Influence of Three Levee-Strengthening Systems on Overtopping Hydraulic Parameters and Hydraulic Equivalency Analysis between Steady and Intermittent Overtopping
Publication: Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 4
Abstract
Different types of strengthening systems were introduced to protect the crest and land-side slope of the levees against surge overflow and wave overtopping after Hurricane Katrina. Three levee-strengthening systems, roller-compacted concrete, articulated concrete block, and high-performance turf reinforcement mat, were investigated through full-scale laboratory tests in this study. Hydraulic performances of these three levee-strengthening systems were compared to determine the effect of strengthening systems and to provide the equivalency analysis between surge-only overflow and combined wave and surge overtopping. The findings of this study indicate that the high-performance turf reinforcement mat system has the strongest effect in reducing and smoothing the overtopping discharge and in reducing the flow velocity and wavefront velocity on the land-side slope, whereas roller-compacted concrete has the weakest effect. Equivalency analysis between surge-only overflow and combined wave and surge overtopping reveals that the impact of waves on the overtopping discharge and flow velocity on the land-side slope during combined wave and surge overtopping is negligible when the relative freeboard . The equivalency relationships are proved to be applicable to all three tested strengthening systems and can be used to estimate the hydraulic overtopping parameters on levees under combined wave and surge overtopping conditions strengthened with roller-compacted concrete, articulated concrete block, high-performance turf reinforcement mat, or other strengthening systems.
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Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the Department of Homeland Security–sponsored Southeast Region Research Initiative (SERRI) at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The opinions and conclusions described in this paper are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the sponsors. The laboratory experiments were conducted at the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory at Oregon State University. Thanks are also extended to Richard Goodrum, Michael Robenson, Kevin Spittle, Jessie Clark, and Barrie King for their support during the experiments. The authors are appreciative of the comments and suggestions by five anonymous reviewers, which contributed to the quality of this final paper.
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Published In
Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 139 • Issue 4 • July 2013
Pages: 256 - 266
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 19, 2011
Accepted: Jun 29, 2012
Published online: Jul 28, 2012
Published in print: Jul 1, 2013
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