Free-Surface Flow Simulations With Interactively Moving Bodies

The simulation of free-surface flow around moored or floating objects faces a series of challenges, concerning the flow modelling and the numerical solution method. One of the challenges is the simulation of objects whose dynamics is determined by a two-way interaction with the incoming waves. The ‘traditional’ way of numerically coupling the flow dynamics with the dynamics of a floating object becomes unstable (or requires severe underrelaxation) when the added mass is larger than the mass of the object. To deal with this two-way interaction, a more simultaneous type of numerical coupling is being developed. The paper will focus on this issue. To demonstrate the quasi-simultaneous method, a number of simulation results for engineering applications from the offshore industry will be presented, such as the motion of a moored TLP platform in extreme waves, and a free-fall life boat dropping into wavy water.