Experimental and numerical study of the slamming wave impact on deformable composite structures

Objectives The aim of this project is the experimental and numerical study of wave impact on deformable composite structures. The objectives are threefold: * carrying out extensively instrumented slamming tests on deformable composite structures, including the monitoring of the resulting instantaneous deformations and the damage and stiffness degradation of the composite material, * the numerical simulation of the dynamic pressures that act in the interface between the composite structure and the water volume, including the fluid structure interaction (FSI) (effect of the deformation of the composite structure on the instantaneous pressure distribution in the water and vice-versa) and the effect of the local peak pressure on the local deformation (and possibly damage) of the composite structure, * the parametric study of the effect of the geometrical and mechanical properties of the composite structure (thickness, curvature, stiffness) on the local peak pressures and the slamming phenomenon. This fundamental research is absolutely necessary to make progress with the following problems: * the exact influence of the deformability of the composite structure on the slamming event is quasi unknown, while taking into account the deformability of the structure can precisely lead to more efficient design, reduced material consumption and weight reduction, * the combined results of an extensive experimental program and a strong numerical investigation, including FSI, are as far as we know, not available in public literature for composite structures, * in Europe, design rules for slamming in ship construction and off-shore engineering are largely based on the guidelines of the insurance company DNV (Det Norske Veritas) [4]. The maximum expected pressure is applied as a uniform pressure over the complete bottom surface (bottom slamming) or a certain sector of the side surface (breaking wave slamming) and the resulting stresses/strains are calculated in static conditions. The fact that the peak pressures act very locally and that their position is changing very fast in time, is ignored completely. Moreover the design rules are specifically dedicated to metal structures and there is insufficient evidence that they are also suited for more deformable composite structures [27]. Finally, the results of this research will be applicable in a very broad context. A lot of sailing/floating structures make more and more use of composite structures because of corrosion resistance and light weight. For floating structures slamming is mainly dominating the survival conditions in heavy storm tide (e.g. very large floating structures (VLFS) such as floating airports in Japan [38]), while for sailing composite vessels, slamming is one of the most important loading conditions for all so-called High-Speed Craft (catamarans, trimarans, speedboats,...) [27,38].