Application of Idealized Structural Unit Method to Progressive
Collapse Analysis of Ship’s Hull Girder under Longitudinal Bending
Zhiyong Pei and Masahiko Fujikubo
Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University
Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan
ABSTRACT
New ISUM stiffened plate model that consists of large plate elements
for local plate panels and beam-column elements for stiffeners is
applied to the progressive collapse analysis of a ship’s hull girder under
longitudinal bending. The employed ISUM model is characterized by
the shape functions for deflection of local plate panels based on the
collapse modes and the ability to consider the localization of plastic
deformation. High computational efficiency and sufficient accuracy of
the new ISUM stiffened plate model are demonstrated through a series
of ultimate strength analyses of continuous stiffened plates and a
progressive collapse analysis of a 1/3-scale welded steel frigate model
under longitudinal bending.
KEY WORDS: Progressive collapse analysis; Ultimate strength;
Buckling/plastic collapse; Longitudinal bending; Stiffened plates; Ship
hull girder; Idealized Structural Unit Method
INTRODUCTION
If the working longitudinal bending moment exceeds the cross-
sectional capacity of ship’s hull girder, the buckling/plastic collapse of
deck or bottom structure takes place and this may lead to an ultimate
collapse. So, the ability to predict the progressive collapse behaviour of
ship’s hull girder is a very important aspect of ship structure design.
There exist several approaches to carry out the progressive collapse
analysis of ship’s hull girder. Accurate solutions can be obtained by the
application of conventional FEA considering both material and
geometrical nonlinearities. For the collapse analysis of large systems
like a ship’s hull, however, tremendously large computing resources are
required as well as manpower to achieve reliable results. So, many
studies have been performed to search for computationally efficient and
sufficiently accurate simplified methods to predict the ultimate capacity
of ship’s hull girder. Smith (1977) developed a simplified method for
the analysis of ultimate hull girder strength. The fundamental idea is to
Copyright ©2004 The International Society of Offshore and Polar
Engineers. All rights reserved.
Paper No. 2005- TY-07 Pei
take into account of the strength reduction of stiffened plate elements
after their ultimate strength as well as the time lag in collapse of
individual elements. It is assumed that following the beam theory the
cross section remains plane and perpendicular to neutral axis. The
analysis is hence reduced to one-dimensional one. Yao et al (1991 and
1992) developed a method of progressive collapse analysis of ship’s
hull girder based on Smith’s approach with a semi-analytical
formulation of average-stress/average strain relationships of stiffened
plate elements.
The Idealized Structural Unit Method (ISUM), proposed by Ueda and
Rashed (1984), gives one framework for implementing a more general
approach to progressive collapse analysis of structural systems. Though
using a matrix formulation similar to conventional FEA, ISUM
employs particular definitions of elements, which are of the same scale
in size as the structural members themselves. The material and
geometrical nonlinearities are idealized and included in the element
formulations. Ueda et al (1993) and Paik (1995) developed the ISUM
plate element employing an effective width concept for post-buckling
behaviours. These models however cannot accurately predict the
decrease in load-carrying capacity beyond ultimate strength. In addition,
rather complicated element formulation is required because nonlinear
behaviour is idealized by analytical expressions of effective width.
To eliminate complex analytical procedures of idealizing geometrical
nonlinearity, Masaoka et al (1998) proposed another ISUM plate
element. Inplane and out-of-plane deformations over the plate panel are
described by shape functions, and the amplitude of the deflection was
treated explicitly as a degree of freedom, beside nodal ones. In their
original formulation, the shape function for deflection was
approximated by elastic buckling modes. This approach however tends
to overpredict the post-ultimate strength particularly for a thin plate or
a plate predominantly under transverse thrust. This is because the
collapse modes for these cases significantly different from the elastic
buckling modes. From these observations, Fujikubo and Kaeding
(2002) employed the shape functions based on the collapse mode to
have a better accuracy for the post-ultimate strength behaviors.
Applying this ISUM plate element, they developed an ISUM stiffened
plate model that consists of ISUM plate elements for local plate panels
and beam-column elements for stiffeners. A new element subdivision
Page number 1
technique keeping the continuity of deflection was introduced for the
plate part. In addition, a localization of plastic deformation in the post-
ultimate range and plate/stiffener interaction effects were taken into
account. Recent analyses with this new ISUM stiffened plate model
include the assessment of the load carrying capacity of box-girder
specimens (Kaeding and Fujikubo, 2003), double bottom structures
(Fujikubo et al, 2003a) and Very Large Floating Structures (Kaeding
and Fujikubo, 2002; Fujikubo et al, 2003b). However, the model has
not been applied to the collapse analysis of ship’s hull girders. It is also
important to examine the ultimate strength of stiffened plates predicted
by ISUM in a systematical way because the ultimate bending strength
of hull girders highly depends on the initial failure strength of deck or
bottom structure (Ohtsubo and Sumi, 2000).

