ELEKTRO-MFE 20014

Examensarbete 30 hp
Oktober 2020

Designing of One Directional

Wave Tank

Shivansh Ringe

Masterprogram i förnybar elgenerering

Master Programme in Renewable Electricity Production
 Abstract
Designing of One Directional Wave Tank

Shivansh Ringe

Teknisk- naturvetenskaplig fakultet

UTH-enheten Uppsala University wants to make a wave tank which can be used for
experiment and education purpose. The project's aim is to get design
Besöksadress: parameters required to make a wave tank, design the wave tank, to do
Ångströmlaboratoriet
Lägerhyddsvägen 1 analysis on wave parameters taken from results and analysis of
Hus 4, Plan 0 material which can be used to construct it.
Postadress: This project is an extension of the project called Numerical Wave
Box 536
751 21 Uppsala Tank Design in which a literature study on existing wave research
facilities was done [1]. The data from this project is used to get
Telefon: the dimensions of the wave tank. A study on hydrodynamics and wave
018 – 471 30 03 theory is done to understand flow motion and wave generation.
Telefax:
018 – 471 30 00 Ansys Fluent is used for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The
software is used to test the wave tank with different wave absorber
Hemsida: and observe if a good quality wave with a minimal reflection can be
http://www.teknat.uu.se/student
generated in the wave tank of chosen dimensions. Four models were
created for testing wave absorber of different shapes. The setup for
all the models was kept the same for comparison purposes. Waves
generated from CFD were later compared with the theoretical waves
obtained from wave theory.

The next part was to model the wave tank in Computer-Aided Design
(CAD) software, SolidWorks. The stress and strain analysis was done
on the walls and support beam of the wave tank to know if the
structure can sustain the water when fully filled. After creating
static simulation different scenarios were performed on the beam and
stand of the wave tank. The design study on these parts was compared
to see which case provides a more optimal solution.

It was found out that wave absorber having an elevation of 18.4

degrees, i.e., 1:3 slope provides the highest wave height for the
given parameter and dimensions of the wave tank. In wave analysis,
it was seen that wave height is proportional to the stroke length,
water depth is proportional to wave height and time period is
inversely proportional to the wave height.

Cast stainless steel is used in a wave tank as it is cheap, reliable

and robust. It was found out that the support beam 0.015 m thick is
enough, although it can be increased to 0.02 m. In the design study
of the wave tank stand, it was found out that a leg distance of 0.78
m and a leg width of 0.06 m is sufficient to withstand the weight of
the wave tank.

Handledare: Chisom Ekweoba

Ämnesgranskare: Andrej Savin
Examinator: Irina Temiz
ELEKTRO-MFE 20014
Contents

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Project Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Project Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.4 Project Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2 Theory 3
2.1 Basic Concepts of Hydrodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1.1 Fluid Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1.2 Applied Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Wave Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2.1 Boundary Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2.2 Linear Wave Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2.3 Other Wave Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.4 Applicability of Wave Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.2.5 Wavemaker Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3 Method 16
3.1 Ansys Fluent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.2 Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2.1 Wave Tank With 1:3 Slope Wave Absorber . . . . . . . 18
3.2.2 Wave Tank With 1:5 Slope Wave Absorber . . . . . . . 19
3.2.3 Wave Tank With Perforated Screens . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2.4 Wave Tank With Step Up Wave Absorber . . . . . . . 20
3.3 Meshing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3.1 Inflation Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3.2 Named Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.3.3 Multi-Zone Method Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3.4 Mesh Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3.5 Mesh Detail of Different Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.4 Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.4.1 Boundary Conditons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.4.2 Dynamic Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.4.3 Solutions Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.4.4 Report Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

2
 3.5 SolidWorks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.5.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.5.2 Model Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.5.3 Sensor Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.5.4 Load and Fixtures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.5.5 Mesh Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

4 Results 31
4.1 Ansys Fluent Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.1.1 Wavemaker Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.1.2 Wave Data Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.1.3 Wavemaker Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.1.4 CFD and Theoretical Surface Elevation . . . . . . . . . 33
4.1.5 Different Wave Absorbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.2 SolidWorks Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.2.1 Stress Simulation on Wave Tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.2.2 Displacement Simulation on Wave Tank . . . . . . . . 36
4.2.3 Strain Simulation on Wave Tank . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.2.4 Design Study on Support Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.2.5 Stress Simulation on Wave Tank Stand . . . . . . . . . 38
4.2.6 Displacement Simulation on Wave Tank Stand . . . . . 39
4.2.7 Design Study on Wave Tank Stand . . . . . . . . . . . 40

5 Conclusion 41

6 Future work 42

Appendix A UDF Code 43

Appendix B Ansys Fluent Settings 44

Appendix C SolidWorks Settings 46

3
List of Figures
1 Infinitesimal fluid volume in Cartesian coordinates. . . . . . . 4
2 Boundary conditions in two-dimensional water wave . . . . . . 8
3 Wave characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4 Different wave forms from various waves theory . . . . . . . . 11
5 Limit of various wave theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6 Piston type wavemaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
7 Flap type wavemaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8 Wavemaker theory for different types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
9 Top view of Ansys Fluent setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
10 1:3 slope wave absorber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
11 1:5 slope wave absorber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
12 Perforated screen wave absorber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
13 Step up wave absorber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
14 Side view of the model with Edge Sizing 8 location. . . . . . . 21
15 Inflation layers at the bottom part of the wave tank. . . . . . 22
16 Named selection in the model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
17 Multi zone mesh near the wave absorber region. . . . . . . . . 23
18 Wave tank model in SolidWorks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
19 Zoomed in view of the beams in the tank. . . . . . . . . . . . 28
20 Forces on the wall of the wave tank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
21 Mass distribution in wave tank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
22 Fixed geometry in the model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
23 Mesh in the SolidWorks model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
24 Wavemaker efficiency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
25 Wave height vs time period. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
26 Wave height vs water depth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
27 Wavemaker characteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
28 Comparison of simulated wave with theoretical wave. . . . . . 34
29 Comparison of different wave absorber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
30 Stress results for wave tank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
31 Displacement results for wave tank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
32 Strain results for wave tank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
33 Stress results on the legs of the wave tank stand. . . . . . . . . 39
34 Displacement results of wave tank stand simulation. . . . . . . 39
35 Dynamic mesh settings for mesh motion in Ansys Fluent. . . . 44

4
36 Model information and solution methods in Ansys Fluent. . . 45
37 Material information in SolidWorks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
38 Mesh information in SolidWorks for static simulations. . . . . 47
39 Mesh information in SolidWorks for design study. . . . . . . . 47

5
List of Tables
1 Different mesh setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2 Number of elements and nodes in different model. . . . . . . . 24
3 Mesh quality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4 Design study results on various beam size. . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5 Design study data on the stand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

6
Acknowlegment
I cannot imagine completing this thesis without the continued support and
encouragement of my supervisor Chisom Ekweoba, my program director Irina
Temiz and my subject reader Andrej Savin. I sincerely offer my appreciation
for the learning opportunity provided by the department of electricity.

