Study of Fluid Effects on Dynamics of Composite Structures

This study investigated the effect of fluid-structure interaction on dynamic responses of submerged composite structures subjected to a mechanical impact loading. The research was focused on finding various parameters that affected the transient dynamic responses of the submerged composite structures. To this end, coupled fluid-structure interaction analyses of composite structures surrounded by a water medium were conducted numerically for various parametric studies and their results were compared with those of dry (i.e., in air) structures in order to understand the role of each parameter under study. Furthermore, modified dry structural models were developed to represent the dynamic responses of the same structures under water with a reasonable accuracy. Those models would be beneficial to predict the structural behaviors under water without an expensive computational or experimental cost.