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Hydroelastic analysis of flexible asymmetric water entry of wedge-shaped bodies using a fully coupled partitioned CFD-CSD model

Hydroelastic analysis of flexible asymmetric water entry of wedge-shaped bodies using a fully coupled partitioned CFD-CSD model
Hydroelastic analysis of flexible asymmetric water entry of wedge-shaped bodies using a fully coupled partitioned CFD-CSD model

The asymmetric water entry of a flexible wedge, as an important engineering problem with applications in structural design of hull girder and fatigue life assessment, is studied using an open-source computational code that solves the hydrostructural response of the section entering water using a partitioned approach via a tightly coupled two-way flexible fluid-solid interaction algorithm. Three different simulation campaigns are conducted to provide an understanding of the problem from scientific and engineering perspectives. By running the code for various cases, it is shown that the kinematics of the spray flow on both sides of an asymmetric flexible wedge differ from those of a symmetric wedge with a similar local deadrise angle. It is found that the spray root is decelerated on the heeled-down side and accelerated on the heeled-up side, and this behaviour is found to be proportional to the changes in pressure resulting from the asymmetric flow pattern, as compared to a symmetric condition. It is also demonstrated that the pressure acting on a flexible asymmetric section differs from that on a rigid asymmetric section, with the flexible case showing a reduction in pressure. This reduction is observed to be proportional to the maximum deflection in emerging in the flexible panels of the section entering the water, effectively quantifying both the loss of energy in the water impact and the local geometric changes of the section. Finally, by simulating different heel angles for both flexible and rigid sections, it is shown that the forces and moments acting on the body during water entry exhibit nonlinear behaviour as a function of heel angle, with the nonlinearity becoming more significant as the structure becomes more flexible. The results of this study highlight the importance of considering asymmetric flexible water entry in the design of ships and in the assessment of their safety under large hydrodynamic loads. Such analyses are preferably carried out using models that capture the nonlinearities associated with the fluid flow.

Flexible fluid-structure interactions, Sea loads, Slamming, Water entry, Wedge section
0029-8018
Tavakoli, Sasan
298250c4-756b-470e-9243-5038d1770342
Hosseinzadeh, Saeed
47ee65b8-f6a8-4c4f-b99c-146eb389464b
Tsaousis, Theodosis D.
b90c3634-edea-4df0-873a-0f3ddaa419d7
Hirdaris, Spyros
80a13430-eae1-4e03-ba79-35e5d1b8fad5
Tavakoli, Sasan
298250c4-756b-470e-9243-5038d1770342
Hosseinzadeh, Saeed
47ee65b8-f6a8-4c4f-b99c-146eb389464b
Tsaousis, Theodosis D.
b90c3634-edea-4df0-873a-0f3ddaa419d7
Hirdaris, Spyros
80a13430-eae1-4e03-ba79-35e5d1b8fad5

Tavakoli, Sasan, Hosseinzadeh, Saeed, Tsaousis, Theodosis D. and Hirdaris, Spyros (2025) Hydroelastic analysis of flexible asymmetric water entry of wedge-shaped bodies using a fully coupled partitioned CFD-CSD model. Ocean Engineering, 348, [124018]. (doi:10.1016/j.oceaneng.2025.124018).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The asymmetric water entry of a flexible wedge, as an important engineering problem with applications in structural design of hull girder and fatigue life assessment, is studied using an open-source computational code that solves the hydrostructural response of the section entering water using a partitioned approach via a tightly coupled two-way flexible fluid-solid interaction algorithm. Three different simulation campaigns are conducted to provide an understanding of the problem from scientific and engineering perspectives. By running the code for various cases, it is shown that the kinematics of the spray flow on both sides of an asymmetric flexible wedge differ from those of a symmetric wedge with a similar local deadrise angle. It is found that the spray root is decelerated on the heeled-down side and accelerated on the heeled-up side, and this behaviour is found to be proportional to the changes in pressure resulting from the asymmetric flow pattern, as compared to a symmetric condition. It is also demonstrated that the pressure acting on a flexible asymmetric section differs from that on a rigid asymmetric section, with the flexible case showing a reduction in pressure. This reduction is observed to be proportional to the maximum deflection in emerging in the flexible panels of the section entering the water, effectively quantifying both the loss of energy in the water impact and the local geometric changes of the section. Finally, by simulating different heel angles for both flexible and rigid sections, it is shown that the forces and moments acting on the body during water entry exhibit nonlinear behaviour as a function of heel angle, with the nonlinearity becoming more significant as the structure becomes more flexible. The results of this study highlight the importance of considering asymmetric flexible water entry in the design of ships and in the assessment of their safety under large hydrodynamic loads. Such analyses are preferably carried out using models that capture the nonlinearities associated with the fluid flow.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 29 December 2025
Published date: 29 December 2025
Keywords: Flexible fluid-structure interactions, Sea loads, Slamming, Water entry, Wedge section

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 509123
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/509123
ISSN: 0029-8018
PURE UUID: e1648c4c-eac7-4837-9cbc-c277c5df4353
ORCID for Saeed Hosseinzadeh: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5830-888X

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Date deposited: 11 Feb 2026 17:52
Last modified: 12 Feb 2026 03:20

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Contributors

Author: Sasan Tavakoli
Author: Saeed Hosseinzadeh ORCID iD
Author: Theodosis D. Tsaousis
Author: Spyros Hirdaris

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