LARGE SCALE LABORATORY OBSERVATIONS OF WAVE FORCE REDUCTION ON COASTAL BUILDINGS BY AN IDEALIZED MANGROVE FOREST

Abstract

As coastal communities face increasing chronic and acute hazards, nature-based coastal engineering solutions have experienced a rapid growth in popularity and interest. Recent works on this topic have shown that this “green infrastructure” may be effective at mitigating coastal hazards and thus have potential as sustainable adaptation alternatives to traditional engineering solutions such as seawalls and breakwaters. However, the amount of protection that green infrastructure can provide has yet to be quantified broadly. The purpose of this study is to quantify the wave force attenuation on coastal buildings by an idealized mangrove forest at a prototype scale and provide guidance to engineers in the design and management of mangrove forests to reduce damage due to storm waves over moderate cross-shore distances.