Author(s): Joan Alabart; Agustin Sanchez-Arcilla; Gerbrant Van Vledder
Linked Author(s): Agustín Sánchez-Arcilla
Keywords: SWASH; Waves; Modeling; Harbor; Blanes
Abstract: Wave penetration inside harbours has been one the main issues that port planners and engineers have had to deal with in recent years. Wave conditions inside harbours trigger vessel movements, create dynamic loads on port structures and condition harbour exploitation and safety. For this reason in the recent past maritime and port engineers have developed a set of semi-empirical criteria and physical modelling tools to design the layout of breakwaters and other protection structures. Nevertheless, with the development of computers and numerical methods, several models have tried to simulate the propagation of waves inside such restricted domains, affected by multiple processes such as diffraction, partial reflection, etc. It is in this framework where SWASH (Simulating WAves till SHore), a model developed by TU Delft, is expected to perform realistic and accurate simulations well beyond the performance limits of other state-of-the-art codes. SWASH solves directly the momentum conservation laws and can deal with dyke geometry and porosity. It is very suited for simulating non-hydrostatic, free-surface flows, including long-wave generation and short wave propagation. Because of that we shall here evaluate how such a model can simulate the propagation of various types of waves in real harbour cases. The Port of Blanes, located in the Catalan coast, where wave measurements were available, was chosen as our test case. The wave climate recorded offshore the harbour entrance was introduced as model boundary condition, together with features of the harbour structures. The output from the model was then compared to the actual measurements inside the Port. The results show that SWASH can be indeed a rather useful tool for harbour engineering, providing realistic and accurate results. Furthermore, the way the model accounts for porous structures can be considered to be quite flexible and realistic. Finally some conclusions and recommendations for further work in this topic have been drawn and will be presented in the paper. This will set the basis for further development of this numerical tool that could become the cornerstone of port layout planning in the coming years.
Year: 2014