Modeling the hydraulic excavation of cohesive soil by a moving vertical jet

Journal article (2021)

Authors

Boyao Wang Student
C. van Rhee Rivers, Ports, Waterways and Dredging Engineering - CEG , Offshore and Dredging Engineering - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Arno Nobel Royal Boskalis Westminster
G.H. Keetels Offshore and Dredging Engineering - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Research Group
Offshore and Dredging Engineering (Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2021 Boyao Wang, C. van Rhee, Arno Nobel, G.H. Keetels
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2021.108796
More Info
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Published Date

2021

Language

English

Faculty

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Department

Marine and Transport Technology

Research Group

Offshore and Dredging Engineering

Abstract

In dredging, high pressure water jets are commonly applied to assist the mobilization of soil. This work considers the excavation of cohesive soil. The key objective is to predict the development of the cavity in the soil as a function of the undrained shear strength, translation velocity and hydrodynamic pressure of a single nozzle. A generic computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model has been developed that captures both the jet flow and the soil failure in a single framework. The results are compared with data from a previous experimental study. The CFD model predicts the cavity dimensions with reasonable accuracy. In addition the model provides detailed data to study the cyclic nature of the soil failure process. The CFD model is promising and can be applied for more complex nozzle configurations to assist the design process of dragheads and improve production estimates.