J. Geeraerts

Violent Wave Overtopping: CLASH Field Measurements at Samphire Hoe

As part of a major European research project into wave overtopping at coastal structures, overtopping discharges have been measured at full-scale on a vertical seawall in Southern England. The measurement site, Samphire Hoe, is an area of reclaimed land just west of Dover on the English channel coast, and is an ideal location for monitoring overtopping. The site is described in detail and the design and operation of the measurement equipment are also outlined in the paper. Overtopping was measured on three occasions and the storms and their results are discussed. It is shown that the field measurements compare will with empirical prediction methods. Additional discussion interprets the hazardous nature of each of the storms.

Wave energy on the Belgian Continental Shelf

The inexhaustible wave energy resource is at the basis of the increasing research on wave energy exploitation. Till now the resource is studied in detail for regions with a high wave energy density. As the problems to guarantee the survivability of wave energy converters (WECs) in a severe and energetic wave climate are not solved yet, the possibilities of wave power conversion in a less aggressive wave climate should be investigated. This paper describes the wave climate and correspondent wave power resource in a rather sheltered area i.e., the Belgian Continental Shelf (southern part of the North Sea). The available wave power is studied on six buoy locations. Furthermore characteristic sea states and design conditions are derived for the most suitable locations for wave energy production. The available wave power is compared with other sites in the North Sea. Near shore (< 30 km off the coast) less than 10 kW/m is available.

Full Scale Wave Overtopping Measurements

The objective of this paper is to describe the full scale infrastructure that was used to measure wave overtopping at the Zeebrugge rubble mound breakwater. Detailed data from one storm event and the results for eight storm events are shown. Therefore, first the measurement site and the specific set-up used for wave overtopping measurements is described. Then the measurement data and the results are described before preliminary conclusions are drawn. The paper is limited to the description of the measurement site and instrumentation. A detailed outline of the analysis of the measurement data are given in another paper.

Full-Scale Measurement of Wave Overtopping at Ostia-Rome Yacht Harbour Breakwater

This paper describes new wave overtopping field measurements at Ostia yacht harbor breakwater (Rome, Italy). The structure, the measurement strategy and the equipment are described in some details. Preliminary results of a recently measured overtopping storm, which are occurred in October of 2003, are presented in the paper. The activities are carried out within the framework of the European Union research project CLASH, aimed at studying model scale effects in overtopping studies and at providing scientific and professional communities with reliable crest level design criteria for coastal structures.

Hazards Resulting from Wave Overtopping--Full Scale Measurements

The objective of this paper is to describe the recently installed full scale measurement infrastructure to quantify hazards resulting from wave overtopping at the Zeebrugge rubble mound breakwater. First, the measurement site and the specific set-up used for wave overtopping measurements is briefly described in section 2. Section 3 contains the description and design of the instrumentation to quantify hazards and finally in section 4 preliminary conclusions are drawn.