Influence of Surface Waves—Von Karman Street Interaction on Bottom Sediments Transport in the Vicinity of a Wind Turbine Mast: Experimental and Theoretical Study

Abstract

Cylindrical structures used in offshore energy production systems are subjected to various stresses and loads (waves and currents). Understanding the interactions between these cylindrical structures and bedforms is critical, as rapid changes in the bathymetry can expose and damage pile foundations and cables. The impact of a vertical cylinder on a sandy sedimentary bottom subjected to hydrodynamic currents and surface waves is experimentally and theoretically studied. Tests were carried out at the wave flume where patterns are produced. It is observed that patterns emerge due to a subcritical instability at the water-sand interface at the bottom. The characteristics of these patterns can be explained using the Swift-Hohenberg equation. Finally, the experimental results will be applied to the numerical model using the Swift-Hohenberg equation.

Keywords

Physical modeling / Surface water waves / Karman vortex street / Frequency lock-in / Scour / Sediment transport / Swift-hohenberg

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the M2C UMR 6143 laboratory for providing research facilities.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, N.A. and I.A.; Methodology, N.A.; Software, N.A. and Z.L.-A.; Validation, N.A.; Formal Analysis, R.M.; Investigation, N.A. and Z.L.-A.; Resources, N.A.; Data Curation, N.A.; Writing—Original Draft Preparation, N.A. and Z.L.-A.; Writing—Review & Editing, N.A. and R.M.; Visualization, N.A.; Supervision, N.A.; Project Administration, N.A.; Funding Acquisition, N.A.

Ethics Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Data will be made available on request.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

References

[1] Sumer BM, Fredsoe J. Scour around pile in combined waves and current. J. Hydraul. Eng. 2001, 127, 403-411.

[2] Chen HH. Experimental study of scour around monopile and jacket-type offshore wind turbine foundations. J. Mar. Sci. Technol. 2019, 27, 2.

[3] Larsen BE, Arbøll LK, Kristoffersen SF, Carstensen S, Fuhrman DR. Experimental study of tsunami-induced scour around a monopile foundation. Coast. Eng. 2018, 138, 9-21.

[4] Zhang Q, Tang G, Lu L, Yang F. Scour protections of collar around a monopile foundation in steady current. Appl. Ocean. Res. 2021, 112, 102718.

[5] Yang B, Wei K, Yang W, Li T, Qin B. A feasibility study of reducing scour around monopile foundation using a tidal current turbine. Ocean. Eng. 2021, 220, 108396.

[6] Qin B, Xie Y, Yang W, Qu R, Geng F. A further study on the scour around the monopile foundation of offshore wind turbines. Sustain. Energy Technol. Assess. 2023, 57, 103198.

[7] Gunnoo H, Abcha N, Mouazé D, Ezersky A, García-Hermosa MI. Laboratory simulation of resonance amplification of the hydrodynamic fields in the vicinity of wind farm masts. In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore, Lisbon, Portugal, 24-26 November 2014.

[8] Gunnoo H, Abcha N, Ezersky A. Frequency lock-in and phase synchronization of vortex shedding behind circular cylinder due to surface waves. Phys. Lett. A 2016, 380, 863-868.

[9] Swift J, Hohenberg PC. Hydrodynamic fluctuations at the convective instability. Phys. Rev. A 1977, 15, 319.

[10] Abroug I, Abcha N. Frequency and phase lock-in behind circular cylinder in the presence of random irregular waves. Phys. Rev. Fluids 2022, 7, 064801

[11] Abroug I, Abcha N, Mejri F, Turki EI, Ojeda E. The Hydrodynamic Behavior of Vortex Shedding behind Circular Cylinder in the Presence of Group Focused Waves. Fluids 2022, 7, 4.

[12] Soulsby RL, Whitehouse RJS. Dynamics of Marine Sands; Thomas Telford Publishing: London, UK, 1997.

[13] Nielsen P. Coastal and Estuarine Processes; World Scientific Publishing Company: Singapore, 2009; Volume 29.

[14] Sleath JFA. Sea Bed Mechanics; Wiley: New York, NY, USA, 1984.

[15] Kozyreff G, Tlidi M. Nonvariational real Swift-Hohenberg equation for biological, chemical, and optical systems. Chaos: An Interdisciplinary. J. Nonlinear Sci. 2007, 17, 037103.

[16] Hartvig PT, Thomsen JM, Frigaard P, Andersen TL. Full Erratum for “Experimental study of the development of scour and backfilling”. In DCE Technical Memoranda No. 12; Department of Civil Engineering, Aalborg University: Aalborg, Denmark, 2011. ISSN 1901-7278

[17] Link O, Pfleger F, Zanke U. Characteristics of developing scour-holes at a sand-embedded cylinder. Int. J. Sediment Res. 2008, 23, 258-266

[18] Umeda S, Yamazaki T, Ishida H. Time evolution of scour and deposition around a cylindrical pier in steady flow. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Scour and Erosion, Tokyo, Japan, 5-7 November 2008; pp. 5-7.

[19] Lloyd DJ, Sandstede B, Avitabile D, Champneys AR. Localized hexagon patterns of the planar Swift-Hohenberg equation. SIAM J. Appl. Dyn.Syst. 2008, 7, 1049-1100.

[20] M’F H, Métens S, Borckmans P, Dewel G. Pattern selection in the generalized Swift-Hohenberg model. Phys. Rev. E 1995, 51, 2046.

[21] Auzerais A, Jarno A, Ezersky A, Marin F. Formation of localized sand patterns downstream from a vertical cylinder under steady flows: Experimental and theoretical study. Phys. Rev. E 2016, 94, 052903.