The flow field evolution and load characteristics of water-exit of ventilated vehicle constrained by floating ice environment

The water-exit process of a ventilated vehicle in a floating ice environment involves multi-physics coupling characteristics, including multiphase flow, strong turbulence, cavitating flow, and fluid–structure interaction (FSI), making it a highly nonlinear process. This study employs a two-way FSI algorithm that combines computational fluid dynamics and the finite element method to analyze the effects of floating ice quantity, floating ice thickness, and the initial gap between the floating ice and the vehicle on the water-exit process and compares the results with the ice-free condition. The study focuses on the evolution of the flow field, the hydrodynamics characteristics, and the structural dynamic response during the vehicle's water-exit process in the icy environment. The findings indicate that the presence of floating ice significantly affects the vehicle's cross-water stage, causing the cavity on the near-ice side of the vehicle to collapse earlier and intensifying the flow field variations. Compared to the structural dynamic response, the stability of water-exit process is more sensitive to the distribution of the floating ice. When the floating ice is symmetrically distributed, the water-exit process stability is higher. Increasing the thickness of the floating ice accelerates the collapse of the cavity, reduces the stability of the vehicle's water-exit, and exacerbates the high-stress concentration phenomenon. The study also identifies a critical relative distance, beyond which the influence of floating ice on the cavity evolution, emergence stability, and structural dynamic response is significantly reduced.