The simulation of free-surface flow around moored or floating objects faces a series of challenges concerning the flow modelling and the numerical solution method. During the development of the ComFLOW simulation method many of these challenges have been tackled, as there are wave propagation, absorbing boundary conditions, turbulence modeling, fluid-solid body interaction and numerical efficiency. Several of these challenges will be discussed in the paper. To demonstrate the current capabilities of ComFLOW, a number of simulation results for engineering applications from the offshore industry will be presented. Examples are wave impact against a semi-submersible offshore platform, an oscillating buoy, and a free-fall life boat dropping into wavy water. For these applications, MARIN has carried out several validation experiments.

During the development of the ComFLOW simulation method many challenges have to be tackled concerning the flow modelling and the numerical solution algorithm. Examples hereof are wave propagation, absorbing boundary conditions, fluid–solid body interaction, turbulence modeling and numerical efficiency. Some of these challenges will be discussed in the paper, in particular the design of absorbing boundary conditions and the numerical coupling for fluid–solid body interaction. As a demonstration of the progress made, a number of simulation results for engineering applications from the offshore industry will be presented: a wave-making oscillating buoy, a free-fall life boat dropping into wavy water, and wave impact against a semi-submersible offshore platform. For those applications, MARIN has carried out several validation experiments.