Numerical Simulation of Regular Wave and Ice Floe Interaction Using Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian Method

Wave propagation is impacted by the presence of ice floes. The influence of waves, on the other hand, causes ice floes to overlap and accumulate. In this paper, the interaction of ice floes and regular waves was simulated using the Finite Element Method. Firstly, natural ice floe fields were generated using the Python 3.10 programing language, with floe size distribution and randomness taken into consideration. Then, using the velocity inlet boundary wave generation method, regular simple harmonic waves were produced. The process where ice floes couple with waves was simulated with the Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) approach. Variations in wave height after passing through the ice floe field were investigated, and further research was conducted on the movement and fragmentation characteristics of ice floes. Simulations employing the Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) approach reveal that (1) ice floe motion exhibits periodic characteristics synchronized with incident wave periods; (2) wave height attenuation increases by 62–80% with rising ice concentration (70–90%); and (3) fragmentation predominantly occurs at wave trough phases due to flexural stress concentration. These findings quantitatively characterize wave–ice energy transfer mechanisms critical for polar navigation safety assessments.