Onshore sandbar migration at Tairua Beach (New Zealand): Numerical simulations and field measurements

We observed the onshore migration (3.5 m/day) of a nearshore sandbar at Tairua Beach, New Zealand during 4 days of low-energy wave conditions. The morphological observations, together with concurrent measurements of waves and suspended sediment concentrations, were used to test a coupled, wave-averaged, cross-shore model. Because of the coarse bed material and the relatively low-energy conditions, the contribution of the suspended transport to the total transport was predicted and observed to be negligible. The model predicted the bar to move onshore because of the feedback between near-bed wave skewness, bedload, and the sandbar under weakly to non-breaking conditions at high tide. The predicted bathymetric evolution contrasts, however, with the observations that the bar migrated onshore predominantly at low tide. Also, the model flattened the bar, while in the observations the sandbar retained its steep landward-facing flank. A comparison between available observations and numerical simulations suggests that onshore propagating surf zone bores in very shallow water (< 0.25 m) may have been responsible for most of the observed bar behaviour. These processes are missing from the applied model and, given that the observed conditions can be considered typical of very shallow sandbars, highlight a priority for further field study and model development. The possibility that the excess water transported by the bores across the bar was channelled alongshore to near-by rip-channels further implies that traditional cross-shore measures to judge the applicability of a cross-shore morphodynamic model may be misleading.     

Morphodynamic response of nearshore bars to a shoreface nourishment

The autonomous nearshore bar behaviour along the barrier island of Terschelling, The Netherlands, is characterised by the presence of net seaward cyclic migrating sand bars generated near the shoreline. In 1993, a perturbation of the cyclic bar system was introduced by the implementation of a 2 Mm³ shoreface nourishment supplied to the nearshore bar zone, filling up the trough between the middle and outer bar. The morphodynamic response of the nearshore bars to the nourishment perturbation is investigated using a bathymetric data set with an alongshore extent of 12 km and sampled for 10 years. Bar behaviour is quantified in terms of bar crest position in relation to morphometric parameters such as bar depth, height, width and volume. Along with a pronounced development of a three-dimensional bar system unseen in the autonomous behaviour, the nearshore bars exhibited a 6–7 year arrest in their migrational behaviour during which bar morphology remained stable at immediate pre-nourishment morphometric values. At the subsequent onset of bar movement, bars resumed their migration at a rate predicted by autonomous behaviour in parallel development with morphometric parameters along their predicted trends. It is shown that the observed onshore transport of nourished sediment in the 6–7 year arrest results from a gradual deepening of troughs. Cross-shore sediment transport modelling is used to assess the effect of the nourishment on yearly averaged onshore (short-wave nonlinearity) and offshore (undertow) sediment transport rates. The gradual reappearance of the pre-nourishment bar-trough morphology is shown to engender a normalisation in the cross-shore distribution of sediment transport rates to pre-nourishment rates.     

Bars formed by horizontal diffusion of suspended sediment

The mechanism responsible for the ubiquitous presence of convex beach profiles and shoreward migration of linear bars is examined using numerical circulation and sediment transport models. The models are validated against laboratory measurements and observed natural beach cross-sections. While not discounting the importance of infragravity and advective horizontal circulation or bed-return flow mechanisms, a robust diffusive process explains the convex profile shape and bar formation. In the presence of concentration gradients across the surf zone, a diffusive sediment flux from high to low concentration results in the transfer of sediment outwards from the breakpoint, both onshore and offshore, and the subsequent formation of a “diffusion bar” and “diffusion profile”. The profiles are characterised by single- and double-convex dome-like shapes, developing during shoreward migration of the bars by the diffusion mechanism. The mechanism explains several phenomena observed on natural beaches, including (i) convex beach profiles; (ii) shoreward migration of the bar with concomitant beach accretion under narrow-band swell; (iii) reduced propensity for bar formation on low-gradient, fine-sand beaches or under wide-band wave spectra (even though multiple bars are common on some low-gradient beaches) and (iv) offshore migration of the bar during periods of increasing wave height. The diffusion mechanism can be dependent on orbital motion alone and, as such, requires no frequency selection or strong correlation between multiple processes for bar formation.     

