Energy conservation during a tanker collision

The energy dissipation on the bow structure is calculated during a "head-on " collision with a rigid body, using finite element analysis. Gerard's meth od (Gerard, G., 1958. The crippling strength of compression elements. Journ al of the Aeronautical Sciences), an empirical approach, is compared with t he results produced by ABAQUS in terms of velocity, energy and penetrating distance. The energy conservation theorem is applied and the contribution o f all individual structural members in terms of elastic and plastic energy is calculated The strain distribution is shown for those members responsibl e for the water tightness and structural integrity of the structure. The gl obal bending of the upper part of the bow is shown as well as the effect of the total ship mass inertia, phenomena which have not been incorporated in to Gerard's approach (Gerard, 1958). The final time of rest predicted from both methods is compatible and this validates the reliability of the numeri cal approach. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.