Numerical simulation of the dynamic response of floating structures

This paper summarizes a computational procedure for the simulation of wave-structure interactions. The procedure combines the Boundary Element Method (BEM) for potential flows and a predictor-corrector scheme for the time-integration of the nonlinear free-surface condition. In order to have a good representation of a domain of infinite extent, a significant part of the procedure deals with the formulation of a nonreflecting boundary condition for multidirectional waves. This formulation is based on generalizations of modal-superposition in a least-squares sense. In spite of the assumption that the linearized free-surface condition is satisfied in the far field, the proposed nonreflecting boundary condition gives reasonably good performance in absorbing the nonlinear free-surface waves from the interior. The verification and validation of the time–domain computations show very good agreement between the numerical and experimental data from a physical wave basin.