Effects of Highly Ductile Steel on the Crashworthiness of Hull Structures in Ship to Ship Collision

In order to preliminary investigate effect of HDS (Highly Ductile Steel) on the crashworthiness of struck ship, a series of large scale 3-dimensional ship-ship collision analysis are carried out using the non-linear finite element code LS-DYNA. A very large crude oil carrier (VLCC) is assumed to collide with midship region of another double hull (D/H) VLCC in right angle (90 deg.). Two collision points for the struck VLCC are assumed. One is between Swash Bulkhead (S.BHD) and Oil Tight Bulkhead (OT.BHD), the other is just on S.BHD. Damage extent and total absorbed energy until oil cargo tank ruptures in the case of HDS are compared with those in the case of conventional material. Critical colliding speed (VB,cr) is also compared. Effects of HDS on absorbed energy and VB,cr are discussed in detail. It can be found energy absorption by inner shell (IS) rupture with using HDS is about 2–3 times larger than that with using conventional It is also estimated that IS rupture does not take place when a striking ship collides in less than 8kt in the case of using HDS although a critical striking velocity in the case of conventional bow is about 4–5kt.Copyright © 2015 by ASME