Limit loads of ship structure components using the elastic modulus adjustment procedure (EMAP)

In this paper, the m(alpha)-tangent method is implemented in conjunction with elastic modulus adjustment procedure (EMAP) and an algorithm has been proposed for limit load estimation. This technique is applied to a number of ship structure components possessing different kinematic redundancies: Specifying spatial variations in the elastic modulus, numerous sets of statically admissible and kinematically admissible stress and strain distributions are generated, and both lower and upper bound limit load multipliers are obtained. Utilizing the lower and upper bound multipliers, accurate limit loads of ship structure components are then determined using the m(alpha)-tangent method. Results are compared with the inelastic finite element results and the available analytical solutions. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.