Study on Dynamic Response of Fiber-Reinforced Plastic Float for Light Seaplane

Abstract

The Japanese marine area is the sixth largest in the world at about 4,470,000 km2. Therefore, it is becoming necessary to establish appropriate means of transportation other than ships in order to utilize the area efficiently. In this respect, ultralight seaplanes are attracting attention from the viewpoint of protecting the natural environment. Accordingly, JRPS is currently developing fiber-reinforced plastic floats for such planes. In this study, we conducted simulations of seaplane behavior during alighting by using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method, which is one of the functions in the PAM-CRASH solver, and we present the observed trend in the vertical acceleration of the floats as a first step toward deriving the impact force from analytical data.