Validation of CFD Predictions of Wave Propagation and Forces on a Cylinder in a Long Flume*

During hurricanes, coastal residential structures are subjected to high winds in combination with storm surge and subsequent waves. Elevating a building above the Base Flood Elevation will reduce flood damage, but the effects of wind-wave interaction in the areas surrounding and beneath the structure on the pressure distributions seen during extreme weather events are not well understood. Our long-term goal is to enable computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predictions of combined wind-wave loading. 

The objective of this initial study is to validate CFD predictions of the pressure distributions on a cylinder resulting from wave-only loading conditions. Numerical results from multiphase 2D and 3D RANS simulations using the OpenFOAM toolbox will be validated against experimental data of regular surface waves propagating down the OSU Large Wave Flume in still air and interacting with a steel cylinder. The full 87.64m flume is included in the CFD domain. Surface elevations, velocity profiles, wave run-up on pile, and pressure distributions will be compared. The sensitivity of the numerical wave and wind profiles to various model parameters is investigated. 

Preliminary results show good agreement between numerical and experimental results. The findings of this study will be used to inform next steps toward validated simulation of coupled wind-wave loading on coastal structures.