Mathematical and numerical modeling in maritime geomechanics

A theoretical and numerical framework to model the foundation of marine offshore structures is presented. The theoretical model is composed by a system of partial differential equations describing coupling between seabed solid skeleton and pore fluids (water, air, oil,...) combined with a system of ordinary differential equations describing the specific constitutive relation of the seabed soil skeleton. Once the theoretical model is described, the finite element numerical procedure to achieve an approximate solution of the overning equations is outlined. In order to validate the proposed theoretical and numerical framework the seaward tilt mechanism induced by the action of breaking waves over a vertical breakwater is numerically reproduced. The results numerically attained are in agreement with the main conclusions drawn from the literature associated with this failure mechanism.