The influence of monochromatic waves interacting with a submerged bar structure is investigated through laboratory experiments in a wave flume. Wave profiles for a range of non-breaking, spilling, and plunging waves were analyzed for three offshore water depths through the interpretation of wave gauge and video imagery data. Evolution of propagating waves was reflected in data which showed increased amplitudes due to shoaling with subsequent breaking, transfer of single frequency spectrum from lower to higher frequency harmonics, and dissipation of energy after breaking onset. Comparisons of collected experimental data with previous theory developed by Yao et al (2013), Smith & Kraus (1991), Galvin (1968) for wave classification showed to be relatively accurate for both relative submergence and surf similarity methods. Wave breaking onset identified by instability in the wave crests allowed for measurements of breaking wave height and depth at breaking. Theory by Johnson (2006) and Goda (1974) compared to experimental data showed little agreement for predicting breaking wave heights. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This research focuses on the study of the behavior of a high speed vehicle and particularly an air-cushion vehicle (ACV) in varying bathymetry. An extensive data acquisition system is developed to gather data during the experiments. Four groups of experiments are conducted in a wave tank using a scale model surface effect ship to generate a database that is post processed to assess phenomena under various conditions. Group No1 experiments involved characterizing the wave motion in the tank in the absence of the vehicle as the waves transformed in response to variation in water depth. Based on these experimental datasets, the wave breaking type and position are predicted using a machine learning approach and, more specifically, a neural network of the multilayer perceptron type. Group No2 experiments are in support of a parametric study to evaluate the vehicle's performance under calm water conditions when the control inputs are varied. A system identific ation approach based on the experimental data is proposed to create a model that predicts the vehicles translational motion. In group No3 the experiments involve the vehicle travelling with a non-zero forward speed and encountering transforming head and following seas. Transient and non-linear phenomena and relations among parameters are observed Group No 4 experiments involve the vehicle maintaining a position in the "surf-zone" under manual control, encountering breaking waves that break on its bow skirt. Non-linear phenomena are discussed based on the experimental results. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

In near-shore transforming seas, as waves approach the shoreline, wave shoaling and sometimes wave breaking take place due to the decreasing water depth. When a ship advances through the transforming seas, the ship body and waves interact with each other substantially and can lead to unknown motions of the ship hull. The physical process of how the wave transforms in the surf zone and how the vehicle actually behaves when it passes through the transforming seas is a complicated issue that triggers considerable research interest. The goal of my research is to characterize the dynamics of a high-speed surface ship model in transforming seas through a parametric numerical study of the shipwave interactions. In this study, the vehicle of interest is a surface effect ship (SES) and we aim to contribute to developing a methodology for simulating the transforming wave environment, including wave breaking, and its interactions with the SES. The thesis work uses a commercial software package ANSYS Fluent to generate numerical waves and model the interface between water and air using the volume of fluid (VoF) method. A ship motion solver and the dynamic mesh are used to enable the modeled ship to perform three degree-of-freedom (DoF) motion and the near-region of the ship hull to deform as well as re-mesh. Non-conformal meshes with hybrid compositions of different cell types and various grid sizes are used in the simulations for different purposes. Five user-defined functions (UDFs) are dynamically linked with the flow solver to incorporates ship/grid motions, wave damping and output of the numerical results. A series of steps were taken sequentially: 1) validation for ship motions including simulation of a static Wigley hull under steady flows to compare against previous experimental results by other researchers, and the comparison between the static SES model under steady flows and the moving SES model advancing in the calm water; 2) study of the ship with 3 DoF advancing in calm water of both constant depth and varying depth; 3) validation for numerical waves, including predictions of numerically progressive waves in both a regular tank and a tank with a sloped fringing reef to compare with theoretical and experimental results, respectively; 4) investigation of the transforming characteristics of the wave traveling over the sloped fringing reef, which mimics the near-shore wave environment and a study of the dynamics of the SES through transforming waves. We find that the flow solver used in this study reliably models the wave profiles along the ship hull. The comparison between a static SES in a current and a moving SES in calm water at the same Froude number shows that although the velocity fields around the vehicle are significantly different, the wave profiles inside and outside the rigid cushion of the vehicle are similar and the resistance force experienced by the vehicle in the two scenarios agree well over time. We conducted five numerical simulations of the vehicle traveling from shallow water to deep water across the transition zone for different Froude numbers. From the results, we find that as the Froude number increases, the wave resistance force on the vehicle becomes larger in both shallow water and deep water. In addition, the overall mean resistance force experienced by the vehicle over the whole trip increases with the Froude number. Statistical analysis of the wave motions suggests that the energy flux decreases dramatically in the onshore direction as the waves break. The more severe the wave-breaking process, the greater the decrease in energy flux. Both the increase of Froude number and the wave steepness apparently increase the resistance force on the vehicle in the shallow water. This thesis work captures the impact of the transforming characteristics of the waves and closely replicates the behavior of how waves interact with a ship in transforming seas through numerical modeling and simulation. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection