Seawall case studies and failure analysis of sloped concrete walls under static and dynamic loads

Concrete seawalls are structures in coastal facilities for shore and slope protections. Owing to several advantages of sloped or inclined walls such as minimum soil disturbance and less required earthworks, they can be considered as an appropriate alternative to vertical cantilever retaining walls. The combination of slab and strip semideep foundation instead of heel–toe slab foundations increases their capability for stability, erosion control, and storm wave energy dissipation. In this paper, three case studies from seawalls in which failure has occurred are presented and discussed. Technical performance of sloped walls against different internal and external instability factors is investigated, and comparisons are made between vertical and sloped (inclined) walls with respect to geotechnical and structural aspects through parametric study. Analysis indicates that the sloped retaining walls perform better from technical, practical, and economical standpoints. It was found that for identical static and dynamic loads, including earthquake and wave loads, inclined walls provide relatively higher safety factors against different criteria and exhibit more stable and practical performance compared with commonly used walls in practice. The case studies in this paper illustrate causes of failure in each case and gives suggestions for improving instability prevention of walls against static and dynamic loads.     

斜向和多向不规则波对直立堤平均越浪量研究

通过三维波浪模型试验研究了斜向和多向不规则波对直立堤的越浪量。分别按平均越浪量和单波最大越浪量进行研究,探讨了平均越浪量随相对堤高、波浪方向、波浪方向分布宽度、波陡和相对水深等影响因素的变化规律,导得了斜向和多向不规则波作用于直立堤上的平均越浪量的计算公式。     

孤立波低顶海堤越浪的数值模拟研究

灾害性波浪是中国沿海地区最具破坏性的自然灾害之一。采用开源程序OpenFOAM中interFoam求解器,对低顶海堤（在风暴潮和海平面上升情况下所面临的不利工况）的孤立波越浪特性开展数值模拟研究。通过孤立波冲击海堤的基准算例,验证模型在模拟波浪爬升和越浪过程中大变形波面以及剧烈波浪力方面的精度。基于验证的数值模型,对孤立波在低顶海堤上的越浪特征以及防浪墙高度对越浪的影响开展参数化研究。结果表明堤顶超高减小导致更为剧烈的越浪。针对尚无低顶海堤孤立波越浪量经验公式的问题,提出新的适用于堤顶超高小或为0的孤立波越浪量经验公式。此外,研究发现增加防浪墙高度可有效减少越浪,但防浪墙所受的波浪力也增大。综合考虑防浪墙减少越浪以及自身所受波浪力,针对文中研究采用的海堤截面和波浪条件,建议无量纲防浪墙高度取为1.00。     

浙江省海塘塘顶高程的确定

介绍了浙江省海塘塘顶高程确定时所涉及的波浪爬高，越浪量等的计量，同时分析了1997年后浙江省海塘塘顶高程确定的方法，由已建海塘的塘顶高程分析可见，在背水坡和塘顶有保护措施的情况下，采用允许最大越波流量来控制海塘塘顶高程，可适当降低塘身高度。     

Bed changes at toe of inclined seawalls

This study was carried out to investigate the scour phenomenon at the toe of seawalls and the different parameters that affected it. Experiments were achieved using different wave steepnesses, bed material grain sizes, wall positions and inclinations. Based on experimental results, the parametric plots of toe scour for smooth impermeable inclined seawalls were prepared. Also, this paper presents the bed changes prediction at seawalls toe using artificial neural networks on the basis of experimental data to widen the range of application. Suitability of using a neural network model was developed, and a model was validated. It is proposed that this model can be used in coastal engineering applications.     

