Book Description

This plenary paper and the accompanying presentation have highlighted field problems involving fluid-structure interaction over a wide span of Navy operations. Considering the vast size and versatility of the Navy's inventory, the cases presented represent examples of a much larger problem. But even this limited set provides sufficient evidence that fluid-structure interaction does hinder the Navy's ability to accomplish its missions. This survey has also established that there are no accurate and generally applicable design tools for addressing these problems. In the majority of cases the state-of-practice is to either make ad-hoc adjustments and estimates based on historical evidence, or conduct expensive focused tests directed at each specific problem and/or candidate solution. Unfortunately, these approaches do not provide insight into the fundamental problem, and neither can be considered reliable regarding their likelihood of success. So the opportunities for applying computational fluid-structure interaction modeling to Navy problems appear limitless. Scenarios range from the "simple" resonant strumming of underwater and in-air cables, to the "self-contained" flow field and vibration of aircraft/ordnance bodies at various Mach numbers, to violent underwater transient detonations and local hull structural collapse. Generally applicable and computationally tractable design-oriented models for these phenomena are of course still far in the future. But the Navy has taken the first steps in that direction by sponsoring specialized numerical models, validation experiments tailored for specific applications, and conferences such as this one.