An iterative procedure for the diffraction of water waves by multiple cylinders

Diffraction of water waves by an array of vertical cylinders of circular cross section is studied. In order to account for first order interaction among the cylinders, the body boundary condition is satisfied for each cylinder considering the scattered wave field from other cylinders in an iterative way. After each iteration, coefficients in the partial wave decomposition of the wave potential are modified. Convergence is fast for the whole range of frequencies and for a large number of bodies, compared with exact algebraic methods of Linton and Evans [J. Fluid Mech. 46 (1990) 549] and Kagemoto and Yue [J. Fluid Mech. 166 (1) (1986) 189].     

A note on the hydrodynamics of a tail tube buoy

This note presents some analytical results for a tail–tube buoy configuration frequently used in wave energy conversion. The overall approach is based on Falnes and McIver's (Falnes, J., McIver, P., 1985. Surface wave interactions with systems of oscillating bodies and pressure distributions. Applied Ocean Research 7 (4), 225–234) extension to floating oscillating water columns of Evans' (Evans, D.V., 1982. Wave power absorbtion by systems of oscillating surface pressure distributions. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 114, 481–499) theory of oscillating pressure distributions. The diffraction air-flow flux through the tube and the diffraction wave force on the flotation collar are obtained using the formulation of Garrett (1970, 1971) (Garrett, C.J.R., 1970. Bottomless harbours. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 43 (3), 433–449. Garrett, C.J.R., 1971. Wave forces on a circular dock. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 46 (1), 129–139). Results can be used in sizing the tube and collar for efficient energy conversion.     

Analytical solutions of the diffraction problem of a group of truncated vertical cylinders

An exact analytical method is described to solve the diffraction problem of a group of truncated vertical cylinders. In order to account for the interaction between the cylinders, Kagemoto and Yue's exact algebraic method is utilised. The isolated cylinder diffraction potential due to incident waves is obtained using Garret's solution and evanescent mode solutions are derived in a similar manner.Numerical results are presented for arrays of two and four cylinders. Comparisons between the results obtained from the method presented here and those obtained from numerical methods show excellent agreement.     

A linear Boltzmann equation to model wave scattering in the marginal ice zone

We present a linear Boltzmann equation to model wave scattering in the Marginal Ice Zone (the region of ocean which consists of broken ice floes). The equation is derived by two methods, the first based on Meylan et al. [Meylan, M.H., Squire, V.A., Fox, C., 1997. Towards realism in modeling ocean wave behavior in marginal ice zones. J. Geophys. Res. 102 (C10), 22981–22991] and second based on Masson and LeBlond [Masson, D., LeBlond, P., 1989. Spectral evolution of wind-generated surface gravity waves in a dispersed ice field. J. Fluid Mech. 202, 111–136]. This linear Boltzmann equation, we believe, is more suitable than the equation presented in Masson and LeBlond [Masson, D., LeBlond, P., 1989. Spectral evolution of wind-generated surface gravity waves in a dispersed ice field. J. Fluid Mech. 202, 111–136] because of its simpler form, because it is a differential rather than difference equation and because it does not depend on any assumptions about the ice floe geometry. However, the linear Boltzmann equation presented here is equivalent to the equation in Masson and LeBlond [Masson, D., LeBlond, P., 1989. Spectral evolution of wind-generated surface gravity waves in a dispersed ice field. J. Fluid Mech. 202, 111–136] since it is derived from their equation. Furthermore, the linear Boltzmann equation is also derived independently using the argument in Meylan et al. [Meylan, M.H., Squire, V.A., Fox, C., 1997. Towards realism in modeling ocean wave behavior in marginal ice zones. J. Geophys. Res. 102 (C10), 22981–22991]. We also present details of how the scattering kernel in the linear Boltzmann equation is found from the scattering by an individual ice floe and show how the linear Boltzmann equation can be solved straightforwardly in certain cases.     

