Optimized Generation and Absorption for Three-Dimensional Numerical Wave and Current Facilities

Abstract

This article presents an optimized setup for a numerical wave/current facility that allows for fast and efficient generation and absorption of random directional waves, in the presence of uniform noncollinear ambient currents. In this study, the generation of waves was optimized, in terms of computational effort, by replacing the built-in sine and cosine functions with a Taylor series approximation. The mesh in the absorption zone was also optimized with the use of a mesh grading that resulted in larger cells toward the outflow boundary. Results show that the numerical cost is reduced by 70% for the wave generation and by 90% for wave absorption. Results compare very well for wave generation with and without currents with respect to regular wave/current and random wave theories. Wave reflection was generally less than 1% for linear waves, less than 4% for nonlinear waves, and less than 5% for random waves.