An Alternate Approach for Developing Design Waves for Establishing Freeboard Requirements for Perched Reservoirs Exposed to Extreme Winds

This paper describes an alternative approach to developing design waves for perched reservoirs with extreme winds. Although the focus of the paper is on off-channel reservoirs, the approach can be generalized to all reservoirs. The authors describe how to leverage computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to model changes in the wind field over the surface of the reservoir and provide a wind map for input to a two-dimensional wave growth model. Additionally, we recommend capping the drag coefficient in wave growth models based on a review of available data collected under extreme wind conditions.

Results compared and contrasted with more conventional approaches demonstrate how advanced numerical modeling tools can provide conservative design waves with less uncertainty than standard approaches and potentially lower construction costs.