OVERFLOW AND WAVE OVERTOPPING OVER BROAD QUAY WALLS MODELED WITH OPENFOAM

In the framework of the EU Floods Directive, Flanders Hydraulics Research (FHR) is performing flood modeling studies to evaluate the flood risk along the Belgian coast due to extreme storm surges on the North Sea. Thereto, amongst others, the failure behavior of quay walls in the coastal ports must be determined. Computing the landward non-impulsive wave overtopping discharge over a broad quay, in some cases combined with overflow, on which a flood wall can be present at large distance [O (100 m)] from the front edge poses a particular challenge. This matter, to the authors’ knowledge, is not covered in existing literature, e.g. the European Overtopping Manual. It is also not possible to apply the method for reduction of wave overtopping over a wide crest according to Verwaest et al. (2010), since it was developed for breaking waves on a shallow foreshore overtopping a sloping dike, requiring the determination of a run-up level. It is clear that the landward water flow on the quay should be investigated in more detail, as it is characterized by bottom friction and possible inertia due interaction with the flow reflected at the flood wall. To this end, the CFD toolbox OpenFOAM is used to model the final discharges at the landward side of the quay.