Experimental investigation of the dynamic evolution of cavity during the free water-exit of a high-pressure venting vehicle

Abstract

The underwater vehicle is subjected to complex hydrodynamic loads during water-exit process, which seriously affect the structural strength and water-exit stability of the vehicle. This paper investigates the effect of high-pressure venting conditions on the dynamic evolution characteristics of the cavity during the completely free water-exit of a vehicle based on self-designed experiments. Some novel phenomena are found in the experiment, and the hypothesis of constant acceleration is established to explain the formation mechanism. The results reveal that the reentrant jet is the main factor influencing the pattern of cavity development and causes great differences between the partial and supercavity states. The balance between the initial cavity volume increase and the gas leakage rate results in the fact that increasing the launch Froude number in the partial cavity state does not cause significant changes in the cavity size. There is a stable interval between 0.0038 and 0.03 for the effect of gas entrainment coefficient on the development of the cavity. The influence of the launch Froude number on the cavity morphology varies within different gas entrainment coefficient ranges. Besides, six patterns of cavity closure are found for free water-exit conditions. The coupling closure pattern of reentrant jet and interaction vortex tube is the most stable during the water-exit process. The stable development intervals of cavity closure pattern and cavity morphology are roughly the same. The present study aims to provide a reference for the active venting flow control of the vehicle during water-exit.