Fluid-Structure Interactions in Pressure-Suppression Pools: Small-Scale Experiments and Analysis

Experiments were conducted in a laboratory scale system to investigate fluid structure interaction effects on hydrodynamically induced boundary pressure histories. A single flexible member—a clamped circular plate—formed the base of a cylindrical water pool. Base plate thicknesses were varied to change the natural frequency of the plate pool system. The hydrodynamic transient was an air driven “pool swell” involving large liquid displacements and a complicated boundary pressure history. Pressures at various points on the pool boundary and strains on the flexible base were measured. A one-dimensional analysis of the perturbation pressure transients induced by the deflections of the flexible base is compared with the experimental results. Numerical solutions for the complete perturbed pressure histories are compared with the experiments. Ratios of the peak pressures in the flexible and rigid systems for a pressure pulse of variable duration are predicted analytically and compared with the experiments.