Hydrodynamic Wave Loading on Offshore Structures Simulated by a Two-Phase Flow Model

The numerical simulation of hydrodynamic wave loading on different types of offshore structures is important to predict forces on and water motion around these structures. This paper presents a numerical study of two-phase flow over a sloping bottom with the presence of breaking waves. The details of the numerical model, an improved Volume Of Fluid (iVOF) method, are presented in the paper. The program has been developed initially to study the sloshing of liquid fuel in satellites. This micro-gravity environment requires a very accurate and robust description of the free surface. Later, the numerical model has been used for calculations of green water loading and the analysis of anti-roll and sloshing tanks, including the coupling with ship motions. The model has been extended recently to take two-phase flow effects into account. Two-phase flow effects are particularly important near the free surface, where loads on offshore structures strongly depend on the interaction between different phases like air and water. Entrapment of air pockets and entrainment of bubble clouds have a cushioning effect on breaking wave impacts. The velocity field around the interface of air and water, being continuous across the free surface, requires special attention. By using a newly-developed gravity-consistent discretisation, spurious velocities at the free surface are prevented. Thus far, the second air phase has been treated as incompressible. Taking compressibility effects into account requires a pressure-density relation for grid cells containing air. The expansion and compression of air pockets is considered as an adiabatic process. The numerical model is validated on several test cases. In this paper special attention will be paid to the impact of a breaking wave over a sloping bottom.