Towards efficient crash analysis of large ship structures: Equivalent single layer approach for stiffened orthotropic panels under tensile loading

All-metal uni-directional orthotropic panels with a low weight-to-stiffness ratio provide the means to develop cost and energy efficient ships. However, modelling and computational effort required, especially in the conceptual design stage, poses a significant drawback. Therefore, effective direct strength analysis approaches based on homogenization, but embedded into Finite Element codes are needed. To this end, we determine the loaddisplacement curves for stiffened orthotropic panels under plane strain tension until tensile instability. The analytical curves are given in the format, which allows a direct implementation into commercial non-linear FE packages via user subroutines to describe the non-linear mechanical shell section behavior in the framework of Equivalent Single Layer (ESL) theory. Possible extensions of the approach are discussed.