Beach Profiles Characteristics Along Giao Thuy and Hai Hau Coasts,Vietnam:A Field Study

Giao Thuy and Hai Hau coasts are located in Nam Dinh province, Vietnam, with a total coastline of 54.42 km in length. The sea-dike system has been seriously damaged and there have been many dike breaches which caused floods and losses. This situation is considered of a general representative for coastal area in the northern part of Vietnam. A variety of studies have shown that the gradient in the longshore sediment transport rate and the offshore fine sediment lost are the main mechanisms causing the beach erosion. This study presents a field investigation of the beach profiles at Giao Thuy and Hai Hau beaches. Three types of empirical functions for the equilibrium beach profile are applied and compared with the observations. Results show that all observed beach profiles can be described by a single function. However, one specific equilibrium profile equation is not sufficient to assess all beach profiles. In Section 1 of Giao Thuy and Section 3 of Hai Thinh beaches, beach profiles are consistent with the logarithmic function, while the exponential function fits well in Section 2. This difference is explained with respect to coastal morphology, sediment characteristics and hydrodynamic conditions which vary in site. An analysis of the validity of the beach profile functions is recommended for the numerical modeling and engineering designs in this area.

Moving Least Squares Interpolation Based A-Posteriori Error Technique in Finite Element Elastic Analysis

The performance of a-posteriori error methodology based on moving least squares(MLS)interpolation is explored in this paper by varying the finite element error recovery parameters,namely recovery points and field variable derivatives recovery.The MLS interpolation based recovery technique uses the weighted least squares method on top of the finite element method’s field variable derivatives solution to build a continuous field variable derivatives approximation.The boundary of the node support(mesh free patch of influenced nodes within a determined distance)is taken as circular,i.e.,circular support domain constructed using radial weights is considered.The field variable derivatives(stress and strains)are recovered at two kinds of points in the support domain,i.e.,Gauss points(super-convergent stress locations)and nodal points.The errors are computed as the difference between the stress from the finite element results and projected stress from the post-processed energy norm at both elemental and global levels.The benchmark numerical tests using quadrilateral and triangular meshes measure the finite element errors in strain and stress fields.The numerical examples showed the support domain-based recovery technique’s capabilities for effective and efficient error estimation in the finite element analysis of elastic problems.The MLS interpolation based recovery technique performs better for stress extraction at Gauss points with the quadrilateral discretization of the problem domain.It is also shown that the behavior of the MLS interpolation based a-posteriori error technique in stress extraction is comparable to classical Zienkiewicz-Zhu(ZZ)a-posteriori error technique.

Prediction of the Local Scour at the Bridge Square Pier Using a 3D Numerical Model

In this paper, the problem on local scour around a single square pier was studied by using both the numerical and physical models. The numerical model for the study is FSUM based on a finite-difference method to solve the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANS) and the equations for suspended sediment concentration and bed morphology. The computed result was verified through data measured in the experimental flume with a sand bed. In general, the typical features of local scour around the pier were successfully simulated by FSUM, such as stream flow, bow flow, down flow, horseshoe vortex. The comparison between the computation and experiment data shows a quite good fitness. Both numerical model and experiment results show that the maximum scour depth occurs at two front edges of the pier. Although the computed result shows a little bigger scour depth in comparison with the measurement in the physical model, it still confirms the reliability of numerical model in some measure.

Spectral wave transformation model for simulating refrac-tion-diffraction with strongly reflecting coastal structures

On the basis of the wave action balance equation which incorporates refraction,diffraction,reflection and wave-current interaction,a directional spectral wave transformation model WABED is developed for predicting the irregular wave refraction-diffraction with strongly reflecting structures in coastal regions.In the model,diffraction is taken into account by introducing a term formulated from a parabolic approximation wave equation,and reflection is calculated through a back-marching numerical approach at the reflecting boundary.Two experimental data sets are used to examine the performance of present model with regard to wave characteristics around reflecting coastal structures.One is from a physical experiment at idealized inlet with parallel jetties,while the other is from a laboratory study on a coastal project of the concave breakwater.Reasonably good agreements are found for both cases,revealing the applicability of the present model for predicting combined wave refraction-diffraction processes with strongly reflecting coastal structures.