Nonlinear Dynamic Behaviors of A Floating Structure in Focused Waves

Floating structures are commonly seen in coastal and offshore engineering. They are often subjected to extreme waves and, therefore, their nonlinear dynamic behaviors are of great concern. In this paper, an in-house CFD code is developed to investigate the accurate prediction of nonlinear dynamic behaviors of a two-dimensional (2-D) box-shaped floating structure in focused waves. Computations are performed by an enhanced Constrained Interpolation Profile (CIP)-based Cartesian grid model, in which a more accurate VOF (Volume of Fluid) method, the THINC/SW scheme (THINC: tangent of hyperbola for interface capturing; SW: Slope Weighting), is used for interface capturing. A focusing wave theory is used for the focused wave generation. The wave component of constant steepness is chosen. Comparisons between predictions and physical measurements show good agreement including body motions and free surface profiles. Although the overall agreement is good, some discrepancies are observed for impact pressure on the superstructure due to water on deck. The effect of grid resolution on the results is checked. With a fine grid, no obvious improvement is seen in the global body motions and impact pressures due to water on deck. It is concluded that highly nonlinear phenomena, such as distorted free surface, large-amplitude body motions, and violent impact flow, have been predicted successfully.     

A CIP-based numerical simulation of free surface flow related to freak waves

An enhanced numerical model for simulating two-dimensional incompressible viscous flow with distorted free surface is reported. The numerical simulation is carried out through the CIP （Constrained Interpolation Profile）-based method, which is described in the paper. A more accurate interface capturing scheme, the VOF/WLIC scheme （VOF：Volume-of-Fluid;WLIC：weighed line interface calculation）, is adopted as the interface capturing method. To assess the developed algorithm and its versatility, a selection of test problems are examined, i.e. the square wave propagation, the Zalesak’s rigid body rotation, dam breaking problem with and without obstacles, wave sloshing in an excited wave tank and interaction between extreme waves and a floating body. Excellent agreements are obtained when numerical results are compared with available analytical, experimental, and other numerical results. These examples demonstrate that the use of the VOF/WLIC scheme in the free surface capturing makes better results and also the proposed CIP-based model is capable of predicting the freak wave-related phenomena.     

Numerical Study of the Impact of Climate Change on Irregular Wave Run-up Over Reef-Fringed Coasts

Wave hydrodynamics over fringing reefs is largely controlled by the reef surface roughness and hydrodynamic forcing. It is believed that climate change will result in a net increase in the water depth over the reef flat, a degrading of the surface roughness of coral reefs and changes in extreme incident wave heights. For an accurate assessment of how climate change affects the safety of reef-fringed coasts, a numerical study of the impact of climate change on irregular wave run-up over reef-fringed coasts was carried out based on a Boussinesq wave model,FUNWAVE-TVD. Validated with experimental data, the present model shows reasonable prediction of irregular wave evolution and run-up height over fringing reefs. Numerical experiments were then implemented based on the anticipated effects of climate change and carried out to investigate the effects of sea level rise, degrading of the reef surface roughness and increase of extreme incident wave height on the irregular wave run-up height over the backreef beach respectively. Variations of run-up components(i.e., spectral characteristics of run-up and mean water level) were examined specifically and discussed to better understand the influencing mechanism of each climate change-related effect on the run-up.     

Linear Analysis of Longshore Currents Instability over Mild Slopes

Longshore current instability is important to nearshore hydrodynamic and sediment transport. This paper investigates the longshore current instability growth model based experimental data with different velocity profiles of slopes 1:100 and 1:40 by adopting a linear shear instability model with the bottom friction effects. The results show that: (1) Only backshear mode exists in the instability of longshore current for slope 1:40 and frontshear and backshear modes may exist slope 1:100. (2) The peaks of linear instability growth mode for slope 1:100 correspond to three cases: the dominant peak is formed by the joint action of both frontshear and backshear, or by backshear alone without the existence of the smaller peak or formed by either the frontshear or backshear. (3) Bottom friction can decrease the corresponding unstable growth rate but it cannot change the unstable fluctuation period. The results of fluctuation period, wavelength and spatial variation obtained by the analysis of linear shear instability are in good agreement with experimental results.     

