Influence of hydrostatic pressure on underwater explosion bubble-plate interaction
Lingxi Han, Lintao Zhou, Maria Mukhtar, A‐Man Zhang, Rui Han, Shuai Li
Abstract
This study examines the impact of hydrostatic pressure on the dynamics of underwater explosion bubbles near a steel plate through numerical and experimental studies. We conduct underwater explosion experiments in a pressure tank, altering the air pressure within the tank using a pressure pump to change the hydrostatic pressure around the bubbles. The interaction between the bubbles and the plate is recorded with a high-speed camera, and we extract and analyze the jet velocity, bubble radius, and plate displacement as functions of hydrostatic pressure. Building on this, we design a numerical framework that encompasses hydrostatic pressures varying from 0.2 MPa to 20 MPa and dimensionless bubble-plate standoff parameters γ from 0.6 to 2.5 for a more thorough investigation on the bubble-plate interaction. We find that both the maximum jet velocity and the maximum jet volume exhibit scaling relationships with hydrostatic pressure p ∞ when p ∞ > 1 MPa. Additionally, the dimensionless maximum jet volume shows a non-monotonic relationship with γ , depending on the degree of bubble-plate interaction at the moment of jet impact. Across a certain span, the maximum plate displacement also follows a scaling relationship with p ∞ , where the exponent differs according to γ . This work is intended to offer a foundation for the study of underwater explosion bubble dynamics and fluid–structure interaction characteristics under high hydrostatic pressure or deep water environments.