The Impact of a Body on a Water Surface at an Arbitrary Angle

This paper presents an approximate method of determining the pressure distribution duri ng impact on the surface of a body which strikes a horizontal water surface at an arbitrary angle. The effect of the splash is neglected and the pressure on the free boundary is assumed proportional to the potential, as if the process were an impulse. The shape of the submerged portion of the striking body is approximated by a semi-ellipse (two dimensions), by a hemisphere, half an ellipsoid of revolution and half a general ellipsoid. Under those conditions, exp licit results for the pressure distribution are found . As a special example, the impact pressures on a sphere striking at 45° angle are computed in detail.