), D 23.0
the collision angles vary from 30° to 90°. The loads
Scantling draught (m), Tsc 17.1
cases are summarized in Table 4. Fig. 5 gives the
Block coefficient, Cb 0.83 FE model of the ship and iceberg and the collision
scenario (h = 11.5 m).

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 Table 3. Boundary conditions.

Translational Rotational

Location of BCs ux uy uz θx θy θz

Fore end √ √ √ √ √ √
Aft end √ √ √ √ √ √
Both ends of the × × × × × ×
middle span

Table 4. Ship-ice collision cases,.

Case No. Velocity (m/s) Angle (°) Height (m)

I I-A 1 90 11.5
I-B 14.3
II II-A 1 90 14.3
II-B 2
II-C 4
III III-A 1 30 14.3
III-B 45
III-C 60
III-D 75
III-E 90

Figure  5. The FE model and the Collision scenario

(h = 11.5 m).
a. Influence of impact position
The collision force-penetration depth curves of
two cases of case I are depicted in Fig.  6. Since
their collision velocities are the same, the curves
are close when the penetration depths are below
400  mm. The contact force in case I-A increases
faster at the beginning than that in case I-B, since
the impact position is at stiffened structures. The
deformation of iceberg reached the failure strain,
when the penetration depth comes to 20 mm. The
curve oscillates during ice elements fail. As the
iceberg moves forward, the contact force increases
steadily, then slow down because side stringers
next to the platform plate begin to fail when the
penetration depth is around 270  mm. After their
complete failure, the raise of contact force speeds
up again and comes to the maximum value at
the moment that the penetration depth turns to Figure  6. Collision force-penetration depth curve of
410 mm. Then the outer plate is penetrated and the case I.
collision force unloads.
The contact force increases slower in case I-B
initially. The webs of the side stringers start to respectively in two cases. Before the cracks
deform when the ice moves forward about 80 mm appear, the largest equivalent stress in case I-A
and fail when the penetration depth comes to is observed at the junction of the platform plate
around 115 mm. The outer plate breaks when the and the outer plate (550  MPa), while the biggest
penetration depth reaches 440  mm and the colli- stress in case I-B appears at the edge of the con-
sion force drops from its maximum value. tact area (476 MPa). After the collision, there is a
Fig.  7 shows the equivalent stress contour of 100  mm  ×  1800  mm horizontal crack at the junc-
cases I-A & B at the moment that the outer plates tion site and two vertical 100 mm × 800 mm cracks
break. The plate breaks at 0.45  s and 0.485  s, at the edge of the contact area in case I-A, and

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 Figure 7. Equivalent stress distributions of (a) case I-A,
(b) case I-B.
there are two vertical 100  mm  ×  1000  mm cracks
at the edge and two 100  mm  ×  1000  mm hori-
zontal cracks at the connection part with stiffen-
ers. That is to say, the strengthened plate breaks
faster than the unstrengthened one but its crack
dimension is smaller. The reason is that the joint
area of the outer plate and platform plate in case
I-A is severely compressed while the shape change
of case I-B’s outer plate is smoother despites its
greater deformation. Furthermore, though peak
collision force of case I-A is smaller than the other
case, it has bigger maximum element stress. It’s
because that in the first case the outer plate breaks
earlier but the ship structure near the contact area
has bigger stiffness.
b. Influence of impact velocity
Fig. 8 presents the collision force-penetration
depth curves of three cases of case II. Three curves
almost overlap, when the penetration depth ranges
from 0 to 400  mm. This means that the collision
force significantly depends on the stiffness of
struck structures. Meanwhile, the faster the ice
collides, the more obvious the curve fluctuates.
Because the energy accumulated by the ice before
its failure is positively correlated with the colli-
sion velocity. The contact between the ship and ice
comes closer with the increasing of the penetration
depth, and the collision forces grow simultaneously
until outer plates break. It turns out that bigger
collision velocity leads to deeper final penetration
depth and bigger maximum collision force.
Fig.  9 shows the Equivalent stress distribu-
tions of case II-A at the moment of 0.485  s and
0.5  s. The outer plate starts to break at 0.485  s,
but the joint area of the plate and the side stringer
also breaches 0.015  s delay. This process can be
observed in the collision force-penetration depth
curve of case II-A. The collision force reaches its
peak and then drops down at the breaking moment
of the outer plate, but the decreasing process stag-
nates for a while when the penetration depth is
around 450 mm and then goes on again.
Fig. 10 shows the equivalent stress distributions
of the other two cases in case II at the breaching
moment of each outer plate, which are 0.255  s
726
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 726
Figure  8. Collision force-penetration depth curve of
case II.
Figure 9. Equivalent stress distributions of case II-A at
(a) t = 0.485 s, (b) t = 0.5 s.
and 0.13 s, respectively. The maximum equivalent
stress in the three cases of case II at the initial outer
plate breaking moment are respectively 476 MPa,
547 MPa, 538 MPa. Referring to Fig. 10, the ini-
tial broken areas in these cases, which appear at
the center of the contact area between the ship
and ice, are different with that in case II-A, which
is at the edge of the contact area. The reason of
this phenomenon is that large deformations and
membrane forces develop in the shell plates as the
colliding object moves forward, in particular at the
edge of the contact area when the collision veloc-
ity is low. The large strain at the edge provokes
the initial crack of the plate. Due to the relatively
small size of the modelled ship section, the col-
lision damages of case II-B&C are more severe
and are significantly effected by the boundary, as
the penetration depths of the iceberg in these two
cases are much more than case II-A. Therefore, it’s
meaningless to compare the damage conditions of
these cases.
c. Influence of impact angle
The initial contact point of each case locates at
the middle of two side stringers and the midpoint
of the three-span model. As it is shown in Fig. 6,
x-axis is vertical to the ship length direction while
z-axis is parallel to it. The included angle between
3/29/2017 9:42:52 AM
 the ice’s velocity and the ship length direction is
defined as the collision angle.
Fig.  11 shows the relationship between the
x-component of the collision force and the pen-
etration depth of five cases of case III. Apparently,
the bigger collision angle is, the bigger final pene-
tration depth and collision force component on the
x direction. However, though all curves oscillate at
the final stage, the collision force unloads only in
cases III-C, D, E, which means only outer plates in
these three cases are penetrated. And the decreas-
ing processes of the collision force are divided into
two phases by a short pauses in cases III-D and E,
while the second phase of decreasing doesn’t exist Figure  12. Collision force in z direction—penetration
in case III-C. This means that the junction of side depth curve of case III.
stringers and outer plate are broken in case III-D
and E while remain intact in case III-C.
Fig.  12 depicts the relationship between the
z-component of the collision force and the
penetration depth of four cases of case III. Case
III-E is excluded as the iceberg has no displace-
ment on z-axis. The z-components of collision
forces are close with each other but smaller than
the x-components. Furthermore, case III-C has the
maximum z-component force despite the ice in case
III-A moves furthest in z direction and case III-D
has the maximum displacement in the x direction.

Figure  13. Equivalent stress distributions of (a) case

III-A, (b) case III-B, (c) case III-C, (d) case III-D.

It’s because that the value of the collision force at

Figure  10. Equivalent stress distributions of (a) case
II-B, (b) case II-C.
Figure  11. Collision force in x direction—penetration
depth curve of case III.
z direction depends on the combination and bal-
ance of contact area and a close contact between
the ship and ice in z direction.
Fig.  13 presents the Equivalent stress distribu-
tions of case III-A to D at the moment of 0.5 s, and
the collision result of case III-E is given in Fig. 9
(b). We can see that there is no crack after the colli-
sion in case III-A&B. Case I-B, II-A, III-E have the
same load condition, so the post-collision damages
are identical. For II-D, there is only one vertical
crack with the dimension of 100 mm × 1200 mm at
the edge of the contact area because the iceberg
isn’t run into the ship in normal direction, and
there are two 100 mm × 1000 mm horizontal cracks
at the connection part with stiffeners. Lastly, there
is only one 100 mm × 1200 mm crack at the edge of
the contact zone. The damage results are consist-
ent with Fig. 12, and there are larger damages in
case III-D&E because the ice penetrates deeper in
x direction in these cases.

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 4 RESIDUAL STRENGTH ANALYSIS OF
DAMAGED SHIP STRUCTURE
4.1 Geometric imperfection
During ship construction, the stiffened panels are
subject to highly non-homogeneous heat caused
by welding, which generates distortions, the initial
geometric imperfections, on the plates and cause
significant impact on the ultimate strength of the
structure. The shape of the initial imperfections
that degrade most of the ultimate strength of the
plates is the one that is closest to the natural elas-
tic buckling mode of the plate, as demonstrated
by various authors such as Guedes Soares and
Kmiecik (1993).
Imperfections are usually defined separately for
the plating and stiffeners. At the present paper,
three types of initial distortions are prescribed
before the collision simulation is carried out, which
are the plate initial deflection, the column type ini-
tial distortion and the sideways initial distortion of
the stiffener. These can be expressed in local coor-
dinate system as follows according to the work of
Hughes and Paik (2010).
− Buckling mode initial deflection of plating:
mπ x πy
wopl A0 sin sin
i (1)
a b
− Column type distortion of stiffener:
πx π y
woc B0 sin sin
i (2)
a B
− Sideways initial distortion of stiffener due to
angular rotation about panel-stiffener:
z πx
wos C0 sin (3)
hw a
where tp is the thickness of the plate. The
slenderness parameter of the plate is defined as
follows:
b σY
β= (5)
t E
where σY and E are the yield stress and Young’s
modulus, respectively.
The deformation obtained from an eigenvalue
buckling analysis is often used to define the ini-
tial imperfection, however, whose shapes are not
the same as given in Eq. (1–3). Hence, the shapes
of the initial imperfections are created by APDL
(Ansys Program Design Language) and imposed
as prescribed displacements on the nodes of the
hull panels excepting for the turn plates of the
bilge according to the coordinate values calculated
by the Eqns. (1–3) mentioned above. Fig. 14 shows
the equivalent initial imperfections for the finite
model with one span.
4.2 Simplified progressive collapse method
The simplified method was first proposed by Smith
(1977) and was utilized by the other researchers.
This paper developed an in-house program for the
simplified method to calculate the residual ultimate
longitudinal strength of Suezmax tanker after the
collision with the iceberg.
The first step of the simplified method is to
divide the mid-ship section into multiple “panel
elements” and “hard-corner elements” whose
interactions are negligible. A panel element con-
sists of a stiffener and the plate attached to it,
and a hard corner element is composed of sev-
eral plates and possibly a stiffener at the corner.
Then, increase the curvature of the ship girder
by small increment, and calculate the strain of

where a and b are the length and width of plate

between the longitudinal stiffener and transverse
frame, respectively; hw is the height of web stiffen-
ers; B is the length of plate between longitudinal
frames. m is the buckling half-wave number of the
local plate, which is defined as a minimum integer
satisfying the following condition:

a
≤ m(
m m+ ) (4)
b

In addition, the coefficients of the initial distor-

tion equations are defined as follows:
Figure  14. Equivalent initial imperfections in the FE
A0 0.1β 2t p and B0 C0 = 0.0015a models with one span (scale = 50).

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Figure 15. Residual ultimate strength of hull girder.
every element according to the plane cross-section
assumption at each curvature. The stress of the ele-
ments can be obtained from their average stress-
strain relationship. After confirming the girder’s
instantaneous neutral axis under each curvature,
the corresponding bending moment of the cross-
section is summed by combining elements’ average
stress-average strain relationship. After a series of
calculation at different curvatures, a curvature-
bending moment curve can be acquired, and the
moment corresponding to the point on the curve
with a zero gradient is the ultimate longitudinal
bending moment of the ship girder.
Different elements have various failure modes
which include 1) elastic-plastic collapse of panel
element and hard corner element, 2) beam column
buckling and torsional buckling of panel element,
3) web local buckling of stiffeners made of flanged
profiles and stiffeners made of flat bars, 4) plate
buckling. The average stress-average strain formu-
las of stiffened panels refer as Harmonised Com-
mon Structural Rules.
The residual stress and the actual damage defor-
mation after the collision is not considered in the
Smith method as the panel elements corresponding
to the damaged site are manually deleted before the
calculation based on IACS Common Structural
Rules for Bulk Carriers and Oil Tankers (IACS—
HCSR) (2014). The curvature-bending moment
relationships of the damaged ship girder in cases
I-A&B are depicted in Fig. 15, the corresponding
collision position of which are at h = 11.5 m and
h  =  14.3  m). As three curves almost overlap, we
can only observe little difference between the ini-
tial and the residual ultimate strength for these two
collision position, and the result is similar in other
cases since the structural damage results from the
ice impact is insignificant.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The penetration of outer plate will result in
uninstall of the ice load and steep decline of the
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 729
curve. If the junction of the outer plate and side
stringers breaks slightly after the initial crack area,
the decreasing process of the collision force will
shortly stagnate. The phenomenon above reflects
the energy amount absorbed by different parts
involved in the collision.
The outer plate strengthened by the platform
plate at the collision position breaks faster but has
smaller cracks than the one without strengthening
component at the collision site, because the brac-
ing components at the joint area of the outer plate
and platform plate in former case result in severe
compression in the contact region and higher
strength.
When collision velocity is low, the edge of the
contact area will suffer from a larger deformation
and membrane force than the center area due to
the strain rate effect, resulting in larger strain and
earlier crack of the corresponding area. Further-
more, while the x-component of the collision force
is positively correlated with the collision angle, the
z-component depends on both contact area and a
close contact between the ship and ice in z direc-
tion, which means that the ship can sustain a more
significant impact if the collision angle is small.
The intact ultimate strength and the residual
ultimate strength of case I-A&B are close with
each other because of the minor structural dam-
age caused by the collision for the cases under con-
sideration. More collision cases with larger impact
energy will be further studied.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work has been supported by the Natural Sci-
ence Fund of China (Grant No. 5167090447) and
Huazhong University of Science&Technology
under the project 2014TS113 and ZJOELAB-1602.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Damage assessment in concrete marine structures using damage

plasticity model

Srinivasan Chandrasekaran & P.T. Ajesh Kumar

Department of Ocean Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India

ABSTRACT: Marine concrete structure undergoes early cracking and deterioration due to extensive
corrosion. The present study applies numerical modeling using damage plasticity constitutive model to
simulate damage characteristics of concrete. Scaled model of a beam on a jetty platform is developed
using 3D solid elements for concrete and 2D shell embedded elements for rebar. Four-point load test
is simulated to validate responses against beams with comparable dimensions and material properties.
Damage parameters namely natural frequency, mode shape, MAC, MSF and MSE based indices are
numerically examined for effectiveness in detecting and quantifying damages in concrete beams on marine
structures. Damage modeling in present study possesses significant improvement in comparison to the
other conventional methods. Damage parameters are assessed for increasing levels of cracking. Presented
study has a direct application to understand the sensitivity and reliability of various damage parameters
for detecting and locating damages in heterogeneous materials like reinforced cement concrete.

1 INTRODUCTION damage parameters and indices that are sensitive

to material deterioration in coastal structures and
1.1 Damage of concrete in coastal structures insensitive to operational and environmental noises
associated with marine structures.
Coastal structures like berthing jetties are lifeline
Concrete is a heterogeneous material with com-
structures that support transport of goods, aids in
plex material characteristics. Figure  1  shows the
intervention during disaster for evacuation, acts as
stress-strain curve of concrete for uni-axial tension
facility to supply relief material and provide strategic
and compression loads.
points for naval forces. Damage to such structures is
Concrete behavior is characterized by strain
of economic and strategic importance to the region
hardening and softening in both tension and com-
of its location. Conventional assessment method
pression. Response of concrete structural elements
for damage identification using manual inspec-
for cyclic loads is non-linear and complex. It also
tion and non-destructive testing is hampered by
varies with multi-axial loading conditions. Hence,
poor visibility and hazardous conditions (Vandiver,
the conventional damage parameters identified for
1975). Scheduling of repeated inspections and
testing is difficult due to the cost, risk and opera-
tional difficulties associated with it. The decision
to intervene with corrective measures against dam-
age can have large economic repercussions. A cost
optimum strategy for inspection and maintenance
of marine structures would be to apply instrument
based structural health monitoring to the structure
to identify onset and progress of damage. Based
on warning triggered by the monitoring system,
initiate inspection followed by repair works when
the intensity of damage advances to critical levels
beyond predefined benchmarks of safety. Continu-
ous or event-triggered structural health monitoring
systems are also useful as proof of accident events
and over loading on port and harbour structures
(Srinivasan Chandrasekaran, 2016b; Srinivasan &
Subrata, 2012). Such an instrument based monitor- Figure  1. Load response characteristics of reinforced
ing and early warning system essentially requires cement concrete in uni-axial tension and compression.

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 homogenous materials with like steel with linear
material characteristics cannot be applied for dam-
age detection in concrete. Selecting damage param-
eters that can be used for global damage detection
with fairly good level of accuracy and reliability
continues to be a challenge in this field.
Damage in structural members leads to change
in stiffness, damping or mass of the structure.
This results in variation in modal parameters such
as modal frequencies and mode shapes between
damaged and undamaged structures. Changes of
modal parameters can be estimated through vibra-
tion measurements to reflect the damage level of
the structure. Extensive research was done in the
past to investigate effectiveness of modal param-
eters. Researchers have provided various methods
of damage detection based on modal parameters
(Doebling et al., 1998). Change in stiffness or mass
of a structure due to damage leads to change in
its natural frequency and mode shape of the struc-
ture. Since natural frequency is simple to measure,
many researchers have investigated its applicability
to detect, localize and quantify damage (Vandiver,
1977; Gudmundson, 1982). However, the practical
application of natural frequency for damage assess-
ment faces a lot of challenges. Natural frequency
changes alone may not be sufficient for a unique
identification of damage location (Salawu, 1997).
There is only small change in natural frequency for
large change in damage condition. Onset of dam-
age and initial stages of progress does not make
any significant and noticeable change in frequency.
Natural frequency is also affected by variation in
mass of structure and measurement noises (Salawu
1997; Zou et  al., 2000; Ndambi et  al., 2002; Kim
et al., 2003).
Mode shape is another modal parameter con-
sidered for damage detection. But, significant
change in magnitude of mode shape due to pres-
ence of damage is reflected in higher modes,
which is difficult to capture by sensors used in
vibration tests. In addition ambient noise and
sensor positions largely affect accuracy of dam-
age detection based on change in mode shape
(Kim et al., 2003).
To overcome the drawbacks of methods based
on change in frequency and mode shapes various
researchers proposed damage parameters derived
from modal parameters. These were introduced to
detect, localize and quantify damage from global
vibration measurements. Some of these dam-
age parameters are Modal Assurance Criterion,
Modal Scale Factor, Modal strain energy and vari-
ous parameters derived from modal strain energy.
A lot of investigation has been done on these
parameters for damage detection. However, most
of these studies are done on structural members
with homogenous materials.
734
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 734
1.2 Objective
The present study is a comparative review of a
select set of damage parameters when applied for
damage assessment in marine concrete structures.
Frequency based and mode shape based damage
parameters are analytically investigated using finite
element model of a reinforced cement concrete
beam. A numerical model of RC beam is generated
in Abaqus finite element package using the dam-
age plasticity constitutive model. The study also
identifies the challenges of dealing with false posi-
tive/negative alarms triggered by these parameters
and arrives at possible reasons for false alarms.
1.3 Damage to marine berthing jetty
Berthing jetties are primarily reinforced cement
concrete structures. The concrete structural mem-
bers of a jetty platform are continuously exposed
to highly corrosive sea environment. In addi-
tion, the structural members also come under
impact of unexpected accident loads and seismic
loads. Berthing jetties accumulate damage due to
mechanical factors like accidents and vibration,
physical factors like thermal expansion and leach-
ing or chemical factors like corrosion, carbonation
and sulfur attacks.
1.4 Damage characteristics of marine concrete
Concrete is a quasi-brittle material with vary-
ing deformation characteristics for different lev-
els and conditions of loading (Chi & Kirstein,
1958; Hillerborg et  al., 1976; Takahashi, 1983;
Buyukozturk, 1984; Zielinski, 1985). In marine
environment, corrosion of reinforcements is con-
sidered as one of the main causes of early dete-
rioration of concrete. Cracking, spalling, scaling,
pitting, honeycomb, loss of strength, plastic shrink-
age, abrasion of surface etc are various indications
of deterioration of concrete structural element.
Structural characteristics and post cracking
behavior of concrete members are different dur-
ing tension and compression. While the damage
in concrete members is primarily characterized by
appearance of flexural cracks, the actual structural
integrity is influenced by the material properties
and behavior of the structural element in ten-
sion and compression (Lubliner et al., 1989; Oller
et al., 1990). Under low magnitude pressure loads,
concrete behaves in a brittle manner with failure
mechanisms in the form of cracking in tension
and crushing in compression. When the confining
pressure is large enough to prevent crack propa-
gation, the brittle behavior of concrete disappears.
Under these circumstances, material failure occurs
by consolidation and collapse of the micro-porous
3/29/2017 9:42:56 AM
 microstructure in concrete resulting in character-
istics that resembles a ductile material with work
hardening.
2 THEORY
2.1 Damage plasticity model
The varying non-linear behavior of concrete for
different magnitudes of tension and compression
and the resulting post failure behavior are defined
through a constitutive model of concrete called
damage plasticity model proposed by Lubliner et al.
in 1989 and modified later by Lee and Fenves in
1998. The model also takes in to consideration the
degradation of stiffness in linear and the non-linear
region of concrete behavior. It is based on plastic-
ity theory, developed with appropriate allowance
made for different values of parameters describing
tension and compression. Concrete behavior under
higher loads can be defined as that of a frictional
material with cohesion. Three essential elements
of a plasticity theory based damage model are the
yield criterion, flow rate and the hardening rule.
Cohesion is defined through expression for yield
criteria. The hardening rule is such that total dam-
age is assumed to correspond to vanishing of cohe-
sion. The constitutive relations were derived based
on these conditions.
2.2 Damage parameters
While defining damage parameters it is impor-
tant to define a parameter that represents damage
severity. In case of flexural beams mid span deflec-
tion can be used to represent severity of damage
(Perera et al., 2008). The damage severity index is
defined as
δ0
t = 1−
Damage Severity (1)
δ while the third type is based on the ratio of
where δ = mid span deflection of damaged beam;
and δ0 = mid span deflection of undamaged beam.
The difference is natural frequency between
damaged and undamaged beam can be indicative of
presence of damage (Vandiver, 1975; Gudmunson,
1983; Salawu, 1997). Higher frequency shift mean
more severity of damage. Change in natural fre-
quency as damage parameters is defined as
Δf = f0 − fd (2)
where f0 = natural frequency of undamaged beam
and fd = natural frequency of damaged beam.
Mode shape of a beam for a given mode may
change in magnitude due to damage. Hence, mode
735
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 735
shape of damage and undamaged beams can be
measured and compared to estimate damage in
the beam (Yuen, 1985; Pandey et al., 1991). How-
ever, noises from measurements and various other
practical issues make it difficult to use mode shape
as damage parameter. Modal Assurance Crite-
rion (MAC) and Modal Scale Factor (MSF) can
be used to compare and correlate damaged and
undamaged mode shape (Perera et al 2008). MSF
is comparison of undamaged and damaged mode
shapes at a given mode. MAC determines the cor-
relation between damaged and undamaged modes
shape. An MSF or MAC value equal to 1 for a
given mode indicate no damage but any deviation
from unity would indicate presence of damage.
Modal strain energy method may be used for
damage localization and estimation with more
confidence compared to other damage indices
like natural frequency and mode shapes (Oseguda
1996). The MSE method is based on Euler-
Bernoulli beam theory. Assuming small deflection
in deck beams and constant flexural rigidity EI,
the strain energy Ui of an Euler-Bernoulli beam at
mode ‘i’ is given by
2
⎛ ∂2φi ⎞
L
EI
Ui =
2 ∫ ⎜⎝ 2 ⎟⎠ dx
∂x
(5)
0
MSE associated with any jth segment of the
deck beam in the length Lj to Lj+1 for mode shape
i is given by
L j +1 2
EI ⎛ ∂2φi ⎞
U ij =
2 ∫ ⎜⎝ 2 ⎟⎠ dx
∂x
(6)
Lj
Literature lists various types of modal strain
energy based damage indices. One type is based on
modal strain energy change. A second method is
based on the ratio of modal strain energy change
modal strain energies. The MSE damage param-
eters Modal Strain Energy Change (MSEC) and
Modal Strain Energy Change Ratio (MSECR)
are sensitive to damage (Shi et al., 1998) but gen-
erates false positive alarms at or near node points
(Wahalathantri et  al., 2010). MSECR at jth ele-
ment due to ith mode is
SEijd
MSE MSE
Eij
S CR ij =
MSEC (7)
MSE
SEij
Three damage indices were defined based on
Modal strain energy ratio or Fractional Strain
Energy (FSE). Fractional modal strain energy of
the segment j for mode i is ratio of MSE for jth
3/29/2017 9:42:56 AM
 element to the MSE of entire beam at mode ‘i’
(Doebling et al., 1998).
U ij
Fij = (8)
Ui
There are three damage indices based on modal
strain energy ratio. The ratio of fractional strain
energy of damaged structure to the undamaged
structure is used as damage index β1ij. The peak
values of β1ij indicate presence of damage
Fijd
β 1ij = (9)
Fijh
The damage index β1ij was found to generate
false alarms near or at node points. It was slightly
modified to get β2ij
⎛ Fijd + 1⎞
⎜ F h + 1⎟ + 1
⎝ ij ⎠ with rebar embedded in to it as shell elements in
β ij =
2 (10)
2
The peak values of damage index above the
datum level 1 are used to indicate damage. The
damage index β2ij was further modified to get
another damage index β3ij. Peak values of β3ij above
datum level 1 are used to indicate damage.
⎛ F d + 1⎞
β 3ij = ⎜ ijh ⎟ (11)
⎝ Fij + 1 ⎠
3 METHODOLOGY
The present numerical study using finite ele-
ment model of reinforced cement concrete beam
involved the following stages.
1. The first stage is numerical modeling of the RC
beam in Abaqus finite element package. To verify
the model a four point load test is simulated on it
to compare with existing results in literature. Mid-
point deflection, natural frequency and mode shape
are the parameters considered to verify the model.
2. In the second stage, damage is induced in the
RC beam as cracking under uni-axial load.
Natural frequency and modal parameters of
the beam in damaged and undamaged states are
computed for varying levels of damage progress.
Three point load test is used to induce damage
in structure through a loading and unloading
cycle. Eigen value extraction method was used
after the unloading step to extract natural fre-
quencies and mode shapes.
736
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 736
3. The third stage involved a detailed data analy-
sis using Matlab. This includes curve fitting
of sampled modal amplitudes and computing
damage parameters using it.
4. Stage four involved interpretation of results and
an error analysis to understand reasons for false
alarm triggered by some damage parameters.
4 DAMAGE MODELING
4.1 Numerical model of RC Beam
Concrete damaged plasticity model in Abaqus
6.12.3 is used for this analysis. It includes a sca-
lar (isotropic) damage model with tensile cracking
and compressive crushing modes. It also accounts
for stiffness degradation associated with fractur-
ing process. An RC beam of length 4.54  m and
rectangular cross section 220 m × 320 mm is mod-
eled in finite element analysis package Abaqus.
The RC Beam model consists of a solid beam
embedded constraint. The solid beam is defined
as a homogenous solid section and assigned a
mesh with 8 node linear brick element C3D8.
Reinforcements were modeled as embedded ele-
ments which are defined as four node linear quad-
rilateral surface element SFM3D4. The beam
reinforcements consists of 2 bars of 6 mm diam-
eter running longitudinally over compression side,
4 bars of 12  mm diameter running longitudinal
over tension side and shear rebar stirrups of 6 mm
diameter running transverse at every 200 m along
the length of the beam. Two load points were cre-
ated at 0.86  m from middle. Two supports were
provided at 0.09  m from the beam ends. Mate-
rial properties were used from existing literature
on similar analysis for comparable structural
members (Perera et al, 2008; Wahalathantri et al.,
2010). Two material properties were created, Steel
and Concrete. Steel rebar material is configured
as deformation plasticity material with young’s
modulus 210GPa, Poisson’s ratio 0.3 and density
7850 kg/m3. Concrete density is set as 2300 kg/m3.
Young’s modulus of the concrete is set as 34GPa
and Poisson’s ratio is set as 0.2. For the non-linear
region of the material characteristics, concrete
damage plasticity features were set for the con-
crete material. The material properties are defined
using tensile and compressive stresses, inelastic
strains and two scalar damage parameters. The
tensile damage parameter, dt is defined as the ratio
of cracking strain to the total strain. The compres-
sive damage parameter, dc is defined as the ratio
of inelastic strain and total strain. The Poisson’s
ratio controls the volume changes of concrete up
to onset of inelastic behaviour. In inelastic region
3/29/2017 9:42:58 AM
 increase in plastic volume under pressure is taken 4.2 Four point load test arrangement
into account by defining a parameter called the
Four point load test was used for model verifi-
angle of dilation ψ. Another parameter in Abaqus
cation of the finite element model of RC beam.
concrete damage plasticity model is eccentricity of
Fig. 4 shows a RC beam model under four-point
the plastic potential surface ∈ with default value
load test. The beam was modeled with two load-
of 0.1. The ratio of initial biaxial compressive
points on top similar to the experimental set up.
yield stress to initial uni-axial compressive yield
The boundary conditions at the bottom include a
stress, σb0/σc0, with default value of 1.16. Another
pinned support and a roller support. At the bottom
parameter Kc is the ratio of the second stress
region of the beam, engineering features option in
invariant on the tensile meridian to compressive
Assembly were used to assign 6  springs connect-
meridian at initial yield with default value of 2/3
ing to the ground, each with spring constant 0.8e7.
(Abaqus User Manual). The material behaviour
The beam is fixed from movement in X and Z
of concrete applied to this model in tension and
direction at the bottom. In experimental analysis
compression are summarized in Figure  2 and
the beam vibrations are measured in Y direction
Figure  3. Figure  2  shows Stress strain behaviour
with excitation with hammer in Y direction.
of RC beam model under uni-axial compression.
The instances were created as independent
Figure  3  shows stress strain behaviour of RC
instance and hence the meshing was done for
beam under uni-axial tension. Strain hardening
entire assembly. Mesh quality was checked to see
and strain softening are clear from these two fig-
if corner angles are less than 45 degrees or greater
ures. For stability requirements in Abaqus analy-
than 135 degrees. Element size was optimized and
sis, abrupt drop in stress in strain softening region
chosen as 0.009 for accuracy and optimum com-
in tension is slightly modified.
putational load. The numerical analysis was con-
ducted to identify damage states from initial onset
of damage to progressive states.

4.3 Model verification

Mode shape and Mid Span Deflection were con-
sidered as parameters for model verification. The
first and second mode shape was generated in
eigenvalue extraction method of linear perturba-
tion module of Abaqus. Mid-span deflection was
considered for increasing magnitude of point load
applied on structure. The results are plotted in
Figures 5–7. The results were compared with exist-
ing results in literature published by Perera et  al
(2008) for a comparable structural member.
Figure 5 and Figure 6 compares the mode shapes
Figure  2. Stress strain relation of RC beam model
for first and second mode. Figure 7 compares the
under uni-axial compression.
mid span deflection. As seen from the two figures,
the deviation of the current model from the values

Figure  3. Stress strain relation of RC beam model Figure  4. RC beam model, in Four Point Load test
under uni-axial tension. configuration for model verification.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 737 3/29/2017 9:42:58 AM


Figure 5. Comparison of first mode shape with experi-
mental results (Perera et al., 2008).
Figure  6. Comparison of second mode shape with
experimental results (Perera et al., 2008).
Figure  7. Mid Span deflection of simulated model is
compared with experimental results (Perera et al., 2008).
reported in literature is less than 10%. The model
of RC beam generated using damage plasticity
approach is hence verified and can be used for fur-
ther damage detection studies.
5 DAMAGE DETECTION STUDIES
The RC Beam model evaluated in Abaqus was
used for further investigation in damage detection
studies. In order to generate modal parameters
738
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 738
under undamaged and damaged conditions, the
RC beam model was configured to match experi-
mental set up of a three point load test arrange-
ment, retaining the fundamental dimensions of the
previous study. The finite element model in three
point load test arrangement was generated in RC
beam with damage plasticity approach. Damage
of the beam is introduced in two steps by loading
and unloading at the load point shown in Figure 8.
In the current study damage is generated at the
mid span by fixing the load point at the center of
the beam. The damage detection study involved
static and dynamic analysis. The static analysis was
done in two steps – loading and unloading. After
each unloading step, a linear perturbation analysis
was done to extract natural frequencies, Eigen val-
ues and mode shapes. To simulate different levels
of damage severity, seven different cases of static
loads were considered which are 8 kN, 20 k, 40 kN,
52 kN, 60 kN, 80 kN and 104 kN. Among these 7
load cases, 2 cases are for undamaged conditions
and the rest of 5 cases are for damaged conditions.
The load 40 kN indicates onset of damage and the
load 104 kN represent extreme damage.
The symbol output of Maximum Principal
Plastic Strain tensor PE is recommended by
Abaqus FEM package to indicate crack or pres-
ence of damage in a damage plasticity model.
The Maximum Principal PE symbol distribution
during Loading and Unloading steps is shown in
Figure 9–10. Even after complete unloading, there
Figure  8. Three Point Load Test arrangement with
primary loading and boundary conditions indicated.
Figure 9. Maximum principal plastic strain PE indicat-
ing initiation of crack in loading stage.
3/29/2017 9:42:59 AM
 is presence of plastic strain in the mid region of
beam, indicating presence of damage. The presence
of residual strain in the RC Beam after unloading
is also clear from the load v/s mid span deflection
plot shown in Figure 11. It is also observed that the
crack generation in the RC Beam begins when load
reaches 40 kN.
6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Linear perturbation analysis for Eigen value
extraction is executed to compute natural frequen-
cies and mode shapes. The mode shape magnitude
generated through Abaqus simulation can be used
to compute the rest of the damage parameters
using MatLab tools. Abaqus finite element pack-
age is used to generate mode shape magnitude for
entire solid beam structure. Output data process-
ing and interpreting the results require values of
mode shape magnitude at select nodes in a straight
line along length of the beam. Hence, mode shape
magnitude is sampled at preselect set of nodes
along length of the beam. Nodes are selected along
a straight line close to bottom surface of the beam,
anticipating initiation of crack in RC beam at the
tension region.
Mode shape is generated from sampled raw data
for damaged and undamaged cases. It is plotted
Figure  10. Maximum principal plastic strain distribu-
tion is retained even after unloading, indicating plastic
behavior and on set of crack.
Figure  11. Mid span deflection of RC Beam under
cyclic loads.
739
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 739
along normalized length of the beam, to verify the
quality of the data. A plot of mode shape generated
from raw data of extreme damage case compared
with mode shape at undamaged cases is shown in
Figure  12. Note that the difference in magnitude
of mode shapes for damaged and undamaged
cases is very low to be used for damage detection.
Raw data of Mode shape magnitude obtained
through sampling is further processed to compute
the rest of the damage parameters. In order to per-
form numerical integration for computing modal
strain energy, the raw data was fit to a curve using
polynomial curve fitting method in Matlab. The
4.54  m long beam is divided into 40  smaller seg-
ments to compute elemental modal strain energy.
Elemental modal strain energy is significant in
computing the modal strain energy ratio for each
segment.
Modal strain energy at each segment reflects the
damaged or undamaged condition in that region.
Hence, segmentation is crucial to apply to modal
strain energy damage parameters in localization of
damage. Elemental modal strain energy is normal-
ized with total modal strain energy of the beam
before applying it to compute MSECR and FSE
or Modal strain energy ratio. FSE values are used
to compute the damage indices β1, β2 and β3.
Computation of modal damage parameters are
performed for 7 levels of damage severity. These
levels correspond to 8 kN, 20 kN, 40 kN, 52 kN,
60  kN, 80  kN and 104  kN. The first two levels,
8kn and 20 kN are undamaged conditions. Hence,
8  kN is set as a reference level of undamaged
and 20  kN is used to depict the transition from
undamaged to onset of damage at 40 kN. Damage
severity index is computed for each of the dam-
age levels using mid span deflection data. Natural
frequency is plotted for various damage severities
in Figure  13. Natural frequency is found to be
Figure 12. Mode shape damaged and undamaged cases
overlap almost completely.
3/29/2017 9:43:00 AM
 Figure 13. Difference in natural frequency of damaged
and undamaged beams at Mode 1 and 2.
Figure  14. Modal Scale Factor for different damage
cases with increasing severity.
different for damaged and undamaged cases. The
change in natural frequency for different damage
severity is shown in Figure 13.
Comparison of mode shapes in damaged and
undamaged cases was done with MSF and MAC
computations. Modal Scale Factor is seen to be
increasing for progressive damage cases 1 to 6, as
per different loading levels shown in Figure  14.
The deviation from mode 1  indicates that mode
shapes at higher damage cases are less correlated
to undamaged mode shape, indicating presence of
damage. Modal assurance criteria are plotted in
Figure 15 to correlate mode shape magnitudes in
undamaged and 6 damaged cases. The reduction
in MAC value is observed for increasing damage
severity. MAC values clearly indicate presence of
damage.
Modal strain energy was computed and the
change in Modal strain energy between damaged
and undamaged cases was further computed and
applied to generate Modal Strain Energy Change
Ratio. The modal strain energy change ratio for
undamaged beam is shown in Figure  16. False
740
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 740
Figure 15. MAC values at Mode 1 are plotted for differ-
ent damage cases in increasing severity.
Figure 16. MSECR is plotted for undamaged beam at
Mode 1.
positive alarms are observed near boundary condi-
tions. Modal strain energy change ratio for damage
condition is shown in Figure  17. Although a sig-
nificant rise in MSECR is seen at mid-span dam-
aged area in the beam, one can also observe false
positive alarms being generated at undamaged
regions. While the crack is present at mid-span,
false positive alarms are observed undamaged
regions. MSECR values for different load cases
are shown in Figure 18. False positive alarms are
clearly observed in all stages of damage. This jus-
tified the introduction of damage indices based
on Modal strain energy ratio to improve damage
detection capabilities. Modal strain energy ratio
or Fractional Strain Energy (FSE) for undamaged
and damaged beam is depicted in Figure 19. FSE
ratio for different damage levels is shown closely in
Figure  20. There is very little difference between
damaged and undamaged states to be able to apply
FSE as a damage parameter.
3/29/2017 9:43:01 AM
 Figure 17. MSECR is plotted for a damaged beam at
mode 1. Figure 20. FSE is compared for three damage levels—
damaged, on set of damage and undamaged.

Figure  18. MSECR at Mode 1 for different levels of

damage progress.
Figure 21. β1 for undamaged case.

Figure  19. Fractional Strain Energy for damaged and

undamaged beam.
Figure 22. β2 for undamaged case.

Three damage indices β1, β2 and β3, which are case is shown in Figure 21–23. It is observed that
derived from MSE ratio, are further computed for the values are equal to or less than 1.
different damage severity. The distribution of β1, β1, β2 and β3 are computed and plotted for dam-
β2 and β3 along length of the beam for undamaged aged case in Figure 24–26. A very significant peak

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 741 3/29/2017 9:43:02 AM

 Figure 23. β3 for undamaged case.
Figure 24. β1 for damaged case.
Figure 25. β2 for damaged case.
of β1 is observed in damaged case, clearly indicating
presence of damage. However, there is also pres-
ence of false positive alarms in regions near bound-
ary conditions. It is observed that β2 and β3 clearly
742
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 742
Figure 26. β3 for damaged case.
Figure 27. Mode Shape from raw data and from curve
fitting is plotted alongside the squared difference error
between these two data. A β1 plot is also included.
indicates presence of damage in mid region. There is
no presence of false positive in undamaged region.
However, there is very small over shoot of β2
and β3 near node points or boundary locations.
The presence of false positive alarms is a challenge
to practical implementation of the damage indices.
The plot shown in Figure  27 is an attempt to
understand the reason for false alarms from modal
strain energy based damage indices.
The computation process involved in generat-
ing modal strain energy based damage indices can
be the source of false positive alarms. The false
positive alarms were studied by performing error
analysis between raw data and curve fitting data.
Mode shape was plotted with raw data obtained
from Abaqus analysis. The squared difference
between raw data mode shape and the fitted curve
is plotted as error plot as shown in Figure  27. It
is observed that the false positive alarms in β1
are seen in region around end nodes where the
3/29/2017 9:43:03 AM
 boundary conditions are defined. The same region
has highest amount of squared difference error in
curve fitting. Improving the curve fitting technique
can potentially reduce the false positive alarms and
deliver better performance from MSE indices.
7 CONCLUSIONS
A detailed analytical study is conducted about fre-
quency based and mode based damage detection
methods applied to RC Beam in coastal structure.
A non-linear damage plasticity model of RC beam
is used as damage model for the study. The damage
plasticity model of the RC beam was evaluated using
a four point load test and by comparing results with
existing experimental and analytical results in litera-
ture. The verified damage model was used in a three
point load test configuration to study sensitivity of
various damage parameters to severity of damage.
It is observed that natural frequency, mode
shape and fractional strain energy are sensitive
to damage. But, the change in frequency between
damaged and undamaged cases is very low, lim-
iting their practical application Modal Strain
Energy Change Ratio (MSECR) depicts consid-
erably difference in magnitude between damaged
and undamaged cases but it is also found to trigger
false positive alarms in regions without damage.
The MSE based damage indices β1, β2 and β3
exhibit excellent performances in damage detec-
tion and damage localization. The value of these
indices remains at unity or below when there is no
damage. False positive alarms seen in these damage
indices are negligible. An error analysis on reasons
for false positive alarm throws light on impact of
curve fitting methods near boundary conditions.
MSE damage indices are found to be excellent
parameters to detect and locate damage. However,
the study needs to be extended for multiple damage
scenarios and for continues beam configurations
with multiple boundary conditions (indeterminate
structures). Curve fitting methods in computation
of damage detection parameters also need to be
improved for better accuracy in damage detection.
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978-81-322-2276-7.
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engineering: Reliability and Risk Assessment. CRC
Press, Florida, ISBN:978-14-987-6519-0.
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ronmental Management in Offshore and Petroleum Engi-
neering, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN: 978-11-192-2184-5.
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Bhattacharyya, 2012, Analysis and Design of Offshore
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(HOPE Center), Changwon National University Press,
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fixed platforms by measurement of dynamic response.
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Fawzia, S., 2010, An improved modal strain energy
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tenth international conference on computational struc-
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Assessment of residual life of existing fixed offshore platforms

Stefano Copello
RINA Services, Genova, Italy
DITEN, Polytechnic School, University of Genova, Genova, Italy

Cesare M. Rizzo
DITEN, Polytechnic School, University of Genova, Genova, Italy

ABSTRACT: Life extension and platform re-use are in demand now, which creates a need for evalu-
ation methods able to ascertain the residual life of an existing platform, to be eventually operated in a
new installation site. A system approach, used by operators in different offshore areas, is presented in
this paper. Indeed, for existing platforms, it is permissible to have limited individual component failures,
provided the reserve strength against overall system failure remains acceptable. This system was used to
determine the life expectancy of a platform used in the Gulf of Mexico for ten years, which was to be
accordingly modified and installed on a new site off Congo. The analysis showed that a service life of ten
years was feasible without need for strengthening. Lessons learned from the specific analysis are outlined
in the conclusion, providing guidance for the definition of acceptable component failures depending on
the accepted risk level.

1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 The life extension issue
The number of fixed platforms, presently installed
in offshore fields for oil or gas production, nearing
the end of their design life is increasing worldwide.
Fixed steel offshore platforms are typically
designed with a target service life in the range of
20–25 years; the corrosion and fatigue issues, as
well as the strength assessment against extreme
environmental loads, such as 100-yr extreme wave
loading, driving the design, are accordingly cov-
ered at design stage.
At the end of design life, for most of the plat-
forms, the hydrocarbon field on which they are
installed have still reserves, and the oil companies
need to proceed further with the production.
Approximately, half (47%) of the world’s oil and
gas companies are actively planning for far longer
asset life spans than before, a survey found earlier
this year.
On the other hand, due to a change in eco-
nomic conditions, operators often want to con-
tinue exploiting platforms beyond their 20–25-year
designed lifecycle instead of investing in a new
platform.
This is a particularly pressing issue in the present
oil market, considering the low price of the barrel.
The challenge is to continue to use, or even reuse,
in safety conditions, offshore platforms that have
reached the end of their designed life, and have this
extended use approved by statutory authorities.
The best way to do that is to use the actual meteo-
marine data collected onsite over the period of service
and to use the performance of the existing structure
in situ as the basis of the model for future life.
1.2 Using real data for life extension
In principle, the existing structure is fit-for-purpose
when the risk of structural failure leading to unac-
ceptable consequences is adequately low, which is
the safety target.
In general, the required safety target is to be
demonstrated for the specific site conditions and
given operational requirements.
The original design target was ensured by the
adoption, at design stage, of specific safety factors,
reflecting the conservativism due to the uncertain-
ties inherent the actual structural response.
These uncertainties are mainly relevant to the
environmental loads, which, in turn, are provided
as characteristic loads related to the foreseen serv-
ice life.
The reassessment is thus possible by taking into
account the new information and measurements
(e.g. records of wave data) due to the actual behav-
ior of the platform, allowing a reduction in the
design uncertainties, then, at the end of the day,
a revision in the associated design life.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 745 3/29/2017 9:43:05 AM

 To some extent, the existing platform has
proven its inherent safety by providing its own
full-scale model to the originally uncertain exter-
nal loads: the reassessment process is therefore a
matter of evaluating this actual capacity to even-
tually extend the original design target (i.e. service
life).
At engineering level, safety is identified by a
minimum target probability of failure, which is
further discussed in §4.
The required safety target can be then related to
the actual system capacity of the platform, meas-
ured by the Residual Strength Reserve (RSR) of
the whole jacket, evaluated by, e.g., a push-over
analysis.
Throughout this process, it is possible to relate
the RSR parameter to the actual yearly probability
of failure, with a specified method that will be fur-
ther described with a system reliability assessment
capable to determine the actual residual life of the
structure and the maximum return period of the
extreme environmental loading that the platform is
still capable to withstand.
2 THE REASSESSMENT PROCESS
2.1 Data gathering
Every reassessment starts with data gathering.
In order to perform the engineering reassessment
of an existing platform, appropriate information
are to be collected at the beginning of the renewal
process, with reference to the original design data
and the actual status of the platform.
So, data fall into two broad categories:
– Characteristic data: this is the baseline data that
defines the structure installation and includes
general platform data, design data, fabrication
and installation data;
– Condition data: this defines the changes to the
characteristic data that have occurred during
the operating life of the platform such as envi-
ronmental loading history and performance of
the platform during past extreme environmental
storms, changes in topside layout and weight,
collisions or other accidental events and possi-
ble damages reported, survey and maintenance
records, occurred repairs and modifications
description, etc.).
Quality data is also important for the assess-
ment: for modern platforms, such data usually
exists. For old platforms, data are usually limited
and should be augmented with field measure-
ments, if not already available. In all cases, it is
essential to have a current inventory of the plat-
form structure.
746
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 746
2.2 Inspection on current platform status
In order to integrate and to complete the required
information for the assessment, the present condi-
tion of the platform has to be determined by spe-
cific field inspections and on-site measurements on
both topside and underwater structures, which are
to be performed by field surveyor before starting
the engineering assessment.
The on-field topside inspection campaign is
aimed to particularly determine:
– Deck actual size, location and elevation;
– Deck existing loading condition and equipment
arrangement;
– Field measured deck clearance elevation;
– Layout of wells, i.e. number, size and location of
existing conductors,
while an underwater survey is to be carried out to
appropriately cover:
– General Visual Inspection (GVI) of the jacket;
– Close Visual Inspection (CVI) and Non-
Destructive Examination (NDE) of a selected
(limited) number of nodes (such a limited NDE
inspected sample should be in principle selected
based on the fatigue design results);
– Wall Thickness Measurements (WTM) of sev-
eral members;
– Corrosion protection measurements;
– Marine Growth Measurements (MGM).
2.3 Definition of the up-to-date platform model
The above described data gathering and inspec-
tion phases provide outcomes to be used in the
updating of the structural schemes. Hence, the
present status of the platform is implemented in
an appropriate model, with geometric and material
data finally revised by considering the inspection
results and any damage and modification occurred
with respect to the original design; new data about
fatigue and corrosion conditions are to be specifi-
cally implemented in the updated model.
2.4 Review of the design characteristic loads
In general, the data upon which predictions of
environmental extremes were made at design stage
might no longer be appropriate for the reassess-
ment. The data should be analyzed to determine
whether the original estimates of environmental
extremes are still valid. So, a revision of the actual
loads must be carried out, with dead and live loads
updated according to the information on actual
jacket weight and topside layout, while environ-
mental loads (extreme values and distribution) can
be revised according to measurements at the site or
at nearby sites or even with new hindcast studies
based on updated databases.
3/29/2017 9:43:05 AM
 2.5 Verification of the existing platform structure
The structural safety of the existing platform
represented by the updated model is to be
verified with respect to both operational and
extreme storm loading conditions, as normally
done in the design. Prescribed limit states veri-
fication for the structural components is to be
carried out as for new platforms: this means that
static (both for extreme and operational loads)
and dynamic (seismic and fatigue) analysis shall
be performed.
In the assessment of existing structures, specific
attention should be paid to the fatigue analysis,
with due consideration given to the accumulated
degradation effects and to the future accumulation
of the fatigue damage during the foreseen exten-
sion life.
The results of the inspections carried out dur-
ing the past service of the platforms are to be
used to demonstrate appropriate future fatigue
reliability.
The fatigue analysis inside a reassessment pro-
cess should be performed on a probabilistic basis,
with respect to the present fatigue and corrosion
conditions, whose limit states are revised with
respect to the original design predictions. Fatigue
is a process dominated by uncertainties of many
kinds, generally of random nature. For that reason,
in order to attain a low risk of failure, the design
code requirements are usually very conservative
and provide, on average, a high safety margin. As a
consequence, the conventional fatigue analysis car-
ried out on old platforms for a life extension would
not in many cases meet current rule requirements.
Probabilistic analysis can give the most exhaustive
assessment of criticality to fatigue failure and it
provides the appropriate tool for considering both
the reliability of inspection results and the crack
growth behavior. If a spectral fatigue approach is
undertaken, a prediction model of the structural
dynamics as close as possible to the real response
is important, since the fatigue spectral analysis is
driven by the vibration analysis results.
By adopting a reliability based fatigue approach,
the results of the in situ inspections can be utilized
to update, in quantitative terms, the structural
reliability evaluation. Rizzo (2007) provided a sen-
sitivity analysis identifying the most significant
parameters in such analyses for both load and
strength aspects.
The reliability index is evaluated as a function
of the time elapsed since installation, the expected
endurance of the node at the design stage and the
results of the node inspection.
Inspection outcomes are combined with fatigue
predictions to update fatigue safety margin and to
plan future inspections.
747
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 747
3 THE SYSTEM APPROACH
What is peculiar in the strength assessment of
existing platforms is that it is permissible to have
limited individual component failures, provided
the reserve against overall system failure remains
acceptable. Indeed, it might not be possible to
show that individual components of older exist-
ing structures meet present rule safety factors
calibrated to levels of reliability required to new
structures, whose actual response is still unpredict-
able to some extent. On the other hand, most of the
existing platforms have shown appropriate perfor-
mance via full-scale model, which is the platform
in service itself. Therefore, yielding or failure of
individual components is acceptable, provided the
remaining parts of the structural system have suf-
ficient reserve strength to redistribute the action.
Also, an ultimate global strength assessment
might be reported when it is not possible to show
that the structure is acceptable by analysis, repairs
or strengthening. In fact, when strengthening is not
a viable option, decreased reliability of the overall
system could be acceptable, provided that the con-
sequences of failure are acceptable for both the life
and the environment, e.g. de-manning the platform
to prevent loss of life and/or installation of safety
devices to maximize hydrocarbon containment.
3.1 System analysis criteria
According to the above principles, for the reassess-
ment and extension of design life of an existing
platform where some structural components show
inadequate capacity to satisfy the usual checks of
strength and stability (based on calculation of utili-
zation factors) in a given design conditions (usually
an extreme loading conditions), an assessment of the
whole structural system capacity can be carried out.
The general purpose is to verify that the whole
system is able to withstand given extreme environ-
mental loads with an acceptable risk level, even if
some structural components will reach the failure
status.
A system assessment procedure may be carried
out through different verification steps, whose level
of computational complexity increases along with
the level from a) to c) as follows:
a. Linear elastic analysis of structural redundancy
(level 3 ISO 19902:2007), where the structural
components not verified under the design load-
ing conditions are removed from the model
and relevant loads are supported by remaining
structural elements. The analysis is repeated
until all remaining structural components are
verified or it is proved that the structure is not
able to withstand the design loads;
3/29/2017 9:43:05 AM
 b. Ultimate strength analysis by elasto-plastic
analysis (level 4 ISO 19902:2007). The structural
model is subject to environmental loads, which
increase up to the whole system collapse. The
verification can be considered satisfied when
the collapse load will result “appropriately”
greater than the design load (typically, the 100-
yrs environmental loads).
c. System Reliability Analysis (SRA) (level 5 ISO
19902:2007). The elasto-plastic analysis carried
out as per Level b) has to be integrated by a sta-
tistical evaluation of both the strength and the
environmental load, in order to finally evaluate
the yearly probability of collapse in storm con-
ditions. Based on such evaluation an estimation
of the residual life of the platform can be done
with reference to given targets.
When it is not possible to show that the structure
is acceptable by such analyses, repairs or strength-
ening are required. Alternatively, it is possible to
decrease the required target reliability of the over-
all structural system by revising the risk exposure
category of the platform, i.e. by introducing miti-
gation measures aimed to maintain acceptable the
consequences of failure as previously mentioned.
In the following, a simplified system reliability
assessment introduced by RINA Services for the
certification of the life extension of many offshore
platforms in different offshore areas is described
where the probability of failure of the whole
platform structure is related to the actual system
capacity of the platform, measured by the residual
strength reserve of the whole jacket (RINA, 2015).
3.2 System reliability evaluation
The reported Level 4 may be carried out by evalu-
ating the resistance capacity of the platform, Rd
(in as-is conditions), under storm load conditions
coming from given headings, by means of execu-
tion of non-linear push-over runs.
In the quasi-static nonlinear push-over analysis,
loads are applied in sequence. Starting from the FEA
model of the platform built for the quasi-static anal-
ysis, including appropriate characterization of the
non-linear foundation behavior, dead and live loads
are applied to their nominal value, while the 100-year
environmental load vector (which includes wave, cur-
rent and wind loads) is applied and increased up to
the structural collapse of the whole platform.
This evaluation is carried out by specialized
commercial software such as SACS (licensed by
Bentley®) for each environmental wave heading
identified in the in-place analysis.
The RSR parameter i.e. the ratio between the
mean base shear resistance capacity, Rd in this case,
and the design load F100 is evaluated as:
748
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 748
Rd
RSR = (1)
F100
and compared to a minimum acceptable target
value, RSRlim. The structure can be generally con-
sidered fit for purpose if the calculated RSR is
greater than the prescribed RSRlim.
In case that this condition is not fulfilled, i.e. the
push-over analysis shows an inadequate structural
system capacity, the elasto-plastic analysis carried
out has to be integrated by a statistical evaluation
of both the strength and the environmental load,
in order to finally evaluate the yearly probability of
collapse in storm conditions.
Starting from a simplified formulation of the fail-
ure equation in a reliability analysis expressed as:
R/F ≤ 1 (2)
where R and F are respectively the level of struc-
tural resistance and the level of acting environmen-
tal force, or, equivalently:
ln (R/F) ≤ 1 (3)
the deterministic evaluation of RSR, representing
the ultimate capacity, may be introduced in a sim-
plified reliability model, see e.g. Bea (1994) for pro-
viding criteria to be introduced in the new section
of the API Recommended Practice (API, 1993) for
the reassessment of the existing platforms.
In those API background studies, the following
relation was introduced:
RSR = exp ( βσ ln F ) (4)
where:
– β is the reliability index related to the probability
of failure by Pf = Φ( β ));
– Φ is the cumulative normal distribution;
– σlnF is the standard deviation of the logarithm of
the maximum annual load;
– σ is the total uncertainty in the failure limit state
equation and it combines the uncertainties in the
load F and in the resistance R according to the
equation σ = σ ln2 F + σ lnl2 R ;
– k is a factor that relates F100 to F1 (i.e. the global
shear forces at the platform basis relevant to
100-yrs return period wave and 1-yr return
period respectively.
The yearly probability of collapse Pc can thus be
expressed as (Copello et al, 2015):
⎛ ln RSR ( 1
( TS−1 ))σ l F ⎞
Pc = Φ − ⎟⎠ (5)
⎝ σ
3/29/2017 9:43:05 AM
 where:
– σ= l ( + )+ l ( + );
– COVs are the coefficients of variation of the
global load and strength distributions;
Eq. (5) is a formulation for the notional yearly
probability of collapse of the platform as a func-
tion of the RSR value and of the value Ts of the
return period (in years) associated to the storm
environmental condition.
The notional probability of failure associated to
the calculated values of RSR can be thus evaluated
and, consequently, the life corresponding to that
probability of failure, in comparison to the notional
risk associated to an established safety target.
4 REFERENCE VALUE FOR THE
RESERVE STRENGTH RATIO
Target values for the parameter RSRlim are often
discussed in available state of the art and literature
in relation to the maximum acceptable value of
yearly probability of failure for the whole structure.
For existing offshore platforms, the standard
ISO 19902 does not provide explicit target values
for the yearly probability of failure. It indicates
only (ref. Clause 24.5.1 of ISO 19902) that appro-
priate acceptance criteria are to be set on the basis
of the exposure category of the platform, i.e. on
the basis of a qualitative classification of the plat-
form’s risk level in terms of possible consequences
of its failure on both human life and environment.
However, ISO 19902 provides in its Appendix
A.9.9.3.3 the limit values for the parameter RSR
shown in Table 1, to be considered for new struc-
tures in various regions of the world, as a function
of the risk exposure category:
It is worth noting that, for existing platforms, it
is reported that “the criteria could be less severe,
provided that the risk is maintained as low as rea-
sonably practicable”.
Given the importance of such reference parameter
as the basis for performing reassessment of existing
platforms, Copello et al (2016) carried out systematic
ultimate evaluation of a sample of existing jackets
in the Mediterranean, whose resulted in an averaged
notional RSRlim = 2.
Table 1. Target values of reserve strength ratio RSR.
High risk class Low risk class
Region e.g. fully manned e.g. not manned
Australia 2.18 1.80
North Sea 1.92 1.49
Gulf of Mexico Not specified 1.60
749
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 749
5 EXAMPLE 1—EXTENSION LIFE
EVALUATION
This example is an application of the reported
methodology, where the required safety target
was related to the system capacity of the platform
measured by the residual strength reserve of the
whole jacket, as evaluated by a push-over analysis.
The calculated RSR is introduced in a system reli-
ability assessment in order to determine the actual
residual life of the structure and the maximum
return period of the extreme environmental load-
ing that the platform is still capable to withstand.
The existing offshore platform was installed
offshore Turkmenistan in the Caspian Sea in a
water depth of about 27 m, and finally refurbished
in 2005, actually consisting of different simple
jacket modules joined at their topside by a latticed
module support frame. All the jackets consist of
vertical legs and are similar in construction with
rectangular plan dimensions, supported by either
drilled and grouted piles or driven piles.
The reassessment was carried out through all
the 5 steps mentioned above, including the in-field
survey, preliminary to build-up the jacket structural
model represented in Fig.  1, up to determine the
ultimate capacity strength of the structure by means
of a deterministic progressive collapse analysis.
The progressive collapse analysis was performed
considering the actual configuration of the plat-
form, where:
– From the model of the structural strength all the
safety factors and other conservative assump-
tions were removed;
– The structure was subject to loading condition
made of best estimate values of the gravitational
loads (dead and live) combined with the envi-
ronmental loads (wave, current, wind) associ-
ated to the design storm condition (typically a
storm with a return period of 100 years). The
resultant base shear horizontal loading is F100;
Figure  1. Updated jacket model for ultimate strength
analysis.
3/29/2017 9:43:06 AM
 – The resultant design environmental loading was
linearly increased up to generate the structural
collapse through a non-linear analysis. The
loading level according to which the collapse did
occur is the best estimate of the ultimate capac-
ity Rd;
– The ratio between the two above mentioned esti-
mated values allowed the RSR determination
according to Eq. 1, i.e. RSR = Rd/F100.
A minimum value of RSR  =  1.02 was deter-
mined considering the prevailing direction of the
environmental wave load, which provided the max-
imum global shear (14750 kN) to the platform base
in the extreme (i.e. 100-yrs return period environ-
mental loads) design condition.
In order to finally evaluate the yearly probability
of collapse in storm conditions and, consequently,
to have both an estimation of the residual life of
the platform and relevant considerations regarding
the maximum allowable wave height, a system reli-
ability analysis was performed.
By introducing in Eq. 5 the minimum value of
RSR = 1.02, a value of Pc = 2.75 10–2, correspond-
ing to a safety index β = Φ–1 (–Pc) = 1.919, for the
notional annual probability of collapse of the plat-
form was obtained.
If a value of RSR = 1.2 is established as refer-
ence ‘target’, an estimation of the residual life can
be done as follows: by using the Eq. 6, the corre-
sponding ‘target’ value of βT = 2.253 is obtained.
Then, assuming that such target is the reliability
associated to a nominal design life of 20 years, an
actual life of 17 years is obtained corresponding to
the actual safety index β = 1.919, calculated above
and representing the global safety of the structure.
This result may be presently used to evaluate
either the residual life of the existing platforms or,
by assuming the same risk level criterion adopted to
associate the 100-yrs return period to a design life of
20 years, to determine the maximum allowable wave
return period, which, in this example case, was 85
years. Likewise, given the environmental characteri-
zation study available for the platform’s location, it
is possible to evaluate the corresponding maximum
allowable wave height, which was 10.2 m.
In conclusion, the platform was certified
as compliant with required safety level for the
desired extension life target, provided that the
platform shall be evacuated, and subsequently
subject to a special survey, in case that a sea state
characterized by maximum wave height greater
than or equal to about 10 m is foreseen during the
reported lifetime.
This prescription was reported in addition to
all the other mitigation measures and local repair
interventions that came out from the detailed
structural components’ checks.
750
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 750
6 EXAMPLE 2—REUSE EVALUATION
A second example is relevant to a preliminary assess-
ment carried out in 2015 to evaluate the fitness for
purpose of an existing platform to be reused and
moved to a new site where the design conditions are
different from the original design ones.
The destination site is in about 28 m water depth,
at approximately 10 km offshore the Congo coast.
That platform is not a new designed one but an
existing structure (jacket and deck) previously installed
in the Gulf of Mexico, then removed and temporarily
located in a yard on the coast of the United States.
In that system assessment, which was carried
out along with required inspections and detailed
checks of the platform structural components, spe-
cific focus was given to the result, in terms of RSR,
of the push-over analysis, in order to provide an
estimation of the residual life, eventually suitable
for the new site of installation.
The available existing structure from US waters
consisted of a 4-legged jacket and two levels deck
designed and used for 10 years in the Gulf of Mex-
ico, 63 m overall high and weighing approximately
460 tons.
The deck is a two levels integrated module,
with overall height of 17.7  m and overall weight
of about 350 tons (structure and equipment), with
main deck dimensions of 21.3  m  x  22.9  m and
cellar deck dimensions of 25.3 m x 17.3 m.
The existing modules have been modified and
refurbished in order to meet the new field configu-
ration requirements. Particularly, the jacket has
been cut to get the length appropriate for the depth
of the new installation area, which is about 30 m.
The final jacket is described by the following
main features:
– Overall height: 32 m;
– Top dimensions: 12.5 m x 12.2 m;
– Bottom dimensions: 18 m x 15 m;
– Number of legs: 4;
– Overall weight of jacket: 270 tons;
– Piles casings (42” OD, 1.5” WT) 33 tons (11 m
below the mud line);
– Inner piles (36” OD, 1” WT) 50  m below the
mud line.
As for the jacket structure, the deck has been
refurbished to satisfy the requirements of the new
field. In particular, the deck’s legs have been cut to
reach the required cellar deck elevation of +14 m.
According to the final configuration features and
actual properties of the jacket’s structural members,
the structural model reported in Fig. 2 was built.
The push-over analysis has been carried out by
considering the new site metocean conditions, with
particular reference to the most critical environ-
mental loading conditions.
3/29/2017 9:43:07 AM
 A minimum value of RSR = 1.55, correspond-
ing to an incoming direction of wave loads of 0°
North has been determined as the ratio between
a base shear at collapse of 3248 kN and a 100-yrs
environmental load base shear of 2092 kN.
The first and the last step of the collapse analy-
sis carried out, with relevant results in terms of
local plasticity outcomes and global base shear,
are represented in Fig. 3 (still relevant to 0° north
incoming direction).
The obtained RSR is slightly lower than the
required RSR  =  1.6, set as target by considering
the specific platform’s destination.
If the value RSR = 1.55 is introduced in a sys-
tem reliability analysis performed through the men-
tioned steps, i.e. by probabilistic characterization of
the annual extreme wave loads (for given environ-
mental heading) and calculation of notional yearly
probability of collapse of the platform according
to Eq. 5, a notional yearly probability of failure
of 3,11*10–3 is determined for RSR  =  1.55, to be
compared with the notional value of 2.46*10–3, cor-
responding to the target RSR = 1.6.
Figure 2. Final configuration model of example 2.
Figure 3. Collapse analysis—First and last step.
751
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 751
Consequently, an estimated service life of 19.5
years was determined for the subject platform, in
comparison with the established target value of 20
years, which would mean nearly 10 years of resid-
ual life without any renewal.
In conclusion, further 10 years of service life for
the examined platform can be considered acceptable
for the 100-yrs environmental conditions of Congo.
7 CONCLUSIONS
The issue discussed in this document is related to
the evaluation of the ultimate capacity and relevant
residual life of existing fixed offshore platforms,
which, whenever subject to a reassessment analy-
sis, are not complying with the required safety level
for their structural components or, to some extent,
for their system capacity.
A system approach has been introduced as
also allowed and recognized by the most updated
international standard of the sector, such as ISO
19902:2007 Standard.
By the adoption of a simplified formulation
of the whole platform structure system reliability,
which relates in a closed form the yearly probabil-
ity of failure to the value of reserve strength ratio
(RSR) of the existing platform, it has been shown
it is possible to evaluate the notional risk level asso-
ciated to the calculated RSR. This can be eventu-
ally compared with the minimum required safety
target and, as in the presented examples, to have
a final estimation of the maximum environmental
governing load which an existing platform is still
capable to cope with, or the expected residual life
in a new installation site for a reused platform.
REFERENCES
API, American Petroleum Institute, Recommended
Practice for Planning, Designing and Constructing
Fixed Offshore Platforms-API RP2A-WSD, 21st edi-
tion, Errata and Supplement 2, October 2005.
Bea, R.G. Reliability Based Requalification Criteria for
Offshore Platforms, OMAE vol. 2, 1994.
Copello, S. Petrillo, F., Gaugenrieder, S. A system
approach for evaluating residual life of existing fixed
offshore platform, Proc. Offshore Mediterranean Con-
ference, OMC 2015.
Copello, S., Magliano, M., Manera, A. Minimum
Requirements for Decision Making and Maintenance
of Existing Fixed Offshore Structures OMC 2016.
ISO 19902:2007, Petroleum and Natural Gas Industries –
Fixed Steel Offshore Structures.
RINA Rules for Classification of Steel Fixed Offshore
Platforms, 2015 Edition.
Rizzo C.M. (2007): Application of Reliability Analysis to
the Fatigue of Typical Welded Joints of Ships, Schiff-
stechnik/Ship Technology Research 54, 89–100.
3/29/2017 9:43:07 AM
MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Numerical validation tests of a damage assessment tool based

on super-element method within the scope of A.D.N. regulations

S. Paboeuf & Y.P. Sone Oo

Bureau Veritas, Marine and Offshore Division, France

H. Le Sourne
GeM UMR 6183 CNRS, Institut Catholique d’Arts et Métiers, France

ABSTRACT: For the evaluation of structural crashworthiness for inland vessels, A.D.N. Regulations
proposed Finite Element Analysis to determine the risk of cargo tank rupture. However, using such
method can be very time consuming and expensive. In this context, ICAM and Bureau Veritas have been
involved in the development of an intermediate damage assessment tool called SHARP based on the
super-element method. Some validation tests have already been performed on ocean-going tanker and
FPSO application cases. Nevertheless, the validity of the software still needs to be verified for inland
applications. Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to compare and validate the results of SHARP with
Non-linear Finite Element Explicit Code, LS-DYNA within the scope of A.D.N. Regulations. It is found
out that SHARP can be applicable in the place of LS-DYNA. However, the tool still requires some more
developments regarding the geometries of the striking ship bows and the failure modelling. In this paper,
therefore, the comparison has been made by also taking into account the development that is needed and
finally, the advantages and limitations of the proposed method are exposed.

1 INTRODUCTION and rapidly analyze ship collisions and its user

Nowadays, due to the continuous increase in inland
waterway navigation, there has been a higher risk
of collisions, groundings, and of other undesired
events. Especially for inland ships carrying dan-
gerous goods, the consequences of ship collision
would lead to serious environmental pollution as
well as economic losses. Therefore, rules have been
published by A.D.N. Regulations which contain
the requirements for the design and construc-
tions of inland vessels carrying dangerous goods.
According to A.D.N., the risk of cargo tank failure
of the alternative design should be lower than or
equivalent to the conventional construction. This
approach has been clearly described in the A.D.N.
Regulations (2015) and consists in determining the
probability of cargo tank rupture using Finite Ele-
ment Analysis (FEA). However, such numerical
approach is often time consuming and very expen-
sive, and therefore, is usually prohibited in the pre-
liminary design phases.
In this context, ICAM and Bureau Veritas have
been involved in the development of a simplified
damage assessment tool called SHARP based on
the super-element method. The advantage of this
newly developed tool is its capability to effectively
friendly graphical interface. Within a short amount
of time, it is possible to cover several collision sce-
narios with the use of SHARP. In addition, it is
also relatively easy to consider different structural
configurations such as stiffener locations, scant-
lings and so on and thus, can be used to optimize
the ship structures with regards to the collision
aspects.
In the paper of Paboeuf et  al. (2016), it has
already been explained about super-element
method and its applicability for A.D.N. Regula-
tions. However, the results have not been validated
yet. Therefore, the main purpose of this research
is to compare and validate the results of SHARP
with those of Non-linear Finite Element Explicit
Code, LS-DYNA within the scope of A.D.N.
Regulations. The results are compared in terms of
dissipated energies as well as penetrations into the
struck ships. Different collision scenarios, differ-
ent ship bows as well as other important param-
eters such as material failure strain and so on are
defined according to A.D.N. Regulations. A brief
description of A.D.N. alternative construction
method is also presented. Finally, the advantages
and the limitations of the super-element method
are exposed.

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 2 A.D.N. REGULATIONS
2.1 General
A.D.N. is the European Agreement concerning
the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods
by Inland Waterways. It was issued in Geneva on
26th May, 2000 during the occasion of a Diplo-
matic Conference held under the joint auspices of
the United Nations Economic Commission for
Europe (UNECE) and the Central Commission
for the Navigation of Rhine (CCNR). It entered
into force on 29th February, 2008.
A.D.N. consists of a main legal text (the Agree-
ment itself) and annexed Regulations and aims at:
• ensuring a high level of safety for interna-
tional carriage of dangerous goods by inland
waterways;
• contributing effectively to the protection of the
environment by preventing any pollution result-
ing from accidents or incidents during such car-
riage; and
• facilitating transport operations and promoting
international trade in dangerous goods.
2.2 Alternative design approach
According to A.D.N. Regulations, alternative
design vessel fitted with cargo tanks of capacity
exceeding the maximum allowable one (but not
exceeding 1000 m3) and/or deviating from the min-
imum distance between outer side shell and cargo
tank, may be permitted if the ship is protected by a
more crashworthy side wall. This shall be done by
comparing the risk of cargo tank failure between
conventional construction and alternative one.
Referring to A.D.N., the risk of cargo tank
rupture due to ship collision can be described by
Equation 1 below:
R P.C (1)
where R = risk [m2]; P = probability of cargo tank
rupture; and C  =  consequence (measure of dam-
age) of cargo tank rupture [m2].
The probability of cargo tank rupture P depends
on the probability distribution of the available col-
lision energy which the structures of the struck
ship can absorb without any damage to the cargo
tank. This probability can be reduced by improving
the crashworthiness of the struck ship. The conse-
quence C of cargo spillage stands for the affected
area around the struck ship.
2.3 Calculation steps
To calculate the probability of cargo tank rup-
ture and the associated collision energy absorbing
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 754
capacity, A.D.N. suggested 13  calculation steps.
Only the summary of those steps will be described
in this paper and for further details, refer to Sec-
tion 9.3.4.3 of A.D.N. Regulations (2015).
Step 1 includes preparation of a reference design
based on the alternative design. Both designs
should be in accordance with a recognized classi-
fication society.
Step 2 defines the collision locations which can
be divided into two categories as; vertical collision
locations and longitudinal collision locations. The
vertical impact locations are determined by using
minimum and maximum draughts of the colliding
ships. On the other hand, three locations are sug-
gested to determine the longitudinal impact loca-
tions such as:
• at bulkhead;
• between two webs; and
• at web.
Therefore, a total of 9 impact locations are
required to be analyzed for Type C vessels.
Step 3 aims at determining the probability of
collision location to be struck by defining associ-
ated weighting factors.
In step 4, collision energy absorbing capacity is
determined for each collision location defined in
the previous steps 2 and 3 with the use of Finite
Element Analysis. This energy is the amount of
collision energy absorbed by the structure of the
struck ship up to the initial rupture of the cargo
tank.
The following two impact scenarios shall be
considered:
• Scenario I: Push barge bow with 55 degree colli-
sion angle;
• Scenario II: V-shape bow with 90  degree colli-
sion angle.
In addition, the following assumptions are made
for both struck and striking vessels:
• The struck ship is considered at rest, while the
striking ship has a constant speed of 10 m/s.
• The bow of the striking ship is assumed to be
rigid while the structure of the struck ship is
considered deformable.
In total, 36 finite element computations have to
be simulated corresponding to 9 impact locations
and 2 bow shapes, each case for reference design
and alternative design.
Steps 5 to 11 are dedicated to determine the
overall total probability of cargo tank rupture for
both colliding vessels.
From steps 12 to 13, formulae are given to check
if the alternative design is acceptable by compar-
ing the risk of cargo tank failure between those two
designs.
3/29/2017 9:43:08 AM
 2.4 Determination of the collision energy
absorbing capacity
A.D.N. suggested using Finite Element Analy-
sis to determine the collision energy absorbing
capacity. The chosen FE code, however, must be
capable of taking into account both geometri-
cal and material non-linear effects. Examples of
the applicable codes include LS-DYNA, PAM-
CRASH, ABAQUS and so on. The calculations
shall be validated by a recognized classification
society.
FE models should be developed for both ref-
erence design and alternative design. Each model
should be able to capture plastic deformations
corresponding to the impact scenarios. The sec-
tion of the cargo area should be modelled under
the supervision of a recognized classification
society.
All three translational degrees of freedom are
to be restrained at both ends of the modelled sec-
tion. The global horizontal hull girder bending of
the vessel is not considered in most collision cases.
After generating the FE model, it is imperative
to perform a trial collision calculation to make
sure that there is no plastic deformation near the
constraint boundaries or else the model should
be extended. The collided area of the structures
should have a sufficiently fine mesh, while a more
coarse mesh is applied for the other parts of the
model. The fineness of the element mesh must be
adequate to capture the realistic rupture of ele-
ments including local folding. The maximum ele-
ment size used should not exceed 200  mm in the
collision areas. The ratio between the longer and
the shorter shell element edge should be smaller
than the value of three. In addition, the ratio
between element length and element thickness
must be greater than five. Other values shall be
in accordance with the recognized classification
society.
Plate structures, such as shell, webs, stringers,
etc. can be modelled as shell elements and stiff-
eners as beam elements, also taking into account
cut-outs and manholes in the collision areas. When
making the FE calculation, the ‘node on segment
penalty’ method shall be activated for the contact
option, for example, “contact_automatic_single_
surface” in LS-DYNA, “self-impacting” in PAM-
CRASH and so on.
3 SUPER-ELEMENT METHOD
The basic idea of the so-called “super-element
method” consists of splitting the vessel into several
structural macro-components known as super-
elements. A closed-form analytical expression
755
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 755
giving the resistant force as a function of the ele-
ment indentation is used to characterize these ele-
ments, also see Lützen et  al. (2000). During the
collision process, the energy absorption capacity,
collision forces and the penetration into the struck
ship are evaluated along with the activation of
the super-elements involved in the process. This is
done according to the upper-bound theorem stated
by Jones (1997).
Mathematically, the maximal force causing the
collapse of a given super-element with volume V
can be expressed by equating the external energy
and the internal energy rates as shown in Equa-
tion 2 below:
F δ ∫∫∫ σ iij ij dV (2)
v
where δ = the striking ship surge velocity; σij = stress
tensor of the super-element; εij = strain rate tensor;
and V = the component volume.
To derive the force F analytically, the following
hypotheses are made:
• The materials of the elements are assumed to be
perfectly rigid-plastic to avoid strain hardening
and strain rate effects.
• Shear effects near the plate edges are neglected
so that the total internal energy rate is obtained
by the sum of the contribution of bending and
membrane effects, which are assumed to be com-
pletely uncoupled.
For example, for a plate in a plane-stress state,
assuming that bending effects are confined inside a
certain number m of plastic hinge lines, the bend-
ing E b and membrane energy rates E m can be cal-
culated by using the following two formulae (Eqs.
3 and 4):
E b ∑ θ l
m
M k =1 k k
(3)
2σ 0t p
E m = ∫∫ ε11 2222 + ε12
1 +ε
2
111ε222 ⋅ dA
1 +ε
2
(4)
3 A
where M0  =  the fully plastic bending moment; A
and tp  =  the area and the thickness of the plate
respectively; and θk and lk  =  the rotation and the
length of the hinge number k respectively.
Consider that a ship moving with initial veloc-
ity V1 collides another ship moving with velocity
V2 at an impact angle φ as shown in Figure 1, the
corresponding super-elements can be classified as
follows:
1. Hull, double hull, longitudinal bulkhead;
2. Vertical bulkhead, frame;
3. Beam (secondary stiffeners); and
4. Horizontal (deck, bottom, stringer, etc.).
3/29/2017 9:43:08 AM
 Figure 2. Typical type C vessel for inland navigation.

