Simplified method for quasi-static collision assessment of a damaged tanker side panel

The paper presents a simplified analytical method to examine the energy absorbing mechanisms of intact and damaged small-scale stiffened plate specimens, quasi-statically punched at the mid-span by a rigid wedge indenter. The specimens scaled from a tanker side panel are limited by one span between web frames and stringers. The influence of the initial damage on the impact response is based on the plastic behaviour of an intact specimen. The initial damage is provoked at one-quarter from the support by the same indenter that, afterwards, punches the specimen at the mid-span. In practice, initial imperfections of this type could be due to minor incidents during ship service operation, such as collision of ships with floating objects. To validate the proposed simplified method, experiments and numerical simulations are conducted. The experimentally obtained force-displacement responses and shapes of the deformation show good agreement with the simulations performed by the explicit LS-DYNA finite element solver. The analytical method derives expressions to estimate the energy dissipated by the intact and the damaged specimens based on the plastic deformation mechanisms, assuming that both the plate and stiffener structural components absorb the incident energy through the rotation of the plastic hinges at the point of contact and at the supports and the membrane tension over the plastically deforming region between the loading and the supports.