Influence of Relative Water Depth on Wave Run-up over Coastal Structures: Rough Slopes

This paper is concerned with an experimental study carried out in a laboratory wave flume to quantify the influence of the relative water depth on the wave run-up over a rough sloping structure. The run-up measurements were carried out over a bed of gravel of median diameter 20 mm for practically important ranges of the wave steepness, the relative water depth and the structure slope. The results indicate a maximum increase in the wave run-up of about 20% at shallow depths compared to deep water conditions. The measurements also suggest that the range of relative depths that cause an increase in the wave run-up compared to deep water conditions fall between 0.8 and 2 with the maximum effect occurring at a relative depth of about 1.2.