Numerical simulation of progressive wave interaction with slender structures

Ernest Odhiambo
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, 43 Keelung Road, Section 4,
Taipei 10607, Taiwan.
Abstract
Predicting the performance of offshore structures significantly reduces the risk of disaster and
unnecessary capital costs. Often these structures are made from a framework of slender cylindrical
columns as in the case of offshore platforms or perfectly flexible cylindrical cables used for mooring
compliant vessels. For structures with such slenderness, the hydrodynamic drag forces due to vortices
resulting from flow separation may seriously breach their operational integrity. This becomes even more
important when flow conditions are in the so-called lock-in regime. The current study investigates the
impact of the hydrodynamic loading that bears upon these structures by considering the nonlinearities due
to the structural geometry. In this study, the fluid motions are solved using the full Navier-Stokes
equations, and the free surface of the waves is captured by the Volume-of-Fluid (VoF) method. We model
a rigidly bottom-mounted cylinder on the basis of the classical Euler-Bernoulli equation for laterally
vibrating beams. We apply the Direct Forcing Immersed Boundary (DFIB) method to simulate the
interplay between regular progressive waves and vortices in the vicinity of cylindrical structures. The
Direct Forcing Immersed Boundary (DFIB) simulation method has been preferred for its simplicity and
robustness in resolving fluid structure interaction (FSI) situations. The DFIB method relies on a fixed
Cartesian mesh, quite distinct from the conventional body-fitted routine, which uses an adaptive meshing
method. Consequently there is a tremendous reduction in design time, which means a better turnaround.
The novelty of the DFIB method, which is based on the momentum conservation principle, is anchored
on the idea of replacing the solid body with its equivalent momentum effect on the equations governing
the fluid motion. A lock-in regime, which exhibits large amplitudes of vibration, has been observed. The
cylinder vibrates at twice the wave frequency and at near enough its natural frequency, within this regime.
The stress distribution analysis performed within the lock-in range captures the influence of the
undulating fluid motion on the rigidly-mounted cylinder. A key finding is the fact that the lock-in
phenomenon is an attribute of vortex shedding (flow separation) rather than the fluid inertia (wave
motion). This thought has been corroborated by comparing the frequency of vibration of the cylinder
within the lock-in range and the spectral response of the associated fluid velocity in the vicinity of the
cylinder. An additional finding is that the transitional property of the selected Keulegan-Carpenter number
(KC = 7), appears to only affect the transience of the FSI, in prolonging the time constant of the
cylinders vibration envelope. This effect is more pronounced within the lock-in regime.

Keywords: fluid structure interaction, vortex shedding, lock-in, immersed boundary method