Mitigating beach erosion in storm conditions with a submerged breakwater: an experimental study

Abstract

Sea-level rise and changes in storm frequency and intensity will undoubtedly modify beach morphology. To reduce shoreline retreat, many structural solutions have been proposed by coastal engineers. Among them, Submerged BreakWaters (SBW) are becoming a preferred solution owing to their aesthetical and environmental advantages.Here, a reduced scale physical model is used to study the reduction of storm-induced erosion for different shapes and locations of SBW's. The originality of the set-up is: (1) the 1/10 scale model beach and SBW under irregular waves; and (2) respecting sediment transport similarity. Starting with an equilibrium beach profile, a synthetic storm is tested with and without the SBW. Preliminary results show a promising reduction of erosion rates and shoreline retreat for the selected SBW geometry and location.