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arXiv · 2506.09435

FNPF-SEM: A parallel spectral element model in Firedrake for fully nonlinear water wave simulations

Jens Visbech·Anders Melander·Allan Peter Engsig-Karup
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Abstract

We present a new parallel spectral element solver, FNPF-SEM, for simulating linear and fully nonlinear potential flow-based water waves and their interaction with offshore structures. The tool is designed as a general-purpose wave model for offshore engineering applications. Built within the open-source framework Firedrake, the new FNPF-SEM model is designed as a computational tool capable of capturing both linear and nonlinear wave phenomena with high accuracy and efficiency, with support for high-order (spectral) finite elements. Additionally, Firedrake provides native support for MPI-based parallelism, allowing for efficient multi-CPU distributed computations needed for large-scale simulations. We demonstrate the capabilities of the high-order spectral element model through h- and p-convergence studies, and weak and strong scaling tests. Validation is performed against analytical solutions and experimental data for several benchmark cases, including nonlinear high-order harmonic generation and linear and nonlinear wave interactions with a cylinder and a breakwater. The new FNPF-SEM model offers a numerical framework for simulating wave propagation and wave-structure interactions, with the following key features: i) the ability to represent complex geometries through flexible, unstructured finite element meshes; ii) reduced numerical diffusion and dispersion by using high-order polynomial expansions; and iii) scalability to full- and large-scale simulations over long time periods through a parallel implementation.

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Jens Visbech, Anders Melander, Allan Peter Engsig-Karup. 2025-06-11. FNPF-SEM: A parallel spectral element model in Firedrake for fully nonlinear water wave simulations. https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.09435

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