Wave diffraction by a harbour with circular arc profile by scaled boundary FEM

Abstract

In this paper, wave diffraction by a harbour with circular arc profile is studied by the scaled boundary finite-element method (SBFEM), a novel semi-analytical approach, with the combined advantages of both finite-element and boundary-element methods. The governing partial differential equation is weakened in the circumferential direction and transformed to ordinary matrix differential equations in radial direction, which is solved analytically by SBFEM. The whole solution domain is divided into one unbounded subdomain and one bounded subdomain by the profile of the harbour. The effects of the incident wave angle and the opening angle of the harbour are discussed. Discretising only the circumference of the harbour, the current semi-analytical SBFEM model exhibits excellent computational accuracy and efficiency. The technique can be extended to solve more practical wave-structure interaction problems with increased complexity.