Study on Failure Modes and Ultimate Strength of Stiffened Panels in Large Cruise Ships

Abstract In response to the demand for structural lightweight design in large cruise ships, the geometric parameters of the materials used in their construction differ significantly from those used in traditional vessels. Traditional empirical formulas offer limited accuracy in assessing the ultimate strength of stiffened panels. As a result, there is a need to investigate the impact of failure modes on the ultimate load-carrying capacity of such stiffened panels and to propose a predictive method for evaluating their ultimate load-carrying capacity. To explore the influence of failure modes on the ultimate strength of stiffened panels, and to propose a method for predicting the ultimate strength of stiffened panels. Using the nonlinear finite element method, the model of a typical hull stiffened panel is analyzed. Considering the two main influencing factors of reinforcement slenderness ratio and deck slenderness ratio, the failure mechanism of the stiffened panel is analyzed, and the influence rules of the deck slenderness ratio and reinforcement compliance on the ultimate strength of the stiffened panel under different failure modes are clarified, and different failure modes are proposed. Empirical formulas for the ultimate load-carrying capacity of stiffened panels under failure modes. When the slenderness ratio of the deck is constant, with the increase of the slenderness ratio of the reinforcement, the failure mode of the stiffened panel changes from the local buckling of the panel and the reinforcement to the local buckling of the panel, and finally to the overall beam-column of the stiffened panel buckling. When the panel width is low, the failure mode of the stiffened panel will change from beam-column buckling to panel buckling with the increase of the reinforcement height, and when the panel width is large, the failure mode of the stiffened panel with different reinforcement heights Both are panel buckling. At the same time, under different failure modes, the load-displacement curves of the stiffened panels also show different trends. The quantitative relationship between the slenderness ratio of the stiffener and the slenderness ratio of the deck will lead to different failure modes of the stiffened panels. At this point, the impact of these two factors on the ultimate strength of the stiffened panels will diverge. During the design phase, it is imperative to align the stiffness of the reinforcement with that of the deck, thus preventing a scenario where material utilization becomes excessively inefficient.