Underwater explosion research on ship with polymer hull coating

Abstract

A polymer coating applied to the wet surface of a ship’s hull can reduce some types of damage to a ship subjected to a far-field underwater explosion. Results from numerical simulations are compared with full-scale underwater explosion test data for a ship with and without polymer coating to study the effectiveness of such coatings in blast-resistant design. The polymer coating is a thin wall structure applied to the wet surface of the ship hull, while the ship is a relatively large structure. Hence, an effective approximate simulation method for the full-scale ship with polymer coating is developed. Based on the homogenization theory of polymer coating, a continuum model that takes into account the strain rate dependence is introduced. The shock response subjected to underwater explosion of the finite element ship model is investigated. The results obtained from underwater explosion tests and numerical simulation are compared and discussed. The blast-resistant property of polymer coating is elaborated. Mesh sensitivity and the validity of the polymer coating equivalent continuum model are studied.