Like other means of transport, merchant ships face the problem of increasing requirements concerning the environment protection, which, among other issues, implies the reduction of fuel consumption by the ship. Here, the conventional approach which consists in making use of higher strength steels to decrease the mass of the ship hull can be complemented by the use of new steel structures of sandwich panel type. However, the lack...

In recent years an increased interest of industry in sandwich-type metal structures can be observed. These structures consist of thin plates of 2.5 mm in thickness separated by stiffeners of different shapes and forms. Welds joining the plates and stiffeners are made on the outer side of the plates using laser welding technique. A locally focused source of heat causes the plate to melt creating a very narrow and elongated joint....

The latest development in the field of welding technology enabled prefabrication of thin-walled sandwich structures in an industrial scale. Sandwich structures fabricated of steel, or aluminium alloy plates and stiffeners are welded with the use of hi-power CO2 lasers. Strength analysis of such structures with the use of finite element method needs proper material modelling.In this paper the material model of steel sandwich panel...