RANS Simulation on Wave Blocking and Breaking of Water Surface Waves Propagating on Current

Wave-current interaction, a common phenomenon in the areas of estuary and gulf, is also notable in deep water sea area. When the current is strong enough, wave “blocking” accompanied by wave breaking takes place and leads to hazard sea conditions. On the other hand, wave countering current is also thought to be one of the main causes of occurrence of rogue waves in the ocean, which imperils offshore structures and is of much importance for research. Knowing this, viscous flow of wave generation on current is simulated by using Reynolds-Averaged-Navier-Stokes (RANS) equation for better understanding of its mechanism and flow field. In this study, two-dimensional waves propagating without current, along and against pre-existing large-scale current have been investigated. The validation of calculation has been demonstrated through comparing with preliminary experiments in Circulating Water Channel (CWC). When propagating in counter-current, wave is steepened and wave height increases dramatically, thus wave breaking occurs occasionally. Therefore, the variation of wave height and steepness with current velocity has been analyzed quantitatively. It has been confirmed that wave “blocking” occurs when current speed is comparable with group velocity of waves. And this is analyzed in detail in terms of kinematics, energy transfer and others. Accordingly, wave breaking is evaluated by the well-known classical wave breaking criterion. Furthermore, the proposed viscous model is compared with “simple bore dissipation model” to evaluate energy dissipation of wave breaking and improvement of numerical model for wave blocking is introduced. It has been shown that the present numerical model is applicable to reproduce the wave blocking and breaking phenomenon and it will be useful for future engineering purpose on predicting real sea conditions.