I want to thank Vidar Ahlberger from EDR Medeso, who helped me to

clear my technical understanding in Ansys Fluent. I cannot imagine com-
pleting dynamic meshing without your guidance and support. Your patience
and assistance are duly noted.

Gratitude to my sister, Tai who gave me the idea of doing higher stud-
ies. Her own journey admires me to follow her footsteps and I loved that
I grabbed this opportunity to do a master’s at Uppsala University. These
years have been amazing and I hope there are many more to come in my
future endeavors.

Thanks to my family members who gave me space and time for my work.
I know its hard when you send you child 1000 miles away from home and he
doesn’t respond to any calls because he is busy working in the thesis. I hope
we meet soon Aai, Baba.

I want to thank my lady, Ms. Shivani, for always being there for me
and motivating throughout my master’s thesis. It was a great comfort to
know that you were willing to help me out in every step of my journey. Your
efforts, care, and love have made me what I am. My wholehearted thanks.
1 Introduction
1.1 Motivation
Sea has a vast amount of energy stored in it as a form of waves and this energy
can be harnessed through wave energy converters. Wave energy converters
requires technology, innovation, validation, and testing for development. As
for the design and testing process, the environment in which the wave energy
converter would work has to be known. A way for creating this artificial sea
environment is in a wave tank.
A wave tank is used to observe the behavior of the water surface. A wave
tank generally looks like an open box with water filled in it. There are two
main components of the wave tank i.e. wavemaker and wave absorber.
The wavemaker produces the wave through mechanical motion. The
wavemakers are computer-controlled which provides the ability to make dif-
ferent waves like periodic waves, irregular waves, etc. The wave absorber is
used for absorbing the wave so that there is no reflection from the wall of
the wave tank. The dimensions of a wave tank can be changed according to
the function required from the wave tank. Generally, there are two types of
wave tanks which are wave flume and wave basin.
The wave flumes have small width compared to the length of the wave
tank. The function of this tank is for water motion analysis or small scale
testing. The wave basins have width and length of comparable magnitude.
They are used for offshore structures, ship testing, and deep water analysis.
This report focuses on the wave flume and goes through the process of
deciding the design parameters required for making a wave tank. The dimen-
sions are taken from the reference report Numerical Wave Tank Design in
which an in-depth literature survey was done from various existing facilities
and research centers [1].

1
1.2 Project Purpose
The objective of the project is to suggest design parameters to make wave
tank for Uppsala University which can be used for education purpose and
small scale testing of wave energy converters.

1.3 Project Assumptions

During the construction of the model, some assumptions were made. They
are as follows :
• The length of the glass in the wave tank is 0.80 m.
• The width of the glass in the wave tank is 0.69 m.
• The length of the wave tank stand is 0.78 m.
• The width of the beam in a stand is 0.04 m.
• Time period of the wave is 1 s.
• Amplitude of the wave is 0.5 m.

1.4 Project Implementation

• To understand wavemaker theory and create User Defined File (UDF)
code.
• To try different mesh settings in the wave tank model.
• Implement different types of wave absorber.
• Choosing the wave absorber which provides the highest wave height.
• Validation of the model using wave theory.
• Choosing material properties for the wave tank which are durable and
available in the market.
• Perform stress and strain analysis on the wave tank.
• Designing and testing of the support beam in the wave tank.
• Performing design study on the wave tank and stand.

2
2 Theory
2.1 Basic Concepts of Hydrodynamics
The laws in fluid mechanics are obtained by the integration of laws governing
the behavior of a fluid particle throughout a volume or area or along a line.
The hydrodynamics may be divided into two steps. The first step consists
of an elementary particle of fluid whose motion is governed by the general
differential equations. The fluid can be laminar or turbulent.
In the second step different mathematical equations like Bernoulli equa-
tions can be deduced and used to integrate these basic differential equations.
The relative motion is not changed by the points in the system in solid
material except for elastic deformation which is well defined. However, fluid
particles may be deformed or each particle may have a particular motion
that might differ from other particles.
The forces acting between these fluid particles are pressure forces and
friction forces. Shear stress can be defined as a friction force per unit area in
a given direction. The shear stress τ is assumed to be zero or proportional
to the coefficient of fluid viscosity µ [2]. The shear stress can be expressed
as
dV
τ =µ (1)
dn
where V is the velocity of fluid and n is the perpendicular direction.
Consider a Cartesian system with point A(x, y, z) with axes OX, OY ,
OZ which are mutually perpendicular to each other. Now consider a small
rectangular parallelepiped of fluid with edges dx, dy and dz which can be seen
in Fig. 1. The volume of the element is dxdydz and its weight is ρgdxdydz
where ρ is the density and g is the acceleration due to gravity.
At point A, the pressure is a scalar quantity that is specified by its mag-
nitude. The pressure force is always exerted perpendicular to the surface [2].
Force is a vector quantity and is specified by magnitude and direction. The
pressure p can be expressed as a function of time t and space have given the
coordinates of A. This can be represented by

p = f (x, y, z, t) (2)

3
 Figure 1: Infinitesimal fluid volume in Cartesian coordinates [2].

2.1.1 Fluid Motion

The method of Euler or Lagrange is used to study the motion of the fluid.
The Lagrangian method is used to answer about what happens to a particle
of fluid when it moves in its own path. The velocities, pressure, densities,
and temperatures can be given in terms of the original position and elapsed
time which is obtained by following the fluid particle during the course of
time.
If the initial position (x0 ,y0 ,z0 ) of the particle is known for a time t0 then
the Lagrangian system of equations provide the position of x, y, z which can
be expressed as :
x = F1 (x0 , y0 , z0 , t − t0 )
y = F2 (x0 , y0 , z0 , t − t0 )
z = F3 (x0 , y0 , z0 , t − t0 ) (3)
In general Lagrangian method is rarely used in hydrodynamics, although it is
often used in theories related to gravity waves. The velocity and acceleration
at point (x0 ,y0 ,z0 ) can be found out by simple partial differentiation with
respect to time which can be expressed as

