Efficient design of maritime structures for Marinas and Fishing Harbors

Significance 

The performance of maritime structures has continuously increased over the past few years due to advancement in technology, design, and optimization. Specifically, in coastal engineering, modeling of wave-structures interaction as well as energy extraction devices have remained a challenge thereby jeopardizing efforts to enhance their design.

Recent studies have shown that evaluating the system’s optimal parameters will be a key consideration in improving the initial design phases. As such, accurate analytical models are highly desirable to overcome the challenge. To this effect, several analytical based approaches have been developed to analyze the hydrodynamic behaviors of various maritime structures. Unfortunately, the effects of oblique incident regular and irregular waves on marine structures have not been fully explored.

To this note, Dr. María Jalón, Andrea Lira-Loarca, Dr. Asunción Baquerizo, and Dr. Miguel Losada from the University of Granada, developed an efficient analytical model to investigate the trade-off between the structure design and performance. In particular, they examined the effects of oblique incident regular and irregular waves on marine structures. Additionally, fundamental design parameters taking into consideration different design approaches such as structural safety and harbor tranquility were also analyzed. Their research work is currently published in the research journal, Coastal Engineering.

Briefly, the structure design comprised of a chamber enclosed by a semi-submergible vertical impermeable plate. Additionally, linear wave theory was used in theoretical formulation taking into account the head loss due to flow constriction. Furthermore, the influence of the design parameters and wave characteristics on the wave patterns were analyzed and compared for regular and irregular patterns. Eventually, the results obtained were compared to those obtained using computational fluid dynamics models and its feasibility in describing the performance of the systems demonstrated.

The authors observed that the developed model efficiently described the performance of the system based on non-linear waves. Consequently, oscillations in the chamber and wave reflection in the structure were controlled using different configurations thus enhancing the design optimization. Additionally, it was noted that the spectra on both sides comprised of nodal and antinodal frequencies depending on the water depth, geometrical configuration, and characteristics of the incident wave.

In summary, the research team successfully proposed a simple methodology for efficiently analyzing the effect of oblique incident regular and irregular waves on the performance of marine structures. To actualize their study, they carried out a failure mode analysis based on the Monte Carlo simulations using random variable distributions. They noted that effective structural design is based not only on geometry characteristics but also on energy transmission. Thus it proved an efficient tool for analyzing the hydrodynamic performance of maritime structures. In general, the study provides vital information that will advance the optimal design and application of maritime structures.

Efficient design of maritime structures for Marinas and Fishing Harbors - Advances in Engineering

Reference

Jalón, M., Lira-Loarca, A., Baquerizo, A., & Losada, M. (2019). An analytical model for oblique wave interaction with a partially reflective harbor structure. Coastal Engineering, 143, 38-49.

Go To Coastal Engineering

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