Moreno, L.; Negro, V.; Garrote, L.; Muñoz-Pérez, J.J.; López, J.S., and Esteban, M.D., 2020. An engineering method for the preliminary functional design of perched beaches: Design guidelines. In: Malvárez, G. and Navas, F. (eds.), Global Coastal Issues of 2020. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 95, pp. 283–288. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.

Perched beaches are an attractive nourishment design alternative especially when either the site conditions or the characteristics of both the native and the borrow sands lead to a non-intersecting profile. The observation and suggestion of the use of this type of coastal defense scheme dates back to the 1960's, as well as the international experience in its construction. However, in spite of its use and the field and laboratory studies performed to-date, no design engineering guidance is available to support its design. The theoretical approach presented at ICS'2018 (Moreno et al., 2018) was based on dimensional analysis to identify the key dimensionless parameters with regards to the incident wave climate, the structural and geometric characteristics and location of the sill, and the beach sediment properties. Systematic mobile-bed physical model tests have been performed in a 36 × 3 × 1.5 m wave flume with five regular wave conditions. A 4-step calculation scheme is presented. The design method provides suitable (1) locations for the sill in terms of water depth, (2) sill dimensions (crest elevation and crest width), and (3) beach material characteristics of the perched beach so that successful behavior is expected.