Analysis of hydroelastic slamming of flexible structures: modeling and experiments

Abstract

With the growing interest in the integration of lightweight composite materials in marine vessels, the study of hydroelastic slamming becomes of paramount importance. Here, we propose an integrated theoretical and experimental approach to elucidate the physics of slamming during both the water entry and exit of flexible wedges. The deformation of the wedge is described through Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and the fluid flow is modelled using a combination of the classical Wagner and von Karman theories. Experiments are conducted on a wedge with 25° deadrise angle, whose motion is controlled using a pneumatic control system. The pressure field in the fluid is reconstructed from particle image velocimetry data by integrating incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. Experimental results confirm that the free surface elevation during water exit is significantly different than entry and the pressure is larger than the atmospheric pressure during water entry, while it may be less than atmospheric pressure during the exit stage.