The wave-generating ball is a new type of wave-generating tool which can complete various wave simulations. The wave-generating tank model which is based on the wave ball is one of the wave-generating tanks which comes from real model and it finishes the process of wavegenerating by putting water sphere as a source of motion and then carrying on with sphere's motion. In this paper, a numerical wave tank model based on the wave-generating ball is established and the numerical simulation has been done, and it simulates the process of wave generation and propagation. Meanwhile, the simulation of wavegenerating and data acquisition have been done by using experimental tank. At last, it comes to a conclusion after comparing and analyzing the simulation results and experimental results by using Fourier transform : the wave ball can generate wave in small amplitude with big irregularity.
In the field of ship and ocean engineering, numerical simulation and model test are the main technical means to solve the problems of the movement of objects in waves and the interaction between waves and structures. For the wave-generating tank, the numerical simulation is to use simulation software to simulate the actual situation and get the simulation results. The model experiment is to use wave generator to simulate waves, and use wave height meter and other experimental equipment to collect wave data. Finally, the results are compared with the numerical simulation results to obtain the final results.
Wave generator is an important experimental research equipment in offshore and marine engineering laboratories (Gu, 2009). The generation of waves is very important in the study of the interaction between wharfs, breakwaters and other marine structures and waves. In the physical test, the wave is generally generated by the movement of wave generating equipment located at one end of the tank. The forms of wave- generating equipment includes ball type and push plate type (Gu, Chen, Luan, Liu and Causon, 2011; Ji, Xue, Liu and Liu, 2017). The velocity of the water body near the wave-generating plate is relatively uniform along the water depth when the wave-generating plate is pushed, and its characteristics are similar to those of shallow water waves. Ball - type wave generating uses the up-and-down vibration of the surface wave-generating ball to generate waves, and the speed of the surface water body is relatively uniform and decreases along the water depth (Zhou, Ning, Teng and Song, 2011; Yu, 2013; Xiao, Yang, Peng and Li, 2009).