Modeling of air cushion vehicle's flexible seals under steady state conditions

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the efficacy of modeling a surface effect ship's air-cushion flexible seal utilizing a two-dimensional beam under steady state conditions. This effort is the initial phase of developing a more complex three-dimensional model of the air-seal-water fluid-structure interaction. The beam model incorporates the seal flexural rigidity and mass with large deformations while assuming linear elastic material response. The hydrodynamic pressure is derived utilizing the OpenFOAM computational fluid dynamic (CFD) solver for a given set of steady-state flow condition. The pressure distribution derived by the CFD solver is compared with the pressure required to deform the seal beam model. The air pressure, flow conditions and seal geometry are obtained from experimental analysis. The experimental data was derived from large-scale experimental tests utilizing a test apparatus of a canonical surface effect ship's flexible seal in a towing tank over a variety of test conditions.