• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.13-24
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• 2019

This paper was prepared to investigate the behavior of fragments in underwater torpedo explosion beneath a frigate or surface ship by using an explicit finite element analysis. In this study, a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) methodology, called the multi-material arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (MM-ALE) approach in LS-DYNA, was employed to obtain the responses of the torpedo fragments and frigate hull to the explosion. The Euler models for the analysis were comprised of air, water, and explosive, while the Lagrange models consisted of the fragment and the hull. The focus of this modeling was to examine whether a worst-case fragment could penetrate the frigate hull located close (4.5 m) to the exploding torpedo. The simulation was performed in two separate steps. At first, with the assumption that the expanding skin of the torpedo had been torn apart by consuming 30% of the explosive energy, the initial velocity of the worst-case fragment was sought based on a well-known experimental result concerning the fragment velocity in underwater bomb explosion. Then, the terminal velocity of the worst-case fragment that is expected to occur before the fragment hit the frigate hull was sought in the second step. Under the given conditions, the possible initial velocities of the worst-case fragment were found to be very fast (400 and 1000 m/s). But, the velocity difference between the fragment and the hull was merely 4 m/s at the instant of collision. This result was likely to be due to both the tremendous drag force exerted by the water and the non-failure condition given to the frigate hull. Anyway, at least under the given conditions, it is thought that the worst-case fragment seldom penetrate the frigate hull because there is no significant velocity difference between them.