Abstract:
Overtopping evaluation is often performed by empirical methods that still require
complementary validation against field measurements. This study presents the first data set of
overtopping measured at a breakwater in Portugal, including flow depths, velocities and
discharges. Data were collected for small overtopping conditions (lower than 1.24*10-3
m3/s/m) and compared with estimated values from empirical methods. The corrected
NN_OVERTOPPING2 (corrected) tool proved to give reasonable estimations when the overall
analyzed period was considered, while the uncorrected NN_OVERTOPPING2 and the
EurOtop formulas were unable to adequately represent the measured discharges. Pn
(normalized wave power) is suggested as a proxy to achieve discharge predictions using
offshore wave parameters and the sea level (tide and surge).
