Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Page 1 of 6
Introduction
The uncertainties involved in many coastal issues and the lack of complete scientific background in some knowledge fields, especially to evaluate extreme coastal-forcing ev
cumulative environmental evolution and impacts on beaches and coastal structures as well as to confirm design procedures, for instance, lead to the need of using physical
modelling. There is also little public awareness of the physics behind several coastal processes and physical modelling can help in describing and illustrating them.
In this paper a brief revue on the importance of physical modelling, its advantages in relation to numerical modelling, some basic aspects of physical modelling, related scali
and how to control hydraulic modelling and scale effects as well as three case studies and future challenges will be presented.
http://www.coastalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Scaling_Issues_in_Hydraulic_Modellin...
4/16/2014
Page 2 of 6
with each other. Recent trends have included the concept of hybrid modelling where results from a physical model of complex region are used as input or boundary conditi
comprehensive numerical model covering a wider region of interest. Alternatively, numerical model results may be used to provide input conditions at the boundaries of the
model.
The rationale for continued support of physical modelling in support of project design is that Theory cannot cover all the complications that are encountered in practice.
Consequently, most major hydraulics projects are model tested to optimize design.
Due to the quantitative deficiencies and limitations of predictive numerical models when applied to complex flows, the need for physical modelling still remains and investme
laboratory facilities, equipment and new techniques are more and more needed, highlighting the need for synergies between the various research tools, physical and numer
modelling included, not only because of the actual complexity of the maritime hydraulics problems, but also to improve some design approaches.
http://www.coastalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Scaling_Issues_in_Hydraulic_Modellin...
4/16/2014
Page 3 of 6
Replacement of Fluid: In order to avoid scale effects due to kinematic viscosity, sometimes air is used in the model instead of water, also because of the more adva
measurement techniques (turbulence e.g.). Although inertial and viscous forces are correctly modelled, however gravity, free-surface and cavitation effects are not re
Example: ripple forms (water and sediments) were simulated with coal dust in glycerine with a surfactant to lower surface tension effects; a mixture of distilled water w
isopropyl alcohol solution changed the breakers shape and evolution, air entrainment and energy dissipation.
Compensation: The model geometry is distorted in order to obtain a better similarity when compared to the prototype: roughness, vertical distortion and grain diame
Roughness: many models are built with a fixed bed (Froude similarity) leading to important scale effects due to surface tension and viscosity; as the Reynolds numb
lower in the model the boundary roughness coefficient is higher and as geometric roughness similarity is ignored same friction coefficient can be achieved, resulting i
compensation of scale effects and a similarity of the water surface and energy gradients (only for models not too small and for a certain range of Re); the boundary fr
also relevant for the drag force in small-scale ship models artificial roughness elements are included on the hull of the ship to shift boundary layer roughness to the
rough regime leading to an appropriate prototype roughness modelling.
Vertical distortion: more used in fluvial hydraulics increases water depth, decreases scale effects since Re and We will be higher, higher flow velocities, a shift from
smooth to the rough flow regime, improvement of relative measurement accuracy and the duration of a run is reduced; as negative effects, 2D and 3D flow processes
incorrectly modelled and the model roughness must be calibrated.
Movable bed: Among many factors that influence sediment transport (Fr*, Re*, Energy line slope - SE, etc) the grain density and diameter may be the most critical o
they cannot follow any scale without being affected by cohesion or changing in its transport mode (bed load to suspended load) in the model; This is only possible sa
various similarity criteria that need to be fulfil simultaneously and for that only with a distorted model; the sediment density may be reduced and a larger grain diamete
used, leading to an unknown time scale that can only be evaluated through prototype data; if is used to scale d50 the corresponding value in the model will be small
0,22 mm that would change the flow-grain interactions and related sediment transport. Limit model d50 references state values of 0.5, 0.8 or 1.0 mm.
Correction: Sometimes the model is small for economic, limited space or time reasons and for that scale effects are expected; however some model results can be c
afterwards for phenomena where enough information on the quantitative influence of scale effects is available; ex: correction factors for: solitary waves decay boun
effects and fluid viscosity; coefficients for the stability of rubble mound breakwaters; equilibrium scour-depth estimates in cylinders; slopes of movable surf zone beac
wave impact pressures and air leakage in the impact zone.
Case Studies
Behaviour of Moored Ships
The study of the behaviour of moored ships combines different areas of research, namely: propagation of offshore sea states to the port considering nonlinear wave-wave in
and sub-harmonic generation; hydrodynamic interaction between the ship and waves, taking into account the influence of nearby port structures; simulation of the ship respo
considering the nonlinear characteristics of its mooring system and other forcing loads (wind, currents, ice, etc.).
