Evaluation of Inertia and Drag Coefficients Sensitivity to Pile Inclination using numerical Methods

Vertical piles are used in variety of marine structures bearing vertical and lateral forces. However inclined pile is a structural element which is particularly used in to confront the lateral forces in marine environment. Although study of wave forces on piles dates back to few decades ago, however many of these studies mainly focused on wave interaction with vertical piles. These results then roughly extend for inclined piles. This study investigates how the inclination of pile in sea environment affects the hydrodynamic coefficients. A set of tests performed on cylinders with different inclinations in a numerical wave tank with a piston-type wave maker using Flow 3D Software. History of applied forces resulting from the model run and also Morison equation are used to extract hydrodynamic drag and inertia coefficients. To show the influence of pile inclination on inertia and drag coefficients the results plotted against the pile angles. The outcomes showed that these coefficients are very sensitive to wave characteristics and pile inclination.