In this paper, a series of buckling/plastic collapse analysis of

continuous stiffened plates under thrust is performed changing the
slenderness ratios of plate panels and stiffeners and the type of Fig. 1 Plate panel modelled by three ISUM plate elements
stiffeners. Through a comparison with existing results given in ISSC
2000 report (Ohtsubo and Sumi, 2000), the accuracy of ultimate
strength predicted by new ISUM is examined. Next, the new ISUM is the total degrees of freedom of element I are
applied to the progressive collapse analysis of a 1/3-scale welded steel
frigate model. Assuming that a cross section remains plane, the bending
{d }= {U
I
1 U 2 U 3 U 4 AlI AtI }T
(3)
curvature is increased considering a shift of neutral axis due to Each plate element has therefore 14 degrees of freedoms.
buckling/yielding of structural members. Progressive collapse analysis
of the frigate model under sagging condition is performed using The amplitudes Al and At in Eqs. 1 and 3 basically are independent
nonlinear finite element program, ABAQUS. The results obtained by degrees of freedom from one element to another. The continuity of
new ISUM are examined through a comparison with those obtained by deflection over the whole plate panel as shown in Fig. 2a can be simply
ABAQUS and experiment. guaranteed by assigning the same degree of freedom number in the
solution process, i.e. giving AlI = AlII = AlIII . Extending this concept, a
ISUM FORMULATION localization of plastic deformation, as shown in Fig. 2b, can be
simulated by giving the same degree of freedom number to Al of
Since the detailed formulation for the ISUM plate element and stiffened
plate model is found in the previous paper (Fujikubo and Kaeding, elements II and III, but an independent one to Al of element I. Such
2002), a brief description of their basic concept and formulation is localization of plastic deformation largely affects the post-ultimate
given here. strength behavior of plate panels and stiffened plates (Fujikubo and
Kaeding, 2002), and thus has to be taking into account.
ISUM Plate Element
In the uniaxial cases of longitudinal thrust only or transverse thrust
Element definition. Figure 1 shows a simply supported rectangular only, the corresponding degree of freedom, Al or At , is used and the
plate subdivided by three ISUM plate elements, as indicated by Roman other one is set to zero. In the present study, Al for the longitudinal
numerals. Each ISUM plate element has four corner nodes. Each node
thrust alone is used for the collapse analysis of ship’s hull girder under
has three degrees of freedom, u , v and wn , and they are interpolated
longitudinal bending.
bilinearly within the element. The nodal degree of freedom in lateral
deflection, wn , is required for the analysis of overall buckling of Shape function. The accuracy of the buckling/plastic collapse behavior
stiffened plates as will be explained later. In the analysis of simply obtained by ISUM highly depends on the shape function for deflection,
supported plate panels, wn is set to zero. Eq. 1, assumed in the element. It is known that the deflection of a
simply supported rectangular plate under longitudinal thrust changes
from a sinusoidal buckling mode to a roof mode in the post-ultimate
The local panel deflection relative to the edges of the plate is expressed
in a general form by the sum of two components as
w = Al f l ( x , y ) + At f t ( x , y ) (1)
where the first term represents the panel deflection under longitudinal
thrust and the second term the one under transverse thrust. f l ( x , y )
and f t ( x , y ) are the functions of x and y in a coordinate system
whose origin is at a corner of the whole plate panel (not at a corner of
each individual plate element), as shown in Fig. 1. These functions are
uniquely defined for the whole plate panel. The amplitudes Al and
At in Eq. 1 are treated as additional degrees of freedom (Masaoka et al,
1998).

