Method to assess the interplay of slope, relative water depth, wave steepness, and sea state persistence in the progression of damage to the rock layer over impermeable dikes

Abstract The objective of this research was to develop a new methodology to assess the progression of damage to sloped coastal structures such as revetments, dikes, and mound breakwaters by applying dimensional analysis. The adequacy of the derived functional relationship was verified with the same experimental data (rock layer over impermeable dikes under irregular waves and four dike slopes) originally used to obtain the Van de Meer stability formula. The method addresses the epistemic uncertainty of the damage evolution model and its dependence on the experimental design and technique, the non-dimensional incident sea-state characteristics at the foot of the slope, relative water depth, relative wave height, wave steepness, sea-state persistence, and number of waves. It is specific to each dike slope. Specifically, the scarcity of experimental data in shallow water conditions are considered. Accordingly, the sigmoid function is proposed as an alternate model to quantify the progression. In the current state of knowledge, it is uncertain how the formulas based on lab-experiments perform for real-world design conditions. More research in the form of further test series is thus necessary to explore this new approach in greater depth.