The nonlinear radiated waves generated by a structure in forced motion, are simulated numerically based on the potential theory. A fully nonlinear numerical model is developed by using a higher-order boundary element method (HOBEM). In this model, the instantaneous body position and the transient free surface are updated at each time step. A Lagrangian technique is employed as the time marching scheme on the free surface. The mesh regridding and interpolation methods are adopted to deal with the possible numerical instability. Several auxiliary functions are proposed to calculate the wave loads indirectly, instead of directly predicting the temporal derivative of the velocity potential. Numerical experiments are carried out to simulate the heave motions of a submerged sphere in infinite water depth, the heave and pitch motions of a truncated flared cylinder in finite depth. The results are verified against the published numerical results to ensure the effectiveness of the proposed model. Moreover, a series of higher harmonic waves and force components are obtained by the Fourier transformation to investigate the nonlinear effect of oscillation frequency. The difference among fully nonlinear, body-nonlinear and linear results is analyzed. It is found that the nonlinearity due to free surface and body surface has significant influences on the numerical results of the radiated waves and forces.
To investigate higher harmonics induced by a submerged obstacle in the presence of uniform current, a 2D fully nonlinear numerical wave flume(NWF) is developed by use of a time-domain higher-order boundary element method(HOBEM) based on potential flow theory. A four-point method is developed to decompose higher bound and free harmonic waves propagating upstream and downstream around the obstacle. The model predictions are in good agreement with the experimental data for free harmonics induced by a submerged horizontal cylinder in the absence of currents. This serves as a benchmark to reveal the current effects on higher harmonic waves. The peak value of non-dimensional second free harmonic amplitude is shifted upstream for the opposing current relative to that for zero current with the variation of current-free incident wave amplitude, and it is vice versa for the following current. The second-order analysis shows a resonant behavior which is related to the ratio of the cylinder diameter to the second bound mode wavelength over the cylinder. The second-order resonant position slightly downshifted for the opposing current and upshifted for the following current.