Regresar

The use of viscoelastic sheets, and their future in the shipbuilding of planing hulls of GFRP

Abstract:

In the Galapagos Islands there is an important fleet of coastal shipping vessels for navigation between islands, less than 15 meters in length and constructed of fiberglass reinforced plastic (GFRP). The proposal to modify the hulls of the new ships that enter to operate in the islands with viscoelastic sheets is presented. In order to protect them from the damage caused by the phenomenon of slamming and increase their life time. By means of fatigue tests applying cyclic loading, the evolution of the damage within the laminate is observed, and by means of characterization techniques the levels of microcracks induced by the impacts are compared. The results show that the modification introduced in the laminate significantly reduces the repair times protecting the environment.