Influence of the design constraints on the thickness optimization of glass panes to achieve lightweight insulating glass units in cruise ships

The increasing complexity and size in cruise ships demands for lightweight structures and practical but accurate design methods. Conventionally, the focus has been on the steel parts of the ship, as they make most of its weight. However, the proportions of other materials are increasing. Therefore, this study attempts to provide better understanding how one could reach the lightweight designs of insulating glass units (IGUs) in ships. These are windows where at least two glass panes are separated by a hermetically sealed cavity. They are thin-walled structures that benefit not only from the geometrically nonlinear behavior, but also from the load sharing. Considering these effects, their behavior is studied using the nonlinear Finite Element Method and Particle Swarm Optimization. Different design criteria are imposed on the thickness determination of the glass panes with different shapes. Rectangular, triangular, and circular shapes are considered. The results show that the triangular shapes have the least weight for a given area when the deflection criterion is the dominating one. When maximum principal stress is the thickness defining criterion, the shapes perform almost equally well. The ratio between the pane thicknesses had the most influence on the behavior of the IGU. As it increases, i.e., one pane is significantly thicker than the other, the load sharing percentage drops, but it provides the most lightweight solution. Closer it is to 1, more equally the structural stresses are divided between the panes, i.e., redundancy is achieved. Finally, it is possible to establish a simple but effective method for the thickness determination of these IGUs using the results of this study. However, more work is required, including numerical analysis and experimental testing.     

Load effects on vessel-shaped fish cage steel structures,nets and connectors considering the effects of diffraction and radiation waves under irregular waves

Vessel-shaped fish cages are mainly composed of a large floating body, aquaculture nets and a number of steel frames. Due to the large scale of vessel-shaped fish cages, the velocity field induced by the diffraction waves and radiation waves cannot be ignored in the calculation of the loads on the net and steel frames. In turn, the loads can affect the wave-induced response of the floating body and hence the radiation waves as well as the sectional forces. In this paper, a novel method is proposed to consider the coupling effect. First, considering the irregular waves in short-term periods, the global response of the floating body is calculated in the time domain by the state-space method based on potential flow theory. Meanwhile, the velocity field considering the influence of the floating body is built according to the velocity transfer function. Then, the Morison formula is used to calculate the loads on the nets and the steel frames. Finally, the coupling achieved through numerical iterations is considered in the calculation of the twine tension, load effect of connector and the global cross-section under irregular waves. It is found that the diffraction and radiation waves make a significant difference in the twine tension and connector load effect.     

Study on hot spot stress distribution of three-planar tubular Y-joints subjected to in-plane bending moment

The three-planar tubular Y-joint (3Y-joint) is the main part of the fatigue assessment of tripod substructures of offshore wind turbines (OWTs). As typical multiplanar tubular joints, 3Y-joints are affected a lot by multiplanar interaction between braces. Moreover, the locations of hot spot stress (HSS) can vary considerably under different load types. Thus, the distributions of stress concentration factor (SCF) and multiplanar interaction factor (MIF) along weld toe curves are necessary to calculate HSS. Considering these requirements, this study focuses on the 3Y-joint considering the wide application of the tripod substructure of OWT. A finite element (FE) analysis method is introduced and validated. Then, a numerical database is established covering common ranges of parameters used in practice. The SCF and MIF of 3Y-joint under in-plane bending moment are analyzed. Distribution formulas are proposed and proved suitable for calculating HSS in engineering design.     

Dynamic response analysis of load transfer of topsides from T-barge onto twin-barge in floatover installation

The twin-barge floatover method is a promising approach in the topsides installation of the offshore platform. However, the topsides transfer onto the twin-barge is a challenging task and is seldom investigated. This study focuses on the floatover load transfer operation of the topsides onto the twin-barge by a T-shaped barge and investigates the dynamic responses of the three proximate barges in the operation. The floatover mating process was experimentally simulated by three representative intermediate stages, including 0%, 50%, and 100% stages. The barge and topsides motions, the relative motions of mating points, the contact loads on mating units, tether forces, and mooring forces at various environmental conditions were analyzed. The three floating barges experienced large surge drift motions as well as the sway and yaw drift motions in head seas because of the unsymmetrical configurations. Although a relative radial distance between mating points occurred and exceeded the capture radius of the mating unit at limited instants, the relative motions were to a great extent within the capture radius, indicating the feasibility of the twin-barge floatover method. Comparisons of the loads at the three stages show that the mating units and the tether lines were subjected to larger impact impulse loads at the 0% stage than the 100% stage.     

Investigation on fatigue characteristics of transparent submersible manned cabin structure

Fatigue life prediction of transparent submersible manned cabin (TSMC) structure is investigated. Firstly, a simplified mechanical model of a cylindrical shell-hemispherical shell (CS-HS) structure is established, and the strength characteristic of the TSMC structure is gained, as well as deflections and displacements are obtained by solving the model with the non-moment theory and moment theory. Secondly, the load history of the TSMC structure is analyzed, and the load spectrum of this structure is got by analyzing and fitting the existing diving data. Finally, a method of nonlinear virtual interval division technique for the load spectrum is first presented. The predicted results have excellent agreement with the experimental data. The results show that the working depth of the large-deep deep manned cabins is within the range of 0 m–500 m, while the load history is composed of the submersible loading-uploading-unloading and payload-uplifting-unloading. In addition, the load spectrum shows that the number of dives is within the range from 299.7 m to 432.9 m. The proposed model can efficiently provide a guideline of the design and manufacturing of the transparent submersible manned cabin structure.