Author(s): Ioannis Karmpadakis; Vasileios Bellos; Umniya Al Khalili; Marios Christou

Linked Author(s):

Keywords: Extreme waves; Wave statistics; Coastal zone

Abstract: Storm waves in the coastal zone undergo strong nonlinear transformations and wave breaking. The complexity of these processes poses significant challenges on the accurate prediction of wave statistics. Nevertheless, the design of coastal structures, sediment transport calculations and coastal flooding predictions critically depend upon the correct representation of wave characteristics. More specifically, it is the hydrodynamics of the largest waves arising within significant storms that concern engineering design. As such, the present study examines the statistics of long-crested, zero-crossing waves contained in sea-states with steepnesses varying from linear to extreme. Planar beaches of varying slopes are used as proxies for realistic bathymetric configuration of coastal areas. The findings presented herein are based on the combined analysis of an extensive set of experiments, generated at the Hydrodynamics Laboratory at Imperial College London, and the digital equivalent of these experiments simulated using the well-established numerical model SWASH (Zijlema et al., 2011). Results arising from both these methods are compared to each other, as well as the corresponding predictions of state-of-the-art statistical models.

DOI:

Year: 2024