On the simulation of regular waves in a numerical wave tank

The use of renewable sources for electricity generation has been accelerated because of high fuel prices of fossil fuels. In addition to this, the use of conventional fuel supplies is no longer able to cater for the ever increasing energy demands of the modern world which is experiencing an age of rapid expansion. Furthermore, use of renewable energy aims to mitigate the effects of climate change such as global warming and rising sea levels which is brought about by the use of fossil fuels. Fiji is not spared from the harsh reality of rising sea levels which poses a threat on their livelihoods as a result of climate change. It is important to find alternative energy source which is environmentally friendly and reduces dependence on fossil fuel. Generating power from waves offers a good option. As such in the present study commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code ANSYS-CFX is used to model a piston type 3D numerical wave tank (NWT). An actual NWT is constructed to generate desired wave climate based on field measurement at a site in Fiji. The CFD results compared very well with analytical solutions. The difference is within 3% highlighting the validity of the CFD code.