Nonlinear numerical simulation on extreme-wave kinematics

A fully nonlinear numerical model based on a time-domain higher-order boundary element method (HOBEM) is founded to simulate the kinematics of extreme waves. In the model, the fully nonlinear free surface boundary conditions are satisfied and a semi-mixed Euler-Lagrange method is used to track free surface; a fourth-order Runga-Kutta technique is adopted to refresh the wave elevation and velocity potential on the free surface at each time step; an image Green function is used in the numerical wave tank so that the integrations on the lateral surfaces and bottom are excluded. The extreme waves are generated by the method of wave focusing. The physical experiments are carried out in a wave flume. On the horizontal velocity of the measured point, numerical solutions agree well with experimental results. The characteristics of the nonlinear extreme-wave kinematics and the velocity distribution are studied here.