Denoting the nodal degrees of freedom at node i as

Fig. 2 ISUM mesh for a plate panel under longitudinal thrust
{U i } = {u i vi wi } (2)

Paper No. 2005- TY-07 Pei Page number 2

strength range, particularly for the case of thin plates. To simulate this
behavior, Fujikubo and Kaeding (2002) proposed a shape function
æ np x py 3np x pyö (4)
w = Al f l ( x, y ) = Al ç sin sin + f sin sin ÷
è a b a b ø
with a prescribed ratio f between the two components and one degree
of freedom Al .The first term in the parenthesis indicates a longitudinal
buckling mode with n half waves, and the second term a higher-order
mode to represent a roof mode. The ratio f is given as a function of
averaged compressive strain. Eq 4 is used throughout the present study.
Stiffness equation. The components of linear inplane strain and
curvature are derived as for usual plate elements. The nonlinear
contribution of the plate panel deflection w of Eq. 1 to the inplane
strain is calculated by Elastic Large Deflection Analysis (ELDA). In
addition, the nonlinear effect of the nodal lateral deflection wn due to
overall buckling of stiffened plates on the inplane strain is considered
in the form of an updated Green strain increment. The total inplane
strain increment of the ISUM plate element is therefore
{ } { } { } { }
De total = De linear + De wELDA + De wupd / Green (5)
To avoid through-thickness integration, a yield function in terms of
stress resultants per unit width is used. The principle of virtual work in
an incremental form yields the stiffness equation for ISUM plate
element
[ K ]{Dd } = {DF } + { F } - { R} (6)
with tangential stiffness matrix [K], incremental displacement vector
{Dd}, applied force {F}, its increment {DF} and internal force {R}.
More detail of derivation of Eq. 6 can be found in the paper (Fujikubo
and Kaeding, 2002).
Modeling of Stiffened Plate
To consider overall bending of stiffened plates, the stiffeners are
modeled by beam-column elements and the plate panels by ISUM plate
elements. A typical ISUM-plate/beam-column mesh for a double-span
model having several stiffeners between longitudinal girders is shown
in Fig.2, in a deformed shape. In the double span model, a symmetrical
boundary condition is imposed on the panel deflection and stiffener
nodes at the mid-span of adjacent floor spaces (x=a/2, -a/2). Each
ISUM plate element covers an area indicated by the hatched part for
one example element. While the ISUM plate element has four corner
nodes, the beam-column element has two end nodes at the lower edge
of web.
Fig. 3 ISUM-plate/beam-column mesh for a double-span model
Paper No. 2005- TY-07 Pei
The beam-column element has seven degrees of freedom per node:
three translations (u, v, w), three rotations (qx, qy, qz), and the torsional
rate (dqx/dx). The warping displacement of the cross section is
considered according to the theory of thin-walled beams. Yielding is
examined at both nodes in several fibers. The large deflection effects
due to vertical deflection and torsional deformation around the lower
edge of the web are considered by the updated Lagrangian approach.
The rotational constraint offered by the bending stiffness of the plate is
added to the torsional stiffness of the beam as distributed rotational
spring. Since the thin-walled beam theory is applied, a web distortion
due to tripping cannot be simulated. This may lead to a somewhat over-
prediction of load carrying capacity of stiffeners having relatively small
torsional strength, such as a flat-bar stiffener and a tee-bar stiffener
with large height.
Localization of plastic deformation in the plate panel, which typically
occurs in the compression side of overall bending at the collapsing
midspan, is simulated by giving two independent degrees of freedom
for the deflection amplitude, Al, to one bay, as shown in Fig. 2b and
also in Fig.3.
COLLAPSE ANALYSIS OF STIFFENED PLATES
It is noted (Ohtsubo and Sumi, 2000) that collapse behavior of
structural members composing a cross-section of a hull girder largely
affects the collapse behavior of the cross-section and its ultimate
strength as a whole. It is therefore important to know how accurately
the applied method simulates the collapse behavior and predicts the
ultimate strength of individual structural members as stiffened plates.
It has been shown through a comparison with FEA (Fujikubo and
Kaeding, 2002) that the ISUM stiffened plate model can accurately
predict the load-shortening and load-lateral deflection relationships of a
continuous stiffened plate under thrust, including the post-ultimate
strength behavior accompanied by the localization of plastic
deformation. As a further validation of the ISUM stiffened plate model,
here, the accuracy of the ultimate strength obtained by ISUM is
examined by a series of collapse analyses on the stiffened plates under
longitudinal thrust. Stiffened plates adopted in the ISSC benchmark
study (Ohtsubo and Sumi, 2000) are taken as the target models, and the
calculated ultimate strengths are compared with those obtained by FEA
and several simplified estimation methods of ultimate strength given in
the ISSC report.
A continuous stiffened plate with equally spaced stiffeners of the same
size is considered, and a double-bay model consisting of one stiffener
and attached plate flange of the width b, as indicated by the shaded area
of Fig.3, is analyzed. The size of the local panel between stiffeners is
taken as a x b = 2400 x 800 and 4000 x 800 (mm), and the panel
thickness as tp=10, 13, 15, 20, 25 (mm).
For a local plate panel between stiffeners, the initial deflections of
elastic buckling mode with three half waves for a/b=3.0 and five for
a/b=5.0 are considered, and the maximum magnitude is set to one-
hundredth of the plate thickness. For a stiffener, a sinusoidal buckling-
mode deflection whose maximum magnitude is one-thousandth of the
span length, a, is considered, and this is superimposed to the panel
initial deflection, i.e. the edges of the plate panel follow stiffener. The
initial torsional deformation of a stiffener about the lower edge of web
is also taken into account in a sinusoidal buckling mode, and the
maximum magnitude of a resulting horizontal displacement at the
stiffener top is set to one-thousandth of the span length, a. The welding
residual stresses are not taken into account.
Page number 3
 h ´ b f ´ t w / t f = 150 ´ 90 ´ 9 / 12 mm h ´ t w + b f ´ t f = 138 ´ 9 + 90 ´12mm
1 1 1 1
su /sY su /sY a/b=5.0 su /sY su /sY a/b=5.0
0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6

