Estudio de cargas de impacto en las operaciones de amarre mediante el método de elementos finitos

Resumen

In the present work, the impact of a ship in the docking maneuver to a floating structure used on the aquaculture industry in Chile is analyzed using a structural finite element model of the system. The commercial finite element software ANSYS, and its module Explicit Dynamics, is used to evaluate the effects of the impact. The geometry of the floating structure is simplified, considering only main structural components while the portion of the vessel that impacts the floating system is modeled as a rigid plate considering ship displacement and total kinetic energy. A low-velocity, high-energy impact is simulated to obtain numerical results and therefore quantify stresses, deformations and energy on the system.

The proposed methodology turns useful to optimize the structure, the position of the fenders and the appropriate speed in the maneuvers without causing irreversible damage to either the vessel or the floating structure.

The application of this methodology and dynamic analysis generates valuable information to improve the safety and efficiency of interactions between vessels and floating structures, considering the challenges that may arise during docking and load/crew transfer maneuvers in protected waters, which in the future will probably be projected to the open sea. As part of the results, further on-site validation of the results is proposed and the use of a more complex solver to describe nonlinear behavior of structures, particularly, large deformations and failure of structural members