A Nonlinear Numerical Wave Tank and its Applications

Author(s):  
Hui Sun ◽  
Odd M. Faltinsen

A two-dimensional fully nonlinear numerical wave tank is developed by using a boundary element method (BEM). The water depth can be shallow or deep. The waves are generated by simulating a piston wave maker or by specifying the input velocity at the upstream boundary. Fully nonlinear free surface conditions are satisfied in the numerical simulations. In the downstream region, a numerical beach is employed to dissipate the wave energy to avoid waves reflecting from the vertical downstream boundary. When there is a body piercing the free surface, another numerical beach is applied upstream the body to damp out only the reflected waves from the body. Two different applications are presented in this paper. The first one is to compute the pressure and velocity at any point inside the wave field. The other application is to calculate the forces on a horizontal cylinder fixed on the free surface. This second application is related to the investigation of the hydrodynamic forces on the pontoon of a fish farm. Nonlinearities are significant since the wave amplitudes can be large relative to the wavelength and the dimension of the cylinder.

Author(s):  
Zaibin Lin ◽  
Ling Qian ◽  
Wei Bai ◽  
Zhihua Ma ◽  
Hao Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract A 3-Dimensional numerical wave tank based on the fully nonlinear potential flow theory has been developed in OpenFOAM, where the Laplace equation of velocity potential is discretized by Finite Volume Method. The water surface is tracked by the semi-Eulerian-Lagrangian method, where water particles on the free surface are allowed to move vertically only. The incident wave is generated by specifying velocity profiles at inlet boundary with a ramp function at the beginning of simulation to prevent initial transient disturbance. Additionally, an artificial damping zone is located at the end of wave tank to sufficiently absorb the outgoing waves before reaching downstream boundary. A five-point smoothing technique is applied at the free surface to eliminate the saw-tooth instability. The proposed wave model is validated against theoretical results and experimental data. The developed solver could be coupled with multiphase Navier-Stokes solvers in OpenFOAM in the future to establish an integrated versatile numerical wave tank for studying efficiently wave structure interaction problems.


Author(s):  
Hans Bihs ◽  
Mayilvahanan Alagan Chella ◽  
Arun Kamath ◽  
Øivind Asgeir Arntsen

For the stability of offshore structures, such as offshore wind foundations, extreme wave conditions need to be taken into account. Waves from extreme events are critical from the design perspective. In a numerical wave tank, extreme waves can be modeled using focused waves. Here, linear waves are generated from a wave spectrum. The wave crests of the generated waves coincide at a preselected location and time. Focused wave generation is implemented in the numerical wave tank module of REEF3D, which has been extensively and successfully tested for various wave hydrodynamics and wave–structure interaction problems in particular and for free surface flows in general. The open-source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code REEF3D solves the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations on a staggered Cartesian grid. Higher order numerical schemes are used for time and spatial discretization. For the interface capturing, the level set method is selected. In order to test the generated waves, the time series of the free surface elevation are compared with experimental benchmark cases. The numerically simulated free surface elevation shows good agreement with experimental data. In further computations, the impact of the focused waves on a vertical circular cylinder is investigated. A breaking focused wave is simulated and the associated kinematics is investigated. Free surface flow features during the interaction of nonbreaking focused waves with a cylinder and during the breaking process of a focused wave are also investigated along with the numerically captured free surface.


2021 ◽  
Vol 945 (1) ◽  
pp. 012018
Author(s):  
Mushtaq Ahmed ◽  
Zafarullah Nizamani ◽  
Akihiko Nakayama ◽  
Montasir Osman

Abstract Offshore structures play a vital role in the economy of offshore oil-producing countries, where mostly fixed jacket type structures are used to produce oil and gas installed in shallow water. In an offshore environment where structures are installed, there exist met ocean forces such as wind, waves, and currents. These met ocean conditions when interacting with offshore structures near the free surface, generate loads. The estimation of such loads is very much important for the proper design of these structures. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the interaction of waves with a jacket platform by generating offshore environments in the numerical wave tank (NWT). To achieve this goal, ANSYS Fluent is used for the flow analysis by using continuity and Navier Stokes equation. Results are verified and validated with the analytical work. Wave crests under operating condition generate a force of 1.3 MN which is the lowest in magnitude as compared to wave crest which produces 4.5 MN force under extreme conditions. Unlike operating wave crest, the operating wave trough generates a higher force of 1 MN than extreme conditions which account for 1.5 MN forces. Forces produced by the extreme offshore environment are 30% higher than those generated under operating conditions. It is concluded from the results that a positive force is exerted onto the structure during the water entry phase while a negative force is observed when the water leaves the structure.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 727
Author(s):  
Dimitris I. Manolas ◽  
Vasilis A. Riziotis ◽  
Spyros G. Voutsinas

Accurate and efficient numerical wave generation and absorption of two-dimensional nonlinear periodic waves traveling on a steady, uniform current were carried out in a potential, fully nonlinear numerical wave tank. The solver is based on the Βoundary Εlement Μethod (ΒΕΜ) with linear singularity distributions and plane elements and on the mixed Eulerian–Lagrangian formulation of the free surface equations. Wave generation is implemented along the inflow boundary by imposing the stream function wave solution, while wave absorption at both end-boundaries is effectively treated by introducing absorbing layers. On the absorbing beach side, the outflow boundary condition is modified to ensure that the solution accurately satisfies the dispersion relation of the generated waves. The modification involves a free-parameter that depends on the mass flux through the domain and is determined through a feedback error-correction loop. The developed method provides accurate time domain wave solutions for shallow, intermediate, and deep water depths of high wave steepness (wave heights up to 80% of the maximum value) that remain stable for 150 wave periods. This also holds in case a coplanar or opposing uniform current of velocity up to 20% of the wave celerity interacts with the wave.


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