Figure 1. Classification of super-elements.

4 DESCRIPTIONS OF THE
INVESTIGATED VESSELS

4.1 Struck ship

4.1.1 Main characteristics
The struck ship used in this research is a typi-
cal type C inland double hull tanker as shown in
Figure 2. It is taken from the database of Bureau
Veritas, constructed and equipped according to
the requirements given by A.D.N. Regulations. A
typical section view of the web frame is given in
Figure 3. It has the following main characteristics: Figure 3. Typical mid-ship section (web frame) of the
struck ship.
• Length overall: 125 m;
• Breadth: 11.4 m;
• Draught: 4.5 m;
• Depth: 6 m;
• Cargo tank capacity: 378 m3 (<380 m3);
• Service speed: 11.4 kts.

4.1.2 Modelling
The struck ship is modelled both in LS-DYNA Figure 4. Struck ship model in LS-DYNA.
and SHARP in accordance with the requirements
given by A.D.N. Regulations.
Figure 4 shows the modelling of the struck ship
in LS-DYNA. It can be seen that only the section
consisting of three cargo holds was modelled. The
rest of the ship was taken into account by defining
a rigid body on the two end bulkheads and was
characterized by the ship’s true mass, inertia and
the center of gravity. In the collision area, the max-
imum size of the element used is 132  x  150  mm.
All the other parameters such as the ratio between Figure 5. Struck ship model in SHARP.
longer and shorter shell element edge and the ratio
between element length and element thickness also efficient as compared with Hughes-Liu shell ele-
follow exactly as recommended by A.D.N. Regula- ments. Hughes-Liu beam element formulation was
tions. Belytschoko-Tsay formulation was used for applied for the stiffeners as this type of beam does
the shell elements as it is more computationally not produce strains during rigid body rotations.

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 A complete model of the struck ship was built in the loose of stiffness of the super-elements such as
SHARP as shown in Figure 5. However, details of side shells and stiffeners. As it will be shown later, a
the structures are defined only in the collision area. better modelling of plates and beam failure is cur-
rently the main improvement needed for the tool
4.1.3 Materials SHARP. So, in this paper, only the results of SHARP
The material of the struck ship is shipbuilding which considered the modified rupture strain will be
steel—Grade A with the following properties: used to compare with the LS-DYNA results.
• Young Modulus: 210 000 MPa;
• Yield Strength: 250 MPa; 4.2 Striking ship
• Ultimate Strength: 512 MPa.
4.2.1 Main characteristics
Two materials were defined in LS-DYNA, namely, Two striking ship bows were defined according
piecewise-linear plasticity and rigid material. A piece- to the geometries given by A.D.N. Regulations,
wise-linear plasticity material is used to define a true namely;
stress-strain relation suggested by A.D.N. while rigid
• V-shape bow; and
material is for defining a rigid body which represents
• Push barge bow.
the true mass of the struck ship.
On the other hand, a true stress-strain relation Table 1 below shows the main characteristics of
cannot be applied in SHARP but instead, a plas- the two striking ships’ bows.
tic flow stress that will remain constant until the
rupture of the shell is used. Figure  6  shows the 4.2.2 Modelling
comparison of the material stress-strain relations Figure  7 and Figure  8 illustrate striking ship
considered in LS-DYNA and SHARP simulations. models with V-shape bow and push barge bow
extracted from LS-DYNA and SHARP respec-
4.1.4 Failure criterion tively. Note that only the fore part of the striking
A “classical” rupture strain value of 20% was
applied for the simulations in LS-DYNA. Here, Table 1. Main characteristics of striking vessels.
only the parts such as side shell, inner shell, etc.
which were subjected to excessive tension during V-shape bow Push barge bow
collision were considered to have ruptured. The
m m
rest of the components were considered to still pos-
sess enough strength for resisting the ship collision Length overall 85.95 88.5
without tearing. The corresponding failure strain Breadth 10.95 11.4
criterion were calculated by using Equation  5 as Draught 3.65 3.4
recommended by A.D.N.: Depth 4.6 4.32
t
ε f (l e ) = ε g + ε e . (5)
le

where εf  =  rupture strain; εg  =  uniform strain;

εe = necking; t = plate thickness; and le = individual
element length.
The rupture strain considered in SHARP, how-
ever, needed to be tuned in order to correctly model

Figure  7. V-shape striking ships in LS-DYNA and

SHARP.

Figure  6. Stress-strain relations considered in LS- Figure 8. Push barge striking ships in LS-DYNA and
DYNA and SHARP simulations. SHARP.

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 ship was needed to be modelled. The rest of the
striking ship was represented by defining a rigid
body with the associated inertia, true mass and the
center of gravity.
In addition, in order to define the required
hydrodynamic properties, see Le Sourne (2012),
two real ships which have similar bow geometries
as given by A.D.N. Regulations were chosen as
references. Both vessels are complied with the BV
Rules for Classification of Inland Navigation Ves-
sels NR 217. Note that the geometrical simplifica-
tions made when modelling the striking ship bows, Figure 10. Definition of impact locations in SHARP.
especially for the push barge bow, should also be
taken into account in the evaluation of the results.
Note that according to A.D.N. Regulations, both
striking ship bows were considered as rigid bows.

5 COLLISION SCENARIOS

5.1 Scenarios in LS-DYNA

The following five scenarios shown in Table 2 have
been defined in LS-DYNA in order to compare
with SHARP. A typical collision scenario (case 1)
for the LS-DYNA simulation is shown in Figure 9. Figure 11. View of ship collision scenario in SHARP—
case 1.

5.2 Scenarios in SHARP

impact point in order to take into account the vari-
The same scenarios as defined in Table 2 were con-
ation inherent to the method adopted by super-
sidered in SHARP. Moreover, additional 8 impact
elements, see Paboeuf et al. (2015). The results of
locations needed to be defined around the real
penetration and the total energy absorbing capac-
ity were taken as the average between these 9 points.
In Figure 10, it is shown how these points can be
Table 2. Collision scenarios. considered. The horizontal points were defined by
varying half of the frame spacing while the vertical
Bow Collision Longitudinal Vertical
variation could be obtained by summing/deduct-
Scenarios Type Angle° Position Position
ing half of the stiffener spacing. A typical view of
Case 1 V-shape 90 At web Under deck the ship collision scenario for SHARP simulation
Case 2 V-shape 90 Between webs Mid-depth is given in Figure 11.
Case 3 Push barge 55 At web Mid-depth
Case 4 Push barge 55 At bulkhead Above deck
Case 5 V-shape 90 At web Above deck 6 COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS

In order to validate the SHARP program, the fol-

lowing results have been compared between LS-
DYNA and SHARP calculations:
• Penetration into the struck ship; and
• Struck ship deformation energy.
Note that for each case considered, the failure
strain in LS-DYNA is 20% while that value has
been tuned in SHARP.

6.1 Case 1
Figure  9. View of ship collision scenario in LS-DY- Case 1 is the case in which the struck ship has been
NA—case 1. impacted by V-shape bow at an angle of 90 degree

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 with the speed 10 m/s. The impacted point is con-
sidered at web and under deck of the struck ship.
As can be seen in Figure 12, SHARP results are
close to LS-DYNA. The discrepancies between
the two computations are 3% for the penetration
and 24% for the deformation energy. However,
LS-DYNA results are higher for both values. The
reason is because in LS-DYNA, when collision
occurs, the weather deck was crushed and thus,
absorbed some energy during the process. On the
other hand, the weather deck in SHARP has not
been impacted at all. This is because in SHARP,
the elements are indepen dently activated when
collision occurs. (See Fig. 13 and Fig. 14).
According to A.D.N. Regulations, the computa-
tion will be stopped at 1 m penetration, i.e., when
Figure 12. Comparison of the results between SHARP
and LS-DYNA—case 1.
Figure  13. View of crushing of weather deck in
LS-DYNA.
Figure  14. View of the activated elements in SHARP
(weather deck has not been impacted at all).
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 759
the striking ship is in contact with the inner hull.
However, it can be observed that SHARP results
are higher than LS-DYNA around 1  m penetra-
tion. After that, it becomes more flexible at the end
of the simulation. This can be explained by two
reasons:
Firstly, the crushing of weather deck in LS-
DYNA leads to different boundary conditions for
the side shell in LS-DYNA and SHARP. In other
words, the side shell in LS-DYNA behaves like a
plate with three clamped ends and one moving
end (at weather deck). However, the side shell in
SHARP is considered with four clamped ends.
Secondly, in SHARP, it is assumed that when
the failure strain of the side shell exceeds the
predefined criterion, the related resistant force
is imposed to zero in the next time step. In other
words, after its failure, the side shell in SHARP
does not participate anymore to the overall struck
ship resistance, while in LS-DYNA, the crushing
resistance of the side shell will slowly decrease
until it reaches zero. This explains why the defor-
mation energies in SHARP are lower than that of
LS-DYNA at the end of the simulation.
6.2 Case 2
Case 2 is the case in which the struck ship has been
impacted by V-shape bow at an angle of 90 degree
with the speed 10 m/s. The impacted point is con-
sidered between webs and at mid-depth of struck
ship.
As can be seen in Figure 15, the SHARP results
correspond well with LS-DYNA. The discrepan-
cies between two computations are 2% for the pen-
etration and 18% for the deformation energy. The
LS-DYNA results are found out to be higher than
SHARP results. The reason is the same with case 1.
In Figure 16, it can be seen that the weather deck in
LS-DYNA bent a lot during the collision process.
On the other hand, the weather deck in SHARP
was not impacted at all.
Figure 15. Comparison of the results between SHARP
and LS-DYNA—case 2.
3/29/2017 9:43:13 AM
 Figure  16. View of bending of weather deck in
LS-DYNA.

Figure 17. Comparison of the results between SHARP

According to the A.D.N. Regulations, the com- and LS-DYNA—case 3.
putation will be stopped at 1  m penetration, i.e.,
when the striking ship is in contact with the inner
hull. And in Figure  15, it can be seen that the
deformation energy of SHARP at 1 m penetration
is almost the same as LS-DYNA. According to the
results, it can be said that SHARP results in case 2
correspond better than in case 1. That is to say the
bending of the deck from case 2 does not seem to
have as much influence as the crushing of the deck
from case 1.

6.3 Case 3 Figure  18. View of the side shell which has ruptured
being still there and resisting the collision—case 3.
Case 3 is the case in which the struck ship has
been impacted by push barge bow at an angle of
55  degree with the speed 10  m/s. The impacted
point considered is at web and mid-depth of the
struck ship.
As can be seen in Figure 17, the SHARP results
for case 3 are not in well agreement with LS-DYNA.
However, this is the only case in which the results
are taken at the penetration damage of about 5.8 m
for both SHARP and LS-DYNA. The reason is
that the striking ship has already penetrated more
than half the breadth of the struck ship and so,
the simulation has to be terminated. Nevertheless,
the trends of LS-DYNA and SHARP are similar
before 1 m penetration and after 4 m penetration. Figure  19. Comparison of the crushing resistance of
It is seen that LS-DYNA curve goes up suddenly at the side shell between LS-DYNA and SHARP.
the penetration value of about 5.8 m. This is due to
the striking ship reaching the centerline bulkhead DYNA and SHARP are very different in nature
of the struck ship. as well as in amplitudes. It is seen that the resist-
The reason why LS-DYNA curve has the ance given by LS-DYNA is almost 6 times larger
decreasing positive slope is because the side shell than the one calculated by SHARP. This is due to
which has ruptured will continue to resist the colli- the fact that the penetration is very localized which
sion (See Fig. 18). On the other hand, in SHARP, leads to rapid rupture of the side shell in SHARP
after the side shell breaks, nothing is there to while this is not the case in LS-DYNA.
resist the collision anymore and thus, the crush-
ing resistance is assumed to have dropped to zero.
6.4 Case 4
The crushing forces obtained from LS-DYNA and
SHARP are compared in Figure 19. Case 4 is the case in which the struck ship has
According to Figure  19, it is obvious that the been impacted by push barge bow at an angle of
side shell impact resistances calculated from LS- 55  degree with a constant speed of 10  m/s. The

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 impacted point is located at bulkhead and just
above deck of the struck ship.
As can be seen in Figure 20, the SHARP results
are in quite good agreement with LS-DYNA
results. The discrepancies between both compu-
tations are 4% for the penetration and 21% for
the deformation energy. It should be noted that
A.D.N. Regulations only suggest using the defor-
mation energy before the initial rupture of the
cargo tank, i.e., when the striking ship has pen-
etrated 1  m into the struck ship. It is found out
that struck ship resistance calculated by SHARP
is lower at the start of the simulation and becomes
higher when the penetration is around 1  m. The
reason for this discrepancy is probably due to the
geometrical simplications made during modelling
of the push barge striking bow.
6.5 Case 5
Case 5 is the case in which the struck ship has been
impacted perpendicularly by V-shape bow with the
speed 10  m/s. The impacted point considered is
located at web and just above deck of the struck ship.
As can be seen in Figure 21, the SHARP results
correspond well with LS-DYNA. The discrepancies
Figure 20. Comparison of the results between SHARP
and LS-DYNA—case 4.
Figure 21. Comparison of the results between SHARP
and LS-DYNA—case 5.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 761
Table 3. Summary of the result discrepancy.
Scenarios Penetration Deformation energy
Case 1 3% 24%
Case 2 2% 18%
Case 3* – 1%
Case 4 4% 21%
Case 5 10% 6%
*Note that result of case 3 is compared only at the same
penetration of 5.8 m.
between these two computations are 10% for the
penetration and 6% for the deformation energy.
In this case, SHARP remains conservative. If we
analyze the dissipated energies after 1  m of pen-
etration as suggested by A.D.N. Regulations, it is
found out that there is some discrepancy (about
50%). The reason for this should be investigated
more in the near future.
6.6 Overall analysis
According to the results from case 1 to case 5
(Fig.  12 to Fig.  21), it can be observed that with
the modified rupture strain values, SHARP results
are in good accord with LS-DYNA results except
for case 3. However, it should be noted that cases
3 and 4 involve a striking push barge bow whose
shape has been modelled in SHARP with a lot of
geometrical simplifications.
The dissipated energies calculated by LS-DYNA
are found to be higher (around 20%) than those as
assessed by SHARP in most of the cases except in
cases 3 and 5. This is due to the fact that, for the
inland vessels where the height of struck and strik-
ing ships are similar, the weather deck and the bot-
tom are simultaneously deformed in LS-DYNA
even if they are not directly impacted. On contrary,
the super-elements are independently activated
upon contact in SHARP. In other words, some
coupling between decks, bottom and side shell
needs to be taken into account even though they
are not being impacted. Analytical formulations to
consider this effect have already been developed by
Buldgen et al. (2013) but not implemented in the
solver yet.
The summary of penetration and deformation
energy at the end of the simulation, i.e., when there
is no more deformation are given in Table 3 below.
The value presented for SHARP is obtained by
averaging the 9 scenarios results.
7 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, some comparisons of the penetrations
and deformation energies calculated by analytical
3/29/2017 9:43:16 AM
 solver SHARP and non-linear finite element code
LS-DYNA have been presented. Collision sce-
narios between inland ships have been considered
in the framework of A.D.N. Regulations. Based
on the results, the following conclusions could be
made in order to improve the SHARP tool for the
general application cases:
• As geometrical simplifications, that have to be
made for modelling the barge bow, lead to some
discrepancy, some developments need to be per-
formed to allow a more precise description of
the barge bow shape;
• The solver needs to be improved regarding the
material failure modelling; and
• The coupling effect between different super-ele-
ments should also be considered.
Nevertheless, SHARP still shows the promis-
ing results considering the time required for the
simulations (a few seconds) and its user-friendly
graphical interface. The method has already been
validated for marine and offshore vessels and some
improvements are necessary to take into account
the inland vessel structural arrangement. Indeed,
the main drawbacks are that the elements are
independently activated only when they are being
impacted by the striking ship and the elements are
assumed to have been completely failed when their
effective plastic strain exceeds the criterion. In real-
ity, these elements will still resist the collision and
absorb certain amount of energy during the proc-
ess. Therefore, for the time being, some necessary
762
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 762
developments are undergoing in order to improve
the tool into a more effective and reliable one when
it comes to ship collision analysis.
REFERENCES
Buldgen, L., Le Sourne, H., & Philippe, R. (2013). A sim-
plified analytical method for estimating the crushing
resistance of an inclined ship side. Marine Structures
(Vol. 33), 265–296.
Jones, N., 1997. Structural Impact. Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press.
Le Sourne, H. (2007). A ship collision analysis program
based on super-element method coupled with large
rotational ship movement analysis, 4th International
Conference on Collision and Grounding of Ships,
pp. 131–138, Hamburg, Germany.
Lützen, M., Simonsen, B.C. and Pedersen, P.T. (2000).
Rapid prediction of damage to struck and striking
vessels in a collision event. In SSC/SNAME/ASNE
Symposium.
Paboeuf, S., Le Sourne, H., Brochard, K., Besnard, N.
(2015). A damage assessment tool in ship collisions,
RINA Conference, Damaged Ship III, London, UK.
Paboeuf, S., Uzögüten, H., & Le Sourne, H. (2016).
Crashworthiness of an alternative construction within
the scope of A.D.N. Regulations using super-elements
method. Proceedings of the ICCGS 2016. Ulsan,
Korea.
Regulations, A.D.N. (2015). European Agreement con-
cerning the International Carriage of Dangerous
Goods by Inland Waterways (Vol. I). New York and
Geneva: United Nations.
3/29/2017 9:43:17 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Strength enhancement of cracked swash bulkheads of jack-up spud-can

S. Saad-Eldeen
Centre for Marine Technology and Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de
Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal (on leave from the Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Department, Faculty of
Engineering, Port Said University, Port Fouad, Egypt)

Y. Garbatov & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa,
Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: The aim of the present study is to analyse the effect of different retrofitting techniques in
enhancing the strength of cracked swash bulkheads subjected to compressive loading. A series of finite
element analyses are performed for an internal swash bulkhead of a jack-up sup can, in which several
cracks were observed around the corners of the existing openings during the maintenance operations.
Different reinforcement arrangements, including a collar and doubler plate are used and their effect on
enhancing the stress-strain response of the swash bulkhead are analysed. Different loading conditions for
which the swash bulkheads are subjected during the service life are considered. Several conclusions are
stated, which may benefit the repair and maintenance of offshore jack-up rigs.

1 INTRODUCTION load, the reduction of the ultimate carrying capac-

Jack-up drilling rigs are used to drill offshore oil
and gas wells in water depths up to 100  m. The
rigs are supported by spud-can foundations, fitted
to the end of the extendable platform legs. Upon
arrival to the site, the jack-up extends the legs to
the sea floor and self-elevates out of the water.
This action forces the spud-cans into the seabed
until soil capacity is attained.
At the end of the spud-can there is a conical
point to increase the horizontal restraint at sites
with small penetration. Therefore, the spud-cans
act as temporary foundations for the jack-up struc-
ture. During leg penetration into the seabed, the
spud-cans are subjected to high stresses due to the
impact load and the weight of the jack-up, which
may lead to crack initiation and irregular deforma-
tion. Therefore, the spud-cans are strengthening
internally by a swash bulkhead.
For cracked structures, especially plates, stiffened
panels and box girders, several analyses are per-
formed to identify the residual strength under com-
pression, tension or shear by many authors as for an
example by Riks et al. (1992) Brighenti (2005), Paik
et al. (2005) and Gui-jie and De-yu (2012).
Saad-Eldeen et  al. (2016b) carried out a series
of experimental tests for plate specimens having a
central elliptical opening with and without locked
cracks. It was concluded that with increasing the
crack length, in a diagonal direction to the applied
ity is almost linear. With increasing the crack
length, the dissipated energy up to the ultimate
capacity is decreasing nonlinearly and it is affected
by the combined action of the initial imperfec-
tions, crack length and applied load.
As a temporary solution for cracked structures,
crack arresters may be used. Saad-Eldeen et  al.
(2016a) studied numerically the effect of emergency
repaired cracks on the strength capacity of single
hull structures. The effect of several crack lengths
and locations around the midship section was ana-
lysed. The effect of temporarily crack arresters as
a patch/stiffener arrester on recovering the reduced
structural bending capacity is analysed. It was con-
cluded that the presence of crack arrester changes
the stress distribution around the crack location
and the neighbour structural elements, leading to
a less stress concentration.
Cheng et al. (2014) investigated the efficiency of
the reinforcement types as Flat Stiffener (FS) and
Longitudinal Stiffener (LS) on the compressive
strength of simply supported rectangular plates
with single-row continuous elliptical holes. The
effect of several parameters including the plate
aspect ratio, stiffener slenderness ratio, opening
spacing and size to the ultimate strengths is ana-
lysed. It was concluded that both opening spac-
ing and plate aspect ratios have negligible effect of
the ultimate strength. Based on the experimental
and numerical analysis, the reinforcement using

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 continuous longitudinal stiffener shows better
efficiency.
For tubular joints, Choo et al. (2004) performed
a parametric numerical study on the static strength
of collar plate reinforced Circular Hollow Sec-
tion (CHS) X-joint. From the range of geomet-
ric parameters investigated, it was concluded
that the collar plate reinforcement is found to be
more effective than its equivalent doubler plate to
improve the static strength of the joints.
Chen and Chen (2016) performed a numerical
investigation on the static behaviour of collar and
doubler plates reinforced SHSX-joints under in-
plane bending. It was concluded that the stresses
at the intersection region between collar plates and
braces step firstly into the plastic range and the in-
plane bending ultimate capacity of joints signifi-
cantly increased with the increase of reinforcement
plate’s thickness.
The aim of the present analysis is to investigate
the effectiveness of different reinforcement tech-
niques; collar and doubler plate, in enhancing the
strength of the cracked internal swash bulkheads
subjected to compressive loadings.
2 SWASH BULKHEAD SPECIFICATIONS
AND MODELING
The swash bulkhead plate is a structural part of
a jack-up spud-can, in which an elliptical open-
ing was introduced, see Figure  1. During regular
maintenance of the spud-can, several cracks were
observed in the internal swash bulkhead, as may be
seen in Figure 1. The as built thickness of the swash
bulkhead is 12 mm, the plate depth (h) and breadth
(b) are 1200 and 700  mm, respectively. An ellipti-
cal opening was introduced with a depth (h1) and
breadth (b1) of 600 mm and 400 mm respectively, see
Figure 1. Original swash bulkhead inside a real jack-up
spud-can.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 764
Figure 2. As obvious from Figure 1, several cracks
exist and there is no reinforcement for the open-
ing. Therefore, the purpose of the present analysis
is to investigate the effect of different reinforce-
ment arrangements; collar and doubler plate, see
Figure 2, on enhancing the load carrying capacity
of the swash bulkhead.
For that purpose, the general non-linear finite
element commercial code—ANSYS (2009) has
been used. The finite element analysis utilizes the
full Newton–Raphson equilibrium iteration scheme
to solve the geometric and material nonlinearities,
and the large displacement option is activated, in
addition to the activation of the arc-length method,
which enables the Newton-Raphson equilibrium
iterations to converge along an arc, thereby often
preventing divergence, even when the slope of the
load vs. deflection curve becomes zero or negative.
Moreover, the automatic time stepping features is
employed to determine the appropriate load steps.
The entire finite element model has been gener-
ated using the SHELL 181 element, which is suit-
able for analysing thin to moderately-thick shell
structures, linear, large rotation, and/or large strain
nonlinear applications. The shell model consists of
four-nodes, six degrees of freedom at each node.
The swash bulkhead plating was made from steel
material with a yield stress and Young’s modulus
of 235 MPa and 206 GPa, respectively. During the
finite element analysis, the stress-strain model is
elastic-perfectly plastic.
In order to simulate the swash bulkhead bound-
ary conditions, the unloaded edges are rotationally
restrained, simulating the existence of two stiff-
eners along the unloaded edges, as may be seen
in Figure 1. The rest of the considered boundary
condition at the upper and lower loaded edges are
presented in Figure 3.
Figure  2. Swash bulkhead boundary conditions and
subjected loading.
3/29/2017 9:43:17 AM
 3 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
AND RESULTS

Before conducting a reliable finite element analy-

sis, the appropriate mesh density, represented by
element size has to be checked. Therefore, the
first step of the current analysis is to find out the
most appropriate element size. Four element sizes
have been selected as 10 mm, 15 mm, 20 mm and
25 mm, respectively. The model is subjected to uni-
axial compressive load along the short edges, case
A, as presented in Figure 3 (left).
The considered initial imperfection amplitude is
1 mm with three half waves within the depth of the
swash bulkhead, where the middle half-sine wave is
in the upward direction. The initial imperfections
are based on the Fourier series, Eq. (1), where ω0 Figure 4. Force-vertical displacement relationship as a
is the imperfection amplitude, h is the depth of the function of different element sizes.
swash bulkhead, w is the swash bulkhead width,
m and n are the number of half waves within the Table 1. Effect of element size.
depth and width of the swash bulkhead, respec-
tively, x ∈ [0, h] and y ∈ [0, b]. ES, mm 25 20 15 10

mπ nπ y FE, kN 856.02 855.60 854.67 824.37

ω ω 0 sin sin (1) Gradient   0.08 0.18 6.06
h b

The relationship between the force and vertical

displacement for different element sizes, ES are
presented in Figure 4 and given in
Table 1. It can be seen that the element size only
affects the ultimate load carrying capacity, for
which with decreasing the element size with equal
value, the ultimate capacity decreases nonlinearly,
see Table 1. Therefore, the concept of the gradient
(Saad-Eldeen et al., 2012) is applied to find out the
element size. The gradient formula is presented in
Eq (2), where Fi is the ultimate force capacity at the
specified element size, ESi.

Figure  5. Gradient of ultimate capacity vs. element

size.

The relationship between the gradient and ele-

ment size is presented in Figure  5, which shows
a change in the behaviour of the curve at ES of
20 mm. Therefore, the ES of 20 mm will be consid-
ered as an appropriate element size fort the present
analysis.

ΔF ( ES ) Fi Fi +1
Gradient = lim ≅ (2)
ΔES → 0 ΔES Si − ES
ES Si +1

In order to enhance the strength of the swash

bulkhead, two reinforcement arrangements will
Figure 3. Swash bulkhead reinforcement arrangements. be applied: collar and doubler plate, as shown in

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 Figure 3. The effectiveness of each reinforcement Table 2. Effect of collar plate reinforcement.
arrangement will be investigated for different load-
ing conditions. Force, kN Increment % σu/σy
Two loading conditions will be applied to the
Without reinforcement 855.60 – 0.43
current analysis, the first case A, the uni-axial com-
With full collar 1068.04 19.89% 0.54
pressive load will act on the short edges, as shown
With corner collar 875.91 2.32% 0.44
in Figure 2 (left). In the second loading condition With central collar 920.91 7.09% 0.47
B, the uni-axial compressive load is acting on the
long edges, as shown in Figure 2 (right).

3.1 Loading condition A: uni-axial compression

along the short edge
For this loading condition, the uni-axial compres-
sive loading is applied along the short edge as may
be seen from Figure 2 (left).

3.1.1 Reinforcement using collar plate

The fitted collar plate is of a thickness of 12 mm
as the one of the base plate, with a width of 20 mm
at each side, see Figure 3 (left). Three layouts are
considered for the fitted collar plate; the first one is
full collar plate, in which the collar plate covers all
the opening edges (A0 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5). The second
layout, the collar plate covers the central edges of
the opening (A0 A5-A2 A3) and for the third layout,
the collar plate covers only the curved edges of the
opening; corner collar (A0 A1 A2-A3 A4 A5).
The resultant force-vertical displacement rela-
tionship for the three collar plate layouts is shown
Figure 6. It is obvious that the swash bulkhead with
a full collar plate layout shows higher load carry-
ing capacity of 19.89% than the swash bulkhead
without any reinforcements, as given in Table  2.
For the other two collar plate layouts; a central and
corner collar, it may be seen that the swash bulk-
head with a central collar shows a higher capacity
than the one with a corner collar. It is also notice-
able that the three collar plate layouts provide
enhancement of the load carrying capacity as well

Figure 7. Shear stresses distributions without reinforce-

ment (up) and with full collar plate (down).

as the ultimate strength than the one without any

Figure 6. Force-vertical displacement relationship as a
function of different collar plate reinforcement layout.
reinforcement, as tabulated in Table 2 and shown
in Figure  6. Therefore, it may be concluded that
the best collar plate layout is the full collar one fol-
lowed by the central and corner collar respectively.
The shear stress distributions for the swash bulk-
head, without reinforcement and with full collar
plate, are presented in Figure 7, in which the highly
stressed regions are concentrated at 45o from the
center of the ellipse, see Figure 7 (up), from which
the cracks may initiate and propagate with load-
ing, as observed during the regular maintenace
of the jack-up spud-can, see Figure 1. The rest of
the swash bulkhead is less stressed, Figure 7 (up).
In case of reinforcement with full collar plate,

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 Figure 7 (down), it is clear that the locations with Table 3. Effect of doubler plate reinforcement.
high stresses are transmitted to the collar plate
instead of the swash bulkhead, where the rest of Force, kN Increment % σu/σy
swash bulkhead is almost the same as in the case
Without reinforcement 855.60 – 0.43
without reinforcement. In both cases, it is visible
With full doubler 1096.90 22.00% 0.56
that the stress distribution is nonuniform due to
With corner doubler 876.97 2.44% 0.44
the presence of the opening. With central doubler 928.83 7.88% 0.47
3.1.2 Reinforcement using doubler plate
The second reinforcement arrangement is the dou-
bler plate presented in Figure 3 (right), where the
fitted doubler plate is of a thickness of 12 mm as
the one of the base plate and extended to 20 mm
from the opening edge, as shown in Figure  3
(right). As for the collar plate, three layouts are
considered for the fitted doubler plate; the first
one is a full doubler plate, in which the doubler
plate is extended to cover 20 mm around the open-
ing edge (A6A7A8A9A10A11). The second layout is
the central doubler, for which the doubler plate is
extended to 20 mm from the central edges of the
opening (A6A11-A8A9) and the third layout is the
corner doubler, where the doubler covers only
20 mm away from the curved edges of the opening
(A6A7 A8-A9A10A11).
The corresponding ultimate load carrying
capacity and strength for each doubler plate layout Figure 8. Force-vertical displacement relationship as a
is presented in Table  3 and the force-vertical dis- function of different doubler plate reinforcement layout.
placement for each layout with respect to the swash
bulkhead without any reinforcement is shown in
Figure  8. It can be seen all three doubler layouts
show a higher strength capacity than the one with-
out any reinforcement, where the full doubler lay-
out shows the maximum load carrying capacity,
which is with 22% higher than the one without a
reinforcement.
On the other hand, the corner doubler plate
shows a small increase of the ultimate load car-
rying capacity of 2.44% with respect to the one
without reinforcement. It may be noticed that the
response of the full doubler is different from the
other two layouts, represented by a less developed
vertical displacement in the post-collapse regime.
In the same perspective as for the collar plate, the
three layouts of the doubler plate may be ordered
according to their effectiveness in enhancing the
ultimate load carrying capacity and ultimate Figure 9. Shear stress distributions for swash bulkhead
strength of the swash bulkhead as full, central and with full doubler plate.
corner doubler, respectively.
Figure 9 shows the shear stresses distribution for
the swash bulkhead with a full doubler plate, where layouts; full, corner and central, the doubler plate
the locations of high stresses are the same as for the show better enhancement of the ultimate load car-
one without out any reinforcement, Figure 7 (up) rying capacity of the swash bulkhead rather than
with less spread of the areas with high stresses. the collar plate, with its maximum enhancement
A plot of the increment percentage of the ulti- for the full doubler plate. Therefore, it may be
mate load carrying capacity with respect to the concluded that the reinforcement using a doubler
swash bulkhead without any reinforcement, for plate arrangement is better than the one of the col-
both reinforcement arrangements; collar and lar plate, with respect to the uni-axial compressive
doubler plates are presented in Figure 10. For all load along the short edges.

767

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 767 3/29/2017 9:43:20 AM

 Figure  10. Plot of both reinforcement layout and the
increment percentage of the ultimate load carrying
capacity.
Figure  11. Force-vertical displacement relationship
for long edge loading with full doubler and collar plate
layout.

3.2 Loading condition B: uni-axial compression

along the long edge Table 4. Effect of doubler and collar plate for long edge
For the second loading condition, B, the compres- loading.
sive load is applied to the long edges as may be Force, kN Increment % σu/σy
seen from Figure 3 (right). According to the analy-
sis performed above, it was concluded that the full Without reinforcement 1881.45 – 0.56
doubler plate showed a better enhancement of the With full collar 2129.83 11.66% 0.63
ultimate load carrying capacity than the full collar With corner doubler 2124.49 11.45% 0.63
plate. Therefore, the condition of long edge load-
ing will be applied only for both full doubler and
collar plate reinforcement layouts.
The force-vertical displacement relationship for
both reinforcement layouts is shown in Figure 11.
It may be seen that both reinforcement layouts
follow the same trend in both pre and post-col-
lapse regions, but the full collar plate shows a
slightly higher structural capacity than the dou-
bler plate one with 0.24% as may be seen from
Table  4, which is on the contrary for the edge
loading condition.
Therefore, it may be concluded that in the
case of long edge loading, both reinforcement
layouts; full collar and doubler plate give almost
the same enhancement of the strength capacity
with respect to the swash bulkhead without any
reinforcement. Figure  12  shows a comparison
between the increment percentage of the ultimate
load carrying capacity with respect to the swash
bulkhead without any reinforcement, with a full Figure 12. Comparison between reinforcement layouts
collar and double reinforcement layouts for dif- for different edge loading conditions.
ferent edge loading conditions. It is clear that
both reinforcement layouts; full collar and dou-
bler, increase the ultimate capacity of the swash shown in Figure 13, it is clear that both distribu-
bulkhead under short edge loading rather than tions are almost the same around the opening,
long edge loading. which confirm the same ultimate load carrying
The shear stresses distributions for the swash capacity showed by the two reinforcement layouts
bulkhead with a full collar and doubler plate are as can be seen from Table 4.

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Figure 13. Shear stresses distributions for swash bulk-
head with full collar and doubler plate under long edge
loading.
4 CONCLUSIONS
A series of finite element analyses have been car-
ried out for an internal swash bulkhead of a
jack-up spud-can using different techniques of
reinforcements.
In a condition of a short edge loading, the full
collar plate layout shows a higher load carrying
capacity than the one of a corner and central collar.
The effectiveness of different collar plate layouts
for enhancing the ultimate load carrying capacity
may be ordered as full collar, central and corner
collar respectively.
In the case of doubler plate it was observed that
all three doubler layouts show a higher strength
capacity than the one without any reinforcement
and can be ordered according to their effective-
ness as full doubler, central and corner doubler
respectively.
Based on the performed analysis of the condition
of edge compressive loading, it was observed that
the full doubler plate enhances the ultimate strength
769
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 769
of the swash bulkhead more than the full collar
plate.
For long edge loading, it was observed that
both reinforcement layouts; full collar and dou-
bler showed almost the same enhancement of the
strength capacity with respect to the swash bulk-
head without any reinforcement.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The first author has been funded by the Portu-
guese Foundation for Science and Technology
(Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia—FCT)
under contract SFRH/BPD/84823/2012.
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under Tension or Compression. Thin-Walled Struc-
tures, 43, 209–224.
Chen, Y. & Chen, D. 2016. Ultimate capacities formulae
of collar and doubler plates reinforced SHS X-joints
under in-plane bending. Thin-Walled Structures, 99,
21–34.
Cheng, B., Shi, P., Wang, J. & Li, C. 2014. Opening rein-
forcement for box-section walls containing continuous
elliptical holes in steel pylons. Journal of Construc-
tional Steel Research 103, 89–100.
Choo, Y. S., J.X., L., G.J., V.D.V. & J.Y.R., L. 2004. Static
strength of collar plate reinforced CHS X-joints
loaded by in-plane bending. Journal of Constructional
Steel Research, 60, 1745–1760.
Gui-Jie, S. & De-Yu, W. 2012. Residual ultimate strength
of open box girders with cracked damage. Ocean
Engineering, 43, 90–101.
Paik, J.K., Satish Kumar, Y.V. & Myung Lee, J. 2005.
Ultimate Strength of Cracked Plate Elements under
Axial Compression or Tension. Thin-Walled Struc-
tures, 43, 237–272.
Riks, E., Rankin, C.C. & Brogan, F.A. 1992. The Buck-
ling Behavior of a Central Crack in a Plate under Ten-
sion. Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 43, 529–548.
Saad-Eldeen, S., Garbatov, Y. & Guedes Soares, C.
2012. FE Parameters Estimation and Analysis of
Ultimate Strength of Box Girder. In: Guedes Soares,
C., Garbatov, Y., Sutulo, S. & Santos, T. (eds.) Mari-
time Technology and Engineering. Taylor & Francis
Group,London, UK, 331–338.
Saad-Eldeen, S., Garbatov, Y. & Guedes Soares, C.
2016a. Emergency repair of a single hull structure
with locked cracks. In: Guedes Soares, C. & Santos,
T. a. R. (eds.) Marine Technology and Engineering 3.
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Analysis of FPSO accident and incident data

U. Bhardwaj & A.P. Teixeira

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico Universidade de
Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

C. Guedes Soares
Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico Universidade de
Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Ocean Engineering Department, COPPE, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the results of an analysis performed to a large and descriptive dataset
of offshore accidents and incidents occurred from 1980 to 2005. The systematic analysis of dangerous
events in Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) and Floating Storage Units (FSU) allowed
the identification of the events that lead to accidents and incidents and to identify failure mechanisms
that can occur in these structures during their design life. Statistics are presented and discussed for the
types of accidents, their frequency and consequences. Such information is useful, for example, to compare
different design alternatives for Oil and Gas Production, in reviewing and improving safety regulations
and guidelines, in developing safer procedures for the operation and maintenance phase and when setting
priorities in terms of mitigation efforts.

1 INTRODUCTION maneuvers. Tug boat failure and the towing cable

Floating Production, Storage and Offloading
(FPSO) unit is the dominant floating production
system for offshore oil and gas fields. FPSOs are
effective development solutions for both deep-
water and ultra-deep-water fields and their main
advantage is the ability to store and process the
hydrocarbons.
Different authors have conducted studies on spe-
cific failure modes/mechanisms of FPSO systems
and their consequences. The failure modes of the
turret system of a FPSO have been analyzed by HSE
(2001). The collision risk involving FPSOs has been
quantitatively analyzed by Moan et al. (2002). They
have summarized accidental data to calculate the
probability of collision and to describe how acci-
dents induced by collisions may escalate. Chen &
Moan (2004) have developed a probabilistic model
to evaluate the collision risk between a FPSO and
a shuttle tanker with tandem offloading. Accept-
ance criteria for collision and contact accidents
have been discussed by Wang et al. (2003). Corro-
sion and fatigue time variant effects on FPSO hulls
have been studied (e.g Sun & Guedes Soares 2003;
Garbatov et al. 2004). Hazardous events have been
identified and characterized as high risk events for
five offloading operation stages (Elena et al., 2009).
These events are: Auxiliary Engine Failure, Change
of environmental conditions and execution of risky
failure and dynamic positioning system failure have
been the most common failure modes. Zhang et al.
(2016) have performed a reliability analysis based
on the weakest failure modes for side-by-side off-
loading mooring system of a FPSO. Vinnem (2007)
has provided possible risk factors and qualitative
estimations associated with offloading risk factors.
Fire risk on FPSOs has been analyzed quantita-
tively by Suardin et al. (2008), whereas Dan et al.
(2014) have also addressed the explosion risk.
FPSO accident and incident data provides
an important means to identify the main failure
modes/ mechanisms and the risk levels of the
FPSO systems and subsystems. Vinnem et  al.,
(2006) have conducted a statistical analysis of
dangerous occurrences in petroleum industry cov-
ering the period 1996–2004. This approach has
been extended with a collection and examination
of facts related to a specific event to develop risk
indicators (Skogdalen et  al. 2011). Skogdalen &
Vinnem (2012a) have combined incident investiga-
tion and QRA (Quantitative Risk Analysis) to bet-
ter understand the events leading to the accidents,
as well as their potential consequences.
Aven et  al. (2006) have presented a model
for qualitative and quantitative risk analysis of
hydrocarbon release, which is the major hazard
of offshore installation. Vinnem et  al. (2010)
have analyzed hydrocarbon releases and found

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 statistically significant correlations between their
root causes and the safety culture. Vinnem et al.
(2012) have further analyzed 175 hydrocarbon
leaks that occurred during maintenance work in
the period 2001 to 2010 and Vinnem (2013) has
developed failure models for these leaks. Finally,
Vinnem & Roed (2015) have presented root causes
of hydrocarbon leaks.
Several databases and reports are available with
accident and incident statistics for floating offshore
units. HSE (2003) presents offshore accident and Figure 1. Typical FPSO module layout.
incident statistics from 1996 to 2002 from the data-
base RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and
on the amount of gas produced, gas is either
Dangerous Occurrences Regulations). OGP (2010)
exported, reinjected, used as fuel, or a combination
covers only major accidents from 1970 to 2007
of the above. Since it is based on a ship, the FPSO
from WOAD (World Offshore Accident Database).
features several advantages (Shimamura, 2002) An
COES (2007) has covered only 2 years of data from
FPSO is faster to build compared to other floating
2003 to 2005. HSE (2007) covers data from 1980
structures such as Tension Leg Platform (TLP),
to 2005 obtained by pooling the databases—Sun
spars, semisubmersible, etc. Thus, an FPSO saves
Safety System (now ORION), Marine Accident
production and project cycle times. The FPSO has
Investigation Branch (MAIB), SINTEF Offshore
the ability to adapt with different water depths,
Blowout Database (BLOWOUT) and Worldwide
movable and easy to relocate, and is adaptable to
Offshore Accident Databank (WOAD) and remov-
work with or without other facilities such as plat-
ing the overlapping records. In addition to the full
forms (Shimamura, 2002). Since FPSO acts as
report containing specific results, HSE, (2007)
storage, expensive oil pipelines to onshore are not
data is also provided by a Microsoft Excel spread-
needed and thus projects in remote areas are more
sheet allowing the user to more easily interrogate the
viable to develop.
accident data. An extended version of HSE (2007)
Since the massive use and production of fuel oil
has been published by HSE (2009) that covers the
and natural gas, the search for oil fields is moving
period from 1990 to 2007, however the underlying
further away from onshore, eventually requiring
data are not provided in a spreadsheet format.
floating production systems like Floating Produc-
This paper aims at performing a qualitative
tion, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) and Floating
and quantitative analysis of hazardous events
Storage Units (FSU). FPSOs have a risk profile
occurred in FPSO units from 1980 to 2005. The
different from fixed platforms and commercial
hazardous events are provided by HSE (2007) and
trading tankers. Both accident and incident data
cover accident and incident events occurred in
of FPSOs (& FSUs) are important to improve
all offshore floating units in the UK Continental
their safer operation and reliability, and might be
Shelf (UKCS). As discussed above, the HSE (2007)
of interest to foresee what is expected from FPSO
spreadsheet has been adopted as it is the most com-
when used on an offshore expedition.
prehensive and descriptive dataset available. First
the events are characterized and then statistics are
presented and discussed for their type, frequency 2.2 FPSO failure modes
and consequences.
There are various ways to define failure modes.
One approach consists of defining them based on
the various FPSO systems, as shown below:
2 FPSO BASIC CONCEPTS
1. Loss of Position keeping
a. Mooring Failures
2.1 FPSO system
b. Dynamic Positioning Failures
An FPSO is typically based in a ship shaped vessel c. Rig Movement
with modular process equipment positioned on 2. Loss of Structural Integrity
the deck, as shown in Figure 1. The FPSO receives a. Hull failures
production fluids from one or a number of subsea b. Ballast Tank
oil reservoirs via risers. The fluid is then separated c. Support Structure
at the topside (vessel deck) into oil, gas, and water; d. Turret
then contaminants are reduced by a separation 3. Loss of Stability
system. Oil is stored in the vessel hull and then a. Ballast system Failure
offloaded to an oil tanker periodically. Depending b. Cargo loads

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 4. Loss of Marine Utility System like
a. Propulsion
b. Power Generation
c. Hydraulics
5. Collison with
a. Shuttle tank
b. Support vessel
c. Passing Vessel
6. Loss of Process System like
a. Fluid transfer System
b. Separation System
c. Storage System
d. Compression System
e. Offloading
f. Chemical Injection
g. Flare, vent and Blow down
h. Sulphate Removal
7. Loss of Utility System like system of
a. Fresh and Sea water
b. Compressed air
c. Nitrogen
d. Antifouling
e. Drains
3 ACCIDENT DATA FOR ALL FLOATING
UNITS
3.1 An overview of HSE data
A large and descriptive set of UK Continental
Shelf accident and incident data has been obtained
from HSE (2007). It is believed that such compila-
tion of information on FPSO accidents might be
the most comprehensive publicly available. How-
ever, the “real” number of accidents around the
world might be much higher. In 1999–2006 three
R&D projects were defined by the UK Health &
Safety Executive-Offshore Safety Division where
the main objective was to obtain complete sta-
tistics for accidents having occurred on floating
offshore units engaged in the oil and gas activities
on the UKCS over the period of 25 years, from
1980–2005.
Floating units were defined as comprising
MODU (Mobile drilling units), MOPU (Mobile
production units) and FPSO/FSU. MODU are
semi-submersibles, jackups, and ship involved
in drilling while MOPU are semi-submersibles,
jackups, and Tension Leg Platform involved in
production.
3.2 Basic concepts of accident data
The event is defined as a situation that has a poten-
tial to result into unwanted outcome. One accident
or incident may comprise a chain of events, e.g. a
blowout resulting in explosion, fire and oil spill.
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This means that one single accident or incident
may give rise to several events. The total number
of events is thus much higher than the total num-
ber of accidents recorded. Total number of events
is presented for different floating units in Table 1.
Population data in this context relates to the num-
ber of unit-years for each type of platform or
installation. Unit-years is defined as number of
platforms or installations operational each year
from 1980–2005. By interrogating relevant sources
holding such information, the number of unit-
years are obtained for each year and type of unit
for the UKCS in the period 1980–2005. To com-
pare hazardous scenarios among different installa-
tions, mean event frequency is defined as the ratio
of number of events to the unit-years.
As seen in Table  1 a total of 3709 events
occurred in 1830,5 unit-years dated from 1980 to
2005. Out of this 508 events were reported for 170
FPSOs and FSU unit-years which corresponds to
13.7% of total number of events. Their Mean Event
Frequency is calculated as 2,988 for 25 years which
is slightly higher than other floating units (Mobile
drilling/Production units). It can be concluded that
FPSO/FSUs are slightly more prone to accidents
than other floating units.
3.3 Types of events
The events occurred have different types. The clas-
sification of events has been done according to the
WOAD concept defined in Table 2.
3.4 Number of events by type
The total number of events for all floating units are
calculated and presented in Table 3. Here the total
number of events are more than that of Table  1
because data of accommodation units are also
included.
As one can see in Table 3 almost one third of events
are associated with falling load followed by crane
accidents. It shows that 60% of events occurred when
operating heavy loads. So considerable improve-
ments are needed for those particular activity.
Next hazard category is Spill/release of hydro-
carbon or other fluids (14.47%). The consequences
Table 1. Total number of events in all floating units.
Number Unit- Mean event
Unit of events years frequency %
MODU 2833 1532,7 1,848 76,38
MOPU 368 127,8 2,879 9,92
FPSO/FSU 508 170 2,988 13,70
Total 3709 1830,5 2,026 100
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 Table 2. Definition of event types. Table 2. (Continued)

Type of event Explanation Type of event Explanation

Anchor Problems with anchor/anchor lines, List Uncontrolled inclination of unit.

failure mooring devices, winching equipment or Machinery Propulsion or thruster machinery failure
fairleads (e.g. anchor dragging, breaking failure (incl. control)
of mooring lines, loss of anchor(s), Off position Unit unintentionally out of its expected
winch failures). position or drifting out of control.
Blowout An uncontrolled flow of gas, oil or other Structural Breakage or fatigue failures (mostly
fluids from the reservoir, i.e. loss of 1. damage failures caused by weather, but not
barrier (i.e. hydrostatic head) or leak necessarily) of structural support
and loss of 2. barrier, i.e. BOP/DHSV. and direct structural failures.
Capsize Loss of stability resulting in overturns of “Punch through” also included.
unit, capsizing, or toppling of unit. Towing Towline failure or breakage
Collision Accidental contact between offshore unit accident
and/or passing marine vessel when Well problem Accidental problem with the well, i.e. loss
at least one of them is propelled or is of one barrier (hydrostatic head) or
under tow. Examples: tanker, cargo other downhole problems.
ship, fishing vessel. Also included are Other Event other than specified above
collisions with bridges, quays, etc.,
and vessels engaged in the oil and gas
activity on other platforms than the Table 3. Number of events by type.
platform affected, and between two
offshore installations (to be coded Number Mean event
as CN only when intended for close Type of event of events frequency %
location).
Contact Collisions/accidental contacts between Falling load 1726 0,943 32,56
vessels engaged in the oil and gas Crane accident 1441 0,787 27,18
activity on the platform affected, Spill/release 767 0,419 14,47
e.g. support/supply/stand-by ves- Well problem 322 0,176 6,07
sels, tugs or helicopters, and offshore Fire 269 0,147 5,07
installations (mobile or fixed). Also Anchor failure 222 0,121 4,19
are included collisions between two Contact 210 0,115 3,96
offshore installations only when these Other 75 0,041 1,41
are intended for close location. Structural damage 72 0,039 1,36
Crane Any event caused by or involving cranes, Offloading 41 0,022 0,77
accident derrick and draw-works, or any other Towing/towline 28 0,015 0,53
lifting equipment. Explosion 27 0,015 0,51
Explosion Explosion Leakage 25 0,014 0,47
Falling load Falling load/dropped objects from crane, Collision 19 0,01 0,36
drill derrick, or any other lifting equip- Blowout 19 0,01 0,36
ment or platform. Crane fall and List 15 0,0082 0,28
lifeboats accidentally to sea and man
Helicopter accident 9 0,0049 0,17
overboard are also included.
Machinery failure 5 0,0027 0,09
Fire Fire at any section.
Grounding 4 0,0022 0,08
Foundering Loss of buoyancy or unit sinking.
Capsize 3 0,0016 0,06
Grounding Floating installation in contact with the
Foundering 2 0,0011 0,04
sea bottom.
Helicopter Accident with helicopter either on Total 5301 2,8947 100
accident helideck or in contact with the
installation. of this event could be fatal or could lead major
Leakage Leakage of water into the unit or fill- disasters (Skogdalen & Vinnem, 2012b). Therefore,
ing of shaft or other compartments substantial emphasis should be given to spill/release.
causing potential loss of buoyancy or
stability problems.
Spill/release “Loss of containment”. Release of fluid 4 FPSO ACCIDENT DATA
or gas to the surroundings from unit’s
own equipment/vessels/tanks causing 4.1 Overview of overall FPSO data
(potential) pollution and/or risk of
explosion and/or fire. There were 22 (16 FPSO and 6 FSU) units oper-
ating on UK continental shelf for 25 years that
(Continued ) corresponds to a total 170 Unit-years in this period.

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 Table  4 further breaks down the events involved
with FPSOs and FSUs. It is seen that 95% of the
events occurred in FPSOs. Mean Event Frequency in
FPSOs is much higher than in FSUs since FPSOs
consist of larger number of processes. Further in
this paper FPSO means both FPSO and FSU.
The first FSU was introduced in UK continen-
tal shelf in February 1982 while the first FPSO was
in April 1988. Thereafter the number of units have
been increased and so the events frequencies.
Table  5  shows the trends in occurrence of
events from 1980 to 2005. Since there had been
few numbers of events and a few FPSO/FSU from
1980 to 1989, this period is considered in single
slab. Table 5 shows that after 2000 the number of
FPSOs operational is 16 units per year. Figure  2
further illustrates mean event frequency after 2000
remains around 3,5. Highest mean event frequency
were observed 1994, 1999 and 2000.
Figure 2. Trend of the mean event frequency.
4.2 Severity of the events
Accidents are hazardous events which have
In this section the data set is analyzed in four major
developed into an accidental situation. Including
categories based on the severity of events classified
events causing fatalities and severe injuries.
as Accident, Incident, Near-Miss and Insignificant.
Incidents are hazardous events not developed
into an accidental situation. They include events
Table 4. Total number of events in FPSOs and FSUs.
with low degree of damage requiring repairs/
Number Unit- Mean event replace-ments and events causing minor injuries to
Unit of events years frequency % personnel or health injuries.
Near-Misses are events that might have or could
FPSO 483 123,3 3,917 95,08 have developed into an accidental situation. In this
FSU 25 46,7 0,535 4,92 case no damage and no repairs required.
Total 508 170 2,988 100 Insignificants are hazardous events with very
minor consequences. No damage, no repairs
required. Small spills of crude oil and chemicals
Table 5. Trends in number of events. are also included as well as very minor personnel
injuries, i.e. “lost time incidents”.
Unit- Number Mean event The 508 events in FPSOs are presented in
Year years of events frequency Table 6 with respect to their severity. As observed
1980–89 9,7 4 0,41
in Table  6 Incident comprises around two thirds
1990 2,0 2 1
of all events. Although the number of accidents
1991 2,0 4 2 is quite low over 25 years, it should be noted that
1992 2,4 4 1,67 offshore industry could not afford consequences
1993 4,3 12 2,79 of major accidents i.e. involving fatalities and total
1994 5,4 25 4,63 system failures.
1995 6,3 21 3,33 Trends shown in Table 6 suggest that there was
1996 7,1 7 0,99 sudden rise in all types of events after 1998. But
1997 9,4 16 1,7 after 2000 there was a reduction in all other events,
1998 11,5 17 1,48 besides incidents that continue to increase. There
1999 14,5 60 4,14 were no accidents after 2001.
2000 15,1 72 4,77
2001 16,3 43 2,64 4.3 Events by modes of operation
2002 16,0 58 3,63
2003 16,0 56 3,5 According to HSE (2007) there are many modes of
2004 16,0 50 3,13 operation of FPSO like Development drilling that
2005 16,0 57 3,56 includes concurrent drilling and production and
Total 170 508 2,99 drilling of injection wells, Drilling of well, Offload-
ing of oil from FPSO to shuttle tankers, Structural

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 Table 6. Number of events by severity. in FPSO are shown in Table 8. The causes of these
events are not covered in this paper. Mean event
Near frequency for each event is calculated by dividing
Year Accident Incident miss Insignificant Total number of events with total unit-years equal to 170
1980–89 2 1 0 1 4 (see Table 4).
1990 1 1 2 Comparing the mean event failure frequency of
1991 3 1 4 FPSOs from Table  8 to that of all floating units
1992 3 1 4 from Table  3, cases of spill/release are four times
1993 2 6 2 2 12 higher on FPSOs. Crane accidents are second in
1994 2 17 1 5 25 both the cases but its frequency is half in FPSOs.
1995 3 15 3 21 Figure 3 shows that 63,19% (321) of all events
1996 6 1 7 fall into the category spill/release (of hydrocarbon
1997 2 13 1 16 and other fluids) followed in descendent order of
1998 3 13 1 17 frequency by Crane Accidents, 12,4% (63), Fire,
1999 2 28 6 24 60 8,66% (14), Falling Loads, 3,94% (20), Other
2000 2 49 2 19 72 incidents, 3,94% (20), contact, 2,95% (15), Anchor
2001 1 26 3 13 43 Failures, 2,76% (14), Structural damage, 1,18% (6),
2002 39 7 12 58 Explosion, 0,39% (2), Machine Failure, 0,2% (1)
2003 35 3 18 56 and Well Problems, 0,2% (1).
2004 38 12 50
2005 47 10 57
Table 8. Number of events by type.
Total 19 340 25 124 508
Number Mean event
Table 7. Number of events by modes of operation. Type of event of events frequency %

Operation mode Number of events % Spill/release 321 1,888 63,19

Crane accident 63 0,3706 12,40
Development drilling 3 0,6 Fire 44 0,2588 8,66
Drilling 15 3,0 Falling load 20 0,118 3,94
Off-loading 8 1,6 Contact 15 0,088 2,95
Production 460 90,6 Anchor failure 14 0,082 2,76
Structural 1 0,2 Structural damage 6 0,118 1,18
Well workover 13 2,6 Explosion 2 0,0294 0,39
Other 8 1,6 Machinery failure 1 0,0118 0,20
Well problem 1 0,0059 0,20
Total 508 100
Helicopter accident 1 0,0059 0,20
Other 20 0,0059 3,94
operation involving Breakage or fatigue failures, Total 508 2,988 100
structural support structural failures, Produc-
tion from subsea, Well workover (light or heavy),
e.g. wireline operation and Other, e.g. for storage
units, helicopters, etc. Table 7 shows the number of
events in the different modes of operation.
As seen in Table  7 the vast majority (90,6%) of
events occurred during Production operations that
consist of extraction, separation, handing, storing
and/or reinjection of gas, water and condensate. Since
most of the processes are executed during Production,
the number of events reported in this operational
mode is high. Also, FPSO remains on production
mode for most of its work cycle. Other important
operational modes are drilling and well workover.

4.4 Types of events

4.4.1 Number of events
Types of events associated with all floating units
are already defined in Table 2. The types of events Figure 3. Number of events by type.

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 Basically around two thirds of all events fall into
spill/release. This is one of the main areas of inter-
est when considering safety since it could cause
major disasters (Skogdalen & Vinnem, 2012b).
4.4.2 Severity of the different events
It is important to note that the type of events
with higher occurrence is not necessarily the most
severe. Hence types of events are further analyzed
according to their severity.
Table  9  shows that Crane accidents have the
largest contribution followed by spill/release. As
one can see structural damage has only 6 occur-
rences but 3 of them were classified as accidents, so
this must be acknowledged as an important issue.
4.4.3 Events by type and mode of operation
Table  14  shows the relation between the type of
events and operation modes. It is observed 90%
of each event occurred during the production
Table 9. Number of events by type and severity.
Near
Type of event Accident Incident miss Insignificant
operation modes. Besides production, Drilling and
Well workover are associated with several spill/
release while offloading with Contact.
4.5 Injuries in the events
4.5.1 Number of injuries
In this section the consequence of hazardous events
in terms of Injuries is discussed, although none of
any event resulted in casualty. Injuries cover minor
injuries and diseases caused to persons during the
events. There are 34 events involving 37 Injuries
from 1980–2005 in FPSOs.
4.5.2 Number of injuries by severity of events
The Injuries are first plotted against the event
severity. Table  10  shows that out of 19 accidents,
9 resulted in Injuries, which indicates that around
half of the accidents were severe.
4.5.3 Number of injuries by mode of operation
Further the Injuries are presented against the oper-
ational modes in Table 11. As most of hazardous
events are observed during production, 83.78% of
Injuries occurred during this operation mode.

Spill/release 6 225 90 4.5.4 Number of injuries by type of event

Crane accident 7 40 7 9 The number of Injuries are shown by type of event
Fire 1 30 2 11 in Table 12. The table shows that crane accident is
Falling load 10 4 6 most dangerous event resulting in 21 Injuries in
Contact 1 5 7 2 25 years. Crane accident and Falling load are the
Anchor failure   12 2   events involving crane, drill derrick, or any other
Structural damage 3 3 lifting equipment or platform that accounts for
Explosion 1 1
Machinery failure 1 Table 12. Number of injuries by type of event.
Well problem 1
Helicopter accident 1 Type of event Frequency %
Other 12 2 6
Anchor failure 1 2,70
Total 19 340 25 124 Crane accident 21 56,76
Falling load 4 10,81
Fire 1 2,70
Table 10. Number of injuries by severity of events.
Spill/release 6 16,22
Severity Frequency % Other 4 10,81
Total 37 100
Accident 9 24,32
Incident 26 70,27
Insignificant 2 5,41 Table 13. Terminal events.
Total 37 100
Type of event Number of events %

Table 11. Number of injuries by FPSO operation. Falling load 60 70,59

Fire 12 14,12
Operation Frequency % Leakage 1 1,18
Spill/release 7 8,24
Drilling 2 5,41 Off position 1 1,18
Production 31 83,78 Structural damage 1 1,18
Other 4 10,81 Other 3 3,53
Total 37 100 Total 85 100

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 25  Injuries. Therefore, additional care should be in this series is Fire mainly caused by spill/release
taken while performing any operation involving (95%). A more detailed analysis of the terminal
heavy loads. Next dangerous event is Spill/release. events shows that most of them (around 90%)
occurred during the production.
4.6 Terminal events analysis
4.6.1 Initial and terminal events
In this section the data set is analyzed so as to deter-
mine Terminal events of the reported incidents and
accidents. The 508 events analyzed earlier correspond
to initial events. Although every initial events had some
effect, out of all events, 85 initial events triggered other
events called terminal events hereby. Table  13  shows
that 70% of terminal events fall in Falling load
category followed by Fire and Spill/release.

4.6.2 Terminal events by initial events

Figure 4 and Table 15 show the cause of terminal
events by initial events. The most frequent event
Falling load was mainly caused by crane accident
(90%) followed by spill/release (9%). Second event Figure 4. Number of terminal events by initial events.

Table 14. Number of events by type and operation mode.

Operation mode

Development Off- Well

Event type drilling Drilling loading Production Structural workover Other Total

Spill/release 2 9 2 297 9 2 321

Crane accident 1 1 1 57 1 2 63
Fire 1 41 1 1 44
Falling load 1 18 1 20
Contact 3 12 15
Anchor failure 2 1 10 1 14
Structural damage 5 1 6
Explosion 1 1 2
Helicopter accident 1 1
Well problem 1 1
Machinery failure 1 1
Other 1 17 1 1 20
Total 3 15 8 460 1 13 8 508

Table 15. Terminal event by initial event.

Initial event

Anchor Crane Falling Spill/ Structural

Terminal event failure Contact accident Explosion load Fire release Other damage

Falling load 1 53 5 1
Fire 1 11
Leakage 1
Spill/release 1 2 3 1
Other 1 1 1
Off position 1
Structural damage 1
Total 3 1 53 1 2 1 18 3 3

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 5 CONCLUSIONS
A large dataset of incidents and accidents in all off-
shore floating units (MODU, MOPU, FPSO/FSU)
located in the UKCS was analyzed. The sample con-
sists of 3709 events that have occurred in the period
from 1980 to 2005. A preliminary analysis of the
events in all offshore floating units indicated that
60% of the total number of events occurred when
dealing with heavy loads (Falling load and crane
accident). The sample includes events that have
occurred in 22 (16 FPSO and 6 FSU) units oper-
ating on UK continental shelf for 25 years with
total 170 unit-years. 508 events (13% of the total
number of events) have involved FPSO/FSUs.
The mean frequency of events was calculated for
FPSOs and compared with all floating units. While
Falling load and Crane accidents are the main issues
for all floating units, spill/release was the most fre-
quent event type for FPSOs. The detailed analysis
of FPSO data has shown that the mean event fre-
quency is maximum in year 2000, and lies around
3,5 afterwards, with a slight tendency to decrease.
Moreover, two thirds of all events fall in the incident
category and there were no events characterized as
accident after 2001. In terms of event types, it is
noteworthy that 63,2% (321) of all events fall into
the category spill/release (of hydrocarbon and other
fluids) followed by Crane Accidents, 12,4% (63)
and Fire, 8,66% (14). The operational modes at the
time of the events were also analyzed, showing that
90,6% of the events occurred during Production.
Regarding consequence of hazardous events,
the analysis has shown that 34 events resulted in
37 Injuries but no fatalities, being Crane accident
the most dangerous event resulting in 21 injuries,
followed by Spill/release (6) and Falling load (4).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work has been financed by EMBRAPII-
COPPE Unit—Subsea Technology, within the
project “Subsea Systems”, which is conducted in
cooperation with COPPE (UFRJ) and is financed
by PETROGAL Brasil. The third author holds a
visiting position at the Ocean Engineering Depart-
ment, COPPE, Federal University of Rio de
Janeiro, which is financed by the program “Ciência
sem Fronteiras” of Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa
of Brazil (CNPq).
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

The latest development of reinforcement techniques on tubular joints

Z. Li, X. Jiang & G. Lodewijks

Section of Transport Engineering and Logistics, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

ABSTRACT: To date, tubular joint has been widely applied on various engineering structures, ranging
from offshore platform jackets, truss-type structures of civil engineering, bridges, ship loaders to crane
structures. Since different load cases transferring between tubular members could generate asymmetrical
and high stress concentration, fatigue damage or buckling destruction may first occur at tubular joint.
In this regard, tubular joints are recognized as the most crucial component in tubular structures in order
to maintain sufficient safety and durability. There are ways to reinforce tubular joints, including internal
ring-stiffener, doubler/collar plate, grouted clamp and FRP reinforcement. In this paper, mechanical per-
formance of tubular joints are mainly focused, a review of the above-mentioned reinforcement methods
is presented, with a brief summary of their advantages and limitations. Furthermore, this paper also
provides discussion of research insufficiency of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) reinforcement
and some possible further investigation research spots.

1 INTRODUCTION to obtain a higher stiffness ratio of the chord, or

Tubular members are extensively used in marine
engineering field and civil construction engineer-
ing field contributed to their excellent mechani-
cal properties and functional advantages. Tubular
joints are connection regions between different
Circular Hollow Section (CHS) members, which
are identified as crucial components in tubular
structures.
As a typical engineering instance, marine struc-
tures are long-term subjected to operational and
environmental loads (wave forces, wind forces,
etc.). The corresponding cyclic stresses decrease
the mechanical properties of tubular joints and
may eventually result in fatigue failures. Another
engineering example is truss joints of civil struc-
tures (overhear signal structures). Welded joints
are typically subjected to excessive fatigue-induced
cracking under the effects of wind-induced vibra-
tion and operational loads. Failure caused by
fatigue cracks could lead to collapse of truss and
inflict severe catastrophic injuries. Among most
of tubular structures, even though the nominal
member stresses may be at reasonable levels, the
complex geometry of tubular intersections that tie
the structures together can result in high amplifica-
tions which in turn may cause final failure. Thus
the tubular joints are appropriate to be regarded as
the weakest components of any tubular structures.
Therefore, many tubular joints are required to
be reinforced in advance or repaired after dam-
age because of their increasing load demands or
decreasing mechanical performances. Tradition-
ally, people welded ring-stiffeners inside the chord
welded a doubler/collar plate to strengthen the
brace/chord intersection. Another technique which
has been widely spread in the reinforcement field is
grouted clamp, people design and install grouted
clamps on tubular joints and inject cements into
the gap between tubular joints and clamps in order
to strengthen damaged tubular joints. Alterna-
tively, Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRPs) have
already demonstrated their huge potential of steel
structures reinforcement, on the basis of their
excellent mechanical properties and remarkable
physical features. Researches carried out a plenty
of investigations on the possibility of reinforce-
ment method.
In this paper, tubular joints are primarily intro-
duced. Then reinforcement methods including ring-
stiffeners, doubler/collar plates and grouted clamps
are discussed respectively with brief summaries of
each method’s advantages and limitations. After-
wards, recent researches on CFRP reinforced
tubular joints are systematically reviewed and sum-
marized in order to demonstrate the outstanding
advantages of CFRP compared with other rein-
forcement techniques. In addition, this paper also
points out the insufficiency of the current researches
about CFRP-tubular joint reinforcement.
2 TUBULAR JOINTS
2.1 Tubular joints classification
According to the classification of structural form,
tubular joints can be divided into various shapes,
such as Y-joints, K-joints, X-joints, and DT-joints.

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 T-joint is considered as a particular form of
K-joint while N-joint is regarded as a special form
of K-joint. Fig. 1 shows six types of tubular joint
arrangements, which could be commonly found in
truss structures.
2.2 Load cases
In engineering practice, tubular joints are always
subjected to combined loads of axial loading
(AX), In-Plane Bending (IPB) and Out-Plane
Bending (OPB). Fig.2 illustrates three different
load cases. Different combined loads cases gener-
ate asymmetrical and high stress concentration. In
addition, fatigue cracks are always initiated at the
weld toe around brace/chord intersection where
high level stress concentration is induced by the
structural discontinuity.
2.3 Major parameters of tubular joints
Mechanical properties of tubular joints should
be studied overhead in order to draw a detailed
reinforcement plan. Therefore, major parameters
should be primary introduced. Fig. 3 clearly dem-
onstrates the configurations and definitions of a
tubular T-joint. The plug area is the internal chord
surface surrounded by the brace at the brace/chord
intersection. A dimensionless effective chord shell
Figure  1. Tubular joints arrangements (H. Ahmadi,
M.A. Lotfolahi Yaghin, et al., 2012).
Figure  2. Axial loads, in-plane bending, out-plane
bending (H. Ahmadi, M.A. Lotfollahi Yaghin, et  al.,
2012).
784
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 784
Figure 3. Tubular T-joint definitions (M. Lesani, M.R.
Bahaari & M.M. Shokrieh. 2013).
width equal to √DT was introduced to monitor the
locations on the chord surface in either direction
irrelative to each joint property. In the longitudinal
direction, X represents the distance between the
plug center and the chord end. Hence the Crown
Point is located at X/√DT, depending on the brace
diameter. The Saddle Point is located at Rφ/√DT,
depending on the brace diameter.
3 RING-STIFFENER REINFORCEMENT
Internal ring-stiffener is a common practice to
enhance the strength and static capacity of tubular
joints in offshore jacket structures. In order to improve
stress distribution around the brace/chord intersec-
tion, a ring-stiffener is welded inside the chord, in
order to help the chord to resist the brace loads.
From 1980s, internal ring-stiffeners have been
widely used in offshore platforms. As a success-
ful engineering case, internal ring stiffener is still
a research hotspot. Ramachandra (1992) studied
the effect of ring-stiffener on the fatigue strength
of tubular T/Y joints. Brennan (2009) established
a set of parametric formulas to calculate the SCFs
in multi-planar tubular KK-joints reinforced by
rack plate ring-stiffeners. Ahmadi (2012, 2013)
proposed fatigue design equations for tubular
KT-joints reinforced by internal ring-stiffeners.
With the precise computation of Finite Element
Analysis (FEA), researchers investigated the static
strength and SCFs in variety of internal ring-
stiffener reinforced tubular joints. Ahmadi (2015)
studied the SCFs in tubular KT-joints reinforced
with internal ring-stiffeners under four different
types of IPB. Six fully defined probability den-
sity functions were developed for the maximum
weld-toe SCFs of center and outer braces in inter-
nally ring-stiffened tubular KT-joints. Lan (2016)
investigated the strength of internal ring-stiffened
tubular DT-joints subjected to brace axial loading.
In this study, the relation between joint param-
eters and joint strength enhancement rate was
investigated; the theoretical models and corre-
sponding stiffener strength could provide accurate
estimation of stiffener strength.
3/29/2017 9:43:24 AM
 Nevertheless, there are certain deficiencies of proved to be an effective method to enhance the
internal ring-stiffener, which can be briefly con- strength of Y-joints. A. Nazari (2007) raised a
cluded as followed: it is not easy to install it to series of parametric equations to facilitate calcu-
a finished tubular structure; if the diameter of lation of SCFs for tubular T, Y, K, X, and DT
the chord involved is less than 800 mm, then this joints reinforced with doubler plates. The results
method is not suitable; the repair is not feasible of the sensitivity analysis show that the param-
when the structure is in service; this method can eters β and τ (β = d/D, τ = t/T; d, D, t, T could be
only apply to the metallic structures; in addition, seen in Fig.  4) have the highest influence on the
welding may raise some negative influences to the SCF. However, Soh (1994, 1995 and 1997) studied
original structure. the stress concentration factors in doubler plate-
reinforced tubular joints including four types of
basic loading (axial tension, axial compression,
IPB, OPB). It was concluded that the doubler
4 DOUBLER/ COLLAR PLATES
plate-reinforced tubular joint would cause severer
fatigue problems than the unreinforced tubular
4.1 Doubler plates reinforcement
joints under axial tension and bending.
When strengthening is required due to the last Recently Nassiraei (2016) investigated the static
minute alteration or due to the addition of load- performance of T/Y joints subjected to brace com-
ing conditions, doubler plate is a feasible option pressive loading and brace tension. A investigation
to strengthen the joint. For a T-joint reinforced of ultimate strength and the parameters β and τ
with a doubler plate, the brace is welded directly to had been carried out, based on 210 FE models.
the plate through a penetration weld whereas the The results indicated that the doubler plate could
doubler plate is welded to the chord through fillet significantly increase the initial stiffness, ultimate
welds. capacity, and considerably improve failure modes.
Fung (2002) investigated the ultimate capac- Also, the reinforcing effect of the doubler plate
ity of doubler plate-reinforced tubular joints, thickness and doubler plate length on the ultimate
he found that the doubler plate was effective for capacity becomes more remarkable when one of
resisting axial compression, axial tension, IPB these parameters is big.
and OPB by numerical and experimental study.
Furthermore, the length of the doubler plate, the
4.2 Collar plates reinforcement
brace angle and brace-to-chord thickness ratio
did not have a significant influence on the ulti- Collar plates are relatively similar to doubler plates.
mate capacity, while the brace-to-chord-thickness For the T-joint reinforced with collar plates, the
ratio had a strong influence on the ultimate capac-
ity. Hoona (1995) carried out an experimental
investigation of a doubler-plate reinforced tubu-
lar T-joint subjected to combined loadings. The
results of combined load cases suggested that the
reinforced joint had its highest Hot Spot Stress
(HSS) located on the doubler-plate at the brace
and doubler plate intersection. This location is
situated at saddle if in-plane bending moment is
not present and between saddle and crown if in-
plane bending moment is present. The stress con-
centration factors on the doubler plate reinforced
joints were found lower than the unreinforced
joints. Choo (2002, 2004, 2005) investigated the
doubler plate reinforced tubular joints and com-
pared with that of un-reinforced joints. It was
found that the provision of an appropriately pro-
portioned doubler plate at the brace-chord inter-
section could enhance the strength up to 200% to
the un-reinforced tubular X-joint. It is an effec-
tive method to strengthen tubular X-joints sub-
jected to IPB. Qi (2005) studied the static strength
of doubler plate reinforced Y-joints subjected to Figure  4. Dimensional and non-dimensional param-
compression loading. Based on the numerical eter of T-joints reinforced by a doubler plate/collar plate
investigation, doubler plate reinforcement was (A. Nazari, Z. Guan, W. J. T. Daniel & H. Gurgenci. 2007).

