Collapse behaviour of a push-barge

Modern inland vessels are open-top, double-hull ships with unusually large length-to-beam and length-to-height ratios, shallow draught and an extremely long cargo hold. Therefore, they have low bending and torsional rigidity. Moreover, the state of the ship structure changes appreciably in course of service due to minor collisions, groundings in shallow water, corrosion and fatigue. Such imperfections reduce the stability and strength of the structure. The safety against collapse decreases. This paper shows the results of a systematic investigation of a typical push-barge structure using the finite-element-method.