Analysis of the influence of the meshing size for an oil tanker structural model on the stress hot spot values

The development of the shipbuilding industry leads to new requirements for the safety of ships. Stress hot spots are recorded on every floating structure and they influence nega-tively the hull strength. This analysis identifies the stress hot spots and the influence of the meshing size on their values for a 97235 tdw oil tanker, using the Femap/NX Nastran program. Structurally, two constructive options were considered for the central longitudi-nal bulkhead: corrugated and flat panels. The detailed local structural model is devel-oped for three mesh sizes: coarse, medium, and fine. Quad and triangle shell elements are used for the FEM local models.