Numerical Modelling of the Fluid–Structure Interaction of a MOSE-Inspired Storm Surge Barrier Using PFEM

Details

Supervisors

Legat, Vincent ; Lambrechts, Jonathan

Faculty

Ecole polytechnique de Louvain

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur civil mécanicien, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

The city of Venice is increasingly exposed to flooding, driven by land subsidence and a climate-amplified sea-level rise. Its MOSE storm surge barrier relies on bottom- hinged gates that are raised by compressed-air injection to isolate the lagoon from the Adriatic Sea during Acqua Alta events. This thesis models the fluid–structure inter- action of a MOSE-inspired gate using the Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM), a Lagrangian approach well suited to large free-surface deformations. The gate is first deployed under a prescribed angular velocity, then coupled to the fluid. The loading is dominated by pressure, while the vorticity field reveals local flow separation and recirculation. In the coupled case, the gate motion emerges from a torque balance and settles around an equilibrium angle 32°. The coupling is stabilized with a relaxation technique and an added-mass correction. A final, preliminary simulation confirms that the model can handle wave loading.