An insightful tool for the response of armor block breakwaters on impermeable bed combining numerical modeling techniques

Abstract

We aim to increase the efficiency of an open-source hydrodynamic model in investigating the structural performance of port infrastructure under high return period wave conditions, thus anticipating possible scenarios that can trigger breakwater failures intended as breakage or as block displacement and loss of dissipative capabilities due to changes in their layout. A synergic model chain, which comprises the use of data models and numerical simulations, stands at the base of the proposed research that has leveraged the particular suitability of each tool to address the multi-scale nature at which the physics of the interaction between sea waves and port reliability develops. We employ a novel numerical tool, developed within the SPH-based model DualSPHysics, for offline coupling techniques to first estimate with a high degree of accuracy the wave demand at the toe of breakwater composed of tetrapod units, and then we perform a sensitivity analysis to discuss the applicability of the procedure for estimating the extreme loads on coastal structures. The proposed procedure will possibly lead to understanding the pressure field yielded by waves, especially when ultimate limit states are triggered, which in turn can transform into a design tool for structural optimization.