Hans F. Burcharth

On the one-dimensional steady and unsteady porous flow equations

Porous flow in coarse granular media is discussed theoretically with special concern given to the variation of the flow resistance with the porosity. For steady state flow, the Navier-Stokes equation is applied as a basis for the derivations. A turbulent flow equation is suggested. Alternative derivations based on dimensional analysis and a pipe analogy, respectively, are discussed. For non-steady state flow, the derivations are based on a cylinder/sphere analogy leading to a virtual mass coefficient. For the fully turbulent flow regime, existing experimental data values of the quadratic flow resistance coefficients are presented. Moreover, a simple formula for estimation of the turbulent flow coefficient is given. Virtual mass coefficients based on existing data are presented, however, no definite conclusions can be given due to the scarce data available.

Full-Scale Dynamic Testing of Dolosse to Destruction

Abstract It is well known that the relative dynamic strength of unreinforced slender concrete units decreases as the size increases. Big units can resist relatively smaller movements than small units. When model tests of cover layer stability are performed the determination of the damage criterion that should be adopted must therefore be based on knowledge of the dynamic strength of the corresponding prototype units. With the purpose of establishing a relationship between the size and the dynamic strength of unreinforced units, some full-scale tests to destruction of 1.5 and 5.4 t units were performed. The set up and the procedure of the tests, which simulate the impact from rocking of the units and from concrete pieces that are thrown against the units, are designed to make a comparison between the behaviour of units of different sizes possible. The test method is described and proposed as a standard procedure. A theoretical expression for the dynamic strength is compared with the test results and it is shown that if the units are allowed to move there is an upper limit for the size of unreinforced units where a balance between the hydraulic stability of the cover layer and the strength of the units exists. Different ways of improving the strength of the units are discussed on the basis of the results from tests with different types of concrete. The tests included an investigation of the influence of reinforcement, and of different types of concrete and surface cracks on the strength of the units.

The effect of wave grouping on on-shore structures

Abstract This paper represents a contribution to the current discussion on whether model tests in waves should be carried out with waves which are, both in time and frequency domaine, reproduced in accordance with field records (and thus conserving the succession of the waves) or whether irregular waves generated solely in accordance with an energy spectrum obtained from field data can be used. To investigate the importance of the succession of waves to the impact on coastal structures, run-up/down on permeable and impermeable slopes and stability of dolos armour were investigated in model tests by using three different wave patterns. A significant influence of the succession of waves is demonstrated. A jump in wave height seems to be a very important wave pattern which should be included in the analysis of wave grouping. Also the importance of wave period and wave steepness to the relative run-up/down and to the stability of dolos armour is shown. A proposal to establish a set of universal graphs for the stability of dolos blocks (or any other “interlocking” blocks) is made.

On the determination of concrete armour unit stresses including specific results related to Dolosse

Abstract Failures of rubble mound breakwaters armoured with complex types of unreinforced concrete armour units are often due to breakage. This happens when the stresses exceed the material strength. Sufficient parametric studies of the stresses are not yet available to produce design diagrams for structural integrity. The paper presents a general discussion of the problems related to stress determination and describes the results and the analyses of model tests with 200 kg and 200 g load-cell instrumented Dolosse. Static stresses, wave-generated stresses and stresses due to impacts were studied as well as model and scale effects. Moreover, some results from the Crescent City Prototype Dolosse study are presented and related to results from small-scale model tests. A preliminary design diagram for Dolosse is presented as well.

