Characteristics of Wave Pressures According to the Installation Location of the Caisson Superstructure under Regular Waves

Abstract

In recent years, coastal and port structures have attempted to prevent wave-overtopping or provide waterfront areas by installing superstructures on the structural crowns. In general, in the design stage, the Goda formula acting on the front the structure is applied to calculate the wave pressure acting on the superstructure in consideration of the wave-runup of the design wave. However, the wave pressure exceeding the Goda wave pressure could generate depending on the installation location of the superstructure where the wave-overtopping occurs. This study analyzed the applicability of the Goda formula to the wave pressure calculation for the superstructure of the vertical structures through hydraulic model experiments and numerical simulations. Furthermore, this study investigated the magnitude of the wave pressure acting on the superstructure based on detailed numerical results. As a result, the wave pressure acting on the superstructure was up to 120% higher than the maximum wave pressure on the still water surface. In addition, the wave pressure increases exponentially with the Froude number computed by the overtopping water depth at the crown of the structure, and we proposed an empirical formula for predicting the wave pressure based on the Froude number.