During high
-
energy episodes, like storms and hurricanes, the coastal line is under an
enormous threat, causing several and important changes. Those changes should be
computed in order to predict t
he response of the beach under high
-
energy episodes.
Overwash
,
is one of
the most important processes
and occurs when the water level
reach enough height to overtop the beach crest.
However, it is really difficult to
obtain
reliable data on this process
. There are several studies, based on field and laboratory data
on the literature that have tried to define algorithms to predict those changes,
but
the scope of these formulas is really limited due to the high amount of processes
involved. That is why, the p
ercentage of prediction is very low when a formula tries to
face all kind of types of data.
In fact, there is not a good formula to compute or predict
the response of the beach among the models analysed. Gathering reliable data from
several studies a new d
ata base has been built, and according with this, a new formula
has been developed and adjusted.
The central core of this formula
is based on the
overtopping of waves over the beach crest. A focused study on the Catalan coast is
done with the new formula d
ue to the two predominant types of beaches. One much
more flat with smooth slopes and another one with a steeper slope and height beach
crests.
Finally,
the new formula is used to get an order of magnitude of what will
happen, in term of flux of sediment,
if a high
-
energy episode occurs on the Catalan
coast.
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