Numerical study of roll motion of a 2-D floating structure in viscous flow

In the present study, an open source CFD tool, OpenFOAM has been extended and applied to investigate roll motion of a 2-D rectangular barge induced by nonlinear regular waves in viscous flow. Comparisons of the present OpenFOAM results with published potential-flow solutions and experimental data have indicated that the newly extended OpenFOAM model is very capable of accurate modelling of wave interaction with freely rolling structures. The wave-induced roll motions, hydrodynamic forces on the barge, velocities and vorticity fields in the vicinity of the structure in the presence of waves have been investigated to reveal the real physics involved in the wave induced roll motion of a 2-D floating structure. Parametric analysis has been carried out to examine the effect of structure dimension and body draft on the roll motion.