Physical Modelling of Scour near Detached Coastal Protection Breakwaters

Abstract

The main objective of this congress paper is the study of scour phenomena near detached coastal protection interventions. For that purpose, Carneiros beach, at the seafront of Oporto, Portugal, is used as a case study. This beach is located north of Felgueiras vertical breakwater and is exposed to the North Atlantic environmental conditions. A 3D mobile-bed experimental study of a new coastal protection intervention composed of five detached breakwaters was carried out in the wave tank of the Hydraulic Laboratory of the Hydraulics, Water Resources and Environment Division of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal. The study was performed at a 1/60 geometric scale for four water levels, three peak wave periods and various significant wave heights. The analysis of results was focused on the morphological changes in the vicinity of the five detached breakwaters in order to characterize the scour and deposition patterns. The results obtained in the physical model made it possible to conclude that the five coastal structures effectively faced the occurrence of scour phenomena in their vicinity. On the other hand, it was found that the evolution of scour holes in the area surrounding the structures did not compromise their structural stability and, in general, all the scour holes have developed in accordance with previous experiments from the literature. (c) 2022 IAHR.