Experimental investigating on the reflected waves from the caisson-type vertical porous seawalls

The hydrodynamic efficiencies of caisson-type vertical porous seawalls used for protecting coastal areas were calculated in this study. Physical models were developed to compare the wave reflection from vertical plane, semi-porous, and porous seawalls caused by both regular and random waves. Tests were carried out for a wide range of wave heights, wave periods, and different water depths (d=0.165, 0.270 and 0.375 m). The performance regarding the reflected waves from porous and semi-porous seawalls showed improvement when compared with those from the plane seawall. The reflection coefficients of the porous and semi-porous seawalls were calculated as 0.6 and 0.75, respectively, while the coefficient for the fully reflecting plane vertical wall was significantly higher (0.9). It was also observed that the reflection coefficient decreases with increase in wave steepness and relative water depth. In addition, the reduction in the reflection coefficient of porous and semi-porous seawalls, as compared to that of a plane seawall, was observed for both regular and random waves. New equations were also proposed to calculate the reflection coefficient of different types of seawalls with the aid of laboratory experiments. By verifying the developed equations using some other experimental data, it was validated that the equations could be used for practical situations. The results of the present study can be applied to optimize the design of vertical seawalls and for coastal protecting schemes.     

Field and laboratory measurements of mean overtopping discharges and spatial distributions at vertical seawalls

Within the CLASH project, wave overtopping at the vertical seawall at Samphire Hoe was measured by HR Wallingford (HRW), and compared laboratory tests in 2 & 3 dimensions carried out at the University of Edinburgh and HRW. At Samphire Hoe, overtopping volumes were captured in three volumetric tanks capable of measuring wave-by-wave and total overtopping volumes. The three tanks were placed progressively farther back from the seawall edge so that the spatial distribution of the overtopping discharges could be determined. The field measurement equipment was successfully deployed on three occasions, and measured overtopping discharges ranged from that barely considered to be hazardous to the public to over q = 3.0 l/s/m. The 2d testing at Edinburgh was modelled at a scale of 1:40, and the 3d model at HRW was modelled at 1:20. For both sets of laboratory tests, a range of conditions, representative of the storm wave conditions and water levels, was reproduced in addition to a set of parametric conditions. The storm conditions allowed a direct comparison between the field and laboratory measurements, and the parametric conditions were used to test the generic overtopping behaviour of the structure. For both sets of laboratory tests, mean overtopping discharges and the spatial distribution were measured separately. Analysis of the distribution data relates the proportion of the discharge that has landed as a function of (x / L_o); where x is the distance behind the crest, and L_o is the offshore wavelength. Analysis of the field, 2d & 3d laboratory data, and empirical prediction methods have not identified any scale effects for overtopping discharges at vertical and near-vertical seawalls.     

Wave reflection characteristics of plane, dentated and serrated seawalls

The hydrodynamic performance of vertical and sloped plane, dentated and serrated seawalls were investigated using physical model studies. Regular and random waves of wide range of heights and periods were used. Tests were carried out for different inclinations of the seawall (i.e. θ=30, 40, 50, 60 and 90°) and for a constant water depth of 0.7 m. The wave reflection was measured to assess the dissipation character of the seawalls. It was observed that the serrated seawall was superior to the plane and dentated seawall in reducing the wave reflection. Even for the vertical case, the coefficient of reflection due to regular waves for dentated seawall ranged from 0.6–0.99 and for the vertical serrated seawall it was 0.45–0.98, whereas for the vertical plane wall, it was almost 1.0. It was found that the characteristic dimension of the seawall (i.e. L/W) and the relative water depth (i.e. d/L) were better influencing parameters compared to the conventionally used surf similarity parameter ‘ξ’ (ξ=tan θ/(H_i/L)^0.5) in predicting the reflection from the dentated and serrated seawall, where L is the local wave length, W the width of the dent along the length of the seawall slope, d the water depth at the toe and H_i is the incident wave height. A similar trend was observed for the random waves too. The reduction in the wave reflection due to random waves for the dentated seawall as compared to the plane seawall was about 18% and for the serrated seawall, it was 20%. It was observed that the reflection due to random waves was lesser for all the three different walls than the regular waves, due to the mutual interaction of random waves. Multiple regression analysis on the measured data points was carried out and predictive equations for the reflection coefficient were obtained for both regular and random waves. This study will be useful in the design of energy dissipating type vertical quay walls in ports and harbours, sloped seawalls for shore protection from erosion and sloped caisson as breakwaters. Comparison of predictive formulae with the experimental results revealed that the prediction methods were good enough for practical purposes.     

