Stability of seawalls using modified pseudo-dynamic method under earthquake conditions

By using the modified pseudo-dynamic method for submerged soils this paper explores the seismic stability of seawall for the active condition of earth pressure. Different forces such as seismic active earth pressure, seismic inertia forces of the wall, non-breaking wave pressure, hydrostatic and hydrodynamic pressures are considered in the stability analysis. Limit equilibrium has been used, and expressions for the factor of safety against sliding and overturning mode of failure have been proposed. The proposed methodology overcomes the limitations of existing pseudo-dynamic method for submerged soils. A detailed parametric study has been conducted by varying different parameters and results are presented in the form of design charts for computation of factor of safety against sliding and overturning mode of failures. It was noticed that the influences of soil friction angle, seismic acceleration coefficient, wall inclination and excess pore pressure are significant when compared to the other parameters. The value of factor of safety against the sliding mode of failure is increasing by about 62% when the value of soil frictional angle is increased from 30° to 40°. It was also found that the factor of safety against overturning mode of failure is decreasing by about 22% as the value of excess pore pressure ratio increases from 0 to 0.75. The proposed method with closed-form solutions can be used for the seismic design of seawalls.     

Deformation of rubble-mound breakwaters under cyclic loads

Rubble-mound breakwaters usually consist of a core of small quarry-run rock protected by one or more intermediate layers or underlayers that separate the core from the cover layers, which are composed of large armor units. Failure of rubble-mound breakwaters may be due to effects such as removal or damage of the armor units, overtopping leading to scouring, toe erosion, loss of the core material, or foundation problems under waves. However, whether rubble mounds fail under seismic loads is unknown. High seismic activity can lead to large settlements and even to failure of the breakwaters. The design of coastal structures should take into account the most relevant factors in each case, including seismic loading. The objective of this study is to understanding the failure mechanisms of conventional breakwater structures under seismic loads on rigid foundations. Hence, an experimental study was carried out on conventional breakwater structures with and without toes, subjected to different dynamic loadings of variable frequencies and amplitudes, in a shaking tank. A shaking tank with a single degree of freedom was developed to study the simple responses of conventional rubble-mound breakwaters under cyclic loads. For each test, an automatic raining crane system was used to achieve the same relative density and porosity of the core material. The input motion induced horizontal accelerations of different magnitudes during the tests. The accelerations and the deformation phases of the model were measured by a data acquisition system and an image processing system. The experiments on the conventional rubble-mound type breakwater model were performed under rigid-bottom conditions. The model's scale was 1:50. Cyclic responses of breakwaters with toes and without toes were examined separately, and their behaviors were compared. The results were compared with a numerical study, and the material properties and failure modes were thus defined.     

Evaluation of wave impact loads on caisson breakwaters based on joint probability of impact maxima and rise times

When waves break against seawalls, vertical breakwaters, piers or jetties, they abruptly transfer their momentum into the structure. This energy transfer is always spectacular and perpetually unrepeatable but can also be very violent and affect the stability and the integrity of coastal structures. Over the last 15 years, increasing awareness of wave-impact induced structural failures of maritime structures has emphasised the need for a more complete approach to dynamic responses, including effects of impulsive loads. At the same time, movement of design standards toward probabilistic approaches requires new statistical tools able to account for uncertainties in the variability of wave loading processes. This paper presents a new approach to the definition of loads for use in performance design of vertical coastal structures subject to breaking wave impacts.     

