Numerical Computation of Hydrodynamic Wave Impact

Extreme waves, their impact loading on floating structures and the resulting dynamic response of these structures have long been subjects that could only be studied with experimental methods. Nowadays, computational CFD tools can make a significant contribution to these highly nonlinear flow problems. The paper starts with a short overview of the most popular numerical methods to simulate hydrodynamic wave loading. Emphasis will be on methods based on the Navier-Stokes equations. In particular, the ComFLOW method is presented, which belongs to the VOF family of free-surface simulation methods. Several examples of hydrodynamic impact are shown. For all flow cases experimental data is available to validate the outcome of the calculations.