This paper uses the meshless local Petrov-Galerkin method based on Rankine source solution (MLPG_R) to numerically investigate the violent wave impact on offshore wind energy structures. The MLPG_R method is first validated by comparing its predicted results with experimental data in a case for 3D dam breaking onto a block. Acceptable agreement will be shown. The impact pressure acting on an offshore wind energy structure due to breaking solitary waves over a sloping seabed is then investigated. The effects of solitary wave heights and different locations of the structure are also discussed, which will shed some light on the behavior of impact pressure under different conditions.
Offshore wind energy has been considered to make significant contribution to provision of energy in future. A great deal of knowledge about onshore wind energy utilization has been accumulated. Although such knowledge may be very helpful for the development of offshore wind energy technologies, there are many issues which do not matter for onshore wind energy exploitation but that must be addressed for offshore wind energy system. One of them is the violent wave impact on the structures under action of breaking waves. The breaking waves may result in large impact pressure/forces on them and cause their damage. To avoid such damage and to guide the design of these structures, a good understanding of the interaction between breaking waves and offshore wind energy structures is required. Efforts have been made to investigate breaking waves and violent wave impacts acting on structures. Due to the high degree of complexity of such problems, numerical simulations are rarely seen in the early studies and, therefore, the laboratorial experiments or field observations are mainly performed, such as Mogridge and Jamieson, (1980); Blackmore and Hewson, (1984); Chan and Melville, (1988); Kirkgöz, (1982, 1991, 1995); Neelamani, Schüttrumpf, Muttray and Oumeraci, (1999); Bullock, Crawford, Hewson, Walkden and Bird, (2001).
