Updated: 23 august 2004
By Steve Laverty
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Welcome to the MIT Automated
Surface Impact Laboratory!
Impact Laboratory Setup
Sample Image Sequence From a Typical Impact Experiment
The purpose of the water surface impact WebLab is to teach marine hydrodynamic concepts through laboratory
experiences. WebLab allows users to remotely run surface impact experiments and to process acquired data off-line
with additional supporting data from computational simulations available on-line. The learning objectives include
conceptualizing the physics of free surface impact and then interpreting the output data to arrive at
desired conclusions.
The design of the impact WebLab allows for the study of a variety of object shapes such as spheres, cylinders,
wedges, or blocks. Such input parameters include impact velocity, angle of impact, video capture rates and choice
of instrumentation.
The WebLab impact laboratory setup consists of an automated loading mechanism that releases objects
between tow rotating wheels, which then shoots the objects into a tank of water at speeds of up to
20 m/s. The loading and shooting mechanisms are connected to an aluminum frame which is supported
above the tank by a steel support structure. The platform has two degrees of freedom, rotational and
linear, allowing for different angles of impact.
Impact Laboratory Links
Perform Your Own Impact Experiment on the
I-Marine Home Page
This link will direct you to the I-Marine website. This site will allow you to design, build, simulate, and experiment on a wide
variety of hydrodynamic concepts including ship hull design and surface impact studies. This site also includes information on
the impact experimental setup and references to published works on surface impact.
Photo Galary
Here you will find links to laboratory photographs and images of experiments performed in lab including:
Pictures of the lab (not linked to anything yet)
Images from exerimental trials(not linked to anything yet)
Laboratory equipment(not linked to anything yet)
Laboratory staff(not linked to anything yet)
Published Papers
Experimental Hydrodynamics of Spherical Projectiles Impacting On a Free Surface Using High Speed Imaging Techniques
Master's thesis written by Stephen Laverty in August, 2004
Videos
Here are a few videos of experiments performed in lab. Notice the hydrodynamic phenomena taking place in the most simple
events.
Curve Ball
90 Degree Curve Ball
Up Close Curve Ball
Egg Spinning In Milk
Steel Ball Spinning In Milk
Steel Ball Viewed From An Angle
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