Abstract
Several failures of recurved concrete crownwalls have been observed in recent years. This work aims to get a better insight within the processes underlying the loading phase of these structures due to non-breaking wave impulsive loading conditions and to identify the dominant failure modes. The investigation is carried out through an offline one-way coupling of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) generated wave pressure time series and a time-varying structural Finite Element Analysis. The recent failure of the Civitavecchia (Italy) recurved parapet is adopted as an explanatory case study. Modal analysis aimed to identify the main modal parameters such as natural frequencies, modal masses and modal shapes is firstly performed to comprehensively describe the dynamic response of the investigated structure. Following, the CFD generated pressure field time-series is applied to linear and non-linear finite element model, the developed maximum stresses and the development of cracks are properly captured in both models. Three non-linear analyses are performed in order to investigate the performance of the crownwall concrete class. Starting with higher quality concrete class, it is decreased until the formation of cracks is reached under the action of the same regular wave condition. It is indeed shown that the concrete quality plays a dominant role for the survivability of the structure, even allowing the design of a recurved concrete parapet without reinforcing steel bars.
Highlights
Vertical breakwaters are structures widely used around the world
Modal analysis is performed to investigate the effect of the three different concrete classes adopted within the non-linear analysis (i.e., C35/45, C30/37 and C25/30) aiming to detect the influence of the material properties on the effective mass participation factor (EMPF), and on the effective modal mass for each natural mode
The combined use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) time-varying pressure map and linear and non-linear finite element analysis is adopted as an overall tool to get a better insight in the loading and response process, with the final aim to investigate the recent failure of the Civitavecchia port crownwall
Summary
Vertical breakwaters are structures widely used around the world. They are primarily designed for the protection of boats harbored within ports and of harbor facilities from wave action. It is crucial to protect the port-side of the breakwater from wave overtopping, in order to allow easier manoeuvres within the harbor structure [1,2] For this reason, parapet walls, that is, seaward extensions of vertical walls, are often adopted. The interconnected nature of the wave action and the dynamic behavior of coastal structures is not a new concept It was firstly observed by Muraki [3] and later further elaborated by Goda [4] and Oumeraci and Kortenhaus [5] and by Martinelli and Lamberti [6] for caisson breakwaters. It has been shown that the different natural frequencies play a leading role in the response of impulsive wave loading, highlighting how the proper description of the wave impulse duration and intensity can significantly affect the reliability of the assessment of a dynamically “sensible”
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