摘要：The paper is focused on the structural problems related to the retrofitting of a ship structure into a maritime self-elevating platform. The study is referred on the design of the global and local strengthening of the platform and legs structures. The joint structure built as the connection between the platform hull and the tubular legs, is designed so that to be acted by the special actuators. The total force provided by the actuators during the lifting operations is necessary to balance the total weight of the platform hull and operating equipment. The work described in the paper shows a methodology for FEM global and local strength calculation of platform structure and legs structure using site-specific parameters recommended by DNV rules, such as water depth, wave and wind loads. Also, the global static and dynamic behavior analysis of the jack up unit is presented. From the case study results it may conclude that the proposed methodology offers economic advantages to the field in which they are employed. In the paper, the platform structural capacity, incorporating yielding and buckling, is the limiting condition for the scenario under investigation.