A numerical model for simulating the interaction of dam-break waves and floating structures

Abstract

Using OpenFOAM, a numerical model is proposed to simulate the interaction of dam-break waves and floating structures. A geometric volume-of-fluid (VOF) method (isoAdvector) is combined with overset grid techniques. To avoid undesired air bubbles appearing in bulk water regions, a source term is introduced to the VOF equation. Attempts are made to alleviate mass conservation defects of the overset grid. It is found that: (i) Among the mesh interpolation schemes considered, the kernel scheme is the most preferable because it reaches a better balance between accuracy and efficiency; (ii) Extending donor cell stencils is not recommended because it magnifies the mass conservation defect of the overset grid; (iii) A strong coupling strategy is recommended because it alleviates the “water leak” phenomenon. Then, to validate the numerical model, two cases are simulated. The first case is a three-dimensional floating body case. The result demonstrates that this model performs better in terms of mass conservation than the model proposed by Wang et al. (2021). The second case is a two-dimensional experiment of the interaction of a dam-break wave and a floating box. The result demonstrates that this model has better temporal and spatial convergence than the default overset grid solver in OpenFOAM.