The Need & Applications for Non-classical Continuum Mechanics in Marine Engineering

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Bowland_Tuomas_2025.pdf (2.74 MB)

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Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu | Bachelor's thesis
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Date

2025-09-05

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Major/Subject

Computational Engineering

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ENG3082

Degree programme

Aalto Bachelor’s Programme in Science and Technology

Language

en

Pages

20

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Abstract

Structural analysis in naval architecture presents unique challenges due to the vast size and diverse scale of components in ships, necessitating a departure from both Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and classical continuum mechanics. While FEA is a useful and versatile tool for structural analysis in many engineering fields, its computational cost quickly becomes prohibitive for large marine vessels. The core issue results from a combination of mesh density (required for accurate simulation of small components) and physical size of the ships, leading to an unreasonable number of mesh points and large computation costs. A more computationally efficient alternative would be the use of continuum mechanics for ship structural analysis. However, classical continuum mechanics are built on several assumptions which quickly fall apart when applied to the complex, multi-scale nature of modern ship construction. One major issue with this approach arises when the characteristic size of the smallest repeating unit becomes comparable to the overall structure, leading to breakdowns in the classical assumptions and inaccurate predictions. Therefore, this thesis will explore the promising field of non-classical continuum mechanics. Non-classical theories, such as micropolar and Cosserat theories, relax the assumptions of classical continuum mechanics by incorporating additional physics of deformation, such as internal and Cosserat rotations. This introduces additional degrees of freedom at a material point allowing for a more comprehensive description of the physics. Enabling results more accurate than classical continuum mechanics while still being more computationally efficient than finite element analysis, non-classical continuum mechanics provides a possible path forwards in overcoming the limitations of both methods within the field of naval architecture.

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Supervisor

St-Pierre, Luc

Thesis advisor

Romanoff, Jani

Keywords

continuum mechanics, naval architecture, marine engineering, structural analysis, numerical methods, FEM

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202510077450

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