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Water entry experiments of projectiles with different nose shapes were performed under different entry angles and velocities using high-speed photography technology. The cavity flow characteristics of the near water surface, including splash jet, splash crown, surface seal of cavity, pull away, deep seal of cavity and cavity collapses, were systematically investigated using a high-speed camera. The emphasis of the study is paid on the effect of nose shape, water entry angle and velocity on the evolution of the air entraining cavity. The experimental results demonstrate that the nose shape of projectile has a significant influence on the jet flow, the cavity diameter and trajectory stability in the case of certain other conditions. On the other hand, the splash scale, cavity diameter increase gradually with the increasing of the water entry velocity, as well as the cavitation closed in advance. Furthermore, the water entry angle of the projectile plays an important role in the cavity evolution and the close type.

In this paper, water entry process of air launched AUV is investigated by employing fully coupled finite element method and arbitrary Lagrange–Euler formulation (FEM-ALE) and using penalty coupling technique. Numerical model is established to describe the hydrodynamic characteristics and flow patterns of a high-speed water entry AUV. The effectiveness and accuracy of the numerical simulation are verified quantitatively by the experiments of the earlier study. Selection of suitable advection method and mesh convergence study is carried out during experimental validation process. It is found that appropriate mesh size of impact domain is crucial for numerical simulations and second-order Van Leer advection method is more appropriate for high speed water entry problems. Subsequently, the arbitrary Lagrange–Euler (ALE) algorithm is used to describe the variation laws of the impact load characteristics with water entry velocities, water entry angles and different AUV masses. Dimensionless impact coefficient of AUV at different velocities calculated using ALE method is compared with SPH results. This reveals that ALE method can also simulate the water entry process accurately with less computational cost. This research work can provide beneficial reference information for structure design of AUV and for selection of the water entry parameters.

Water entry problems are very common in engineering and sciences. When objects move with relatively high speed, bubble cavities will be generated, and the behavior of moving objects will also be affected conversely. In this paper, the water entry problems are studied using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method, which has special advantages in modeling free surfaces, moving interfaces. First, an improved fluid–solid interface treatment algorithm is presented, whose effectiveness is validated by a water entry of a buoyant cylinder. Then the water entry with different velocities and directions are researched. It is found that the velocities and angles of the moving objects will affect the movement of the object greatly, and the SPH model can give optimal predication of these corresponding conditions.

In this paper, the hydrodynamic behaviors of a typical convex object during water entry are numerically investigated using a meshfree particle method, smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). In order to consider the practical air-cushion effects during water–entry process, a multiphase model with interface force is incorporated to the SPH method to maintain sharp water–air interface. Three numerical examples including bubble rising, water impact on a flate plate and water entry of a wedge are firstly simulated to validate the effectiveness of the multiphase SPH method in predicting the slamming forces and trajectories of falling objects. Water entry of free falling convex objects with different shapes and sizes is then simulated using the validated numerical method for comparative studies. Two slamming processes, including the convex slamming and the structure slamming, are observed in simulations, with double-jetting pattern occurring after the structure slamming. The air-cushion effects are well captured with slamming-induced vortexes clearly shown in the simulation snapshots. Quantitatively, significant drop in pressure peak value is observed when the dimensionless width of the convex is larger than 0.2. Among various shapes of convexes, the square shaped convex experiences the minimal local pressure peak value.

Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) has outstanding advantages in dealing with nonlinear problems. However, it is difficult to find an efficient and accurate non-reflecting boundary for SPH. In this paper, the scaled boundary finite element (SBFE) virtual particle boundary is proposed to model the non-reflecting characteristics of the boundary in SPH. It is implemented by 2–4 layers of SBFE virtual particles whose pressure and velocity are calculated by the Lagrange interpolation from the nearby SBFE nodes. The SBFE virtual particle boundary can effectively and accurately simulate the transmission process of pressure waves on the boundary, and eliminate the influence of the reflecting waves on pressure and velocity fields.

Water impact is one of the most critical phenomena from the viewpoint of the structural design of ships and offshore structures. The impact force can impose a large load with high local pressure on the body surface. On the other hand, determination of the maximum impact force during impact and acting point itself is very important in the design of floats.

In this paper, the water entry of a two-dimensional wedge section is considered. This study is carried out in the framework of a potential-flow assumption. In particular, water impact on a dropping wedge with a constant velocity is pursued analytically by using the Schwartz–Christoffel conformal mapping. In order to determine a position of the wedge where the instantaneous effective force is largest during the impact, a particular equation is introduced here for the first time. The pressure distribution and maximum impact force are also calculated. The obtained results are compared against other numerical and experimental works and favorable agreement is displayed.

In order to improve the simulation accuracy for free-fall lifeboat in ship life-saving training system, this paper analyzes and models the motion of boat’s launching from the skid. The whole launching is divided into four phases, namely: sliding down, rotation, free fall and water entry. According to the theory of momentum and strip theory, hydrodynamic forces of the boat at water entry are calculated under the effect of waves. The method of interpolation is used for calculating the half width and added mass of cross-sections at water entry. The model is used for numerical investigation about the boat launching from skid under different conditions and applied to ship life-saving simulation training system. The following conclusions are finally obtained: (1) When the initial inclination angle is 30${}^{\circ }$, the horizontal distance between the point of water entry of the boat and the lower end of the slide is about 7.2m. The horizontal distance will be smaller, when the initial inclination angle increases. There is no obvious law between forward distance and waves. (2) When the initial inclination angle is 45${}^{\circ }$, the setback may occur after the boat entering the wave. When the initial angle is 60${}^{\circ }$, the setback occurs after the boat entering the water. (3) When the center of gravity is 1.5m in front of the midship of the boat, the boat will turn over.

Water entry of a solid through the free surface is a persisting field of research in ship hydrodynamics applications. Indeed, the knowledge of pressure forces acting on structures is necessary to ensure the verification of safety criteria in the design and operation. However, in water entry problems, jets can be generated, thus an effective numerical model is needed to capture this complicated breaking water surface. In this paper, the level set method is adopted, which has been shown to be capable of capturing interface evolution when the topological change of shape is extremely large, or merging, breaking and pinching occur. Moreover, the incorporation of an immersed boundary method with this free surface capture scheme implemented in a Navier-Stokes solver allows the interaction between fluid flow with free surface and moving bodies of almost arbitrary shape to be modeled. The developed Level-Set Immersed Boundary Method is applied to simulate the water entry of a rectangular body with different velocities into the still water. The complicated surface profile, velocity field and pressure are obtained. The simulation is also carried out for the same body exiting the water, and some preliminary results are presented.