Numerical analysis of water impact forces using a dual-time pseudo-compressibility method and volume-of-fluid interface tracking algorithm

•We develop an implicit algorithm for a VOF method to compute water impact forces.•A novel implementation of the LVIRA and operator split advection algorithms is performed in the computational domain.•A grid refinement study of the dam-break flow is performed as a validation.•Simulations of the water impact of four moving bodies are reported.

An implicit algorithm based on a dual-time pseudo-compressibility method is developed to compute water impact forces on bodies. Flow fields of incompressible viscous fluids are solved using unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations. Pseudo-time derivatives are introduced into the equations to improve computational efficiency. A second-order volume-of-fluid interface tracking algorithm is developed in a generalized curvilinear coordinate system to track the interface between the two phases in the computational domain. A grid refinement study of the dam-break flow is performed as a validation, and the obtained solutions agreed well with the experimental data and with the results of other numerical simulations. Numerical analysis of water impact forces on a hemisphere, two cones, and a wedge through free falling in one degree of freedom is then performed. Free surface deformation, pressure coefficients, impact velocities, and vertical accelerations during impact are compared with available experimental data and theoretical results. Good agreement with these results is obtained.