∂x 
u=
∂t x0 ,y0 ,z0

4
 
∂y 
v=
∂t x0 ,y0 ,z0

∂z 
w= (4)
∂t x0 ,y0 ,z0
2 2 2
Similarly acceleration can be shown as ∂∂t2x , ∂∂t2y , ∂∂t2z .
The Eulerian method answers to what happens at a given point in a
space occupied by fluid in motion. The method at any point gives velocity
V (u, v, w) and pressure p as a function of time t in case of a compressible
fluid, density and temperature. This can be expressed as

V = F (x, y, z, t) (5)
then
u = f1 (x, y, z, t)
v = f2 (x, y, z, t)
w = f3 (x, y, z, t) (6)
and
p = F1 (x, y, z, t) (7)
By total differentiation of u, v and w with respect to time t Eulerian
system of equation can be found.

2.1.2 Applied Forces

There are two types of applied forces on an elementary mass of fluid which
are internal forces and external forces. As the name suggests the internal
forces act inside the fluid and external force acts on the surface. The internal
forces are outcome of interaction between interior particles. Internal forces
are balanced because they act in pair and according to the principle of equal
action having equal reaction their sum is zero.
The external force consists of surface and body forces. Surface forces
result from the forces acting on the boundaries of the considered particle of
fluid and are caused by molecular attraction. These surface forces can further
be classified by forces acting on it. The normal forces due to pressure and
shearing forces due to viscosity. These forces are balanced as they are always
in pairs and their sum is zero.

5
 The forces which always act in the same direction are called the body
or volume forces, these forces are not balanced. The cause of these forces is
external fields such as gravity or magnetic field which acts on each element
of the considered volume.
The volume forces are directly proportional to the mass of the fluid and
acceleration due to gravity [2]. From these force per unit volume is equal to
the weight of the fluid which is expressed as

ω = ρg (8)

ρ is the mass density and g is the gravitational force.

6
2.2 Wave Theories
Wave surface elevation is obtained by using principles of hydrodynamics,
where the fluid flow is incompressible, irrotational and inviscid. The con-
tinuity equation of water is used to obtain the wave equation. The fluid
dynamics states that the rate of mass going in and out of the given volume
are equal which leads to the following continuity equation [3],

∂ρ
+ ∇.(ρV ) = 0 (9)
∂t
where V is the velocity vector of the water and ∇. is the divergence opera-
tor. For incompressible fluid ρ is constant, the continuity equation becomes
equivalent to the conservation of volume which can be defined in terms of
water velocities as
∂u ∂v ∂w
∇.V = + + =0 (10)
∂x ∂y ∂z
where the components of water velocity vector V are u ,v, w in x, y ,z direc-
tions respectively. Apart from the translational motion, another important
definition is rotational motion which can be expressed as
1
Ω= ∇×V (11)
2
The fluid flow is irrotational, therefore all the rotation components are zero,
i.e., Ωx = 0, Ωy = 0, Ωz = 0.

2.2.1 Boundary Conditions

The continuity equations and irrotational conditions satisfy a number of
equations at bottom and on the free surface of the water [3]. Different bound-
ary conditions can be seen in Fig. 2.
The velocity component normal to bottom surface will be zero at the
bottom. For a body in wave, velocity component will be equal to the normal
velocity of the body. For a fixed body the normal velocity is zero. These can
be stated as below when the z axis is in vertical direction.

w=0 at the bottom

vn = vnbody at body surface (12)

7
 Figure 2: Boundary conditions in two-dimensional water wave [4].

where vn shows the normal velocity component on the surface of the body.
When the flow is inviscid and irrotational, the Bernoulli equation can be
obtained from the integration of the Naiver -Stokes equation which can be
expressed as
V2
Z
∂V p
dS + + gz + = f (t) (13)
∂t ρ 2
Eqn. (13) provides the dynamic boundary condition at the free surface. Here
the first term expresses the contribution of local fluid acceleration. V is the
velocity vector, g is the gravitational force and f (t) is the function of time, p
is the atmospheric pressure at free surface assumed to be zero, which makes
the equation as
V2
Z
∂V p
dS + + gη + = f (t) (14)
∂t ρ 2
where η is the surface elevation above the still water level. The kinematic
condition is one other free surface boundary condition which states that free
surface moves with fluid. The equation of free surface can be expressed as
function of spatial points and time, i.e.,

z = η(x, y, t) (15)

from Eqn. (15) vertical velocity can be obtained at the free surface from
the total derivative. Therefore kinematic boundary condition at free surface
becomes,
∂z ∂η ∂η ∂η
=w= + u+ v (16)
∂t ∂t ∂x ∂y

8
The continuity equation and Eqn. (10) define the wave equation. They are
solved under the boundary conditions given by Eqns. (12), (14), (16). To
derive the components of the fluid velocity for wave equation, there are two
approaches. One is to use the velocity potential function, Φ, given by Eqn.
(17)

∂Φ ∂Φ ∂Φ
u= , v= , w= (17)
∂x ∂y ∂z
and other approach is to use the scalar stream function, Ψ, given by Eqn.
(18)
∂Ψ ∂Ψ
u= , v= (18)
∂y ∂x
For two-dimensional (2D) flow, the stream function is suitable and satisfies
the continuity equation. From condition of zero rotation Ωz = 0, it can be
expressed as
1  ∂ 2Ψ ∂ 2Ψ 
Ωz = − + → ∇2 Ψ = 0 (19)
2 ∂x2 ∂y 2
The velocity potential function is more general approach and also suitable
for three-dimensional (3D) flow. It satisfies the condition of zero rotation
automatically and using continuity equation, following Laplace equation is
obtained,
∂u ∂v ∂w ∂ 2Φ ∂ 2Φ ∂ 2Φ
+ + =0→ + + = 0 → ∇2 Φ = 0 (20)
∂x ∂y ∂z ∂x2 ∂y 2 ∂z 2
The velocity potential function is used as it is more general and velocity
components defined in Eqn. (15) is used to obtain the following boundary
equations [3].
At bottom boundary condition,
∂Φ
=0 (21)
∂z
At free surface dynamic condition,
" #
∂Φ 1  ∂Φ 2  ∂Φ 2  ∂Φ 2
+ gη + + + =0 (22)
∂t 2 ∂x ∂y ∂z
At free surface kinematic condition,
∂Φ ∂η ∂η ∂Φ ∂η ∂Φ
= + + =0 (23)
∂z ∂t ∂x ∂x ∂y ∂y

