Slamming and Green Water Loads on Bow-Flare Ship in Regular Head Waves Investigated by Hydroelasticity Theory and Experiment

Abstract

With the development of ships towards large scale, high speed and light weight, ship hydroelastic responses and slamming strength issues are becoming increasingly important. In this paper, a time-domain nonlinear hydroelasticity theory is developed to predict ship motion and load responses in harsh regular waves. Hydrostatic restoring force, wave excitation force and radiation force are calculated on the instantaneously wetted body surface to consider the nonlinear effects caused by large amplitude motions of ship in steep waves. A two-dimensional (2D) generalized Wagner model and a one-dimensional (1D) dam-breaking model are used to estimate the impact loads caused by bow flare slamming and green water on deck, respectively; the impact loads are coupled with the hydroelastic equation in time-domain. Moreover, segmented model tests are carried out in a towing tank to investigate the wave and slamming loads acting on the hull sailing in harsh regular head waves and also validate the numerical results.