Computation of the inertia-dominated forces on horizontal circular cylinders placed in oblique waves and near to a plane bed

Wave-force coefficients of horizontal circular cylinders inclined with respect to the incoming waves, are studied numerically under conditions when the effects of flow separation are insignificant. The mathematical model is set in terms of a boundary-value problem for the velocity potential of the wave, which is formulated under the assumption of the linear diffraction theory, and solved numerically by the boundary element method. The numerical calculations are performed in the vertical plane, assuming uniform water depths in the direction along the axis of the cylinder. A first-order correction to the pressures is introduced to take account of the asymmetry of the velocity field around the cylinder when it is close to the plane bed. The correction procedure is found to be highly effective in computing the transverse forces for small gap ratios. The numerical results show that irrespective of the values of the gap ratio, the in-line forces are always sensitive to the wave directionality. The transverse forces, however, show sensitivity only for the smaller gap ratios. It is also shown that by accounting for the wave directionality effects in the wave kinematics only, the forces could be estimated to a certain extent by using the hydrodynamic force coefficients of inertia and lift corresponding to the normal waves.