Ultimate strength assessment of hull structural plates with general corrosion based on fractal theory

It is difficult to accurately evaluate the ultimate strength of hull plates due to the nonuniformity of general corrosion. The present study aims to introduce fractal theory to explore the influence of the nonuniformity of general corrosion on the ultimate strength reduction of hull plates. The monofractal characteristics and multi-fractal characteristics of the corroded plates constructed by fractional Brownian motion (FBM) are extracted. The fractal analysis of the corroded hull plate confirms the applicability of fractal theory in the evaluation of the irregularity of corrosion morphology. Finally, a series of nonlinear finite element analyses (FEAs) are carried out to establish the ultimate strength assessment formula with fractal parameters and the corroded volume loss.