A backup marine fender system

Rubber marine fenders have been the most prevalent type to berth vessels due to their reusability. However, variance in life of these rubber marine fenders has been one of the major causes for the unplanned downtime of commercial ports and terminals. The mechanism of metal cutting is investigated in this paper as an impact energy absorption element. A series of experiment to investigate the impact energy absorbing characteristics of aluminium and brass rods with various cutting depths and impact energy were carried out and cross-checked by a numerical study using explicit dynamics. The behaviour of reaction force at impact was found to be highly reliant on cutting depth. This material removal process was also found to be efficient in dissipating impact energy to provide sufficient structural protection. Acceleration Severity Index was defined to demonstrate the occupant protection with acceptable declarative forces during impact. A hybrid fender system with the metal cutting mechanism as a backup system incorporated into the current elastic marine fender is proposed in this study to reduce downtime and improve turnaround times of port operators.