McMaster University

From the SelectedWorks of Barry A. Palynchuk PhD

Spring May, 2013

Assessment of the Effects of Marine Tides on

Coastal Infrastructure
Barry A. Palynchuk, PhD, McMaster University
Michel-Olivier Huard, M.A.Sc
Zoubir Bouazza, PhD
Evelyn Liu, M.A.Sc

Available at: https://works.bepress.com/barry_palynchuk/6/

 21st Canadian Hydrotechnical Conference
21e congrès spécialisé hydrotechnique canadienne

Recent Flood Management Lessons in Canada

Banff, Alberta, May 14-17, 2013 / 14–17 Mai 2013

ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF MARINE TIDES ON COASTAL

INFRASTRUCTURE
1 2 3 2
M.O. Huard , B. Palynchuk , E. Liu , Z. Bouazza

1. AECOM Canada, Québec City, Québec, Canada

2. AECOM Canada, Montréal, Québec, Canada
3. AECOM Canada, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT: A combined rail system and port facility development was investigated in West Africa. The
principal components are 700 km of single track heavy-haul railway and a new deepwater port near the
Atlantic Ocean. A significant challenge for the project is the assessment of the tidal effects for structures
located on coastal rivers whose delta is influenced by the Atlantic tides. The flow in Delta is
multidimensional and assessment of hydrodynamics in this context requires physical modeling or
numerical modeling. Such modeling requires more reliable data on topography, bathymetry and
boundary conditions. A simplified hydrodynamic model was used for the estimation of the propagation of
tides in the coastal rivers. The river analysis systems HEC-RAS model developed by the USACE was
applied in the project to assess the coastal drainage modeling to estimate the order of magnitude of the
propagation of tides from the coast to the inland water some 30 to 40 kilometers away from the shoreline
coast. Three scenarios were simulated using 3 different heights derived from the High Astronomical Tide
to account for such uncertainties using low, mid and high hypothesis. The results are of great value since
they allow the advancement of design of hydraulic structures in the coastal zone.

Un système ferroviaire avec terminal portuaire a été l’objet d’une étude en Afrique de l’Ouest. Les
composants principaux incluent une ligne de chemin de fer à voie unique pour le transport des matériaux
bruts, et un port en eau profonde sur la côte de l’Atlantique. Un enjeu important pour le projet est
l’évaluation des effets des marées sur les structures localisés sur les rivières influencées. Les
écoulements dans un delta sont multidimensionnels, et sont modélisés de façon soit numérique ou
physique. De tels modèles requièrent habituellement une importante quantité de données topographique
et bathymétrique, lesquels n’étaient pas disponible. Une modélisation simplifiée a dû être employée, afin
d’évaluer la propagation de l’onde de marées de la côte vers l’intérieur. Le modèle HEC-RAS (du
USACE) fut utilisé pour le dimensionnement des infrastructures de drainage de la zone côtière, jusqu’à
une distance de la côte de 30 à 40 kilomètres vers l’intérieur du continent. Trois hypothèses ont été
employées, représentant les hauteurs de marée maximale d'importance faible, moyenne, et haute, selon
les facteurs potentiels et leurs incertitudes. Les résultats obtenus permettent l’avancement de la
conception des structures hydrauliques dans la zone côtière, et sont donc d’une très grande valeur.

Keywords: bridge; coastal rivers; one-dimensional model; datum; unsteady flow; tidal wave propagation.

Mots-clés: pont; rivière côtière; modèle unidimensionnel; référence géodésique; écoulement transitoire;
propagation de l‘onde de marée.

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1. INTRODUCTION

A combined rail system and port facility development was investigated in West Africa. The project
involves the design of a 700km single track heavy-haul rail network from mine to a new deepwater port
near the Atlantic Ocean. AECOM has undertaken alignment selection, design and specification of civil
structures and other tasks.

There are approximately 70 bridges and major culverts proposed in the rail line. Some of the proposed
structures are located on coastal rivers whose delta is influenced by the Atlantic tides. The effects of tides
at these structures require further assessment in order to determine the hydraulics at these structures
and any other potential side effects.

This paper presents an example using a simplified hydrodynamic model to estimate the order of
magnitude of the propagation of tides in the coastal rivers at a selected bridge about 10 km upstream
from the coastal section.

2. APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY

The flow in the Delta is multidimensional; either 2D or may be 3D in some places, so that more complex
modeling would be justified if sufficient information were available. Physical modeling or numerical
modeling should be performed for assessment of hydrodynamics in this context. Such modeling requires
more reliable data on topography, bathymetry and boundary conditions.

