Conference paper
Backfilling of trenches exposed to waves
This paper treats the numerical prediction of initial and long-term morphology of small pipeline trenches. For this purpose a refined flow and sediment transport description is applied such that the entire mathematical problem is formulated and solved on a curvilinear grid using a k - ε turbulence-closure.
The backfilling process of trenches exposed to either waves or a steady current is of importance in relation to the implementation of pipelines in the marine environment. With respect to the sedimentation of trenches, the non-dimensional Trench-Keulegan-Carpenter number, KC = a/L, where a is the excursion length of a particle in waves and L the trench length, is investigated in detail, and an optimal KC-number for the backfilling rate is found.
Coherent structures in the non-uniform unsteady trench-flow are shown to dominate the deposition rate when present. The importance of a detailed description of the flow is further justified by comparing predictions of a very simple flow-model neglecting convective terms with the sophisticated flow-model.
Language: | English |
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Year: | 1997 |
Pages: | 3231-3243 |
Proceedings: | 25th International Conference on Coastal Engineering |
ISSN: | 08938717 |
Types: | Conference paper |