Underwater Explosion and Effect on Structures

The study of underwater explosions (UNDEX) on ship/submarines became of interest during World War II when torpedo explosions near a ship created more damage than a direct hit. Following the war, many full scale ship shock trials were conducted by various countries providing the empirical data that is widely employed. The biggest threat to any marine platform is due to underwater weapons and hence understanding the phenomenon is essential. The sequence of events involved in an UNDEX starting from the detonation, shock wave, bubble pulses and cavitation have been introduced and the dynamics of the process including governing laws have been enumerated in the paper. The associated aspects of loading and method of analyzing the fluid structure interaction have also been highlighted. The development of such numerical methods to analyze the explosion and its effect on the fluid-structure can lead to design of safer ships and submarines. Moreover, the numerical simulation will eliminate the need for conducting expensive shock tests and trials.