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Virginia Tech

Simplified Bow Model for a Striking Ship in Collision

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The serious consequences of ship collisions necessitate the development of regulations and requirements for the subdivision and structural design of ships to reduce damage and environmental pollution, and improve safety. Differences in striking ship bow stiffness, draft, bow height and shape have an important influence on the allocation of absorbed energy between striking and struck ships. The energy absorbed by the striking ship may be significant. The assumption of a "rigid" striking bow may no longer hold good and typical simplifying assumptions may not be sufficient. The bow collision process is simulated by developing a striking ship bow model that uses Pedersen's super-element approach and the explicit non-linear FE code LS-DYNA. This model is applied to a series of collision scenarios. Results are compared with conventional FE model results, closed-form calculations, DAMAGE, DTU, ALPS/SCOL and SIMCOL. The results demonstrate that the universal assumption of a rigid striking ship bow is not valid. Bow deformation should be included in future versions of SIMCOL. A simplified bow model is proposed which approximates the results predicted by the three collision models, closed-form, conventional and intersection elements, to a reasonable degree of accuracy. This simplified bow model can be used in further calculations and damage predictions. A single stiffness can be defined for all striking ships in collision, irrespective of size.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Aerospace and Ocean Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Aerospace and Ocean Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2000

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Vakkalanka, Suryanarayana
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Brown, Alan J.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Kapania, Rakesh K.
  • Hughes, Owen F.

Subjects

dc:subject × 8

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-05192000-13390028
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/32974

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Vakkalanka, Suryanarayana. Simplified Bow Model for a Striking Ship in Collision. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/32974