Modeling the Wave Impacts of Hurricane Floyd in Charleston Harbor, Charleston, South Carolina

摘要

As people and businesses continue to develop and enjoy waterfront properties, the demand for coastal engineering and expertise will certainly increase. Wave modeling can be helpful at the design stage of a project as it can help the owners install a marine structure that is designed to perform in the site specific environment. Hindsight wave modeling can also be helpful to owners, marine contractors, and marine insurers as the parties try to sort out the cause of property damage after some particular event. This paper describes the wave modeling effort undertaken as part of a forensic analysis following damages to in-harbor structures located in Charleston, South Carolina as a result of Hurricane Floyd. A description of the modeling techniques utilized, sources of data used in the evaluation, an analysis of results, as well as a discussion of legal issues regarding such a forensic analysis are provided. Wave models were developed both for offshore waves entering the harbor through the entrance channel and for wind-generated in-harbor waves. The results of the Hurricane Floyd modeling were compared to standard return period storms to determine if the storm exceeded typical design criteria. Several interesting results were obtained from the analysis. For the project site, the worst case wave conditions were not generated by large offshore waves entering the harbor. A narrow but long fetch to the north along the Cooper River produced the largest waves. Shoreline structures also contributed to the observed structural damage by concentrating reflected wave energy.