Journal

of Ship Research,

Vol. 41, No. 3, Sept. 1997, pp. 241-247

A Simple Method for Predicting

Ge Wang,

Hideomi

Ohtsubo,

and Donald

the Grounding

Strength

of Ships

Liu3

Although the destructive

effects of grounding accidents are understood, very few tools are available
that can be used by designers to evaluate a ships strength in grounding
accidents. This paper
proposes a simple method to predict the strength
of a ships bottom
during the process of
grounding.
A ships hull is characterized
by structural
members that are periodically
arranged
along the ship length. As a result, the internal resistance force developed during grounding
is
in a sense periodic in the longitudinal
direction.
For the main structural
members of the ship
bottom, the following four primary failure modes are considered in this paper: the stretching failure
of transverse structures,
denting, tearing and concertina
tearing failure of bottom plates. The
calculation
formulas for these identified failure modes are assembled to construct
the prediction
method for bottom strength. The proposed method is verified by checking the predictions against
a series of large-scale grounding experiments
and an actual grounding accident. The attractiveness
of the method developed is that it makes possible the prediction of the strength of a ship hull in
the event of grounding using hand calculation.

1. Introduction
of the Exxon
Valdez, and several other
tanker accidents that resulted in oil outflow, created public
outcry over the need for environmental protection and precipitated extensive discussions on means of preventing accidental
oil spills (see, e.g., Ohtsubo et al (1994)).
There are two loading situations pertinent to grounding of
ship bottom structures: vertical loading and loading in the ship
length direction (Fig. 1). A vertically loaded bottom behaves
somewhat like the side shell structure of a vessel in a collision,
and a fair amount of literature related to this subject currently
exists. However for the longitudinal loading situation (raking),
the phenomenon and the consequences are quite different from
collision. Very little can be found in the literature on how to
predict the bottoms horizontal strength during raking damage.
Analytical and theoretical methods required to make an accurate and realistic assessment of bottom structural strength do
not exist in a complete form. Although some efforts have been
made, the grounding of ships has remained a largely unexplored
field of research.
Early research on grounding prediction relied on empirical
methods based on experimental
investigations,
most of which
were developed from the important work of Minorsky (1959).
Recently, studies by ASIS (Association for Structural Improvement of Shipbuilding
Industry) in Japan postulated that two
proportionality
constants are needed to calculate the resistance
of a ships bottom: one for the plating and one for the stiffeners (Kuroiwa et al 1992). In general, the formulations of such
damage prediction methods based on model experiments are
THE

GROUNDING

American Bureau of Shipping, Yokohama: Japan.

Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, University of Tokyo.
3American Bureau of Shipping, New York.
Manuscript received at SNAME headquarters July 1996; revised
manuscript received February 14: 1997.
SEPTEMBER

1997

fundamentally
correct, but are restricted in their application.
With the development of computer technology and the progress
of FEM techniques, it has now become feasible to use FEM
in analyzing complicated problems such as the collision and
grounding of ships (e.g., Kitamura 1995). At present, however,
it is still not practical to run a supercomputer analysis to check
a design.
In this context a good way to assess the damage of a ship
structure in grounding is to develop a reliable simplified method. The challenge is to find a method that is both rational in
its mechanics and simple in its mathematics. In their efforts to
achieve this goal, Wierzbicki & Thomas (1993), and Wang &
Ohtsubo (1995a) investigated some energy absorption mechanisms that occur in the event of a ships grounding. However,
the necessary global model to represent the behavior of a ships
hull in a grounding accident remains undeveloped.
This paper proposes an appropriate global damage prediction method. The main purpose is to assess the strength of
a ships bottom against horizontal penetration. A raking scenario is assumed which is based on observations of grounding accidents and existing experiments. Four kinds of primary
structural failure modes are identified and are considered in the
global damage model. The prediction method is constructed by
assembling available strength formulas for these failure modes.
The method developed is illustrated by applying it to the large
scale experiments conducted by ASIS and also to an actual
grounding accident.
2. Prediction

method

The actual grounding phenomenon is a very complex process

involving the global lifting of the vessel against the gravitational force. The behavior of a vessel under such circumstances
depends on the properties of the seabed. The accident scenario
has to be defined so that the structural behavior of the entire
ship can be characterized. For simplicity of analysis, it is assumed that the ship under consideration moves in the horizon-

0022-4502/97/4103-0241$00.39/0

JOURNAL

OF SHIP RESEARCH

241

Ship
I

,!

