DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF FLEXIBLE WEDGES ENTERING THE WATER

Hydroelasticity is a phenomenon occurring during the interaction between water and a deformable structure. Structural deformations can modify the fluid motion, introducing difficulties in the calculation of the impact-induced stresses. Predicting the structural deformations and stresses during the water entry of flexible structures is a major challenge and suitable computer-aided design tools are currently being developed and validated. This work investigates the water impact of deformable wedges. Experimental and numerical results on the parameters affecting hydroelasticity are evaluated for flexible plates with different boundary conditions. The occurrence of hydroelastic effects is shown to depend on the ratio between the natural frequency of the structure and the characteristic wetting time. The influence of the fluid-structure interactions is investigated by numerical simulations. The conditions for which fluid-structure interactions are significant and must be accounted for in the analysis are identified, while outside this range the structure can be modeled as a rigid body. Pressure at the fluid-structure interface is found not to be influenced by the structural deformation, unless fluid is detaching due to cavitation of ventilation.