A numerical and experimental study of a buoy interacting with waves
International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow
ISSN: 0961-5539
Article publication date: 6 November 2023
Issue publication date: 2 January 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to report the study of a fluid buoy system that includes wave effects, with particular emphasis on validating the numerical results with experimental data.
Design/methodology/approach
A fluid–solid coupled algorithm is proposed to describe the motion of a rigid buoy under the effects of waves. The Navier–Stokes equations are solved with the open-source finite volume package Code Saturne, in which a free-surface capture technique and equations of motion for the solid are implemented. An ad hoc experiment on a laboratory scale is built. A buoy is placed into a tank partially filled with water; the tank is mounted into a shake table and subjected to controlled motion that promotes waves. The experiment allows for recording the evolution of the free surface at the control points using the ultrasonic sensors and the movement of the buoy by tracking the markers by postprocessing the recorded videos. The numerical results are validated by comparison with the experimental data.
Findings
The implemented free-surface technique, developed within the framework of the finite-volume method, is validated. The best-obtained agreement is for small amplitudes compatible with the waves evolving under deep-water conditions. Second, the algorithm proposed to describe rigid-body motion, including wave analysis, is validated. The numerical body motion and wave pattern satisfactorily matched the experimental data. The complete 3D proposed model can realistically describe buoy motions under the effects of stationary waves.
Originality/value
The novel aspects of this study encompass the implementation of a fluid–structure interaction strategy to describe rigid-body motion, including wave effects in a finite-volume context, and the reported free-surface and buoy position measurements from experiments. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the numerical strategy, the validation of the computed results and the experimental data are all original contributions of this work.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the support given by the institutions listed in the funding list. The first exploratory experimental test was conducted in collaboration with the Ing. Maitane Uribe; the authors thank her for her strong dedication in the early stages of the study.
Funding: The study was supported by grants ANID-Fondecyt 1210228, Departamento de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Universidad de Santiago de Chile DICYT 052016C, and Universidad Nacional del Litoral CAI+D 50620190100110LI, ANPCyT PICT 2018-2920 and 2018-1607, PICT-E 2018-0271.
Ethics statement: This study did not include studies on human subjects, data, human tissues, animals, or any other objects under legal protection.
Citation
Núñez Aedo, J., Cruchaga, M.A. and Storti, M.A. (2024), "A numerical and experimental study of a buoy interacting with waves", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 280-308. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-01-2023-0040
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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