Free-surface flow simulations for moored and floating offshore platforms

During the development of the ComFLOW simulation method many challenges have to be tackled concerning the flow modelling and the numerical solution algorithm. Examples hereof are wave propagation, absorbing boundary conditions, fluid–solid body interaction, turbulence modeling and numerical efficiency. Some of these challenges will be discussed in the paper, in particular the design of absorbing boundary conditions and the numerical coupling for fluid–solid body interaction. As a demonstration of the progress made, a number of simulation results for engineering applications from the offshore industry will be presented: a wave-making oscillating buoy, a free-fall life boat dropping into wavy water, and wave impact against a semi-submersible offshore platform. For those applications, MARIN has carried out several validation experiments.Ship Hydromechanics and Structure