Simulation-Based Study of Turbulent Flows in Wave Environment

With the growth in computing power and the advancement in numerical algorithms, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is playing an increasingly important role in the study of many fluid mechanics problems in geophysical sciences.  Built on highly accurate numerical schemes and utilizing high-performance computing, high-fidelity CFD is especially valuable for faithfully capturing the flow physics of turbulence in complex environments, such as water waves.  This talk will introduce some of our recent developments in numerical methods for nonlinear wave fields and turbulence in the wave environment.  The flow physics of wave-turbulence interaction will be illustrated, focusing on the turbulent boundary layers and multiphase flows at the wave surface.  Innovative theoretical analyses and modeling will be presented to reveal the underlying flow dynamics.