Evaluation of Design Water Levels and Design Wave Run-Up for an Estuarine Coastal Protection Master Plan

Subsequently deepenings of the waterway in the inner part of the Ems estuary at the southern North Sea coast changed not only the tidal regime but also that of storm surge water levels. Therefore a thorough going review of the existing coastal protection masterplan became necessary. Moreover the design procedures for the estuarine dykes had to be adapted to the state of the art in tune with existing legal requirements. A statistical model for the computation of storm surge set-ups in estuaries was introduced and verified. Design waves were evaluated by application of the third-generation mathematical model SWAN and the design wave run-up was determined by using relationships derived from results of large scale model tests.