NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF DEFORMED STIFFENNED CORRODED PLATES BEHAVIOR WITH REGARD TO USE AS THE GATE OF DRY DOCKS

In this research, the deformation and behavior of stiffened steel plates are investigated benefitting numerical simulation, where the plates are subject to be utilized as thegate of dry docks. In this approach, the analyzed plates are suffering from corrosion on the surface towards to sea water. Aforementioned structure is analyzed under out ofplane loads, specifically, hydrostatic and wave loads. A series of finite element analysis is performed on the dry dock gate in both uncorroded and corroded states. Theeffects of corrosion are introduced into the finite element models using a specially developed computer aided code utilizing Ansys APDL. The effects of different surfacecorrosion percentages on the plate strength characteristics and its pertinent influences on whole structure characteristics are evaluated. Hence, the main objectives ofthis research could be included: to find an appropriate method for optimized simulation of the behavior of stiffened corroded plates used in dry dock gates byapplication of finite element analysis utilizing shell elements by proper boundary condition exerting; and to investigate corrosion effects on the deformation and stressredistribution of plane elements under out of plane compression.