Abstract
Aircraft and helicopter often fly above open waters and thus have to observe regulations to ensure safe water landing under emergency conditions. This practice is also referred to as ditching - one of several types of slamming problems that are under review by the current regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Ditching is related to the controlled landing on water, with distinctive features such as hydrodynamic slamming loads, complex hydromechanics at tremendous forward speeds, as well as the interaction of multiphase fluid dynamics (air, water, and vapor). This paper presents the knowledge on system mechanics during helicopter ditching. The discussion begins with the fundamental kinetics of the rigid body, and then delves into dynamic relations to describe the effect of forces on motions. In the end, the paper discusses several relevant theories to further contribute to the understanding of the problem of impact.
Highlights
Aircraft and helicopters often fly above open waters and have to observe regulations that ensure safe water landing under emergency conditions, referred to as ditching
Ditching is related to controlled landing on water, and has some distinctive features, namely, hydrodynamic slamming loads, complex hydromechanics at tremendous forward speeds, and the interaction of multiphase fluid dynamics
Numerous studies have since considered a two-dimensional cross-section of a simple shape assuming that the structure is a rigid body
Summary
Aircraft and helicopters often fly above open waters and have to observe regulations that ensure safe water landing under emergency conditions, referred to as ditching. This is important for helicopters that are commonly used to support marine tasks, e.g. serve offshore platform. In early days, slamming during ship operation was the most explored design problem related to water impact. Since slamming involves interaction between a structure and a free-surface fluid, research has expanded to other water entry problems such as water landing of solid rocket boosters and spacecraft, the ditching and water landing of aircraft, ballistic impacts on fuel tanks, and other applications
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