Influence of bulbous bow structures on their collision behaviour

The authors are currently engaged in a collaborative research project which-amongst others-deals with the comparison of different bulbous bows and side structures. Their corresponding effects on collision will be investigated. This paper will give a short overview of the background and starting phase of the project. It will focus on developing one determined test model geometry of a bulbous bow for the next two prospective collision experiments. This geometry remains unchanged for a rigid bulbous bow as well as for a deformable bulbous bow structure. The requirement of the designed bulbous bow is to be able to create a significant damage of the ship side structure and itself. This pre-experimental study shows that minors parametrical changes of bulbous bow geometry will significantly change the collision behaviour. For this study the finite element method has been used.