Abstract: The vertical hydrodynamic impact of flat bottom cylinders was investigated experimentally and numerically. Through four cylinder models with different bottom thicknesses the radial distributions of the impact pressure and the strain responses for different dropping heights were measured in the experiment. The coupled dynamic equations of the elastic bottom and the fluids were solved numerically. The results show that the initial geometric imperfection and the elastic deformation of the bottom have great influence on the impact pressure.

Key words: cylindrical shell, impact, hydr odynamics