Wind Effects on Wave Overtopping at a Vertical Sea Defense

Abstract

The wind effect on the efficiency of a coastal defense structure is studied in this paper. It is normally assumed that the strength of the wind impact is characterized by the impulse parameter. If it is lower than a certain value, the wind is expected to have a dominant effect on the wave overtopping rate. In contrast to the regular observation, this study reports a new regime of wave overshoot when a low value of the impulse parameter does not lead to increased importance of wind. It is argued that the new regime appears due to the triplet instability previously studied by others. The variation of the standing wave height and the overshooting jet between the sequential cycles results in independence of the overtopping rates of the wind speed.