An underwater explosion in the vicinity of a hydrocarbon carrying ship is a serious risk. Such risks are gaining importance as the security of workers, ports and energy supply are coming to the forefront. Ship could suffer local damage due to this effect. Strong shock waves could also disable electronic equipment on board even if they do no cause obvious structural damage. This paper reviews the open literature on estimating shock loading and brings together elements which are relevant to the design of ships, considering accessibility and practicality of the approach. This paper also provides a review of the response of vessels to underwater shock loading, with the emphasis placed on ways and means of evaluating and mitigating the effect of underwater explosion. Finally, the use of commercially available finite element packages for the dynamic response analysis of ships subjected to underwater explosion is discussed in some depth and an example is presented.
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