A CFD Investigation on the Effect of the Air Entrainment in Breaking Wave Impacts on a Mono-Pile

Author(s):  
Pietro D. Tomaselli ◽  
Erik Damgaard Christensen

In impacts of breaking waves on offshore structures, it is still not well-known how the air entrainment phenomenon affects the exerted loads. In this paper, a developed CFD solver capable of simulating the air entrainment process was employed to reproduce an experimental investigation on the impact of a spilling wave against a circular cylinder. The exerted in-line force was computed with and without the inclusion of dispersed bubbles. Results showed that the magnitude of the computed force was affected when the entrainment of bubbles was simulated.

Author(s):  
Vipin Chakkurunni Palliyalil ◽  
Panneer Selvam Rajamanickam ◽  
Mayilvahanan Alagan Chella ◽  
Vijaya Kumar Govindasamy

The main objective of the paper is to investigate wave impact forces from breaking waves on a monopile substructure for offshore wind turbine in shallow waters. This study examines the load assessment parameters relevant for breaking wave forces on a vertical circular cylinder subjected to breaking waves. Experiments are conducted in a shallow water flume and the wave generation is based on piston type wave maker. The experiments are performed with a vertical circular cylinder with diameter, D = 0.20m which represents a monopile substructure for offshore wind turbines with regular waves of frequencies around 0.8Hz. The experimental setup consists of a 1/10 slope followed by a horizontal bed portion with a water depth of 0.8m. Plunging breaking waves are generated and free surface elevations are measured at different locations along the wave tank from wave paddle to the cylinder in order to find the breaking characteristics. Wave impact pressures are measured on the cylinder at eight different vertical positions along the height of the cylinder under breaking waves for different environmental conditions. The wave impact pressures and wave surface elevations in the vicinity of the cylinder during the impact for three different wave conditions are presented and discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Darshana T. Dassanayake ◽  
Alessandro Antonini ◽  
Athanasios Pappas ◽  
Alison Raby ◽  
James Mark William Brownjohn ◽  
...  

The survivability analysis of offshore rock lighthouses requires several assumptions of the pressure distribution due to the breaking wave loading (Raby et al. (2019), Antonini et al. (2019). Due to the peculiar bathymetries and topographies of rock pinnacles, there is no dedicated formula to properly quantify the loads induced by the breaking waves on offshore rock lighthouses. Wienke’s formula (Wienke and Oumeraci (2005) was used in this study to estimate the loads, even though it was not derived for breaking waves on offshore rock lighthouses, but rather for the breaking wave loading on offshore monopiles. However, a thorough sensitivity analysis of the effects of the assumed pressure distribution has never been performed. In this paper, by means of the Wolf Rock lighthouse distinct element model, we quantified the influence of the pressure distributions on the dynamic response of the lighthouse structure. Different pressure distributions were tested, while keeping the initial wave impact area and pressure integrated force unchanged, in order to quantify the effect of different pressure distribution patterns. The pressure distributions considered in this paper showed subtle differences in the overall dynamic structure responses; however, pressure distribution #3, based on published experimental data such as Tanimoto et al. (1986) and Zhou et al. (1991) gave the largest displacements. This scenario has a triangular pressure distribution with a peak at the centroid of the impact area, which then linearly decreases to zero at the top and bottom boundaries of the impact area. The azimuthal horizontal distribution was adopted from Wienke and Oumeraci’s work (2005). The main findings of this study will be of interest not only for the assessment of rock lighthouses but also for all the cylindrical structures built on rock pinnacles or rocky coastlines (with steep foreshore slopes) and exposed to harsh breaking wave loading.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro D. Tomaselli ◽  
Erik Damgaard Christensen

Breaking wave-induced loads on offshore structures can be extremely severe. The air entrainment mechanism during the breaking process plays a not well-known role in the exerted forces. This paper present a CFD solver, developed in the Open-FOAM environment, capable of simulating the wave breaking-induced air entrainment. Firstly the model was validated against a bubble column flow. Then it was employed to compute the inline force exerted by a spilling breaking wave on a vertical cylinder in a 3D domain at a laboratory scale. Results showed that the entrained bubbles affected the magnitude of the force partially. Further analyses on the interaction of the bubble plume with the flow around the cylinder are needed.


