Wave-Current Loading on a Vertical Slender Cylinder by Two Different Numerical Models

Abstract

The study of the effects resulting from the interaction of a combined wave-current field with any ocean structure is important for the design and performance evaluation of that structure. The prudent computation of forces exerted by waves and currents is an essential task in the study of the stability of an offshore structure. A study on the loading of an oblique wave and a current field on a fixed vertical slender cylinder in a 3D flow frame is illustrated in Zaman and Baddour (2004). The three dimensional expressions describing the characteristics of the combined wave-current field in terms of mass, momentum and energy flux conservation equations are formulated. The parameters before the interaction of the oblique wave-free uniform current and current-free wave are used to formulate the kinematics of the flow field. These expressions are also employed to formulate and calculate the loads imparted by the wave-current fluid flow on a bottom mounted slender vertical cylinder. In this work a 2D version of the above 3D model called here Model-I has been used for the numerical computations presented in this paper. The second model denoted model-II in the present paper is based on Euler equations. This model is formulated through the vertical integration of the continuity equation and the equations of motions, Zaman et al (1997). A semi-implicit numerical technique is employed for the numerical solution. In the present paper comparisons are made between the results obtained from the 2D version of the above models in finite depth. Both models are then compared with some relevant experimental data. Morison et al equation (1950) is deployed for the load computations in all cases.