Fitness-for-purpose assessment of cracked offshore wind turbine monopile

In this paper, the procedure for flaw acceptability assessment is examined through a case study of a semi-elliptical surface crack in an offshore monopile as it grows till it forms a through thickness crack. Using the procedure prescribed in an industrial standard (BS 7910), the fracture ratio, K_r is shown to increase monotonically with increasing crack depth. The load ratio, L_r, is initially insensitive to the crack depth. However, there is a rapid increase in L_r when the crack depth to thickness ratio exceeds 80%. L_r values obtained from detailed 3D FE limit analysis using elastic-perfectly-plastic material behaviour do not exhibit the asymptotic behaviour predicted by BS 7910 as the flaw transitions from deep crack to through-thickness crack. Furthermore, K_r predicted by BS 7910 is shown to be an over-estimation for the typical dimensions of offshore monopiles. The findings suggest that a structure with a deep flaw may be identified as unacceptable based on BS 7910 when it may still possess a non-trivial amount of structural residual life. This is a concern for monopiles where crack growth as a large flaw forms a significant part of the total life.     

A regression and beam theory based approach for fatigue assessment of containership structures including bending and torsion contributions

Container shipping has been expanding dramatically during the last decade. Due to their special structural characteristics, such as the wide breadth and large hatch openings, horizontal bending and torsion play an important role to the fatigue safety of containerships. In this study the fatigue contributions from vertical bending, horizontal bending and torsion are investigated using full-scale measurements of strain records on two containerships. Further, these contributions are compared to results from direct calculations where a nonlinear 3D panel method is used to compute wave loads in time domain. It is concluded that both bending and torsion have significant impacts on the fatigue assessment of containerships. The stresses caused by these loads could be correctly computed by full-ship finite element analysis. However, this requires large computational effort, since for fatigue assessment purposes the FE analysis needs to be carried out for all encountered sea states and operational conditions with sufficient time steps for each condition. In this paper, a new procedure is proposed to run the structure finite element analysis under only one sea condition for only a few time steps. Then, these results are used to obtain a relationship between wave loads and structural stresses through a linear regression analysis. This relation can be further used to compute stresses for arbitrary sea states and operational conditions using the computed wave loads (bending and torsion moments) as input. Based on this proposed method for structure stress analysis, an efficient procedure is formulated and found to be in very good agreement with the full-ship finite element analysis. In addition it is several orders of magnitude more time efficient for fatigue assessment of containership structures.     

“穷举法”在油船货油舱分舱优化设计中的应用

为实现油船货油舱分舱优化,以一艘大型油船为例,根据MARPOL公约和共同结构规范(HCSR)的要求,在主尺度、船型和货油舱总舱容确定的情况下,以最小静水弯矩为优化目标,基于"穷举法"编制优化货油舱横舱壁位置的应用程序。实际应用结果表明,该程序可运用到油船的分舱优化中,能达到快速、合理地分舱,提高设计效率的目的。     

舰船加筋板局部强度评估中的总纵应力折减系数研究

舰船加强筋尺寸的合理确定一直是结构设计中的热点问题。本文综合考虑总纵弯曲应力和局部载荷的相互作用,研究加强筋的许用应力折减系数(C_s)的影响因素与合理取值方法。通过分析加强筋的力学模型、对比不同规范中的C_s取值,以及用非线性有限元软件Abaqus计算一系列加筋板模型,拟合C_s曲线并与规范对比,并验证剖面对称性和局部载荷作用方向对C_s取值的影响方式,丰富了舰船局部强度校核方法的技术背景,为板架设计、舰船三维局部校核程序开发提供借鉴。     

基于改进型消灭曲线法的横摇阻尼估算

自由衰减试验仍是目前最为有效且常用的估算横摇阻尼系数的方法.横摇阻尼系数的估算精度对于船舶横摇运动的预报起着至关重要的作用.通常采用所谓的消灭曲线法来分析自由横摇衰减数据.该方法的一个不足之处在于其推导是基于忽略了非线性恢复力项的自由横摇运动方程.另一方面,考虑更多非线性成分的能量法能够纳入该因素影响但在实施过程中较为复杂.文中提出了一种改进型的消灭曲线法,能够纳入船体非线性恢复力项的影响.所提出的方法形式简单且相比能量法更易于实施.数值试验证明了改进型消灭曲线法的正确性,并展现了其相对传统消灭曲线法所具有的优势.     

