Applications of a neural network to predict wave overtopping at coastal structures

For design, safety assessment and rehabilitation of coastal structures reliable predictions of wave overtopping are required. Several design formulae exist for dikes, rubble mound breakwaters and vertical breakwaters. Nevertheless, often no suitable prediction methods are available for structures that do not resemble rather standard shapes. In the European research project CLASH a method is developed to provide a generic design tool to estimate wave overtopping discharges for a very wide range of coastal structures. The paper gives results from the CLASH project on this subject. It is focused on the extensive database gathered (see Verhaeghe et al., 2003), the neural network (see Pozueta et al., 2004) that has been developed on the basis of this database, and on applications of both.