Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Interactions Between Free-Surface Waves and A Floating Breakwater with Cylindrical-Dual/Rectangular-Single Pontoon

This paper investigates the hydrodynamic performance of a cylindrical-dual or rectangular-single pontoon floating breakwater using the numerical method and experimental study. The numerical simulation work is based on the multi-physics computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code and an innovative full-structured dynamic grid method applied to update the three-degree-of-freedom (3-DOF) rigid structure motions. As a time-marching scheme, the trapezoid analogue integral method is used to update the time integration combined with remeshing at each time step. The application of full-structured mesh elements can prevent grids distortion or deformation caused by large-scale movement and improve the stability of calculation. In movable regions, each moving zone is specified with particular motion modes (sway, heave and roll). A series of experimental studies are carried out to validate the performance of the floating body and verify the accuracy of the proposed numerical model. The results are systematically assessed in terms of wave coefficients, mooring line forces, velocity streamlines and the 3-DOF motions of the floating breakwater. When compared with the wave coefficient solutions, excellent agreements are achieved between the computed and experimental data, except in the vicinity of resonant frequency. The velocity streamlines and wave profile movement in the fluid field can also be reproduced using this numerical model.     

Performance of pile-restrained flexible floating breakwaters

The overall performance of pile-restrained flexible floating breakwaters is investigated under the action of linear monochromatic incident waves in the frequency domain. The aforementioned floating breakwaters undergo only vertical structural deflections along their length and are held in place by means of vertical piles. The total number of degrees of freedom equals the six conventional body modes, when the breakwater moves as a rigid body, plus the extra bending modes. These bending modes are introduced to represent the structural deflections of the floating breakwater and are described by the Bernoulli–Euler flexible beam equation. The number of bending modes introduced is determined through an appropriate iterative procedure. The hydrostatic coefficients corresponding to the bending modes are also derived. The numerical analysis of the flexible floating breakwaters is based on a three-dimensional hydrodynamic formulation of the floating body. A parametric study is carried out for a wide range of structural stiffness parameters and wave headings, to investigate their effect on the performance of flexible floating breakwaters. Moreover, this performance is compared with that of the corresponding pile-restrained rigid floating breakwater. Results indicated that the degree of structural stiffness and the wave heading strongly affect the performance of flexible floating breakwaters. The existence of an “optimum” value of structural stiffness is demonstrated for the entire wave frequency range.     

柔性水囊潜堤消波特性的溃坝水槽试验研究

柔性水囊潜堤由橡胶制成,内部充水,具有结构简单、造价低廉等优点,能较好满足人工岛、跨海桥梁、海洋平台等基础设施建设工程对简单便携、拆装方便的临时防波堤的需求。为了探究柔性水囊潜堤的消波特性,在溃坝水槽内开展溃坝波与半圆柱形柔性水囊潜堤相互作用的试验研究,重点探究柔性水囊潜堤与溃坝波相互作用过程中水位变化特性,并与半圆柱刚性潜堤的性能进行比较;同时分析柔性水囊潜堤内部初始水压和浸没深度等参数对其消波性能的影响。结果表明：柔性水囊潜堤能够用作临时防波堤来衰减波浪;与半圆柱刚性潜堤相比,柔性水囊潜堤在降低溃坝波无量纲最大水位、提高消波性能方面更具优势;内部初始水压是影响柔性水囊潜堤消波性能的重要因素,适当降低内部初始水压,有利于增强柔性潜堤的变形程度,进而增加波能耗散,可获得更好的消波效果;而增加浸没深度即潜深,会使得柔性水囊潜堤对溃坝波的影响程度降低,消波效果减弱。     

Stiffness of mooring lines and performance of floating breakwater in three dimensions

In the present paper, the performance of a moored floating breakwater under the action of normal incident waves is investigated in the frequency domain. A three-dimensional hydrodynamic model of the floating body is coupled with a static and dynamic model of the mooring lines, using an iterative procedure. The stiffness coefficients of the mooring lines in six degrees of freedom of the floating breakwater are derived based on the differential changes of mooring lines' tensions caused by the static motions of the floating body. The model of the moored floating system is compared with experimental and numerical results of other investigators. An extensive parametric study is performed to investigate the effect of different configurations (length of mooring lines and draft) on the performance of the moored floating breakwater. The draft of the floating breakwater is changed through the appropriate modification of mooring lines' length. Numerical results demonstrate the effects of the wave characteristics and mooring lines' conditions (slack-taut). The existence of ‘optimum’ configuration of the moored floating breakwater in terms of wave elevation coefficients and mooring lines' forces is clearly demonstrated, through a decision framework.     