I/

::

Rock
(a) Load in Vertical Direction

Rock
(b) Load in Ship Length Direction (Raking)
Fig.

Grounding

phenomena

Fig. 2

in ships

tal plane, with no pitching or heaving movements. The dynamics of the whole ship, therefore, are considered in this paper
only in a simplified manner.
A ships hull structure can be characterized as consisting
of periodically arranged structural members. For example, going from the bow towards the stern in the longitudinal
direction, frames and/or bulkheads occur at certain intervals. As a
consequence of structural periodicity
a ships resistance during grounding can also be considered periodic. The load period
starts from one transverse structure and ends at the next transverse structure.
Observations of actual grounding processes and of existing
experiments reveal that a grounding scenario may be represented as shown in Fig. 2. When a rock on the seabed makes
contact with transverse structures such as floors, that structure and the bottom plating immediately
behind it interact
and show a very complicated deformation pattern. The transverse frame fails mainly by in-plane stretching. The bottom
plate behind the transverse structure bulges and folds in front
of the intruding rock. Usually, many folds are found in that
part of the bottom plate. During this damage stage, the internal resistance force of the bottom increases as the rocks penetration increases. Eventually, as ductile rupture occurs in the
overstretched plates! the resistance force reaches its ultimate
value and then begins to decrease. This state of damage then
gives way to a different damage process. Contribution
from the
transverse structure becomes negligible. Only bottom plate and

Periodicity

of ship bottom

resistance

innerbottom plate (in the case of a doublebottom)

provide resistance against the intruding rock. Usually the resistance force
drops to a low level. There are two possible structural failure
modes in this stage of damage, as shown in Fig. 2. The bottom plate (including innerbottom)
may be torn open by the
rock, steel material within it separating at the part of the plate
near the front of the rock. In the wake of the rock: the plate
is subjected to load mainly in the lateral direction. It then deflects out of its original plane to avert compression, forming
two flaps (as shown in the structural failure mode depicted in
the middle sketch in Fig. 2). The second possible damage is
the wavy deformation pattern shown in the right sketch in Fig.
2. The bottom plate is peeled at its connection lines with the
bottom longitudinals. The detached plate then folds in front of
the rock. Now if the ship does not stop because it still has unspent kinetic energy, the next transverse structure will become
involved in the raking process as well. This marks the end of
one so-called structural resistance period and the beginning of
a new period.
The aforementioned grounding scenario is necessarily simplified. The actual structural damage patterns in the event of
bottom raking are likely to be more complicated, as there are
many other possible deformation patterns which still are not
well understood. The concept adopted in this paper is that in
order to represent the global behavior of a ship during bottom
raking it is important to consider the primary failure modes of
the main structural components, which are well represented in
our present model.
By assembling the calculation formulas for all the identified
structural failure modes, a prediction method is proposed for

Nomenclature
B = width

of beam model
of denting mechanism,
or width of concertina
tearing mechanism
Eg = initial kinetic energy
of grounded VLCC
Eb = plate bending energy
Em = plate stretching energy
26 = width

E,h = plate shearing energy

= plate fracture/tearing
energy
EP = predicted energy dissipation
for grounded VLCC

Ef

242

SEPTEMBER

1997

F = resistance force
Fm = mean force
Fs = steady-state
resistance of
tearing mode
L = half-length of beam model
1 = tearing length
I, = tearing length when wedge
shoulder goes into plate
No = fully plastic membrane force
of a unit width of plate

MO = fully plastic moment of a

unit width of plate
R = fracture parameter
t = plate thickness
00 = yield stress of material
A = deflection
X = factor showing the effective
crushing length (A 5 1.0)
0 = half of wedge angle
p = friction coefficient

