The effects of wave impacts on toe scouring and overtopping concurrently for permeable shingle foreshores

Recent studies by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicate that sea level will continue to rise in many low-lying areas due to the global climate change that would potentially cause the occurrence of more frequent extreme meteorological events and storm surges in future years. Concurrently, the damage to the critical infrastructures and surrounding properties from extreme climatic events such as wave overtopping, and scouring are expected to be exacerbated in future. Reliable prediction tools for wave overtopping and toe scouring characteristics at sea defences are therefore significantly important for climate resilience of coastal infrastructures. To date, however, most parametric studies regarding these aspects have tended to focus either only overtopping or scouring at sea defences, with investigations on the effects of wave impacts on both overtopping and scouring characteristics simultaneously, particularly for permeable shingle beaches in front of the structure being less well-studied. This limitation and research gap have driven the need to carry out a comprehensive suite of experimental investigations on the influence of wave impacts on toe scour and overtopping concurrently at sea defences with shingle foreshores.