Araújo, M.A.V.C., Mazzolari, A. and Trigo-Teixeira, A., 2013. An object oriented mesh generator: application to flooding in the Douro estuary. This paper presents the modification and improvement of an existing 2D unstructured finite element mesh generator, based on the advancing front concept. The original version of this mesh generator (MESHGR) was developed in Fortran language and, in this study, it is ported to C++ and improved in terms of robustness, efficiency and speed. The C++ code is object oriented and uses classes to describe each object. Besides generating the mesh, the code also enables some post-processing operations: mesh smoothing, edge swap and edge collapse algorithms are implemented based on triangle quality criteria. A R-tree algorithm is used to speed up interpolation and increase robustness. Various mesh generation strategies for the finite element analysis of shallow water flow are presented. The mesh generation is based on a series of criteria or size functions defining th...

The application of the acoustic Doppler velocimetry (ADV) technique to backward-facing step flows is very scarce in the literature. This work aims at investigating the applicability of the ADV technique to flows over a backward-facing step, at various Reynolds numbers to capture different flow regimes, and to provide reliable data which can be used to validate numerical models. The ADV ${\mathrm{V}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{c}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{n}\mathrm{o}}^{+}$ was used in a laboratory flume and a customized numerical code was developed, which implements a methodology to post-process the ADV records. The normalized mean streamwise velocity and turbulence profiles were compared with classical results measured using a laser Doppler velocimeter and a high correlation was found. The ADV measurements showed accurate results regarding the streamwise velocity profiles, the turbulent shear stress and the reattachment length. Thus, ADVs can be used to characterize separated flows with good accuracy providing that an adequate post-processing is made to the acquired data. The errors obtained by the uncertainty analysis were relatively low, in general.

Globally, due to climate change and increased rates of coastal erosion, along with the need to protect sensitive habitats, there is an increasing requirement for a sustainable approach which considers both the effect of the marine environment on critical infrastructure and the impact of that infrastructure on the local environment. This paper presents a methodology for assessing the impact of a marine structure on longshore dynamics and shoreline evolution by using an external coupling of the phase-resolving ARTEMIS wave model and the shoreline evolution model, UNIBEST. The methodology can be applied at any coastal location, but for this study, it was applied to Sizewell Bay on the east coast of England to assess the impact of a shore-normal jetty on a gently curving stretch of shoreline with relatively complex offshore geomorphology. Results from simulating 22 years of shoreline evolution have shown that, at the jetty location, the shoreline at Sizewell will migrate seaward up to 45 m compared with the no-jetty case. Immediately south of the jetty, the shoreline was predicted to retreat landward by about 15 m. This behaviour is similar to observed changes at other locations, and the predicted longshore transport rates are in agreement with findings from previous studies, validating the methodology.