Foam core sandwich composite panels were slammed onto the body of calm water as a function of slamming energy (161—779 J) and deadrise angle (0°—45°). Higher slamming energy and lower deadrise angle resulted in greater damage to the material. Discrete pressure data though critical in ship design, failed to yield any relevant damage information. Catastrophic failure was observed to occur beyond a threshold strain of 0.0035 mm/mm. With the introduction of a hydroelasticity function, quasi-static analysis accurately predicted strain behavior under slamming. Post-failure analysis of noncatastrophically damaged specimens indicated very little reduction in flexural capacity in spite of a measurable change in the acoustic emission activity. Core shear along the interface with the facesheets and local buckling of the facesheet and resin fragmentation were observed to be the dominant modes of failure under slamming.
Foam core sandwich composite panels repeatedly slammed onto the body of calm water indicate greater accumulation and progression of damage accompanied by lower lifetimes as a function of increasing slamming energy or lower deadrise angle. E—N (slamming energy vs. lifetime) curves showed an exponentially decreasing trend with extensive scatter in the data. E—N curves also differed dramatically when compared with the conventional S—N fatigue life curve. A significant reduction observed in fatigue life of slammed specimens as compared with the non-slammed specimens was used as a basis for the development of a life assessment methodology. Catastrophic failure under slamming resulted from a major crack formation near the chine or the keel depending on the deadrise angle, however, during post-slamming fatigue, failure always occurred near the keel. Core tearing along the interface and core shear were observed to be the dominant modes of failure, while facesheet damage activity was largely absent prior to catastrophic failure.
Currently, the high pollution derived from the production of Portland cement is a major problem, therefore the development of alternative cements obtained
