Attenuating performance of a polymer layer coated onto floating structures subjected to water blasts

The water blast attenuating performance of a polymer layer coated onto floating structures has been experimentally investigated. A series of contrastive live fire tests were conducted on a rectangular metal box before and after coating a layer of polymer on its outer hull. The blast responses of the box and water pressure near the wet surface were monitored and analyzed. Test results show that the transmitted impulse at the initial FSI stage can be reduced by almost 50%, owing to the rubber wall flexibility. Consequently, both acceleration and strain peaks of the box induced by the first shock wave can be effectively reduced. Further shock response spectrum analysis indicates that the coating performs like a low pass filter with cutoff frequency at about 50 Hz. Response components higher than 50 Hz can be attenuated effectively, but for components lower than the cutoff frequency, the attenuating effect is limited.