CFD modeling of geobag stability for riverbank erosion protection structures

• Author / Creator

  Shabani, Saman

• Riverbank erosion poses significant environmental and infrastructural challenges, including soil loss, damage to infrastructure, flooding, and threats to wildlife and vegetation. Erosion control structures are essential for mitigating this issue, and geobags
  have been used as a fundamental element of revetment structures since the 1970s.
  The use of geobags offers numerous advantages over traditional rip-rap, such as longterm durability, cost-efficiency, eco-friendliness, and environmental safety. One of the
  key benefits of geobag revetments is the stability they provide for communities living
  along riverbanks, fostering economic development in the surrounding areas. To ensure
  the effective design of such structures, a comprehensive understanding of geobag stability under hydraulic loading conditions is crucial. Despite numerous fluvial studies
  focusing on the stability of geobags, none have specifically investigated the drag and
  friction forces acting on a single bag under current loading conditions. Additionally,
  no computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study has previously simulated the motion
  and movement of submerged geobags. In order to fill this knowledge gap, the present
  study employed a transient CFD model to simulate the movement of geobags at the
  bottom of the channel, utilizing the technique of Overset mesh. The image processing technique is also implemented to determine the exact edges and shape of bags
  before failure at the bottom of the channel. Through the simulation, the drag and
  friction force affecting a single geobag were determined. The effects of shape, material
  and filling ratio of the geobags were investigated. Ultimately, the failure velocity of
  geobags which follow the same shape was determined.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Geobags
  • Overset mesh
  • Image processing
  • CFD Modeling

• Graduation date

  Fall 2023

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-z9p7-af44

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.