Computation of ultimate strength of locally corroded unstiffened plates under uniaxial compression

Over the past decades there have been many losses of the merchant vessels due to either accidents or exposure to large environmentally induced forces. The potential for the structural capability-degrading effects of both corrosion and fatigue induced cracks are of profound importance and must be both fully understood and reflected in vessel's inspection and maintenance programme. The present study is focused on assessing the effects of localized pitting corrosion which concentrates at one or several possibly large area on the ultimate strength of unstiffened plates. Over 256 nonlinear finite element analyses (FEA) of panels with various locations and sizes of pitting corrosion have been carried out. The multi-variable regression method is applied to derive new formulae to predict ultimate strength of unstiffened plates with localized corrosion. The results indicate that the length, breadth and depth of pit corrosion have weakening effects on the ultimate strength of the plates while plate slenderness has only marginal effect on strength reduction. Transverse location of pit corrosion is also an important factor determining the amount of strength reduction. When corrosion spreads transversely on both edges, it has the most deteriorating effect on strength. It was also found out that the proposed formulae can accurately predict the ultimate strength of unstiffened plate with localized corrosion.