Due to the phenomena complexity, an approach combining physical and numerical modelling with prototype measurements shall be used [2] . Composite modelling allows ta
advantage of the strengths of each approach while trying to avoid their limitations. Because prototype data is usually scarce, efforts should be done to perform systematic da
collections.
Well-designed small-scale physical models of port and offshore terminals are a valuable tool to study the response of moored ships to different environmental conditions and
parameters. In fact, despite being a simplified reproduction of the reality, physical models can reproduce the phenomena with more influence on the behaviour of moored sh
harbours under wind, current and wave forcing, including the non-linear effects related to the mooring system and to the propagation of waves to shallower waters and their
interaction with coastal structures.
Numerical models evolved significantly and gained much importance in recent years, but still cannot replace entirely physical modelling. Turbulence, viscous and higher ord
rely on tuning in calculation models, Van der Molen (2006). Physical modelling is one of the most reliable tools for studying the behaviour of moored ships in ports [3] Van de
and Moes, 2009), finding application in the design of port facilities, study of downtime and mooring problems [4] [5] and calibration of numerical models (Bingham, 2000).
In the study of the response of ships moored in a port, as in other coastal engineering domains, inertial forces acting on the flow are balanced primarily by forces resulting fr
action of gravity. Thus, Froude similitude is applied to ensure that the correct relationship is maintained between those forces when the prototype is scaled down to model
dimensions.
Scale definition is a key issue in any physical model study. In harbour models subjected to the action of short period waves, a compromise should be establish between the
building a sufficiently large model to minimize any potential scale effect and the need to reproduce in the facility on a proper undistorted scale the entire area of interest. The
the study is proportional to the geometric scale, which also determines the duration of the test plan. Operational issues should also be considered: the displacement of a 100
full loaded oil tanker is around 120 kg in a 1/100 scaled-model and about 960 kg in a 1/50 scaled-model. A very small scale may create problems related to the accuracy
measurements are carried out.
In short, the model geometrical scale shall be defined in accordance with the experimental facility dimensions, the size of the coastal area of interest, expected quality of the
(i.e. scale effects), as well as operational and economic criteria. Usual scales range between 1:80 and 1:120, [1].
Sea states are usually reproduced by multi-element wave generation systems, preferably equipped with dynamic wave absorption systems and set-down compensation. In f
normally shallow water studies, a theoretical set-down compensation need to be introduced in the form of a second order-driving signal to ensure, in real time, that bound lo
propagate realistically in the model and without being contaminated by spurious second order effects (this applies to machines designed to reproduce only first order waves
reproduction of wave conditions is of vital importance; hence, second-order wavemaker theory for the generation of multidirectional waves is recommended.
Bound-long waves in short crested seas are expected to have magnitudes that are about half the size of the set-down in long crested seas, even with a narrow directional sp
wave energy. Arguments for using long crested random waves in physical models of harbours may be: swell frequently presents relatively long crests; wave refraction ensur
directional spreading is reduced in coastal waters; to obtain conservative results. If long period effects are expected to be important that approach may no longer be justified
spreading of wave energy in depths typical of harbour entrances may be sufficient to lead to lower set-downs and consequently less ship movement and long wave excitatio
Harbour breakwaters, berthing structures and beaches need to be reproduced in the model to create realistic wave conditions near the berths. Dissipative beaches shall be
installed to minimize the importance of unwanted reflections from the basin side walls or other boundaries. The test duration and the temporal sequence of incident waves a
expected to influence moored ship's response. Test duration must be large enough so that the different wave groups are reproduced in the model and the response of the s
http://www.coastalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Scaling_Issues_in_Hydraulic_Modellin...
4/16/2014
Page 4 of 6
those groups is recorded. In addition, there is no advantage in carrying out very long tests if the temporal sequence of incident waves consists of the repetition of a base ran
sequence of waves. Irregular long and short crested waves generated by filtered white noise techniques are normally used. Short and long period wave conditions need to b
calibrated in the facility.
Experimental equipment may consists of wave gauges to measure the water free surface elevation, cantilever force transducers (with built-in strain gauges) to measure the
applied on mooring lines and fenders and a motion capture system. This system shall measure the motions of moored ships, in its six degrees of freedom (surge, sway, hea
pitch and yaw), without contact with the model.
Floating bodies (ships) have to be accurately reproduced on a geometrically undistorted scale and care should be taken when reproducing the mass distribution of the full-sc
for the selected loading conditions. Hence, ship models are ballasted prior to testing to obtain the required hydrostatic and hydrodynamic characteristics; selected weights a
inside the ship hull to reproduce the ship displacement, centre of gravity position, draft, metacentric heights and natural periods of oscillation.
