The risk of flooding in coastal zones is expected to increase due to sea level rise and economic development. In larger bays, estuaries and coastal waterways, storm surge barriers can be constructed to temporarily close off these systems during storm surges in order to provide coastal flood protection. Worldwide, eighteen storm surge barriers have been constructed so far, but they are increasingly being considered as a future solution for other coastal locations. This study provides a systematic overview of existing storm surge barriers. It analyzes information on the main functions of each barrier, the type of gates used, and the associated costs. This study shows that functional requirements determine the design and layout of the barrier. The main design Postprint of: Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE) WW.1943-5460.0000383 challenges are discussed. The study results may be of use in future planning and preliminary storm surge barrier design.

In this study an overview of existing and planned storm surge barriers in the world is provided. A systematic analysis relates functional requirements (e.g. navigation and tidal exchange) to the main barrier characteristics (e.g. gate type, dimensions). Furthermore, as the costs of barriers are an important issue in the planning, available cost information is analyzed and related to main barrier characteristics. An approach to provide a preliminary cost estimate of new barriers is presented. Finally, some critical technical challenges are discussed and related to functional requirements and boundary conditions. Overall, the results of this study can assist in the initial design and planning phase of storm surge barriers for new locations.Keywords: storm surge barrier, coastal structures, flood risk, coastal protection. INTRODUCTIONHuman population in coastal zones is exposed to a variety of natural hazards such as erosion, salt water intrusion, subsidence, tsunamis, and floods resulting from both storm surges and high river runoff (Small and Nicholls, 2003). However, due to climate change induced effects, such as sea level rise, the likelihood of natural hazards will increase, making these areas more vulnerable. Moreover, coastal zones are associated with large and growing concentrations of human population, settlements and socio-economic activities (Small and Nicholls, 2003), intensifying their vulnerability. From an economical perspective these conditions lead to a higher demand for safety and a corresponding substantial investment in improving flood protection (Van Dantzig, 1956;Brekelmans et al., 2012). Furthermore, flood protection standards are expected to increase with enlarged prosperity (Hallegate et al. 2013). It is therefore expected that in coastal regions around the world governments will continue to invest more in coastal protection.In areas with large bays, estuaries or coastal waterways with adjacent flood defenses, constructing a barrier can be a suitable option to protect coastal zones. This type of solution is often chosen as a preferred alternative, when the required length of dike strengthening behind a barrier is significantly reduced (Jonkman et al., 2013). This measure can shorten the exposed coastline, and subsequently reduce the costs and hindrance of dike improvement in densely populated areas. In addition the construction time required to improve the dikes can be shortened considerably (Rijkswaterstaat, 1976).Although several types of barriers (e.g. closure dams, tidal barrages and storm surge barriers) exist, storm surge barriers are mainly considered as a future intervention for more developed and prosperous regions, such as many coastal cities. In such regions preserving ecology or maintaining navigation have a large value and the high costs of storm surge barriers compared to the alternative type of barriers can be afforded. For example, storm surge barriers are currently proposed at Houston, USA (De Vries, 2014); New Orleans, Mississippi, USA (van Ledden et al, 2012), New York, U...

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Storm surge barriers are large movable hydraulic structures which close during a storm surge to prevent coastal floods. In the regions they protect, a failure to close the barrier is often the most likely cause for a catastrophic flood. Nevertheless, flood risk assessments usually only focus on raising flood defences behind the barrier. Despite its importance, there is no general method to assess the costs and benefits of improving the closure reliability. This paper presents a model that optimises investments considering both closure reliability improvements and raising flood defences behind the barrier, using the region protected by the Maeslant barrier as a case. We substantiate that constructing the Maeslant barrier was an optimal economic decision. Moreover, we demonstrate large investments such as a redundant barrier already being economically sound with a few decimetres of sea level rise. Based on our experience with this case study, we expect the model is useful in finding strategies to adapt to rising sea levels and other developments that cause coastal flood risk to rise worldwide.