A combined dic-piv experimental approach for the study of impact response of water-backed panels

Predicting the response of water-backed structures to impulsive loading is essential to the design of marine and aeronautical structures. Recent laboratory studies have advanced our comprehension of this fluid-structure interaction, by focusing on the archetypal geometry of a flexible plate resting on the water surface. Despite significant progress in experiments and modeling, several technical questions remain open due to the lack of experimental approaches to simultaneously characterize the plate structural response and the water flow physics. The objective of this study is to demonstrate a combined approach to study the impact response of a compliant plate resting on the surface of water. Quantification of the fluid-structure interaction is based on the integration of particle image velocimetry and digital image correlation, two techniques that constitute the gold standard for non-invasive measurement in experimental fluid and solid mechanics, respectively. The proposed experimental framework is used to simultaneous quantify the structural response and the flow physics, thereby shedding light on the fluid-structure interaction.