Simulation Study on Flat-Bottom Structure Slamming

A study is performed about the water entry of a flat-bottom structure by use of the FE software MSC Dytran. The aim of the study is to find out the effect of the air cushion and structural mass on the impact peak pressure and the role of splash in the course of water entry. Some FE models are built up and some cases including the flat-bottom structure with different masses impacting water at some constant or initial velocities are calculated. The calculation shows that air plays an important role in the course of water entry of a flat-bottom structure and the compression of the air captured by the flat-bottom structure produces the first peak pressure. And the mass of the structure has a great effect on the peak value of impact pressure. The structure with different masses will produce different impact pressures even at the same impact velocity. Splash will occur a long time after the impact pressure reaches the peak value. A formula is given for the calculation of the peak value of impact pressure in this paper.