CFD and Experiments in Marine Hydrodynamics: Validation Procedure for the Fully Nonlinear Wave Loads on a Vertical Cylinder

A selection of the results of a research project developed in the frame of the cooperation between DINMA and INSEAN aimed to the investigation of the local non-linear features of diffraction wave loads on single vertical cylinders in regular waves is presented. The study has been conducted by means of theoretical and experimental methods allowing a huge amount of informations on the behaviour of the pressure at the wall and of the wave pattern around the cylinder when the nondimensional parameters ka and H/D are varied between 0.2 and 1.4 and between 1/15 and 1/50 respectively. The validation of the fully non-linear numerical procedure developed at INSEAN is carried out, according to the recommendations of several international bodies (ASME, ITTC, AIAA), on the basis of the highly accurate experimental data obtained during the tests. The adopted method for the validation is based on the comparison of the numerical results with local quantities involved in the fluid-structure interaction, namely near field free surface elevation and pressure at the cylinder surface. Preliminary results here presented look promising, the direction to better results being highlighted by the local discrepancies.