Numerical Simulation of Breaking Wave Loading on Standing Circular Cylinders with Different Transverse Inclined Angles

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to numerically simulate the breaking wave past a standing cylinder with different transverse inclined angles. The numerical simulations are carried out by solving the Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) equations with the k−ω SST turbulence model. The air–water interface is captured using the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method. The convergence studies on the grid and time-step are performed by examining the total horizontal breaking wave forces on the vertical cylinder. The present numerical results have been validated with the published experimental data. A good agreement is obtained between the present numerical results and the experimental data in terms of the surface elevation and the horizontal breaking wave force. Moreover, the total horizontal breaking wave force is decomposed into low-order and high-order wave forces through Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). It is observed that the free surface elevations in front of the cylinder and the normalized high-order wave force have a minimum value when the transverse inclined angle of the cylinder is 45°. The secondary load causing the higher-harmonic ringing motion of structures is not observed when the cylinder is placed with the transverse inclined angles of 30° and 45°.