A Numerical Study of a Focused Wave Packet Near the Surf Zone

In this paper the numerical modeling of breaking waves propagating on a gently sloping bottom in shallow water is investigated. As more and more countries look to install offshore wind farms in their coastal waters, the breaking wave impact force on wind turbine foundations has been an area of increased research. For meaningful comparisons between measurement and simulation, the numerical reconstruction of the model test breaking wave event must be fairly exact. The combination of numerical reconstruction of model tests using computational fluid dynamics has proved a valuable tool to provide insight into the physics of the breaking wave phenomenon in deep water ([1]). To refine the technique of numerically reconstructing the breaking wave in shallow water, comparisons to a series of model tests with breaking wave events near the surf zone are made. The sloping bottom is modeled with a ramp with a gradient of 2.8 degrees in a wave tank. This paper describes the numerical reproduction of a focused wave packet, for studying its shoaling and breaking. The commercial CFD tool Star-CCM+ has been used to reproduce a measured focused wave packet train in a numerical wave tank. Its RANSE physical model with VOF technique is applied for this investigation. The numerical wave generation is based on the technique presented in [1], where the measured angle of the wave makers flap and the measured free surface elevation at the flap has been used to define a transient inlet condition for the simulation. In this paper, the numerically simulated wave elevation around the breaking point is compared with the measured time series. Promising results are obtained. The numerical model reproduces, at the same location and time, the breaking events as it was observed during the model test. One conclusion from this particular case is that the time step is critical; it should be very small during the breaking events which may result in a very long simulation time. Further work is suggested to meet this challenge, as well as for more refined studies to improve the complete numerical wave tank model.Copyright © 2012 by ASME