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 brace is first welded directly to the chord, after
which the collar plate parts are welded to the brace
and chord. A series of 12 experimental and tests and
numerical simulations of T-joints under axial brace
load were carried out by Vegte (2005). Parameters
β and 2γ (2γ  =  d0/t0: chord diameter-to-thickness
ratio) were investigated in detail. Shao (2011)
found that the T-joint specimens with collar-plate
reinforcement can dissipate more energy before
failure when they are subjected to cyclic loading,
compared to the un-reinforced ones, and thus they
have a more ductile characteristic. 4 un-reinforced
and 4 corresponding collar plates reinforced tubu-
lar T-joints were investigated through experimen-
tal and numerical analysis. It illustrated that the
collar-plate reinforcement would change the fail-
ure location from the brace/chord intersection
of the un-reinforced specimens to the weld toe
of the collar-plate to the chord surface. In recent
years, besides the investigation of doubler plate
reinforcement, Nassiraei (2016) also studied the
static strength and structural behavior of Tubular
T-joints with collar plate under brace bending,
tensile brace loading and IPB respectively. Based
on a series of FE models, new parametric equa-
tions were proposed to predict the strength ratio
of collar plate reinforced to unreinforced tubular
T/Y-joints under different cases. Relatively high
coefficient of determination guaranteed the accu-
racy of the established formulas. Hence these equa-
tions could be used for the static design of offshore
jacket structures and other tubular structures.
4.3 Brief summary of doubler/collar plates
There are some similarities between doubler plates
and collar plates. The fundamental mechanism of
these two methods is to increase the thickness of
the chord of brace/chord intersection, in order
to enhance the mechanical properties of tubular
joints.
These two methods are very cost-effective. How-
ever, in both cases, the drawbacks could be sum-
marized as follows: the reinforcement may not be
effective if the tubular joint is under out-plane
bending; they could only be feasible for metallic
tubular joints; welding also could bring potential
threat to the original structures. What is more, it is
not suitable to apply a doubler plate during service
period.
5 GROUTED CLAMPS
5.1 Overview of grouted clamps applications
Grouted clamp (Fig. 5) is a utilized and advanced
technique for tubular joints reinforcement. The
first know application of grouted connection for
786
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 786
Figure 5. Grouted clamp (H. Banon. 1994).
jacket repair and reinforcement was on the West
Sole platform in the southern North Sea. After-
wards engineers started to apply this technique
on subsea offshore jacket structures. The function
of grouted clamps is to reinforce tubular static
strength or fatigue endurance. The clamp acts as a
parallel load path share and help to transfer loads
between chord and brace. From 1980s, a variety of
researches have been carried out. One major project
was initiated to study grouted repair technology,
mainly including the strength of grouted connec-
tion, bond behavior, friction coefficient of stressed
grouted connections, static strength of unstressed
grouted clamps and fatigue performance of both
stressed grouted clamps and unstressed grouted
clamps.
5.2 Classification and investigation of grouted
clamps
There are several formats of grouted clamps.
Unstressed grouted clamps are the case that they
are designed to mate and seal along longitudinal
splits prior to grout injection. The bond between
steel and grout is sufficient to transmit the applied
forces. Mechanical clamp is to use the long blots to
cover the tubular members or joints. It can be used
in conjunction with grouted repairs with certain
reservations concerning the provision of sufficient
degrees of freedom to absorb tolerance. Stressed
grouted clamp is a hybrid of friction clamps and
unstressed grouted clamps; it is a clamp in which
the outer sleeve is formed in two or more segments
which are placed around a tubular joint or tubular
member. Grout is injected into the annulus and is
allowed to reach sufficient strength prior to appli-
cation of the bolt stress, in order to form a stressed
grout. Among these three formats, stressed grouted
clamps have a significantly greater loading capac-
ity than ordinary clamps according to laboratory
tests (I.E. Tebbett and M. Lalani. 1986).
Souza (1998) summarized another two types of
clamps: pressurized clamps and resin clamps. The
pressurized clamps have a similar function to that
of the stressed grouted clamps and have two sleeves
around the member to be repaired with two corre-
sponding annular spaces. The resin clamp exhibit
3/29/2017 9:43:24 AM
 some features similar to those of the grouted
clamps. The difference between resin clamp and
grouted clamp is that the former one uses resin,
such as polyurethane, instead of grout to fill the
annular space between the sleeve and the tubu-
lar member. The advantage of resin clamp is that
the resin has much higher bond strength. Whilst
the disadvantage is that the surface of the mem-
ber requires additional treatment. Murphy (1993)
indicated that the grouted clamp can be installed
quickly and relatively easily and allow consider-
able tolerance of fit-up. Meanwhile, Turner (1994)
pointed out that the use of grouted clamps allows
for loose fitting tolerances. The reinforced joint
was much stiffer than the un-reinforced joints.
5.3 Brief summary of grouted clamps
Grouted clamp is an effective tool to repair dam-
aged tubular joints and it has been applied on a
plenty of offshore jacket platforms, especially for
the underwater marine tubular structures. Com-
pared with welding and mechanical repairing
method, the great advantage is that tubular struc-
tures can be repaired without shutting down their
operation. Nevertheless, it might be unfeasible
to reinforce the internal parts of the jacket plat-
forms, due to the shape and big size of the grouted
clamps. The cost of fabrication is also high. What’s
more, installing this giant and heavy grouted clamp
on tubular joint requires lifting equipment and
plenty of procedures. In addition, the heavy load
that is added to the original structure may change
the weight distribution of the original structure.
6 FRP REINFORCEMENT
6.1 Overview of FRP reinforcement
In the past two decades, the reinforcement applica-
tion of FRP composites had become economically
feasible in civil engineering. The successful appli-
cations in concrete bridges, steel beams and steel
bridges have proved their significant reinforce-
ment ability. In recent years, researches gradually
introduced FRP composites to offshore structures.
Typical instance includes Circular Hollow Section
(CHS) reinforcement and tubular butt joint rein-
forcement with CFRP. Researches discussed the
possibility of using CFRP to replace traditional
tubular butt weld by twining multilayer CFRP
sheets around the butt joint between two CHS
members. The mechanical results of the experi-
mental and numerical investigations showed posi-
tive consequences.
The main difference between GFRP (Fig.  6-a)
and CFRP (Fig.  6-b) is that the former one is
787
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 787
Figure 6. FRP (a is GFRP, b is CFRP).
fabricated by glass fiber and the later one is made
of carbon fiber. The mechanical property of CFRP
is much better than that of GFRP.
Compared with traditional construction mate-
rial, FRP have several advantages including high
ultimate strength, easily to adopt the irregular
surfaces of existing structures. Furthermore, FRP
composites exhibit good resistance to environment
and chemical corrosion, which gives them a huge
potential for application in marine environments.
6.2 GFRP-reinforcement
Pantelides (2003) and Fam (2006) respectively
investigated the repairing of cracked aluminum
truss joints of Overhead Sign Structures (OSS)
with GFRP composites. The ultimate objective
of these studies was to develop a methodology for
returning the cracked aluminum welded connec-
tions of OSS to their original strength.
Pantelides (2003) studied four connections of
aluminum K-joints truss members obtained from
actual structures in the field were retrofitted with
GFRP composites and tested in monotonic static
tension to failure. At the meanwhile, four tests
were performed with GFRP composites being the
only load resisting element were used to assemble
the connection.
Surface roughness could influence bond strength
to a great extent, therefore a surface preparation
procedure is carefully carried out. After the surface
preparation procedure, nine steps of the GFRP
application were carefully carried out, as is shown
in Fig.  7. The experimental results showed that
the GFRP composite retrofitted field connections
with cracks in the welds, which ranged from 24 to
66% of the total weld length, even reached capaci-
ties from 1.17 to 1.25 times than of the welded alu-
minum connection with no visible cracks. With an
adequate surface preparation and GFRP compos-
ite bond length, the tack-welded connections with
GFRP composite elements reached capacities of
95 to 99%.
Fam’s (2006) study showed from the fatigue tests
that CFRP rehabilitated connections exceeded the
fatigue limit of the aluminum tubular joints with-
out visible cracks. It was also observed that the
3/29/2017 9:43:25 AM

Figure 7. Steps of GFRP installation.
GFRP composites did not enhance the stiffness
of the connection appreciably, but it improved the
strength and deformation capability.
M. Lesani (2013, 2014 and 2015) carried out a
series of researches on GFRP-strengthened tubu-
lar T-joints and Y-joints under axial compressive
loads. Firstly, a numerical investigation was carried
out using finite element method. Fig. 8 illustrated
the load-displacement diagram for four investi-
gated cases. As is shown, FRP-strengthened joints
have experienced an increase in their ultimate joint
capacity from 22% up to 66% depending on the
extent of the reinforcement. In addition, increas-
ing the number of layers would increase the poten-
tial of ply failure in low loads.
Afterwards, experimental investigation has been
put forward. The experimental results of steel tubu-
lar T-joints with FRP-reinforcement proved the
efficiency of this method. The behavior of GFRP-
strengthened joints improved significantly. The
experimental results showed a good correlation with
the numerical results, hence the numerical model
considering a perfect bond state between FRP and
steel was validated up to the ultimate load threshold.
Tubular Y-joints reinforced with FRP has also
been investigated through numerical and experi-
mental studies. A detailed wrapping procedure
had been formulated. Then the brace and chord
of Y-joints were carefully reinforced by multilayer
FRP composites with different orientations. The
peak load of the FEM model was overestimated
particularly in the FRP-strengthened connections
and the post-peak behavior in the experiments dif-
fered as the rapid drop in curves after the peak
indicated loss of load carrying capacity while the
FE model predicted smoother descending. Bond-
ing assumption, imperfections during fabrication
and the nature of inclined loading may be the rea-
son to cause the differences.
788
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 788
Figure 8. Load-displacement diagram.
The experimental and numerical results
matched well. The GFRP composite had reduced
the amount of stress and strain in the steel at the
same load levels. Also, the composite could hinder
the occurrences of yielding in steel and had pro-
moted this phenomenon to high levels of loading.
6.3 CFRP reinforcement
When combined with aluminum and FRP compos-
ites, galvanic corrosion process may be generated.
Karbhari & Shully (1995) suggested using a hybrid
of glass and carbon, where the glass fabric is sand-
wiched between the aluminum surface and the sub-
sequent CFRP layers. Fam (2006) used both GFRP
and CFRP to reinforce the aluminum K-joints in
truss structures. This research concluded that when
apply the same layers of FRP composites, CFRP
showed a better performance compared to GFRP,
based on eight experimental tests.
At the meantime, Yuguang Fu (2016) practically
investigated CFRP application on undamaged
tubular T-joints. In this paper, both experimental
and finite element method were applied to investi-
gate the effect of CFRP application on the joints.
The tubular K-joints specimens were designed
with the same dimensions. They were reinforce-
ment with different length and layers CFRP
sheets. Before the experiment, it came up a scien-
tific surface preparation and practical installation
to prevent winkles and bumps between the layers
of CFRP and the steel tubular joints, in order to
obtain a better bonding behave. Three steps were
carried out for the CFRP installation.
Numerical analysis was carried out. Consider-
ing the welding potential effect on load bearing
capacity of tubular joints, welding between tubu-
lar members was also modeled with solid elements.
CFRP sheets were modeled with shell elements
and were defined as a special material in which
material properties are identical in both longitudi-
nal and transverse directions.
3/29/2017 9:43:25 AM
 After compared and analyzed the experimental
and numerical results, this paper concluded that
CFRP reinforcement could delay the governing
failure mode of chord plasticization and chord
punching shear. The preference of the K-joints was
significantly promoted reinforced by CFRP. The gov-
erning failure nodes was efficiently hindered but not
prevented while the ultimate load-bearing capacity
enhanced remarkably, initial stiffness was improved a
lot, the deflection and ovalization effect was reduced,
stress distribution was improved and decreased, load-
bearing capacity and ductility was increased.
Failure modes such as adhesive crack and
fiber breakage were recorded and summarized.
The CFRP composite helped the joints to bear
the external load until about 80%, without any
failure. It showed that both the bidirectional and
unidirectional CFRP sheets had significant effect
on improvement of ultimate capacity for K-joints.
With the increased of CFRP layers, the growth
of the effect decreased. It also found that the
mechanical properties of CFRP sheets were not an
efficient way to enhance the promotion effect on
ultimate capacity.
6.4 Brief summary of FRP reinforcement
FRP reinforcement is a nondestructive strength-
ening technique. Its high elasticity modulus and
strength can guarantee the reinforcement effec-
tiveness. The low density of this material would
generate few impacts to the original structure. In
addition, the flexibility of FRP is suitable for com-
plex geometric patterns of components.
GFRP was first introduced to tubular joints
due to its good mechanical properties and corro-
sion resistance performance. However, compared
to CFRP, its mechanical property is far below that
of CFRP. Therefore, CFRP is an more ideal mate-
rial for steel structure reinforcement. The current
investigation mainly concentrated on mechani-
cal improvement of CFRP-reinforced tubular
joints. Bond behaviors also had been recorded,
however, no detailed investigation has been car-
ried out on bond mechanism of the reinforcement
system of tubular joints, which was considered as
the most significant part of FRP strengthening
investigation.
7 CONCLUSIONS
From the preceding review of the reinforcement
techniques of tubular joints, the conclusions are
briefly summarized as follows:
1. Tubular joint is a crucial component in tubu-
lar structures, thus many tubular joints are
789
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 789
required to be reinforced in advance or repaired
after damage.
2. Internal ring-stiffeners reinforcement and dou-
bler plates are significant reinforcement tech-
niques of tubular joints; Nevertheless, it is
difficult to repair in-service tubular joints.
3. Collar plates and grouted clamps could sig-
nificantly enhance the mechanical properties
of tubular joints. However, both of them may
raise some potential threats to the original
structures.
4. Compared with traditional reinforcement meth-
ods, FRP reinforcement showed a plenty of
advantages, due to its excellent mechanical and
physical characteristic. Nevertheless, further
investigations, e.g. bond mechanism in a curved
surface and the complex geometry of brace/
chord intersection on tubular joints, need to be
carried out in order to have a clear understand-
ing of the FRP-reinforcement mechanism, in
order to improve the current CFRP reinforce-
ment method and promote its applications in
industrial areas. In addition, with the rapidly
development of the CFRP manufacture tech-
niques, it may become feasible in the future to
design a rigid carbon fiber shell with a suitable
geometry shape to the tubular joint and install
it onto the tubular joints with adhesive, in order
to obtain a better mechanical performance and
make a contribution to the CFRP application
on offshore structures.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The financial support from the China Scholarship
Council, P. R. China, (No. 201606950024) is grate-
fully acknowledged by the first author.
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Design of offshore tubular members against excessive local indentation

under lateral impacts

Z. Yu & J. Amdahl
Department of Marine Technology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway
Center for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems (AMOS), Norwegian University of Science and
Technology (NTNU), Norway

ABSTRACT: Tubular members are widely used in offshore jacket and jack-up platforms. Such struc-
tures are often exposed to the risk of lateral impacts from service vessels and dropped objects. The impact
responses can generally be classified into three stages: local denting, beam bending and membrane stretch-
ing. To maximize energy absorption capacity of braces/legs, local indentation should be limited to a small
value because of significant degradation effect of local indentation on the bending capacity of tubes.
This paper reviews the existing analytical denting models and the design requirements for tubes to resist
excessive local indentation. Extensive numerical simulations are carried out using LS-DYNA for two ship
sterns crushing braces/legs with varied tube diameters, lengths, thicknesses, and contact lengths. Based
on numerical results, the existing denting models and compactness criteria are discussed. A concept of
transition indentation ratio of tubes (wtran/D) from local denting to global bending is proposed. The exist-
ing compactness criteria are discussed based on the concept and numerical simulation results. Finally, a
compactness criterion is recommended.

1 INTRODUCTION further crushing of the brace, axial membrane

Offshore jack-up and jacket platforms should be
designed to resist accidental ship collision loads.
Design standards can be seen in for example DNV
RP C204 (DNV-GL, 2010) and the NORSOK
standard (DNV, 2004). The current DNV-GL RP
C204 design standards of ships and offshore struc-
tures against accidental ship collisions were devel-
oped decades ago (DNV, 1981), many of which
were based on simplified plastic methods. Some of
the standards seem to be out-of-date for the safety
considerations today. A noticeable example is a
significant increase of the impact energy accord-
ing to Kvitrud (2011), who summarizes collision
accidents in Norway in the period 2001–2010.
Recently, a new version of the DNV-GL RP
C204 standard for ship impacts is under prepara-
tion by DNV-GL.
For the impact responses of tubular members,
an idealized model for the deformation may be
described as follows: the tubular brace/leg deforms
firstly with local denting and absorbs energy. At
the same time, the plastic bending capacity of
the dented brace is reduced due to the detrimen-
tal effect on the section modulus. When a certain
indentation is reached, the brace starts to collapse
as a beam via a three-hinge mechanism. Upon
forces will occur and get dominant up to fracture
if adjacent structures are capable of providing suf-
ficient strength against the pull-in. Local denting
may either cease or continue in the beam deforma-
tion stage.
Depending on the relative strength of the strik-
ing ships and the struck braces/legs, the design
may be carried out in the ductile, shared-energy
or strength design domain. As the design collision
energy in the new RP may increase significantly, a
single brace/leg cannot absorb all the energy. Tubu-
lar members may need to be designed to be able to
deform the ship and some energy then goes to the
ship. To achieve this, local indentation should be
limited to a small value because of significant deg-
radation effect of local indentation on the bending
capacity of tubes.
This paper reviews the existing analytical dent-
ing models and the design requirements for tubes
to resist excessive local indentation. Extensive
numerical simulations are carried out using LS-
DYNA for rigid indenters and ship sterns crush-
ing braces/legs with varied tube diameters, lengths,
thicknesses, and contact lengths. The existing dent-
ing models and compactness criteria are discussed.
A compactness criterion is recommended for the
new DNV RP C204.

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 2 A REVIEW OF EXISTING DENTING
RESISTANCE MODELS AND
COMPACTNESS CRITERIA
2.1 Denting resistance models
Many researchers have studied the indentation
resistance of tubular members subjected to lateral
impacts. Based on observations of experimental
results, they proposed quite different models for
the deformed tubular cross section during inden-
tation, and the commonly used several kinds are
shown in Fig. 1. The model in Fig. 1(a) is simple
and widely used by reserchers, such as Furnes
and Amdahl (1980), Amdahl (1980), Ellinas and
Walker (1983), etc. The model in Fig.  1(b) was
proposed by Wierzbicki and Suh (1988) and also
used in Buldgen et  al. (2014). Fig.  1(c) and (d)
was proposed by Jones and Shen (1992) for local
indentation and combined local denting and global
denting. Fig.  1(d) was often used to post process
the experimental and numerical data and to sepa-
rate the local and global deformations, in such as
Travanca and Hao (2014), Cerik et al. (2016), etc.
Differet equations for the denting resistance are
proposed in the literature, the form of which may
range from empirical, semi-emprical to closed-
form analytical solutions.
Furnes and Amdahl (1980) were among the first
researchers who studied the deformation behavior
of tubes under lateral concentrated loads. They
defined the following relationship between the
indenting force R and the depth of penetration wd:
1 ⎛ D ⎞ ⎛ 2w ⎞
R 15 σ yt 2 ⎜ ⎟ ⎜ d ⎟ (1)
4 ⎝ t ⎠⎝ D ⎠
where D is the tube diameter, t is the thickness and
σy is the yield stress of the steel.
Amdahl (1980) proposed a local denting model
based on plastic yield line analysis, relating the
denting resistance to local indentations. This
model assumes a flat indenter shape to represent
the ship end or side, and the tube is dented with
a flattened cross section. The model is adopted in
NORSOK N-004, and it has the following form:
4⎛ N ⎤⎞
1.925 3
R ⎛ B ⎞ ⎛ wd ⎞ 3.5 + B 1⎡ (2)
= 22 + 1.2 ⋅ ⎜1 − ⎢1 − ⎥⎟
⎝ D⎠ ⎝ D ⎠
D
Rc 3⎝ 4 ⎣ Np ⎦ ⎠
where B is the contact width of the indenter. The
last term is borrowed later from Wierzbicki and
Suh (1988) to account for the effects of axial func-
tional loads in the leg. Rc is a characteristic resist-
ance of the tube defined as:
t2 D
Rc = σ y (3)
4 t
Ellinas and Walker (1983) investigated both
local denting and global bending deformation of
tubular members. The tube was assumed to cease
local deformation immediately when global bend-
ing started. The expression for denting resistance
of tubes is empirical, and is:
1
1 ⎛w ⎞2
R K ⋅ σ yt 2 ⋅ ⎜ d ⎟ (4)
4 ⎝ D⎠
K is a constant coefficient representing the shape
of the indenter. It is normally assumed as 150
according to experimental observations for con-
centrated loads.
Wierzbicki and Suh (1988) made the first
atepmt to derive a closed form solution on the
indentation of tubes under combined loading in
the form of lateral indentation, bending moment
and axial force. The problem is decoupled into
bending and stretching of a series of unconnected
rings and generators. The model considers more
realistic deformed sectional shapes of the tube as
shown in Fig.  1 (b). The indentation force under
concentrated loading is given as:

2π D wd 1 ⎛ 1⎡ N ⎤⎞
3

R = 16 ⋅ σ yt 2 ⎜1 − ⎢1 − ⎥⎟ (5)
3 t D 4 ⎜⎝ 4 ⎢⎣ N p ⎥⎦ ⎟⎠

A big advantage of this expression is that it is

derived theoretically but still preserves the appeal-
ing form of simplicity. It is particularly observed
Figure 1. Idealized damage to the tube cross sections that the tube’s ability to resist local denting depends
during local denting. only on the tube thickness and the material yield

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 stress, and is not related to tube diameter accord-
ing to Wierzbicki and Suh (1988)’s formula,.
We have followed Wierzbicki and Suh (1988)’s
derivation of energy dissipation and extended
the model to account for distributed loads with
a contact width of B. The following equation is
obtained:
⎧ 3
⎫ R0 is the beam bending collapse load of tubes.
⎪ 2π D wd 1⎛ N⎞ B⎪ 1
R = 16 ⎨ ⋅ 1− ⎜1 − ⎟ + ⎬ ⋅ σ yt 2 (6)
⎪⎩ 3 t D 4⎝ Np ⎠ D⎪ 4
⎭ by Storheim and Amdahl (2014) through observa-
In the nondimensional format, it reads:
⎧ 3 ⎫
R ⎪ 2π wd 1⎛ N⎞ B t ⎪
= 16 ⎨ ⋅ 1 − ⎜1 − + ⎬
Rc ⎪ 3 D 4 ⎝ N p ⎟⎠ D D⎪
⎩ ⎭
Buldgen et al. (2014) and Jones and Shen (1992)
presented analytical solutions for the complete
behavior of tubular members including local dent-
ing, global bending and membrane stretching. For
local denting, Buldgen et al. (2014) extended Wier-
zbicki and Suh (1988)’s model to consider different
orientations and positions of the struck tube, and
the shape of the striking ship stem. Jones and Shen
(1992)’s denting model requires numerical iterations
to obtain the resistance curve. The expressions are
complicated and are thus omitted here.
2.2 Existing criteria to resist excessive
local denting
The currently existing criteria for braces/legs to
keep compactness under lateral impacts are gen-
erally based on summaries of experimental obser-
vations and numerical simulation results, but
theoretical supports are lacking.
Soares and Søreide (1983) proposed an ana-
lytical solution for beam deformation of tubular
members considering the interaction between
bending moment and axial membrane forces,
and local denting is assumed small and negligible.
Good agreement was obtained with numerical sim-
ulations for minor denting cases. However, it was
difficult to define cases where local denting is suf-
ficiently small for applying the model. They sug-
gested that members with D/t of 35 or less and L/D
up to 22, can be deemed to maintain full bending
capacity during deformation based on Sherman
(1976)’s experimental observations.
The API rules (RP2A-WSD, 2000) prescribe
D/t < 9000/fy (fy in Mpa) to maintain full capacity
through plastic deformation. For 9000/fy < D/t <
15200/fy, only limited plastic rotation capacity can
be assumed.
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 793
The NORSOK N004 (DNV, 2004) and
DNV-GL RP C204 (DNV-GL, 2010) require the
following compactness criterion to avoid excessive
local denting of the tube before forming a three-
hinge collapse mechanism:
R0 /Rc < 6 (8)
This criterion is shown to be overly conservative
tions of numerical simulation results. They pro-
posed to use Rc as a characteristic strength factor
and Rc should be larger than 1.9 MN for bow colli-
sions and 1.4 MN for vessel side collisions to fulfill
the compactness requirement.
(7)
Recently, Cerik et  al. (2016) carried out exten-
sive numerical simulations using nonlinear finite
element code ABAQUS, based on which a classifi-
cation of the impact responses of tubular members
is suggested by using the indicator of R0/Rc. Four
response categories are suggested, which are:
Mode 1: R0/Rc < 6.5
(dominated by global bending)
Mode 2: 6.5 ≤ R0/Rc ≤ 10
(dominated by both local denting and beam
deformation, and local denting ceases immedi-
ately after plastic collapse)
Mode 3: 10 ≤ R0/Rc ≤ 23
(dominated by both local denting and beam
deformation, and local denting continues after
plastic collapse.)
Model 4: R0/Rc > 23
(dominated by local shell denting.)
Mode 1 seems to agree with the present DNV-
GL RP C204 standard (DNV-GL, 2010).
3 FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING
3.1 Finite element models
The numerical simulation is carried out by using
the explicit finite element software LS-DYNA 971.
The four-node Belytschko-Lin-Tsay shell element
is used with 5 through thickness integration points.
The penalty based contact algorithms are used.
A friction coefficient of 0.3 is assumed for all the
contacts.
3.1.1 Stern 1
The stern No. 1  model is established from a
7500-ton-displacement supply vessel. This stern
model has small vertical section, being 0.60  m at
the stern corner (see Fig. 2). The stern model has
a shell thickness of 11 mm for the outermost plate
and a thickness of 15 mm for the deck. Transverse
and longitudinal frames are located every 0.65  m
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3/29/2017 9:43:27 AM

Figure 2. Stern corner 1.
Figure 3. Stern corner 2.
Table 1. Material properties for the ship and brace/leg
models.
Material σy (Mpa) E (Gpa) K (Mpa) n εplateau
Steel 285 207 740 0.24 0 the residual ‘diameter’ of the dented cross section.
with a plate thickness of 10 mm. The mesh size is
typically 100 mm and this gives a reasonable ratio
of element size over shell thickness ranging from
5 to 10.
3.1.2 Stern 2
The second stern model is characterized by a large
vertical section of 4.95 m in the corner (see Fig. 3).
The supply vessel has a displacement of 7500 tons
and a draught of 6.2 m.
Refined meshes are used in this model, of which
the element sizes are typically in the range of
45–55  mm. The stern is equipped with frames in
both longitudinal and transverse directions with
a frame interval of 0.7 m and frame thickness of
9  mm. Manholes are included in the frame web.
The outmost shell plates have a thickness of 12 mm,
and are strengthened by stiffeners arranged every
0.7 m. The stiffener shell thickness is 10 mm.
3.2 Material modelling
When ship-platform interactions are accounted
for, proper modelling of the material behavior is
essential because the relative strength of the strik-
ing and struck objects are very sensitive to material
strength and rupture. A rupture of a structure can
easily turn the strong structure into the weak.
The power law hardening model is used to
model the plastic strain hardening for the steel
material. The same steel material is used for both
794
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 794
the ship and braces/legs with the material proper-
ties given in Table 1. The Rice-Tracey-Cockcroft-
Latham (RTCL) damage criteria (Tørnqvist, 2003)
is used to properly model fracture.
4 DENTING RESISTANCE OF BRACES
AND LEGS SUBJECTED TO LATERAL
IMPACTS
4.1 Denting resistance with rigid ship
and deformable braces
First, the resistance for impacts from rigid indenters
is investigated. Two flat rigid indenters are modeled
with a contact width of 0.6 m and 4.92 m represent-
ing the initial contact heights of stern 1 and stern 2,
respectively (see Fig. 4). The tube is assumed to have
a length of 20 m, a diameter of 1.5 m and a thick-
nesses varying from 30 mm to 50 mm. The tube ends
are fixed against translations and rotations.
The denting resistance by the theoretical models
is compared with LS-DYNA simulations in Fig. 5
for a tube thicknesses of 40  mm. Local indenta-
tion is defined as the original tube diameter less
It shows that the four denting models predict the
resistance of small contact cases reasonably well
up to an indentation of 0.6 m. After that, collision
forces grow drastically due to the stiffening effects
of membrane forces. The ends are assumed fully
fixed against inward motion in the simulation so the
stiffening effect may be exaggerated. For the case
with a large contact width of 4.92 m, the NORSOK
standard ends to underestimate the denting force.
A more detailed investigation of the NORSOK
model and the modified Wierzbicki and Suh’s model
is given in Figs. 6 and 7, where the tube wall thick-
ness varies from 30  mm to 50  mm. The denting
forces predicted by the NORSOK model and the
modified Wierzbicki and Suh’s model agree gener-
ally well with DYNA force curves. The NORSOK
model works quite well for small contact width. For
cases with large contact width, the NORSOK model
tends to underestimate the resistance. The underesti-
mation increases with increasing tube wall thickness.
The proposed modified Wierzbicki and Suh’s model
is more accurate for both small and large contact
width due to the second term in Eq. (6), which ena-
bles the denting force to start from a nonzero value
when the contact width is nonzero.
4.2 Denting resistance with deformable ship
and braces
The NORSOK model and the modified Wierz-
bicki and Suh’s model are further studied in more
realistic ship impact conditions, where both the
3/29/2017 9:43:28 AM
 Figure 4. Impact responses of tubes with rigid indent- Figure  6. Comparison of denting resistances from
ers of different sizes. impacts of a rigid indenter with a contact width B = 0.6 m.

Figure 5. Comparison of denting resistances by DYNA Figure  7. Comparison of denting resistances from
simulations and analytical models. impacts of a rigid indenter with a contact width B = 4.92 m.

ship stern and braces are deformable. Braces with

a length of 20 m, diameter of 1.5 m and wall thick-
ness varying from 30 mm to 50 mm are assumed.
The resistance curves are plotted in Figs. 8 and 9.
The dashed and dotted lines represent cases with
the contact heights being the initial and maximum
possible value of the corresponding stern for the
two denting models, respectively. In cases with
t  =  30  mm, the ship sterns undergo little damage
but brace denting is substantial. Both models pre-
dict the denting resistance reasonably well.
For braces with larger thicknesses, the denting
resistance increases due to several effects. A strong
brace may deform the ship and thus increase the
contact height between the brace and the ship.
In addition, unlike the scenarios with rigid strik-
ers, the deformed ship stern will wrap around the Figure  8. Comparison of denting resistance from
brace and increases the contact area. For cases impacts of the stern 1 corner.

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 often neglected. de Oliveira et al. (1982) gave an
expression for the transition indentation ratio
from local denting to global bending in a simple
form as:

wd ,tran
= 2(( λ λ2 ) (9)
D

where
2
π ⎛ L⎞ ⎛ D⎞
λ = 1+ ⋅ (10)
4 ⎝ D⎠ ⎝t⎠

Ellinas and Walker (1983) presented a more

complicated expression for the transition indenta-
tion ratio by solving the following equations:
Figure  9. Comparison of denting resistance from
impacts of the stern 2 corner. 2
wd ,tran ⎡ D D ⎤
= ⎢16 / K (1 + cos β β )⎥ (11)
D ⎣ L t ⎦
with increasing contact heights and t/D, the NOR-
SOK model underestimates the denting resistance where
to some extent, while the modified Wierzbicki and
Suh’s model gives good accuracy.
⎡ ⎧ ⎛w ⎞
2
t ⎫⎤
2
If the brace deflects a lot (in the order of brace ⎢ D ⎪ 16 / 9 ⋅ d tran + ⎛ ⎞ ⎪⎥ w
radius) after initiation of beam bending, the dent- ⎪ ⎝ D ⎠ ⎝ D ⎠ ⎪⎬⎥ ⋅ d ,tran
β = ⎢1 − ⎨ (12)
ing resistance will increase significantly due to ⎢ t ⎪ wd ,tran ⎪⎥ D
membrane effects and the design denting curves ⎢ ⎪ −4 / 3 ⋅ ⎪ ⎥
⎣ ⎩ D ⎭ ⎦
are no longer valid. The markers on the curves rep-
resent the time instant when a total energy of 30
MJ is dissipated. The absolute values of the forces K is as defined in Eq. (4). Neither model accounted
are quite similar, but the R/Rc value decreases with for the contact width effect. We combine the rela-
increasing wall thicknesses. tively conservative NORSOK denting model and
the NORSOK residual plastic bending-capacity
model and obtain a new expression for the char-
5 TRANSITION FROM LOCAL DENTING acteristic transition indentation ratio wd ,tran / D by
TO GLOBAL BENDING solving:

R0 ⎛ ⎞ ⎞
5.1 The transition indentation ratio 2
wd ,tran wd ,tran ⎛w
A brace/leg deforms first by local denting. ⎜1 1− − − ⎜ d ,tran ⎟ ⎟
2Rc ⎜⎝ D D ⎝ D ⎠ ⎟⎠
The increasing local indentation continuously (13)
1.925
decreases the tube plastic bending collapse load.
⎛ B⎞⎛w ⎞ 3.5 +
B
There exists a certain transition indentation ratio = 22 + 1.2 ⎟ ⎜ d ,tran ⎟ D
of wd, tran/D, beyond which the tube will start to ⎝ D⎠ ⎝ D ⎠
bend like a beam. Upon further deformation, the
beam plastic resistance may remain constant or For a brace with clamped ends, R0/Rc can be
increase depending on tube boundary conditions. expressed as:
If braces are very thin-walled, local denting may
increase significantly in the bending stage and the
D D
resistance may decrease, but it will increase again R0 / Rc = 32 ⋅ (14)
after some time due to membrane effects. t L B
Although a few researchers have studied the
transition effects during the derivation of resist- L–B is the effective brace length that is used to
ance in the whole impact process including the determine R0. It is found that wd, tran/D depends
denting, bending and membrane stretching only on two parameters, i.e. R0/Rc and B/D. This
stages, little discussion related to the transition dependence is consistent with de Oliveira et  al.
indentation ratio can be found, and its effect is (1982)’s model when B = 0.

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 Table 2. Verification of the analytical models for transition indentation ratios.

Brace L(m), Proposed Ellinas and De

Ship D(m), t(mm) Simulation method Walker Oliveira

Stern 1 L20D1.0t20 0.008 0.138 0.167 0.138

Stern 1 L20D1.2t20 0.183 0.222 0.273 0.218
Stern 1 L20D1.2t30 0.133 0.160 0.158 0.156
Stern 1 L20D1.5t30 0.233 0.276 0.289 0.268
Stern 1 L20D1.6t20 0.388 0.424 0.512 0.411
Stern 1 L20D1.8t30 0.350 0.410 0.436 0.397
Stern 1 L10D1.5t20 0.833 0.942 0.795 0.788

The transitional indentation ratios predicted

by the three models are compared with numeri-
cal simulations in Table 2. Table 2 contains cases,
where the ship does not deform much prior to
beam bending. Otherwise, the instantaneous con-
tact width will be difficult to measure. The output
intervals of nodal displacements is set as 0.01 s to
capture accurately the transition from local denting
to beam bending. The transition indentation in the Figure  10. Deformation of brace cross sections dur-
numerical simulations is defined as the indentation ing indentation (from Jones and Shen (1992), Jones et al.
(1992) and Cerik et al. (2016)).
where the nodes on the rear side of the tube move
with a velocity of no less than 10% of the ship rigid
motion velocity and deform continuously after-
wards with the same or larger speed. This defini-
tion is believed reasonable because the rear side of
the struck tube will contract a little in the denting
phase due to ovalization of tube cross sections (see
Fig. 10), and the nodal velocity on the rear side will
thus not be continuously increasing. Instead, it will
fluctuate, which makes it easier to judge whether
the current phase is governed by local denting or
global bending. The effects of cross section ovali-
zation and rear side contraction during local dent-
ing have been identified in experiments by Amdahl
(1980) and Jones et al. (1992), and are considered
in the analytical model by Jones and Shen (1992). Figure  11. Variations of transition indentation ratios
It is found that all three models provide reason- with L/D and D/t.
ably accurate predictions of wd, tran /D for varying
tube length, diameter and thickness. de Oliveira found that the large transition indentation ratios
et  al. (1982)’s model provides closest predictions are concentrated in the region with small L/D and
with numerical results. The proposed model has large D/t values.
an advantage of accounting for the contact length.
A significant discrepancy is observed for all
5.2 Discussion of existing compactness criteria
models for case stern1_L20D1.0t20. This may be
because the denting resistance should start with A connection between the existing compactness
a certain nonzero force level as indicated by the criteria and the transition indentation ratio is
modified Wierzbicki and Suh’s model in Eq. (6). found. From Eq. 14, the R0/Rc value depends on
Numerical simulation results show that there is D/(L-B) and D/t. If we assume conservatively that
a threshold wd, tran/D value of 0.15, below which the contact width B = 0, it is interesting to find that
braces/legs experience negligible local denting the R0/Rc compactness criterion in the NORSOK
before initiation of global bending. standard (DNV, 2004) and Cerik et al. (2016), and
Fig.  11  shows the variation of the transition the D/t, L/D criterion by Sherman (1976) are simi-
indentation ratio for a large range of L/D and D/t lar, and by nature bound wd ,tran /D
D within a certain
values using de Oliveira et al. (1982)’s model. It is range as indicated in Table  3. The API rules set

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 Table 3. The compactness criteria.

Sherman Cerik et al. NORSOK

Compactness D/t ≤ 35; R0/Rc ≤ 6.5 R0/Rc ≤ 6

criteria L/D ≤ 22
Corresponding R0/Rc ≤ 8.6 – –
R0/Rc
Corresponding wtran/D wtran/D wtran/D
wtran/D ≤ 0.12 ≤ 0.08 ≤ 0.07

limits only to the D/t values, and may not be suf-

ficient to ensure compactness.
A question arises that is it sufficient to keep
the cross sections compact by limiting the transi- Figure 12. Deflection curves of nodes on the front and
tion indentation ratio? From simulation results, back sides of the brace for case stern 1_L20d1.0t20.
we find that a small wd, tran/D value alone does not
necessarily guarantee that the bending capacity
will be maintained in the beam bending phase.
For example, in case stern1_L20D1.0t20 with the
measured wd, tran/D of only 0.008, the brace starts
to bend quite early but local denting continuously
increases in the global deformation phase. This can
be clearly observed in Fig. 12, where deflections of
nodes on the front and rear sides of the brace, and
the local indentation are plotted. This phenom-
enon is also observed for cases with large wd, tran/D
values. For example, in case stern1_L20D1.6t20
with the measured wd, tran/D of 0.39, local denting
increases continuously together with beam bend-
ing as shown in Fig. 13. In addition, the deflection
of the node on the back of the brace in Fig. 13 is Figure 13. Deflection curves of nodes on the front and
slightly below zero in the denting phase, and this back sides of the brace for case stern 1_l20d1.6t20.
confirms the ovalization and contraction effects
on brace cross sections by local denting. The large of the tube is further reduced if a leg carries axial
membrane forces due to the boundary conditions compressive loads. This may be the case for some
may exaggerate the increase of local indentation, jacket legs, but often the axial force level is mod-
but it does show that it is insufficient to keep cross erate and the platform can redistribute forces to
sections compact by limiting the wd, tran/D value. other legs, and this may provide some safety mar-
Although the transition indentation ratio is gins for the platform.
proved not suitable to be used as the compactness For cases with even larger wd, tran/D, say 0.5, the
requirement, it is still useful for deeper under- brace can hardly dissipate any energy by bending
standing and more accurate prediction of the in the dented zone, but only at member ends. The
impact responses of braces/legs. For each brace/ energy dissipated only by local denting is substantial
leg with specified parameters, a transition wd, tran/D but may not be enough to compensate for the loss in
from denting to bending can be found and is defi- bending energy. It is not recommended to design legs
nite. A brace will not start beam bending until the such that they undergo extreme denting (say > 0.5D).
transition indentation is reached. This means for
cases where the transition wd/D are for example 5.3 Recommended compactness criteria
0.2, only half of the full plastic bending capacity
is maintained according to the NORSOK residual The R0/Rc and the transition ratio wtran/D criteria
capacity curve when the brace starts to bend. The give only a ratio, which is a relative value. It may
residual bending capacity may not be enough to not restrict the development of indention in the
resist the accidental collision loads and energy dis- beam bending and membrane phase.
sipated by further bending in the dented zone is To maintain compactness, the tube should be
limited. A large deflection of the brace may occur able to resist locally a certain force level by inden-
and affect the adjacent members, which may lead tation. This means Rc should be larger than a cer-
to progressive collapse. The load bearing capacity tain value according to according to the NORSOK

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 denting resistance model in Eq. (2) and the modi-
fied Wierzbicki and Suh’s model in Eq. (7).
Storheim and Amdahl [20] found that the pre-
sent compactness criteria R0 / Rc < 6 in NORSOK
is too conservative based on a summary of numeri-
cal results. As discussed above, The R0/Rc criterion
alone does not necessarily guarantee no further
denting occurs in the beam bending phase. Another
requirement that is often assumed for strength
design is that the plastic bending capacity of the
brace R0 should be no less than the maximum colli-
sion force when the ship crushes into a rigid brace/
leg, i.e.. By satisfying both requirements, we get:
Fmax
Rc ≥ (15)
6 actions. Det Norske Veritas 2004.
According to our studies, it is not the criterion
itself but the combined requirement in eq. (15) that
is overly conservative.
A new criterion in similar form but with much
lower values is suggested for ship bow-brace colli-
sions in the trial version of the new DNV-GL RP
C204 standard:
Fmax
Rc ≥ 1.9 (16)
24
Eq. (16) has been proved useful for braces/legs to
maintain compactness in ship bow/stern collisions
by Yu and Amdahl (2017) through comprehensive
numerical simulations, and is recommended to be
used for design. For ship stern or side collisions, a
constant Rc is recommended.
6 CONCLUSIONS
This paper reviewed the existing denting resist-
ance models and compactness criteria. An analyti-
cal model by Wierzbicki and Suh was extended to
cover the contact width effect. The modified Wier-
zbicki and Suh’s model showed good agreement
with numerical simulation results.
A concept of transition indentation ratio is pro-
posed. The L/D, D/t and R0/Rc compactness crite-
ria were shown to be consistent with limiting the
transition ratio. This is proved to be insufficient to
limit the denting development in the beam bend-
ing phase. The Rc criterion is recommended as the
compactness criteria in the new DNV RP C204.
REFERENCES
Amdahl, J. 1980. Impact Capacity of Steel Platforms
and Tests on Large Deformations of Tubes and
799
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 799
Transverse Loading. Det norske Veritas, Progress
Report, 80–0036.
Buldgen, L., Le Sourne, H. & Pire, T. 2014. Extension of
the super-elements method to the analysis of a jacket
impacted by a ship. Marine Structures, 38, 44–71.
Cerik, B.C., Shin, H.K. & Cho, S.-R. 2016. A compara-
tive study on damage assessment of tubular members
subjected to mass impact. Marine Structures, 46,
1–29.
De Oliveira, J., Wierzbicki, T., Abramowicz, W. & Veri-
tas, N. 1982. Plastic Behaviour of Tubular Members
Under Lateral Concentrated Loading, Det norske Veri-
tas, Research Division.
DNV 1981. Impact loads from boats. Technical Note for
Fixed Offshore Installations TN A, 202.
DNV 2004. NORSOK Standard N004. Design of steel
structures, Appendix A, design against accidental
DNV-GL 2010. Recommended practice DNV-RP-C204.
DET NORSKE VERITAS.
Ellinas, C.P. & Walker, A.C. Damage on offshore tubular
bracing members. IABSE Colloquium on Ship Colli-
sions With Bridges and Offshore Structures, Copen-
hagen, May, 1983. 253–261.
Furnes, O. & Amdahl, J. 1980. Ship collisions with off-
shore platforms. Intermaritec’80.
Jones, N. & Shen, W. 1992. A theoretical study of the
lateral impact of fully clamped pipelines. Proceed-
ings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part
E: Journal of Process Mechanical Engineering, 206,
129–146.
Jones, N., Birch, S., Birch, R., Zhu, L. & Brown, M. 1992.
An experimental study on the lateral impact of fully
clamped mild steel pipes. Proceedings of the Institution
of Mechanical Engineers, Part E: Journal of Process
Mechanical Engineering, 206, 111–127.
Kvitrud, A. Collisions between platforms and ships
in Norway in the period 2001–2010. ASME 2011
30th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore
and Arctic Engineering, 2011. American Society of
Mechanical Engineers, 637–641.
RP2  A-WSD, A. Recommended practice for planning,
designing and constructing fixed offshore platforms–
working stress design–. Twenty-, 2000.
Sherman, D.R. 1976. Test of circular steel tubes in bend-
ing. Journal of the Structural Division, 102, 2181–2195.
Soares, C.G. & Søreide, T.H. 1983. Plastic analysis of
laterally loaded circular tubes. Journal of Structural
Engineering, 109, 451–467.
Storheim, M. & Amdahl, J. 2014. Design of offshore
structures against accidental ship collisions. Marine
Structures, 37, 135–172.
Tørnqvist, R. 2003. Design of crashworthy ship structures.
Technical University of Denmark Kgns Lyngby,
Denmark.
Travanca, J. & Hao, H. 2014. Numerical analysis of steel
tubular member response to ship bow impacts. Inter-
national Journal of Impact Engineering, 64, 101–121.
Wierzbicki, T. & Suh, M. 1988. Indentation of tubes
under combined loading. International Journal of
Mechanical Sciences, 30, 229–248.
Yu, Z. & Amdahl, J. 2017. Analysis and design of off-
shore tubular members against ship impacts. Interna-
tional Journal of Impact Engineering, In submission.
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 Subsea structures

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 801 3/29/2017 9:43:35 AM

MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Strength analysis of corroded pipelines subjected to internal pressure

and bending moment

A.A. Barbosa & A.P. Teixeira

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

C. Guedes Soares
Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Ocean Engineering Department, COPPE, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

ABSTRACT: The burst pressure and the ultimate bending moment of intact and corroded pipes are
studied by nonlinear finite element analysis. The corrosion is defined as a local defect on the pipe surface,
i.e., a region in which its wall thickness has a uniform reduction. First, a parametric study on the main
dimensions of the corrosion defect is performed considering that the pipe is subjected only to internal
pressure or bending moment. Then, numerical calculations are performed considering simultaneously the
presence of internal pressure and an incremental bending load, which is applied until the pipe reaches the
failure condition. The results obtained show that the presence of internal pressure significantly limits
the ultimate bending moment of both corroded and non-corroded pipelines. This effect is proportional
to the percentage of burst pressure applied initially and for the intact case, for instance, leads to a reduc-
tion of 30% of the bending moment capacity of the pipe obtained by single load numerical calculations.

1 INTRODUCTION proposed to assess the burst failure probability of

The burst failure of pipelines has been widely
investigated in the last decades analytically, numer-
ically and experimentally, which has resulted in
the development of several design codes and
guidelines, such as the ASME B31G (2012) and
the DNV-RP-F101 (DNV, 2015), among others.
The failure of pipelines under internal pressure is
known for being influenced by corrosion defects.
ASME B31G (2012) assesses the effect of surface
corrosion defects on the burst pressure of pipelines
based on the length and depth of a single corrosion
defect, whereas, DNV (2015) considers single and
interacting defects, and complex-shaped defects.
Despite the efforts to provide concise and
effective prediction methods, recent experiments
showed that some design codes can lead to over
conservative assessments of the burst pressure of
pipelines (Cronin & Pick, 2002). On the basis of
both experimental and numerical analyses of pipes
with different dimensions and defects, Netto et al.,
(2005) have developed a simple procedure for esti-
mating the burst pressure of corroded pipelines
with single longitudinal corrosion defects. Moreo-
ver, taking into account that corrosion is an uncer-
tain process, reliability formulations have been
corroded pipelines using different design equations
(e.g. Teixeira et  al., 2008, 2010; Bisaggio et  al.,
2005; Leira et al., 2016).
The presence of local thinning areas on the pipe
surface due to corrosion can also limit the capac-
ity of a pipe to sustain single and combined loads,
such as bending moment and internal pressure.
Regarding the ultimate bending moment of a cor-
roded pipeline, one of the most known prediction
method is the Net-Section Stress Approach (NSSA),
proposed by Kanninen et al., (1982), which consid-
ers the critical net-stresses at crack initiation as the
failure criterion. Improvements of this analytical
formulation have been proposed by many authors,
such as Zheng et al., (2004), Miyazaki et al., (2002),
Han et al., (1999) who tried to obtain better cor-
relation with experimental results by proposing
changes in the thickness considered in the formula,
the stress limit, among others. Several formula-
tions have also been proposed to predict the ulti-
mate bending moment not only in the presence of
single loads but also in the presence of combined
loads such as, axial force and internal and external
pressure (e.g. Bai et al., 2014; DNV 2013).
Finite element structural models have also been
adopted for assessing the response of pipelines

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 subjected to single and combined loads. Yu et al.,
(2011) and Mohd et al., (2015) have analyzed the
influence of surface defects on the pure bending
capacity of pipelines. Yu et al., (2011) have consid-
ered the presence of external corrosion in regions
subjected to compression, in which the buckling
moment is used as the carrying capacity of the
corroded pipe. Mohd et  al., (2015) have assessed
the interaction between the internal pressure and
the ultimate bending moment of pipes with differ-
ent local corroded regions exposed to tensile loads.
The numerical calculations performed showed that
the internal pressure has a significant effect on the
ultimate bending moment of pipes with deeper
corrosion defects than shallower defects. The ulti-
mate objective of these studies is the development
of simplified design equations, similar to the ones
of ASME B31G (2012) for internal pressure, which
would account for the combined effect of different
load types, such as internal and external pressure,
axial loads and bending moment.
2 METHODOLOGY
This study aims at evaluating the residual strength
of corroded pipelines subjected to single and com-
bined loads by nonlinear finite element numerical
calculations.
Table 1 presents the main dimensions as well as
the material properties used in the structural model
developed, which correspond to the ones adopted
by Mohd et al., (2015), which is used for compari-
son purposes and for finite element model valida-
tion. The steel considered in the analysis is the API
5l  X  42 with true stress-strain curve obtained by
linear interpolation of points taken from a real
test, as shown in Figure 1.
In this study, the quadratic element SHELL181
from ANSYS with six degrees of freedom in each
node has been adopted, which is well suited for
linear, large rotation, and/or large strain nonlinear
applications. According to Yu et al., (2011), either
quadratic elements, brick or tetrahedral elements
are recommended for bending moment analysis.
The present study has modeled the full-length
of the pipeline under pure bending and internal
Table  1. Main geometrical and material properties of
the pipe model.
External diameter, Do 291.0 mm
Thickness, t 12.7 mm
Pipe Length, L 2000 mm
Yield Stress, σy 290 MPa
Ultimate strength, σu 414 MPa
Poisson Coefficient, υ 0.3
Elastic Modulus, E 210 GPa
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 804
Figure  1. True stress-strain curve for STEEL API
5l X 42.
pressure. However, a half-length model with
symmetrical boundary conditions can also be
considered to reduce the computation time of the
numerical calculations.
2.1 Boundary conditions
The application of adequate boundary conditions
plays an important role in the numerical analysis.
The boundary conditions are applied to a rigid sec-
tion located at the pipe’s ends and are identical at
each of them. This rigid sections allow a uniform
application of the bending moment on the pipe
based on nodal loads and avoid out-of-plane dis-
placement of the nodes of the cross section. The
rigid “covers” at the pipe’s ends are modeled using
an Elastic Modulus one hundred times larger than
the one of the base-material.
The node located at the center of the rigid sec-
tion has its displacement constrained in the vertical
(y) and in the lateral (x) directions, therefore, dis-
placement in the pipe’s axial direction (z) is allowed
as well as rotation around the x direction.
The nodes located at 0º and 180º at the rigid
section have their vertical displacement (y) con-
strained. This prevents the rotation of the section
around the z axis, as shown in Figure 2.
The same boundary conditions are applied to
the rigid section located at the other pipe’s end.
Nonetheless, an additional constraint on the axial
direction (z displacement) is applied to the three
nodes located at y = 0 to avoid rigid-body motion
of the model.
2.2 Applied loads
In a first set of numerical calculations the model
is subjected only to bending moment or internal
pressure. Later, the combined effect of these loads
is assessed. The internal pressure is applied to all
3/29/2017 9:43:35 AM
 internal elements’ surfaces except to the rigid top
sections at the ends of the pipe. The pure bending
moment imposed to the pipe results from the axial
forces applied to all nodes of the rigid end sections
of the pipe, according to their vertical position, as
shown in Figure 3.
The magnitude of the axial nodal force Fnode
depends on the node vertical position, on the bend-
ing moment applied and on the second moment of
inertia of the pipe’s cross section. First, the stress σ
at the node position is calculated by:
σ = M * y/I (1)
where y is the vertical position of the node; M is
the total moment to be applied and I is the second
moment of inertia of the pipe’s cross section, given
by:
I π/ * ( D − Di ) (2)
where Do and Di are the outside and internal diam-
eter of the pipe, respectively.
Then, the section area is obtained according
to Eq. 3 and the element area is the section area
Figure  2. Boundary conditions in the rigid section at
the pipe’s end. Rigid material (in purple) and base mate-
rial (in green).
Figure  3. Applied nodal loads at the rigid top section
of the pipe (in red).
805
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 805
divided by the number of elements in the cross-
section,
Asection π / * ( D − Di ) (3)
AEllem Asection / Nelem (4)
Finally, the value of the axial nodal force is
obtained by multiplying the node stress of Eq. 1
by the element area of Eq. 3,
Fnode σ * AEllem (5)
One can see from Figure  3 that the section
rotates due to the presence of longitudinal loads.
This rotation, which is half the curvature angle
of the pipe, reduces the effective bending moment
applied perpendicularly to the section. Therefore,
the effective moment in a given step t of simulation
can be calculated by using the rotation θ (t) around
the node A local axis, as given by:
M effective (t ) = M (t ) * cos ⎡⎣θ (t )⎤⎦ (6)
2.3 Corrosion modelling
The corrosion defect is modeled as a Local Thin-
ning Area (LTA) located at the pipe mid-length
defined by three main parameters: the length (l),
the width (c) represented by an arc in degrees and
the corroded thickness (d) (Figure  4). Another
important aspect is whether the corrosion defect is
located at the compressive or at tensile side when
the pipe is subjected to bending. The former loca-
tion is capable of taking into account buckling
effects, whereas the latter results in the failure of
the section due to yielding. In this study, the defect
will be located at the tensile side, at the mid length
of the pipe (Figure  5), as done by Mohd et  al.,
Figure 4. Main dimensions of the corrosion defect on
the model surface.
3/29/2017 9:43:35 AM
 (2015), which is used for model validation by Table 2. Width and length of the corrosion defect.
comparison of the results obtained.
Moreover, the mesh is refined at the corroded Width, c 40.0 [degree]
region, where the highest stresses are expected, Length l 200.0 [mm]
which is particularly important for the accuracy of
the results. Table 3. Effect of mesh size on the maximum bending
The numerical calculations are performed for moment of an intact and corroded pipe. Comparison
the intact and corroded pipe with four levels of with the results of Mohd et al., (2015).
corrosion: d/t = 0.20, 0.40, 0.60 and 0.80. Regard-
ing the width and length of the defect, the values of Intact Corroded (d/t = 0.6)
Mohd et al., (2015) are also adopted in this study,
as shown Table 2. The arc length of the defect of Max Max
Bend. Difference Bend. Difference
100 mm, adopted by Mohd et al., corresponds to Moment to Mohd Moment to Mohd
an arc (c) of about 40 degrees, considering the pipe FE Mesh [kN.m] et al., [kN.m] et al.,
diameter of 291 mm, as shown in Table 2 and
R18/10 368.6 10.8% 360.1 5.0%
100 180 R36/20 384.1 7.0% 367.0 3.2%
c ddegrees (7) R72/40 371.2 10.1% 359.3 5.2%
291 π
Mohd et al., 413.0 0% 379.0 0%
2

2.4 Meshing refinement and convergence
A meshing convergence analysis is first carried out
to determine a proper refinement for the general
model and, especially, for the LTA. Three arbitrary
circumferential and longitudinal mesh sizes are
considered, for an intact and corroded pipe with a
significant corrosion defect of d/t = 0.60.
The main objective is to assess if a finer Finite
Element (FE) mesh leads to more accurate results,
taking the results of Mohd et al., (2015) as refer-
ence. Table  3  shows no significant differences in
the results for different mesh sizes. The FE mesh
“R36/20” with 36 and 20 elements in the circum-
ferential and longitudinal directions, respectively,
provides a reasonable compromise in terms of pre-
cision and computational time and, therefore, has
been adopted for further numerical analyses.
2.5 Simulation methodology
The numerical calculations have been carried
out using the ANSYS non-linear finite element
software. The simulation procedure consists of
applying an incremental load on the model until
the maximum load set by the user is reached or
the structure becomes unstable using the ANSYS
“ARCTRM,L” command. According to ANSYS
“ARCTRM L terminates the analysis if the first
limit point has been reached. The first limit point is
that point in the response history when the tangent
stiffness matrix becomes singular (i.e., the point
at which the structure becomes unstable). Then,
the maximum reaction load obtained is used to
calculate the maximum bending moment of the
pipe. Finally, for the combined load numerical cal-
culations an internal pressure corresponding to a
percentage of the burst pressure (Pb) of the pipe is
first applied (previously calculated by single load
simulations) followed by the application of an
incremental bending moment until its maximum
capacity.
3 RESULTS
First, a parametric study is conducted to validate
the FE model developed by comparing the results
obtained for single load numerical calculations of
the pipe subjected to bending moment and internal
pressure against the results of Mohd et al., (2015).
Then, the results for combined load numerical cal-
culations in the presence of internal pressure and
bending moment are presented.

3.1 Parametric study

Figure  5. Corrosion located at the tensile side of the
pipe (Mohd et al., 2015).
A parametric study regarding the main dimensions
of the corrosion defect is conducted. The objective
is to understand the effect of parameters, such as
depth, length or width of the defect on the ultimate
bending moment and burst pressure of corroded
pipelines.

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 Figure 6 and Table 4 present the ultimate bend-
ing moments of intact and corroded pipes obtained
by non-linear FE analysis and the corresponding
deviations from the results of Mohd et al., (2015).
One can see that differences are in average around
4.5% and always smaller than 7.0%, which indi-
cate a good correlation with the results obtained
by Mohd et  al., (2015) for single load numerical
analysis. The small differences are mainly due to
differences in the boundary conditions and in the
approach adopted for the application of loads.
Mohd et  al., (2015) have considered a stiff ring
at the end of the pipe and the bending moment is
applied on a single point centered at the top sec-
tion of the pipe. In the present study, however, the
boundary conditions and bending moment are
applied on a rigid section located at the pipe’s ends,
as shown in Figure 3. The differences between the
results of Mohd et  al., and the ones obtained in
the present study tend to reduce with d/t due to the
fact that when the pipe thickness is reduced, failure
is reached faster and the impact of using different
modeling approaches becomes less important.
Table 4 also shows the collapse bending moment
(MNSSA) of the pipe predicted by the Net-Section
Stress Approach (NSSA) (Kanninen et  al., 1982)
based on the ultimate tensile strength σu in alter-
native to the flow stress σf defined by the average
of the ultimate strength σu and yield stress σy, as
proposed by Miyazaki et al., (2002),
⎛ d ⎞
Mc 2σ f R 2t 2 β− sin θ ⎟ (8)
⎝ t ⎠ d/t
where R is the mean radius of the pipe, t is the pipe
wall thickness, d is the corrosion depth, 2θ is the
angle of the corroded area and 2β is the angle at
the neutral axis of the pipe.
It can be seen from Table 4 that the predictions
of the net-section stress approach are close to the
obtained results for intact and slightly corroded
pipes and tend to be conservative as the corrosion
defect increases.
Figure 7 and Table 5 present the burst pressures
of the corroded pipes obtained numerically in this
study, by Mohd et  al., (2015) and predicted by
ASME B31G (2012). One can see that the results
obtained are comparable with the ones of Mohd
et  al., but the diference between them tend to
increase as the depth of the defect increases. Addi-
tionally, Table 5 shows that the predictions of the
B31G code, using the flow stress defined as 1.1σy,
are very conservative for intact and moderated cor-
roded pipes and less conservative for highly cor-
roded pipes.
3.2 Influence of the length of the corrosion defect
Table  6  shows the influence of the length of
the defect on the ultimate bending moment of a
pipe with a corrosion defect depth of d/t  =  0.60.
Table  4. Pipe ultimate bending moment for different
corrosion depths.
Mobtained MMohd MNSSA
[kN.m] [kN.m] Deviation [kN.m]

with, 0 384 413 7.0% 407

0.2 380 405 6.2% 381
1⎛ d ⎞ 0.4 375 395 5.1% 356
β π − θ⎟ (9) 0.6 367 379 3.1% 330
2⎝ t ⎠
0.8 359 355 −1.1% 304

Figure  6. Pipe ultimate bending moment for different Figure  7. Pipe burst pressure (Pb) for different corro-
corrosion depths. sion depths.

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 As one can see, defect lengths ranging from 0.4 to load corresponding to the peak value of the
1.6 of the original defect length of 200  mm have internal pressure of the pipe (adopted in this study
a small impact on the ultimate bending moment as its maximum capacity, Pb) at which the numeri-
of the pipe (i.e. only around +-1% variation). It is cal calculations automatically terminate.
possible to conclude that this parameter of the cor-
rosion defect plays a secondary role in the ultimate
3.3 Influence of the width of the corrosion defect
bending moment of the pipe.
However, the length of the defect has a con- Table 8 shows that the variation of the width of the
siderable effect on the burst pressure of the pipe, defect, from 1.4 to 1.6 of the characteristic width
as shown in Table  7. One can see that the same defined in Table 2, has also little effect in the ulti-
range of defect lengths, i.e. between 0.4 and 1.6 mate bending moment of the pipe, i.e., less than
of the original value, results now in a variation of 3%.
the pipe burst pressure between +21.2% and −6% A similar analysis has been conducted for the
of its original value. pipe burst pressure, considering the same range of
Figure 8 shows the curves of the internal pres- variation of the width of the defect. It can be seen
sure as a function of the radial displacement of a from Table  9 that the burst capacity is also not
node located at the mid length of the pipe obtained considerably affected by the width of the corrosion
by finite element analysis. One can see the ultimate defect.
From these parametric studies, it is clear that
Table 5. Pipe burst pressure (Pb) for different corrosion the depth and the length of the corrosion defect
depths. have an important role in the assessment of the pipe
burst pressure. Moreover, the width of the defect
Pb obtained Pb Mohd Pb B31G has a low impact on both the ultimate bending
d/t [MPa] [MPa] Deviation [MPa] moment and burst pressure of the corroded pipe.
0 39.4 39.0 −1.0% 27.8
0.2 36.9 34.9 −5.7% 25.2 3.4 Combined loading
0.4 29.6 27.8 −6.6% 22.3
Combined loading analyses have been conducted
0.6 22.5 20.6 −9.3% 19.2
to assess the effect of the internal pressure in the
0.8 14.0 12.4 −13.6% 15.7
ultimate bending moment of intact and corroded
pipes. Numerical calculations are carried out for
Table  6. Ultimate bending moment of the pipe as a different corroded thicknesses (d/t) and different
function of the length of the defect l. initial internal pressures (Pi) ranging from 0% to
80% of the pipe burst pressure (Pb obtained) calcu-
Defect length/ Max bending lated by single load numerical calculations (Table 5
Original length moment [kN.m] Variation and Figure 7). The results are obtained for intact
and slightly corroded pipes with normalized corro-
0.4 372.0 0.8%
0.6 370.6 0.5%
sion depth (d/t) of 0.20.
0.8 370.2 0.4%
First, the internal pressure is applied using the
1.0 368.8 0.0% Newton-Raphson method and then an increas-
1.2 368.4 −0.1%
ing bending moment is applied until the failure of
1.4 365.9 −0.8%
1.6 365.1 −1.0%

Table 7. Pipe burst pressure as a function of the length

of the defect l.

Defect length/ Burst pressure

Original length Pb [MPa] Variation

0.4 27.23 21.2%

0.6 25.74 14.6%
0.8 24.71 10.0%
1.0 22.46 0.0%
1.2 22.07 −1.7%
1.4 21.11 −6.0% Figure  8. Influence of the defect length on the burst
1.6 20.96 −6.7% pressure of the pipe. Defect length ranging from 0.4 to
1.6 of the original length.

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 Table  8. Ultimate bending moment of the pipe as a 30% when the internal pressure is 80% of the pipe
function of the width of the defect. burst pressure. Moreover, the results obtained are
similar to the ones of Mohd et al., (2015).
Defect width/ Max bending The results of the numerical calculations for
Original width moment [kN.m] Variation
a corroded pipe with d/t  =  0.20  reveal a similar
0.4 376.2 2.0% tendency, as shown in Table  11 and Figure  11.
0.6 380.0 3.0%
0.8 376.5 2.1%
1.0 368.8 0.0% Table  10. Ultimate bending moment of intact pipes
(d/t = 0) subjected to different levels of internal pressure (Pi).
1.2 366.3 −0.7%
1.4 358.5 −2.8% Mobtained MMOHD
1.6 358.0 −2.9% Pi [% of Pb] [kN.m] M pi / M p= 0 [kN.m]

0.00 384.00 0.0% 413.00

Table 9. Pipe burst pressure as a function of the width 0.20 358.45 6.7% 367.36
of the defect. 0.40 322.95 15.9% 332.84
0.60 291.74 24.0% 296.49
Defect width/ Burst pressure 0.80 265.51 30.9% 259.16
Original width Pb [MPa] Variation

0.4 23.32 3.9%

0.6 23.23 3.4%
0.8 22.94 2.1%
1.0 22.46 0.0%
1.2 22.19 −1.2%
1.4 22.00 −2.1%
1.6 22.00 −2.0%

pipeline detected by the arc length method (when

the first limit load is reached). The maximum
bending moment detected during the simulation
is adopted as the ultimate bending moment for a
given corroded defect and for a particular level of
internal pressure Pi.
The increase of the internal pressure leads to Figure  9. Ultimate bending moment of intact pipes
a decrease in the bending strength of the pipe, (d/t = 0) subjected to different levels of internal pressure
characterized by the degradation factor M pi / M p =0 (Pi). Line in red represents the results of Mohd et  al.,
defined as the ratio between the ultimate bending (2015) in the same conditions.
moment for a particular level of internal pressure
and without internal pressure.
Table 10 presents the ultimate bending moment
of intact pipes subjected to different levels of inter-
nal pressure (Pi). The columns of the table corre-
spond, respectively, to the percentage of the burst
pressure applied to the pipe (Pi), the ultimate bend-
ing moment of the pipe obtained by numerical
calculations, the degradation factor that character-
izes the influence of the internal pressure on the
pipe bending moment capacity and the ultimate
bending moment obtained by Mohd et al., (2015).
Figure  9  shows the interaction curve of the ulti-
mate bending moment as a function of the pipe
initial internal pressure and Figure 10 illustrates the
corresponding bending moment-rotation curves of
the pipes. One can see that the presence of internal Figure  10. Bending moment-rotation curves of intact
pressure significantly limits the bending strength pipes (d/t  =  0) subjected to different levels of internal
of the intact pipe, which can reduce by as much as pressure (Pi).

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 Table 11. Ultimate bending moment of corroded pipes calculations. Also, the combined effect of internal
with d/t  =  0.20  subjected to different levels of internal pressure and bending moment on both intact and
pressure (Pi). slightly corroded pipes is analyzed. A parametric
study has characterized the effect of the param-
Mobtained Pi MOHD MMOHD
Pi [% of Pb] [kN.m] M pi / M p= 0 (% of Pb) [kN.m]
eters of the corrosion defect, depth length and
width, on the pipe’s burst pressure and ultimate
0.00 380.00 0.0% 0.00 405.00 bending moment. The results show that the depth
0.20 356.80 6.1% 0.19 343.97 and the length of the corrosion defect have an
0.40 324.46 14.6% 0.38 310.31 important role in the assessment of the pipe burst
0.60 295.18 22.3% 0.57 268.52 pressure and that the width of the defect has a low
0.80 270.51 28.8% 0.76 225.38 impact on both the bending moment capacity and
burst pressure of the corroded pipe.
In particular, the pipe burst pressure decreases
from 39.4  MPa, for the intact condition, to
14.0 MPa, for a corroded pipe with d/t = 0.8. How-
ever, the ultimate bending moment decreases only
from 384 kN.m to 359 kN.m, for the same condi-
tions, which corresponds to only 6.5% strength
reduction.
In fact, the length of the corrosion defect that
has a significant effect in the burst pressure of the
corroded pipe, has shown to have a minor impact
in its ultimate bending moment. Moreover, the
results obtained reveal that the corroded thick-
ness is the most important variable regarding the
strength of corroded pipelines in terms of burst
failure and bending moment capacity, however, its
influence is grater in the former than in the latter.
As far as the combined loading calculations are
Figure 11. Ultimate bending moment of corroded pipes concerned, the presence of internal pressure has a
with d/t  =  0.20  subjected to different levels of internal detrimental effect in the bending moment capac-
pressure (Pi). Line in red represents the results of Mohd ity of both intact and slightly corroded pipes. This
et al., (2015) at the same conditions. effect is more significant as the level of applied ini-
tial pressure increases.
The internal pressure plays an important role in The results obtained for intact and corroded
the failure of both intact or corroded pipelines. pipes subjected to only internal pressure or bend-
Figure  11 clearly shows that the ultimate bend- ing compare favorably with the ones of Mohd
ing moment decreases as the internal pressure et  al., (2015), which validate the model devel-
increases and that the results obtained seem to oped and in particular the loading and bound-
deviate from the ones of Mohd et  al., (2015) as ary conditions adopted (as shown in Figure  7
the level of internal pressure in the corroded pipe and Figure 6). For combined loading, the results
increases. One might argue that a possible reason obtained for intact pipes are also similar to ones
for this deference between the results is the model- of Mohd et  al., (2015) but tend to deviate for
ling of the defect region, which affects the results corroded pipes, as the level of internal pressure
of the numerical calculations of the corroded pipes increases, which indicates that the model may
under the combined loading. However, further require further investigation.
investigation is necessary in order to fully under- The model developed does not cover other pos-
stand the causes of such deviation or to support sible load combinations that might be important
the results obtained, so that the developed model in real problems. Therefore, other load combina-
can be applied for systematic numerical analyses of tions could be investigated in future studies, par-
corroded pipes under complex loading conditions. ticularly axial loads combined with other loads
such as bending moment and internal pressure.
Furthermore, the effects of internal corrosion and
4 CONCLUSIONS external pressure were not addressed in this study
and may be a major issue for specific industries
This paper has assessed the burst pressure and such as offshore oil & gas industry, in particular
the ultimate bending moment of intact and cor- for production and transport pipelines in deep and
roded pipes by nonlinear Finite Element numerical ultra-deepwater scenarios.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The contribution of the second and third authors
has been financed by EMBRAPII-COPPE Unit—
Subsea Technology, within the project “Subsea
Systems”, which is conducted in cooperation with
COPPE (UFRJ) and is financed by PETROGAL
Brasil. The third author holds a visiting position at
the Ocean Engineering Department, COPPE, Fed-
eral University of Rio de Janeiro, which is financed
by the program “Ciência sem Fronteiras” of Con-
selho Nacional de Pesquisa of Brazil (CNPq).
REFERENCES
ASME B31G. (2012). Manual for determining the
remaining strength of corroded pipelines. New York:
American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Bai, Q., Bai, Y., & Kopp, F. (2014). Subsea Pipeline
Design, Analysis, and Installation. Elsevier.
Bisaggio, H.C., & Netto, T.A. (2005), Predictive analyses
of the integrity of corroded pipelines based on con-
cepts of structural reliability and Bayesian inference,
Marine Structures, 41, 180–199.
Cronin, D.S., & Pick, R.J. (2002). Prediction of the fail-
ure pressure for complex corrosion defects. Interna-
tional Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, 79(4),
279–287.
DNV (2013), Submarine pipeline systems, Offshore
Standard DNV-OS-F101, Det Norske Veritas, Høvik,
Norway.
DNV (2015). Corroded pipelines, Recommended Prac-
tice DNV-RP-F101, (January), Det Norske Veritas,
Høvik, Norway.
Han, L., He, S., Wang, Y., & Liu, C. (1999). Limit
moment of local wall thinning in pipe under bending.
International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping,
76(8), 539–542.
811
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 811
Kanninen, M.F., Zahoor, A., Wilkowski, G., Abousayed, I.,
Marschall, C., Broek, D., Sampath, S., Rhee, H., &
Ahmad, J. (1982), Instability predictions for circum-
ferentially cracked Type-304 stainless steel pipes under
dynamic loading, EPRI NP-2347, vol. 1 & 2, Electric
Power Research Institute (EPRI), Palo Alto.
Leira, B.J., Næss, A., & Brandrud Næss O.E. (2016), Reli-
ability analysis of corroding pipelines by enhanced
Monte Carlo simulation, International Journal of
Pressure Vessels and Piping, 144, 11–17.
Miyazaki, K., Kanno, S., Ishiwata, M., Hasegawa, K.,
Ahn, S.H., & Ando, K. (2002). Fracture and general
yield for carbon steel pipes with local wall thinning.
Nuclear Engineering and Design, 211(1), 61–68.
Mohd, M.H., Lee, B.J., Cui, Y., & Paik, J.K. (2015).
Residual strength of corroded subsea pipelines subject
to combined internal pressure and bending moment.
Ships and Offshore Structures, 10(5), 554–564.
Netto, T.A., Ferraz, U.S., & Estefen, S.F. (2005). The
effect of corrosion defects on the burst pressure of
pipelines. Journal of Constructional Steel Research,
61(8), 1185–1204.
Teixeira, A.P., Guedes Soares, C., Netto, T.A., &
Estefen, S.F. (2008). Reliability of pipelines with cor-
rosion defects. International Journal of Pressure Ves-
sels and Piping, 85(4), 228–237.
Teixeira, A.P., Zayed, A., & Guedes Soares, C. (2010).
Reliability of Pipelines with Non-uniform Corrosion.
Journal of Ocean and Ship Technology, 1(1), 12–30.
Yu, W., Vargas, P.M., & Karr, D.G. (2011). Bending
Capacity Analyses of Corroded Pipeline. Journal of
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21701(1–12).
Zheng, M., Luo, J.H., Zhao, X.W., Zhou, G., & Li, H.L.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

A design of the subsea manifold protective structure

against dropped objects

S.H. Woo & J. Choung

Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Inha University, Incheon, Republic of Korea

K. Lee
Offshore Plant Research Division, Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering, Daejeon,
Republic of Korea

ABSTRACT: Subsea structures are always subjected to accidental risks induced by fishing gears, dropped
objects, etc. This paper presents a design of the subsea manifold protective structure against
dropped objects. Probable dropped object scenarios including masses, sizes and terminal velocity of
dropped objects and water depths were established. The annual probabilities for dropped objects hit-
ting the subsea manifold exceeding 10−4 are determined based on the procedure specified in a reference
(DNV, 2010). Structural consequences due to dropped objects are analyzed using the nonlinear finite
element method (ABAQUS, 2008), so scantlings and shapes of the protective structure are finalized.
A user-subroutine to implement three-dimensional fracture strain surface combined with Abaqus/Explicit
is used to judge whether local fractures occurs at impact points of rigid dropped objects. Although local
fractures are observed at impact points, it is concluded that the newly designed protective structure has
the sufficient global structural integrity against dropped objects.

