Modeling of fully nonlinear wave radiation by submerged moving structures using the higher order boundary element method

The higher-order boundary element method is applied to the numerical simulation of nonlinear waves radiated by a forced oscillating fully submerged vertical circular cylinder. In this time-domain approach, the mixed boundary value problem based on an Eulerian description at each time step is solved using the higher order boundary element method. The 4th-order Runge-Kutta scheme is adopted to update the free water surface boundary conditions expressed in a Lagrangian formulation. Following completion of the numerical model, the problems of radiation (heave) of water waves by a submerged sphere in finite depth are simulated and the computed results are verified against the published numerical results in order to ensure the effectiveness of the model. The validated numerical model is then applied to simulate the nonlinear wave radiation by a fully submerged vertical circular cylinder undergoing various forced sinusoidal motion in otherwise still conditions. The numerical results are obtained for a series of wave radiation problems; the completely submerged cylinder is placed in surging, heaving and combined heave-pitching motions with different drafts, amplitudes and frequencies. The corresponding numerical results of the cylinder motions, wave profiles, and hydrodynamic forces are then compared and explained for all the cases. © 2014 Harbin Engineering University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.