An analytical approach for the calculation of random wave forces on submerged tunnels

This paper deals with the random forces produced by high ocean waves on submerged horizontal circular cylinders. Arena [Arena F, Interaction between long-crested random waves and a submerged horizontal cylinder. Phys Fluids 2006;18(7):1–9 (paper 076602)] obtained the analytical solution of the random wave field for two dimensional waves by extending the classical Ogilvie solution [Ogilvie TF, First- and second-order forces on a cylinder submerged under a free surface. J Fluid Mech 1963;16:451–472; Arena F, Note on a paper by Ogilvie: The interaction between waves and a submerged horizontal cylinder. J Fluid Mech 1999;394:355–356] to the case of random waves. In this paper, the wave force acting on the cylinder is investigated and the Froude Krylov force [Sarpkaya T, Isaacson M, Mechanics of wave forces on offshore structures, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.; 1981], on the ideal water cylinder, is calculated from the random incident wave field. Both forces represent a Gaussian random process of time. The diffraction coefficient of the wave force is obtained as quotient between the standard deviations of the force on the solid cylinder and of the Froude Krylov force. It is found that the diffraction coefficient of the horizontal force C_do is equal to the C_dv of the vertical force. Finally, it is shown that, since a very large wave force occurs on the cylinder, it may be calculated, in time domain, starting from the Froude Krylov force. It is then shown that this result is due to the fact that the frequency spectrum of the force acting on the cylinder is nearly identical to that of the Froude–Krylov force.     

On the heave radiation of a rectangular structure

In this paper, an analytic solution to the heave radiation problem of a rectangular structure is presented. To solve the problem analytically, the nonhomogeneous boundary value problem is linearly decomposed into homogeneous ones, which can be readily solved. To provide further comparisons to the present analytic solution, a boundary element method is also presented to solve the problem. The present analytic solution is compared with the result by Black et al. [(1971)] Radiation and scattering of water waves by rigid bodies. J. Fluid Mech. 46, 151–164], and the boundary element solution, and the comparisons show very good agreements. Upon examination of the present analytic solution, it is shown that the solution satisfies the nonhomogeneous boundary condition in a sense of series convergence. Using the present analytic solution, the generated waves, the added mass and the radiation damping coefficients, as well as the hydrodynamic effects of the submergence and the width of the structure, are investigated.     

Numerical modeling of multi-directional irregular waves incorporating 2-D numerical wave absorber and subgrid turbulence

In this paper, a finite difference scheme with an efficient 2-D numerical wave absorber for solving the extended Boussinesq equations as derived by Nwogu (Nwogu, O., 1993. Alternative form of Boussinesq equations for nearshore wave propagation. J. Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering, ASCE 119, 618–638) is proposed. The alternate direction iterative method combined with an efficient predictor-corrector scheme are adopted for the numerical solution of the governing differential equations. To parameterize the contribution of unresolved small-scale motions, the philosophy of the large eddy simulation is applied on the horizontal plane. The proposed method is verified by two test cases where experimental data are available for comparison. The first case is wave diffraction around a semi-infinite breakwater studied by Briggs et al. (Briggs, M.J., Thompson, E.F., Vincent, C.L., 1995. Wave diffraction around breakwater. Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, ASCE 121, 23–35). The other case is wave concentration by a navigation channel as reported by Yu et al. (Yu, Y.-X., Liu, S.-X., Li, Y.S., Wai, O.W.H., 2000. Refraction and diffraction of random waves through breakwater. Ocean Engineering 27, 489–509). Numerical results agree very well with the corresponding experimental data in both cases.     

