Efficient method based on optimization and simulation for the probabilistic strength computation of the ship hull

Abstract

The accurate computation of the strength of a ship hull is vital for ensuring its reliability. Taking into account the uncertainties in the material properties and fabrication details requires a probabilistic approach for the determination of the strength of the ship hull. This study proposes an efficient approach for the determination of the probabilistic strength of the ship hull. First, a novel deterministic method for the fast and accurate calculation of the strength of the ship hull is presented. In this method, stresses in the hull section are determined using the constitutive models of the stiffened panels. These models take into account the various possible failure modes and initial imperfections. The ultimate strength is found by an optimization search algorithm. The method is shown to be as accurate as the rigorous incremental curvature method but with significantly less computational time. The method is then applied with a Latin-hypercube sampling simulation, and the output sample is tested against several potential distributions. The best-fit probability distribution of the ultimate strength of the ship hull is provided.