Maritime Research Institute Netherlands

About: Maritime Research Institute Netherlands is a nonprofit organization based out in Wageningen, Netherlands. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Turbulence & Computational fluid dynamics. The organization has 200 authors who have published 279 publications receiving 4382 citations. The organization is also known as: MARIN.

A Volume-of-Fluid based simulation method for wave impact problems

Abstract: In this paper, some aspects of water impact and green water loading are considered by numerically investigating a dambreak problem and water entry problems. The numerical method is based on the Navier-Stokes equations that describe the flow of an incompressible viscous fluid. The equations are discretised on a fixed Cartesian grid using the finite volume method. Even though very small cut cells can appear when moving an object through the fixed grid, the method is stable. The free surface is displaced using the Volume-of-Fluid method together with a local height function, resulting in a strictly mass conserving method. The choice of boundary conditions at the free surface appears to be crucial for the accuracy and robustness of the method. For validation, results of a dambreak simulation are shown that can be compared with measurements. A box has been placed in the flow, as a model for a container on the deck of an offshore floater on which forces are calculated. The water entry problem has been investigated by dropping wedges with different dead-rise angles, a cylinder and a cone into calm water with a prescribed velocity. The resulting free surface dynamics, with the sideways jets, has been compared with photographs of experiments. Also a comparison of slamming coefficients with theory and experimental results has been made. Finally, a drop test with a free falling wedge has been simulated.

A procedure for the estimation of the numerical uncertainty of CFD calculations based on grid refinement studies

Abstract: This paper offers a procedure for the estimation of the numerical uncertainty of any integral or local flow quantity as a result of a fluid flow computation; the procedure requires solutions on systematically refined grids. The error is estimated with power series expansions as a function of the typical cell size. These expansions, of which four types are used, are fitted to the data in the least-squares sense. The selection of the best error estimate is based on the standard deviation of the fits. The error estimate is converted into an uncertainty with a safety factor that depends on the observed order of grid convergence and on the standard deviation of the fit. For well-behaved data sets, i.e. monotonic convergence with the expected observed order of grid convergence and no scatter in the data, the method reduces to the well known Grid Convergence Index. Examples of application of the procedure are included. Estimation of the numerical uncertainty of any integral or local flow quantity.Least squares fits to power series expansions to handle noisy data.Excellent results obtained for manufactured solutions.Consistent results obtained for practical CFD calculations.Reduces to the well known Grid Convergence Index for well-behaved data sets.

Study on collision avoidance in busy waterways by using AIS data

Abstract: Due to high density of vessel traffic, busy waterways are water areas with high potential for collisions. The application of AIS makes it possible to investigate accurate and actual behavior of collision-involved ships, and benefits vessel traffic management and waterways design for these areas. As a case study, the authors focus on a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) off Rotterdam Port in Europe, and using AIS data, statistical analysis is made for collision involved ships. In order to identify the correlation of CPA, which is a key indicator for collision avoidance, with ship's size, speed, and course, linear regression models are developed. To assess risks, a dynamic method based on SAMSON is presented.

OC5 Project Phase II: Validation of Global Loads of the DeepCwind Floating Semisubmersible Wind Turbine

Abstract: This paper summarizes the findings from Phase II of the Offshore Code Comparison, Collaboration, Continued, with Correlation project. The project is run under the International Energy Agency Wind Research Task 30, and is focused on validating the tools used for modeling offshore wind systems through the comparison of simulated responses of select system designs to physical test data. Validation activities such as these lead to improvement of offshore wind modeling tools, which will enable the development of more innovative and cost-effective offshore wind designs. For Phase II of the project, numerical models of the DeepCwind floating semisubmersible wind system were validated using measurement data from a 1/50th-scale validation campaign performed at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands offshore wave basin. Validation of the models was performed by comparing the calculated ultimate and fatigue loads for eight different wave-only and combined wind/wave test cases against the measured data, after calibration was performed using free-decay, wind-only, and wave-only tests. The results show a decent estimation of both the ultimate and fatigue loads for the simulated results, but with a fairly consistent underestimation in the tower and upwind mooring line loads that can be attributed to an underestimation of wave-excitation forces outside the linear wave-excitation region, and the presence of broadband frequency excitation in the experimental measurements from wind. Participant results showed varied agreement with the experimental measurements based on the modeling approach used. Modeling attributes that enabled better agreement included: the use of a dynamic mooring model; wave stretching, or some other hydrodynamic modeling approach that excites frequencies outside the linear wave region; nonlinear wave kinematics models; and unsteady aerodynamics models. Also, it was observed that a Morison-only hydrodynamic modeling approach could create excessive pitch excitation and resulting tower loads in some frequency bands.

Evaluation of numerical error estimation based on grid refinement studies with the method of the manufactured solutions

Abstract: This article presents a study on the estimation of the numerical uncertainty based on grid refinement studies with the method of manufactured solutions. The availability of an exact solution and the convergence of the numerical solution to machine accuracy allow the determination of the exact error and of the distinct contributions of the iterative and discretization errors. The study focuses on three different problems of error/uncertainty evaluation (the uncertainty is in this case the error multiplied by a safety factor): the estimation of the iterative error/uncertainty; the influence of the iterative error on the estimation of the discretization error/uncertainty, and the overall numerical error/uncertainty as a combination of the iterative and discretization errors. The results obtained in this study show that it is possible to obtain a reliable iterative error estimator based on a geometric-progression extrapolation of the L ∞ norm of the differences between iterations. In order to obtain a negligible influence of the iterative error on the estimation of the discretization error, the iterative error must be two to three orders of magnitude smaller than the discretization error. If the iterative error is non-negligible it should be added, simply arithmetically, to the discretization error to obtain a reliable estimate of the numerical error; combining by RMS is not conservative.