沉箱式防波堤静力与动力稳定性设计体型分析

将沉箱式防波堤滑移和倾覆稳定性设计方法分为三类：静力设计方法、不允许沉箱出现滑移和摇摆角的动力设计方法、控制沉箱滑移量和摇摆角的动力设计方法。建立了满足给定抗滑和抗倾安全系数条件下，按静力设计方法确定沉箱尺度的控制方程，研究了波浪条件和安全系数取值对沉箱长宽比的影响。通过动力数值计算分析了沉箱长宽比对沉箱滑移量和摇摆角的影响，并与传统静力设计理论进行了比较，讨论了控制沉箱滑移量和摇摆角的动力设计方法的可行性。     

Shaking table study on liquefaction behaviour of different saturated sands reinforced by stone columns

Abstract

Liquefaction is a phenomenon developed in loose and saturated layers of sands subjected to dynamic or seismic loading, and often leads to excessive settlement and subsequent failures in structures. Several methods have been proposed to improve soil resistance against liquefaction, among which use of stone columns is one of the most applicable methods. In this research, the effect of stone columns with different geometries and arrangements on the liquefaction behaviour of loose and very loose saturated sands subjected to vibration is investigated using shaking table. Results of the experiments show that when using stone columns in sand layers, the level of maximum settlement is significantly reduced. Further, the presence of stone columns significantly reduces pore water pressure ratio. This further indicates that stone columns have a positive effect and reasonable performance, even in relatively strong earthquakes, provided that the number and cross-section of the columns are sufficient. In addition, stone columns reduce the pore water pressure dissipation time. Moreover, by increasing cross-sectional area and the number of columns, both pore water pressure and settlement decrease. Stone columns in loose sand have a greater effect on the reduction of pore water pressure compared to that of very loose sand.     

Countermeasures for breakwater foundation subjected to foreshocks and main shock of earthquake loading

Coastal protective structures, such as composite breakwaters, are generally vulnerable to earthquake. It was observed that breakwaters damage mainly due to failure of their foundations. However, the seismically induced failure process of breakwater foundation has not been well understood. This study describes failure mechanism of breakwater foundation as well as a newly developed reinforcing model for breakwater foundation that can render resiliency to breakwater against earthquake-related disasters. Steel sheet piles and gabions were used as reinforcing materials for foundation. The experimental program consisted of a series of shaking table tests for conventional and reinforced foundation of breakwater. Numerical analyses were conducted using finite difference method, and it was observed that the numerical models were capable to elucidate the seismic behavior of soil–reinforcement–breakwater system. This paper presents an overview of the results of experimental and numerical studies of the seismic response of breakwater foundation. Overall, the results of these studies show the effectiveness of the reinforced foundation in mitigating the earthquake-induced damage to the breakwater. Moreover, numerical simulation was used for parametric study to determine the effect of different embedment depths of sheet piles on the performance of breakwater foundation subjected to seismic loading.     

Shear Behavior of Sand–Silt Mixtures: A Laboratory Investigation of Coastal Silty Sand Soils of Mostaganem

In recent years, interest in understanding the mechanisms of mechanical instability of porous media, leading to catastrophic failure has been continuously revised to include, new porous media parameters generating the phenomenon of liquefaction under static or dynamic loadings. Results from experimental test programs have concluded too many physical concepts based on material intrinsic properties, initial states, and other characteristics. Despite the great progress on the subject, these concepts do not allow a unified treatment of such porous media. The assessment of critical shear strength of sandy soils as porous media under undrained conditions is a major challenge in stability analysis. Such strength serves to evaluate the occurrence of flow deformation under liquefaction phenomena. The determination of the critical undrained strength is essentially fundamental for the design of soil structures such as earth dams, bridge supports, building foundations as well as soil densification process to avoid catastrophic failure due to soil instability manifested by failure or large displacement such as settlement. In this work, experimental program on reconstituted loose and medium dense specimens of terrigenous silica sands with different specified fine contents was carried out to analyze its mechanical behavior under undrained conditions. The present article is an attempt to experimentally describe mechanical behavior and theoretically justify such response of loose and medium dense sand by means of critical state soil parameters.     

