Applicability of the Goda–Takahashi Wave Load Formula for Vertical Slender Hydraulic Structures

Nadieh Elisabeth Meinen,Bas Hofland,Sebastiaan Nicolaas Jonkman,Raphaël Daniël Johannes Maria Steenbergen

doi:10.3390/jmse8110868

Nadieh Elisabeth Meinen, Bas Hofland + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8110868

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Abstract

Vertical slender hydraulic structures such as sluices, navigation locks, or storm-surge barriers are often dynamically loaded by waves. For a safe and economic design, an accurate description of the wave loads is needed. A widely used formula for this purpose is the Goda–Takahashi wave load formula (GT). It was derived for the assessment of gravity-based caisson breakwaters. Due to its many advantages, the formula is also often employed for the assessment of vertical slender hydraulic structures, although its applicability to those type of structures was never fully demonstrated. This study provides insights in the applicability of GT for vertical slender hydraulic structures. This is done based on a literature review on the historical backgrounds of GT, and an investigation of several case-studies. In the case-studies, the equivalent-static wave loads for caisson breakwaters in scope of GT are compared with those for vertical slender hydraulic structures. The results show that GT can safely be applied for vertical slender hydraulic structures loaded by pulsating wave loads, but that systematic over- or under-estimations are expected for breaking or impact wave loads. For individual cases, differences up to 200% were obtained. These large over- or under-estimations underline the need for an improvement of the current design tools for vertical slender hydraulic structures loaded by breaking or impact wave loads.

Highlights

Vertical slender hydraulic structures such as sluices, navigation locks, storm-surge barriers, or splash barriers are often loaded by waves
The aim of this study was to gain a better insight in the valid application area of Goda–Takahashi wave load formula (GT) for slender hydraulic structures
This was done based on a literature review on the historical backgrounds of GT, and a comparison of the dynamic characteristics between slender hydraulic structures and caisson breakwaters

Summary

Introduction

Vertical slender hydraulic structures such as sluices, navigation locks, storm-surge barriers, or splash barriers are often loaded by waves. A dynamic assessment can be complex and time-consuming, and requires information that is often not directly available to the engineer (e.g., the time-histories of the design wave load) In those situations, the engineer is deemed to use more simplistic and practical design methods, which predict equivalent-static wave loads on the basis of a limited number of design parameters, and which account for the dynamic behavior of the structure implicitly. To assess the applicability of GT to other structural types and failure mechanisms, it is important to know what the modeling assumptions were in its derivation, and how these relate to the deviating design situations. The final version of the formula is presented in Goda [3], where distinction is made between ‘Goda’s original load formula’ and ‘Takahashi’s extensions’

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