On 3-Dimensional Stability of Reshaping Breakwaters

The Labrador Sea Extreme Waves Experiment (LEWEX), is an international basic research programme concerned with full-scale measurements, analysis, modelling and simulation in test basins of 3-dimensional seas. The research is carried out in order to assess the significance of 3-dimensional sea states in engineering applications. The first phase of the programme full scale wave measurements in the North Atlantic Ocean was performed at a site and time that had a high probability of encountering severe sea states. The present publication shows examples of measured bi-modal directional sea spectra obtained with the WAVESCAN buoy and directional sea spectra measured with an airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). Directional spectra of gravity waves are obtained with the SAR both in open waters and below an ice cover. Further work is needed in order to verify SAR-measurements with in-situ observations. In-situ measured directional spectra are also compared with hindcast spectra from the 3G-WAM model. Hindcast significant wave heights were found to be lower than the in-situ measurements.The littoral drift model developed at DHI and ISVA, see Deigaard et al. (1986b) has been extended to include the effects of the irregularity of the waves, of a coastal current and a wind acting on the surf zone. Further, a mathematical model to simulate the near-shore current pattern along a barred coast with rip channels has been developed. The influence on the littoral drift of the irregularity of waves, wind, coastal current, and rip channels is discussed. It is concluded that irregularity of waves and presence of rip channels must be considered while coastal current and wind action are of minor importance.At present, the Prodhoe Bay oil field in Alaska contributes a substantial amount of the domestic oil production of the United States. Oil is also expected to be present on the continental shelf of Alaska, and it is estimated that approximatedly 28 percent of the total U. S. reserve is located beneath the shallow ice covered seas of the Alaskan continental shelf. To expolre and to exploit these oil rich resources, engineers are confronted with hostile oceanographic conditions such as high tides, waves, strong currents and sea ice. The same area is also rich in fishery resources. Being one of the most productive fishing grounds in the nothern Pacific, the potential ecological impact due to an oil spill is of a major concern. This paper describes the methologies used for the development of a modeling system for the oil risk analysis. The system is designed with generality in mind so it can be used for other coastal areas. The development of three dimensional models used in the modeling system described here have been published in the earlier International Coastal Engineering Conferences (Liu and Leendertse, 1982, 1984, 1986) and a report published recently by RAND (Liu and Leendertse, 1987). In the oil-spill risk analysis, these three dimensional hydrodynamic models are coupled to a two-dimensional stochastic weather model and an oil weathering model.The two projects (LUBIATOWO 79 and LUBIATOWO 86) were aimed at study pore pressure behaviour in natural sand bed in the coastal zone of the Baltic sea under the action of storm waves. During both projects, the wave induced pore pressures at the various levels in the sea bed were measured. The collected data were used to verify the applicability of the various theoretical approaches. In the conclusion, the range of the application of the particular analytical method is given.The rapid recession of the shingle bank of Hurst Beach (up to 3.5m/yr) makes it an excellent natural laboratory for the study of the factors which influence the stability of shingle beaches. Studies have included: the significance of long period, high energy, swell waves the classification and quantification of overwash processes run-up and seepage characteristics the effect of settlement of the underlying strata and the implications for practices in shingle nourishment. The studies have revealed the distinctive character of shingle beaches as compared with the more fully researched sand beaches. More detailed research on shingle beaches is justified particularly in relation to (i) the run-up characteristics including its interaction with swash cusps and (ii) the influence of the subsidiary sand fraction on the beach characteristics.Environmental assessment, engineering studies and designs were completed for a new 26.5 m3/s seawater intake system in the Persian Gulf. The original intake facility consisted of a curved, 60m breakwater with one end attached to the shoreline, a settling basin immediately adjacent to the shoreline and dredged to a maximum depth of approximately 5m, and a pumphouse structure located on shore such that the seaward wall formed one side of the settling basin. The facility located on an island in the Gulf, which served multiple seawater uses, had experienced both structural and operational problems, the latter consisting principally of excessive ingestion of sediment and seaweed. These factors plus the requirement for additional demands for seawater beyond plant capacity caused the owner to initiate a study of alternative intake systems, produce a design for the most effective solution and construct the new intake system.A two-dimensional wave prediction model suitable for use on personal computers is described. The model requires the twodimensional time-dependent wind field as input. Output consists of wave height, wave period, and wave direction estimates at all grid points on a computational grid representing an enclosed or semi-closed basin. Model predictions compare favorably with observations from a wave research tower in Lake Erie. A formula is provided to estimate how long a model simulation would take on a personal computer given the surface area of the computational domain, the grid size, and the computer clock speed.Cullera Bay is a neritic ecosystem placed on the Spanish Mediterranean Littoral largely influenced by the Jucar River, that brings about lower salinities than surrounding waters, and broad variations of its values. An extensive research, with 9 samplings throughout the year, was carried out, measuring both physical and chemical parameters, and the planktonic communities. The trophic status of the ecosystem, the spatial and temporal variations of the nutrients and the planktonic communities were studied, evaluating the influence of the river loads and the littoral dynamics. Some essential basis to allow a suitable emplacement of waste waters disposals along the Valencian littoral are set up in order to minimize the gradual eutrophication of this coast.In the last two years a whole of studies was realized in order to determine precise solutions to the regeneration of Villajoyosas beach, in the Spanish mediterranean coast. Investigations were carried out to the surrounding coastal areas based in field investigations and laboratory analyses of the beaches materials.