Application of Importance Sampling Method in Sliding Failure Simulation of Caisson Breakwaters

It is assumed that the storm wave takes place once a year during the design period, and N histories of storm waves are generated on the basis of wave spectrum corresponding to the N-year design period. The responses of the breakwater to the N histories of storm waves in the N-year design period are calculated by mass-spring-dashpot mode and taken as a set of samples. The failure probability of caisson breakwaters during the design period of N years is obtained by the statistical analysis of many sets of samples. It is the key issue to improve the efficiency of the common Monte Carlo simulation method in the failure probability estimation of caisson breakwaters in the complete life cycle. In this paper, the kernel method of importance sampling, which can greatly increase the efficiency of failure probability calculation of caisson breakwaters, is proposed to estimate the failure probability of caisson breakwaters in the complete life cycle. The effectiveness of the kernel method is investigated by an example. It is indicated that the calculation efficiency of the kernel method is over 10 times the common Monte Carlo simulation method.     

Process based stability formulae for coastal structures made of geotextile sand containers

Geotextile Sand Containers (GSC) are increasingly used worldwide for shore protection structures such as seawalls, groins, breakwaters, revetments and artificial reefs. However, reliable design formulae for the hydraulic stability based on a good understanding of the processes involved in the wave-structure interactions are still needed.Although the effect of the deformations of the sand containers on the hydraulic stability is significant, no stability formula is available to account for those deformations and the associated processes leading to the observed failures. Therefore, based on the results of extensive experimental and numerical studies ([Recio J. 2008, Hydraulic Stability of Geotextile Sand Containers for Coastal Structures – Effect of Deformations and Stability Formulae – PhD Thesis, Leichtweiss Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources, www.digibib.tu-bs.de/?docid=00021899]), analytical stability formulae are developed that account for the effect of the deformations of the individual GSCs for sliding and overturning stability. The required drag, inertia and lift coefficients are determined experimentally from hydraulic model experiments specially designed for this purpose. Several types of GSC configurations which are representative for a wide range of GSC-structure types are investigated under wave action. Moreover, deformation factors to account for the deformation of the containers on the stability are analytically derived and implemented in the stability formulae.Finally, Stability formulae for each type of coastal structures made of geotextile sand containers such as breakwaters, revetments, sea walls, dune reinforcement and scour protection systems are proposed and recommendations are given with respect to the practical application of the proposed hydraulic stability formula, including their limitations.     

Dynamic response and sliding distance of composite breakwaters under breaking and non-breaking wave attack

Over the last 15 years improved awareness of wave impact induced failures has focused attention on the need to account for the dynamic response of maritime structures to wave impact load. In this work a non-linear model is introduced that allows evaluating the effective design load and the potential sliding of caisson breakwater subject to both pulsating and impulsive wave loads. The caisson dynamics is modelled using a time-step numerical method to solve numerically the equations of motion for a rigid body founded on multiple non-linear springs having both horizontal and vertical stiffness. The model is first shown to correctly describe the dynamics of caisson breakwaters subject to wave attack, including nonlinear features of wave–structure–soil interaction. Predictions of sliding distances by the new method are then compared with measurements from physical model tests, showing very good agreement with observations. The model succeeds in describing the physics that stands behind the process and is fast, accurate and flexible enough to be suitable for performance design of caisson breakwaters.     

Scour around coastal structures: a summary of recent research

This paper summarizes the results of the European Union Marine Science and Technology (EU MAST) III project “Scour Around Coastal Structures” (SCARCOST). The summary is presented under three headings: (1) Introduction; (2) Flow and scour processes with the subheadings: flow and scour processes around vertical cylinders; flow and scour processes at detached breakwaters; flow and scour processes at submerged breakwaters; and the effect of turbulence on sediment transport; and (3) Sediment behaviour close to the structure with the subheadings: field measurement and analysis of wave-induced pore pressures and effective stresses around a bottom seated cylinder; non-linear soil modelling with respect to wave-induced pore pressures and gradients; wave-induced pressures on the bottom for non-linear coastal waves, including also wave kinematics; development of a numerical model (linear soil modelling) to calculate wave-induced pore pressures—the effect of liquefaction on sediment transport; penetration of blocks in non-consolidated fine soil; and cyclic stiffness of loose sand.The paper also includes a discussion of the role of scale effects in laboratory testing and the applicability of the results obtained in supporting engineering design.     

