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.

O presente trabalho descreve a aplicação do modelo numérico COULWAVE ao estudo da propagação de ondas na zona da Praia do Lugar de Baixo, Madeira, com vista a simular as características hidrodinâmicas na zona de estudo permitindo analisar as alturas de ondas, zona de rebentação e reflexão da onda junto à costa. O objetivo final é propor soluções para a renaturalização desta zona e o melhoramento das condições de surf.

The objective of this paper is to describe and compare the use of different high-resolution survey techniques to create and analyse 3D surface models made up of point clouds, using open-source and freeware post-processing tools. Within this framework, several tests were conducted on a three-dimensional scale model of a breakwater, with surveys performed by a smartphone, the Microsoft® Kinect® sensor and a UAV camera. All the tests were conducted for a physical model placed in an empty wave tank. For this comparison, a number of post-processing software were used: the Microsoft Kinect Fusion Application, Visual SFM and MicMac, all freeware software. The clouds of points were compared using the CloudCompare freeware software and the Golden Software Surfer commercial software.In order to obtain a clear comparison between these tools (i.e., to better evaluate accuracy and associated errors), all the point clouds (with RGB colour information) were aligned with data coming from a survey used to coordinate some points in the model (Ground Control Points). All the clouds were compared with a corrected cloud based upon coordinated points painted on the concrete floor of the wave tank.The specific experimental conditions needed for using each of these methodologies were investigated and classified.

Nesta comunicação apresenta-se os novos desenvolvimentos que estão em curso no sistema SWAMS ALERT, que é um sistema previsão, alerta e avaliação de risco de eventos perigosos associados à navegação em áreas portuárias e ao comportamento dos navios amarrados.O sistema usa as características da agitação marítima previstas para determinar os seus efeitos em termos de forças em amarras e defensas, bem como de movimentos de um navio amarrado. Para isso, o sistema utiliza um conjunto de modelos numéricos. O sistema consiste em quatro módulos: I - Características da agitação marítima; II - Navegação em áreas portuárias; III - Avaliação de Risco e IV - Sistema de Alerta. A interface do sistema é através de uma plataforma web totalmente interativa e amigável.Ilustra-se a aplicação deste sistema ao porto da Praia da Vitória.

This paper presents recent new features of the Systematic Observation of Maritime Works (OSOM+) program, under development at LNEC since 1986, for using in an extensive number of maritime structures of mainland Portugal. Those functionalities are illustrated with applications to a real case scenario (the port of Ericeira) and by indicating their added-value on the existing methodology.

It is common for the local sea state in coastal waters to be a complex combination of waves due to local and recent wind (the "sea") and long period waves resulting from earlier weather systems, which have travelled many 100s of km with little attenuation of these very long waves (the "swell"). Sea and swell may have very different directions and periods.

This paper presents the validation of a wave maker with active absorption method implemented in FLUENT® RANS-VOF code for modelling long time series of waves propagating and interacting with coastal structures, more specifically, with Oscillating Water Column devices, to cancel out the reflected wave that reaches the wave maker. Verification of the numerical technique was performed in a 3D wave tank in which a technique of multiple active absorption wave makers was used. Good results were obtained in quasi-3D and fully-3D applications showing that active absorption should be used for modelling accurately the complex interaction between wave and coastal structures, in the present case, with an oscillating water column device integrated in a vertical breakwater.

Due to both its geographic location and maritime importance, Portugal is equipped with a large number of port infrastructures, the majority of which built for goals such as to guarantee the tranquility of the sheltered areas of the harbour basins, to help controlling sedimentation by guiding the currents, to protect water taken from thermoelectric plants, amongst others. In Portugal, the most common of these structures is the rubblemound breakwater. Due to its characteristics, maintenance or repair works are common throughout its lifetime. However, the need for these repair works should be evaluated in advance, in order to avoid significant costs associated to those works or, even worse, the collapse of the structure. It is therefore quite important to evaluate the Present Condition of the structure, as well its Evolution and Risk Conditions. The Present Condition is periodically checked on-site and all relevant data gathered is recorded, by filling in inspection forms, in order to perform further comparisons and analyses with previous inspections of the structure, as to eventually characterize Evolution and Risk conditions. To expedite all this process and prevent likely occurrence of errors in data collection, a monitoring tool, supported through a map-based online geographic information system (WebGIS) was developed, enabling the georeferencing of the structures concerned. This system adapts to the location of the user

The air entrainment effect on wave breaking is of the highest importance for the wave energy dissipation. Wave breaking is a complex phenomenon with several physical processes, making it difficult to quantify the contribution of the air in the energy dissipation process. This study presents a different approach where the wave propagation is exposed to air injected in the bottom of a wave flume. The experiment allows studying in a controlled environment the direct effect of the air bubbles in the wave propagation. The measurements show the free surface elevations and velocity profiles at two sections of the wave flume. The turbulence effect of the air injection on the wave propagation was evaluated. The results show differences for the three types of air injection that were tested. The air injection rate of each orifice is an important factor for the wave dissipation. The wave heights were found to decrease due to the air injection. The Turbulent Kinetic Energy shows an increase along the water column and on the downstream direction of the flume.

Apresenta-se nesta comunicação uma técnica baseada em análise de imagem para a medição e caraterização da concentração de ar produzida no processo de rebentação de onda. Para este efeito, realizaram-se filmagens dos ensaios num canal de ondas no Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC), que reproduzem dois tipos de rebentação de onda, progressiva e mergulhante. A validação da técnica de análise de imagem é feita por dois métodos, o primeiro com recurso à injeção de bolhas de ar através de uma bomba de ar e o segundo com a medição pontual da concentração de ar com uma sonda de deteção de bolhas de ar. Os resultados, relativos aos dois tipos de rebentação de onda, mostram as concentrações de ar e a distribuição da pluma de bolhas de ar. As medições realizadas permitem quantificar e caracterizar o ar emulsionado no processo de rebentação de onda.

Um dispositivo de aproveitamento da energia das ondas de tipo coluna de água oscilante (CAO) near-shore (que pode se assimilar a um cilindro vertical oco com a sua parte inferior aberta e a parte superior equipada com uma turbina Wells) implementada em profundidade intermédia pequena é estudado numericamente recorrendo a um modelo RANS-VOF 3D. O modelo numérico integra técnicas de geração e absorção das ondas por batedores múltiplos que permite dispor de um tanque de onda eficiente, eliminando as ondas reflectidas e difractadas. O dispositivo de CAO near-shore é um dispositivo alternativo ao clássico dispositivo integrado em quebra-mar ou na linha de costa e ao dispositivo off-shore (assimilado a um cilindro vertical oco estabilizado por um sistema de ancoragem por cabos) e tem duas vantagens: a resposta do dispositivo é independente da direcção das ondas e pode ser facilmente afundado no fundo do mar já que o dispositivo é desenhado para ser implementado em profundida pequena (~20 m). No entanto, a proximidade do fundo e a interacção complexa onda-estrutura resultante podem interferir em termo hidrodinâmico e energético na resposta do dispositivo CAO near-shore, comparativamente a um dispositivo off-shore. O artigo apresenta os primeiros resultados deste projecto através da análise pormenorizada de um caso de agitação marítima. Também, permite evidenciar e prever respostas diferentes do dispositivo CAO near-shore de um dispositivo clássico off-shore através da analise das series temporais de elevação de superfície livre, do caudal na turbina, da pressão na câmara-de-ar da CAO, da potência pneumática e dos vectores e campos de velocidade e de vorticidade ao redor e dentro do dispositivo.

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