Field Test and Numerical Simulation of Tidal Bore Pressures on Sheet-Pile Groin in Qiantang River

A field test of bore pressures on a sheet-pile groin in the Qiantang River was carried out to investigate the characteristics of tidal bore pressures in which temporal and spatial distributions of bore pressures on the sheet-pile groin were obtained through the test. The standard turbulence model was used to simulate the propagation of the tidal bore over a sheet-pile groin with the free surface tracked by the volume of fluid (VOF) method. With the simulated bore pressure over the sheet-pile groin, a finite difference method was used to simulate the dynamic response of the sheet-pile groin subjected to bore pressures. Good agreement between the field test and the simulated results validated the present numerical method. It was found that the bore pressures on the sheet-pile groin varied linearly in the vertical direction and obtained maximum value at the still water level. Bore pressures below the still water level decreased slightly with the depth and were characterized by a trapezoidal distribution.