Liquid free surface dynamics in the falling of steel pipes attached to the concrete base- numerical study

Water entry is an object falling from the air into the water at a certain velocity from a specific high. Object destroys the structure of free surface accompanied by water splash ejected from the sides of the object during penetration. Fundamentally, this phenomenon is unsteady, turbulent, and nonlinear, with phases mixing without any phase changes. In this paper, a two-dimensional numerical model of six degrees of freedom based on the realizable k - epsilon turbulent model using the dynamic mesh and volume of fluid (VOF) method was established to simulate the water entry and the immersion of the three steel pipes attached to the concrete base. The effects of Froude Number on penetration depth and the amount of impact force have been studied. Numerical analysis showed that with the increase of Froude Number and contact surface, the maximum force applied to the base of the structure during the splitting of the free surface of the liquid increases suddenly. When the structure enters the water at a certain angle, due to the convenient location of the center of mass, an assemblage of pipes and concrete base always maintains its balance and causes less impact force to the structure.

Automated summary

In this study, a two-dimensional numerical model based on the realizable k-epsilon turbulent model was established to simulate the water entry and immersion process of three steel pipes attached to a concrete base. The effects of Froude Number on penetration depth and impact force were investigated. The numerical analysis revealed that the maximum force applied to the base of the structure increases suddenly with the increase of Froude Number and contact surface.