ABSTRACT
Ships are subjected to longitudinal bending moments caused by unbalanced weights and buoyancy. According to the current Common Structural Rules (CSR), the longitudinal strengths of ship structures are evaluated by their ultimate capacities, where only the longitudinal bending moment is considered, neglecting the lateral pressure loadings. Neglecting lateral pressure effects may result in an overestimation of the ship’s longitudinal strength capacity. In this study, a simplified yet practical method was developed to predict the ultimate longitudinal strength of ships, where lateral pressure loading effects were considered. First, an ultimate strength formulation was derived for stiffened plates under combined axial compression and lateral pressure. Using this formulation, the average stress-strain relationships were approximately established. Finally, the ultimate longitudinal strength was computed using the Smith method. The effects of lateral pressure loading on the ultimate longitudinal strength of a container ship were quantified.