Process-based modelling of a shoreface nourishment

A state-of-the-art process-based model is applied to hindcast the morphological development of a shoreface nourishment along the barrier island of Terschelling, The Netherlands. The applied morphodynamic model is Delft3D for fully three-dimensional flow and sediment transport in coastal environments. Owing to a complex geomorphological setting of the study area, the curvi-linear model includes adjacent tidal inlets and covers 40×70 km with an increasing grid size resolution towards the nourishment site in the center of the island. In 1993, a total of 2 Mm³ of sand was supplied to the nearshore bar zone off Terschelling, filling up the trough between the middle and outer bar. By spring 1994, most of the nourished sediment had been redistributed onshore and welded onto the middle bar where it remained in the following years. The morphodynamic model is applied to the prediction of this rapid nearshore profile behaviour. The calibration of the model against an extensive set of full-scale hydrodynamic data at several locations throughout the nearshore bar zone shows a good representation of the measured hydrodynamics. Morphodynamic results show a dependency on spatial scale: on the scale of precise bed level evolution with respect to bar migration and growth, model predictions are poor as the nearshore bars are predicted to flatten out. Resorting to bulk volumes integrated over larger spatial scales, the model clearly has skill in predicting the overall effects of the nourishment. The lack of phase shift between sediment transport and bathymetry is identified as the key controlling factor for the poor sandbar predictions.     

NearCoM-TVD — A quasi-3D nearshore circulation and sediment transport model

The newly developed nearshore circulation model, SHORECIRC, using a hybrid finite-difference finite-volume TVD-type scheme, is coupled with the wave model SWAN in the Nearshore Community Model (NearCoM) system. The new modeling system is named NearCoM-TVD and the purpose of this study is to report the capability and limitation of NearCoM-TVD for several coastal applications. For tidal inlet applications, the model is verified with the semi-analytical solution of Keulegan (1967) for an idealized inlet-bay system. To further evaluate the model performance in predicting nearshore circulation under intense wave–current interaction over complex bathymetry, modeled circulation patterns are validated with measured data during RCEX field experiment (MacMahan et al., 2010). For sediment transport applications, two sediment transport models are applied to predict three sandbar migration events at Duck, NC, during August to October 1994 (Gallagher et al., 1998). The model of Kobayashi et al. (2008) incorporates wave-induced onshore sediment transport rate as a function of the standard deviation of wave-induced horizontal velocities. The modeled beach profile evolution for two offshore events and one onshore event agrees well with the measured data. The second model investigated here combines two published sediment transport models, namely, the total load model driven by currents under the effect of wave stirring (Soulsby, 1997) and the wave-driven sediment transport model due to wave asymmetry/skewness (van Rijn et al., 2011). The model study with limited field data suggests that the parameterization of wave stirring is appropriate during energetic wave conditions. However, during low energy wave conditions, the effect of wave stirring needs to be re-calibrated.     

Experimental simulation of shoreface nourishments under storm events: A morphological,hydrodynamic, and sediment grain size analysis

This study focuses on barred beach shoreface nourishments physically simulated in a wave flume. The attack of a schematic storm on three different nourishments is analysed. The apex and waning storm phases lead respectively to offshore and onshore sediment transports. Nourishments in the trough and on the outer bar feed the bar and increase wave dissipation offshore. The bar acts as a wave filter and reduces shore erosion (lee effect). In contrast, nourishment on the beach face leads mostly to shore feeding and reconstruction (feeder effect). With successive nourishments, the beach face clearly becomes steeper and onshore sediment transport is reduced during moderate wave climates. The surface grain size analysis reveals marked variations. Coarser sediments are sorted on the bar and the upper beach face. These locations correspond to large wave dissipation zones during the storm apex.     

