Comparing Structural Casualties of the Ro-Ro Vessel Using Straight and Oblique Collision Incidents on the Car Deck

Abstract

Roll on-roll off (Ro-Ro) ship is the preferable vessel for public transportation and also as a medium to distribute several commodities. Its operations are a straightforward process but traffic management is quite delicate, especially for cross-route. Moreover, maritime incidents sometimes occur, causing significant casualties and in the case of the Ro-Ro, collision with other ship is a possible threat with the ability to trigger immense damages. This research, therefore, was conducted to assess the structural casualties of a Ro-Ro vessel under collision. This was modelled with respect to a ship involved in a certain incident in Indonesia in the latest decade, and the designed collision problems were calculated using the finite element approach. The collision angle was selected as the main input parameter with the straight collision of angle 90° and oblique collision with different angles applied to the scenario. The results found the collision energy due to structural destruction to have distinct pattern and peak value under oblique cases with lower values observed for straight collision for all scenarios. It is, however, recommended that energy should be taken as an initial parameter in further investigation of structural damage and response contour.