Date of Award

Spring 2025

Project Type

Thesis

Program or Major

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Majid Ghayoomi

Second Advisor

Fei Han

Third Advisor

Julie Paprocki

Abstract

As hurricanes, and therefore storm surges, become stronger on average, civil engineering research has increasingly focused on the impact of flooding on coastal communities. While hurricane-induced flood scour has been understood to be a mechanism of structural failure for decades, there is still not a complete model for scour in the near-coast environment. To build on the current body of scour research, an apparatus for the physical modelling of wave-soil-structure interactions has been developed for the University of New Hampshire geotechnical centrifuge laboratory. The new model container design is capable of wave generation, wave absorption, and the real-time measurement of pore pressure development in soil and structural rocking as a result of wave action. This combination of experimental capabilities is relatively unique among contemporaneous research, especially in the geo-centrifuge. Calibration experiments performed using the container verified that wave generation and absorption were reasonably accurate to expected values. Additional preliminary experiments demonstrated the container’s capability to measure the impact of a structure’s presence on wave-soil interactions. Furthermore, the system is futureproofed for further investigation using the apparatus; live-test soil desaturation, lateral forcing on model structures, and tracking of scour development are all possible using the container as currently designed.

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