Engineering: Structural Design Dissertation Example

Free Engineering: Structural Design Dissertation Example

Question 1: Methods of analysis include the prescriptive conventional method and the advanced method the Finite Element Analysis (Molland, 12). The rigid conventional method is used for conventional ships. Factors considered are vessel length, beam length and draft for standard specified frame spacing with the means of adjusting the scantlings for the differences in the draft and frame spacing. The design loads are used in structural engineering equations to give the required strength of the hull girder, the necessary power of local primary and secondary structural elements and the local plating. These equations encompass the design loads and stresses and relevant data that influence the effect of loads of the hull girder, primary and secondary structural members and the plating. The response of the structural members to their deflection is used to assess the stiffness of the structure to prevent unnecessary/ unacceptable vibration (Molland, 15). The finite element analysis method is used for larger ships that are greater than 150m and for unique ship designs. This approach accurately reflects the response of the structural members to applied loads. For new designs, the method can model any unconventional architectural forms and arrangement and its response to design loads which is predicted from the ship motion programs. The design loads are applied to the many elements of a complete structure and each element described alongside their relevant properties. The advantage of the conventional prescriptive method addresses all potential modes of failure, material, and construction quality. The benefit of FEA is it considers all the interactive responses to the design loads of all structural elements of the overall structure. The disadvantage of FEA is it requires more time and labour, has higher costs and accuracy is influenced by the modelling process (Molland, 23). Question 2: a) The potential modes of failure are tensile yield, shear yield, elastic compressive...