Numerical assessment of cargo liquefaction potential

• A numerical method is presented to assess the onset of cargo liquefaction.
• The method used could predict time-domain characteristics.
• Shaking table tests with different amplitude, frequency and initial degree of saturation of cargoes are analysed.
• The method could be used to support the development of a suitable regulatory framework to address cargo liquefaction and impact on ship stability.

Liquefaction of fine particle cargoes, resulting in cargo shift and loss of stability of ships, has caused the loss of many lives in marine casualties over the recent past years. Since the dangers of cargo liquefaction have long been known to the shipping industry, the question of why the phenomenon is resurfacing now would be a legitimate one. With this in mind, an UBC3D-PLM model based on FEM theory in the commercial software PLAXIS is presented in this paper as a means to consider soil DSS (Direct Simple Shear) test to verify the model and a method is presented to assess cargo liquefaction potential. Shaking table tests with different amplitude, frequency and initial degree of saturation of cargoes are studied to predict time-domain characteristics. The proposed method could be used as a reference in support of a suitable regulatory framework to address liquefaction and its effect on ship stability.