ORCID
- Daniel Conley: 0000-0001-6822-5386
- Gerd Masselink: 0000-0001-6079-7611
Abstract
Laboratory investigations of beach morphology change under wave action are undertaken to gain insight into coastal processes, design coastal structures and validate the predictions of numerical models. For the results of such experiments to be reliable, it is necessary that they are repeatable. The equilibrium beach concept, that beach morphology will evolve to a quasi-static equilibrium shape for a given forcing suggests that experiments should be repeatable to some degree. However, sediment transport in turbulent breaking and broken waves is complex and highly variable and the level of repeatability at different temporal and spatial scales is challenging to measure, as such, previous work has restricted comparisons to small numbers of waves. Here we use the results of two identical, 20-h large-scale wave flume experiments to investigate the repeatability of sediment transport and beach morphology change under waves at timescales down to individual swash events. It is shown that while flow characteristics from identical swash events are very repeatable, the sediment transported can be very different in both magnitude and direction due to differences in turbulence, sediment advection and morphological feedback. Over longer periods containing multiple matching swash events however, the beach responds in a very similar manner, with the level of morphological repeatability increasing with time. The results also demonstrate that gross swash zone sediment transport remains high even as a beach profile approaches quasi-equilibrium, but the proportion of individual swash events that cause large sediment fluxes (>±7.5 kg/event/m) reduces with time. The results of this laboratory study indicate that beach morphology change has a level of determinism over timescales of several minutes and longer, giving confidence in the results from physical modelling studies. However, the large differences in sediment transport from apparently identical swash events questions the value in pursuing numerical predictions of sediment transport at the wave-by-wave timescale unless the reversals in sediment transport between apparently near identical swash events can also be predicted.
DOI
10.1016/j.coastaleng.2024.104485
Publication Date
2024-02-09
Publication Title
Coastal Engineering
Volume
189
ISSN
0378-3839
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Blenkinsopp, C., Hunter, A., Baldock, T., Bayle, P., Bosboom, J., Conley, D., & Masselink, G. (2024) 'Repeatability of beach morphology change under identical wave forcing', Coastal Engineering, 189. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2024.104485