On the role of shoreline boundary conditions in wave overtopping modelling with non-linear shallow water equations

The note extends and completes the analysis carried out by Briganti and Dodd [Briganti, R., Dodd, N., 2009. Shoreline motion in nonlinear shallow water coastal models. Coastal Eng. 56(5–6) (doi:101016/j.coastaleng.2008.10.008), 495–505.] on the performance of a state of the art Non-Linear Shallow Water Equations solver in common coastal engineering applications. The case of bore-generated overtopping of a truncated plane beach is considered and the performance of the model is assessed by comparing with the Peregrine and Williams [Peregrine, D., Williams, S.M., 2001. Swash overtopping a truncated beach. J. Fluid Mech. 440, 391–399.] analytical solution. In particular the influence of shoreline boundary conditions is investigated by considering the two best performing approaches discussed in Briganti and Dodd [Briganti, R., Dodd, N., 2009. Shoreline motion in nonlinear shallow water coastal models. Coastal Eng. 56(5–6) (doi:101016/j.coastaleng.2008.10.008), 495–505.]. Different distances of the edge of the beach from the bore collapse point are tested. For larger distances, the accuracy of the overtopping modelling decreases, as a consequence of the error in modelling the tip of the swash lens and, consequently, the run-up. A sensitivity analysis using the numerical resolution is carried out. This reveals that the approach in which cells shallower than a prescribed threshold are drained and wave propagation speeds for wet/dry Riemann problem are used at the interface between a wet and a dry cell (referred as Option 2ea in [Briganti, R., Dodd, N., 2009. Shoreline motion in nonlinear shallow water coastal models. Coastal Eng. 56(5–6) (doi:101016/j.coastaleng.2008.10.008), 495–505.]) performs consistently better than the other.     

A coupled-mode technique for the transformation of ship-generated waves over variable bathymetry regions

In the present work, a coupled-mode technique is applied to the transformation of ship's waves over variable bathymetry regions, characterised by parallel depth-contours, without any mild-slope assumption. This method can be used, in conjunction with ship's near-field wave data in deep water or in constant-depth, as obtained by the application of modern (linearised or non-linear) ship computational fluid dynamic (CFD) codes, or experimental measurements, to support the study of wave wash generated by fast ships and its effects on the nearshore/coastal environment.

Under the assumption that the ship's track is straight and parallel to the depth-contours, and relatively far from the bottom irregularity, the problem of propagation–refraction–diffraction of ship-generated waves in a coastal environment is efficiently treated in the frequency domain, by applying the consistent coupled-mode model developed by Athanassoulis and Belibassakis [J. Fluid Mech. 1999;389] to the calculation of the transfer function enabling the pointwise transformation of ship-wave spectra over the variable bathymetry region.

Numerical results are presented for simplified ship-wave systems, obtained by the superposition of source–sink Havelock singularities simulating the basic features of the ship's wave pattern. The spatial evolution of the ship-wave system is examined over a smooth but steep shoal, resembling coastal environments, both in the subcritical and in the supercritical case. Since any ship free-wave system, either in deep water or in finite depth, can be adequately modelled by wavecut analysis and suitable distribution of Havelock singularities e.g. as presented by Scrags [21st Int. Conf. Offshore Mech. Arctic Eng., OMAE2002, Oslo, Norway, June 2002], the present method, in conjunction with ship CFD codes, supports the prediction of ship wash and its impact on coastal areas, including the effects of steep sloping-bed parts.     

Two sets of higher-order Boussinesq-type equations for water waves

Based on the classical Boussinesq model by Peregrine [Peregrine, D.H., 1967. Long waves on a beach. J. Fluid Mech. 27 (4), 815–827], two parameters are introduced to improve dispersion and linear shoaling characteristics. The higher order non-linear terms are added to the modified Boussinesq equations. The non-linearity of the Boussinesq model is analyzed. A parameter related to h/L₀ is used to improve the quadratic transfer function in relatively deep water. Since the dispersion characteristic of the modified Boussinesq equations with two parameters is only equal to the second-order Padé expansion of the linear dispersion relation, further improvement is done by introducing a new velocity vector to replace the depth-averaged one in the modified Boussinesq equations. The dispersion characteristic of the further modified Boussinesq equations is accurate to the fourth-order Padé approximation of the linear dispersion relation. Compared to the modified Boussinesq equations, the accuracy of quadratic transfer functions is improved and the shoaling characteristic of the equations has higher accuracy from shallow water to deep water.     

