Computational Model for Wave Attenuation by Flexible Vegetation
Publication: Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 145, Issue 1
Abstract
Coastal vegetation has a well-known effect of attenuating waves; however, quantifiable measures of attenuation for general wave and vegetation scenarios are not well known, so field and laboratory studies must be performed for individual setups. The standard practice of performing these studies for such scenarios is extremely expensive, and it is difficult to change parameters and setups. We presented and validated a computational model for a wave flume that can be used for studies of wave attenuation over flexible vegetation based on the previously developed immersed-structure method for fluid–vegetation interaction, thereby augmenting field and laboratory studies with a more-flexible and less-expensive alternative. The main advantage of this computational framework is that almost all terms are derived from first principles without requiring a large number of empirically determined parameters. A series of computational experiments were performed, and an analysis of the wave attenuation with respect to wave heights, spectra, and energy was conducted. Results were compared to results from experiments that the computational wave flume was designed to replicate.
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Acknowledgments
Permission to publish this paper was granted by the Chief of Engineers, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Funding for this work was provided by US Army Research Office Proposal 63598-MA. Work by Clint Dawson was supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant CMMI-1635115). The authors acknowledge the TACC at the University of Texas at Austin for providing high-performance computing and visualization resources that contributed to the research results reported within this paper (http://www.tacc.utexas.edu). The authors acknowledge M. E. Anderson, J. M. Smith, and the USACE Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) for the experimental data presented in this paper.
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Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 145 • Issue 1 • January 2019
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© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Oct 18, 2017
Accepted: Jun 21, 2018
Published online: Oct 18, 2018
Published in print: Jan 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Mar 18, 2019
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