Morphodynamics and cobbles behavior in and near the surf zone

The evolution of an initially flat sandy slope and the dynamics of large objects (cobbles/mines) emplaced on it are studied in a laboratory wave tank under simulated surf conditions. Upon initiation of wave forcing, the initially flat beach undergoes bedform changes before reaching a quasi-steady morphology characterized by a system of sand ripples along the slope and a large bar near the break point. Although the incoming wave characteristics are held fixed, the bottom morphology never reaches a strict steady state, but rather slowly changes due to the migration of ripples and bar transformation. When the wave characteristics are changed, the bedform adjusts to a new quasi-steady state after a suitable adjustment time. Studies conducted by placing model cobbles/mines on the evolving sandy bottom subjected to wave forcing show four distinct scenarios: (i) periodic cobble oscillations with zero mean displacement and small scour around the cobbles, (ii) mean onshore motion of relatively light cobbles, (iii) periodic burial of relatively heavy cobbles when their sizes are comparable to those of sand ripples, and (iv) the burial of relatively large cobbles under the bar, when the bar migrates due to changes of incoming waves. Quantitative data on the characteristics and dynamics of the bedform, including ripple-formation front propagating down the slope, ripple growth and drift, and flow around ripples, are presented. Physical explanations are provided for the observations.     

Burial and scour around short cylinder under progressive shoaling waves

The results of a laboratory experimental program aimed at better understanding the scour around and burial of heavy cylindrical objects under oscillating flow on a sandy bed are described. This study was motivated by its application to the dynamics of isolated cobbles/mines on a sandy floor under nonlinear progressive waves, such as that occur in shallow coastal waters beyond the wave-breaking region. In the experiments, nonlinear progressive waves were generated in a long wave tank of rectangular cross-section with a bottom slope. Model mines (short cylinders) were placed on the sandy bottom and the temporal evolution of the bed profile and the velocity field in the near field of the object were observed. Experiments were conducted at relatively high Reynolds numbers for a range of flow conditions, which can be characterized by the Keulegan–Carpenter number and Shields parameter. Depending on the values of these parameters, four different scour regimes around the cylinder including periodical burial of cylinder under migrating sand ripples were observed; they were classified as: (i) no scour/burial, (ii) initial scour, (iii) expanded scour, and (iv) periodic burial cases. A scour regime diagram was developed and the demarcation criteria between different regimes were deduced. Semi-empirical formulae that permit estimation of the scour depth with time, the equilibrium maximum scour depth and length, and conditions necessary for the burial of the cylinder as a function of main external parameters are also proposed.     

Self-Burial of Short Cylinders Under Oscillatory Flows and Combined Waves Plus Currents

Self-burial processes of finite-length cylinders under oscillatory flows and waves plus currents were examined with the following two different experimental facilities: a large oscillating water-sediment tunnel (LOWST) and a large wave-current tank. More than 130 experiments, with different model cylinders, were conducted within both facilities. The burial mechanisms studied include burial due to local scour and bedform migration. Burial due to fluidization in the tunnel was also explored, but only in a qualitative way. In the case of experiments with LOWST, the equilibrium burial depth was found to be a power function of the shields parameter (thetas). In the wave-current tank, the equilibrium burial depth was also found to be a function of the Shields parameter, albeit with larger scatter. The experimental observations made in both facilities have similar trends but different magnitudes. For equivalent values of the Shields parameter, smaller equilibrium burial depths were observed in the wave flume when compared to the ones in LOWST. After burial induced by local scour takes place, bedform (ripples and sandwaves) formation and evolution play a strong and, in some cases, dominant role on the equilibrium burial depth of the cylinders. Depending on how the vertical dimensions of bedforms compare to the specimen's diameter, cyclical covering and uncovering of the object may take place due to the passage of the migrating sandwaves. In such case, burial depth B_d no longer coincides with the vertical displacement (V_d) of the object as in the case when the burial process is dominated by local scour.     

Sedimentary environments of the east-central Bering Sea continental shelf

A factor analysis of 180 bottom sediment samples from the east-central Bering Sea continental shelf identifies five factors that account for 95% of the variation in the 17 whole ø size classes that were used as variables. Factor I represents coarse sediments that have been bypassed in areas of active water circulation. Factors II and III represent fine and very fine sands that have been hydraulically sorted, reworked, and mixed. Factor IV represents coarse to medium silt that has been segregated from areas of relatively high energy. Factor V represents both the production of sediments finer than medium silt and deposition within the lowest-energy environment in this area.Modern and palimpsest sediments are areally prevalent over this section of the shelf. Relict sediments occur in only a few small areas. The dispersal of sediments is affected by surface and tidal currents as well as wave action. Ice rafting is not an important geological agent. Data from the eastcentral Bering Sea shelf indicate that sediments on subarctic continental shelves are not necessarily characterized by an abundance of rocky sediments or gravel.     

