Fluid-Structure Interactions: Implosions of Shell Structures and Wave Impact on a Flat Plate

Title of Dissertation: FLUID-STRUCTURE INTERACTIONS: IMPLOSIONS OF SHELL STRUCTURES AND WAVE IMPACT ON A FLAT PLATE Christine M. Ikeda, Doctor of Philosophy, 2012 Advisor: Professor James H. Duncan Department of Mechanical Engineering The work in this dissertation examines the fluid-structure interaction phenomena in a series of three experimental studies. The first two sets of experiments were conducted in a large, water-filled pressure vessel with a nominal internal diameter of 1.77 m. Cylindrical shells were made from thin-walled aluminum and brass tubes with circular cross-sections (internal diameters D) and internal clearance-fit aluminum end caps. Implosion and explosion events were photographed with a high-speed camera (27,000 frames per second), and the waterborne pressure waves resulting from the implosion were measured simultaneously with underwater blast sensors. The natural implosions were generated by raising the ambient water pressure slowly to a value, Pc, just above the elastic instability limit of the models. For the models with larger L/D, where L is the internal length of the model, the model cross sections flattened during the implosion (mode 2). It was found that the amplitude of these mode 2 pressure waves scale with the pressure difference ∆P = Pc−Pi (where Pi is the internal pressure of the air inside the cylindrical models) and the time scales with (D/2) √ ρ/∆P (where ρ is the density of water). The geometry and material properties of the structure seem to play only a secondary role. During the explosion experiments, the pressure vessel is pressurized to various pressure levels below the natural implosion pressure of the models and an explosive was set off nearby. It was found that the implosion is induced by one of two mechanisms: the shockwave generated by the explosion and the hydrodynamic pressure field of the explosion bubble during its collapse and re-expansion. In the final experimental study, the impact of a plunging breaking wave (wavelength ≈ 1.2 m) on a partially submerged cube (with dimensions L = 0.3048 m) is studied in a wave tank (14.8 m long). The water free surface shape upstream of the cube before and after the wave impact was measured with cinematic Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF), employing a high-speed digital camera, a laser light sheet and fluorescent dye mixed with the water. It was observed that for some cube positions, the free surface between the front face of the cube and the wave crest forms a circular arc that converges to a point and forms a high-velocity vertical jet (≈ 3 m/s). Although these problems are intrinsically different, they are flows dominated by inertial forces (viscous effects are not important) where a rapidly collapsing interface shape produces high-pressure waves. Fluid Structure Interactions: Implosions of Shell Structures and Wave Impact on a Flat Plate by Christine M. Ikeda Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2012 Advisory Committee: Professor James H. Duncan, Chair/Advisor Professor Amir Riaz Professor Balakumar Balachandran Professor William Fourney Professor Richard Calabrese, Dean’s Representative c © Copyright by Christine M. Ikeda 2012