Table 1: Collisions of vessels and bridges in the United States, 1962-1983.

Accident records show that sooner or later hindrances near a waterway will be hit by ships, be it navigation marks, bridge structures, reefs or shallows. With this background modelling and analysis of ship collisions to bridge structures have an increasing importance as the basis for rational decision making in connection with planning, design and construction of bridges over navigable waters. The International Symposium on Ship Collision Analysis focuses on advances in accident analysis, collision prevention and protective measures. The publication Ship Collision Analysis, Proceedings of the 1998 International Symposium, presents the papers of international experts in ship collision analysis and structural design. The contributions give the state of the art and point to future development trends with in the focus areas.

Probability and Mechanics of Ship Collision and Grounding provides simplified analytical procedures for ship collision and grounding assessments, including probabilistic methods, an estimation of the energy released during collisions, and a prediction of the extent of damage on involved structures. An additional chapter is dedicated to current finite element analysis techniques that are used for estimating structural damage during ship collisions. The book encapsulates reliable and fast analysis methods for collision and grounding assessment, presenting tactics that have been extensively validated with experimental and numerical results. In addition, all described analysis methods include realistic calculation examples to provide confidence in their use. - Provides mathematical expressions for the determination of probability of ship grounding events, ship to ship collisions and ship collisions against fixed and floating offshore installations, i.e., offshore wind parks and bridges over navigational channels - Provides analytical solutions to calculate the energy released for crushing in ship collision scenarios and loading on ship bottoms in grounding events - Reviews damage theorems and materials modellings and presents simplified analytical methods to determine the structural damage of ship and offshore structures in ship collisions and grounding - Provides calculation examples for each analysis method