Hydroelastic Analysis of a Simple Oscillator Impacting the Free Surface

The coupling between the hydrodynamic and elastic forces arising when a simple oscillator impacts the free surface is considered. The system is a two-mass oscillator, the lower mass being wedge-shaped, free falling on the free surface. Attention is devoted to a parametric investigation of the maximum of both hydrodynamic and elastic forces induced by the impact. The study is performed by a simplified theoretical model and by a numerical simulation of the fluid-structure interaction. The theoretical model suggested here provides an efficient tool for the computation of the hydrodynamic and elastic forces and of the corresponding maxima as a function of some parameters such as deadrise angle of the wedge, entry velocity, spring stiffness, and the masses. In particular, a closed-form expression for the critical value of the spring constant leading to the maximum elastic response is achieved as a function of the other parameters. Numerically, a panel method is adopted to solve the boundary integral formulation for the velocity potential. A suitable model is introduced to deal with the flow singularity at the intersection point between the free surface and the body contour. Time histories of the hydrodynamic and elastic forces are computed for different values of the spring stiffness and are compared with the corresponding results provided by the simplified theoretical model. The comparison shows that, despite the strong assumptions, the theoretical model allows a good estimate of the system critical condition.