Investigating projectile penetration into immersed granular beds via CFD-DEM coupling

Abstract Projectile penetration into an immersed granular bed is a common phenomenon in both geophysics and engineering, encompassing various scenarios such as immersed crater formation and offshore soil-structure interaction. It involves the complex physical interaction between the fluid and granular materials. In this study, we investigate the dynamics of projectile penetration into a granular bed immersed in a fluid using a coupled computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method (CFD-DEM). The granular bed is composed of polydisperse particles, and the projectile is modeled as a rigid sphere. The morphology of crater formation, the dynamics of the projectile, and the drag force characteristics in immersed cases were studied in detail and compared to the dry scenario. The numerical results show that the final penetration depth of the projectile follows an empirical relation derived from experimental observations, where the falling height and the drag force during penetration obey a power-law function and a modified generalized Poncelet law, respectively. The interstitial fluid not only provides direct drag force, but also enhances the effective drag force of the granular bed by improving its generalized friction and effective viscosity in different configurations. Micro-analyses of the velocity evolution and contact force network in different stages of the fluid–solid interaction were performed to clarify the penetration dynamics. This research provides insights into the mechanisms of projectile penetration and the effects of interstitial fluid on granular media, which are crucial in engineering applications such as offshore anchoring, ball penetration tests in soft sediments, and soil-structure interactions. Graphical Abstract