Publications

This paper presents a study of run-up/overtopping over a smooth impermeable dike with promenade using 2D and 3D mesh-based and mesh-free numerical models and results from 2D physical modelling for strong energetic incident waves. These waves induce plunging wave breaking and a complex water/air mixture turbulent flow before overtopped the dike, a challenging configuration for numerical models. The analysis is structured in two phases: (i) evaluates the results of 2D numerical and physical models for run-up and overtopping; (ii) compares qualitatively the results of 3D numerical models for overtopping over a dike with promenade between groins located in front of a slope beach. The results indicate that the main differences obtained in run-up and overtopping are due to differences in wave generation and active absorption systems used in physical and numerical models and in turbulent models used by the numerical models. These differences lead to changes on incident wave height and on wave breaking and, consequently, on reflection, run-up and overtopping over the structure. For 3D simulation, even if larger discrepancies were found on overtopping along the dike, mean wave overtopping discharge and water flow height at the crest of the groin head show a similar order of magnitude.

Artificial neural networks (ANN) are extremely powerful analytical, parallel processing elements that can successfully approximate any complex non-linear process, and which form a key piece in Artificial Intelligence models. Its field of application, being very wide, is especially suitable for the field of prediction. In this article, its application for the prediction of the overtopping rate is presented, as part of a strategy for the sustainable optimization of coastal or harbor defense structures and their conversion into Waves Energy Converters (WEC). This would allow, among others benefits, reducing their initial high capital expenditure. For the construction of the predictive model, classical multivariate statistical techniques such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), or unsupervised clustering methods like Self Organized Maps (SOM), are used, demonstrating that this close alliance is always methodologically beneficial. The specific application carried out, based on the data provided by the CLASH and EurOtop 2018 databases, involves the creation of a useful application to predict overtopping rates in both sloping breakwaters and seawalls, with good results both in terms of prediction error, such as correlation of the estimated variable.

O projeto de investigação e desenvolvimento To-SEAlert financiado pela Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia e envolvendo o LNEC, a FCiências.ID, a NOVA.ID.FCT e o ISEL tem como objetivo o desenvolvimento de um sistema de previsão, alerta, planeamento de emergência e gestão de risco de galgamentos e inundações em zonas costeiras e portuárias, com base no sistema HIDRALERTA. Partindo das características da agitação marítima ao largo e utilizando modelos numéricos para a propagação e deformação da agitação marítima, o sistema HIDRALERTA estima os parâmetros relevantes da agitação marítima para a avaliação do galgamento e da inundação bem como o risco associado a esses eventos. As funcionalidades que se pretendem melhorar no âmbito do projeto To-SEAlert dizem respeito às metodologias de previsão do galgamento e da delimitação da zona inundada, bem como no apoio à resposta a situações de emergência envolvendo fenómenos de galgamento. A implementação e a validação do protótipo do To-SEAlert estão a ser efetuadas para a zona costeira da Costa da Caparica e para o porto da Ericeira. Este artigo apresenta o trabalho desenvolvido até à data na construção e desenvolvimento do protótipo do To-SEAlert para o porto da Ericeira.

Under the scope of the HYDRALAB+ transnational access project, the so-called RODBreak experiment was conducted in the multidirectional wave basin at the Marienwerden facilities of the Leibniz University Hannover (LUH). A stretch of a rubble-mound breakwater was built in the wave basin with a very gentle slope. Its armour layer was made of Antifer cubes, at the roundhead and adjoining trunk, and of rock, at the rest of the trunk.A set of tests was carried out to extend the range of wave steepness values analysed in wave run-up, vertopping and armour layer stability studies, focusing on oblique extreme wave conditions, with incident wave angles from 40º to 90º.The present study focuses on the analysis of measured wave run-up values obtained in the tests and on their on their variability as well as the influence of the wave obliquity and directional spreading.

Several authors have proposed guidelines on how to consider the effects of oblique waves on the stability of armour layers of rubble-mound breakwaters. Especially for very oblique waves, for which the increase in stability is the largest, limited data are available. Under the scope of the HYDRALAB+ transnational access project

This paper describes a program under the responsibility of LNEC for the systematic observation and monitoring of maritime works that has successfully been applied to a number of maritime structures on the Portuguese mainland coast. The now-called OSOM+ program comprises the following four main components for each structure: i) periodic visual inspections by an experienced technician; ii) periodic aerial inspections with a UAV/ drone; iii) a ANOSOM-WEB database, to store and/or query obtained information on the observation campaigns, as well as to diagnose present, evolution and risk conditions of the structure; iv) a mobile, portable, application, for realtime input and visualization of the database information. OSOM+ has recently been updated with a number of tools and functionalities that are illustrated in this paper with applications to two real case studies: the Portimão harbor breakwaters and Faro-Olhão inlet entrance breakwaters, both located in the south coast of Portugal.

