Numerical study on the cavity characteristics and impact loads of AUV water entry

Abstract

The high-speed water entry process of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) has a strong impact nonlinearity, and a cavity formed by air and water will often be generated as part of the entry process. The shape of the water-entry cavity plays an important role in the load characteristics and stability of the water-entry trajectory. In this paper, a numerical model for describing the cavity and impact load characteristics of a high-speed water-entry AUV is established. The simulation results such as cavity shape and impact load are compared with experimental data. The good agreement between the numerical results and those of the experiments reveals the accuracy and capability of the numerical algorithm. Subsequently, the arbitrary Lagrange-Euler (ALE) numerical algorithm is used to simulate and analyse the variation laws of the cavity characteristics and impact loads with different head shapes, water-entry velocities, water-entry angles and angles of attack. The results obtained in this study can provide a good reference for the trajectory control and structural design of the AUV.