Characterization of bedform morphology generated under combined flows and currents using wavelet analysis

The wavelet transform (WT) has been successfully implemented in many fields such as signal and image processing, communication theory, optics, numerical analysis, and fluid mechanics. However, the application of WT to describe bedform morphology in coastal areas, oceans, and rivers is rare. The present study demonstrates the capability of WT analysis to fully represent the space–frequency characteristics of signals describing bed topography generated in marine and river environments. In this study WT is used to examine the morphological characteristics of bedforms generated in two separate laboratory facilities: a wave tank and a meandering channel. In the wave tank a set of ripples superimposed upon large wave ripples were generated; while in the meandering channel, 2D and 3D migrating ripples and dunes were observed. The WT proved to be a useful tool in detecting the complex variability of the generated bedform structures. The size distribution of the bottom features such as ripples, large wave ripples and sandbars were first examined along a 2D bed profile. Later analysis studied the variability of features in the transverse direction by using the power Hovmöller. Experiments in the wave tank were conducted for a mobility number of ψ=(10, 28), and a Reynolds wave number of R_ew=(17,500, 83,500) which correspond to waves alone (WA) and to combined flow (CF) scenarios, respectively. Experiments in the meandering channel were conducted under a morphological regime that produced mainly migrating sandbars.     

埕北海域工程地质分区及模糊数学稳定性评价

通过土工试验和粒度分析,发现埕北海域沉积物主要以粉土和粉质黏土为主,局部地区分布有粉砂和淤泥质土。综合考虑研究区沉积物、水深地形、地貌、地质灾害等因素,可将研究区划分为4个工程区:Ⅰ区、Ⅱ区、Ⅲ区和Ⅳ区。针对4个工程区,采用模糊数学的方法,选择直接影响工程稳定性的5个主要因素即:沉积物类型、主要持力层埋深、主要持力层承载力、地形地貌和地质灾害类型作为评价因子定量对各区稳定性进行评价,发现4个工程地质区的稳定性分别为:Ⅰ区(稳定区)、Ⅱ区(不稳定区)、Ⅲ区(较不稳定区)和Ⅳ区(较稳定区)。以此为研究区的工程建设提供设计依据。     

An experimental study of seabed responses around a marine pipeline under wave and current conditions

Experiments on three types of soil (d₅₀=0.287, 0.057 and 0.034 mm) with pipeline(D=4 cm) either half buried or resting on the seabed under regular wave or combined with current actions were conducted in a large wave flume to investigate characteristics of soil responses. The pore pressures were measured through the soil depth and across the pipeline. When pipeline is present the measured pore pressures in sandy soil nearby the pipeline deviate considerably from that predicted by the poro-elasticity theory. The buried pipeline seems to provide a degree of resistance to soil liquefaction in the two finer soil seabeds. In the silt bed, a negative power relationship was found between maximum values of excess pore pressure p_max and test intervals under the same wave conditions due to soil densification and dissipation of the pore pressure. In the case of wave combined with current, pore pressures in sandy soil show slightly decrease with time, whereas in silt soil, the current causes an increase in the excess pore pressure build-up, especially at the deeper depth. Comparing liquefaction depth with scour depth underneath the pipeline indicates that the occurrence of liquefaction is accompanied with larger scour depth under the same pipeline-bed configuration.     

3D scour below pipelines under waves and combined waves and currents

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on three-dimensional local scour below a rigid pipeline subjected to wave only and combined wave and current conditions. The tests were conducted in a conventional wave flume. The major emphasis of the investigation was on the scour propagation speed (free span expansion rate) along the pipeline after local scour was initiated at a controlled location. The effects of flow ratio (steady current velocity vs. combined waves/current velocity), flow incidence angle and pipeline initial embedment depth on free span expansion rate were investigated. It was observed that the scour along the pipeline propagated at a constant rate under wave only conditions. The scour propagation rate decreased with increasing embedment depth, however, increased with the increasing Keuglegan–Carpenter (KC) number. Under combined wave and current conditions, the effect of velocity ratio on scour propagation velocity along the pipeline was quantified. Empirical relationships between the scour propagation rate (V_h) and key parameters such as the KC number and embedment depth (e/D) were established based on the testing results.     

