Pirl Experimental · Coastal science

Can you keep the water out?

Change the coast. Test your idea. Follow the evidence.

Teaching mode

Shore defense Incoming waves Still-water level

Wide beach Offshore breakwater

Ready to test

Video-inspired concept model: repeats the same ten waves. Counts are simulated, not measurements from the video.

Classroom storm Fair-test variable

Fair test: lock conditions and change only the selected design feature

Storm conditions

Waves High water Rain

Wave height:

Peak at reference gauge: Rainfall: Storm duration:

Build your protection

Front barrier Barrier height: Shore buffer Drainage

Backflow gate · 2,000 Raise low house · 3,000

Classroom budget

Fictional costs; +1,000 per extra 0.5 m of barrier.

Selected designUnprotected comparison

Illustrative terrain and buildings. The water calculation uses a simplified flat neighborhood basin.

Peak depth in model road

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Run a storm to collect evidence

Total water entering

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Waves + high water + rain

Peak depth vs. unprotected

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Same storm, same model neighborhood

Prediction: Which change will help, and why?

Ready

Storm time: 0 min

Illustrative neighborhoods and design performance—not property forecasts. Trials last about 10 seconds on screen.

No completed trials yet.

Trial / town	Design	Credits	Peak cm	Baseline cm	Depth change

Trial to explain

Prediction recorded before this trial Evidence: Use at least one result and a comparison. Revision: What will you change next, and why?

All trials and explanations are included in the export. Copy the CSV if this preview blocks downloads.

Documented benchmark	Gauge height (ft MLLW)

NWS gauge Local flood evidence

Each gauge has its own MLLW reference. Heights are not street-water depths. Sandy applies a recorded peak only, not a reconstruction of that storm. Source snapshot: October 6, 2026.

What is sourced, and what is a model assumption?

Part	Basis
Local gauge thresholds and Sandy peaks	NWS station metadata for Mantoloking and Watson Creek.
Local flood pathways	Borough floodplain plan; Beach drainage documentation. The drawings are illustrative cross sections.
Neighborhood dimensions	Both towns use a hypothetical 10,000 m² flat basin, 100 m front, 40,000 m² rain catchment, and an 8 m equivalent backwater opening. Model ground is assumed 2 ft above each gauge’s minor-flood threshold.
Waves and barriers	An educational adaptation of the EurOtop overtopping response shape. Curved-wall, roughness, buffer, and breakwater factors are classroom assumptions; they are not measured local performance.
High water and drainage	A simplified, reversible weir response plus pumps. The gate blocks inflow through the modeled backwater path. It does not block water through the front.
Rain	70% of rainfall over the hypothetical catchment reaches the basin. Pump rates: 15, 265, or 615 L/s including the existing drain.
Homes and costs	Low floor: 0.3 m; raised floor: 1.5 m above model ground. Costs are fictional credits. No repair-cost or structural-failure calculation.
Limits	No mapped terrain, erosion, barrier failure, sediment transport, groundwater, or wave-force damage. A flood-free result here does not establish real-world safety.

EurOtop USACE weir methods

Learn · Experiment · Refine · ImpactClassroom model · export work before leavingJBA Trust: original wave-tank demonstration