A novel approach for predicting wave runup on natural beaches

Abstract

The evaluation of wave runup on beaches is of significant importance since it is used in different coastal engineering and management applications, including the assessment of beach morphology, the determination of erosion and flooding risk, and the design and maintenance of coastal structures. The main aim of this paper is to present a new method of wave runup prediction which is intended to be applicable to the various types of natural beaches. A single formulation was established for beaches, which were categorized as dissipative, reflective and intermediate. This comprehensive parametric runup model, which included both wave setup and swash excursion, was specifically developed to represent the wide-ranging conditions experienced in the swash zone in terms of beach conditions. The runup model included a means to account for obliquely incident waves, varying foreshore sediment characteristics, the infiltration/exfiltration processes during swash events and used fitting parameters to account for other site-specific conditions. The novel runup model produced comparable results to other parametric models, and showed good correlation with laboratory data and limited field data. However, while the model was deemed suitable to be adopted at varying coastal sites, field data is required for implementation in order to yield meaningful output.