Wave Runup and Overtopping at Seawalls Built on Land and in Very Shallow Water

Abstract

The current study proposes prediction formulas both for random wave runup and mean overtopping discharge at seawalls constructed on land or in very shallow water. Although several existing formulas for runup and overtopping use the incident wave characteristics at the toes of seawalls, this study adopts the equivalent deepwater wave characteristics and an imaginary seawall slope for easy application of the formulas, especially in relation to seawalls constructed on land. The prediction formulas for overtopping use the predicted runup values. For the wave runup prediction formulas two sets of experimental data are used; i.e., a new set of data and the data obtained in a previous study. For the wave overtopping prediction formulas, the experimental data measured in a previous study are used. Comparisons with measurements show good performances of both new prediction methods.