Experimental and Numerical Analysis of the Hydrodynamics around a Vertical Cylinder in Waves

The present study provides an extensive analysis on the hydrodynamics induced by a vertical slender pile under wave action. The authors carried out the study both experimentally and numerically, thus enabling a deep understanding of the flow physics. The experiments took place at a wave flume of the Universita Politecnica delle Marche. Two different experimental campaigns were performed: In the former one, a mobile bed model was realized with the aims to study both the scour process and the hydrodynamics around the cylinder; in the latter one, the seabed was rigid in order to make undisturbed optical measurements, providing a deeper analysis of the hydrodynamics. The numerical investigation was made by performing a direct numerical simulation. A second order numerical discretization, both in time and in space, was used to solve the Navier–Stokes equations while a volume of fluid (VOF) approach was adopted for tracking the free surface. The comparison between experimental and numerical results is provided in terms of velocity, pressure distributions around the cylinder, and total force on it. The analysis of the pressure gradient was used to evaluate the generation and evolution of vortices around the cylinder. Finally, the relation between scour and bed shear stresses due to the structure of the vortex pattern around the pile was assessed. It is worth noting that the physical understanding of this last analysis was enabled by the combined use of experimental data on scour and numerical data on the flow pattern.