Benchmark study on slamming response of flat-stiffened plates considering fluid-structure interaction

This paper presents a benchmark study on the slamming responses of offshore structures’ flat-stiffened plates. The objective was to compare the fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulation methodologies, modeling techniques, and established researchers' experiences in predicting slamming pressure. Three research groups employing the most common commercial software packages for numerical FSI simulations (i.e. LS-Dyna ALE, LS-Dyna ICFD, ANSYS CFX, and Star-CCM+/ABAQUS) participated in this study. Wet drop test data on flat-stiffened aluminum plates of light-ship-like bottom structures available in the open literature was utilized for validation of the FSI modeling. A summary of the experimental conditions including the geometry model and material properties, was distributed to the participants prior to their simulations. A parametric study on flat-stiffened steel plates having actual scantlings used in marine installations was performed to investigate the effect of impact velocity and plate rigidity on slamming response. The FE simulation results for the total vertical forces acting on the stiffened plates and their structural responses to those forces, as obtained from the participants, were analyzed and compared. The reliable and accurate predictions of slamming loads using the aforementioned commercial FSI software packages were evaluated. Additionally, equivalent static slamming pressures resulting in the same permanent deflections, as observed from the FSI simulations, were reported and compared with analytical models proposed by the Classification Standards DNV and existing experimental data for calculation of the slamming pressure. The study results showed that the equivalent load model depends on the water impact velocity and plate rigidity; that is, the equivalent static pressure coefficient decreases with an increase in impact velocity, and increases when impacting structures become stiffer.