A Numerical Sensitivity Analysis of Fluid-Structure Interaction Simulations on Slamming Loads and Responses

Abstract

This paper presents a parametric study on the Multi Material Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (MMALE) method for hydroelastic analysis of a non-prismatic stiffened aluminium wedge. An explicit finite element formulation with a penalty-based coupling technique is employed to evaluate the impact-induced loads and responses during free-fall water entry. Based on the penalty factor, damping factor, and number of coupling points, a sensitivity analysis is carried out. It is shown that the penalty coupling method can generate high-frequency oscillations due to the nature of the phenomenon that may affect the predicted results of slamming loads. The computed results on the stiffened and unstiffened plates of the wedge are compared with published experimental data in terms of vertical acceleration, pressure distributions, and strain responses at different locations. A reasonable agreement can be found between the numerical results and the measured values. It is found that a combination of penalty and damping can improve the simulation results and reduce numerical instabilities in hydroelastic slamming simulations.