Numerical Simulation and Validation Study of Wetdeck Slamming on High Speed Catamaran

Abstract : This paper presents a numerical simulation method for predicting the wetdeck slamming of a high-speed catamaran. The numerical simulation method is built upon the framework of the Large Amplitude Motion Program (LAMP). LAMP is a time-domain potential flow panel code that solves the 3-D wave-body hydrodynamics and rigid-body dynamics problems with consideration of external forces. An extension of the wetdeck slamming hydrodynamic approach of Ge, Faltinsen, and Moan (2005) has been integrated into LAMP to predict wetdeck slamming within the time domain simulation. A validation study of the numerical simulation method was carried out, which compared predicted motions and wetdeck slamming pressures to measurements from recent model tests and full scale sea trials for the U.S. Navy catamaran Sea Fighter, FSF-1. Comparisons were made in the time-domain with wave-by-wave response for individual runs. This paper discusses the overall numerical simulation method, the mathematical formulation of the wetdeck slamming approach, details of the Sea Fighter model test, full-scale trials results of the validation study, and several outstanding issues related to the numerical simulations method.