Nonlinear impact loading in an oblique seaway

There is an increasing interest in developing direct calculation methods and procedures for determining extreme wave loads on ship girders (e.g. ISSC, 2000 [1]). Ships experiencing bottom and bow flare slamming have heightened the need for computational tools suitable to accurately predict motion and structural responses. The associated nonlinear impact problem is complicated by the complex free surface and body boundary conditions. This paper examines a "blended" linear-nonlinear method by which extreme loads due to bottom impact and flare slamming can be determined. Using a high-speed container ship as an example, comparisons of motions, shear and bending moments, and pressures are made in head and oblique bow-quartering waves. The time-domain computer program used in the comparison is based upon partially nonlinear models. The program, NSHIPMO, is an blended strip theory method using "impact" stations over the forward part of the ship and partially nonlinear stations over the rest. Body exact hydrostatics and Froude-Krylov excitation are used over the entire hull. The impact theory of Troesch and Kang [2] is employed to estimate the sectional nonlinear impact,forces acting upon the specified nonlinear sections, while the linear theory of Salvesen et al. (STF) [3] is used to blend the remainder of the hydrodynamic forces, that is the radiation and diffraction components. Results from the simulation are presented with discussions of accuracy and time of computation. Several issues associated with the blended nonlinear time-domain simulation are presented, including modeling issues related to directional yaw-sway control and a vertical plane dynamic instability in long waves that has not previously been recognized.