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (33) ◽  
pp. 74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitris Stagonas ◽  
Gerald Muller ◽  
Karunya Ramachandran ◽  
Stefan Schimmels ◽  
Alec Dane

Although existing knowledge on the vertical distribution of impact pressures on sea-dikes is well established only very little is known with respect to their horizontal distribution. A collaboration developed between the University of Southampton, Uk and FZK, Hannover looks in more detail at the distribution of pressures induced by waves breaking on the face of a sea-dike. For this, 2D large scale experiments with waves breaking on a 1:3 sea dike were conducted but instead of pressure transducers a tactile pressure sensor was used to map the impact pressures. Such sensors were initially used with breaking waves in the University of Southampton and their use for large scale experiments was attempted here for the first time. In the current paper the calibration and application of the tactile sensor for experiments involving up to 1m high and 8sec long waves are initially described. Preliminary results illustrating the simultaneous distribution of impact induced pressures over an area of 426.7x487.7mm are then presented. Based on these pressure maps the vertical and horizontal location of maximum breaking wave induced pressures is also deduced.


Author(s):  
Jithin Jose ◽  
Olga Podrażka ◽  
Ove Tobias Gudmestad ◽  
Witold Cieślikiewicz

Due to increased energy demand and thrive for clean energy, offshore wind energy has become popular these days. A large number of offshore wind turbines supported by fixed type substructures have been installed, among which jacket structures are getting popular in recent times. The forces from breaking waves are a major concern in the design of offshore structures installed in shallow waters. However, there are only limited studies available regarding breaking wave forces on jacket structures and still there exist many uncertainties in this area. During the WaveSlam experiment carried out in 2013, a jacket structure of 1:8 scale was tested on a large number of breaking wave conditions. Wave properties and the forces on the structure were measured during the experiment. The total wave slamming forces are being filtered from the experimental measured force using the Empirical Mode Decomposition method and local slamming forces are obtained by the Frequency Response Function method. Based on these results, the peak slamming force and slamming coefficients on the jacket members are estimated. The wave parameters (wave height and period) and wave front asymmetry are obtained from measured wave properties. The variation of slamming forces and slamming coefficients with respect to these parameters are also investigated.


Author(s):  
Gu¨nther F. Clauss ◽  
Sverre K. Haver ◽  
Mareike Strach

To predict the characteristic impact pressure due to breaking waves on platform columns corresponding to an annual exceedence probability of 10−4 model test data with the Sleipner A gravity based structure (GBS) are subjected to a stochastic analysis. The analysis is based on the environmental contour line approach. In addition, the procedure recommended by Det Norske Veritas (DNV) for calculating shock pressures due to breaking waves is used for comparison. Time histories of pressure and wave elevation for the most severe measured impacts show that the measured pressures are induced by breaking waves. However, a difference between the resulting characteristic impact pressures based on the two approaches can be observed: The stochastic analysis results in much higher pressures than the approach recommended by DNV. These findings are supported by the analysis of data that were collected during model tests with the Gjo̸a semi-submersible and the Snorre A tension leg platform (TLP), where the difference between the results was rather large as well. For the semi-submersible and the TLP, one reason for the difference is bias in the fitment of the stochastic model. Furthermore, dynamic amplification effects in the force sensors have to be considered. However, this bias is less significant for the GBS and dynamic amplification effects are not present since different force sensors were used. For all three model tests, an important source for the different impact pressures is the size of the force sensor area, which varies between 2.25m2 and 10.89m2. Large areas may smoothen the pressure whereas small areas are overrating the impact. Further model testing is required to clarify this effect. If the difference is still present, the recommendation of DNV has to be altered to ensure a reliable prediction of the characteristic impact loads.


2016 ◽  
Vol 801 ◽  
pp. 91-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc Deike ◽  
W. Kendall Melville ◽  
Stéphane Popinet