The BCI criterion for the initiation of breaking process in Boussinesq-type equations wave models

The Breaking Celerity Index (BCI) is proposed as a new wave breaking criterion for Boussinesq-type equations wave propagation models (BTE).The BCI effectiveness in determining the breaking initiation location has been verified against data from different experimental investigations conducted with incident regular and irregular waves propagating along uniform slope [Utku, M. (1999). “The Relative Trough Froude Number. A New Criteria for Wave Breaking”. Ph.D. Dissertation, Dept. of Civil and Enviromental Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA; Gonsalves Veloso dos Reis, M.T.L. (1992). “Characteristics of waves in the surf zone”. MS Thesis, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Liverpool., Liverpool; Lara, J.L., Losada, I.J., and Liu, P.L.-F. (2006). “Breaking waves over a mild gravel slope: experimental and numerical analysis”. Journal of Geophysical Research, VOL 111, C11019] and barred beaches [Tomasicchio, G.R., and Sancho, F. (2002). “On wave induced undertow at a barred beach”. Proceedings of 28th International Conference on Coastal Engineering, ASCE, New York, 557–569]. The considered experiments were carried out in small-scale and large-scale facilities. In addition, one set of data has been obtained by the use of the COBRAS model based upon the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations [Liu, P.L.-F., Lin, P., Hsu, T., Chang, K., Losada, I.J., Vidal, C., and Sakakiyama, T. (2000). “A Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equation model for nonlinear water wave and structure interactions”. Proceedings of Coastal Structures ‘99, Balkema, Rotterdam, 169–174; Losada, I.J., Lara, J.L., and Liu, P.L.-F. (2005). “Numerical simulation based on a RANS model of wave groups on an impermeable slope”. Proceedings of Fifth International Symposium WAVES 2005, Madrid].Numerical simulations have been performed with the 1D-FUNWAVE model [Kirby, J.T., Wei, G., Chen, Q., Kennedy, A.B., and Dalrymple, R.A. (1998). “FUNWAVE 1.0 Fully Nonlinear Boussinesq Wave Model Documentation and User's Manual”. Research Report No CACR-98-06, Center for Applied Coastal Research, University of Delaware, Newark]. With regard to the adopted experimental conditions, the breaking location has been calculated for different trigger mechanisms [Zelt, J.A. (1991). “The run-up of nonbreaking and breaking solitary waves”. Coastal Engineering, 15, 205–246; Kennedy, A.B., Chen, Q., Kirby, J.T., and Dalrymple, R.A. (2000). “Boussinesq modeling of wave transformation, breaking and run-up. I: 1D”. Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering, 126, 39–47; Utku, M., and Basco, D.R. (2002). “A new criteria for wave breaking based on the Relative Trough Froude Number”. Proceedings of 28th International Conference on Coastal Engineering, ASCE, New York, 258–268] including the proposed BCI.The calculations have shown that BCI gives a better agreement with the physical data with respect to the other trigger criteria, both for spilling and plunging breaking events, with a not negligible reduction of the calculation time.     

Solitary wave interaction with a concentric porous cylinder system

Theoretical investigations on solitary waves interacting with a surface-piercing concentric porous cylinder system are presented in this paper. The outer cylinder is porous and considered thin in thickness, while the inner cylinder is solid. Both cylinders are rigidly fixed on the bottom. Following Isaacson's [Isaacson, Micheal de St. Q., 1983. Solitary wave diffraction around large cylinder. Journal of the Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering 109(1), 121–127.] approach, we obtained the solutions for free-surface elevation and the corresponding velocity potential in terms of Fourier integrals. Numerical results are presented to show the effects of incident wave condition, porosity of the outer cylinder and radius ratio on wave forces and wave elevations around the inner and outer cylinders.     