Seasonal-scale nearshore morphological evolution: Field observations and numerical modeling

A coupled waves–currents-bathymetric evolution model (DELFT-3D) is compared with field measurements to test hypotheses regarding the processes responsible for alongshore varying nearshore morphological changes at seasonal time scales. A 2001 field experiment, along the beaches adjacent to Grays Harbor, Washington, USA, captured the transition between the high-energy erosive conditions of winter and the low-energy beach-building conditions typical of summer. The experiment documented shoreline progradation on the order of 10–20 m and on average approximately 70 m of onshore sandbar migration during a four-month period. Significant alongshore variability was observed in the morphological response of the sandbar over a 4 km reach of coast with sandbar movement ranging from 20 m of offshore migration to over 175 m of onshore bar migration, the largest seasonal-scale onshore migration event observed in a natural setting. Both observations and model results suggest that, in the case investigated here, alongshore variations in initial bathymetry are primarily responsible for the observed alongshore variable morphological changes. Alongshore varying incident hydrodynamic forcing, occasionally significant in this region due to a tidal inlet and associated ebb-tidal delta, was relatively minor during the study period and appears to play an insignificant role in the observed alongshore variability in sandbar behavior at kilometer-scale. The role of fully three-dimensional cell circulation patterns in explaining the observed morphological variability also appears to be minor, at least in the case investigated here.     

Harbour entrance morphology and sediments at a river mouth port,Westport, New Zealand

Entrance morphologies and sediment characteristics were studied at Westport Harbour, a river mouth port located on the Buller River, New Zealand. The most frequent morphology found was that in which two submarine bars were present off the river mouth. When present, these bars were separated by a transverse channel running east from Carters Beach and terminating in the principal inlet channel. Sediment samples were collected and analysed for grain size, reliability (grain shape), and, in a few instances, mineralogy. The data collected suggested that longshore sediment transport is predominantly west to east and that river derived sediment is deflected to the east. The inner bar is predominantly a littoral drift related event whereas the outer bar, which is composed mainly of littoral drifted sediment, forms as a submarine extension of Carters Beach. Both bars can be modified by floods in the river, although modification of the outer bar is much less frequent because of the very high river flows required. Sediment can bypass directly across the river mouth only when the inner bar is present. On other occasions bypassing can only occur by transport through the transverse channel or over the outer bar, into the river channel and then onshore.     

Sediment transport in the mouth of the Eden estuary

Observations of water movement and sediment transport were made from a fixed platform at an intertidal location in the mouth of the Eden estuary. The effects of wave activity on water movement and suspended sediment fluxes were evaluated, and an empirical relationship between suspended sediment concentrations and near bed water movement is described. The circulation of water in St Andrews Bay indicates a residual movement onshore near to the bed. Onshore movement of sediment in the mouth of the estuary is indicated by suspended sediment fluxes and bedload transport (determined from bedform migration). The relative roles of suspended sediment and bedload transport are discussed. Morphological changes in the estuary mouth over the three-year survey period are relatively small and indicate a stable environment.     

Numerical Modeling of the Undertow Structure and Sandbar Migration in the Surfzone

A process-based 3D numerical model for surfzone hydrodynamics and beach evolution was established. Comparisons between the experimental data and model results proved that the model could effectively describe the hydrodynamics, sediment transport feature and sandbar migration process in the surfzone with satisfactory precision. A series of numerical simulations on the wave breaking and shoaling up to a barred beach were carried out based on the model system. Analyzed from the model results, the wave-induced current system in the surfzone consists of two major processes, which are the phase-averaged undertow caused by wave breaking and the net drift caused by both of the nonlinear wave motion and surface roller effect. When storm waves come to the barred beach, the strong offshore undertow along the beach suppresses the onshore net drift, making the initial sandbar migrate to the seaside. Under the condition of calm wave environment, both the undertow and net drift flow to the shoreline at the offshore side of the sandbar, and then push the initial sandbar to the shoreline. The consideration of surface roller has significant impact on the modeling results of the sandbar migration. As the roller transfer rate increases, the sandbar moves onshore especially under the storm wave condition.     

A morphological stability analysis for a long straight barred coast

A morphological stability analysis is carried out for a long straight coast with a longshore bar. The situation with oblique wave incidence and a wave-driven longshore current is considered. The flow and sediment transport are described by a numerical modelling system. The models comprise: (i) a wave model with depth refraction, shoaling and wave breaking, (ii) a depth integrated model for wave driven currents and (iii) a sediment transport model for the bed load transport and the suspended load transport in combined waves and current. The direction of the sediment transport is taken to be parallel to the depth integrated mean current velocity, neglecting the effects of a bed slope and secondary currents. An instability is found to develop around the bar crest. The instability is periodic in the alongshore direction, and tends to form rip channels and to steepen the offshore face of the bar between the rip channels. The alongshore wave length of the most unstable perturbation is determined for different combinations of the wave conditions and the geometry of the profile.     