Scale factors for elastic forces and weight of the mooring lines should ideally be equal. Compatibility between the two scales becomes particularly difficult when it comes to
lines with a nonlinear force-extension relationship. Even when mooring lines have linear characteristics, it is seldom possible to find a material that allows simultaneous verif
both scales. Therefore, only the forces more important for the behaviour of the model are reproduced properly. For normal mooring conditions, the weight of ship mooring ro
inferior to 1.0% of its maximum breaking load. Therefore, the load-elongation characteristics of mooring lines are reproduced by elastic elements (e.g. coil springs) in combin
with force transducers. Inelastic strings (e.g. kevlar) are used to connect the ship to the mooring points on the berth. This technique allows overcoming the difficulties related
selecting a suitable material to reproduce elasticity of mooring lines and enables simulation of nonlinear force-elongation relationships.
Mooring lines with the same orientation are often reproduced by an equivalent cable (double mooring line). Pretension loads applied to mooring lines need to be verified bef
test to ensure that results for different test conditions can be compared. The (non-linear) load-elongation curves of fenders and mooring lines may be simulated by a set of c
springs. Sometimes it is satisfactory to linearize their non-linear behaviour: thus, each mooring element is reproduced by an equivalent linear mooring line (or fender) with a
stiffness (that does not depend on elongation) and the same energy absorption capacity of the non-linear element up to its maximum elongation (or deflection).
Most scale effects result from the incorrect reproduction of the fluid viscosity in the physical model, due to the practical incompatibility of Froude and Reynolds similarity crite
Indeed, in current cases, fluid viscosity takes roughly the same values in the model and the prototype. Those scale effects may be controlled by ensuring that flow has turbu
characteristics, i.e., the Reynolds number does not falls below reference values, which depend on the phenomena being analysed.
With respect to short-wave propagation, the incorrect reproduction of fluid viscosity can result in higher energy losses by bottom or internal friction. These effects may be co
preventing waves travelling long distances in the physical model or by correcting expected energy losses in the wavemaker specifying bigger wave heights. Viscous and sur
tension forces may affect reflection, transmission across porous structures or by overtopping, and waves breaking.
Moored floating structures may have large amplitude motions in response to low-frequency excitations that are limited essentially by the damping forces. Improper reproduc
fluid viscosity tend to increase viscous damping in the model (compared to prototype) leading to an underestimation of the response of those structures [6]. The influence of f
viscosity may be felt, for instances, in the viscous damping of roll oscillations. Indeed, as roll radiation damping is usually small, viscous damping (eddy shedding and skin fr
may represent a significant part of the overall roll damping. While the flow around the hull is fully turbulent in the prototype, the boundary layer in small-scale models will hav
probably laminar characteristics. Losses in the boundary layer will not be properly reproduced, leading to enhanced roll damping. However, eddy shedding represents often
contribution to viscous damping and appears to scale for all but the smallest of models, PIANC, 1995. Thus, as long as a proper geometric scale is selected, small-scale phy
models are not expected to overestimate significantly viscous roll damping.
Friction forces developed at the interface ship-fenders may represent the main component of roll damping, especially when high pretension forces are applied on mooring lin
friction fenders are installed on the berth or the wind blows the ship onto the fenders. Under these conditions, viscous damping loses importance.
http://www.coastalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Scaling_Issues_in_Hydraulic_Modellin...
4/16/2014
Page 5 of 6
length scale of the geometrically undistorted model, which was scaled to Froude similarity (=1/12).
In order to minimize scale effects produced by non-satisfied similarity, the model length scale was set to the maximum size that could be accommodated by the facilities at F
Laboratory of Hydraulics having in consideration the prototype characteristics, the sediment scale parameters, and controlling factors with respect to wave conditions. As the
influence of surface tension is most significant for periods smaller than 0.35s, and for water-depths less than 2cm [1] it is anticipated that the scale effects due to non-satisfied
similarity are negligible. Moreover, the turbulent characteristics of the nearshore dynamics makes it safe to assume that the spurious effects of viscosity are not underestima
model. Sediment transport mechanisms along the cross-shore profile, namely the suspension by wave breaking and the sheet flow conditions in the swash zone, appear to
correctly reproduced in the model.
