Wave flume

About: Wave flume is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1627 publications have been published within this topic receiving 23335 citations.

An inter-model comparison for wave interactions with sea dikes on shallow foreshores

Abstract: Three open source wave models are applied in 2DV to reproduce a large-scale wave flume experiment of bichromatic wave transformations over a steep-sloped dike with a mildly-sloped and very shallow foreshore: (i) the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations solver interFoam of OpenFOAM® (OF), (ii) the weakly compressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics model DualSPHysics (DSPH) and (iii) the non-hydrostatic nonlinear shallow water equations model SWASH. An inter-model comparison is performed to determine the (standalone) applicability of the three models for this specific case, which requires the simulation of many processes simultaneously, including wave transformations over the foreshore and wave-structure interactions with the dike, promenade and vertical wall. A qualitative comparison is done based on the time series of the measured quantities along the wave flume, and snapshots of bore interactions on the promenade and impacts on the vertical wall. In addition, model performance and pattern statistics are employed to quantify the model differences. The results show that overall, OF provides the highest model skill, but has the highest computational cost. DSPH is shown to have a reduced model performance, but still comparable to OF and for a lower computational cost. Even though SWASH is a much more simplified model than both OF and DSPH, it is shown to provide very similar results: SWASH exhibits an equal capability to estimate the maximum quasi-static horizontal impact force with the highest computational efficiency, but does have an important model performance decrease compared to OF and DSPH for the force impulse.

Large-scale morphodynamic experiments on a beach drainage system

Abstract: This research describes a unique set of experiments undertaken at the Large Wave Channel (Hannover) aimed to study the morphodynamic behaviour of a beach face containing a buried drainage system. The advantage of using a large wave flume is that scale effects that affected previous laboratory experiments are minimized. This compares the response of the undrained beach under controlled wave forcing with the response of the drained one with the same wave action. Low, medium and high levels of wave energy were used for the experiments, with significant wave heights of 0.39–0.83 m and wave steepnesses between 0.004 and 0.013. Any positive effect of the drains on the beach face was confined by the position of the cone of depression in the aquifer surface. The best performance of the system was observed with two drains operating at the same time under low to moderate wave energy.

Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Near-Bed Pressure Gradients on a Barred Beach

Abstract: Observations of the cross-shore variations of pressure gradients measured on a fixed barred beach in a large-scale laboratory wave flume are presented in this paper. The wave-induced components (0.1–1.0 Hz) of the free surface elevation, near-bottom vertical and cross-shore velocities, and pressure gradient are used in the analysis. The cross-shore variation of the pressure gradient showed the maximum value in the area of wave breaking over the bar, and the pressure gradients were considered to be influenced by the fluctuation of the water surface elevation, which are shown to be a rough proxy for the water surface slope. The cross correlation related to the vertical velocity showed no correlation in the wave breaking area. Surprisingly, although several measuring points were located in the wave breaking area or in the inner surf zone, the spatial variation of the pressure gradient and water surface elevation had a correlation coefficient greater than 0.8 with time lags approximately 0.1 of the wave perio...