Design scenarios for coastal protection structures on the german baltic sea coast

A method for the design and safety assessment of coastal protection structures along the German Baltic Sea coast is developed based on an estimation of extreme storm impacts. About 60 meteorological storm scenarios and the reconstructed wind fields of the reference storm event of 1872 were used to drive a hydrodynamic modelling system covering the entire Baltic Sea. Water levels and wave climates were determined along the entire German Baltic Sea coastline and high-resolution profile models were applied to estimate local morphological impacts and maximum wave run-up for all storms. Depending on the locally-relevant type of load, it is possible to compare the time series of energy impact or wave run-up between scenarios and the reference event and to determine the maximum load. This method permits both the design of new and the safety assessment of existing structures.