a/b=3.0 a/b=3.0

0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4

Astrup(1) Yao(1) Astrup(1) Yao(1) Astrup(1) Yao(1)

Cho Yao(2) Cho Yao(2) Cho Yao(2) Cho Yao(1)
0.2 Rigo(1) NEW 0.2 Rigo(1) NEW 0.2 Rigo(1) NEW 0.2 Astrup(1) Yao(2)
Soares FEM(ULSAS) Soares FEM(ULSAS) Soares FEM(ULSAS) Rigo(1) NEW
Soares FEM(ULSAS)

0 0 0 0
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 b 3.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 b 3.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 b 3.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 b 3.5

h ´ b f ´ t w / t f = 250 ´ 90 ´ 10 / 15mm h ´ t w + b f ´ t f = 235 ´10 + 90 ´15mm

1 1
su /sY su /sY
1 su /sY 1 su /sY

0.8 0.8
0.8 0.8

a/b=3.0 0.6 a/b=3.0 0.6

0.6 0.6
a/b=5.0 a/b=5.0

0.4 0.4
0.4 0.4
Astrup(1) Yao(1) Astrup(1) Yao(1) Astrup(1) Yao(1) Astrup(1) Yao(1)
Cho Yao(2) Cho Yao(2) Cho Yao(2)
Rigo(1) NEW 0.2 Rigo(1) NEW Rigo(1) New 0.2 Cho Yao(2)
0.2 0.2 Rigo(1) NEW
Soares FEM(ULSAS) Soares FEM(ULSAS) Soares FEM(ULSAS)
Soares FEM(ULSAS)

0 0 0 0
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 b 3.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 b 3.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 b 3.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 b 3.5

h ´ b f ´ t w / t f = 400 ´ 100 ´ 12 / 17 mm h ´ t w + b f ´ t f = 383 ´12 + 100 ´17mm

su /sY su /sY su /sY su /sY
1 1 1 1

0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8

a/b=5.0
a/b=3.0 a/b=3.0 a/b=5.0
0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4

Astrup(1) Yao(1) Astrup(1) Yao(1) Astrup(1) Yao(1) Astrup(1) Yao(1)

Cho Yao(2) Cho Yao(2) Cho Yao(2) Cho Yao(2)
0.2 Rigo(1) NEW 0.2 Rigo(1) NEW 0.2 0.2 Rigo(1) NEW
Soares FEM(ULSAS) Rigo(1) NEW
Soares FEM(ULSAS) Soares FEM(ULSAS) Soares FEM(ULSAS)

