Numerical Investigation of the Strength Assessment and Weight Reduction Sandwich Panel System on Barge Ship Structure

The conversion from steel to sandwich material must comply with current regulations. This paper analyses three practical structural systems where the existing steel plate configuration has been converted to a sandwich material. The weight reduction of Light Weight Tonnage (LWT) can be calculated for each structure to find the best weight reduction and stress level that still fulfils the Biro Klasifikasi Indonesia (BKI) criteria. Numerical modelling methods are used through Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to determine the behaviour of the structure under loading conditions. The assumed loads on the model act on the deck, sides, bilge and bottom, then a calculation of the moments from the geometry of the load distribution. The calculation of the moments was used to obtain values for the deflection and the hogging condition as a comparison for the still water condition of the ship. Mesh convergence analysis on the existing model serves to validate the numerical modelling process. The stress and deformation values generated in the analysis compared the current model and three structural systems with sandwich plates. The stress value of the sandwich structure tends to be higher than the existing structure. However, the stress and displacement of the sandwich structure are slightly higher than that of the current structure, although the increase is negligible and there is a reduction in weight. The structural system using sandwich materials shows both high efficiency and cost effectiveness for ship barge.