High-order finite difference solution for 3D nonlinear wave-structure interaction

This contribution presents our recent progress on developing an efficient fully-nonlinear potential flow model for simulating 3D wave-wave and wave-structure interaction over arbitrary depths (i.e. in coastal and offshore environment). The model is based on a high-order finite difference scheme OceanWave3D presented in [1, 2]. A nonlinear decomposition of the solution into incident and scattered fields is used to increase the efficiency of the wave-structure interaction problem resolution. Application of the method to the diffraction of nonlinear waves around a fixed, bottom mounted circular cylinder are presented and compared to the fully nonlinear potential code XWAVE as well as to experiments.