Overview
Weld Sizing Criteria for Lightweight Ship Structure (2011-430)
Project Team:
- Ingalls Shipbuilding
- Bollinger Shipyards
- University of New Orleans
2011
NSRP ASE Investment: $100K
Objective:
In recent years, ship designers have been forced to incorporate lighter, thinner steel structures to reduce topside weight, improve fuel economy, and enhance mission capability. Understandably, the development of technology, facilities, and processes to build thin steel ships efficiently has not kept pace with the rate of change in the designs. Severe plate buckling in naval vessels has been attributed to oversized welds in thin plate ship structures.
The overall goal of this project was to develop appropriate weld sizing criteria for thin plate structures. This project investigated current fillet weld sizing criteria for thin plate ship hull structures through examination of existing test data, controlled fillet weld testing and analytical development. Through analytical and physical testing, a more refined approach to weld sizing for thin steel applications has been presented.
Key Deliverables:
Request Final Report from NSRP – Limited Distribution authorized to project participants and NSRP ASE Program representatives