Wave Interaction With a Shallowly Submerged Step in 2D

Abstract

Water wave propagation over shallowly submerged structures is of much interest in the context of submerged wave energy devices, breakwaters or barrier reefs. This work examines waves passing over a two-dimensional shallowly submerged fixed step extending to the seabed. The problem has been modelled in CFD using the open source toolbox OpenFoam utilising the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes Equations. These simulations are compared to experimental work from a previous study as means of validation and extended to larger amplitude waves for a single incident wave frequency. The flow over the step is characterised and examined in the context of developing an efficient hybrid numerical model for the problem.