Wave interaction with a surface-piercing body in water of finite depth: a parametric study

The wave–body interactions for a surface-piercing body in water of finite depth are studied using a potential-theory-based, two-dimensional, fully nonlinear numerical wave tank. A parametric study was conducted in order to investigate the effects of the non-dimensional water depth, wave steepness, wave frequency, and beam–draft ratio on the wave-exciting forces acting on a fixed surface-piecing barge. It was found that a reduction of the water depth from deep to finite enhances all the wave-exciting forces. In all water depths, the second-order harmonics of the heave force and pitch moment are significantly large, although they can generally be neglected for the surge force. The barge was then allowed to move and the influence of the water depth on its wave forces is investigated. It was found that with the body motion involved, the surge force and the heave force reduce in the first-order harmonics while the pitch moment increases. In addition, a peak appears at finite water depth for the first-order harmonics of the heave force as well as for the heave displacement, indicating the great impact of water depth on the motions experienced by the floating barge