Abstract
This study concentrates on the second-order diffraction problem around circular cylinders in multi-frequency waves. The method of solution is a time-domain Rankine panel method which adopts a higher-order approximation for the velocity potential and wave elevation. In the present study, the multiple second-order quadratic transfer functions are extracted from the second-order time signal generated in random waves, and the comparison with other bench-mark test results shows a good agreement. This approach is directly applicable to prediction of nonlinear forces on offshore structures in random ocean.