Experimental hydroelasticity has not followed the rapid evolution of its computational counterpart. Hydroelastic codes have changed significantly in the past few decades, moving to more detailed modelling of both the structure and the fluid domain. Physical models of ships are, even today, manufactured with a very simplified structural arrangement, usually consisting of a hollow rectangular cross section. Appropriate depiction of the internal structural details ensures that properties relevant to antisymmetric vibration are scaled accurately from the real ship to the model. Attempts to create continuous, ship-like structures had limited success, as manufacturing constraints did not allow for much internal structural detail to be included. In this investigation, the first continuous model of a ship with a detailed internal arrangement resembling a container ship is designed, produced using 3D printing and tested in waves. It is demonstrated that the global responses of the hull in regular head waves agree well with theory and past literature, confirming that such a model can represent the behaviour of a ship. Furthermore, it is found that the model is capable of capturing local responses of the structure, something that would be impossible with “traditional” hydroelastic ship models. Finally, the capability of the model to be used to investigate antisymmetric vibrations is confirmed. The methodology developed here opens a whole new world of possibilities for experiments with models that are tailored to the focus of the investigation at hand. Moreover, it offers a powerful tool for the validation of modern state-of-the-art hydroelastic codes. Ultimately, it creates the next step in the investigation of dynamic responses of ship structures, which contribute significantly to accumulating damage of the hull. Better understanding of these responses will allow designers to avoid over-engineering and use of big safety factors to account for uncertainties in their predictions.

实验水弹性没有跟随其计算对应物的快速发展。在过去的几十年中，水弹性代码已经发生了重大变化，转向结构和流体域的更详细建模。直到今天，船舶的物理模型仍以非常简化的结构布置制造，通常由空心矩形横截面组成。内部结构细节的适当描述可确保与反对称振动相关的属性从实际船到模型精确缩放。尝试创建连续的，类似船的结构的成功有限，因为制造方面的限制不允许包含很多内部结构细节。在这次调查中 设计，使用3D打印制作并进行波浪测试的船舶的第一个连续模型具有详细的内部布置，类似于集装箱船。结果表明，船体在常规迎风浪中的整体响应与理论和过去的文献非常吻合，证实了这种模型可以代表船舶的行为。此外，还发现该模型能够捕获结构的局部响应，这在“传统”水弹船模型中是不可能实现的。最后，证实了该模型用于研究反对称振动的能力。此处开发的方法为使用针对当前研究重点量身定制的模型进行实验开辟了一个全新的世界。而且，它为验证现代最先进的水弹性代码提供了一个强大的工具。最终，它为研究船舶结构的动力响应创造了下一步，这对累积船体损坏做出了重大贡献。更好地理解这些响应将使设计人员避免过度设计和使用较大的安全系数来解决其预测中的不确定性。