Advances in Numerical Simulation of Nonlinear Water Waves (Advances in Coastal and Ocean Engineering)

Most of the Earth's surface is covered by water. Many aspects of our everyday lives and activities may be affected by water waves in some way. Sometimes, the waves can cause disaster. One of the examples was the tsunami that occurred in the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004. This indicates how important it is for us to fully understand water waves, in particular the very large ones. One way to do so is to perform numerical simulation based on the nonlinear theory. Considerable research advances have been made in this area over the past decade by developing various numerical methods and applying them to emerging problems; however, until now there has been no comprehensive book to reflect these advances. This unique volume aims to bridge this gap. This book contains 18 self-contained chapters written by more than 50 authors from 12 different countries, many of whom are world-leading experts in the field. Each chapter is based mainly on the pioneering work of the authors and their research teams over the past decades. The chapters altogether deal with almost all numerical methods that have been employed so far to simulate nonlinear water waves and cover many important and very interesting applications, such as overturning waves, breaking waves, waves generated by landslides, freak waves, solitary waves, tsunamis, sloshing waves, interaction of extreme waves with beaches, interaction with fixed structures, and interaction with free-response floating structures. Therefore, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art research and key achievements in numerical modeling of nonlinear water waves, and serves as a unique reference for postgraduates, researchers and senior engineers working in industry.