However a simplified hydrodynamic model, the river analysis systems HEC-RAS model developed by the
US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE, 1995-2010) was used to estimate the order of magnitude of the
propagation of tides. This simplified modeling was performed for a variety of reasons:

• In order to advance design work, an initial estimate of tidal effects is required.

• From that initial assessment of combined effects for a given stream crossing, a determination of
the need for more detailed information can be made.
• There were a variety of uncertainties, beyond that of the physical setting. These included
differences between tidal and topographic datum, tidal range uncertainty, and climate-change
induced sea-level rise (SLR). Modeling provided a basis for combining effects, and selecting
limiting values from uncertainty ranges.

As a first approximation, a one-dimensional flow in the coastal rivers neglecting any lateral and secondary
flows were assumed in the HEC-RAS model. The flow was taken as unsteady flow and analyzed in the
model.

3. MODEL DEVELOPMENT

3.1. Geometry Set-up

Geometry of the HEC-RAS model was extracted from contours generated from the available LIDAR
survey which has a height reference system that is consistent with the one used for the tides in the
terrain, and could be assumed representing the elevation of the terrain relatively to the geoids vertical
datum in the region.

A first attempt has been undertaken in order to evaluate potential datum shift between the LIDAR survey
and the local tide level height reference system. The method consisted in comparing the mean Z value of
a sample LIDAR tile with the tide level measured (or from a tide model) at the exact time that the LIDAR
survey had been achieved. Theoretically, the Z value should approximately match if the two sources are
based on the same height datum. In the case of different datum, the Z value of one dataset can be
transformed to the height datum of the other dataset, using known constants.
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AECOM investigated all the references regarding the datum available in the region versus the survey
data and corrected the difference (2 meters) (EGM, 2008; Cerescor, 1992; Marées du Monde, 2012) of
the LIDAR datum to the tidal datum. The preliminary validated LIDAR survey data were assumed
representing the river geometry.

The mean roughness of the terrain was estimated at a Manning’s “n” coefficient of 0.04.

No bathymetric data was available, but flow rates, velocity and some limited soundings, combined with
field observations by some of the authors provided a basis for selection of channel section characteristics.

3.2. Simulation Scenarios Selection

Sea level rise during the 21st century was assessed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) through various models. The patterns from different models are not generally similar in detail, but
have some common features. According to the IPCC Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES)
scenarios (Meehl, et al. 2007), sea level is projected to rise between the present (1980–1999) and the
end of this century (2090–2099), ranging from 0.18 m to 0.59 m under various scenarios. In all scenarios,
the average rate of rise during the 21st century very likely exceeds the 1961 to 2003 average rate (1.8 ±
0.5 mm yr–1). Sea level rise is projected to have substantial geographical variability; a narrow band of
pronounced rise is predicated stretching across the southern Atlantic Oceans.

In the current HEC-RAS modeling, three scenarios were selected to account for such uncertainties using
low, mid and high hypothesis.

The three scenarios represent three different heights derived from the High Astronomical Tide (HAT) in
the region, Each scenario incorporated the 100-year return period peak discharge at the hydraulic
section of interest.

Scenario # 1 corresponds to the HAT without any additional effects.

Scenario # 2 corresponds to the HAT augmented by many effects including sea level rise (0.5 m over the
next 100 years; Meehl et al, 2007); mean sea level variation (+-0.15 m); storm surge (1.0 m for the 100-
years return period). These effects were estimated by others through numerical modeling and considered
fair in the current modeling. The use of the 100-year return period peak river discharge and storm surge
is consistent, as the two events will necessarily be highly correlated. A large storm surge will coincide
with a large coastal storm event, producing a high peak discharge in a near-coastal stream discharging to
the coastal estuary.

Scenario # 3 is a hypothetical scenario that is supposed to combine many other uncertainties inherent to
the model’s parameters. These included a superposition of (or combination of) reported potential
maximum highest tide and a maximum potential difference between tidal chart datum and geodetic
references.

Characteristics of the three scenarios are provided in table 1 below.

Table 1. Characteristics of the three simulation scenarios in HEC-RAS modeling.