Wave energy is a renewable source with significant amount in relation to the global demand. A good concept of a device applied to extract this type of energy is the onshore oscillating water column wave energy converter (OWC-WEC). This study shows a numerical analysis of the diameter determination of two types of turbines, Wells and Impulse, installed in an onshore OWC device subjected to a hypothetical sea state. Commercial software FLUENT, which is based on RANS-VoF (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations and Volume of Fluid technique), is employed. A methodology that imposes air pressure on the chamber, considering the air compressibility effect, is used. The mathematical domain consists of a 10 m deep flume with a 10 m long and 10 m wide OWC chamber at its end (geometry is similar to that of the Pico

Para caracterizar a agitação marítima no Porto de Leixões após o prolongamento do quebra-mar exterior, sob condições de alterações climáticas foi realizado um extenso grupo de ensaios em modelo físico tridimensional de agitação, num tanque do LNEC, à escala 1:80, representando-se toda a bacia portuária e o prolongamento do quebra-mar exterior do Porto de Leixões. Foram realizados ensaios com diferentes condições de agitação incidente para o rumo W e com dois níveis de maré, que correspondem ao nível médio e a preia-mar com uma sobrelevação representativa dos efeitos das alterações climáticas e da sua influência na agitação marítima. Foi medida a agitação em 30 pontos localizados na entrada do porto e no interior da bacia portuária e analisou-se o abrigo da bacia portuária com a ampliação do quebra-mar norte e as diferenças entre o abrigo para os dois níveis de maré ensaiados.As principais conclusões dos ensaios realizados foram que os maiores valores de alturas de onda ocorreram na zona exterior e de entrada do porto, diminuindo para o seu interior. Ao longo do canal de navegação, as alturas de onda vão diminuindo e no interior do porto obtiveram-se valores da altura de onda pequenos. A subida do nível do mar, para as condições ensaiadas, não afeta significativamente a agitação no interior da bacia portuária. No entanto, no exterior e zona de entrada do porto contribui para alterações da agitação que diferem consoante o período de pico e a altura de onda significativa incidente.

The vegetation capacity to protect the coasts from wave action is becoming more important and attractive due to ongoing sea level rise and increasing storminess. In addition, it is a quite environmentally friendly way. Quantifying the vegetation effect in wave propagation will be relevant for coastal management. A non-hydrostatic wave model based on the nonlinear shallow water equations, SWASH, offers opportunities to quantify the wave dissipation effect in vegetation fields. However, limited applications of SWASH addressing this subject can be found in the literature and therefore it is important to enhance the existing knowledge on the model behaviour. In this research, in order to understand the characteristics of the SWASH model further, the model is applied to reproduce the significant wave height (Hs ) evolution over vegetation fields measured in flume experiments and in field campaign. Overall, SWASH performed very well in reproducing the Hs evolution measured both in the laboratory and in the field. In the case of flume data, the statistical scores MBE, RMSE and MRE, showed that the SWASH performance clearly improved when increasing the number of vertical layers assumed in the simulations. In the case of field data, considering a vegetation factor (Vf ) between 0.1 and 0.5, that represents the overall effect of scarcely known numerical vegetation parameters, led to a fairly good SWASH performance in modelling the Hs evolution over vegetation.

An aerial monitoring system was developed for the maritime structures protecting the foundation columns of the airport infrastructure of the Madeira Island Airport, in the scope of research project MEGE, to complement the already existing monitoring program of visual observations. For the aerial monitoring of the berm breakwater, with about 770 m in length, a fast data acquisition system was envisaged. Imaging techniques acquired through a high-resolution camera coupled to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) were used, which allowed for a very fast and efficient automated procedure, compatible with the difficult accessibility to the structure on the seaside. Point clouds corresponding to the breakwater geometry were obtained from the set of aerial images from the camera on board of the UAV, using photogrammetric techniques. In this paper, the two complementary parts of the monitoring of this structure are described and corresponding results are shown.

