Focused waves and wave–structure interaction in a numerical wave tank

Abstract

Sustainable and efficient design solutions are the aim for any engineer. In offshore engineering forces resulting from extreme wave impact are of special interest as these challenge the structure and the crew working in this harsh environment. Theoretical models tend to be limited to linear or weakly nonlinear situations and are unable to predict the violent and turbulent effects of breaking waves in combination with wave run up on structures or green water loading. The classic approach for such cases is to carry out scale model tests in a physical wave tank and measure the forces, water levels and flow velocities at some chosen locations.

Numerical simulation of deterministic freak wave sequences and wave-structure interaction

“…The wave period is 1.646 s and the wave height is 0.25 m. The position of the cylinder was set about 10 m from the wavemaker, and its axis is on the still water level. Figure 15 shows the time histories of the relative vertical force over one period, and comparison with experimental results (Dixon et al 1979) and other numerical results (Westphalen et al 2012). It can be seen that the results in this developed model show good agreement with published numerical and experimental results, indicating the reliability of the present model.…”

Simulation and analysis of wave-structure interactions for a semi-immersed horizontal cylinder

“…Dixon et al (1979) and Dixon (1980) used an equation based on Morison et al (1950) to predict the vertical wave forces acting on partially submerged cylinders for comparing the theoretical predictions with the experimental results conducted as part of the Edinburgh Wave Power Project. Westphalen et al (2012) reproduced some of the experimental data by Dixon et al (1979) on a fixed horizontal cylinder using STAR-CCM+® and ANSYS CFX®. Andersson (2011) carried out similar numerical investigation using OpenFOAM® and compared his numerical results with Westphalen et al (2012).…”

“…Various authors have considered wave interaction with a fixed semi-immersed horizontal cylinder, such as Dean and Ursell (1959), Dixon et al (1979), Dixon (1980), Martin and Dixon (1983), Andersson (2011), Westphalen et al (2012), Bihs et al (2013), Chen et al (2015) and Ong et al (2017). Martin and Dixon (1983) carried out a linear wave theory prediction for the forces acting on a fixed cylinder.…”

Wave–structure interactions for the distensible tube wave energy converter

“…The role of an analytical solution to a linear mathematical model should be viewed in the appropriate context. Experimentalists are able to achieve more realistic wave conditions and numerical practitioners are able to incorporate more detailed nonlinear physics [16,17]. However, full scale trials and the use of computational approaches are all considerably more expensive than an analytical technique.…”