INVESTIGATION ON THE COUPLING CHARACTERISTICS AMONG ICE-WATER-VEHICLE DURING THE PROCESS OF WATER-EXIT

During the process of breaking through ice and emerging from water, a vehicle is subjected to loads from both ice and fluid, which alters its kinematic characteristics and can lead to malfunction. However, the coupling mechanism among ice, water, and the vehicle remains unclear. This paper addresses the coupling interaction between an emerging vehicle and ice-water-cavitation by designing a comprehensive experimental system for ejecting and breaking through ice. Model experiments were conducted to prepare sea ice with varying salinities and the mechanical properties were tested. Subsequently, experiments were carried out using the prepared crushable model ice to study the impact of a vehicle freely emerging through ice layers of different thicknesses and salinities. The study focused on the motion characteristics of the vehicle, ice layer failure modes, and fluid evolution characteristics. The experimental results indicate that the speed of the vehicle decreases instantly upon impact with the ice layer, causing a deflection in its attitude. The velocity loss of the vehicle impacting freshwater ice is significantly greater than that when impacting saline ice under identical conditions. Additionally, the results reveal that freshwater ice undergoes complete fragmentation upon impact, whereas the vehicle only causes perforation in saline ice. Influenced by the damage to the ice layer, the fluid evolution pattern also undergoes significant changes. The study demonstrates a linear relationship between the vehicle's impact velocity and its residual velocity. The findings of this paper unveil the coupling process of vehicle-ice-water-cavitation, focusing on the kinematic characteristics of the vehicle under complex loading conditions, and providing significant reference for the design of ice-breaking underwater vehicles.