During a tsunami or storm surge event, coastal infrastructure and ports are subject to a series of disparate physical hazards that can cause significant damage and loss of life. Among these, debris impact loading during inundation events is chaotic, complex, and thus far minimally understood, especially when considering the accumulation of individual debris into a large debris field. This work provides the results of a comprehensive experimental study of the impact and subsequent damming of chaotic debris fields, including more than 400 individual trials; this scope of this paper describes the experimental design and initial analysis of wave-driven debris-induced loading for select configurations. These data include both the impact phenomena and subsequent damming by debris accumulation and find strong correlation between increasing debris field density and high impact forces. High frequency impact forces and low frequency damming signals are considered via fast Fourier transform methods. Overall trends in wave-induced debris forcing from large debris fields are presented.
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Multi-Scale Numerical Simulation of Tsunami-Driven Debris-Field Impacts
In current practice, debris-field impact loading for near-water structures is usually derived from (1) infrequent case histories, (2) simplified analytical equations, and (3) practitioner experience. Via advanced numerical simulation of tsunami-driven debris-field impacts at multiple scales and conditions, we are now forging a modeling approach to address a wider range of scenarios. Broadened cases are characterized, with chaotic natures expressed stochastically. The analytical tools have the potential to strengthen the basis of ASCE 7 guidelines and to encompass events not yet described in the code.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1933184
- PAR ID:
- 10366252
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ASCE Ports 22
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 328 to 339
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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