ESTIMATING WAVE PRESSURES ON A HORIZONTAL PIER.
Abstract
Simple rules are developed to enable the designer to estimate the maximum uplift pressures induced on the underside of a pier deck by various types of incident waves. The ultimate objective of such estimations is to improve the design of important waterfront structures as well as the designers designer's ability to assess the damage done to them. Theoretical prediction techniques are provided for both the slow-rise pressure component and the fast-rise pressure component (impact) for different incident waves: standing waves, regular progressive waves in water having a constant depth, and dispersive waves. Laboratory experiments were conducted in the NCEL dispersive wave basin partially to check the validity of prediction techniques and partially to provide additional information so that the prediction techniques can be extended empirically to cover the more complicated but more practical situation of a pier in shoaling water. The slow-rise pressure component ranged from one to two times the hydrostatic pressure for a pier above a beach with a 1:14 slope. The fast-rise component had a value of 3.14 for the upper limit of the parameter pi sub i/gamma(1-(d/T sub r A sub t) to the 2nd power) to the 1/2 power T sub r A sub t for a pier over a flat beach. The upper limit value was 4.50 for a pier on a smooth beach with a 1:14 slope. This fast-rise pressure should be of concern for large as well as for small structural components not only because the magnitude of its peak is enormous but also because the magnitude of the corresponding impulse is significant. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0660190
Entities
People
- Hsian Wang
Organizations
- Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center