We investigate air entrainment and bubble statistics in three-dimensional breaking waves through novel direct numerical simulations of the two-phase air–water flow, resolving the length scales relevant for the bubble formation problem, the capillary length and the Hinze scale. The dissipation due to breaking is found to be in good agreement with previous experimental observations and inertial scaling arguments. The air entrainment properties and bubble size statistics are investigated for various initial characteristic wave slopes. For radii larger than the Hinze scale, the bubble size distribution, can be described by $N(r,t)=B(V_{0}/2{\rm\pi})({\it\varepsilon}(t-{\rm\Delta}{\it\tau})/Wg)r^{-10/3}r_{m}^{-2/3}$ during the active breaking stages, where ${\it\varepsilon}(t-{\rm\Delta}{\it\tau})$ is the time-dependent turbulent dissipation rate, with ${\rm\Delta}{\it\tau}$ the collapse time of the initial air pocket entrained by the breaking wave, $W$ a weighted vertical velocity of the bubble plume, $r_{m}$ the maximum bubble radius, $g$ gravity, $V_{0}$ the initial volume of air entrained, $r$ the bubble radius and $B$ a dimensionless constant. The active breaking time-averaged bubble size distribution is described by $\bar{N}(r)=B(1/2{\rm\pi})({\it\epsilon}_{l}L_{c}/Wg{\it\rho})r^{-10/3}r_{m}^{-2/3}$, where ${\it\epsilon}_{l}$ is the wave dissipation rate per unit length of breaking crest, ${\it\rho}$ the water density and $L_{c}$ the length of breaking crest. Finally, the averaged total volume of entrained air, $\bar{V}$, per breaking event can be simply related to ${\it\epsilon}_{l}$ by $\bar{V}=B({\it\epsilon}_{l}L_{c}/Wg{\it\rho})$, which leads to a relationship for a characteristic slope, $S$, of $\bar{V}\propto S^{5/2}$. We propose a phenomenological turbulent bubble break-up model based on earlier models and the balance between mechanical dissipation and work done against buoyancy forces. The model is consistent with the numerical results and existing experimental results.


Author(s):  
Gunnar Lian ◽  
Sverre K. Haver

Characteristic loads for design of offshore structures are defined in terms of their annual exceedance probability, q. In the Norwegian Petroleum Regulations, q = 10−2 is required for the ultimate limit state (ULS), while q = 10−4 is required for the accidental limit state (ALS). In principle, a full long-term analysis (LTA) is required in order to obtain consistent estimates. This is straightforward for linear response problems, while it is a challenge for nonlinear problems, in particular if they additionally are of an on–off nature. The latter will typically be the case for loads due to breaking wave impacts. In this paper, the challenges related to estimation of characteristic slamming loads are discussed. Measured slamming loads from a model test are presented, and the observed large variability is discussed. The stochastic nature of slamming loads is studied using a simplified linear relation between the sea states and the Gumbel distribution parameter surfaces. The characteristic slamming loads with q-annual probability of exceedance are estimated from an LTA using the short-term distribution of the slamming loads and the long-term distribution of the sea states. The effect of integrating over a smaller area of the scatter diagram of the sea states is studied. The uncertainties in response from slamming loads are compared to a more common response process, and the relation between variability and the number of realizations in each sea state is looked into.


Author(s):  
Henrik Bredmose ◽  
Niels G. Jacobsen

Extreme wave loads from breaking waves on a monopile foundation are computed within a 3D CFD model. The wave impacts are obtained by application of focused wave groups. For a fixed position of the monopile, the focus location of the wave group is varied to produce impacts with front shapes that varies from early stages of breaking to broken waves. The CFD results for in-line force are compared to load estimates obtained from the Morison equation. The peak loads determined with this simple method are smaller than those of the CFD solution. The computational results appear to suggest that for the impacts of spilling breakers the peak force gets smaller the more developed the breaking is. This is in qualitative agreement with a finding from shallow water impacts on vertical walls: the strongest wave loads are associated with breakers that hit the structure with slightly overturning front. Extensions of the study are discussed.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro D. Tomaselli ◽  
Erik Damgaard Christensen

The main challenge in CFD multiphase simulations of breaking waves is the wide range of interfacial length scales occurring in the flow: from the free surface measurable in meters down to the entrapped air bubbles with size of a fraction of a millimeter. This paper presents a preliminary investigation on a CFD model capable of handling this problem. The model is based on a solver, available in the open-source CFD toolkit OpenFOAM, which combines the Eulerian multi-fluid approach for dispersed flows with a numerical interface sharpening method. The solver, enhanced with additional formulations for mass and momentum transfer among phases, was satisfactorily tested against an experimental bubble column flow. The model was then used to simulate the propagation of a laboratory solitary breaking wave. The motion of the free surface was successfully reproduced up to the breaking point. Further implementations are needed to simulate the air entrainment phenomenon.


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