43. Damage Stability Making Sense

Although aviation, nuclear, processing, etc. industries have long ago adopted and established preventative frameworks and procedures to safeguard against unwanted outcomes of daily operations, the maritime industry still places the emphasis on the mitigation of consequences following an accident. Despite the widely expressed opinion that prevention is the way forward, curing occupies a central position not only in every day practice but in the underlying regulatory framework as well. Contrary to this approach, the work presented here aims to create the necessary momentum towards rationalisation of the fundamental choices made during the design process, thus attracting attention to areas where prevention strategies can find fertile ground and be fruitful and cost-effective. The methodology addresses the occurrence of a collision event and the crashworthiness capacity of a ship as prerequisites for its survivability assessment, with promising results to encourage further development.