Numerical Simulation of the Oscillating Water Column inside a Vertical Cylinder in Regular Waves Using IHFOAM

Abstract

The motion of the free-surface inside a surface-piercing vertical cylindrical tube can be seen as a simplified approximation of an oscillating-water-column ocean-wave energy-converter (OWC-OWEC). In the present work the IHFOAM code, which solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations by a finite-volume method using the volume-of-fluid (VoF) technique, was used to simulate the action of a regular wave on the free-surface inside a vertical cylinder open to the atmosphere. In this paper the results obtained by IHFOAM are compared with other numerical results and with experimental data, showing a good correspondence between these results. In this way the IHFOAM code was verified (by comparison with other numerical results) and validated (by comparison with experimental data).