0 0 0 0
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 b 3.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 b 3.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 b 3.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 b 3.5

Fig. 4 Compressive ultimate strength of stiffened plate plotted against Fig. 5 Compressive ultimate strength of stiffened plate plotted against
slenderness ratio of panel (angle-bar stiffener) slenderness ratio of panel (tee-bar stiffener)

Figures 4 and 5 show the comparison of ultimate strengths of a
stiffened plate obtained by eight different methods. The ultimate
strength is expressed in terms of the average stress for a full cross
section. Astrup(1) is based on a beam-column approach and Shanley’s
model is used. Rigo(1) is based on Rahman-Hughes’s model and Perry-
Robertson formula is applied. Soares’s method is based on a beam-
column approach considering the load-shedding after reaching ultimate
strength. Yao(1) is also based on a beam-column approach and
obtained from the average-stress/average-strain relationship given in a
semi-analytical method (Yao and Nikolov, 1991, 1992). Yao(2) is a
new simplified method improving Carlsen’s method (Fujikubo et al,
1999a). Cho used NASTRAN. FEM (ULSAS) was obtained by the
non-linear FEA code developed by Yao et al. NEW represents the
results by the present ISUM stiffened plate model. The parameter b is
the panel slenderness parameter and given as
b s Yp
b= (7)
tp E
where E and sYp are Young’s modulus and yield strength of the plate
panel, respectively.
Significant scatter exists among the predicted ultimate strengths in Figs.
4 and 5. This is mainly due to the difference in the collapse modes
assumed, the formulation of panel effective width and the criteria to
determine the ultimate strength. Some methods give the predictions that
considerably deviate from the FEA results. On the other hand, the
present ISUM gives the predictions which are in good correlation with
the FEA results. For example, for some combinations of the stiffener
size and the panel aspect ratio, b, the maximum value of ultimate
strength exists when plotted against b. This is because for very thin
plates the panel buckling strength and associated effective width are
decreased with increase in b, while for very thick plates the stiffening
effect of stiffeners is relatively decreased with decrease in b. The
present ISUM captures this behavior. It, however, tends to
underestimate the ultimate strength when compared with FEA. This is
probably because the stability of the stiffener modeled by beam-column
elements is more susceptible to the initial yielding of cross section than
the stiffener modeled by shell elements that allow the ductile cross-
sectional deformation and the resulting more spread of yielding.
Although this is to be remarked, it has been generally confirmed that
the present ISUM model can give accurate and reasonable predictions
of the ultimate strength of a stiffened plate under longitudinal thrust.
COLLAPSE ANALYSIS OF SHIP’S HULL GIRDER
A 1/3-scale welded steel frigate model was tested by Dow (1991) under
four-point bending in sagging condition, which resulted in overall
collapse accompanied by buckling/plastic collapse of deck, side and

Paper No. 2005- TY-07 Pei Page number 4

bottom structures. Here, new ISUM stiffened plate model is applied to
the progressive collapse analysis of the Dow’s test model under
sagging condition. FEA for the sagging condition is also performed 1 2
using ABAQUS. As the fundamental case, the welding residual stress
is not taken into account. The objective of the study is to examine the
basic ability of ISUM to simulate the observed collapse behavior and to
compare the accuracy of predicted behavior with the full FE analysis.

Outline of Dow’s Test 3

The model consists of a central mild-steel section for the test and two
outer high-strength steel sections used as loading beams. The total
dimensions of the model are 18m length, 4.1m beam and 2.8m depth.
The material properties of the test section are: elastic modulus 207
GPa, yield stress 245 MPa, Poisson’s ratio 0.3.

