Citation

Khedmati MR, Keivanfar I. Int. J. Crashworthiness 2010; 15(5): 469-479.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13588261003703726

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In recent years, most high-speed crafts have been constructed in aluminium because of the weight-saving potential of this material when compared with steel. The demand for large payload/lightship weight ratio implies a high utilisation of the material under applied loads. The travelling speed of high-speed crafts is typically 30–40 knots, i.e. twice that of mono-hull ships. This reduces the margin for operation errors with increased risk of grounding or collision. Non-linear finite element method is a powerful tool for analysing ship collision and grounding problems. Commercial finite element codes, such as the explicit code LS-DYNA, have made significant progress. They are useful for simulating crash events and investigating relevant behaviours of structures with justifiable amounts of computer and user time. With their aid, the need to build expensive test prototypes and perform detailed and expensive crash experiments is reduced. This work focuses on the crushing behaviour of high-speed crafts in the case of inclined bow collision to a rigid structure. LS-DYNA code is used in analyses. Some available experimental prototypes tested under axial loading are first successfully simulated in the LS-DYNA environment. Then crushing mechanisms are investigated for a variety of travelling speeds as well as the angles of head-on collision of the aluminium craft's bow structure.