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Eco-engineering of seawalls—an opportunity for enhanced climate resilience from increased topographic complexity
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Salauddin, Md , O’Sullivan, John J., Abolfathi, Soroush and Pearson, Jonathan M. (2021) Eco-engineering of seawalls—an opportunity for enhanced climate resilience from increased topographic complexity. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8 . 674630. doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.674630 ISSN 2296-7745.
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.674630
Abstract
In the context of “green” approaches to coastal engineering, the term “eco-engineering” has emerged in recent years to describe the incorporation of ecological concepts (including artificially water-filled depressions and surface textured tiles on seawalls and drilled holes in sea structures) into the conventional design process for marine infrastructures. Limited studies have evaluated the potential increase in wave energy dissipation resulting from the increased hydraulic roughness of ecologically modified sea defences which could reduce wave overtopping and consequent coastal flood risks, while increasing biodiversity. This paper presents results of small-scale laboratory investigations of wave overtopping on artificially roughened seawalls. Impulsive and non-impulsive wave conditions with two deep-water wave steepness values (=0.015 and 0.06) are evaluated to simulate both swell and storm conditions in a two-dimensional wave flume with an impermeable 1:20 foreshore slope. Measurements from a plain vertical seawall are taken as the reference case. The seawall was subsequently modified to include 10 further test configurations where hydraulic effects, reflective of “eco-engineering” interventions, were simulated by progressively increasing seawall roughness with surface protrusions across three length scales and three surface densities. Measurements at the plain vertical seawall compared favorably to empirical predictions from the EurOtop II Design Manual and served as a validation of the experimental approach. Results from physical model experiments showed that increasing the length and/or density of surface protrusions reduced overtopping on seawalls. Benchmarking of test results from experiments with modified seawalls to reference conditions showed that the mean overtopping rate was reduced by up to 100% (test case where protrusion density and length were maximum) under impulsive wave conditions. Results of this study highlight the potential for eco-engineering interventions on seawalls to mitigate extreme wave overtopping hazards by dissipating additional wave energy through increased surface roughness on the structure.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GC Oceanography G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences T Technology > TC Hydraulic engineering. Ocean engineering |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Engineering > Engineering | ||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Coastal engineering , Climatic changes, Coastal zone management, Sea-walls , Breakwaters, Shore protection, Coast changes -- Prevention | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Frontiers in Marine Science | ||||||
Publisher: | Frontiers Media | ||||||
ISSN: | 2296-7745 | ||||||
Official Date: | 16 June 2021 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 8 | ||||||
Article Number: | 674630 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.3389/fmars.2021.674630 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 16 June 2021 | ||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 17 June 2021 | ||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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