Highly Accurate Experimental Heave Decay Tests with a Floating Sphere: A Public Benchmark Dataset for Model Validation of Fluid−Structure Interaction

Morten Bech Kramer; Jacob Andersen; Sarah Thomas; Flemming Buus Bendixen; Harry Bingham; Robert Read; Nikolaj Holk; Edward Ransley; Scott Brown; Yi-Hsiang Yu; Thanh Toan Tran; Josh Davidson; Csaba Horvath; Carl-Erik Janson; Kim Nielsen; Claes Eskilsson

LAPSE

Living Archive for Process Systems Engineering

LAPSE:2023.28958

Published Article

LAPSE:2023.28958

Highly Accurate Experimental Heave Decay Tests with a Floating Sphere: A Public Benchmark Dataset for Model Validation of Fluid−Structure Interaction

Morten Bech Kramer, Jacob Andersen, Sarah Thomas, Flemming Buus Bendixen, Harry Bingham, Robert Read, Nikolaj Holk, Edward Ransley, Scott Brown, Yi-Hsiang Yu, Thanh Toan Tran, Josh Davidson, Csaba Horvath, Carl-Erik Janson, Kim Nielsen, Claes Eskilsson

April 12, 2023

Highly accurate and precise heave decay tests on a sphere with a diameter of 300 mm were completed in a meticulously designed test setup in the wave basin in the Ocean and Coastal Engineering Laboratory at Aalborg University, Denmark. The tests were dedicated to providing a rigorous benchmark dataset for numerical model validation. The sphere was ballasted to half submergence, thereby floating with the waterline at the equator when at rest in calm water. Heave decay tests were conducted, wherein the sphere was held stationary and dropped from three drop heights: a small drop height, which can be considered a linear case, a moderately nonlinear case, and a highly nonlinear case with a drop height from a position where the whole sphere was initially above the water. The precision of the heave decay time series was calculated from random and systematic standard uncertainties. At a 95% confidence level, uncertainties were found to be very low—on average only about 0.3% of the respective drop heights. Physical parameters of the test setup and associated uncertainties were quantified. A test case was formulated that closely represents the physical tests, enabling the reader to do his/her own numerical tests. The paper includes a comparison of the physical test results to the results from several independent numerical models based on linear potential flow, fully nonlinear potential flow, and the Reynolds-averaged Navier−Stokes (RANS) equations. A high correlation between physical and numerical test results is shown. The physical test results are very suitable for numerical model validation and are public as a benchmark dataset.

Record ID

LAPSE:2023.28958

Keywords

benchmark dataset, Computational Fluid Dynamics, fluid–structure interaction, fully nonlinear potential flow, heave decay, linear potential flow, physical tests, RANS, sphere, wave energy converters

Subject

Modelling and Simulations

Suggested Citation

Kramer MB, Andersen J, Thomas S, Bendixen FB, Bingham H, Read R, Holk N, Ransley E, Brown S, Yu YH, Tran TT, Davidson J, Horvath C, Janson CE, Nielsen K, Eskilsson C. Highly Accurate Experimental Heave Decay Tests with a Floating Sphere: A Public Benchmark Dataset for Model Validation of Fluid−Structure Interaction. (2023). LAPSE:2023.28958

Author Affiliations

Kramer MB: Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University (AAU), Thomas Mann Vej 23, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark; Floating Power Plant (FPP), Park Allé 382, 2625 Vallensbæk, Denmark [ORCID]
Andersen J: Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University (AAU), Thomas Mann Vej 23, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark [ORCID]
Thomas S: Floating Power Plant (FPP), Park Allé 382, 2625 Vallensbæk, Denmark
Bendixen FB: Sintex, Jyllandsvej 14, 9500 Hobro, Denmark [ORCID]
Bingham H: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Nils Koppels Allé, Building 403, 2800 Kgs Lyngby, Denmark [ORCID]
Read R: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Nils Koppels Allé, Building 403, 2800 Kgs Lyngby, Denmark [ORCID]
Holk N: Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University (AAU), Thomas Mann Vej 23, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark
Ransley E: School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, University of Plymouth (UoP), Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA, UK [ORCID]
Brown S: School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, University of Plymouth (UoP), Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA, UK
Yu YH: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), 15013 Denver West Parkway, Golden, CO 80401, USA [ORCID]
Tran TT: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), 15013 Denver West Parkway, Golden, CO 80401, USA [ORCID]
Davidson J: Department of Fluid Mechanics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Műegyetem rkp. 3, 1111 Budapest, Hungary
Horvath C: Department of Fluid Mechanics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Műegyetem rkp. 3, 1111 Budapest, Hungary [ORCID]
Janson CE: Department of Mechanics and Maritime Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology (CTH), 40482 Gothenburg, Sweden
Nielsen K: Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University (AAU), Thomas Mann Vej 23, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark; Ramboll Group A/S, Hannemanns Allé 53, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark
Eskilsson C: Department of the Built Environment, Aalborg University (AAU), Thomas Mann Vej 23, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark; Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), P.O. Box 857, SE-50115 Borås, Sweden [ORCID]

Journal Name

Energies

Volume

14

Issue

2

Article Number

en14020269

Year

2021

Publication Date

2021-01-06