Controlled Motion Slamming of a Planing Hull using General Motions to Understand Slamming Accelerations and Pressures

High-speed small planing craft slamming into waves can cause structural damage to the ship as well as hinder or injure personnel onboard. As a result, it is one of the primary constraints that limit the operating envelope of high-speed surface vessels. The controlled motion experiments presented can be thought of a combination of vertical water entry and tow tank experiments. The fluid-structure interaction of the slamming problem can be analyzed more closely when a single slam is examined. A planing hull model will be subjected to controlled motions in the vertical plane to replicate the types of slamming motions that a vessel may see at sea. In this experiment, the slamming moment at the bow will be analyzed in calm water. The vertical motions will be programmed into a pair of linear actuators that are rigidly mounted to a towing carriage. Each actuator is independently controlled and capable of moving at 1.3 m/s and 15 m/s². Pressure sensors will be used to measure the pressure time history at discrete points on the model. The spray and spray root will be tracked to analyze its relationship with the peak pressure location. Force sensors mounted beneath the actuators will be used to compute the overall slamming load and moments induced by the slam event. Accelerometers and encoders will track the acceleration at the longitudinal center of gravity and actuator mount locations.