Analysis of forces on a submarine outfall by a RANS-VoF numerical wave tank

Abstract

Knowledge of forces due to the action of waves on submarine outfalls composed by a pipe and stabilizing concrete weights, considering the wave propagation direction to the outfalls, is essential to their design. 3D numerical models based on RANS-VoF (Reynolds-Average-Navier-Stokes Volume-of-Fluid) are able to estimate forces on the pipe and weights. The present study aims to simulate a submarine outfall with stabilizing concrete weights at 1:15 scale which was previously tested in the 3D Shallow Water Basin at the Danish Hydraulics Institute (DHI) to analyse the influence of the direction of the incident wave and the distance from the pipe to the bottom on the outfall forces. In this study, numerical results are compared with experimental ones for waves with four different amplitudes and with wave incidence perpendicular to the outfall. The use of k- SST turbulence model led to good agreement between numerical drag and lift forces and experimental ones, with a mean difference of 8.9 and 7.6%, respectively.