Experimental Study of Slamming Effects on Wedge and Cylindrical Surfaces

Abstract

Slamming is a very significant phenomenon that occurs in marine structures operating under extreme conditions. Slamming significantly reduces the design life of floating offshore wind turbines, as well as marine structures, and causes structural damage. Thus, the slamming load should be considered sufficiently during the design phase of the structure, and the results of experiments of good quality should be incorporated. The phenomenon of slamming should be analyzed using peak pressure, width, duration, and dynamic loads that depend on the design and natural frequency of the structure. In the case of a slamming experiment, the deadrise angle shows the greatest pressure between 3° to 10°. In this study, pressure values were compared using a model with a deadrise angle of 10° and a cylinder model most commonly used for the fabrication and installation of offshore structures. The peak pressure of the cylindrical model is greater than those of the flat model and the wedge model with a 10° deadrise angle. Pressure and strain were measured using free drops from heights of 1.0 and 1.7 m from the water surface, and the elastic effects were studied accordingly. Also, the peak pressure due to a slamming impact occurs several times depending on the natural frequency of the structure. In order to understand the behavior of the structure against the elastic effect, the second peak in the experimental results was theoretically and experimentally analyzed. The second pressure peak is greater than the first pressure peak due to the elastic behavior effects based on the natural frequency of models used in the slamming test. Also, a single slamming results in several peak pressures and it greatly deteriorates the fatigue strength. Experiments and simulations were carried out to derive the effects of repeated slamming loads on the structure. In the structural design considering the slamming loads, information on the elastic effect of the structure and accumulated loads is very important. This can be an important variable in the design of the floater and can play an important role in assessing the impact on the floater. These results raise questions as to the extent that slamming pressures are replaced with equivalent hydrostatic pressures in most design rules of the recognized certification society.