Implications of bedform dimensions for the prediction of local scour in tidal inlets: a case study from the southern North Sea

The bedforms and the local scour at the base of a cylindrical pile were studied in a tidal inlet in the Wadden Sea, southern North Sea, using high-resolution multibeam bathymetry data from four surveys. The observed changes in scour and bedform dimensions were interpreted in terms of hydraulic forcings varying periodically at different time scales. It appears that bedform orientation reacts to changing flow conditions on a semidiurnal basis, whereas bedform height and steepness reflect the spring-neap cycle as well as seasonal signals. The scour depth carries a strong overprint of the semidiurnal tidal cycle, which is at a maximum during the strongest tidal flow. Subtler variations in scour depth can possibly be attributed to the spring-neap tidal cycle. Based on these data on bedform and scour dimensions, correlation functions were established between scour depth and dune height as well as dune length. In measuring the scour depth under mobile bed conditions, establishing the seabed level based on the trough level of the bedforms nearest to the scour proved useful. These findings suggest that the dimensions of bedforms in dynamic equilibrium with prevailing hydraulic flow conditions can be used to estimate scouring in tidal environments.     

北极东西伯利亚陆架沉积物物源:来自黏土矿物和化学元素的证据

本文对北极东西伯利亚陆架表层沉积物进行了粒度、黏土矿物以及常微量元素测定,阐述了粒度、黏土矿物和常微量元素的分布特征.利用因子分析与聚类分析划分了不同的沉积区,并探讨了各区沉积物的主要来源.结果表明,研究区可以划分为4个沉积区:(1)东西伯利亚海近岸河口区(Ⅰ区),沉积物以粉砂和砂质粉砂为主,TiO2、Zr、SiO2含...     

海南岛东南浅海表层沉积物粒度特征及沉积环境

对海南岛东南浅海377组表层沉积物样品(平均水深112.3 m)开展粒度测定及沉积物类型划分,并运用统计规律及沉积输运趋势分析,探讨了底质沉积物分布格局与物质来源及沉积动力环境关系.结果表明,海南岛东南浅海沉积物类型复杂,共分布13种沉积物类型,粒度组成以粉砂和砂为主,平均粒径均值为5.73Φ,优势粒级为细粉砂级(6～...     

Origin of rippled scour depressions associated with cohesive sediments in a shoreface setting (eastern Bay of Seine, France)

Side-scan sonar investigations in the eastern part of the macrotidal Bay of Seine have revealed the presence of numerous rippled scour depressions (RSDs) at water depths of 5–9 m. The sediments in these depressions consist essentially of coarse-grained shell hash derived from underlying Holocene sediments dated at roughly 6,500 years BP, and arranged in large wave-generated ripples. The shallow marine area where these features occur consists of a wave-generated ravinement surface produced during the marine flooding of the late Holocene transgression. It can be shown that, during the last 20 years at least, erosion of the muddy sand and sandy seabed has exposed underlying relict sediments. These consist of stiff clays, silts and a layer of shell debris which, when exposed, cover the bottom of large scour depressions which appear to be in equilibrium with the local hydrodynamic regime. Morphological and hydrodynamic data suggest that the RSDs are generated by strong cross-shore bottom currents flowing parallel to the features in the direction of the prevailing waves, and probably associated with storm-induced downwelling events.     

海流作用下海底管道局部冲刷数值分析

在任意拉格朗日-欧拉参考坐标系下,采用基于雷诺平均的Navier-Stokes方程组(RANS)、流线迎风有限元方法、泥沙输运模型以及底床变形方程,对海流引起的海底管道局部冲刷进行了数值模拟。着重讨论了均匀来流流速和海底管道直径对局部冲刷发展过程及平衡冲刷深度的影响作用。数值结果表明,在冲刷的初始阶段,冲刷深度随时间迅速增加,之后缓慢逼近极限平衡深度;在管径一定的情况下,管道附近的局部平衡冲刷深度与流速大致呈线性关系;当流速超过某一临界区域后,最大平衡冲刷深度出现的位置并不在管道正下方,而是随流速的增加向管道下游方向移动;另外,管道直径也会对平衡冲刷深度产生比较明显的影响,在相同流速下,平衡冲刷深度大致随管径呈线性增大。在本文的计算范围内,海底管道的相对局部平衡冲刷深度基本随雷诺数线性增加,但流速对冲刷深度的影响作用要比管径的影响作用更为明显。     

海底管线局部冲刷机理研究综述

局部冲刷造成的悬空是海底管线失效的最大诱发因素。对均流及波浪作用下铺设在海床表面管线的局部冲刷起动机理、临界条件以及2D局部冲刷机理、流—管—土耦合机理和3D局部冲刷机理等做了分析和总结。     