9
2.2.2 Linear Wave Theory
Linear Wave Theory (LWT) describes the propagation of gravity waves on
the surface of the fluid layer. The fluid considered here is water. The theory
assumes the fluid to be incompressible, inviscid, and irrotational. It was
published by George Biddell Airy in 1841 [5]. The free surface equation is
given as a function of horizontal position x and time t
η(x, t) = a cos(kx − wt) (24)
where a is the wave amplitude, k is the wavenumber and w is the angular
frequency. Angular frequency is related to time period,
w = 2π/T (25)
λ is the wavelength and is related to wavenumber k,
k = 2π/λ (26)
T is the time period of the propagating wave. The characteristics of waves can
be determined through their length, height and the water depth over which
they are propagating. All the other quantities like wave velocity, acceleration
can be determined theoretically through these parameters.

Figure 3: Wave characteristics [4].

The two-dimensional wave propagation in x direction is shown in Fig. 3.

L is the wavelength which is the horizontal distance between two successive
wave crests. H is the wave height, which is the distance from crest to trough.
a is the amplitude equal to half of the wave height. The depth of the water
is h. As the wave propagates over distance λ, the velocity of the water over
a time period T can be determined as C = λ/T .

10
2.2.3 Other Wave Theories
A wave tank can produce linear, non-linear, regular and irregular waves. In
general, water waves are classified into two families. They are the small-
amplitude theories and longwave theories. The small-amplitude theory em-
braces linear waves. The long wave theories are used for nonlinear waves
[2].

Figure 4: Different wave forms from various waves theory [3].

Stokes waves are most suitable for deep water [6]. For shallow water,
cnoidal wave theory or solitary wave theory can be used. The solitary wave
theory is a special case which is found out through elliptical integral, where
one limit is of cnoidal wave theory and the other limit is identical to linear
wave theory. Cnoidal wave theory becomes a solitary wave theory as the
relative depth decreases [7]. Fig. 4 shows different wave forms. It can be
seen that solitary waves have a crest that is completely above Still Water
Level (SWL) and has no trough. A large class of long waves is covered by
cnoidal wave theory with finite amplitude. Since the nonlinear waves are not
considered in the thesis, they are not explained in detail, which can found,
e.g., in references [3], [7], [8].

11
2.2.4 Applicability of Wave Theories
Wavenumber and Ursell parameter are two parameters which define the range
of application of the wave theories. Wavenumber k 2 depends on the water
depth, wavelength, and wave height. Ursell parameter Ur indicates the non-
linearity of long surface gravity wave. Ursell parameter is defined as

Ur = λ2 H/2d3 (27)

where H is the wave height and d is the depth. In general, Ur > 25 the
cnoidal wave theory is applicable, for Stokes theory Ur < 10. Both theories
are valid for Ur is 10 to 25. Small amplitude wave theory results in when
Ur < 1. The range of validity of various theories changes according to the

Figure 5: Limit of various wave theories [2].

water depth. In deep and intermediate-depth water, Stokes theory is only

valid when using low order of perturbation. Fig. 5 indicates the applicability
of wave theories.

12
2.2.5 Wavemaker Theory
A wavemaker generates waves through the oscillatory motion of the mechan-
ical part in the wavemaker. The wavemaker is usually classified into two
types flap and piston. The piston-type wavemaker is used for shallow water
experiment. The piston motion makes the particle orbital motion restricted
to ellipse and this type of generator is used for modeling structures near the
coast, harbor, etc.
Galvin in 1964 proposed a simple wavemaker theory [4]. Galvin’s theory
for piston wavemaker said that the volume of water displaced will be Sh
when the piston has a stroke of S with depth h. The volume of water in a
wave crest can be expressed as
Z λ  
2 H H
sin kxdx = (28)
0 2 k

Now taking both volumes into consideration, following equation can be ob-
tained  
H H λ 2
Sh = = (29)
k 2 2 π
The shaded region represents the factor π2 in Fig. 6. The simple wavemaker
theory for piston can be expressed as
 
H
= kh (30)
S

where HS is height to stroke ratio and is valid for shallow water , kh < π/10
When boundary conditions are taken into consideration the wavemaker
theory becomes complete and the following expression for wave height to
stroke is obtained.
H 2(cosh 2kp h − 1)
= (31)
S sinh 2kp h + 2kp h
Here H is the wave height and kp is the progressive wavenumber.

13
 Figure 6: Piston type wavemaker [4].

In flap type wavemaker the particle orbital motion decays with depth
and it is negligible at the bottom. Flap wavemakers are generally used for
deepwater analysis. They are used for investigating the physical behavior of
water waves and in ship testing.

Figure 7: Flap type wavemaker [4].

According to simple wavemaker theory explained earlier, the volume of

water displace will be affected by factor of 2. The expression for flap wave-
maker when hinged at bottom can be expressed as
 
H kh
= (32)
S 2

When considering boundary conditions, the flap type wavemaker’s wave

14
height to stroke ratio becomes [4]
 
H sinh kp h kp h sinh kp h − cosh kp h + 1
=4 (33)
S kp h sinh 2kp h + 2kp h

Figure 8: Wavemaker theory for different types [4].

Fig. 8 shows the relation between wave height to stroke ratio and relative
depth. The dotted line shows the characteristics of simple wavemaker theory
without boundary conditions. The solid line shows the characteristics of
complete wavemaker theory for piston and flap type. It can be seen that
when boundary conditions are taken into consideration wave height to stroke
ratio reduces when compared to simple wavemaker theory.

