Project SPLASH: Impact of aluminium structures on water - pre and post-test simulations with PAM-CRASH

Abstract

Within the SPLASH project (Assessment of Methods and Modelling Rules for Numerical Simulation of Ditching Phenomena), DLR has to conduct pre- and post-test simulations of steel and aluminium cylindrical structures impacting on water. This report presents the simulation results obtained with the PAM-CRASH/SHOCK code. In a first part, pre-test results, which were used to define the test velocities, are presented. These simulation activities enabled to fix the test velocities to 2 m/s and 5 m/s. In a second part, post-test results, which are extensively compared to the test observations and measurements, are documented. In particular, deformations of the structure after the test and, pressure and acceleration time histories are compared to the test data. Following conclusions could be drawn from this work: •The accelerations are predicted very satisfactorily at all test velocities. •The pressures are usually overestimated depending on the position of the pressure sensor. •The rivets behave differently in the simulation compared to the test with the highest impact velocity (11 m/s). The reason is supposed to be, that only a simple approach to model the rivets was used due to limitations of available data. The correct modelling of riveted connections is seen as an area for further research.