Comparative analysis of fatigue assessment considering hydroelastic response using numerical and experimental approach

In this study, considering the hydroelastic response represented by the springing and whipping phenomena, we propose a method of estimating the fatigue damage in the longitudinal connections of ships. First, we screened the design sea states using a load transfer function based on the frequency domain. We then conducted a time domain fluid-structure interaction (FSI) analysis using WISH-FLEX, an in-house code based on the weakly nonlinear approach. To obtain an effective and robust analytical result of the hydroelastic response, we also conducted an experimental model test with a 1/50-scale backbone-based model of a ship, and compared the experimental results with those obtained from the FSI analysis. Then, by combining the results obtained from the hydroelastic response with those obtained from the numerical fatigue analysis, we developed a fatigue damage estimation method. Finally, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed method, we evaluated the fatigue strength for the longitudinal connections of the real ship and compared it with the results obtained from the model tests.