A new formula for front slope recession of berm breakwaters

The front slope stability of breakwaters with a homogeneous berm was studied in a large number of two dimensional model tests at Aalborg University, Denmark. The results are presented together with a new formula for prediction of the berm recession which is the most important parameter for describing the reshaping. The formula has also been calibrated and validated against model test data from other researchers. The significance of the new design formula is that it predicts berm recession much better than the existing methods, especially in case of more stable structures.     

Geotechnical properties and preliminary assessment of sediment stability on the continental slope of the northwestern Alboran Sea

Laboratory analysis of core samples from the western Alboran Sea slope reveal a large variability in texture and geotechnical properties. Stability analysis suggests that the sediment is stable under static gravitational loading but potentially unstable under seismic loading. Slope failures may occur if horizontal ground accelerations greater than 0.16g are seismically induced. The, Alboran Sea is an active region, on which earthquakes inducing accelerations big enough to exceed the shear strength of the soft soil may occur. Test results contrast with the apparent stability deduced from seismic profiles.     

Calculation of Wave Pressure and Pressure Spectrum for Perforate-Pipe Breakwater

Standing waves are formed due to the reflection when waves meet vertical wall,thereforestrong structures are needed to keep the wall stability under the serious wave attack.For the improvementof the working condition and increase of the stability of the wall,the lower reflecting breakwaters have at-tracted close attention Reports mostly from Japanese researchers are often concerned with the wall ofcaisson equipped with open windows.In this paper a kind of hollow-pipe perforated breakwater is exam-ined which waves may partially perforate into the harbour basin.The wave in front of the wall can onlyform partial standing wave and wave force is reduced obviously.And the theoretical calculation of waveforce and analysis of wave force spectrum are all derived.Comparison between the results from theoreticalcalculation and hydraulic modeling shows reasonable agreement.     

Experimental Research on Wave Transmission over Submerged Rubble Mound Breakwaters

This paper discusses some previous, and presents some new experimental results on wave transmission over submerged breakwaters. The objective of this study is to evaluate wave transmission coefficient and develop a two-dimensional （2D） model as an improvement to the existing wave transmission coefficient models. Factors which affect wave transmission over stbmerged breakwaters are discussed through a series of laboratory experiments. Basic recommendations for evaluation and design of submerged rubble-monud breakwaters are presented. From the test results, a calculation formula of wave transmission coefficient is proposed.     

A simplified method to downscale wave dynamics on vertical breakwaters

A coastal structure is usually designed with the final objective to guarantee its functionality and stability throughout its life cycle. Regarding stability, the three main failure modes are sliding, overturning and failure of the foundations. To accomplish the design objectives, a design sea state is usually used when calculating the loads and scour around the structure. This design sea state corresponds to a certain sea state with specific return period values of a significant wave height. However, the combination of different simultaneous sea state parameters can produce other critical situations compromising the stability of the structure which then require the calculation of long time series of wave forces corresponding to long-term historical wave situations. Moreover, a design force associated to a certain return period can be defined from the time series of the stability parameters. The most accurate techniques which can be used to estimate structure stability are based on numerical and physical models, but these are very time consuming and the calculation of long time series is therefore unfeasible. Here, we propose a hybrid methodology to transform wave conditions into wave forces acting upon vertical structures and scour around it. The methodology consists of a selection of a subset of sea states representative of wave climate at the structure location, using a maximum dissimilarity algorithm, The wave forces acting upon the structure and scour around it, for the wave situations selected, are then estimated as is the reconstruction of the calculated parameters corresponding to historical sea states using an interpolation technique based on radial basis function. The validation of the results, through a direct comparison between reconstructed series and analytically (semi-empirical formulations) calculated ones, confirms the ability of the developed methodology to reconstruct time series of stability parameters on vertical breakwaters. This methodology allows its application to numerical and physical models.     

