HYDRAULIC MODEL TESTS on WAVE ATTENUATION by COASTAL VEGETATION

Coastal areas are very complex and sensitive regions, which are extremely important in terms of economic, social and environmental value. Hence, providingprotection against coastal erosion becomes one of the most significant current issues and a large amount of studies have been conducted on the development of shoreprotection concepts and approaches. In addition to structures such as jetties and breakwaters, which can protect the shoreline by dissipating and reflecting waveenergy, vegetation role in shore protection is recently considered. Coastal vegetation is able to enhance wave attenuation [1-2] and hence, there is a potential to usevegetation for coastal protection purposes. Although it was found that coastal vegetation plays a major role in wave energy attenuation and thus in naturalshore protection, engineering evaluation or design related information regarding plants exposed to waves are still lacking. Therefore, this study aims to focus on some types of coastal vegetation, seaweeds, due to their applications in different industries as well as for coastal protection, and to investigate their interactions with waves and their wave attenuation performance.