Empirical formula for breakage of Dolosse and Tetrapods

Abstract The slender, complex types of armour units, such as Tetrapods and Dolosse are widely used for rubble mound breakwaters. Many failures of such breakwaters were caused by unforeseen early breakage of the units, thus revealing an inbalance between the strength (structural integrity) of the units and the hydraulic stability (resistance to displacements) of the armour layers. Breakage occurs when the stresses from the static, pulsating and impact loads exceeds the tensile strength of the concrete. While the hydraulic stability can be studied in Froude-scale hydraulic model tests, it is not possible to study armour unit stresses in small scale models. This is partly because the strain in model armour units are too small to be recorded, and partly because the scaling law for impact load generated stresses is nonlinear. The paper discusses the scaling laws related to type of stresses and presents a method which allows studies of armour unit stresses by means of a load-cell technique. The technique necessitates impact load response calibration of the load-cell mounted model armour units against the equivalent response of prototype or large scale armour units. The procedure followed was presented by Burcharth and Liu (Burcharth, H.F., Liu, Z., 1992. Design of Dolos armour units. In: Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Venice, Italy.) and Burcharth (Burcharth, H.F., 1993. Structural integrity and hydraulic stability of Dolos armour layers. Series Paper 9, published by the Department of Civil Engineering, Aalborg University, Denmark, 1993.), who also presented design diagram for determination of breakage of Dolosse in trunk sections. The paper presentes an expansion of this work to include breakage of Dolosse in round-heads and Tetrapods in trunk sections. The paper presents a simple dimensional empirical formula instead of diagrams for the estimation of the number of broken Dolosse and Tetrapods in prototype situations, because probabilistic design of breakwaters requires failure mode formulae with the associated uncertainties.

THE INFLUENCE OF WAIST THICKNESS OF DOLOSSE ON THE HYDRAULIC STABILITY OF DOLOSSE ARMOUR

More than 150 tests have been analyzed in order to describe the dynamically stable profiles of rock slopes and gravel beaches under wave attack. Relationships between profile parameters and boundary conditions have been established. These relationships have been used to develop a computer program. This program is able to predict the profiles of slopes with an arbitrary shape under varying wave conditions, such as those found in storm surges and during the tidal period.This paper investigates the utility of winds obtainable from a numerical weather prediction model for driving a spectral ocean-wave model in an operational mode. Wind inputs for two operational spectral wave models were analyzed with respect to observed winds at three locations in the Canadian east coast offshore. Also, significant wave heights obtainable from the two spectral models were evaluated against measured wave data at these locations. Based on this analysis, the importance of appropriate wind specification for operational wave analysis and forecasting is demonstrated.

