In response to the issue of vessel collision damage in China’s ship lock operations,a comparative study is conducted on the calculation methods of ship impact forces through systematic literature reviews of domestic and international sources,covering aspects such as normative formulas,model tests,and numerical simulations.The results indicate that under specific working conditions (ship speed of 1 m/s,angle of 3°-4°),the calculation results from the JTJ 307-2001 Code for Design of Hydraulic Structures of Shiplocks are roughly similar to those from the JTG D60-2015 General Specifications for Design of Highway Bridges and Culverts and Wang Junjie’s global mean formula.However,for larger ship speeds and impact angles,the results are underestimated.The calculation results of the modified Woisin formula are closest to the existing experimental,though the elevated experimental values require further verification for reliability.In comparison,calculation values of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Guide Specification and Commentary for Vessel Collision Design of Highway Bridges are close to most numerical simulation results,and its expression aligns most closely with the quantitative relationship revealed by existing research between the impact force of ships passing through ship locks and factors such as ship mass and speed.The standard used in the numerical simulations in existing literature are different,resulting in significant differences in the magnitudes of the ship impact forces.It is suggested that the numerical simulation method for ship-lock collisions is standardized.