Simulation of Steep Focused Wave Interaction with a Fixed Cylinder using Fully Nonlinear Potential Flow and Navier-Stokes Solvers

Cylindrical monopile foundations are commonly applied in coastal and offshore structures at intermediate water depth, where waves may contain highly nonlinear components. The study of the interactions between nonlinear waves and cylindrical foundations is of importance in engineering practice for the evaluation of the stability of these foundations and their survivability in extreme environmental conditions. In this paper, a newly developed finite volume free surface solver based on the fully nonlinear potential flow theory and the existing Navier–Stokes multiphase flow solver in OpenFOAM are adopted for the comparative study of the focused wave impact on a fixed cylinder. Whenever possible, numerical results from the two models are compared to each other and to the available experimental measurements to demonstrate their accuracy, efficiency, and applicability for the particular flow problem.