STABILITY OF DOLOS SLOPES

The steady state profile of the longshore current induced by regular, obliquely incident, breaking waves, over a bottom with arbitrary parallel bottom contours, is predicted. A momentum approach is adopted. The wave parameters must be given at a depth outside the surf zone, where the current velocity is very small. The variation of the bottom roughness along the given bottom profile must be prescribed in advance. Depth refraction is included also in the calculation of wave set-down and set-up. Current refraction and rip-currents are excluded. The model includes two new expressions, one for the calculation of the turbulent lateral mixing, and one for the turbulent bottom friction. The term for the bottom friction is non-linear. Rapid convergent numerical algorithms are described for the solution of the governing equations. The predicted current profiles are compared with laboratory experiments and field measurements. For a plane sloping bottom, the influence of different eddy viscosities and constant values of bottom roughness is examined.The calculation of turbulent flow using Naviers equations assumes the introduction of a turbulent viscosity coefficient the value of which is normally constant, conforming with Boussinesqs hypothesis. It was shown that setting aside this hypothesis, a velocity profile quite different to that resulting from the classic theory is obtained in the case of flow induced by wind. This result appears to be confirmed by the tests carried out in the Mediterranean. The advantage of this method is that it gives the vertical turbulent diffusion which is of particular interest to pollution studies.In the numerical method of prediction of wind waves in deep water, Hasselmanns nonlinear interaction theory is applied. This method assumes the energy balance of individual component waves. However, the total energy balance must exist in the transformation of irregular waves in shoaling water. In this investigation, experiments were carried out on the transformations in shoaling water of composite waves having two components and random waves having one or two main peaks. It was found that the elementary component wave height of the composite waves and the elementary peak power of the random waves decrease with decrease in the water depth. This reason can be explained qualitatively by the theory of the elementary component wave height change of finite amplitude waves in shoaling water. The secondary component wave height of the composite waves and the secondary peak power of the random waves increase with decrease in the water depth. This can be explained qualitatively by Hamadas theory of nonlinear interaction in uniform depth.Experiments have been carried out by using non-breaking waves and breaking waves to investigate the wave forces on a vertical circular cell located in the shallow water. Based on the experimental data, the drag coefficient and the inertia coefficient of a circular cylinder and the curling factor of breaking waves are estimated, and the computation methods of wave forces are examined. As a result, it is shown that the phase lag of inertia forces behind the accelerations of water particles should be considered for the estimation of the drag coefficient as well as the inertia coefficient. In addition the previous formula of the maximum breaking wave forces acting on a cell or a pile is revised by introducing the effects of the above-mentioned phase lag and another phase difference, both of which are functions of the ratio of the cell diameter to the wave length. • It is confirmed that the proposed formula is applicable even to the large cell with the diameter comparable to the wave length. INTRODUCTION Many studies have been done on the impulsive pressures acting on a vertical wall, but there has been very little investigation of breaking wave forces on a cell-type structure. The breaking wave forces should be taken into consideration all the same in the design of pile-type or cell-type structures in nearshore area, because breaking waves cause extreme shock pressures on a cell structure asThe air bubble plume induced by the steady release of air into water has been analyzed with an integral technique based on the equations for conservation of mass, momentum and buoyancy. This approach has been widely used to study the behavior of submerged turbulent jets and plumes. The case of air-bubble induced flow, however, includes additional features. In this study the compressibility of the air and the differential velocity between the rising air bubbles ,and the water are introduced as basic propertie s of the air bubble plume in addition to a fundamental coefficient of entrainment and a turbulent Schmidt number characterizing the lateral spreading of the air bubbles. Theoretical solutions for twoand three-dimensional air-bubble systems in homogeneous, stagnant water are presented in both dimensional and normalized form and compared to existing experimental data. The further complication of a stratified environment is briefly discussed since this case is of great practical interest. This paper is to be considered as a progress report, as future experimental verification of various hypotheses is needed.

Stability of Low-Crested Breakwaters in Shallow Water Short Crested Waves

The paper presents results of 3D laboratory experiments on low-crested breakwaters. Two typical structural layouts were tested at model scale in a wave basin at Aalborg University, Denmark, to identify and quantify the influence of various hydrodynamic conditions (obliquity of short crested waves, wave height and wave steepness) and structural geometries (crest width and freeboard) on the stability of low-crested breakwaters. Results are given in terms of recommendations for design guidelines for structure stability. Damage parameters for the trunk and the roundhead are proposed based on analysis of observed damage. Results for initiation of damage are compared to existing data and a good agreement is found.

A COMPARISON OF NATURE WAVES AND MODEL WAVES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO WAVE GROUPING

This paper represents a comparative analysis of the occurrence of wave grouping in field storm waves and laboratory waves with similar power spectra and wave height distribution. Two wave patterns - runs of waves and jumps in wave heights - which have significant influence on the impact on coastal structures were included in the analysis of storm wave records off the coasts of Cornwall, U.K. and Jutland, Denmark. Two different laboratory wave generator systems, based on random phase distribution of component waves, were used. Within the limitations given by the relatively small number of analysed records it is shown that wave group statistics can be satisfactorily reproduced by random phase generators that are not based on a limited number of component waves, but for example based on filtering of white noise. It is also shown that the statistics of large waves and wave groups containing large waves depend on whether the waves are defined from zero-upcrossings or zero-downcrossings. Although very similar seas were chosen for the analysis it was found that significant differences in the wave group statistics from the two locations existed. Also a considerable scatter in the wave group statistics throughout the storms was found.