Numerical and experimental analysis of bow flare slamming on a Ro–Ro vessel in regular oblique waves

A method for the prediction of slamming loads on ship hulls is presented and validated for a 20-knot, 120-m car carrier. A nonlinear strip theory is used to calculate the relative motions of ship and wave. The relative vertical and roll velocities for a slamming event are given as input to the slamming calculation program, which is based on a generalized two-dimensional Wagner formulation and solved by the boundary element method. The method is fast and robust. Model tests of a car carrier have been carried out in regular head, bow, and bow quartering waves of various heights. Slamming on two panels in the upper part of the bow flare has been studied. It has been found that the water pile-up around the bow due to the forward speed of the vessel significantly increases the slamming pressures. A simplified way of including this effect is presented. When the calculated slamming pressures are corrected for 3D effects, they compare well with the measured data. Since the effect of the wave elevation due to the forward speed and the effect of three-dimensional flow act in opposite directions, excluding both of them produced results that also agreed quite well with the experiments, especially for the most severe slamming events.