JOURNAL

OF SHIP RESEARCH

calculating the ships resistance against raking damage. The

formulas in the method, which are introduced in the following
section, are simple to express mathematically
and require the
use of only a common calculator.
3. Structural

failure

modes

Four primary structural failure modes are considered in the

method proposed herein: one for the behavior of transverse
structure such as floors; another for the plates which deform
simultaneously with the transverse structure; and the last two
for the breached bottom plate and innerbottom plate. This section provides an introduction to these structural failure modes
and the related strength prediction formulas. Simple explanations of the derivation of the formulas given can be found in
the Appendix.
3.1 Transverse

structure

The transverse structure is subjected to a lateral load. Owing

to the sufficiently large lateral displacement, the in-plane membrane force dominates its response behavior. A beam model is
appropriate for such a level of finite displacement plastic deformation.
For a plate that has a span of 2L, width B: and thickness
t> which is deformed to A at its mid-span, the load-carrying
capacity can be approximately
formulated as follows:
F = 2uoBtA/L

It is postulated that the beam breaks when its internal strain

reaches a critical value. The applicable value of the critical
strain is determined by the material stress-strain curve. In this
paper this critical strain is selected as the point of which the
stress reaches its ultimate value.
3.2 Bottom
structure

plate

immediately

behind

transverse

The plate behind the transverse structure is subjected to inplane concentrated loading. From the viewpoint of energy absorption characteristics, the main interest here is in the range
of deflection that exceeds the plate thickness by two or more orders of magnitude. Plasticity has sufficiently developed enough
in this deformation range. The existing methods in which either the buckling strength or the ultimate strength is used are,
therefore, not appropriate.
Wang & Ohtsubo (199510) termed this kind of structural
failure the denting of a plate. Considering experimental
observations, they proposed a kinematic model in which six fixed
plastic hinges are assumed. This model has the capability to
describe the main features of the damage process, such as the
progressive development of material folding. The energy absorption is due to the bending of the plastic hinges and the
membrane tension in the regions surrounded by these hinges.
By equating the internal energy dissipation to the external
work, they derived a closed-form expression for the plates mean
strength. The expression is:
Fm = (2.32/X)cq(2b)0.33t1.67

where X is a factor indicating the effective crushing length, 2b

is the width of the denting mechanism, and t is the plate thickness. For the case of a sharp indenter discussed by Wang &
Ohtsubo (199513) is approximately
1.0, because the compressed
plate is nearly flattened at the loaded region. The general case
is one where the indenter is not sharp at its tip, and the plate
is not completely flattened. As a result, X is usually less than
1.0. Abramowicz (1983) investigated the influence of the effective crushing distance, and suggested a X of approximately
213.
Additional details of the derivation of equation (2) are given in
the Appendix.
SEPTEMBER

1997

3.3 Bottom

plate

The bottom plate (including innerbottom)

is torn mainly
by the rock. If the crack starts from the rock tip, the damage
pattern will be similar to the tearing mode, or to cutting a
plate with a wedge. In a recent paper, Ohtsubo & Wang (1995)
proposed a kinematic model that describes all the applicable
experimental
observations, such as the out-of-plane deformation of the material near the wedge tip and the fact that the
wedge tip remains in touch with the crack tip in the plate. According to this model, the damage of the plate is due to ductile
failure in the heavily stressed region. Based on their model,
Ohtsubo & Wang (1995) derived a simple formula for predicting the resistance of the plate F, which is reproduced here (see
Appendix for details):
F = 1.51aot1.5Z0~5(sin 0)5

(1+&J

C3)

where 1 is the tearing length, 8 half the wedge angle, and p the
friction coefficient.
In reality the wedge has finite width and finite length. During
the initial tearing phase, the tearing force increases as the penetration proceeds. At some point it transfers to a steady state
when the tearing load becomes constant. This transfer occurs
approximately
when the shoulder of the wedge goes into the
plate. Substituting the corresponding tearing length into equation (3) results in an expression for the constant tearing load
(see Appendix for details):
Fs = 1.51aet151~5(sin6)05