Figure 6 shows the mid-ship section of the tested part. The frame space
is 457.2mm. To simplify constructions, decks and major bulkheads
other than the main load carrying structures were represented by
4
equivalent heavy fabricated tee-bars. The thickness of plate panel at the 6
central part of deck is smaller than that near the corner. Extensive 5
measurements of initial deformation are carried out for deck and side
shell including the overall component of longitudinal girders and
interframe component for stiffeners and plate panels. The weld induced Fig. 6 Cross section of 1/3-scale welded steel frigate model
residual stresses were also measured. transverse frame cross-section Trans. frame
u D1 u D2
ui i
The collapse behavior observed in the test in sagging condition was as
deck
follows (Dow, 1991): uz = 0
1. An overall grillage buckling of the deck structure initially took qx = 0

zi
q q
place between two transverse bulkheads. The occurrence of this side side
uy = 0 uy = 0
overall bucking had been predicted by preliminary buckling qx = 0 qx = 0
M M
m2 u m2
analysis because of the high slenderness of deck structure. It was m1

judged that the overall grillage buckling did not have a significant
influence on the hull girder moment/curvature response due to bottom
large stiffness and strength reserves. The test was then continued uz = 0 qz = 0 qz = 0
qx = 0 q y same q y same
up to the ultimate collapse in bending.
2. Approaching the ultimate load, local stiffener and plate panel u B1 u B2
frame space
deformations developed on the deck superimposed on the overall z z
deck deformation. y x
3. The side shell clearly showed inter-frame buckling of the
longitudinal stiffeners with associated plate buckling. Then, the Fig. 7 Boundary and loading conditions
mild steel test section reached the ultimate strength.
4. During the post-collapse phase of the loading, fairly large Pure bending moment is applied to two end cross sections in the
deformation of the structure was achieved; this resulted in following manner in both ISUM and FEM: first, a master node, m, is
significant tripping deformations on both the small longitudinals defined at an arbitrary height of a cross-section as shown in Fig.7.
and the deep girders representing internal deck structure in the test Denoting the axial displacement and the rotational angle at the master
section. node by, um and qm, respectively, and assuming that the cross section
5. Significant shifting of the neutral axis of the test section also remains plane, the axial displacement, ui, and the rotational angle, qi, at
occurred during the post-collapse phase. This was apparent from the node i located at a distance of zi from the master node are given by
the amount of compressive buckling of longitudinals that occurred {d i } = [ H i ]{d m } (8)
between No. 3 and 4 decks.
where d = ìui ü , é1 zi ù ìum ü
6. Final permanent deformed shapes show the inter-frame collapse of { i} í ý [ H i ] = ê0 , {d m } = í ý
the side shell and the internal damage to the test section. îqi þ ë 1 úû îq m þ

Method of Progressive Collapse Analysis On the other hand, the axial nodal force, fi, and the bending moment, Mi,
at the node i can be transformed to the equivalent nodal forces with
Procedure of Bending Moment Application. Longitudinal hull girder respect to the master node as
{Fm } = [ H i ] {Fi }
T
segment extending a half frame spacing in fore and aft directions from (9)
a transverse frame is considered, and a forced rotational angle is
ì fm ü ì fi ü
applied to both end cross-sections as shown in Fig.7 assuming that the where {Fm } = í ý , {Fi } = í ý
cross sections remain plane. Overall grillage buckling of deck structure, îM m þ îM i þ
as observed in the test, is not simulated, and the inter-frame collapse of Applying the transformation of Eqs. 8 and 9 to all the nodes at the
deck and side structure in longitudinal bending is analyzed. both-end cross sections, the stiffness equation with respect to the nodal
force {Fi} and the nodal displacement {di} is transformed to that with

Paper No. 2005- TY-07 Pei Page number 5

respect to the nodal force {Fm} and the nodal displacement {dm} at the
master node.

For the progressive collapse analysis, the rotational angle, qm, at the
master node is increased at the both-end cross sections as shown in
Fig.7, allowing the axial displacement um at one end cross section and
taking the corresponding axial force, fm, as zero. The shift of neutral
axis due to buckling/yielding of structural members can be
automatically considered by allowing the axial displacement at the
master node under the condition of zero axial loads. The deformation of
transverse cross section in y-z plane is constrained at the location of
transverse frame as shown in Fig.7. The deck, side and bottom
Z
structures are modeled by double-span models, as Fig.3. The out-of- Y X
plane deformation of plate panels and stiffeners is constrained at the
location of the transverse frame, which corresponding to the y-axis in
Fig.3. The symmetrical boundary conditions are imposed on the out-of- Fig. 8 ISUM plate element mesh
plane deformation of plate panels and stiffeners at the both-end cross
sections, which correspond to the mid-span cross sections (x=a/2, -a/2)
in Fig. 3.

