Numerical and experimental investigation of interactions between free-surface waves and a floating breakwater with cylindrical-dual/rectangular-single pontoon

This paper investigates the hydrodynamic performance of a cylindrical-dual or rectangular-single pontoon floating breakwater using the numerical method and experimental study. The numerical simulation work is based on the multi-physics computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code and an innovative full-structured dynamic grid method applied to update the three-degree-of-freedom (3-DOF) rigid structure motions. As a time-marching scheme, the trapezoid analogue integral method is used to update the time integration combined with remeshing at each time step. The application of full-structured mesh elements can prevent grids distortion or deformation caused by large-scale movement and improve the stability of calculation. In movable regions, each moving zone is specified with particular motion modes (sway, heave and roll). A series of experimental studies are carried out to validate the performance of the floating body and verify the accuracy of the proposed numerical model. The results are systematically assessed in terms of wave coefficients, mooring line forces, velocity streamlines and the 3-DOF motions of the floating breakwater. When compared with the wave coefficient solutions, excellent agreements are achieved between the computed and experimental data, except in the vicinity of resonant frequency. The velocity streamlines and wave profile movement in the fluid field can also be reproduced using this numerical model.