Simulation of plunging wave impact on a vertical wall

Abstract

We present a numerical study of the impact of a two-dimensional plunging wave on a rigid vertical wall in the context of potential flow. The plunging wave impinging the wall is generated using a mixed-Eulerian-Lagrangian (MEL) boundary-integral scheme. The initial stage of the impact is characterized by an oblique impact of a liquid wedge on the wall and is solved using a similarity solution. Following the initial impact, the MEL simulation is continued to capture the transient impact process. The effect of an air cushion trapped between the plunger and the wall is considered. In addition to details such as temporal evolutions and surface profiles, the main interests are the maximum impact pressure on the wall and its rise time. To arrive at appropriate scaling laws for these, simulations are performed and correlations are explored for a broad range of local plunging wave kinematic and geometric parameters. To assess the present results, direct comparisons are made with the experiment of Chan & Melville (1988). Reasonable quantitative agreement is obtained and likely sources for discrepancies are identified and discussed.

Asymmetric impact between liquid and solid wedges

“…The present result is indistinguishable graphically with that of Duan et al [7], while there is some discrepancy between our result and that from Zhang et al [21]. This is because some approximation for the free surface shape was adopted in Zhang et al [21], but not in Duan et al [7].…”

“…The present result is indistinguishable graphically with that of Duan et al [7], while there is some discrepancy between our result and that from Zhang et al [21]. This is because some approximation for the free surface shape was adopted in Zhang et al [21], but not in Duan et al [7]. It should be noted that for this impact problem, which starts with a single contact point, an effective numerical method in the time domain is to use the stretched coordinate system developed by Wu [4] and subsequently used in recent studies [5,6].…”

“…Although the streamlines may look different in these two cases, the free surface shapes are the same. [7] (dashed line) and Zhang et al [21] (dotted line).…”

Time-domain simulation of large-amplitude wave–structure interactions by a 3D numerical tank approach

“…Faltinsen (1977) studied the full nonlinear wave-structure interaction problem of interior sloshing in a tank based on an MEL approach in two dimensions (2D). In a 3D NWT, (Xü and Yue 1992;Zhang et al 1996) used MEL approach to simulate extreme and overturning waves but without any structure in the wave field. Beck (1994) developed a time-domain solution for floating bodies using a desingularised method.…”

2-D Numerical Wave Tank by Boundary Element Method Using Different Numerical Techniques

“…They studied the overturning of waves using their 3-dimensional numerical wave tank which was able to model different seabed geometries. Zhang et al [7] were able to develop a suitable numerical wave tank in order to calculate plunging wave impact on vertical walls. Also in this field, Boo and Kim [8] studied the nonlinear wave diffraction forces acting on the vertical cylinders while Ferrant [9] overviewed the nonlinear forces on cylinders in general using an effective wave and current simulator.…”