Centrifuge modelling of pipe-soil interaction in clay with crust layer

Seabed in regions, such as the Gulf of Guinea and North West Shelf of Australia, may exhibit a crust layer where the undrained shear strength can be an order of magnitude higher than that of the immediately underlying sediment. This can complicate design of steel catenary risers, where fatigue depends on the cyclic vertical stiffness of the pipe-soil interaction. Potential punch-through of the riser into the underlying soft soil may invalidate design assumptions based on the pipe-soil stiffness within the crust layer. The long-term evolution of pipe-soil stiffness within the crust layer, which exhibits similar properties to an over-consolidated soil, is also poorly understood. This paper describes centrifuge model tests undertaken in a clay sample with a crust layer, simulating the punch-through process of a pipe under load control and investigating the pipe-soil stiffness during long-term cyclic loading tests under displacement control. Results confirm that the potential for punching-through the crust layer depends strongly on the relative ratio of pipe diameter to crust layer thickness. The long-term evolution of pipe-soil stiffness showed a steady increase after an initial remoulding stage in contractile soils (normally consolidated and lightly over-consolidated), but a steady reduction in the heavily over-consolidated, more dilatant, crust. The magnitude of pipe-soil stiffness changes (during both remoulding and reconsolidation) is governed by the over-consolidation ratio of the soil and the amplitude of the cyclic displacements. This study provides insights on the relevant cyclic stiffness to consider when assessing SCR fatigue life in over-consolidated soils and soils exhibiting a superficial crust layer.     

Assessment of fatigue strength of steel butt-welded joints in as-welded condition – Alternative approaches for curve fitting and mean stress effect analysis

Experimental fatigue data for butt-welded joints in as-welded condition and under constant amplitude tensile loading (secondary bending included) were analyzed using the nominal stress system and the notch stress system. Two approaches were used; a standard fitting procedure and minimization of the sum of squared perpendicular distances from a line with a fixed and free slope. In all cases, the latter method gave better agreement between the experimental and predicted fatigue life and fatigue strength. The analyses showed both with all broken specimen data included and with reduced data that the FAT225 curve, as recommended by IIW, might be too optimistic for the notch stress approach in the case of butt-welded joints in as-welded condition. It was also found that use of the local stress ratio instead of the applied stress ratio might explain many issues concerning current observations and apparent inconsistencies in reported literature.     

混凝土在路桥桩基施工中的作用及技术

路桥桩基混凝土施工中，为了保障灌注桩混凝土的质量，必须加强对准备工作及施工工艺的重视。通过对混凝土及其施工质量要求进行分析，探讨了混凝土在路桥桩基施工中的配合比、泵送等，并阐述了路桥桩基施工技术。     

大断面异形盾构隧道弯矩传递系数原型加载试验研究

由于异形盾构隧道特殊的结构断面型式,管片设计暂无相关规范可循,故基于原型三环管片力学加载试验对异形盾构管片环向接头弯矩传递系数进行研究,研究结果表明:1)随埋深增加,异形盾构管片结构整体刚度提升,但由于各接头刚度与相邻管片结构刚度比随埋深增加变化规律不一致,异形盾构管片接头弯矩传递能力呈部分减弱部分增强的现象;2)同埋深条件下,随着侧压力系数的增加,除右拱腰处接头外,其余接头弯矩传递能力随着接头刚度与相邻管片结构刚度比的增大而逐渐增强;3)随着埋深增加,各接头弯矩传递能力对侧压力系数的敏感程度逐渐减弱;4)极限破坏后,异形盾构管片内外弧面裂缝的分布规律证明了明显的弯矩传递现象。