Experimental Investigation of Wet-Deck Slamming on Fully Elastic Catamaran Model

Abstract

The current demands of the Offshore and Maritime industry have lead to the design and
production of larger vessels of complex geometries. These vessels are subjected to unique
loading conditions that have not been investigated extensively. Such a case is presented
in wet deck slamming of large catamaran vessels. These vessels have been designed and
produced to conduct offshore platform installation operations and are expected to operate
in severe conditions where wet deck submergence becomes a threat.
Wet deck slamming is a water entry impact phenomenon that can induce extreme loads
when a part of the floating structure pierces the water surface during severe waves. This
event can trigger a transient dynamic response at both local and global levels. The event has
multiple influencing factors that can contribute to the severity and probability of occurrence.
Although the examination of slamming started over a century ago, the criteria concerning
the incident definition, identification and prediction are applied from different perspectives.
Modern methods identify slamming events based on the structural responses, while the sta-
tistical analysis considers correlation between the events, as opposed to older approaches
treating the incidents as independent.
Progress in understanding slamming is achieved through full-scale measurements, exper-
imental tests, and numerical simulations. Each method presents unique advantages and
drawbacks,and all three are used for knowledge development but also verification and vali-
dation. As numerical capabilities increase, it is also important for the experimental method
to evolve and explore new ways of representation of the complex events.
This project aims to investigate wet deck slamming using a rarely used form of model
that could closely mimic real life responses. This research can enhance the experimental
method capabilities and serve as stepping stone for further evolution of similar research.
The experimental test runs for the needs of the project were conducted in the Ship and
Hydromechanics laboratory facilities of TU Delft.