ABSTRACT
The objective of the present work is to investigate the hydrodynamic loads of a fixed cylinder subjected to regular waves inside a wave flume using OpenFOAM. The suspended cylinder can be considered as a simplification of the support columns of floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs), and the analysis of this simple structure allows a better focus on hydrodynamic loads. The numerical simulations are conducted by solving the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations using Volume of Fluid (VoF). Boundary conditions for wave generation and absorption are adopted from OpenFOAM, and the absorption boundary is modified for deep water condition. Simulations of propagating water waves show excessive wave damping (a significant decrease in wave height over the length of the numerical wave flume) based on K-Omega SST turbulence model. This anomaly is diminished by implementing a buoyancy term in the turbulent kinetic energy equation. Finally, the numerical results are compared with the engineering models and experimental results.