15
3 Method
3.1 Ansys Fluent
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used for flow simulations by the
means of computers. CFD is used to replace these partial differential equa-
tions to solve the problem.
CFD has three stages: pre-processing, processing, and post-processing.
In pre-processing the problem statement is converted into a discrete com-
puter model. This is done using geometry, meshing, physics, and applying
boundary conditions. In processing the computer uses numerical method to
compute fluid flow. The post-processing is the final stage where the results
are analyzed and visualized.
CFD is a useful tool because of the ability to perform simulations which
if done experimentally takes time, space, and investment. In CFD, designer
can examine any location’s performance through flow parameters. However,
in experiments the data can be extracted only at locations where sensors are
placed. The numerical experiments can be performed many times without
exhausting more resources, this can be validated with the theoretical method
and later experimental setup can be made for a given design parameters.
There are many CFD software available in the market. These software
can be commercial, for example Ansys Fluent, COMSOL’s CFD Module, Al-
tair’s AcuSolve and STAR-CCM+ or open source, for example OpenFOAM,
Visual-CFD, HELYX and simFlow [9]. In this project Ansys Fluent Flow is
used. The following subsections 3.2, 3.3, 3.4 elaborate the work carried out
in each part of the Fluid Flow model.

16
3.2 Geometry
The Numerical Wave Tank (NWT) model is 10 m long with 0.4 m width and
the height of the wave tank is 0.8 m. Fig. 9 shows the top view of the wave
tank with wavemaker and wave absorber. The height, width, and length of
the model were in positive z, y, x direction respectively. The wave tank has
6 wave probes for observing the flow of the water.

Figure 9: Top view of Ansys Fluent setup.

In Ansys Fluent the model was made in Fluid Flow. The geometry was
constructed in Design Modeller. In total 4 models where made each with a
different type of wave absorber. All models had two horizontal slices, the
first at 0.25 m and second at 0.5 m. The reason for the horizontal slices were
to create mesh refinement at the middle part of the tank as most of the wave
motion will take place there. The water and air region was created in such
a way that both are included in the refinement region. The subsection 3.4.3
explains how the water region was assigned. Vertical slices were made for
constructing different wave absorber.
The parts containing absorber region were called wave absorbers and the
remaining parts were called NWT. The length of the NWT is 8 m long in
all the models. The length of the wave absorber is 2 m which is same for
all the cases irrespective of there design or shape. The 8 m long length was
chosen as it was enough to generate 5-6 wavelengths when the time period
is 1 s [10].

17
3.2.1 Wave Tank With 1:3 Slope Wave Absorber
The slope provides the steepness of the wave absorber in the form of ratio.
The ratio can be described as rise and run. Rise is the difference between
the coordinate points on z direction and run is the difference between the
coordinate points on x direction. These coordinates in z, x direction are from
start and end points of the wave absorber. The ratio can be converted into
degrees to know about the elevation of the slope [11]. The first model was
made with slope shape wave absorber which had a 1:3 slope, i.e., elevation
of 18.4◦ .
The slope of the wave absorber needs to be long enough to obtain a good
dissipation of wave energy. The main parameter for slope to be considered
is the ratio of absorber length to depth. The most common absorbers are
lower than 1:5 slope [12]. Fig. 10 shows the wave tank with a 1:3 slope wave
absorber.

Figure 10: 1:3 slope wave absorber.

18
3.2.2 Wave Tank With 1:5 Slope Wave Absorber
The second model was made with a 1:5 slope wave absorber. The reason to
make a 1:5 slope wave absorber was to compare which slope suit the wave
tank dimensions. Apart from the slope, all the components in both the model
were similar. Fig. 11 shows the model geometry.

Figure 11: 1:5 slope wave absorber.

3.2.3 Wave Tank With Perforated Screens

The third model has four perforated screens with 0.5 m of the distance be-
tween each other. The length of the whole perforated screen region was 2
m and the thickness of perforated screens was 0.1 m. The dimensions were
referred from the wave absorbing system [13]. The porosity was gradually
increased from first to the last screen. Fig. 12 provides the geometry of the
model.

Figure 12: Perforated screen wave absorber.

19
3.2.4 Wave Tank With Step Up Wave Absorber
The model was made with an increasing absorber height which looks similar
to a staircase. The step-up wave absorber has uniform porosity. The idea was
taken from one of the design shape shown in the demountable wave absorber
which had blocks added to elevate the perforated screens for deep water [14].
Fig. 13 shows the geometry of the model.

Figure 13: Step up wave absorber.

20
3.3 Meshing
Meshing is the discretization of the domain of interest and is a part of pre-
processing [15]. The meshing is done by using two elements hexahedral and
prism. The hexahedral elements are used where the geometry of the model
was simple and prism was mainly used in the wave absorber part.

Figure 14: Side view of the model with Edge Sizing 8 location.

As mentioned in subsection 3.2, the mesh was changed for mesh refine-
ment. For meshing the model edge sizing was used. The edge sizing method
uses the edges of the model to construct a structured mesh. The middle part
of the mesh was assigned as Edge Sizing 8 (ES-8). The number of the divi-
sions option available in the edge sizing method was used to change the mesh
from normal to denser. Fig. 14 shows the location of ES-8 in the model.

3.3.1 Inflation Layers

To have an adequate result, a very fine mesh in required. Although, having
a higher count of mesh increases the computational time of the simulation
[16]. Therefore adding boundary layers can be a more efficient way to capture
gradients on the wall. The inflation layers were added at the bottom of the
wave tank.
The smooth transition method was used in the inflation layer. The num-
ber of layers is 5 in each model and has a growth rate of 1.2. For the transition
ratio default value was used, which is 0.272. In Fig. 15 the location of the
inflation layers can be seen in bottom part of the green color region.

21
 Figure 15: Inflation layers at the bottom part of the wave tank.

3.3.2 Named Selection

Named selection is either given while meshing or in the initial stage of design.
They are required for the solver to understand the given name selections
relation to the boundaries [17].

Figure 16: Named selection in the model.

For every model, two named selections were provided which are flap and
air outlet. Flap to be shown as a wall because the motion of the flap was
controlled through the dynamic mesh by creating a User Defined Function
(UDF). The air outlet to show the pressure outlet in the model. The other
boundaries were automatically defined as walls with no slip condition. Fig.
16 shows the named selection.

22
3.3.3 Multi-Zone Method Control
Multi-zone is a meshing technique that provides an automatic decomposition
of geometry into a mapped or free region. When the multi-zone mesh method
is selected on the body, it tries to mesh the region in the hexahedral mesh.
This option has two mesh types: Mapped and Free mesh type. The mapped
mesh type is used for determining the shape of the element which can be hexa
or prism. In free mesh type, it instructs the multi-zone to allow a free mesh
when it is not possible to create hexa or hexa/prism mesh, which means it
creates a tetrahedral mesh [18].

