Numerical Simulation of Wave Interaction With a Hinged Multi-Module Floating Structure

This paper studies the interaction of water waves with a hinged multi-module floating structure, using a numerical model based on smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method. The simulation is performed in a 2D nonlinear numerical wave tank (NWT) equipped with an active absorbing wave maker and a sponge layer. The motion of the multi-module floating structure is calculated follow the Newton’s second law. The hydrodynamic forces on the floating modules are evaluated using the volume integration of the stress tensors obtained from the momentum equation in its compact support. A linear spring model is employed to calculate the mooring force. The collision forces acting on neighboring modules are acquired based on the strain-stress relationship of rubber bumper between the neighboring modules, and a continuity condition of linear acceleration at the hinge joint is built and implicit equations are solved utilizing Gauss-Jordan elimination method. To validate the numerical model, a laboratory experiment is conducted in a wave flume. Comparisons of the computed and measured data show reasonable agreements in terms of the wave surface profiles, mooring forces, connector forces and motion attitudes of the hinged multi-module floating structure in spite of slight discrepancies of the peak values of connector forces and the valley values of mooring forces.