(1+&d

(*I

where Is is the tearing length when the shoulder of the wedge

goes into the plate.
Under some conditions, the plate may pile up in front of
the wedge and be torn at some remote locations, instead of at
the wedge tip. This phenomenon is termed concertina tearing.
Wierzbicki (1995) derived the following formula for the plates
mean strength under such conditions (see Appendix for details):
Fm = (3ao(2b)0,33t1.7

+ 2Rt)/X

where 2b is the width of plate and R is the specific work related

to the fracture. For mild steel, Atkins (1988) found that R
is usually in the range R = 300 N 1000 kJ/m2. Compared
with the first term, the second term in equation (5) is typically
small if the plate is sufficiently thick. Therefore the R term
contribution from fracture is neglected in this paper.
3.4 Stiffeners
The existence of stiffeners enhances the energy absorption
capability of a ship hull. Vaughan (1978) proposed an approach
of equivalent plate thickness to include the contribution of stiffeners. The approach is to smear the cross-sectional area of the
stiffeners into the whole plate. For stiffeners that are not very
strong, some experiments suggest that the plate stiffener combination behaves like a plate of increased thickness under such
circumstances.
4. Calculation

examples

The proposed method is now checked against two examples.

The first example is from large scale grounding experiments
conducted by ASIS. Horizontal damage in the bottom models
tested were observed and horizontal forces were measured. This
test series provide a good basis for investigating the horizontal
damage without the need to consider the vertical deformation.
The other example is that of an actual grounding accident of a
very large crude carrier (VLCC). Both horizontal deformation
and vertical deformation are taken into account in this case.
The resulting energy dissipation is calculated and compared
with the initial kinetic energy of the vessel.
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243

4.1 Grounding

experiment

by ASIS

In late 1994 and early 1995, a series of ASIS sponsored

grounding experiments were conducted in the Netherlands (Vredeveldt & Wevers 1995). Figure 3(a) shows the general layout of
the test. The facility (Fig. 3(a)) consists of a rock pontoon and
a support barge carrying the large-scale section to be tested.
The artificial rock used was a cone fixed on to the submerged
pontoon. It was idealized to be rigid in these grounding experiments to simplify the test conditions. The test structures were
doublebottoms,
one of which is schematically
shown in Fig.
3(b). As compared to an actual VLCC, the experiments were
conducted at a scale of l/4. Test No. 1 was designed to investigate a minor raking situation. Only the outer bottom was
damaged, while the inner bottom remained intact. Test No. 2
was set to model a severe grounding accident. In this test, the
vertical penetration of the artificial rock was so high that the
inner bottom was breached as well. Due to the large pitching
movement of the supporting barge, the rock did not penetrate
the inner bottom in the later stages of the test. Consequently,
the load in the longitudinal direction dropped to a lower level.
The deformations of the doublebottom models were localized
within a region that was a little wider than the artificial rock.
Only the structures within this range contributed to the energy dissipation. Although a 100% resemblance in the assumed
structural failure shapes is not to be expected, investigation
of the damaged bottom models after the tests revealed that
the global raking model postulated in this paper is a reasonable one. Evidence thus suggests that the entire raking damage can be approximately
modeled by the scenario assumed
herein. In the bottom sections tested, large out-of-plane deformations were observed. In Test No. 2, a tearing line ran
longitudinally
along the centerline of the intruding rock. This
is a characteristic feature of the tearing failure mode. Parallel
tearing lines along the stiffeners in the longitudinal
direction
were also found, suggesting that a concertina tearing failure
mode was involved in the raking process. In many locations a
structural folding phenomenon was observed. The related de-

(a) General Set-up of Experiments

Model

(b) General Layout of Bottom Model and Rock Model

Fig. 3

244

Large-scale

SEPTEMBER

1997

grounding

experiments

conducted

by ASIS

Test

Concertina Tearing
1.2

2.4

3.6

(a)

Test No. 1

Tearing
4.8

6.0

3.9

4.3

4.6

data relating
to horizontal
experiments
of ASIS

load

Horizontal Penetration (m)

1.5

2.5

3.3

Horizontal Penetration (m)

(p) Test No. 2
Fig.

Bottom Model /

Predictions

and test
grounding

in the

formation pattern is similar to the denting failure mode. The

damage of the floors occurred most likely due to ductile rupture.
The measured horizontal force versus horizontal penetration
curves of Tests 1 and 2 are reproduced in Fig. 4. These curves
show shapes consistent with those in Fig. 2, our postulated
model for the resistance of the raked bottom. The resistance
of the bottom structure of course fluctuates, and load peaks
are found to occur when the artificial rock contacts the floors.
Troughs in the force-penetration
curve are, on the other hand,
a consequence of breakage in the floors. Due to the vertical
movement of the ship, exact recurrence of structural resistance
force characteristics is not expected. From the data of Test 1,
however, in which the pitching and heaving related movement
was small, the periodicity of resistance load can be ascertained.
These experimental
observations generally support the global
damage model postulated in this paper.
For simplicity in our calculations, the artificial rock model is
idealized as a vertically positioned rigid cylinder. The breadth
of the cylinder is assumed to be the mean width of the real
damage. For the tearing mode, the wedge angle is assumed to
be 7r/2 and the friction coefficient is taken to be 0.3. The rock
breadth is approximately
750 mm for Test l! 1250 mm and 1750
mm for Test 2. Taking into account the longitudinal stiffeners,
the equivalent thickness for the bottom and the inner bottom
plating is 8 mm. The floors have a thickness of 5 mm. The floor
space is 1250 mm. The plate material has a yield point of about
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OF SHIP RESEARCH

400
350
300

.-

&..,.

Prediction:
Concertina Tearing

,,

rupture

dent

--.

I,--,;

touch

I
2.4m D=2.5.7m

250
200

Fig. 6

Grounding

of a 237 000 dwt

oil tanker

150
100
50
0
0

1.0

2.0 3.0 4.0

5.0 6.0
Horizontal Penetration (m)
(a) Test No. 1

Concertina Tearin

Horizontal Penetration (m)

(d) Test No. 2
Fig. 5

Predictions

and test

data for energy

ments of ASIS

in the grounding

experi-

360 MPa. Our predicted results are also plotted against the
experimental
data in Fig. 4. The calculated trough and peak
values of the resistance are seen to be close to the measured
values.
Integration of the measured load versus horizontal penetration curve results in the energy versus horizontal penetration
curves shown in Fig. 5, where the predicted energy dissipation
is plotted alongside the experimental data. Indentation up to
the first floor is not included because the forepart of the bottom model is different from the structure of the after part (see
Fig. 3). The experimental curves lie between the two calculated
curves that are based on the tearing mode and the concertina
tearing mode.
From the comparisons shown by the curves in Figs. 4 and
5, it is clear that the proposed method gives reasonable and
promising prediction results.
4.2 A case study:

grounding

accident

of a VLCC

On January 6, 1975, a one-year-old VLCC ran aground at

a speed of 11.5 knots. The grounding caused an oil spill of
approximately
1200 m3. The principal dimensions of the single
hull tanker are as follows:
Length between perpendiculars
Breadth, molded
Depth, molded
Draft
Deadweight
SEPTEMBER

