Numerical simulation of wave run-up on four cylinders in a square configuration

A series of numerical simulations of wave run-up on four-cylinder array is performed at different spacing ratios 1.5 <= L/D <= 4.25, where L is the center-to-center distance between the adjacent cylinders and D is the cylinder diameter. The effects of spacing ratio and wave steepness on the wave run up ratio and wave force on the four cylinders are investigated. The results show that with variation of the spacing ratios and incident wave angles, different wave pattern regimes are observed among four cylinders. It is interesting to note that the maximum run-up ratio occurs at L/D = 2.0 with the large wave steepness H/lambda =1/16, and approaches to 2.4 times of that for the single cylinder in the case of incident wave angle beta = 45 degrees. The spacing ratio has a significant effect on the horizontal wave forces for the four cylinders, however, the location of the maximum wave force is found to be not significantly related to that of the maximum run-up ratio.