山东半岛东部南北岸典型砂质海岸沉积、地貌的横向差异及成因分析———以海阳万米海滩岸段和威海国际海水浴场岸段为例

根据2011年在海阳万米海滩岸段与威海国际海水浴场岸段调查获得的夏、冬两季海岸实测地形剖面与沉积物粒度数据,并收集相关水文资料,对南北两海岸地貌与沉积差异性进行分析,探讨了半岛东部南北岸典型砂质海岸动力环境的差异。研究结果表明,南部海岸宽广平缓,发育滩脊、滩肩、沙波纹等地貌,沉积物在水下岸坡上段以中粗砂、中细砂为主,水下岸坡以下段以粉砂、黏土质粉砂为主;北部海岸地形陡,发育滩肩陡坎、水下沙坝等地貌,沉积物以砾质砂为主。导致这些差异的动力为风、波浪、潮汐及沿岸流堆积。     

Wave pressures and uplift forces on and scour around submarine pipeline in clayey soil

Experimental investigations are carried out on wave-induced pressures and uplift forces on a submarine pipeline (exposed, half buried and fully buried) in clayey soil of different consistency index both in regular and random waves. A study on scour under the pipeline resting on the clay bed is also carried out. It is found that the uplift force can be reduced by about 70%, if the pipeline is just buried in clay soil. The equilibrium scour depth below the pipeline is estimated as 42% of the pipe diameter for consistency index of 0.17 and is 34% of the pipe diameter for consistency index of 0.23. The results of the present investigations are compared with the results on sandy soil by Cheng and Liu (Appl. Ocean Res., 8(1986) 22) to acknowledge the benefit of cohesive soil in reducing the high pore pressure on buried pipeline compared to cohesionless soil.     

GMDH-GEP to predict free span expansion rates below pipelines under waves

ABSTRACT

In this research, group method of data handling (GMDH) as a one of the self-organized approaches is utilized to predict three-dimensional free span expansion rates around pipeline due to waves. The GMDH network is developed using gene-expression programming (GEP) algorithm. In this way, GEP was performed in each neuron of GMDH instead of polynomial quadratic neuron. Effective parameters on the three-dimensional scour rates include sediment size, pipeline geometry, and wave characteristics upstream of pipeline. Four-dimensionless parameters are considered as input variables by means of dimensional analysis technique. Furthermore, scour rates along the pipeline, vertical scour rate, and additionally scour rates in the left and right of pipeline are determined as output parameters. Results of the proposed GMDH-GEP models for the training stages and testing ones are evaluated using various statistical indices. Performances of the GMDH-GEP models are compared with artificial neural network (ANN), GEP, GMDH, and traditional equations-based regression models. Moreover, sensitivity analysis and parametric study are conducted to perceive influences of different input parameters on the three-dimensional scour rates.     

Small-scale sediment transport patterns and bedform morphodynamics: new insights from high-resolution multibeam bathymetry

New multibeam echosounder and processing technologies yield sub-meter-scale bathymetric resolution, revealing striking details of bedform morphology that are shaped by complex boundary-layer flow dynamics at a range of spatial and temporal scales. An inertially aided post processed kinematic (IAPPK) technique generates a smoothed best estimate trajectory (SBET) solution to tie the vessel motion-related effects of each sounding directly to the ellipsoid, significantly reducing artifacts commonly found in multibeam data, increasing point density, and sharpening seafloor features. The new technique was applied to a large bedform field in 20–30 m water depths in central San Francisco Bay, California (USA), revealing bedforms that suggest boundary-layer flow deflection by the crests where 12-m-wavelength, 0.2-m-amplitude bedforms are superimposed on 60-m-wavelength, 1-m-amplitude bedforms, with crests that often were strongly oblique (approaching 90°) to the larger features on the lee side, and near-parallel on the stoss side. During one survey in April 2008, superimposed bedform crests were continuous between the crests of the larger features, indicating that flow detachment in the lee of the larger bedforms is not always a dominant process. Assessment of bedform crest peakedness, asymmetry, and small-scale bedform evolution between surveys indicates the impact of different flow regimes on the entire bedform field. This paper presents unique fine-scale imagery of compound and superimposed bedforms, which is used to (1) assess the physical forcing and evolution of a bedform field in San Francisco Bay, and (2) in conjunction with numerical modeling, gain a better fundamental understanding of boundary-layer flow dynamics that result in the observed superimposed bedform orientation.     

推进波作用下海底管线周围局部冲刷试验研究

考虑行波作用下的海底管线的局部冲刷问题。采用波浪水槽模型试验的方法,研究波浪荷载引起的管线周围局部冲刷机理和冲刷形态,探讨行波作用下管线周围局部冲刷的演化规律,包括冲刷起动、水土界面沙波的形成以及平衡冲刷深度与KC数(keulegan-carpenter number)和相对埋置深度的关系。