Fracture Mechanics Analysis on Structural Failure of Ships

Structural failure of a bulk carrier equipped for carriage of vehicles was caused in gale sea under service condition of carrying vehicles enroute from Japan to Canada, where cracked damage was found at upper deck plate and slant plate of topside tank near the after corner of No.3 cargo hatchway port side. The failure analysis is made using the fracture mechanics on the phenomenon such as the fast fracture of upper deck plating and the fatigue crack initiation in upper deck as well as fatigue crack propagation and initiation in hatch end coaming bracket.