Application of failure and fracture criteria during a tanker head-on collision

In this paper a discussion of three failure criteria during a tanker collis ion takes place. The 'Fracture Criterion' developed recently [Glykas, A., S amouelides, E., Das, P.K. (1996) Energy absorption capacity of plates under lateral loading. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of Offsho re and Polar Engineers, Los Angeles '96, Vol. IV, pp. 502-509.], deals with the amount of energy required so that arbitrary crack propagation originat es from microscopic material flaws of the steel structure, in areas of high strain concentration during large deflections. This fracture criterion is applied in critical areas of a tanker bow structure during head-on collisio n with a vertical rigid body and its validity is examined in comparison to other two state of the art failure criteria. The penetration of the tanker vessel as well as the time to rest from the initiation of the collision are determined in relation to the failure criteria. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.