160 / 2024-02-23 18:50:58

Numerical Modelling of Wave Overtopping over a Vertical Seawall Protected by a Submerged Breakwater

Hydrodynamics, Wave Overtopping, Numeircal Modelling, Seawall, Submerged Breakwater

Vertical seawalls are common coastal protection measures in urbanized locations owing to a lack of space and are frequently used to protect low-lying coastal areas against coastal flooding. The impact of climate change is projected to result in huge wave-loading and wave overtopping on the vertical seawalls in the future. The increase in overtopping may cause inundation of low-lying coastal areas and proper measures need to be taken to control the coastal flooding. Past literature suggests the submerged breakwater can be used as one of the retrofits to the seawall. In the present study, a submerged breakwater is introduced in tandem with the seawall to understand its effect on overtopping reduction. Few studies have been conducted to measure the overtopping volume numerically, but the numerical modeling of wave overtopping over the seawall is still a challenging task. A CFD-based numerical tool REEF3D is used to model the overtopping volume. REEF3D solves the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) using the Finite Difference Method.  The validation of the numerical tool was done by comparing the results with experimental measurements. The focus of the study is to study the effect of submerged breakwater on overtopping reduction over the vertical seawall for regular waves. The results of wave overtopping on the vertical seawall with and without submerged breakwater for different wave parameters will be presented and discussed in this work.