Browsing by Author "Klenow, Bradley A."

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Assessment of LS-DYNA and Underwater Shock Analysis (USA) Tools for Modeling Far-Field Underwater Explosion Effects on Ships
    Klenow, Bradley A. (Virginia Tech, 2006-04-21)
    This thesis investigates the use of the numerical modeling tools LS-DYNA and USA in modeling general far-field underwater explosions (UNDEX) by modeling a three-dimensional box barge that is subjected to a far-field underwater explosion. Past UNDEX models using these tools have not been validated by experiment and most are limited to very specific problems because of the simplifying assumptions they make. USA is a boundary element code that requires only the structural model of the box barge. LS-DYNA is a dynamic finite element code and requires both the structural model and the surrounding fluid model, which is modeled with acoustic pressure elements. Analysis of the box barge problem results finds that the program USA is a valid tool for modeling the initial shock response of surface ships when cavitation effects are not considered. LS-DYNA models are found to be very dependent on the accuracy of the fluid mesh. The accuracy of the fluid mesh is determined by the ability of the mesh to adequately capture the peak pressure and discontinuity of the shock wave. The peak pressure captured by the model also determines the accuracy of the cavitation region captured in the fluid model. Assumptions made in the formulation of the fluid model causes potential inaccurate fluid-structure interaction and boundary condition problems cause further inaccuracies in the box barge model. These findings provide a base of knowledge for the current capabilities of UNDEX modeling in USA and LS-DYNA from which they can be improved in future work.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Finite and Spectral Element Methods for Modeling Far-Field Underwater Explosion Effects on Ships
    Klenow, Bradley A. (Virginia Tech, 2009-04-08)
    The far-field underwater explosion (UNDEX) problem is a complicated problem dominated by two phenomena: the shock wave traveling through the fluid and the cavitation in the fluid. Both of these phenomena have a significant effect on the loading of ship structures subjected to UNDEX. An approach to numerically modeling these effects in the fluid and coupling to a structural model is using cavitating acoustic finite elements (CAFE) and more recently cavitating acoustic spectral elements (CASE). The use of spectral elements in CASE has shown to offer the greater accuracy and reduced computational expense when compared to traditional finite elements. However, spectral elements also increase spurious oscillations in both the fluid and structural response. This dissertation investigates the application of CAFE, CASE, and a possible improvement to CAFE in the form of a finite element flux-corrected transport algorithm, to the far-field UNDEX problem by solving a set of simplified UNDEX problems. Specifically we examine the effect of increased oscillations on structural response and the effect of errors in cavitation capture on the structural response which have not been thoroughly explored in previous work. The main contributions of this work are a demonstration of the problem dependency of increased oscillations in the structural response when applying the CASE methodology, the demonstration of how the sensitivity of errors in the structural response changes with changes in the structural model, a detailed explanation of how error in cavitation capture influences the structural response, and a demonstration of the need to accurately capture the shape and magnitude of cavitation regions in the fluid in order to obtain accurate structural response results.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Prevention of Pressure Oscillations in Modeling a Cavitating Acoustic Fluid
    Klenow, Bradley A.; Brown, Alan J. (Hindawi, 2010-01-01)
    Cavitation effects play an important role in the UNDEX loading of a structure. For far-field UNDEX, the structural loading is affected by the formation of local and bulk cavitation regions, and the pressure pulses resulting from the closure of the cavitation regions. A common approach to numerically modeling cavitation in far-field underwater explosions is Cavitating Acoustic Finite Elements (CAFE) and more recently Cavitating Acoustic Spectral Elements (CASE). Treatment of cavitation in this manner causes spurious pressure oscillations which must be treated by a numerical damping scheme. The focus of this paper is to investigate the severity of these oscillations on the structural response and a possible improvement to CAFE, based on the original Boris and Book Flux-Corrected Transport algorithm on structured meshes [6], to limit oscillations without the energy loss associated with the current damping schemes.