One of the greatest challenges of coastal engineering today is the need for coastal protection in the changing climate scenario. Placeswhich are nowadays protected will demand upgraded defences andmore sites will require security; in all cases a large amount of resources will be needed to ensure beachmaintenance and coastal safety. Thismay be an opportunity for themulti-purpose use ofWave Energy Converters (WECs) if the foreseen increase of energy demand in coastal areas is also considered. In this paper a group of WECs based on different operating concepts is numerically tested in front of two beaches, i.e. the Bay of Santander in Spain and Las Glorias beach in Mexico, representing two different case studies where the long-shore sediment transport is dominant. The hydrodynamics induced by these devices is represented by means of a 2D elliptic modified mild-slope model that is calibrated against new experimental results. The wave field is then used as input for the analytical calculation of the long-shore sediment transport and the coastline trend is estimated by applying the continuity of sediment equation. The characteristics of the selected numerical models give this work a first approach level. All the deviceswere found to produce a positive trend (accretion) at least in small areas. Recommendations are given to facilitate the selection of the device and the design of the farm layout for shore protection purpose.
Beach response to wave energy converter farms acting as coastal defence
ZANUTTIGH, BARBARA;ANGELELLI, ELISA;
2014
Abstract
One of the greatest challenges of coastal engineering today is the need for coastal protection in the changing climate scenario. Placeswhich are nowadays protected will demand upgraded defences andmore sites will require security; in all cases a large amount of resources will be needed to ensure beachmaintenance and coastal safety. Thismay be an opportunity for themulti-purpose use ofWave Energy Converters (WECs) if the foreseen increase of energy demand in coastal areas is also considered. In this paper a group of WECs based on different operating concepts is numerically tested in front of two beaches, i.e. the Bay of Santander in Spain and Las Glorias beach in Mexico, representing two different case studies where the long-shore sediment transport is dominant. The hydrodynamics induced by these devices is represented by means of a 2D elliptic modified mild-slope model that is calibrated against new experimental results. The wave field is then used as input for the analytical calculation of the long-shore sediment transport and the coastline trend is estimated by applying the continuity of sediment equation. The characteristics of the selected numerical models give this work a first approach level. All the deviceswere found to produce a positive trend (accretion) at least in small areas. Recommendations are given to facilitate the selection of the device and the design of the farm layout for shore protection purpose.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
