Numerical Simulations of Wave-Induced Flow Fields around Large-Diameter Surface-Piercing Vertical Circular Cylinder

A computational analysis is performed on the diffraction of water waves induced by large-diameter, surface-piercing, vertical circular cylinder. With reference to linear-wave cases, the phenomenon is preliminarly considered in terms of velocity potential, a simplified theoretical framework in which both hypotheses of inviscid fluid and irrotational flow are incorporated. Then, and as a first-approximation analysis, the Euler equations in primitive variables are considered (a framework in which the fluid is still handled as inviscid, but the field can be rotational). Finally, the real-fluid behavior is analyzed, by numerically integrating the full Navier-Stokes equations (viscous fluid and rotational field) in their velocity-pressure formulation, by following the approach of the Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS, no models are used for the fluctuating portion of the velocity field). For further investigation of the flow fields, the swirling-strength criterion for flow-structure extraction, and the Karhunen-Loève (KL) decomposition technique for the extraction of the most energetic flow modes respectively, are applied to the computed fields. It is found that remarkable differences exist between the wave-induced fields, as derived within the different computing frameworks tested.