Numerical simulations of interactions between solitary waves and elastic seawalls on rubble mound breakwaters

Two dimensional numerical models and physical models have been developed to study the highly nonlinear interactions between waves and breakwaters, but several of these models consider the effects of the structural dynamic responses and the shape of the breakwater axis on the wave pressures. In this study, a multi-material Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) method is developed to simulate the nonlinear interactions between nonlinear waves and elastic seawalls on a coastal rubble mound breakwater, and is validated experimentally. In the experiment, a solitary wave is generated and used with a physical breakwater model. The wave impact is validated computationally using a breakwater - flume coupling model that replicates the physical model. The computational results, including those for the wave pressure and the water-on-deck, are in good agreement with the experimental results. A local breakwater model is used to discuss the effects of the structural dynamic response and different design parameters of the breakwater on wave loads, together with pressure distribution up the seawall. A large-scale breakwater model is used to numerically study the large-scale wave impact problem and the horizontal distribution of the wave pressures on the seawalls.