ISUM model. ISUM element mesh is shown in Fig. 8. The stiffeners

are modeled by beam-column elements and the plate panels between
stiffeners by ISUM plate elements. The localization of plastic
deformation in the plate panel is considered. The model consists of 516
beam-column elements, 600 ISUM plate elements and 700 nodes. The
total degree of freedom is 2803. The initial deflections of sinusoidal
buckling mode are considered both in panels and in stiffeners. The
maximum magnitudes of initial deflections in panels are assumed to be
one percent of the plate thickness, and those in stiffeners are 0.001 of
the span length of the stiffeners. Z
X
Y

FEM model. Progressive collapse analysis under sagging condition is

performed using ABAQUS. The element mesh is shown in Fig. 9. All Fig. 9 ABAQUS shell element mesh
the members above No.3 deck, which are possibly in compression, are
0.7
modeled by four-node shell elements (ABAQUS S4R5 element). For sx/sY
plate: 457.2x202.0x2.0
tee-bar: 38.1x14.0x1.78/3.3
one stiffener space, there are eight elements in transverse directions and 0.6
twenty-four in longitudinal directions. Four shell elements are used to
model the stiffener web and two for stiffener flange. To reduce the 0.5
degree of freedoms, the longitudinal stiffeners below No.3 deck, which
are possibly in tension, are modeled by truss elements having 0.4
equivalent cross-sectional area, and thus only plate panels and
longitudinal girders are modeled by shell elements. A total of 1008 0.3
ISUM (with localization)
truss element, 26496 shell elements and 28650 nodes are used. The ISUM (no localization)
0.2
same initial deflections are considered both in panels and in stiffeners FEA(ULSAS)
FEA(ABAQUS)
as in ISUM model.
0.1

Collapse Behavior of Typical Stiffened Plates 0

0 0.5 1 ex/eY 1.5
As is well known, collapse behavior of structural members composing
0.8
a cross-section of a hull girder largely affects the collapse behavior of sx/sY plate: 457.2x202.0x3.0
tee-bar: 38.1x14.0x1.78/3.3
the cross-section and its ultimate strength as a whole. So, the 0.7
buckling/plastic collapse analysis of typical stiffened plates on the deck
is performed by ISUM and ABAQUS first. The FEA using the in-house 0.6

code ULSAS is also performed. 0.5

The calculated average stress-average strain curves are shown in Fig.10 0.4
where the average stress is non-dimensionalized by the yield stress and
0.3
the average strain by the yield strain. ISUM (with localization)
ISUM (no localization)
0.2 FEA(ULSAS)
ISUM results exhibit a lower stiffness after buckling than FEA. This is FEA(ABAQUS)

because the increase in panel buckling strength due to the torsional 0.1
stiffness of the stiffener (Fujikubo and Yao, 1999b) is not considered in
0
the present model. For ISUM model, the solution can follow the FEA 0 0.5 1 ex/eY 1.5
results only when the localization of plastic deformation is considered
in the panel deflection. An approach neglecting this localization shows Fig. 10 Average stress-average strain curves for typical stiffened plate

Paper No. 2005- TY-07 Pei Page number 6

good agreement in ultimate strength, but too high load-carrying At the bending moment of about 9MNm, the bending capacity of a full
capacity beyond the ultimate strength. cross-section is reduced. This is due to the rapid reduction of load
carrying capacity of stiffened panels after reaching their ultimate
Progressive Collapse Behavior of Cross Section strength as seen in Fig. 5. But after load-redistributions, it again
increases until the bottom part yields. Then, the ultimate strength as a
The moment-curvature relationship obtained by ISUM and ABAQUS full cross-section is attained. The average stress-average strain
are plotted in Fig.11, together with the test results. The deformation relationships of six selected stiffened plates obtained by ISUM with
modes before the ultimate strength, at the ultimate strength and at the localization of plastic deformation are plotted in Fig.13. The number of
post-ultimate strength are shown in Fig.12. For ISUM, the panel selected stiffened plate marked in Fig.6; for example, stiffened plate 1
deformation was drawn by the virtual mesh that is much finer than the is located at the center of the deck. The stiffened plates 1, 2 and 3 are
actual element mesh. in compression and 4, 5 and 6 are in tension under sagging condition.
Tensile yield strength of the stiffened plates 5 and 6 is larger than yield
In sagging condition, the middle part of the deck with thinner plating strength. This is because the transverse inplane deformation of each
initially reaches the ultimate strength, and then the edge plates of the plate element is constrained at the transverse frame and the transverse
deck and the upper part of the side shell reach their ultimate strength. tensile stress is produced due to Poisson’s effect. For the stiffened plate
These collapse starts from the buckling of local plate panels between 4, the effect of plate element is so minor that its tensile yield strength is
stiffeners, followed by the inter-frame overall buckling of the stiffeners. similar as yield strength.
12 1.2
M(MNm) sx/sY
stiffened plate 1
10 1 stiffened plate 2 compression
B stiffened plate 3
stiffened plate 4
C stiffened plate 5 tension
8 0.8
stiffened plate 6