Figure 17: Multi zone mesh near the wave absorber region.

In two models that had slope wave absorber, multi-zone was used. In
Fig. 17 multi-zone is allotted close to the wave absorber region. The hex-
ahedral mesh was not possible near these absorber regions because of the
complex geometry. In the multi-zone mesh settings, the mapped mesh type
was changed to the prism. Body sizing was also used on the multi-zone for
mesh refinement.

3.3.4 Mesh Testing

Before meshing of all the models which mesh type to use was decided. The
two setups with different elements and node numbers were tested. Table 1
shows the number of elements and nodes in both mesh.

23
 Table 1: Different mesh setup.
Mesh No. of elements No. of nodes
Denser 255425 281728
Finer 147860 114198

3.3.5 Mesh Detail of Different Model

After testing for the denser and finer mesh, all the models were given a
similar number of elements and nodes. All the models had the same settings
for the inflation layer and multi-zone. The idea was to see the difference in
the obtained results when all the components of the model are similar apart
from the wave absorber. Table 2 shows different models with mesh elements
and nodes.

Table 2: Number of elements and nodes in different model.

Models No. of elements No. of nodes
1:3 wave absorber 147860 114198
1:5 wave absorber 163640 115731
Perforated screens 128100 109200
Step up absorber 149800 136720

The quality of the mesh was checked through skewness. Skewness means
the difference between the shape of a cell with equivalent volume. High
skewed faces are unacceptable (near to 1) because the solver assumes the cell
to be equilateral. For a prism/hexa mesh, the skewness of the model should
not exceed 0.85 [19]. Table 3 shows the quality of the mesh for all the models.

Table 3: Mesh quality.

Skewness(max) Model
0.76 1:5 wave absorber
0.75 1:3 wave absorber
0.63 step up wave absorber
0.33 perforated screens

There are other parameters also for mesh quality, such as aspect ratio,
smoothness, and element quality. More information is provided in skewness

24
quality because the model is created with dynamic mesh which can create
high skewed face cells and this can lead to divergence in the solver [20]. To
avoid convergence issues and get an accurate result more effort was taken to
increase the skewness quality.

3.4 Setup
Setup is a part of pre-processing. General settings allow generic problem
settings that are related to solver and mesh. The solver was pressure-based
and time was transient. Gravity was -9.81 m/s2 as it was assigned in the
z direction. In materials, two-fluid properties were assigned which were air
and water. The density of both the fluids were compressible.
In the multiphase option, the model was assigned Volume Of Fluid (VOF).
In the VOF sub-model option, open channel flow was selected. In the viscous
model, the k-omega model was selected. Shear Stress Transport (SST) was
selected for turbulence flow. SST is more accurate and reliable for a wider
class of flows [21].

3.4.1 Boundary Conditons

In all the models the air outlet mentioned in section 3.3.2 was assigned as
a pressure outlet. Pressure outlet conditions are defined by static pressure
which is based on outflow conditions. Static pressure or gauge pressure is
equal to absolute pressure minus atmospheric pressure [22]. In the air outlet,
the open channel option is selected to provide the SWL region which is 0.5
m.
The flap named selection was assigned as wall with no slip condition.
Porosity means the measure of void space in the material [23]. The porosity
of the wave absorber is 0.90.

3.4.2 Dynamic Mesh

For the flap motion, a UDF file is created. The code is in C language. The
code tries to define the motion of the flap through the following formula:
uy = a cos(wt) (34)
here a is the amplitude and w is the angular frequency, t is defined through
time step assigned in the solver, uy represents the axis of rotation in y direc-

25
tion which was required for the designed model. More information regarding
the code is given in Appendix A.
For dynamic meshing, smoothing and remeshing is used. In smoothing,
spring method is used and in remeshing parameters, default values are taken.

3.4.3 Solutions Method

In the method, the PISO scheme is used with default values. A cell register
is used to create a region that should be patched to show the water region.
Hybrid initialization is used with the default convergence condition which is
1 × 10−6 .

3.4.4 Report Definitions

For collecting data from different parts of the wave tank different planes are
created. These planes act as wave probes which are given surface integral
definitions. In this report definitions, plots and report files are assigned which
shows a plot in real-time and makes data file in a text which can be used for
validation.
All the setup pictures are added in Appendix B for more details.

26
3.5 SolidWorks
3.5.1 Description
In SolidWorks, static simulation and design optimization studies were carried
out. The purpose of the static simulation was to check stress and strain on
the wave tank. The external loads in the simulation were forces acting on
the inner wall of the wave tank. The design study was done to know the
optimal scenario.
In the wave tank, stress and displacement on the support beams were
analyzed and the design was optimized accordingly. In tank stand simulation,
the weight of the whole tank was calculated and distributed mass was used as
an external load to analyze the stress and strain on the stand. Results from
the static simulations were used to optimize the design of the wave tank.

3.5.2 Model Information

The model was made in sketch and then extrude command was used to make
the model 3D. Shell command was used to make the 3D model hollow from
inside and to look like a tank open from above. The slope absorber was
made at the end of the tank. The material properties were taken from the
SolidWorks library. Cast stainless steel was chosen for the frame of the wave
tank as its cheap and available in the market. The glass was made by creating
a sketch on the wall side and splitting them from the main body.

Figure 18: Wave tank model in SolidWorks.

The wave absorber is made similar to the beach and the material for the
wave absorber was sand. The sand properties were custom made [24]. The

27
model design inspiration was taken from Omey lab which makes wave flumes
for various purposes [25]. The stand has a simple and robust structure. Fig.
18 shows the model for more information.

Figure 19: Zoomed in view of the beams in the tank.

The support beam was T shape with the beam going outward. The beam
in the stand was rectangle shape and was connected to the legs of the stand.
Fig. 19 shows the beams in the wave tank.

3.5.3 Sensor Details

The model was simulated with three sensors stress, strain, and displacement.
The sensors were used to see the effect of the external load on the model.
The data from these sensors were used to analyze the model and later used
as constraints for design study.

