ABSTRACT

Fiber-Reinforced Plastics (FRPs) are being increasingly used in the study aims to compare the structural strength of a GFRP catamaran boat by varying material properties and fiber orientations using static structural analysis in ANSYS. The Hashin failure criterion was used to compare the strength based on the Inverse Reserve Factor (IRF). A maximum deviation of 26.7% in the IRF was observed when the fiber orientation angle was changed, whereas a maximum deviation of 39.4% was observed when the reinforcement material was changed.

INTRODUCTION

The maritime industry has been extensively using composite materials, especially Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP), as an alternative material to conventionally used metals such as marine grade steel and aluminum for the construction of marine vessel hulls, especially in smaller hulls (<100 m) owing to their high specific strength, ease of manufacture and high corrosion resistance in the recent years. The ease of optimizing the mechanical properties of FRP either by altering the constituent ratios and the fiber orientation to suit specific needs, allows them to be applied in a variety of applications ranging from marine structural components such as stiffeners to complete hull structures.

Commercially, FRP hulls are constructed of FRP materials containing reinforcement in three different forms: Chopped Strand Mat (CSM), Woven Roving (WR) and Unidirectional fabric Roving (UR). Chopped Strand Mat is one of the most commonly used reinforcement types owing to the simple and cheap manufacturing methodology which can be used to create complex and larger shapes, compatible with most matrix and reinforcing material types. Although, the manufactured composite material product does not utilizes the best characteristics of the reinforcement due to the fiber being chopped and thus becoming discontinuous, but the ease and low cost of manufacture compensates for the decrease in the mechanical properties. Moreover, as they are generally used in conjunction with Woven roving in the layup sequence, the mechanical properties of the overall layup sequence in the manufacture component improves for the given manufacture cost.

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