Abstract
This contribution is dedicated to demonstrating the high potential and manifold applications of state-of-the-art computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools for free-surface flows in civil and environmental engineering. All simulations were performed with the academic research code ELBE (efficient lattice boltzmann environment, http://www.tuhh.de/elbe). The ELBE code follows the supercomputing-on-the-desktop paradigm and is especially designed for local supercomputing, without tedious accesses to supercomputers. ELBE uses graphics processing units (GPU) to accelerate the computations and can be used in a single GPU-equipped workstation of, e.g., a design engineer. The code has been successfully validated in very different fields, mostly related to naval architecture and mechanical engineering. In this contribution, we give an overview of past and present applications with practical relevance for civil engineers. The presented applications are grouped into three major categories: (i) tsunami simulations, considering wave propagation, wave runup, inundation and debris flows; (ii) dam break simulations; and (iii) numerical wave tanks for the calculation of hydrodynamic loads on fixed and moving bodies. This broad range of applications in combination with accurate numerical results and very competitive times to solution demonstrates that modern CFD tools in general, and the ELBE code in particular, can be a helpful design tool for civil and environmental engineers.
Highlights
Hydrodynamic free-surface flows with and without fluid-structure interactions (FSI) have received an ever-increasing interest over the past few years
Numerical tools can help to establish early warning systems and to provide accurate and fast predictions for tsunami severeness and the details of coastal impact [4]. Apart from such challenging, even life-threatening long wave propagation applications, local wave impact and wave slamming are of primary importance in the design process in various kinds of engineering sciences, e.g., for the design of offshore structures, such as offshore wind turbines, which are possibly one answer to the open questions concerning the future of our energy supply, the wave impact force on monopiles is the main load case during the design process and has been part of extensive research [5]
ELBE is based on the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) and offers various different collision operators, boundary conditions, turbulence models, interface capturing methods and grid refinement techniques
Summary
Hydrodynamic free-surface flows with and without fluid-structure interactions (FSI) have received an ever-increasing interest over the past few years (see, e.g., [1]). Free surface flows and potential applications of free surface solvers in civil and environmental engineering are addressed. Such flow problems involve an air and a water phase, so that, technically, such flows can be classified as two-phase flows. Numerical tools can help to establish early warning systems and to provide accurate and fast predictions for tsunami severeness and the details of coastal impact [4] Apart from such challenging, even life-threatening long wave propagation applications, local wave impact and wave slamming are of primary importance in the design process in various kinds of engineering sciences, e.g., for the design of offshore structures, such as offshore wind turbines, which are possibly one answer to the open questions concerning the future of our energy supply, the wave impact force on monopiles is the main load case during the design process and has been part of extensive research [5].
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