Numerical study of composite structures subjected to slamming loads using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH)

Since the inception of composite materials in the field of marine applications, there has been an ever increasing demand for more cost efficient, and low weight composite structures. This has lead to a drastic reduction in the amount of material used, which rendered these structures deformable especially under severe loading conditions like slamming wave impact. Slamming loads are characterised by large local pressures, which last for very short durations of time and move very fast along the surface of the structure. Deformation of the structure dampens the pressure intensity on the surface of the structure. In this study, the response behaviour of deformable composite structures subjected to slamming loads is studied using the existing numerical methods for Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) and free surface flows as slamming loads are generally observed in marine applications. Numerical simulations are done using explicit smoothed particle hydrodynamics(SPH) codes. Results from the numerical models are validated using the experimental rigid body slamming studies that are already existing and the same numerical models are used for studying the behaviour of the deformable composite structures.