Theoretical and Experimental Study on Nonlinear Hydroelastic Responses and Slamming Loads of Ship Advancing in Regular Waves

Wave loads estimation and structural strength evaluation are the fundamental work at the ship design stage. The hydroelastic responses and slamming strength issues are also concerned especially for large-scale high-speed ships sailing in harsh waves. To accurately predict the wave-induced motions and loads acting on the ship sailing in regular waves, a fully coupled 3D time-domain nonlinear hydroelasticity theory is developed in this paper. The vibration modal characteristics of the flexible hull structure derived by the 3D finite element method (FEM) and simplified 1D nonuniform Tunoshenko beam theory are firstly described. The hydrostatic restoring force and hydrodynamic wave force are calculated on the real-time wetted surface of hull to address geometric nonlinearity due to the steep wave and large amplitude motions. The bow slamming and green water loads acting on the ship in severe regular waves are estimated by the momentum impact method and dam-breaking method, respectively. Moreover, a small-scaled segmented ship model is designed, constructed, and tested in a laboratory wave basin to validate the hydroelasticity algorithm. The results predicted by theoretical and experimental approaches are systemically compared and analyzed. Finally, future work for predictions of ship hydroelasticity and slamming loads in irregular waves is prospected.