Investigation of scour adjacent to submerged geotextiles used for shore protection

Journal Article · Tue Jan 02 23:00:00 EST 2018 · Journal of Marine Environmental Engineering, 10(2):71-83

OSTI ID:1421324

Gorton, Alicia M.; Herrington, Thomas O.; Smith, Ernest R.

This study presents the results of an experimental investigation of morphology change in the vicinity of submerged geotextiles placed within the surf zone. The study was motivated by the emerging use of submerged geotextile tubes for shore protection, shoreline stabilization, and surf amenity enhancement and the need to understand the mechanisms responsible for scour in the vicinity of these structures to preserve their structural integrity and reduce their structural failure. A movable bed physical model experiment was conducted at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Large-scale Sediment Transport Facility (LSTF) to develop empirical formulations to predict the mean scour depth adjacent to geotextiles under oblique wave-breaking conditions as a function of the maximum Keulegan-Carpenter, Shields, and Reynolds numbers. The observed scour in the vicinity of the geotextiles was also compared to a previous study of scour in the vicinity of submerged cylinders. Formulations developed by Cataño-Lopera and García (2006) relating the Keulegan-Carpenter, Shields, and Reynolds numbers to the scour depth were used to predict the scour observed during the LSTF experiment. Results show that the formulations of Cataño-Lopera and García (2006) over-predict the observed scour when calculated using the maximum Keulegan-Carpenter, Shields, and Reynolds numbers. New, modified expressions of Cataño-Lopera and García (2006) were developed for use in oblique random wave fields.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1421324
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-126095
• Journal Information: Journal of Marine Environmental Engineering, 10(2):71-83, Journal Name: Journal of Marine Environmental Engineering, 10(2):71-83
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English