What are wave impact pressures?
Wave impact pressures arise when the near vertical front of a breaking wave slams against an obstacle such as a sea wall. These pressures consist of a very short but high pressure peak, which is followed by a smaller but longer lasting hydrodynamic pressure caused by the reflection of the wave.. The highest ever recorded pressure reached 690 kN/m2 , with a rise time of 5 ms, Rouville et al. (1938). More recent measurements, Crawford et al. (1998), reported pressures up to 128 kN/m2, although their measurements were conducted during an unusually quiet period. The mechanism of impact pressure generation is still unclear; theories range from shock wave generation to momentum exchange and to the compression of an entrapped air lens. In addition, the prediction of impact pressures is difficult, and existing formulas have all been found to be flawed so that the prediction of pressures for design purposes remains, well, difficult. Impact pressure propagation into cracks? Theoretical considera
