Numerical simulations of wave-current flow in an ocean basin

Wave-current flow is a phenomenon that is present in many practical engineering situations. Over the past several decades, this type of flow has been increasingly investigated under controlled laboratory conditions. This paper presents a numerical study of wave-current flow in the ocean basin of the LabOceano (COPPE/UFRJ). A homogeneous multiphase model based on the RANS equations and the k-ɛ turbulence model implemented in ANSYS-CFX code were used. A cross section of the ocean basin was represented. A regular wave with a height of 0.08 m and a period of 1.80 s (i.e., a wave steepness of H/L = 0.016), propagating on favourable currents, was simulated. The behaviour of the free surface elevation over time and the streamlines along the basin for wave and wave-current flows were presented. The numerical results were compared to the non-viscous theory given by the Rayleigh equation applied to the problem of wave-current interaction. Good agreement was found between the wave length estimated by the numerical results and the analytical solutions, with a deviation of less than 2%.