Vortex generation and evolution in water waves propagating over a submerged rectangular obstacle: Part I. Solitary waves

Interactions between a solitary wave and a submerged rectangular obstacle are investigated both experimentally and numerically. The Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique is used to measure the velocity field in the vicinity of the obstacle. The generation and evolution of vortices due to flow separation at the corners of the obstacle are recorded and analyzed. It is found that although the size of the vortex at the weatherside of the obstacle is smaller than that at the leeside, the turbulence intensity is, however, stronger. A numerical model, based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations with a k–ϵ turbulence model, is first verified with the measurements. Overall, the agreement between the numerical results and laboratory velocity measurements is good. Using the RANS model, a series of additional numerical experiments with different wave heights and different heights of the rectangular obstacle are then performed to test the importance of the energy dissipation due to the generation of vortices. The corresponding wave transmission coefficient, the wave reflection coefficient and the energy dissipation coefficient are calculated and compared with solutions based on the potential flow theory. As the height of the obstacle increases to D/h=0.7, the energy dissipation inside the vortices can reach nearly 15% of the incoming wave energy.