Defence in Mechanical Engineering M. Sc. (Tech.) Ghalib Taimuri

Title: "How safe is safe?" A new perspective on multiphysics modelling of ship hard grounding dynamics Over the past decade, ship groundings have been the second biggest cause of ship losses. The case is particularly alarming for the Baltic region, where between 2000 and 2018, there were about 776 ship grounding accidents. Groundings occur when ships crash with the seabed (soft grounding) or run into protruding rocks (hard grounding). A classic example of hard grounding is the accident of Costa Concordia resulting in the death of 32 people. Whereas suitable idealization of ship grounding dynamics should be rapid, accurate and consider the influence of multiphysics on dynamic response, to date most solvers used are computationally expensive and limited in terms of accurately accounting for the influence of ship maneuvering and associated hydrodynamic effects on structural crashworthiness. This thesis developed a novel and rapid fluid-structure interaction model for the assessment of ship hard grounding. Under real operational conditions, the model can be used to assess (i) power grounding, (ii) drifting grounding under wind and wave forces, and (iii) evasive actions for grounding avoidance. It can be used to derive ship damage extents following hard grounding in realistic operational conditions. The knowledge and ideas introduced in this thesis promote safe and sustainable shipping. The technology developed can influence the development of -> Novel ship bridge simulators and intelligent decision support systems -> Ship crashworthiness assessment and design optimization -> Probabilistic analysis for improved ship damage stability standards