A
6 0.6

ISUM (with localization)

4 ISUM (no localization) 0.4
FEA (ABAQUS)
Experiment
2
0.2

0
0
0 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.004 0.005
curvature(1/m) 0 2 4 6 8 ex/eY 10

Fig. 11 Moment-curvature relationships Fig. 13 Average stress-average strain curves in sagging condition

Fig. 12 Typical deformation modes

Paper No. 2005- TY-07 Pei Page number 7

ISUM with consideration of localization of plastic deformation gives
the collapse modes and moment-curvature relationships which are in
good agreement with ABAQUS results. The obtained collapse
behaviors are consistent with the test results. If the localization of
plastic deformation is neglected, however, the result shows larger
ultimate strength and load-carrying capacity. This again shows that the
localization of plastic deformation in the plate panel plays an important
role on simulating the progressive collapse behaviors. No significant
load shedding can be observed neglecting it as shown in Fig.11.
According to the moment-curvature relationship at around 9MNm,
Fig.11, the collapse of the deck and the reduction of stiffness takes
place in ISUM earlier than in FEA. This is because the ultimate
strength of stiffened plates tends to be underestimated as described in
the previous chapter. Because the welding residual stresses are not
considered in the analysis, the initial stiffness of both analyses is larger
than the tested results. In the collapse test, significant tripping
deformations on both the small longitudinals and the deep girders
representing internal deck structure were observed. In the present
ISUM stiffener model, such tripping deformation accompanied by web
distortion is not considered. As a result, ISUM gives larger load
carrying capacity than ABAQUS in the post-ultimate strength range
with a large curvature. However, the basic collapse modes are the same
as those reported by Dow (Dow, 1991).
Paik (1995) performed the progressive collapse analysis of the same
test model using ALPS/ISUM program. It was reported that the panel
buckling initially occurred in the deck, but the major cause of collapse
was an excessive tension-deformation in the tension side of bending.
This is inconsistent with the tested results, which exhibited fairly large
deformation of deck and upper-side structure accompanied by tripping.
This is because the overall buckling and resulting reduction of load
carrying capacity cannot be accurately predicted by ALPS/ISUM
program.
It can be concluded from these results that the ISUM stiffened plate
model considering the localization of plastic deformation can predict
the progressive collapse behavior with a good accuracy. The inclusion
of tripping effect remains as an urgent future work.
CPU time required for the ISUM analysis up to the ultimate strength is
less than one minute, and that for the total loading steps 20 minute. The
CPU time required for ISUM for one load increment is about 1/70 of
that for ABAQUS.
CONCLUSIONS
The new ISUM stiffened plate model (Fujikubo and Kaeding, 2002)
has been applied to the progressive collapse analysis of a 1/3-scale
welded steel frigate model under longitudinal bending, and the results
are compared with those of FEA and test results. A series of ultimate
strength analyses of stiffened plate under longitudinal thrust has been
performed to examine the accuracy of the ISUM. The main conclusions
can be summarized as:
1) ISUM can predict accurately the ultimate strength and collapse
behavior of stiffened plate.
2) Localization of plastic deformation in the plate panel plays an
important role on simulating the collapse behavior beyond
ultimate strength. No significant load shedding can be observed
neglecting it.
3) The new ISUM can be applied to progressive collapse analysis
of ship’s hull girder with a high efficiency and good accuracy.
Paper No. 2005- TY-07 Pei
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are very grateful to Messrs. Soichi Asazu and Junichi
Tanabe, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University, for
their help in ABAQUS analysis. Financial support by Japan Society
for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) is also gratefully acknowledged.
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