Open AccessVALIDATION OF A BUOYANCY-MODIFIED TURBULENCE MODEL BY NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF BREAKING WAVES OVER A FIXED BAR
Author(s) -
Brecht Devolder,
Peter Troch,
Pieter Rauwoens
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
proceedings of conference on coastal engineering/proceedings of ... conference on coastal engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2156-1028
pISSN - 0589-087X
DOI - 10.9753/icce.v36.waves.71
Subject(s) - wave flume , turbulence , surf zone , breaking wave , mechanics , flume , buoyancy , turbulence modeling , k epsilon turbulence model , k omega turbulence model , field (mathematics) , flow (mathematics) , physics , meteorology , geology , wave propagation , optics , mathematics , pure mathematics
The surf zone dynamics are governed by important processes such as turbulence generation , nearshore sediment transport , wave run-up and wave overtopping at a coastal structure. During field observations , it is very challenging to measure and quantify wave breaking turbulence . Complementary to experimental laboratory studies in a more controlled environment , numerical simulations are highly suitable to understand and quantify surf zone processes more accurately.
In this study, wave propagation and wave breaking over a fixed barred beach profile is investigated using a two phase Navier-Stokes flow solver. We show that accurate predictions of the turbulent two-phase flow field require special attention regarding turbulence modelling. The numerical wave flume is implemented in the open source OpenFOAM library. The computed results (surface elevations , velocity profiles and turbulence levels) are compared against experimental measurements in a wave flume (van der A et al., 2017) .