1 INTRODUCTION Katteland and Oeygarden (1995) studied

The risk of accidental loads induced by fishery,
offshore lifting operation, etc. always exists during
an operation of subsea structure for oil and gas
production. It is a significant hazard for subsea
structures to experience leakage of hydrocarbon.
For this reason, risk assessment of a subsea struc-
ture against accidental loads is essential.
At the initial design of subsea structures, a
protective structure design taken into account
accidental loads that may occur during operation
of a subsea structure is required by Standards
(NORSOK, 2002; ISO, 2011). The standards only
describe a requirement of the protective structures
and specify reference loads such as dropped object
impact and fishing snag load.
Aanesland (1987) treated a drilling pipe freely
falling down in water as an ideal slender body. A
computer program was developed to predict the
risk of the damage on subsea installations. He
conducted two model tests. The first test was per-
formed in order to investigate the entire history of
events from a drop at platform deck till the seabed
is reached. The intention of the second test is to
verify the computer program and is limited to the
motion in the water. As the result, he validated his
simulations with respect to the test results.
dropped objects at large water depth. The effects
of the wind, wave and current have been ana-
lyzed. They assumed vertical angular deviations
of a dropped object were constant and showed
normally-distributed horizontal landing excursions
of seven ordinary dropped object item groups.
Based on previous studies (Aanesland, 1987;
Katteland & Oeygarden, 1995), DNV-RP-F107
(DNV, 2010) suggested a statistical risk assessment
method about accidental loads caused by crane
activities and fisheries for subsea pipelines.
Liping sun et  al. (2016) suggested a simplified
probabilistic method for dropped objects based
on DNV’s method. Unlikely DNV’s method, the
simplified probabilistic method has advantages
of using fewer variables and considering a sub-
sea equipment in irregular shape rather than only
pipelines and risers. By comparing with the result
of DNV’s method, they verified a practicality of
the simplified probabilistic method.
As a part of a domestic project associated with
a development of a subsea manifold capable of
producing 200,000 barrel of oil and gas per day
at 3,000  m deep sea with SIL 3 (safety integrity
level 3), this paper presents a structural integrity
of the subsea manifold protective structure against
dropped objects.

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 DNV-RP-F107 (DNV, 2010) were used to
decide detailed variables regarding dropped object
scenarios and hitting probabilities. The three-
dimensional nonlinear Finite Element Analyses
(FEAs) were conducted for the dropped object
scenarios. A structural failure occurs was also pre-
dicted using the three-dimensional fracture strain
surface developed by Choung et al. (2015a; 2015b).

2 DROPPED OBJECT SCENARIOS

2.1 Determination of the annual hitting

probability of dropped objects against
the subsea manifold (Ph)
Ph is the annual hitting probability of dropped
objects against the subsea manifold. Specific infor-
mation on an actual operation field layout of a
subsea manifold is necessary to calculate Ph. Ph can
be expressed as the product of annual falling prob-
ability of dropped objects (Pf) and annual hitting
probability of dropped objects on a manifold (Pm)
(refer to Equation (1)).

Ph Pf ⋅ Pm (1)

If an annual number of crane lifts (Nl) and fall-

ing frequency per a crane lift (fs) are known, Pf
can be determined using Equation (2). The refer-
ence data of Nl and fs are given in DNV-RP-F107
(DNV, 2010) where Nl and fs are categorized into
shapes and weights of the objects.
Pf Nl ⋅ fs (2)
It is assumed that hitting probability of a sinking
object on the sea bottom at a horizontal distance r
from origin of an object, p(r), follows a normal dis-
tribution as shown in Equation (3) where d and δ
are water depth and radial distance from the object
origin depicted in Equation (4) and Figure  1. αo
is the maximum angular deviation according to
dropped object
2
1⎛ r⎞
1 − ⎜ ⎟
p (r ) = e 2⎝δ ⎠
(3)
2π d
δ αo (4)
Pm is also easily determined using Equation (5)
with hitting probability of dropped objects against
a sea bottom within a certain outer radius ro Pro( )
(refer to Equation (6)), probable drop area(A), and
probable hitting area on a manifold (Am). Probable
hitting area on a pipeline (Ap) gives a very critical
Figure 1. A sketch for dropped object scenarios.
clue to determine Am. Probable hitting area on a
manifold with a dropped object can be calculated
using Equation (7) where Lm and Bm are the length
and the width of a manifold and Bd is the length
as well as the width of a dropped object (refer to
Figure 1).
Am
Pm Pro ⋅ (5)
A
p (r ≤ ro ) = ∫ p (r ) dr
ro
Pro (6)
− ro
Am (Lm + Bd ) (Bm + Bd ) (7)
It was assumed that a target installation field
of the subsea manifold is an imaginary field in the
Gulf of Mexico, so material handling information
such as maximum distance from dropped object
to the manifold, water depth, etc. was determined
based on assumptions. As shown in Figure 1, the
water depth of the subsea manifold was assumed
to be 3000  m and the maximum drop radius of
dropped objects was assumed to 70 m (ro = 70 m).
An effect of currents becomes more pronounced
in deep water. At 1,000 m water depth, the horizon-

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 Table 1. Ph for the selected dropped objects.

Description Mass in air [ton] Object αo Nl fs Ph

Flat/long shaped 1.8 30″ Casing 15 700 1.6 × 10−5 1.158 × 10−4

2.7 9″ Drill collar 9 50 1.6 × 10−5 1.131 × 10−5
8.9 Crane boom 5 5 1.6 × 10−5 1.715 × 10−5
Box/round shaped 1.5 10′ Container 3 500 1.6 × 10−5 1.916 × 10−5
7 10′ Container 2 2500 1.6 × 10−5 1.439 × 10−4
11 20′ Container 2 250 1.6 × 10−5 1.450 × 10−5

tal deviation has been found to increase 10–25 m Table 2. The cases for dropped object study.
for an average current velocity of 0.25 m/s and up
to 200  m for a current of 1.0  m/s (DNV, 2010). Mass in
This means that currents will reduce hitting prob- Case Object Ph water (ton) vt(m/s)
ability, so the effect of currents was not taken into 1 30″ Casing 1.158 × 10−4 1.56 2.7
account in this study. 2 10′ Container 1.439 × 10−4 16.9 5.5
DNV-RP-F107 (DNV, 2010) categorized shapes
of objects into flat/long and box/round ones. Each
shape also was classified by masses in the air: less
than 2.0 ton, 2.0–8.0 ton, and greater than 8.0 ton. fluid resistance. The maximum falling speed can
In this study, as depicted in Table  1, 30″ Casing, be decided using Equation (8).
9″drill collar and crane boom were selected as flat/
long shapes objects and empty 10′ container, fully
loaded 10′ container and loaded 20′ container were vt =
(m V ⋅ w)⋅ g
(8)
selected as box/round shaped objects. The weights 1
⋅ ρ ⋅C A
in air listed in Table 1 were decided based on real 2 w D m
scantlings collected. The maximum angular devia-
tions were taken from DNV-RP-F107 (DNV, 2010). where m, V, g, ρw, and CD are mass of the dropped
Recommendations for Nl and fs in Table 1 were object, volume of the dropped object, gravitation
also taken from DNV-RP-F107 (DNV, 2010). Hor- acceleration, sea water density, and drag coeffi-
izontal deviations of long/flat objects are known cient of the dropped object.
not to increase anymore below approximately Since the installation depth of 3,000  m is very
180 m water depth provided that effect of current deep compared with water depth required to reach
is ignored. Therefore water depth of 180  m was vt, impact speed is almost equal to vt.
applied to calculate Ph for flat/long shaped objects, Detailed information about the dropped object
while the field depth of 3,000 m was used to calcu- studies is listed in Table  2. In the case of a con-
late Ph for box/round shaped object. tainer, to consider conservatively, it was assumed
As the result of this section, detailed values (αo, that inside of the container was filled with the
Nl, fs) according to dropped objects and the value water after crashed into the surface of the sea.
of Ph calculated by using equation (1) to (7) are
listed in Table 1.
3 DROPPED OBJECT STUDY

2.2 Cases for dropped objects
In this study, it was decided to consider the cases
for dropped object study when Ph exceeds 10−4.
Hence objects of 30″ casing and fully loaded 10’
container were chosen for a dropped object study.
Impact velocity of the dropped objects
depends on its underwater weight and object
shapes. A sinking object usually reaches its maxi-
mum falling speed (vt) and maintains its speed.
After approximately 50–100 m below free surface,
the sinking object reaches its vt when the object is
in balance with respect to gravity, buoyancy, and
3.1 Design of the protective structure
Park and Choung (2015) suggested the design for a
manifold frame with SIL3 (Safety Integrity Level 3)
which is able to produce oil of 200,000 bbls per day
at 3,000 m deep sea as shown in Figure 2. In this
study, it was applied as the subsea manifold frame.
It is expected that a dropped object can collide
with the roof part of the manifold frame struc-
ture, but there is no cap or protective structure
on the roof. If a dropped object impacts with the
subsea manifold frame structure or internal pip-
ing system, it may cause the stop of oil production

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Figure 2. Manifold frame and equipment.
or catastrophic leaks from the damaged piping
system.
A protective structure for a subsea manifold
should be capable of protecting the subsea mani-
fold frame and the internal piping system from
accidental loads such as drop impacts and snag
loads. Accidental loads caused by fishing net were
not considered because it is very difficult bottom
trawling net to reach the equipment below 1,000 m
(API, 2013).
Considering the size of the subsea manifold
frame structure, dimensions of the protective
structure were decided as 13.3 m × 11.3 m × 6.0 m
for length, width, and height. H-profiles were
used for vertical columns and diagonal braces,
while hollow square tubes were for roof parts, as
illustrated in Figure 3. Section sizes were decided
through trial and error. The final section sizes
of the members were 300 × 300 × 16 × 11 for H-
profiles and 300 × 300 × 12.5, 300 × 200 × 12.5 for
hollow square tubes.
3.2 Finite element model
Nonlinear finite element analyses were carried out
to verify the structural integrity of the subsea man-
ifold protective structure using Abaqus/Explicit
(ABAQUS, 2008). As determined at Chapter 2.2,
impact of 30″ casing and fully loaded 10′ container
that Ph exceeds 10−4 were simulated in this paper.
Four node shell elements with reduced integra-
tion points (S4R) were used to model most parts of
the structures except impact zones of the dropped
objects.
This paper assumed two impact points: on the
center of the hollow square tube which has the
section size as 300 × 300 × 12.5 (Impact point 1 in
Figure 3 (a)) and on the center of the hollow square
tube which has the section size as 300 × 200 × 12.5
(Impact point 2 in Figure 3 (a)). The two impact
816
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 816
points were modeled using eight-node brick ele-
ments with reduced integration points (C3D8R)
since it is impossible to present displacement local-
ization exceeding plastic strain of approximately
10% with shell elements. In other words, reduction
in thickness has to be estimated during strain of
a structure, but shell elements have no thickness
dimension. Shell to solid transition was modeled
like Figure 3 (b) and (c).
To consider conservatively, dropped objects
of 30″ collar which has the length as 6.9  m
and 10′ container which has the dimension
3 m × 2.4 m × 2.5 m was modeled by using rigid
element (R3D4). Contact behavior of the interface
between the dropped objects and the protective
structure was simulated by general contact algo-
rithm in the Abaqus/Explicit (ABAQUS, 2008).
Considering the local and global deflection of
the subsea manifold protective structure, impact
points were defined. One is a center point of the
subsea manifold protective structure and the other
is a middle point of the horizontal member adja-
cent to the center point (see Figure 3(a)).
The point-load condition was applied to
describe the most severe impact condition when
the dropped objects hitting the subsea manifold
protective structure (refer to Figure  3 (d)). The
subsea manifold was only modeled as its outside
frame to figure out whether the protective struc-
ture reached to the subsea manifold after impact.
Bottom nodes of vertical H-profiles were fully
fixed. Prescribed initial falling speeds delineated
in Table  2 were assigned to two dropped objects.
Gravitational vertical acceleration component was
also applied to entire finite element model.
ASTM A992 and ASTM A500 Grade C were
assigned for the material of H-profiles and hol-
low square tubes because the material grades
have known to be widely used for offshore struc-
tures. Table 3 lists material constants used for the
dropped object study where strength coefficient
and plastic hardening exponent (Arasaratnam
et al, 2011) were used to generate flow stresses.
Fracture strain model based on equivalent plas-
tic strain, whether constant or variable, are called
shear fracture models because the equivalent plas-
tic strain is comprised of the deviatoric strain
tensor (Choung et  al., 2012). The shear fracture
model defines the fracture initiation when equiva-
lent plastic strain reaches a designated fracture
value. It has been found that the shear fracture
model is largely dependent on stress triaxiality and
Lode angle (Bai & Wierzbicki, 2008; Luo & Wier-
zbicki, 2010; Dunand & Mohr, 2011; Lou et  al.,
2012). Recently, According to further studies on
the shear fracture model it has shown that stress
triaxiality and Lode angle are largely affected
by loading sequence (Bai & Wierzbicki, 2008;
3/29/2017 9:43:43 AM
 Benzerga et  al. 2012; Basu & Benzerga 2015;
Thomas et al. 2016; Yu et al. 2016).
Bai & Wierzbicki (2008) proposed a stress path-
independent fracture strain formula in third order
polynomial form for ductile metallic materials
shown in Equation (9) in which η and θ were two
parameters of average stress triaxiality and nor-
malized average lode angle.

⎡1
ε f (η,θ ) ( D D
) 3 D ⎤θ 2
⎣2 ⎦ (9)
1
+ ( D1e D2η
− D5e − D6η
)θ + D3e − D4η
2

where D1/D2, D3/D4, and D5/D6 are material con-

stants associated with tension-, shear-, and com-
pression-induced fracture modes.
Choung et al. (2012; 2014a; 2014b, 2015a; 2015b)
and Choung & Nam (2013) have developed the
stress path-independent fracture models from vari-
ous fracture tests and simulations for EH36 marine
steel. As delineated in Figure  4, the latest model
proposed by Choung et al. (2015a; 2015b) is capa-
ble of predicting fractures under wide ranges of
the fracture parameters. The fracture constants
were D1 = 3.32, D2 = 1.232, D3 = 1.472, D4 = 0.0673,
D5  =  0.0702, D6  =  −1.086. The fracture surface
shown in Figure  4 was validated from a series of
verification tests and simulations (Choung et  al.,
2015a; Choung et al., 2015b).
Abaqus/Explicit (ABAQUS, 2008) was used to
simulate the dropped object simulations where a
user subroutine was embedded to apply the three-
dimensional fracture strain model.

3.3 Results of the dropped object simulations

Figure  5  shows deformed shapes of the subsea
manifold protective structure after an impact of

Figure 3. Finite element model.

Table 3. Material constants.

Section H-profile Square tube

Material ASTM A992 ASTM A500

Elastic modulus 206GPa 206 GPa
Poisson ratio 0.3 0.3
Initial yield stress 450.0 345.0
Strength coefficient 860.0 860.0
Plastic hardening 0.1411 0.1411
exponent Figure  4. Three-dimensional fracture strain surface
(Choung et al., 2015b).

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Figure 5. Deformed shape (Case 2 at Impact point 2).
10′ container on Impact point 2. The quantita-
tive values for the deflections and minimum gaps
between the subsea manifold frame and the sub-
sea manifold protective structure are summarized
listed in Table  4. The most severe case occurred
for the impact on Impact point 2 by 10′ container.
The maximum deflection was 500.5  mm and the
minimum distance between two structures was
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 818
Table  4. Result of the FEAs according to dropped
object scenarios.
Shortest distance
between manifold
Maximum frame and protective
deflection structure
Impact
Case point mm mm
1 1 35.8 1357.9
2 33.7 1360
2 1 335.4 1058.3
2 477.7 916.0
893.2  mm. Evaluation of minimum gap is very
important measure because the protective struc-
ture should not contact inside structures. Consid-
ering that initial gap was 1393 mm, there would be
no interference between two structures.
Evaluation of local fracture is also one of the
critical measures since the uncoated surface of the
protective structure material should be exposed to
sea water which can accelerate sea water-induced
corrosion. Local fracture on the top plate of the
square tube was observed as seen in Figure  5. If
we use actual stiffness of the dropped objects, the
local fracture will be reduced or even vanished.
4 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents a design of the subsea mani-
fold protective structure against dropped objects.
According to the statistical risk assessment
method based on DNV-RP-F107 (DNV, 2010) and
assumption of the field layout, the annual hitting
probability for dropped objects against the sub-
sea manifold were calculated. Basic specifications
of the subsea manifold protective structure were
determined to protect the subsea manifold from
determined dropped object scenarios. As the results
of the nonlinear finite element analysis which was
implemented the three-dimensional fracture strain
surface, although local fractures occurred at the
impact points, the global structural integrity of
the subsea manifold protective structure against
dropped object was verified in all cases.
In the further study, the annual hitting probabil-
ity for dropped objects against the subsea manifold
have to be newly calculated as soon as the field lay-
out for the subsea manifold is specified and it should
be reflected in a design of the subsea manifold pro-
tective structure. The three-dimensional fracture
strain surface used in this paper is about the mate-
rial of Arctic High Tensile Steel (EH36), so a pre-
cise validation of three-dimensional fracture strain
surface is also needed on the materials of ASTM
3/29/2017 9:43:45 AM
 A992, A500 which were applied to the members of
the subsea manifold protective structure.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by the Future Indus-
try’s Leading Technology Development Program
of MOTIE/KEIT(10042430, Development of 500
MPa URF & SIL 3 Manifold and Subsea System
Engineering for Deepsea Field) and a Special
Education Program for Offshore Plant by the
Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Affairs
(MOTIE) and the project titled ‘Manpower train-
ing program for ocean energy’, funded by the
Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea and
the principal R&D program, “Study on the Core
Technology of Structural Design, Engineering
and Test for Establishment of Structural Evalu-
ation System for Offshore Structure[PES9050]“
which is supported by KRISO. All support is
gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Arasaratnam, P., Sivakumaran, K.S., Tait, M.J. 2011.
True Stress-True Strain Models for Structural Steel
Elements, International Scholarly Research Network
2011 No 656401.
Aanesland, V. 1987. Numerical and experimental investi-
gation of accidental falling drilling pipes, Proc. of the
19th OTC No 5497.
American Petroleum Institute (API). 2013. ANSI/API
Recommended Practice 17P Design and Operation
of Subsea Production Systems-Subsea Structures and
Manifolds USA: API.
Bai, Y. & Wierzbicki, T. 2010 Application of Extended
Mohr-Coulomb Criterion to Ductile Fracture, Inter-
national Journal of Fracture 161(1): 1–20.
Basu, S., Benzerga, A.A., 2015. On the path-dependence
of the fracture locus in ductile materials: Experi-
ments. International Journal of Solids and Structures
71: 79–90.
Benzerga, A.A., Surovik, D., Keralavarma, S.M. 2012.
On the Path-dependence of the Fracture Locus in
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Plasticity 37: 157–170.
Choung, J. 2009. Micromechanical damage modeling
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Choung, J. & Nam, W. 2013. Formulation of Failure
Strain According to Average Stress Triaxiality of Low
Temperature High Strength Steel (EH-36), Journal of
Ocean Engineering and Technology 27(2): 19–26.
Choung, J., Nam, W., Kim, S., 2014a. Fracture Simula-
tion of Low-temperature High Strength Steel (EH36)
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using User-subroutione of Commercial Finite Ele-
ment Code, Journal of Ocean Engineering and Tech-
nology 28(1): 33–46.
Choung, J., Nam, W., Lee, D., Song, S.Y. 2014b. Failure
Strain Formulation Via Average Stress Triaxiality of
an High Strength Steel for Arctic Structures, Ocean
Engineering 91: 33–46.
Choung, J., Nam, W., Lee, D., Song, S.Y. 2014b. Failure
Strain Formulation Via Average Stress Triaxiality of
an High Strength Steel for Arctic Structures, Ocean
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Choung, J., Park, S.J., Kim, Y.H. 2015a. Development of
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age Stress Triaxiaility and Average Normalized Lode
Parameter Domain for Arctic High Tensile Steel: Part I
Theoretical Background and Experimental Studies, Jour-
nal of Ocean Engineering and Technology 29(6): 445–453.
Choung, J., Park, S.J., Kim, Y.H. 2015a. Development of
Three Dimensional Fracture Strain Surface in Aver-
age Stress Triaxiaility and Average Normalized Lode
Parameter Domain for Arctic High Tensile Steel: Part II
Formulation of Fracture Strain Surface, Journal of
Ocean Engineering and Technology 29(6): 454–462.
Choung, J., Shim, C.S., Kim, K.S. 2011. Plasticity and
Fracture Behaviors of Marine Structural Steel, Part III
Expertimental Study on Failure Strain, Journal of
Ocean Engineering and Technology 25(3): 53–66.
Choung, J., Shim, C.S., Song H.C. 2012. Estimation of
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tural Steel using Average Stress Triaxiality, Marine
Structures 29(1):1–21.
Det Norske Veritas (DNV). 2010. Recommend and Prac-
tice DNV-RP-F107 RISK ASSESSMENT OF PIPE-
LINE PROTECTION Norway: DNV.
Dunnad, M. & Mohr, D. 2011. On the Predictive Capabil-
ities of the Shear Modified Gurson and the Modified
Mohr-Coulomb Fracture Models over a Wide Range
of Stress Triaxialities and Load Angles, Journal of the
Mechanics and Physics of Solids 59(7): 1374–1394.
Katteland, L.H. & Oeygarden, B. 1995. Risk analysis of
dropped objects for deep water development, Inter-
national conference on offshore mechanics and arctic
engineering 18–22.
Liping, S., Siqi L., Shangmao Ai. 2016. A Simplified
Probabilistic Method for Dropped Objects Hitting
Subsea Equipment, International conference on Ships
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sis of a Stretch-bending Test on Dual-phase Steel Sheets
Using a Phenomenological Fracture Model, Interna-
tional Journal of Solids and Structures 47(22): 3084–3102.
NORSOK. 2002. NORSOK STANDARD U-001, Sub-
sea production systems, Norway: NORSOK.
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loci of ductile materials under non-proportional load-
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Analysis of the influence of spherical bulkhead reinforcement ring

structure type on the strength of the structure

Siming Yuan & Qiang Chen

Naval Armament Academy, P.R. China

ABSTRACT: Spherical structures applied on submarines, are propitious to maintaining weight and
improving bearing capacity, thus meeting the requirement of large-depth operation of the submarine.
However, with internal spherical bulkhead, the longitudinal stress on the inner surface of the pressure hull
and the bulkhead is very high, and the stress concentration is very serious. Therefore, the optimized design
of connection between pressure hull and the bulkhead is a key area of attention for structure designers.
As spherical bulkhead convexity is prone to buckling under pressure, this paper advances different methods
for spherical bulkhead reinforcement. Through finite element calculation, it proves that the reinforcement
can effectively improve the stability of the spherical bulkhead. The paper conducts numerical computation
on the traditional internal mounted plate reinforcement ring and the new-type thick-cut embedded
reinforcement ring, analyzes the influence of geometrical parameters on its performance, and compares
the mechanical characteristics of the two structure types. This study can provide useful reference to the
designing of connection type between pressure hull and bulkhead.

1 INTRODUCTION embedded reinforcement ring under static pressure

The spherical bulkhead on submarines is propi-
tious to maintaining weight and improving bearing
capacity, thus meeting the requirement of large-
depth operation of the submarine. According to
different positions on the submarine, spherical
bulkhead can be divided into stem-end spherical
bulkhead, internal spherical bulkhead, and bow
spherical bulkhead (Xu, 1980). The bearing capac-
ity of internal spherical bulkhead is related to the
maximum escape depth of the submarine.
In practical applications of spherical bulkhead,
there is large longitudinal stress on the pressure hull
and the inner surface of the bulkhead, and the con-
centration of stress is serious. Therefore, the opti-
mization of connection type between the pressure
hull and the bulkhead is a key area of attention in
submarine structure design at present. Currently,
traditional internal mounted plate reinforcement
ring are configured on the bulkhead to reinforce
the pressure hull. However, this type of reinforce-
ment has many problems in the building process.
This paper introduces a new type of bulkhead
reinforcement, i.e., thick-cut embedded reinforce-
ment ring. Based on non-linear finite element
software ABAQUS, it analyzes internal spherical
bulkhead reinforcement ring structure, compares
the stress conditions of traditional internal mounted
plate reinforcement ring and the new-type thick-cut
load, and evaluates the influence of geometrical
parameters on the mechanical characteristics of
the reinforcement ring.
2 COMPUTATION SCHEME
2.1 Compartment structure parameters
This paper scales down the real hull part. The
simplified model has a pressure hull diame-
ter of 2333  mm and a spherical shell radius of
3667 mm. There are 7 frame positions configured
on both port and starboard spherical bulkhead,
with the spacing of 200 mm. The 5 outer frames
in the middle section are 6  ×  80/10  ×  27 in size,
the 2 big frames at both ends are 6 × 100/10 × 35
in size. The cylindrical shell plate connected to
the big frames at both ends is 16  mm thick; the
other parts of the pressure hull are mostly 12 mm
thick. The vertical reinforcement ring on the
spherical shell plate is 200  mm long. The thick
plate is 83 mm long and 24 mm thick. The other
parts are the transitional tapered section of the
thick plate. The spherical shell plate is 12  mm
thick in the middle part. The spherical bulkhead
concave is configured with 9 horizontal and verti-
cal stiffeners. The stiffener is rectangular plate of
6 × 60 mm. The structure type of the whole hull
part is shown in Figure 1.

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Figure  1. Side view (a) and layout of spherical bulk-
head stiffeners (b) of the hull part.
2.2 Internal spherical bulkhead reinforcement
scheme parameters
The cylindrical shell is 2333 mm in diameter; the
spherical shell is 3667 mm in radius. On both port
and starboard sides of the spherical bulkhead,
7 frame positions are configured, with frame
spacing of 200 mm. The inner 5 outer frames
are 6  ×  80/10  ×  27 in size; the outer big frames
are 6  ×  100/10  ×  35 in size. The cylindrical shell
plate connected with big frames on both ends is
16 mm in thickness; the other parts of the cylindri-
cal shell are mostly 12 mm in thickness. The ver-
tical reinforcement ring on the cylindrical shell is
200 mm in length. The spherical shell plate is 12
mm thick at the center. The spherical bulkhead
concavity is configured with vertical stiffeners.
The stiffener is rectangular plate of 6  ×  60 mm,
made of certain high strength steel, with
yield strength σs  =  785  MPa, elastic modulus
E = 1.96 × 105 MPa, material density ρ = 7.85 t/m3,
Poisson’s ratio μ = 0.3. The reinforcing method is
to configure 9 and 11 horizontal and vertical stiff-
eners. Finite element software ANSYS is used for
calculating the strength, stability, and limit bear-
ing capacity of the spherical bulkhead structure.
The outer frames and spherical bulkhead stiffener
panel are simulated with beam unit (2 node beam
188), while the other structures are simulated with
shell unit (4 node shell 181). See Figure  2 and
Table 1.
2.3 Load calculations
For internal spherical bulkhead, assume that the
bearing capacity of convexity is 1.25 MPa.
2.4 Calculation results
See Table 2 for the calculation result of stress on
internal spherical bulkhead convexity. In consid-
eration of the deformation of spherical bulkhead
structure due to the water pressure on the convex-
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 822
Figure 2. Spherical bulkhead structure types.
Table  1. Internal spherical bulkhead reinforcement
scheme.
Scheme Description
1 Spherical bulkhead vertical reinforcement
ring plate: 24 mm; embedded thick
plate: 24 mm; 11 horizontal and vertical
stiffeners
2 Spherical bulkhead vertical reinforcement
ring plate: 24 mm; embedded thick
plate: 24 mm; 9 horizontal and vertical
stiffeners
3 Spherical bulkhead vertical reinforcement
ring plate: 20 mm; embedded thick
plate: 20 mm; 11 horizontal and vertical
stiffeners
4 Spherical bulkhead vertical reinforcement
ring plate: 20 mm; embedded thick plate:
20 mm; 9 horizontal and vertical
stiffeners
5 Spherical bulkhead vertical reinforcement
ring plate: 24 mm; embedded thick
plate: 24 mm; no horizontal and vertical
stiffeners
6 Spherical bulkhead vertical reinforcement
ring plate: 20 mm; embedded thick
plate: 20 mm; no horizontal and vertical
stiffeners
ity, the stability and limit bearing capacity of the
convex bulkhead under damaged conditions are
calculated, with the results shown in Table 3.
As is shown in Table  2 and 3, stress concen-
tration is obvious on the borders of spherical
bulkhead. When the spherical bulkhead convexity
stiffeners are increased from 9 to 11, the spheri-
cal bulkhead bearing capacity is increased by
only 6%. When the spherical bulkhead vertical
reinforcement ring plate thickness and embed-
ded plate thickness are increased, the spherical
bulkhead bearing capacity is increased consider-
ably by about 30%. Bearing capacity of spheri-
cal bulkhead without stiffeners is obviously lower
than that with stiffeners.
3/29/2017 9:43:46 AM
 Table 2 Strength calculation result (MPa).

Circumferential stress at the central

face of bearing ring center point
Longitudinal stress of spherical

Longitudinal stress of spherical

Longitudinal stress of spherical

Longitudinal stress at the inner

Latitudinal stress of spherical

Latitudinal stress of spherical

Latitudinal stress of spherical

face of bearing ring thickness

shell central face

shell central face

shell convexity

shell convexity
shell concavity

shell concavity

change point
Scheme

1 *−195.4/271.9 −195.4/−201.1 −195.4/−197.7 −196.7/300.2 −197.4/−212.0 −195.5/−399.7 −451.5 −329.3

2 −196.3/275.8 −195.5/−203.5 −196.2/200.0 −193.6/296.1 −194.9/−212.2 −196.3/−398.2 −450.9 −373.5
3 −197.8/340.6 −197.8/221.4 −199.6/227.9 −195.2/389.8 −197.1/−220.3 −200.6/−509.2 −596.7 −373.1
4 −192.5/345.5 −196.4/223.9 −199.4/245.6 −192.1/390.5 −195.7/−220.7 −200.0/−512.5 −598.7 −346.2
5 −170.4/261.7 −184.1/−207.6 −196.1/−206.9 −173.8/−328.3 −184.1/−195.7 −194.4/−497.7 −427.9 –
6 −175.6/344.0 −184.4/236.9 −196.2/−208.1 174.2/342.8 −183.8/−196.1 −196.6/−467.9 −594.5 –

*Note: A/B A is the stress at the center of the spherical shell or grid; B is the maximum stress in the whole spherical
shell area.

Table  3. Calculation result of stability and limit bear- 3 SPHERICAL BULKHEAD

ing capacity under damaged conditions of the convex
bulkhead.
REINFORCEMENT RING
STRUCTURE TYPES
Critical load for Limit bearing
phase I buckling capacity The traditional way of reinforcing bulkheads is to
Scheme (MPa) (MPa) weld flitch reinforcement ring on the inner surface
of the pressure hull. The reinforcement ring is con-
1 9.457 2.930 nected to the spherical bulkhead through welding,
2 8.575 2.763 as shown in Figure 4(a). Geometric parameters of
3 9.109 2.258 its section include the length and thickness of the
4 8.286 2.109 flitch. The integrated reinforcement ring made of
5 2.636 1.086 tapered thick plate is connected and integrated to
6 2.614 0.987 the pressure hull through a tapered transitional
ring structure. The spherical bulkhead is directly
welded to the transitional ring to provide support,
as shown in Figure 4(b). It consists of the rectan-
gular part and the trapezoidal enveloped part, with
the trapezoid slope angle of 45°. To facilitate the
comparison of mechanical properties between the
two, it is assumed that the length of the two types
of reinforcement ring are equal, the thickness of
the rectangular part of the tapered reinforcement
ring equals that of the pressure hull, and that the
sectional area of the trapezoidal enveloped part
equals that of the flitch in the flitch reinforcement
ring structure. For the convenience of description,
the hull part with the length of 100 mm and embed-
ded flitch reinforcement ring thickness of 24 mm is
Figure 3. Wave form of phase I local buckling for the 6 named as traditional; the corresponding integrated
types of spherical bulkhead reinforcement. reinforcement ring made of tapered thick plate is

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 823 3/29/2017 9:43:47 AM

 Figure 4. Traditional internal mounted plate reinforce-
ment ring (a) and the new-type thick-cut embedded rein-
Figure 5. Half profile of spherical bulkhead reinforce-
forcement ring (b).
ment ring finite element computation model.

named as new type. Other computation models are

named with similar rules.

2.5 Finite element modeling

Finite element software ABAQUS is used in this
paper to compute the strength of spherical bulk-
head structure. Shown in Figure 5 is the half pro-
file of spherical bulkhead reinforcement ring finite
element computation model. The outer frames
and spherical bulkhead stiffeners are simulated
with beam unit (B31); other structures are simu-
lated with shell unit (S4R). Horizontal and verti-
cal reinforcement rings have the proprieties of
variable thickness shell. Linear elastic constitutive
model is adopted in describing mechanical behav-
iour of materials in computation. Elastic modulus
E = 1.96 × 105 MPa, Sun et al. (2005) Poisson’s ratio
μ = 0.3. In the computation process, all degrees of
freedom for end nodes of the section are restricted
to achieve fixed boundary; certain surface pressure
is applied on the spherical bulkhead convex surface
to simulate static water pressure load.
2.6 Computation results and analysis
Shown in Figure  6 are the distribution curves of
pressure hull inner surface longitudinal stress and
deformation with the increasing length of rein-
forcement ring for traditional and new type rein-
forcements under the pressure load of 1.25 MPa.
The origin is the position of the bulkhead. As is
shown in Figure 6(a), under the external pressure
on the bulkhead, the maximum stress on the inner
surface of the pressure hull is at the position 60mm
from the bulkhead, which is near the reinforcement
ring. The reason for this is that the pressure hull
has a large radial displacement at this position, as
shown in Figure 6(b). For the reinforcement type
with internal mounted plate reinforcement ring,
large stress appears at the connection between
bulkhead and pressure hull; For the reinforcement
type with thick-cut embedded reinforcement ring,
the trend of stress change in the reinforcement ring
area is similar with that of the internal mounted
Figure 6. Distribution of internal surface longitudinal
stress (a) and radial deformation for different reinforce-
ment ring types.
plate. However, for the latter, the stress at the bulk-
head is far less than that of the internal mounted
plate. Therefore, the use of tapered reinforcement
ring is conducive in reducing stress concentration
on the bulkhead. Compared with the traditional
type, the new type has a peak stress of 9.2% lower
and a longitudinal displacement of 8.3% less.
Shown in Figure 7 is the change of pressure hull
inner surface longitudinal stress with load under
same structure parameters for different structure
types. It can be seen that the hull inner surface lon-
gitudinal stress increase linearly with the increase
of pressure load. For different loads, the peak
values of stress for tapered reinforcement ring are
always 9% lower than those of internal mounted
plate reinforcement ring. The hull inner surface
longitudinal stress for internal mounted plate rein-
forcement ring is more sensitive to the change of
load. Therefore, the merit of thick-cut reinforce-
ment ring is more significant with large pressure
load.
Shown in Figure 8 is the change of longitudinal
peak stress on pressure hull inner surface with the
thickness of reinforcement ring for the pressure load

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 824 3/29/2017 9:43:47 AM

 Figure  7. Change of inner surface longitudinal peak
stress with load for different reinforcement types.
Figure  8. Change of inner surface longitudinal peak
stress with reinforcement ring thickness for different rein-
forcement types.
of 1.25 MPa and the reinforcement ring length of
100mm. The peak stress appears at the position
near the reinforcement ring on the pressure hull,
as shown in Figure 6. Increasing the thickness of
reinforcement ring can significantly reduce the
longitudinal peak stress for tapered reinforcement
ring. However, this method has little influence on
the peak stress for internal mounted plate rein-
forcement type. With small thickness of reinforce-
ment ring, the peak stress for internal mounted
plate reinforcement type is lower than that for
tapered reinforcement ring type. With larger thick-
ness, the tapered reinforcement ring type can more
effectively reduce the longitudinal stress of the
structure.
825
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 825
Figure  9. Change of inner surface longitudinal peak
stress with reinforcement ring thickness for different rein-
forcement types.
Shown in Figure 9 is the change of inner surface
longitudinal peak stress with the length of rein-
forcement ring for the pressure hull with pressure
load of 1.25  MPa and reinforcement ring thick-
ness of 24 mm. The maximum longitudinal stress
is sensitive to reinforcement ring length change.
With the increase of reinforcement ring length, the
peak stress reduces linearly. When the reinforce-
ment ring length is small, the internal mounted
reinforcement type has lower peak stress. When
the reinforcement ring length is over 100 mm, the
tapered reinforcement ring has lower peak stress.
Therefore, if layout space permits, a longer tapered
reinforcement ring is conducive in reducing the
maximum longitudinal stress on the pressure hull
plate.
3 CONCLUSIONS
Through comparative analysis of mechanical pro-
prieties of two different types of reinforcement
rings, the following conclusions can be reached:
1. With pressure load on the spherical bulkhead
convex surface, the maximum stress on the pres-
sure hull appears at positions near the reinforce-
ment ring on the pressure hull.
2. Under same conditions, the tapered reinforce-
ment ring type has distinctly better mechani-
cal performance than the traditional internal
mounted plate reinforcement ring. Utilizing the
tapered reinforcement ring type can effectively
reduce the pressure hull inner surface longitudi-
nal stress.
3. As the inner surface longitudinal stress for the
hull with internal mounted plate reinforcement
3/29/2017 9:43:48 AM
 ring is more sensitive to load change, the merits
of tapered reinforcement ring type is more sig-
nificant in large load conditions.
4. The bulkhead inner surface longitudinal stress
is sensitive to change of thickness and length of
reinforcement ring. If construction conditions
permit, try to use longer and thicker tapered
reinforcement ring.
826
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 826
REFERENCES
Sun Feng, Zhang Guo-dong, Ma Li-qing, Zhang Fu-ju.
Magnetic Remnant Research on Steel 980 Ultra
Narrow Gap GMAW. Electric Welding Machine, 2005,
35(4):56–59.
Xu, Jiping.1980. Submarine Strength. Defense Industry
Press.
3/29/2017 9:43:49 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Lateral buckling and post-buckling response based on a modified

nonlinear pipe-soil interaction model

Xinhu Zhang
Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de
Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal (On Leave from School of Mechatronic Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University,
Chengdu, China)

Chen An & Menglan Duan

Institute for Ocean Engineering, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, China

C. Guedes Soares
Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de
Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: Lateral buckling of submarine pipelines under the conditions of high pressure and high
temperature is a primary concern for structural integrity and lateral pipe-soil interaction plays a signifi-
cant role on lateral buckling and post-buckling. A new pipe-soil interaction model is proposed. Three
dimensional Finite Element Models are built to simulate the lateral buckling and post-buckling. The
effects of pipe-soil interaction parameters, initial imperfection shape and out-of-straightness of pipe on
critical buckling force and localization patterns of lateral buckling are discussed. Results show that the
critical force of lateral buckling is a complex function of many parameters; the residual resistance and cor-
responding lateral displacement mainly affect the lateral post-buckling response; the localization pattern
of lateral buckling is governed mainly by initial imperfection shape function.

1 INTRODUCTION related work on railroad track. However, because

With the development of offshore oil industry,
offshore oil exploration has been going to deeper
waters gradually in recent years. In deep water, the
conditions of high temperature and high pressure
inevitably bring considerable axial force in pipe.
Once the axial force is beyond the critical force, lat-
eral buckling happens since the lateral soil resist-
ance against the pipeline is smaller than the vertical
resistance. Pipelines with lateral buckling may lead
to final failure such as collapse, fatigue or fracture
(DNV-RP-F110 2007). So it is important to study
this behavior.
In the past four decades, a lot of researchers have
investigated the lateral buckling problem. Palmer
& Baldry (1974) studied the lateral buckling of axi-
ally constrained pipelines by theoretical analysis
and experiments. They correctly interpreted the
reason why the pipe can buckle and presented an
analytical solution for the critical pressure. Hobbs
(1984) proposed five modes of lateral global buck-
ling and gave analytical solutions for the buckling
length, critical force and buckling amplitude cor-
responding to those five modes on the basis of
initial imperfections were not taken into consid-
eration, the critical force from his formula is more
conservative than the real critical load.
To study the effect of initial imperfection on
the critical buckling force, a series of experimental
and analytical studies were carried out by Taylor &
Gan (1986), and Taylor & Tran (1993, 1996). Three
kinds of initial imperfection models and the cor-
responding critical force formulas were proposed.
Kershenbaum et al. (1996) proposed an analytical
model for the lateral deviation of a single subsea
pipeline due to thermal expansion. They applied
energy variational method to determine the lateral
deviation, natural wavelengths, resultant pipeline
stresses, and a more realistic pipeline expansion
length. Soreide et  al. (2005) applied analytical as
well as numerical simulations to illustrate the dif-
ferent modes of deformation and design param-
eters of lateral buckling. The results manifested
that the phenomenon of lateral buckle behavior
is highly nonlinear as deformations go into the
post-buckling range and more global nonlinear-
ity comes into the design as larger pipeline areas
involve multiple buckles.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 827 3/29/2017 9:43:49 AM

 Using the finite element method, Zeng et  al.
(2014) took into account the initial imperfection
wavelength and maximum amplitude as a whole
and presented three different formulas for the criti-
cal buckling force that corresponds to three differ-
ent kinds of imperfections. Zhang & Duan (2015)
defined a new parameter to quantify the effect of
initial imperfection shape and proposed a general
formula to express the integrated effects of imper-
fection on critical buckling force which covers
three parameters: initial imperfection wavelength,
maximum amplitude and the new shape param-
eter. However, in these studies, the seabed under
the pipelines is seen as a rigid foundation, which is
often different from the real situation.
The pipe-soil interaction is another key factor
that affects the lateral buckling behavior. Tver-
gaard & Needleman (1980) pointed out that the
nonlinear pipe-soil interaction is important for the
localization of buckling patterns. Force-displace-
ment response model, as the most essential reflec-
tion of pipe-soil interaction, has attracted a lot
of attentions of many investigators. Some lateral
pipe-soil interaction models were proposed, for
instance, simple Coulomb friction model (Hobbs,
1984), hyperbola model (Trautmann et al., 1985),
exponential model (Maltby & Calladine, 1995,
Karampour et  al., 2013), piecewise linear model
(Tvergaard & Needleman, 1980), tri-line model
(Bruton et  al., 2006) and polynomial model with
cubic and quantic terms (Zeng & Duan, 2014).
Wang & Liu (2016) carried out some experi-
ments on the lateral resistance of shallow pipelines.
A typical curve of lateral resistance and pipe dis-
placement is illustrated in Figure  1 which agrees
well with previous experimental studies. Also, the
above lateral pipe-soil models under the same
Figure  1. Comparison of different models for lateral
resistance.
828
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 828
conditions are plotted in Figure 1. It can be seen
that the existing pipe-soil models cannot accurately
describe the full resistance force and displacement
response. Therefore the non-linear lateral pipe-soil
interaction model and its influence on lateral buck-
ling need further research.
In this study, a modified pipe-soil interac-
tion model is presented based on tri-line model
and hyperbola model. According to practical soil
parameters and boundary conditions, the nonlin-
ear pipe-soil interaction model can be determined
exactly which can overcome the above problems.
Using the nonlinear pipe-soil mode and PSI (Pipe
Soil Interaction) element, FEM (Finite Element
Models) are established to simulate the lateral buck-
ling as well as post-buckling response. The effects
of pipe-soil interaction parameters, initial imper-
fection shape function, OOS (Out-of-Straightness)
and different pipe-soil forms on critical force and
localization patterns of lateral buckling as well as
post-buckling response are discussed. Python as
a programming language has been used to con-
duct the parametric study. Some conclusions are
obtained, which can provide a guide for the design
of submarine pipelines.
The remainder of this paper is as follows.
Section  2  introduces the modified nonlinear
pipe-soil interaction model and the verification
of the model. Section  3  introduces the FEM for
lateral buckling of submarine pipelines. Section 4
discusses the simulated results and the effects of
pipe-soil interaction parameters, imperfections
and different pipe-soil forms on critical force and
localization patterns of lateral buckling. The last
section, Section 5, concludes this study.
2 MODIFIED NONLINEAR PIPE-SOIL
INTERACTION MODEL
2.1 Establishment of modified pipe-soil model
Palmer et al. (2003) pointed out that both the break-
out resistance and the corresponding mobilization
distance are two important parameters in pipeline
design. Over the years, researchers have studied the
complex mechanism of soil failure in the lateral
movement process of submarine pipelines. Dif-
ferent soil failure mechanisms were presented and
breakout resistance and the mobilization distance
of breakout resistance were determined by differ-
ent forms. However, the residual resistance and the
corresponding lateral displacement are two signifi-
cant character parameters for lateral displacement
since residual force occurs within several diam-
eters, while typically the displacement of lateral
buckling are more than several diameters (Wang &
Liu, 2016; Bruton et al., 2006).
3/29/2017 9:43:49 AM
 When a pipeline is installed, the initial embed-
ment is related to vertical load V, pipe diameter D,
soil strength Su and soil sensitivity St. The initial
embedment can be determined by the following
equation.
2
zinit St ⎛ V ⎞
= (1)
D 15 ⎜⎝ DS Su ⎟⎠
From equation (7), it can be seen that if the last
item is omitted, the pipe-soil interaction response
relation becomes linear corresponding to the first
line in tri-line model. Therefore the nonlinear of
pipe-soil interaction is expressed by the last item,
where A, B, C, p, q are coefficients which are deter-
mined by the following conditions:
a. It meets the key point R in tri-linear model.

Herein the breakout resistance Fb and residual Fs s =α

Fb (8)
resistance Fr for soil are given by:
b. When the normalized displacement reaches β,
the plastic behavior of soil starts, the related lat-
Fb 0 2V + (3 Su γ ′D
D )zinit (2) eral resistance takes the 70% of the maximum
resistance force (Trautmann et al., 1985).
⎡ ⎛ ⎛ 1 Su ⎞ ⎞ ⎤
Fr V ⎢1 − 0.65 ⎜1 − exp ⎜ − ⎥
⎝ 2 γ ′D ⎟⎠ ⎟⎠ ⎥⎦
(3) Fs 0.7 Fb (9)
⎢⎣ ⎝ s =γ

where γ ′ denotes the submerged unit soil weight. c. It reaches the maximum value on point R in tri-
The mobilization distance of the breakout resist- linear model.
ance ub and lateral displacement of the residual
resistance ur for sandy soil are given by: dF
Fs
=0 (10)
ds s =α
ub = αD (4)
ur = βD (5) d. It meets the key point Q in tri-linear model.

For the pipelines that lie directly on the seabed Fs s=β

or are shallowly embedded, a tri-linear model is
given out by DNV-RP-F109 (2007) to express the
nonlinear force-displacement relation, as shown
by blue line in Figure 1 (check the electronic ver-
sion of the paper for colours). Wang & Liu (2016)
found that this model tends to exaggerate the
lateral residual resistance when the pipe segment
weight is less than 500  N/m. Furthermore, this
pipe-soil model is not continuous and smooth, it
is inconvenient for further theoretical study in the
future. Trautmann et al. (1985) presented a hyper-
bola model to express the relation between soil
resistance and pipe displacement. However, the
effect of berm on lateral resistance was not taken
into consideration, so the model cannot reflect the
real rules when the lateral displacement exceeds the
mobilization distance. The following formulation
is used in this study to modify the above model.
( As 3 + Bs
B 2 + Cs ) u able: α = 0.5, β = 5.0 and γ = 0.02. Setting the val-
Fs = s= (6)
( s + ps + q )
2
D ues of vertical load V = 2330 N/m, pipe diameter
The above formula can be written as:
Fs = As +
(C A Bp Ap ) s + ( B − A
Ap Ap )( s 2 + ps )
s + ps + q
2
(7)
Fr (11)
e. The lateral resistance keeps constant when the
normalized displacement reaches point Q.
dF
Fs
≈0 (12)
ds s=β
where parameters α, β, and γ are determined by
soil characteristics. The soils of different types and
different densities have different values for these
parameters.
There are five unknown variables in nonlinear
pipe-soil interaction equation (6) and five func-
tions (equation (8) to equation (12)), therefore
the modified pipe-soil interaction relation can be
determined.
For instance, according to DNV-OS-F101 (2012)
for the very soft clay, the following values are avail-
D = 0.5 m, submerged unit soil weight submerged
γ ′ = 7000 N/m3, soil strength Su = 3400 Pa and soil
sensitivity St  =  2.5, then the modified pipe-soil
interaction model is obtained as follows:
2160.5(0.02 s 3 + 0.5753s 2 + 1.528s )
Fs = (13)
s 2 + 1.1095s + 0.1056

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 829 3/29/2017 9:43:50 AM


Figure  2. Modified and tri-line pipe-soil interaction
model.
Figure 3. Verification of the pipe-soil model.
The modified pipe-soil interaction relation is
shown by green solid line in Figure 2. For compari-
son, the tri-line model is also plotted in Figure 2 by
red dash line.
2.2 Verification of the modified pipe-soil model
The laboratory tests results from Wang & Liu
(2016) are used here to verify the proposed pipe-
soil interaction model. For instance, the datum
of the group with vertical loads 50  N/m and ini-
tial embedment 3/8D are used as a standard refer-
ence for comparing the difference between tri-line
model and the new proposed model. After normal-
ization, the laboratory tests results, results from
tri-line model and from the present model are plot-
ted in Figure 3.
From Figure  3, it can be seen that in the first
stage of tri-line model, the results of the model
are the same as those of tri-line model and that of
the experiments. In the second stage of the tri-line
830
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 830
model, the results of the present model are more
accurate than those of the tri-line model and the
same happens in the third and fourth stages of
the tri-line model. More importantly, the present
model is continues and smooth which can be used
to do further theoretical study conveniently. It
manifests the advantage and accuracy of the new
proposed pipe-soil interaction model.
3 FINITE ELEMENT MODEL FOR
LATERAL BUCKLING ON SOFT
FOUNDATION
According to the research of Palmer et  al.
(1990), the finite element analysis is a conveni-
ent and effective tool for simulation of buckling
response of pipelines and the results can be used
to obtain some rules. In this paper, the heavy
beam on soft foundation model is used in this
study to model the lateral buckling. The FEM
and calculation method for lateral buckling of
submarine pipeline are described in the follow-
ing two parts.
3.1 Finite element model
3.1.1 Pipeline and seabed elements
In this study, the pipes are modeled using the
3-dimensional 2-node linear Timoshenko beam
element PIPE31 which can account transverse
shear deformation and the effect of internal pres-
sure and temperature. The geometric parameters
of pipes are listed in Table 1. The pipes are divided
into 1200 equal length elements.
The seabed is treated as a soft foundation.
The soil behavior and pipe-soil interaction is
modeled using 3-dimensional 4-node pipe-soil
interaction element PSI34, as shown in Figure 4.
These PSI34 elements have six displacement
degrees of freedom at their nodes; therefore, they
can simulate the lateral buckling behavior more
accurately.
3.1.2 Pipeline material properties
The pipeline material grade 483  MPa (X70) is
selected for pipes. The stress-strain curve is fitted
with the Ramberg-Osgood model (Haq & Kenny,
2014; He et al., 2014) defined as follows:
Table 1. Geometric parameters of submarine pipeline.
Parameters Values
Length, m 1200
Diameter, m 0.457
Thickness, m 0.0143
3/29/2017 9:43:52 AM
 Figure 4. PSI element. Figure 5. Ramberg-Osgood model.

Table 2. Pipe material properties. Table 3. The key parameters of pipe-soil model.

Temperature Group Fb Fe Fr um ue ur

Parameters 20°C 177°C Group1 2160 1000 1400 0.5D 0.02D D

Group2 3000 100 1400 0.5D 0.02D D
Young’s modulus, GPa 207 206 Group3 1500 100 1400 0.5D 0.02D D
Density, kg/m3 7850 7850 Group4 2160 500 1400 0.5D 0.02D D
SMYS, MPa 483 422 Group5 2160 150 1400 0.5D 0.02D D
SMTS, MPa 570 499 Group6 2160 100 1800 0.5D 0.02D D
Poisson’s ratio 0.3 0.3 Group7 2160 100 800 0.5D 0.02D D
Coefficient of thermal expan- 1.17E-5 1.31E-5 Group8 2160 100 1400 0.2D 0.02D D
sion, °C−1 Group9 2160 100 1400 0.8D 0.02D D
Group10 2160 100 1400 0.5D 0.2D D
Group11 2160 100 1400 0.5D 0.01D D
Group12 2160 100 1400 0.5D 0.02D 0.6D
σ ⎛ 3⎛ σ ⎞
n −1
⎞
ε= ⎜1 + ⎜ ⎟ ⎟ (14) Group13 2160 100 1400 0.5D 0.02D 1.5D
E ⎝ 7⎝σy⎠ ⎠

According to the study of Haq & Kenny (2014),

the pipe material properties related to temperature
are listed in Table  2. The stress-strain relation-
ships are shown in Figure 5. Apparently, with the
increase of temperature, the strength decreases.
Using linear interpolation method, the material
properties corresponding to other temperature are
obtained. In this study, the stress-strain relation-
ship is defined as a piecewise nonlinear dataset
with plastic material behavior defined by the von
Mises yield criterion with isotropic hardening.
3.1.3 Pipe/Soil interaction
In three dimensional FEM, the interaction between
pipe and soil is described by three directions pipe-
soil response behavior: axial, lateral and vertical.
Lateral buckling is predominantly governed by
later pipe-soil interaction behavior. In this study,
a bilinear model is used to describe the axial
pipe-soil interaction with stiffness 300  N/m (Liu
et al. 2015).
The modified lateral pipe-soil interaction
model is used as the lateral pipe-soil response
behavior. To study the effects of different pipe-
soil interaction parameters on critical force of
lateral buckling and localization patterns of sub-
marine pipelines, 13  groups of pipe-soil inter-
action parameters are selected in this study as
shown in Table 3.
For the sake of simplicity, a bilinear model is
used in this study to describe the vertical response
behavior.
3.1.4 Initial imperfection
To study the effect of imperfection on critical force
of lateral buckling and localization patterns of
pipelines under the condition of nonlinear pipe-
soil interaction, four symmetric full-contact imper-
fection profile functions are selected to account
for undulations of the seabed. The functions are
(Zhang & Duan 2015):

831

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 w01 ( x ) and internal pressure loads, and operating temper-
⎧ ⎛ 8 ⎛ 2x ⎞ 2 2x ⎞ ⎛ 2x ⎞
3
L
ature are defined.
⎪w00 ⎜ ⎜ ⎟ − 3 + 1⎟ 1 + ⎟ − 0 ≤ x < 0 In the entire simulation, the ends of pipe are
⎪⎪ ⎝ ⎝ 0 ⎠
3 L L 0 ⎠⎝ L0⎠ 2 fixed in X, Y and Z direction including three trans-
=⎨ lational degrees of freedom and three rotational
⎪ ⎛ 8 ⎛ 2x ⎞ 2 2x ⎞ ⎛ 2x ⎞
3
L0 degrees of freedom.
⎜
⎪ 00 ⎜ ⎟
w + 3 + 1⎟ ⎜⎝ L ⎟⎠ 0 ≤ ≤ 2
1 −
⎪⎩ ⎝ 3 ⎝ L0 ⎠ L 0 ⎠ 0
3.2 Calculation method
(15)
Lateral buckling of a pipeline is an unstable, non-
w00 ⎛ ⎛ 2π x ⎞ ⎞ L0 L
w02 ( x ) = ⎜ 1 + cos ⎜ ⎟ − ≤x≤ 0 (16) linear and localized problem. A local transfer of
2 ⎝ ⎝ L0 ⎟⎠ ⎠ 2 2 strain energy occurs from one part of the model
to nearby parts. Therefore, pure Newton-Raphson
⎧ ⎛ 2x ⎞ ⎛ 2x ⎞
4
L0 method may lead to convergence problem. For the
⎪−w
w00 ⎜ 4 − 1⎟ ⎜ + 1⎟ − ≤x<0 remarkable advantage in dealing with unstable
⎪ ⎝ L0 ⎠ ⎝ L0 ⎠ 2 problem, Risk Method is used in this study to solve
w03 (x) = ⎨
⎪ ⎛ 2x ⎞ ⎛ 2x ⎞
4
L0 the nonlinear equilibrium equations.
⎪ w00 ⎜ 4 + 1⎟ ⎜ − 1⎟ 0≤ < The programming language Python is used to
⎩ ⎝ L0 ⎠ ⎝ L0 ⎠ 2 create and manage the files of parametric study
(17) as well as result processing. The results will be dis-
cussed in next section.
⎧ ⎛ 5 ⎛ 2x ⎞ 3 ⎛ 2x ⎞ ⎞ L
3 5

⎪w00 ⎜1 + ⎜ ⎟ − ⎜ ⎟ ⎟ − 0 ≤ x < 0
⎪⎪ ⎝ 2 ⎝ L0 ⎠ 2 ⎝ L0 ⎠ ⎠ 2
w04 ( x ) = ⎨
⎪ ⎛ 5 ⎛ 2 ⎞ 3 ⎛ 2x ⎞ ⎞
3 5
L0
⎪w00 ⎜1 − ⎜ ⎟ + ⎜ ⎟ ⎟ 0 ≤ <
⎪⎩ ⎝ 2 ⎝ L0 ⎠ 2 ⎝ L0 ⎠ ⎠ 2 lines has been simulated successfully. As shown in
where w00 denotes the maximum amplitude of ini-
tial imperfection and L0 denotes the wavelength of
initial imperfection. According to Zeng et al. (2014)
and Zhang & Duan (2015), the OOS is defined as:
ε = w00 / L0
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The lateral buckling behavior of submarine pipe-
Figure 6, the typical contour of the axial stress and
(18) displacement of submarine pipelines is plotted.
Apparently, lateral buckling of the pipe occurs,
the maximum stress is 310 MPa and the buckling
mode is “Mode 3” defined by Hobbs (1984). The
effects of different factors on the critical force of
lateral buckling and localization patterns will be
analyzed in the following part.
(19)

To study the effect of OOS on critical force of 4.1 The effects of pipe-soil interaction parameters
lateral buckling and localization patterns of pipe- on critical force of lateral buckling
lines under the condition of nonlinear pipe-soil To research the effects of different pipe-soil inter-
interaction, the wavelength of initial imperfection action parameters on critical force of lateral buck-
L0 takes 100 m, the maximum amplitude of initial ling, the effect of initial imperfection on critical
imperfection w00 varies from 0.1  m to 0.5  m, and force should be eliminated. Keeping the same initial
then the OOS varies from 1/1000 to 1/200. imperfection for the pipe, for instance, the imperfec-
tion shape function No.3 is selected, the initial imper-
3.1.5 Loads and boundary conditions fection wavelength L0 takes 100 m and the maximum
The loads include pipe submerged weight, internal amplitude of imperfection w00 takes 0.2 m.
and external pressure, operating and ambient tem-
perature. The submerged weight of pipe is modeled
by downward forces per unit which is identical and
evenly distributed linear loads with its value vary-
ing form 1500–3000  N/m. The ambient seawater
temperature and operating temperature is set as
0°C and 100°C, respectively.
In the first load step, the initial conditions are
defined that including the ambient seawater tem-
perature and linear loads due to the submerged Figure 6. Typical contour of axial stress and displace-
pipe weight. In the second load step, the external ment of pipelines.

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 Then keeping the rest of parameters constant,
the breakout resistance varies from 1500  N/m to
3000 N/m which correspond to Group 3, Group 1
and Group 2. The effect of breakout resistance
on critical force of lateral buckling is illustrated
in Figure  7 (a). It can be seen that the breakout
resistance has a great influence on critical buck-
ling. A  larger breakout resistance corresponds to
a larger critical buckling force. The post-buckling
displacement is also related to the breakout resist-
ance, a larger break out resistance corresponds to
a larger post-buckling displacement.
Keeping the rest of parameters constant, the
limit force of elasticity varies from 500  N/m to
1500 N/m which corresponds to Group 4, Group 1
and Group 5. The effect of limit force of elasticity
on critical force of lateral buckling is illustrated in
Figure 7 (b). It can be seen that the limit force of
Figure 7. Temperature versus lateral displacement at different pipe-soil interaction parameters.
833
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 833
elasticity also has a great influence on critical force
of lateral buckling. A larger limit force of elastic-
ity corresponds to a larger critical force of lateral
buckling. But the post-buckling displacement is
almost unrelated to the limit force of elasticity
since different limit forces of elasticity have almost
same post-buckling equilibrium path.
Keeping the rest of parameters constant,
the residual resistance varies from 800  N/m to
1600 N/m which corresponds to Group 7, Group 1
and Group 6. The effect of residual resistance on
critical force of lateral buckling of submarine pipe-
line is illustrated in Figure 7 (c). It can be seen that
the residual resistance has almost no influence on
the critical force of lateral buckling. But it contrib-
utes a lot to the post-buckling displacement.
Similarly, the effect of lateral displacement
of breakout resistance on critical force of lateral
3/29/2017 9:43:55 AM
 buckling is illustrated in Figure  7 (d) which cor-
respond Group 1, Group 7 and Group 8. From
Figure 7 (d), it can be seen that the displacement
of breakout resistance also has a great influence on
the critical buckling force, while it has little influ-
ence on the post-buckling displacement.
The effect of lateral displacement of limit force
of elasticity on critical force of lateral buckling
is illustrated in Figure  7 (e) which correspond
to Group 1, Group 9 and Group 10. Figure  7
(e) demonstrates that the lateral displacement
of limit force of elasticity affects both the criti-
cal force of lateral buckling and post-buckling
displacement.
The effect of lateral displacement of residual
resistance on critical force of lateral buckling is illus-
trated in Figure 7 (f) which correspond to Group 1,
Group 11 and Group 2. Figure 7 (f) demonstrates
that the lateral displacement of residual resistance
only affects the post-buckling displacement, it
doesn’t affect the critical force of lateral buckling.
From the above analysis, the effects of pipe-soil
interaction parameters on critical buckling force
and post-buckling displacement can be concluded
as follows: (1) the critical buckling force is mainly
affected by breakout resistance and the correspond-
ing lateral displacement and limit force of elastic-
ity and corresponding lateral displacement; (2) The
residual resistance and corresponding lateral dis-
placement mainly affect the post-buckling response.
force or corresponding lateral displacement, the
rule is same. Therefore, it results that the pipe-soil
interaction parameters almost do not change the
localization patterns of lateral buckling.
4.3 The effect of initial imperfection on critical
buckling force under soft foundation
To research the effects of different initial imper-
fections on critical buckling force and post-buck-
ling response, keeping the pipe-soil interaction
parameters constant; for instance, the values of
Group 1 are select for the pipe-soil interaction
parameters. The effect of OOS on critical buckling
force and post-buckling response are illustrated in
Figure  9(a). Figure  9(a) shows that OOS of pipe
has a great influence on critical force of lateral
buckling, however, it has limited influence on the
post-buckling path.
The effects of different initial imperfection
shapes on critical buckling forces and post-
buckling response are illustrated in Figure  9 (b).
It can be seen that initial imperfection shape has
a great influence on critical force of lateral buck-
ling, however, it has limited influence on the post-
buckling path except the initial imperfection No.4.

4.2 The effect of pipe-soil interaction parameters

on localization pattern of lateral buckling
To research the effects of different pipe-soil inter-
action parameters on localization patterns of
lateral buckling, the initial imperfection shape
takes No.3 and the OOS of pipe takes 1/500.
Keeping the rest of parameters constant, the
breakout resistance varies from 1500  N/m to
3000 N/m which corresponds to Group 3, Group
1 and Group  2. The effect of breakout resist-
ance on localization pattern of lateral buckling
is illustrated in Figure  8 (a). It shows that the
lateral buckling mode is “Mode 3” presented by
Hobbs (1984) which stands for the lowest energy
configuration. The different breakout resistances
have different lateral displacements. Therefore the
breakout resistance doesn’t change the localiza-
tion mode of lateral buckling.
The same happens to Figure 8 (b) which repre-
sents the effect of lateral displacement of break-
out resistance on localization pattern of lateral
buckling. It shows that the lateral displacement of
breakout resistance does not change the localiza-
tion pattern of lateral buckling either.
Changing the values of limit force of elasticity Figure  8. Localization patterns of lateral buckling
or corresponding lateral displacement, residual under different pipe-soil interaction parameters.

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 The lateral buckling and post-buckling behaviors
of initial imperfection No.4 have a great difference
with initial imperfection No.1 to No.3. Because the
MRCC (minimum absolute radius of curvature in
the convex region of imperfection) doesn’t appear
in the center of pipe, “complex mode” buckling
phenomena occurs (Zhang & Duan, 2015).
From the above analysis, the effects of initial
imperfections on critical buckling force and post-
buckling response on soft foundation can be con-
cluded as follow: (1) the critical buckling force is
affected by OOS of pipe and imperfection shape;
(2) the OOS of pipe and imperfection shape have
limited influence on post-buckling response.

4.4 The effect of initial imperfection on

Figure 9. The effect of imperfection on critical buckling
force and post-buckling response.
localization pattern of lateral buckling on soft
foundation
Keeping the pipe-soil interaction parameters
constant, for instance the values of Group 1 are
selected for them, the effect of initial imperfection
shape on localization pattern of lateral buckling is
illustrated in Figure 10.
Figure 10 shows that different initial imperfec-
tion shape functions have different buckling modes.
“Single Mode” (the maximum lateral amplitude
appears in the middle of a pipe) occurs in the pres-
ence of initial imperfection No.1 to No.3. While

Figure 10. Localization of lateral buckling with different imperfections.

835

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 835 3/29/2017 9:43:56 AM


Figure 11. Localization of lateral buckling with differ-
ent OOS.
“Complex Mode” (the maximum lateral ampli-
tude appears two positions of a pipe) occurs in
the presence of initial imperfection No.4. Zhang
& Duan (2015) pointed out that the appearance of
complex mode under rigid foundation is related to
the MRCC. The difference of initial imperfection
shape is reflected by the MRCC.
From Figure  10, it can be seen that the posi-
tions of complex mode under the soft foundation
are same with that under rigid foundation. There-
fore, on soft foundation, the localization pattern
depends on the initial imperfection shape, or to say
exactly, depends on the MRCC.
Keeping the pipe-soil interaction parameters and
initial imperfection shape constant, for instance, the
values of Group 1 are selected for the pipe-soil inter-
action parameters and No.3 is selected for the initial
imperfection shape, the effect of OOS on locali-
zation pattern of lateral buckling is illustrated in
Figure 11. Figure 11 shows that with the increase of
OOS, the lateral displacement and buckling region
increase at the same time, but the localization pat-
terns don’t change. It manifested that OOS of pipe is
not the crucial factor on localization pattern.
From above analysis, one conclusion can be
reached that the localization pattern is governed
mainly by the initial imperfection shape function,
the pipe-soil interaction parameters and OOS of
pipe have less influence on it.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, lateral buckling and post-buckling of
imperfect submarine pipelines under the condition
of soft soil are studied using FEM. To overcome
the shortcomings of pipe-soil interaction models
currently available, which fail to accurately describe
the full response of resistance force and displace-
836
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 836
ment, especially when the resistance exceeds the
breakout resistance, a modified pipe-soil interac-
tion model is presented based on tri-line model
and hyperbola model. Based on the new pipe-soil
model, three dimensional FEMs of lateral buck-
ling are built. The effects of pipe-soil interaction
parameters, initial imperfection shape and OOS
of pipe on critical buckling force and localization
patterns of lateral buckling are discussed. Some
important conclusions can be drawn as follows:
• The critical force of lateral buckling is affected
by many parameters including breakout resist-
ance, lateral displace of breakout resistance,
limit force of elasticity, lateral displacement
of limit force of elasticity, initial imperfection
shape function and OOS. It is a complex func-
tion of these parameters.
• The residual resistance and lateral displacement
of residual resistance mainly affect the lateral
post-buckling response.
• The localization pattern of lateral buckling is
governed mainly by the initial imperfection
shape function; the pipe-soil interaction param-
eters and OOS of pipe have less influence on it.
REFERENCES
Bruton D., White D., Cheuk C., et  al. 2006. Pipe/soil
interaction behavior during lateral buckling, including
large-amplitude cyclic displacement tests by the
safebuck JIP. Offshore Technology Conference, pp.
1–10, May 1–4, 2006, Houston, Tesas, USA.
Global buckling of submarine pipelines—Structural
design due to high temperature/high pressure (2007),
DNV RP-F110.
Haq, M.M & Kenny, S. 2014. Assessment of parameters
influencing lateral buckling of deep subsea Pipe-in-
Pipe pipelines system using Finite Element Method.
In Proceeding of the ASME 2014 33rd International
Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineer-
ing-OMAE 2014, pp. 1–12, June 8–13, 2014, San
Francisco, California, USA.
He, T., Duan, M. & An C. 2014. Prediction of the col-
lapse pressure for thick-walled pipes under external
pressure. Applied Ocean Research 47: 199–203.
Hobbs, R.E. 1984. In-service buckling of heated pipe-
lines. Journal of Transportation Engineering 110 (2),
175–189.
Karampour, H., Albermani, F. & Gross, J. 2013. On lat-
eral and upheaval buckling of subsea pipelines. Engi-
neering Structures 52: 317–330.
Kershenbaum, N.Y., Harrison, G.E. & Choi, H.S. 1996.
Subsea Pipeline Lateral Deviation Due to High Tem-
perature Product. In Proceedings of the sixth (1996)—
International Offshore and Polar Engineering
Conference (1996), pp. 74–79, May 26–31, 1996,
Los Angeles, USA.
Liu, R., Basu, P. & Xiong H. 2015. Laboratory tests and
thermal buckling analysis for pipes buried in Bohai
soft clay. Marine Structures 43: 44–60.
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 Maltby, T.C. & Calladine, C.R. 1995. An investigation
into upheaval buckling of buried pipelines—II. Theory
and analysis of experimental observations. Interna-
tional journal of mechanical sciences 37(9): 965–983.
On-bottom stability design of submarine pipelines
(2007), DNV RP-F109.
Palmer, A.C. & Baldry, J.A.S. 1974. Lateral Buckling of
Axially Constrained Pipelines. Journal of Petroleum
Technology 26 (11): 1283–1284.
Soreide, T., Kvarme, S.O. & Paulsen, G. 2005. Pipeline
Expansion on Uneven Seabed. In Proceedings of The
Fifteenth (2005) International Offshore and Polar
Engineering Conference, pp. 38–43, June 19–24, 2005,
Seoul, Korea.
Submarine Pipeline Systems (2012), DNV OS-F101.
Taylor, N. & Gan, A.B. 1986. Submarine pipeline
buckling-imperfection studies. Thin-Walled Structures
4(4): 295–323.
Taylor, N. & Tran, V. 1993. Prop-imperfection subsea
pipeline buckling. Marine Structures 6 (4): 325–358.
Taylor, N. & Tran, V. 1996. Experimental and theoretical
studies in subsea pipeline buckling. Marine Structures
9 (2): 211–257.
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Trautmann, C.H., O’Rourfce, T.D., & Kulhawy, F.H.
1985. Uplift force-displacement response of buried
pipe. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 111(9):
1061–1076.
Tvergaard, V. & Needleman, A. 1980. On the localization
of buckling patterns. Journal of Applied Mechanics
47(3): 613–619.
Wang L. & Liu R. 2016. The effect of a berm on the
lateral resistance of a shallow pipeline buried in sand.
Ocean Engineering 121: 13–23.
Zeng, X. & Duan, M. 2014. Mode localization in lateral
buckling of partially embedded submarine pipelines.
International Journal of Solid Structures 51(10):
1991–1999.
Zeng, X., Duan, M., Che, X. 2014. Critical upheaval
buckling forces of imperfect pipelines. Applied Ocean
Research 45: 33–39.
Zhang X. & Duan M. 2015. Prediction of the upheaval
buckling critical force for imperfect submarine
pipelines. Ocean Engineering 109: 330–343.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Composite structures

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 839 3/29/2017 9:43:57 AM

MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Numerical investigation of pre-damaged composite plates subjected

to compressive uniaxial load

F. Alizadeh, Y. Garbatov & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: Pre-damaged composite plates subjected to a compressive uniaxial load are studied.
The effect of a number of damaged layers and the spread of the damaged central area on the ultimate
strength based on the nonlinear finite element method has been studied. The ultimate strength of the
plates with different degree of damaged layers made of an orthotropic composite laminate (E-glass/
vinylester) is estimated using the Tsai-Wu failure criteria. The numerical estimation of the longitudinal
and transverse deflection of undamaged plates is compared to the experimental results. The effect of the
surface roughness on the ultimate strength is also investigated and several conclusions are derived.

