Assessment of Uncertainty due to Wave Reflections in Experiments via Numerical Flow Simulations Available to Purchase

Reflections at the wave-maker and tank boundaries can be a dire problem in wave tank experiments. Often, such reflections cannot be avoided. The present paper proposes an approach to quantify this influence via numerical flow simulations. It is straight-forward to redo the actual experiment "virtually" in a flow simulation, featuring full reflections as present in the wave tank experiment. It is shown that reflections at the wave-maker and domain boundaries can be nearly eliminated by applying appropriate boundary conditions in combination with domain-internal wave generation approaches. This is demonstrated for the case of a boat subjected to regular deep water waves from starboard side. Flow simulations based on the Euler equations are performed for a realistic model scale setup, in a similar manner as experiments in a narrow wave tank would be performed. Subsequently, the simulation is repeated in such a way, that undesired wave reflections at both the domain boundaries and the wave-maker are minimized. From the comparison, it is possible to separately assess the influence of wave reflections at the wave-maker as well as at the wave tank boundaries.