Review on Ship Structural Damage and Protection Subjected to Underwater Contact Explosions

• • Shock waves alone may not cause complete structural failure; bubble pulsation can induce strain growth exceeding shock wave effects, as observed in stiffened plates, necessitating combined load consideration in design. • • Underwater contact explosions can create breaches over ten meters in diameter in ship hulls, leading to dynamic buckling, tearing, and rapid flooding of multiple compartments, as evidenced by WWII data where 19 large ships were sunk by torpedoes. • • Multi-cabin protective structures, particularly liquid-filled compartments, effectively dissipate energy through fluid-structure interaction and impedance mismatch, reducing damage to inner bulkheads, as demonstrated in comparative studies of single vs. double liquid compartments. • • Composite materials and structures offer improved blast resistance but face challenges in scalability and integration into existing ship designs, requiring further research to optimize performance and cost-effectiveness.