\documentclass[english, a4paper, 12pt]{article} \usepackage{cours} \setmainlanguage{english} \usepackage[ backend=biber, sorting=ynt, style=authoryear ]{biblatex} \bibliography{library} \title{OpenFoam Project\\\huge Simulation of the breaking wave flow at the Artha breakwater} \author{Edgar P. Burkhart} \begin{document} \maketitle \tableofcontents \section{Introduction} In February 2017, a \SI{50}{\tonne} concrete block was displaced by a wave at the Artha breakwater, in the entrance of the bay of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. This event was captured by a photographer, and an initial study (\cite{amir}) allowed to highlight the circumstances which caused the block displacement. The phenomenon of block displacement by waves has been studied in the past with multiple approaches (\cite{cox2018extraordinary,shah2013coastal}). In 2014, a study of displaced blocks on the coast of Ireland was conducted by \cite{cox2018extraordinary}. This study highlighted a strong correlation between the mass of displaced boulders and coastal topography. Notably, an inverse exponential relation between boulder mass and elevation was established. According to the presentation by \cite{abadie}, the block that was displaced at the Artha breakwater in 2017 falls in accordance with these results, as shown in \autoref{fig:compcox}. \begin{figure} \centering \begin{tikzpicture} \begin{semilogyaxis}[ xmin=0, xmax=25, ymin=0.1, ymax=1000, domain=0:25, grid=both, legend entries={\cite{cox2018extraordinary}, Artha 2017}, xlabel={Elevation (\si{\m})}, ylabel={Mass (\si{\tonne})}, ] \addplot[no markers] {exp(5.01-0.15*x)}; \addplot[only marks] coordinates { (8.2,50) }; \draw [dashed,help lines] (axis cs:0,50) -| (axis cs:8.2,0.1); \end{semilogyaxis} \end{tikzpicture} \caption{Comparison between the correlation found by \cite{cox2018extraordinary} and the block displaced at the Artha breakwater in 2017 (\SI{50}{\tonne}, \SI{8.2}{\m}).}\label{fig:compcox} \end{figure} \cite{shah2013coastal} studied coastal boulders in Martigues, on the french mediterranean coast. Similarly to \cite{cox2018extraordinary}, displaced boulders were studied regarding their mass and position on the shore. The study concludes that those blocks are evidence of the risks associated with high energy waves on the mediterranean coast, and links the displaced boulders to extreme storms, but does not exclude the possibility of tsunamis. Other studies focus on the theoretical aspects of bock displacement by water flow. \cite{nott2003waves} proposed a set of equations for determining the minimum wave height that would lead to displacement of a boulder in different scenarios. This study highlights that the environment of the boulder before transport is a major factor in calculating that minimum wave height, as well as water depth at the boulder initial location. The goal of this project will be to perform a sensibility study on the parameters representing the porosity of the shell of the artha breakwater in a two-dimensionnal olaFlow (\cite{olaFlow}) simulation of wave impact on the breakwater. Studies on the transformation of waves over the Artha breakwater have already been conducted. \cite{poncet2021characterization} has performed such a study using the SWASH (\cite{zijlema2011swash}) model. The results from a calibration study on the porosity of the breakwater shell yielded a porosity of \num{0.25} for the lowest root mean squared error compared to experimental values. This value is unexpectedely low, and a porosity of \num{0.40} was used in the following computations, as it represents the expected porosity of such a block armour. \section{Methods} \subsection{Model} In this project, we will model the transformation of a storm wave over the Artha breakwater using the olaFlow (\cite{olaFlow}) model in a two-dimensionnal domain. This model has several features that will be important for this study. It provides powerful wave-generation and wave absorption capabilities, as well as the ability to study two-phase flow through porous media. The olaFlow model is based on VARANS equations\footnote{Volume-Averaged Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations}. This model is based on a finite-volume approach, and provides multiple volume-averaging methods for turbulence: the $k-\varepsilon$ model and the $k-\omega$ sst model. The $k-\omega$ sst model should provide better results in situations where strong pressure gradients are present, at the cost of computing power. For the purposes of this initial sensibility study, the $k-\omega$ model will be used, as it will allow for faster computation times. \subsection{Domain} The studied domain will be a two-dimensionnal vertical slice going through the Artha breakwater. In order to provide accurate results while keeping computation times acceptable, a domain length of \SI{150}{\m} was chosen, with a length of \SI{120}{\m} towards the offshore and \SI{30}{\m} towards the inside of the Saint-Jean-de-Luz bay, as shown in \autoref{fig:map}. \begin{figure} \centering \input{fig/map.pgf} \caption{Studied domain and bathymetry (\cite{shomsjl}).}\label{fig:map} \end{figure} The bathymetry was generated using bathymetric data from the SHOM (\cite{shomsjl}). Although the density of points is fairly low in this data, it should be precise enough for the purposes of this project. In addition to this data, the geometry of the superstructure was taken from \cite{amir}, and the size of the porous armor layer was inspired from \cite{poncet2021characterization}. The necessary stl files that are used by snappyHexMesh for the solid boundaries and olaFlow for the porosity configuration were generated using a custom python script, and the resulting case is plotted in \autoref{fig:conf}. \begin{figure} \centering \input{fig/bathy.pgf} \caption{Studied configuration (bathymetry and porosity).