CFD simulations of wave–current-body interactions including greenwater and wet deck slamming

Abstract

A numerical method for the solution of unsteady Navier–Stokes equations has been employed in conjunction with an interface-preserving level-set method for the simulation of greenwater effect on offshore structures and ships. In this method, the free surface flows are modeled as immiscible air–water two-phase flows and the free surface itself is represented by the zero level-set function. The Navier–Stokes equations for both the water and air flows are formulated in moving curvilinear coordinate system and discretized using the finite-analytic method on a non-staggered multi-block grid system. Large eddy simulation (LES) approach is used with Smagorinsky model to account for the effects of turbulence induced by violent free surface motions. A chimera domain decomposition approach is implemented using overlapping, embedding, or matching grids to facilitate the simulation of complex flow around practical configurations. The overset grid system also greatly simplified the simulation of arbitrary translational and rotational motions among various computational blocks. Calculations were performed first for dam-breaking flow and free jet problems involving violent free surface motions. The level-set Navier–Stokes method was then employed for the simulation of slamming of a hemisphere, greenwater on offshore structure and ships, and wet deck slamming of an X-Craft in pitch and heave motions. The numerical results clearly demonstrated the capability of the level-set method to deal with violent free surface flows involving breaking waves, water droplets, trapped air bubbles, and wave–current-body interactions.