THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY ON THE ULTIMATE STRENGTH OF CORRUGATED BULKHEADS

The objectives of the present study are to obtain experimental data on collapse strength of steel corrugated bulkhead models and also to dev elop a simple analytical formulation for ultimate strength useful in t he design of corrugated bulkheads under static lateral pressure. Colla pse tests on nine mild steel corrugated bulkhead models having five ba ys of corrugations are carried out, varying the corrugation angle, the plate thickness and the type of loading (axial compression and/or lat eral pressure). Using the test data, the characteristics of the collap se mechanism for corrugated bulkheads are investigated. For purposes o f rapid first cut estimates of strength, a new and simple analytical f ormulation for predicting the ultimate strength of corrugated bulkhead s under hydrostatic pressure is derived based on an assumed stress dis tribution over the corrugation cross section at the ultimate limit sta te. The modeling error associated with the new formulation is establis hed by comparing its predictions with the experimental results. The de velopment of ultimate strength based design guidelines and the effect of design parameters such as the corrugation angle on ultimate strengt h of a corrugated bulkhead are then discussed. All experimental inform ation and strength data are tabulated, which is a benefit in itself.