A parametric study on effects of pitting corrosion on stiffened panels’ ultimate strength

Abstract

Pitting corrosion commonly shaped in hull structure due to marine corrosive environment seriously causes the deterioration of structural performance. This paper deals with the ultimate strength behaviors of stiffened ship panels damaged by the pits subjected to uniaxial compression. A series of no-linear finite element analyses are carried out for three stiffened panels using ABAQUS software. Influences of the investigated typical parameters of pit degree (DOP), depth, location and distribution on the ultimate strength strength are discussed in detail. It is found that the ultimate strength is significantly reduced with increasing the DOP and pit depth and severely affected by the distribution. In addition, the pits including their distributions on the web have a slight effect on the ultimate strength. Compared with regular distribution, random one on the panel result in a change of collapse mode. Finally, an empirical formula as a function of corrosion volume loss is proposed for predicting the ultimate strength of stiffened panel.