Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Wave-Structure Interactions on Coastal Highways and Levees

Erosion due to storm surges and wave actions damages coastal highway and levee systems in Gulf coast. During previous hurricanes, a large portion of coastal highways were damaged by the storm surge. The damages are often on the downstream shoulder of the highways. In this study, numerical and experimental analyses were conducted to uncover the erosion-causing flow physics, which aims to improve the erosion-resistant design of coastal structures. The impacts of wave actions, especially frequency components, on the coastal structures were investigated. A test levee was built, and was placed on a Gulf beach for experiment. Real time wave action pressure data on the surface of the test levee were collected and analyzed. The frequency components of the pressure data agree with numerical simulation results. Numerically, FLUENT was used to simulate this wave-structure interaction problem.