非对称歪斜波引起的片流输沙数值研究

本文用了一个可考虑相位差作用和波浪边界层非对称性的瞬态理论模型和一个两相紊流模型共同研究非对称歪斜波引起的片流输沙现象。为了解速度偏度和加速度偏度对输沙通量和输沙率的贡献,两相流模型为理论模型提供了必要的相位超前、瞬时侵蚀深度和边界层的发展过程。理论模型研究显示了由速度偏度和加速度偏度引起的向岸阶段和离岸阶段的泥沙运动非对称性,解释了净输沙的产生原因。在以往的非对称歪斜波片流输沙研究中,净输沙的产生主要被归结于相位差作用。本文的研究则表明了非对称的边界层发展所产生的净流量和动床面效应在净输沙产生过程中的比相位差作用更为重要。     

黄河河口二维泥沙有限元数学模型及应用(Ⅱ)--潮流和泥沙输运沉积过程模拟分析

利用多沙黄河河口潮波平面二维泥沙数学模型,通过典型时刻近海海区潮汐、河口口门河道、河海流场、含沙量、河床变形和海底等值线等图形对入海河口海域潮汐和潮流海洋动力特性、入海泥沙运动扩散输移规律、河口拦门沙形状、形成过程、泥沙冲淤和海底地形变化进行了分析,这些都与实测资料和遥感图像的分析基本一致。     

Predicting Net Cross-Shore Total Load Transport: A Phase-Averaging, Quasi-Steady Approach Incorporating Undertow Contribution

Wave shapes that induce velocity skewness and acceleration asymmetry are usually responsible for onshore sediment transport, whereas undertow and bottom slope effect normally contribute to offshore sediment transport. By incorporating these counteracting driving forces in a phase-averaged manner, the theoretically-based quasi-steady formula of Wang (2007) is modified to predict the magnitude and direction of net cross-shore total load transport under the coaction of wave and current. The predictions show an excellent agreement with the measurement data on medium and fine sand collected by Dohmen-Janssen and Hanes (2002) and Schretlen (2012) in a full-scale wave flume at the Coastal Research Centre in Hannover, Germany. The modified formula can predict the net onshore transport of fine sand in sheet flows. In particular, it can predict the net offshore transport of medium sand in rippled beds through enlarged bed roughness, as well as the net offshore transport of fine-to-coarse sand in sheet flows with the aid of a new criterion to judge the occurrence of net offshore transport.     

Wave forecasting and longshore sediment transport gradients along a transgressive barrier island: Chandeleur Islands,Louisiana

Louisiana barrier islands, such as the chain surrounding the southeast region of the state, are experiencing rapid loss of land area, shoreline erosion, and landward migration due to transgression and in-place drowning, and the landfall of several major hurricanes in the last decade. Observations of migration rates and overall impacts to these barrier islands are poorly understood since they do not respond in a traditional way, such as barrier rollover. This paper aims to verify how wave energy and potential longshore sediment transport trends have influenced the recent evolution of the Chandeleur Islands, by direct comparison with recent observations of migration and erosion trends. The Chandeleur Islands are characterized by a bidirectional transport system, with material moving from the central arc to the flanks. The longshore sediment transport along the barrier islands was calculated after propagation and transformation of waves to breaking (generated using observed winds), and through the use of a common longshore sediment transport formula. Seasonal variations in wind climate produced changes in the transport trends and gradients that agree with migration and rotation patterns observed for this barrier island system. Results suggest that wind dominance produces seasonal oscillations that cause an imbalance in the resulting transport gradients that over time are responsible for higher rates of transport in the northward direction. These results and data from other works verify the evolutionary model previously suggested, and qualitatively confirm the recent observations in asymmetric shoreline erosion.     

