Water impact of V-shaped wedge at constant velocity: Influence of deadrise angle and stiffness panels

In this paper, we report the results of our experimental investigation regarding the strain and pressure distribution on a wedge upon entering water. Slamming experiments were conducted on a hydraulic test-rig, enabling a constant velocity throughout the process. The influence of the deadrise angle and stiffness on the hydroelastic behavior of three aluminum wedges, with a deadrise angle of 30 ∘ , 45 ∘ a n d 60 ∘ is studied. First, an investigation is made on whether a change in deadrise angle influences the behavior of the wedge with regards to panel strength and velocity. Second, the direct influence of the deadrise angle is shown. Finally, a general study of maximum pressure and jet velocity dependency on the aforementioned input parameters is made. For the stiffest panels, the pressure coefficient C p values vary very little and are quite similar to those in the case of rigid wedge. Indeed, at a constant velocity, it has been demonstrated that Cp depends only on the shape of the solid body. As the stiffness decreases, C p increases for all deadrise angles. The main result is that for all angles and velocities studied, a decrease in stiffness leads to an increase in normalized slamming pressure. This leads to a safety factor of 2 considering the design of stiffened panels subjected to slamming with pressure coefficients of rigid panels. The results presented allow their use to validate numerical studies of hydro-elastic impact problems.