Wave Forcing and Wave Scattering From a Vertical Surface-Piercing Cylinder

Abstract

This paper concerns the nonlinear, higher-harmonic, wave-forces acting on a vertical surface-piercing cylinder. New laboratory data is presented which confirms that in the case a vertical cylinder, the diameter of which is large but not sufficiently large that the body lies within the linear diffraction regime, the second- and third-harmonic forces are not well described by existing models. This is particularly apparent when the incident waves are steep and have a relatively small wave period. Indeed, under these conditions the second-, third- and fourth-harmonic forces are shown to be comparable in size. This is clearly at odds with the results of a traditional perturbation expansion. An explanation for this lies in the nature of the scattered wave field, particularly the high-frequency waves identified by Sheikh & Swan [1]. The phasing of these scattered waves are, at least in part, dependent upon the motion of the fluid around the circumference of the cylinder and will not therefore be captured by a series solution based solely on the harmonics of the incident wave motion. The paper considers several test cases, fully exploring the correlation between the nonlinear forcing and the high-frequency scattering. The practical implications of these results are also addressed.