福建沿海浪潮耦合漫堤风险评估:以台风天兔为例

漫堤是天文潮、风暴潮与海浪等物理要素作用于海堤后海水翻越海堤的物理过程。本文利用天文潮-风暴潮-台风浪耦合模式(ADCIRC+SWAN)、基于非结构三角形网格和高分辨率地理数据(海堤位置和高程、岸线和水深等)构建福建沿海精细化漫堤风险等级评估系统。该系统在近岸网格分辨率最高达50m,可精确刻画福建沿海复杂地形。利用模拟的水位与海浪参数,采用波浪爬高公式计算得到各海堤堤前波浪爬高。按照总水位与波浪爬高之和与海堤高程的对比,将漫堤风险分为五个等级。对2013年的超强台风天兔过程进行后报检验。结果显示,该系统计算的漫堤情况与灾后调查的漫堤实况基本一致,结果准确,说明本研究中采用的漫堤风险评估标准和方法是可行的。在此基础上,设计了4种不同的台风强度等级,对福建沿海206条海堤进行了漫堤风险等级评估,探究台风强度对漫堤风险的影响。结果表明:波浪爬高对漫堤风险的影响高于单纯的风暴潮增水;风暴潮增水随台风强度的增强增量较小,对于漫堤的风险影响较小;福建沿海波浪爬高普遍较高,随着台风强度的增强,波浪爬高会显著增加漫堤的风险等级,且应重视台风浪对海堤造成的冲击所导致的溃堤灾害。本研究可为沿海防灾减灾提供科学依据。     

Numerical simulation of wave overtopping of coastal structures using the non-linear shallow water equations

A one-dimensional high-resolution finite volume model capable of simulating storm waves propagating in the coastal surf zone and overtopping a sea wall is presented. The model (AMAZON) is based on solving the non-linear shallow water (NLSW) equations. A modern upwind scheme of the Godunov-type using an HLL approximate Riemann solver is described which captures bore waves in both transcritical and supercritical flows. By employing a finite volume formulation, the method can be implemented on an irregular, structured, boundary-fitted computational mesh. The use of the NLSW equations to model wave overtopping is computationally efficient and practically flexible, though the detailed structure of wave breaking is of course ignored. It is shown that wave overtopping at a vertical wall may also be approximately modelled by representing the wall as a steep bed slope. The AMAZON model solutions have been compared with analytical solutions and laboratory data for wave overtopping at sloping and vertical seawalls and good agreement has been found. The model requires more verification tests for irregular waves before its application as a generic design tool.     

Predictions on Irregular Wave run-up and Overtopping

A series of hydraulic model tests are carried out to investigate random wave run-up and overtopping on smooth, impermeable single slope and composite slope. Based on analysis of the influences of wave steepness, structure slope, incident wave angle, width of the berm and water depth on the berm and the wave run-up, empirical formulas for wave run-up on dike are proposed. Moreover, empirical formula on estimating the wave run-up on composite slope with multiple berms is presented for practical application of complex dike cross-section. The present study shows that the influence factors for wave overtopping are almost the same as those for wave run-up and the trend of the wave overtopping variation with main influence parameters is also similar to that for wave run-up. The trend of the wave overtopping discharge variations can be well described by two main factors, i.e. the wave run-up and the crest freeboard of the structure. A new prediction method for wave overtopping discharge is proposed for random waves. The proposed prediction formulas are applied to case study of over forty cases and the results show that the prediction methods are good enough for practical design purposes.     

