On the development of a numerical slamming tank to replicate quasi-two-dimensional experimental water impacts

To better replicate in-service water impacts, experimental tests include several features to restrict flow and produce a quasi-two-dimensional environment. However, such experimental tests are large, complex, expensive to conduct, and the practicalities of real-world testing result in the introduction of three-dimensional flow behaviour, which is often not considered. This work presents the development of a numerical slamming tank to predict impact forces and pressure distributions of an experimental testing setup with artificially restricted flow, which has until now been treated as purely two-dimensional. The development of this model was informed by a review of the state-of-the-art modelling methodologies for water impacts, which indicates that a dynamic layering mesh technique is the most-promising for restricted flow environments. Results for the numerical slamming tank are compared against experimental measurements and purely two-dimensional analytical predictions of a 10° deadrise quasi-rigid panel at nominally constant impact velocities of 2.0 m/s, 4.0 m/s, and 6.0 m/s. Results confirm the significance of three-dimensional flow behaviour within experimental testing setups, with reductions of peak force and peak pressures of 95–115% and 39.4% respectively compared to purely two-dimensional predictions. This represents the first work that uses numerical methods to successfully reproduce and investigate the true three-dimensional flow behaviour present in real-world quasi-two-dimensional experimental tests. It is recommended that future works consider the effects of three-dimensional flow behaviour to properly validate and analyse the results any quasi-two-dimensional experimental tests.