"The strategic objective of the project is to develop tools and methods to facilitate appropriate design of artificial reefs / reef breakwaters, applied in conjunction with or without beach nourishment, towards an environmentally friendly coastal protection. The specific targeted research objectives include: - Verification and improvement of a RANSE/VOF CFD wave model (developed within the Marie Curie Fellowship) with available data from physical model test - Development of an ‘Extreme Wave Numerical Flume’ for evaluation the impact of extreme waves in coastal waters (numerical study on interaction of reef structures with tsunamis and coastal ‘freak’ waves) - 2D/3D Numerical study on ‘wave-pumping effects’, wave-driven currents, local scour and sediment transport around an artificial reef (using Hydrodynamics and Boussinesq Wave models, as well as a Sand transport model) - Application to practical design of reef breakwaters with respect to protection of coasts against erosion and impact of extreme waves. Work will include: collect/process/analyse data; write software codes (numerical models); perform numerical simulations, write technical reports. Expected results are: - An improved RANSE/VOF CFD model of wave environment (including simulations of solitary waves; regular (monochromatic) waves; irregular waves / group waves / freak waves; breaking waves) - New knowledge on the mechanism of breaking of waves passing artificial reefs - New knowledge on the mechanism of ‘wave-pumping effect’ and wave-driven currents in the vicinity of artificial reefs - New knowledge on the propagation and impact of extreme waves on coastal beaches and protection facilities - Recommendations on practical design of reef breakwaters: optimizing geometry & other reef parameters; preventing shoreline erosion & local scours; protecting coastal environment from extreme waves."