Optimum design of sunken reinforced enclosures under buckling condition

Increasing the lifetime and improving the performance of structures through redesign and optimization are important, especially in marine structures. In general, there are two main groups of marine structures: onshore and offshore structures. Most marine structures are offshore, and these are divided into two categories: floating or sunken. One of the important parameters in the design of sunken structures is the critical load resulting from the buckling of walls, which can cause damage to the structure. In the present paper, three rectangular aluminum and steel compartments of different conditions and sizes were modeled using design analysis methods. Then, different finite element analyses were performed, and the compartments were optimized to reduce the weight of the structure. Finally, the buckling results of three types of rectangular reinforced compartments were calculated and were compared with each other. The results show that the stresses calculated using the analytical method are in good agreement with the results of the finite element analyses. In addition, the weight of the compartment is reduced by utilizing the reinforced conductors in accordance with the design principles and considering the minimum thickness. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.