A performance test of nearshore wave height prediction with CLASH datasets

The CLASH database was analyzed for extraction of a set of data having the measured wave heights at both the deep station and the toe of the structure for wave overtopping tests, yielding 1214 data from 29 datasets. Wave heights in front of the toe of the structure were estimated with the Goda formulas and compared with the measured ones. Comparison yielded the overall mean of 1.106 with the standard deviation of 0.155 for the ratio of the estimated to the measured heights, which support the use of the Goda formulas for prediction of nearshore wave heights. Another set of 1215 data having the measured wave heights at the deep station and the wave heights calculated with the SWAN model was also extracted from the CLASH database. A comparative test of the SWAN model using the wave height estimated with the Goda formulas in lieu of the measured height indicated the performance of the SWAN model being similar to that of the Goda formulas, but a tendency of underestimation was noticed in shallow water on a beach of very gentle slope.     

A neural network for the prediction of wave reflection from coastal and harbor structures

This paper presents the development of an Artificial Neural Network for the prediction of the wave reflection coefficient from a wide range of coastal and harbor structures. The Artificial Neural Network is trained and validated against an extensive database of about 6000 data, including smooth, rock and armor unit slopes, berm breakwaters, vertical walls, low crested structures, oblique wave attacks. The structure and data included in this database, as well as the approach used in this paper, follow the work done on wave overtopping within the CLASH project.In this new Artificial Neural Network 13 input elements are used to represent the physics of the reflection process taking into account the structure geometry (height, submergence, straight or non-straight slope, with or without berm or toe), the structure type (smooth or covered by an armor layer, with permeable or impermeable core) and the wave attack (water depth, wave height, wave length, wave obliquity, directional spreading).The selection of the input elements and of the algorithms used in the network is described based on an in-depth sensitivity analysis of the network performance.The accuracy of the network is quite satisfactory, being the average root mean squared error lower than 0.04. This value is consistent between the Artificial Neural Network calibrated on the original dataset and the one calibrated on boot-strapped datasets in which data reliability and structure complexity are considered.The performance of the network is compared for limited datasets with selected available literature formulae proving that this approach is able to estimate the experimental reflection coefficients with greater accuracy than the empirical formulae calibrated on these same datasets.     

Wave transmission by overtopping due to random waves

Experimental studies of wave transmission by overtopping for a smooth impermeable breakwater with 1:1.5 slope under both regular and random waves were conducted. A resulting relationship between the transmission coefficient (determined by wave height and wave period) and a breakwater height above mean water level normalized with the height of wave run-up measured directly by capacity wave meter is reported. Meanwhile, their discrepancies in both regular and random waves are also discussed in this study. The authors find also that the transmitted significant wave period by overtopping of random waves may be much longer than those of the incoming wave. This characteristic is especially prominent and probably creates the oscillation phenomenon in the wave basin at the back of breakwater when the breakwater height (above mean water level) to water depth ratio is greater than 0.23 and the incoming wave period is longer than 8 sec.     

Prediction of wave pressures on smooth impermeable seawalls

Simple prediction methods are proposed to estimate the wave induced pressures on smooth impermeable seawalls. Based on the physics of the wave structure interaction, the sloped seawall is divided into a total of five zones (zones 1, 2 and 3 during run-up (corresponding pressures are called as positive pressures) and zones 4 and 5 during run-down (corresponding pressures are called negative pressures)) (Fig. 1). Zone 1 (0<z<d−H_i/2), where the wave pressure is governed by the partial reflection and phase shift; Zone 2 (d−H_i/2<z<d), where the effect of wave breaking and turbulence is significant; Zone 3 (d<z<Run-up height), where the pressure is induced by the run-up water; Zone 4 (Run-down<z<d), where the wave pressure is caused by the run-down effect and Zone 5 (0<z<d-Run down), where the negative wave pressures are due to partial reflection and phase shift effects. Here d is the water depth at the toe of the seawall, H_i is the incident wave height and z is the vertical elevation with toe of the seawall as origin and z is positive upward. For wave pressure prediction in zones 1 and 5, the empirical formula proposed by Ahrens et al. (1993) to estimate the wave reflection and Sutherland and Donoghue's recommendations (1998) for the estimation of phase shift of the waves caused by the sloped structures are used. Multiple regression analysis is carried out on the measured pressure data and empirical formulas are proposed for zones 2, 3 and 4. The recommendations of Van der Meer and Breteler (1990) and Schüttrumpf et al. (1994) for the prediction of wave run-down are used for pressure prediction at zone 4. Comparison of the proposed prediction formulas with the experimental results reveal that the prediction methods are good enough for practical purposes. The present study also shows a strong relation between wave reflection, wave run-up, wave run-down and phase shift of waves on wave pressures on the seawalls.     

