Full aircraft ditching simulation: a comparative analysis of advanced coupled fluid-structure computational methods

Kurzfassung

The communication concerns advanced numerical simulations of the transient fluid structure interaction occurring during aircraft ditching. While the structural model used the Finite Element method, either the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian or the hybrid Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Finite Element approaches were considered for the fluid model. Both computational methods were comprehensively compared using data of guided ditching experiments. The numerical results were satisfactory in terms of local pressures, local strains, and global force to consider further applications to full-scale structures. In this communication, these computational methods are applied to full spacecraft and aircraft (full-scale) ditching problems.