Numerical analysis on the effects of a submerged bottom-mounted barrier in the head-on collision of two solitary waves

Abstract

The collision of solitary waves is closely related to many physical problems. In this paper, the effects of a submerged bottom-mounted barrier in the head-on collision of two solitary waves are analyzed using a self-developed two-dimensional two-phase flow model. Advanced Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) grid is adopted to reduce the computational cost. The free surface is captured with the Volume of Fraction (VOF) method combined with Piecewise Linear Interface Calculation (PLIC). The Immersed Boundary (IB) method is used to account for the existence of the barrier. Several benchmark problems including solitary wave propagation, head-on collision of two solitary waves, and solitary wave past a submerged barrier are considered to validate the accuracy of the model. Then the model is utilized to simulate the head-on collision of two solitary waves with the existence of a submerged bottom-mounted barrier. Both the symmetric (two waves with equal amplitudes) and asymmetric (two waves with unequal amplitudes) head-on collisions are investigated. The results with and without the barrier are compared and analyzed in detail. Special attention is paid to the variations of the wave amplitudes and the vortex sheddings.