波浪作用下方箱-水平板浮式防波堤时域水动力分析

在线性化势流理论范围内求解方箱-水平板浮式防波堤的波浪绕射和辐射问题,从时域角度分析了浮式防波堤的水动力特性.采用格林函数法将速度势定解问题的控制微分方程变换成边界上的积分方程进行数值求解,浮式防波堤的运动方程采用四阶Runge-Kutta方法求解.对不同层数水平板的浮式防波堤的波浪透射系数、运动响应和锚链受力进行了计算分析,结果表明方箱相对宽度对方箱-水平板浮式防波堤的波浪透射作用有重要的影响,透射系数随着方箱相对宽度的增加而减小.对于方箱加二层水平板的浮式防波堤,在本研究的计算条件下,当方箱相对宽度从0.110增加至0.295时,透射系数从0.88减小至0.30.水平板有利于增加浮式防波堤对波浪的衰减作用,但随着水平板层数从0增加至2,这种波浪衰减作用增加的程度趋弱.方箱-水平板的浮式防波堤的运动量小于单一方箱防波堤的运动量.与此对应,方箱-水平板防波堤的锚链受力小于单一方箱防波堤的锚链受力.     

Numerical modeling of dynamic responses and mooring forces of submerged floating breakwater

Using the volume of fluid (VOF) method, a numerical model is developed to estimate the nonlinear dynamics of a pontoon type moored submerged breakwater under wave action and the forces acting on the mooring lines, for both the vertical and inclined mooring alignments. The model is developed for a two-dimensional wave field in a vertical plane. The finite displacements of the breakwater such as sway, heave and roll in a very small time step are considered and the numerical grid cells intersected by the breakwater surfaces for changing its position due to wave action are treated using the concept of porous body model. Also, two-dimensional experimental studies are carried out to investigate the performance of the proposed model. The comparison of the computed and measured results reveals that the developed numerical model can reproduce well the dynamics of the floating body and the mooring line forces.     

Dual floating breakwaters

A numerical model is developed to investigate the behavior of a pair of flexible, floating breakwaters consisting of complaint, beam-like structures anchored to the sea bed. Each structure is kept under tension by a small buoyancy chamber at the tip, additional stiffness in each case is provided by mooring lines attached to the buoyancy chamber. The fluid motion is idealized as linearized, two-dimensional potential flow and the equation of motion of each breakwater is taken to be that of a one-dimensional beam of uniform flexural rigidity and mass per unit length subjected to a constant axial force. The boundary integral equation method is applied to the fluid domain. Modifications are made to the basic formulation to account for the zero thickness of the idealized structures, and the dynamic behavior of the breakwaters is described through an appropriate Green's function. Numerical results are presented which illustrate the effects of the various wave and structural parameters on the efficiency of the two-breakwater systems as a barrier to wave action. It is found that by adjusting the spacing between the breakwaters acceptable wave reflection characteristics may be obtained even with relatively flexible structures.     

Dynamics of elastically moored floating objects

The two-dimensional problem of wave transformation by, and motions of, moored floating objects is solved numerically as a boundary value problem by direct use of Green's identity formula for a potential function. The cross-sectional shape of the floating object, the bottom configuration and the mooring arrangements may be all arbitrary. For a given incident wave, the three modes of body motion, the wave system and mooring forces are all solved at the same time. A laboratory experiment is conducted to verify the theory. Generally good agreements between the theory and experiments are obtained as long as the viscous damping due to flow separation is small. A numerical experiment indicates that a conventional sluck mooring is to worsen the wave attenuation by a floating breakwater and that a properly arranged elastic mooring can considerably improve the wave attenuation by a floating breakwater.     

一种起伏板防波堤最优支撑刚度计算方法

带有弹簧支撑的水平板结构,可在波浪作用下起伏运动进行消浪,作为防波堤具有广泛的应用前景,但如何设计支撑刚度仍是当前研究的重点课题。基于黏性流理论建立数值波浪水槽,开展规则波与起伏板防波堤相互作用的模拟,得到起伏板透反射系数随支撑刚度的变化曲线,并分析最小透射系数对应刚度下起伏板运动相位对消浪的影响。为快速得到最小透射系数对应的支撑刚度,根据弹簧—阻尼—质量模型,建立一种以运动相位为输入反推起伏板最优支撑刚度的计算方法,并将推导结果与数值结果进行比较。结果表明,该方法推导的最优支撑刚度值与数值最优值接近,且可省去遍历取最优值的步骤,可为起伏板防波堤的支撑刚度设计提供参考。     

