ASCE 24-14 Direction of Wave Approach

[ooox]

We're working on a project in Flood Zone VE and are currently looking at the flood design loads on concrete shear walls below the DFE. We have a number of wall generally orientated perpendicular to each other distributed throughout the structure but with sufficient clearance to allow for the entry and exit of flood waters.

We're trying to understand if the wave direction is generally assumed to be 90 degrees to the shoreline, or if a range of direction (say +/- 30 degs) is considered to check walls which are orientated parallel to the wave direction. Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

[phamENG]

It would be a rare place in the Eastern US that hasn't had some kind of shoreline study done. I see you're in PA - I'm not far from you (Virginia). Here we have the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. I've used their reports for shoreline studies, which often include wave modeling, to determine reasonable wave approach vectors. You may want to look for a similar public outfit near you.

That said, if you're just looking at a house, probably best to do a 30 or 45 degree angle if the fetch is there to develop the wave as it probably isn't worth it to chase down more exact numbers.