Numerical simulation of irregular wave overtopping against a smooth sea dike

Based on the filtered Navier-Stokes equations and Smagorinsky turbulence model,a numerical wave flume is developed to investigate the overtopping process of irregular waves over smooth sea dikes.Simulations of fully nonlinear standing wave and regular wave’s run-up on a sea dike are carried out to validate the implementation of the numerical wave flume with wave generation and absorbing modules.To model stationary ergodic stochastic processes,several cases with different random seeds are computed for each specified irregular wave spectrum.It turns out that the statistical mean overtopping discharge shows good agreement with empirical formulas,other numerical results and experimental data.     

Extreme wave run-up and pressure on a vertical seawall

The performance of coastal vertical seawalls in extreme weather events is studied numerically, aiming to provide guidance in designing and reassessing coastal structures with vertical wall. The extreme wave run-up and the pressure on the vertical seawall are investigated extensively. A time-domain higher-order boundary element method (HOBEM) is coupled with a mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian technique as a time marching technique. Focused wave groups are generated by a piston wave-maker in the numerical wave tank using a wave focusing technique for accurately reproducing extreme sea states. An acceleration-potential scheme is used to calculate the transient wave loads. Comparisons with experimental data show that the extended numerical model is able to accurately predict extreme wave run-ups and pressures on a vertical seawall. The effects of the wave spectrum bandwidth, the wall position and the wave nonlinearity on the wave run-up and the maximum wave load on the vertical seawall are investigated by doing parametric studies.     

基于格子Boltzmann方法的斜坡堤越浪数值模拟研究

准确确定越浪量对于斜坡堤设计有重要意义。利用格子Boltzmann方法(LBM),并采用主动吸收式速度入口造波、出流边界消波、VOF方法追踪自由表面以及静态Smagorinsky模型模拟紊流运动,建立二维数值波浪水槽,对光滑斜坡堤上规则波与不规则波越浪进行数值模拟。模拟结果与试验值及其他数值模型结果比较表明,二维LBM数值波浪水槽具有模拟斜坡堤越浪的能力,但对于破碎较为剧烈的越浪过程模拟,该模型还存在一定的不足,未来可从提高自由表面模型精度等方面进一步改善其性能。     

Numerical study of combined overflow and wave overtopping over a smooth impermeable seawall

A numerical wave flume is used to investigate the discharge characteristics of combined overflow and wave overtopping of impermeable seawalls. The numerical procedure computes solutions to the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations and includes the generation of an irregular train of waves, the simulation of wave breaking and interaction with a sloping, impermeable wall. The numerical model is first tested against published experimental observations, approximate analytical solutions and empirical design formulae for the cases of pure overflow and pure overtopping. A sequence of numerical experiments simulating combined overflow and overtopping are described. The results are used to determine empirical discharge formulae of the form used in current practice.     

基于FLUENT的波浪溢流水动力数值模拟

波浪溢流现象使得海堤受到了越浪和溢流的联合作用,复杂的水动力过程会引起海堤后坡产生严重的侵蚀破坏。基于FLUENT软件建立了二维数值波浪溢流水槽模型,该模型运用UDF速度边界造波法分析在不同超高条件下海堤后坡流量和水流厚度的水力学特性。结果表明数值模拟结果与前人物理模型试验结果吻合,该模型可以真实地模拟出海堤波浪溢流现象。在此基础上进一步研究了波浪溢流中越浪和溢流在不同相对超高条件下的主导性作用,而后建立了十分准确的波浪溢流海堤后坡稳定水流厚度计算公式。