The effect of structural discontinuity on antisymmetric response of a container ship

Abstract

Recent trends in capacity, hence size, growth in container ships have increased the importance of torsion, particularly how it is influenced by the large deck openings and structural discontinuities present in such ships. This paper investigates the consequences of these effects on the ‘dry’ antisymmetric modal characteristics and consequent wave-induced loads. A beam model with more accurate representation of warping and structural discontinuities is applied to a box beam to assess these influences and compare predictions of natural frequencies and mode shapes with previous calculations and finite element (FE) predictions. The analysis is subsequently applied to a feeder containership travelling in regular oblique waves and resultant loads are compared with predictions obtained from previous two (2D) - and three-dimensional (3D) hydroelasticity analyses