Strength Appraisal of Hull Components of a Barge Under a Load Using Numerical Analysis

Abstract

The study of the strength appraisal of hull components of a barge under a load using numerical analysis has been carried out. The calculation of the ship hull strength is done by the use of the classification society rules and regulations giving guidelines and formulae to the estimation, selection and calculation of various components, machineries, and systems etc. of the offshore service barge. The results achieved from this work show that the maximum design stress is 83.33MN/m². The strength of the model of the barge assessed the various forces to which the barge structure is subjected during its lifetime; the results of the analysis indicated that there is variation in the weight of the structure throughout the length of the barge. Although the total weight of the barge is balanced by the total force of buoyancy, neither is it uniformly distributed throughout the barge length. The result also shows that the weight of each end section exceeds the buoyancy which they provide at these sections.  The load curve results indicate that there is a difference between weight and buoyancy of each section throughout the length of the barge. In still water, the uneven loading which occurs throughout the length of a ship varies considerably with different conditions which may reach very high values. It is recommended that Finite Element Method should be used in determining the hull strength and the development of international standards that can be utilized also to assess components and system structures