Efficient Focusing Models for Generation of Freak Waves

Four focusing models for generation of freak waves are presented. An extreme wave focusing model is presented on the basis of the enhanced High-Order Spectral (HOS) method and the importance of the nonlinear wave-wave interaction is evaluated by comparison of the calculated results with experimental and theoretical data. Based on the modification of the Longuet-Higgins model, four wave models for generation of freak waves (a. extreme wave model + random wave model; b. extreme wave model + regular wave model...     

Numerical Study of Dam-Break Induced Tsunami-Like Bore with A Hump of Different Slopes

Numerical simulation of dam-break wave, as an imitation of tsunami hydraulic bore, with a hump of different slopes is performed in this paper using an in-house code, named a Constrained Interpolation Profile (CIP)-based model. The model is built on a Cartesian grid system with the Navier Stokes equations using a CIP method for the flow solver, and employs an immersed boundary method (IBM) for the treatment of solid body boundary. A more accurate interface capturing scheme, the Tangent of hyperbola for interface capturing/Slope weighting (THINC/SW) scheme, is adopted as the interface capturing method. Then, the CIP-based model is applied to simulate the dam break flow problem in a bumpy channel. Considerable attention is paid to the spilling type reflected bore, the following spilling type wave breaking, free surface profiles and water level variations over time. Computations are compared with available experimental data and other numerical results quantitatively and qualitatively. Further investigation is conducted to analyze the influence of variable slopes on the flow features of the tsunami-like bore.     

Experimental Study on Flow past A Rotationally Oscillating Cylinder

A series of experiments was carried out to study the flow behaviour behind a rotationally oscillating cylinder at a low Reynolds number (Re=300) placed in a recirculation water channel. A stepper motor was used to rotate the cylinder clockwise- and- counterclockwise about its longitudinal axis at selected frequencies. The particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique was used to capture the flow field behind a rotationally oscillating cylinder. Instantaneous and time-averaged flow fields such as the vorticity contours, streamline topologies and velocity distributions were analyzed. The effects of four rotation angle and frequency ratios F_r (F_r=f_n/f_v, the ratio of the forcing frequency f_n to the natural vortex shedding frequency f_v) on the wake in the lee of a rotationally oscillating cylinder were also examined. The significant wake modification was observed when the cylinder undergoes clockwise-and-counterclockwise motion with amplitude of π, especially in the range of 0.6≤F_r≤1.0.     

Effects of Wave Breaking on Freak Wave Generation in Random Wave Train

The experimental studies of the wave breaking effects on freak wave generation are presented within a finite-depth random wave train in a laboratory wave tank. The main attention is paid to the abnormal index,AI=Hmax/Hs,being used to characterize the freak waves,and the changes of the coefficient due to wave breaking. The results show that the occurrence probability of freak wave events in non-breaking waves is much larger than that in breaking waves and such occurrence in deep water is larger than that in ...     

Experimental and Numerical Study on the Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Solitary Waves Passing Over A Submerged Breakwater

In this study, solitary waves passing over a submerged breakwater are investigated both experimentally and numerically. A total of 9 experimental conditions are carried out, including different incident wave heights and water depths. Numerical simulations are performed using a high-order finite-difference model solving Navier–Stokes (N–S) equations. The predicted water wave elevation, velocity and pressure show good agreement with experimental data, verifying the accuracy and capacity of the numerical model. Furthermore, parametric studies are conducted by numerical modelling to examine the effects of the geometrical features of submerged dike on hydrodynamic characteristics around the breakwater.     

Numerical Simulation of Water Entry of Wedges in Waves Using A CIP-Based Model

In this study,the water entry of wedges in regular waves is numerically investigated by a two-dimensional in-house numerical code.The numerical model based on the viscous Navier?Stokes(N?S)equations employs a high-order different method—the constrained interpolation profile(CIP)method to discretize the convection term.A Volume of Fluid(VOF)-type method,the tangent of hyperbola for interface capturing/slope weighting(THINC/SW)is employed to capture the free surface/interface,and an immersed boundary method is adopted to treat the motion of wedges.The momentum source function derived from the Boussinesq equation is applied as an internal wavemaker to generate regular waves.The accuracy of the numerical model is validated in comparison with experimental results in the literature.The results of water entry in waves are provided in terms of the impact force of wedge,velocity and pressure distributions of fluid.Considerable attention is paid to the effects of wave parameters and the position of wedge impacting the water surface.It is found that the existence of waves significantly influences the velocity and pressure field of fluid and impact force on the wedges.