Hull girder strength

Hull girder strength is the most fundamental strength of a ship structure. To assess the hull girder strength, estimations of both extreme load which may act on the hull girder and the capacity of the hull girder are necessary, and many research works have been performed from this aspect. In the present review article, attention is focussed on the capacity of a ship hull girder. At the beginning, a short historical review is given in relation to the research works on hull girder strength, and some consideration is introduced on the ultimate hull girder strength from the design aspect. Then, state of the art and the future direction of the research works on hull girder strength are described. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.