1997

304.000 m
52.400 m
25.700 m
19.800 m
237 OOOton

This grounding accident can be viewed as a full scale

grounding experiment.
It thus provides a good source of information for performing a case study using our proposed method.
Figure 6 is a plan view of the damage situation that resulted.
The ships bottom was torn, dented and scratched. -4 long rupture found in the bottom had a width of 2 m to 5 m, and
extended approximately
180 m from t,he bow along the centerline. Bottom plating within this range was breached and pushed
sideways. The structures on the outer sides of the rupture were
heavily concavely deformed toward the interior of the tanks.
The width of the transverse frame deformation was approximately 7 m to 8 m. The depth of the indentation was about 2
m to 3 m.
In order to calculate energy dissipation in this grounding accident, both the horizontal deformation and the vertical deformation should be taken into account. For simplicity in modeling
and calculation, the total energy dissipation is divided into two
independent parts: one concerned with damage in the longitudinal direction, the other with damage due to vertical deformation. The interaction between these two parts is neglected.
It is reasonable to assume that structures whose deformations
are mainly in the horizontal plane provide horizontal strength,
while those deflected primarily vertically provide resistance in
the perpendicular
direction. Considering that the rupture is
very long (about 0.6 ship length), the structural differences of
the bottom at midships and at the bow are neglected and the
following predictions are based on the scantlings of the midship
portion.
The ruptured structures along the centerline (the shaded
part of Fig. 6) were damaged mainly by the crushing load in
the longitudinal
direction, and thus the vertical deformations
of these structures were not considered. The method schematically shown in Fig. 2 is then applied to calculate the energy
dissipation due to the horizontal damage. In these calculations,
the equivalent thickness for the bottom plate is 68.7 mm for 2m-width rock and 56.5 mm for a 5-m-width rock. The bottom
structure material was high tensile steel with a yield stress of
320 MPa. The transverse frame spacing is 5.0 m. The wedge
angle and the friction coefficient for the plate tearing model are
taken as 7r/2 and 0.3: respectively. The lowest point on the face
of the transverse frame is 3.59 m above the baseline, so that the
ruptured transverse frame is assumed to be 3.59 m in depth.
The shaded part in Fig. 6 indicated the heavily dented region,
which contributes to the energy dissipation through large vertical deformations.
A different method is used to predict the energy dissipation
due to the structure in this region. A large-deflection plastic deformation beam model is used to represent the deformed outer
plates [equation (l)]. A plate denting model is used to represent
the behavior of the transverse frames. At any instant during the
grounding accident, the contact area of the bottom plate and
the seabed was likely to be small compared with the VLCC
bottom. Friction is therefore not taken into account when calculating the vertical deformations. The total energy dissipation
during grounding Ep is thus the sum of the energy dissipation
due to the horizontal deformation and that due to the vertical
deformation. In calculating the kinetic energy of the vessel Eo
(Eo = MV,2/2~ where M is the mass of the ship and & the
initial speed of the vessel), the effect of the fluids surrounding
the vessel is taken into account. It is assumed that the added
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245

of the predicted
energy
Table 1 Comparisons
dissipation
(fp) and initial kinetic
energy of vessel
(Eo). for the grounding
accident
of a VLCC

Rupture Width

Failure Mode

2.0m

Concertina Tearing

115.0%

2.0m

Tearing

82.8%

5.0m

Concertina Tearing
Tearing

5.0m

EdEQ

93.9%

5. Conclusions
A ship hull is characterized by structure that is periodically
arranged along the ship length. As a result, the internal resistance force during grounding is also periodic in the longitudinal direction. For the main structural members! four primary
structural failure modes are identified. A prediction method is
constructed by assembling the strength calculation formulas for
these four primary failure modes. This method is successfully
applied in predicting the results of the large scale grounding experiments conducted by ASIS and the grounding damage in an
actual accident of a VLCC. The proposed method is based on
only four structural failure modes, and the formulas for these
failure modes are very simple to express mathematically.
Therefore, the proposed method is easy to use in practical design.