}\label{fig:conf} \end{figure} \subsection{Mesh} In order to provide accurate results with an acceptable computation time, a mesh with \SI{1}{\m} cells was generated on the domain. It seems like olaFlow cannot use variable mesh sizing, which meant that the mesh was still fairly coarse near the edges of the domain. The boundary conditions were set to a wave generator on the offshore boundary, and a wave absorption boundary on the bay side. The bottom and the caisson were set to wall boundaries, and the top side of the domain was set to an atmospheric boundary. \subsection{Model setup} In an attempt to model the event of February 2017 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, the water level was set to \SI{5}{\m}. The inbound wave on the offshore side of the domain was set as a solitary Boussinesq wave, with a wave height $H=\SI{7.5}{\m}$. The wave equation is the following: \begin{equation} \eta=H\left[\sech\sqrt{\frac 34\frac Hh\frac{x-ct}h}\right]^2 \end{equation} The setup will be run for a duration of \SI{60}{\s}, using an adjustable timestep according to the cfd criteria. The results will be outputed at an interval of \SI{0.5}{\s}, which will provide enough accuracy to represent the studied case while providing a usable amount of data. \subsection{Porosity setup} The goal of the study is to find out the influence of the porosity parameters on the model results. Porosity in the olaFlow model is goverened by five parameters: a, b, c are tuning parameters that represent friction inside the porous material, D50 is the mean nominal diameter of blocks, and porosity. In this study, we will focus on the D50 and porosity parameters, as a, b and c should be tuned according to experimental data. The friction parameters will be set to the default from the breakwater example in the olaFlow model. Four cases will be run, with all combinations of the parameters in \autoref{tab:params}. The D50 parameters is based on the smallest and largest edge size of the blocks that make up the breakwater armour. The porosity parameters are based on the work of \cite{poncet2021characterization}, with \num{0.40} being the value that he used for the numerical study, and \num{0.25} being the value that yielded the lowest error in the model calibration. \begin{table} \centering \begin{tabular}{lcc} \toprule \bfseries Parameters & & \\ \midrule D50 & \SI{4}{\m} & \SI{2}{\m} \\ Porosity & \num{0.40} & \num{0.25} \\ \bottomrule \end{tabular} \caption{Parameter values.}\label{tab:params} \end{table} \subsection{Post-processing} The results from the olaFlow model will be post-processed using Python. In order to analyze the sensibility of the model to the studied parameters, velocity and pressure sensors will be considered on the boundary of the porous part of the breakwater. \section{Results} \subsection{Pressure} \begin{figure} \centering \input{fig/p.pgf} \caption{Dynamic pressure computed using olaFlow.}\label{fig:p} \end{figure} Dynamic pressure was computed by olaFlow on the entire domain. The dynamic pressures obtained on the top side of the breakwater armour at $x=\SI{79.75}{\m}$ and $x=\SI{99.75}{\m}$ is plotted in \autoref{fig:p}. These results show that the porosity parameters that were modified have a minor influence on the dynamic pressure generated by the water flow. The maximum difference between the peak pressure for all cases is \SI{2}{\percent}, which confirms the negligible impact of the porosity parameters on dynamic pressure. \subsection{Velocity} \begin{figure} \centering \input{fig/U.pgf} \caption{Flow velocity computed using olaFlow.}\label{fig:u} \end{figure} The flow velocity was plotted at the same positions as dynamic pressure in the previous section. The results are visible in \autoref{fig:u}. Immediatly, it is apparent that the conclusion for flow velocity will not be the same as for dynamic pressure. The difference between the velocity peaks for all cases reaches \SI{65}{\percent}, showing the importance of selecting adequate porosity parameters. The graphs also show that the most influencial parameter in this case seems to be porosity. The difference in peak flow velocity generated by the change in mean diameter is of around \SI{26}{\percent}, while a change in porosity yields a difference of around \SI{53}{\percent}. Contrarily to dynamic pressure, flow velocity computations are strongly impacted by changes in the porosity parameters. \cite{poncet2021characterization} showed that attempting to calibrate those results does not always yield the expected results, showing the necessity for additionnal measurement campaigns, or for a large enough calibration database to ensure the accuracy of a numerical model. \section{Conclusion} This project has shown that although the influence of porosity parameters on flow pressure is fairly minor, their influence on flow velocity is major. This shows the importance of using adequate values for these parameters in order to ensure an accurate representation of reality. Nevertheless, this study only focused on the mean diameter and porosity parameters, but several other model parameters may have an influence on the results. In particular, the friction parameters from the porosity model were not studied -- default values were used -- and the influence of the turbulence model was not considered. More work is still needed to evaluate the influence of those parameters on the accuracy of the model. \printbibliography \end{document}