Hydor-impact, fluid-structure interaction and structural response of modern racing yacht

In recent years, faster, lighter and bigger are the key issues in a modern racing yacht<br/>for extreme performance. As a result, many yachts have experienced various structural<br/>failures caused by the hydrodynamic impact or ’hydro-impact’ phenomenon by<br/>slamming.<br/><br/>The structural failure by hydro-impact originates from the facts that the external<br/>hydro-impact load and fluid structure interaction effect is somewhat misled and when<br/>applying the load into current structural design, the ’dynamic’ load is typically, manipulated<br/>in a ’static’ way with fluid structure interaction effect, generally, ignored.<br/>In this thesis, the hydro-impact load by slamming, its fluid structure interaction effect<br/>and dynamic response of the local structure of the yacht are studied.<br/><br/>Firstly, to acquire insight into the hydro-impact phenomenon, a series of drop tests<br/>and seakeeping-slamming tests are carried out with various sensing instruments of<br/>pressure transducers, accelerometer and ’slam patch system’ - a specific application<br/>form of generally known pressure panel - are installed. The slam patch system is<br/>designed and implemented to investigate the hydro-impact loads and fluid structure<br/>interaction effect of slamming. Afterward, the measured hydro-impact loads are summarised<br/>via statistical manipulations with regard to pressure and duration time.<br/><br/>Secondly, impact pressure by the rules and regulations of various organisations are<br/>provided to compare it with the experimental results and structural response calculations.<br/>The applicability of the rules and regulations on the high performance racing<br/>yacht is also pointed out.<br/><br/>Finally, the manipulated loads are used as input data to simulate the transient<br/>response of local structure of the yacht structure.<br/>Throughout this study, the dynamic and fluid structure interaction effect by hydroimpact<br/>phenomenon on local composite structure can be easily visualised and calculated<br/>in a conservative way through conventional finite element analysis work.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Ph.D.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Southampton

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Lee, June