Study on the impact flow field and the motion characteristics of vehicle with boost floatation aids falling on the water in a wave environment

Based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical methods, a set of reliable and effective numerical methods for investigating the flow field and evolution characteristics of motion during the process of falling vehicle with boost floatation aids impacting the water in wave environment was established coupled with volume of fluid (VOF) multiphase flow model, k-ω SST turbulence model, Schnerr-Sauer cavitation model and Stokes fifth-order nonlinear wave theory. The numerical simulation of the process of falling into water under a horizontal cylinder showed that the difference between the experimental results and the numerical results in falling displacement was small, which verifies the validity of the numerical method of water falling impact. The wave generation results obtained by the velocity boundary numerical wave generation method were in good agreement with Stokes fifth-order nonlinear wave theory. Based on the established numerical method, numerical simulation was carried out on the water falling impact process of the vehicle with boost floatation aids under different wave sea states. The kinematic and dynamic parameters of the vehicle and evolution of water-entry cavity flow field during the impact process were analyzed, and the water falling impact characteristics of the vehicle with boost floatation aids under wave environment were summarized. The results show that the impact of wave environment on the falling impact process is mainly reflected in the motion attenuation section. The horizontal impact is much more affected by the wave environment than the vertical impact and the influence of different sea conditions on the horizontal impact of the vehicle is mainly achieved by influencing the formation and collapse of the water-entry cavity. The calculated displacement, velocity, acceleration and boost floatation aids force during the impact process of vehicle with boost floatation aids can be provided as a reference for the structural design and safety test guidance of the vehicle recovery under wave environment. © 2024 Explosion and Shock Waves. All rights reserved.