Numerical investigation of the interception performance of HDPE pontoon-type port safety barrier system under boat attacking

In recent years, the risk of damage or failure of berthed ship has increased rapidly due to increase of accidental or deliberate ship/boat collision events. Therefore, suitable defense technology is necessary to minimize the casualty and economic loss caused by overwater collisions. This study uses the method of numerical simulation to evaluate the effect of HDPE pontoon port security barrier system under ship attack through the additional water mass method. Numerical models of HDPE pontoon and GFRP boat are developed and validated. The validated FE models are extended to full scale. Both pontoon and boat deformations are considered during the impact simulations as observed in practical situation. The dynamic impact analysis results show that the HDPE pontoon-type port safety barrier can provide enhanced impact resistance capacity of strengthened structural members by reducing lateral displacement about 40% compared to unreinforced pontoon. A comprehensive parametric study is conducted by varying the boat speed, boat mass, boat stiffness and boat lift angle to observe the effects of these parameters on the structural responses of pontoon structure. HDPE and pontoon-type structure are found to be promising defense technology to control global failure subjected to boat attacking.