Predicting Vehicle–Water Interaction in Shallow Water: Simulations and Experimental Validation

Abstract Accurate prediction of coupled vehicle–water interaction is crucial for assessing vehicle mobility in complex water environments, including river crossings and water fording. For this purpose, various computational models have been proposed to predict vehicle–fluid interactions using coupled multibody dynamics and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solvers, as well as emerging data-driven approaches to replace computationally intensive CFD models. Despite advances in computational approaches for modeling vehicle–fluid interactions, only limited studies have been conducted regarding the validation of the models in real physical settings. There are few or no experimental data available to characterize hydrodynamic loads for the evaluation of transient vehicle responses in shallow water. Therefore, this study presents the validation of the physics-based and data-driven coupled vehicle–water interaction models using a model-scale vehicle operated in shallow water. To this end, transient vehicle cornering responses in shallow water, predicted by both physics-based and data-driven models, are compared with those from free-running vehicle experiments conducted in a shallow water pool. The predictive ability and computational benefits of the data-driven hydromechanics model are then examined. Furthermore, the hydrodynamic loads on the model-scale vehicle subjected to incoming water flow are measured through flume experiments and used to validate the hydrodynamic loads predicted by the simulation model. The results presented in this study provide confidence in virtual testing of vehicles in complex water environments and lay the foundation for characterizing hydrodynamic load responses on vehicles operated in shallow water environments.