Damage progression in rubble-mound breakwaters scale model tests, under a climate change storm sequence

Abstract

Understanding damage progression under future climate changes is of utmost importance for effective management of coastal defenses. Significant wave height, wave period, storm direction and water level have been considered the main design variables for coastal structures. Usually, physical model tests support the design of breakwaters considering different incident wave conditions that include also extreme events. This paper describes the two-dimensional (2D) physical model tests of a rock armor breakwater, performed at LNEC´s experimental facilities, under the framework of the HYDRALAB+ project. The aim of the present work was to evaluate damage evolution under future climate change scenarios, by using different damage evaluation techniques. The tested wave conditions simulated a storm sequence where two water levels (low water and high water) were considered, as well as an increase of the wave height. The water levels and the wave heights were chosen to simulate extreme events forecasted on climate change scenarios. Damage evaluation was based on the traditional counting method and on stereophotogrammetric techniques. Test results are presented in terms of the damage parameter S (Broderick & Ahrens, 1982) and in terms of the percentage of removed armor units. The analysis is focused on the damage progression during the scale model tests, for the imposed storm sequence. The damage presents an oscillating behavior with two main damage areas corresponding to the active zones for each level, due to the variation of the water level between low-water and highwater. This behavior differs significantly from that found for the common storm sequences usually tested, where the water level does not change. Both measuring techniques lead to an intermediate damage of the cross-section breakwater. However, the damage parameter assessment with the stereo-photogrammetric technique allows a more versatile evaluation, since it is possible to characterize damage in representative zones of the cross-section.