1 INTRODUCTION tool drops or during handling of components. In-

Composite materials are now the construction
material of choice for pleasure crafts and are
increasingly used for commercial fishing and naval
vessels. A good environmental resistance, easily
fabrication in complex shapes, corrosion resistant
and also their high strength and stiffness are the
main reasons to be widely used in the construc-
tions. These materials are relatively new compared
to metals, and have failure characteristics com-
pletely different from them. The damage growth
and failure mechanisms are not as well understood
in a predictive sense. For example, in composites
instead of a crack, there is a “damage zone” that
may include fiber failure, fiber micro-buckling,
fiber pull out, matrix cracking, delamination,
debonding or any combination of all these differ-
ent mechanisms.
When composite plates are subjected to in-plane
loading conditions, which cause internal compres-
sive stresses, buckling may occur. A thorough
understanding of the buckling characteristics
of composite plates for various types of loads is
essential to structural designers working with such
materials. When composite laminated plates are
subjected to compressive load, the load causes an
axial shortening of the plate. With increasing load,
once a certain critical load is reached, the plate
suddenly bows out sideways. This bending gives
rise to large deformations, which cause the plate
collapse.
In addition, composite materials are susceptible
to out of plane impact. Impact damage may easily
occur during construction, for an example, due to
service impact events are also common, from the
frequent impact with waves, the striking of floating
objects, collisions with other craft. Therefore, the
buckling behaviour of damaged plates has always
received much attention by investigators.
Kremer et  al. (2008) studied the influence of
the shape of optimized cut-outs on the buckling
behaviour. It was shown that an improper lay-up
results in an undetected stability problem. How-
ever, an appropriate stacking sequence raises the
critical load without influencing the static fracture
load. Eryigit et al. (2009) investigated the effect of
hole diameter and its location on the lateral buck-
ling behaviour (woven fabric). They concluded that
the locations of the hole have important effects on
the buckling loads. The holes near the clamped
edge seem to have the highest influence. The hole
effect decreases when its location approaches
to the free end of the beam. Aydin Komor et  al.
(2008) studied the buckling analysis with circular/
elliptical hole, numerically (woven glass polyester).
The results show that the center of a circular hole
should not be placed at the end half of the outer
panel for all loading patterns.
Kumar et al. (2010) studied the effects of flex-
ural boundary conditions on buckling and post-
buckling behaviour of composite laminate with
various shapes of different sizes using the finite
element method. It is observed that the laminates
clamped and simply supported on all edges have
the highest and lowest buckling and post-buck-
ling strength, respectively, irrespective of cut-outs
shape and size. Aydin Komur et al. (2010) carried
out a buckling analysis of a woven–glass–polyester

841

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 laminated composite plate with a circular/ellipti- Table 1. Mechanical properties.
cal hole, numerically. The results show that the
increasing of the hole positioned angle cause to E-Glass/Vinylester
decrease of buckling loads. Additionally, the cross-
E1 26400 MPa
ply composite plate is stronger than all other ana- E2 25220 MPa
lysed angle-ply laminated plates. E3 3000 MPa
Chirica et al. (2009) presented the analysis of the G12 2200 MPa
buckling behaviour of the composite plates with G13 1200 MPa
central cut- outs, used in ship structures. Buckling G23 1200 MPa
load determination for the general buckling of the v12 0.24
plate has been made by the Tsai- Wu failure crite- v13 0.50
ria. The post-buckling calculus has been performed v32 0.06
to explain the complete behaviour of the plate. σ1T 445.1 MPa
Farooq & Myler (2015) worked on the buckling-
σ2T 436.6 MPa
induced failure prediction of aerospace grade car-
σ3T 30 MPa
bon fibre-reinforced laminated composite panels
σ1C 257.1 MPa
embedded with pre-assumed damage. The critical
σ2C 259.7 MPa
buckling loads were found to correlate as expected
σ3C 30 MPa
against the ply level failures, damage growth/prop-
agation and buck- ling mode shapes in all cases. τ12 31.1 MPa
Selected results were compared against the avail- τ13 31.1 MPa
able experimental data and found to be in agree- τ23 31.1 MPa
ment up to 90% range.
The main objective of the present work is to
study the effect of impact-induced damage on the Table 2. Model descriptions.
buckling behaviour of composite plates. The anal-
ysis involves non-linear strength analysis of pre- Number of (circular)
damaged composite plate subjected to compressive D/W damaged layers Model
loads in which the following parameters are exam-
ined: a) the D/W ratio (where D is hole diameter 0.2 1 0.2 N1
and W is the plate width). b) Number of damaged 2 0.2 N2
layers. The investigation accounts for the effect of 3 0.2 N3
0.4 1 0.4 N1
the smooth and rough surface of the plates on the
2 0.4 N2
ultimate capacity of composite plates.
3 0.4 N3
0.6 1 0.6 N1
2 0.6 N2
2 FINITE ELEMENT MODELING 3 0.6 N3
0.8 1 0.8 N1
E-glass/vinylester composite laminate with the 2 0.8 N2
dimension of 200 × 50 × 1.8 mm containing a cen- 3 0.8 N3
tral circular damaged region of diameter D, sub-
jected to a uniform in-plane load is analysed here.
The laminated plate is considered to be made up
of three layers. The mechanical properties are testing consumes time and resources, the analysis
given in Table  1. Impact-induced damage is intro- will be performed employing the FE theory by
duced as a zone of reduced stiffness. The overall using the commercial software ANSYS.
damaged zones of a known size are embedded at A 3-D model of the composite laminate is gen-
the center of the laminated plate and subjected to erated using SOLID185 elements. This finite ele-
compressive load. The damaged zone characterized ment is an 8 node element, that can be used to
by the diameter, D of the damaged region and by model layered structures. The finite element has
the number of the damaged layers. Table 2 shows the three degrees of freedom, i.e., the translations in
description of the analysed models. The analysis is the x, y and z directions, with a capability of large
carried out for four different D/W ratios as 0.2, 0.4, deflection and stress stiffening. Figure 1 shows the
0.6 and 0.8 with three different numbers of damaged finite element model of the laminated plate with a
layers, where W is the breadth of the model. 30 mm diameter of a circular damaged region in all
The compressive strength analysis is a very layers, which represents model 0.6 N3. The out-of-
important part of structural design, especially of plane displacement for the same laminated plate is
damaged composite plates and since experimental shown in Figure 2.

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Figure  1. Finite element model of laminated plate
0.6 N3.
Figure 2. Out-of-plane displacement of laminated plate
0.6 N3.
The compressive strength analysis is performed
by exploring the linear eigenvalue buckling and non-
linear strength analyses. The first step of the present
analysis is an elastic linear analysis performed to
determine the initial stresses in the structure due to
the applied permanent static loads. The second step
performs an eigenvalue buckling analysis (Kharghani
& Guedes Soares 2015 and 2016). The output from
this step may be used as an initial imperfection with a
defined scale and shape in the nonlinear compressive
strength analysis. The load in the non-linear com-
pressive analysis is incrementally applied in smaller
load steps at each sub-step and an equilibrium state
is searched through iterations. Hence instability
points of the structure are determined.
The critical failure load is estimated by
employing the Tsai-Wu failure criterion (Tsai &
Wu 1971). In the case of the compressive load,
the failure load is considered as the in-plane one
corresponding to the first-ply failure occurrence.
The Tsai-Wu failure criterion provides a math-
ematical relation of the strength under combined
stresses. Unlike the conventional isotropic materi-
als, where one constant will suffice for the failure
stress level and location, the laminated compos-
ite materials require more elaborate methods to
establish a failure criterion. The strength of the
laminated composite can be defined based on the
strength of individual plies within the laminate.
In addition, the failure of the plies occurs con-
sequently as the applied load increases. It means
that there may be a sequence of the first ply fail-
843
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 843
ure followed by other ply failures until the last ply
fails, denoting the ultimate failure of the lami-
nate. The progressive failure is therefore a quite
complex one of the laminated composite struc-
tures. The Tsai-Wu failure criterion is used here to
calculate the failure index (F.I.) of the composite
damaged plate based on the stresses and material
properties as provided by the manufacturer (see
Eqn. 1). A failure index of 1 denotes the onset of
failure, and a value less than 1 denotes no failure.
The Tsai-Wu failure criterion, also known as the
Tsai-Wu tensor polynomial theory (Tsai & Wu
1971) is commonly used for orthotropic materials
with unequal tensile and compressive strengths.
The failure index according to this theory is:
F.I. = F1 1 F2σ 2 + F11σ 12 + F22σ 22 + F33τ 122 + 2 F112σ 1σ 2
(1)
where
1 1 1 1 1
F1 = − ; F2 = − ; F11 = ; (2a)
Xt Xc Yt Yc Xt Xc
1 1 −1
F22 = ; F33 ; F12 = (2b)
Yt Yc τ 112 2 2 Yt Yc X t X c
where the coefficient F12 represents the interaction
between σ1 and σ2, and Xc, Yc are the compressive
strength and Xt, Yt are the tensile strength of the
material in the longitudinal (X) and transversal
direction (Y). The parameter τ12 is the in-plane
shear strength of the material. According to the
Tsai-Wu failure criterion, the failure of a lamina
occurs if F.I. > 1.
Figure 3 shows the boundary conditions of the
finite element model. The longitudinal edges are
free to translate and rotate. The nodes located in the
transverse edges are prevented against translation in
the z direction and the ones located in the left side
edge are prevented against a translation and the x,
y and z directions. The load is applied to the right
transverse edge, as can be seen in Figure 3. Moreo-
ver, the nodes in the longitudinal center line are con-
strained against the translation in the y direction.
Non-linear solution with an increment of about
0.004 KN is used to solve the problem.
The surface roughness in the composite speci-
mens might be created due to structural degra-
Figure 3. Basic model and boundary conditions.
3/29/2017 9:43:57 AM
 aged layers and D/W ratios, are shown in Table 3
and Figure 6 and Figure 7.
The failure loads are estimated based on the
Tsai-Wu failure criteria. It can be observed from
Table 3 and Figure 6 that the strength of the plate
without damage is higher than all other cases. The
undamaged plate fails due to the bending moment
under compressive (the shear force at the center of
the plate is zero and the resultant failure occurs in
a very high load). According to Table 3 the ultimate
strength of the undamaged plate is 37% more than
the less damaged model (0.2  N1) and 67% more
than the most damaged one (0.8 N3). The ultimate
strength of the plates subjected to compressive
load decreases with the increase of the diameter
of the damaged region and the number of dam-
aged layers. Moreover, according to Table 3, firstly,
Figure 4. Rough surface for the top layer.

dation or manufacturing process (Bledzki et  al.

1985). Structures in or near marine environments
are especially vulnerable to any type of damages.
The compressive strength of composites may be
affected by the rough surface like any the other
properties. Therefore, it is necessary to investi-
gate the behaviour of the composite laminates
with rough surfaces subjected to compressive
loads.
A non-uniform random surface can be gen-
erated by generating random thickness at any
nodal location and then entered into the ANSYS
macro file of the finite element model by using the
*VREAD command. First the normal distribution
is used to generate the thicknesses. The ply thick-
ness of the laminate, which is 0.6  mm, is consid-
ered as the mean value and the standard deviation Figure 5. Longitudinal deflection of undamaged plate.
of 0.15 is assumed (see Figure 4).
The volume of the finite element model with a
smooth and rough surface is 15738 and 10492 mm3, Table 3. First shear and moment failure loads (N).
respectively, leading to structural degradation
about 33% due to the roughness. Study Moment Failure Shear Failure
cases load (MF) load (SF)

Without damage 548 –

3 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS 0.2 N1 340 372
0.2 N2 324 344
Experimental validation has been performed to 0.2 N3 312 328
examine the accuracy of FE estimations of the
0.4 N1 296 352
undamaged plate. A comparison of numerical
0.4 N2 264 296
against experimental results is shown in Figure 5.
0.4 N3 256 288
It can be seen that the calculated deflection of the
undamaged plate in the longitudinal direction is in 0.6 N1 280 340
good agreement with experimental results. There- 0.6 N2 236 276
fore, it is concluded that the finite element model 0.6 N3 224 252
is suitable for the present analysis of composite 0.8 N1 244 244
laminates. 0.8 N2 184 184
The results obtained for the intact composite 0.8 N3 176 176
plate and the ones with different number of dam-

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Figure 6. Force-deflection relationship.
Figure 7. Moment and shear failure loads.
the normal stress exceeds the ultimate stress value
and failure initiates due to the bending moment
and then the shear stress failure initiates. Also,
it seems that the spread of the damage is more
important than the number of the damaged layers
with respect to the global stiffness and the ultimate
load. For an example, in a comparison between the
moment failure loads of the models 0.2  N1 and
0.8 N1, it can be seen that the load decreases from
340 N to 244 N (28%), while in the case of 0.2 N1
and 0.2 N3 the moment failure load decreases only
from 340 N to 312 N (8%).
Figure 8 presents the failure assessment diagram.
It has been prepared as a simplification to find the
diameter and depth of the damaged region, that
can guarantee the safety of the composed dam-
aged plate based on the model failure loads. Four
regions can be seen including good, poor, toler-
able condition and the failure zone. According to
Table  3 and Fig.  5 there are not much difference
between the failure loads of 0.2  N1, 0.2  N2 and
0.2  N3. Therefore it can be concluded that the
845
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 845
Figure 8. Failure assessment diagram.
Figure 9. Damage area and narrow parts of the model.
damaged region less than 10  mm in a diameter
is the safest one for the laminate damaged plate
(Good condition, see Figure 8).
The model with 40  mm diameter damaged
region is located in the Poor condition as defined
by Figure  8, because the moment and shear fail-
ure loads are identical for this model. Moreover,
Figure 8 shows that the moment and shear failure
loads converge to each other with increasing of
the damage size. For the damage areas larger than
40 mm in diameter, the plate will fail due to shear,
which can be explained by the fact that the plate is
transformed into a beam in the narrow intact part
of the model (see Figure 9).
4 EFFECT OF SURFACE ROUGHNESS
The rough surface of the composite plate is gen-
erated for one of the models (0.8  N3, Figure  4).
The results show that there are not considerable
differences between the load-deflection and stress
strain relationship of plate with smooth and rough
surfaces (see Figures 10–12). According to 11, the
maximum stress in the X-direction of the rough
surface at the failure load level is 16% larger than
the smooth one. According to Figure 11, the shear
failure of the laminate with a rough surface occurs
at a lower load level. In the other words the shear
strength of the laminate with a rough surface
decreases about 11%.
3/29/2017 9:44:00 AM

Figure 10. Load-deflection of the 0.8 N3.
Figure 11. Stress-strain relationship, 0.8 N3.
Figure 12. Load shear stress relationship, 0.8 N3.
Also the stress in the X (longitudinal) direction
was captured along some paths, which are shown
in Fig.  13. The positions and time are the same
for both models. The stress values on these paths
are depicted in Figs. 14–19. Along the path 1, the
stresses are changing near the lateral edges from
compressive to tensile ones (around 80 mm).
846
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 846
Figure 13. Generated paths for data capturing.
Figure  14. Stress—displacement relationship, smooth
surfaces in X direction (Path 1).
Figure  15. Stress—displacement relationship, rough
surfaces in X direction (Path 1).
Torsion occurs near the load line, which can
cause an early failure around the lateral edges even
before the moment or shear failure. The possibility
of this failure in the model with a rough surface is
more than in the smooth one due to the high ten-
sile stress values (see Figs. 14 and 15), therefore the
possibility of failure is more than for the smooth
one. The range of the stresses for both smooth
and rough surfaces, in path 1 are almost the same
(see Figs. 14 and 15), but along the path 2 there is a
significant difference.
For the smooth surface the stresses are varying
from −245 to −195  MPa, whereas for the rough
surface they are changing from −430 to −170 MPa
3/29/2017 9:44:01 AM
 Figure  16. Stress—displacement relationship, smooth
surfaces in Y direction (Path 2).
Figure  17. Stress—displacement relationship, rough
surfaces in Y direction (Path 2).
Figure  18. Stress—displacement relationship, smooth
surfaces around the damage zone (Path 3).
(see Figs. 16 and 17). This large range for compres-
sive stresses is not desirable for the plate subjected
to compressive load, because the number of nodes
containing a high stress concentration is increasing
and it can lead to early unexpected failure that can-
not be predicted.
Figs.  18 and 19  show the longitudinal stress
along path 3. It can be observed that the stress is
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 847
Figure  19. Stress—displacement relationship, rough
surfaces around the damage zone (Path 3).
changing from −270 to 10 MPa for the smooth sur-
face while this becomes −360 to 10 for the rough
surface. Regarding to the minimum stresses of the
three paths can be concluded that the model with
a rough surface fails earlier than the model with a
smooth surface.
5 CONCLUSIONS
An orthotropic laminated composite plate with a
circular damaged region subjected to in-plane com-
pressive loading was studied employing the finite
element method. The ultimate failure load for all
studied models was estimated based on the Tsai-
Wu failure criteria. The effect of a number of dam-
aged layers and D/W ratio was investigated. Based
on the analyses several conclusions are made:
• Increasing the diameter of the damaged region
and the number of the damaged layers decreases
the failure compressive load,
• Initiation of failure is due to the normal stresses
followed by shear stress failure,
• The size of the damaged area is more important
than the number of the damaged layers,
• Damaged regions with a diameter less than
10  mm cannot affect the strength of damaged
plates subjected to compressive load,
• Failure stress criteria converges as the number
of the damaged layers increases.
• The structural capacity of a plate with the
rough surface can be reduced by 16% and 11%
for moment and shear failure respectively with
respect to the plate with a smooth surface.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was performed within the Strategic
Research Plan of the Centre for Marine Technology
3/29/2017 9:44:03 AM
 and Ocean Engineering, which is financed by Por-
tuguese Foundation for Science and Technology
(Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia-FCT).
REFERENCES
Aydin Komur, M & Sonmez, M. 2008. Elastic buckling of
rectangular plates under linearly varying in-plane nor-
mal load with a circular cutout. Mechanics Research
Communications 35: 361–371.
Aydin Komur, M. Sen, F. Atas, A. & Arslan, N. 2010.
Buckling analysis of laminated composite plates with
an elliptical/circular cutout using FEM. Advances in
Engineering Software 4: 161–164.
Bledzki, A. Spaude, R. & Ehrenstein, G.W. 1985. Cor-
rosion Phenomena in Glass Fibers and Glass Fiber
Reinforced Thermosetting Resins. Composites Sci-
ence and Technology. 23:263–285.
Chirica, I. Beznea, E.F. & Chirica, R. 2009. Buckling
behaviour of the ship deck composite plates with cut-
outs. Analysis and Design of Marine Structures, Taylor
& Francis Group, London. 423–428.
Eryigit, E. Zor, M. & Arman, Y. 2009. Hole effects on
lateral buckling of laminated cantilever beams. Com-
posites: Part B 40: 174–179.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 848
Farooq, U. Myler, P. 2015. Finite element simulation of
buckling-induced failure of carbon fibre-reinforced
laminated composite panels embedded with damage
zones. Acta Astronautica 115: 314–329.
Kharghani, N. & Guedes Soares, C. 2015. Influence of
different parameters on the deflection of composite
laminates containing through-the-width delamination
using Layerwise HSDT. Composite Structures 132:
341–349.
Kharghani, N. & Guedes Soares, C. 2016. Behavior of
composite laminates with embedded delaminations.
Composite Structures 150: 226–239.
Kremer, T. & Schurmann, H. 2008. Buckling of tension-
loaded thin-walled composite plates with cut-outs.
Composites Science and Technology 68: 90–97.
Kumar, D. & Singh, S.B. 2010. Effects of boundary
conditions on buckling and postbuckling responses
of composite laminate with various shaped cutouts.
Composite Structures 92: 769–779.
Maxwell, A.S. Broughton, W.R. Dean, G. & Sims, G.D.
2005. Review of accelerated ageing methods and life-
time prediction techniques for polymeric materials.
NPL Report DEPC MPR 016.
Tsai, S.W. & Wu, E.M. 1971. A general theory of strength
for anisotropic materials. Journal of Composite Mate-
rials. 5: 58–80.
3/29/2017 9:44:05 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Hotspot stress analysis of a composite T-joint accounting

for geometric and surface roughness effects

N. Kharghani, Y. Garbatov & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of the filler and channel geometry
surface roughness on the hotspot stress of an FRP sandwich T-joint subjected to a flexural load. Eighteen
different T-joints, containing channels and nine without channels are analysed for three different filler
materials. The first principal stress is estimated to identify the maximum hotspot stresses. For this
purpose, finite element analyses are carried out. It is concluded that using the round filler with a minimum
size of the radius can reduce the hotspot stress at least 20 per cent for a wide elasticity modulus range.
Then, using narrow channels with only 5 mm radius on the skin surfaces (with 2/3 of the skin thickness)
of the T-joint with the minimum filler radius decreases the hotspot stress about more the 24 per cent and
the surface roughness of the skin increases the hotspot stress about 6 per cent.

1 INTRODUCTION

Many industries such as aerospace, ground trans-

port, civil infrastructure and maritime have been
using FRP composite materials in the recent years.
They are increasingly being used in the maritime
industry because of their superior mechanical
properties, which includes high-specific strength
and stiffness, excellent fatigue performance, low
mass, excellent durability and ability to be formed
into complex shapes. For maritime applications,
composites also offer improved corrosion resist-
ance, fuel efficiency and reduced magnetic signa-
ture (Li et al. 2006, Dharmawan et al. 2004).
In a common ship structure, multiple watertight
bulkheads are used to divide the hull into many
compartments. These sections are the primary
structures in maintaining the ship stiffness under
various loading conditions. These loads are due to
Figure 1. A typical marine FRP sandwich T-joint.
wave impact, structural and cargo weight as well as
various actions, such as docking loads. A  typical
joint between the hull and bulkhead used in such For parametric studies on composite T-joints
structure, known as a T-joint, consists of compos- different investigations have been carried out. Bella
ite over laminates to form a large fillet, as shown et  al. (2010) studied three configurations: with
in Figure  1 (Bella et  al. 2010, Dharmawan et  al. adhesive and with two different over-laminations.
2004). Moreover, the joined sections were made of dif-
The function of the T-joint is to transmit flex- ferent materials. These joints were subjected to a
ural, shear and tensile loads between the hull and tensile load in the plane of the sheet. Numerical
bulkhead. It has been found that the critical part methods were also employed to perform a detailed
of the joint is the over laminate or the bonded parametric study on composite T-joints with trans-
interface between the laminate and hull or bulk- verse stitching using the finite element method by
head (Dharmawan et al. 2004). Stickler & Ramulu (2002).

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 Sutherland & Guedes Soares (2016) and Suther-
land et al. (2016) investigated the strength of marine
type T-joints in a large experimental study using
statistical experimental design methods to deter-
mine the effects of adhesive and surface cleaning.
Some investigations analysed the failure mecha-
nism and alternative design of composite T-joints
subjected to pulling load have been presented:
Gue & Morishima (2011) analysed a conventional
design of sandwich T-joint as the baseline, numeri-
cal modelling and analysis using finite element (FE)
method to assess the strength against pulling load.
Also Wu et al. (2015) established a finite element
model to simulate and analyse failure mechanisms,
carrying capacities, in-plane and inter-laminar
damage behaviour based on the Tsai-Wu failure
criterion and a cohesive zone model.
The failure load of T-joint structures have been
undertaken in some investigations. an experimental
study was carried out with a focus on the influence
of process induced defects within the deltoid area.
Static pull-off tension tests were conducted for a
comparative assessment (Trask et  al. 2012). Also
an experimental and numerical study under quasi-
static and high-rate dynamic loading was presented,
focusing on the investigation of a novel reinforce-
ment technique in the through-thickness direction
using metallic arrow-pins to increase failure resist-
ance and damage tolerance (Heimbs et al. 2014).
Experimental studies on the failure mode of com-
posite T-joint specimens, in the presence of adhe-
sive interlaminar layers, were presented too (Baldi
et al. 2011). The tests underline the role played by
the interaction between delamination and debond-
ing phenomena. Quasi static analyses of the tests
were performed by means of explicit FE models.
There are some studies about strengthening
of composite T-joints. Burns et  al. (2016) con-
centrated on the ply orientations to the laminate
within the T-joint radius bend, which was highly
susceptible to delamination failure, were designed
using a numerical optimization method and two
design-of-experiment methods to increase the fail-
ure load. It should be mentioned that there is an
alternative approach that may be effective in the
strengthening and toughening of sandwich joints
which is through-the-thickness reinforcement
using z-pins (Koh et al. 2011, Koh et al. 2012 and
Nanayakkara et al. 2013).
Dharmawan et al. (2004) studied the structural
integrity and damage tolerance of typical compos-
ite T-joints found in ships constructed from glass
fibre reinforced plastic. The effect of the geom-
etry of the T-joint on the strain distribution was
investigated using finite element (FE) analysis. The
results, reported that the critical strains were sig-
nificantly affected by the joint geometry. Results
of the FE analysis conducted to investigate the
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 850
effect of disbonds between the filler and over-
laminate were also reported. The FE model was
validated by mechanical tests on a representative
T-joint, instrumented with surface strain gauges
and displacement transducers, into which a range
of defects was progressively introduced.
In previous studies the effects of materials,
bonding, adhesive and surface cleaning, failure
mechanisms and inter-laminar damages in FRP
T-joints were investigated. In the current research,
a typical marine FRP sandwich T-joint is analysed
numerically using the ANSYS finite element soft-
ware to determine the most appropriate geometri-
cal parameters for filler and channel radiuses. The
contours of the first principle stress are obtained
to identify the maximum values of the hot-spot
stress. Then a numerical roughness model is car-
ried out on the finite element model with the most
optimized geometry to analyse the behaviour of
the structure in a more real condition.
2 FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING
2.1 Geometry
In this study, eighteen different T-joint models (see
Figure  1), containing channels and six without
channels are analysed numerically for three differ-
ent filler materials. The thickness of the sandwich
plates is 16  mm whereas the skins are 4  mm and
the core is 8 mm thick. The vertical and horizontal
sides of the fillers are fixed with a 40 mm length
(see Figure 2). Except for the vertical sides of the
fillers with 30 and 37.5  degrees that is less than
40 mm. In the case of using a channel, 2.7 mm of
the skin thickness is kept, which corresponds to a
2/3 of the skin thickness (see Figure 3).
As can be seen in Figure 2, there are three gov-
erning variables in this investigation. “R” that is the
filler radius. The end points of the fillers are fixed
in all round-filler models. “r” is the channel radius.
The center of the channels varies in different mod-
els to fulfil the minimum thickness of 2.7 mm for
the skins around the channels. “α” is the filler angle
for the angular-filler models. Table 1 lists the nota-
tions for all investigated models and their parame-
ters. Figure 4 to 6 depict all round and angular-filler
models with their notations to be compared. Also,
Figure 7 demonstrates the three-dimensional view
of some selected models. Figure 8 shows the geom-
etry of the model in detail.
2.2 Material properties
The vacuum bagging Glass/Vinylester is consid-
ered using a biaxial stitched E-glass fabric. The
material properties used in the developed FEM
models are shown in Table  2 (Kharghani et  al.
3/29/2017 9:44:05 AM
 Figure 2. Governing parameters. Figure  4. Angular-filler and round-filler models with-
out channel.

Figure 3. Chanel removed thickness.

Table 1. List of notations of investigated models.

Channel radius
Without
Variable channel 5 mm 10 mm 15 mm

Angular α = 30° A30 A30r5 A30r10 A30r15

filler α = 37.5° A37 A37r5 A37r10 A37r15
α = 45° A45 A45r5 A45r10 A45r15
Round R = 40 mm R40 R40r5 R40r10 R40r15 Figure 5. Angular-filler models with channel.
filler R = 55 mm R55 R55r5 R55r10 R55r15
R = 70 mm R70 R70r5 R70r10 R70r15
Therefore, a cohesive zone material model is used
to capture debonding effects (Kharghani et  al.
2015, Kotsidis et al. 2015). In this model:
2015, Kotsidis et al. 2015). The balsa core was con-
sidered as a homogeneous orthotropic material. σ max d τ max . MPa (1)
There is a possibility of failure due to debond-
ing in the filler-composite and skin-core interfaces. U n and U t 0 0027 mm (2)

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 Table  2. Material properties used in FEM models
(Kharghani et al. 2015, Kotsidis et al. 2015).

Skin Core Filler

E/Glass-Vinylester Balsa Crestomer 1186 PA

Orthotropic Orthotropic Isotropic

E1* = 26400 MP E1 = 4100 MP
E2 = 25220 MPa E2 = 125.5 MP E = 800 MPa
E2 = 3000 MPa E3 = 125.2 MP
G12 = 2200 MPa G12 = 166 MPa
G23 = 1200 MPa G23 = 20.5 MPa
G13 = 1200 MPa G13 = 166 MPa
v12 = 0.24 v12 = 0.224
v23 = 0.06 v23 = 0.0135 v = 0.25
v13 = 0.50 v13 = 0.135

* Direction of axis 1 corresponds to the direction of glass

fiber, direction of axis 2 is located in the plane of the fab-
ric, and the direction of axis 3 is defined as the normal to
Figure 6. Round-filler models with channel. the surface of the fabric.

where Un and Ut are the ultimate gaps for initiation

of the debonding for the normal and tangential
data respectively.

2.3 Finite element type and size

The ANSYS finite elements SOLID185 have been
used to mesh the skin, core and steel. This ele-
ment is normally used for 3-D modelling of solid
structures. It is defined by eight nodes having three
degrees of freedom at each node: translations in
the nodal x, y, and z directions. The element has
plasticity, hyper elasticity, stress stiffening, creep,
large deflection, and large strain capabilities. It
Figure 7. 3D view of four typical models. has a mixed formulation capability for simulating
deformations of nearly incompressible elastoplas-
tic materials, and fully incompressible hyper elas-
tic materials. The contact element is CONTA174.
This element is used to model a 3-D 8-node sur-
face-to-surface contact. It is also used to represent
contact and sliding between 3-D “target” surfaces
(TARGE170) and a deformable surface, defined by
this element. This element allows separation of the
bonded contact to simulate an interface delamina-
tion (ANSYS 15, Element library). The sizes of
the element in the longitudinal, lateral and nor-
mal directions are 4, 5 and 4 mm respectively, but
around the channels, the element size in the longi-
tudinal direction reduces to 2 mm (see Figure 9).

2.4 Loading and boundary conditions

All models have been investigated under 1 kN load
on a distance of 142 mm from the base plate, cor-
responding to a bending moment of 0.142  kN.m
Figure 8. Dimensions of the investigated model. (see Figure  10). Figure  11  shows the finite

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 Figure 11. Constraint nodes in boundary and loading
condition.

0.25 kN was used to solve the problem. Cohesive

zone effects are the most important sources of the
non-linearity, which can be caused in large dis-
placements. Also, the debonding initiation can be
Figure 9. A typical round-filler model with channels. captured using a contact post-processing analysis,
which has been provided by ANSYS 15.

2.5 Rough surface

To model roughness, the nodes (about 360 nodes),
which are located on the surfaces of the skins are
relocated to the new positions normal to the surface.
The thickness of the skin, which is 4 mm, is consid-
ered as the mean value and the standard deviation of
0.4 was assumed to produce random values for the
thickness using a normal distribution (see Figure 12).
The PDF of the Normal distribution is:

1 ⎛ −1 ⎛ x − μ ⎞ 2 ⎞
fX x ) = exp ⎜ ⎜ ⎟ ⎟ (3)
σ 2π ⎝ 2 ⎝ 2 ⎠ ⎠
Figure 10. Loading and boundary condition.
where σ is the standard deviation and μ is the mean
element model of the specimen. The nodes on the value of the sample variables “x”.
longitudinal edges are unloaded to avoid the stress “TREAD” command in ANSYS APDL is used
concentration effects. All nodes inside the black to read in a table of data from an external file into
rectangle (see Figure 11) are constraint in the x, y a table array parameter.
and z directions around the positions of the clamps. At the next step the relocated nodes are defined
A non-linear solution with an increment of about in the active coordinate system using the table, that

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 Figure 12. Rough surface model for a typical T-joint.
was created in the previous step. The nodal coordi-
nate system is parallel to the global Cartesian sys-
tem unless rotated.
Finally the elements of the rough surface should
be created by the node connectivity. An element
can be defined by its nodes and attribute values.
Up to 8 nodes may be specified with the “E” com-
mand. If more nodes are needed for the element,
“EMORE” command can be used. More details
about creating a rough surface are demonstrated
by Silva et al. (2013) and Chakarov et al. (2013).
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A parametric study is performed to determine
the effect of the filler angle, filler radius, channel
radius, and filler elasticity modulus on the hotspot
stress in the critical/hot-spot point of the composite
T-joints subjected to flexural loading. The effect of
the surface roughness has been investigated too.
3.1 Geometry and material effects
To define the stress distribution around the hot
spots a specific modelling technique is applied
here (Chakarov et  al. 2013). The analysis is based
on direct stress calculation where the finite element
mesh is generated in such way that a relatively rough
one is used for the zones away from the hot spot
and a fine mesh of size t × t is generated around the
analysed hot spots (see Fig.  13a). The critical hot
spots are expected to appear in the middle of the
lateral side of the filler on the loaded plate. Rectan-
gular strips of a t × t element size are used around
the filler toe, while larger elements are used away
from this region to mesh the rest of the models.
854
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 854
Figure 13. Hot-spot stress definition.
Based on a σHS  =  1.5σ0.5t – 0.5σ0.5t linear stress
extrapolation is performed for the hot spot stresses
(see Fig.  13). The hot spot stresses are estimated
based on the maximum principal stress at the filler
toe line of the sandwich upper skin.
Figures  14 and 15 compare the hot-spot stress
values for the reference point with respect to the
filler radiuses and filler angles respectively. The min-
imum value can be considered for the filler radius is
40 mm (see Figs. 2 and 8) according to the fixed filler
sides. As can be observed from Figure 14, decreas-
ing the filler radius causes a reduction in the hot-
spot stress significantly. Also with increasing of the
filler elasticity modulus to 5 times (from 800 MPa to
4000 MPa) the hot-spot stress increases only 10 per
cent (see Table  2 and Figure  14). Moreover, using
the filler radius of 40 mm reduces the stress, at least,
about 20 per cent rather than the 45-degree angular
type (see Tables 3 and 4). This value in the models
with radiuses of 55 and 70 mm is smaller.
Regarding to Figure  15, the filler angle of
30  degree causes the least value of the hot-spot
stress. But it cannot be selected as the most
appropriate value of the filler angle, because the
maximum first principle stress increases in the
base plate (vertical plate) (see Figure  16). On
the other hand, comparing the hot-spot stresses
in the 30-degree angular filler model and 40  mm
round the filler one shows that the hot-spot stress
in the second model is still 8 per cent less than the
first one and this difference increases for larger
3/29/2017 9:44:10 AM
 Figure 14. Hot-spot stress at the reference as a function
of filler radius and material.

Figure 16. Contour of the first principle stress at 1 kN

Figure  15. Hot-spot stress at the reference point as a load for: a) A30, b) A45.
function of filler angle and material.

Table 3. Hot-spot stress (in MPa) at the reference point (see Figure 13) for the round filler models.

Filler radius R = 40 mm R = 55 mm R = 70 mm

Elasticity
modulus
(MPa) 800 2400 4000 800 2400 4000 800 2400 4000

Without 63.0 67.5 70.3 69.6 77.3 81.1 72.7 80.8 84.2
channel
r = 5 mm 48.3 51.2 53.1 53.0 58.9 61.3 55.8 61.6 63.3
r = 10 mm 51.5 55.0 57.0 58.1 64.5 67.2 61.0 67.3 69.2
r = 15 mm 53.0 56.8 59.2 57.3 64.0 66.7 60.3 66.8 68.7

Table 4. Hot-spot stress (in MPa) at the reference point (see Figure 13) for the angular filler models.

Filler
angle α = 30° α = 37.5° α = 45°

Elasticity
modulus
(MPa) 800 2400 4000 800 2400 4000 800 2400 4000

Without 68.3 82.0 84.8 77.6 84.8 87.0 80.6 87.1 88.5
channel
r = 5 mm 57.6 62.4 63.0 59.9 63.7 63.5 62.1 64.6 63.6
r = 10 mm 62.4 67.7 68.5 64.9 69.2 69.1 67.7 70.6 69.5
r = 15 mm 61.6 67.2 68.0 64.3 68.7 68.7 67.0 70.1 69.1

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 values of elasticity modulus (see Tables  3 and 4).
Also, the effect of the angle for more stiff filler
materials is negligible (see Figure 15).
The variation of the hot-spot stress at the refer-
ence point with respect to the channel radius, elas-
ticity modulus, geometries and channel radius from
15 to 5 mm results in a 9 per cent reduction in the
hot-spot stress (see Tables 3 and 4 and Figure 16).
It should be mentioned that the existence of the
channel with 5-mm radius has 24 per cent positive
effect. For more stiff fillers the effect of geometry
can be neglected (see Figure 17b, 17c and 18).
Figure  17. Hot-spot stress at the reference point as
a function of the channel radius and filler elasticity
modulus: a) 800 MPa, b) 2400 MPa, c) 4000 MPa.
856
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 856
Figure  18. Effect of round-filler (R  =  40  mm) and
narrow channels on the reduction of the hot-spot stress
in the reference point.
Figure  19. Paths of data capturing of nodes for:
a) Smooth surface, b) Rough surfaces.
3.2 Surface roughness effects
The extensive application of composites has seen
the emergence of durability problems specific
to these materials where durability relates to the
long-term performance under adverse conditions,
often 20 or even 50 years exposure. These prob-
lems are associated with in-service environmental
conditions and handling procedures (including
maintenance, repair and modifications). Durabil-
ity is a serious issue from both a health and safety
aspect and in terms of economic costs. The repair
or replacement of a deteriorated part is both
labour and capital intensive. For large structural
applications, such as aircraft, bridge and offshore
3/29/2017 9:44:12 AM

Figure  20. Variation of the first principal stress along
the paths depicted in Figure 19.
structures, composite parts are very expensive and
due to “parts integration” are often very large.
Although there is no remarkable roughness on
composite surfaces after fabrication unless those
are manufactured using hand lay-up method, in
the current study the surface roughness is investi-
gated for composites to have an estimation of its
effects that can be useful in academic researches.
In many applications, the composite structures
will be exposed to a combination of two or more
factors, often resulting in complex synergistic deg-
radation of the material. The accelerated degrada-
tion may be caused by the combined actions of two
or more vectors (e.g. temperature and humidity).
One of the effects due to degradation is losing
the surface quality of the composite. In this study,
an analysis of the roughness is performed by gen-
erating a random thickness surface. Primarily the
first principal stresses are captured along the lat-
eral paths as shown in Figure 19. The longitudinal
positions are the same for both models. Stress
values on these paths are depicted in Figure  20.
The stress changes from 30.2 to 46.6  MPa in the
rough model and from 35.5 to 36.9  MPa in the
smooth one. Also, for the reference node (see
Figure 13) the hot-spot stress is 51.2 and 48.3 MPa
for the rough and smooth model respectively.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The effect of the filler-channel radius and surface
roughness on the hot-spot stress in a composite
T-joint was investigated for a typical geometry
in this study. Using the round filler with a mini-
mum size of the radius can reduce the hotspot
stress at least 20 per cent for a wide elasticity
modulus range. Then, using narrow channels with
only 5  mm radius on the skin surfaces (keeping
2/3 of the skin thickness) of the T-joint with the
minimum filler radius decreases the hotspot stress
about more the 24 per cent and the surface rough-
ness of the skin increases the hotspot stress about
857
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 857
6 per cent. Although development of the modelling,
meshing, contact properties, calculation of the
hotspot stress and performing experiments can be
useful in improving the results.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was partially funded by the Portu-
guese Foundation for Science and Technology
(Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia—FCT)
through its annual funding to the Centre for Marine
Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC).
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 Nanayakkara, A.M., Feih, S. & Mouritz, A.P. 2013.
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

The effect of laminate, stud geometry and advance coefficient

on the deflection of a composite marine propeller

F. Prini, S.D. Benson & R.S. Dow

Newcastle University, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK

ABSTRACT: The effect of key design parameters including laminate lay-up, stud geometry and advance
coefficient on the structural response of a large composite marine propeller is investigated. The deflec-
tion patterns are evaluated for three different propeller loading conditions, four different carbon/epoxy
composite constructions and three different blade-hub attachment studs. The displacement patterns show
how these factors affect the deflection experienced by composite blades. The twist of the blade sections
for a given propeller loading condition, hence the rate of change of pitch, is shown to be related to the
mechanical properties of the laminate and the stud geometry. Results suggest that, by taking into account
the laminate lay-up and the whole propeller operational range, a desired blade deflection pattern can be
achieved if the material design is embedded into the structural and hydrodynamic design. Hydroelastic
effects can be positively exploited to dynamically vary the blade pitch with a potential increase of the
propeller hydrodynamic performance.

1 INTRODUCTION performance in terms of mechanical properties

Materials usually employed in the construction
of large marine propellers are Nickel-Aluminium
Bronze (NAB) and manganese-nickel-aluminium
bronze alloys. These material present high corro-
sion resistance, high-yield strength, reliability and
cost convenience. Nevertheless, alloys used for the
construction are subject to corrosion, cavitation
damage and fatigue induced-cracking. Their poor
damping properties induce relatively high struc-
tural vibration with consequent noise (Young,
2008). Moreover, the weight of bronze alloy pro-
pellers can considerably influence the ship dis-
placement. The high concentrated load at the end
of the shaft line can increase the wear of gearbox
and shaft bearings.
The increasing use of composite materials in
many different structural applications has pro-
moted an increasing interest in employing them as
an alternative for propeller construction. Compos-
ite propellers have potential advantages compared
to their metal counterparts. Reduced corrosion
and cavitation damage, improved fatigue perform-
ance, improved vibration damping properties with
subsequent lower noise are some of the potential
benefits of composite propellers. Moreover, their
low magnetic, acoustic and electric signatures are
of high interest to the naval sector.
Composite blades can be designed with the fibres
aligned to support the major loading experienced
in operating condition and achieve maximum
and weight optimisation. However, the stiffness
of composite blades for a given geometry is still
lower than that of metal blades. As a consequence,
hydroelastic effects may be of greater importance.
The lower stiffness of composites causes greater
blade deflections. If not considered properly, this is
likely to result in inferior hydrodynamic perform-
ance of composite blades. However, it gives the
designer the possibility of exploiting the potential
advantages of hydroelasticity.
As load is taken up by the propeller, blade deflec-
tion occurs in both the radial and chordal direc-
tions. Fundamentally this results in a variation of
the blade pitch angle. The propeller pitch is defined
to have maximum efficiency at specific design con-
ditions; consequently, if the same blade geometry
as for a metal propeller is used, then this variation
results in a reduction of the propeller efficiency.
However, the blade can be designed to account for
the reduction of pitch when the hydrodynamic load
increases on the blade. Precisely, the blade pitch in
unloaded condition should be higher in order to
account for the reduction of pitch under loaded
condition, due to the effect of hydroelasticity. As
a result, the efficiency of a composite propeller
should equal that of a metal propeller at the design
condition and could give higher performance at
off-design conditions.
The rate of change of pitch with the propeller
loading condition is strictly related to the elastic-
ity of the blade, which depends on the mechanical

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 properties of the composite. Different stacking
sequences and laminate lay-ups will provide the
blade with different deflection properties in each
of the radial and chordal directions. Understand-
ing the effect of these parameters on the blade
deflection patterns becomes therefore fundamen-
tal in order to improve the hydrodynamic perfor-
mance of composite propellers.
2 BACKGROUND
2.1 Advantages of composite propellers
As reported by Young (2008), the use of compos-
ite materials can lead to substantial weight savings
between 50 and 80%, since they are character-
ised by high strength-weight and stiffness-weight
ratios. Reduced corrosion, cavitation damage and
improved fatigue performance are other potential
benefits of composite propellers that reduce their
lifetime maintenance cost. The material damping
properties guarantee good acoustic and struc-
tural performance in terms of noise attenuation
and blade vibration reduction. The use of lighter
composite materials allows the blades to be thicker
without significantly adding to the weight of the
propeller, and more flexible, so that the hydrody-
namic performance can be enhanced by increasing
the cavitation inception speed.
The better cavitation performance is also high-
lighted by Selvaraju and Ilaiyavel (2011). They
show that theoretical models predict a cavitation
inception speed for composite propeller 30% higher
compared to that of an original NAB propeller.
Fibre-reinforced composites can be tailored
to specific requirements of certain applications
(Almeida and Awruch 2009) by exploiting their
anisotropic properties. By considering different
fibre orientations and stacking sequences of the
laminate, the propeller mechanical properties and
its performance can be significantly influenced.
2.2 Hydroelasticity of composite propellers
Composite marine propellers are subject to two
mechanisms that deeply influence their perfor-
mance: bending-twisting coupling effects of
anisotropic composites and load-dependent
self-adaptation behaviour of composites blades
(Ahmed and Wei, 2012). Importance of these
effects is explained by Lin et al (Lin et al., 2009):
the propulsion efficiency increases when the
inflow angle is close to the pitch angle. Since the
inflow angle is proportional to the ship speed, “if
the pitch angle can be reduced when inflow angle
is low, then the efficiency of the propeller can
be improved” (Lin et al., 2009). The bend-twist
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 860
coupling effect generated by the water pressure
over the propeller blades changes the pitch of the
propeller and, hence, its performance.
Studies performed by Motley et al. (2009) dem-
onstrated that the bending-twisting coupling effects
and the load-dependent self-adaptation behaviour
of blades that composite propellers are subject to,
are the primary sources for performance improve-
ment. They evaluated systematically designed self-
twisting composite propellers under both steady
and unsteady operating conditions. Fluid structure
interaction effects were identified and analysed
and it was shown that self-twisting propellers lead
to significant improvement in energy efficiency.
2.3 Analysis of composite propellers
Lin et al. (2005) evaluated the strength of a com-
posite propeller by performing a nonlinear hydro-
elastic analysis. Further studies were performed by
Young (2008) and (Liu and Young, 2009) using a
boundary element method coupled with a finite
element software. The studies confirmed that
the stacking sequence and the material composi-
tion strongly affect the stress distribution and the
deflection patterns. Moreover, the propeller can
be designed to de-pitch near the tip. Other studies
agreed that the tip deflection helps to delay cavita-
tion inception due to reduced tip loading (Gow-
ing et al., 1998) and results presented in Chen et al
(2006) confirmed that a properly designed flexible
propeller can have a higher efficiency under off-
design conditions and that cavitation inception can
be delayed significantly.
A major extension to Young’s research was
completed by Lin et al (2009), who demonstrated,
through experimental results, the changeable pitch
effect in composite propellers. Results showed
that, for small values of the advance coefficient, a
non-optimised propeller efficiency decreases, due
to the increasing pitch angle. For an optimised
propeller the pitch automatically changes with
the inflow angle, reducing torque and increasing
efficiency.
Another aspect of flexible propeller optimi-
sation was addressed by Blasques et al (2010)
through the development of a hydro-elastic model
to control the deformed shape of the propeller
and consequently the thrust developed and the
torque force. Further research projects investi-
gated the influence of other parameters on com-
posite marine propeller performance. Ghassemi
et al. (2011) studied the influence of the skew
angle on the hydro-elastic behaviour of compos-
ite propellers. The influence of the advance veloc-
ity, rotational speed and stacking sequence on the
performance of composite marine propellers was
investigated by Raj and Reddy (2011).
3/29/2017 9:44:15 AM
 3 STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS Table 1. Propeller data.

The structural analysis on a Nickel-Aluminium Scale ratio λ 12 1

Bronze (NAB) base case and a series of Carbon
Propeller diameter D [mm] 250.00 3000.00
Fibre-Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) blades are pre-
Pitch at r/R = 0.7 P0.7 [mm] 408.75 4905.00
sented. The blade geometry of a controllable pitch
Mean pitch Pmean [mm] 391.88 4702.56
propeller of 3000 mm diameter is chosen to create the
Chord length at C0.7 [mm] 104.17 1250.04
finite element model. The pressure distribution act- r/R = 0.70
ing on the propeller blades is computed for three dif- Thickness at T0.75 [mm] 3.79 45.48
ferent values of the advance coefficient. The pressure r/R = 0.75
data, which are obtained in propeller coordinates, Pitch ratio P0.7/D 1.64
are post-processed in order to define the pressure Mean pitch ratio Pmean/D 15.7
field in Cartesian coordinates. The composite blade Area ratio AE/Ao 0.78
is modelled in carbon/epoxy with a metal stud. In Skew Qeff [deg] 18.80
order to assess the influence of the laminate lay- Hub diameter ratio Dh/D 0.15
up on the blade structural response, four balanced Number of blades Z 5
stacking sequences are considered. The mechanical Direction of right-handed
properties of the laminates are computed on the rotation
basis of the classical laminate plate theory. The effect Type controllable
of the stud geometry on the blade deflection under pitch
applied external loads is investigated by considering
three studs with different geometries.

3.1 Propeller geometry

The chosen propeller in this study was originally
developed by SVA Potsdam GmbH as a benchmark
propeller for the Second International Symposium
on Marine Propulsors 2011 (smp’11). The propel-
ler geometry and test results are presented under
the name PPTC (Potsdam Propeller Test Case).1
The propeller is a five blade controllable-pitch
propeller named SVA-VP1304. In order to per-
form the structural analysis, the model propeller
was scaled with a scale ratio λ = 12. This resulted
in a real scale propeller diameter of 3000 mm for a
model scale diameter of 250 mm. The main data of
the propeller VP1304 are given in Table 1.
Since the propeller model is a controllable pitch
propeller, the blade design near the hub is affected
by the rotation mechanism. This results in a 0.3 mm
gap between hub and propeller blade near the lead-
ing and trailing edge of the blade. However, for the
purpose of this study, the propeller was considered
to have a fixed blade-hub attachment. Hence, the
gap between hub and blade was replaced by closed
hub fillets, as shown in Figure 1.
3.2 Pressure distribution
The pressure distribution was computed for three
different values of the advance coefficient J = 0.8,
1.1 and 1.4. These are representative of the propel-
ler operational range, varying from the high loaded
to the maximum efficiency condition. The pressure
1
Available at www.sva-potsdam.de
Figure  1. Model propeller geometry (left). Details
of the blade-hub attachment for the controllable pitch
(top-right) and the fixed pitch (bottom-right) layouts.
distribution over the pressure side and suction side
of the propeller was calculated using the software
UPCA91, developed by Newcastle University. The
values of the advance coefficient were obtained by
varying the propeller rotational speed for a fixed
advance speed of 7 m/s. This resulted in rotational
speeds of 2.92, 2.12 and 1.67 rps.
From UPCA91 the pressure distribution was
given in terms of pressure coefficient, cp, in pro-
peller coordinates r/R and x/X. However, this
coordinate system was not compatible with the
coordinate systems recognised by finite element
software. It was therefore necessary to translate
the results into Cartesian coordinates. This was
done by linearly interpolating the pressure val-
ues over the propeller disc plane, hence consid-
ering only the Y and Z coordinates, as shown in
Figure  2. Pressure values are computed by
UPCA91 at each black point, which is defined in
propeller coordinates as function of radial section
and the distance of the chord station from the
leading edge. Red points represent the pressure
distribution in Cartesian coordinates.

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 Table 3. Laminate lay-ups for structural analysis.

Laminate Layup

Unidirectional [0]
Cross-ply [0/90]s
Angle-ply [0/+45/–45]s
Quasi-isotropic [0/90/+45/–45]s

Figure  3. Propeller stud 1 (left), 2 (middle) and 3

(right).

highly anisotropic to quasi-isotropic, as shown

in Table 3. All the laminates are symmetric about
Figure  2. Propeller disc plane (YZ-plane) used for
interpolation of the pressure values from propeller to the mid-plane. Symmetric laminates do not pos-
Cartesian coordinates. sess coupling between in-plane and flexural behav-
iour and their use is common practice in many
Table 2. Mechanical properties of reinforcement. applications.
Property Symbol T300/976 UD tape
3.4 Stud geometry
Tensile modulus Ex 135 GPa
Composite blades can be keyed and fastened to the
Ey, Ez 9.26 GPa
Shear modulus Gxy, Gxz 6.15 GPa
hub through a metal stud. When this method is used,
Gyz 3.07 GPa the blade becomes actually composed by two mate-
Poisson’s ratio υxy, υxz 0.32 rials with different mechanical properties: metal and
υyz 0.51 fibre reinforced composite laminate. Since these
Ult tensile strength σy, σz 39 MPa materials are glued and fastened together, the blade
σx 1455 MPa structural response under applied external loads is
Ult compressive strength σy, σz 207 MPa different from that of the composite blade only.
σx 1296 MPa When the blade is subject to external loads, the
Ult shear strength σxy 77MPa structural response of stud and composite is dif-
Density ρ 1580 kg/m3 ferent; since they are structurally joined together,
Thickness T 0.14 mm shear stress arises at their interface. Moreover, the
blade stiffness is greater in the region reinforced by
the stud. If the change in the mechanical response is
3.3 Composite layup
abrupt, stress concentrations occur, especially at the
CFRP blades are made of carbon/epoxy and stud tip when the blade is subject to bending stress.
other reinforcement materials, which are employed Hence, due to the difference in the material stiff-
with different purposes other than the structural ness, the design of the stud geometry becomes criti-
reinforcement one. In particular, E-glass protec- cal. Different stud shapes can be adopted in order to
tion layers, because of their small thickness and varying the blade stiffness gradually, hence keeping
the inferior mechanical properties, do not really shear stress low and avoiding stress concentrations.
contribute to the structural stiffness and strength In order to assess the stud contribution to the
of the blade. Therefore, from the structural point structural response of the composite blade, three
of view, the blade can be considered to be made different studs were designed, as shown in Figure 3.
entirely of carbon fibre/epoxy with a metal stud. STUD ONE: airfoil-section geometry obtained
The mechanical properties of the laminae are by scaling each blade section with a scale factor
shown in Table 2. λ = 0.4. Each stud section is then offset from the
Four different lay-ups were considered in the blade trailing edge by 20% of the correspondent
structural analysis, with properties varying from blade section length. The stud sections are adjusted

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 to be tapered at the tip and to fit inside the com- Table  4. Mechanical properties of carbon/epoxy unidirec-
posite blade with a minimum laminate thickness tional reinforcement.
of 25 mm at each side (face and back) of the blade.
[0/90/
STUD TWO: airfoil-section geometry obtained [0] [02/90] s [0/45/–45]s 45/–45]s
by scaling each blade section with a scale factor
λ = 0.4. Each stud section is then offset to lie across Ex [Gpa] 135.100 93.629 59.611 53.193
Tensile
the vertical axis on the propeller disc plane. The modulus
Ey [GPa] 92.63 51.472 25.886 53.193
stud sections are adjusted to be tapered at the tip Ex [Gpa] 92.63 11.633 11.502 11.723
and to fit inside the composite blade with a mini- Gxy [Gpa] 6.154 6.154 25.301 20.514
mum laminate thickness of 25 mm at each side Shear
Gxz [Gpa] 6.154 5.129 5.129 4.616
(face and back) of the blade. modulus
Gyz [Gpa] 3.078 4.103 4.103 4.616
STUD THREE: tapered bar designed to be
u 0.315 0.057 0.681 0.297
removable also after the composite blade is manu- Poisson’s xy
uxz 0.315 0.461 0.148 0.349
factured. The stud has protruding edges to ease the ratio
uyz 0.505 0.487 0.357 0.349
extraction from the composite shell. Dimensions
are determined so that the stud fits inside the com- Density ρ [kg/m3] 1580 1580 1580 1580
posite blade with a minimum laminate thickness
of 25 mm at each side (face and back) of the blade.

3.5 Finite element analysis

3.5.1 Element type and mesh
The structural analysis was performed using the
finite element package ANSYS 13.0. The finite ele-
ment model consisted of one blade of the propeller,
positioned with zero angle of rotation from upward.
Based on consideration of the design loads
and the materials employed, structural deforma-
tions and stresses on the blade were expected to
be small, hence the blade structural response to be
elastic. All the finite element analyses were there-
fore performed as linear, assuming elastic material
behaviour.
The blade geometry was meshed entirely
with three dimensional 8-node solid elements
SOLID185. This element type is suitable for 3-D
modelling of solid structures. It is defined by eight
nodes having three degrees of freedom at each
node: translations in the nodal x, y, and z directions.
The blade model was free meshed with tetra-
hedral elements. A mesh adaptation study, using
H-refinement type, was performed for both the
NAB and composite blade. Displacement conver-
gence was found with element size of 18 mm for
both blades, with additional refinement at the lam-
inate-stud interface for the composite blade.
3.5.2 Material properties
The composite laminate was modelled as homo-
geneous material with orthotropic properties. The
mechanical properties of each laminate, which
depend on the laminate lay-up, were calculated
using classical laminate plate theory. Table 4 shows
the mechanical properties of carbon/epoxy lami-
nate for different laminate lay-ups.
Orthotropic properties are oriented so as to
represent the actual laminate properties and plies
orientation. Orthotropic material directions are
Figure 4. Coordinate system.
defined in ANSYS by the element coordinate sys-
tem, whose default orientation is along the global
directions. A new local coordinate system was
defined and oriented as shown in Figure 4.
3.5.3 Boundary conditions
NAB blades, either in mono-block or built-up form,
are cast together with the hub or the blade foot.
At the blade root any material discontinuity really
occurs. However, the finite element model includes
one blade only, which has to be constrained at the
blade root. A NAB blade is subject to small defor-
mations due to the high material stiffness and it
can be considered fully clamped at the blade-hub
interface. Hence, translations were constrained in
the x, y and z directions.
The composite blade is fastened to the metal
stud and bonded to the hub at the blade root.
Since the stud is usually forged together with the
blade foot, or fastened to the hub, it is reasonable
to assume that it is rigidly held at its base. How-
ever the bonding layer, which is more elastic, is
not completely exempted from deformations. The
finite element model was constrained at the blade-
hub interface, with zero translation imposed in the

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 x, y and z direction. However, it must be noticed
that stress concentrations may arise at the blade
root due to boundary effects.

3.5.4 Loads
A propeller in operation conditions is subject to
various loads acting in different directions. Tra-
ditional submerged propellers are mostly subject
to weight force, centripetal force and the dynamic
pressure that gives rise to thrust and drag (torque).
Depending on the propeller size and rotational
speed, the weight force and the centripetal force
may be significant and are to be taken into account
when assessing the structural performance of the
propeller at its design stage. However, when only
the blade deflection is concerned, the effect of
Figure  5. Deformed shape of NAB blade (left) and
weight force and centripetal force is, to a certain composite blade (STUD 3, Unidirectional [0]) (right).
extent, negligible. J = 0.8. Displacement scale factor = 30.
Therefore the dynamic pressure was the only
load applied to the blade model. The pressure val-
ues, as computed by UPCA91 and transformed
into Cartesian coordinates, were imported into
ANSYS. The software automatically applied the
pressure to the finite element model as surface load
acting orthogonally to the blade surfaces.

4 RESULTS

The influence of the different studs, laminates

and advance coefficients on the blade deflection
are presented. The blade deflection is discussed in
terms of z-direction displacement in the local coor-
dinate system, which is shown in Figure 4.

4.1 Deformed shape Figure 6. Blade deflection in z-direction (local coordi-

Although all propellers are subject to hydroelas-
tic effects, the structural response of traditional
metal propellers is such that these effects are, in
most of cases, negligible. As it can be seen from
Figure  5 (left), the deformed shape of the metal
blade when heavily loaded (J = 0.8), is similar to its
non-deformed one. The blade is mostly subject to
bending, whilst no twisting around its radial axis
occurs. The displacement contour plot highlights
how the blade deflection varies radially. By look-
ing at the distance of the deformed blade from its
non-deformed shape at the leading and trailing
edge it can be seen that the pitch remains almost
constant.
The deformed shape of the composite blade
(Figure  5, right) shows how the bending-twisting
coupling is much more evident when anisotropic
materials are employed. As the load is taken up
by the propeller, blade deflection occurs in both
the radial and the chordal directions. As a conse-
nate system). STUD 1; J = 0.8.
quence, the blade pitch reduces gradually whilst
bending in the radial direction increases. Bending
and twisting of the blade change with relation to
the laminate lay-up, propeller loading condition
and stud geometry. The effect of these parameters
is further discussed in the following sections.
4.2 Laminate lay-up
The blade deflection is primarily influenced by
the laminate lay-up. Figure  6, which shows the
displacement contour plot of the composite blade
with different stacking sequences, gives a first
insight of the difference in stiffness between lay-
ups with different levels of anisotropy.
A better understanding of the effect of the lam-
inate lay-up on the blade structural response can
be gained by looking at Figure 7. The NAB blade

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Figure 7. Blade deflection along the blade section chord
at r/R = 0.96 and r/R = 0.7. STUD 1; J = 0.8.
presents a quite uniform deflection in the chordal
direction, with a slightly more cambered shape
at r/R = 0.7; while the response of the composite
blade is considerably different, depending on the
laminate lay-up.
Near the blade tip (r/R = 0.96), the unidirectional
lay-up provides high stiffness in the central part of
the blade, where fibres run from the blade root to
the tip. However, it becomes ineffective near the
trailing edge, where the deflection increases con-
siderably. This is likely to be a consequence of the
blade skew and it can be expected that the effect
becomes more pronounced with highly skewed
blade geometries. At the blade radius r/R = 0.7, the
displacement pattern is different and the deflection
becomes significant at the leading edge too. The
deformed blade assumes the shape of a cambered
section with opposite curvature, since both the
leading and the trailing edges are more displaced
than the central part. This can be deeply detri-
mental to the hydrodynamic performance of the
blade, with significant changes in the lift and drag
characteristics.
A more uniform deflection pattern can be
achieved by using the [02/90]s cross-ply and the
[0/45/−45]  s angle-ply laminates. Near the tip
(r/R  =  0.96), the deformed shape of the blade is
quite similar, with the deflection increasing gradu-
ally from the leading to the trailing edge. Contra-
rily, at r/R = 0.7 these two lay-ups give a different
response. The [0/45/-45]s lay-up provides the blade
865
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 865
with significantly greater stiffness at the lead-
ing edge. The cross-ply laminate, which has more
0-angle plies, has lower deflection near the central
part of the blade.
The quasi-isotropic [0/90/45/-45]s laminate
presents a more uniform deflection pattern, with
bending in the radial direction being more pro-
nounced than for the other lay-ups.
Both the [0/90/45/−45]s and [02/90]s laminates
show the lowest displacement at r/R = 0.96 in cor-
respondence of the trailing edge. This is likely to
be due to the 90-degrees oriented plies that provide
the blade with high stiffness in the transverse direc-
tion. This ply orientation is the most effective when
transversal stiffness is to be given to the tip region
of skewed blade geometries.
4.3 Stud geometry
The effect of the stud geometry on the blade twist-
ing decreases with the distance from the blade root
to such an extent that it is negligible at r/R = 0.96.
At radial sections closer to the root, the presence of
the metal stud increases gradually the blade stiff-
ness. Figure  8 compares the blade displacements
at the radial section r/R  =  0.7 and in heavy load
condition (J = 0.8) for the different stud geometries
considered.
The STUD 3 (removable stud) is considered as
reference case, since the small stud size is not sup-
posed to influence the blade response. With respect
to this, STUD 1 (fore position) provides more stiff-
ness near the leading edge, with the unidirectional
lay-up being the most influenced. Moving from the
leading towards the trailing edge, smallest displace-
ments are found for the STUD 2 (central position).
Although, at r/R = 0.7 the contribution of the cen-
tral stud to the blade stiffness is only slightly vis-
ible, its effect is expected to increase near to the
blade root.
4.4 Advance coefficient
The loading condition of the propeller does not
really influence the deflection pattern of the
NAB blade. As it can be seen from Figure 9, the
blade displacements through the chord section
are consistent for different values of the advance
coefficient J. The blade twisting remains almost
unchanged, whilst bending increases progressively
as the propeller becomes heavily loaded.
The effect of the advance coefficient on the com-
posite blade is much more evident. In light loading
condition (J = 1.4), the blade deflection is generally
low for all laminate lay-ups. As soon as the load is
taken up by the propeller, the blade deflection in
the chordal direction becomes strongly influenced
3/29/2017 9:44:17 AM
 Figure  8. Blade deflection for different lay-ups and
studs at r/R = 0.7; J = 0.8.
by the level of anisotropy of the laminate. The dis-
placement at the leading edge of the unidirectional
and the [02/90]s laminates increases deeply and the
deflection pattern along the chord section becomes
highly sinusoidal. A possible explanation is that
in light loading condition the transverse stiffness,
which is given by the polymer matrix and the plies
oriented transversally, is enough to keep the dis-
placements small. But when the propeller is heavily
loaded, the laminate proves to be excessively elastic
in the transverse direction and the deflection pat-
tern changes considerably.
The variation of twisting and bending from
light to heavy loading condition is more uniform
with the [0/45/−45] s and the [0/90/45/−45] s lami-
nates. This can be seen in Figure  10, where the
blade deflection at r/R  =  0.7 is plotted for differ-
ent advance coefficient values. The black line high-
lights the coupling that occurs when the propeller
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 866
Figure 9. Blade deflection for different advance coeffi-
cients at r/R = 0.7. J varies. STUD 3.
passes from light load to heavy load condition. At
each loading condition, the displacement increases
gradually through the chord section from the lead-
ing to the trailing edge. This results not only in
bending in the radial direction, but also in a quite
uniform twisting that can be thought in terms of
variation of the sectional pitch angle.
The use of 45 degrees oriented plies proves to
be very effective when stiffness in all directions
is of concern. The response is generally uniform,
without abrupt changes of deflection through-
out the propeller operational range. Moreover,
the bending-twisting coupling that results from
the elastic properties of blades made by angle-
plies laminates provides space for improvement.
The deflection patterns experienced by these
blades show that the hydroelasticity of compos-
ites could be successfully exploited to vary the
blade pitch.
3/29/2017 9:44:17 AM

Figure  10. Blade deflection for different lay-ups at
r/R = 0.7. J varies. STUD 3.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The deflection results of the CFRP blade confirm
the greater deflection experienced by composite
blades and how the bending-twisting coupling is
much more evident when anisotropic materials
are employed. Unlike NAB blades, deflection of
composite blades occurs in both the radial and the
chordal directions. The deflection pattern is strongly
influenced by the laminate and propeller loading.
The results of the analysis suggest that the abil-
ity to exploit the bending-twisting coupling of
composite blades to dynamically vary the pitch
angle is feasible. However, achieving successful
results in terms of hydrodynamic performance
requires the structural design of the propeller to
account for the laminate lay-up and the whole pro-
peller operational range.
In order to assess the deformed blade from a
hydrodynamic point of view, a fluid analysis is nec-
essary. However, on the basis of airfoil theory, it can
be presumed that an effective change of pitch occurs
if the whole blade section rotates uniformly, as for
a controllable pitch propeller, or if the blade tends
to de-pitch near the tip at the trailing edge. Under
these conditions, the lift/drag characteristic changes
with possible improvements in the efficiency.
Highly anisotropic laminates are critical due to
the excessive elasticity in the transverse direction.
When the propeller is heavily loaded, both the
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 867
leading and the trailing edges deflect more than
the central part of the blade. The cambered shape
assumed by the blade section may affect the hydro-
dynamic performance, with significant changes in
the lift and drag characteristics. The use of quasi-
isotropic laminates is not effective either, resulting
in high bending in the radial direction.
A suitable starting point for the design of
composite blade was found with the angle-ply
[0/45/–45]s laminate, which proves to be very effec-
tive when stiffness in all directions is of concern.
The blade response is generally uniform, without
any abrupt change in deflection throughout the
propeller operational range. The blade sections
experience a clear rotation with the varying of the
loading conditions. An approximate centre of rota-
tion was found to be upstream of the leading edge.
Depending on the deflection pattern, additional
unidirectional plies may be added in the radial
direction to increase the stiffness of the central
part of the blade, hence obtaining a uniform rota-
tion of the blade sections. 90-degree oriented plies,
which provide the blade with high stiffness in the
transverse direction, were found to be the most
effective when transversal stiffness is to be given to
the tip region of skewed blade geometries.
The high deflection implies that structural anal-
yses on composite propellers must be fully hydro-
elastic to determine the real blade deformations
and stresses. Hence, the finite element analysis is to
be coupled with a hydrodynamic analysis.
REFERENCES
Ahmed, A. and Wei, L. (2012) ‘Theoretical and experi-
mental methods on bend-twist coupling and damp-
ing properties with the relationship to lay-up of the
composite propeller marine: A review’, International
Journal of Engineering Science and Technology.
Almeida, F.S. and Awruch, A.M. (2009) ‘Design opti-
mization of composite laminated structures using
genetic algorithms and finite element analysis’, Com-
posite Structures, 88(3), pp. 443–454.
Blasques, J.P., Berggreen, C. and Andersen, P. (2010)
‘Hydro-elastic analysis and optimization of a com-
posite marine propeller’, Marine Structures, 23(1), pp.
22–38.
Chen, B., Neely, S., Michael, T., Gowing, S., Szwerc, R.,
Buchler, D. and Schult, R. (2006) The SNAME pro-
peller/shafting symposium, Williamsburg, VA.
Chung, D.D.L. (2001) ‘Review: Materials for vibration
damping’, Journal of Materials Science, 36(24), pp.
5733–5737.
Ghassemi, H., Saryazdi, M.G. and Ghassabzadeh, M.
(2011) ‘Influence of the skew angle on the hydroelastic
behaviour of a composite marine propeller’, Journal
of Engineering for the Maritime Environment.
Gowing, S., Coffin, P. and Dai, C. (1998) 25th American
towing tank conference. Iowa City, IA. USA.
3/29/2017 9:44:18 AM
 Lin, C.-C., Lee, Y.-J. and Hung, C.-S. (2009) ‘Optimiza-
tion and experiment of composite marine propellers’,
Composite Structures, 89(2), pp. 206–215.
Lin, H.J., Lin, J.J. and Chuang, T.J. (2005) ‘Strength
Evaluation of a Composite Marine Propeller Blade’,
Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites.
Liu, Z. and Young, Y.L. (2009) ‘Utilization of bend–twist
coupling for performance enhancement of composite
marine propellers’, Journal of Fluids and Structures,
25(6), pp. 1102–1116.
Motley, M.R., Liu, Z. and Young, Y.L. (2009) ‘Utilizing
fluid-structure interactions to improve energy effi-
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 868
ciency of composite marine propellers in spatially var-
ying wake’, Composite Structures, 90(3), pp. 304–313.
Raj, S.S. and Reddy, P.R. (2011) ‘Performance evaluation
of composite marine propeller using L8 orthogonal
array’, International Journal of Engineering Science
and Technology.
Selvaraju, S. and Ilaiyavel, S. (2011) ‘Applications of
Composites in Marine Industry’, Journal of Engineer-
ing Research an Studies, 2, pp. 89–91.
Young, Y.L. (2008) ‘Fluid-structure interaction analysis
of flexible composite marine propellers’, Journal of
Fluids and Structures, 24(6), pp. 799–818.
3/29/2017 9:44:18 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Structural fire integrity testing of lightweight multiple core

sandwich structures

M. Rahm & F. Evegren

Department of Safety—Fire Research, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Borås, Sweden

E. Johnson
Department of Safety—Mechanics Research, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Borås, Sweden

J.W. Ringsberg
Department of Shipping and Marine Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

ABSTRACT: Lightweight structures become increasingly important to reduce environmental impact

and to improve payload/deadweight ratio of ships. Significant weight savings can be accomplished by
replacing steel with Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) sandwich panels. An assessment is then necessary
to ensure that equivalent fire safety is provided, since these structures are combustible. To support such
assessments, this paper presents results from vertically loaded fire resistance tests of two structures: (1) a
“conventional” FRP sandwich bulkhead with thermal insulation (providing load carrying fire resistance
for 60 minutes) and (2) a multiple core FRP sandwich bulkhead without insulation. Both bulkheads were
constructed for and tested with the same design load. The multiple core sandwich bulkhead demonstrated
structural fire integrity performance well beyond 60 minutes whilst having a significantly lower structural
weight and thickness. The new type of multiple core sandwich structure thus provides great potential,
both from a weight-savings and a fire safety perspective.

