ABSTRACT
Structural design of a marine structure or vehicle, floating, submerged or fixed, includes the structural layout and determination of geometrical properties, commonly known as scantlings, of each structural element, each element being interconnected with other elements. The basis of this design is the mechanical properties of the material used such as yield strength, ultimate strength, compressive strength, elongation characteristics and plastic deformation, fracture and fatigue characteristics and other properties. The mechanical properties of various materials are discussed in the next section. The loads that come on the ship or marine structure are varied in nature and this is discussed subsequently. Next we discuss the design principles of structural layout followed by the determination of scantlings.