3.5.4 Load and Fixtures

In the static simulations for wave tank and wave tank stand different loads
were provided, these loads are external force and distributed mass respec-
tively. The faces for external force load were the internal wall in the wave
tank which can be seen in Fig. 20. The forces were calculated through the
MATLAB code. A coordinate system was made in the setup which shows
the force motion in x and y direction.
In the wave tank stand simulation, the mass of the material and water
was calculated. Mass of material was taken from the mass properties in

28
 Figure 20: Forces on the wall of the wave tank.

SolidWorks. For calculating water mass, internal volume was calculated and
was multiplied with the density of water. A gravitational force was also added
in the simulation which shows that gravity is acting downward towards the
stand. Fig. 21 can be seen for more detail.

Figure 21: Mass distribution in wave tank.

In simulation fixed geometry was provided which can be moved in x and

y direction. The fixed faces are provided to show the fixed part of the model.
Fig. 22 shows the fixed faces in the model.

29
 Figure 22: Fixed geometry in the model.

3.5.5 Mesh Information

For meshing, the model mesh density option was used in the SolidWorks.
The mesh was tested for the coarse, normal, and fine mesh. After testing it
was seen that the results were different for different mesh density. Therefore
to get a higher quality of results fine mesh was chosen. The element size was
0.08 m. For more details regarding the model setup, refer Appendix C. Fig.
23 shows the mesh in the model.

Figure 23: Mesh in the SolidWorks model.

30
4 Results
4.1 Ansys Fluent Results
4.1.1 Wavemaker Efficiency
The relation of H/S to kh shows the wavemaker efficiency in Fig. 24. Three
different setups were simulated to see wavemaker efficiency. It was observed
that the results were similar but a bit smaller compared to the theoretical
values.

Figure 24: Wavemaker efficiency.

4.1.2 Wave Data Analysis

The results were obtained from the CFD to create a relationship between
different parameters. The first relation was between wave heights obtained
from different time periods. From Fig. 25 it can be seen that increasing the
time period will reduce the wave height in the tank.

31
 Figure 25: Wave height vs time period.

The test was done for different depths. Three different depths of 0.4, 0.5,
0.6 m were used in the tank. Here tp represents the time period. From Fig.
26 it can be seen that the increase in depth increases the wave height in the
tank.

Figure 26: Wave height vs water depth.

32
4.1.3 Wavemaker Characteristics
After getting results from CFD simulations, all the data was verified against
LWT. From the CFD results it was seen that the wave form was stable after
2 s which can be seen in the subsection 4.1.4. Therefore, the simulations
were not ran for 30 s. The simulations were ran for 10 s because the idea
was to find out the relation between stroke and wave height. It was seen
from Fig. 27 that wave height is proportional to stroke length. It was also
seen that theoretical results were higher than the simulated results.

Figure 27: Wavemaker characteristics.

4.1.4 CFD and Theoretical Surface Elevation

The surface elevation of CFD results from wave probe 1 for finer and denser
mesh are shown in Fig. 28. It can be seen that both, finer and denser the
results are overlapping. To save computational time, all the models were
made with finer mesh. The theoretical wave is also compared to the CFD
results to validate the surface elevation. For a wave height of 0.1 m, it was
seen that the CFD wave height was 0.092 m. The difference in the wave
height was 0.008 m. Therefore the error estimate was found out to be 8
percent.

33
 Figure 28: Comparison of simulated wave with theoretical wave.

4.1.5 Different Wave Absorbers

The purpose of comparing different wave absorber was to know which ab-
sorber can provide better wave height in the given wave tank. The CFD
results are taken from wave probe 1. After the validation of the wavemaker
theory, the effect of different wave absorber was observed. It was seen from
Fig. 29 that 1:3 slope wave absorber provided the highest wave height. The
reason 1:3 wave absorber provides higher wave height is that the perforated
screen and step up need more space for better performance. Also, more
research on the setup of increasing porosity in wave absorber can make a
difference in the result.

34
Figure 29: Comparison of different wave absorber.

35
4.2 SolidWorks Results
4.2.1 Stress Simulation on Wave Tank
The stress analysis in static simulations shows the stress in the walls of
the wave tank. From the result, it can be seen that maximum stress was
3.892 × 103 N/m2 and the minimum was 4.562 × 10−2 N/m2 . Fig. 30 shows
the stress on the walls of the wave tank. The purpose was to get the stress
in the model, which can be later used to calculated the elastic modulus of
the wave tank. Elastic modules is the ratio between stress and strain.

Figure 30: Stress results for wave tank.

4.2.2 Displacement Simulation on Wave Tank

The displacement simulations show the displacement of the walls in the wave
tank when a force is applied. The maximum displacement was 1.453 × 10−4
mm and the minimum was 1 × 10−30 mm. The simulations were carried
out to know the displacement of the walls when force is exerted on them.
Deformation option was also used to amplify the displacement values to see
how the displacement is occurring. Whether the walls are bending inwards or
outwards. It was found out that the walls were bending in outward direction
from the wave tank. Since, the real values are negligible this effect was not
observable on the wave tank. Fig. 31 highlights where the displacement is
taking place.

36
 Figure 31: Displacement results for wave tank.

4.2.3 Strain Simulation on Wave Tank

Strain results can be seen in Fig. 32. It can be seen that the maximum strain
was 5.643 × 10−8 and the minimum was 9.750 × 10−12 . Since we know that
value of stress and strain in wave tank, elastic modulus of wave tank can be
calculated. From the results, it was found out that elastic modulus of the
wave tank was 6.1841 × 1010 N/m2 which is under the elastic modulus of
glass 6.935 × 1010 N/m2 and cast stainless steel 1.9 × 1011 N/m2 .

Figure 32: Strain results for wave tank.

37
4.2.4 Design Study on Support Beam

Table 4: Design study results on various beam size.

The design setup had two input parameter, glass dimension which was
kept constant for all the scenarios and beam which was varying with a step
interval of 0.005 m from a minimum value of 0.01 m to a maximum value of
0.03 m. The glass section length was kept constant to ensure that only beam
size is changing and the frame shape remains the same for all the scenarios.
The goal of the design was to get a support beam of the thinnest size. It
was seen that 0.015 m beam is the optimal solution. However, reducing the
beam size to 0.015 m increases the stress on the wall and glass of the wave
tank. Therefore, this can lead to the value that is near elastic modulus of
the glass, which can result in breaking of the glass.
Beam size of 0.02 or 0.03 m can also be considered as they have lower
stress compared to 0.015 m which gives values that are below elastic modulus
of glass. Although this increase the size of the beam which increases the
model cost as more material is required. Table 4 shows the data obtained
from the design study.

