On the use of the fictitious wave steepness and related surf-similarity parameters in methods that describe the hydraulic and structural response to waves

To assess the hydraulic performance of coastal structures - viz. wave run-up, overtopping and reflection - and to evaluate the stability of the armour layers, use is made of the dimensionless surf similarity parameter, as introduced by Battjes (1974). The front side slope of the structure and the wave steepness are combined in this parameter,...

Stone stability under decelerating open-channel flow

The current research is aimed at finding a proper relation between flow forces acting on the bed and the bed response. To this end, experiments were carried out in which both the bed response (quantified by a dimensionless entrainment rate) and the flow field (velocity and turbulence intensity distributions) are measured. The three available...

Wave overwash at low-crested beach barriers

To increase physical insight into wave overwash processes at low-crested beach barriers, wave overtopping discharge events rather than the conventional average overtopping discharge need to be quantified. Also, in order to make intelligent use of the many empirical formulations on wave overtopping discharge at breakwaters from literature, a...

The effect of foreshore slope on breakwater stability

Experience has shown that stability parameters for breakwater armour are different for steep and shallow foreshores, as well as for deep and shallow water. A change from a deep water spectral information (Tm0) to shallow water spectral information (Tm-1,0) does not completely explains this difference. Tests have shown that stability also depends...

Wave transmission at low-crested structures using neural networks

The European Union funded project DELOS was focused on wave transmission and an extensive database on low-crested rubble mound structures was generated. During DELOS, new empirical wave transmission formulae were derived. These formulae still showed a considerable scatter due to a limited number of parameters included. Neural networks based on a...

Numerical modeling of wave overwash on low-crested sand barriers

For management of coastal breaching hazards it is critical to be able to assess the potential of coastal barrier breaching as a result of wave actions during storm surges (wave overwash). This phenomenon is known as the breach initiation phase; the mechanisms behind this are not very well understood. In the present study, laboratory experiments...