The Spectrally Accurate Method Applied to Wave-Current Interaction as a Freak Wave Generation Mechanism

In this paper, generation mechanisms of ocean freak waves are briefly introduced in the context of wave-current interaction phenomena. As an accurate and efficient numerical tool, the spectral element method is presented with general features and specific treatment for the wave-current interaction problem. The present model of the fluid motion is based on the Navier-Stokes equations incorporating a velocity-pressure formulation. In order to deal with the free surface motion, an Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) description is adopted. As an intermediate stage of development, solution procedure and characteristic aspects of the present modeling and numerical method features are addressed in detail, and numerical results for wave-current interaction is left as further study.