4.2.5 Stress Simulation on Wave Tank Stand

The stress simulation on the stand shows the stress on the legs of the stand
which can be seen from Fig. 33. The maximum stress was found out to be
5.018 × 106 N/m2 . It was found that the legs have very small stress at the
bottom of the stand and the highest beneath the wave tank.

38
 Figure 33: Stress results on the legs of the wave tank stand.

4.2.6 Displacement Simulation on Wave Tank Stand

In displacement simulations, there was a negligible movement of the legs and
wall displacement was between 0.04 mm to 0.06 mm. This small displace-
ment in the wall is because the mass was distributed around the faces of the
wall. The mass was distributed around the wall because the tank is hollow
from inside and mass of the water has to be added to provide the total mass
when tank is fully filled with water. Therefore, this displacement will be
reduced if real displacement test was carried out with water filled inside it.
Fig. 34 shows the displacement location in the wave tank.

Figure 34: Displacement results of wave tank stand simulation.

39
4.2.7 Design Study on Wave Tank Stand

Table 5: Design study data on the stand.

The design study was done to determine the width and the distance
between the leg pair, refer Fig. 18 for more information. The leg distance
range from 0.78 m to 0.8 m with a step-up size of 0.01 m. The width of
the leg had ranged from 0.03 m to 0.06 m with a step-up size of 0.01 m.
The design variables were strain and stress values. The stress was set to a
maximum of 1.9×1011 N/m2 . The goal was to obtain the least displacement
and stress. According to conditions and goals different scenarios were created
and the scenarios can be seen in Table 5.
The optimal solution was leg width with 0.06 m. The reason 0.06 m is
optimal because it has the least stress in all the scenarios. Although, leg
width can be reduced and 0.04 or 0.05 m with leg distance of 0.78 m. This
results does not exceed the elastic modulus of the cast stainless steel but are
near to its value.

40
5 Conclusion
The project goal was to get the design requirements to make a small wave
tank, which was successfully performed. It was found out that the dimension
of 10 m X 0.8 m X 0.4 m is sufficient to get wave height near 0.1 m when
the time period is 1 s.
After getting the dimensions different wave absorbers were tested to see
how it affects the wave height. All the wave absorber were compared and
it was found out that 1:3 slope wave absorber provides the highest wave
height. When the parameters were decided, relation between wave height,
wave period, water depth and stroke length was obtained. It was seen that
wave height and water depth has a linear relation. In the case of wave height
and wave period, they are inversely proportional. It was seen that stroke
length is directly proportional to the wave height.
When the dimensions and wave absorber was decided, material to design
the model in SolidWorks was chosen which was cast stainless steel. Cast
stainless steel was chosen because it is cheap and robust. The static simula-
tions and design optimizations were successfully performed. It was found out
that the support beam 0.015 m thick is enough, although it can be increased
to 0.02 m. It was found out that legs distance of 0.78 m and a width of 0.06
m is sufficient although, the width can be reduced to 0.04 m as it does not
exceed the elastic modulus of cast stainless steel.
From the design study it can be concluded that the thinner support beam
and leg width can be considered to reduce the cost of the system. Although
it increases the risk of bending or breaking the tank. Therefore, there is a
trade off between design and cost of the wave tank.

41
6 Future work
Many different adaptations, testing, and experiments were left out to restrict
the vision of the thesis to the requirements of the project.
There can be some other setup for deeper analysis of wave absorber.
The porosity setting in Ansys Fluent with viscous resistance and inertial
resistance can be done for more detail porosity value. Its results should be
compared with the normal porosity setting to see how it affects the wave
height.
The wave absorber length was set to 2 m for looking into the effect of the
shape of the wave absorber and how the shape can hinder the wave reflection.
One thing which can be done here is to see the effect of wave absorber shape
on wave height, when this 2 m length restriction is removed.
In SolidWorks part, flow simulations can be performed to check the pres-
sure and force on the walls of the wave tank. If possible wavemaker should be
created. This will be useful to understand what amount of force or pressure
is exerted on the walls of the tank when the wavemaker starts to move back
and forth. Different shapes of support beam can be tested and their stress
results can be compared to see its effect on the wave tank.
Weldment tool can be used to create welding in the model and explore
different options which can create bolts and joints. The effect of these joints
and bolts on static simulations can be studied. If they reduce the stress on
the tank, design optimization should be done.

42
Appendix A. UDF Code
Code made for wavemaker in Microsoft Visual.
i n c l u d e ” udf . h”
#i n c l u d e ” d y n a m e s h t o o l s . h”

static real period = 1;

static real amplitude = 2 ;
static real pi = 3.14159265358979323846;
static real depth = 0 . 7 ;

DEFINE CG MOTION( o s c i l l a t e , dt , v e l , omega , time , dtime )

{
/∗ d e f i n e t h e v a r i a b l e s ∗/
Thread ∗ t ;
face t f ;
r e a l dv , a n g f r e q ;
NV S( v e l , =, 0 . 0 ) ;
NV S( omega , =, 0 . 0 ) ;

/∗ g e t th e t h r e a d p o i n t e r f o r which t h i s motion i s d e f i n e d ∗/
t = DT THREAD( dt ) ;
ang freq = 2 ∗ pi / period ;

/∗ l o o p o v e r each f a c e i n t h e zone t o c r e a t e an a r r a y o f data ∗/

begin f loop ( f , t )
{
/∗ s e t x−component o f v e l o c i t y ∗/
omega [ 1 ] = amplitude ∗ c o s ( a n g f r e q ∗ time ) ;
}
end f loop ( f , t )

Message ( ” time = %f , x v e l = %f \n ” , time , omega [ 1 ] ) ;

}

43
Appendix B. Ansys Fluent Settings

Figure 35: Dynamic mesh settings for mesh motion in Ansys Fluent.

44
Figure 36: Model information and solution methods in Ansys Fluent.

45
Appendix C. SolidWorks Settings

Figure 37: Material information in SolidWorks.

46
Figure 38: Mesh information in SolidWorks for static simulations.

Figure 39: Mesh information in SolidWorks for design study.

47
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