SEDIMENT TRANSPORT PATTERNS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF CYLINDRICAL POROUS STRUCTURES: THE 'MAR DE TRAFALGAR' OFFSHORE WIND FARM

摘要

A simple analytical model of wave propagation has been developed in order to study the potential sediment transport patterns due to the action of currents and waves in the neighbourhood of cylindrical structures. The attention is focused in particular on the study of the Trafalgar offshore wind farm, a case in which it has been necessary to analyze the flow trough porous structures in order to model fish growing-cages planned to be installed at each aerogenerator structure. The results are obtained by averaging over one period of wave in order to calculate the net potential sediment transport around a cylindrical impermeable structures surrounded by a porous ring. The analysis of the results reveals how the characteristics of the porous media (friction and porosity) have a strong influence in triggering the processes of wave diffraction and reflection, responsible of the enhancement of strong erosion/deposition processes around the aerogenerator foundation.