Wave Height, Pressure and Velocity CDF's around Rubble Mound Protections for Submarine Outfalls

A statistical comparison is presented between measured and computed cumulative distribution functions of wave height, pressure and velocity around and inside rubble mounds for submarine outfalls. The data set is obtained from laboratory and prototype experiments, originally designed to determine the stability of the stones protecting the pipeline. From the experiments, it was found that the peak horizontal velocity at the crest of the structure is continuously underestimated during the design stages. Generally speaking, although all cumulative distribution functions follow reasonably well the Rayleigh distribution, the largest waves deviates, yielding an increased maximum value for pressures and velocities. Since the stability of the stones is directly linked with this velocity, an enhanced formulation to assess it has been tested successfully, although the performance of the model has to be improved.