Crashworthiness as means to improve damage stability survivability

The ability of ships to survive collision damage can be referred to by the word survivability. Survivability is currently assessed without taking into account crashworthiness of the structure. This implies that the probability of a compartment being flooded does not depend on the surrounding structure. This paper shows that survivability can increase substantially when use is made of crashworthy structures, protecting compartments against flooding. It is is outlined how this increase can be assessed. An example is given of how crashworthiness of a side shell can be improved by simple means.The ongoing EU research project called Crashcoaster, addressing this issue is described.