Developing a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for embankment design - DHI Case Story

The Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) is responsible for the management of the Port of Hamburg and is therefore also responsible for maintenance and construction of embankments. For the repair and construction of embankments, a standard procedure developed by the German Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW) – ‘Principles for the Design of Bank and Bottom assurance on Inland Waterways’ (GBB) – can be used. However, the applicability of the GBB in the area of sea ports and maritime waterways is limited. It leads to very conservative results compared to in-situ measurements. DHI was therefore commissioned by the HPA to develop a more accurate method for estimating the relevant parameters, which is transferable to other ships and embankments. We chose a three dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) flow model to solve this problem. The CFD model was calibrated and validated with on-site measurements. Furthermore, a comparison with the GBB procedures was performed.