波浪与起伏水平板防波堤相互作用数值模拟

利用自主研发的基于紧致插值曲线CIP(constrained interpolation profile)方法的数学模型,开展规则波与起伏水平板防波堤相互作用的数值模拟研究。模型在笛卡尔直角坐标下建立,以CIP方法为流场基本求解器,分步求解Navier-Stokes方程,利用高精度的流体体积类型的THINC/SW (tangent of hyperbola for interface capturing with slope weighting)方法重构自由液面,采用浸入边界IBM(immersed boundary method)方法处理波浪与起伏板防波堤的耦合作用问题,通过动量源项造波方法模拟波浪的产生。重点关注波浪的浅水变形和板两端涡旋脱落的非线性现象,分析不同潜深、波要素下的板周围流场分布、板的运动响应和波浪的反透射系数。结果表明:起伏水平板主要通过能量反射、板上浅水变形和板两端的涡脱落消能,能有效减小板后波高,具有作为防波堤的可行性。     

T型防波堤与波浪相互作用数值研究

针对T型透空式防波堤,通过浪高仪采集防波堤前后不同位置波面变化曲线,使用声学多普勒流速仪(NDV)测量不同位置流速随时间的变化,并分析了其相位平均流速的分布。基于VOF法的二维波浪数值水槽,对规则波作用下T型防波堤附近的动力特性进行了计算,水槽模型试验结果和数值模拟结果对比表明,数值计算结果与实验值吻合较好。采用该模型进一步对T型防波堤附近波浪场、流线、紊动动能、紊动动能耗散率变化以及不同尺寸的防波堤消浪效果进行模拟计算,重点分析了入射波高、防波堤入水深度和防波堤宽度变化的影响。     

考虑桩土作用独桩海洋平台横向振动特性研究

采用动Winkler弹性地基梁模型模拟桩土问动力相互作用，并考虑了流体与桩问相互作用，通过组合成层土中、水中桩单元的刚度阵，推得了独桩海洋平台连续系统横向振动的动刚度阵及在波浪力作用下平台甲板处的频率响应函数，进而求得了在确定性波浪力及随机波浪力作用下桩身任意点的位移响应。最后，通过算例研究和分析了在随机波浪力作用下成层土参数、甲板上重量及冲刷淘深等因素对平台振动响应的影响。     

Hydrodynamic performance of a T-shaped floating breakwater

The comprehensive utilization of floating breakwaters, specially acting as a supporting structure for offshore marine renewable energy explorations, has received more and more attention recently. Based on linear water-wave theory, the hydrodynamic performance of a T-shaped floating breakwater is semi-analytically investigated through the matched eigenfunction expansion method (MEEM). Auxiliary functions, to speed up the convergence and improve the accuracy in the numerical computations, are introduced to represent the singular behavior of fluid field near the lower salient corners of the structure. The effects of the height and installation position of the vertical screen on the reflection and transmission coefficients, dynamic response and wave forces are examined. It is found that the presence of the screen shifts the resonance frequency of RAO for both surge and pitch modes to the low-frequency area, while has no effect on heave mode. The identical added masses, damping and transmission coefficients can be obtained in the cases where the screen holds the same distance away from the longitudinal central axis of the upper box-type structure. Moreover, a relatively small pitch response can be achieved in a wide wave–frequency range, when the breakwater is Γ-shaped.     

波浪作用下涵洞式直立堤水体交换特性研究

基于计算流体力学(CFD)数值模拟和物理模型试验结合的方式,开展涵洞式直立堤在波浪作用下的水体交换研究。CFD数值模拟采用VPM (volume-average/point-value method)-THINC (tangent of hyperbola for interface capturing)/QQ (quadratic surface representation and Gaussian quadrature)模型,并在此基础上提出一种能够标记涵洞内外水体变化的双液相流体体积模型(VOF)方法,定性及定量描述涵洞内外水体的交换特性;物理模型试验主要用来验证数值模型的准确性。研究表明,在波浪的作用下,涵洞内部会形成一股往复振荡的水流,对水体交换起到重要的作用。该振荡流主要受到涵洞高度、波浪周期以及波高的影响,涵洞深度对其影响不大。在波浪长时间的作用下,涵洞式直立堤能有效地增强港池内外水体交换。     

Dual pontoon floating breakwater

The hydrodynamic properties of a dual pontoon floating breakwater consisting of a pair of floating cylinders of rectangular section, connected by a rigid deck, is investigated theoretically. The structure is partially restrained by linear symmetric moorings fore and aft. The fluid motion is idealized as linearized, two-dimensional potential flow and the equation of motion of the breakwater is taken to be that of a two-dimensional rigid body undergoing surge, heave and pitch motions. The solution for the fluid motion is obtained by the boundary integral equation method using an appropriate Green's function. Numerical results are presented which illustrate the effects of the various wave and structural parameters on the efficiency of the breakwater as a barrier to wave action. It is found that the wave reflection properties of the structure depend strongly on the width, draft and spacing of the pontoons and the mooring line stiffness, while the excess buoyancy of the system is of lesser importance.     

