Experimental and numerical study on response of rectangular tubes subjected to transverse impact loadings

Abstract

Rectangular tube represents the basically structural shape of ship double side and bottom, including the upper and lower shell surfaces. The ship hull can be exposed to abnormal events, such as ship collision and grounding, collision of ships with floating objects and explosion or ice action. In the case of a ship collision, the penetration of the inner hull involves cargo spillage and, consequently, severe environmental damage. The absorbed energy by the struck ship at the moment of the inner hull rupture is named ‘critical deformation energy’, which can be maximised with a strengthened double hull structure (Zhang et al. 2004). Therefore, the design of ship structures requires an accurate prediction of the extent of damage in the doublehull structures subjected to lateral impact in order to prevent the penetration of water in ship’s cabins during a ship collision or grounding accident.