Numerical simulation and analysis of the underwater implosion of spherical hollow ceramic pressure hulls in 11000 m depth

Abstract

Pressure hulls play an important role in deep-sea underwater vehicles. However, in the ultra-high pressure environment, a highly destructive phenomenon could occur to them which is called implosion. To study the characteristics of the flow field of the underwater implosion of hollow ceramic pressure hulls, the compressible multiphase flow theory, direct numerical simulation, and adaptive mesh refinement are used to numerically simulate the underwater implosion of a single ceramic pressure hull and multiple linearly arranged ceramic pressure hulls. Firstly, the feasibility of the numerical simulation method is verified. Then, the results of the flow field of the underwater implosion of hollow ceramic pressure hulls in 11000 m depth is analyzed. There are the compression-rebound processes of the internal air cavity in the implosion. In the rebound stage, a shock wave that is several times the ambient pressure is generated outside the pressure hull, and the propagation speed is close to the speed of sound. The pressure peak of the shock wave has a negative exponential power function relationship with the distance to the center of the sphere. Finally, it is found that the obvious superimposed effect between spheres exists in the chain-reaction implosion which enhances the implosion shock wave.