Progressive collapse assessment of lightweight ship structures

Abstract

This thesis investigates the progressive collapse behaviour of lightweight ship hull girders including the effects of compartment level buckling modes. An extension to the progressive collapse methodology is proposed, which has capabilities to predict the compartment strength of a lightweight aluminium midship section. Nonlinear finite element analysis is used to validate both the progressive collapse methodology and the analytical approach proposed for determining the buckling capacity of orthogonally stiffened substructures within the hill girder compartment. The research has been undertaken due to the continued growth in the size of large lightweight craft in both commercial and naval vessels, combined with increasing operability requirements for these vessels. The development of large and lightweight marine structures, predominantly built from aluminium alloy, has raised important issues regarding the response of the hull girder under primary hull girder bending.