Simcenter STAR-CCM+ Forced Wave Tank Template

INTRODUCTION

This template can be used as starting point for marine simulations with waves. It implements a “forced wave tank” for regular fifth-order Stokes waves with up-to-date best practices for physical and numerical settings. The meshing strategy supports the possible use of AMR up to a maximum of two levels of refinement. Turbulence is enabled with the Realizable K-Epsilon Two-Layer Model. Tank Motion is also supported in view of testing more general applications of manoeuvring in waves.

The current version of this template only aims at assisting with the setup of pure wave propagation, first on a quasi-2D domain then on a fully 3D tank. No automation is currently available to support the inclusion of a floating object, which must be carried out manually, possibly using the overset approach.

INSTRUCTIONS

Just download the template model “Template_Waves_1902.simt” and create a new Simcenter STAR-CCM+ Simulation based on it. Open the Simulation Guide (menu File > Simulation Guide) and carefully read the instructions on how to use it. The template doesn't require any input in terms of geometry, the wave tank being fully parametric.

You are recommended to use the double precision version of Simcenter STAR-CCM+ to reliably run simulations with waves.

RECOMMENDED WORKFLOW FOR SIMULATIONS WITH WAVES

Goal of this template is to facilitate the setup of simulations with waves in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ by providing a fully parametric “forced wave tank” starting point to easily setup and test pure wave propagation for different type of Stokes waves, domain size, forcing length and discretization choices.

Before attempting to tackle complex scenarios of seakeeping or manoeuvring in waves (which are beyond the scope of this template), you are advised to ensure that you can reliably simulate your wave with given characteristics, and with which computational effort.

The major steps you can follow are then:

1. Use the template in its quasi-2D (default) state to quickly check the quality of your pure wave propagation over the desired simulated time frame, possibly optimizing the discretization parameters to balance accuracy and cost
2. Switch to a fully 3D tank (possibly with symmetry if needed) and find a rough estimate of the CPU cost to resolve the given number of wave passages
3. Add in the floating body with a suitable DFBI setup and Mesh Motion strategy (Overset Mesh is in general the best choice)

Steps (1) and (2) are fully supported by the template, while final step (3) is left to the user.

EXAMPLE

The default setup is a ready-to-run example simulation of a typical Mediterranean wave of height 1 m and wavelength 35 m on a quasi-2D domain. Just load the case, click mesh and run and look at the evolution of the resolved VOF wave in the main Plot.

Example results to review are the comparison between the simulated and reference wave after 10 wave encounters:

The evolution of the maximum difference between the two (which as we can see remains limited):

The water elevation at a probe point fixed in the middle of the wavy tank:

The hydro-dynamic pressure on the domain: