Slow drift damping force acting on a horizontal cylinder

The hydrodynamic forces acting on a circular cylinder and a rectangular cylinder undergoing slow drift oscillation in regular waves were investigated experimentally and numerically. Forced oscillation tests with low frequency and large amplitude in regular waves and forced two-harmonic oscillation with combined low and high frequencies were carried out in the experimental study. In the numerical study a finite-difference method was used to simulate viscous flow around a two-dimensional oscillating cylinder. The results of experiments showed that a horizontal rectangular cylinder oscillating slowly in waves has much higher damping coefficients than one oscillating in two-harmonic mode, while the numerical study indicated that such differences in the damping coefficient arise partly from the different effects of one-direction harmonic flow and rotating flow on the vortex shedding caused by the slow drift oscillation.