A passive flow separation approach for reducing slamming loads on large catamarans: experimental investigation

Abstract

This paper reports on experimental and numerical simulations conducted on a high-speed catamaran’s bow section during water entry using both water impact device. The water impact facility allows the water/model interaction to occur at relatively highvelocities up to 10m/s and with two angles of trim, e.g. 0° and 5°. The tested model was constructed with two interchangeable centrebows to study the influence of flow separation prior to slam events. The present work aims at addressing the issue of disconnect between impact pressure peak magnitudes and slam force peaks. It was found that limited pressure transducers that are localized in space and time are important for validating numerical techniques but should not be used as a basis for structural design.

Keywords

• water impact loads on large catamarans