Review of Ultimate Strength Assessment of Ageing and Damaged Ship Structures

The objective of this work is to provide an overview of the ultimate strength assessment of ageing and damaged ship structures in the last decades. Particular attention is paid to the ultimate strength of plates, stiffened panels, box girders, and entire ship hull structures subjected to corrosion degradation, fatigue cracking, and mechanical damage caused by accidental loading or impact. A discussion on the effect of the cyclic load on the plate rigidity, re-yielding, and ultimate load capacity on the ship hull girder is also part of the present study. Finally, some conclusions and discussions about potential future work are provided, identifying that more studies about the impact of corrosion degradation on the structural behaviour of the stiffened panels and the overall hull girders are needed. Studies related to the dynamic collapse behaviour of corroded and damaged ship structures under time-variant load also requires additional attention.