Loading on a rigid target from close proximity underwater explosions

Abstract

The study describes recent simulation results for underwater explosions in close-proximity to rigid targets. Simulations are performed using Chinook, an Eulerian computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Predicted target loadings are compared with measurements taken from a series of experiments conducted under an international collaboration between Canada, The Netherlands, and Sweden. The simulations of the rigid target tests focused on the modelling of gas bubble collapse and water jetting behaviour. Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional simulations were performed. It was found that the two-dimensional analyses produced good bubble periods and reasonable impulse loading compared to experimental data. The time of arrival of the bubble collapse and water jetting were found to be very mesh dependent and refining the mesh did not always produce better results. The two-dimensional approach provides a good initial understanding of the problem for a reasonable computational effort. The three-dimensional simulations were found to produce improved impulse predictions. The numerical gas bubble radii time histories are also compared to empirical time histories. © 2012-IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.