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Study of Tube And Tank Specimens Repaired Using a Carbon Fibre Reinforced Epoxy

Merchant and passenger ships operate in harsh environments where they constantly suffer from corrosion and crack problems. The traditional cutting and welding of the steel parts most often requires redirection of a vessel to a shipyard what results in substantial vessel out-of-service time. In such situations, a ship operator seeks an efficient and fast repair solution to minimise ship delays. Following advancements in research and application of composite materials, an opportunity to implement composite patches made of carbon fibres and epoxy resin has emerged in the shipping industry as one of the cost and time efficient repair solutions. Although, the resin hardens and bonds the fibres strongly to the damaged surface, classification societies still consider this repair as a temporary solution and accept it conditionally, meaning with the frequent obligatory inspections. This is because there hasn’t been enough practical evidence yet to recognise the composite patching as the permanent repair solution. In order to further investigate the efficiency of the composite patching, this paper presents the finite element (FE) strength investigation of 17 patches applied to tube and tank specimens under water pressure. The future work will consider a validation of the obtained FE results by means of pressure testing during the course of the qualification process.