IMPROVING ANALYTICAL WAVE DAMPING MODELS FOR WOODY VEGETATION

Abstract

Including vegetation in front of dikes is a promising addition to stand-alone hard infrastructures for the safety against flooding. Vegetation dampens the incoming waves, alters velocity structures and enhances sedimentation. Besides this, it provides other ecosystem benefits such as increasing biodiversity and scenic values. However, these cannot be implemented yet as we need more accurate ways of predicting wave damping, especially during storm conditions. We need both hydraulic and vegetation measurements, where the latter is difficult for woody vegetation as they consist of more complex structures (i.e., branch densities, angles and tapering) than grassy vegetation. Part of the Woody project aims to improve existing analytical models for wave damping by woody vegetation. We will mainly focus on accurate vegetation input (i.e., frontal-surface area and flexibility) as well as quantifying the impact of these parameters on wave damping, and how to implement this in small-scale physical models. Thereto we also aim to identify possible scale effects during scaled physical modelling. Finally, these findings will be implemented in existing analytical formulations.