Numerical study on the interaction between the internal and surface waves by a 2D hydrofoil moving in two-layer stratified fluid

Abstract

The water temperature in the ocean varies according to its depth and generates a thermocline layer. An internal wave can be excited by an object moving near the thermocline layer because the density changes owing to the water temperature. The internal wave propagates and interacts with the surface wave. This study aims to investigate the internal wave propagation in a two-layer stratified flow, generated by 2D hydrofoil (NACA0012) using a RANS based CFD model. Eulerian multiphase methods were used for the modeling of the two-layer stratified flow; Volume of Fluid (VOF) model and mixture model. A two-layer stratified fluid consisting of air(ρair)-water1(ρw1)-water2(ρw2) is considered instead of the thermocline layer to simplify the numerical simulations. The generation and propagation of the internal wave were investigated, with different configurations of the speed and submergence depth of the hydrofoil. The result suggested that the VOF model shows better agreement with the experimental data compared to the mixture model.