Effects of Curvature on Slamming Loads

Abstract

Much research has been directed at understanding and predicting water slamming loads for a range of geometries of varying rigidity and size. Analytical and numerical studies focused on slamming of cylindrical rigid bodies are present in literature but there are relatively few experimental studies useful for validation purposes, none of which methodically investigate a range of curvatures. Despite the current understanding of slamming loads and structural responses, high speed marine vehicles still experience slamming related failures in operation. In this study, nominally rigid, singly curved prismatic specimens of varying curvature are subjected to constant velocity water impacts relevant to those encountered by high performance offshore racing yachts and other high-speed craft. Peak impact forces of 14 to 52 kN were recorded while testing specimens with radii ranging from 0.300 to 5.000 m. Experimental peak impact force and event impulse are found to be significantly lower than predicted by numerical and small scale empirically derived methods. A modification is introduced which improves the empirical model.