Morphodynamics of intertidal bar morphology on a macrotidal beach under low-energy wave conditions, North Lincolnshire, England

The morphological changes of multiple intertidal bars (ridges) on a macrotidal beach were examined under low-energy wave conditions during a spring-to-spring tidal cycle. The morphological response was coupled to the tidal water level variations and related residence times for swash processes and surf (breaking waves and bores) over the cross-shore profile. Spring tides induced a large spatial variation in water lines and small residence times for distinct processes. Neap tides narrowed the intertidal area and increased the time for certain processes to work on the sediment at one location. The observed morphological changes could be coupled to the stagnation of processes at a certain bar crest position. The action of surf (breaking waves and bores) played the major role in the onshore migration of the intertidal bars and the simultaneous erosion of the seaward flank. Swash action, responsible for the generation and migration of intertidal bars in microtidal settings, was not the dominant process in causing the observed morphological changes. Intertidal ridges on macrotidal beaches cannot be considered swash bars as suggested by most previous investigations into these morphological features.     

Tidal asymmetry in suspended sand transport on a macrotidal intermediate beach

Time-series of nearbed horizontal flow velocities and suspended sediment concentrations obtained from a colocated electromagnetic current meter (EMCM) and optical backscatter sensor (OBS), respectively, are used to examine the relative importance of steady and fluctuating components to the total sediment transport over a full tidal cycle on a macrotidal, intermediate beach (Spurn Head, UK). Fluctuating sediment fluxes are decomposed into gravity and infragravity contributions using co-spectral techniques. The relative importance of the oscillatory (gravity and infragravity) and steady (mean) transport components to the total sediment transport is analysed throughout the tidal cycle.

A continuum of 34 discrete suspended sediment-cross-shore velocity co-spectra are computed over a full tidal cycle for the OBS and EMCM measurements 0.10 m above the bed. These net transport spectra vary greatly both with cross-shore location and tidal state. In particular, a marked asymmetry in transport processes is evident between the flood and ebb tides, with high levels of sediment resuspension and transport occurring on the ebbing tide approximately two hours after high water (just seaward of the breakpoint). At this time the dominant transport was directed offshore (co-spectral peak, 0.04 kg/m²/s) at incident wave frequency.

Typical patterns are observed in transport spectra outside the surf zone and within the inner surf zone. Outside the narrow surf zone cross-shore transport spectra show weak offshore transport (co-spectral peak = 0.002 kg/m²/s) associated with bound long waves and stronger onshore transport (co-spectral peak = 0.006 kg/m²/s) at incident wave frequencies. Conversely, co-spectra computed within the inner surf zone show the offshore sediment fluxes (spectral peak = 0.010 kg/m²/s) at infragravity frequencies to be greater in magnitude than the corresponding onshore transport (co-spectral peak = 0.008 kg/m²/s) occurring at incident wave frequencies.     

A Boussinesq-type wave driver for a morphodynamical model to predict short-term morphology

The prediction of near-shore morphology on the time scale of a storm event and the length scale of a few surf zone widths is an active area of research. Intense wave breaking drives offshore-directed currents (undertow) carrying sediment seawards, resulting in offshore bar migration. In contrast, higher order nonlinear properties, such as wave asymmetry (velocity skewness) and velocity asymmetry, are drivers for shoreward transport. These wave processes are included in phase-resolving models such as Boussinesq-type wave models (e.g., TRITON). Short-wave averaging in the wave model yields wave-induced forces (e.g., radiation stress gradients) and a wave asymmetry term. The wave-induced forces are used in a hydrostatic model (e.g., Delft3D flow module) to drive the current and undertow, resulting in a 3D velocity profile. The wave model and hydrostatic model are coupled online with a morphodynamic model (e.g., Delft3D morphology module). The latter computes, based on the 3D flow profile and the wave asymmetry term, the sediment transport and performs the bathymetry updates. The updates are transferred directly back to the hydrodynamic models. The coupling of the wave model TRITON and the Delft3D modules is validated by comparing against extensive laboratory data sets (LIP and Boers) and a field case (Duck94), and show a good performance for the hydrodynamics and a reasonable/fair performance for the bar movements.