Hydroelastic effects of slamming impact Loads During free-Fall water entry

This paper examines the hydroelastic problems of a two-dimensional symmetric flexible wedge water entry through free-fall motion. Water entry is numerically investigated by coupled Finite Volume Method and Finite Element Method using a strong two-way coupling approach. The emphasis of this study is on numerical approach and the paper provides an accurate two-way FSI coupling method for the water entry of two-dimensional symmetric elastic wedge section in different conditions. The effect of freefall velocity is investigated by comparing the constant velocity and freefall impacts. It is shown that the bottom deflection is overestimated by using the constant velocity. In order to evaluate the accuracy of the numerical model, the numerical results are compared and validated against published experimental data and favourable agreement is reported. The vertical position, impact velocity, acceleration, pressure distribution, and deflection along the bottom plate of the elastic wedge are evaluated and compared to experimental data. For better understanding of the hydroelastic slamming, the results are presented for different deadrise angles and vertical velocities. The relation between the structural deflection and vertical velocity, deadrise angle, and pressure distribution is investigated. It is observed that the significance of hydroelasticity increases with decreasing deadrise angle and increasing impact velocity.