This paper deals with some results of numerical investigations of the bottom-slamming phenomenon. As it has been shown in our recent publications the effect of hydroelasticity plays quite an important role for the case when ship's bottom has a zero deadrise angle. This paper discusses results of an advanced series of FEM calculations performed for small deadrise angles. For structures with non-zero deadrise angles the effect of hydroelasticity is less remarkable in comparison with the case of zero deadrise angle. And with increasing of deadrise angle the influence of hydroelasticity decreases. The present model is based on the compressible water model. However, some more calculations are performed using an incompressible water model in order to compare both approaches.
Hydroelastic problems attract the attention of designers and engineers more often today than ever before. This is resultant from several causes. One of the most important reasons is the increase of speed of modern ships to satisfy the demands of the sea transportation market. As operating speed increases, weight becomes more critical, especially for planing or other non-displacement craft. The importance of weight means that structural optimization is becoming more developed. Structures become more flexible and hence more sensitive to high hydrodynamic loads caused by high operational speed in waves. At the same time the application of traditional approaches for determination of representative design loads neglecting the effect of hydroelasticity does not satisfy the modem design demands. Many theories and approaches have been developed (Arai (1998), Du and Wu (1998), Faltinsen (1997, 1998), Gu, Wu, and Xia (1989), Hermundstad, Wu, and Moan (1994), Korobkin (1998a, 1998b), Kvalsvold and Faltinsen (1993, 1994), Price and Temarel (1994), Tanizawa (1998)). But still not everything is clear in the physics of slamming because of the extreme complexity of this phenomenon.
