The buoyancy-modified turbulence models are developed to simulate offshore and coastal engineering processes. The buoyancy-modified turbulence models not only result in a stable wave propagation model without wave damping but they also predict the turbulence level inside the flow field more accurately in the surf zone.

The buoyancy-modified turbulence models have been developed within the PhD thesis of Brecht DEVOLDER at the Department of Civil Engineering at Ghent University and KU Leuven, funded by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), Belgium (Ph.D. fellowship 1133817N).

If you want to reference the model in your publications, you can use the following references in which the implementation and validation details are published:

• Devolder, B., Rauwoens, P., & Troch, P. (2017). Application of a buoyancy-modified k-ω SST turbulence model to simulate wave run-up around a monopile subjected to regular waves using OpenFOAM^®. Coastal Engineering, 125, 81–94. doi:10.1016/j.coastaleng.2017.04.004.
• Devolder, B., Troch, P., & Rauwoens, P. (2018). Performance of a buoyancy-modified k-ω and k-ω SST turbulence model for simulating wave breaking under regular waves using OpenFOAM^®. Coastal Engineering, 138, 49–65. doi:10.1016/j.coastaleng.2018.04.011.

• In a linux terminal, download the package using git:

  git clone https://github.com/BrechtDevolder-UGent-KULeuven/buoyancyModifiedTurbulenceModels.git
  cd buoyancyModifiedTurbulenceModels
  

• Source your OpenFOAM environment, e.g. for OpenFOAM-3.0.1:

  source $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-3.0.1/etc/bashrc        
  

• Go into the folder for the specific OpenFOAM installation (e.g. OF301 for OpenFOAM-3.0.1):

  cd OF301
  

• Compile the source code to build a shared library:

  wmake libso
  

• Include the buoyancyModifiedTurbulenceModels library in system/controlDict:

  libs
  (
      "libbuoyancyModifiedTurbulenceModels.so"
  );
  

• Add the correct turbulence model in constant/turbulenceProperties:

  simulationType  RAS;
  
  RAS
  {
      RASModel        kOmegaSSTBuoyancy; //kOmegaBuoyancy;
      turbulence      on;
      printCoeffs     on;
  }
  

• Modify system/fvSchemes:

  ddt(k)
  ddt(omega)
  ...
  div(phi,k)
  div(phi,omega)
  

  to

  ddt(rho,k)
  ddt(rho,omega)
  ...
  div((interpolate(rho)*phi),k)
  div((interpolate(rho)*phi),omega)
  

coming soon...

• Brecht DEVOLDER

  Department of Civil Engineering, Ghent University
  Technologiepark 904, B-9052 Zwijnaarde (GENT), BELGIUM
  [email protected]

  Construction Technology Cluster, Campus Bruges, Department of Civil Engineering, KU Leuven
  Spoorwegstraat 12, B-8200 Bruges, BELGIUM
  [email protected]

• prof. Peter TROCH

  Department of Civil Engineering, Ghent University
  Technologiepark 904, B-9052 Zwijnaarde (GENT), BELGIUM
  [email protected]

• prof. Pieter RAUWOENS

  Construction Technology Cluster, Campus Bruges, Department of Civil Engineering, KU Leuven
  Spoorwegstraat 12, B-8200 Bruges, BELGIUM
  [email protected]