Deltaressystems design and analysis tools

Wave agitation and harbour resonance software

Globalisation is driving a vast increase in international trade. Consequently, the industrial and commercial centres of the world become more interconnected with each other. This puts an enormous pressure on harbours, which play an essential role in the transport of goods. Harbours therefore increase their throughput capacity to cope with the demand. Besides these developments, local harbours also expand to provide space for an increasing fleet of leisure ships.

Depending on the function of the harbour, it will need to comply with safety and operational requirements. The design of the harbour needs to be such that hydraulic conditions are reduced and downtime of the quays is minimised. As construction works are expensive, it pays off to investigate the effectiveness (in reducing hydraulic loads) of the harbour design before construction.

Wave penetration into the harbour of Scheveningen (Netherlands)

Within Deltares the PHAROS wave model is used to compute wave agitation and resonance in harbours. The model has been applied in a wide variety of research and engineering projects all over the world. Construction measures, like extensions of breakwaters or adjustments to the quays, that may reduce wave agitation or harbour resonance can be evaluated with the model.

Some typical study areas in which PHAROS is employed are:

• Assessment of the quality of a berthing location, in terms of safety or comfort,
• Comparison of mitigating measures such as different breakwater layouts or alternative quay wall designs,
• Determination whether and for which wave conditions a harbour basin will show resonant behaviour (seiching).

See ‘In detail’ section for more information on the specifications of the PHAROS model. 

Wave penetration into the harbour of Almeria (Spain)

New development

In the coming period, our research for and development of PHAROS will focus mainly on the implementation of a tool that separates the different components of the wave field (e.g. incoming and reflected waves) and on improving the coupling with the wave propagation model SWAN at the PHAROS incoming wave boundary.

Purchase or lease

PHAROS is available for Microsoft Windows based PCs, and it is delivered with an extensive user manual. In addition, a grid generator and the post-processing package Delft3D-QUICKPLOT are included. PHAROS can either be purchased or leased for a 3-month period. Furthermore, Deltares organizes PHAROS courses at the client’s demand, at the Deltares offices in Delft or locally at the client’s office.

For more information on this subject, please go to FAQ