Numerical study of the interaction between an internal solitary wave and a submerged extended cylinder using OpenFOAM

Abstract

To investigate the impacts of cylinder extended length, rotation angle and wave incidence angle on hydrodynamic characteristics, the numerical simulation of an internal solitary wave (ISW) interaction with a submerged extended cylinder is conducted by using OpenFOAM. The accordance between the experimental data and numerical simulation forces on the isolated cylinder shows that the OpenFOAM-based numerical model can deal with the ISW-submerged cylinder interaction. The distributions of forces, maximum dynamic pressure forces and flow field around the submerged extended cylinder are discussed to reveal the hydrodynamic characteristics of submerged cylinder under the ISW action. The horizontal forces on an extended cylinder are found to change from increasing to decreasing with the increase in extended length when the extended length is 2.5 times the cylinder diameter. The forces on the cylinder are sensitive to the change in the rotation angle. Both the horizontal loads and the evolution of the wave profile are easily affected by the change in incidence angle. The vortices shedding around the cylinder varies with the change of wave incidence angle. Investigation of the ISW and a submerged cylinder interactions can help to understand the mechanism of structural damage in internal wave ocean environment.