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Artificial islands have been constructed next to large cities due to the need for extra space in highly populated areas. These emerged structures have been used by many countries as platforms for developing infrastructure (airports, harbors, highways, etc.), rebuilding ecological areas, and creating new spaces for tourism or residential areas. In this study, two state-of-the-art numerical models for wave propagation and nearshore circulation are used to simulate the effects of an emerged artificial island on the Barcelona coast. Several sea indicators (wave height, intensity and direction of currents, and mean water level) are analyzed to assess the changes likely to be induced by an artificial island. Three different situations are studied and the indicators are compared across the different tests to obtain information that can be used in the planning process of these structures. In two-meter wave conditions, the tests show that wave height is generally reduced in the sheltered area, which leads to improved safety for beach users (bathing is prohibited when wave height exceeds the two-meter threshold). However, the numerical models also reveal that velocities in the sheltered area usually decrease, which must be controlled to prevent stagnation in the bathing area.

The use of different optical systems based on computer vision approach, for measuring swash zone morphological changes, is here proposed. In particular, such techniques are able to achieve quite accurate 2D and 3D reconstruction of the sandy bottom in dynamic conditions under regular waves. They are considered truly non-invasive, since there is no interaction of the hardware with the water motion. The optical techniques have been applied both at small and at large scale facilities for the investigation on the seabed interaction with the fluid motion within the swash zone. The performances of well-established more traditional measurement instruments have been compared with the proposed optical instruments both at small and large scales. In both cases satisfactory results have been gathered during the present experimental campaign.