HIGHWAVE: A NEW INTERDISCIPLINARY PROJECT AT THE FRONTIERS OF COASTAL ENGINEERING, EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE AND STATISTICS THAT EXPLORES FUNDAMENTAL OPEN QUESTIONS IN WAVE BREAKING

HIGHWAVE is a new interdisciplinary project at the frontiers of coastal/ocean engineering, earth system science, statistics and fluid mechanics that explores fundamental open questions in wave breaking. It is funded by the European Research Council (2019-2024). The objectives of the project are: (1) to develop an innovative approach to include accurate wave breaking physics into coupled sea state and ocean weather forecasting models; (2) to obtain improved criteria for the design of coastal/offshore infrastructure; (3) to quantify erosion by powerful breaking waves, and (4) to develop new concepts in wave measurement with improved characterization of wave breaking using real-time instrumentation. We will present preliminary results on the development of a dual experimental and numerical benchmark to analyze loads induced by breaking waves and overtopping (the acquisition of new laboratory data will be performed in the facilities of Centrale Marseille and the numerical simulations will be based on models of different levels of complexity).