Quickly and long-distance deployable air-dropped underwater gliders (ADUGs) have significantly improved the efficiency of ocean observations. However, the ADUG inevitably suffers from a huge impact during the water entry, which exerts a great influence on the success rate of deployment. In this paper, a three-dimensional numerical model of an ADUG is established through fluid–solid coupling of smoothed particle hydrodynamics and finite element method. Numerical simulation is performed to analyze the impact characteristics of the ADUG when entering hydrostatic water under different initial water entry conditions and the bouncing characteristics after the entry. The dynamic design analysis method is adopted to investigate the structural response characteristics of the ADUG during vertical water entry based on impact response spectra and modal analysis. A hydrostatic water tank experiment is performed with a scaled-down model of the AUDG, and the maximum error of the peak acceleration ap between the experimental and simulation results is 7.61%, proving good engineering applicability of our approach. The analysis results can be used to guide the structural design and deployment planning of ADUGs, which also provide a theoretical reference for the water entry research of other air-droppable equipment with complex shapes and structures.

Study on water entry characteristics of an air-droppable underwater glider in hydrostatic water

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