1 INTRODUCTION International Convention for the Safety of Life at

Load-bearing structures on large ships and off-
shore platforms are traditionally made of steel
but there is great potential in using lightweight
materials. The possibilities for using lightweight
materials in maritime and offshore construction
applications were investigated in the research pro-
ject LASS, Light-weight construction Applications
at Sea (Evegren et al. 2011, Hertzberg et al. 2009).
The project showed that a reduction in structural
weight of up to 60% is achievable by using Fibre
Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composite in merchant
ships. Steel may be the most cost-efficient material
in the construction phase but life cycle cost assess-
ments have shown that the lightweight material
can pay back in short time of operation (Hertz-
berg 2009). Lower fuel consumption per ton-km
payload also gives reduced environmental impact,
where use of fossil fuel is the main contributor
(Hedlund 2011). Furthermore, use of lightweight
materials can open up for possibilities to use new
propulsion alternatives, such as battery power.
An obstacle for using FRP composite structures
is the fire safety regulations which require use of
non-combustible structures. In particular, the
Sea, SOLAS (IMO 1974), which most ship and off-
shore regulations are based upon, does not allow
use of combustible materials for structures. How-
ever, this requirement is relieved for ships operat-
ing above a certain speed/displacement ratio, as
regulated in the International Code of Safety for
High-Speed Craft (HSC), adopted under SOLAS
in 1994 (IMO 2000). The HSC Code allows use of
combustible materials for structures if they classify
as fire restricting (IMO 2012), but a completely dif-
ferent safety philosophy is also required, e.g. oper-
ation on a fixed limited route and an enhanced
safety organization (IMO 2000). To use FRP
composite structures in other applications than on
HSC, a common opening is regulations for alterna-
tive solutions and performance-based design. Such
a regulation was for example adopted to the fire
safety chapter of SOLAS in 2002 (SOLAS II-2/17).
For alternative design solutions to be allowed it is
then required to show by a risk assessment that a
degree of fire safety is provided which is not less
than that achieved by complying with prescriptive
requirements (IMO 1974).
The fire safety regulation for alternative design
and arrangements in SOLAS was the starting

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 point for several fire safety evaluations of FRP
composite constructions in the European research
project BESST (Breakthrough in European Ship
and Ship-building Technologies, financed within
the Seventh Framework Programme) (e.g. Evegren
2013, Hugosson 2011). The evaluations were based
on IMO guidelines in MSC/Circ.1002 (IMO 2001)
and identified five key areas necessary to address
when using FRP composite structures, namely
fire growth potential, generation of toxic smoke,
fire containment, fire-fighting and structural fire
integrity. Connected to these fire hazards there are
performance requirements in SOLAS (IMO 1974),
chapter II-2/Reg. 5, 6, 9, 10 and 11, which could
all be fulfilled by protecting the FRP surfaces with
thermal insulation, which is the conventional way
to gain fire resistance of FRP structures. However,
there are also other ways.
The key for achieving structural fire integrity
with FRP structures is to protect them from heat
deterioration; they will lose structural strength due
to heat well before igniting and becoming involved
in a fire. An alternative way to use traditional fire
insulation was investigated in the BESST project,
where a sandwich bulkhead structure was designed
with two end grain balsa cores. One of the two
cores was intended to serve as sacrificial fire
“insulation” in case of fire in one of the compart-
ments separated by the bulkhead. A number of
benefits were foreseen with this design compared
to insulated designs, such as reduced total thick-
ness, weather resistance and added contribution
to structural stiffness and load carrying capacity
when not exposed to fire.
This paper presents parts of a series of fire
resistance tests, focusing on a multiple core sand-
wich structure, hereafter referred to as Panel
B, in comparison with an insulated reference
structure, hereafter referred to as Panel A. The
purpose of the study was to evaluate whether
multiple core structures can be a safe and feasible
alternative to conventionally protected sandwich
structures. The objective was to do this by inves-
tigating the proposed multiple core design with
regards to fire resistance at realistic load levels
in comparison with a state-of-the-art sandwich
structure protected with non-combustible insu-
lation. The tests were based on the procedure
for evaluation of structural fire integrity of fire
resisting divisions on HSC (IMO 2012). How-
ever, instead of applying a static vertical load of
7 kN/m as prescribed, the bulkheads were tested
with their actual design load, as proposed in
(Rahm et al. 2016). The test procedure is further
explained in Chapter 2, followed by descriptions
of the panel structures in Chapter 3. Instrumen-
tations and measurements in the tests are speci-
fied in Chapter 4 and the results are presented in
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 870
Chapter  5, preceding summarizing conclusions
in Chapter 6.
2 FIRE RESISTANCE TESTS
As part of the European research project BESST, a
series of fire resistance tests was performed at SP’s
fire resistance laboratory in Borås (Sweden) dur-
ing November and December 2012. The tests were
based on the test procedure for Fire-Resisting Divi-
sions (FRD), referred to in the High Speed Craft
(HSC) Code (IMO 2000) and described in Part
11 of the FTP Code (IMO 2012). In accordance
with the test procedure, bulkheads are installed on
a vertical furnace with controlled heat exposure.
The temperature in the furnace increases over time
in a well-defined manner, according to the stand-
ard time-temperature curve, ISO 834 (ISO 1999),
illustrated in Figure  1. Load bearing fire resisting
divisions are evaluated against three different per-
formance criteria: insulation, integrity and load
bearing ability. The insulation property is the pan-
els’ ability to withstand heat while keeping the tem-
perature low at the unexposed side of the panel. The
average temperature increase should be below 140°C
for a time depending on the classification (IMO
2012). The fire integrity restricts the allowable size
of cracks and flames emerging through the division.
A common requirement for structures is to achieve
these properties for 60 minutes of fire exposure.
For load carrying fire resisting divisions on
HSC, a load is applied to the test specimen dur-
ing the fire test. The load carrying requirement
was added to account for deterioration effects
when using divisions of other materials than steel,
which are allowed on HSC (IMO 2000). Hence,
load carrying bulkheads for HSC shall withstand
the standard fire test (insulation and integrity cri-
teria above) while uniformly subjected to in-plane
loading of 7.0  kN/m of the test specimen width,
Figure 1. The standard temperature-time curve used in
fire resistance testing (ISO 834).
3/29/2017 9:44:18 AM
 applied along the top edge of the vertical test speci-
men, (IMO 2012). The performance criteria for
load-bearing ability are a maximum axial contrac-
tion of L/100  mm and a maximum rate of axial
contraction of 3 × L/1000 mm/min (where L is the
initial height of the specimen in mm).
A bulkhead structure must sustain the specified
criteria for load-bearing ability, fire integrity and
insulation for 60  minutes in order to be certified
as an FRD-60 division. The current test series was
based on the fire resistance test procedure for HSC
and aimed at achieving the criteria for 60 minutes
but with a calculated design load instead of with a
static load of 7 kN/m, as argued for in Rahm et al.
(2016). The load was applied by two hydraulic pis-
tons loading a rigid steel beam placed on top of
the bulkheads (see Figure  2). The load was con-
trolled by a load cell placed on the floor in a steel
construction.
The dimensions of the bulkhead panels were
2960  ×  3000  mm (width×height) and they were
mounted in a frame of reinforced concrete (SP´s
loading frame, as seen in Figure 2) with the open-
ing dimensions (width × height) 3060 × 3000 mm.
The panels were mounted in the opening in the
concrete frame and the spaces between the vertical
edges of the panels and the concrete frame were
sealed with mineral wool insulation. The panels
were thereby unrestrained (i.e. free to move) along
the vertical edges and simply supported along the
top and bottom edges (translation restrained),
comparable to Eulers 2nd buckling case. As
Figure 2. Panel B mounted in the furnace with the load
beam on the top edge and the unrestrained side edges
between the panel and the concrete frame (sealed with
mineral wool insulation).
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 871
described above, loading equipment was applied
on top of the panels to subject the bulkheads to
vertical loading during the test. The concrete
frame with the panels was installed on SP’s vertical
furnace after the mounting, as shown in Figure 2.
3 PANEL STRUCTURES
The panels tested in the BESST project where
designed and manufactured by the shipyard Kock-
ums AB and delivered to SP for testing. The tested
Panels A and B are further described below.
3.1 Panel A—Insulated FRP panel (reference)
Panel A was used as a reference to the multiple core
sandwich. It was a more conventional FRP com-
posite sandwich panel, consisting of 1.3 mm glass
fibre reinforced polyester laminates surrounding a
cross linked PVC foam core called Divinycell H80
(80 kg/m3). The sandwich panels were vacuum-in-
fused in one shot with resin distribution by grooves
in the core. The fibre fraction was about 50% by
volume. The resin used was Polylite® 480–622.
With a laminate density of 1,830  kg/m3 and a
core thickness of 50 mm, the nominal area weight
of Panel A was approximately 8.8  kg/m2. The
nominal weight of the insulation was 7 kg/m2 (per
protected bulkhead side), giving a total structural
weight of 22.8 kg/m2.
As mentioned above, the tests were performed
with realistic design loads instead of with the
stipulated 7 kN/m. To calculate the design loads
for the panels, a safety factor of 2.5 against buck-
ling was applied, as required in relevant class
rules (DNV 2013). The critical load for buckling
(Pcritical) of Panel A in cold conditions was calcu-
lated using the hand calculation method in Equa-
tion  1 (Zenkert 1995). It is valid for panels that
are unrestrained (i.e. free to move) along the
vertical edges and simply supported along the
top and bottom edges (translation restrained),
comparable to Eulers 2nd buckling case.
⎛ π 2D ⎞
⎜ ⎟
Pcritical = ⎜ L2 ⎟ (1)
⎜ π 2 D ⎟⎟
⎜ 1+
⎝ L2 S ⎠
where L is the height of the panel and the variables
D and S are given by Equation 2 and Equation 3.
E t d2
D= lam lam (2)
2
3/29/2017 9:44:19 AM

G d2
S = core
t Panel A
core
where Elam is the elastic modulus (unit: N/m2) for
the laminates, tlam is the laminate thickness (unit: m),
d is the perpendicular centre to centre distance
(unit: m) between the two laminates, Gcore is the
shear modulus (unit: N/m2) of the core mate-
rial and tcore is the core thickness (unit: m). All
material properties are for normal ambient tem-
peratures and not for the elevated temperatures
expected in a fire scenario.
The critical buckling load for Panel A at cold
conditions was calculated to 31.1 kN/m based on
the calculation method described above. In the
test, a load of 12.4  kN/m was therefore applied,
generating a safety factor against buckling of 2.5,
in line with relevant class rules (DNV 2013). This is
hence a realistic design load for the panel.
Panel A was insulated on the fire exposed side
with four layers of 25 mm thick insulation desig-
nated FireMaster Marine Plus Blanket. The nomi-
nal density of the inner layer of insulation was
64 kg/m3 and the nominal density of the three outer
layers of insulation was 70 kg/m3. The four layers
of insulation were mounted with staggered joints
and fixed to the structural core with 108 mm steel
pins with a self-tapping screw. Between each layer
of insulation was also a thin aluminium foil. This
system is approved and certified for an FRD-60
application (DNV 2011).
3.2 Panel B—Multiple core sandwich
The multiple core structure consisted of a symmet-
ric sandwich panel with two cores and three lami-
nates. The two lightweight cores were of end grain
balsa wood and measured 50 mm each. The three
laminates were placed in-between and on the sides
of the balsa cores. The laminates were of glass
fibre reinforced (fibre content of 50%) vinyl ester
and had a nominal thickness of 1.3 mm. The panel
was produced in a single shot vacuum infusion at
Kockums AB’s facilities in Karlskrona, Sweden.
The panel was constructed based on the princi-
ple that one laminate and one core could be deteri-
orated without collapse of the structure. Charring
of one balsa wood core would thus provide insu-
lation for the remaining structure, having suffi-
cient load carrying capacity. Furthermore, the fire
exposed laminate was treated with fire retardants
and an intumescent gelcoat. The gelcoat expands
when exposed to heat and provides additional insu-
lation to the bulkhead. The total nominal thickness
of the double sandwich panel was, including the
gelcoat, 105 mm.
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 872
Table 1. Design parameters of the two tested bulkhead
panels.
(3)
Panel B
tcore [mm] 50 50 × 2
Core quality H80 Balsa
Core density [kg/m3] 80 155
tlam [mm] 1.3 × 2 1.3 × 3
Laminate density [kg/m3] 1830 1830
Pcritical [kN/m] 31.1 31.8*
Pdesign [kN/m] 12.4 12.7
Ptest [kN/m] 12.4 12.4
Safety factor against buckling 2.5 2.6*
*Values are calculated for a fire damaged panel where
one core and one laminate are consumed by fire.
The same design load as for Panel A was selected
for Panel B, since all parameters in Equations 1–3,
except for the shear modulus of the core, is the
same. This assumes that one laminate and one
core are lost and that effects of differences in shear
modulus between the different core materials can
be assumed negligible. Control calculations after
the tests, using Equation 1, showed that the critical
load for buckling of Panel B was 31.8 kN/m, imply-
ing that the applied load of 12.4 kN/m resulted in a
safety factor of 2.6 instead of 2.5.
With a laminate density of 1830 kg/m3 and two
cores with a thickness of 50 mm, the nominal area
weight of Panel B was approximately 22.6 kg/m2,
excluding the area weight of the gelcoat layer
(1  mm). In summary, the design parameters for
the two tested panels are presented in Table 1.
4 INSTRUMENTATIONS AND
MEASUREMENTS
The temperature development at the unexposed
surface of the bulkhead panels was measured
with 5 thermocouples, in accordance with the test
standard (IMO 2012). The thermocouple positions
are illustrated in Figure 4 (A1-A5 for Panel A and
B1-B5 for Panel B).
In addition to the temperature measurements
required by the standard, thermocouples where
mounted at 10 different positions at varying depths
in the tested panels. On Panel A, thermocouples
A6-A10 were positioned inside the sandwich,
measuring the temperature between the exposed
laminate and the lightweight core. Thermocouples
A11-A15 were positioned between the exposed
laminate and the first layer of thermal insulation.
The depths of the measurements on Panel A are
illustrated in Figure 4.
872
3/29/2017 9:44:20 AM
 On Panel B, thermocouples B6-B10 were
positioned inside the sandwich, measuring the
temperature between the centre laminate and
the unexposed lightweight core. Thermocouples
B11-B15 were positioned between the centre
laminate and the exposed lightweight core. The
depths of the measurements on Panel B are illus-
trated in Figure 5.
Figure  3. Thermocouple positions on each panel,
denominated A/B 1–14. Horizontal deflection gauges
are denominated Dz 1–3 and vertical contraction gauges
are denominated Dy 1–2.
Figure  4. Thermocouple positions in the Panel A
bulkhead.
873
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 873
Figure  5. Thermocouple positions in the bulkhead
Panel B.
The positions of the added thermocouples on
both panels were based on the FTP code positions
and located at the centre of the bulkhead and at
the centre of each quarter section of the bulkhead,
as illustrated in Figure 4.
Contraction and deflections were measured in
accordance with the FTP Code. Three horizontal
deflection gauges, Dz1-Dz3 were positioned at mid
height of the test specimen. Two axial contraction
gauges, Dy1-Dy2, were positioned on the load-
ing beam applying the vertical load on the speci-
men. The positions of the gauges are illustrated
in Figure 3.
5 RESULTS
Panel A, the reference bulkhead, did not achieve
60 minutes of fire resistance but failed after 56 min-
utes due to loss of load bearing ability. The failure
may have been affected by the higher load applied
but it is likely more dependable on an increased
heat exposure in the revised test procedure in the
2010 edition of the FTP code (Rahm et al. 2016).
The relative results are although still highly valid.
Panel B, the multiple core sandwich, lasted over
90 minutes before failure, also due to loss of load-
bearing ability. At the time of failure, the average
temperature rise at the unexposed side of the bulk-
head was 6°C for Panel A and 49°C for Panel B
(22°C after 60 minutes), i.e. significantly less than
the 140°C stipulated as insulation requirement. No
fire integrity failures were caused before failure
due to load bearing ability.
A summary of the times until loss of load bear-
ing ability in the two tests is presented in Table 2.
3/29/2017 9:44:20 AM
 Table 2. Results from fire resistance tests. The laminate
temperatures refer to the exposed laminate of Panel A
and the centre laminate of Panel B.
Panel A Panel B
Time to failure [min] 56 90.5
Laminate surface temp. [°C] 260 440
Laminate/core interface temp. 148 407
[°C]
Unexposed surface temp. 6 49 (22 at
rise [°C] 60 min)
It also summarizes the average temperatures on
both sides of the exposed load bearing laminates
at the time of failure for each specimen (the cen-
tre laminate for Panel B) as well as the average
temperature rise at the unexposed surface of the
specimens.
5.1 Temperatures
The average temperature developments at different
depths of the panels (both sides of the ex-posed/
centre laminate and the unexposed surface) are
presented in Figure  6. The temperature at the
unexposed side of Panel B increased slightly
more rapidly than on Panel A. However, both
specimens are far from failing due to insulation
performance.
The results in Figure  6  show that the centre
laminate temperature of Panel B initially increased
more rapidly than the exposed laminate tempera-
ture of Panel A. At temperatures near 100°C the
temperature development of Panel B was signifi-
cantly slower, indicating water content in the bulk-
head (the temperature is increasing at a slow rate
until the water content is vaporized).
According to the product data sheet for the end
grain balsa core, the nominal moisture content is
8–12% (DIAB group 2016). Furthermore, com-
paring the temperatures at collapse shows that the
temperature of the centre laminate in Panel B was
significantly higher than the temperature of the
exposed laminate in Panel A. Panel A collapsed
when the interface temperature between the core
and the exposed laminate reached 148°C, whilst the
centre laminate of Panel B reached over 400°C.
Panel A was part of a larger test series, study-
ing structural fire resistance performance of simi-
lar structures (glass fibre/polyester laminates and
PVC foam core) at varying load levels (Rahm et al.
2016). It demonstrated that the interface tempera-
ture between the exposed laminate and core varied
between 136°C and 154°C for all thin laminated
structures, indicating that de-bonding occurs at
this interval.
874
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 874
Figure  6. Average temperatures at different depths on
both panels.
The temperature at the interface between the
centre laminate and the unexposed core in Panel B
was 407°C at the time of collapse, which is signifi-
cantly higher than the corresponding temperature
in Panel A. Since the laminates in the two struc-
tures are comparable, other factors than soften-
ing of the laminate must be critical, for example
involving the core material properties. There could
be some residual strength in the partly deteriorated
balsa core, or the critical deboning temperature
between a polyester laminate and end grain balsa
is significantly higher than between a polyester
and PVC foam. This difference is likely due to the
relatively high thermal stability of end grain balsa
compared to the PVC foam.
5.2 Deflection
The horizontal deflection of the two panels dur-
ing the tests is plotted in Figure 7. The horizontal
deformation is positive when the bulkhead deflects
into the furnace. Hence, Panel A immediately
starts to deflect into the furnace and stays this way
until a few minutes before collapse. Apart from a
positive deflection during the first five minutes,
Panel B deflects out from the furnace during the
first 75 minutes before the panel starts to deflect in
towards the furnace.
In both tests the deflection shifted in the last
minutes before loss of load-carrying ability. The
bulkheads then started to deflect out of the fur-
nace and eventually buckled out from the furnace,
as shown in Figure 8.
After the test with Panel B, the damages were
investigated and a cut-out was taken from the
damaged specimen, shown in Figure  9. It shows
that the exposed balsa core is almost completely
consumed. The centre laminate was clearly dete-
riorated by the heat and it had partially de-bonded
from the unexposed core.
3/29/2017 9:44:21 AM

Figure  7. Average horizontal deformation of Panel A
and Panel B during the tests.
Figure  8. Panel B just seconds after loss of load-
carrying ability.
Figure 9. Cut-out from the double core specimen after
the test, showing that the exposed balsa core is almost
completely consumed (the centre laminate is marked red).
875
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 875
6 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents the findings from two loaded fire
resistance tests evaluating a novel bulkhead design
exposed to fire conditions and realistic axial loads.
The multiple core sandwich design, Panel B,
proved to achieve notably better load carrying
ability compared to the insulated reference design,
Panel A. Panel B maintained its load carrying abil-
ity for more than 90 minutes. The results showed
that the charring balsa wood provided both good
insulation and load bearing contribution to the
structure during fire exposure. Furthermore, the
critical load carrying components (the centre lami-
nate and unexposed core of Panel B) could with-
stand significantly higher temperatures than the
exposed laminate and the core of Panel A. This
indicates that also a conventional sandwich design
with a balsa core could withstand higher tempera-
tures before collapse.
The moisture content in the balsa core can
have a significant influence on the fire resistance
of structures similar to Panel B. This is likely an
important factor for all balsa cored bulkheads.
Since the moisture content seems to have such an
influence it could be relevant to evaluate variations
in moisture content during production, measure
moisture content in test specimen and to evalu-
ate how the moisture content can vary in time for
different applications.
A number of benefits with the design of Panel B
have been identified that can be useful when apply-
ing the presented results in ship design:
• The design of Panel B can be used as an effective
barrier to provide fire resistance of loaded FRP
bulkheads. Such a design can be particularly
relevant when traditional fire insulation is not
suitable, e.g. for external surfaces in areas with
significant fire risk, such as open Ro-Ro spaces.
• The design of Panel B can be used to achieve
a more volume efficient and less complex fire
resisting division. A conventional sandwich
panel (Panel A) needs to be protected with fire
insulation on both sides to reach A-class equiva-
lence and is not as resistant to wear and tear or
for mounting of equipment. Adding another
surface outside the insulation, such as a stiff
liner, adds both weight and complexity to the
structure.
• A comparison of the nominal area weight of the
two structures shows that the evaluated Panel B
is competitive to the Panel A.
• A combination of this multiple core structures
and insulation could be an option to achieve
further increased fire resistance.
• When not exposed to fire, the redundant struc-
ture of the Panel B will contribute to the strength
3/29/2017 9:44:21 AM
 and stiffness of the structure. Panel B in undam-
aged conditions have a critical load for buckling
that is four times greater than that of Panel A.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research presented in this paper is the result
of WP06  in the BESST project, funded by the
European Community’s Seventh Framework
Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agree-
ment n.233980. The authors are also grateful to
the BESST WP06 consortium and to the BESST
steering committee for allowing publication of the
presented data.
REFERENCES
DIAB group (2016). ProBalsa — Technical data, Doc No:
PB Feb 2016 rev8 SI, Laholm, Sweden.
DNV. (2011). MED-B-7273, Hövik, Norway: Det Nor-
ske Veritas AS.
DNV. (2013). Rules for Classification of High Speed,
Light Craft and Naval Surface Craft, Part 3 Chapter 4.
Hövik: Det Norske Veritas AS.
Evegren, F. (2013b). Engineering analysis report — Nor-
wegian Future. Borås: SP Technical Research Institute
of Sweden.
Evegren, F., Hertzberg, T., & Rahm, M. (2011). LASS-C;
Lightweight construction of a cruise vessel. Borås: SP
Technical Research Institute of Sweden.
876
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 876
Hedlund-Åström, A. (2011). LCA and LCC. In F.
Evegren, T. Hertzberg & M. Rahm (Eds.), LASS-C;
Lightweight construction of a cruise vessel. Borås: SP
Technical Research Institute of Sweden.
Hertzberg, T. (Ed.). (2009). LASS, Lightweight Construc-
tion Applications at Sea. Borås: SP Technical Research
Institute of Sweden.
Hugosson, J. (2011). Preliminary qualitative analysis
for alternative design; light weight emergency gen-
erator structure on RO-RO ship. Borås: SP Technical
Research Institute of Sweden.
IMO. (1974). International Convention for the Safety
of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974 (Fifth ed.). London:
International Maritime Organization.
IMO. (2000). International Code of Safety for High-Speed
Craft. London: International Maritime Organization.
IMO. (2001). Guidelines on Alternative Design and
Arrangements for Fire Safety. MSC/Circ.1002. Lon-
don: International Maritime Organization.
IMO. (2012). FTP Code: International Code for Applica-
tion of Fire Test Procedures, 2010 (2012 ed.). London:
International Maritime Organization.
ISO 834-1. (1999). Fire-resistance tests - Elements of build-
ing construction - Part 1: General requirements (First
ed.): International Organization for Standardization.
Rahm, M., Evegren, F., Structural Fire Integrity Test-
ing of Lightweight Structures, OMAE2016-54418,
Proceedings of the ASME 2016 35th International
Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineer-
ing (OMAE 2016), Busan, South Korean, June 19–24,
2016.
Zenkert, D. (1995). An introduction to sandwich construc-
tion. Sheffield, UK: Engineering Materials Advisory
Service.
3/29/2017 9:44:23 AM
 Renewable energy devices

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

A higher-order coupling model of the blades of the floating offshore

wind turbine

Jiahao Chen
State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

Zhiqiang Hu
School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

ABSTRACT: In recent decades, it has been found that stiffness of flexible bodies can be increased under
the circumstance of large overall motions. But the conventional hybrid-coordinate dynamical model can’t
reflect this dynamic stiffening effect clearly enough. Since the slender blades of the floating offshore wind
turbine usually work with high rotation-speed, the dynamic stiffening effect of flexible blades should be
taken into consideration. In this paper, a higher-order coupling model is proposed and then incorporated
into an in-house program, DARwind, to investigate dynamic stiffening characteristics of the blades and
its effects on a spar-type floating offshore wind turbine. It is found that the additional stiffness of slender
blades increases with the augment of the rotating speed in the higher-order coupling model. Further-
more, dynamic characteristics of the spar-type floating offshore wind turbine in the higher-order coupling
model are different with those obtained by the traditional hybrid-coordinate dynamical model.

1 INTRODUCTION In this method, deformations of flexible bodies are

In face of increasingly severe climate change, a
variety of renewable and clean energy are gain-
ing extensive attention. Among them, the floating
offshore wind turbine technology has become one
of the promising renewable energy sources due
to steady and strong offshore wind, lower noise,
less visual pollution and fewer space limitations
(Bae & Kim, 2013). The floating wind turbine is a
multi-disciplinary coupling system (Namik & Stol,
2010; Wang & Sweetman, 2013), and the accurate
simulation of rigid-flexible coupling multi-body
dynamics is particularly important.
Since the last decades, rigid-flexible coupling
multi-body dynamics has attracted more and more
attention with the development of modern high-
speed aerospace planes, large wind turbine sys-
tems and etc. (Shabana, 1997). In the early phase,
Winfrey (1971) proposed the ‘Kineto-Elasto-
Dynamics’ method (KED) to model rigid-flexible
coupling multi-body system. As a matter of fact,
the KED method is a simply linear superposi-
tion of the conventional multi-rigid body dynam-
ics and structural dynamics, and the coupling
relationship between large overall motions and flex-
ible deformation is ignored. Subsequently, Likins
(1972) proposed the ‘hybrid-coordinate dynami-
cal model’ to describe dynamic characteristics
of the rigid-flexible coupling multi-body system.
described with respect to the local elastic body-fixed
coordinate frame (also called the ‘floating frame’).
By this way, the configuration of the whole system
can be regarded as a superposition of large overall
motions of the elastic body-fixed frame and the flex-
ible deformations with respect to its elastic body-
fixed frame. Thus, the coupling relationship between
movements of rigid bodies and deformations of
flexible bodies can be considered in one dynamic
equation. From then on, the hybrid-coordinate
dynamical model or other similar methods had
been widely used to model the rigid-flexible cou-
pling multi-body system. Nevertheless, the hybrid-
coordinate dynamical model is a linearized method
and some small higher-order coupling quantities of
flexible deformations are ignored. Afterwards, Kane
(1987) investigated dynamic characteristics of a
cantilever beam attached to a moving base, and dis-
covered that deformations of the beam would tend
to be infinite with the increase of rotation speed in
the hybrid-coordinate dynamical model, which was
inconformity to the physical reality that the stiff-
ness of a cantilever beam should be increased with
the rotate speed (Kane first proposed ‘dynamic
stiffening’ to describe this phenomenon). Since
then, this problem has attracted much attention.
Although many scholars had derived some similar
dynamic stiffening terms to correct the conven-
tional dynamical model by different ways (Simo &

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 Vu-Quoc, 1987; Mayo & Dominguez, 1996), there
is still not a widespread consensus on the essence
of this phenomenon. A widely accepted view is that
neglecting geometric non-linear coupling effects
in the conventional hybrid-coordinate dynami-
cal model is the reason for failing to capture the
dynamic stiffening phenomenon (Kane et al., 1987;
Liu & Hong, 2003).
Currently, some researchers modeled floating
offshore wind turbines by their own development
codes or other existing software (Cordle & Jonk-
man, 2011), such as FAST, HAWC2, Bladed,
ADAMS, SIMPACK and Simo-Riflex-AeroDyn
and so on. Nevertheless, there are only a few of
them have considered the dynamic stiffening char-
acteristics in the simulation of flexible bodies for Figure 1. Floating frame of reference formulation.
the floating offshore wind turbine, and the related 
 
dynamic stiffening investigation in the floating wind ρP = ρP0 + ΔU (1)
turbine are also rarely public. Moreover, since the
slender blades of the floating offshore wind turbine The position vector of point P with respect to
usually work with high rotation-speed and are even the global reference coordinate frame e 0 after
influenced by the motions of the supporting plat- deformation is:
form as well, the dynamic stiffening of blades of the   
floating wind turbine may be of great importance. rP = rb + ρP (2)
In this paper, a higher-order approximation 
coupling model for a three-dimensional cantilever Substituting Eq. 1 into Eq. 2, rP can be rewrit-
beam undergoing large overall motions is deduced. ten as follow:
Then this model is incorporated into an in-house    
FORTRAN program, DARwind, and a series of rP = rb + ρP0 + ΔU (3)
comparisons were made to verify the feasibility of
the proposed model compared to those of the con- The velocity vector of the point P with respect
ventional hybrid-coordinate dynamical model. to the global reference coordinate frame e 0 is
written as:
     
2 DYNAMICAL MODEL OF THE RIGID- (
r p = rb + ω × P + ΔU ΔU ) (4)
FLEXIBLE COUPLING MULTIBODY
SYSTEM The acceleration vector of point P with respect
to the global reference coordinate frame e 0 is:
2.1 Kinematics description
      →

Currently, the floating frame of reference formula- 
rP =  ( )
rb + ω × P + ΔU 2ω ΔU + ω
   →

tion (Nada et al., 2010) is one of the most popular
kinematic methods to describe the rigid-flexible
coupling multi-body system. In this method, there
are two sets of co-ordinates utilized to describe
the movement and deformation of flexible bodies.
One set is the global reference coordinate frame
(RF), which describes the location and orienta-
tion of the flexible bodies. The other is the local
elastic body-fixed coordinate frame (BF), which
describes elastic deformations of the flexible bod-
ies. This method is shown in Figure 1, where, e 0
is the global reference coordinate frame (RF), and
e b denotes the local body-fixed coordinate frame
(BF). The undeformed position of an arbitrary
point
 P in body-fixed coordinate frame eb (t ) is
ρP0 . The deformation of this point is ΔU. The
position vector of the point P with respect to e b (t )
after deformation is written as:
( )
× ⎡⎣ω × P + ΔU ⎤⎦ + ΔU (5)
. ..
where, the symbols ‘ ’ and ‘ ’ represent the first-
order and second-order derivative of deformations
versus time with respect to the local body-fixed
coordinate frame e b (t ) , respectively.
In the remaining sections, the conventional
hybrid-coordinate dynamical model is denoted as
L-Model (low-order model) and the revised method
including some nonlinear higher-order quantities is
denoted as H-Model (higher-order model).
2.2 Governing equations of a flexible beam
undergoing large overall motion
Since blades of the floating wind turbine are slen-
der and attached to the hub, the blade can be

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 described as an Euler-Bernoulli model of a canti-
1 x ⎡⎛ duy 0 ⎞ ⎛ duz 0 ⎞ ⎤
2 2
x
lever beam undergoing large overall motions. For
the sake of simplicity, material properties of the
w1 ∫0
0 ux 0 + ∫ ⎜⎢ ⎟ +⎜
2 0 ⎢⎝ dx ⎠ ⎝ dx ⎠ ⎥
⎟ ⎥ dx
⎣ ⎦
cantilever beam are assumed to be homogeneous
and isotropic. The centroid axes of the cross sec- (10)
tion along the beam is coincident and the shear
According
 to Eq. 10, the axial displacement
and torsion effects are ignored.
along b ex is written as:
A three-dimensional rotating beam attached
  to a
rigid hub is shown in Figure 2, the Ob − b ex b ey b ez
1 x ⎡⎛ duy 0 ⎞ ⎛ duz 0 ⎞ ⎤
2 2
is the local body-fixed frame of the cantilever beam.
2 ∫0 ⎢⎜⎝ dx ⎟⎠ ⎝ dx ⎠
ux 0 w1 − ⎢ +⎜ ⎟ ⎥⎥dddx (11)
Supposing the hub is rotating at angular velocity ⎥⎦
ω. The point k0 is a point at a position x along the ⎣
undeformaed neutral axis of the beam. After defor-
mation, this point move to a new position labeled as Let:
point k. And U k is the corresponding deformation
1 x ⎡⎛ duy 0 ⎞ ⎛ duz 0 ⎞ ⎤
2 2
vector of the point, can be written as:
wg = − ∫ ⎢⎜ ⎟ +⎜
2 0 ⎢⎝ dx ⎠ ⎝ dx ⎠ ⎥
⎟ ⎥⎥dddx (12)
⎡ux 0 ⎤ ⎣ ⎦

U k = ⎢⎢ uy 0 ⎥⎥ (6)
Thus:
⎢⎣ uz 0 ⎥⎦
ux = w1 + wg (13)
where ux0, uy0 and uz0 are the coordinate compo-
nents at ex , b ey , and b ez , respectively. Eq. 12 indicates that wg is an axial foreshortening
Assuming the length of a differential element displacement along b ex caused by the geometric
at position x is dx before deformation, and the nonlinear coupling effect from lateral displacements
stretch deformation of this element at the neutral (Kane et al.,1987; Liu & Hong, 2004). To consider
axis after deformation can be written as follows: this effect in the beam model or not is the essential
difference between the L-Model and H-Model.
2
2
⎛ du ⎞ ⎛ duy 0 ⎞ ⎛ duz 0 ⎞
2 For a slender beam, the transverse size is far
ds = 1 + x 0 ⎟ + ⎜ +⎜ ⎟ dx (7) smaller than the longitudinal size, the additional
⎝ dx ⎠ ⎝ dx ⎟⎠ ⎝ dx ⎠ longitudinal displacement caused by the cross-
sectional rotation effect can be neglected, as well.
The axial normal strain ε0 is given by: Thus, the deformation of an arbitrary point in the
cross-section is written as:
ds − dx
ε0 = (8)
dx ⎡ux 0 ⎤ ⎡ w1 ⎤ ⎡wg ⎤

Substituting Eq. 7 into Eq. 8, and neglecting the U = ⎢⎢ uy 0 ⎥⎥ = ⎢⎢w2 ⎥⎥ + ⎢⎢ 0 ⎥⎥ (14)
terms above second-order based on a Taylor series ⎢⎣ uz 0 ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣w3 ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ 0 ⎥⎦
expansion, the axial normal strain can be written as:
where w1 is the stretch deformation at neutral axis,
1 ⎡⎛ duy 0 ⎞ ⎛ duz 0 ⎞ ⎤
2 2
du the w2 and w3 are the lateral displacements induced
ε 0 ≈ x 0 + ⎢⎜ + ⎜ ⎟ ⎥ (9)
dx 2 ⎢⎝ dx ⎠⎟ ⎝ dx ⎠ ⎥ by the bending deflection with respect to the body-
⎣ ⎦ fixed frame.
According to Hooke’s Law, the strain-stress
The stretch deformation of the beam at point k relation is:
is written as follows:
σ=E⋅ε (15)
The shear and torsion effects, and structure
damping are ignored here, the power of strain of
the beam can be defined as follows.
L

V ∫∫ σ ddAA ε dx (16)
0A

In this paper, the mode-superposition method

Figure 2. Undeformed and deformed configurations of is used to disperse the beam. The axial and lateral
a three-dimensional beam. deformations can be written as follows.

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 881 3/29/2017 9:44:26 AM

 ⎡Kx 0⎤
n
0
w1 ∑φ
i =1
q = φ xT qx
xi xi qxT φ x (17)
K 0 = ⎢⎢ 0 Ky 0 ⎥⎥
n ⎢⎣ 0 0 K z ⎥⎦
w2 = ∑φ yiq yi = φ y Tq y = q y Tφ y (18)
T
i =1 L ⎛ ∂φ ⎞ ⎛ ∂φ ⎞
n Kx ∫ E ⋅ ⎜ x ⎟ ⋅ ⎜ x ⎟ dx
EA
⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎝ ∂x ⎠
∑φ
0
w3 q = φ zT qz
zi zi qzT φ z (19)
i =1 T
L ⎛ ∂ 2φ y ⎞ ⎛ ∂ 2φ y ⎞
where φxi, φyi and φzi are spatial shape functions,
Ky ∫ 0
E zz ⋅ ⎜ 2 ⎟ ⋅ ⎜ 2 ⎟ dx
EI
⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎝ ∂x ⎠
and qx, qy, qz are the generalized
 coordinates cor- T
⎛ ∂ 2φ ⎞ ⎛ ∂ 2φ ⎞
L
responding to b ex , b ey , and b ez of the local body-
fixed coordinate frame, respectively.
Kz ∫EEII
0
yy ⋅ ⎜ 2z ⎟ ⋅ ⎜ 2z ⎟ dx
⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎝ ∂x ⎠
The deformation of a point in the cross-section
can be discretized as follows: where Izz and Iyy are the central principal second
moments of area with respect to z axis and y axis,
⎛ 1 T ⎞ respectively. E is the modulus of elasticity. A is the
U φ AQ ⋅ H Q (20)
⎝ 2 ⎠ sectional area.
According to Eq. 20, the first and second deriva-
The power of virtual strain of the beam is tive of deformations versus time with respect to the
rewritten as: body-fixed frame are obtained as follows.

δV δ Q T ⋅ K 0 Q (21)
U ( )
AQT ⋅ H Q (22)

U ( AQT ⋅H) Q

 + A
Q
T
H ⋅ Q (23)
with
According to variation principle and Eq. 4,
⎡φ xT 0 0 ⎤ a velocity variation for an arbitrary point in the
φ = ⎢⎢ 0 0 ⎥⎥
cross-section is:
φ yT
⎢⎣ 0 0 φ zT ⎥⎦ δ δ rb − ρP ( )
 δω
δ (φ )
AQT H δ Q (24)

φx [φ x φx φxn ]
T
Based on Jourdan’s principle (velocity variations
T
or virtual velocities), the dynamical equation for a
φy ⎡⎣φ y1 φ y φ yn ⎤⎦ flexible beam undergoing large overall motions can
be defined as follows.
φz [φ φz φ zn ]
T

δ  δV = 0
z
∫ Ω
ρδ
ρδ (25)
⎡qx ⎤ qx [qx qx qxn ]
T

where δW is the power of virtual forces. In

Q = ⎢⎢ qy ⎥⎥
T
qy ⎡⎣qy1 qy qyn ⎤⎦ other to simplify the analysis of ‘dynamic stiffen-
⎢⎣ qz ⎥⎦ ing’ effect in H-Model, assuming that the beam
qz [q z1 qz qzn ]
T
vibrates without active forces, namely, δW = 0.
In addition, supposing that the translational and
⎡0 0 0 ⎤ rotary movement of body-fixed frame of the beam
H ⎢0 H 0 ⎥⎥ is known and limited, in other word, other possible
⎢ y
movements of the body-fixed frame of the beam
⎢⎣0 0 H z ⎥⎦
are inexistent, so we can let δ rb = 0 and δω = 0.
T Substituting Eqs. 5, 21 and 24 into Eq. 25, yields:
x
⎛ ∂φ y ⎞ ⎛ ∂φ y ⎞
H y = −∫ ⎜ ⋅ dx
0⎝
∂x ⎟⎠ ⎜⎝ ∂x ⎟⎠
∫ ρ (φ
Ω
T
)rb ω ( ρP U ) + 2ω ⋅U + ω ⋅ ω ⋅
+ H ⋅ AQ ⋅ ⎡⎣
⎛ ∂φ ⎞ ⎛ ∂φ ⎞
x

H z = − ∫ ⎜ z ⎟ ⋅ ⎜ z ⎟ dx
T
( ρP + U ) U ⎤⎦ d
 K 0 ⋅ Q = 0.
⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎝ ∂x ⎠
0 (26)
AQ [Q ] where H = HT, ρP0 = [ xP 0 0] .
T

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 Substituting Eqs. 20, 22 and 23 into above gov- of these additional terms in H-Model are relevant
erning equation, and rearranging the equation by to the higher-order nonlinear term H and some of
the term Q  Q Q and others. The conventional these additional terms are even influenced by the
hybrid-coordinate dynamical model (L-Model) of large overall motions.
the beam can be written as: In generally, the angular acceleration and the
acceleration of reference based point rb are far
 C ⋅ Q
ML Q KL Q FL = 0 (27) smaller than the angular velocity. In order to sim-
L
plify the following analysis, the angular accelera-
The higher-order coupling dynamic model tion term ω and the acceleration of the reference
(H-Model) of the beam is written as: based point  rb can be neglected. Moreover, since
the rotational motion of the blades of the wind
turbine is mainly around one axis, the other com-
(M L MH ) ⋅Q
 + (C C ) ⋅ Q
L H (K L + K H ) Q + FL ponents of the angular velocity around b ex and
+ FH = 0 
b
ey of the local body-fixed frame, namely ωx and
(28) ωy, also can be neglected. On the other hand, since
the axial extension caused by the axial loading is
with fairly small compared to the axial displacement
induced by the lateral bending coupling effect,
the axial shape function φx can be ignored for the
ML ∫Ω
ρφ T φ d Ω
sake of convenience. The stiffness terms Kf and KH
(neglecting the four-order or higher-order small
MH ∫Ω
H ⋅ AQ d + ∫ ρφ T ⋅ AQT Hd
Ω
Hd ∫
Ω
ρH⋅ quantities) can be simplified as follows.
AQ AQT ⋅ Hd Ω
⎡0 0 0⎤
CL ∫ Ω
ρφ T ω φ d Ω
Kf 2 ⎢
∫Ω ⎢ yφ y
T ⎥ dΩ
⎥ (29)
2∫ ⎢⎣0 0 0 ⎥⎦
CH
Ω
T
AQ ⋅ Hd
T
d + ∫ Ω
ρ H ⋅ AQ ⋅ ω ⋅ φ d Ω
+ 2∫ ρ H ⋅ AQ ⋅ ω ⋅A
AQ T
Hd Ω
H ⎡0 0 0 ⎤
Ω
KH 2 ⎢
xP ρ ⋅ ∫ ⎢ 0 − H y 0 ⎥⎥d Ω (30)
3
KL K + Kf Ω
⎢⎣0 0 − H z ⎥⎦
Kf ∫ T
d + ∫ ρφ T ⋅ ω ⋅ φ d Ω
Ω Ω
T
1 x ⎛ ∂φ y ⎞ ⎛ ∂φ y ⎞
+ ∫ ρH ⋅ AQ ⋅ ω ⋅ φ d Ω
2 ∫Ω
KH T
AQT ⋅ Hd where : − H y = ∫ ⎜ ⋅ dx
Ω 0 ⎝ ∂x ⎟ ⎠ ⎜⎝ ∂x ⎟⎠
+
1
2 ∫Ω
ρH ⋅ AQ ⋅ ω ⋅ AQT Hd ∫Ω ρ ω ρP0 1 ( ) x ⎛ ∂φ ⎞ ⎛ ∂φ ⎞
− H z = ∫ ⎜ z ⎟ ⋅ ⎜ z ⎟ dx
T

0 ⎝ ∂x ⎠ ⎝ ∂x ⎠
Hd Ω ∫ ρ ⎡(rb )1
Ω ⎣ (
  P 0 ⎤ Hd
1⎦
Hd Ω + ) As Eq. 29  shown, the Kf is negative and pro-
1
∫Ω ρH AQ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ d 2 ∫Ω ρφ T ω ω AQT ⋅ portional to the square of the angular velocity. In
other word, the stiffness of L-Model will decline
1
Hd Ω + ∫ ρ H ⋅ AQ ⋅ ω ⋅ ω ⋅ AQT ⋅ Hd Ω and the deformation will be amplified with the
2 Ω rotary movement. This is inconsistent with real-
ity. On the contrary, Eq. 30  indicates that KH in
F0 ∫ T
rb d ∫ ρφ T ω ρ d Ω + ∫ ρφ T ⋅ ω ⋅ ω ⋅ H-Model is positive and increase with the square
Ω Ω P0 Ω
ρP0 d Ω of the angular velocity. Therefore, the higher-order
approximation coupling model for the floating
∫ ρ( )
H ⋅ AQ AQT H d Ω ⋅ Q
FH T wind turbine system is more accurate from a physi-
Ω cal point of view.

where, the symbol ‘ ( )1’ denotes the first entry of

the corresponding matrix. 3 THEORY OF THE SIMULATION CODE
It is indicated in Eq. 27 and Eq. 28 that, the
L-Model is a linear model but the H-Model is a The conventional hybrid-coordinate dynamical
nonlinear model. Compared to the L-Model, there model and the higher-order approximation cou-
are some additional mass terms, damping terms, pling model mentioned above had been incor-
force terms and stiffness terms in the H-Model. All porated into an in-house FORTRAN codes,

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 Figure 3. (a) Construction of a spar-type floating wind turbine; (b) Flow chart of the code.
DARwind, to model the floating wind turbine sys-
tems. In this section, some functional modules and
relevant theories about the numerical program was
introduced in brief so as to understand the subse-
quent test works better.
− Aerodynamics (Hansen et  al., 2006): in DAR-
wind, the Blade Element Momentum Method
(BEM) is utilize to calculate the complicated
aerodynamic loads, and some corrections have
been taken into account as well, such as the
Prandtl’s tip loss factor for infinite number of
blades, Glauert’s correction for high values of
axial induction factor, yaw/tilt model and etc.
− Hydrodynamics (Ma & Hu, 2015): Airy wave
theory is used to calculate the wave kinematics,
and the potential theory and Morison’s equation
are applied to calculate hydrodynamic loads in
the code. The linear hydrostatics, wave exciting
forces, and radiation coefficients are obtained
from the three-dimensional frequency-domain
potential-flow numerical procedure, WAMIT,
and then hydrodynamic loads in time-domain
are generated by DARwind.
− Mooring-lines system (Faltinsen, 1993): the
quasi-static approach for the catenary mooring
system is utilize in DARwind. In this method,
the stretching of the mooring lines is considered
but the inertia or damping of the mooring sys-
tem is ignored.
− Kinematical equations and dynamic structural
analysis: Kane’s dynamical equations (Kane
et al., 1983) and the conventional floating frame
884
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 884
of reference formulation are used to obtain the
kinematical governing equations in the code,
DARwind. The mode-superposition method is
used to discretize the flexible structures, and the
higher-order coupling model mentioned above
are also considered.
The construction of an OC3-Hywind spar-type
floating offshore wind turbine (Jonkman, 2010;
Duan & Hu, 2016) and the flow chart of the code
are shown in Figure 3a, b, respectively.
4 ANALYSIS RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This section presents two examples to illustrate the
stiffening effect on the blades of the floating wind
turbine system and clarify the feasibility of the
proposed higher-order coupling model. During the
analysis, an OC3-Hywind spar-type floating wind
turbine was selected as test object (see Figure 3a)
and more details about this floating wind turbine
can be found in the work of Jonkman (2010).
In this section, the blades and tower of the OC3-
Hywind spar-type floating wind turbine are mod-
eled as flexible bodies but others are regarded as
rigid bodies. The mode-superposition method is
used to disperse the flexible bodies. With respect
to the modes order, Øye (1996) discovered the first
3 or 4 eigen-modes (2 for flapwise and 1 or 2 for
edgewise) are accurate enough for the simulation
in modern wind turbines. Thus, the first 4 eigen-
modes (2 for flapwise and 2 for edgewise) are used
3/29/2017 9:44:39 AM
 in this paper. On the other hand, since the axial
vibration of the blades is relatively small and in
order to highlight the axial shortening displace-
ment induced by the lateral deformations, the axial
modal order number of the blades had been set
as zero. As shown in Figure  4, the origin ‘O0’ of
the absolute reference coordinate frame (RF) is
located at the intersection of the still water surface
and the initial position of the floating wind tur-
bine. The local body-fixed coordinate frame (BF)
of each blade is located at the corresponding blade
root. The positive direction of xb axis points to the
nacelle and the zb axis is along the neutral axis of
the blade.
In order to illustrate the dynamic stiffening of
blades between two models (namely, L-Model and
H-Model). In the following test, the floating plat-
form was fixed and the rotor was revolving without
any aerodynamic loads. And then the first-order
natural frequencies of the blades at different rota-
tional speed are listed at Table 1.
Table 1  shows that the first order natural fre-
quency of baldes towards flapwise in L-model is
constant at different rotational speeds. However,
the first order natural frequency of blades towards
edgewise in L-model obviously declines with the
rotational speed. This is coincident with the Eq. 29
that the stiffness of out of plane deformation is not
influenced by the ‘negative stiffness’ effect in the
L-model, but the stiffness of in-plane deformation
will be more and more smaller with the rotational
speed. On the contrary, in the H-model, it shows
that the first order natural frequency of blades
increase with the rotational speed both in flapwise
and edgewise. In other word, the stiffness of blades
in H-model increases with the rotational speed,
which is in accordance with the Eq. 30.
From above tests, it is know that the stiffness
of the blades between two model methods is quite

Figure 4. Simulation model.

Table  1. The first-order natural frequency of blades

between two model methods.

Rotate Flapwise(x)/Hz Edgewise(y)/Hz

Speed
/rmp L-Model H-Model L-Model H-Model

9 0.7359 0.7459 1.1199 1.1279

12.1 0.7359 0.7639 1.1119 1.1299
20 0.7359 0.8479 1.0799 1.1439
30 0.7359 0.9819 1.0139 1.1859 Figure  5. Free-decay test: (a) Surge decay; (b) Pitch
decay.

885

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 885 3/29/2017 9:44:40 AM

 Table 2. Comparison of globle dynamic responses between two model methods.
Mean Value
Globle Dynamic Responses FAST-Ref
Rotor_Thrust_x/kN 739.2037
Rotor_Moment_x/kN.m −3918.9747
Surge/m 22.1416
Pitch/degress 4.5130
(Note: The floating platform is free, wind speed is 11.4 m/s and the rotate speed is 12.1 rmp).
Table 3. Comparison of deformations of blades between two model methods.
Rev/rmp L-Tip_X H-Tip_X L-Tip_Y
12.1 6.3704 5.5369 0.3783
20 11.4344 8.1108 0.4205
30 18.2579 9.4910 0.4916
(Note: The floating platform is fixed, wind speed is 11.4 m/s and the rotate speed increases from 12.1 rmp to 30 rmp).
different as rotational speeds. Hence, the global
dynamic characteristics of the floating wind tur-
bine system, including the aerodynamic loads,
6-DOF motions of the floating platform may be
different. In the following example, the floating
platform is free and subjected to aerodynamic
loads at 11.4 m/s wind speed in the still water.
Free-decay tests of the floating wind turbine
system are always conducted to check the effective-
ness of the simulation code. Thus, the free-decay
in surge and pitch motions between DARwind
and FAST are compared in Figure 5. As shown in
Figure 5 that, the periodicity and damping of the
floating wind turbine system in the code DARwind
are reasonable.
The global dynamic characteristics of the floating
wind turbine system are listed in Table 2. (where the
‘Rotor_Thrust_x’ and ‘Rotor_Moment_x’ denote
the aerodynamic thrust and moment acting on the
rotor along the x-axis, respectively; ‘Tip_X’, ‘Tip_Y’
and ‘Tip_Z’ denote the deformation displacements
of the blade’s tip along the x, y, z axis, respectively).
As Table 2 shown, dynamic responses obtained by
DARwind are close to those obtained by FAST; In
other word, the results obtained by DARwind is
reasonable. Moreover, by compared with dynamic
responses between L-Model and H-Model, it is
obvious that the dynamic responses in H-Model are
smaller than those in L-Model generally.
With regard to these differences between two
models in global dynamic characteristics, it can be
caused by the differences in deformation of blades
between two model methods. Since the ‘nega-
tive stiffness’ effect in L-Model and the ‘dynamic
stiffening’ effect in H-Model, the lateral displacements
886
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 886
L-Model H-Model
728.2531 726.8486
–4101.0674 –4098.2702
23.4561 23.4086
4.5666 4.5557
H-Tip_Y L-Tip_Z H-Tip_Z
0.3592 0 −0.4011
0.3610 0 −0.8558
0.3241 0 −1.1667
of the blades in H-Model are smaller than those
in L-Model. On the other hand, as can be seen in
Table 3 that (where, ‘L-Tip_X’ denotes the deforma-
tion displacement of the blade’s tip along the x-axis
and so on), the axial shortening displacement along
the z-axis in the L-Model is zero. But the axial short-
ening displacement in the H-Model is negative and
amplified with the rotate speed, which is caused by
nonlinear coupling effect from lateral displacements
mentioned previously. Therefore. the total arc length
of the blade in H-Model is smaller than L-Model. It’s
comprehensible that the blade with smaller arc length
and radial length has smaller efficient windward area
and subjects to smaller aerodynamic loads. Finally,
the smaller aerodynamic loads in H-Model will give
rise to the smaller 6-DOF motions as well.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper addresses a study on the proposing of
the higher-order approximation coupling model.
This model was incorporated into an in-house pro-
gram, DARwind and a series of analysis examples
were conducted to verify the validity of the model
compared to the conventional hybrid-coordinate
dynamical model. Some important conclusions are
summarized as follows.
Firstly, the conventional hybrid-coordinate
dynamical model for multi-body is a linear model
and fails to capture the dynamic stiffening effect
in flexible bodies with large overall motions. Con-
versely, the higher-order coupling model proposed
in this paper is more accurate and consistent with
the reality.
3/29/2017 9:44:40 AM
 Secondly, it was found that the high-order cou-
pling axial displacement caused by the lateral dis-
placement plays a dominating role on the dynamic
stiffening effect, and this is also the essential differ-
ence between the conventional hybrid-coordinate
dynamical model and the higher-order coupling
model.
Thirdly, two examples show that stiffness of the
conventional hybrid-coordinate dynamical model
declines, but stiffness of the higher-order coupling
model increase with the large overall motions.
Finally, the global dynamic responses of the
floating wind turbine system are slightly different
between these two models. Since the slender blades
of the floating offshore wind turbine usually work
with high rotation-speed and are even influenced
by the 6-DOF motions of the supporting platform
as well. Therefore, it is suggested to adopt the
higher-order coupling method to model the blades
of the floating offshore wind turbine.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

The effect of marine growth dynamics in offshore wind turbine support

structures

M. Martinez-Luengo, P. Causon, A.B. Gill & A.J. Kolios

Centre for Offshore Renewable Energy Engineering, School of Water, Energy and Environment,
Cranfield University, Cranfield, UK

ABSTRACT: Offshore Wind Turbine (OWT) support structures are invariably subject to colonisation
by marine organisms, which are not spatially or temporally linear. Marine Growth (MG) varies based on
location and season, and with structural and material characteristics. MG is a major consideration for
engineers. As organisms settle on the structure they may increase surface roughness and cross-sectional
area, altering drag and inertia coefficients and increasing hydrodynamic loading. Furthermore, the added
mass from MG also influences structural integrity. As such, there is considerable uncertainty surrounding
the response of OWTs to MG, as this phenomenon is often overlooked in FEA modelling. This paper
uses the parametric FEA model of an OWT support structure developed in (Martinez-Luengo, Kolios,
and Wang 2017) to analyse how different growth rates and patterns of zonation of MG affect the struc-
tural integrity of the system. MG has a great impact in the fatigue life of the structure, as a reduction of
58.6–59.2% is presented in the baseline scenarios.

1 INTRODUCTION of OWT support structures. A review of how the

Offshore Wind Turbine (OWT) support structures
are invariably subject to colonisation by marine
organisms, which are believed to have an impact on
OWTs structural integrity. Marine Growth (MG)
refers to the colonisation of submerged struc-
tures by marine organisms with sessile life stages,
referred to as epibenthic organisms, and is a major
challenge for engineers. As organisms settle on the
structure they may increase surface roughness and
cross-sectional area, altering drag and inertia coef-
ficients and increasing hydrodynamic loading. It
can be assumed that variability in MG would lead
to fluctuations in corresponding loading and iner-
tia. Furthermore, the added mass from MG also
influences structural integrity (i.e. buckling and
natural frequency). As such there is considerable
uncertainty surrounding the long-term dynamic
response of OWTs to MG, as this phenomenon is
often overlooked in FEA modelling.
Parametric FEA modelling is a powerful design
tool often used in offshore wind. It is so effective
because Key Design Parameters (KDPs) can be
modified directly in the code, to assess their effect
in the structure’s integrity, saving time and compu-
tational resources.
This paper uses the parametric FEA model of
an OWT support structure developed in (Martinez-
Luengo, Kolios, and Wang 2017) to analyze how
critical the MG effect is in the structural integrity
Oil and Gas Industry has approached this issue in
the past and how the Offshore Wind Industry can
benefit from their knowledge is presented in Sec-
tion 2. Section 3 shows a summary of the baseline
turbine and parametric FEA model developed in
[1], along with the loading conditions presented
in Section 4. ULS, FLS, buckling and natural fre-
quencies are investigated against different growth
rates and patterns of zonation and presented in
Section 5. Finally, results and conclusions can be
found in Section 6 and 7.
2 MARINE GROWTH
Settlement of epibenthic organisms is determined
and influenced by multiple factors including sea-
son, species presence, life cycle and life stage
requirements, prevailing environmental conditions,
and features and characteristics of the substrate.
Seasonal variation in settlement is evident from
a number of studies. In the North Sea biomass has
been shown to peak in the summer, with lowest lev-
els observed in the winter and spring (Reiss and
Kröncke 2004). This is supported by (Kerckhof
et  al. 2010), who reported that species richness
increased from February to July, with densities
increasing 10–20 fold, in the southern North Sea.
In addition, surveys of a Belgian offshore wind
farm in 2008 and 2011 have demonstrated seasonal

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 variability in epibenthic coverage. Down to a depth
of −2 m Mytilus edulis coverage varied from 0–60%
in February, but increased to 90–100% in Septem-
ber (Bouma 2012a).
It is now well known that this pattern of zonation
is a result of localized environmental characteristics
forming small scale habitats resulting to varying
levels environmental parameters, such as nutri-
ent transport, current regimes or wave exposure.
Indeed exposure to wave action can influence the
distribution and morphology of epibenthic organ-
isms. Shell lengths in dogwhelks, Nucella lapillus,
have been found to be shorter and wider on exposed
shores whilst having elongated, narrower spires at
sheltered locations (Crothers and Cowell 1979).
Wave exposure has also been shown to effect growth
rates in epibenthic invertebrates. Waves and water
flow influence light levels, oxygen and sediment
movement and nutrient availability (Wernberg and
Connell 2008). Maximum growth rates have been
found in areas with intermediate levels of exposure,
with highly exposed and highly sheltered locations
showing a sharp reduction in growth rates (Steffani
and Branch 2003). Indeed, impact of waves place
hydrodynamic forces on epibenthic invertebrates,
such as mussels, and may cause them to become
damaged or dislodged. Therefore settlement and
post settlement survival may be reduced in areas of
heavy wave action. Similar patterns have been found
on offshore structures. Zonation in relation to depth
has been described in communities colonising off-
shore O&G platforms as well as OWT substructures
(Bouma 2012a). Southgate and Myers (Southgate
and Myers 1985) found that, for the Celtic Sea
Kinsale Field gas platform, mussels of Mytilus spp
formed the dominant colonising organism between
6 and 20 m. Whilst, between −20 m and −30 m the
soft coral, Alcyonium digitatum, and anemone,
Metridium senile, dominate. At depths below −30 m
Serpulid worms are the dominant organisms. In the
case of the Montrose Alpha North Sea oil platform
mussels were absent and down to −10  m epiben-
thic communities were dominated by macro algae,
with arborescent bryozoa and hydroids (Forteath
et  al. 1982). However below −10  m macro algae
gave way to arborescent bryozoa and hydroids and
below −30  m hydroids, calcareous and encrusting
bryozoa dominated (Forteath et al. 1982).
The effects of wave action on growth rates
and post settlement mortality or dislodgement of
epibenthic organisms has received less attention
in relation to offshore structures than on rocky
shores. However, it is likely that areas of structures
exposed to wave action would also show variation
in MG over time and between seasons, as winter
storms would increase wave action. It is also likely
that variation in growth would be seen between
sheltered and exposed areas of structures.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 890
MG can increase surface complexity and rough-
ness on marine substructures, which provides new
habitat and secondary substrate for colonisation.
For example, mussels have been found to provide
secondary hard substrate and shelter for other
epibenthic species on O&G platforms as well as
OWT monopoles (Bouma 2012b). Surface com-
plexity, orientation and roughness are known to
be important for settlement of invertebrates. On
spatial scales of μm to cm, substratum topogra-
phy or quality can affect survival after settlement
of barnacles, hydrozoans and bryozoans (Walters
and Wethey 1996). Rough surfaces may increase
survival rates as pits and crevices provide refuge
from predators and physical disturbance. This
was noted by Walters and Whethey (Walters and
Wethey 1996) who found that in species with lim-
ited attachment ability post settlement survival was
greatly increase on plates with rough surfaces.
Although MG is an important consideration in
the design and operation of offshore structures, the
dynamic response of epibenthic communities has
not been fully realized by engineers. Indeed, it has
been stated in recommended standards that MG
‘tapers off after a few years’ (API 2007). Whilst
there is evidence supporting the idea of succession
following a predictable pattern (Bram, Page, and
Dugan 2005) it is expected that even an ecosystem
with a mature community will experience cyclical
change. Thick layers of growth can become dis-
lodged, particularly by storms in the winter period,
creating patches of new substrate for colonisation
(Bouma 2012a). Furthermore, artificial structures
present habitat for invasive species. In the North
Sea and Baltic Sea invasive species have been
recorded on OWT substructures in (Langhamer
2012). It is possible that competition between
introduced and indigenous species could result in
changes to the surface profile of structures.
3 PARAMETRIC FEA MODELLING OF
OWT SUPPORT STRUCTURES
This section summarises the parametric FEA
model of an OWT support structure from
(Martinez-Luengo, Kolios, and Wang 2017).
3.1 Geometry
The reference site is located off the coast of North
Wales. The reference turbine used for this analysis
consists of a 3.6 MW Siemens turbine, connected
to an 80  m tower, a Transition Piece (TP) and is
sustained by a monopile (MP) foundation. The
MP is 31  m long and is embedded 18  m into the
soil and submerged 11 m into the ocean. The TP is
24 m in length and joins together the MP and the
3/29/2017 9:44:41 AM
 tower. Six stoppers located in the internal surface
of the TP, would allow it to rest on top of the MP.
The Grouted Connection (GC), located between
the TP and the MP, is used for the appropriate
transmission of loads and stresses. The OWT sup-
port structure was modelled using Abaqus 6.14,
which is a widely used FEA software.
3.2 Materials
MP, TP, and tower are made of steel S355 with
a density of 7850  kg/m3, a Young’s modulus of
210  GPa, a Poisson’s ratio of 0.3 and a nominal
yield strength of 355 MPa. GC’s material proper-
ties are characterised by a density of 2740 kg/m3,
a Young’s modulus of 88 GPa, a Poisson’s ratio of
0.19 and friction coefficient of 0.6 (Densit n.d.).
An important part of the detailed parametric
model is composed by the soil-structure interac-
tion. The soil profile considered in this analysis
consists of one layer of sand and 3 layers of clay.
Due to space restrictions further description of the
soil model and the variation of material proper-
ties across the depth can be found in (Martinez-
Luengo, Kolios, and Wang 2017).
Composition of soil profiles strongly depends
on the geographical emplacement; the soil profile
utilised in this analysis corresponds to the North
of the UK. Winkler’s approach was used to rep-
resent the soil profile. This method is widely used
to model the soil-structure interaction by replac-
ing the elastic soil medium by closely spaced and
independent elastic springs (Koukoura, Natarajan,
and Vesth 2015; Winkler 1867). Furthermore,
it is the recommended by DNV-GL (DNV (Det
Norske Veritas) 2014), where the stiffness of the
linear springs used in the Winkler’s approach, is
calculated from the p-y curves (Kezdi 1974). This
method is used for the design of horizontal loaded
piles by the American Petroleum Institute (API)
code (API Recommended Practice 2GEO/ISO
19901-4), and it calculates the lateral soil resistance
(p) as a function of lateral soil displacement (y).
3.3 Mesh
A mesh sensitivity analysis was performed. In
the analysis, a mesh size of 0.1  m for the whole
system was found to be adequately accurate as
results had already converged. C3D8R elements
are used (eight-node brick element with reduced
integration).
3.4 Validation
The validation of the parametric model was car-
ried out comparing the results of the modal anal-
ysis of both the structure and the tower, against
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 891
data from the reference OWT and can be found in
(Martinez-Luengo, Kolios, and Wang 2017).
4 LOADING CONDITIONS
4.1 Wind
For representation of wind climate, a distinction
is made between normal and extreme wind condi-
tions. The former generally concern cyclic struc-
tural loading conditions, which are important for
fatigue assessment, while the latter are wind condi-
tions that can lead to extreme loads, which might
lead to the collapse of the structure due to exces-
sive loading (Palutikof et  al. 1999). Both normal
and extreme wind conditions used in this analysis
were calculated in accordance with IEC 61400-1
(International Electrotechnical Commission 2005).
4.2 Wave
Wave loading is another environmental load that
influences the structural integrity of OWT sup-
port structures. Wave forces are calculated using
Morrison’s Equation (Sarpkaya 2010), which is
characterised by the inertia and drag terms, com-
posed by their coefficients (Cm and CD respec-
tively). Morrison’s Equation can be expressed as:
Ft = dF
dF FM + dF
FD
D2 D2
= CM ρπ d CD ρ
xdz x xdz

4 2
where x represents the undisturbed fluid veloc-
ity, x the acceleration of the fluid (calculated for
the baseline turbine in (Martinez-Luengo, Kolios,
and Wang 2017)), ρ the water’s density and D the
effective diameter (including MG). According to
(API 2007), most of the variation in CD and CM
due to MG is produced by variations in: relative
surface roughness (e  =  k/D), Reynolds number
( Re = / ) Keulegan-Carpenter number
( KC = xT D ) , and the member orientation.
Being υ the kinematic viscosity of water, T the
period of oscillation and k is the absolute rough-
ness height.
Mass and drag coefficients, CM and CD, are usu-
ally estimated according to the offshore standards
(DNV (Det Norske Veritas) 2014) and (API 2007)
by firstly, deriving the drag coefficient for steady-
state flow (CDS) and the wake amplification factor
(ψ(Kc/CDS)), which depends on KC and CDS.
There is a high dependence of CDS on relative
surface roughness, as shown in (API 2007). Natu-
ral MG on platforms will generally have e > 10–3.
The MG used in these case studies is in the range
from 0.015 < e > 0.002. CM and CD coefficients were
3/29/2017 9:44:41 AM
 calculated from the tables present in (API 2007),
for each one of the different MG cases. These can
be found in Table 1.
4.3 Tidal and current induced loads
Tidal currents and wind driven currents are two
environmental loads in which MG can have an
impact and vice versa. Even though they do not
represent major hazards to the structure’s integrity
in shallow waters, they contribute to other major
excitations such as those produced by the wind and
waves. The tidal current profile can be represented
as the current speed (v(z)) at distance z, from still
water level (positive upwards), which is the expo-
nential variation of the current at still water level
v0 through the distance to the top of the water col-
umn z.
4.4 Hydrostatic pressure
Hydrostatic pressure is referred to the pressure of
the water column applied to the submerged parts
of the MP and TP. It can be calculated from a
control volume analysis of an infinitesimally small
cube of fluid and simplified as density and grav-
ity are constant through depth as in (Martinez-
Luengo, Kolios, and Wang 2017).
4.5 Nacelle’s and rotor’s weight
Since the nacelle’s and rotor’s (composed of the
hub and blades) detailed modelling is not part
of the parametric model, they are included in the
FEA as concentrated or distributed masses in
order to be able to reproduce accurately the OWT’s
structural behaviour. According to (Carswell et al.
2015), there is no need to model the blades due
to the fact that, aside from the mass added to the
tower top, parked and feathered blades have mini-
mal impact on the natural frequency of OWTs. The
nacelle’s and rotor’s weights are 125 and 95  tons
respectively, which makes a total of 220 tons that
are accounted as a cylinder three metres high and
with the same diameter as the top of the tower.
The density was increased accordingly in order
to account for the total weight. The nacelle’s and
Table  1. CM and CD coefficients for the different MG
cases.
Profile Case 2 Case 1 Baseline Case 4 Case 5
CD 0.78 0.84 0.852 0.852 0.86
A CM 1.92 1.92 1.92 1.92 1.92
CD 0.84 0.84 0.856 0.86 0.862
B CM 1.92 1.92 1.92 1.92 1.92
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 892
rotor’s weights were found in the official Siemens
SWT-107 3.6 MW brochure (Siemens 2010).
5 EFFECT OF MARINE GROWTH IN
OFFSHORE WIND TURBINE SUPPORT
STRUCTURES
5.1 Limit states formulation
Structural integrity of the system is checked
according to DNV-OS-J101 (DNV (Det Norske
Veritas) 2014). Four limit states are considered
in the design: ULS, FLS, Accidental Limit State
(ALS) and Serviceability Limit State (SLS). Modi-
fications in the design are checked upon ULS and
FLS. ALS was not considered as this limit state is
used for the assessment of structural damage in the
structure, caused by accidental loads or to re-assess
the ultimate resistance and structural integrity
after damage. Similarly, SLS was not taken into
account as it considers tolerance criteria applica-
ble to normal use of the OWT support structures.
Furthermore, the structural performance of the
system was also checked upon buckling and natu-
ral frequencies.
5.1.1 ULS
ULS analysis is carried out considering extreme
environmental conditions the worst case scenario
for a 50 year return period. This is when wind,
wave, tides and wind driven currents are aligned in
the principal direction of the wind. The load fac-
tor to be used when different loads are combined
to form the design load is 1.35 (DNV (Det Norske
Veritas) 2014). Table 1 shows the Maximum Utili-
sation Rates (MUR) for the MP the baseline case,
which will be use to assess the loss or gain of the
structural integrity of the different design cases
considered.
5.1.2 FLS
FLS refers to the cumulative damage in the struc-
ture due to cyclic loads. The fatigue design of
OWT support structures is governed by dynamic
responses from simultaneous aerodynamic and
hydrodynamic loads (Passon 2015). The load fac-
tor in the FLS is 1.0 for all load categories. Normal
sea state conditions (significant wave height and
peak spectral period) were used for the calcula-
tion of wave loading (International Electrotech-
nical Commission 2009). Wind loads were taken
from (LaNier 2005), where the fatigue thrust load
for the tower of a 3.6 MW OWT with 100 m hub
height are 143 kN.
S–N curve approach is the recommended by the
standards (DNV (Det Norske Veritas) 2014) and
(International Electrotechnical Commission 2009).
3/29/2017 9:44:42 AM
 Furthermore, the equivalent stress range (ΔS) can the two profiles are presented in Figure 1. In these
be determined from the parametric FEA model cases, the thickness on the exposed part of the
subjected to the before mentioned fatigue loads. structure were assumed to be smaller based on dis-
Having obtained the equivalent stress range, the lodgement through hydrodynamic pressure. How-
number of loading cycles to crack initiation can ever, this assumption may not always hold true in
then be determined from the S—N curve. nature.
The selection of the S—N curve plays a massive
role in the results obtained. Offshore structures are
5.2 Case study 1: Effects of zonation
prone to corrosion development due to the harsh
marine environment, which leads to significant lev- Table 3 shows the material properties for each of
els of damage to the structures and hence a reduc- the zones of the two profiles. In order to introduce
tion in service life. For that reason, curve D in MG in the parametric FEA model, two half, hol-
seawater with adequate cathodic protection is used low, circular cylinders are made for each zone, to
in service life calculations ((DNV) Det Norske surround the MP. One of these was positioned in
Veritas 2005). Table  1  shows the stress range ΔS the side of the MP exposed to currents and waves
and the expected service life in the baseline turbine. and its thickness is denoted as Ex. Thickness and
the other half was positioned in the sheltered side
5.1.3 Buckling and therefore is denoted as Sh. Thickness.
Buckling is characterised by the sudden failure of Relevant material properties of the different
a structural member subjected to high compressive species, like bulk density (ρ), thickness, Young’s
stress, when this is, at the point of failure, less than Modulus (E) and Poisson’s ratio (υ), have been
the ultimate compressive stress of the material. carefully taken from relevant literature.
When the applied load is increased on a slender
structure, such as a WT, there is the possibility that
it becomes large enough to cause the structure to Table 2. Structural properties of the baseline OWT.
lose its stability and buckle.
Eigenvalue linear buckling analysis is generally MUR (%)
used to estimate the critical buckling load of the
ULS MP 64.73
analysed structure. The buckling loads are cal-
culated relative to the base state of the structure. ΔS (MPa) Fatigue life (yr)
The buckling stability of shell structures is often
checked according to DNV-RP-C202 or Eurocode FLS 33.9 33.1
3/ EN 1993-1-1 and Eurocode 3/ EN 1993-1-6.
In this analysis Abaqus CAE is used to assess it. Buckling Frequency 1.5316 Hz
Table 1 shows the buckling frequency in the base- Natural Frequency Mode 1 0.2909 Hz
line turbine, being the buckling frequency for a Mode 2 0.2962 Hz
particular load combination, the inverse of the uti- Mode 3 1.6776 Hz
lization factor for the structure to buckle. Mode 4 1.7211 Hz
Mode 5 1.9516 Hz
5.1.4 Natural frequencies
A classic aspect of good structural design lies in
optimizing stiffness-to-mass ratio through material
and shape choices. Natural frequencies’ sensitiv-
ity analysis were carried out for the different case
studies with the aim to detect patterns of change in
the characteristic natural frequencies of the struc-
ture. Table 2 shows the first 5 eigenfrequencies of
the baseline turbine.
This section analyses the impact that two dif-
ferent MG profiles have in the structure’s integrity
and modal frequencies. As pointed out in previ-
ous sections, MG profiles can substantially vary
depending on a number of factors. For this case
study, two different profiles were developed based
on existing data from the North Sea and Irish Sea
(Bouma 2012a; Southgate and Myers 1985). The Figure  1. Species zonation and variability in thick-
submerged part of the structure is 11  m. Three ness under two case studies. Profile A (left) and Profile
different zones and the types of MG for each of B (right).

