Reliability‐Based Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Guidelines for Unstiffened Panels of Ship Structures

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe main objective of ship structural design is to ensure safety, functional, and performance requirements of the structural element for target reliability levels and for a specified time period. As this must be accomplished under conditions of uncertainty, probabilistic analyses are necessary in the development of such reliability‐based designs of unstiffened panels for ship structures. The load and resistance factor design (LRFD) format is developed in this paper for unstiffened panels. Partial safety factors are determined to account for the uncertainties in strength and load effects. In developing these factors, Monte Carlo simulation is used to assess the probabilistic characteristics of strength models by generating basic random variables that define the strength and substituting them in these models. The First‐Order Reliability Method (FORM) is used to determine the partial safety factors based on prescribed probabilistic characteristics of load effects. Also, strength factors are computed for a set of load factors to meet a target reliability level.