Computation of dynamic loads exerted by regular water waves on a vertical cylinder with application to offshore wind turbine

Resumo

Wave forces on near-shore structures constitute relevant information to the design and verification of
structural pieces. This wave loads are particularly important to design reliable piles and foundation of marine
platforms or wind turbines. To investigate the dynamic effects of such forces a numerical wave tank is set in a
finite volume Navier-Stokes solver. In the wave tank a vertical cylinder which represents the wind turbines tower
is affected by free surface waves. Specific inlet and outlet boundary conditions available as part of OpenFoam
distributions are included. Inlet boundary conditions are allowed to recreate either regular and focused wave
conditions, while outlet conditions are established in order to avoid non physical reflections of surface waves
on the artificial limits of the domain. The results obtained for regular waves are compared with experimental
measurements, numerical studies and the Morison equation reference. The wave loads are also used to simulate an
offshore wind turbine where wind loads and soil-structure interaction are considered. Further studies are performed
with focused wave groups and breaking waves.