IMPLEMENTATION OF A NOVEL SHIP SIDE STRUCTURE INTO A TANKER AND A ROPAX VESSEL FOR INCREASED CHRASHWORTHINESS

The energy absorption of a novel ship side structure is numerically analysed. The structure is implemented into an ice going Tanker and a ROPAX vessel. The aim is to evaluate the benefits in crashworthiness of such an application over the existing conventional side structures. The collision simulations are performed with the explicit non-linear solver LS-DYNA up to the point of inner shell breaching. The obtained energy-penetration curves of the novel structure are then compared to energypenetration curves of the conventional structure. The novel sandwich structure results in clear benefits in terms of increased energy absorption during collision; 30 per cent for the Tanker, and about 50 per cent for the ROPAX. The applied failure criterion and mesh size dependency are also discussed.