The use of doubler plates or ‘doublers’ has become routine for temporary ship repairs. It is the preferred method for ships’ structural repairs for plate corrosion due to its relative ease and low cost of installation over the more costly permanent welded plate insert repair. A lack of performance data and engineering design guidance are the reasons that repairs with doublers are currently considered only temporary. This objective of this study was to develop a set of guidelines for designing and applying doubler plate repairs to ship structures. The guidelines were established using the following criteria: various stress analyses, buckling strength, corrosion types and rates, weld types, and doubler plate fatigue and fracture assessment. Studying and understanding doubler plate repair performance by comparison to that of the primary hull performance allows critical operational decisions to be made with greater ease and confidence. However, the ultimate goal of this study was to establish the design and limitations on the applications of doubler plate repairs for surface ships.

Keywords:
flowline corrosion, pipeline corrosion, materials and corrosion, subsurface corrosion, riser corrosion, well integrity, marine transportation, strength, corrosion edge distance, plate thickness
Subjects:
Pipelines, Flowlines and Risers, Information Management and Systems, Materials and corrosion, Well Integrity, Subsurface corrosion (tubing, casing, completion equipment, conductor)
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2005. The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers
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