Influence of directional spreading on wave overtopping of sea dikes with gentle and shallow foreshores: Fid-Bau Portal

Influence of directional spreading on wave overtopping of sea dikes with gentle and shallow foreshores

Altomare, Corrado / Suzuki, Tomohiro / Verwaest, Toon

Abstract The work highlights the importance of directional spreading effects on wave overtopping estimation in shallow and mild sloping foreshores. Wave short-crestedness leads, in general, to a reduction of mean overtopping discharges on coastal structures. In the present work, the case of a sea dike with gentle foreshore in very and extremely shallow water conditions is analysed. Physical model tests have been carried out in order to investigate the effect of directional spreading on overtopping and incident wave characteristics. In the present experimental campaign, the effect of wave spreading has only been investigated for perpendicular wave attack. Results show that directional spreading is proved to cause a reduction of average discharge of sea dikes with gentle and shallow foreshore. Expressions for the reduction factor for directional spreading are derived, fitted on the tested database. The use of this reduction factor leads to more accurate prediction and avoids overtopping overestimation, however reduction-factor formulations are overtopping-formula depending.

Highlights • The effect of short-crestedeness on average overtopping of sea dikes with gentle foreshores in shallow waters in studied. • Experimental campaign is carried out focusing on 3D effects for very and extremely shallow waters. • The results are compared against existing semi-empirical approaches. • A correction factor for short-crestedness is proposed. • Reduction of wave overtopping discharge and influence on local wave characteristics due to short-crested waves is proved.