Slamming loads during the hydrodynamic impact of a threedimensional body are studied numerically. First, the finite element method is used to solved the fluid part. For the water entry problem of a rigid body, the numerical results are successfully compared with analytical solutions for wedge, cone and the three dimensional case of an elliptic paraboloid shaped bodies. In the second part of the paper, the coupled formulation and the coupling matrix between fluid and structure part which will be used to treat the hydroelasticity impact problem is presented and validated by solving for sloshing in a tank with an elastic wall problem.
In severe sea conditions, impact loads with high pressure occur when the hull of a ship strikes the water surface. These impulsive loads may generate plastic deformations of the local hull structure. Fractures have also been observed as the result of severe slamming events. In extreme cases, the integrity of the overall structure may be threatened due to a large increase of the global bending stresses. The ability to better predict the structural response of the ship hull to slamming loads, both locally and globally, appears therefore necessary. Reviews on the subject of slamming have been proposed by Korobkin & Pukhnachov (1988), Mizoguchi & Tanizawa (1996) and more recently by Faltinsen (2000) who focus attention on the influence of hydroelasticity effects. From a theoretical point of view, slamming loads have been mostly studied within the framework of potential flow theory, assuming blunt and rigid body, and planar flow. Under these assumptions, first order asymptotic solutions were found for the ease of a wedge with small deadrise angles (Wagner, 1932), a cylinder (Cointe, 1987), and more generally, for arbitrary two-dimensional blunt body shapes (Cointe, 1989, Howison, Ockendon & Wilson, 1991).
