Research of Wedge-Shaped Bow to Ship Side Collision Based on Quasi-static and Dynamic Experiments

Abstract A wedge-shaped bow above the waterline of a small size striking ship will cause serious damage to the side of a large size struck ship. Therefore, a penetrating indenter with the shape of a small ship bow top was applied in the quasi-static penetration and collision experiments to study the side collision of the two different size ships. The side structure of the large size struck ship was also simplified as a typical frame structure consists of a girder, stiffeners, and an outer plate. Material stress–strain properties were derived from tensile testing. Quasi-static experiments employed a hydraulic penetrating system, while dynamic impacts utilized a drop-weight machine to generate displacement–force curves. The experimental results were compared with the numerical simulation ones. The structural deformation process and force curves of different impact positions and velocities were also compared. Traditional empirical formulae were evaluated against experimental and numerical datasets, revealing limitations in predictive accuracy. Therefore, a rapid estimation method was proposed, leveraging the arithmetic superposition of simplified structural analysis results. The applicability of this approach was systematically assessed by some comparison cases of different velocities and structures. This methodology offers a practical engineering tool in scenarios involving moderate velocities and un-complex structures.