ABSTRACT

This chapter addresses the issue of local frame design for transversely stiffened ship structures and shows that the importance of load distribution and length on the frame response. Shipping in the Baltic Sea is greatly affected by the seasonal ice cover. To ensure safety of ships operating in the region, knowledge about the structural response under the expected loading—local ice loads from first year ice in this case—is required for the evaluation of the design point. To address the effect of load length on the plastic capacity of the frame, analyses with transversely stiffened ship side structure are performed with a set of pressure patches. In design practice load is characterized as a uniform pressure distributed over a rectangular patch. The height of the load patch is ice class dependent factor and length depends on the distance between respective structural members.