Wave diffraction on arc-shaped floating perforated breakwaters

An analytical method is developed to study the sheltering effects on arc-shaped floating perforated breakwaters. In the process of analysis, the floating breakwater is assumed to be rigid, thin, vertical, and immovable and located in water with constant depth. The fluid domain is divided into two regions by imaginary interface. The velocity potential in each region is expanded by eigenfunction in the context of linear theory. By satisfying continuity of pressure and normal velocity across the imaginary fluid interface, a set of linear algebraic equations can be obtained to determine the unknown coefficients for eigenfunction expansions. The accuracy of the present model was verified by a comparison with existing results for the case of arc-shaped floating breakwater. Numerical results, in the form of contour maps of the non-dimensional wave amplitude around the breakwater and diffracted wave amplitude at typical sections, are presented for a range of wave and breakwater parameters. Results show that the sheltering effects on the arc-shaped floating perforated breakwater are closely related to the incident wavelength, the draft and the porosity of the breakwater.     

Dynamic response and sliding distance of composite breakwaters under breaking and non-breaking wave attack

Over the last 15 years improved awareness of wave impact induced failures has focused attention on the need to account for the dynamic response of maritime structures to wave impact load. In this work a non-linear model is introduced that allows evaluating the effective design load and the potential sliding of caisson breakwater subject to both pulsating and impulsive wave loads. The caisson dynamics is modelled using a time-step numerical method to solve numerically the equations of motion for a rigid body founded on multiple non-linear springs having both horizontal and vertical stiffness. The model is first shown to correctly describe the dynamics of caisson breakwaters subject to wave attack, including nonlinear features of wave–structure–soil interaction. Predictions of sliding distances by the new method are then compared with measurements from physical model tests, showing very good agreement with observations. The model succeeds in describing the physics that stands behind the process and is fast, accurate and flexible enough to be suitable for performance design of caisson breakwaters.     

集成波能转换功能的方箱—挡浪板式浮式防波堤水动力特性研究

浮式防波堤与振荡浮子式波浪能转换装置集成是一种较为合理的波浪能开发利用方式,基于方箱式浮式防波堤—波浪能转换集成系统和幕帘式防波堤的研究成果,提出了一种新型方箱—垂直挡浪板式浮式防波堤—波浪能转换集成系统,建立数学模型对该集成系统的水动力特性和能量输出特性进行研究。模型基于N-S方程,采用紧致插值曲线(CIP)方法结合浸没边界法(IBM)求解。运用数值模型探究在一定波浪条件下,动力输出系统(PTO)阻尼力的大小以及挡浪板对集成系统的水动力特性和能量转换特性的影响,得到如下结论:集成系统的俘获宽度比随PTO阻尼力的增大呈现先增大后减小的趋势,在阻尼力F_(PTO)=150 N时达到最大;相对于方箱型集成系统,增设0.1 m挡浪板后可使其最大俘获宽度比η_e提高33%左右;此外,集成系统的俘获宽度比随挡浪板长度增加而增大,增长趋势逐渐变缓,在挡浪板长度S_p=0.5 m时达到最大,此时俘获宽度比η_e=0.563 1。     

Theoretical Calculation of Floating Breakwater Performance

- In this paper, the theoretical calculation of floating breakwater performance in regular waves with arbitrary wave direction is discussed. Under the hypothesis of linearized system and applying the strip theory, we can solve the boundary condition problems of diffraction potential and radiation potential. Introducing the asymptotic expression of the wave velocity potential at infinity and using wave energy conservation, we can separately calculate the transmitted waves generated by the sway, heave and roll motion of the floating breakwater and by the fixed breakwater. Finally, we define the amplitude ratio of the transmitted wave to the incident wave as the transmitted wave coefficient CT which describes the floating breakwater effectiveness. Two examples are given and the theoretical results obtained by the present method agree well with experimental results.     

A study of spar buoy floating breakwater

A floating breakwater produces less environmental impact, but is easily destroyed by large waves. In this paper, the spar buoy floating breakwater is introduced with a study on the wave reflection and transmission characteristics and mooring line tension induced by the waves. Mei (The Applied Dynamics of Ocean Surface Waves, Wiley, New York (1983) 740 p) proposed a theoretical solution for the reflection and transmission coefficients as the wave propagates through a one-layer slotted barrier. For a multiple-layer fence system, the analytical solution is proposed linearly. The results show that the theoretical computations agree well with the experimental trends. For a multiple-layer fence system, the transmission coefficients become maximal as the layer spacing to wavelength ratio moves to 1/2. Conversely, the coefficients become minimal, as the ratio moves to 0.3. To estimate the maximum tension of the mooring line, both numerical calculations and laboratory experiments were executed. The numerical calculation results were similar to the experimental results.