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 Table  3. Profile’s material properties of the baseline Profile A and B were used to compare the struc-
OWT. tural integrity and modal frequencies of the unit to
the case where no MG exists (Table 5).
Thickness Table 5 shows no significant variation either in
ρ (cm) E υ
Profile &
MUR% or buckling frequencies, for both MG pro-
Zone (g/cm3) Sh. Ex. (GPa) – files in comparison to no MG development. The
reason why these two structural checks show no
I 3.1 Ψ 17.5 4.4 0.85 Ψ 0.5 Ψ variation due to MG might be due to the fact that
A II 0.7* Φ 17.5 4.4 1.27* Φ 0.3 Δ extreme wave loading is not affected by MG. This
III 0.6† Φ 3.0 0.8 1.13† Φ 0.3 Δ is because extreme waves hit the turbine’s support
structure in a region well above the mean water
I 3.1 Ψ 20.0 5.0 0.85 Ψ 0.5 Ψ level and splash zone, where MG does not develop.
B II 3.1 Ψ 12.5 3.1 0.85 Ψ 0.5 Ψ Therefore, dynamic coefficients are not affected
III 0.6 † Φ 12.5 3.1 1.13† Φ 0.3 Δ and loading conditions are maintained. Hence, the
*, † Mean value plus and minus the standard devia-
lack of variation.
tion, respectively. Ψ (Pearce and Labarbera 2009); Although the added mass does not have an
Φ (Astachov et al. 2011); Δ (Hui et al. 2011). influence in buckling frequency, the fact that
organisms are stuck to the support structure’s sur-
face, affects the modal frequencies and deflections
Table 4. Thickness’ sensitivity analysis.
of the turbine. As could be expected, the presence
Profile Case 2 Case 1 Baseline Case 4 Case 5 of these organisms in the surface of the support
& structure increases its rigidity, increasing natural
Zone Sh. Ex. Sh. Ex. Sh. Ex. Sh. Ex. Sh. Ex. frequencies. However, the rate of variation of the
natural frequencies is not high enough for MG to
I 5.0 1.3 11.3 2.8 17.5 4.4 23.8 5.9 30.0 7.5 be considered a threat to the structure’s integrity.
A II 5.0 1.3 11.3 2.8 17.5 4.4 23.8 5.9 30.0 7.5 This is due to the low rate of change and also due
III 1.0 0.3 2.0 0.5 3.0 0.8 4.0 1.0 5.0 1.3 to restrictions on the growth of epibenthic organ-
I 10.0 2.5 15.0 3.8 20.0 5.0 25.0 6.3 30.0 7.5 isms. Whilst layers of epibenthic growth of up to
B II 5.0 1.3 8.8 2.2 12.5 3.1 16.3 4.1 20.0 5.0 300  mm may occur, intense wave action can dis-
III 5.0 1.3 8.8 2.2 12.5 3.1 16.3 4.1 20.0 5.0 lodge thick layers of MG. Furthermore, a special
degree of variation is observed in Mode three and
four, which could potentially be used for Structural
5.3 Case study 2: Effects of thickness Health Monitoring purposes.
Table 5 also shows the impact that MG has in
In this section a sensitivity analysis of the MG
the stress range of the unit, at mudline level. Even
thickness, both at the exposed and the sheltered
if this variation is low, the impact that it has in the
parts of the MP, of the two profiles presented in
estimated service life of the structure is great. This
the previous section, was developed. The mean
is due the logarithmic scale present in the S—N
value of the range of thicknesses at different depths
curves. Nevertheless, the level of damage that
presented at Figure 1, was the one used in the pre-
can be expected due to MG is never going to be
vious Case Study. Case Study 2 analyses the effect
that these ranges of thickness have in the structural Table 5. Effect of zonation results: structural properties.
integrity of the unit. Table 4 presents the different
cases that compose the sensitivity analysis. Profile Profile A No MG Profile B

ULS
6 RESULTS & DISCUSSION MUR (%) 68.3 68.3 68.3
FLS
6.1 Case Study 1: Effects of Zonation ΔS (MPa) 40.4 33.9 40.5
Two different MG profiles typical from the North F. Life (yr) 13.7 33.1 13.5
and Irish Sea were implemented in the parametric Buckling Freq. (Hz) 1.532 1.532 1.532
FEA model to analyse the impact that predomi-
Natural Freq. (Hz)
nant species would have in the structural integrity
Md. 1 0.2913 0.2909 0.2911
and natural frequencies of the unit. This impact
Md. 2 0.2961 0.2962 0.2959
is mainly caused by the added mass of the MG Md. 3 1.6647 1.6776 1.6587
and the how these species change the roughness Md. 4 1.7051 1.7211 1.6994
of the structure and therefore its dynamic coef- Md. 5 1.9547 1.9516 1.9547
ficients (CM and CD). Average values of MG for

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 constant, as it will always depend on the current structural behaviour, when the transition from the
level of MG development, which is highly variable. “no MG scenario” to the baseline MG did not.
According to Table  5, Mussel dominated profiles In line with the natural frequency results from
may present a greater threat to the structure than the Effect of Zonation study, the rate of varia-
barnacle dominated profiles, showing a variation tion of the first natural frequency is maintained
in expected service life from 33.1 to 13.5 years for with the thickness variation and it is still not high
Mussel-dominated profiles and from 33.1 to 13.7 enough for MG to be considered a threat to the
years for Barnacle dominated profiles. structure’s integrity. Besides, Modes three and four
stand as the ones where higher variation in the nat-
ural frequency is seen. This fact makes them poten-
6.2 Case study 2: Effects of thickness
tially useful to detect excessive MG development
A sensitivity analysis of the MG thickness, both at with Structural Health Monitoring Systems. The
the exposed and the sheltered parts of the MP, of detection of excessive MG would be beneficial to
the two profiles was carried out. The mean value extend the fatigue life of the structure, as accord-
of the range of thicknesses at different depths pre- ing to Table  6, that constitutes the biggest threat
sented at Figure 1 and used in the previous Case that MG presents to OWT support structures.
Study constitutes the baseline scenario in this Case Fatigue is the structural feature most affected
Study. This Case Study analyses the effect that by MG, according to these analyses. As it can be
these ranges of thickness have in the structural appreciated from Table 6, MG has a great impact
integrity of the unit compared to the baseline sce- in the fatigue life of the structure, as a reduction of
nario of each profile. Table 6 presents the results 58.6–59.2% is presented in the baseline scenarios.
for each one of the different cases that compose This impact is reduced to the 52% for the mini-
the sensitivity analysis. mum MG development case, although this varia-
Similar to the previous Case Study, there is no tion is still very high.
variation in the MUR and buckling frequencies
in any of the cases of both profiles. This lack of
variation is consistent to the results of the previous 7 CONCLUSIONS
Case Study. This is because it is unlikely that the
added mass from the positive variation in thick- This paper used the parametric FEA model of an
ness of Cases three and four would impact the OWT support structure developed in (Martinez-
Luengo, Kolios, and Wang 2017) to analyze the
Table  6. Sensitivity analysis’ results: structural criticality of MG in the structural integrity of
properties.
OWT support structures. To that aim, two MG
Profile Case 2 Case 1 Baseline Case 3 Case 4 profiles typical from the North and Irish Sea were
introduced in the parametric FEA model. Due to
ULS MP’s MUR (%) this MG, dynamic coefficients needed to be recal-
culated, which also affected the loading conditions.
A 68.3 68.3 68.3 68.3 68.3
B 68.3 68.3 68.3 68.3 68.3
ULS, FLS, buckling and natural frequencies have
been investigated against different growth rates
FLS Fatigue life (yr) and patterns of zonation.
A 14.5 14.4 13.7 13.3 12.7 Results show no effect in the Maximum Utili-
B 15.9 14.0 13.5 10.2 9.7 sation Ratios (MURs) and buckling frequencies,
which draws the conclusion that the added mass
Buckling Frequency (Hz)
of the MG has little or no influence in the system.
A 1.532 1.532 1.532 1.532 1.532 Furthermore, natural frequencies were also not
B 1.532 1.532 1.532 1.532 1.532 very affected due to this phenomenon. However,
Natural Frequency (Hz) as could be expected, the presence of these organ-
isms in the surface of the support structure slightly
Md. 1 0.2912 0.2912 0.2913 0.2913 0.2914 increases its rigidity, increasing natural frequencies
Md. 2 0.2960 0.2960 0.2960 0.2960 0.2960
in both profiles but especially in Profile A (barna-
Md. 3 1.6754 1.6701 1.6647 1.6592 1.6536
cle dominated).
Md. 4 1.7154 1.7103 1.7051 1.6998 1.6944
Fatigue is the structural feature most affected
Md. 5 1.9547 1.9547 1.9547 1.9548 1.9549
by MG, according to these analyses. MG has a
Md. 1 0.2912 0.2911 0.2911 0.2911 0.2911
great impact in the fatigue life of the structure, as
Md. 2 0.2960 0.2959 0.2959 0.2959 0.2959
Md. 3 1.6698 1.6642 1.6587 1.6529 1.6472
a reduction of 58.6–59.2% is presented in the base-
Md. 4 1.7101 1.7047 1.6994 1.6938 1.6884
line scenarios. This impact is reduced to the 52% for
Md. 5 1.9547 1.9547 1.9547 1.9547 1.9548 the minimum MG development case, although this
variation is still very high. It should be noted that

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 MG shows considerable variability, which is likely
to mitigate the reduction in fatigue life. On aver-
age settlement of invertebrates begins 2–3 weeks
following immersion (Yebra et al. 2010). However,
growth rates and development differ between spe-
cies and may be influenced by environmental char-
acteristics (Mallat et  al. 2014). Operators should
be aware that cleaning at times of routine main-
tenance or inspections could maximise the fatigue
life of the turbine.
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(DNV) Det Norske Veritas. 2005. Recommended Prac-
tice DNV-RPC203 Fatigue Design of Offshore Steel
Structures. ftp://128.84.241.91/tmp/MSE-4020/
Fatigue-Design-Offshore.pdf.
———. 2009. International Standard IEC 61400-3 Wind
Turbines—Part 3: Design Requirements for Offshore
Wind Turbines.
API Recommended Practice 2GEO/ISO 19901-4,
Geotechnical and Foundation Design Considerations.
API. 2007. “Recommended Practice for Planning,
Designing and Constructing Fixed Offshore Plat-
forms—Working Stress Design.” Api Recommended
Practice 24–WSD(December 2000): 242.
Astachov, Liliana, Zvi Nevo, Tamar Brosh, and Razi
Vago. 2011. “The Structural, Compositional and
Mechanical Features of the Calcite Shell of the Bar-
nacle Tetraclita Rufotincta.” Journal of Structural
Biology 175(3): 311–318. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
jsb.2011.04.014.
Bouma, S. 2012a. “Benthic Communities on Hard Sub-
strates of the Offshore Wind Farm.” Report by Bureau
Waardenburg bv and Noordzeewind: 84.
Bouma, S. 2012b. Rep by Bur Waardenbg Bv Noordzee-
wind Benthic Communities on Hard Substrates of the
Offshore Wind Farm.
Bram, Jason B., Henry M. Page, and Jenifer E. Dugan.
2005. “Spatial and Temporal Variability in Early Suc-
cessional Patterns of an Invertebrate Assemblage at
an Offshore Oil Platform.” Journal of Experimental
Marine Biology and Ecology 317(2): 223–237.
Carswell, W et  al. 2015. “Foundation Damping and
the Dynamics of Offshore Wind Turbine Mono-
piles.” Renewable Energy 80: 724–736. http://dx.doi.
org/10.1016/j.renene.2015.02.058.
Crothers, J H, and E B Cowell. 1979. “Variation in
Nucella Lapillus (L.) Shell Shape in Populations from
Fensfjorden, Norway—Applied Example.” Journal of
Molluscan Studies 45(1): 108–114.
Densit. “Ultra High Performance Grout—Ducorit Data
Sheet.” http://www.densit.com/Files/Billeder/Densit_v2/
Pdf files/renewable/pro_ducorit_itw-uk.pdf (February
10, 2016).
DNV (Det Norske Veritas). 2014. May DNV-OS-J101
Design of Offshore Wind Turbine Structures.
Forteath, Gnr, Gb Picken, R Ralph, and J Williams.
1982. “Marine Growth Studies on the North Sea Oil
Platform Montrose Alpha.” Marine Ecology Progress
Series 8: 61–68.
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Hui, Chung-Yuen, Rong Long, Kathryn J Wahl,
and Richard K Everett. 2011. “Barnacles Resist
Removal by Crack Trapping.” Journal of the Royal
Society, Interface/the Royal Society 8(59): 868–879.
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.
fcgi?artid=3104354&tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=
abstract.
International Electrotechnical Commission. 2005. IEC
61400-1 IEC 61400-1 International Satandard. Wind
Turbines—Part 1: Design Requirements. Geneva,
Switzerland.
Kerckhof, F. et  al. 2010. “Early Development of the
Subtidal Marine Biofouling on a Concrete Offshore
Windmill Foundation on the Thornton Bank: First
Monitoring Results.” Int J Soc Underw Technol 29:
137–149.
Kezdi, A. 1974. Handbook of Soil Mechanics. Elsevier.
Amsterdam.
Koukoura, Christina, Anand Natarajan, and Allan
Vesth. 2015. “Identification of Support Structure
Damping of a Full Scale Offshore Wind Turbine in
Normal Operation.” Renewable Energy 81: 882–95.
h t t p : / / l i n k i n g h u b. e l s e v i e r. c o m / r e t r i e v e / p i i /
S0960148115002700.
Langhamer, Olivia. 2012. “Artificial Reef Effect in
Relation to Offshore Renewable Energy Conversion:
State of the Art.” The Scientific World Journal 2012:
e386713.
LaNier, M.W. 2005. LWST Phase I Project Conceptual
Design Study: Evaluation of Design and Construction
Approaches for Economical Hybrid Steel/Concrete
Wind Turbine Towers. Denver, Colorado, USA.
Mallat, Chadi, Alistair Corbett, Glyn Harris, and Marc
Lefranc. 2014. “MARINE GROWTH ON NORTH
SEA FIXED STEEL PLATFORMS—INSIGHTS
FROM THE DECOMMISSIONING INDUSTRY.”
In Proceedings of the ASME 2014 33rd International
Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering
OMAE2014, San Francisco, California, USA, 1–10.
Martinez-Luengo, Maria, Athanasios Kolios, and Lin
Wang. 2017. “Parametric FEA Modelling of Offshore
Wind Turbine Support Structures: Towards Scaling-
up and CAPEX Reduction.” International Journal of
Marine Energy.
Palutikof, Jp, Bb Brabson, Dh Lister, and St Adcock. 1999.
“A Review of Methods to Calculate Extreme Wind
Speeds.” Meteorological Applications 6: 119–32. http://
journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S1350482799001103.
Passon, Patrik. 2015. “Damage Equivalent Wind E
Wave Correlations on Basis of Damage Contour
Lines for the Fatigue Design of Offshore Wind Tur-
bines.” Renewable Energy 81: 723–736. http://dx.doi.
org/10.1016/j.renene.2015.03.070.
Pearce, T., and M. Labarbera. 2009. “A Comparative
Study of the Mechanical Properties of Mytilid Byssal
Threads.” J Exp Biol 212: 1442–1448.
Reiss, H., and I. Kröncke. 2004. “Seasonal Variabil-
ity of Epibenthic Communities in Different Areas
of the Southern North Sea.” ICES J Mar Sci 61:
882–905.
Sarpkaya, T. 2010. Wave Forces on Offshore Structures.
Cambridge. Cambridge. https://www.cambridge.org/
core/books/wave-forces-on-offshore-structures/0B3E
4B7394C60645E7B05CEA6906322 A.
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 Siemens. 2010. SWT-3.6-107 Wind Turbine. http://www.
energy.siemens.com/us/pool/hq/power-generation/
renewables/wind-power/wind turbines/E50001-W310-
A103-V6-4A00_WS_SWT_3_6_107_US.pdf.
Southgate, T., and A.A. Myers. 1985. “Mussel Fouling
on the Celtic Sea Kinsale Field Gas Platforms.” Estua-
rine, Coastal and Shelf Science 20(6): 651–659.
Steffani, C. Nina, and George M. Branch. 2003. “Growth
Rate, Condition, and Shell Shape of Mytilus Gallo-
provincialis: Responses to Wave Exposure.” Marine
Ecology Progress Series 246: 197–209.
Walters, Linda J., and David S. Wethey. 1996. “Settle-
ment and Early Post-Settlement Survival of Sessile
Marine Invertebrates on Topographically Complex
Surfaces: The Importance of Refuge Dimensions and
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Adult Morphology.” Marine Ecology Progress Series
137: 161–171.
Wernberg, Thomas, and Sean D. Connell. 2008. “Physical
Disturbance and Subtidal Habitat Structure on Open
Rocky Coasts: Effects of Wave Exposure, Extent and
Intensity.” Journal of Sea Research 59(4): 237–248.
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keit. Prag: Dominicius.
Yebra, D Meseguer, S Nyborg Rasmussen, C Weinell,
and L Thorslund Pedersen. 2010. “Marine Foul-
ing and Corrosion Protection for Off-Shore Ocean
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

An improved lumping approach for fatigue analysis of a spar-type

wind turbine

Junyi Wu & Nian-Zhong Chen

School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University, UK

ABSTRACT: Fatigue assessment for Offshore Floating Wind Turbines (OFWTs) subjected to ran-
dom environmental loads has been a crucially important issue in design phase. The traditional lumping
approach for fatigue assessment of offshore structures is normally applied in the pure hydrodynamic load-
ing rather than taking wind-wave correlations into account. An improved lumping approach is proposed
in the present paper in which the joint probability distribution of wind and wave climates of a specific site
is accounted for. The unit fatigue damage is calculated by means of fully coupled dynamic analysis, and
then the stress ranges on the wind turbine tower base are achieved through rainflow counting technique
which is subsequent in compliance with S-N curves to determine cycles to failure at different stress range
levels. After that, the joint probability of each block is figured out through joint probability density func-
tion of wind and waves linked to North Sea. Finally, the damage for each unit is obtained by scaling the
unit damage with the corresponding probability. An example application is given in the paper to calculate
fatigue damage for a NREL 5MW spar-type wind turbine tower base.

1 INTRODUCTION point of view of practical application. In order to

There is a tendency to mount wind turbines on
floating structures. However, the design of these
offshore systems is faced with many technical chal-
lenges due to severe environmental conditions.
One crucial issue is how to guarantee the adequate
fatigue strength of structures adhering to Fatigue
Limit State (FLS). In order to solve this problem,
sorts of methods for predicting fatigue life are uti-
lized in the design phase to fulfill this aim (Chen
et  al., 2011; Chen, 2016). Normally, the time-
domain method combined with rainflow counting
techniques (Matsuishi & Endo, 1968) is employed
in the fatigue assessment. This method is adopted
to obtain dynamic response of structures and also
able to model all nonlinearities in the analysis.
Then responses from dynamic analysis are pro-
cessed by rainflow counting method to generate
stress spectral which is applied to S-N curves to
determine cycles to failure at various stress range
levels. Finally, Miner’s rule (Miner, 1945) is applied
to assess fatigue life. As complex offshore systems,
OFWTs may experience various loads induced by
wind, wave, current and ice during their service
time. The combinations of different environmental
loads make the OFWT system in a strong nonlin-
ear condition. As a consequence, the time-domain
analysis is a rather time consuming process and
it is not feasible to perform fatigue analysis for
each sea state in a wave scatter diagram from the
reduce the high computational costs, the so-called
‘lumping approach’ was developed (Sheehan et al.
2006), in which several sea states are lumped into
a smaller number of manageable block. To further
improve the computational efficiency, an improved
lumping approach is proposed in this paper where
the joint probability distribution of wind and wave
climates of a specific site is accounted for. An
example application to predict the fatigue damage
of a NREL 5MW spar-type wind turbine tower
base is then given to demonstrate the capability of
the approach.
2 LUMPING APPROACH
In general, the traditional lumping approach is an
industry practice for long-term fatigue analysis of
offshore structures. In order to reduce the high
computational costs, lumping several sea states
into a smaller number of manageable block is rec-
ommended by (DNV, 2005). The standard speci-
fies that a wave scatter diagram is subdivided into a
number of representative blocks and then a single
sea state is selected within each block, along with
lumping the probabilities of occurrence for all sea
states to the selected sea state.
Sheehan et al. (2006) introduced the details of
block method to perform the fatigue analysis of
flexible risers. Similarly, Sen (2006) conducted

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 α
fatigue analysis for steel catenary risers, and sug- ⎛ z⎞
gested that every block is divided by a particular U ( z ) = U10 (2)
⎝ 10 ⎠
period and the equivalent wave height. Seidel (2014)
proposed a new approach for lumping of a scatter where z denotes the height (e.g. the hub height)
diagram and site-specified fatigue loads have been and the U10 means the reference mean wind speed
worked out based on frequency domain method. at 10 meters height.
To improve accuracy, Passon and Branner (2015) Under the condition of mean wind speed, the
proposed a concept of damage equivalent lumping conditional PDF of Hs can be also described as
which can preserve the distribution of hydrody- two-parameter Weibull distribution,
namic fatigue damage, whereas this method does
not reflect the influence of coupled wind and wave α HC −1 αH
α HHC ⎛ h ⎞ ⎡ ⎛ h ⎞ HC
⎤
climates, and also indicated that lumping approach
(h | u) = ⎜ ⎟ x ⎢− ⎜
exp ⎟ ⎥ (3)
has a significant effect on the calculation of hydro- βHC
H ⎝ βH HC ⎠ ⎢⎣ ⎝ βHHC ⎠ ⎥⎦
dynamic fatigue loads. In addition, this approach
is rather complicated and time consuming. Passon
(2015) illustrated a new lumping method which αHC and βHC are the shape and scale parameters,
takes wind-wave correlation into account and veri- respectively. Then these two parameters are fitted
fied the damage equivalency criterions at different to power functions to achieve the conditionality
locations within the monopile wind turbine sys- below:
tem, but it does not give any details to calculate the
probability for each sea state. α HC = a1 + a2 u a3 (4)
As seen from above literature review, it is clearly
observed that the lumping approach has a wide βHC = b1 b2 u b3 (5)
application and good performance in the fatigue
assessment of offshore structures except for where a1, a2, a3, b1, b2 and b3 are the parameters
OFWTs. However, traditional lumping approach evaluated from the raw data using nonlinear curve
does not take wind into account and wind climate fitting method.
is a quite vital component in the fatigue design of With the given conditions of Hs and Uw, the
OFWTs. peak periods are indicated as a lognormal distribu-
To solve this problem, a joint wind and waves tion, which is defined as:
based lumping approach is proposed in the present
paper. In this approach, the joint probability dis- fTp|Uw , Hs (t | u, h )
tribution of wind and waves for a specific site is
⎛ ⎞
1 ⎛ ln (t ) − μ ln (Tp) ⎞
2
combined with the traditional lumping approach 1
for fatigue damage prediction. = x ⎜− ⎜
exp ⎟ ⎟ (6)
2πσ lln (Tp)t ⎜⎝ 2 ⎝ σ lln (Tp) ⎠ ⎟⎠

3 JOINT DISTRIBUTION OF WIND where μln(TP) and σln(TP) are the parameters in the
AND WAVES lognormal distribution. And thus the Eq. (6) is
related to the functions of both Hs and Uw. Based
Li et al. (2013) analyzed the raw data at five selected on the relationships:
sites from 2001 to 2010 indicated that the hourly
mean wind speed at 10  m height adheres a two- ⎡ μT ⎤
parameter Weibull distribution and the Probability μ ln(Tp) = ln ⎢ p
⎥ (7)
Density Function (PDF) is defined as: ⎢ 1 + υT2p ⎥
⎣ ⎦
αU 1
α ⎛ u⎞ ⎡ ⎛ u ⎞ αU ⎤ σ ln(Tp)2 l ⎡υT2p + 1⎤ (8)
U w (u ) = U ⎜ ⎟
fU x ⎢− ⎜ ⎟ ⎥
exp (1) ⎣ ⎦
βU ⎝ βU ⎠ ⎢⎣ ⎝ βU ⎠ ⎥⎦
σT p
vT p = (9)
αU and βU represent the shape and scale parame- μT p
ters, respectively. It should be noted that the mean
wind speed is measured at the height of 10 meters μTp and σ Tp correspond to the mean value and
over the sea level. Normally, for the dynamic standard deviation of Tp. υTp is the Coefficient Of
response analysis of OFWTs, the mean wind speed Variance (COV). The vital expression of the mean
at hub height can be obtained by the wind speed value of Tp is suggested by (Johannessen et al.
profile. 2001), which can be written as:

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 ⎡ γ domain or frequency domain approaches. For
⎛ u u ( h) ⎞ ⎤
μTp ( h) p ( h) 1 θ ⎜
⎢ ⎟ ⎥ (10) convenience, the time domain based approach is
⎝ u ( h ) ⎠ ⎥⎦
p
⎢ illustrated in this research. The simulation results
⎣ obtained from FAST code give the time history of
loads. According to the time history of stress, the
where Tp ( h ) and u ( h ) are the expected spectral rainflow counting technique is utilized to calcu-
peak period and mean wind speed for the given late the number of cycles at different stress levels.
value of Hs. The two parameters are estimated Eventually, the damage Di,j for a specific simula-
from below equations: tion length was determined by Palmgren-Mine’s
rule and S-N curves. Following the fatigue calcu-
Tp ( h ) = e1 + e2 ⋅ he3 (11) lation of each block, real fatigue damage Di* j for
each block is scaled by the joint probability of each
u ( h ) = f1 f2 ⋅ h f3
(12)
combined sea state pi,j.

In addition, the coefficient of variation can be D* i j pi j ⋅ Di j (17)

supposed as a simplified function which is only
related to Hs.
As for the total fatigue damage D of the struc-
ture, it can be derived as below:
υTp ( h ) k1 + k2 exp ( hk
k ) (13)

According to the Eqs. (7) - (13), all the param-

D ∑D *
i j (18)

eters in lognormal distribution are calculated.
Thus, the joint distribution of UW, Hs and Tp can
be derived.
fUw ,HS ,Tp u, h, t ) = fUw uu)) ⋅ fHs|Uw h | u
Since the raw data suggest that the distribution
of mean wind speed has limited influence on the
distribution parameters of Tp, therefore, the Eq.
(14) can be simplified as:
fUw , HS ,Tp u, h,t ) ≈ fUw u
u)) ⋅ fHs |Uw h | u
In summary, the improved lumping approach
can be illustrated by following steps:
• Calculate unit fatigue damage of each block
fTp|Uw ,Hs (t | u, h ) (14) Di,j.
• Determine the joint probability of each block
pi,j.
• Scale the unit fatigue damage with correspond-
ing probability to obtain real damage for each
sea state.
• Sum the real damage of all possible sea states to
achieve total damage.
fTp| Hs (t | h ) (15)

Hence, the probability of each combination of 5 APPLICATION

Uw, Hs and Tp can be figured out.
Fatigue assessment is performed for a spar-type
wind turbine tower base using the improved lump-
4 IMPROVED LUMPING APPROACH ing approach. The work applies the FAST code
to do coupled nonlinear aero-hydro-servo-elastic
According to the analysis of the joint distribu- analysis in time domain. The ‘NREL offshore
tion of wind and waves, the improved lumping 5-MW baseline wind turbine’ supported by a spar
approach can be proposed. Each block can be platform was used and parameters correspond-
implemented by time-domain approach. For the ing to this floating wind turbine system could be
single block, the discrete probability of the given obtained from (Jonkman, 2010). The tower dimen-
sea state can be calculated by sions are listed in Table  1. Also, representative

(
p U w ,H s ,Tp ) (16) Table  1. The tower dimensions of NREL offshore
H s +Δ
ΔH Tp +Δ
+ T Uw ΔU
=∫ ∫ ∫ fUw.Hs ,Tp U w ,H s ,Tp )dH s dT
TpdU
Uw 5-MW baseline wind turbine.
H s −Δ
ΔH Tp ΔT Uw ΔU

Height (m) 77.65

And then a representative joint sea state (u, h, t)
Tower base diameter (m) 6.5
should be selected within each block for fatigue Tower base thickness (m) 0.027
analysis. Tower top diameter (m) 3.87
For the fatigue assessment of individual block, Tower top thickness (m) 0.019
dynamic response can be obtained from time

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 Table  2. Parameters of S-N curve for tubular joints for the mean wind speed is defined from 0 m/s to
in air. 24 m/s in this research.
Based on the Eqs. (1) – (16), the joint distribu-
A C tion of wind and waves for Site No.14 has been
S-N curve For MPa units m For MPa units r worked out, as shown in Fig. 2.
From the theoretically possible 2376 combina-
T(A) 1.46 × 1012 3.0 4.05 × 1015 5.0 tions of the 11 wave heights, 18 wave periods and
12 wind speed classes, only 614 load cases have a
probability of 0.1 ‰ and higher. The total prob-
ability of occurrence is 98.2% and it is feasible to
S-N curves were chosen from American Bureau of use these load cases to conduct fatigue calculation.
Shipping (ABS) guidance (ABS, 2003), as shown Then the unit damage for those sea states which
in Table 2. Fatigue damage often happens on the probability of occurrence is more than 0.1 ‰ are
welding joints rather than the surface of material, determined in Fig. 3. Afterwards, the actual dam-
S-N curves for tubular joints in air were used. age for each combination can be obtained by
The environmental conditions data were obtained simple scaling of the unit damage and correspond-
from the Marina Platform project executed by ing probability, which is shown in Fig. 4. Finally,
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens sum all actual damage under different mean wind
and the related parameters for the joint distribution speeds to achieve the total fatigue damage.
were referred to Site No. 14 in North Sea (Li et al.
2013). It should be pointed out that only aligned
wind and wave conditions are considered in this
study and global x (surge) direction is aligned with
the wind and waves. The irregular wave history was
generated by the JONSWAP wave model and full-
field wind file was produced by TurbSim (Jonkman,
2009) with 32 × 32 grid points and normal turbulence
model based on IEC61400-3 guidance (IEC, 2009).
In the present study, a three-dimensional scat-
ter diagram is built to illustrate this new approach
with class widths of 1  m for the significant wave
height, 1  s for the wave period and 2  m/s for the
wind speed results in load cases with the minimum
probability 0.1 ‰. The PDF of the wind speed for
this site can be calculated through Eq. (1). As can
be seen from Fig.1, when the mean wind speed
reaches to 24 m/s, the probability reduces to a very Figure 1. Probability density distribution of mean wind
small value (less than 0.1 ‰). Hence, the ranges speed for Site No.14.

Figure 2. Joint probability for mean wind speeds from 16 m/s to 18 m/s.

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 Figure 3. Unit damage of each sea state for mean wind speeds from 16 m/s to 18 m/s.
Figure 4. Actual damage of each sea state for mean wind speeds from 16 m/s to 18 m/s.
6 CONCLUSIONS
An improved lumping approach based on the joint
distribution of wind and waves was proposed in
the paper. This approach gives a new idea to use
the traditional lumping approach for performing
fatigue analysis for OFWTs. An example applica-
tion to conduct fatigue analysis for a 5MW spar-
type wind turbine was given to demonstrate the
capability of this approach.
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tables and site specific interpolation of fatigue loads.
Conference proceedings. IWEC: Hannover.
Sen, T. 2006. Probability of fatigue failure in steel cate-
nary risers in deep water. Journal of Engineering
Mechanics. Vol. 132, Issue 9.
Sheehan, J. M. Grealish, F. W. Harte, A. M. & Smith, R. J.
2006. Charaterizing the wave environment in the fatigue
analysis of flexible risers. Journal of Mechanics and
Arctic Engineering. Vol. 128(2), pp. 108–118.
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Characteristics of p-y curves for monopile offshore wind turbines on

clay soil

Q.L. Yin
Center for Marine Technology and Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Department of Ocean Engineering, College of Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China

C. Guedes Soares
Center for Marine Technology and Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

S. Dong
Department of Ocean Engineering, College of Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China

ABSTRACT: The characteristics of p-y curves of a monopile offshore wind turbine under lateral load
embedded in clay soils are studied based on a finite element model. A horizontal displacement-based
load is applied at the top of the tower and the monopile is constrained through the interaction with clays.
Two sets of lateral loads are applied corresponding to the pure elastic state and the partial plastic state
of the clay soil. Clays with four different shearing strengths are considered as the supporting sub-soil in
the numerical model. Two-dimensional finite element interaction models are established and the contact
forces on the interface are calculated. To obtain the real initial stress state in the soil, a geostatic step was
set before the lateral load was applied. The spring (referred to as total spring) at the each depth is split
into two sub-springs (one on the left and one on the right) on the nodes of the monopile. Through the
calculation of sub-springs, the characteristics of continuous p-y curves of total springs back-calculated
from finite element are analyzed and compared between different clays.

1 INTRODUCTION lateral loads. In addition to the static lateral bear-

The development of renewable wind power is one of
the most important technologies in the new energy
area. The offshore wind energy has drawn the focus
of scientific research. Among different Offshore
Wind Turbine (OWT) types, the monopile supported
OWT is a relatively simple design by which the
tower is supported by the monopile, either directly
or through a transition piece. Monopile is currently
the most commonly used foundation type in the off-
shore wind market due to its ease of installation in
shallow to medium water depths. This type of struc-
ture is well suited for sites with water depth ranging
from 0–30 m. The monopile continues down into the
seabed. The penetration depth is adjustable to suit
the actual environmental and seabed conditions.
One limit state condition for the design of
monopile OWT is the overall lateral deflection
under lateral loads and bending moments due to
the current and wave induced loads. Therefore it
is necessary to study the bearing capacity and lat-
eral deflection of the monopile foundation under
ing capacity provided by the soil, the dynamic
behaviour of the monopile OWT under lateral
load is also determined by the soil condition. Thus
the soil reaction must be available for a complete
dynamic analysis of monopile OWT.
The most common method to calculate the lat-
eral bearing capacity and to analyse the dynamic
response of laterally loaded piles is the p-y curve
method, which is based on the use of so-called p-y
curves (DNV 2011). The p-y curves give the rela-
tion between the integral value p of the mobilized
resistance from the surrounding soil when the pile
deflects a distance y laterally. The pile is modelled
as a number of consecutive beam-column ele-
ments, supported by nonlinear springs applied at
the nodal points between the elements. This action
can be simplified to a series of springs between the
soil and pile distributed along the pile in different
depths. In essence, non-linear springs are attached
to the foundation in place of the soil.
According to API code (API 2007) and DNV
code (DNV 2011), the nonlinear support springs

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 905 3/29/2017 9:44:48 AM

 whose stiffness are determined based on p-y curves
can be used to model the pile response under lat-
eral load. The profiles of p-y curves for different
soil types are recommended by API standards
(API 2007). However the method is theoretically
rigorous, the input p-y curves are based upon
very limited field data (Hearn & Edgers 2010). In
addition, the semi-empirical p-y method is a com-
monly used method to analyse the lateral load-dis-
placement behaviour of slender piles (Haiderali &
Madabhushi 2012), which are typically 60–110  m
long and 1.8–2.7 m diameter. By contrast, mono-
piles for offshore wind turbines can reach a length
of 40  m and a diameter of 6  m (Lombardi et  al.
2013). A recent report highlighted the limita-
tion of using conventional p-y curves for offshore
wind turbine foundations (TRB 2011). This report
stated that “extrapolating current practice to the
larger-sized monopile can introduce unintended
effects”. For example, the conventional p-y curve
method significantly underestimated the soil resist-
ance on monopile in soft clay (Jeanjean 2009) and
overestimated the soil resistance in sand (Hearn &
Edgers 2010). Some previous studies pointed out
that the Finite Element Method (FEM) has been
used as a more accurate alternative. These studies
include the works by Lesny et al. (2007), Hearn &
Edgers (2010), and Jung et al. (2015).
Despite the higher accuracy of FEM, it is easier
to conduct the analysis of laterally loaded monopile
using p-y curve method instead of FEM, since it is
mathematically simpler. However, it is necessary to
obtain the p-y curve profiles applicable for the mono-
pile with high accuracy in order to get a reasonable
response. In the present study, the FEM was adopted
in the calculation and comparison of p-y curve pro-
files for a monopile deeply embedded in clays.
2 SETUP OF THE FE MODEL
2.1 Parameters of the FE Model
The large general purpose FE software ABAQUS
(Simulia 2012) is used to conduct the simulations.
The clay soil is taken as elastoplastic material
obeying the Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model.
The model parameters are set according to pre-
vious results (Zhang et  al. 2013, Liu et  al. 2014,
Qiu & Henke 2011, Hossain et al. 2005, Yu et al.
2009). The Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio
are respectively taken as E  =  500su (where su is
the undrained shearing strength) and v  =  0.49 to
ensure the undrained condition. The friction angle
and the dilatancy angle are ϕ = 0 and ψ = 0. The
soil is discrete with plane strain elements with the
minimum element size of 0.5 m in the vicinity of
the monopile.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 906
The monopile is considered as a linear mate-
rial with the Young’s modulus E  =  210  kPa, and
the Poisson’s ratio v  =  0.3. The monopile has a
diameter D  =  6.0  m and the length L  =  42.0  m
and the embedment depth is 40.0 m. The tower is
connected to the monopile through the transition
piece. The structure above the mudline has a length
of 90 m, and the top diameter is 4.0 m. The inter-
face between the monopile and clay soil is simu-
lated by the Coulomb friction law, and detachment
is allowed. The frictional coefficient at the interface
is simply taken as the undrained shear strength of
clay. The vertical side boundary is 8D away from
the centre line of the monopile and the bottom
boundary is 7D from the bottom of the monopile.
The horizontal degree of the vertical boundary is
restricted and nodes on the bottom boundary are
completely fixed.
The accuracy of the 3-D FE analysis for mono-
pile-soil interaction was verified in Jung et  al.
(2015) by comparing the obtained data with the
published experimental test data (Peng 2006).
According to their study, the p-y curve method gave
stiffer response than the FE method initially, but
the trend reversed afterwards. To ease the numeri-
cal modelling, Carswell et  al. (2015) established
the 2-D monopile-soil interaction model, and the
effect of soil damping on natural frequency was
investigated. In the present study, 2-D monopile-
soil interaction models are applied.
2.2 Equilibrium of in-situ stress
Due to soil gravity, the monopile is subjected to the
lateral soil pressure along the pile body after being
installed. To obtain the real initial in-situ stress
state, the geostatic step was set before the lateral
load was applied. The vertical stress distribution
shown in Figure  1 was achieved with the maxi-
Figure 1. Vertical stress after in-situ stress equilibrium.
3/29/2017 9:44:48 AM
 mum displacement of 10–4 m, certifying very good
results of in-situ stress equilibrium.
2.3 Load and soil conditions
The lateral loads contributed by wind and wave
load are the main load conditions applied on the
monopile OWT. The response of monopile OWT
under lateral load is always a key issue for the struc-
ture safety. Two sets of displacement-based lateral
loads were applied on the top of the tower, corre-
sponding to the pure elastic state (small load case)
and the partial plastic state (large load case) of the
clay soil. The small load and the large load case are
respectively denoted as Model A and Model B.
Different undrained shearing strengths of clay
soil, including 20 kPa, 40 kPa, 80 kPa and 160 kPa
were considered in this study. The su of soil deeper
than 40  m was set as 320  kPa to ensure enough
vertical bearing capacity of the bottom soil since it
is not important in the lateral force analysis. Over-
all, the p-y curve profiles along the monopile at dif-
ferent depths in different clays are calculated and
compared.
3 SOIL DISPLACEMENT FIELD
The lateral displacement-based loads to the
right are applied at the top of the tower. Under
the lateral loads to the right, the monopile OWT
undergoes the combined movement of horizontal
translation and clock-wise rotation about a rota-
tion centre. Figure  2  shows the soil displacement
under the lateral load. The black dot represents the
Figure 2. Soil displacement field.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 907
Figure 3. Distribution of passive and active zones.
rotation centre of the monopile or the soil mass.
As su increases, the rotation centre moves upwards.
When su = 20 kPa, the rotation centre is very close
to the bottom tip of the monopile. For the cases
where su  =  20  kPa, 40  kPa, 80  kPa and 160  kPa,
the distance between the rotation centre and the
bottom tip of the monopile is 3.1 m, 6.3 m, 11.0 m
and 15.1  m and the rotation centre moves to the
left as su increases.
According to the Rankine’s earth pressure the-
ory (Rankine 1875), the distribution of positive
zone and active zone can be seen in Figure 3. When
su  =  20  kPa, the passive zone is basically distrib-
uted on the right side and the active zone is on the
left side. As su increases, the rotation centre moves
upwards, leading to a different distribution of soil
pressure zones. When su  =  160  kPa, the passive
zone includes the upper right zone and the lower
left zone. The active zone includes the upper left
zone and the lower right zone.
4 P-Y CURVE PROFILE
At present, the p-y curve profiles are mainly deter-
mined empirically. The initial slope of the curve
in the p-y curve method is dependent on the soil
strain parameter ε50 in clay which is determined
from the recommendation in API (2007). The
details of continuous p-y curve profiles when the
pile is embedded in soft clay and stiff clay can be
found in (Matlock 1970) and (Reese et  al. 1975)
respectively.
In this study, two displacement-based loads
are applied at the top of the tower in two models.
Model A was performed to evaluate the initial stiff-
ness of the distributed springs. Therefore, it must
be guaranteed that plastic strain does not occur in
clays under the external lateral load. Eventually, a
value of 0.05 m was applied to determine the ini-
tial stiffness of the distributed springs. In Model
B, a value of 0.5  m was applied to achieve the
continuous p-y curve profile of the springs. Gener-
ally, the p-y curves first increase linearly and then
the trend slows down (Fig. 4). Although Model A
3/29/2017 9:44:49 AM

Figure  4. Typical characteristics of p-y curves in clay
soil.
leads to an over-estimation of the slope of the p-y
curve in yielding condition, it is still conducted for
the comparison of initial slopes of the p-y curves
which correspond to the OWT response under low
magnitude load.
In the p-y curve method, the monopile is mod-
elled as beam elements, and the soil constraint on
the monopile is simplified as a series of springs.
To obtain the p-y curves of the springs, ten springs
(referred to as total springs) are assumed to be evenly
distributed along the monopile. The depths are from
2  m to 38  m, with the spacing of 4  m. Since the
FE analysis is conducted using a 2-D model, each
total spring is split into two sub-springs at the same
depth, one on the left node and one on the right
node. The lateral contact force and lateral deflection
of the nodes on monopile respectively correspond to
the force (p) and deformation (y) of the sub-spring
and the slope of the p-y curve represents the stiffness
of the sub-spring. Eventually, the p-y curve profiles
of each total spring can be obtained through comb-
ing the p-y curves of two sub-springs.
This section includes three parts:
4.1. Initial stiffness of sub-springs. Model A
describes the details of the p-y curves of
sub-springs under small lateral load. The p-y
curves are linear, and the slope of the curve is
the initial stiffness of the sub-spring.
4.2. Continuous p-y curve of sub-springs. Model
B analyses characteristics of continuous p-y
curves of sub-springs under large lateral load.
4.3. Combined p-y curve of total springs. Based
on the results of Model B, the continuous p-y
curves of sub-springs are combined. The final
p-y curve profiles are available in the p-y curve
method.
4.1 Initial stiffness of sub-springs
The lateral expansion of the soil under gravity
leads to the initial contact force between the soil
and the monopile. Therefore the initial contact
force of sub-springs between the soil and monopile
on two sides are determined (Fig. 5). The contact
908
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 908
force basically increases linearly with the depth of
the springs. Meanwhile, the forces are symmetrical
since the model is symmetrical. The initial contact
force distribution in different clays was calculated,
and no difference was observed.
The contact force of sub-springs changes from
the initial contact force as is shown in Fig. 5 when
the lateral displacement-based load with the mag-
nitude of 0.05 m is applied to the monopile OWT
(Model A). The contact force increases when the
monopile further extrudes the soil and decreases
when the monopile has the tendency of mov-
ing away from the soil. Figure 6 shows the lateral
deflection and contact force of sub-springs on the
right side of the monopile at different depths. In
each sub-figure, lines from top to bottom represent
for right sub-springs of depths from 2 m to 38 m.
The largest lateral deflection occurs on the top-
most node and the minimum value of lateral deflec-
tion appears on one node at a certain depth, which
approximately corresponds to the depth of the
rotation centre. Results show that the rotation cen-
tre moves upwards and the lateral deflections along
the monopile decrease as the clay gets strengthened.
Along the part of monopile above the rotation
centre, the contact force increases as the mono-
pile pushes the soil and decreases under depar-
ture movement. This rule is also applicable to the
bottom part of the monopile. In addition to this,
the slopes of the p-y curves are steeper when su is
larger, showing the stiffer response of hard clay.
Figure  7  shows the initial stiffness of the sub-
springs along the monopile in different soil clays.
For the clay near the mudline, the right-side con-
tact force increases due to the squeeze between
the monopile and soil under lateral load to the
right. While the left-side contact force decreases
because of the departure movement. The stiff-
ness, as stated above, is defined as the change in
contact force divided by the lateral deflection. The
increase of contact force due to further squeeze
Figure 5. Initial lateral contact force of sub-springs.
3/29/2017 9:44:49 AM
 Figure 6. Contact force variation of right springs.
and the decrease of contact force under departure
movement will lead to a positive stiffness. In all
cases, the stiffness of the sub-springs on two sides
are basically the same. The stiffness of the sub-
springs near the soil surface and at the bottom of
the monopile has larger values. The stiffness profile
along the monopile shows a ‘C’ shape except for
one spring near the rotation centre whose stiffness
is very small. It could be deduced that the rotation
effect leads to the stiffness reduction of this spring.
The topmost spring has larger stiffness than
that of several springs below. These several springs
have similar stiffness. The stiffness values are about
3,050 kPa, 6,000 kPa, 11,800 kPa and 22,500 kPa in
clays with undrained shearing strength su = 20 kPa,
40  kPa, 80  kPa and 160  kPa respectively. The
Young’s modulus E is the reflection of stress incre-
ment under a certain strain increment. Therefore
the Young’s modulus E is approximately linear
with the stiffness of the springs. The stiffness of
the springs below the depth of 20 m shows a great
variation along the monopile which is resulted
from the rotation effect. It can be conducted that
the minimum value of stiffness appears at the
909
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 909
depth corresponding to the rotation centre. For the
clay of su = 20 kPa, 40 kPa, 80 kPa and 160 kPa the
minimum values are located at the depths of 38 m,
34 m, 30 m and 26 m.
The initial stiffness of the total spring is the sum
of initial stiffness of two sub-springs. Details of
this are not described here.
4.2 Continuous p-y curve of sub-springs
In Model A, a small lateral load was applied to cal-
culate the initial spring stiffness. However, the envi-
ronmental load can be enormous in some extreme
sea conditions. In model B, a comparatively larger
displacement-based load with a value of 0.5 m is
applied at the top of the tower. In this model, the
soil in the vicinity of mudline enters the plastic zone
first and afterwards the soil mass near the bottom
tip of the monopile enters the plastic state.
Figure 8 shows the p-y curves of the sub-springs
in clays of su  =  20  kPa and 160  kPa. Compared
to the results of Model A, Model B presents the
continuous stiffness profile in elastic and plastic
state. In shallow depth, the contact force of left
3/29/2017 9:44:50 AM
 Figure  7. Initial stiffness of the springs along the
monopole.
springs and right springs decreases and increases
respectively with the lateral deflection to the right.
In deep location, the contact force of left springs
and right springs decreases and increases respec-
tively with the lateral deflection to the right. As
clay gets harder, the slope of the curves increases
meaning the stiffness gets larger. After the soil
near the surface enters the plastic state, the con-
tact force remains constant. The corresponding
inflection point of the continuous stiffness profile
is defined as the limit state.
The depth of the spring has a great influence
on the continuous stiffness profile. The shallow
910
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 910
Figure 8. P-y curves of sub-springs.
springs reach the limit state earlier than the deep
springs. The linearity runs through the whole pro-
cess for the right springs located deep below the
mudline. For deeper right springs, the limit state is
not reached during the whole loading process.
For the clay of su  =  20  kPa, when right springs
at the depth of 2 m, 6 m, 10 m and 14 m enter the
limit state, the corresponding lateral deflections are
0.010 m, 0.027 m, 0.032 m and 0.040 m. The p-y curve
of topmost left spring enters the condition of no con-
tact force when the lateral deflection reaches 0.030 m
meaning that the spring disappears. This is because
there is a gap between the monopile and clay soil
3/29/2017 9:44:50 AM
 when the deflection increases. Compared to soft clay,
the gap between monopile and harder clay appears
earlier and is distributed deeper and the linearity char-
acter is not observed for the stiffness profile for clay
su = 160 kPa. The spring stiffness begins to increase
from the moment when the lateral load is applied.

4.3 Combined p-y curve of total springs

To obtain the p-y curve of the total springs along
the depth of the monopile, the p-y curves of the
left and right sub-springs are combined together.
The relation between average lateral deflection
and lateral contact force is drawn in Figure 9. The
gap on the left side of the monopile is taken into
account by the p-y curves, reflecting the real force-
deflection of the total springs.
As seen from Figure  9, the topmost spring at
the depth of 2 m reaches the limit state in all four
cases. It has the smallest ultimate lateral contact
force compared with all other springs. The bottom
Figure 9. P-y curves of total springs.
spring owns the largest stiffness.
In the soft clay of su  =  20  kPa, most springs
have very similar p-y curves except for the topmost
spring. The topmost spring reaches the limit state
soon and the lateral contact force keeps unchanged
afterwards, having a value of about 280 kPa. The
force-deflection response of other springs can be
approximately reflected by the p-y curve of the
spring at the depth of 10 m.
When su = 40 kPa, the shallow springs have simi-
lar p-y curves before the lateral deflection reaches
0.03 m, after which the upper spring reaches the limit
state followed by lower springs. The lower springs
have larger ultimate contact forces than those of

Figure 10. Soil pressure along the monopole.

the upper springs. Similarly, when su = 80 kPa, the

shallow springs have similar p-y curves before the
lateral deflection reaches 0.02  m. In hard clay of
su = 160 kPa, the force-deflection response of upper
springs can be approximately reflected by the p-y
curve of the surface spring at the depth of 2 m.

4.4 Pressure on the monopile versus depth

Soil pressure profiles on the monopile are calculated
and drawn in Figure  10. The corresponding dis-
placement-based load is 0.5 m. From this figure, it
can be seen that the passive zone exerts a larger force
on the monopile than that of the active zone. For
the right side of monopile (dashed lines), the pres-
sure increases with depth when su is small (20 kPa)
while the pressure decreases at the bottom tip of the
Figure 9. (Continued) monopile when su is large (80 and 160 kPa). This is

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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 911 3/29/2017 9:44:52 AM

 a reflection of the soil displacement field: the soil
globally moves to the right when su is small while
the monopile rotates clockwise when su is large. For
the left side of the monopile (solid lines), the gap
between monopile and clay distributes deeper in
hard clay compared to soft clay. The soil pressure is
distributed at the lower part of the monopile.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this study, 2-D FE interaction models between
the monopile and clay soil are established. The
static response under small lateral load (lateral dis-
placement of 0.05 m) and finite lateral load (lateral
displacement of 0.5  m) are calculated and ana-
lysed. The contact force and displacement curves
are drawn for the distributed imaginary springs on
both sides of the monopile. The results show that:
1. As clay soil gets strengthened from 20  kPa to
160  kPa, the gap on the left side appears ear-
lier and distributes deeper, which means that the
left springs may disappear earlier. FEM-based
method can simulate the gap forming, which is
out of the range of traditional p-y curve method.
2. The stiffness of two sub-springs on two sides of
the monopile are basically the same when the
structure is applied with small lateral load. The
p-y curves of the total spring can be obtained
through the combination of p-y curve profiles
of two sub-springs.
3. The initial stiffness of the springs is mainly
determined by the rotation effect. The stiffness
profile along the monopile shows ‘C’ shape
except for one spring near the rotation centre
whose stiffness is comparatively small.
4. In soft clay (su  =  20  kPa) and hard clay
(su = 160 kPa), some springs have a similar force-
deflection response, which means similar p-y
curves can be used for these springs. It makes the
application of p-y curve method much simpler.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The first author has been funded by the China
Scholarship Council (CSC, File No 201606330049).
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Simplified method for structural safety assessment of an energy saving

device subjected to nonlinear hydrodynamic load

H.B. Ju & B.S. Jang

Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

D.B. Lee
Korean register, Busan, Republic of Korea

ABSTRACT: To assess structural safety of energy saving devices including nonlinearity of hydro-
dynamic force, the new procedure was proposed. Nevertheless, time consuming CFD analyses are still
required in this procedure. Therefore, this research aims at developing simplified formulas to predict lift
force and lift moment instead of neural network and CFD analysis. To formulate the simplified formula,
CFD simulation and regression analysis are performed. The formula is used for generation of a series of
lifting force and lifting moment required in ultimate strength assessment and fatigue strength assessment.
Furthermore, this research also proposes the simplified method that can be used for ultimate strength
assessment and fatigue strength assessment without any CFD or rain-flow counting process at early
design state. Even though the simplified method gives conservative results than the results of CFD analy-
sis and neural network training, it is well worth using in early design stage in terms of time requirements.

1 INTRODUCTION limit strength assessment (Part III) and rain-flow

As interest in reducing fuel oil consumption is now
higher than ever before, many kind of energy sav-
ing devices (ESD) have been developed (Hooiji-
mans et  al., 2010 and Lee et  al., 1992) as shown
in Fig. 1. A series of researches are conducted to
evaluate the efficiency of ESD (Kim et al., 2015).
To judge the structural safety of ESD, a procedure
for structural safety assessment of energy saving
devices was proposed by D.B.LEE et al., 2016. The
procedure consists of four main parts, sea-keeping
analysis (Part I), CFD analysis and neural network
training (Part II), long-term analysis of ultimate
counting technique for fatigue limit strength
assessment (Part IV) as shown in Fig. 2. However,
the neural network explained in this procedure is
trained for a specific ESD and only one ship speed.
For different ESD shapes and different ship speeds,
the neural network is not valid anymore. There-
fore, a series of CFD analysis should be performed
newly for a target ESD and a new neural network
should be trained. It is a time-consuming job. For
this reason, this research provide simplified formu-
las to predict lift force and lift moment acting on
ESD instead of neural network and CFD analysis.

Figure 2. Whole procedure for structural safety assess-

Figure 1. Various types of energy saving devices. ment of ESD (original method).

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 This simplified formula can be used for genera-
tion of a time series of lift force and lift moment
required in ultimate strength assessment (ULS)
and fatigue limit strength assessment (FLS). This
approach which contains the simplified formula
instead of neural network training formula is
named as simplified method. The effect of addi-
tional variables must be considered in order to
develop the simplified formula. However, the num-
ber of sample points drastically increases to build
a regression formula if the number of considered
variables increases.
Therefore, two parameters are neglected in a
conservative way. First, only head sea is considered
since head sea condition results in the largest lift
force. Second, slope angle of ESD blade is zero
because the projected area becomes largest when
the slope angle is zero. These assumptions result in
conservative loads definitely. Finally five variables
are treated; vertical velocity of ESD (Vv), vertical
velocity period of ESD (Pv), ESD blade root length
(La), ESD blade span length (Lb) and ship speed
(Vs). The unit of length is meter (m) and unit of
time is second in this paper.
2 OVERALL APPROACHES OF
SIMPLIFIED METHOD
For a development of simplified formula to addi-
tionally incorporate the effects of variations of
ESD blade length and inlet speed, two approaches
are feasible. They are explained briefly in Fig.  3
and Fig.  4, respectively. In Alternative I (Fig.  3),
the variables of ESD blade root length, ESD blade
span length and ship speed are treated as addi-
tional parameters in the regression analysis for
CFD analysis results together with the other two
parameters vertical velocity and vertical velocity
period. This case can take into account the cou-
pling effects of five parameters and achieve higher
Figure  3. Alternative I: Overall approach to develop
simplified method.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 916
accuracy. However, this approach requires a large
number of additional sampling points to cover five
dimensions and considerable CFD computational
time consequently.
On the other hand, in Alternative II (Fig.  4),
the regression formula is fitted first for two
parameters; vertical velocity and vertical veloc-
ity period. It is necessary because their coupling
effect is fairly large. Here, ESD blade root length,
ESD blade span length and ship speed are fixed
to a value respectively. Then, the fitted regression
formula is adjusted considering ESD blade length
difference and ship speed difference one by one.
This approach is based on the assumption that the
effect of ESD blade length is sufficiently independ-
ent of the other two variables, and it is the same
with the ship speed. This research adopts Alterna-
tive II since the number of additional CFD analy-
sis is acceptable.
To perform additional CFD analysis, the same
model of ship and ESD used by Lee et al., 2016 are
selected as shown in Tables 1, 2 and Fig. 5.
3 SIMPLIFIED FORMULA
3.1 Regression analysis with vertical velocity and
vertical velocity period
The regression analysis is conducted for vertical
velocity of ESD and vertical velocity period of
ESD using the 58 head sea data and 15 additional
points; Vv  =  0 and Pv  =  5~10 at 1.25  interval. 58
Figure  4. Alternative II: Overall approach to develop
simplified method.
Table 1. Main dimensions of model ship.
Capacity LOA Breadth Depth Speed
[TEU] [m] [m] [m] [knots]
10,000 330.9 48.4 27.6 24
3/29/2017 9:44:54 AM
 Table 2. Mass information of model ship. Table 3. Information of head sea cases.

Displacement [ton] Draft [m] Heading Wave Wave lift Lift

Case angle height period Vv force moment
149,817 13.98 num (deg) (m) (s) (m/s) Pv (s) (N) (N-m)
COG [m]
1 180 2.0 18.0 0.7 13.95 37874 137976
X Y Z 2 180 3.0 26.0 0.47 22 34341 128347
153.73 0 21.73 3 180 3.0 30.0 0.45 25.85 36243 135106
4 180 4.0 18.0 1.39 14.15 54907 171732
COB [m] 5 180 4.0 24.0 0.87 19.5 36041 131614
X Y Z 6 180 4.0 30.0 0.54 25.35 38300 138318
7 180 4.0 16.5 1.56 12.15 57667 178726
153.18 0 7.84 8 180 5.0 16.0 2 12.05 76587 216514
Radius of gyration [m] 9 180 5.0 30.0 0.52 25.6 40818 144650
10 180 6.0 14.0 2.07 10.25 88192 230987
X Y Z
∼ ∼ ∼ ∼ ∼ ∼ ∼ ∼
15.63 74.33 75.41 58 180 26.0 20.0 8.61 16.05 312010 623572

Figure 6. Differences between CFD results and regres-

Figure 5. Main dimensions and information of ESD.
head sea data is organized in Table  3. The addi-
tional points are necessary for improving the accu-
racy around Vv = 0. 2nd order polynomial is used
for the fitting. In this step, the ESD blade root
length, ESD blade span length and ship speed are
fixed as 1.8 m, 3.6 m and 8.23 m/s, respectively. The
lift force and lift moment regression formulas are
obtained as follows.
Lift force = fF(Vv,Pv) = 1.376.104 – 1552.Pv +
3.9613.104.Vv + 69.Pv2 – 453.Pv.Vv + 752.Vv2, (1)
Lift moment = fM(Vv,Pv) = 0.416.105 – 4290.Pv 
+ 1.0026.105.Vv + 230.Pv2 – 930.Pv.Vv – 1350.Vv2
(2)
Regression formula fitted to head sea data
matches well with CFD results for head sea con-
dition due to the sufficient number of head sea
sample points as depicted in Fig.  6. The differ-
ences between the regression formula and CFD
results are below about 20%. The average errors
sion formula results.
of lift force and lift moment between CFD results
and neural network results are 6.98% and 4.46%,
respectively. The average errors between CFD
results and 2nd order polynomial regression for-
mulas are 7.37% and 5.77%, respectively. The 2nd
order polynomial regression results are slightly less
accurate than neural network results. However its
use is more convenient due to its explicit expres-
sion with a formula. In simplified method, the 2nd
order polynomial regression formula is adopted for
the prediction lift force and lift moment in place of
CFD analysis and neural network training.
3.2 Effect of ESD shape
To consider the effect of ESD shape, the two kinds
of lengths; ESD blade root length (La) and ESD
blade span length (Lb) are changed and get the
results of lift force and lift moment through CFD
analysis. ESD blade shape and each length are illus-
trated in Fig.  7. ESD blade root length is varied
from 1.59 m to 2.47 m and ESD blade span length

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 Figure 7. Shape of ESD blade.

Figure 9. Normalized lift force where L′b is fixed.

Figure 8. Normalized lift force where L′a is fixed.

is varied from 3.10  m to 4.88  m. These lengths

embrace the range of 90% of original length to
140% of original length. Total 16 cases are simu-
lated at each same wave height, wave period and Figure 10. Normalized lift moment where L′a is fixed.
ship speed condition. Therefore, the vertical veloc-
ity of ESD and vertical velocity period of ESD
are same in each condition due to changed ESD
shape can’t be affected to global ship motion. It
facilitates to get only effect of ESD shape. In this
research, to get an effect of ESD shape, regular
wave height and wave period are fixed as 12 m and
14 s, respectively.
These CFD analysis results about the 16 differ-
ent ESD shapes are used to get ESD shape cor-
rection factor. 1st order polynomial regression is
selected in this stage. The results of CFD analysis
are organized in Figures  8 to 11 and ESD shape
correction factor of lift force and lift moments are
expressed as follows.

ESD shape correction factor of lift force = CF(L′a,

L′b) = −2.2342 + 1.4205.L′a + 1.6277.L′b (3)
Figure 11. Normalized lift moment where L′b is fixed.
ESD shape correction factor of lift moment = CM
(L′a,L′b) = −3.7866 + 1.7192.L′a + 2.9191.L′b (4)
According to ESD shape correction factor, the
where, a normalized value L′a  =  La/1.8  m, simplified formula which is concluded effect of
L′b = Lb/3.6 m. ESD shape can be expressed as follows.

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 Lift force = fF(Vv,Pv) . CF(L′a,L′b)
Lift moment = fM(Vv,Pv) . CM(L′a,L′b)
3.3 Effect of ship speed
For an investigation the effect of ship speed vari-
ations, a series of CFD analysis are conducted for
different ship speeds. In actual, exact inlet speed at
the right front of ESD which can be only obtained
from CFD analysis is used to get a lift force and
a lift moment instead of ship speed. However,
since the objective of simplified formula is to pre-
dict the lift force and lift moment without a time-
consuming CFD analysis, the exact inlet speed is
not available in the simplified method. Therefore,
a correlation between inlet speed and ship speed
is required. To observe the correlation between
inlet speed and ship speed, ten head sea cases are
selected among the 58 head sea data as depicted in
Fig. 12. The ship speed is changed from 6.23 m/s
to 9.23 m/s for each selected case. The inlet speed is
measured at the front of ESD as shown in Fig. 13.
The correlation between inlet speed and ship speed
Figure  12. Selected head sea data to get correlation
between ship speed and inlet speed.
Figure 13. inlet speed measure point.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 919
is plotted in Fig. 14 and it can be presented a linear
form, i.e. y  =  Cx. It means that the inlet speed is
directly proportional to the ship speed. Thus, the
inlet speed can be superseded by ship speed. Here-
after, the ship speed is used as simplified formula
instead of inlet speed. To get a relation between
ship speeds and lift force, only ship speed should
be varied while keeping vertical velocity of ESD
and vertical velocity period of ESD the same in
the CFD analysis. Thus, seven head sea cases are
selected among the ten head sea cases in Fig. 12.
For each case, CFD analysis is performed at dif-
ferent ship speeds, i.e. 6.23 m/s, 7.23 m/s, 8.23 m/s,
9.23  m/s. The correlation results are plotted in
Fig. 15 and the relation can be represented as a lin-
ear form, y = Cx. Based on this finding, the simpli-
fied formulas of lift force and lift moment for ship
speed of 8.23 m/s can be adjusted as follows.
Lift force = f(Vv,Pv,La,Lb,Vs)
= fF(Vv,Pv).CF(L′a,L′b).{Vs/8.23} (5)
Figure  14. Correlation between inlet speed and ship
speed.
Figure  15. Correlation between ship speed and lift
force.
3/29/2017 9:44:57 AM

Figure  16. Overall procedures to get simplified
formula.
Lift moment = f(Vv,Pv,La,Lb,Vs)
= fM(Vv,Pv).CM(L′a,L′b).{Vs/8.23} (6)
3.4 Definitive simplified formula
Finally a simplified formula can be represented
as f(Vv, Pv, La, Lb, Vs). In the first step, 58 head
sea data is used for a regression analysis to get
f(Vv, Pv). At this step, the ESD blade root length,
ESD blade span length and ship speed are fixed as
1.8 m, 3.6 m and 8.23 m/s. Second, CFD analyses
are carried out for different ESD shape. Then the
effect of ESD blade root length and ESD blade
span length are incorporated and the simplified
formula is extended to f(Vv, Pv, La, Lb). In addi-
tion, the effect of ship speed variation is examined
and f(Vv, Pv, La, Lb, Vs) is obtained. Since the exact
inlet speed can’t be calculated without CFD anal-
ysis, ship speed is used in the simplified formula
instead based on the identification of their linear
relation. The overall procedure is shown in Fig. 16.
Finally, simplified formulas to predict lift force and
lift moment for given vertical velocity of ESD, ver-
tical velocity period of ESD, ESD shape and ship
speeds are proposed.
4 SIMPLIFIED METHOD FOR
ULTIMATE STRENGTH ASSESSMENT
AND FATIGUE LIMIT STRENGTH
ASSESSMENT
In Fig.  2, the ultimate limit strength assessment
and the fatigue limit strength assessment using
CFD analysis and neural network were explained,
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb 920
respectively. Even if this approach is the most reli-
able in terms of accuracy, its large computation
time makes it difficult to be used in early design
stage. In this respect, this research proposes sim-
plified method that can reduce the computation
burden and improve ease of use with an acceptable
level of accuracy deterioration. Overall procedure
of simplified method is explained in Fig.  17. In
simplified method, CFD analysis and neural net-
work is replaced by the simplified formula which
composed of polynomial regression formula.
The other probabilistic approach for long term
extreme value and rain flow counting process for
fatigue analysis are the same as original procedure
in Fig. 2. Since the accuracy of the regression for-
mula was proved to be nearly the same as the neu-
ral network, the calculation results are expected to
be similar.
The extreme lift force of 10−8 exceedance prob-
ability and fatigue damage ratio using origi-
nal method and simplified method are listed in
Table  4. In this calculation, the ESD blade root
length, ESD blade span length and ship speed are
fixed as 1.8 m, 3.6 m, 8.23 m/s as a standard value,
respectively. The extreme lift force obtained from
original method and simplified method is almost
same. In case of fatigue damage, the difference
between original method and simplified methods
is also small. The stress range long term distribu-
tions of two methods are shown in Fig. 18. They
show quite similar tendency. For this reason, shape
parameter in each method is similar as well.
Figure 17. Overall procedure of Level II method.
Table 4. Simplified and original method results on only
head sea condition.
Simplified Original
method method*
ULS extreme lift force (N) 294,730 N 297,980 N
FLS fatigue damage 1.03 1.07
FLS shape parameter 1.06 1.09
3/29/2017 9:44:58 AM

Figure  18. Long term distribution of stress range at
each method.
5 CONCLUSIONS
For simplified method which not contains the
CFD analysis step, simplified formula needs to be
developed to replace CFD analysis and neural net-
work training. The simplified formulas cover five
variables vertical velocity of ESD, vertical velocity
period of ESD, ESD blade root length, ESD blade
span length and ship speed to predict lift force
and lift moment through a polynomial regression
analysis and parametric study. First, only head sea
data is used to construct 2nd order polynomial
regression formula in terms of vertical velocity of
ESD and vertical velocity period of ESD. Then,
a series of additional CFD analysis is performed
to investigate the relation between ESD shapes
and lift force. Effect of ESD shape is considered
from two ESD length; ESD blade root length and
ESD blade span length. In this stage, the 1st order
polynomial regression analysis is performed to get
correction factor for ESD shape. In addition, the
effect of ship speed is investigated. Inlet speed can
be converted to ship speed because they are found
to have linear relation. A series of another addi-
tional CFD analysis is conducted to examine the
relation between ship speeds and lift force. Based
on the two parametric studies, the regression for-
mulas are modified. This modified regression for-
mulas are applied in simplified method. Simplified
method uses the simplified formulas to convert
time series of vertical velocity to lift force and lift
moment. Ultimate limit strength assessment and
fatigue limit strength assessment procedures are
the same as original procedure. Due to the simpli-
fied formula returns the similar value comparing
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with CFD analysis and neural network training
result, the extreme lift force and fatigue damage in
each method are almost same. Therefore, the sim-
plified method can be used in early design stage
sufficiently by reducing the time consumption
from simplified formula.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The present research is a result of the project
“Establishment of structural safety assessment
procedures for a structure subjected to nonlinear
hydrodynamic force” supported by Daewoo Ship-
building and Marine Engineering Co. Ltd, Sam-
sung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd and Hyundai Heavy
Industries Co. Ltd. Also a part of the research has
been supported by The LRET-Funded Research
Center at SNU for FSI (LRETC). All support is
gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
CD-Adapco, 2014, User Guide Manual – STARCCM+
Version 9.04, USA.
Celik, F. and Guner, M., 2014, Energy saving device
of stator for marine propellers, Ocean engineering,
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DNV Classification Note No.30.7, Fatigue assessment of
ship structures, Det Norske Veritas AS, 2010.
Haver, S. and Winterstein, S.R., 2008, Environmental
contour lines: A method for estimating long term
extremes by a short term analysis, SNAME, 12.
Hooijmans, P.M., Jan, H., Jaap, W., Johan, B. and
Gert, J.Z., 2010, Refitting to Save Fuel and New
Approaches in the Design of Newbuilding, 11th Inter-
national Symposium on Practical Design of Ships and
Other Floating Structures, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
pp. 724–733.
Kim, J.H., Choi, J.E., Choi, B.J., Chung S.H., and Seo,
H.W., 2015, Development of Energy Saving Devices
for a Full Slow-Speed Ship through Improving Pro-
pulsion Performance, International Journal of Naval
Architecture and Ocean Engineering, pp. 390–398.
Lee, D.B., Jang, B.S. and Kim, H.J., 2016, Develop-
ment of procedure for structural safety assessment of
energy, Ocean engineering, Vol. 116, pp. 165–183.
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J.K., 1992, Transactions of the Society of Naval
Architects of Korea, Vol. 29, No.4.
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Patterns with a Neural Network, USA.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

Reliability analysis of offshore wind turbine gearbox

M.X. Li, J.C. Kang, L.P. Sun & M. Wang

College of Shipbuilding Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China

ABSTRACT: As a complex device with a long service life, offshore wind turbine gearbox has several
degraded working states, indicating that it is necessary to analyze its dynamic reliability characteristics.
Conventional binary reliability modeling is insufficient since it considers the system to be either in a
working state or in a failed one, leading to deviation between calculation results and actual situation.
In this study, two Markov reliability models are developed and applied to the assessment of offshore
wind turbine gearbox failure for evaluating the reliability, availability and the failure times of multi-state
degraded systems. The system is modeled as a continuous-time Markov process to assess its instantaneous
performance measures. The status of the system is considered to degrade with use and the degradations
may lead to decrease in the system efficiency. Related failure information of gearbox is collected from
previous literatures. The calculated results are verified by comparison with the statistical failure data of
European wind farms.

1 INTRODUCTION (Azadeh et al, 2015 & Liu et al, 2015). Lisnianski

Offshore wind turbines suffer from harsh marine
environment, namely, typhoon, sea ice, salt-fog and
humidity, leading to higher failure rate compared
with onshore ones (Kang et  al, 2016). The acces-
sibility of offshore wind turbines is insufficient due
to strict operation requirements on transports and
weather conditions, which also result in longer fail-
ure downtime. As a crucial component of offshore
wind turbine, gearbox is the largest contributor
to the overall failure downtime, and it is also one
of the most failure-prone components during the
operation of wind turbine. Therefore, the improve-
ment of the gearbox reliability is significant for the
entire system.
In terms of gearbox reliability analysis, Lgba
et  al. (2014) proposed an approach based on the
minimum maintenance costs, maximum availabil-
ity and desired reliability for implementing Preven-
tive Maintenance (PM) to determine the optimal
PM interval. Pattabiraman et al. (2015) presented
typical gear faults for wind turbine gearboxes as
case studies. Sheng et al. (2011) found that simple
causes may lead to complex gearbox damage and
operation and maintenance improvements are nec-
essary to minimize the oil loss possibility.
Due to the effect of corrosion, fatigue, and sto-
chastic load, the gearbox can consecutively degrade
into several discrete states, which are characterized
by different performance rates, ranging from per-
fect functioning to complete failure. The Markov
process approach is the commonest solution to the
reliability analysis of multi-state degraded system
et  al. (2003) firstly introduced Markov process
approach to multi-state degraded system assess-
ment, and discussed the optimization of system
reliability. Isaac et  al. (2010) established the pre-
ventive maintenance model with the application of
Markov continuous time theory, and analyzed the
reliability of different maintenance states.
In this study, a Markov model of multi-stages
degraded repairable systems is developed in order
to analyze the reliability of offshore wind tur-
bine gearbox. The gearbox degradation process
is divided into several discrete states. Two differ-
ent cases (corrective maintenance and preven-
tive maintenance) based on Markov model are
treated. Reliability, availability, downtime and
maintenance information of gearbox are achieved
through Chapman-Kolmogorov equations. The
accuracy of the proposed model is verified by
comparison with failure statistics of offshore wind
farm in Europe. The differences between corrective
maintenance and preventive maintenance are also
discussed.
2 MODEL DESCRIPTION
2.1 Assumptions
1. All transition rates are constant and exponen-
tially distributed.
2. The system may have many levels of degrada-
tion, corresponding to discrete performance
rates, which vary from perfect functioning to
complete failure.

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 3. The system might fail randomly from any
operational state (i.e., from the perfect func-
tioning as well as from any degraded acceptable
state) and it is minimally repaired.
4. The time for inspection process is negligible,
namely the inspection is instantaneous.

2.2 System description

Fig.  1  shows the state transition diagram of cor-
rective maintenance model using the following
notations:
State (1): Initial perfect functioning. Figure  1. State transition diagram of corrective
maintenance.
State (2i-1): Degraded; i = 1, …, n.
State (2i): Failed from an operational state; i = 1,
…, n.
State (2n+1): Ultimate failed after a degradation
process.
αi (i  =  1,…,n): Failure rate or transition rate
from state (2i-1) to state (2i); i = 1, …, n.
βi (i = 1,…,n): Minimal repair rate or transition
rate from state (2i) to state (2i-1); i = 1, …, n.
λi (i  =  1,…,n): Degradation rate or transition
rate from state (2i-1) to state (2i+1); i = 1, …, n.
μi (i = 1,…,n): Transition rate from state (2n+1)
to state (2i-1); i = 1, …, n.
Maintenance processes are divided into three Figure  2. Preventive maintenance system state transi-
categories in Fig. 1, namely, perfect maintenance, tion diagram.
imperfect maintenance and minimal repairs. In
perfect maintenance, system is restored to the The time interval (0, t + Δt) is spilt into two
“as good as new” state (i.e., the initial perfect func- parts, the transition of the system from state i to
tioning state) after gradually worsening deterio- state k in time interval (0, t) is considered firstly,
ration failures. Minimal repair brings the system thereafter the transition of the system from state k
back to the working state before the malfunction. to state j in time interval (t,t + Δt):
Imperfect maintenance brings the system back to
an intermediate state between the current state and r
the perfect functioning state. It is assumed that a Pij (t t ) Pij (t ) ∑ P (t )P ik kj ( t)
minimal repair restores the system from state S2n+1 k =0 (2)
k j
to the previous degraded state S2n-1, while a perfect −[[ Pjj ( Δt )]Pij (t )
maintenance bring the system to S1. The other
cases are imperfect maintenance.
Compared with corrective maintenance, the By divided by Δt and then taking the limit as Δt
gearbox system is repaired in S2n-1 in the process of → 0, we obtain
preventive maintenance. μi (i = 1,…,n) is the tran-
sition rate from state (2n-1) to state (2i-1). Main- Pij (t + Δt
Δt ) Pij (t )
lim =
tenance processes are also divided into perfect Δt → 0 Δt
maintenance, imperfect maintenance and minimal
r
Pkj ( Δt
Δ ) 1 − Pjj ( t ) (3)
lim ∑ Pkj (t ) − Pij (t )
repairs in Fig.  2. A minimal repair restores the Δt → 0 k = 0 Δt Δt
system from state S2n-1 to the previous degraded k j

state S2n-3, while a perfect maintenance brings i r

the system to S1. The other cases are imperfect P ij (t ) = ∑ akj Pikk (t
(t ) a j Pij (t ) (4)
maintenance. k =0
k j
If Pij(t + Δt) is the transition probability
from state i to state j at (t + Δt), considering the d i

Chapman-Kolmogorov equations: where a jj a j , P ij (t ) =

Pij (t ).
dt
According to Eq.(4), the Chapman–Kolmogorov
r
Pij (t t) ∑ P (t )P
k =0
ik kj ( t) (1) equations corresponding to the corrective main-
tenance model in Fig. 1 are

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 ⎧ dP
PS1 (t )
⎪ = −( 1 λ1 )PS1 (t ) + β1PS 2 (t )
⎪ dt
⎪ + μ1PS2 n 1 (t )mi
⎪ dP
PS2 i 1 (t )
⎪ = −( i + λi )PS2 i−i 1 (t ) + β i P2 i (t )
⎪ dt
⎨ + λi P i − 3 (t ) + μi PS2 n+
n 1
(t )mi
⎪ i = 2,..., n
⎪ (5)
dP
PS2 i ( )
⎪ = − β i PS2 i ( ) + α i PS2 i−1 ( )i 1,...,
1,..., n
⎪ dt Figure  3. State transition diagram for acquirement
⎪ dP
PS2 n 1 (t ) n of R(t).
⎪ = − ∑ μi mi PS2 n (t ) λn PS2 n−1 (t )
⎩ dt i=1
The Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) is the sum of
where mi is maintenance coefficient. If the mainte- the average stay time of all the even states. The
nance is performed from state 2n+1 to state 2i-1, mi Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) of system is
is 1. Otherwise, mi is 0.
According to Eq.(4), the Chapman–Kolmogorov MTBF = MTTR + MTTF (10)
equations corresponding to the preventive mainte-
nance model in Fig. 2 are In order to determine the reliability of the sys-
tem, all failure states are regarded as absorbing
states. The Markov model is built in Fig. 3.
⎧ dP
PS1 (t )
⎪ = − ( 1 λ1 )PS1 (t ) + β1PS 2 (t ) + μ1PS2 n−1 (t )mi In terms of the Markov model in Fig. 3, the avail-
⎪ dt able states probabilities characterize the reliability
⎪ dP
PS2 i 1 (t )
= − ( i + λi )PS2 i−i 1 (t ) + β i P2 i (t ) + λii− 1P2 i−
i 3 (t )
function of the system because after the first entrance
⎪ dt into the absorbing state the system never leaves it.
⎪ + μi PS2 n− (t ) m i = 2,..., n 1
⎪ n 1 i

⎪ dP
PS2 i ( ) n
= − β i PS2 i ( ) + α i PS2 i−1 ( )
⎪⎪ dt R(t)) ∑ S2 i−
i 1
(t ) (11)
⎨ i 1,...,
1,..., n i=1

⎪ dP
PS2 n−1 ( )
⎪ = − λn PS2 n 1 ( ) + λn 1PS2 n 3 ( ) (6) The evaluation results of system can be referred
⎪ dt
n− 1 for engineering staff to judge the equipment states.
⎪ − ∑ μi mi PS2 n 1 ( ) β n+ 1PS2 n+1 ( )
⎪ i=1
Calculated results of the reliability and the MTBF
⎪ + β n PS2 n ( ) − α n PS2 n−1 ( ) are compared with the requirements of the relevant
⎪ standards. If the results are worse than the require-
⎪ dP
PS2 n 1 ( )
= − β n 1PS2 n 1 ( ) λn PS2 n− () ments, the system will be shut down to conduct
⎪⎩ dt n 1

a comprehensive inspection and ensure the safe

operation of equipment. The equipment should be
where mi is maintenance coefficient. If a mainte-
timely maintained when the availability is low.
nance action is performed from state 2n-1 o state
2i-1, mi is 1. Otherwise, mi is 0.
With the following initial conditions of Chapman–
3 RELIABILITY ANALYSIS FOR WIND
Kolmogorov equations:
OFFSHORE TURBINE GEARBOX
Ps1 (0 ) 1, Ps2 (0 ) Ps3 (0 ) Psn (0 ) 0 (7)
In this section, the preventive maintenance
2 n+
n 1 model and the corrective maintenance model
∑ P (t ) = 1
i=1
si 0≤ t T (8) are applied to analyze the gearbox reliability.
According to Carroll et  al. (2015), 0.395 times
of minimal repair is required per gearbox per
The state probabilities of different moments are year (i.e., MTTF  =  2.532 years) and the transi-
obtained by solving the equations given by (5)(7) tion rate α i = 1 (MTTF × 365)(i = 1, 2, 3, 4 ) .The
(8) and (6)(7)(8). Then, the instantaneous avail- average downtime of minimal repair, imperfect
ability A(t) is obtained from Eq. (9): maintenance and perfect maintenance is 8  hours,
n 22  hours and 231  hours respectively. Therefore,
A(t ) = Pr(G
P (G (t ) )= ∑P S2 i−
i 1
(t ) (9) β 1 4 and μ1 4 can be determined. The degrada-
i=1 tion process of gearbox is divided into four states
and the residence time Ti (i = 1,2,3,4) of each state
The Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) of system is is 5 years, 3 years, 1.5 years and 0.5 years (Eggon
the sum of the average stay time of all the odd states. et al, 2009) and λ i = 1 Ti . It is noteworthy that the

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 degradation information is collected from onshore Table 2. Preventive maintenance state transition rates.
wind turbine gearboxes. As a result, the results will
be modified during the data processing. The state α1–4 β1–5 λ1 λ2 λ3
transition diagram of corrective maintenance is
1.08E-03 3 5.48E-04 9.13E-04 1.83E-03
shown in Fig. 4 and the transition rates are listed
in Table 1. λ4 μ1 μ2 μ3
According to the different maintenance condi- 5.48E-03 0.104 1.09 1.09
tions, the instantaneous state of the system is con-
sidered in the following three cases:
1. Perfectly repaired (m1 = 1, m2 = m3 = m4 = 0); Based on the PM model, the instantaneous state
2. Imperfectly repaired (m2 = 1, m1 = m3 = m4 = 0; of the system is considered in the following two
m3 = 1, m1 = m2 = m4 = 0); cases:
3. Minimally repaired (m4 = 1, m1 = m2 = m3 = 0).
1. Perfectly repaired (m1 = 1, m2 = m3 = 0);
The state transition of preventive maintenance 2. Imperfectly repaired. (m2  =  1, m1  =  m3  =  0;
model is presented in Fig.  5. The transition rates m3 = 1, m2 = m2 = 0);
are listed in Table 2.

