Stress Combination for Fatigue Analysis of Ship Structures

A methodology for calculating the correlation factors to combine the long-term dynamic stress components of ship structure from various loads in seas is presented. The proposed methodology is valid for a stationary ergodic narrow-banded Gaussian process. The total combined stress in short-term sea states is expressed by linear summation of the component stresses with the corresponding combination factors. This expression is proven to be mathematically exact when applied to a single random sea. The long-term total stress is similarly expressed by linear summation of component stresses with appropriate combination factors. The stress components considered here are due to wave-induced vertical bending moment, wave-induced horizontal bending moment, external wave pressure, and internal tank pressure. For application, the stress combination factors are calculated for longitudinal stiffeners in midship cargo and ballast tanks of a crude oil tanker. It is found that the combination factors strongly depend on wave heading and period in the short-term sea states. It is also found that the combination factors are not sensitive to the selected probability of exceedance level of the stress in the long-term sense.