NUMERICAL MODELING OF WAVE-STRUCTURE INTERACTION BY A 3-DIMENSIONAL NONLINEAR BOUNDARY ELEMENT METHOD - A STEP TOWARDS THE NUMERICAL WAVE TANK

A three-dimensional numerical model for determination of the interaction between non-linear water waves and a structure is developed. The model is based on a boundary integral equation method for the spatial solution of a potential theory problem, combined with a time-stepping method based on the fully non-linear free surface conditions for temporal updating of the boundary. Computational results arc given of the wave field around and the forces and moments on a structure in the fluid domain. Comparison with experimental results shows good agreement. The present model is considered to be one of the steps towards a three-dimensional numerical model in which the wave-structure interaction in a wave tank can be simulated.