WAVE ENERGY DISSIPATION IK ROCKFILL

Resumen

Very little literature exists on the subject of unsteady non-Darcy flow in coarse granular media. However, unsteady non-Darcy flow is encountered in a few important hydraulic problems, for example, (a) Wave absorption and transmission in rubble-mound break-waters; (b) Water level fluctuations in the rockfill and filter zones of a dam subjected to wave action; (c) Transmission of floods or tides through rockfill dams and causeways, A mathematical model, to simulate the internal Darcy and/or non-Darcy flow in an embankment subjected to wave action, would permit an improved analysis of: the stability of the embankment; the stability of the armour layer; and the absorption and dissipation of wave energy by the rockfill. Since the internal flow in the embankment and the external wave action are interdependent, a complete model requires the simulation of both of these flows. Such a model would permit the computation of wave run-up and reflection. The present report is limited to the simulation of the unsteady internal flow. Heitner and Housner (4), using a finite element method, have developed an external wave action simulation for Tsunamis. The author is presently attempting to couple the internal and external models.