The assessment of the coastal protection potential of dunes is far from being a streamlined, mature procedure, and it will demand more parameters than merely the dunes' height, dimensions or volume, but tentatively also their vegetation coverage. The role of stabilizing root components in the overall dune body matrix is currently not well understood, in particular, when highly dynamic processes such as wave attack is involved. The hypothesis of this novel work hence is that root systems of dune grass (i.e., A. arenaria) can be quantified for the modelling in experimental campaigns and for more reliable erosion results. To investigate this hypothesis novel physical experiments are currently conducted in the wave flume at the Leichtweiß-Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources in Braunschweig (Germany), testing different root surrogate materials and quantities for the first time.
