Methodology for Crack Growth Analysis in Ship Hull Structures Using Sea Wave Forecasting Models

Naval structures, such as ships and other artifacts, have a limited life and begin to degrade as soon as they enter service due to fatigue and fracture processes. To manage this deterioration, periodic inspections are needed to determine corrective actions on cracked structures. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems are designed to continuously measure or periodically monitor cracked components, helping to prevent catastrophic failures. This paper presents a methodology to assess the integrity and prognosis of cracked structural components on ships through a combination of numerical computation, data from SHM systems on crack size and satellite meteo-marine data. This methodology seeks to plan maintenance or repair operations in shipyards. Marine loads on the ship's route are obtained using geolocation tools and satellite meteo-marine information systems. Using NOAA's WaveWatch III model for wave prediction and seakeeping analysis with future wave spectra, the future likely behavior of the ship is determined. The hydrodynamic loads and accelerations are transferred to a mechanical structural model based on the Finite Element Method to evaluate the structural response of the affected component. The state of stress and strain in the crack zone is determined by submodeling. The Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) is used to analyze the crack fatigue and estimate its remaining service life, based on fracture growth models.