Numerical Analysis on the Ultimate Strength of Corrugated Bulkheads

The paper carries out FEM analyses on the ultimate strength of corrugated bulkheads under linear hydrostatic pressure by means of ANSYS software, taking into account of geometry non-linearity and material non-linearity. Many influence factors will affect the ultimate strength of corrugated bulkheads, including corrugate angle, plate thickness, boundary condition and steel consumption, a discussion of different variables of the above influence is given. By the computational analyses, it shows that increasing either corrugate angle or plate thickness has effect on ultimate strength of corrugated bulkheads and unit consumption of steel, but the former is proved to be more effective on the increase of ultimate strength, and bulkhead condition affects largely on ultimate bearing capacity, and it also shows that the reasonable boundary condition can significantly improve structure bearing capacity.