Comparison of Dirichlet–Neumann operator expansions for nonlinear surface gravity waves

The Dirichlet–Neumann operator for the water-wave problem was introduced and expanded by Craig and Sulem [Craig, W., Sulem, C., 1993. [CS] Numerical simulation of gravity waves. J. Comput. Phys. 108, 73–83] and in a slightly different form and for 3D waves by Bateman, Swan and Taylor [Bateman, W.J.D., Swan, C., Taylor, P.H., 2001. [BST] On the efficient numerical simulation of directionally spread surface water waves. J. Comput. Phys. 174, 277–305]. This approach is supposedly superior to techniques derived earlier by West et al. [West, B.J., Brueckner, K.A., Janda, R.S., Milder, D.M., Milton, R.L., 1987. [WW] A new numerical method for surface hydrodynamics. J. Geophys. Res. 92 (C11), 11803–11824] and Dommermuth and Yue [Dommermuth, D.G., Yue, D.K.P., 1987. [DY] A high-order spectral method for the study of nonlinear gravity waves. J. Fluid Mech. 184, 267–288] under seemingly more restrictive assumptions. This paper extracts the Dirichlet–Neumann operator expansions from West et al. and Dommermuth and Yue. Concerning the operator expansions alone it is found that Bateman et al. is identical to West et al. and Dommermuth and Yue while Craig and Sulem is slightly different due to minor differences in the operator definition. For application to the free-surface boundary conditions West et al. devised a consistent truncation at nonlinear order. This alters the equivalence of the different approaches when it comes to the evaluation of the temporal derivative of the free surface elevation, which is decisive for wave evolution. In this regard Craig and Sulem is found to be identical to West et al. while Bateman et al. is identical to Dommermuth and Yue. Pseudo code is provided for alternative computational schemes in Fourier-space and physical space, respectively, along with a discussion of efficiency and potential flexibility.     

Diagnosis of the sediment transport in the Belgian Coastal Zone

Estimating the age of particles in marine environment constitutes an invaluable tool to understand the interactions between complex flows and sediment dynamics, particularly in highly energetic coastal areas such as the Belgian Coastal Zone (Southern Bight in the North Sea). To this end, the Constituent Age and Residence time Theory – CART – introduced by Delhez, E.J.M., Campin, J.-M., Hirst, A.C., Deleersnijder, E. [1999a. Toward a general theory of the age in ocean modelling. Ocean Modelling 1, 17–27] for passive water constituents is extended to describe the sediment dynamics. It is then used in combination with a three-dimensional coupled hydrodynamic-sediment transport model to investigate sediment processes in the Belgian Coastal Zone focusing on two complementary aspects of the sediment dynamics: the internal sediment motion and redistribution within the Belgian coast; and the horizontal transport.     

Numerical calculation of forces induced by short-crested waves on a vertical cylinder of arbitrary cross-section

Most off-shore oil platforms are supported by vertical cylinders extending to the ocean floor. An important problem in off-shore engineering is the calculation of the wave loading exerted on these vertical cylinders. Analytical solutions have been found for the case of plane incident waves incident on a circular cylinder by MacCamy and Fuchs [(1954), Wave forces on piles: a diffraction theory. U.S. Army Corps of Engineering, Beach Erosion Board, Technical Memorandum No. 69] and also for short-crested waves incident on a circular cylinder by Zhu [(1993), Diffraction of short-crested waves around a circular cylinder. Ocean Engng 20, 389–407]. However, for a cylinder of arbitrary cross-section, no analytic solutions currently exist. Au and Brebbia [(1983), Diffraction of water waves for vertical cylinders using boundary elements. Appl. Math. Modelling 7, 106–114] proposed an efficient numerical approach to calculate the wave loads induced by plane waves on vertical cylinders by using the boundary element method. However, wind-generated waves are better modelled by short-crested waves. Whether or not these short-crested waves can induce larger wave forces on a structure is of great concern to ocean engineers. In this paper wave loads, induced by short-crested incident waves, on a vertical cylinder of arbitrary cross-section are discussed. For a cylinder of certain cross-section, the wave loads induced by short-crested waves can be larger than those induced by plane waves with the same total wave number.     

