Analysis of shear stresses in bulk carriers

A method is given for calculating the shear stress distribution over a ship section of a bulk carrier. The method is programmed for the Alexandria University IBM computer. The ship section is considered with minimum idealization to the double bottom structure so as to obtain realistic values of the shear stresses.Several ship section configurations are studied and the results are analysed. A summary of the analysis is given together with a numerical example. A simplified expression is developed for calculating an approximate value of the maximum shear stress in the side shell plating. The results of this expression compare favourably with computer results.The necessary conditions to safeguard against shear buckling and yielding of side shell, hopper and top wing tanks are specified.It is shown that: (i) The side shell plating between the hopper and top wing tanks may be subjected to high shear stresses since it carries about 35% of the total shearing force, (ii) The hopper and top wing tanks may be subjected to unfavourable stress conditions.