WAVE-ATTENUATION-1D: AN IDEALIZED ONE-DIMENSIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR WAVE ATTENUATION THROUGH COASTAL VEGETATION USING NUMBA-ACCELERATED SHALLOW WATER EQUATIONS
Abstract
Coastal vegetation provides critical wave attenuation for shoreline protection, but existing models are computationally prohibitive or lack educational transparency. We present wave-attenuation-1d, an open-source Python package implementing linearized shallow water equations with vegeta\-tion-induced drag. The model uses fourth-order Runge-Kutta integration on a staggered grid, achieving unconditional stability through implicit treatment of the drag term. Numerical experiments with monochromatic waves through 40-meter vegetation patches demonstrate transmission coefficients from 0.655 (sparse) to 0.010 (dense vegetation), corresponding to 34.5% and 99.0% wave height reductions. While the one-dimensional framework simplifies three-dimensional flows and flexible vegetation dynamics, it provides a computationally efficient baseline for understanding wave-vegetation interactions. The package features standardized NetCDF output and modular architecture, bridging research-grade simulations and accessible educational tools for exploring nature-based coastal protection solutions.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics
Coastal and Marine Dynamics
Marine and coastal plant biology
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Journal of theoretical and applied mechanics
- Publisher
- Institute of Mechanics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 1
- Publication date
- 2 April 2026