Acknowledgments
to thank Mr. 0. Kitamura
at
and Mr. &I. Watanabe at ASIS

References
ATKINS, A. G. 1988 Scaling in combined plastic flow and fracture.
International
Journal
of Mechanical
Science,
30, 173-191.
1983 The effective crushing distance in axially
ABRAMOWICZ, W.
compressed thin-walled
metal columns. Internatzonal Jaw-nal of
Impact Engineering,
1, 309-317.
KIWMURA, 0.
1995 Numerical simulation of large scale grounding tests. Conference on Prediction Methodology
of Tanker Structural Failure & Consequential
Oil Spill, Tokyo, July 1995.
KUROIWA, T.! K.4w.4~0~0: Y.. AND YUHARA, T.
1992 Study on
damage of ship bottom structures due to grounding. Conference
on Prediction Methodology
of Tanker Structural Failure & Consequential Oil Spill, Tokyo, June 1992.
MINORSKY, V. V. 1959 An analysis of ship collisions with reference to protection
of nuclear power plants. JOURNAL OF SHIP
RESEARCH, 3, Oct., 1-4.
OHTSUBO; H. et al 1994 Structural
design for pollution
control:
Report of Committee V.6 of ISSC 94. 12th International
Ship and
Offshore Structures Congress, Canada, 2, 2499295.
OHTSUBO, H. AND WANG. G. 1995 An upper-bound
solution to
the problem of plate tearing. Jownal
of Marzne
Science and Technology,
1, 46-51.
VAUGHAN, H 1978 Bending and tearing of plate with application
to ship-bottom
damage. Naval Architect,
97, 97-99.
1995 Full scale groundVREDEVELDT: A. W. AND WEVERS, L. T.
ing experiments. Conference on Prediction Methodology
of Tanker
Structural
Failure & Consequential
Oil Spill: Tokyo: June 1995.
\VA?IG; G. AND OHTSUBO, H. 1995a Energy absorbing mechanisms
involved in grounding. International
Conference on Technologies
for Marine Environment
Preservation,
Sept., Tokyo.
246

SEPTEMBER

1997

Appendix

114.8%

mass is 5% of the tanker displacement. The energy dissipation

EP predicted is compared with the initial kinetic energy of the
vessel Eo in Table 1. The calculated energy dissipation falls
within 82% N 115% of the initial kinetic energy. Considering the
simplicity of the calculations involved, these predicted results
are considered satisfactory.

The authors would like

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
for their useful comments.

WANG: G. AND OHTSUBO, H. 1995b Structural

strength during
of Japan,
bottom raking. Journal of the Socaety of Naval Architects
178, 413-419.
WIERZBICKI: T. 1995 Concertina tearing of metal plates. International Journal
of Solidsand Structures, 32, 2923-2943.
WIERZBICKI: T. AND THOMAS, P. 1993 Grounding
damage of
ships. In Structural
Crashworthiness
and Failure,
N. Jones and
T. Wierzbicki,
Elsevier Applied Science, Oxford, U.K.

In this Appendix the derivations of some of the formulas employed

in this paper are summarized. Details can be found in the related
references.
Beam

model

In a grounding accident the deformation

of a transverse structure
is usually very large, leading to the breakage of the structure. When
such deformation
is much larger than the order of plate thickness (or
the beam height) the bending stress does not play an important role,
and the beam resists the penetration
mainly by in-plane stretching.
Thus only membrane stress is considered and the bending stress is
not taken into account. Equation (1) is used in calculating the vertical load during the grounding accident of the VLCC in Section 4.2
as well.
Denting

model

The bottom plate immediately behind a transverse structure tends

to bulge out of its original plane when subjected to the force of a
seabed rock. The related idealized model by Wang & Ohtsubo (1995)
is shown in Fig. 7, where a plate subjected to concentrated load applied at one edge. It is observed that a fold forms in the plate, so
that the bending stress plays an important
role in the energy absorption. The width and depth of this denting mechanism are 2b and
2H, respectively.
Lines rZB and BC are assumed to be rigid with no
extension. The two upper hinges DA and EA form at the junction
between the bottom plate and the transverse structure. The middle
hinges DB and EB move out of their initial plane, causing global
plate bulging. The lower plate hinges remain otherwise stationary.
This failure process starts with the formation of these plastic hinges.
When the upper hinges contact the lower ones, the deformed plate
is flattened and a fold is formed. If the penetration
continues beyond that point, a new set of hinges is formed and a similar process
continues until the breakage of the plate.
The energy is dissipated in plate bending in the plastic hinges and
in plate stretching in the region surrounded by these hinges (the four
triangular zones shown). The bending work due to the upper, middle
and lower plastic hinges in forming one fold is approximately

(6)

Eb = 2irMo(2b)

In view of the complicated

membrane state involved in forming
a plate fold it is advantageous
to use average strain for the four
stretched triangular zones. The average strain for the triangle ADAB
is assumed to be the mean value of the extensions of its two edges
DA and DB. Similar assumptions are used for the other three triangles. The membrane work in forming one fold is then approximately

