NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF EXTREME WAVE IMPACT ON OFFSHORE PLATFORMS AND COASTAL CONSTRUCTIONS

The simulation tool ComFLOW, developed for accurate predictions of hydrodynamic wave loading, is based on the Navier-Stokes equations. The free-surface dynamics is described through VOF, with local height-function approach to enhance accuracy. Numerical reflections are prevented by specially designed absorbing boundary conditions. Gravity-consistent density averaging for two-phase flow prevents spurious velocities near the free surface. Good progress has been made in the prediction of sloshing, green water loading and wave run-up. In the ComFLOW3 project the focus is on wave propagation, the effect of viscosity in shear layers (regularisation turbulence modelling), interactive vessel-wave dynamics and improved numerical efficiency through local grid refinement.