In regard to the scaling down of the geotextile properties some simplifications were introduced. It was assumed that the geotextiles in the model were relatively too strong bu
they were not loaded to rupture it is negligible. In regard to filling, the strength had only to ensure no damage to the geotextile during handling. Flexibility was warrant by a th
geotextile. The hydraulic permeability of a GSC-structure depends mainly on the size between neighbouring containers (Recio, 2007) and thus, so long the geometry is prop
scaled the model should represent adequately the permeability in the prototype (i.e., so long the dimensions, placement and shape, also related to filling percentage, are sca
correctly). At last, requirements as regard to geotextile sand tightness were considered.
In regard to laboratory effects the following potential sources of error were examined:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
wave generation;
resonant oscillations forced across the boundaries of the test section;
absorption of reflected waves;
blockage effects;
compaction of sediments in the bed; and
accuracy of the instruments.
Resonant oscillations across the boundaries of the test section, and absorption of reflected waves have been examined. In addition, the evaluation of generated wave condi
based on the wave-data recorded during the experiments assured that the different models have been set-up to run on similar hydrodynamic conditions and thus that the co
applied to the wave-induced morphodynamic change was possible and reliable. Representative sea-states were chosen from the prototype; in addition, the use of irregular w
trains also avoids the model effects of regular wave generation in coastal sediment models.
Blockage effects around the structures were minimal, as only the array of four wave probes were at the flow section during the experiments. The pore-pressure sensors wer
into the sand at sufficient depth so that they would not emerge due to bottom erosion.
For each wave run-segment with plane beach, the bed conditions were thoroughly checked before the experiment and the bed was carefully levelled to the desired gradient
minimize the effects caused by the initial bed profile, the sand bed was repeatedly levelled until the measured beach-profile was within a minimum tolerance range based on
conditions. To prevent disturbances and to assure that the level of sand saturation was roughly the same for each wave-run segment with plane beach, the water during leve
kept to SWL. Above it, the beach-profile was slowly wet so as to reduce air entrainment.
See also
How to apply models
Stability models
Modelling coastal hydrodynamics
Modelling Review (all generic types)
Parametric equilibrium models
Dynamics of mud transport
Manual Sediment Transport Measurements in Rivers, Estuaries and Coastal Seas
Coastal Hydrodynamics And Transport Processes
http://www.coastalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Scaling_Issues_in_Hydraulic_Modellin...
4/16/2014
Page 6 of 6
References
1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Hughes, S. A., 1993. Physical Models and Laboratory Techniques in Coastal Engineering. Advanced Series on Ocean Engineering, World Scientific, S
Vol.7. ISBN:981-02-1541-X.
2. Taveira Pinto, F.; Veloso Gomes, F.; Rosa Santos, P.; Guedes Soares, C.; Fonseca, N.; Alfredo Santos, J.; Paulo Moreira, A.; Costa, P.; Brgueira Dias E., 2008. A
of the behaviour of moored tankers, Proc. of the 27th International Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering - OMAE2008 (ed. ASME), Estoril, Port
15-20, 10 pg. ISBN: 0-7918-3821-8.
3. Davies, M., MacDonald, N., Cornett, A., 2001. Optimization of Port Design Using Physical Modeling. Proc. of the Ports '01: America's Ports - Gateways to the Globa
Economy, ASCE, Norfolk, Virginia, USA, April 29 - May 2, 16p.
4. Cornett, A.; Mattila, M.; Tarbotton, M.; Gittens, G., 1999. Mooring Study of a Large Cruise Ship. Proc. of the 1999 Canadian Coastal Conference, Victoria BC, Cana
19-22, 15p.
5. Rosa Santos, P.; Veloso Gomes, F.; Taveira Pinto, F.; Brgueira Dias, E., 2010. Influence of the friction forces at the ship-fenders interface on the behaviour of a m
tanker, Proc. of the 3rd Int. Conf. on the Application of Physical Modelling to Port and Coastal Protection CoastLab10, Barcelona, Spain, Sept. 28-30 and Oct. 1. IS
84-694-8586-6.
6. 6.0 6.1 BMT, 2001. Review of model testing requirements for FPSO's. Offshore Technology, Report 2000/123, BMT, Fluid Mechanics Ltd, Teddington, United Kingdom
ISBN: 0-7176-2046-8.
For other articles by this author see Category:Articles by Taveira Pinto, Francisco
Categories: Articles by Taveira Pinto, Francisco Coastal wiki event Delft 2012 Coastal processes, interactions and resources
Hydrodynamics Coastal erosion management Techniques and methods in coastal management
This page was last modified on 6 September 2012, at 16:53. This page has been accessed 7,270 times.
The Coastal Wiki is hosted and developed by the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) - contact: info@coastalwiki.org
http://www.coastalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Scaling_Issues_in_Hydraulic_Modellin...
4/16/2014