Fig. 7

Deformation

model

of a plate

subjected

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E,
= 3NoH3/b
(7)
The resulting mean resistance force is defined as the sum of both
the bending work and the membrane work divided by the fold length

2H:
Fm

(8)

= (Eb + .%n)/(2H)

- _
I

Substituting
Equations (6) and (7) into (8) gives an expression
containing an unknown parameter 2H, which can be determined by
minimizing the mean resistance load.
In the theoretical
model the structure
is flattened completely.
However: the plastic hinges in the theoretical
model are in reality
shells having curvatures.
The presence of a shell radius results in
reduction of the effective crushing distance. It is found from experiments and also from the analysis of Abramowicz
(1983) that the
compressed structural
length in such cases is approximately
2/3 of
its original length. When one introduces a parameter X to take this
effect into account equation (8) becomes equation (2).

Tearing

$1

I
F

i J

--

model

The problem of cutting a plate with a rigid wedge has been investigated experimentally
and theoretically
by many researchers. When a
wedge with an angle 20 advances with a velocity V into a metal sheet
the material of the plate separates ahead of the wedge tip and then
curves into two surfaces of variable curvature.
Figure 8 shows the
resulting deformation
model of the plate (Ohtsubo & Wang 1995).
Plastic hinges AE shown (dashed lines) move outwards in the plate
with the advance of the wedge. As a result more and more plate
material becomes involved in the tearing process. The instantaneous
radius of the curved plate at the position of line AE is denoted T.
According to the proposed kinematic model, the rate due to bending
work of one moving plastic hinge is
k:, = k$(vl

tan 6/r)

k,
The instantaneous
of virtual work

= (r/2
tearing

- 1) NorVcos

force is then derived

F = 2(&b

+ ,k&)/V

(10)

via the principal

Concertina

Model

for plate tearing

tearing

Under some conditions a plate may pile up in front of the wedge

and be torn at some remote locations. Wierzbicki
(1995) developed
a failure model for such a case as shown in Fig. 9. The plastic deformation is considered to spread over two folds. The concertina tearing
problem involves combined plastic flow and fracture. This mean resistance is expressed as
Fm = (&

+ Em + E,h +

J3f)/(Zf)

(12)

where 2H is the length of one fold and Eb, Em, E,h and Ef are
work due to plate bending, plate stretching, plate shearing, and plate
fracture/tearing,
respectively.
Substituting
the expressions for Eb,
Em: E,h and Ef into this equation leads to the following expression
which is dependent on two parameters, H and 6:
Fm/Mo

= n(2b)/H

+ ZnE/H

+ H2/@

+ 2H/t

+ 4&iR/qt

(13)

The two parameters are then determined by minimizing the mean

resistance load. Substituting
the optimum values of H and < into
equation (13) and introducing
X for the effective crushing distance,
equation (5) can be obtained.

(11)

Substituting
equations (9) and (10) into (11) gives an equation
which has one free parameter T, the instantaneous
radius of the
curved plate. Minimizing
the above equation with respect to r and
taking into account the contribution
from friction leads to equation
(3), the proposed formula for the relationship
between tearing length
and tearing load.
According to equation (3) the resistance force increases with the
increase of tearing length. However, the wedge cannot be infinitely
long or infinitely
wide. When the shoulder of the wedge goes into
the plate the tearing force typically
reaches its ultimate value and
then becomes relatively constant. Substituting
Is, the tearing length
when the shoulder of the wedge goes into the plate, into equation (3)
results in equation (4).

1997

Fig. 8

(9)

Near the tip of the wedge, large out-of-plane

deformations
have
typically
been observed. The model in Fig. 8 uses a three-dimensional displacement field to represent this local bulge (see the line F
shown in the side view). There is no separation between the wedge
tip and the crack tip in the plate, and membrane stresses play an
important
role in this near-tip
region. Separation of the metal
sheet is, therefore, the result of ductile failure at the location of the
highest tension. According to this kinematic model half of the rate
of the membrane work is

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I
$1

2b

Fig. 9

Concertina

tearing

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