Table 1. Corrective maintenance state transition rates. 4 RESULTS ANALYSIS

α1−4 β1−4 λ1 λ2 λ3 The parameters are brought into the Chapman–

Kolmogorov equations (Eq.5 and Eq.6). The sim-
1.08E–03 3 5.48E–04 9.13E–04 1.83E–03 ulation life cycle of the gearbox is 10 years. The
λ4 μ1 μ2 μ3 μ4 system failure information can be obtained based
on the initial conditions (Eq.7 and Eq.8). Reli-
5.48E–03 0.104 1.09 1.09 3 ability, availability, maintenance times and down-
time results of corrective maintenance model and
preventive maintenance model are presented in
Table 3–6.
Due to higher wind speed and salt spray cor-
rosion, the degradation of offshore wind turbine
gearbox is severer than onshore. Therefore, the
results should be modified since some input data
refer to onshore wind turbines. Wilson & McMillan
(2014) indicated that the failure frequency of wind
turbine increases by 0.08 times per year when the
wind speed is 1 m/s higher. According to the sta-
tistics of WINDPOWER PROGRAM in the UK
and University of Tokyo in Japan, the average wind
speed of the onshore wind farm is 5.26  m/s, and
the average wind speed of the offshore wind farm
Figure  4. State transition diagram corrective
is 7.4 m/s. The modified MTBF results (MTBF*)
maintenance. are shown in Table 7.
Table  7  shows that the availability tends to be
stable during the last degradation process, while
MTBF* decreases as time progresses. According to
the failure statistics of more than 350 wind turbines
in 10 offshore wind farms in Europe (Carroll et al.
2015), the MTBF of the gearboxes is about 577 days,
which is close to the average value of the preventive
maintenance model. The calculated results are in
generally conformity with the statistical data.
The production rate and reliability is higher in
the preventive maintenance model than corrective
maintenance model. MTBF becomes larger, and
gearbox failure frequency declines. In the preven-
Figure  5. State transition diagram of preventive tive maintenance model, the system is repaired
maintenance. before malfunctions. During the whole decade,

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 Table 3. Reliability of models. Table 5. Maintenance times of models.

Reliability Maintenance times

Corrective Preventive Corrective maintenance

maintenance maintenance
Time case 1 case 2 case 3 case 4
Time case1–3 case1 case2 case 3
0 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000
0 1.00000 1.00000 1.00000 1.00000 365 0.39555 0.39573 0.39581 0.39666
365 0.67285 0.67404 0.67420 0.67420 730 0.80594 0.80700 0.80921 0.82522
730 0.44590 0.45383 0.45449 0.45447 1095 1.23963 1.24339 1.25637 1.33429
1095 0.28820 0.30518 0.30634 0.30627 1460 1.69501 1.70571 1.74615 1.96731
1460 0.18156 0.20501 0.20645 0.20634 1825 2.16638 2.19108 2.28168 2.75302
1825 0.11182 0.13762 0.13912 0.13897 2190 2.64799 2.69586 2.86242 3.70539
2190 0.06759 0.09234 0.09373 0.09357 2555 3.13555 3.21669 3.48574 4.82664
2555 0.04023 0.06194 0.06315 0.06298 2920 3.62623 3.75072 4.14792 6.11070
2920 0.02365 0.04155 0.04254 0.04239 3285 4.11839 4.29557 4.84476 7.54632
3285 0.01376 0.02786 0.02866 0.02852 3650 4.61115 4.84928 5.57203 9.11945
3650 0.00794 0.01869 0.01930 0.01918
Maintenance times

Preventive maintenance

Time case 1 case 2 case 3

Table 4. Availability of models. 0 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000
365 0.39396 0.39372 0.39372
Availability
730 0.78945 0.78792 0.78798
Corrective maintenance 1095 1.18626 1.18227 1.18249
1460 1.58413 1.57676 1.57730
Time case 1 case 2 case 3 case 4 1825 1.98273 1.97137 1.97242
2190 2.38178 2.36608 2.36784
0 1.00000 1.00000 1.00000 1.00000 2555 2.78110 2.76087 2.76354
365 0.99947 0.99962 0.99962 0.99963 2920 3.18056 3.15573 3.15949
730 0.99891 0.99957 0.99955 0.99958 3285 3.58010 3.55065 3.55566
1095 0.99828 0.99950 0.99946 0.99948 3650 3.97966 3.94562 3.95203
1460 0.99777 0.99944 0.99934 0.99936
1825 0.99742 0.99938 0.99923 0.99921
2190 0.99722 0.99934 0.99912 0.99905
2555 0.99710 0.99930 0.99901 0.99890 the reliability of preventive maintenance at the
2920 0.99704 0.99927 0.99892 0.99876 same time points is higher than corrective mainte-
3285 0.99702 0.99925 0.99884 0.99862 nance. At the end of the tenth year, the availability
3650 0.99701 0.99923 0.99877 0.99851 of case 1 to 4 in corrective maintenance model is
0.99701, 0.99923, 0.99877, 0.99851, and the down-
Availability
time is 7.83006  days, 2.14794  days, 2.81143  days,
Preventive maintenance 3.03982  days. The availability of case 1 to 3  in
preventive maintenance model is 0.99964, and
Time case 1 case 2 case 3 the downtime is 1.32655  days, 1.31521  days,
1.31734 days. The availability is higher and down-
0 1.00000 1.00000 1.00000 time is lower in the preventive maintenance model,
365 0.99964 0.99964 0.99964 indicating that preventive maintenance makes the
730 0.99964 0.99964 0.99964
gearbox more efficient and improves the reliabil-
1095 0.99964 0.99964 0.99964
ity of the system. The maintenance times of case
1460 0.99964 0.99964 0.99964
1 to 4 in corrective maintenance model is 4.61115,
1825 0.99964 0.99964 0.99964
4.84928, 5.57203, 9.11945, and the maintenance
2190 0.99964 0.99964 0.99964
times of case 1 to 3  in preventive maintenance
2555 0.99964 0.99964 0.99964
2920 0.99964 0.99964 0.99964
model is 3.97966, 3.94562, 3.95203. Compared
3285 0.99964 0.99964 0.99964
with preventive maintenance, corrective main-
3650 0.99964 0.99964 0.99964 tenance has fewer maintenance times and lower
maintenance costs.

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 Table 6. Downtime of models.

0.99851
152.77236
142.55721
Downtime

Corrective maintenance

Time (day) case 1 case 2 case 3 case 4

0.99877
408.51143
342.82348
0.99964
918.45105
641.91826
0 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000

Case 4
365 0.14936 0.13311 0.13317 0.13222
730 0.43930 0.28026 0.28229 0.27507
1095 0.95560 0.45047 0.46238 0.44477
1460 1.68257 0.64449 0.68162 0.65577
1825 2.56476 0.85967 0.94284 0.91767

0.99923
614.71290
477.14094
0.99964
923.64270
644.44997
2190 3.54654 1.09267 1.24556 1.23513

Case 3
2555 4.58600 1.34039 1.58738 1.60888
2920 5.65584 1.60024 1.96487 2.03690
3285 6.74003 1.87002 2.37418 2.51544
3650 7.83006 2.14794 2.81143 3.03982
Downtime

0.99701
740.73990
549.73973
0.99964
913.44347
639.46813
Case 2
Preventive maintenance

Time (day) case 1 case 2 case 3

0 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000
Availability, MTBF, MTBF* results.

MTBF* (day)

MTBF* (day)
365 0.13132 0.13124 0.13124

MTBF (day)

MTBF (day)
Availability

Availability
730 0.26315 0.26264 0.26266
1095 0.39542 0.39409 0.39416
Case 1
1460 0.52804 0.52559 0.52577
1825 0.66091 0.65712 0.65747
2190 0.79393 0.78869 0.78928
2555 0.92703 0.92029 0.92118
2920 1.06019 1.05191 1.05316
Corrective maintenance

Preventive maintenance

3285 1.19337 1.18355 1.18522

3650 1.32655 1.31521 1.31734
Table 7.

The results in Table 4 show that as the opera-

tion time increases, the descent speed of reliability
becomes slower and the system tends to be stable.
The results are in generally conformity with the
tub curve of early failure period and occasional
5 CONCLUSIONS
failure period. According to Table 6, the gearbox
downtime rises faster while the failure rate tends
In this paper, a Markov model of repairable multi-
to be stable, indicating that with the increase of
stages degraded systems is developed in order to
operation time, the frequency of major mainte-
analyze the reliability of offshore wind turbine
nance and components replacement increases, the
gearbox. Corrective maintenance and preventive
frequency of minor maintenance decreases. The
maintenance are discussed respectively. The C-K
failure characteristics of the gearbox life cycle
equations are derived based on the continuous-
can be described that the initial failure rate is high
time Markov approach. According to the calcu-
and downtime is short, because minor faults are
lated results, it is concluded that:
the main contributor to overall malfunctions. The
failure rate of the system declines with time and 1. The reliability results are consistent with the
tends to be stable. However, due to the equipment description of tub curve for equipment failure.
degradation, the proportion of major mainte- 2. The results of MTBF are in generally conformity
nance and replacement rises, leading to longer with the statistical data, and the accuracy of the
downtime. steady-state calculation results is acceptable.

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 3. Gearbox life cycle can be described that the
initial failure rate is high and the downtime is
relative short because minor maintenance is the
main contributor to overall malfunctions. Then
the failure rate decreases and becomes stable
because the proportion of replacement and
major maintenance rises.
4. Preventive maintenance can improve the system
reliability and availability, shorten the down-
time. However, maintenance times are fewer
and maintenance cost is lower in the corrective
maintenance model. Hence the preventive main-
tenance is more practical to crucial components.
REFERENCES
Azadeh A., Asadzadeh S. M., Salehi N. & Firoozi M. 2015.
Condition-based maintenance effectiveness for series-
parallel power generation system-A combined Mark-
ovian simulation model. Reliability Engineering &
System Safety, 142: 357–368.
Carroll J., McDonald A. & McMillan D. Failure rate,
repair time and unscheduled O&M cost analysis of
offshore wind turbines. Wind Energy, 19: 1107–1119.
Eggon A. O., Rommetveit O. & Retle A. 2009. Handbook
on condition monitoring of wind turbines. European
Wind Energy Conference & Exhibition, Marseille,
France, March 16–19. EWEC, 2009: 1–9.
Isaac W. S., Mustapha N. & Daoud A. 2010. Performance
evaluation of multi-state degraded systems with mini-
mal repairs and imperfect preventive maintenance.
Reliability Engineering and System Safety,95: 65–69.
929
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 929
Joint Tribology Conference, Los Angeles, California,
October 24–26, 2011.
Kang J. C., Sun L. P. & Guedes Soares C. 2016. Fault tree
analysis of the failure of floating offshore wind tur-
bines support structures and blade systems. Renewable
Energies Offshore, Guedes Soares (Editor), Taylor &
Francis, London, pp. 741–749.
Lgba J., Alemzadeh K., Henningsen K. & Durugbo C.
2014. Effect of preventive maintenance intervals on
reliability and maintenance costs of wind turbine
gearboxes.Wind Energy,18:2013–2024.
Lisnianski A. & Levitin G. 2003.Multi-state system reli-
ability, assessment, optimization and applications.
Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Liu B. L., Cui L. R., Wen Y. Q. & Shen J. Y. 2015. A cold
standby repairable system with working vacations and
vacation interruption following Markovian arrival
process. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 142:
1–8.
Pattabiraman T. R., Srinivasan K. & Malarmohan K.
2015. Assessment of sideband energy ratio technique
in detection of wind turbine gear defects. Case Studies
in Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 2: 1–11.
Sheng S., McDade M. & Errichello R. Wind Turbine
Gearbox Failure Modes—A Brief. ASME/STLE 2011
International.
Wilson G. & McMillan D. Quantifying the impact of
wind speed on wind turbine component failure rates.
European Wind Energy Conference, Barcelona,
Spain, March 10–13, 2014.
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MARSTRUC_Book.indb ii 3/29/2017 9:33:47 AM
 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

A generic framework for reliability assessment of offshore wind

turbine monopiles

L. Wang & A. Kolios

Centre for Offshore Renewable Energy Engineering, School of Water, Energy and Environment, Cranfield
University, Cranfield, UK

ABSTRACT: In this work, a generic framework for reliability assessment of OWT (Offshore Wind
Turbine) monopiles is developed. The framework starts with defining limit states, and four types of limit
states are considered, i.e. ultimate, fatigue, deflection and buckling. A 3D (Three-Dimensional) para-
metric FEA (Finite Element Analysis) model of OWT monopiles is developed, taking account of soil-
solid interaction and stochastic variables (i.e. soil properties, wind, wave and current loads). Multivariate
regression is used to post-process the results of stochastic FEA simulations to derive limit-state perfor-
mance functions expressed in terms of stochastic variables. Having obtained the performance functions,
the FORM (First Order Reliability Method) is used to calculate the reliability index for each limit state.
The proposed framework is applied to a 30 m-length OWT monopile to assess its reliability. The results
indicate that the fatigue reliability is dominant in the design of OWT monopiles.

1 INTRODUCTION determine the structural responses of the monopile

Over the past 15 years, wind power technology
has experienced significant development with
over 1500% increase in global annual wind power
installation, reaching a total installed capacity of
432 GW at the end of 2015 (Council, 2016). Giv-
ing the continuous increasing trend of rotor size
(Wang et  al., 2016b), and since OWTs (Offshore
Wind Turbines) make benefit of larger available
space, it is observed that an increasing part of
R&D investments are allocated to OWTs (EWEA,
2016). Offshore wind has officially become the
most profitable renewable energy source due to
the huge development it experienced in Europe.
According to European Wind Energy Associa-
tion (EWEA, 2015), offshore wind in Europe will
reach 64.8 GW, supplying 8.4% of total electricity
demand in Europe in 2030.
Due to their ease of both fabrication and instal-
lation, monopiles are currently the most commonly
used foundation for OWTs, representing 80.1% of
total EU’s installation in 2015 (Wilkes et al., 2016).
They are well suitable for water depths ranging
from 5 m to 30 m.
OWT monopiles may experience significant
soil-solid interactions and are exposed to harsh
marine environments with great uncertainty (e.g.
soil properties, wind, wave and current loads, etc.),
making their reliability assessment quite challeng-
ing. The reliability assessment of OWT monopiles
requires a structural model of monopiles to
structures subjected to both soil-solid interaction
and loads induced by harsh marine environments.
Appropriate reliability methods, e.g. FORM (First
Order Reliability Method) should be employed in
order to evaluate the probability of failure.
Structural models used for OWT monopiles
can be roughly categorised into two groups, i.e.
1) 1D (One-Dimensional) beam model, in which
monopile structures are discretised into a series of
beam elements; and 2) 3D (Three-Dimensional)
FEA (Finite Element Analysis) model, in which
monopile structures are constructed using shell or
brick elements. The 1D beam model is computa-
tionally efficient and capable of providing reason-
able results to model global structural behaviour,
such as deflections and modal frequencies (Wang
et  al., 2014). However, it fails to represent accu-
rately structural responses at local scale, such as
stress concentration effects (Petrini et al., 2010). In
order to capture structural responses accurately, it
is necessary to construct the monopile structures
using 3D FEA. Compared to the 1D beam model,
the 3D FEA model is capable of examining detailed
stress distributions within the structure and cap-
turing structural responses accurately. Due to its
high fidelity, the 3D FEA model has been widely
applied to model wind turbine structures (Wang
et al., 2016c, Wang et al., 2015, Abdel-Rahman and
Achmus, 2005, Wang et al., 2016a). Therefore, 3D
FEA model is chosen in this study to determine the
structural responses of OWT monopiles.

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 Due to the fact that part of a OWT monopile
(i.e. monopile foundation) is embedded into the
soil, the soil-structure interaction should be con-
sidered in order to accurately capture the struc-
tural responses of OWT monopiles. A simple way
to model the soil is the p-y method (SM, 2000),
in which the soil is modelled by equivalent springs
with stiffness based on soil properties. However,
this method was developed and valid for the Oil
and Gas industry only, which is not suitable for
larger pile diameters used for OWT monopiles.
Consequently, the p-y method tends to overesti-
mate the pile-soil stiffness and underestimate lat-
eral deflections (Jung et al., 2015). A recommended
way to obtain accurate and reliable results is to use
3D FEA with brick elements to model the soil (GL,
2016, Jung et al., 2015). Considering the accuracy,
the 3D FEA with brick elements is chosen in this
study to model the soil.
This paper attempts to develop a generic frame-
work for reliability assessment of OWT mono-
piles, considering soil-solid interaction and harsh
marine environments. A 3D parametric FEA
model of OWT monopiles is developed, taking
account of soil-soild interaction and stochastic
variables. Multivariate regression is used to post-
process the results of stochastic FEA simula-
tions to obtain limit-state performance functions
expressed in terms of stochastic variables. After
that, the FORM is used to calculate the reliabil-
ity index for each limit state. The proposed frame-
work is applied to a 30 m-length OWT monopile to
assess its reliability.
This paper is structured as follows. Section  2
presents the parametric FEA model. Section  3
presents the implementation of structural reliabil-
ity assessment. Section  4 presents the results and
discussion, followed by conclusions in Section 5.
2 PARAMETRIC FEA MODEL
A parametric FEA model of OWT monopiles is
developed using ANSYS, which is a widely used
commercial FE software. The parametric FEA
model enables the stochastic modelling of OWT
monopiles with stochastic variables (such as loads
and material properties). The geometry, materials,
mesh, loads and boundary conditions used in the
parametric FEA model are presented below.
2.1 Geometry
The monopile used in this study has an outer
diameter of 5  m and an overall length of 30  m,
consisting of ten 3  m-length segments with var-
ied thickness (see Fig.  1a). The soil is modelled
as a cylindrical body with a depth of 30  m and
932
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 932
Figure  1. Geometry: (a) thickness distributions of
monopile, (b) monopile, (c) soil, (d) assembly.
Table 1. Properties of S355 structural steel (GL, 2016).
Property Value
Density [kg/m3] 7800
Young’s modulus [GPa] 210
Poisson’s ratio [-] 0.28
Yield strength [MPa] 355
a diameter of 75  m. The depth of soil is divided
into three layers, i.e. loose sand, medium clay and
medium sand. 15 m of the monopile is embedded
into the soil, and the remaining 15  m covers the
distance from the seabed level up to the sea surface.
Figure 1 depicts the geometry model.
2.2 Materials
2.2.1 Monopile material
The monopile is made of S355  structural steel,
which is a widely used material for OWT sup-
port structures. This material has isotropic elastic
behaviour, and its properties are listed in Table 1.
2.2.2 Soil profile
Three types of soil (i.e. loose sand, medium clay
and medium sand) are assigned with the Drucker-
Prager Strength Linear model (Drucker and
Prager, 1952) which has been widely used to rep-
resent the behaviour of soils. In this model, the
cohesion and compaction behaviour of the mate-
rials result in an increasing resistance to shear up
to a limiting value of yield strength as the loading
increases. The yield strength of these materials is
highly dependent on pressure, and the yield stress
is taken as a linear function of pressure. Accord-
ing to Drucker-Prager model, the yield strength of
the soil, σy, s, can be expressed in terms of cohesion
coefficient c and friction angle φ using the follow-
ing equation:
3/29/2017 9:45:04 AM
 6c cos(φ ) loads; 2) wave loads; 3) current loads; 4) hydro-
σy s = (1) static pressure loads; 5) inertia loads; 6) loads due
3(( sin(φ )) to marine growth; 7) sea ice loads; 8) loads due to
exceptional events (ship impact, earthquake etc.).
Table  2  summarises the properties of the soil In this study, the aerodynamic, wave, current,
model used in this study. hydrostatic pressure and inertia loads are consid-
ered. Other loads associated with marine growth,
2.3 Mesh sea ice and exceptional events are not considered.
These effects may play an important role for cer-
The monopile is a thin-walled structure, and there- tain locations or more detailed investigation, but
fore shell elements can be used to model it accu- for the purpose of this study they are deemed
rately and efficiently. This is not the case for the negligible.
soil layers, and therefore the soil is modelled using
brick elements. For both monopile and soil, a 2.4.1 Load cases
regular mesh generation method is used to gener- In this study, both ultimate and fatigue load
ate high quality elements, ensuring computational cases are considered. For the ultimate load case,
accuracy and saving computational time. The gen- the extreme sea condition (i.e. 50-year extreme
erated mesh is depicted in Figure 2. wind condition combined with extreme wave and
extreme current) represents a severe load and there-
2.4 Loads and boundary conditions fore is taken as a critical ultimate load case. For
the fatigue load case, wind and wave fatigue loads
OWTs are exposed to more complex loading con- for the normal operation of OWTs are considered.
ditions than their onshore equivalents. The harsh The current loads are not considered in the fatigue
marine environments together with specific design analysis, as the effect of current on the calculated
features cause complex loads which OWT mono- stress range is relatively small and can be ignored
piles have to withstand. According to DNV-OS- in the fatigue analysis (GL, 2015).
J101 standard (DNV, 2014), these loads can be Table  3 presents both extreme and normal sea
categorised into eight groups, i.e. 1) aerodynamics condition considered in this study. The wind loads
are presented in Table  4 and are taken from Ref.
(LaNier, 2005) for WindPACT 3.6  MW wind tur-
Table  2. Summary of properties of the soil model bine, which is a reference wind turbine designed by
(Brady and Weil, 1996, Geotechdata, 2016).
NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory).
Values Both current and wave loads on slender structural
members, such as monopile submerged in water,
Item Layer 1 Layer 2 Layer 3 can be calculated using Morrion’s equation (DNV,
2014):
Type of soil Loose Medium Medium
sand clay sand
Depth [m] 0–5 5–15 15–30
Table  3. Sea conditions (Kühn, 2001, Garcés García,
Density [kg/m3] 1850 1910 1975
2012).
Young’s modulus 24 50 53
[MPa] Values
Poisson’s ratio 0.3 0.3 0.3
Cohesion coefficient 50 15 63 Extreme sea Normal sea
[kPa] Item condition condition
Friction angle [deg.] 29.5 23 33.0
Yield stress [kPa] 60.1 18.3 74.5 Wind speed [m/s] 50 10
Significant wave height [m] 8.40 1.00
Wave period [s] 10.50 5.55
Current speed [m/s] 1.40 –

Table 4. Wind loads (LaNier, 2005).

Load case Thrust [kN] Bending moment [kN-m]

Ultimate 1,196 99,973

Fatigue 143 19,772
Figure 2. Mesh: (a) monopile, (b) soil, (c) assembly.

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 F Fd + Fm
1 π D2 (2)
= ρwCd D ux ux + ρwCm ax
2 4

where the first term is a drag force and the second

term is an inertia force; ρw is the water density; Cd
and Cm are the drag and inertia coefficient, respec-
tively; D is the diameter of the cylinder; ux and ax
are the horizontal wave-induced or current-induced
velocity and acceleration of water, respectively.
It should be noted that the significant wave
height, wave period, current speed in Table 3 and
wind loads in Table 4 are to be modelled stochasti-
Figure 3. Flowchart of reliability analysis.
cally, and the details are presented in Section 3.

2.4.2 Boundary conditions 3.1 Ultimate limit state

For the ultimate load case, the wind loads are
applied to the monopile top, while both wave and
current loads are applied to the monopile surface
submerged into the water. The wind turbine weight
on the top of the monopile is taken into account by
applying a point load of 3,129 kN (LaNier, 2005)
to the monopile top. Additionally, the hydrostatic
pressure due to the sea water and the inertia loads
due to the mass of monopile itself are also consid-
ered in this case, and these loads are automatically
calculated by ANSYS software.
For the fatigue load case, the wind loads are
applied to the monopile top, while the wave loads
are applied to the monopile surface submerged
into the water.
Additionally, for both loads cases, 1) the lat-
eral boundaries of the soil model are fixed against
lateral translation whereas the bottom of the soil
model is fixed against translation in all directions;
and 2) a frictional contact is defined between the
contact surface of monopile and soil, enabling the
soil-solid interaction.
3 IMPLEMENTATION OF STRUCTURAL
RELIABILITY ASSESSMENT
In this section, the structural reliability of OWT
monopiles is implemented, considering four limit
states, i.e. ultimate, fatigue, deflection and buck-
ling. The FEA model presented in Section 2 is used
to perform stochastic FEA modelling of OWT
monopiles, taking account of stochastic variables,
such as wind loads, wave loads and soil properties.
Regression is then used to post-process the results
from FEA modelling to obtain the performance
function expressed in terms of stochastic variables.
After that, FORM is used to calculate the reliabil-
ity index, obtaining reliability analysis results. The
flowchart of the reliability analysis is presented in
Figure 3.
The ultimate limit state defines the ability of the
structure to resist plastic collapse. For monopile
structures, the equivalent stress is generally deter-
mined using the von-Mises stress theory. The limit
state function for the von-Mises criterion can be
expressed as:
gu ( x ) = σ allow
ll − σ max (3)
where subscript u denotes the ultimate limit state,
σallow is the allowable stress, σmax is the maximum
von-Mises stress within monopile structure.
The allowable stress σallow in Eq. (3) can be
expressed as:
σy
σ allow = (4)
γm
where σy is the yield strength, with a value of
355  MPa for Steel S355; γm is the material safety
factor, with a value of 1.1 suggested by DNV-OS-
J101 standard (DNV, 2014). Thus, the allowable
stress σallow is 323 MPa.
3.2 Fatigue limit state
The fatigue limit state is particularly important
in structures, such as OWT monopiles, subjected
to significant cyclic loads. OWT monopiles nor-
mally have a long service period that may exceed
20 years. This, in conjunction with the inspection
intervals, affects the reliability requirement of the
monopile structural design.
According to the S–N curve method, the num-
ber of loading cycles to failure, N, is given by:
log l g S
log (5)
where A is the intercept; m is the slope of the S–N
curve in the log-log plot; ΔS is the stress range.

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 The intercept A and slope m in Eq. (5) are gener- on the monopile structure; Lm_min is the minimum
ally given by design standards, e.g. DNV-OS-J101 allowable load multiplier.
(DNV, 2014). In this study, the thickness-corrected Eq. (9) implies if the buckling load multiplier Lm
cathodic-protected D curve given by DNV-OS- less than the minimum allowable load multiplier
J101 (DNV, 2014) is chosen in the fatigue analysis. Lm,min, buckling failure occurs.
The performance function of fatigue reliability In this study, a value of 1.4 is chosen for the
analysis based on S–N curve method is given by: minimum allowable load multiplier Lm,min, accord-
ing to DNV standard (DNV, 2014).
gf l ( N ) − log (Nt ) (6)
3.5 Stochastic variables and FEA
where subscript f denotes the fatigue limit state, The stochastic variables considered in this study are
N is the number of loading cycles to failure and presented in Table  5. Eight stochastic variables are
can be obtained by using Eq. (5), Nt is the number considered for ultimate load case. For fatigue load
of loading cycles expected during the given time case, seven stochastic variables are considered, exclud-
period (e.g. 20 years). ing the current speed. The COV of all stochastic vari-
ables are assumed to be 0.1. The mean values of these
stochastic variables are given by Tables 2, 3 and 4.
3.3 Deflection limit state Having defined the stochastic variables, the FEA
Excessive deflections influence the serviceability of model presented in Section  2 is then used to per-
OWT monopiles and therefore should be avoided. form stochastic FEA modelling of wind turbine
The limit state function for deflection criteria can monopile structures, with the help of the Design
be expressed as: of Experiments module in ANSYS. It enables the
input parameters being designated as stochastic
gd ( x ) = dallow d max (7) parameters, having different types of distributions
(such as normal, lognormal and Weibull distribu-
tions). A number of simulations have been executed
where subscript d denotes the deflection limit state, in ANSYS software, and the results are imported
dallow is the allowable deflection, and dmax is the max- into a MATLAB code that has been developed for
imum deflection. data regression, which is presented below.
Eq. (7) implies if the maximum deflection
dmax exceeds the allowable deflection dallow, failure 3.6 Regression
occurs.
In this study, the allowable deflection dallow in Regression analysis is a statistical process for estab-
Eq. (7) is given by the following empirical equa- lishing relationship between a dependent variable
tion suggested by DNV-OS-J101 standard (DNV,
2014):
Table 5. Stochastic variables for fatigue limit state.
L
dallow = (8) Distribution
200 types (EN, 2002,
Variables Descriptions DNV, 1992) Load cases
where L is the length of the monopile.
In this study, the monopile length L is 30 m, and x1 Wind thrust Normal Fatigue and
thus the allowable deflection dallow is 0.15 m. ultimate
x2 Wind bending Normal Fatigue and
moment ultimate
3.4 Buckling limit state x3 Significant Weibull Fatigue and
wave height ultimate
OWT monopiles are generally thin-walled struc-
x4 Wave period Lognormal Fatigue and
ture and can be prone to buckling failure. There- ultimate
fore, buckling should be considered in the design x5 Current speed Weibull Ultimate
of monopiles. The limit state function for buckling x6 Young’s Normal Fatigue and
criterion can be expressed as: modulus of ultimate
loose sand
gb ( x ) = Lm Lm ,min (9) x7 Young’s Normal Fatigue and
modulus of ultimate
medium clay
where subscript b denotes the buckling limit state;
x8 Young’s Normal Fatigue and
Lm is the buckling load multiplier, which is the ratio
modulus of ultimate
of the critical buckling load to the applied load medium sand

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 and one or more independent variables. Taking the used to calculate the reliability index β. The flow-
ultimate limit state as an example, the dependent chart of FORM is summarised below.
variable (i.e. maximum von-Mises stress σmax) and
independent variables (i.e. wind thrust x1, wind 1. Define the performance function for differ-
bending moment x2, significant wave height x3, ent limit state. Taking ultimate limit state as
wave period x4, current speed x5, Young’s modu- an example, substituting Eq. (10) into Eq. (3)
lus of loose sand x6, Young’s modulus of medium yields the following performance function:
clay x7, and Young’s modulus of dense sand x8)
are assumed to have the following functional ⎡1 ⎤
relationship: ⎢ x1 ⎥
⎢x2 ⎥
gu ( x ) = σ allow − [a a a ]⎢ 1 ⎥ (11)
⎢ ⎥
ll
⎡1 ⎤
⎢ x1 ⎥ ⎢ x8 ⎥
⎢ 2⎥ ⎢⎣ x82 ⎥⎦
max =[ , , , ] ⎢ x1 ⎥ (10)
⎢ ⎥
⎢ x8 ⎥ 2. Set the mean value point as an initial design
⎢⎣ x82 ⎥⎦ point, i.e. xi , k μxi i = 1, 2,, n, and calculate
the gradients ∇g ( ) of the limit-state
(a0, a1, … a16) in Eq. (10) are 17 regression coef- function at this design point. Here, xi,k refers
ficients. For other types of limit states, i.e. deflec- to the ith element in the vector Xk of the kth
tion, buckling and fatigue, expressions similar to iteration, and μxi is the mean value of the
Eq. 10 can be derived. ith element;
The regression coefficients for different limit 3. Calculate the initial reliability index β using
states can be obtained using multivariate regres- the mean-value method, i.e. β μ g / σ g and its
sion (Kolios, 2010). direction cosine α.
Taking the maximum deflection as an example,
the regression results are compared against the g (μ )
FEA results, as depicted in Figure 4. In this case, β μ g / σ g = 1/ 2
(12)
300  stochastic FEA simulations are performed, ⎡ ⎛ ∂g ( μ
n
)⎞
2
⎤
⎢∑ ⎜ ⎟⎠ σ xi ⎥
2
obtaining 300 samples. The regression results pre- ⎢⎣ i =1 ⎝ ∂xi ⎥⎦
sented in Figure  4 are calculated using the equa-
tion derived from multivariate regression. As can
be seen from Figure 4, the regression results match ∂g ( X )
σ xi
well with the FEA results. The R square in this ∂xi
case is 0.99, which is relatively high and indicates αi = − 1/ 2
(13)
⎡ n ⎛ ∂g ( X ) ⎞ 2 ⎤
the success of the multivariate regression used in ⎢∑ ⎜ σ xi ⎟ ⎥
this study. ⎢⎣ i =1 ⎝ ∂xi ⎠ ⎥⎦

3.7 FORM (First Order Reliability Method)

4. Compute a new design point Xk and Uk, func-
Having obtained the performance function from tion value, and gradients at this new design
regression, the FORM (Hasofer and Lind, 1974) is point.

xi , k = μxi + βσ xi α i (14)

xi , k − μxi
ui , k = (15)
σ xi

5. Compute the reliability index β and direction

cosine α using Eqs. (14) and (15), respectively.
n
∂g ( )
g( )−∑ σ xi ui∗
i =1 ∂xi
β= (16)
⎛ ∂g ( )σ
2
n
⎞
∑ ⎜⎝ ∂x
i =1
xi ⎟
⎠
i
Figure 4. Comparison of FEA and regression results.

936

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 936 3/29/2017 9:45:07 AM

 ∂g ( X )
σ xi
∂xi
αi = − 1/ 2
(17)
⎡ n ⎛ ∂g ( X ) ⎞ 2 ⎤
⎢∑ ⎜ σ xi ⎟ ⎥
⎢⎣ i =1 ⎝ ∂xi ⎠ ⎥⎦

6. Repeat Steps 4) to 5) until the convergence of

reliability index β.
A Matlab code was developed in this study to
calculate the reliability index β using FORM based
on the above flowchart.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Figure 5. Fatigue reliability index over 20-year service
life.
Table 6 summarises the limit states that have been
considered in the reliability assessment of OWT
monopiles. A short description and the corre-
sponding equation of each limit state are also
included in Table 6.
Table 7 presents the reliability index β obtained
from reliability analysis of each limit state. The
overall value of the reliability index β is then
derived as the minimum value calculated from each
of the limit states examined.
As can be seen from Table  7, the fatigue limit
state dominates the design of OWT monopiles,
as fatigue reliability index βf is much smaller than
other reliability index.
In terms of fatigue reliability, we can also pre-
dict the reliability index over time. Figure  5 pre-
sents the reliability index over 20-year service time.
As can be seen from Figure 5, the reliability index Figure 6. Fatigue reliability index with different COV.
reduces with time, reaching the lowest value of
1.106 in Year 20. Additionally, a case study is performed to inves-
tigate the effects of COV of stochastic variables on
the fatigue reliability index. In this case, three val-
Table 6. Summary of limit states. ues of COV are considered, i.e. 0.08, 0.10 and 0.12.
The calculated fatigue reliability index over 20-year
Limit states Descriptions Equations
service life with different values of COV is depicted
gu Ultimate limit state Eq. 3 in Figure 6. As can be seen from Figure 6, the reli-
gf Fatigue limit state Eq. 6 ability index is sensitive to the value of COV. The
gd Deflection limit state Eq. 7 higher value of COV means higher uncertainties
gb Buckling limit state Eq. 9 in stochastic variables, resulting in lower reliability.

5 CONCLUSIONS
Table 7. Reliability index of monopile structure.
In this work, a generic framework for reliability
Item Value Description
assessment of OWT (Offshore Wind Turbine)
βu 8.903 Ultimate limit state monopiles is developed. The framework starts
βf 1.106 Fatigue limit state with defining limit state. Four types of limit states
βd 4.035 Deflection limit state are considered, i.e. ultimate, fatigue, deflection
βb 8.883 Buckling limit sate and buckling. A 3D (Three-Dimensional) para-
β 1.106 Overall metric FEA (Finite Element Analysis) model of
OWT monopiles is developed, taking account of

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 soil-solid interaction and stochastic variables (i.e.
soil properties, wind, wave and current loads).
With the help of multivariate regression, the
results from the stochastic FEA simulations are
used to derive the performance function expressed
in terms of stochastic variables. After that, FORM
(First Order Reliability Method) is used to calcu-
late the reliability index. The proposed framework
is applied to reliability assessment of a 30 m-length
monopile. The results show that 1) the fatigue reli-
ability is dominant in the design; 2) the reliability
index is sensitive to the values of COV (Coefficient
of Variation); and 3) the higher value of COV
means higher uncertainties in stochastic variables,
resulting in lower reliability. The proposed frame-
work is generic in nature and capable of effectively
assessing reliability of OWT monopiles, providing
the possibility to optimise the OWT monopiles to
meet target reliability.
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ling of horizontally loaded monopile foundations for
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offshore geotechnics. Taylor and Francis, Perth, 2005.
391–396.
Brady, N.C. & Weil, R.R. 1996. The nature and properties
of soils, Prentice-Hall Inc.
Council, G.W.E. 2016. Global wind statistics 2015.
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DNV 2014. DNV-OS-J101: Offshore standard for design
of offshore wind turbine structures.
Drucker, D.C. & Prager, W. 1952. Soil mechanics and
plastic analysis or limit design. Quarterly of applied
mathematics, 10, 157–165.
EN, B. 2002. BS EN 1990 (2002): Eurocode—Basis of
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the tightrope to success. European Wind Energy
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accessed at 22-06-2016. [Online].
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GL, D. 2016. DNVGL-ST-0126: Support structures for
wind turbines.
Hasofer, A.M. & Lind, N.C. 1974. Exact and invariant
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A Novel 10  MW Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine Rotor
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T. 2016a. Structural optimisation of vertical-axis wind
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 Progress in the Analysis and Design of Marine Structures – Guedes Soares & Garbatov (Eds)
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-06907-7

System reliability of a jacket offshore wind turbine subjected to fatigue

B. Yeter, Y. Garbatov & C. Guedes Soares

Centre for Marine Technology and Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Técnico,
Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: The present work evaluates the fatigue design of a jacket offshore wind turbine support
structure by using probabilistic methods. The fatigue lives of the welded tubular joints are estimated by
using the spectral fatigue damage approach. A new limit state function, defined based on the Dirlik prob-
ability density function and the S-N approach, is developed. The first order reliability method is applied
to evaluate the fatigue reliability of each welded tubular joint. The system reliability of the jacket offshore
wind turbine structure is estimated to account for the correlation between the welded tubular joints.

1 INTRODUCTION the jacket support structure by using the bounding

Fatigue is an important design criterion for off-
shore structures. The importance given to fatigue
failure is gradually increasing in order to have a
better performance and for a longer service life
without having to perform substantial interven-
tions to the structure such as corrective mainte-
nance and repair. The safe-life design philosophy
can be appropriate for fixed offshore structures
such as jacket platforms, which possess a number
of welded tubular joints difficult to access without
a great deal of effort and cost. However, it is also
very difficult to achieve this goal, given the uncer-
tainty and variability present in loads, material, and
environmental conditions. Therefore, the fatigue
reliability analysis plays a vital role in decision-
making in order to maintain the structural safety
above the target level throughout the service life.
The present work deals with the system reli-
ability of jacket offshore wind turbine supporting
structures, which is a good example of a system
of a multi-component redundant structure. The
system reliability of a multi-component structure
can be modelled as several parallel subsystems,
each of which represents a failure path and these
subsystems are connected together in series since
each of them constitutes the failure of the jacket
support structure. The focus herein is given to the
welded tubular joints located along the leg com-
ponent, assuming that the failure of any of these
joints causes the structure to fail.
The components are subjected to a different
level of stresses and environmental conditions,
which results in a different probability of fail-
ure associated with each component subjected to
fatigue. These different probabilities of failure are
combined to determine the system reliability of
methods accounting for the correlation between
the components.
Moan (2008) stated that reliability methods can
be used at the design stage to assess the optimal
choice of scantlings and materials as well as the
inspection plan. In addition, these methods can be
employed continuously to assess the safety during
the operation to provide information in updating
the inspection plan and other safety measures to
maintain the safety level.
Using reliability analysis to assess the safety of
marine structures has a long history. Both for ship
structures and for offshore structures, there have
been a vast number of applications of the reliabil-
ity methods to assess the structural safety.
Garbatov and Guedes Soares (2008) carried out
the reliability assessment of ship hulls subjected to
corrosion and fatigue deterioration, where corro-
sion and multiple cracks are modelled as a time-
dependent process. Huang et al. (2013) analysed
fatigue reliability of a complex web frame welded
structure subjected to the correlated growth of
multiple through-thickness cracks. Garbatov and
Guedes Soares (2011) dealt with the fatigue reli-
ability assessment of a welded joint in a longitu-
dinal stiffener of trapezoidal shape in a very fast
ferry, where the structural system composed of
several hot spots was evaluated as a series system
based on second order reliability bounds. Van den
Berg et al. (2014) underlined the relevance of the
use of correlation in both system reliability estima-
tion and updating and concluded that neglecting
of correlation is conservative for the series system,
while it is non-conservative for parallel systems.
The published research on fatigue reliability
analysis of offshore structures, particularly jacket-
type platforms is briefly discussed in the following.

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 Onoufriou (1999) emphasised the importance of
using more refined system reliability approach,
which can be implemented to study and compare
various inspection planning strategies including a
range of inspection methods and acceptance cri-
teria. Shabakhty et al. (2003) estimated the system
reliability of jack-up structures by considering the
sequence of fatigue failures. The results pointed
out a significant systems effect, which the prob-
ability of structural failure is larger than the prob-
ability of failure for an individual section.
Moan and Song (2000) analysed the influence
of inspection of certain joints on the reliability of
a series system and found that the system reliability
is significantly affected by the implemented inspec-
tion policies. Ayala-Uraga and Moan (2002) for-
mulated the occurrence of two fatigue failures in
sequence in highly correlated components in a sim-
ple parallel system in order to visualise potential
implementation of system reliability and updat-
ing procedures in offshore structures subjected to
fatigue and overload. While Madsen et al. (1987)
also discussed that the updating after inspection
and repair can be carried out in a simple way by
use of the First Order Reliability Method (FORM)
applied to parallel systems.
The system reliability of offshore wind turbine
has not been addressed broadly, although there
have been some works published on fatigue reli-
ability of offshore wind turbine support structures
such as (Dong et al., 2012; Yeter et al., 2015b; Yeter
et al., 2015c; Márquez-Domínguez and Sørensen,
2012).
The present work aims to deal with the fatigue
reliability of a jacket OWT supporting structure
to be installed at a 40 m water depth. The spec-
tral analysis is carried out for the welded tubular
joints subjected to the wind and wave-induced
loadings. The fatigue damage assessment is carried
out based on the S-N approach together with the
Palmgren (1924) linear damage accumulation rule.
A new limit state function is developed based on
the Dirlik (1985) probability density function.
The fatigue reliability assessment is performed
by using FORM for various welded tubular joints
of the jacket support structure, which are deemed
to be critical. The system reliability of a jacket
OWT structure is estimated considering the fact
that these hot spots constitute a serial system.
2 SPECTRAL ANALYSIS
Spectral analysis is a common practice in the fatigue
assessment for both ship and offshore structures.
The spectral analysis processes the random nature
of environmental loads such as the wind, wave
and current loads as input loading and yields a
940
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 940
structural response in the frequency domain where
the dynamic effects are accounted for. In addition,
it provides a more rigorous solution than deter-
ministic fatigue approach and less tedious solution
than the time-domain solution.
The structural response in the frequency-
domain, is represented by a stress transfer func-
tion defined as a function of the unit amplitude of
significant wave height and wind speed. The pre-
dicted fatigue life is estimated assuming that the
component is subjected to statistically defined ran-
dom loads, which are simplified to be a stationary
Gaussian process.
The dynamic behaviour of the jacket offshore
wind turbine support structure is calculated using
a harmonic analysis in the commercial software
ANSYS. Then, the stress transfer function at
each location is calculated and combined with the
power spectral density of the wind and wave. As
a result, the stress power spectral density associ-
ated with each sea state is estimated. A more
detailed description of the fatigue analysis spectral
approach is given in (Yeter et al., 2014, 2016a).
2.1 Application of the spectral analysis
The jacket OWT support structures have already
been utilised quite often as the offshore wind
industry is moving towards deeper waters. The
main advantages of the jacket support structure
over other support structures are its higher load
carrying capability and lower sensitivity to hydro-
dynamic loads. However, the jacket support struc-
ture is composed of a tubular frame system with
many welded tubular connections, which makes
them prone to fatigue failure. That is why the
fatigue performance of the jacket structures is an
essential design-driving criterion and the fatigue
reliability analysis is necessary.
The jacket configuration used in the present
study is taken from a study reported by Yeter et al.
(2016b), which evaluates the jacket configuration
the dynamic behaviour, structural capacity and
fabrication cost.
The reference jacket support structure, designed
for a 40 m water depth, consists of three support-
ing modules with a leg length of 16 m, 19 m and
25 m, from top to bottom. The distance between
the platform, located at the top of the supporting
structure, and the still water level is 20 m, which
is estimated based on the water levels associated
with the site data considering a storm condition.
Figure  1 illustrates the jacket offshore wind tur-
bine at a 40 m water depth.
Yeter et al. (2016c) verified the structural design
of these jacket support structures at using the
same wind turbine of 5 MW. The diameters for the
legs, braces and piles are 1.2 m, 0.8 m and 1.8 m
3/29/2017 9:45:10 AM

Figure 1. Jacket offshore wind turbine.
respectively. The thicknesses of the leg compo-
nents, from bottom to top, are 0.038 m, 0.030 m
and 0.024 m, while the thicknesses of the brace
components from bottom to top, are 0.025 m,
0.021 m and 0.016 m. The thickness of the pile
component is 0.045 m. The details of the struc-
tural description of the jacket offshore wind tur-
bine, including the characteristics of 5 MW wind
turbine can be found in (Yeter et al., 2016c).
2.2 Finite element model
The jacket support structure, transition piece and
tower are modelled by beam elements. The finite
element BEAM188, which is used to model the
structure, is a two-node beam element in 3-D and
has six degrees of freedom at each node, including
translations in the x, y, and z directions, and rota-
tions about the x, y and z directions. The element
size of 2 m is found appropriate. The given element
size is applied throughout the whole offshore wind
turbine structure.
941
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 941
As far as the material properties are concerned,
the offshore high-strength steel, whose yield
strength is 355 MPa and modulus of elasticity is
210 GPa. The density of the steel is 7850 kg/m3.
2.3 Loading and boundary conditions
For modelling of wave-induced loads subjected to
the jacket support structure, the widely-accepted
Morison et al. (1950) equation is used. The method
is based on the linear superimposition of drag and
inertia forces acting along the slender structure.
The kinematic properties of the wave to be used
in the Morison equation are described by the 2nd
Stokes wave theory (Wilson, 2003).
The wind-induced loads account for the aero-
dynamic, centrifugal and gravitational forces, and
they are considered herein as a tower top load. The
tower top load is defined as a transfer function that
is described by the wind turbulence spectra with a
mean speed, turbulence intensity and wind shear
and it takes into account the dynamic control sys-
tem. The transfer function of the wind speed to the
tower top, see Figure 2, load can be established based
on the assumption that once the support structure
is modelled totally rigid, which enables to uncouple
the turbine and the support structure by doing so,
the transfer function can be applicable for any type
of support structure (van der Tempel, 2006).
The offshore wind turbine supporting structure
is subjected to the wind and wave-induced load-
ings. Instead of performing a dynamic response
analysis under wind and wave loads independently,
another computational approach is employed here.
The coupled dynamic response of the structure
due to the wind and wave loads, which are calcu-
lated separately, but applied together, is analysed
by using the coupled analysis method that is based
on the assumption that the phasing of wind and
Figure  2. Transfer function of the wind speed to the
tower top load.
3/29/2017 9:45:10 AM
 wave loads is stochastic and fully correlated (Yeter
et al., 2015a).
This work adopts the Winkler (1867) spring
model to deal with the pile-soil interaction due to
its accuracy and simplicity. In the Winkler spring
model, the elastic soil can be modelled by a series
of infinite, closely spaced, independent and elastic
springs that are characterised by the soil stiffness.
The stiffness of the springs used along the piles is
presented in Figure 3.

2.4 Dynamic structural behaviour

The present work performs a harmonic analysis
using ANSYS (2009) in order to assess the dynamic
structural behaviour of the jacket offshore wind
turbine in the frequency domain. As a result of
the analysis, the stress transfer function associ-
ated with the axial load, in-plane and out-of-plane
bending moments can be obtained for all welded
tubular joints. Figure  4. Application of loads and boundary
The wave loads are applied to the support struc- conditions.
ture as nodal forces, while the wind load is applied
as the concentrated forces at the top of the tower
structure. The boundary conditions are applied to
the piles as linear springs based on the Winkler
spring model. The application of the loads and
boundary conditions is demonstrated in Figure 4.
The structural damping used in the analysis
is 0.05 and it includes the assumed aerodynamic
damping as well. The frequency range is taken as
0–1.15 Hz.
The stress transfer function regarding the
axial load, the in-plane and out-of-plane bending
moments are presented in Figure  5. The results
reveal that the axial load is the dominating source
of stress for all the joints, although, there is also a
considerable contribution from the in-plane bend-
ing moment. Figure  5. Stress transfer function of a welded tubular
joint subjected to different load types.

These transfer functions are later on to be com-

bined with the stress concentration factor associ-
ated with the load type, and as a result of it, the
hot spot stress transfer function is attained.

3 FATIGUE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT

3.1 S-N approach

Figure 3. Spring stiffness of the Winkler springs along
pile.
Fatigue is a process of cycle-by-cycle accumulation
of damage in a structure subjected to fluctuating
stresses. It goes through several stages from the
“crack-free” intact state to a state that the reduced
cross-section becomes insufficient to carry out the
peak load without rupture. The fatigue strength of a
structural detail is described by a set of S-N curves,

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 which represent the relation between the fatigue life
Nf and stress range Δσ applied to a given sample,
which is expressed by the following formula:
N f Δσ a (1)
where a and m are the fatigue strength descrip-
tors and vary based on the types of S-N curves.
Given that the coating protection may fail before
the end of the service life of an offshore wind tur-
bine structure, the present work adopts the two
T-type S-N curves given by DnV (2014) for the
T&Y welded-tubular joint type.
The first one is for the seawater environment
with a cathodic protection, in which log a and m
are 11.764 and 3, respectively. The latter one is for
the free corrosion condition i.e. without cathodic
protection in which log a and m are 11.687 and
3 respectively. The one slope S-N curve for the
cathodic protection is used, which keeps the results
on the safe side for calculated fatigue lives, as also
recommended by DnV (2014).
The fatigue damage from each stress cycle can
be calculated based on the S-N approach and the
cyclic damages summed by the Palmgren-Miner
rule to find the accumulated fatigue damage:
Nt
ni
Dtotal = ∑ (2)
i Nf i
where Nt is the total number of stress cycle block, ni
is the number of constant stress range cycles Δσi in
block i, and Nf,i is the number of cycles to failure at
stress range Δσi. The fatigue damage is assumed to
occur when the damage ratio Dtotal exceeds unity.
3.2 Hot spot stress approach
The hot spot stress approach was developed in the
1970s in a combined effort by classification soci-
eties and operators of offshore 42 installations
together with research institutes. The objective was
to estimate the fatigue strength assessment of tubu-
lar joints (Fricke, 2003). The hot spot stress repre-
sents the stress change due to the overall effect of
the tubular joint geometry on the nominal stress;
however, the weld profile is not taken into account.
The hot spot stress range explicitly includes the
stress concentration due to the structural detail is
defined as:
Δσ hotspot SC Δσ nominal (3)
where Δσhotspot, Δσnominal, SCF is the hot spot stress
range, nominal stress range and stress concentra-
tion factor, respectively.
943
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 943
3.3 Stress concentration factor
The stress concentration of a structural detail can
be estimated by an appropriate measurement of
a physical model, through the analytical solution
based on the finite element method, or by means
of parametric equations. The parametric equa-
tions are derived from physical and mathematical
models and they have been used in the offshore
engineering practice for welded tubular joints
(ABS, 2013).
The parametric equations are based on non-
dimensional geometric parameters rather than the
original geometric parameters such as a diameter,
thickness, length. By doing so, the equations are
simplified and the possibility of using them for the
models from different size can be amplified.
β is the brace to chord diameter ratio, γ is the
chord slenderness ratio, τ is the brace to chord
thickness ratio, θ is the angle between chord and
brace, and α is can slenderness ratio.
Efthymiou (1988) proposed equations that are
recommended to calculate SCF by the guidelines
regarding with the fatigue design of offshore steel
structures by DnV (2014).
Welding processes most likely leave metallurgi-
cal discontinues from which cracks may grow. In
addition to this, the geometrical discontinuity is an
important source of a stress concentration. There-
fore, the welded tubular joints are the most fatigue
critical parts of a jacket support structure and the
focus must be given to these joints in the fatigue
reliability analysis.
Figure  6 shows the welded tubular joints that
are studied in the present work and Table 1 gives
the non-dimensional geometry properties.
The hot spot stress may vary around circum-
ferences of the intersection because of the differ-
ent response at the crown and saddle, and also a
sinusoidal variation of the bending stress resulting
from in-plane and out of plane bending.
With regard to this, DnV (2014) suggests that
the hot spot stresses are calculated by a linear
interpolation of the given stresses. Further, the hot
spot stress should be evaluated at 8 spots around
the circumference.
Figure 7 shows the hot spot stresses calculated
at 8 spots through circumferences of the intersec-
tion and it is seen the maximum hot spot stress
occurs at the crown (spot 1).
The maximum hot spot stress around the cir-
cumferences at each fatigue critical location is cal-
culated and the transfer function associated with
the hot spot stresses are presented in Figure 8.
It is seen from Figure 8 that HS2 is the most crit-
ical among all the hot spots. This can be explained
by its higher SCFaxial. Although HS2 and HS3 have
similar SCF, there is a difference between their hot
3/29/2017 9:45:13 AM
 spot values, which comes from the usage of dif-
ferent thickness. The least stressed welded tubu-
lar joint is found to be HS6, at the bottom of the
jacket support structure.

3.4 Long-term response

The joint wind and wave spectrum are to be scaled
by the hot spot stress transfer function so that
the stress Power Spectral Density (PSD) account-
ing for the wind and wave-induced loadings are

Figure 7. Hot spot stresses around the circumferences.

Figure  6. Welded tubular joints considered as hot

spots.
Figure 8. Hot spot stress transfer functions.
Table 1. Non-dimensional parameters and SCFs.

Non-dimensional
parameters
β γchord τ θMax/θmin α
HS1 0.67 25.0 0.67 39.28
HS2 0.67 25.0 0.67 40.33/
30.70
HS3 0.67 25.0 0.67 40.33/
30.70
HS4 0.67 18.75 0.67 41.09/
31.75
HS5 0.67 18.75 0.67 41.09/
31.75
HS6 0.67 15.8 0.67 29.66/−
Stress concen- estimated. As a result, the hot spot stress PSD is
tration factors obtained for each sea state.
As far as the fatigue design limit state is con-
Axial Mip Mop cerned, this study considers the design load case
DLC 1.2 that is defined in IEC 61400-3 (2009) for
13.33 3.45 1.76 7.43 the normal operation condition of wind turbines.
29.16 3.95 1.42 7.04 The range of 1-hour mean wind speed Uw is from
2 to 25 m/s in 1 m/s increments. A joint probabi-
29.16 3.95 1.42 7.04 listic model of the mean wind speed, Uw, signifi-
cant wave height, Hs and spectral peak period, Tp is
36.67 3.47 1.23 5.59
used. A 3-D scatter diagram defined for the North
Atlantic is used to define the sea states.
36.67 3.47 1.23 5.59
By considering all possible combinations, the
20.83 3.51 1.06 3.12 number of simulations can reach up to 1000. In
order to spend less computational effort, the

944

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 944 3/29/2017 9:45:14 AM

 number of sea states is reduced to 24, which are
presented in Table 2. Moreover, the present study
assumes that the wind and waves come from the
same direction.
The wind and wave-induced loads are repre-
sented by the improved von Karman wind spec-
trum (ESDU, 1993) and the JONSWAP spectrum
(Hasselmann et al., 1973) respectively, which are
presented in Figure 9.
A stress response spectrum (see Figure 10), as a
result of the combined wind and wave loading, is
estimated for 24 studied sea states. Each sea state
associated with a short-term stress distribution. In
order to estimate the cumulative fatigue damage,
the long-term stress distribution is estimated as
Figure 9. Wind and wave spectrum.
the sum of the individual short-term stress distri-
butions over all the load states weighted with the
relative occurrence of each combination of them
(Almar-Naess et al., 1999).
A method to calculate the fatigue damage using
the power spectral density is based on the assump-
tion that the histogram of the peaks of a time process
can be described by a continuous probability density
function. The number of cycles for each stress value
over the long-term is expressed as follows:
∞

n( ) f0Td ∫ p ( Δσ ) d Δσ (4)
0

Table 2. Sea states (Yeter et al., 2015a).

Sea Uw Hs Tp Probability of
states (m/s) (m) (s) Occurrence (%) Figure 10. Power spectral density of hot spot stress.

1 2.00 1.94 8.87 1.40

2 3.00 2.33 9.53 3.20 where f0 is the average zero-up crossing frequency,
3 4.00 2.60 9.53 5.10 Td is the design life, and p(Δσ) is the stress range
4 5.00 2.82 9.62 7.00 distribution.
5 6.00 2.87 9.65 7.70 With the introduction of n(Δσ) into the
6 7.00 3.09 9.55 8.30 Palmgren–Miner’s damage accumulation rule
7 8.00 3.21 9.43 8.60 described in Eq. 2, the total accumulated fatigue
8 9.00 3.66 9.32 8.70 damage can be defined as:
9 10.00 3.66 9.29 8.30
∞
10 11.00 3.95 9.23 8.60 f0Td
Δσ m ∑ li pi ( )d Δσ
a ∫0
11 12.00 4.19 9.38 6.70 Dtotal = (5)
i
12 13.00 4.46 9.58 5.80
13 14.00 4.69 9.35 4.90
14 15.00 4.98 9.50 4.00 where li is the relative number of stress cycles,
15 16.00 5.33 9.52 3.00 which is defined as:
16 17.00 5.86 9.90 2.50
17 18.00 5.71 9.60 1.90 Pi f0,i
li = (6)
18
19
19.00
20.00
5.73
5.77
9.86
9.64
1.50
1.00
∑P f i 0 ,i

20 21.00 5.64 9.85 0.70

where Pi is the joint probability of occurrence (Uw,
21 22.00 5.59 10.82 0.50
22 23.00 6.03 10.94 0.30
Tp and Hs) of each sea state, and f0,i is he expected
23 24.00 6.26 10.91 0.20
zero-up crossing frequency of each sea state.
24 25.00 7.50 12.00 0.10 Given the long-term structural response of off-
shore wind turbines, it is more appropriate to adopt

945

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 a method defined based on the wideband assump- (FORM) to solve the joint probability density
tion to overcome the overestimation of fatigue dam- function created by a set of basic random variables
age. Dirlik (1985) developed an empirical method to in a limit state function. The limit state function
address conservatism of narrowband approxima- defines the safe region the probability of failure
tion by means of combining one exponential and of a structural component with respect to a single
two Rayleigh probability density functions. failure mode can formally be written as:
Yeter et al. (2016a) performed a study where sev-
eral fatigue damage prediction models were evalu- Pf P [g X ≤ ]= ∫ fx ( x ) dx (13)
ated. This study concluded that the fatigue damage g ( X )≤ 0
predicted by the Dirlik (1985) formulation is very
close to the fatigue damage calculated by the rain- where Pf is the probability of failure and fx(x) is the
flow counting method using the stress-time his- joint probability density function, and g(X) is the
tory, which is assumed to the true value. However, limit state function described by an n-dimensional
it is also stated that the Dirlik (1985) formulation vector of basic variables and defines the safe region.
involves many parameters to make the prediction, FORM approximates the failure domain by a
which results in increasing the uncertainty within half-space fitted to the true failure domain at the
the application of this mathematical model. In the most likely failure point or design β point (Hasofer
fatigue reliability assessment, this conclusion is and Lind, 1974):
taken into account and the random variable asso-
ciated with the numerical methods adopted in the
fatigue damage assessment is defined accordingly. Pf = Φ ( − ) (14)
The stress range probability density function
devised by Dirlik (1985) is given as: where Φ is the standard normal probability distri-
bution function and β is the global annual reliabil-
D1 −QZ D2 Z − Z2
2 −Z2 ity index.
e + 2 e D3Ze 2 The limit state equation for fatigue failure may
Q R
p( )= (7) be defined on the basis of the S-N approach and
2 m0 the closed-form equation of the Dirlik (1985)
formulation:
Δσ m1 m2
Z= ; xm = (8)
2 (m ) m0 m4 g (X ) = Δ − DDirlik (Y , Z ) (15)
m2 α − xm − D 2
α2 = ; R= 2 1
(9) where Δ is the fatigue damage and DDirlik is the
m0 m4 1 − α − D1 + D12 closed-form equation of the Dirlik (1985) fatigue
damage model. DDirlik is a function of Y and Z
2 ( xm − 2 2 ) 1 − α 2 − D1 D12
D1 = ; D2 = (10) vectors, where Y = { f p ,Td , m0 , m, D1, D2 , D3 ,Q, }−1
1+ α2 2
1− R represents a vector of the deterministic constants
and Z = { 1,a, a2 , B1, B2 , B3 , B4 }−1 represents a vector
1.25(α 2 − D3 ( D2 R )
D3 1 D1 − D2 Q= of the random variables.
D1 The random variable Bs involves the random
(11) variables associated with the uncertainties with the
finite element modelling, B1, load calculation, B2,
The closed-form expression of fatigue damage and the parametric equations to estimate the hot
by the Dirlik (1985) method is given the following: spot stress concentration factor B3.
The random variable associated with the Dirlik

(2 )
f pTd m (1985) damage formulation, Bf involves the uncer-
DDirlik = m0 tainty associated with the load calculation B2 and
a
the probability density function used to define
⎡
( 2) ⎛ m⎞
( ⎤
)
m
⎢ D1Q Γ ( + m ) +
m
m
Γ ⎜1 + ⎟ D R + D ⎥ long-term response, B4.
⎣ ⎝ 2⎠ ⎦ The reliability calculations can also be per-
(12) formed using the total uncertainty on fatigue stress
estimation represented by the random variable B
with mean value and coefficient of variation deter-
mined by (Garbatov et al., 2004):
4 FATIGUE RELIABILITY

The fatigue reliability assessment here is carried B ∏ B i COV B = ∏( + Ci ) − 1 (16)

out by using the First Order Reliability Method i i

946

MARSTRUC_Book.indb 946 3/29/2017 9:45:16 AM

 A higher uncertainty level is deemed reasonable
for B4 due to the number of parameters used in the
equation, which increases the model uncertainty.
The stochastic model of the basic variables con-
sidered in this study is presented in Table 3.
The sensitivity of the failure function with
respect to changes in the variables can be presented
by the sensitivity factors, αi. Figure 11 presents the
importance of the contribution of each variable to
the uncertainty of the limit state function, g(X).
Figure  11 shows that the random variables
associated with the fatigue strength have a posi-
tive effect, which indicates that an increase in the
variable results in an increase in the failure func-
tion. Whereas, the random variables associated
with fatigue damage such as the uncertainties in
the fatigue damage assessment have a negative
impact, which indicates that an increase of a sto-
chastic variable causes a decrease in the failure
function.
Among all variables, the random variable asso-
ciated with the uncertainty in the hot spot stress
calculation is by far the most important. Then
the random variable associated with the fatigue
damage at failure and the Dirlik damage formu-
lation respectively. The least importance random
variable are found to be the fatigue strength
descriptors.
Table 3. Stochastic model.
Variable Distribution Mean
Δ Lognormal 1 0.2
a1 Lognormal 1.46e+12
a2 Lognormal 5.81e+11
B1 Normal 1 0.1
B2 Normal 0.95
B3 Normal 1.05
B4 Normal 1 0.25
Figure 11. Sensitivities of the random variables.
MARSTRUC_Book.indb 947
5 SYSTEM RELIABILITY
If the failure of each member is defined by at least
one limit state equation and one corresponding
probability of failure, these individual member
probabilities of failure must be combined to get
the probability of failure of the system.
Component reliability is the reliability of one
single structural component, which has one domi-
nating failure mode. System reliability is the relia-
bility of a structural system composed of a number
of components. Since any of these joints result in
the collapse of the jacket OWT support structure,
a probabilistic structural design, which includes the
series system characteristic, is to be performed.
The welded tubular joints studied in the present
work are chosen from the leg components of the
jacket support structure. The failure of any one of
them results in the collapse of the whole support
structure. Hence, the associated probability of fail-
ure can be considered as a link in a series system.
If all the failure functions are linearized at their
respective β–points, the FORM approximation of
the probability of failure of the series system can
be expressed by the use of the De Morgan´s law as
(Papoulis and Pillai, 2002):
⎛m
}⎞⎠ = 1 − P ⎛⎝ ∪ { }⎞⎠
m
PfS = P
⎝∪
{ gi ( X ) ≤ i
U<
T
i
(17)
i =1 i =1
COV and
PfS = 1 − Φ m ( ) (18)
0.1
where Φm is the m-dimensional normal distribution
0.1
function. ρ is the correlation between two compo-
nents of a system, it can be expressed as:
0.1
0.1 ρij α iT α j (19)
where α is the sensitivity vector that characterises
the importance of stochastic variables.
A formal or so-called generalised series systems
reliability index βS can be introduced from (Man-
sour, 1989):
β ( )
f ( m ( β ρ )) (20)
The computation of the reliability of series sys-
tems with many components is a difficult task to
carry out especially for m-dimensional normal dis-
tribution function. Approximations are therefore
necessary. To this end, upper and lower bounds
on the system probability of failure can be con-
structed instead of evaluating the exact value. Two
types of bounding methods can be constructed;
947
3/29/2017 9:45:19 AM
 Simple bounds and Ditlevsen narrow bounds
(Ditlevsen, 1979b).
The second-order bounds, called Ditlevsen
(1979a) bounds, explains the reliability index of a
system as:

Φ( ) Φ (− )+
{ }
1
m

∑ max Φ ( ) Φ (− − ) (21)
i =2 j

) ∑ Φ ( − ) − ∑ max {Φ )} (22)
m m

Φ(
j <i
(− −
i i =2

It is possible to estimate Φ 2 − β i − β j : ρij from ( )

simple bounds as for ρij > 0: Figure 12. Reliability indices of the hot spots.

( ) (
max pi , p j ≤ Φ 2 − β i , β j : ρiij ≤ pi + p j ) (23)

and
pi Φ( β i )Φ( γ j ) and p j = Φ(− β j )Φ( −γ i ) (24)

where γj and γj can be found as:

βi ρij β j βj ρij β i (25)

γi = and γ j =
1 − ρij 2 1 − ρij 2

The correlation expresses the degree of depend-

ence (or independence) between random variables.
Zero correlation implies independence. Unit cor-
relation implies perfect dependence. There is a
very high degree of correlation between the welded
tubular joints analysed here due to materials, con-
struction, design, or loading. For perfectly corre-
lated (dependent) elements: Thus in a series system
correlation in element strengths has the effect of
reducing the probability of failure.
Figure  12 shows the results of the reliability
assessment of the all studied hot spots. Except for
HS2, all hot spots have a positive reliability index
within 25 years of service life. The highest relia-
bility level is seen in the joint Y-joint with thicker
structure and following this, the welded tubular
joint close to the seabed is another joint with the
relatively higher level of reliability.
These hot spots constitute a series system and
the reliability index of this series system is given in
Figure 13. At first, the probability of failure of the
structural system is calculated by combining all hot
spots neglecting the fact that they are correlated,
and it results in the loss of reliability of the jacket
OWT in a very short period, less than 12 years (No
correlation). Nevertheless, once the correlations
between the hot spots are taken into account and
the series system reliability of the jacket OWT is
increased.
Figure 13. Reliability indices correlated and not corre-
lated series reliability system.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The fatigue reliability assessment is performed for
various welded tubular joints of the jacket support
structure. It can be concluded that all hot spots
might have to be redesigned, depending on the tar-
get reliability index, which can be defined depend-
ing on the criticality, accessibility and inspection
quality of welded joints.
Since the hot spots are subjected to similar loads
and are made of the same material, there is a very
high degree of correlation between them.
After taking into account the correlations
between the hot spots, the system reliability of the
whole structure becomes very close the fatigue reli-
ability of an individual joint, which can be deemed
to be the dominating welded tubular joint.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was performed within the Strategic
Research Plan of the Centre for Marine Technol-

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 ogy and Ocean Engineering, which is financed by
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology
(Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia-FCT).
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Author index

Ajesh Kumar, P.T. 733 Darie, I. 225 Halim, A.B.A. 667

Alizadeh, F. 329, 841 Dastydar, G.S. 149 Hashemzadeh, M. 623
Alley, E. 3 De Meo, D. 165 Hashizume, Y. 319
Amdahl, J. 705, 791 de Vaucorbeil, A. 131 He, Y. 631
An, C. 827 Dessi, D. 3 Hecquet, A. 97
Ando, T. 319 de’Vidovich, B. 97 Heinvee, M. 439
Andric, J. 173 Dominguez Ruiz, F.J. 77 Herrnring, H. 697
Arima, T. 297 Dong, S. 905 Hoogeland, M. 449
Dong, Y. 337, 349, 387 Horn, G. 297
Badino, A. 87 Doshi, K.M. 361 Hu, Z. 879
Bai, X. 583 Dow, R.S. 859 Hu, Z.Q. 549
Barbosa, A.A. 803 Duan, M. 827 Huang, X.P. 369
Barras, G. 405 Dukes, J. 3
Benson, S.D. 859 Iijima, K. 21
Bhardwaj, U. 773 Echeverry, S. 497
Biot, M. 87, 97 Edin, I. 121 Jang, B.-S. 193
Boote, D. 113 Eggert, L. 387 Jang, B.S. 915
Brocco, E. 97 Ehlers, S. 459, 697 Jankowski, J. 297
Brochard, K. 405 Eslami-Majd, A. 573 Jelovica, J. 289
Buldgen, L. 497 Estefen, S.F. 599 Jeon, S.B. 193
Burchard, K.S. 459 Evans, J. 213 Ji, X. 107
Burmann, M. 697 Evegren, F. 869 Jiang, L. 313
Jiang, X. 783
Cai, W. 591 Fabro, G. 97 Johnson, E. 523, 869
Cali Y., E.M. 77 Faiella, E. 3 Ju, H.B. 915
Causon, P. 889 Farajkhah, V. 609
Cerik, B.C. 415, 565 Fragasso, J. 87 Kahraman, I. 263
Chandrasekaran, S. 733 Fredriksen, O. 51 Kämäräinen, J. 149
Chen, B.Q. 423 Fujikubo, M. 235, 319 Kang, J.C. 923
Chen, J. 879 Katayama, S. 667
Chen, L. 469 Gadagi, A. 617 Kefal, A. 141
Chen, N.-Z. 395, 659, 899 Gagnon, R.E. 513 Kharghani, N. 849
Chen, Q. 821 Gaiotti, M. 155 Kim, C.S. 379
Chen, S.X. 721 Garbatov, Y. 183, 243, 305, 337, Kim, E. 705
Chen, Z. 631 387, 623, 763, 841, 849, 939 Kim, J.D. 193
Cheng, A. 659 García J., L.A. 77 Kim, Y.H. 379
Cherian, L.D. 213 Geiser, J. 3 Knight, J.T. 269
Cho, S.-R. 431 Georgiev, P. 183, 243 Kolios, A. 931
Choung, J. 277, 379, 813 Ghelardi, S. 155 Kolios, A.J. 889
Chujutalli, J.H. 599 Gill, A.B. 889 Kõrgesaar, M. 149
Colbourne, D.B. 513 Gonçalves, B.R. 289 Kubiczek, J.M. 459, 697
Collette, M. 649 Gordo, J.M. 253 Kujala, P. 149
Copello, S. 745 Greening, D. 51 Kumar, S. 617
Ćorak, M. 477 Guedes Soares, C. 13, 29, 35, Kvan, I. 277
59, 305, 329, 337, 349, 423,
Daley, C.G. 513 487, 609, 623, 713, 763, 773, Laanearu, J. 43
Damyanliev, T. 183 803, 827, 841, 849, 905, 939 Laanemets, K. 121

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 Land, J. 213 Pestelli, C. 97 Tatsumi, A. 235, 319
Le Sourne, H. 97, 405, Pire, T. 497 Tayyar, G.T. 263
497, 753 Piric, K. 173 Teixeira, A.P. 773, 803
Lee, D.B. 915 Prebeg, P. 173
Lee, K. 813 Prini, F. 859 Villavicencio, R. 313, 415
Li, C.B. 379 von Selle, H. 297
Li, M.X. 923 Qiu, X. 507 Vredeveldt, A.W. 449
Li, S. 13 Quéméner, Y. 387
Li, X.B. 541 Quinton, B.W.T. 513 Wang, J. 639
Li, Z. 523 Wang, L. 931
Li, Z. 783 Rahbar-Ranji, A. 573 Wang, M. 923
Licciulli, F. 97 Rahm, M. 869 Wang, P.X. 713
Lillemäe-Avi, I. 387 Rajendran, S. 29 Wang, S. 59
Liu, B. 469, 507 Ravina, E. 679 White, N. 313
Liu, J.X. 549 Remes, H. 149, 387 Wincott, C. 649
Lodewijks, G. 783 Repetti, G. 113 Wiwel, R. 649
Lorenzetti, A. 155 Rigo, P. 497 Woo, S.H. 813
Ringsberg, J.W. 121, 523, 869 Wu, J. 631
Ma, C. 21 Rizzo, C.M. 155, 745 Wu, J. 899
Ma, H.-X. 69 Robinson, I. 51
Mandal, N.R. 617 Rodrigues, J.M. 35 Xu, M.C. 721
Martinez-Luengo, M. 889 Romanoff, J. 149, 289 Xue, X. 395
Mathew, T. 213 Rörup, J. 225
McCormick, J. 649 Roy, T. 361 Yamamoto, N. 687
McNatt, T. 203 Rudan, S. 477 Yan, M. 507
Mendoza Vassallo, P.N. 87 Yeter, B. 939
Metsälä, M. 289 Saad-Eldeen, S. 305, 763 Yin, Q.L. 905
Miao, Q.-M. 69 Schöttelndreyer, M. 459 Yu, T.X. 583
Moro, L. 87, 97 Sergejeva, M. 43 Yu, Z. 791
Sheng, Q. 387 Yuan, Q. 541
Niclasen, N.O. 697 Shi, S. 591 Yuan, S. 821
Shi, X.H. 713 Yue, J. 387
Oda, T. 667 Shin, H.K. 431
Oka, M. 21 Shiotani, K. 667 Zhang, K. 649
Osawa, N. 667 Sone Oo, Y.P. 753 Zhang, L. 557
Oterkus, E. 107, 141, 165 Song, J. 721 Zhang, M. 549
Oterkus, S. 165 Song, M. 705 Zhang, S. 313
Song, S.-U. 431 Zhang, X. 827
Paboeuf, S. 753 Sormunen, O-V.E. 533 Zhang, Y. 541
Pais, T. 113 Stone, K. 203 Zhao, H. 639
Pan, Z.J. 721 Storhaug, G. 51, 121 Zhao, P.D. 557
Parihar, Y. 361 Sun, L.P. 923 Zheng, W.-T. 69
Park, S.-H. 431 Suominen, M. 149 Zhou, H. 639
Park, T.-Y. 193 Zhu, L. 469, 507,
Parunov, J. 477 Tabri, K. 43, 439 583, 591
Patel, S.D. 487 Takada, A. 667 Zhu, N. 165
Patron, K.E. 131 Takeno, S. 667 Zhu, R.-Q. 69
Peschmann, J. 297 Tanaka, Y. 319

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