The Level of Confidence for a Ship Hull Girder

Abstract

Structural estimation consists in a set of activities done to certificate security and reliability of an existing ship for its residual service life. Depending on ship’s type and damages, there are alternatively evaluation approaches. In this paper it is presented the level of confidence determination for a bulk carrier ship based on approximate methods. Important information can be obtained with special attention on damage factors (corrosion, fatigue). Regarding the ship’s loads, first, it is calcu-lated the still water bending moment, then the wave-induced hull girder bending moment. Once these results being processed, it is possible to determine the structural stress of the ship for any age. The probability to overreach the admissible stress given by classification registers can be calculated, and the potential risk for structure becomes predictable.