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The behavior of the Chezy frictional term near the shoreline has been studied in detail. An asymptotic analysis valid for water depths going to zero clearly shows that the use of such a term implies a non-receding motion of the shoreline. This phenomenon is induced by a thin layer of water which, because of frictional forces, remains on the beach and keeps it wet seaward of the largest run-up. However, the influence of such a frictional layer of water on the global wave motion is very weak and practically negligible for most of the swash zone flow dynamics. The existence of a non-receding shoreline has led to some clarifications on the role of some ad-hoc tools used in numerical models for the prediction of the wet/dry interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The working features of innovative coastal defense structures that can dissipate the energy of incoming waves by the action of large-scale bottom unevennesses (rigid blades covering the lower half of the water depth) were investigated by means of a laboratory experimental campaign. The goal of the study was to characterize the ability of the structures to efficiently reduce the wave height with a minimal change in the mean water superelevations. Similar wave height reductions were achieved for both vertical and inclined blades; their efficiency was slightly superior to that of traditional submerged rubble-mound breakwaters of the same cross-shore extension. For the incident waves examined, very low mean water elevations were observed inshore of the structures, with the inclined blades producing the smallest values. These results suggest that the structures analyzed here could represent an alternative to submerged rubble-mound breakwaters from a hydrodynamic point of view to protect coastlines prone to erosion with minimal risk of dangerous rip currents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]