Large eddy simulation modeling of tsunami-like solitary wave processes over fringing reefs

Abstract

Abstract. Many low-lying tropical and subtropical reef-fringed coasts are vulnerable to inundation during tsunami events. Hence accurate prediction of tsunami wave transformation and run-up over such reefs is a primary concern in the coastal management of hazard mitigation. To overcome the deficiencies of using depth-integrated models in modeling tsunami-like solitary waves interacting with fringing reefs, a three-dimensional (3-D) numerical wave tank based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool OpenFOAM® is developed in this study. The Navier–Stokes equations for two-phase incompressible flow are solved, using the large eddy simulation (LES) method for turbulence closure and the volume-of-fluid (VOF) method for tracking the free surface. The adopted model is firstly validated by two existing laboratory experiments with various wave conditions and reef configurations. The model is then applied to examine the impacts of varying reef morphologies (fore-reef slope, back-reef slope, lagoon width, reef-crest width) on the solitary wave run-up. The current and vortex evolutions associated with the breaking solitary wave around both the reef crest and the lagoon are also addressed via the numerical simulations.

Numerical simulations of surf zone wave dynamics using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics

“…Alternatively, Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) models use more comprehensive techniques that can capture complex details of the free surface such as under breaking waves. This includes the marker and cell method (Harlow and Welch, 1965), level-set method (Osher and Sethian, 1988), and Volume Of Fluid (VOF) method (Hirt and Nichols, 1981), of which the VOF approach has been most widely adopted to model nearshore processes (e.g., Torres-Freyermuth et al, 2007, Yao et al, 2019. Although these models can capture the breaking process and the turbulent flow field in detail, comparisons between laboratory experiments and mesh-based RANS solvers have highlighted some of the difficulties in accurately predicting turbulent flow fields within the surf zone.…”

Impact Assessment of Breaking Waves Criteria Subjected to Wave Energy Converter

“…The high-level schemes for spatial and temporal discretization approach of the three-dimensional wave breaking criteria subject to wave energy converter installation is carried out using computational fluid dynamic (CFD). The model solves the two-phase fluid turbulent flow problem using large eddy simulation (LES) in a finite volume framework [14,17,18]. The volume of fluid (VoF) is purposed to realize the interface air and water accurately based on split lagrangian scheme.…”

“…The study generates NWT based on Large Eddy Simulation (LES) to improve the issues of simulating the solitary breaking wave over the reefs using Boussinesq. The LES model may be able to explain significant large-scale unsteadiness flow in greater detail [14]. Because the solitary wave transformation over a reef has been extensively studied in the past, the wave-reef interaction analysis is expected to encourage ocean engineering problems [2].…”

“…Regardless of the fact that the aforementioned studies described intriguing findings, this paper was only given a preliminary examination. The Navier-Stokes equations collaboration between the Volume of Fluid (VoF) terms for free-surface monitoring [15] and LES for turbulence approach [14] is computed by the 3-D NWT. In contrast to a previous study [16], this one focuses on the evaluation of breaking wave criteria when subjected to a wave energy converter under varying tidal conditions.…”

Numerical Simulations of a Dispersive Model Approximating Free-Surface Euler Equations

“…Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory of Oregon State University. See for instance [66] for more details. The 1D domain [0, 45] is discretised with x = 0.045 m.…”