Load distribution on the hull-leg connection components of a jack-up

The jacking pinions and rack chocks of the fixation system of a jack-up sustain tremendous load in the elevated condition, especially when there exists a remarkable non-uniformity of the load distribution. Failures of these structural components may lead to disastrous consequence of the jack-up. Despite the importance of these components, it is difficult to give an accurate prediction of the load distribution on these components in engineering application due to the complex nonlinear interaction mechanism, which is influenced by the relative stiffness of the components, leg-guide clearance and backlash. Previous studies mainly focus on the global performance of the jack-up and pay little attention to the load distribution on the pinions and chocks. The strength of the jacking system is often guaranteed by the manufacturer for an estimate load level, which brings in uncertainty to the safety of the jack-up. The characteristics of the hull-leg interaction are discussed in this paper, and a simplified method using gap elements is proposed. The nonlinear structural analyses are carried out for a specific jack-up using the proposed method and the three-dimensional finite element method(FEM) with contact algorithm. The proposed method is proved accurate and effective for the engineering application. The characteristics of the load distribution of the specific jack-up are discussed, and the conclusions are presented.     

粘结橡胶环的载荷-压缩关系

粘结橡胶环在很多工程领域被广泛应用于缓冲冲击。这些应用一般都要求掌握橡胶垫准确的载荷压缩关系。但以往的研究仅讨论了橡胶柱体而忽略了橡胶环,而且仅少数研究是基于连续介质力学理论的。文章推导了刚性板间不可压缩橡胶环在三种边界条件下的载荷—压缩关系,考虑了Mooney-Rivlin材料,并基于连续介质力学理论进行了推导。文中将推导公式的计算结果与有限元计算结果进行了比较,证明了这些公式有足够的精度,适用于各种形状系数和材料参数,在有限应变下仍然适用。最后,文中还给出了典型橡胶环的载荷—压缩曲线,并对不同边界条件下的压缩刚度特性进行了讨论。