Numerical modeling of the interaction between submerged floating tunnel and surface waves

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical model for analyzing the nonlinear interaction between the moored Submerged Floating Tunnel (SFT) and surface waves. The mechanics model of the moored floating body driven by wave forces is built, and an efficient mesh update method is employed to dynamically configure the computational meshes solving the Navier-Stokes equations for viscous and incompressible free surface flows with the volume of fluid (VOF) method. Two laboratory experiments are used for validating the numerical model in terms of surface elevations, motion responses and mooring forces of the SFT, indicating the proposed model is capable of simulating the dynamics of the moored floating body under the wave action. This hydrodynamic model is then utilized to simulate the wave-structure interaction of the prototype SFT designed for Funka Bay, Hokkaido located in Japan. A total of 49 cases are designed for the numerical simulation to investigate the characteristics of the wave-tunnel interaction for different hydrodynamic parameters, including wave height, wave period, immersion depth and buoyancy-weight ratio (BWR). The numerical experiments not only shed light on the mooring forces, as well as pitch, sway and heave responses of the SFT in different wave conditions, but also provide guidance for the choice of BWR in engineering design. A medium value of BWR is suggested to be suitable, which is useful for avoiding the happening of snap forces in mooring chains and preventing SFT from experiencing large movement under external forces in severe wave conditions. As the correlation between the motion responses and BWR is not merely linear or quadratic but parabolic with a peak value, the design of BWR should avoid the case where peak motion responses of SFT happen.