Assessment of scour development at a deep-water marine jetty using 3D computational fluid dynamics

To assess the interaction of the tidal flow with a deep-water marine jetty, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to predict flow patterns for fast flood and ebb
tide conditions both without and with the jetty in place. The modelled area covered three square kilometres of coastal bathymetry around the jetty head, with pile diameters of the order of one metre and water depths ranging from 3 m to 45 m. The predicted changes in velocity and bed shear stress distribution were used to explain the observed local bed level changes at this site over a period of three years.