A Simplified Method of Water Impact on Elastic Plate in Early Stage

For most flat-bottom marine structures, the impact loads are generated by complex transient coupling effects of solid, air and water. However, there are rare simplified forecasting methods to obtain the impact loads and dynamic response of the flat-bottom structures by considering both hydro elastic and air cushion effects. In the paper, a new simplified analysis method of water impact on the elastic plate is proposed referred to Verhagen’s model of the rigid plate. The analysis is focused on the initial stage during which the highest hydrodynamic loads are generated. The method simulates the interaction between the plate, the air and the water. Also, fluid-structure coupling results from the simplified method are compared to numerical results from Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian method and experimental results to validate the feasibility and accuracy of this simplified method.