Numerical and Experimental Study of Asymmetric Water Impacts of Wedge-Shaped Sections

In this paper we investigate numerically and experimentally the hydrodynamics related to the asymmetric water impact of a two dimensional wedge shape. Most of the currently available theoretical, numerical and experimental studies on water impacts neglect the effects of geometrical and kinematic asymmetries. Nonetheless, impact asymmetry might be of great relevance under some particular sailing circumstances, such as high speed planing hulls or generic vessels moving with multiple degrees of freedom into steep waves.In the numerical part of our study, we use the Volume Of Fluid (VOF) method to analyze the combined effects of geometrical and kinematic asymmetry, by systematically varying the wedge roll angle and the direction of the impact velocity. The experimental apparatus includes high speed image recording, pressure sensors and accelerometers and is in turn designed to allow simultaneous changes in the roll angle and velocity direction. Numerical results and experimental measurements are compared in terms of impact related forces and fluid flow characteristics, evidencing similarities and discrepancies among the two datasets.