Numerical study of hydrodynamic mechanism of dynamic tidal power

Dynamic tidal power is a new way of capturing tidal energy by building a water head using a dike perpendicular to the coast. This study explored the hydrodynamic mechanism of the water head across an intended dynamic tidal power dike system using the Delft3 D-FLOW software module. The propagating wave was simulated in a rectangular domain with a horizontal sea bottom at a 30-m depth. A significant water head was created across the dike by blocking the water. The water head increased with increasing dike length and increasing undisturbed tidal current acceleration. The maximum water head for the dike with a length of 50 km, located 900 km from the western boundary, was 2.15 m,which exceeded the undisturbed tidal range. The time series of the water head behaved in a manner identical to the undisturbed tidal current acceleration. The distribution of the water head over the dike assumed an elliptical shape. A parasitic wave was generated at the attachment and scattered outward. The phase lag across the dike did not behave as a linear function of the detour distance.

Mechanism of back siltation in navigation channel in Dinh An Estuary, Vietnam

The Dinh An Estuary is one of the Nine Dragon estuaries of the Mekong River. An international navigation channel was built in the estuary for vessels traveling from the South China Sea to the southwestern area of Vietnam and then to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The morphological evolution of the navigation channel is complicated and unstable. The back siltation intensity in the navigation channel has largely increased and been concentrated in the curvature segments of the channel since 1980. In this study, based on simulation results and measured data, five key factors that influence the back siltation in the navigation channel were systematically analyzed. These factors included the increasing elevation gap between the channel and the nearby seabed, the disadvantageous hydrodynamic conditions, sediment transport, mixing of saltwater and freshwater, and wave effects in the navigation channel. It is shown that the back siltation to a large extent results from the low current velocity of the secondary ocean circulation, which often occurs in the curvature segments of the channel. Suspended sediment also settles in the channel due to the decrease of the current velocity and the sediment transport capacity when flow passes through the channel. The changes of hydrodynamic conditions are responsible for the majority of the severe siltation in the curvature segments of the navigation channel.

Local scour at offshore windfarm monopile foundations: A review

In this article,current research findings of local scour at offshore windfarm monopile foundations are presented.The scour mechanisms and scour depth prediction formulas under different hydrodynamic conditions are summarized,including the current-only condition,wave-only condition,combined wave-current condition,and complex dynamic condition.Furthermore,this article analyzes the influencing factors on the basis of classical equations for predicting the equilibrium scour depth under specific conditions.The weakness of existing researches and future prospects are also discussed.It is suggested that future research shall focus on physical experiments under unsteady tidal currents or other complex loadings.The computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method and artificial intelligence technique are suggested being adopted to study the scour at offshore windfarm foundations.

Numerical analysis of seabed dynamic response in vicinity of mono-pile under wave-current loading

Pile foundations have been widely used in offshore engineering.In this study,a three-dimensional numerical model was used to investigate the seabed response around a mono-pile under wave-current loading.Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations were used to simulate the flow field,and Biot's consolidation equations were used for simulating the response of a porous seabed.The pore water pressure within soil and the effective stress along the depth of the seabed were simulated for various current velocities,with currents traveling either along or against the wave.Results indicate that the current has a significant effect on the effective stress and the pore water pressure distributions,which increases with the current velocity,and that the current traveling against the wave increases the liquefaction depth of the porous seabed.

Preface for special issue on local scour and soil liquefaction around offshore windfarm foundations

The offshore wind industry has been Hourishing globally over the past few decades because of the increasing demand for renewable energy.Different types of foundations have been adopted,including monopiles,gravity・based structures,tripods,jackets,and pile groups for traditional offshore wind-farm foundations,as well as drag-embedment anchors(DEAs)with associated subsea structures(i.e.,tensioners,clump weights,and chains)for foundations of floating windfarms.Local scour and liquefaction issues are significant to the security of offshore windfarm foundations and foundation stability(Guan et al.,2019;Whitehouse et al.,2011;Zhu et al.,2018).

A Facile Strategy for Intrinsic Low-Dk and Low-Df Polyimides Enabled by Spirobifluorene Groups

Modified polyimides(MPIs)show great potential towards 5G communication applications,due to its excellent thermal stability,mechanical property and chemical stability as compared to most of polymers.Introducing fluoride groups or porous structure is favorable to ultra-low dielectric constant(D_(k))and dielectric loss(D_(f)).However,the cost of the fluorinated MPIs is high and their synthetic processes are complicated,and porous MPIs suffer poor mechanical properties.Also,increasing the fraction of free volume is a very effective way to lower D_(k)through introducing more ultra-low-D_(k)air component.However,most of this kind of MPIs lag far behind the fluorinated MPIs and the porous MPIs in terms of ultra-low D_(f),hindering the application of MPIs in high-speed communication devices.Thus,it is highly desirable to develop intrinsic ultra-low-D_(k)/D_(f)MPIs at high frequency with less fluoric groups and nonporous structure.Herein,we introduce a facile and effective strategy to lower D_(k)and D_(f)through introducing rigid and large sterically hindered aromatic groups into MPIs.On the one hand,their large steric hindrance effect leads to low D_(k)by increasing intrinsic free volume.On the other hand,the resulting highly stiff polymer chain and strong intermolecular interaction are favorable to reduce D_(f)by inhibiting dipole orientations.Based on this strategy,the spirobifluorene groups are preferred.The as-prepared MPIs show excellent dielectric performance with low D_(k)of 2.74–2.76 and low D_(f)of 0.00599 at 10 GHz,to some extent,exceeding the multiple fluorinated MPI with D_(k)/D_(f)of 2.67/0.00663 at 10 GHz.