Ship collision damage assessment and validation with experiments and numerical simulations

Closed-form expressions to estimate the energy absorption and damage extent for severe ship collision damages were initially developed in 1999 [1, 2], and further validated with experimental data in 2016 [3]. To gain further confidence for applications within design using the proposed analytical procedure, it is evident that more detailed and comprehensive comparisons and validations with experiments and numerical simulations are necessary. The purpose of the present paper is to use the analytical approach and finite element analyses to study in depth model-scale and full-scale collision tests so that to further quantify key calculation parameters and to verify the capability and accuracy of the proposed analytical method. In total 18 experimental tests and one full-scale collision accident are evaluated. The 18 experimental energy absorption-penetration and collision force-penetration curves, and the associated finite element simulations, are compared with results obtained from the analytical calculations. It can be concluded that the analytical method gives consistently good agreement with all experiments analysed here. Finally, an application of the analytical method is demonstrated by an example where speed restrictions are determined in a port to avoid LNG cargo leakage in an event of an LNG carrier being struck by another ship. •An analytical method for ship collision damage assessments is validated with 18 experiments and one full-scale collision accident data.•It is demonstrated that a consistent good agreement with the experiments is achieved when using a common criterion for the assessment.•Comparisons of energy-penetration and collision force-penetration curves between the experimental results, the analytical calculations and the finite element simulations are also provided.•An application example for managing collision risks at busy ports to avoid potential cargo leakage in an event of an LNG carrier struck by other ships is demonstrated.