This paper aims to evaluate the impact of ships on fenders during the berthing process. Physical tests and numerical simulations with MOORNAV tool were performed with versions of the GulfStream ship in still water and under a set of different conditions. A comparative analysis was made between outputs of the two models considering specific conditions. The MOORNAV application resulted in a standard deviation from the physical model of 3% to 6% in relation to the maximum force exerted on each fender.

This paper aims to evaluate the impact of ships on fenders during the berthing process. Physical tests and numerical simulations with MOORNAV tool were performed with versions of the GulfStream ship in still water and under a set of different conditions. A comparative analysis was made between outputs of the two models considering specific conditions. The MOORNAV application resulted in a standard deviation from the physical model of 3% to 6% in relation to the maximum force exerted on each fender.

Neste trabalho, descreve-se a aplicação do programa OSOM+ às obras marítimas do Porto de Sines, em especial ao quebra-mar oeste. Assim, serão apresentados resultados de comparação entre as situações observadas em 2018 e 2020 no âmbito de inspeções visuais e com drone, mediante apreciação e análise de fotografias georreferenciadas, ortomosaicos, nuvens de pontos, modelos numéricos de superfície e perfis selecionados. É também ilustrada a forma como a aplicação e base de dados ANOSOM-WEB pode ser empregue quer durante as campanhas de observação, quer em gabinete. Conclui-se este trabalho com a apresentação das vantagens da recente atualização da metodologia e do que se julga ser a sua importância na tomada de decisões sobre a necessidade ou não de realizar obras de manutenção e/ou reparação nestas estruturas, ou similares.

Os mapas de risco costeiro, integrados em modelos de risco, são excelentes ferramentas de apoio à tomada de decisão no âmbito da gestão e proteção costeira em situações normais e de emergência [1], ajudando aproteger as populações e infraestruturas em risco de inundação costeira e galgamento oceânico proteger as populações e infraestruturas em risco de inundação costeira e galgamento oceânico.

SAFEPORT safety system aims at forecasting and alerting, on a regular basis, emergency situations regarding ships operation in port areas caused by extreme weather-oceanographic conditions. It uses forecasts provided offshore of the area under study of sea agitation, wind and tide. The characterization of the response of the free and moored ships at a berth is performed using the numerical package SWAMS. The system issue alerts, through danger levels associated with risk levels of exceedance of recommended values for movements and forces imposed on ship mooring systems. SAFEPORT can be adapted to any port. So far, it has been developed and adapted to three terminals of the port of Sines, where three different ships were simulated. This paper presents the developments made to date of the safety system, which includes tests performed in storm situations. The numerical models run every day, in real-time mode, in a computer cluster and the system provide forecast results for the next 72 hours. The results are disseminated on a web page and a mobile application in a variety of formats. It was concluded that the SAFEPORT safety system issued alerts according to the observed reality during the storm Dora. It has also been shown to be a computer tool for the optimization of ship mooring systems. The system is currently in testing and validation phase therefore, forecasts should be interpreted as indicative.

A autoridade portuária do arquipélago dos Açores, Portos dos Açores, SA, identificou a necessidade de dispor de um sistema de alerta precoce para os riscos associados à agitação marítima, nomeadamente os relacionados com os galgamentos costeiros e com os navios amarrados. No âmbito do Projeto ECOMARPORT, associaram-se com a Universidade dos Açores e o LNEC para o desenvolvimento de três novos protótipos do sistema HIDRALERTApara os portos de S. Roque do Pico, Madalena do Pico e Praia da Vitória. Os novos protótipos têm, para além da previsão de eventos de galgamento das proteções portuárias, a capacidade de prever esforços e movimentos de navios amarrados. As situações de emergência podem ser previstas, permitindo que as autoridades portuárias possam tomar medidas de mitigação para evitar a perda de vidas e minimizar os danos.

Early warning systems (EWS) are fundamental tool to reduce risks in coastal areas since they provide in advance the necessary information for the responsible authorities to mitigate the effects of possible emergency situation due to storms.

The case studies are Costa da Caparica coastal area and Ericeira port, both on the West Portuguese Coast.

The To-SEAlert project (Fortes et al. 2019) aims to include a set of tools/methodologies into the Early Warning Systems (EWS) HIDRALERTA, (Poseiro, 2019, Fortes et al., 2021, Santos et al., 2020, Zózimo et al., 2021, Ferreira, et al. 2021a) to make it more efficient reliable and robust.

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