CFD study of wave interaction with single and two tandem circular cylinders

Abstract Wave-structure interaction is a key consideration for the safe design of offshore structures. This work investigates the non-linear wave interactions with a single cylinder and two tandem cylinders using a numerical wave tank. The numerical simulations are carried out by the in-house CFD solver naoe-FOAM-SJTU, which is developed on the open-source platform OpenFOAM. The numerical simulation is first validated by comparing numerical results and experimental data for regular wave interaction with a single cylinder. Wave interaction with tandem cylinders is then investigated for different center-to-center distances between the cylinders. The surface elevation around the cylinder is probed by a series of wave probes and analyzed using the Fast Fourier analysis. The response amplitude operates of surface elevation for single cylinder case agrees well with experimental data. The wave scattering around the cylinder is qualitatively compared with experimental observation and discussed in detail. The wave scattering fields and wave forces are systematically analyzed. Then the interaction between wave and two tandem cylinders is investigated. The distance between the cylinders highly influences the free surface elevation and wave forces experienced by the tandem cylinders. The local surface elevation and the scattered wave field around the cylinders are also discussed.