Underwater explosion of cylindrical charge near plates: Analysis of pressure characteristics and cavitation effects

In this paper, a coupled scheme utilizing advantages of the Runge–Kutta discontinuous Galerkin (RKDG) method and finite elements is applied to investigate cavitation induced by rarefaction waves during a near-field underwater explosion of cylindrical charge. A high-order RKDG method has advantages of an accurate shock capturing. So, it was used to solve a governing Eulerian equation for a compressible fluid. A finite-element method (FEM) was suitable to deal with problems of a shock response of structures and, therefore, applied for structural analysis. The suggested method was used to study pressure characteristics and cavitation effects of underwater explosions of cylindrical charges near single/double plates. First, a cavitation model was introduced in the RKDG method, and a numerical model of a high-pressure bubble in a cylinder was developed. The obtained numerical results were compared with the known solution in order to verify the validity of the suggested method. Second, a RKDG-FEM model of underwater explosion of a spherical charge near a plate was developed; its results for maximum deflection at the centre of the plate were compared with experimental data to prove the effectiveness of the coupled algorithm. Then, this algorithm was employed to simulate the process of underwater explosions of cylindrical charges near a single plate. Here, effects of different parameters - thickness of the plate and a distance between the charge and the plate - on pressure and cavitation characteristics were studied. Finally, a numerical model of double plates subjected to a near-field underwater explosion was developed. Cavitation evolution and its effect on shock-wave loading were analysed. Additionally, the effect of the distance between two plates was studied. The suggested analysis and its results provide a reference for load characteristics of near-field underwater explosions and shock response of structures.