Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2012LA87B

Irregular Wave Dissipation by Coastal Vegetation

Institute: Louisiana
Year Established: 2012 Start Date: 2012-03-01 End Date: 2012-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $15,495 Total Non-Federal Funds: $32,056

Principal Investigators: Heather Smith

Abstract: Coastal protection and restoration is a major concern globally. In the United States alone, more than 50% of the population lives within 50 miles of a coastline. Coastal Louisiana is particularly vulnerable to storm damage, as a considerable amount of naturally occurring wetlands have been lost due to wetland erosion and subsidence. However, the prediction of wetland eectiveness is dependent on our limited understanding of the processes that help mitigate storm surge and waves. The objective of this research is to investigate the interactions of coastal vegetation with irregular waves. Our work will focus on: (1) estimating the damping provided by vegetation as a function of location and wave characteristics; (2) estimates of the drag coecient and its dependency on local hydrodynamic properties; and (3) the velocity and turbulence in the water column and its eect on the attenuation. This work will be accomplished through the analysis of laboratory data collected during the summer of 2010.