A Study on Some Causes of Rubble Mound Breakwater Failure

- Rubble mound breakwater, one of the protection structures, has been widely used in coastal and port engineering. Block stones were first used as its armor layer, and its use was limited to shallow sea areas where there is no large waves. Since the specially-shaped armor unit was developed, the rubble mound breakwater has become the main sort of the protection structures, which can be used in deep water zones where storm sometimes occurs. Owing to severe and complex surrounding conditions, the rubble mound breakwater failure sometimes occurs, thus the study on the causes of failure is of great importance. In the present study some breakwater failures at home and abroad are illustrated and the causes of failure are investigated from the point of view of design, test, construction and maintenance.     

Deformation of breakwater armoured artificial units under cyclic loading

Rubble mound breakwaters usually consist of armour, filter and core layers. The units used in the armour layer are natural rock or concrete. Although natural rock is usually preferred, it is not always possible to apply it. There are some advantages to using concrete units: they have a high stability coefficient under wave attack, and they are easily produced at work sites. Tetrapod and cube blocks are widely used in breakwaters as armour units.Rubble mound breakwaters are subjected not only to wave activity but also other types of environmental loading, such as earthquakes. Although rubble-mound breakwaters are most likely the most common type of breakwaters, they have received little attention regarding their response to seismic activity. The objective of this study is to present the dynamic response of a breakwater armoured by tetrapods placed by two different placement methods and armoured by cubes during seismic loadings experimentally and numerically. A shaking tank was developed for the experimental study. The breakwater models sit on a rigid bed, and the model scale is 1/50. A one-dimensional shaking tank was used to understand simple responses of the rubble mound breakwaters under seismic loads. The tank allows only one degree of freedom. A raining crane system was developed to achieve the same packing density and porosity for the core material. The shape of the model breakwater before and after the tests was measured using a profiler and was recorded by computer. However, crest lowering and the level of damage on slopes were determined from profiler records. The dynamic responses of the model breakwaters were also investigated using an image processing technique. For numerical simulation, software using finite element method was used.The results obtained from the experiment and numerical model may help designers build breakwaters armoured by artificial units.     

Stability analysis on a porous seabed under wave and current loadings

The stability of a porous seabed under wave and current loadings is particularly important for engineers to design marine structures such as submarine pipelines, breakwaters, and offshore platform foundations. Most previous investigations of dynamic response of marine structures and seabed have only considered the influence of wave loading, but the important influence of current is ignored. Even if the influence of current is considered, the interaction mechanism of both loadings has not been clearly elaborated. Based on the Biot’s dynamic theory and combined two-dimensional nonlinear progressive wave and uniform current theory, the interaction mechanism of wave and current loadings and the influence of current on wave characteristic are analyzed by numerical computations. The influence of current velocity, different permeability, and stratification in seabed on the effective stresses and pore pressures of seabed is discussed in detail. Further, the stability of seabed is evaluated through the liquefaction analysis of seabed, which will provide important reference frames to improve the design and construction of marine structures.     

软土地基沉箱防波堤失稳模式及稳定性分析方法

针对现阶段深水软黏土地基防波堤建设的设计理论和稳定性分析方法尚不成熟,结合实际工程,采用三维弹塑性有限元数值分析方法,研究在水平或竖直单一方向荷载以及复合加载条件下软黏土地基上沉箱防波堤的失稳模式,提出破坏包络线的稳定性判别方法。在波浪水平荷载作用下,深水软基上沉箱防波堤发生倾覆失稳破坏,失稳转动点为沉箱底面以下中轴线偏右的某点,不同于规范中规定的岩石或砂质地基沉箱倾覆转动点为其后踵点;在重力等竖向荷载作用下,沉箱的失稳模式为结构整体下陷,抛石基床及地基形成连贯的塑性区域,呈现较明显地冲剪破坏形式;在水平、竖向复合荷载作用下,软基上沉箱防波堤的破坏包络线由结构倾覆破坏线和地基承载力破坏线组成,包络线将荷载组合区分成稳定区、仅发生水平承载力不足倾覆破坏区、仅发生地基竖向承载力不足破坏区、同时发生水平承载力和地基竖向承载力不足破坏区4个区域。研究成果为深水软基沉箱防波堤建设提供参考和借鉴。