The Ship Structure Committee announces the publication of a new report, SSC-474, titled “Structural Assessment of Aged Ships,” by Mr. Gregory Walker, Mr. Brendan Connell and Mr. Sean Kery of CSRA. The abstract for this report is below and the entire report is available for free at the SSC website, through the National Technical Information Service or may be downloaded by clicking here (6.8 MB). All SSC reports are available free of charge at the SSC website.

ABSTRACT: This report describes the development of an assessment process to accurately predict the survivability of a corrosion-degraded ship in specific wave conditions. The method developed uses a ship-specific 3-D hydrodynamic model to simulate the ship’s rigid body dynamic response to wave conditions, measuring the resulting ship motions and pressure distribution on the hull. Pressure and acceleration data from the hydrodynamic model is then input into a 3-D finite element model of the degraded ship structure where the resulting stresses in stiffeners and plating are assessed against various failure modes, including buckling modes, which are calculated according to IACS Common Structural Rules. The results form the basis of a degraded ship strength assessment which can be provided to a ship owner and operator to make operational and repair decisions.

The Ship Structure Committee greatly appreciates the contributions of the individuals who volunteered their time to participate on the Project Technical Committee, listed below. They were the subject matter expert representatives of the Ship Structure Committee to the contractor, performing technical oversight during contracting, advising the contractor in cognizant matters pertaining to the contract of which the agencies were aware, and performing technical peer review of the work in progress and upon completion. The individuals are:

Mr. Jason Cordell, U.S. Coast Guard (Chair)
Dr. James Huang, Department of National Defence Headquarters, Canada
Dr. Miguel Nunez, European Maritime Safety Agency (Lisbon)
Mr. Jose Rosas, ClassNK Panama Office
Dr. Pradeep Sensharma, U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command
Mr. Alan Spackman, International Association of Drilling Contractors

For any questions about this report or the Ship Structure Committee in general, please contact the Executive Director, Lt. Jonathan Duffett, at (202) 372-1022.

This blog is not a replacement or substitute for the formal posting of regulations and updates or existing processes for receiving formal feedback of the same. Links provided on this blog will direct the reader to official source documents, such as the Federal Register, Homeport and the Code of Federal Regulations. These documents remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Coast Guard.