Dynamics of fractured Timoshenko beams moving in wavy fluids

The fail-safe criterion is applied to floating ship-like structures moving forward in waves. The proposed model utilizes thick-walled Timoshenko beam structures excited by waves. The response to wave excitation is evaluated numerically, including both hydrodynamic and structural damping. Added mass and damping terms appear on both sides of the global equations describing vibrations excited by waves. A coupled direct method has been adopted for the evaluation of the corresponding terms. The nominal stress near the crack, needed as input to the Paris equation for the evaluation of the cycles required to failure, is computed assuming known values for the stress intensity factor. The resulting fail-safe diagrams indicate the effect of various parameters of the problem.