Abstract
Sea Level Rise (SLR) and storm intensification lead to re-evaluating inundation assessments along the North Atlantic US shoreline. A particular effort is devoted to assessing coastal community risk to “100-year storm†events in Rhode Island, US, using a chain of state-of-the-art storm surge, wave propagation, and coastal erosion 2D models. Damage risks imposed on infrastructures and services incited US federal and state agencies to come up with innovative engineering solutions to improve coastal resiliency while preserving natural coastal and marine environments. This study critically evaluates available design tools used to assess the performance of two types of Natural and Natural Based Features (NNBFs) for coastal protection: natural vegetated barrier islands and dunes reinforced with Geotextile Sand-filled Containers (GSCs), on urbanized barrier islands. Comparative analyses with field data identifies the capabilities and limitations of phase averaging and phase resolving hydro-morphodynamic models used for simulating bed level changes in dissipative beaches, during 3 Sallenger storm regimes. Recommendations are provided on modeling approaches for simulating effects of vegetation and using GSCs to limit coastal erosion.
Highlights
The combination of Sea Level Rise (SLR) with increased storm frequency and intensity (Woodruff et al, 2013) has led local and international management agencies to reassess the vulnerability of coastal communities and the potential damage inflicted by extreme storms to infrastructures and services (e.g., Katehis 2015; Spaudling et al, 2016; Grilli et al 2017a)
While the northern section of the study site has a relatively elevated dune crest, which prevented an overwash regime to occur during the storm, the crest elevation progressively lowers southward, which caused waves to overtop the dune, progressively transitioning the erosion regime from overwash to inundation mode
The northern section of the site, with the highest dune crest elevations, experienced a collision mode, which resulted in the seaward deposition of a large volume of sand eroded from the dune face
Summary
The combination of SLR with increased storm frequency and intensity (Woodruff et al, 2013) has led local and international management agencies to reassess the vulnerability of coastal communities and the potential damage inflicted by extreme storms to infrastructures and services (e.g., Katehis 2015; Spaudling et al, 2016; Grilli et al 2017a). The increase in storm frequency, combined with this urbanization of barrier islands, prevents the natural restoration of the beach system and limits its role as a protective buffer zone This results in an increased risk for coastal communities, which has strongly affected flood insurance rates. The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) reconstructed a dune system and reinforced it with GSCs in Montauk, NY, in an attempt to limit beach erosion and protect the dense community settled behind the dune barrier from extreme storms, a common situation along the US Atlantic Coastline (USACE-NAN 2014) This type of GSC dune reinforcement to improve coastal protection has been considered at RI sites
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call