Numerical Wave Basin (NWB) is one of the special areas of applying CFD-based FSI technology to replace physical model test by numerical simulation in offshore platform design process. Most distinctive challenges in NWB simulation is to capture simultaneously the correct physics in length and time scales, both larger and smaller than the characteristic scales of the platform dimensions and responses. The nonlinear stochastic nature of the ocean waves has to be captured by large domain and long duration simulations – tens of kilometers and hours. At the same time, the grid resolution and time step have to be fine enough to capture the physics in different length scales – meters for wave kinematics, centi-meters for flow field near platform, milli-meters for wave impact; and time scales – fraction of seconds for wave kinematics and flow field near platform, micro seconds for wave impact and structural responses. In addition to these challenges in CFD modeling, finding a good benchmark data to validate the CFD modeling practice is another critical element to mature the NWB technology, especially for the full-scale benchmark.

For the recent years, there have been joint industry efforts to overcome these challenges one by one and to mature the NWB technology to be ready for the offshore platform design. This presentation introduces the industry efforts that TechnipFMC & Genesis Americas have been involved, and summarizes the current status of NWB development and path forward.