Wave forces on a large, horizontal submerged cylinder

A numerical boundary integral equation method combined with a non-linear time stepping procedure is used for the calculation of wave forces on a large, submerged, horizontal circular cylinder. As the method is based on potential theory, all computations are performed in the inertia dominated domain, that is, for small Keulegan-Carpenter numbers. Computations are carried out for the Eulerian mean current under wave trough level equal to zero. When the cylinder is moved towards the sea bed the computations show that the inertia coefficients increase significantly, which is associated with a blockage effect. Furthermore, the effect of the wave steepness is reduced when the submergence of the cylinder is increased. In the vicinity of the free water surface the vertical inertia coefficient is highly dependent upon the wave steepness, which tends to reduce it, whereas the horizontal inertia coefficient is only slightly dependent on the wave steepness. Computations are also carried out for cylinder diameters comparable with the wave length. Finally, inertia coefficients computed by the present method are compared with some analytical results by Ogilvie [(1963), First and second order forces on a cylinder submerged under a free surface. J. Fluid Mech. 16, 451–472]. As long as the assumptions leading to Ogilvie's theory are fulfilled (cylinder radius small compared to the wave length), the results are quite similar.     

Scour below marine pipelines in shoaling conditions for random waves

This paper provides an approach by which the scour depth below pipelines in shoaling conditions beneath non-breaking and breaking random waves can be derived. Here the scour depth formula in shoaling conditions for regular non-breaking and breaking waves with normal incidence to the pipeline presented by Cevik and Yüksel [Cevik, E. and Yüksel, Y., (1999). Scour under submarine pipelines in waves in shoaling conditions. ASCE J. Waterw., Port, Coast. Ocean Eng., 125 (1), 9–19.] combined with the wave height distribution including shoaling and breaking waves presented by Mendez et al. [Mendez, F.J., Losada, I.J. and Medina, R., (2004). Transformation model of wave height distribution on planar beaches. Coast. Eng. 50 (3), 97–115.] are used. Moreover, the approach is based on describing the wave motion as a stationary Gaussian narrow-band random process. An example of calculation is also presented.     

Interaction of regular waves with a group of dual porous circular cylinders

Diffraction of linear waves around a group of dual porous cylinders consisting of a thin and porous outer cylinder with an impermeable inner cylinder is investigated analytically based on the eigenfunction expansion method proposed by Spring and Monkmeyer [Spring BH, Monkmeyer PL. Interaction of plane waves with vertical cylinders. In: Proceedings 14th international coastal engineering conference. 1974. p. 1828–47] and further modified by Linton and Evans [Linton CM, Evans DV. The interaction of waves with arrays of vertical circular cylinders. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 1990;215:549–69]. The present formulation is an extension of the work of Wang and Ren [Wang KH, Ren X. Wave interaction with a concentric porous cylinder system. Ocean Engineering 1994;21(4):343–60], wherein; the interaction of linear waves with a single concentric porous cylinder system was studied. This paper aims at investigating the influence of multiple interactions between the cylinders in the group on the hydrodynamic wave forces, wave run-up and free-surface elevation in their vicinity. Further, the study focuses on the variation of the forces and run-up on the individual cylinders within the group compared to that on isolated cylinders.     

Hydrodynamic interactions in floating cylinder arrays—I. Wave scattering

The hydrodynamic interactions due to wave scattering between the numbers of an array of stationary, truncated circular cylinders simulating the columns of an idealized tension-leg platform (TLP) are investigated. The method of solution for the fluid velocity potential involves replacing scattered waves by equivalent plane waves together with non-planar correction terms. This technique is, therefore, essentially a large spacing approximation. Use of this approach makes it possible to determine the hydrodynamic interactions between the array members utilizing only the diffraction characteristics of an isolated cylinder.Numerical results are presented for six array configurations consisting of 2–6 cylinders representing the legs of idealized TLPs. Calculations of the wave loads on these cylinders have been performed for a range of wave and structural parameters. It is found that, for certain parameter combinations, the influence of neighbouring bodies on the total wave field leads to hydrodynamic loading on individual columns which is significantly greater than the loading they would experience in isolation. The presented results demonstrate the significance of hydrodynamic interactions between TLP columns and clearly indicate that these effects should be considered by the designers and researchers associated with TLPs.