Wave loads and stability of new foundation structure for offshore wind turbines made of Ocean Brick System (OBS)

The Ocean Brick System (OBS) is a modular system consisting of hollow concrete precast blocs (10m x 10m x 10m) piled up like cubes and interconnected to create a stiff, light and strong structure which can be used for artificial islands, artificial reefs, elevation of vulnerable low lands, deep water ports, breakwaters and foundation of offshore wind turbines. The paper focuses on the experimental results on the wave loading and the stability of the OBS used as a foundation of the support structure of offshore wind turbines. Diagrams for the prediction of total horizontal forces, vertical forces and overturning moments induced by irregular waves on the OB-structure are derived and verified through additional stability tests and stability analysis

The influence of land cover roughness on the results of high resolution tsunami inundation modeling

In this paper a local case study is presented in which detailed inundation simulations have been performed to support damage analysis and risk assessment related to the 2004 tsunami in Phang Nga and Phuket, Thailand. Besides tsunami sources, bathymetry and topography, bottom roughness induced by vegetation and built environment is considered to influence inundation characteristics, such as water depths or flow velocities and therefore attracts major attention in this work. Plenty of information available on the 2004 tsunami event, high-resolution satellite imagery and extensive field measurements to derive land cover information and forest stand parameters facilitated the generation of topographic datasets, land cover maps and site-specific Manning values for the most prominent land cover classes in the study areas. The numerical models ComMIT and Mike 21 FM were used to hindcast the observed tsunami inundation and to draw conclusions on the influence of land cover on inundation patterns. Results show a strong influence of dense vegetation on flow velocities, which were reduced by up to 50% by mangroves, while the inundation extent is influenced only to a lesser extent. In urban areas, the disregard of buildings in the model led to a significant overestimation of the inundation extent. Hence different approaches to consider buildings were used and analyzed in the model. The case study highlights the importance and quantifies the effects of considering land cover roughness in inundation simulations used for local risk assessment

Design features of the upcoming Coastal and Ocean Basin in Ostend, Belgium, for marine renewable energy applications

The new Coastal and Ocean Basin (COB) located at the Greenbridge Science Park in Ostend, Belgium is under construction since February 2017. The laboratory will provide a versatile facility that will make a wide range of physical modelling studies possible, including the ability to generate waves in combination with currents and wind at a wide range of model scales. The facility is serving the needs in Flanders, Belgium, in the fields of mainly offshore renewable energy and coastal engineering. The COB will allow users to conduct tests for coastal and offshore engineering research and commercial projects. The basin will have state-of-the-art generating and absorbing wavemakers, a current generation system, and a wind generator. It will be possible to generate waves and currents in the same, opposite and oblique directions. The basin is expected to be operational in 2019. This paper presents an overview of the basin’s capabilities, the ongoing work, and selected results from the design of the COB

2D overtopping and impact experiments in shallow foreshore conditions

This paper introduces the 2D experiments conducted for the CREST project in the wave flume of Ghent University. The experiments focus on wave interactions with low-crested sea dikes fronted by a shallow foreshore and mildly to steeply sloping beaches, which is a very typical situation along the Belgian coast. Foreshore slopes of 1/20, 1/35, 1/50 and 1/80 were tested for a range of low to high energy wave conditions, a variation in wave steepness and two water levels. The main goal was to obtain a dataset in which the effects of the infragravity waves on the wave-structure interactions (i.e. wave overtopping and impact forces) can be studied. The tests included high spatial resolution surface elevation measurement tests, which is new for beaches including a dike in the inner surf zone. From the first results it became clear that the foreshore slope influences the wave transformation up to the dike toe. The influence is apparent comparing to existing (semi-) empirical models for prediction of the spectral wave period at the dike toe and wave overtopping at the dike crest. The high spatial resolution data show a steep increase in infragravity significant wave height in the very shallow area in front of the dike

Hydraulic loading of flood defence structures

This report reviews previous investigations on hydraulic loading conditions for different types of flood defence structures such as sea dikes, dunes, beaches and seawalls. For each of these structures the physical processes involved are discussed in some detail and methods are given to either predict relevant input parameters for failure modes of flood defences or the behaviour of the flood defence system under actions from waves or currents.Floodsit

Description of flood defence structures for pilot sites

This report describes individual flood defence structures of all pilot sites in FLOODsite. For each of the 10 pilot sites the following details are described: Ø the flood prone area Ø the failures observed in the past Ø an overview of all defence structures Ø the flood defence structures in detail together with their potential failure modesThe overall purpose of this report is to give an overview of all flood defence structures of the pilotsites. This information will be needed by Theme 1 to concentrate research efforts on the key flood defence structures and their failure modes. Details of available knowledge on failure modes are then described in a different report so that further needs for research within FLOODsite can be concluded.Floodsit