Height
Scenario Number Tidal Datum (m) Geodetic Vertical Datum (m)
1 (HAT) 4.14 2.14
2 (HAT-Plus) 6.09 4.09
3 (Extreme HAT) 7.35 5.35

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3.3. Flow Data & Boundary Conditions
Tide varies cyclically and was treated as unsteady flow in the HEC-RAS modeling. Equations were
developed to simulate the tidal variation for the three scenarios for each tidal cycle, i.e. 12 hours and 25
min during the simulation period. The model goes through a large number of cycles until cyclic stability
was reached. The value to be used if there are no cycles observed is simply the stabilized water level.
The maximum water level at a section that would have reached cyclic stability (i.e. where patterns start to
repeat without major differences) would be used when cycles are observed. This cyclic variation of tide
elevations was imposed as the boundary at the coastal mouth.
Figure 1 shows one example of the cyclic variation of tide elevations imposed as the coastal boundary
condition.

River: r10_3 Reach: r10_3b RS: 63.95182

3 Legend

Stage
2

1
Stage (m)

-1

-2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Simulation Time (days)

Figure 1. Cyclic variation of tide elevations imposed at the coastal boundary in HEC-RAS.

Flow data corresponding to the 100 years return period were imposed upstream of the bridge.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The three scenarios were simulated in the HEC-RAS model and the results are illustrated by figures 2 to
7. These results assume that the tidal datum is 2.00 m below the LIDAR geodetic datum. The asymptotic
curve is a demonstration of the higher initial water level used in the transient model. It was observed that
the start-up of the model shows transitory effects and the results reach a more stabilized cyclic regime
after 2 or 3 tidal cycles.

The water level at the cross section where the bridge is proposed and the flow rate at the coast are
summarized in table 2 below.

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 Table 2. HEC-RAS modeling results.
Characteristics
Water Elevation at Bridge Flow Rate at Coastal Section
Scenario Number
Cross Section (m) (cms)
1 (HAT) 4.29 6,600
2 (HAT-Plus) 4.30 15,000
3 (Extreme HAT) 4.73 23,000

It can be seen that the flow at the coastal section reaches a peak value as high as 23,000 m3/s (negative
value, flowing from sea to inland) under scenario # 3. One of the references has reported discharge
measurements in the coastal mouth in the order of 5,300 to 6,500 cms and more under normal
conditions. This supports the above values under the severe conditions simulated. The considered
coastal section is a very large cross section.

Figure 2. Simulated stages and flows at the bridge cross-section under Scenario # 1.

Figure 3. Simulated stages and flows at coast cross-section under Scenario #1.

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 Figure 4. Simulated stages and flows at bridge cross-section under Scenario # 2.

Figure 5. Simulated stages and flows at coast cross-section under Scenario # 2.

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 Figure 6. Simulated stages and flows at bridge cross-section under Scenario # 3.

Figure 7. Simulated stages and flows at coast cross-section under Scenario # 3.

This assessment has been performed using simplified assumptions and limited information. The three
different scenarios simulated permit to account for such uncertainties using low, mid and high hypothesis.
The results are, however of great value, since they allow the estimate of the extent of the effects on the
design of the bridges located upstream of the coastal zone under influence of marine tides.

Attenuation of the effect of various tidal height scenarios indicates that there is relatively little cost penalty
to using the most severe scenario. Therefore, that scenario is recommended in the majority of the cases.
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Because there are a variety of criteria for selection of a given structure’s hydraulic opening, the evaluation
of tidal, climate change, and associated uncertainties permits a holistic evaluation, leading, ultimately,
and perhaps paradoxically, to lowest economic and environmental impacts. The need for more precise
information, for example bathymetric cross-sections can be evaluated, and optimal planning of
exploration programs can be achieved.

5. REFERENCES

Cerescor, 1992. Ecart de la marée aux différentes stations d'observation le long de la côte guinéenne
par rapport au port de référence Conakry. Projet d'Etudes Côtières (PEC), Lab. Océanogr. Physique, -
tableau non publié. http://www.mpl.ird.fr/ci/peg/GetInfo.html?id=0231
EGM2008: (ondulation du géoide – delta Z avec WGS84)
http://earthinfo.nga.mil/GandG/wgs84/gravitymod/egm2008/egm08_wgs84.htmlMarées dans le monde;
http://www.technifree.fr/modules/wfdownloads/singlefile.php?cid=36&lid=434
Meehl, G.A., T.F. Stocker, W.D. Collins, P. Friedlingstein, A.T. Gaye, J.M. Gregory, A. Kitoh, R. Knutti,
J.M. Murphy, A. Noda, S.C.B. Raper,I.G. Watterson, A.J. Weaver and Z.-C. Zhao. 2007. Global Climate
Projections. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis.Contribution of Working Group I to the
Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M.
Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.)]. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA
US Army Corps of Engineers, 1995-2010. HEC-RAS, Davis, California, USA

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