Modeling load effects of water on coastal structures using STAR CCM+ software

Abstract

Global warming brings as consequence an alteration in precipitation and increase in the sea water level. These consequences generate flood loads in structures near to the coast. The forces generated by these floods are: hydrostatic forces, hydrodynamic forces and wave forces. These loads are considered in The Coastal Construction Manual FEMAP P-55 (2011) and Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Building and Other Structures ASCE 7-16 (2017). A modeling of flood loads was developed for structures near coastal zones using the STAR CCM+ software. This research work was undertaken to help determine if the STAR CCM + software is a reliable tool to calculate pressures and forces exerted by coastal flood on exposed structures. The methodology used for evaluation of software capability included preparing and executing a total of 18 simulations considering hydrodynamic loads and waves loads. The parameters of flood depth and flood water velocities were varied over two different structures. The forces derived from obtained software pressures were compared with the equations of hydrodynamic loads and breaking waves loads contained in the ASCE 7-16 and FEMA P-55 documents. Comparisons with FEMA P-55 showed percent differences from 37% to 148% for the continuous wall structure and differences from 1% to 535% for the structure of columns with spacing between them. When compared with ASCE 7-16, differences from 4% to 36% were obtained for continuous walls and differences from 28% to 172% for columns with spacing between them. The results showed that the STAR CCM + software is a reliable tool with the advantage that can consider multiple geometry options which significantly expands the ability to consider load distributions more viable and realistic than analytical solutions.