Comparison between numerical analysis and the levitation mass method measurement test of a spherical structure early impacting water

Abstract

In order to precisely measure water impact loads of a spherical structure vertically dropping onto a calm water surface, a new validity check of the analysis using the levitation mass method experiment is proposed. The main feature of levitation mass method experiment is to obtain a better estimation of early water impact loads through the application of Doppler effect. Experimental results of different heights are verified based on the Assessment Index and are in comparison with the classical experimental data for validation purpose. It shows that the levitation mass method measurement is useful and effective to obtain the water impact loads for the crashworthiness analysis. Besides, early water impact hydrodynamic behaviors are simulated based on the nonlinear explicit finite element method, together with application of a multi-material arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian solver. A penalty coupling algorithm is utilized to realize fluid–structure interaction between the spherical body and fluids. Convergence studies are performed to construct the proper finite element model by the comparison with experimental results, where mesh sensitivity, contact stiffness, and time-step size parametric studies are thoroughly investigated. The comparisons between experimental and numerical results show good consistency by the prediction of the water impact coefficients on the structure.