Wave Attenuation of Coastal Mangroves at a Near-Prototype Scale

Abstract

A physical model study investigating the dissipation of wave energy by a 1:2.1 scale North American red mangrove forest was performed in a large-scale flume. The objectives were to measure the amount of wave attenuation afforded by mangroves, identify key hydrodynamic parameters influencing wave attenuation, and provide methodologies for application. Seventy-two hydrodynamic conditions, comprising irregular and regular waves, were tested. The analysis related the dissipation to three formulations that can provide estimates of wave attenuation for flood risk management projects considering mangroves: damping coefficient , drag coefficient C, and Manning's roughness coefficient . The attenuation of the incident wave height through the 15.12 m long, 1:2.1 scale mangrove forest was exponential in form and varied from 13 77 . Water depth and incident wave height strongly influenced the amount of wave attenuation. Accounting for differences in water depth using the sub-merged volume fraction resulted in a common fit of the damping coefficient as a function of relative wave height and wave steepness. The drag coefficient demonstrated a stronger relationship with the Keulegan Carpenter number than the Reynolds number. The linear relationship between relative depth and Manning's was stronger than that between Manning's and either relative wave height or wave steepness.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2022
Accession Number
AD1181016

Entities

People

  • Anna Wargula
  • Duncan B. Bryant
  • Leigh A. Provost
  • Mary A. Bryant
  • Maya Mchugh
  • Nia R. Hurst
  • Tori Tomiczek

Organizations

  • Engineer Research and Development Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Engineered Resilient Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Army Corps Of Engineers
  • Civil Engineering
  • Climate Change
  • Coastal Engineering
  • Coastal Flooding
  • Drag
  • Ecology
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Environment
  • Environmental Protection
  • Flood Control
  • Flood Hazards
  • Floods
  • Instrumentation
  • Measurement
  • Reynolds Number
  • Sea Level Rise
  • Storm Surges
  • Wave Power

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Aquatic Ecology
  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.