Water entry of rounded cylindrical bodies with different aspect ratios and surface conditions

In the present study, we experimentally investigate water surface deformation due to the impact of rounded cylindrical projectiles with different aspect ratios (1.0–8.0). The subsequent jet and splash formation is closely related to the dynamics of an underwater cavity. To control the cavity formation, two kinds of surface conditions (smooth and rough) are applied to the front parts of the projectiles, and two impact speeds are considered. The Froude, Reynolds and Weber numbers are in the ranges of 32–90, $5\times 10^{4}{-}8.4\times 10^{4}$ and 1700–5000, respectively. When the front is smooth, the water film rises up along the body surface immediately after impact, and the temporal variation of its height is analytically estimated. The film converges at the rear pole to create an apex jet at lower aspect ratios and simply rises up and falls with the body at higher aspect ratios. The jets could be further distinguished as thin and thick jets, whose breakdown is found to be a function of the viscous force and surface tension, i.e. the Ohnesorge number. On the other hand, when the front is rough, the water film cannot rise up along the body surface, and instead early separation occurs to make the splash above a free surface. The splash size is quantified to assess the effects of the aspect ratio and impact speed. Upon splash formation, a cavity is created under the free surface, which emanates from the nose of the projectile. As the body sinks, the cavity pinch-off occurs due to the imbalance between the hydrostatic pressure and air pressure inside the cavity. At higher aspect ratios, cavity pinch-off occurs on the side wall of the projectile and leaves a portion of the cavity bubble on it. When the surface is smooth, no underwater cavity forms. Finally, we compare the hydrodynamic force acting on the sinking bodies with and without cavity formation, based on the underwater trajectory of each projectile. It is found that the underwater cavity reduces the drag force on the sinking body when it fully encapsulates the body; however, if the air bubbles are partially attached to the body after pinch-off, they tend to detach irregularly or impose additional drag on the body.