LARGE-WAVE SIMULATION OF TURBULENT FLOW INDUCED BY WAVE PROPAGATION AND BREAKING OVER CONSTANT SLOPE BED

Abstract

In the present study, the three-dimensional, incompressible, turbulent, free-surface flow, developing by the propagation of nonlinear breaking waves over a rigid bed of constant slope, is numerically simulated. The main objective is to investigate the process of spilling wave breaking and the characteristics of the developing undertow current employing the large-wave simulation (LWS) method. According to LWS methodology, large velocity and free-surface scales are fully resolved, and subgrid scales are treated by an eddy viscosity model, similar to large-eddy simulation (LES) methodology. The simulations are based on the numerical solution of the unsteady, three-dimensional, Navier-Stokes equations subject to the fully-nonlinear free-surface boundary conditions and the appropriate bottom, inflow and outflow boundary conditions. The case of incoming second-order Stokes waves, normal to the shore, with wavelength to inflow depth ratio λ/dΙ = 6.6, wave steepness H/λ = 0.025, bed slope tanβ = 1/35 and Reynolds number (based on inflow water depth) Red = 250,000 is investigated. The predictions of the LWS model for the incipient wave breaking parameters - breaking depth and height - are in very good agreement with published experimental measurements. Profiles of the time-averaged horizontal velocity in the surf zone are also in good agreement with the corresponding measured ones, verifying the ability of the model to capture adequately the undertow current.